Posted by PK on October 16, 2002 at 16:11:13:
Karen wasn't finished. She wrapped her limbs around the lithe, hard body of the huntress and
nuzzled her tiger-velvet skin. Her soft tongue lapped, teased and tasted. She wanted to know
where she was going. She stroked Amanda's flanks, slipped a hand between her legs and
stroked the fur. She ran delicate fingers over the firm belly she'd soon be inside. "There was
a young lady from Niger..." she sang.
"Who smiled as she rode on a tiger," Alanna picked it up. "They came back from the ride..."
"With the lady inside..." - Karen, gaily....
"And the smile on the face of the tiger," Amanda smiled. "You want to ride the tiger again?"
"Once more before I go inside?"
"Once more with feeling..."
Karen arched upwards, pressing her belly and loins to Amanda's. Contact.
"And because you're still in berserker mode and can't come down," Amanda went on, "You
still think battle is on. I told you, it's over. You're not silly enough to think you can kill me."
Alanna was unsteady on her feet but she was drunk so she didn't mind that. Amanda was
right. What could she do? She looked at Karen's body again. Still dead. She'd lost. Sajida?
You daft sod, Sajida told her. You bloody won. Don't be a bigger plonker than you must. Give
it a rest. Get out alive. Ed lost, he's dead.
"You didn't lose, Alanna, you survived. Call it a draw if you like. Honour is satisfied, and all
that rot," Amanda said. "Join me for dinner?"
"Nice of you to invite me," Alanna said mechanically, "But.."
"I didn't," Amanda said. "She did."
"Oh, come ON." Amanda was overdoing it. Wasn't she?
The huntress uncovered Karen and picked her up with no apparent effort. She carried her to
the doorway. Karen's bare feet almost hit Alanna in the face. She could smell the salt-sweet
aroma of her.
"She did," Amanda said as she disappeared out of the doorway.
Follow me, follow, echoed in Alanna's head. She followed. She remembered:
With a host of furious fancies
Whereof I am commander
With a burning spear, on a horse of air
To the wilderness I wander
By a knight of ghosts and shadows
I summoned am to tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wide world's end
Methinks it is no journey.
She followed. For a while, the journey back to the kitchen seemed like an Odyssey.
Something had gone wrong with time and space. She reached the kitchen moments or hours
after Amanda did. It was nice and warm in there. She considered passing out.
"You should get some food inside you," Amanda said solicitously. "You lost a bit of blood."
The huntress was doing things with the stove, she was pulling out cooking implements, herbs
and seasonings....
Alanna's eyes lost focus. The room swam.
Karen - Karen's body - was lying on a big table. Big kitchen, Alanna thought, for such a small
cabin. Small table nearby. Chair. Sit down...warm and fuzzy.
"I'd say sit down before you fall down, but I see you've got the idea," Amanda said. "Supper
in a few minutes."
Alanna stared at her owlishly. "You're going to feed her to me."
Amanda handed her a pint glass of beer. "Drink me," she said. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Yes,
I'm going to cook a few nice bits of Karen and you're invited to share. It's that or packet soup.
If I were Karen, I'd feel insulted if you declined."
["You're going to invite her to dinner? To dine on me?" Karen had smiled. "How...cosy. I'm
going to be a romantic meal for two." She had spread herself out, imagining it. "Wine, soft
music, candles..."]
Alanna wasn't sure how to react to that. Amanda had not bothered to point out that she'd
eaten human flesh before. But that was people she hadn't known. Was that better?
Amanda was cutting Karen up. With a sharp knife, she sliced the dead girl's breasts off. Then
she went to work between her legs. To Alanna, it seemed like sacrilege, a violation. She
knew that was irrational, but it hurt her anyway.
Amanda did things with grills, frying pans and bottles. Karen was well on her way to being
food on a plate. As nature intended, no doubt.
"You can share or not," Amanda said offhandedly. "But there are a couple of things you
should know." She did something with another device and there was music.
"Do tell." Alanna was out of snappy repartee.
"One, I'm going to eat her anyway. Two, she liked the idea that you'd share."
Alanna could smell parts of Karen cooking. She was starving. "Haven't you got any potatos?"
she grumbled.
Amanda smote her forehead. "You're right," she said. "There's a sack of them. I can bake
you one in the microwave. You can have it in five minutes. No cheese or butter, we've only
got sunflower oil margarine. I'm going to have a serious talk to the people who are
responsible for this. Carrots with that?"
Alanna wanted meat. Meat with blood in it. She should have eaten Ed. Why hadn't she?
Personal disinclination, she remembered. Northern Exposure. Wasn't this just too cosy? Now
she was going to eat Karen. And why not? Would Karen have minded? Would she have
eaten her if it had gone the other way? She imagined Karen smiling, saying "I'd eat you,
Alanna," with a fond expression that made it a compliment. Would she have said that?
"No idea," Amanda said. "Well, maybe a few..."
Alanna met Amanda's eyes. Again. A glancing blow. The madwoman's mien was playful
again. Her heart skipped. How could she ever have imagined that she had even the ghost of
a chance of beating her? Might as well trade punches with Lennox Lewis. "What are you
going to do with Ed?" she prevaricated.
Amanda took seconds off from her culinary preparations to lean over her. She smelled of
clean sweat, sex, leather and cooking herbs. She took Alanna gently by the shoulders.
"Nothing," she said. "He's your kill. Karen is mine. Thanks for that, she's going to be
delicious."
Alanna imagined Ed lying dead in the woods. Did she really care?
"Claim your prize," Amanda said. "I have mine."
"Once more before I go inside?"
"Once more with feeling..."
Karen had fucked Amanda's brains out. Almost. She almost regretted killing her afterwards.
Almost.
"She was that good?" Alanna was timeloose. Picking up threads. Casual telepathy.
"Lousy quarry, really good fuck. Possibly nice sauteed in butter..."
Alanna hadn't the energy for a really good glare.
"Just eat her," Amanda advised. "Then tell me if you liked her flavour. Or tell her. Oh,
comments on my culinary skills will be heeded."
Alanna wanted to remember what Karen's eyes had looked like. She couldn't.
"I want the bow," she said. That was all she wanted from Dead Ed. "Fuck Ed. Let the badgers
eat him. Or whatever. I'm finished with him."
"Done," Amanda said. "You can have the bow, the lodge won't miss it. Fuck Ed? Not while
there's dogs on't street, as Sajida might say." She said that with a passable Yorkshire accent.
"And worms for Eddie. So be it. Are you finished with Karen? Do you seek.." here she rolled
her eyes and adopted an American accent.."Closure?"
Too easy. Oh, sod it. "I'll eat her," she said. She wanted to. She tried not to hate herself. She
closed her eyes for a second and saw Ed's face again. The rage, shock and disbelief. He had
been so sure he had her. What had he been thinking in the last few seconds?
The bow, Ed knew, would be no use in this chase. It didn't matter. He knew he'd been led
around by the nose, that Amanda the wonder bitch had set him up. It didn't matter. The black
girl had let him get too close. It was almost over, she was faltering. She kept stumbling, she
must be tired. He'd lost Karen, probably. Amanda fucking Blake probably had her. That didn't
matter either. He'd have her stooge, he'd wipe that taunting smirk off her face. Almost
there...the black girl fell. The stick she was holding...she twisted and turned to face him...
Alanna had read somewhere about boar spears. You have to get the point in, then you have
to brace it. Maybe she hadn't made it long enough. Maybe she'd miss. Maybe didn't matter
because there was no way out. If it didn't work, she was finished. A wild boar will impale itself
on a spear just to get to you...
Something smacked Ed in the gut, winding him. His breath spilled out and didn't want to
come back. The pain became almost blinding. The black girl was holding the other end of the
pole she'd hit him with, she'd braced it against a tree bole. He twisted aside, pulling his knife
through a mist of pain and fury. Something tore inside him. He struck out, half blind, and
heard her cry out. He couldn't see where he'd hit her, he hoped it had been fatal. The last
thing he remembered seeing was the look on her face as she'd tried to hold the spear steady
against his weight. She had been terrified. Terrified and aweful. If he had ever understood
the concept of Nemesis or the Furies, the Avengers, he would have seen it then.
Alanna opened her eyes.
"Finished?" Amanda asked.
"I think so," Alanna said. For now, she thought.
"Home is the hunter, home from the hill," Amanda lilted. She placed a plate in front of
Alanna. "Get it while it's hot. Well, warm."
Alanna saw a rare steak on a plate. Seared but plump with juices. There were mushrooms
with it, and a knife and fork. And a sprig of parsley. Culinary irony?
"Cooking good meat is easy", Amanda commented. "You just cauterise it on both sides so
the good stuff doesn't boil away. You might have to chew a bit. Personally, I've never
understood the need to supply adults with baby food. Spare me from TV dinners. God gave
us teeth for a reason. And knives...that's what Sheffield steel is for. Oh, don't mind me.
Rambling on. Tuck in."
Amanda sat down opposite Alanna. She had a steak too, and something else. Karen's 'filet'.
So rare that Alanna could smell her sex, salted and seasoned with Amanda's own, she
guessed. Well, of course. Two minutes ago, or two hours, Alanna had touched Karen's hand.
She had still been warm. The room had smelled, not unpleasantly, of sweat and musk. Karen
might have fallen asleep after making love. Except, of course, that she was dead and that
Amanda had killed her. "I'm sorry," Alanna said again. "Sorry I couldn't do more."
"As grace before a meal, that's not a bad one," Amanda commented. "Don't overdo it." She
addressed herself to Karen's private parts with as much gusto as decorum allowed.
Carefully, Alanna sliced a piece of Karen and put it in her mouth. Two bites later...or three or
four...delicious. Karen tasted good, of course she would...
"What's the music?" Alanna asked.
"Spirit," Amanda said. "Old album. My father saw them live at Reading. Not many American
bands impressed him at the time but they played a good set. Wine?"
When I touch you
I feel the same way too
I feel the mountains rise
I feel them touch the skies..
Throbbing bass and drum buildup, guitar crescendo, all the passion and conviction that rock
music had back in the early days. No synths, no lift music. Raw. I will not see you any more...
"Wouldn't dream of it," Alanna said ,smirking. Oh fuck, bad pun. But apposite. She was
feeling better. Tired, aching and half drunk. Still half-naked. Having dinner with a lunatic.
Well, why not? Nothing much on TV tonight. (Amanda gave her a wry mouth.) Eating dinner
- Karen - with the Goddess of the Hunt herself. Dear Diary, she wrote in her head, Had a
funny day. Came here expecting to get killed and eaten. Guess what? Met some other
people. Killed one of them, ate the other. Despite herself, she smiled. Looped.
Thunder and lightning came almost simultaneously. Rain beat against the windows. The
storm had circled and returned. Her patron deity was back to watch over her. Even Amanda
couldn't beat Thor. Sajida would have understood, Yorkshire was Viking territory. The
subsonics shook the air and rattled the windows, but the walls were wooden, not brick, and
they didn't fall down. The wolf could huff and puff. No piggies here. No piggy I.
"Care to do this again some time?" Amanda asked lightly. The storm didn't bother her either,
Valkyries, choosers of the slain, ride the storm easily.
I will not see you any more...maybe she could. No...don't back down. Never back down.
Alanna wanted a bed. She wanted to lie down and sleep for twelve hours and wake up in the
normal world. She could hike back to the lodge through the storm. No way. In her present
state she probably wouldn't make it. Miles to go, but no promises to keep, nothing left to spur
her on. In here it was cosy. Food, warmth, beds. Amanda wouldn't kill her now, if she'd
wanted to do that she would have and trying to escape would be futile anyway. She almost
yawned. "Not a fucking chance," she said, slurring just a bit. "Get me a drink and put another
record on." Should she have said 'please'? No.
Amanda, nodded and stood up, a wry twist to her mouth. "Any preference?" She regarded
Alanna with interest. The gentle grey eyes, half closed, looked like storm clouds after the
storm had passed, maybe to return. Brooding, hiding potential energy. Never be mine, she
reminded herself. Still, promises to keep.
"Surprise me," Alanna said.
END
PK,