Finally, she suggested that she be able to prove it to him. If she was not good enough, then she would give back the bow and wait with the other women. The chief finally relented.
Jill took a few practice shots to acclimate to the new weapon and then she took her first aim. A coconut had been placed on the ground as a target and she easily sank her arrow into it. Her second arrow also hit it squarely. They moved the coconut much farther away and Jill sank three more arrows into it. The chief watched in awe but finally agreed to let her fight.
The canoes divided into three groups as they got closer to the island. Jill learned later that two of the groups that tried to outflank the village were repelled by the tribe. The only one that successfully made it to shore was the one that was attacking the village frontally. Six attackers stepped ashore.
Jill had been placed in the rear and she watched as the chief and the other male from the village defended it valiantly. She saw one of the attackers go down but still they advanced.
All of a sudden, she saw the chief go down. He had taken an arrow in the thigh and was immobilized. She saw three of the attackers advance on the fallen chief. Two of them had their bows at the ready. The third had slung his bow and drawn his knife. It was clear to Jill that they intended to murder the chief.
Adrenalin surged through her veins. She let out a yell and leaped forward with her bow aimed. She easily killed the male with the knife with her first shot. She reached the chief as she was aiming her second shot. The two attackers stopped advancing, though. They had also stopped aiming their bows. They and the two other attackers further back were just staring at her, dumbfounded.
Jill stood over the chief, straddling his body as she crouched, ready to fire again. When the chief tried to get up, she placed her foot on his chest and pushed him back down, protecting him from the four men.
Her chest was heaving from the energy that was coursing through her veins. She yelled at them in Incunu to leave. She moved her bow back and forth from one attacker to another, threateningly. Then, miraculously, they did leave. They hurried back to their canoes and paddled away, leaving two dead behind.
Jill became an instant hero in the tribe. Never before had a female defended the island. She was given a name that she could not interpret. It was only later in the evening, after the wounded chief had fucked his brave katahua, that she figured it out. He drew a little picture in the dirt. It was crude but it was good enough for her to figure out what her new name was. She was Leopard Girl.
Chapter 7
When Jill looked at the clock on her desk next, it read a quarter to seven. She gathered up the notes for her lecture and then left her office to head across campus to the dining hall where they were meeting. She was not looking forward to this departmental meeting at all.
The title of the presentation was "The Pros and Cons of Immersion Research." She would be arguing against it since she felt so strongly about the subject, especially after recently completing her first immersion research study. Hal would be arguing in favor of it.
It was not the fact that she would be arguing against the chair of the department that bothered her. Nor was she worried that it was her owner who she would be challenging. She worried about what humiliating stories he would share about her. And she worried about the pictures.
They had a video camera in the village. It was permanently on and fed its images via satellite back to a server on the campus. Jill had even negotiated its placement with the chief prior to Hal's arrival and it was all set up when Hal arrived.
Negotiations over the thing had been difficult, not because the chief objected to pictures. He just simply did not know what pictures were and Jill had difficulty trying to explain the concept to him. She finally resorted to "it will help us remember." The chief thought it was a foolish request but he allowed it and even helped Jill figure out the best placement. After she set it up, everything that happened in the village within view of the lens, was saved in the computer at GSU. Jill wondered what embarrassing pictures were going to be used tonight by Hal. She did not plan on using any of them.
Dinner was nice and she enjoyed the company of her colleagues. Then Hal stood up at the podium and called the meeting to order. "As you all know, Dr. Wallings and I recently conducted research on the Pacific islanders that she has been following for several years. This time, we conducted immersion research, which she has not endorsed in the past and still does not endorse. Tonight, using a shared experience, we will present the cases for and against immersion research. I will present the case for."
He spent the next thirty minutes arguing his case and using stored images to back up his argument. He explained how they had uncovered the core values of the tribe through immersion. Images of him running naked through the gauntlet appeared on the screen as well as images of the tribe girl jerking him off during his initiation. "Courage, strength, virility and a favorable view by the gods are what they value."
Jill had already documented two of those values but she had to admit that she did not know about virility or the views of the gods. She did notice that he did not show any of the pictures of his balls being dragged low by the rock, though. And the camera was not positioned to be able to record him on his vigil on the point. It was a shame that it wasn't recorded. Jill was certain that it would have shown a desperate man whose face was streaked with fear. He did not comment on Jill during this section of his speech, although she was clearly visible in many of the pictures, standing in front of the chief with the chief's hands playing with her ripe breasts.
"We also learned about the communal nature of child care in this culture. As you can see in this picture, our own Dr. Wallings participated in the daily nursing of the children." The picture showed a boy sucking on one of Jill's breasts as a line of other boys waited their turn. Each of them was sporting respectable erections.
He went on about knowledge that had been gained about fishing and hunting techniques. He talked about food preparation techniques that had been previously unknown. And then he told them that he had a story to tell them. The video started rolling.
It showed the raid. The chief was visible in the center of the frame, gesturing and clearly yelling. Others were standing in front of him, threateningly. The film showed one of the raiders raising his bow and shooting his bow and then showed three of them advancing on him. Two carried bows. The third was brandishing a knife.
Suddenly, Jill burst onto the scene. There was no audio so nobody heard the growls or yells. But they clearly saw her draw her bow string back and shoot, killing the man with the knife. They saw the confused look on the faces of the remaining two as she continued to advance. They saw Jill pull the second arrow from her quiver and aim it back and forth between the two raiders that were standing over the chief. Then they saw as she scanned her arrow back and forth across the other two raiders who were standing farther back. They saw Jill stand over the chief, straddling him in a crouched position with her bow drawn, clearly communicating that she was going to attack. And then the video stopped, leaving the image of her, with her naked body glistening and her wild mane flowing down her shoulders and back, with a determined and threatening look on her face.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," said Hal, "I give you Leopard Girl." He took his seat and there were a variety of giggles and chuckles around the room.
Jill stood up and walked shakily to the podium. She was not sure she could speak. She felt so humiliated in front of her colleagues. She took a deep breath and then looked out at her department. She set her notes aside. She would not be using them.