So that was what he had up his bare sleeve. He had correctly foreseen nothing but trouble in the claiming of her, but with this challenge thing, he could have exactly what he wanted of her without the trouble.

Tight-lipped, infuriated at how he wouldn’t even have mentioned that particular service if she hadn’t asked, Tedra said, “And if I win, warrior?”

“The same choice will be yours, death or service.”

“Very well, I figure it will take me about a month to conclude my business here. You’ll make a nice guide or assistant.”

“You truly expect to defeat me, woman?”

The amusement in his voice was natural, she supposed, but still annoying. “You don’t know me, babe. I’m as arrogant in my skills as you are in yours.”

“Arrogance in a woman is not allowed.”

“Why don’t you see if it’s deserved first before you disallow it?” she fairly purred, hoping to rile him, but she was finding to her further annoyance that it was impossible to tell with him.

He simply nodded, allowing her point. “You will abide by the outcome of the challenge?”

“I hate to put a damper on your confidence, warrior, but fighting is what I do, and where I come from, a fighter is not without honor. You insult me by questioning mine.”

He couldn’t have cared less. “Swear it by-by your Martha,” he insisted.

“Oh, for Stars’ sake.” She sighed. “Swearing by Martha wouldn’t mean a thing, since she isn’t a God, just a pile of scrap metal who’s got too big for her circuits, and whom I happen to despise at the moment. I’ll swear by the Stars in Heaven, which is binding for me. But I don’t expect to lose this challenge, babe, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. You might be as big as all farden hell, but big doesn’t matter in what I can do. Do you swear to abide by the outcome?” She got a flush out of him, which made her chuckle that he could react to her barbs after all, and she rubbed it in. “Fair’s fair, babe. You made me swear.”

“Then I swear by Droda,” he growled. “But I also swear you will regret your taunting of me, woman.”

“That remains to be seen,” she replied, unruffled. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

“There is nothing that could stop me now, tyra. ”

He’d called her witch. My, she really had got him riled, which was all the better for her. One of the first rules of fighting was to stay cool.

“So what are you waiting for? I’m ready.”

Chapter Nine

The strategy was not to let him get his hands on her. Tedra quickly discovered that blocking did little good against those meaty arms, so any frontal attack was out of the question. She got her blows in from the sides, from behind, but that took some fancy footwork to maneuver around him; the barbarian might be big, but unfortunately, he wasn’t clumsy or slow. In fact, he could move nearly as fast as she could, which didn’t help to get the fight over with quickly, as she had hoped to do.

Finding out early in the game that he was reluctant to actually hurt her was a good thing, because there had been several opportunities where he could have ended it, but she would have had some broken bones to show for it. She didn’t harbor any such reluctance herself, not that she thought she could actually damage the brute with the limited blows that distance allowed her. Those kicks she did get in were designed to bring him down; they just didn’t. He might be sore later, but as far as she could tell now, he wasn’t feeling anything, all that thick muscle cushioning her every blow. She’d either have to go for a running jump kick, wagering all that she could reach his throat as high up as it was, or else wait for an opening to take him from behind with her Frimera technique.

After two successive lateral kicks that he was just short of blocking, Tedra got in a third kick that staggered him somewhat. Elated, she wasted no time in leaping on his back and going for the pressure point on his neck. She could have broken his back in that position, or his neck, by bringing up her feet for leverage and yanking back on his head. Something would have snapped before her added weight toppled them over. But she couldn’t bring herself to kill the barbarian. She applied the Frimera technique instead and held her breath, counting those four extra seconds it took to work on someone his size. But four passed, then six, and Tedra broke out in a sweat when eight seconds had come and gone and he was still standing. His neck muscles were just too thick, and when she heard his deep, rumbling chuckle, she realized that he could have stopped her at any point, that he had let her give it her best shot!

Her only thought at that point was to abandon ship, but she’d known if she got that close to him it’d be all over, and even as she let go of her hold on his back, his hand was there to keep her from dropping free of him. In another second she was dragged around to the front of him by a fistful of her tunic, had only a moment to see the gloating pleasure in his expression, then was tossed upward into the air.

To her credit, she didn’t scream. She didn’t come to ground either. The barbarian had merely wanted a more secure hold on her, but hadn’t wanted to set her down yet. He caught her on the fall with both hands, one on each of her arms just above the elbow, pinning them to her sides-which was a good thing for him. That close, and with his hands busy holding her, she could have broken his nose, smashed his vocals, or done any number of other disabling things if she’d had full use of her arms. She still had full use of her legs, however, but once again he proved how fast he was in blocking her moves, and he went one further and shook her until she decided she’d had enough and just let her legs hang.

“Concede you are beaten, woman.”

It was an order, not a question. And it did seem as if she were beaten, without having received a single blow. Colossal strength did have its advantages. His hold was too tight to wiggle lose from, and she didn’t care to have her brains rattled again if she tried any more kicks. But concede? Not until her last options had been used, and one of them was to bring both legs up, plant her feet squarely in the center of his chest, and push back.

It worked, but only because he wasn’t expecting it. She went sailing backward to land hard on the ground, which was better than having her arms pulled out of their sockets if he hadn’t let go. But her push hadn’t knocked him over as it should have, giving her the extra moments she needed to catch her breath. Just as she rose she was shoved back down, the barbarian’s body pinning her to the ground. Her hands were captured, her legs held down by his, and if that wasn’t enough, he let her have his full weight, taking no more chances with her.

Breathing normally became a memory. Tedra had to fight for each breath and he knew it, but he didn’t ease even an ounce of the pressure bearing down on her.

“Now do you concede you are beaten.”

Again it wasn’t a question. And this time there wasn’t a doubt in either of their minds. Tedra couldn’t move an inch except to nod her head, and the moment she did she could breathe again. But all he did was ease his great chest off hers. He didn’t let go of her or move to get up. And he seemed perfectly content to stay that way as he looked down at her. Her own look was filled with disgust, all of it for herself. She’d made one mistake after another with the barbarian, but agreeing to the challenge was the biggest.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to kill me, are you?” He slowly shook his head. “I’m right handy at cleaning floors,” she lied. Again he shook his head, but this time with a grin. “All right, damn it, spit it out. What kind of service do you want from me?”

“This you know already, kerima. ”