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Chapter Five: Getting Fitter, Joining Clubs

The following day, or at least morning, saw Crystal buying more mares for the herd. Lunch-time saw her, and the new horses, back at her house where she fed them all then had something to eat herself.

~I will introduce Fear to the mares tomorrow.~ she decided over lunch. ~Seems like a promising idea... Not doing anything tomorrow anyway.~

After lunch she made sure Fear had eaten and rested enough, before giving him a full grooming, then tacking him up. She grabbed her hard hat then mounted the tall stallion, leaving the yard at a brisk walk in the direction of the beach, since it was the longest.

The beach was usually quiet, totally deserted, but for once there were people on the beach that Crystal knew.

"Brilliant." she sighed under her breath and into Fear's mane. "Just bloody brilliant!"

The people were Chad and his friends.

Crystal suddenly laughed, softly and coldly, as she realised what she could do. She slid down from Fear's back, swiftly un-tacking him and removing her hard hat, covering it all with the saddle blanket before remounting. She leaned forward and stroked his neck gently as she thought.

"This is going to be fun." she whispered into Fear's flicking ear. "Go for it, Fear!"

She urged him into a gallop, from a standing start then nudged him into the foamy breakers of the sea. It looked like he was running wild and Crystal was hanging on for dear life.

Further along the long beach, Hector said. "What is that drumming noise?"

Otto gasped in awe. "Look at that! An Arab stallion and rider!"

Crystal sneered into the wind as they drew level then passed the group of young men. Matthew narrowed his eyes, talking in a low growl. "That is Ice on that good example of a horse!"

"Let's go after her and get her then!" screamed Jeremy. "Come on!"

Chad, Aaron, and Matthew rolled their eyes as Hector said, clearly. "How? None of us can move as fast as that stallion!"

Matthew shifted uneasily but remained silent. Jeremy flushed, falling silent too.

"She is gone already anyway." sighed Aaron. "Maybe next time... Or some other time soon."

Even further along the beach Crystal was slowing the powerful stallion to a canter then to a halt.

"Good lad. We can do that again in a little while," she purred. "That was fun!"

Letting the horse catch his breath, the young woman grinned before starting to school him.

Half an hour later, they galloped back along the beach, Crystal not even holding on. Chad and the others were still there, talking about something. The weather maybe.

"Look." said Sebastian. "Here she comes again."

"And she is not even holding on!" added Garret.

When she was straight in front of them, she looked at them, smirked nastily, her eyes glittering before she guided Fear into the water with just her knees. Soon they were both swimming.

"I don't believe it." gasped Hector. "Ice with a pure-bred Arabian stallion."

Simon nodded in agreement. "I don't believe it either. She must be rich!"

Aaron sneered. "Our little Ice being very rich? There is no way on earth that she could be that! Ever."

What little they knew about their 'victim'!

A little later Crystal and Fear came to where the tack and hard hat had been left. Grinning widely, Crystal tacked up Fear once more, donned her hard hat and rode back to the stable yard, chuckling the whole way.

Once she did get home, she un-tacked and groomed her stallion before feeding all of her horses. She swept the yard, then turned on all the alarms and went into the house to get her own dinner. That night she went out in her Porsche, deciding that a relaxing drive around the city would do her good, since she was too energised to sit at home.

"That is a lovely car. Far better than that Ferrari." Matthew stated, when he saw it. "Porsches always are."

Chad nodded, enviously. "I agree. Who-ever owns that beautiful example of German cars must be extremely rich."

"And lucky." added Hector. "Very."

Overhearing the conversation as she rolled on by, Crystal snickered inwardly, pressing play on the CD player. Soon Apollo 4 40 was filling the car.

Further down the road Josh and Lucian were talking.

"Well that was a glorious day, weather wise do you not agree?" asked Lucian. "So nice."

Josh nodded. "Yeah. You don't get days like that in November very often."

Seeing the car Lucian gasped, pointing to it. "Look at that Porsche! It is so cool!"

Josh chuckled and nodded. "Cool? That is an understatement! It rocks!"

Overhearing, Crystal carefully skidded across the road and stopped nearby. Grinning, she watched them move closer. The two men cautiously approached the car then stopped.

"I wonder who is driving it and who owns it?" asked Josh. "I mean I know Crystal has a Porsche, but I don't think it is this bright luminous green."

"I agree with you." replied Lucian. "If it is not Crystal then we are bothering some innocent person. Who, well, yes..."

Josh nodded a bit. "I hope that it is Crystal."

Unable to keep silent any longer, the young woman wound down the window and smiled, wryly, purring almost seductively, as her eyes sparkled, playfully. "Is it not this colour?"

She winked playfully then.

"Well. We did not know it was this colour, Crystal, honey." grinned Lucian. "You only talked about getting one when we were together..."

Crystal chuckled, warmly as she nodded to Lucian.

"It was this colour when I bought it as my first sports-car three years ago. Yes, back then, well I wanted a pink one."

Josh smiled. "Can we please go for a drive in it with you?"

The young woman laughed, warmly, glad that it was a four-seater. "Sure, you can. You are friends of mine after all."

So, she took her friends for a ride in the Porsche.

"What are you going to buy next Crystal?" asked Lucian. "I mean..."

She pondered then, thoughtfully.

"I might make my stable-yard and garage bigger." she said, finally. "Or maybe I will buy one of those fancy BMWs or a Lotus Bullet..."

"Well, honey." Josh declared. "You have the money for it."

Crystal nodded. "With the amount of money, I will be getting daily for the rest of my life, I could spend thousands of dollars a day. I will never run out of it."

Lucian blinked. "That is a lot of cash!"

Josh grinned some-what. "How many horses do you have anyway Crystal? Morgan said you had bought several mares from him."

The young woman smiled and rubbed at her nose, thinking.

"Well. There is Finch, so far the only gelding." she grinned. "Then there are the mares. Pearl; who I have had for two or three years, Sunrise, Wombat, Holy, Gift, Jyngles, and Ivy." Crystal chuckled then. "And lastly there is Fear, the stallion. My gorgeous big boy."

Lucian gasped. "That is a lot of horses. What colours and breeds are they all?"

Crystal purred. "Finch is a blood bay Connemara X, Pearl is a silver Arab, Gift is a black Arab and Holy is a grey Arab. Wombat is a grey Highland and Jyngles is a black Highland. Sunrise and Ivy are both red-dun Connemara Xs and Fear is a pure-bred Arab stallion."

Josh smiled. "Morgan said you were building up a stud farm. Are you?"

The young woman nodded. "Yeah."

Lucian chuckled then. "Best of luck then in that."

Josh agreed.

Time passed, and Crystal dropped her friends off at their homes before she went home herself, relaxing for the rest of the night before going to bed and having a really good night's sleep.

The following morning, she introduced the stallion to the mares. Once released, Fear set about driving them into a herd before standing guard over them.

"Good lad." Crystal chuckled. "My good, big boy."

Leaving the mares and Fear to get more acquainted without her there, the young woman went to move Finch from his stable, to a giant field far away from the other horses for his own safety, as much as she hated to separate him.

"I will get you some companions soon." she promised, once the pony was in the field. "Won't leave you alone for long Finch."

Sighing a little, Crystal mucked out the stables then cleaned up before going into the city and to the same showroom that she had bought her Ferrari from.

She was driving home soon after in a red BMW Z3.

Once home she grinned, almost purring as she eyed the garage.

"My lovely cars." she muttered. "A silver Jeep, a black Ferrari, a luminous green Porsche, a red BMW and a blue horse-van." laughing, she closed the doors to the garage. "And there is still room for a further three vehicles."

Entering the house, she made herself a mug of tea then sat by the telephone, planning on doing a lot of phoning round.

The first place she phoned was a Karate and Kick-Boxing hall.

"Hello, Tait's Gym." asked a deep voice. "Can I help you?"

"Heya." Crystal greeted. "I was wondering if I could join your club?"

"Sure, you can. Come down at seven o'clock tonight and we will see what we can do. Okay?" the voice seemed to smile kindly.

The young woman nodded, and smiled even though the person on the other end couldn't see it. "Okay."

"May I take your name?" the person asked. "Please?"

"Yeah. I am Crystal Blackwood." she grinned a bit. "And yours?" The other person smiled.

"I am David Tait. The owner and head instructor. Do you know where we are?" asked the man, kindly.

Crystal chuckled. "Yeah. You are eight doors down from the Multiplex."

David nodded. "Spot on. See you later."

Crystal grinned. "Bye."

Chuckling softly, the young woman left her home before taking two of the mares out to stretch their legs. It did not take long to find out that the two she was exercising, Ivy and Jyngles, were a perfectly matched pair.

Reaching her stable-yard she un-tacked both the mares and turned them back out with Fear before she brought Finch in and groomed him.

After that, she fed the horses, swept the yard then left, putting the alarms on and entering the house once more to have a shower then something to eat herself.

At half past six Crystal entered the garage and drove out the silver Jeep.

"Well at least they don't know what other cars I have just yet." she whispered as she closed the garage doors again and reset the alarms. "And likely never will."

By seven o'clock the young woman was entering Tait's Gym, inwardly feeling very nervous. Seeing a tall man with chestnut brown hair, fair skin, and clear grey eyes she chewed on her lip before asking calmly. "Are you David?"

The man nodded. "I am. You must be Crystal Blackwood, right?"

The young woman nodded, smiling warmly. "I am. Hi."

David grinned. "Pretty name."

Crystal blushed. "Thanks."

David was just showing her how to warm up right and how to do the very first thing that everyone that went there learned when Chad and his friends. as well as Seth walked in. Thanks to Chad's arrival, she did not hear David speaking to her.

"You try, Crystal." he suggested. "You can do this."

Swallowing hard, the young woman blushed. "I am sorry, I did not hear you, could you please repeat that?"

David blinked then nodded. "I said, you have a try."

Crystal gave herself a shake and obligingly had a try, failing miserably.

"What is wrong Crystal?" David asked, clearly but lowly, seeing how shaken the young woman was, as well as how pale she had gone." Are you okay...?"

She swallowed hard before whispering, shakily. "It is th-th-them... The people who just walked in."

The young woman struggled against her instincts that were yelling at her to turn and run, without ever looking back.

"They are some of my best students at present." replied David, proudly. "One of them is fourth Dan black belt, the rest are either first Dan black belts or brown and two belts." he looked a little worried. "Do you know them Crystal, intimately? And if so, for how long? Why are you so scared?"

Crystal stared up at the ceiling, tears standing in her eyes, before they start to slide down her face, slowly though she barely made a sound.

"Do I know them well David?" she asked, lowly, her voice shaking, before she laughed, bitterly. "I have known them almost all of my life and I am terrified of them because of the things that they have done to me over the years! I can't... I... I can't say what... I really can't... I..." tears filled her eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "They are the reason I wanted to learn how to defend myself. I need to be able to protect myself from them."

David chewed hard on his lip, before flicking a look to Chad, who did not notice Crystal and said calmly, feeling slightly confused.

"Come to my office, Crystal, I would like you to explain this to me. And in doing so you will calm down. You can tell me anything and it won't go any further than between us."

The young woman nodded, following David, trying to make herself virtually invisible. Seth was the only one who perceived that she was there and nodded even as Chad took control of the class, picking up where David left off.

Crystal smiled faintly, her face taut with fear before she slipped into the small office after David, closing the door behind her.

"Take a seat, then calm down." David stated, calmly. "Then, once you are calmer, tell me. Please. I would like to know, because they don't appear to be horrid people. They are all very courteous and well mannered. I find it hard to accept that they would do that to anyone."

Shivering, she sat and slowly started to calm down, her shape relaxing, the woman taking several deep breaths in and out.

"They have followed me all over the world. I don't know why." she said, finally. "They all hated me from the moment I first met them..."

"Are you sure you don't know why?" he asked gently. "There has to be a good reason that you know of? Maybe you did something to them or a family member of theirs?"

"I am sure that I don't know. And I never have, no." the young woman whispered, tears sliding down her face. "But at least I know why they are so strong." she swallowed hard. "Don't even bother trying to deaden the blow for me by not telling me. Please. I can guess who the highest belted person is out of them. It is C-c-c-chad right?"

David handed the frightened female a tissue, frowning deeply.

"Yes, it is. I pity you having them after you." he said, calmly. "You need to learn how to defend yourself as soon as possible. What else do you do?"

Crystal dried her eyes, tongue flicking across her lips.

"I go rock-climbing, go hill walking, do competition running, competition dancing, go mountain biking, do archery, horse-ride and on a rare occasion I go swimming." she answered. "I have nine horses so most of my days are taken up with them, if not all of the day. If I am not cleaning them out or feeding them or even brushing them I am cleaning up the stable yard and feed room. Or even cleaning their saddles, bridles and rugs as well as boots which can take a while if I want them all spotlessly clean which I usually do." she chuckles faintly then. "And if I am taking my horses to a show, the workload is more or less doubled."

"What days do you go rock-climbing and do archery?" David asked.

"Mondays and Tuesdays are usually the days I have my Rock-Climbing classes, but they have been cancelled until after Christmas and New Year, due to the holidays. Wednesdays are the days that my Running classes are usually on, but they have been cancelled until the better weather. Thursdays are the day that my Dancing class is on, but that too has been cancelled and until the spring. My Archery class is on Fridays, usually and if I feel like it, I go swimming on Saturdays. Sundays are free which I usually spend hill-walking or mountain biking." she replied. "If and when I feel like it and the weather is good enough, not been for a while though."

David pondered then. "So, you are available most nights then?"

Crystal nodded. "Yeah."

"Well." David finally stated. "If you come in every time that the class is on, that is Tuesdays to Sundays from seven and try as hard as you can each time then you will be ready to grade in March and get your first belt. The yellow one."

"Okay. I will come in then." smiled the young woman. "Should we get back to it?"

David laughed, warmly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a reassuring hug.

"You are one spirited and fearless lass." he smiled.

Crystal smiled, thinly. "With that lot I have to be. Er... What belt is Seth?"

David blinked. "Have a crush on him do you Crystal?" he teased gently. "I mean he is a very fit young gentleman, and a Lord to boot..."

The young woman shuddered. "Ugh, no. He is my cousin, and the head of my family."

David smiled. "Oh okay. He is coming up for his first black belt. Unlike the others, he has not missed a grading. Ever. Unlike the others who have missed the odd one."

Crystal grinned. "Cool. Good on Seth."

David rubbed at his nose then. "I take it you want it kept secret that you are cousins yes?"

She nodded. "Please."

The man grinned. "No problem, that secret is safe with me."

The young woman chuckled. "Thanks."

They left the office then and went back into the main part of the building before Crystal started to train again, paying close attention to what was being taught. Ten minutes later, Jeremy moved in the young woman's direction, before he said.

"What are you doing here Ice-Dancer, sweetie? Go home, this is no place for you, you are a lady. You could get badly hurt here. I mean, we wouldn't want that."

Crystal narrowed her gleaming and almost feral green eyes, snarling softly.

"No, I will not leave. I paid money to be taught how to defend myself. I am not going to leave on your say so." she snapped. "And it's because I am a lady, I'm here."

Jeremy stepped closer. "You will." he growled.

The young woman cringed for a second, backing away before she ran at him, pushing him over, hard, before thumping him in the ribs.

"No, I will not." she snarled, her lips grazing back from her teeth slightly.

The man that was Jeremy gasped breathlessly. "You bitch! Oi. Chad. Look who is here."

Jeremy sniggered evilly at Crystal who cringed, her eyes closing as she swallowed a whine.

"What is wro..." Chad growled lowly. "Crystal!"

The young woman shivered, back-stepping as Chad advanced on her. Jeremy sniggered, knowing that she was so very scared.

"You should not be here Crystal." Chad declared, stepping close to the trembling female. "You might get hurt." he snickered, highly amused. "Badly."

She gulped then back-flipped, her feet catching the taller male under the chin and sending him sprawling, before she backed up, not looking away from him.

"Hello there C-c-c-chad." she said, sweetly. "I am sure I will be fine." she swallowed, hiding her fear. "But will you be okay?! I mean... You did hit the ground rather hard..."

Chad's eyes narrowed as he got back on his feet before he drew himself up tall, to his full height, smirking as he knew that he could intimidate her, and easily.

"I will be fine, Ice." he hissed, lowly.

What happened next was easy to have predicted. Chad, seemingly angry that Crystal had knocked him off his feet and to the floor, charged at the young and slim woman, sending her flying before he followed up with a flurry of painful punches and kicks, as well as a slap or two. Crystal writhed, as she was pinned face down with her head caught in the man's arms and him straddling her back.

"Stop it Crystal. Give in." the man growl-hissed lowly into her ear. "Or I will obliterate you, right here." he jerked his arm once, nearly knocking Crystal out. "By breaking your delicate little neck..." he lowered his head and nipped at her neck then. "Or maybe I will do something else." his voice was a venomous sounding hiss as his free hand traced down her shape. "There's plenty of things that I could do to you while pinning you like this..."

Sobbing, Crystal gave in, lying completely motionless and at Chad's mercy.

"I give." she whispered, tapping the floor lightly.

Smirking, Chad let the young woman up, watching her intently.

"I will be back tomorrow, David." she whispered, huskily.

She bowed respectfully then gathered her things and left, her head lowered. Crystal sat in her Jeep for ages, thinking before she drove home, checked the horses then went to her bed.

The next morning the young woman `phoned Josh.

"Hey Josh." she greeted. "I am only going to be able to come to the club on Mondays."

Josh blinked, even though Crystal couldn't see him. "Oh?"

"Yeah, I am going to take up the martial arts in order to defend myself better." she explained. "Jeet Kune Do, Ninjutsu and all that type of thing. I have already started Karate and Kick-Boxing."

Josh chuckled.

"Okay Crystal. Good on you and take it easy." the man smiled, warmly. "I wish you the best of luck. See you around."

The young woman laughed warmly. "You sure will Josh."

Crystal hung up then, musing inwardly before she rang Lucian.

"Hello, Thompson's training halls. Lucian speaking, how may I help?" the man spoke.

The young woman chuckled. "Heya Lucian. I would like to take you up on your offer."

Lucian smiled, warmly. "Well Crystal, if you come down at six o'clock tonight we will sort everything out then. How does that sound? Or would a later time be easier?"

She grinned. "No, that sounds great. See you later Lucian."

Lucian replied. "Yeah. See you later Crystal hon."

The young woman hung up the phone then and went to put Finch out for the day before she mucked out.

Once that was done she re-entered the house and rang a Tai Chi and meditation instructor.

"Salutations, this is the Quiet Tiger Hall of Meditation, Matthew speaking. I'm the owner and head instructor. How may I help you on this fine day?" asked a familiar voice, calmly.

Crystal swallowed hard, her voice trembling and knuckles going white as she gripped the 'phone and spoke into it. "I would like to join your club. I heard about it in the paper."

The young woman surprisingly remained unexcited.

"If you come round to the hall at five o'clock we will see what we can do for you. Is that okay with you?" Matthew queried. "Or would a later time be more suitable?"

Smirking, Crystal replied. "I am sure that will be fine. Thank-you."

"Good. See you then..." Matthew paused. "Miss...?"

"Thank you very much for your help. I will see you then." Crystal snickered, hiding her fear, cutting right across him. "Matthew."

The man narrowed his eyes and said coldly. "Crystal, you are so dead."

But the young woman had wisely hung up.

Crystal brought Finch and Pearl back in at four o'clock before feeding them and the other horses, sweeping the yard and then entering the house to change into clean clothing. By a quarter to five, the young woman had left her large residence and was on the way to Matthew's hall in her Jeep. At five o'clock she entered the hall, swallowing hard and feeling very nervous. She trembled, closing her eyes for a second before calming a little.

Soon after that Matthew left his office and eyed the shivering young woman, silent for a moment or two before he stepped towards her from behind and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. The young woman jumped and visibly but did not move other than that, her shape tight with fear as she wept a note.

"This way please Crystal." Matthew said, finally as he stepped away from her. "Come on, Little One."

She did not move, as she mewled.

"Can I really trust you not to hurt me badly and turn me over to C-c-c-chad while I am here, Matthew? I mean..." she swallowed hard, voice shaking. "You know..."

He faced her, eyeing her up and down before saying, honestly. "Only while you are within these walls and it is during class time, Crystal, can you trust me not to do any of those things. I swear that I will not turn you over to Chad, you have my word."

Crystal nodded. "Okay."

"The training may hurt but I will not try to hurt you more than is necessary." Matthew declared, smoothly. "That is a promise and you know I never break them."

Crystal swallowed hard.

"I understand... Matthew." she said, quietly. "I do."

The tall man shook his head, almost fondly.

"No, Crystal. You've known me long enough, now. Just... Call me Matt." he said, warmly. "It's okay, really. We've known each other for years, after all."

She nodded a little. "Very well... Matt... "

Once in the main room of the hall, he got the young woman settled and started to teach her how to firstly relax, to let down all of her defences before he started to teach her the basics of mediation, and relaxation.

"We don't have ranks or belts here as such, like Karate may do." Matt explained, kindly. "That is physical enhancement, what we do here is mental enhancement. While you physically may have nothing to show for what you are learning, mentally you will have strength." he paused, thoughtfully. "And after a while your mental strength will show as an almost physical thing as you will be calmer, confident and more at ease in yourself. You will know who you are and be happy in that." he snickered a little. "You might even be able to keep myself and my friends at arm's reach. Which could end up being fun for all of us."

Crystal listened intently, soaking in the information like a sponge did water.

"I see..." she said, softly. "Maybe."

The young woman gathered her things at almost six o'clock.

"I have to go now." she stated, calmly, more at ease than she had been for a long time. "I have Jeet Kune Do to get to. Thanks for the lesson Matt, I learned loads and it was fun too."

Matt smiled then blinked.

"Are you not taking this a bit too seriously Crystal? You started Karate last night and you started Tai Chi and are starting Jeet Kune Do tonight. Don't push yourself too hard..."

The young woman blinked.

"I wouldn't say so. Matt. Since you lot want me en..." she started to say, voice shaking. "Well yes. I have to take steps to defend myself."

Matt nodded, ever so slightly. "True. See you at Karate, Crystal."

She nodded then and left, silently and in a far calmer mood than she had been.

By ten past six, Lucian was teaching her the basics of Jeet Kune Do.

"In Jeet Kune Do, you use every move that you know of to stay alive. And if you do get done for assault, do you know what you say?" Lucian smiled. "I can tell you..."

Crystal shook her head. "I don't."

Lucian chuckled. "You must say this. I was in fear of my life. Because, being a female person, you are not as strong as most men and some males of our species will go for a woman for that very reason. You must use everything that you know to keep you safe, mentally, and physically. Hell... I'm not meaning to offend you Crys' so if I do, I'm really very sorry... But you're not even as strong as most women either. You're fine-boned and can be powerful when you're riding your horses, but not as a standard."

The young woman listened intently, nodding in understanding and agreement, not at all offended, since it really was the honest truth.

"We do have belts here and they are hard to gain but if you train hard, you will advance and reap the benefits of that the stronger you become." Lucian said, firmly. "I hope that you do that, quickly."

Crystal laughed. "Matt said more or less the same thing, apart from him saying that there was no belts as such."

Lucian back-stepped. "You went to Matt's hall?!"

The young woman nodded. "Yes, I have to be able to defend myself in as many ways as possible and become mentally strong. That is another way I can defend myself."

Lucian smiled.

"True. Well at least you will be able to protect yourself." he chuckled. "Which is always good."

The young woman nodded again and left at a quarter to seven for Karate. Once there David went through the very basics again, making sure she understood, before letting her demonstrate on him.

"So, what have you been doing today Crystal?" the man asked, warmly.

Crystal grinned.

"Putting horses out, mucking out, and bringing horses in, feeding said animals." she chuckled. "As well as starting at a meditation class and another fitness class then here."

David chuckled. "Sounds like you have had an exhausting day."

Crystal laughed. "Just your average day really."

A short time later Chad and the others entered the Hall and began to train themselves.

Crystal shifted slightly. "Are Karate and Kick-Boxing able to be used anywhere in defending myself?"

David nodded, vigorously. "Oh yes. In a fight you use everything that you know, no matter how brutal and nasty it may seem, to get away unharmed, no matter how badly the other person or people fighting against you are injured. Their lives don't matter. Yours does. Always put yourself first when it comes to your survival."

Crystal smiled, slyly.

"So, if, for example I was caught in a situation that I needed to defend myself in, and I injured the people badly... " she paused, thinking, eyeing Matt. "I couldn't get arrested or anything for fighting back?"

David smiled warmly.

"As long as you said, 'I was in fear of my life' you would be perfectly fine. It would be your attackers that would be the worse off."

Crystal nodded, taking in all the additional information.

Time passed, and David got called over to one of the other students.

"I am coming Lucy." he smiled. "Keep training Crystal, you have a long way to go before your yellow belt and not so much time to train up to that level."

The slim African female nodded silently, training hard.

That was the moment that Chad and the others had been waiting for and, surrounding her, they hid her from David's view if he happened to look in that direction, since she was so much smaller than they were, for the most part.

Jeremy grabbed her from behind, one hand locking around her arms and the other about her throat, his grip restrictive and tight as he pinned her so, touching her up with a knee between her legs and rubbing that knee against her, gently.

"Get off!" she croaked, struggling hard. "Stop it... " She yowled a soft note as she was teased. "... Please... Stop... Please..." she wheezed a little. "N-n-n-nghn-n-n-n... I... a-a-a-ah-h-h-h... Nee..."

"Hell no." the man growled into her ear. "This is for last night!" He leered at her. "Want more?" he hissed. "Does my touch feel good?"

He tightened his grip, not giving her a chance to answer, then threw her over his shoulder, the young woman landing hard and winded. She did not get much chance to defend herself though as Chad leapt on her, after a flurry of punches and kicks to lower her weak defence even more before he pinned her down, head-locking her once more.

Crystal writhed furiously before becoming inactive, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Will you ever stop fighting us Crystal?" asked Chad in a low voice, as he cruelly tightened his grip. "Each time we see you it is going to be the same until the day you finally and truly yield to us, giving yourself willingly into our hands so that we can decide your destiny because if you don't, we'll have to tear you apart and into shreds."

Whimpering brokenly, the young woman lay quiet before Chad let her go.

After telling David that she would be in again the next night Crystal left and went home.

The following morning found the young woman telephoning a Judo instructor.

"Hello, this is Craggy Gardens Hall, Hector speaking." a familiar voice asked. "How may I help you today?"

Crystal chuckled, inwardly before saying. "I would like to join your club."

"Do you know where we are?" Hector grinned. "Come down at nine o'clock and we will see what we can do for you."

She nodded. "Yeah I know where you are and okay."

Hector smiled. "Bye."

The young woman laughed, hanging up. "See you later Hector. Have a lovely day!"

Realising too late, Hector growled and glared at the phone before he hung up too, "She is such a piece of dead meat."

The young woman spent rest of the day exercising her horses.