SABIS the SURVIVOR

Chapter 3: Cool Stares

Chapter 3: Cool Stares

"I needed that!" Ravis remarked to Regis. "Nobody and nothing can ever take this triumph away from me. No Elder, no future competitions, no warrior affliction, and certainly not my Father."

Regis looked up at the Stone Games champion and marveled at Ravis' raw manliness. It was as if Ravis the boy had become Ravis the man in the time it took for a warrior-in-training to remove his protective gear after combat.

Ravis, now naked from the waist up, walked over to the hot mineral springs adjacent to the Arena. There, with a stone basin and his two hands, he washed the sweat and grime off of his chiseled and square-jawed face and head, thick neck, and taut chest, back, and arms.

As he washed, he felt like celebrating but did not want to return home right away. So he asked Regis, Hectoris, and Dellis to accompany him to the U.S. where they would check out the trading scene and "troll for some trim." There was something about combat that left him with a slaking desire for body-on-body interactions, preferably with a softer and feminine young woman. He sought this sort of companionship after a competition─it distracted him from his usual self-defeating thoughts that predominated with second or third-place rankings.

But this time he felt as "high as a condor." He wanted to "fly like an eagle, raise some hell, and plunder some pussy." He had won the champion status and so "trolling for trim" was not a distraction but rather a reward for his skill and ferocity.

"Comrades. Let's venture onto the plateau. That is where we can score with the ladies. Are you in?"

Regis, Hectoris, and Dellis answered a collective, "Hell yeah!" Then Regis started talking trash as he ran circles around Ravis.

"Erotic or exotic, I'm down for either. I know that the ladies are waiting for a smooth operator ... like me. So take note Rave, though this soon-to-be-warrior may not have won the Stone Games, he is going to ground and pound it. Trust me, the pussy fur will be flying!"

Ravis accelerated his stride towards the plateau. As he rounded a curve in the cave path system, a jagged edge jutted out from the excavated volcanic rock wall so he whipped out his obsidian knife and slashed that piece of rock so forcefully that his blade's downstroke caused sparks to fly off in all directions.

"That jagged edge won't bother anyone else from now on!"

He ran his thumb and index finger along the still sharp edge of his blade then resheathed it.

Regis faded back to hang with Dellis, while Hectoris kept pace with Ravis.

"Hey Rave, what do you think of this warrior affliction that is knocking off warriors?"

Ravis ignored Hectoris and turned his attention to a small group of teenage girls huddled around an older female bone collector─she wore the sign of a bone collector on her forehead─a small but noticeable reindeer hip bone tattoo made from ash, ochre, or charcoal. This older lady was selling rare gemstone earrings.

"Two gold ingots for a pair of these rare beauties."

Currency in the Survivor tribe was a recent phenomenon─it had been nonexistent up until the formation of both the OverStrata and the UnderStrata, about three generations ago. Before that tribal split, the unified Survivor tribe members were assigned tasks based on the Elder Council's recommendations.

It had been decided that gold would be the currency since this metal showed tremendous versatility and value in daily life: It was used by warriors in their armour, by shamans in their poultices and salves, by jewelers in a variety of ornaments and jewelry, and by clothiers for designer staffs for the Elders, robe linings for when people leave the volcanic steam saunas, and cooling blankets for when items need to be kept cold.