This is Part 25, and because it’s Part 25, I have something a little bit special planned. Because this series has been running since September and it’s getting all unweildly, I’m going to go ahead and call everything leading up to and including this post ‘Volume One’ and I’m going to release all of Volume One in a single ebook download. It’s formatted so that you can read it on your PC, or on your laptop or on your Kindle or Nook or Super-E-Reader-5000 or iPad or any other device along those lines.

Here’s the final post in the first volume of the series.

There had been a few instances in the pastwhere they had butted heads, but none of them had the quiet intensity of that moment. Ayla sat crosslegged and perfectly still whilst Kira shuffled uncomfortably. Atrocious could sense that Kira had already lost before they’d even begun, but why? She was strong, incredibly powerful in her own right. Now that Atrocious’ temper had settled she was amazed she’d had the nerve to go after the warrior at all. Overnight Kira had shed some of the weight of her armor and was wearing a simple leather tunic and pants. Her arms were free and bare and covered from shoulder to elbow in curling tattoos that Atrocious knew must have hurt like hell to get. Underneath the tattoos, toned muscles rippled with even the slightest movement of her arms.

In comparison, Ayla seemed weak. She was not quite delicate in appearance, but the naturally refined set of her features did not lend themselves to violence. By all rights, Kira should have been able to dominate Ayla easily, and yet she did not. For all her bluster and insistence on order, Kira came second to Ayla.

Nibbling at her chocolate, Atrocious noted that Kira wasn’t pleased by the fact. Her handsome features were slipping ever closer to a full blown pout, making her look incongruously childish.

“Are we going to need a demonstration?” Ayla pressed the question softly.

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Women have always been pressured to be ‘feminine’ a word that has come to mean dainty and servile and pretty and alluring. If I use the word ‘feminine’ in describing something, it is unlikely that the reading audience will take it that I mean something is strong and bold and honorable. Instead, it will nigh mean the opposite, weak and shy and easily lead astray. That, in and of itself, is exceptionally telling.

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