SCARLETS DOMAIN

"We should be on our way, not wet-nursing these
peasants!" sneered Karelia as we rode towards the
appointed spot at dawn.

"I have warned you before not to be so anxious to meet
the Amazons," I said.

"Pshaw! They present no threat to me! I am a woman
like them, and they would not turn down my services,
even if I have to take a few of them with me in order
to prove my worth."

"It is part of the Amazon code never to go with a man.
They will not accept anyone who is not pure. Are you a
virgin Karelia?"

Karelia shot me a glance and said nothing, her scowl
telling me all.

"Even if their own kind are found to have allowed
themselves to be violated, the punishment is extreme."

There was a pause before Karelia asked. "What happens
to them?"

"I have seen them," I whispered, "their agony etched
on their dead faces."

"Go on!"

"I have seen the sharpened stakes protruding from
their mouths, their breasts or their stomachs,
bloodied with their entrails. I have seen their blood
drench the shaft of the wood which has been their
final lover."

Once again I felt the electricity of Karelia's anger.

"You lie!" she yelled. "They are women, they fight for
the freedom of their kind!"

"You are a woman," I said quietly, goading her, "yet
you slaughtered that innocent peasant girl!"

"Karelia!" Gudrun rode between us. "Why don't you take
10 of the girls on a scouting expedition. Antiope and
I will teach the remainder swordplay and archery."

Karelia nodded reluctantly and we approached our
recruits. Their number had dwindled somewhat, but
those who remained had a resolute air about them.

Karelia chose her ten, and I divided the remainder by
size. I figured that the larger women would be more
suited to heavy infantry work, while Gudrun could
teach the smaller lighter ones the skills of the
arrow. They would all be tested at each of the
essential skills of warcraft, but already I was
assessing their likely strengths and weaknesses.

I began teaching my women the basic moves - thrust
parry, attack, defend, counter attack. I had them
wield their retrieved weapons, in imitation of me,
learning by heart the basic ways to stay alive, until
they could imitate my moves in their sleep.

At first they were awkward, and then they hid their
awkwardness behind nervous giggling. Then one of them
burst out laughing openly. This had to be stopped.
I strode into their ranks and seized the girl who
seemed to think this was some kind of entertainment. I
flung her to the ground and placed the point of my
sword on her breast.

"Some will die without ever having fought in anger," I
hissed. "Do you want to be the first?"

I pushed the sword downward, pricking the wide-eyed
girls soft flesh, and staining her tunic with blood.

There was no more laughter.

Shaking when she got to her feet, she let out an
involuntary sob.

"There is no time for tears of self pity either,
bitch!" I barked.

Silence.

Next, I selected Xanthe to demonstrate. I told the
others to watch, while we practised together what I'd
taught them. Thrust and parry made the steel of our
weapons sing, and I could see in her eyes that it gave
her a new and unfamiliar pleasure.

"Good, Xanthe, very good!" I told her. "Now you must
try to kill me!"

"But..."

"Don't worry, Xanthe," I smiled at her. "If you
succeed, I should not be fit to train you or to lead
you. You would be ready for any invaders."

She came at me, half-heartedly and I parried her blade
easily, whipping my point up so that it rested in the
V of her throat. She gasped.

"I did not try to kill you, Xanthe, but if you throw
yourself on my sword as you have just done, you will
be crossing the Styx before you can blink!" I said
icily, "You only get one chance, Xanthe and this is
it. If you can't do better than this feeble effort I
will spill your guts on the grass!"

Fear showed in her eyes, but when I pushed the point
of the blade, she jumped back, sword at the ready. She
understood.

With a yell she came at me. Once again I parried, but
did not counter-attack. She slashed two handed at my
side, and I jumped back, slashing my sword downwards
just in time to deflect the thrust at my belly.

She had an instinct for this.

She came at me once more, and this time I ducked under
her blade, closing in on her inside its range. For an
instant we stood, hot breath on each others cheeks,
then I brought my knee up into her crotch.

She crumpled with an animal groan, curling up at my
feet.

I turned to face my class.

"The most vital rule of warfare," I told them, "is
that there are no rules."

The words were scarcely out of my mouth, when Xanthe
lunged at me from the ground, her sword directed at my
groin. But for my honed reactions I would have been
ruined, but I was able to parry her thrust,
side-stepping and kicking her in the face as I moved.
I helped her to her feet, laughing.

"A lesson well learned, Xanthe, we'll make a warrior
of you yet!" She smiled back at me, the trickle of
blood from her mouth ignored. I turned to the others.

"Pair off, practice what you've learned for a while,
then we can rest."

No sooner had they started, than a shriek rent the
air.

Karelia emerged from the woods. Of the 10 girls she
had taken scouting, only 7 still lived. The remaining
three were carried on makeshift stretchers.

The shriek had come from one of my students. She
dropped her weapon and rushed over to one of the
stretchers were a shapely dark-haired girl gazed
sightlessly at the sky. The front of her tunic was
reddened by a hideous belly wound and loops of
intestine slipped from between her legs. The girl
seemed oblivious of this as she embraced her, sobbing.

"What happened?" I demanded of Karelia.

She simply stared at me, apparently not understanding,
the fire of bloodlust burning wildly in her eyes.

I looked around. All of her girls seemed to be in some
state of shock, either sobbing uncontrollably, or
comforting each other. I seized one of them, a short
blonde, who was attending to the wounds of one of her
friends.

"Tell me what has happened!" I demanded.

She looked up at me fearfully.

"We... we came across one of their skirmishing
parties," she said, "and we...," she hesitated and
looked at Karelia, "...she... killed all of them."

By now, Gudrun had joined us. She approached Karelia,
putting her arm around her, and whispering soothingly,
much as a rider might calm a wild horse. Karelia
eventually became calmer - less dangerous.

"Not all our dead," continued the blonde, "were killed
by the enemy."

She nodded towards one of the girls on the stretcher.
Dried blood filled her mouth and her eyes were frozen
in terror. Her body had been slashed from the shoulder
to the centre or her rib cage by a blow which had
shattered flesh and bone, splitting heart and breast
alike. This was a blow that required superhuman
strength. If Karelia had done this.

I glanced across at her, and felt a shiver of fear.
This was not right.

As we walked back to the village, I became aware of a
sallow, dark haired girl keeping pace with me.

"There is something of the night about your friend
Karelia," she said.

I flared angrily. "Stay your tongue, wench," I said,
"unless you want it torn from your mouth and thrust
into your sex!"

She simply shrugged. "I saw her wounded, yet now there
is no wound. How can that be?"

I stopped in my tracks. Gudrun's medicine was still
working, and every wound that Karelia sustained must
be destroying her soul further as she recovered from
it. The girl saw my concern.

"I... I know of a witch who can help," she said.

I paused. I hated witchcraft of any kind, but if it
were possible to save Karelia's soul before she joined
the undead, then it had to be explored. I nodded.

"The price will be high," said the girl

"Then we must raise it," I said.

If there was any thought of hesitation in seeking help
for Karelia, it was soon dispelled. I heard her battle
roar behind me, and turned in alarm.

Who knows what happened. Maybe the poor girl got over
confident, or maybe she simply said something out of
place. either way, she was now fighting for her life
under Karelia's brutal onslaught.

"Karelia!" I screamed as I ran towards her. There was
no reaction as Karelia bore down on her victim. I felt
a sick feeling rising in the pit of my stomach as I
realised that I could not hope to reach them in time.
I knew that the girl's fate was sealed, and from the
fear in her eyes, she knew it too.

Nevertheless, for someone who had learned little of
swordplay, she put up a good defence, blocking
Karelia's heavy slashes. It did her no good. Gudrun
and I were still not close enough as the girl screamed
horribly, her body jerking under the impact of
Karelia's sword as it ripped clean through her body.

She stared in horror at the blade protruding from her
midriff as she clawed at the surging blood. Her legs
quivered as Karelia twisted it viciously, releasing a
flow of bubbling gore down the girls tunic.

"Karelia, enough!" shrieked Gudrun, as she drew her
sword.

Karelia barely had time to turn as Gudrun swung her
blade at her head, turning it at the last minute so
that only the flat of it caught the side of her neck.
It was enough to knock Karelia to the ground, and
before she could react, I was on her, sitting astride
her, my knees pinning her shoulders. She bucked with
superhuman strength,. almost dislodging me from my
position.

I balled my fist and hit her in the face. She was
still.

Gudrun was beside me, her head buried in her hands.

"What have I done," she moaned. "This is not the
fearless warrior I came to love - I have made her a
monster!"

I was silent for a moment. I was still angry with her
for what she did to Karelia, but then she looked up at
me, her tear-stained face so full of despair, that my
black heart relented.

"We may be able to do something," I said. Gudrun
looked at me questioningly. I looked up. The sallow
girl was standing over us.

"Bind her," she said, "and come with me to the cave of
Streeth"

Will continue in chapter 10...