SCARLETS DOMAIN

At that moment, Molly turned towards us her eyes
betraying her shock, then back towards Streeth, before
throwing a glass phial to the ground. Gudrun and I
shielded our eyes as brief bright flames flared.

"Aaah! What trickery is this!?" Streeth screamed,
blinking her red eyes, temporarily blinded by the
flare.

In that instant, I seized Omphale and pushed her to
where Molly stood, while Molly assumed a position with
Gudruns knife at her throat.

Streeth, angered, by the ruse, and blinking against
the blinding flare, seized the protesting Omphale and
flung her viciously against the cave wall. Omphale
crumpled, whimpering.

"Streeth! We have a deal! We want Karelia, or Omphale
dies!"

Since Streeth's eyesight was never her strong point,
and now it had been rendered all but useless by
Molly';s flare, we hoped that the obvious differences
between Molly and Omphale would not compromise our
deception. It was essential, however, that Streeth
didn't investigate too closely.

"Ach! Very well!"

Streeth pulled Omphale to her feet and tore the flimsy
shift from her body before chaining her writhing
victim to a stone slab next to Karelia. Then she
circled the slab uttering hideous incantations which
froze the blood.

Then she drew a knife, its blade glittering in the
light. Slowly, she brought it down to Omphale's
heaving abdomen, its point indenting her flesh, just
below the ribcage.

Then, with an arcane cry, she drove the blade deep
into Omphale's body, slicing downwards to her pubis.

Omphale's intestines writhed like snakes, appearing to
take on a life of their own, rather than spilling to
the floor of the cave. It seemed as if the gash in her
torso lay open as if awaiting an offering.

Next Streeth turned to Karelia, dancing wildly around
her body and screaming more incantations. Karelia
screamed and writhed, and as I watched, I felt that
old desire for her body returning. Her thighs, spread
before us, quivered as they fought their bonds, and
the golden thatch of her sex gave way to her heaving
belly. Her breasts moved enticingly...

Then, before anyone could move, Streeth brought her
knife down, thrusting it deep into Karelia's breast.
Karelia screamed horribly, arching her back as Streeth
cut into her flesh, before thrusting her hand into the
gaping wound and pulling her beating heart from it.

I saw that it was black and putrid, as Streeth turned
and placed the organ into Omphale's gaping wound.

Omphale screamed through her gag, and writhed as it
seemed her own intestines embraced Karelia's black
heart. Her body bucked desperately as she tried to
escape what obviously was extreme pain, before Streeth
reached in once more and pulled the heart from
Omphale's now steaming guts.

Karelia's heart was now a natural healthy red and it
still appeared to beat strongly, as Streeth replaced
it in Karelia's chest.

Magically, the wounds in Karelia's breast seemed to
heal and Karelia lay still and peaceful, her breasts
rising and falling as she slumbered peacefully now.

I felt hope begin to rise in my own breast. Could it
be that at long last we would have Karelia back with
us again? Omphale was making some hideous sounds as
her body shook with pain. The stench of rotting and
burning filled the cave as her belly cavity
smouldered.

Streeth loosened Karelia's bonds, and Gudrun let Molly
go. The deal, as far as Streeth was concerned, was
done, and we were about to leave, when a cry arose
from the entrance of the cave.

"What manner of hideous witchcraft is this?"

So the Amazon party had found us!

With a scream of rage, Streeth made her challenge,
drawing a vicious-looking serrated sword from
somewhere within her robes.

The Amazons poured in from the entrance, and two of
them lunged at Streeth immediately.

Poor fools!

If their weapons had hit the target they were aiming
for it would have done them no good, for Streeth
seemed to have moved aside without moving at all. The
result was that her sword plunged into the first girls
undefended midriff with a dreadful rasping sound,
which was repeated as it was withdrawn to the sound of
agonised screams as it pulled gobbets of flesh with
it.

With her free hand, she picked the other warrior up by
the throat. The girl's sword swung uselessly and her
legs kicked ineffectually as her windpipe cracked, and
urine sprayed between thrashing thighs.

Seizing this unexpected opportunity, Gudrun and I drew
our own swords and joined the battle, and immediately
I was faced with an Amazon bearing down on me and
howling like a demon. I barely parried her slashing
sword and she drove me backwards as I desperately
tried to protect myself. I stumbled and fell back over
the stone slab that Karelia had once lain on.

I was wide open, legs splayed, as the Amazon stood
above me, her sword already plunging down to split me
like a gourd.

But Karelia - beautiful Karelia - came down like an
avenging angel. Having seized the sword of one of
Streeth's victims, she thrust it now, into the right
breast of my attacker.

The girls eyes widened and blood flowed suddenly from
her mouth as she dropped her weapon and staggered
back, clutching the wound.

Then Karelia was in front of me, her naked body
flexing as she thrust and slashed fearlessly. At any
moment, it seemed, a sharp amazon sword might have
pierced her exposed flesh, opening a breast or the
smooth skin of her abdomen, but she was fearless, and
I could only marvel.

Molly was in trouble. She too had acquired a sword
from a badly wounded Amazon but had been forced to the
ground, and was desperately rolling to avoid her
attackers sword thrust. It was my turn to come to the
rescue, and rolling from the slab, slashed at the
Amazons neck.

The girl was too fast, though, and lifted her shield
to send my blade skittering high. The distraction was
enough for Molly, though, and the girl screamed
horribly as she lost her virginity of Molly's sword.

As she crumpled under the cruel blow, the four of us
fought our way towards the caves entrance.

Even the Amazons were losing heart, horrified by what
Streeth was doing to their sisters. As we fought,
horrible screams came from the women who dared attack
Streeth. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her hand
thrust suddenly into the lower belly of an unfortunate
Amazon and rip intestines and nameless organs from her
body.

We had to get out of that awful place.

The remaining Amazons wanted to be in that hellish
cave no more than we did. Two ofd them turned and
simply bolted, while a third was not so lucky. I felt
my sword bite into her flesh and the delicious
convulsions of her body transmitted down it's length
as it pierced her kidney.

There was no scream. The agony was too great for that.
Rather, her body spasmed and jerked, her mouth drawn
back in a rictus of pain.

I left her to suffer as I fought back another
retreating Amazon. This time, there was none of the
fierce aggression we had encountered before. The fear
in her eyes, condemned her as surely as any skilled
sword thrust. She slipped on the blood of her
sisters, falling back - her body as exposed as mine
had been moments earlier.

This time, however, there was no Karelia to save her.
My bloody sword tore into the flesh just above her
loincloth, ripping through her uterus and deep into
her body.

My body was singing at the bloodlust, and I felt its
tension mount with my victims agony. It was as if my
spirit was feeding, like a vampire.

At last we four emerged into the light. The two
Amazons who had escaped before us were sprinting away
as fast as they could.

"Gudrun!" Molly called. She knew that they could not
be allowed to get away and warn the main force which
must surely be coming.

Gudrun notched an arrow and took aim.

There was a scream and one of the amazons stumbled,
Gudrun's arrow buried deep in her upper thigh, just
below her buttock.

Her comrade paused in her flight, torn between helping
her stricken comrade and saving herself. It was just
the delay Gudrun needed. Her second arrow flew true,
straight into the unfortunate girls breast, piercing
her heart.

No mercy for the wounded Amazon. As she stumbled on,
Gudrun took her time. Her third and final arrow took
the girl between the shoulder blades. she screamed,
arching her back, and fell to the ground where she lay
motionless.

It was only then that I could drink in the sweet taste
of what we had achieved. Karelia stood among us once
again, her magnificent body sheening with sweat and
the blood of her victims. She turned and smiled at me,
and in that moment I knew that the sickness that had
inflicted her soul was gone forever.

I could not contain myself, and neither could Gudrun.
We embraced her, showering her with kisses, while
Molly looked on, smiling indulgently.

"Heeyyy, what's all this!", said Karelia, laughing
with pleasure.

"It's been so..."

"Look out!"

Our joy had dulled our instincts, and it was only
Molly's alertness that saved us. A wounded Amazon had
emerged from the cave, blood pouring from a gash in
her side. Her final lunge would have split Karelia's
heart had Molly not deflected her blade in time.

The thwarted Amazon snarled as we faced her, and her
face remained suffused with hatred as three swords
penetrated her body, Gudruns in the belly, mine
through the breast and Karelia's down the length of
her body through the collar bone.

"Who, by the Gods, were they?" breathed Karelia.

"Amazons," I said.

Karelia's eyes widened. "No!" she said. "And we
defeated them!"

"Oh yes," said Molly, smiling, "we are not invincible
you know!"

Karelia stared at Molly, scarcely believing what she'd
heard.

Molly continued. "Your friends captured me!"

"Oh, Molly!" I said, "be fair, we helped you escape!
You alone could have defeated Gudrun or I!"

Juts then a scream emanated from the cave. It was a
scream that seemed to communicate directly into each
of our souls, as much as a sound through the air.

"You have deceived me!"

I shivered.

"I give you this curse. You will all die before your
time!"

No surprise, in the cold light of day, but terror
gripped all our hearts.

That terrible voice continued. "One of you will die at
the hands of the one you love."

We looked at one another.

"A second will die at the hands of the one you should
have loved."

Tears began to form as those terrible words began to
drain our spirits.

"And the third will die at the hands of the one you
would have loved."

There was a terrible finality. Molly's fate was an
afterthought. "I will send my minions to reclaim the
virgin!"

Will continue in chapter 15...