Chapter 5

Samuel turned to Tony and motioned him over to meet some of the other men. They were congenial company to Tony's surprise. He had expected that there would be animosity between some of them as they had lost to the man they were talking to but no one seemed terribly upset that they had lost a wife or half of the goods that they had wagered. In fact, they seemed to Tony to resemble nothing more than a group of high school football players discussing their last game against each other.

Samuel and several of the other men were discussing training sessions that they were planning to attend while they were immune to challenge. Like any good athlete, they needed to constantly train to maintain their edge. Tony found himself agreeing to attend several of the sessions with them since he knew he needed any edge he could get. Lost in thought, he was startled when he felt a tentative touch on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Terry standing there with another woman; both carried bags with what he assumed were the goods he had won.

"May we return to the hattl and prepare for your return?" Terry asked in a voice he had never heard from her before. He felt several interested gazes looking at Terry and the other woman. He nodded curtly and then looked to see who had been watching. He saw Samuel gazing at him rather than the women and Samuel smiled when he saw Tony glancing around.

"I think you're going to have a very aroused woman on your hands tonight," he remarked. "I don't care for women that skinny myself. I like to have a little softness to cuddle with." When Tony looked around, he suddenly noticed that the women clustered around the group of men were like those Rubens would have chosen as subjects. He realized that he could tell the wealth of a man by the plumpness of his wife. "Didn't you tell your wife which to choose? I think she left the best for my worthless brother, though he might not be able to keep them if he continues to gamble on unknown fighters. Where did you learn to fight like that? I haven't seen anyone use some of those old moves for years. Your counter to his attack was great!"

Tony mumbled something about special training by his father and Samuel let the matter drop. Tony's memories told him that this was the normal response and its considered bad manners to question any further. Tradition said the father was the one responsible for ensuring the sons were ready for the matrimonial journey. Since most sons of the wealthier families were thoroughly trained by the best fighters their family could afford to hire, Samuel seemed impressed that Tony's father spent time to provide hands-on training.

Tony flushed when he thought about meeting his new wife. He had never been with more than one woman at a time before and the idea of multiple partners both aroused and terrified him at the same time. He kept silent and listened carefully as the other men spoke. The conversations ranged from the fights they had been in, talks about where they planned to settle and opponents to avoid in the challenge ring.

The conversations were interrupted by one of the shamans handing out the medallions they were to wear showing they were immune to challenge in the rings. They broke up and headed toward their hattls soon afterwards. Samuel reminded Tony, "Don't forget two hands after daybreak we are scheduled for training with the arms masters." As they headed toward the exit, they passed by some pallets lying on the floor. Tony heard a grating voice call out as he passed, "I'll kill you for this!"

He turned to see Michael lying there with his arm in a cast of wood and leather to keep it immobilized. Tony turned his back on him without speaking. Behind him, he could hear Michael cursing him as he walked away. Samuel shook his head as they left. "He always was a sore loser. He should know that he won't be released until near the end of the year with that injury. He was always boasting that he would be a big man in a tribe. Now he'll probably be limited to just the two wives he already has won." Samuel waved as he headed back toward the camp. He hadn't even been sure he would be alive this afternoon when he got up, now he has two wives to contend with. Tony decided he would walk around town for a little while to settle down.

After a brief time, Tony concluded that unless he wanted to get drunk or buy weapons there wasn't a lot available in the marketplaces. As he walked around window shopping he heard the sound of hammering coming from the direction he was going. Reaching a clearing, he saw that there were a large number men at work and he became curious about what they were doing. Linnel was established to take advantage of one of the rare copper mines and even when there was entertainment at the arena, the work didn't stop. Townsmen were busy digging up ore while the noise that attracted Tony was caused by men breaking up the ore into small pieces with sledgehammers and chisels.

Tony found himself fascinated by the process. The man starting the smelting by placing what appeared to be a ceramic pot over a coal fire. Piece by piece he added small amounts of green ore to the pot, stirring it occasionally with a long stick. When it appeared to be heated enough he dumped the ore into a pile next to him; adding to the output from several other workers. From this pile other men were taking the preheated ore to deep narrow pits where the ore was added together with what looked like coal or coke. Teams of men operated large bellows that sent air racing through pipes under the coal and ore in the pits, causing flames to flare up in the air above them. Tony could see other men taking out what appeared to be slag from pits where the fires had gone out. They carried the slag to a large stone table where more men swinging large hammers broke it into pieces. Next, it went into an area where men picked through the pieces taking out the copper. The copper pieces then went to another man who placed them into another ceramic pot and melted the copper again. Finally, he poured it into little molds that Tony's 'memories' told him were the amount of copper one min would buy. This was the basis of the currency for the society they were in. The last step in the process was to toss the remaining slag into a large pile away from the fire.

Tony was amazed at how much ore it took to make a min's worth of copper. It took a bushel basket or more of ore to make the copper contained in one min and an enormous amount of work. It seemed to him more copper should have been extracted from that much ore. Thinking about it, he realized that the men had not used anything as a flux to help extract the cooper from the ore. He remembered from teaching that copper ore required either iron oxide or silica as a flux, depending on the type of ore. Tony thought about saying something then realized that only townsmen were supposed to know about smelting ore. They would want to know how he got his knowledge and he could see himself saying, "I was a fifty something teacher on Earth and used to teach elementary students about chemistry." If he were lucky, they would only think him mad.

He could see why the nomadic part of the society needed the towns. There was no way they could do this and follow the herds that controlled their lives. At the same time, he could see that the town needed the protection of the surrounding tribes as well. Otherwise, bandits would join together to loot the town whenever they wanted.

Slowly he turned back toward the camp, unsure of how he felt about facing Terry. He could see several men leaving the camp and realized from his 'memories' that the men leaving had either not seen anyone they wanted to fight or thought they would be challenged by someone they couldn't defeat. They would be going to other towns or tribal arenas to seek status by gaining new wives and other goods facing weaker opponents.

When he arrived at the hattl he found a dinner laid out for him and Terry sitting by the fire next to the woman she had chosen. When he looked inquisitively at the new woman Terry spoke up in a submissive voice he had never heard from her. "Master, this is Sali. She is ready for your inspection."