Posted by wurdolak on August 19, 2000 at 05:26:14:
We made our way along the swiftly flowing stream, and worked our way silently through the small trees. We were near our objective and i halted the men and we took cover for a second. I was not tired, but weakened by the thought of the waiflike Amazon who rode through the camp as if she owned it, her shoulder length raven hair blowing and swirling in the slight breeze, because she did own it. She was Theresa-Jenn, Queen of the Amazons of Moyadushka.
I gained control of my breathing and flexed my muscles. Over the rise were two Amazon sentries. One tall and one short. I motioned for Julius to kill the short one, I would take the short one. We dusted our hands in the earth and he drew a stilleto, a long spiked blade that was needle sharp and I had my dirk. Quick as a cat he had her from behind, his hand over her mouth and the other pressing the stiletto downward into the flesh between her collarbone and shoulder, and into her heart. She blew a gout of blood out between of his fingers and went limp. I got the tall one from behind and with all the power of my arms and shoulders drove the dirk into her back, hold her head back, and she live long enough to sink her teeth into my palm. I squinted back tears as I tried to turn the dagger but she heaved and went limp I caught sight of the arrow and turned my head in a millisecond and it hit the back of my helmet and splintered.
I saw Julius with his hand on his victim's chest to rise and with his other hand he grabbed a stone. I duck as the missle sailed over my head like a bullet and hit the Amazon archer in the throat as she was fitting an arrow into her bow to send into my heart. She fell, thrashing,to the ground and lay there writhing. Julius went to the large waterpot and drank deep form the dipper, then handed it to me. I drank my fill and handed it to him. I fumbled for my tiny tobacco pouch and dropped it in the water, it sank before i could grab it. The Khorgans would not mind the taste, considering their culinary habits anyway. I walked over to the choking woman and dropping to my knees, I pressed one hand to her chest and without ceremony cut her throat. She heaved one last quivering sigh and lay still. I carried her to her sisters and lay her on her back next to them. They were all nude, save for a wide belt that followed the cintours of their hips. Their brightly painted toes glistened, and Julius cut their braids from their hair and handed them to me. I motioned for the Khorgans to drink, and we started for the slope as they finished and stopped and kneltin the darkness. One Khorgan sat on the ground next to the glistening bodies and in typical Khorgan fashion, his head dropped to his chest. I took Julius by the arm and we made our way back to the camp.
Dawn was glowing bright from the double sunrise and we gazed across the valley at the Amazons, as many as as golden as a field of corn. One stood out, a statue of white marble on her horseback, her hair still swirling and and her lips like a small red light even from a thousand yards away. Julius had afixed the dead women's hairbraids to a spear and reached it to me as i passed him on my horse. The camp was silent and I stopped and gazed at the Queen on her dark horse. She drew a broad bladed golden colored sword from the sheath on her saddle and held it before her, as a man holds his Satff Of Life before his virgin bride on thier wedding night. I wheeled the horse and made a circuit of the assembled army and suddenly stopped. I raised the spear, the hair pieces swaying and shouted at the top of my lungs, "YOU HAVE FOOD, YOU HAVE WAR, WHAT MORE IS THERE?"
The ranks were silent as I again shouted,"YOU HAVE FOOD, YOU HAVE WAR, WHAT MORE IS THERE?"
And from a thousand throats were shouted, as one,
"DEATH!"
We rode forward and stopped, the heavy knights on warhorses thundering down the slope, across the stream in heart stopping leaps of their steeds, and the infantry ran as one man down the slope,all shout on word as they moved to deal death to the bronze and silent figures before them,
"DEEEEEEEAAAAATH!"
conclusion in Part 3