Panther Tales Ch. 05

The towering girl grunted in pain and surprise, staggering back a couple steps. Her eyes were huge, round 'O's as she slowly looked down...

to see the hilt of Sally's dagger protruding from her belly.

Blainey dropped her dagger, and her hands moved to her midsection as she crumpled to her knees. She looked up and tried to talk, but her mouth began to fill with blood and all she could do was make tiny, whimpering noises. For a moment, she looked like a scared little girl.

The shocked silence was deafening as Sally hobbled to her fallen foe. She bent and picked up Blainey's dagger as the tall girl wobbled on her knees.

"I didn't want to do this," she said, softly and sadly. Then she grabbed a handful of Blainey's long hair and yanked her head back.

With a moan of anguish, she thrust the point of Blainey's own knife into the side of her neck and JERKED it forward, ripping out the entire front of her throat. There were gasps from the assembled girls. For a long, breathless moment the mortally wounded Panther didn't move as blood poured down her front.

Then her eyes rolled up in her head, and her body collapsed.

The muffled 'thud' of Blainey's corpse hitting the ground broke the spell of astonishment. Chaos and pandemonium broke out. Some of the Panther's ran to their fallen sister, some surrounded Shan, and a few began calling out threats and demanding retribution.

That prompted others to defend Sally's actions, and in moments small groups of the women were shoving, punching, and pulling each other's hair.

Hair-pulling may sound pretty lame; kind of like 'oh look at the cute girls catfighting,' but in reality, just like soldiers on Earth, Gorean warriors, irregardless of gender, do whatever they need to gain an advantage over a foe.

True fighters aren't interested in 'fighting fair' or looking stylish. A real warrior knows there are only two kinds of fights-the kind you win and the kind you lose. Anything else is irrelevant.

Sally ignored the commotion, the cries of pain, the angry shouts, the sad lamentations, as she hobbled away from the body. She nearly made it back to the fire before it all overwhelmed her. She sat down heavily, put her face in her hands, and sobbed.

xxxxx

It was full dark when Rendill put a hand on Sally's shoulder, not unkindly. After order had been restored in the camp, Ally had come over and wrapped her arms around the crying Earth girl, offering her some comfort. They sat like that for hours, not speaking, barely moving.

"Shan wants to talk to you," Rendill said quietly. Sally nodded and struggled to her feet, her injured leg barely able to support her weight. Ally followed as the Panther led them to where the Clan leader was sitting on a flat stump. Another Panther stood directly behind her, stone faced and holding one of the tall spears like a bodyguard.

"Sit," Shan said, pointing to an adjacent stump, and Sally lowered herself gingerly, her bad leg stuck straight out in front of her. Shan regarded her for several minutes, then sighed.

"What are we going to do with you, Earth girl?"

The corner of Sally's mouth turned up as she realized-today was a new beginning for her. It was time to fully leave her old life behind. She smiled a genuine smile as she recalled her childhood nickname.

"The first thing you can do is call me Snow."