Chapter 7

As Tony continued toward the hattl, he noticed groups talking together and looking in his direction. This seemed to be happening everywhere he went but each time he came near enough to hear what they were saying, the groups became silent. He noticed that women would occasionally come over to the group of women that he was responsible for and the low hum of whispered conversation would start up. They would fall quiet when he approached.

After a while, Tony became so curious about what was going on, he called Terry over. When the others began to come over as well, he waved them away. "Fix our evening meal and prepare for tonight. I wish to talk to her alone!" As Sali and Yana walked away, he saw them begin talking to each other again in low tones with occasional glances at him. As they went ahead, he saw women come over in even greater numbers to talk to them as they walked back to the hattl.

When they were out of earshot Terry began to speak in a low angry voice, "What the hell did you think you were doing giving the sheep to Yana? I thought we were going to try to blend in until we were through the matrimonial year. You're just making yourself a target and endangering us." Terry was going to continue but Tony reached out his hand and held her jaw, preventing her from continuing.

Tony suddenly realized that he was a lot bigger than Terry. When they were human, both were about the same size, but now Tony suddenly realized that he was a head taller than Terry and outweighed her by 50 pounds. He hadn't realized he was going to touch her until he was holding her jaw. For some reason he felt a sudden rage that, 'his' woman would talk to him like that.

This was the first time Tony had touched her other than when they were having sex. Terry looked at him in shock. No man would have ever done this on Earth. At the same time, she felt a small thrill and realized that she was aroused when he took command. This shocked her as she was used to being in charge of relationships on Earth.

For his part Tony was seething, "Terry I am the master of our household! If you cannot realize this than I will have you beaten in public by the other women until you do! Never use that tone of voice to me again! If you have a problem you will tell me in private when no one else can see us." He released her jaw and began walking again.

Terry stood still a moment and watched him as he walked away from her. She still felt flushed from his manhandling her. She couldn't understand her feelings anymore. Terry suddenly felt she was completely adrift. For all her life, society had told her that she was as good as a man, yet her body was sending a different message to her. For the first time in her life, she felt the need for someone stronger to be in charge. She needed Tony's emotional and physical support as the master of the household. Terry avoided any emotional commitment since her divorce, concentrating on her job instead. Now she realized how dependent she was on Tony. This realization scared her and she almost missed Tony's next words.

Tony continued as he walked, careful that no one else could hear, "Look, I couldn't keep them. She was the one hurt, not me. You're the one that wanted to change the way women are treated. I wanted to make a statement of how I feel women should be treated. Hopefully there are other men around who feel the same."

Terry scrambled to say something to hide her sudden realization, "And what happens to us if you are killed? Do you think you're invincible?"

Tony snorted, "Of course not. I only have to look at the wounds I received from the fight to know that I can be beaten in the ring. I'm going to be challenged anyway by someone during this year. If I'm killed then the tribe that is in charge of the rings assumes control of any wives not chosen by the winner. Then the clan head decides what happens to the unchosen women. Most are given as concubines to widowed or unmarried fighters from the clan. Only women who prove too disruptive to the tribe are sent to live in the cities."

Terry felt a chill go through her at the idea of being alone. Her sudden fear startled her, as she had never been afraid of being on her own before. "I told you I'd rather be dead than be treated like the other women around here."

"Then you better start finding out everything you can about anyone who challenges me before I have to face them in the ring. I want you to find out about the men who treat their women badly and if I can beat them. If I can win often enough then most of the men won't chance fighting me. They would rather find men they know they can beat. The only way we can be safe is if I am feared enough to keep challengers from facing me. By taking the women of the worst abusers then I hope men will treat the women better to avoid my challenges."

"And how am I supposed to do that? If you haven't noticed, women are supposed to stay around the hattl and pamper the men whenever they express a desire. We only talk to other wives when the men visit each other."

"That's one of the reasons I gave the sheep to Yana. She can go around and talk to the other servants without anyone thinking about it. Ask if she can learn anything about what I want to know. If she wants to keep the sheep, she will help. You and Sali can talk to the other wives when the men are engaged in training or at the rings. I'm sure that someone can tell you about the men who are known as abusers. Learn what you can about how good a fighter they are then."

Terry gave a grudging nod acknowledging the point and walked behind Tony. As she did, she looked around and saw that many women were looking at Tony with curious glances, while most of the men seemed simply puzzled. Some of the more successful men were giving him appraising looks and one or two gave him hostile glares.

"Damn! Rumors must go around here in no time." Tony mentioned to Terry.

"What did you expect would happen? You've done something that no one else would have done. To everyone else women are things, not people. You've just challenged one of the main preconceptions of this culture. Of course, that's going to arouse interest in you. Right now, we don't have any allies in Linnel. We don't know if the interest will turn into violence or just comments. If someone attacks you outside of the ring for your actions, then who will avenge you or protect me?"