With a final glance at her men, Emi rolled her neck and shoulders and stepped into the ring. Rawin met her in the middle and stared down at her.
“You should have been generous, Doctor,” she said in a voice too low to be heard by anyone else. “You had two more. You could have given one up, or at the very least shared. It would have been polite. You brought this on yourself.”
“You’re going down, you soulless bitch.”
Rawin sneered. “I do not think so. I will try to make this as quick on you as I can so my friends and I can go enjoy my new men. I promised them the large one. I will keep the pilot for myself, and we’ll all share the blue-eyed one.”
Rage boiled inside Emi. She forced it back. It was exactly what Rawin wanted her to do, get mad so she’d do something stupid and lose her focus. Emi had seen Rawin practicing on one of the news vids the night before, saw a hint of what the fight would entail.
Emi also remembered every minute of self-defense training she’d received from the DSMC before leaving Earth. Aaron had worked with her personally on sparring.
She could brawl with the best of them.
Mauri picked up a large, carved wooden instrument and blew into it. “Begin!”
Rawin dropped into a crouch, her obsidian eyes gleaming. Emi balanced on the balls of her feet and waited until the last second to dodge Rawin’s first charge. Emi had the advantage of being used to heavier gravity, although the planet’s slightly thinner air would even that out if the fight continued for too long.
Rawin’s fist shot out, grazing Emi’s chin as she ducked away from the punch. But then the Moran kicked and caught Emi mid-turn in the left kidney. Emi dropped to the ground and rolled away, forcing herself back to her feet as the Moran closed in again to attack.
Calling upon her self-defense training, Emi feinted a punch, then kicked and caught the other woman in the right knee.
Rawin hissed in pain. “Lucky shot.”
“There is no such thing as luck, you said.”
“I lied.” She charged Emi, grappling with her and driving her a few steps closer to the edge of the ring. Emi managed to land a few punches under the woman’s arms, in her sensitive tympanic region, forcing the Moran to drop her arms and back off.
“I forgot to mention I play dirty to keep my husbands,” Emi growled.
No one could hear them over the roar of the spectators, some cheering Emi on, she realized.
She didn’t have time to think about that as Rawin charged again. They exchanged punches, Emi fighting off a wave of dizzying pain as one landed on her right ear. Emi managed another kick, this time to Rawin’s left tympanic region, again driving the Moran back.
Emi straightened and spit blood from where she’d bit her tongue. Portraying a confidence she didn’t feel, she stepped toward the center of the arena. Rawin circled her, apparently less sure of herself now that Emi hadn’t gone down immediately as she’d first anticipated.
After fifteen minutes, Emi knew she sported a black eye, a split lip, and probably a cracked rib or three. She was, however, still standing and fighting, throwing punches and kicks and holding her own. Rawin didn’t look much better, her complexion now slightly green, most likely in pain from Emi landing several more brutal kicks to her tympanic regions on both sides. Moran women didn’t hit each other in that region as a matter of courtesy, much as human men didn’t usually aim for the balls.
Emi also felt Rawin’s uncertainty. She’d been counting on a quick and easy win. Emi’s skill and tenacity and different style of fighting, along with her refusal to stay down and lose, proved troublesome to Rawin’s training and her ego. The fact that Emi was, by Moran standards, playing dirty also threw her.
Emi wasn’t feeling very courteous. And Emi knew her ribs could take a hell of a lot harder kick than the Moran’s tympanic region.
Unfortunately, she knew she couldn’t continue on like this much longer before the larger Moran simply wore her out and managed to get in a lucky shot to finish the fight.
Then Emi tripped backward while trying to duck Rawin’s next charge. The Moran hooked her legs through Emi’s and rolled both of their bodies through the sand, making Emi scream in pain as it felt like her right hip was nearly dislocated. Worse, she realized what the other woman was up to, trying to get them close to the outer edge of the circle.
Somewhere through her pain, a strange woman’s voice yelled in her brain. “Use Bucky!”
Emi didn’t have time to contemplate that as she clawed at Rawin’s legs, not gaining any purchase. Then Emi felt something rubbing inside her pants pocket, against her thigh.
Desperate, she threw a handful of sand at Rawin’s face, making the other woman choke. That distracted her enough Emi could squirm loose, but the Moran was on her again in a flash from behind, one arm hooked around Emi’s neck.
“I’ll choke you,” she growled in Emi’s ear. “Break your neck. Then you’ll die and I’ll still have your men.”
They were just feet from the ring’s edge. A desperate idea formed in her mind. She forced herself up to her knees, Rawin still choking her.
Struggling to hold on to consciousness, Emi jammed her hand into her pocket and found Bucky. Grabbing the rubber spider, she thrust her hand backward over her shoulder into Rawin’s face.
Rawin immediately freed Emi and let out a bloodcurdling scream as she desperately scrabbled backward out of the ring.
The horn sounded as more cheers than jeers erupted from the audience.
Emi shakily climbed to her feet, the rubber spider tightly clutched in her fist. No way in hell would she ever let loose of that lucky charm. Bucky would be her new best friend with a place of honor on her desk.
Swaying, she turned to Mauri, who raised her arms and wore a beaming smile. “Dr. Hypatia wins. Her men go free with her. All charges are hereby dropped and this case is considered permanently settled.”
Rawin screamed from behind Emi. “No! She cheated! She threw something at me. This is not how it was supposed to end! Those are my men! I want them!”
Emi turned. “You cheated,” she yelled. “You set this whole thing up with your friends over there.” Emi pointed at the two women in the stands, who now wore horrified expressions.
Rawin stepped toward her, her fists clenched. “You should have shared them like I asked. Respected our customs. Then I never would have had to resort to…” Rawin went silent as she realized too late what she’d said.
Mauri’s face darkened. “What is the meaning of this, daughter? What have you done?”
Desperation replaced rage on Rawin’s face. “Mother, she would not share! I only wanted to play with the dark-haired pilot, just to see what a human male was like, and she refused to—”
Boos and hisses from the audience drowned Rawin out.
“You lied to me, then, when asking me to invite them down?”
“Yes, but, Mother—”
More boos and hisses.
Mauri looked horrified. She motioned to her guards to take Rawin. “Dr. Hypatia, my most sincere apologies. You and your men have been horribly dishonored, and I am most ashamed of my daughter’s actions. I will talk with you momentarily.”
Rawin looked at Emi, rage painting her face. “I will kill you!” She charged Emi before the guards could reach her and landed a few more punches Emi didn’t have time to defend herself against. As the guards dragged Rawin off her and across the arena, another guard helped Emi to her feet again.
“Are you all right, Captain Doctor Hypatia?” the guard asked.
No, she wasn’t. She suspected she had a concussion now, in addition to all her other injuries. And as she felt the world go out of focus, she realized Aaron and the twins had been freed and were racing to her side to catch her as she started to fall…