SCARLETS DOMAIN

I went over to where Comerus lay, groaning on the
ground.

"Poor fool!" I snapped. "You thought you knew
better...!"

"Ach..." he gritted trying to reach the arrow that
protruded from his back, "so kill me now, Antiope or
do something about this. You have no time to gloat!"

He was right, of course. It wouldn't be long before
the woods were crawling with Amazons searching for us.
I knelt down, and snapped off the shaft, marvelling
that he wasn't dead already. Lia and Pinky helped him
to his feet.

"We can't carry him," said Pinky. "We have to leave
him."

"Take... aaah! Take me to the body of the Amazon,"
said Comerus, "I have an idea."

We helped him over to where the dead woman lay. There
were bushes at the base of the tree she had been shot
from.

"I'll hide here," he said. "They're bound to seek her
out first, and when they do, I'll take as many out as
possible. That way, you'll have more time to do what
you have to."

We looked at one another, then, aware that time was
short, I nodded. We helped conceal him as best we
could, then started cautiously towards the Amazon
camp.

We had not gone far when we saw them.

"Novices," I said.

There were ten of them, all naked except for a black
apron front and back and a black bandanna. They were
accompanied by an Amazon veteran, attired in her
customary armour, kilt and fur lined helmet. None of
the novices were older than 16 summers. It seemed such
a shame that they should dedicate their young lives to
death.

Quickly we hid ourselves from their watchful eyes, as
they spread out, looking for evidence of our presence.

"Over here!"

One of them had found the corpse of the Amazon guard,
and the others gathered round to look. I felt my heart
beating as I watched.

"Bastards!" one of them hissed.

She leaned forward, slightly over the body with her
back to where Comerus lay hidden. She didn't even hear
the rustle of leaves as he made his move.

With one arm around her throat, he drove the point of
his sword into her kidney and let her slip to the
ground while turned his attention to the next fighter.

Alerted by the flurry of her comrades agonised
writhing, the next warrior had turned only to have her
breast split open by Comerus' bloody sword as he drove
it into her heart. She dropped lifeless on to the body
of the wounded warrior.

Comerus would have enjoyed the spectacle if he had had
time. As the first victim arched her back, the blood
of the second victim spread over her breasts as her
flaccid body quivered. If he didn't get a chance to
enjoy their deaths, I did.

But the advantage of Comerus' surprise didn't last
long. Already the others had turned, crying out in
indignation, their weapons driving towards him. One of
them shrieked as his sword drove into her groin as he
parried, her amateurish thrust. She fell with her dead
and dying colleagues. There were too many of them for
Comerus, though, and he knew he was doomed.

He screamed as a sword sliced into his ribs under his
armpit, and another cut cruelly into his fingers,
forcing him to drop his sword.

"Get him!" screamed one of them thickly. She had got
behind him and drover her sword upwards between his
buttocks.

Comerus cries took on a hoarse quality as he arched
his back. The sudden growth of his penis was clearly
visible under his loincloth, and this wasn't lost on
his attackers.

With a yell, one of them grasped the shaft of the
organ as it slipped from under his loincloth, and
before her commander could stop her, had sliced it
right through with her sword.

"My first blood!" she shrieked as Comerus slipped to
the ground, blood spurting from his stump.

"Fool!" yelled her commander, drawing her sword. "He
could have talked! Told us what he was doing here,
where his friends are!"

The look of glee on the girls face transformed into
terror as she felt the point of her commanders sword
on her throat. She dropped Comerus' penis and began to
shake with fear, urine running down her leg.

"The only reason I don't kill you now is that we have
already lost three girls, and we may yet come under
attack!"

With that the commander withdrew her sword and looked
at the sorry pile of corpses, shaking her head.

She looked around nervously, while we remained silent.

"There's no one else here," she said finally. "If
there were, we'd be dead by now. Let's take our dead
and go."

With that, the remaining girls gingerly disentangled
the bodies of their comrades, and took the corpse of
the guard. Two remained behind to take her place.

Pinky finally opened his eyes. His face was a very
strange colour, and when the others had gone, I helped
him up, and we skirted around the two novice guards
easily, and proceeded towards the Amazon camp.

We only had to kill one more watcher before we reached
the encampment. Killing is risky - the slightest cry
would see the forest crawling with Amazons since now
we were so close, but this girl had too good a vista.

This time it was Lia who showed her skill. Taking a
length of rope, she tied a noose around one end and
carefully looped it, then swinging her arm carefully,
she threw the rope. Her aim was spot on target, and
just as the Amazon became aware of the rope settling
on her shoulders, Lia pulled it tight around her neck.

All the unfortunate girl had time to do was emit a
rasping hiss as Lia jerked the rope again, pulling her
from the tree. She fell, arms and legs flailing, and
no sooner was she on the ground when Gudrun was on
her. Seizing her victims head, she jerked it quickly
to the side. As her vertebra cracked, the Amazon
arched her back in her death jerks, then lay still.
Carefully Lia removed her rope and we went on.

We finally found it. From behind a bluff on top of a
hill we could see the camp sprawling away before us,
with Amazons moving like ants below.

"We don't stand a chance!" breathed Gudrun, "there are
just too many!"

"Yes, but if we find and kill Ritta, they'll all go
home," I said.

"I don't know," said Pinky, "they seem pretty fired up
to me! Besides how are we going to find Ritta in that
lot?"

I surveyed the camp carefully. All around Amazons were
training, or going about their daily business. There
were novices, like the ones we had come across,
collected together in nervous little clusters. There
were also the regular Amazon warriors in their
helmets, leather armour and kilts. I could even see
the Queens tent, surrounded by her red-cloaked honour
guard. But I was looking for something else.

"There!" I hissed.

Will continue in chapter 7...