Contact: norsebarddk@gmail.com
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DISCLAIMERS:
This action adventure yarn belongs in the Uber category. All characters are created by me, though they may remind you of someone.
This story depicts a loving relationship between consenting adult women. If such a story frightens you, you better click on the X in the top-right corner and find something else to read.
The story contains some profanity. Readers who are easily offended by bad language may wish to read something other than this story.
There is genre-typical violence in this story, some of which is directed at women. Readers who are disturbed by this type of depiction may wish to read something other than this story.
All characters depicted, names used, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious. No identification with actual persons is intended nor should be inferred. Any resemblance of the characters portrayed to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
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NOTES FROM THE AUTHOR:
Written : July 30th - August 13th, 2015.
- Thank you very much for your help, Phineas Redux :)
- This is Book 2 of 2 of the Beware The Island Of The Mu-Kwanda -series.
As usual, I'd like to say a great, big THANK YOU to my mates at AUSXIP Talking Xena, especially to the gals and guys in Subtext Central. I really appreciate your support - Thanks, everybody! :D
Description: After Carol Ann Lawrence's daring breakout from the camp run by the fierce warrior women, she must employ every skill she has to battle horrific insects, hairy beasts and the raging elements to get back to the luxury yacht she arrived on - but as her attraction to the alluring Queen Lexa blossoms, she discovers that nothing is ever easy on Ka'una-Kameha. When things come to a head, Carol Ann is forced into a perilous escape from the island of the Mu-Kwanda…
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CHAPTER 1
The relentless rays of the hazy afternoon sun beat down on the mysterious, isolated island in the South Pacific known to the indigenous people as Ka'una-Kameha. With the progress of the hands of time came an increasing humidity below the crowns of the tall trees that made men and beasts alike seek cooler areas. A heat haze shimmered above the bluish-green jungle that proved the environment was inhospitable at best, unbearable at worst.
Even the hyperactive monkeys seemed to be affected by the humid conditions. Always communicating by calling to each other from hidden spots among the trees, the calls were now few and far between, and those that did come were lazy or even listless.
The mountainous cone that rose high above the jungle on the eastern side of Ka'una-Kameha offered very little protection from the strong rays of the sun, so living beings rarely ventured up there in the daytime. At night, it was prime hunting ground for beasts of various kinds - walking or crawling on two, four or eight legs - but even they preferred the shade if they could find any while the sun was out.
Along an outcrop on the base of the cone, a black fur had been spread out between the jagged edge of the rock and the ground like the wall of a tent. The fur was still in the shade or else the temperature underneath it would have been murderous, but it didn't matter to the inhabitant of the makeshift tent.
Gentle snores emanated from the woman with the unusual pinkish-white skin and long, blond hair that made her stand out like a sore thumb among the reddish-brown natives. She was lying on her left, curled up in a fetal position with her head resting on the tattered remains of her navy-striped blouse. Her khaki, full-legged sailor's pants were beyond filthy as were her brand new hiking boots; the blouse had lost its right sleeve so the filth continued up the woman's bare arm. The rest of her upper body wasn't far behind when it came to being unclean with a smudge across her stomach and another gracing her collar bone.
While the woman was sleeping, a beetle took notice of the makeshift tent and crawled past the black fur. Out on a little field expedition to find something to eat, the bug that carried three red stripes across its black armor stopped to assess the edibility of the pinkish skin of the prone creature. It remained there for a little while, unable to decide if it should crawl up the baggy pantleg or across her bare arm.
All its plans were scuppered when the vast, pink creature stirred and let out an unbridled yawn. With the prospect of a noon-time snack vanishing like the dew, the beetle spun around and zipped out of the tent before the tread on the creature's hiking boots could be used against it.
Carol Ann Lawrence rolled over onto her back and smacked her lips several times. With a sigh, she opened her eyes and looked around her little part of the horrific, mysterious island in the middle of nowhere. A sheen of sweat had formed on her arms and brow from the climbing temperatures, so she wiped herself down with the palm of her hand - the least filthy spot on her body. "Oh, I need some water…" she croaked, sitting up underneath the black fur.
Despite the searing heat and high humidity, a shiver rippled over her body when the images of the last twenty-four hours ran across her mind's eye: She had been abducted twice within the space of a few hours, and she had been dragged over more than half the island carried in a net by natives; first by half-naked members of a male-only tribe, then by fearsome warrior women who didn't shy back from murdering perfectly innocent people - as a result, she had seen several men and women die horrible deaths right in front of her. And finally, she had performed a daring escape from a prison cage inside the camp of the warrior women after speaking at length to their ruler, an American castaway by the name of Alexandra Burnside, though she called herself Queen Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda now.
Carol Ann rubbed her face and reached for her blouse. After fluffing it thoroughly to rid it of potential bugs - that could be counted in the hundreds of thousands on Ka'una-Kameha - she put it on though the missing sleeve meant it offered very little protection from the sun, or even from twigs or branches she got too close to. Once she was fully clothed, she put on the belt she had taken from the guard who had been watching over her at the camp. The sharp flint knife was still in its sheath.
Getting up, she moved out of the makeshift tent and pulled the black fur off the jagged edges of the rock it had been hanging from. After fluffing it more than once, she put it over her shoulder. She stopped to look at the garment that she had also stolen from the guard. "I hope she wasn't killed for failing her task," she mumbled, furrowing her brow. "I wouldn't put it past Lexa… that crazy woman. She was bonkers! Oh God, the five shrunken heads on the wall…"
The mere thought of the five trophies sent an ice cold shiver down her spine, and she had to perform a little shimmy to make it go away. The heads had once been on the shoulders of warrior women Lexa had defeated in challenges for the throne. When their challenges had failed, the queen had them beheaded to display their failure for the rest of the tribe.
"I need to get off this island… I need to find the Empress of the Pacific so I can get home," Carol Ann mumbled and set off on a quest to find some water. She had escaped from the camp at dawn, but how long she had slept, she had no idea. She tried to look up at the sun's position, but the hazy clouds that seemed to make the sunlight fuzzy and diffuse made it difficult for her.
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After some time skimming the edge of the jungle walking on a narrow ledge high up the side of the mountainous cone, she finally came to a crystal clear stream that trickled out of a crack in the cone's side. Without any gear to store the water in for later use, she had to drink what she needed while she was there. Cupping her hands, she put them into the stream but let out a shocked squeal when it turned out to be icy. She was too thirsty to be choosy, so she filled her hands with the freezing water and chugged it down her throat.
A moment later, her stomach clenched hard when the cold water hit the empty expanses down there, and she had to gulp several times to keep everything inside. "Oh… I have to drink slower," she mumbled, sipping the next handful of water.
Her filthy arms were next in line to receive a little attention from the icy water, and before long, she resembled the wife of an upper-crust - not to mention ruthless - businessman once more. She had bathed during the night at the two-story royal palace inside the female camp, but the effect of the water on her body had long since been negated by the heat and humidity. In short, she reeked to high heaven. The babbling water was tempting, but she couldn't risk being caught in the buff by man, woman or beast, so she left the stream behind in the hope she could remember its location the next time she needed to drink.
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Moving on, she had a good look over parts of the South Pacific from her vantage point, but she was unable to see the boat she had arrived on with her husband, Charles William Frederick Lawrence the Third, and their staff that included the friendly Greek captain Spyros Antonakis. After braving a horrendous storm, the one-hundred and seventy foot luxury yacht Empress of the Pacific had arrived some two miles north-west of the mysterious island that didn't appear on any of their charts. They had gone ashore on a sandy beach to explore the island but had ended up in a nightmare that had gone on ever since.
Carol Ann sighed and made a slow turn to see as much of the ocean as she could. She had hoped she would be able to see the boat by going as far up as possible, but the bottom line of her plan seemed to be worth less than the sum of its parts. "Maybe they thought I was dead… they're probably halfway back to Hawaii now. Or maybe Charles wanted to continue our Pacific cruise and set off for Peru…"
Her shoulders slumped at the prospect of being marooned on a hostile island inhabited by murderous savages - even if one of them was a gorgeous woman with pale-blue eyes and a soothing, velvety voice. The sound of distant war drums made her shoulders slam back up around her ears, and she let out a brief cry as she spun around on her heel to look down into the jungle.
She stared hard at the bluish-green vegetation below her to see if she was about to be caught by one of the tribes; she couldn't see anything untoward, but she hadn't been able to in any of the other dramatic occasions either. Gulping down a nervous lump, she continued along the narrow ledge that followed the curvature of the cone to move on in case the natives were near.
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An hour later, she had made it around the cone and had reached a plateau not dissimilar to the one where her husband had planted the Lawrence family standard in a crack in the flat slab of rock. Though she needed to rest her legs, the stone was far too warm to sit on so she shuffled over to the only spot that offered any shade: yet another jagged outcrop that appeared to have been created by a rock slide.
Moving down clumsily while uttering a few moans and groans caused by the searing heat and the strain on her muscles, she pulled up her legs into a sitting fetal position and buried her head in her hands. She didn't want to cry, but there was no holding back the tears.
After a little weep, she sniffled and dried her cheeks. "I can't go home… I can't go back to Lexa. I'm going to die up here," she whispered, looking around at the gray rock that glittered like it contained quartz or another form of crystal. She had a narrow view out onto the Pacific, but the Empress wasn't there, either.
The plateau she was sitting on was located on the outer rim of the ancient volcanic crater that had created the island once upon an eon ago following an underwater eruption. Open-sided like a horseshoe, the walls of the crater formed a vertical, two-hundred foot drop down into a flooded hollow where the salt water on the inside of an eroded circle was darker, and thus far deeper, than the crashing waves on the outside.
All that splendor mattered little to Carol Ann though her husband Charles had seen the untapped potential of the island. He wanted to clear the jungle to build a luxury hotel for the rich and famous so the Lawrence family name would be known around the world. They were going to build tennis courts, swimming pools and even a seaplane service from Hawaii, but all they found on the island was death and despair.
Fragments of a smooth, commanding male voice bounced around the plateau where Carol Ann was resting. Other fragments of words followed until they formed sentences of sorts; then, more sentences followed until it was a conversation between at least two men.
Carol Ann chuckled darkly and rubbed her face. "Oh, wonderful. Now I'm losing my mind too. I just thought of Charles and now I can hear his voice. It won't take me but a day before Lexa can help me put on my straitjacket. I'll bet it's the water that's contaminated somehow. If only-"
She cut herself off when other fragments of words continued to drift up to the plateau. Another male voice seemed to join the conversation. The first voice returned with a stronger statement that could really only come from former Air Force Captain Lawrence's mouth.
"Oh God, that really is Charles!" Carol Ann said and bolted upright. She tore over to the edge of the jungle and stared wide-eyed down into the misty, hazy tropical vegetation. The voices were fainter there, but she thought she could hear Spyros Antonakis utter a reply.
The voices grew fainter still while she was listening, so she moved away from the edge of the jungle and ran over to the other side of the plateau. The two-hundred foot drop tore at her nerves and she wasn't brave enough to peek over the edge standing up. Instead, she got down on her stomach and crawled across the hot, jagged rock until she could look down upon the base of the crater itself far below her - but there was nothing there. No Empress down on the water, and no team of climbers moving up towards her.
"Oh, I've gone insane," she croaked, crawling back from the danger. She moved back to the first spot where she had heard the voices, and sure enough, she was able to reconnect with the mumbled words spoken somewhere far away. Shifting around, she tried to find the best spot to hear what was said, but it wasn't until she moved into the exact center of the plateau that she could decipher more than the odd word.
'-Not leaving until- … -tain Lawren- … -my wife and I will not accept- … -path around the- … -brown savages who- … -have laid a finger on my wife I swear- … -chetes and rifles ready for-'
"Oh, Charles… the whole nightmare started because you killed one of the male natives… please, please, please don't make it any worse now! Oh God, I need to find them…" Carol Ann said and wrung her hands. "But why can I hear the voices so clearly here?! It doesn't make sense! Unless… unless the cone works as a funnel…"
Looking up at the glittering, bare cone that stretched up for another eighty feet or so, she could see the rock around the plateau was shaped in such a way that it would reflect the sound that came from the exact opposite point - which was directly behind her original position under the jagged outcrop.
Carol Ann took a deep breath and held her hands up to act as a bullhorn. "Charles! Charles! It's me! I'm up here!" she roared at the top of her lungs. Panting, she moved into the center of the plateau to listen for a reply. The only response came from the jungle itself where the calling monkeys all fell into a stunned silence at the appearance of another, two-legged ape of the female variety.
After a few moments, she was able to pick up a few, scattered words from below, but while she recognized her husband's voice, it didn't appear he had heard the roar she had let out. "Oh, isn't that typical… we've been married for six years and he hasn't listened to me once in that time. Not once!"
A slightly unhinged cackle created by the insanity of the situation bubbled up through her chest and escaped her lips. She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked around in a panic like she was afraid her mind had already decided to leave her for good. "There must be something wrong on this wretched island… everyone who sets foot on it goes mad after a while! Oh God, I can't stay!"
The narrow ledge circling the cone had come to an end at the steep drop down to the crater, so she needed to venture off the plateau and into the jungle no matter what. Grunting, she wiped her sweaty brow on her filthy sleeve and set off into the wilderness to find her rescuers.
A mere thirty yards into the trek, she was faced with the first challenge: how to evade the gigantic, five-foot tall cobweb that stretched out between no less than four trees on all sides ahead of her. She forgot how to breathe as she counted seven, thirteen, twenty-two black-and-yellow spiders - none of which could be considered small - just sitting there, waiting for her to get closer.
It didn't need much cranial activity to decide to go back and find an alternative route instead, but when she put her boot down on the jungle floor, she slipped on a root and ended up flat on her stomach. She had barely let out an angry grunt over her clumsiness and the unfairness of it all when she began to skid further down the hill - towards the cobwebs and the eight-legged beasts inhabiting it. "Oh God, no! No, no, no, no, no," she cried, scrambling to her feet before she could slide too far.
Though it had felt like she had been sliding for several yards, she had only gone five inches down the hill - but even that had been enough to sound the dinner bell for the crawlies in the cobweb. All twenty-two moved around in anticipation of a high-calorie lunch, but it wasn't until one of the black-and-yellow monsters fell off the web and landed on the jungle floor that Carol Ann let out a shriek and scrambled back up the hill before she would be forced into a showdown with the frightening critter.
Panting from the exertion in the high humidity, she ran back up onto the plateau and brushed herself off thoroughly to make sure she didn't carry any unwanted items of the living kind. "This is so unfair… I didn't even like King Solomon's Mines!" she mumbled, shimmering when her skin began to crawl from the existence of the huge cobweb.
With a mumbled "Gah!" she shook her head and began searching for another route off the plateau that wouldn't involve any eight-legged islanders.
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She did find one after close to half an hour's worth of searching, but at the cost of a great deal of her energy. She needed to backtrack nearly a hundred yards along the base of the cone before she found a path down into the jungle that was free of obstacles, and by the time she reached a small clearing formed by two fallen palm trees some three hundred yards down the hill, she was ready to fall down and die right there.
Each breath she took of the warm, stale air seemed to tear at her lungs, and she attracted a myriad of flies and other buzzing insects just by being there. Working on the last reserves of her energy, she staggered over to one of the fallen palm trunks and leaned against it while she caught her breath, but even that didn't help her much.
The humidity was far worse than it had been the day before, and not only did her clothes stick to her skin from top to toe, her brain was at melting point from the lack of water. She tried to fan herself to get some much-needed fresh air to her face, but all she succeeded in doing was to assault her nostrils with her scent that no language on Earth would call fresh.
Turning around, she tried to lift herself up onto the palm trunk, but her arms were too weak to offer the necessary thrust. As she settled for leaning against the fallen tree, her eyes caught a pale-green bush twenty yards from the spot she had chosen to take a rest. The bush didn't seem poisonous or otherwise dangerous, and the bright-orange berries it carried within the greenery looked exactly like some of those she had sampled the night before when she had spoken to the queen of the warrior women.
Carol Ann took a deep breath simply to work up the energy needed to push herself off the palm tree. The twenty yards might as well be twenty miles, but she staggered over to the bush and knelt down in front of it. She picked a berry off a twig and rolled it around between her fingers to check if it was edible. It had the size and texture of a raspberry or a blackberry, and it didn't appear to be harmful to her health.
Grimacing, she took the tiniest of nibbles and chewed on it with her front teeth so she could spit it out in a hurry in case it was bitter or just plain awful. Her initial assessment had been right: the berry was the same sort as those she'd had the night before. A sweet, tropical taste blossomed in her mouth that cried out for more, so she popped the whole thing inside and chewed on it with great vigor.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she picked twelve of the largest berries off the bush. One after the other, the juicy, tropical treats was chewed upon with great care so nothing would go to waste. One of them was a bit too tart, but the next more than made up for it with a rich, sweet taste.
Male voices nearby made her stop eating and spin around in a flash. She stared into the dense, bluish-green jungle to see if it had been Charles and his men or the male natives, but she couldn't see anything. A few monkeys scurried around in the trees like they were running away from something, but she couldn't tell what had spooked them. Best of all, she couldn't hear any drums.
She took a deep breath to cry for help, but stopped herself at the last moment. It was too dangerous to give away her position if it really was the male natives, and it could easily be despite the lack of the tribal drums. She had already experienced getting shot by a dart from a blowgun once, and it wasn't something she was keen to try again. Gulping down the last of the refreshing berry juice, she reached up to touch the welt on the side of her neck. The puncture wound had begun to sting again, but she still had the piece of cloth the medicine man had given her which would ease the skin irritation if it became too bad - it wasn't yet, so she kept it in her pocket.
Just when she was about to head on, another fragment of a conversation reached her ears, and this time, there was no doubt it was her husband. "Oh!" she cried, moving away from the bush in a hurry. "Charles! Charles! Can you hear me? Charles? I'm here! I'm… I'm here… at the clearing! Oh dammit, it's no use…"
The berry juice had given her enough of a boost to carry on, so she set off down the hill once more. For the next fifty yards through the hostile terrain, she held a hand behind an ear to try to pick up further words, but the monkeys had claimed the moment to practice their calling, and the jungle echoed with the shrill sounds created by the furry animals.
Carol Ann was about to give the monkeys a blue-tinted piece of her mind when Charles' voice came to her so clearly she spun around to look for him behind her. The rapid motion made her lose her footing, but this time, there weren't any cobwebs to fall into. A short yard further down from where she had slipped, she bolted to her feet and stared wide-eyed at the jungle surrounding her.
'-kill them all with no exception until I find my wife. Is that clear? Mr. Antonakis, you'll be my wingman. When we go in, we go in like we did in the war. We hit them hard! We shoot first, and we shoot to kill. You understand? All of you?'
'But what about the female we ran into, Captain Lawrence?' Spyros Antonakis said in his customary Greek accent. 'She was a warrior… what if there are more warrior women like her?'
'Which part of kill them all don't you understand, Mr. Antonakis? Men, women, young, old… no one will be spared until we've recovered my wife and brought her back to safety. If she's been violated or killed by those apes, we burn down their stinking villages. Every last hut we can find!'
Carol Ann bared her teeth in a worried grimace. She looked in every direction to try to spot the group of men talking, but she had no success. They could be just over the nearest ridge, or they could be a mile away. With the mountainous cone above her acting as a sound chamber, there was no telling where the others were.
The thought had barely left her mind when the voices died down to a faint whisper. Moments later, they disappeared altogether. She stopped on a dime and tried to move back up the hill, but she was unable to establish a new connection with her husband or the Greek captain.
"Oh, dammit," she mumbled, looking around all over again. "If nothing else, Charles is a man of his words. He said he'll kill the natives, so he'll do just that… he'll lead them all to their doom is what he's going to do!"
Putting her hands behind her head, she let out a long, frustrated sigh. She looked further down the hill but saw nothing but the same type of jungle she had already struggled through for several hundred yards.
There had to be at least another nine hundred yards down-slope until she would reach the part where the terrain leveled out near the coast. The distance from there to the beach itself was anyone's guess. Cobwebs, black-and-yellow spiders, screeching monkeys, colorful carnivorous plants, treacherous sink holes and various man-made death traps awaited her on the next part of the seemingly endless trek down to the sandy shore. Even if she did make it down there in one piece, the yacht tender and the dinghy probably wouldn't be there and then she would be stranded for good.
"I can't believe I'm even thinking this," she mumbled, "but should I go back and warn the queen and the others? Not the male natives. They don't understand a word I'm saying… but… oh, God, I can't believe I'm even thinking this! But at least Lexa and I could talk to one another. She had a warped understanding of the world… and my place in it… but at least we could talk. Oh, the shrunken heads and the crazed woman with the broken toes and the house-sized warrior and… and… all their insane, archaic traditions and… ugh!"
Groaning out loud, Carol Ann leaned forward and put her hands on her knees. "I can't. I just can't go back. They'll behead me on sight for escaping no matter what urgent message I have for them. No. They can go to hell. And the queen can lead them there."
She snorted and set off on the strenuous trek down the hill to get to the sandy beach. Thirty paces on, she came to a stop and buried her face in her hands. "I need to go back. If I don't, I might as well pull the trigger myself. Or… or maybe I need to save Charles and Spyros from the warrior women. Oh, God, I'm ready for a padded cell…"
When she realized her conscience overruled her urge to find freedom, she made a ninety-degree left-hand turn and headed deeper into the dark, scary, humid jungle to get back to the camp inhabited by Queen Lexa and the warrior women known as the Mu-Kwanda.
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Although Carol Ann was exhausted, suffering from the effects of dehydration and covered by a sheen of sweat on every inch of her exposed skin, she made good progress through the vegetation that seemed less dense than it had been further north-west on Ka'una-Kameha.
Moving parallel to the mountainous cone, she trekked through the jungle with her sharp flint knife pointing straight ahead in case she needed to cut her way through lianas, or if she ran into any hostile beings of the two or four-legged kind. Of course, the knife wouldn't be able to do anything about the long-range blowguns, but she felt better wielding it.
A sound she hadn't heard for a while made an unwelcome return, and it caused her to stop and crouch down next to a tree trunk to take in her surroundings. The bassy roar of the animal Charles had dubbed the king of the jungle echoed through the section she had just entered. It hadn't been close, and had in fact sounded a little odd - almost like it had come from a beast that wasn't yet full-grown.
Queen Lexa had told her the roars came from the black beast with the tusks along its muzzle. It was an animal both groups of the Mu-Kwanda tribe used for various purposes: while she had been at the male camp, she had observed a hunting party bring back a large specimen that was skinned and subsequently cooked. The warrior women also used its fur for clothing and protection, but they threw the rest of the carcass to the scavengers since women didn't eat meat - at least not on Ka'una-Kameha.
The thought of more substantial food than the berries she had found made Carol Ann's stomach rumble, and she reached down absentmindedly to give it a little pat. She could certainly do with a bowl of the tasty meat and vegetable soup she'd had at the male camp. When she remembered the look of pure, unbridled horror that had been etched onto Queen Lexa's face upon hearing that Carol Ann did in fact enjoy a large variety of meat products, she let out a quiet chuckle.
Getting up, she continued her trek through the jungle with her flint knife pointing ahead of her. The terrain came to the rescue of her tired being with a more easily negotiated jungle floor and a greater distance between the tree trunks - and thus fewer cobwebs. In their stead, clusters of the colorful carnivorous plants with the bell-shaped, reddish-orange heads had begun to appear, but they weren't an immediate threat to her.
A few dragonflies buzzed around in the air, but they vanished when a second bassy roar was heard. The new one was weaker and seemed to come from somewhere behind Carol Ann. She took her eyes off the floor of the jungle for a second to look over her shoulder - but she shouldn't have.
Out of the blue, the layer of withered palm leaves that covered every square inch of the jungle floor couldn't support the weight of her boot, and she fell into a square hole. Screaming, she flung out her arms to grab hold of the edge before she went down the chasm for good. She managed to get her elbows to rest on the sides of the hole, but it was a precarious position and she wouldn't be able to get enough leverage to get up on her own.
"Oh God… oh, God…" she cried, frantically looking down to see if the bottom of the hole was riddled with the poisoned spikes used by the male natives for their hunting - a single nick on the skin would lead to an agonizing death. She couldn't see any spikes, but she couldn't see the bottom of the hole either.
Panting, grunting and groaning, she moved her legs around and found several narrow ledges she could place the tips or the sides of her boots on. She didn't have much to work with, but her sense of self-preservation kicked in and sent a tidal wave of adrenaline tearing around her system. "Don't p- p- panic… d- don't p- p- panic," she chanted, slowly pushing herself back up from the hole.
She had managed to move up a good five inches when the old, withered leaves around the edges of the hole began to crumble under the weight of her elbows. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't combat the ever-worsening crumbling of the edges that made all the surrounding areas collapse and trickle into the hole.
The inevitability of it all made her close her eyes and let out a sigh. A moment later, it happened. Both edges let go at the same time, and she went down into the black abyss in a shower of dead leaves, little stones and clumps of dirt. She didn't even have time or the mental capacity to scream as she was bounced around and knocked about on her way down there.
Eighteen feet further down, she came to a bone-rattling, hard stop on a floor of soft dirt. Had she landed on rock, she would have been killed, but the dirt cushioned the blow enough for her to stay alive. Debris rattled down from above and landed on top of her for several, long seconds until the dirtslide came to an end.
Everything inside her ached like it had come undone. She was able to move her limbs, but the pain was too great to even bother. A black shroud seemed to fall over her that entered her vision from the edges. Before she slipped into unconsciousness, she had time to see several white bones lying on the floor of the cavern she had fallen into. Somewhere near her, a large animal growled.
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The growling was the last thing she heard before her involuntary nap, and the first thing around her when she came to. She cracked open an eyelid to see if she was even still alive. The pain that shot up from her entire being meant that she hadn't yet moved into the afterlife - even if her surroundings looked like a forecourt of the Underworld.
Though she was bruised, scraped and bleeding, she gathered up all her strength and moved her legs around so she could sit up. Dead leaves and all the rest of the debris rained down from her clothes and hair, but she ached too much to do anything about her appearance. She had been right; there were white bones on the floor of the cave. "Oh God," she whispered, looking at the horrific remains. The skeleton wasn't large enough to be a human being, so it had to be a monkey.
The cave was at its narrowest where she had landed. Thirty feet ahead of her, it opened up into a far wider area that had a connecting passage to another part of the cave. Once more, she could hear a large animal growling. The hole she had slipped into sent a shaft of sunlight down into the cave, and another beam of light came from the left side of the connecting passage ahead of her.
Clenching her jaw, Carol Ann tried to get on her feet. She needed to use the walls of the cave as support as every single joint in her entire body ached when she stretched her legs. Once she was upright, she flexed her fingers and checked all her limbs to see if she had broken anything. Although her left hip was sore to the point of throbbing, she didn't seem to have any major injuries.
Her brief moment of success was ruined when one of the black, furry beasts strolled into the cave down the other end moving on all fours. It and Carol Ann both stopped dead to stare wide-eyed at each other like neither one could believe their luck - or bad luck. The beast shook its head and let out a puzzled grunt.
Instead of grunting, Carol Ann drew a sharp breath, but the scream she wanted to let out got stuck in her throat. Staring at the beast, she could already feel how its pointy tusks would tear the flesh from her bones.
The bear-like creature wasn't about to forego a free lunch, so it growled a little more before it went up on its hind legs and stalked towards its prey with its long arms stretched out ahead of it.
Matching the tall beast's movements, Carol Ann inched backwards, but she soon met the proverbial brick wall in the shape of the bare rock she had bounced off of on her way down the chasm.
"Oh God, please don't let it be painful," she croaked as the creature puts its paws on the wall on each side of her head. She stared into the face of death itself as the beast with the black fur, the yellowish, beady eyes and the white tusks protruding from the sides of its muzzle leaned in and began to sniff her fair skin and blond hair.
Shivering with fear, Carol Ann was already on the brink of a cardiac arrest, but it only grew worse when the bear-like creature extended its pink tongue and let it slide down the side of her neck like it was trying to figure out why she didn't have fur like the monkeys that were usually on its diet.
Drool ran down her neck and onto her blouse. That and the awful breath that came from the beast's mouth made her stomach clench hard, but since she didn't have anything down there she could throw up, several dry heaves were the only result.
When the beast moved back from Carol Ann's neck and took a sniffing interest in her belly button and other parts of her anatomy further down her body, enough was enough, and she let out a trembling shriek and tried to push the furry thing off her.
The shriek worked as the beast jumped back and shook its head. Growling, it gave her an odd stare like it couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Another growl from somewhere else inside the system of caverns made it look away from its prey and towards the connecting passage.
Letting out an explosive sigh of relief, Carol Ann grabbed the cue and spun around at once while the beast was preoccupied. She glanced up the rocky shaft and saw that not only did it have countless little ledges and outcrops she could use during a climb, the surface wasn't as far away as she had feared.
Down in the cave, the black, furry beast that had taken an intimate interest in Carol Ann's neck was joined by another creature that was twice its size, if not more. The two growled at each other before the larger of the two let out a bassy roar that was so loud in the narrow cave it nearly burst Carol Ann's eardrums.
It gave her the impetus she needed to at least try to save herself, and she began the impossible climb to freedom as fast as she could find outcrops to put her boots on. Her fingers were soon scraped and bloodied, and her clothes torn beyond repair from the jagged edges inside the shaft, but she was going up, inch by bloody inch.
*
*
CHAPTER 2
A quick glance up confirmed she was halfway there. The sunlight that came through the hole she had fallen into grew brighter and helped her find the right spots to put her boots. Panting hard, she inched her way up the shaft to get away from the two beasts that roared below her. One of them tried to stick its paw up the shaft to catch her, but she had already moved out of its range. If she slipped and fell, she would be shredded in a matter of seconds, but she didn't need to be reminded of that fact.
It would have been easier had she had longer arms, but she didn't, so she had to make do with the limbs she had at her disposal. Reaching across the shaft to find the next outcrop, her fingers just fell on smooth rock that didn't offer any means of support. She was already spread out in the oddest of positions with her left leg on one side of the shaft, and her right two feet higher on a tiny ledge.
Looking up towards the entry hole, she let out a strangled croak when she realized the frequency of outcrops or jagged ledges she could put her boots on was reduced to hardly anything for the next several feet of the shaft. It wasn't until the top three or four feet that she could find more support.
To underline the perils of failing her task, one of the beasts below her roared out loud and swung its hairy paw as far up the shaft as it could reach - it missed her boot by less than ten inches.
She couldn't remain there forever, so she tested the strength of the ledge under her right boot. If it crumbled, it would all be over, anyway. Leaning to her right, she took a deep breath and used her exhausted muscles to pull herself up another two feet. It held, but only just. There was no place for her left boot to go, so she reached across the shaft and shoved her fist against the smooth rock so she was jammed in place. It was murder on her knuckles and her neck, but the alternative was far worse, so she bit down the pain and concentrated on getting higher.
She had made it up eleven feet, but she had come seven feet short. The square entry hole up above mocked her with its bright daylight - it was so close she could spit a greater distance had she had any saliva. Several ledges and small outcrops were visible some three feet further up the shaft, but it would be an impossible task to reach them.
Or would it? The walls of the shaft were mostly rock, but there were pockets of dirt here and there. One of those pockets were eight or so inches above and to the right of where her hand was jammed against the other side. Taking a deep breath, she reached out with her left leg and slammed the heavy tread of the hiking boot against the coarse rock. It freed her hand that she moved up to the pocket of dirt.
As she scraped the clumps out with her cracked fingernails, she couldn't stop a hysterical cackle from escaping her lips. When she had first arrived in the United States after the war, her upper-crust, battle axe mother-in-law had been horrified by her rural manners and lack of sophistication, so she had quietly shipped her off on a two-month stay at a boarding school of some repute where she had learned etiquette, the art of finer housekeeping, acquired hostess skills for the numerous coat-and-tie social events that the Lawrence family hosted at their mansion, and everything else involved in being a proper lady.
She had completed all those courses with flying colors. Now, she was sweaty, smelly, filthy and bloodied, and her legs were spread so wide to keep her position in the shaft that her mother-in-law would have fainted on the spot had she been there to see it. Another laugh followed, but it was darker and more somber as her life flashed before her eyes.
Following the death of her parents in a German bombing raid in 1940 when she had only been twelve years old, she had moved to her maternal grandparents in a small village in the English countryside. There, she had been taught everything there was to know about minding a farm, but hardly anything about living as the pretty, young woman that she grew up to become.
Although her grandparents had done a very good job of rearing her mother in the 1920s and early 1930s, they hadn't taken into account the vast number of eligible - and just plain horny - young gentlemen in the shape of the American GIs and Air Force officers that were stationed at the RAF/USAAF airbase just up the road. Every weekend saw the quiet village turned into Times Square where plenty of young men and women strolled arm-in-arm along the village streets to get to the movie theater or the dance at the community hall. Plenty of plans were laid, plenty of virginities were lost, and plenty of hearts were broken.
In such an environment, it was all too easy for Charles Lawrence to sweep Carol Ann Hetherington off her feet when she met him in 1944 as a tender sixteen-year old whose head was full of notions of romance and dashing Yanks. He was the first man she had ever kissed, and the last - it had been on the back row of the Odeon watching a BBC newsreel before a rerun of a pre-war comedy. Her fate was sealed, but she wasn't yet mature enough to fully realize all there was to know about herself. That would come later, after the opulent ceremony, the wedding night and the honeymoon where she was expected to cater to her husband's whims and desires.
Sighing, Carol Ann returned to the present. To test the strength of the hole she had dug in the opposite wall, she stuck her fingers into it and tried to wiggle them around. Down below, the beasts seemed to have lost interest in her for the time being, but she could still hear heavy breathing which meant that at least one of them was right there, waiting for her to slip and fall. The hole seemed strong enough, so she inched her boot over there until the tip entered the crevice.
Taking a deep breath, she used her thigh muscles to push herself up; it wasn't fast or pretty, and she tore her clothes pretty badly on the rock face, but it worked. She moved up six, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four inches until her right hand was close enough to grab hold of the next natural ledge above her.
When she closed her fingers around the ledge with a relieved smile on her face, a shadow fell upon her from the square hole at the top of the shaft. Whipping her head up, she let out a cry of despair when she saw the familiar figure - and endless, bronzed legs - of Queen Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda waiting for her topsides.
The queen, whose pale-blue eyes shone with worry and even a little admiration, had two warriors along as an escort, and one of them flung a braided rope down the shaft.
Looking down towards the bottom of the abyss, Carol Ann considered letting go to let the bear-like creatures take care of everything, but her self-preservation kicked in again and she grabbed hold of the rope with both hands.
It didn't take long for the strong warriors to pull the petite Carol Ann up to the surface. Once she was safe on the floor of the jungle, she collapsed in an unruly heap. The frightening experience she had just been through rolled over her like an unstoppable wave, and she began to sob though she tried to hold it back in front of the hostile strangers. The tears insisted on coming, so she turned away and wept in solitude. The involuntary stay in the Underworld had made a mess of her clothes, and the tattered rags did a poor job of concealing her fair skin.
Queen Lexa observed the weeping woman for a few seconds before she uttered a command to the two warriors in their native language. The fierce-looking women glanced at each other but complied with their queen's orders and moved away.
"Carol Ann," Lexa said and knelt down next to the blonde whose filthy cheeks now sported two clean, glistening stripes from the tears she had shed. "Carol Ann, you're safe now."
"Safe? I can never be safe in your company," Carol Ann croaked, swatting away the older woman's hands from her shoulder. Wiping her eyes, she looked at Lexa's suave appearance. As always, the queen wore sandals and a black fur bandolier that reached from her right shoulder, across her chest and down to her left hip. She had abstained from using the dark-brown fabric underneath the fur that most of the warriors used, so the curvature of her breasts and her hips weren't concealed. Lexa's short loincloth had crept up, but Carol Ann was too much of a lady to sneak a peek.
"That wasn't nice," Lexa said and threw her long, black hair over the other shoulder.
Carol Ann grunted and sat up on the jungle floor. Every last square inch of her body ached, and she could hardly flex her bloody, scraped fingers without fierce pain shooting up her arms. Her left hip throbbed, her ears were ringing from the strain, and the muscles in her back felt like they had all been pulled. "It's the truth. I was safer down there with the beasts. Aren't you going to behead me and stick me to your wall once we get back to your camp?"
"Oh, I don't think we will," Lexa said and moved around to sit on the ground next to the injured woman. Smiling, she reached up to remove dead leaves and clumps of dirt from the blond locks, but the smile faded when her hands were pushed away.
"Don't touch me!" Carol Ann croaked, shifting to the side to be out of the queen's reach. She hadn't counted on the other woman's far longer arms, and her objections were well and truly ignored.
"I'm the queen of the Mu-Kwanda and the ruler of Ka'una-Kameha. I decide who I can touch," Lexa continued, untangling Carol Ann's golden locks to remove a particularly impressive, and stubborn, palm leaf. She grinned when her proclamation of her grand titles fell on deaf ears. Folding her bare legs to the side, she leaned in towards the younger woman so she had both hands free for the difficult task.
"I've told you. I'm not one of your subjects," Carol Ann mumbled and put her hands in her lap.
Lexa ignored that completely and concentrated on untangling the locks. "You know, when I was a little girl… well, I was never little as in short, but younger… I could sit for hours and braid my hair. I've always had my hair long except for the two months I worked on my father's deep sea fishing trawler. You just couldn't have long hair in such an environment. Imagine if it got caught in a winch or some other machinery. Ugh."
Carol Ann let out a deep sigh but allowed the other woman to continue working on her hair. A chill ran down her spine at the odd, overly familiar conversation that made it sound like they had been best friends for a generation. She cast a weary glance at the queen and noticed the same look in the older woman's eyes that she had seen there when they had spoken during the night. Lexa was fully there, yet at the same time, she wasn't.
There was something not right about Lexa, or Alexandra Burnside as she had been known before arriving on the island, but Carol Ann couldn't put her finger on what kind of mental illness had affected the tall, imposing woman. Maybe it simply was a case of lacking proper guidance in her formative years like she had suspected during the night, or maybe the shock of getting thrown overboard and nearly drowning in the Pacific had short-circuited her brain and left her a permanent seventeen-year old in an aging body. Even that theory couldn't fully explain all her idiosyncrasies, though.
While the queen worked on the hair, Carol Ann played with her khaki, full-legged sailor's pants. They were so tattered she might as well not be wearing anything. There was a long tear in the fabric at her left hip, and numerous holes had been ripped into both pantlegs from the jagged edges in the shaft.
"Mmmm. That's your hair done. Oh, it's certainly a sweat-inducing day, isn't it?" Lexa said and waved a hand in front of her nose to illustrate that Carol Ann's scent had once again moved past what was commonly referred to as 'ripe.'
The joke didn't have the desired effect, and Carol Ann shot the smiling woman a downcast gaze. "I smell. I know it. The best way for you to avoid it would be to leave me alone."
"I can't do that."
The short sentence signaled a stalemate in the conversation and they both fell silent. Carol Ann sighed and picked at her ruined pants to have something to do with her hands. Sighing again, she looked away from the admittedly gorgeous queen and stared into the bluish-green jungle surrounding her. She had been so close to completing her escape, but she was quite literally back at square one - or rather, at the central square in the female camp. She would be sent back to the cage with the bamboo-like reeds, and the guard would no doubt be doubled or even tripled. The crazed Q'uola with the broken toes would come to see her and maybe have another practice session with her spear. She would most likely be forced to spend days or weeks in the prison cage, and a second escape would be so far out of reach it would make better sense to wait for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to show up and ruin everyone's day.
Lexa chuckled and reached over to run a finger down Carol Ann's left sleeve of her ruined navy-striped blouse. "Much of your strong scent comes from your clothes. Why don't you throw them away and slip into the fur you stole from the guard? It's right over there," she said and pointed at the black bundle that hadn't been moved since Carol Ann had been forced to drop it at the hole.
"Take my clothes off in front of three complete strangers?" Carol Ann said sharply. "So you can gawk and compare? That'll be a cold day in hell!"
"Oh, but you and I aren't strangers, Carol Ann. We had such an enlightening conversation last night. Don't you think?"
When the only response to Queen Lexa's question was a stony silence, she shuffled closer to Carol Ann and put a warm, though firm, hand on her pantleg. "I promise we'll look away," she whispered, shooting Carol Ann a warm gaze. "The black fur is more comfortable than your clothes. You won't regret it. I think you should at least consider it."
The two women looked at each other for a few seconds before Carol Ann let out a snort and pinned the queen to the spot with a green glare. "And what makes you think I won't run away when you're not looking?"
"Because your first escape was a test of your strength-"
"Wh- what? What the hell are you tal-"
"The second won't be," Lexa said and tightened her grip on Carol Ann's leg. It never became painful, but it made a point. "Listen to me, Carol Ann. I would never hurt you, but my warriors are angry with you for hurting one of their own. The guard you knocked out. Something happened to her when you smashed the clay pot over her skull this morning. She's still not right in the head."
"Oh God… no…" Carol Ann croaked with a horrified expression on her face.
"I wouldn't attempt another escape if I were you. They'll hunt you down and kill you on sight… and parade your remains around the camp."
Carol Ann slammed her eyes shut and let out a long, slow sigh. After a few seconds, she nodded and rose to her feet. "The guard… does she have any family?" she croaked as her muscles and joints sent out all kinds of distress calls.
"Yes. A sister."
"Will you tell her I deeply regret what I did?"
"I will," Lexa said and jumped to her feet with far more agility than the battered woman. "Will you run?"
Carol Ann let out a dark, bitter chuckle as she moved to pull off the ruined blouse. She stopped to shoot the queen a green gaze that had turned repentant. "No."
"Good. My warriors and I will go behind that tree," Lexa said and pointed at a palm thirty feet away. She had given her word that she wouldn't gawk, so she shuffled over to the long-forgotten black fur and threw it back to Carol Ann. "When you've changed, give us a call."
Carol Ann nodded. Holding the black fur in front of the worst tears, she waited for all three warrior women to get out of sight before she pulled the ruined blouse over her head.
---
"You can come out now!" Carol Ann said as she adjusted the black fur. She didn't dare walk around in the buff like some of the women she had seen at the camp, so she had kept on her bloomers and brassiere, but the fur was far softer to use as a garment than she had expected, so it all evened out in the end. The guard she had taken it from had been taller and had worn the dark-brown fabric underneath, so it was a little loose around the shoulder and the hips, but she would manage.
She blushed when she could feel Lexa's eyes roam up her legs and her torso. It wasn't quite as bad as when the crewmembers had gawked at her brand new bikini out on the Empress of the Pacific , but it wasn't far off. The biggest difference came in the nature of the response of the people looking at her. The men on the boat had all shot her lustful gazes and needed to wipe their mouths so they wouldn't drool, but Lexa offered her a warm, genuine smile as she looked her in the eye. Carol Ann returned the gesture with a faint, somewhat nervous smile as she adjusted the fur once more.
"Didn't I say it was comfortable?" Lexa said and put a hand on the small of Carol Ann's back. "Though… bare legs and hiking boots do look funny together," she continued, pointing at the boots.
Carol Ann let out a grunt and looked down at her booted feet. "I'm not walking around barefoot. No way."
"Suit yourself. You may want to consider sandals later. Now, do you want to keep your old clothes, or should we just burn them and be done with the whole civilized world-thing?"
"Oh!" Carol Ann croaked before she realized Lexa was jesting. "Well… I guess I don't have any use for them now… so I might as well leave them behind."
Lexa nodded and turned back to her two warrior companions. She exchanged a few words with the fierce-looking women before they took off to lead the small team through the jungle. "All right, Carol Ann. It's time to move out. Back to the camp."
"I understand. I don't like it, but I understand," Carol Ann said with a sigh. She cast a final, sorrowful glance at the khaki, full-legged sailor's pants and the navy-striped blouse before she set off into the jungle.
-*-*-*-
They walked on in silence into the steaming hot jungle with the two warriors up front and Carol Ann and Lexa in close company. The experienced native raiders - who were both armed with blowguns, spears and fierce scowls - were able to find paths through the vegetation that made it a far less strenuous trek than Carol Ann's own feeble attempts earlier in the day.
They hadn't brought any water, but they stopped twice to eat when they found bushes or trees that carried berries or fruit. The first real break came when they reached a cold stream that snaked its way through the jungle floor. Like the creek where Carol Ann had suffered an involuntary dunking at the behest of the male chief hunter, the roots of the palms and the other trees reached for the elixir of life. Several colorful plants lived on the embankments and turned them into flowerbeds, and a few dragonflies and other types of flying insects were buzzing around in the air.
The babbling water made Carol Ann aware that she had become dehydrated again, and she was reluctant to leave the stream behind without drinking. "Queen Lexa… please. I need some water. Can't we take a short break here? I promise I won't do anything silly."
Lexa nodded and spoke a sentence or two to her warriors. They didn't seem too pleased with the hold-up or even the situation in general, but agreed to taking a break. Neither wanted to be close to the fair-skinned woman, so they crossed the stream and found rest near a bush that sported the same orange berries Carol Ann had feasted on earlier.
Letting out a sigh of relief over the small victory, Carol Ann slumped down onto the ground to rest her weary legs. When she realized Lexa didn't carry any cups she could drink from, she got back on her sore feet and staggered over to the stream. Kneeling at the muddy embankment, she cupped her hands and dunked them into the icy water. This time, she remembered to drink slowly, but the vast difference in temperature between the water and her stomach was still a shock to her system.
"Queen Lexa?" she said as she sat down with a bump after replenishing her stock. The black fur rode up and revealed her bloomers, but she quickly got everything down in place.
"Mmmm?"
"What did you mean when you said my escape was a test of my strength?"
"Well…" Lexa said and sat down on the floor of the jungle. After smoothing down her loincloth so the shrinking violet Carol Ann wouldn't be scandalized, she stretched out her legs and shot the younger woman a pale-blue gaze. "I let you escape. To tell you the truth, I'm proud over what you accomplished."
"Oh…"
"Remember what I told you about my initiation ritual? That I was sent into the murderous jungle to survive on my own? That I found berries and water… and escaped the predators?"
"Uh… yes?"
Lexa smiled and flicked her long, black hair over her other shoulder. "You've just had yours. And congratulations are in order… you passed the test. You are now a fully-fledged member of the Mu-Kwanda tribe."
Carol Ann stared at the queen for several long seconds before she let out a deep sigh and looked down at her hands. "Oh, what an honor. But they still want to kill me," she mumbled before looking back up at the queen. "Lexa, when I escaped, were you standing on the porch outside the palace? I saw-"
"Yes. I wanted to see if you could. You did one better than me… we've both faced the black beasts, but I just outsmarted it from a distance. You were up close and personal!"
"How… how do you know that? Were you there the whole time…? And you didn't help?!" Carol Ann cried, thumping her fist into the ground. Her angry outburst traveled across the stream and made the two warrior women sit up and take notice.
Lexa defused the situation before it could escalate into something nasty by waving a hand at them. "Not quite. We heard the beasts roaring. I remembered the sink hole and wanted to check it out. When we got there, it was obvious by the whimpers that someone had fallen down there. And it wasn't a male voice, so…"
"I didn't whimper!"
"Well… yes, you did."
"I. Did. Not. Whimper. And you should have helped sooner," Carol Ann said surly, ending the conversation by throwing an Evil Eye in Lexa's direction.
---
The searing heat and high humidity were getting on Carol Ann's last nerve, and she could feel a headache coming on that she didn't need in the present situation. Now and then, she stuck her cupped hands into the stream to top up on her water supply, but the small matter of eating something more substantial than berries was slowly knocking on the door as well.
There was something nagging at the back of her mind, but her period of unconsciousness in the lair of the beasts had erased much of what she had done in the hours following her escape - that, much to her disappointment, hadn't been as daring as she had thought. She vaguely remembered taking a nap up near the mountainous cone, and also looking down into the crater far below. She certainly remembered the frightening encounter with the vast family of black-and-yellow spiders that were sizing her up for lunch, but after that, it all became a little fuzzy.
It wasn't until she overheard a fragment of a conversation held by the two natives across the stream that it all rushed back to her. She bolted upright and clutched her head. "Oh! Lexa… my husband… my husband Charles… I heard him earlier today! I don't know how it was possible, but I heard his voice… he said he would attack the camps! With rifles and machetes… he… he said he would kill every native he could find. Oh, we n- need to hurry back and warn your… why are you shaking your head? Don't do that, this is important!"
Lexa sighed and reached out to still the younger woman's frantic motions. "I'm shaking my head because it has already happened."
"Oh, God… oh, Charles," Carol Ann croaked and buried her face in her hands. "I must have been unconscious for longer than I thought… what… what did they do?"
"They did what they set out to do."
The two women stared at each other in silence. Carol Ann's shoulders slumped and she seemed to deflate. Large tears began to run down her cheeks, but Lexa reached out to catch one of them on her index finger. "We heard the gunfire earlier and sent out a scout," she said and wiped off the crystal tear on her palm. "When she came back, she informed us that she had seen eighteen bodies in the male camp."
"Oh, God," Carol Ann croaked and bared her teeth in a horrified grimace.
"Seventeen natives. Young and old indiscriminately. One westerner."
A flash of shock raced across Carol Ann's face, and she grabbed hold of the fur with both hands to have something to hold onto in case the news would turn out to be bad. "Charles?" she said in a hoarse whisper.
"I don't know your husband. My scout said the dead body wore western clothing but had a skin tone not dissimilar to that of the natives."
"Reddish-brown skin?" Carol Ann said and furrowed her brow. A thought of Ramón and the other Filipino sailors entered her mind. "Oh… several members of the crew were from the Philippines… perhaps it was one of them?"
"I can't say as I didn't see his remains. But it's possible," Lexa said with a subdued nod. "Back in my old life, I often worked with Filipinos. They do have a similar complexion, that's true."
A wave of fatigue and shock threatened to overwhelm Carol Ann, and she had to take several deep breaths to remain on an even keel. She shook her head, but she shouldn't have as a dizzy spell washed over her. Groaning, she swayed back and forth for a few seconds as the dizziness was at its strongest.
The queen moved over to her at once and helped her lie down on the jungle floor. "It's all too much for you, I know," she said and fanned Carol Ann's face. "I'm afraid there's more. And it's even less pretty. The scout brought a flag of truce that she used to enter the male camp. She spoke to a hunter and was told the westerner who had killed the most natives was a tall, beefy man in a strange outfit. Not quite a-"
"Oh God," Carol Ann croaked and clapped both hands over her eyes. "That's Charles… that's my husband. What has he done?! He's turned into a mass murderer for… for nothing!"
"He did it to save you."
"But I wasn't there! Oh God, how could he do that?! How could he kill that many people…?" Her voice trailed off into nothing as the grim reality caught up with her. Groaning, she buried her face in the nook of her elbow, but even the darkness that came didn't stop the vicious images of all those dead natives from appearing in her mind's eye.
She knew that Charles had shot down several German aircraft during the war - as a logical conclusion to that, he was already responsible for the death of many an enemy pilot - but killing someone at point blank range with a rifle was night-and-day different from shooting down an airplane at a distance of a thousand feet. He would have seen the direct result of his actions; he would have seen the blood and the suffering, and yet he had continued to shoot his way into the camp.
It became too warm to cover her eyes with the inside of her elbow so she moved it down and settled for staring into the jungle without seeing anything at all. "Whatever else happens…" she whispered in a hoarse monotone, "if Charles and I will ever get off this wretched island… that… that atrocity will always come between us. When we speak. When we touch. When we share the same bed at night. When he wants to make love. Even when his mother comes over for the Sunday dinner. It will always be there… just under the surface. Charles Lawrence, my husband. The mass murderer. And there's nothing… nothing at all I can do about it. Nothing. I'll become a basket case before the New Year."
Lexa chuckled darkly and reached down to caress Carol Ann's filthy cheek. "You could stay here. With me. I would provide for you."
The gentle caress and the words that went with it made Carol Ann snap out of her dark stupor and zoom in on the queen's pale-blue eyes. Although she still wanted to go home first and foremost, the suggestion didn't sound so bad compared to earlier - however, she hadn't quite reached the moment yet where she could accept it.
Offering Lexa a faint smile to compensate for her actions, she moved her hand up to swat away the fingers that caressed her cheek. "Please don't touch me without an invitation to do so," she said in a voice that held just a little more warmth than earlier.
"Huh… all right," the queen said and moved her hand back.
"Lexa, there's something else… did your scout mention anything about another man who would have been with my husband… a westerner with dark, curly hair? A Greek national? Spyros Antonakis has been kind to me and I dearly hope he wasn't too involved in the mindless killing…"
"I'm sorry. I haven't heard anything about such a man. Is he a good friend?"
"He treats me with respect…"
"Mmmm," Lexa said, observing the worried frown on Carol Ann's fair face. The second, unsaid, part of that sentence was of course that her husband didn't.
Across the stream, the two native warriors got up and shouted something to the queen in the local language. "Oh, I think my associates are getting impatient. We better go back to the camp before we run into either a hunting party… or your trigger-happy husband."
"I suppose we better," Carol Ann said and let out a deep sigh. Sitting up, she had to wait for a few seconds before the last whispers of the dizzy spell left her. She looked up at the queen who had already risen. A part of her soul that she hadn't used for many a year found the prospects of remaining on Ka'una-Kameha with the attractive, charismatic Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda somewhat intriguing, but her conscience warned her that Lexa had also committed her fair share of murders, just like Charles Lawrence. The shrunken heads on the wall of the palace proved it. "It's never easy," she croaked as she got to her feet and carried on into the jungle.
-*-*-*-
The hands of time moved ahead by leaps and bounds, but the lateness of the afternoon didn't make the high humidity more bearable. The section of the jungle they were moving through grew increasingly dense, and a heat haze seemed to rise from the vegetation all around them. Breathing turned difficult for Carol Ann, and she began to drag her feet like an overgrown sloth - not because she didn't want to move on, but because she couldn't.
It became so bad that Lexa moved over to the younger woman and took her by the elbow to guide her along, but the physical contact only made it worse.
Groaning, Carol Ann yanked her arm free of Lexa's grotesquely warm hand. "Don't touch me! I'm dying already… I don't need help… can't- can't we take a break?"
"No. We've already had two breaks," Lexa said quietly. She eyed the two warriors up front whose ethnicity meant they were unaffected by the high humidity. Their expressions proved they were slowly getting fed up with nursing the fair-skinned stranger who was apparently weaker than a baby. One of them fondled her blowgun like she wanted to skip ahead in the process and plant a dart in Carol Ann's neck to get it over with.
The inevitable happened two steps further on when Carol Ann's right boot snagged on a hidden obstacle. She let out a shriek and waved her arms in the air to maintain her balance, but it didn't help and she fell down on her hands and knees. It drained the last drops of energy from her system and she was unable to get up on her own. When she tried, she fell over onto her sore hip which made her let out a pained cry and hurriedly shift her position.
The two warriors uttered a few uncomplimentary comments and suggestions about the frailty of the westerners that didn't need to be translated for the meaning to come across. All Carol Ann could do was to sit there and sweat, so she couldn't be bothered to even respond to their jibes.
Lexa looked from Carol Ann to the natives before she let out a grunt and shuffled over to her two warriors. She exchanged a few words with them in the local language before the three imposing women split up and went their separate, merry way; the warriors continued onto the camp, and Lexa came back to Carol Ann and crouched down in front of her. "Listen, I know it must be hard for you, but we need to-"
"We don't need to do a damn thing!" Carol Ann growled which made the queen lean her head back and laugh out loud.
Carol Ann didn't think her comment had been all that humorous so she scrunched up her face into a mask of annoyance and stared daggers at the dark-haired woman. "That wasn't a joke… oh, forget it."
"Instead of forgetting it," Lexa said and shuffled over to the sitting woman. After rubbing her strong hands to wipe off her own sweat, she put them under Carol Ann's armpits, "how about I helped you up so we can go somewhere cooler?" With a heave-ho, she got the sluggish Carol Ann on her feet and helped her remain steady.
"Cooler? I suppose you mean back to the camp… in the prison cage with the other corpses?"
"No. A system of caves in the base of the sacred Tima'uela mountain. The personal refuge for the queen of the Mu-Kwanda. And she can bring guests!"
Carol Ann assumed a nervous expression at the mention of the word 'caves.' "Oh… I'm not good with caves… not… not after what I… what I just went through…" she mumbled, picking dead leaves and little clumps of dirt off her knees.
"Oh, don't worry," Lexa said and helped adjust Carol Ann's protective fur. When it was on just right, she pulled the golden hair out of the collar and let it cascade down the back. "There aren't any of the black beasts, and it's always cool in there because of the tons of rock surrounding it. There's a cold spring that trickles down from above… and even better, a hot spring that bubbles up from the underground."
"God… why didn't you tell me that sooner?"
Lexa puckered up her lips and shot Carol Ann a sly, little wink. "If I had told you sooner, would you have said yes to going up there with me?"
Carol Ann let out a tired chuckle. "I probably wouldn't. How far is it?" She stared up at the mountainous cone that loomed large in the middle distance. The cone glittered in the sunlight as it always did, but several clouds had formed around the very top of the small mountain over the course of the day, and they seemed to develop as she was watching them.
"Five hundred yards or so."
"Uphill?"
"Uphill. All the way."
"I don't think I can make that," Carol Ann said and shook her head.
"We should at least try. Think of the prize that awaits you. Also… look at the clouds up there. There's a thunderstorm coming. That's why it's so humid today," Lexa said and took Carol Ann by the hand. The heat created by the physical contact wasn't pleasant, but this time, the queen held onto the newest member of the Mu-Kwanda tribe. "Believe me, you don't want to get caught out in the open in a thunderstorm. I've tried that, and it wasn't a pleasant experience."
"Yeah…" Carol Ann groaned and rubbed her brow with her free hand. Although she didn't want to admit it, holding hands with the attractive queen wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be - even if their skin had turned sticky in an instant. "How long do you think we have before it strikes?"
Lexa sniffed the air and looked up at the sky that had indeed turned darker by a shade or two than it had been earlier in the day. "Hard to say. It's been brewing over the ocean to the east of us for most of the morning. A few hours maybe. Certainly no more than three."
Carol Ann sighed and looked up the hill towards the mountainous cone. The hillside wasn't as steep as the one she had used for her descent earlier in the day, but the mere thought of struggling up the long, strength-sapping incline for five hundred yards in the searing heat and boiling humidity, among scary spiders, screeching monkeys, buzzing dragonflies, steaming trees and hungry carnivorous plants was almost enough for her to wish the black beast had mauled her after all down in its lair. "All right. I'll try. But those caves had better be something special… you hear me? They need to be extraordinary."
The growled comment was met by a relieved chuckle that emanated from the tall woman whose bronzed skin seemed to glow when she smiled. "Oh, I haven't promised too much, Carol Ann. You'll never wish to leave… magical things happen in those caves. Trust me. Shall we go?"
Carol Ann sighed out loud. The queen was in one of her phases again. Now she was seventeen years old and inviting her best gal pal over for tea and cookies. She had developed a headache from keeping up with the older woman's mood swings that always seemed to arrive when she least expected them. On the other hand, it was too hot to stay outside, so she might as well go along with it. "Yeah… but I'm warning you, I may not make it all the way there," she said with a sigh before she forced her right leg to move ahead of the left so they could get started on the hard trek up the long hill.
*
*
CHAPTER 3
By the time the two women reached the upper edge of the jungle, Carol Ann needed to sit down on a tree stump to catch her breath. There were thirty yards up to the base of the mountainous cone, but there might as well be thirty miles. Her feet were sore, her knees ached, her hips ached even worse, and the headache that had threatened to come a-knocking had indeed made an arrival.
She let out a growl that originated somewhere deep in her throat upon realizing the bronzed skin of Queen Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda barely glistened of sweat. It annoyed her the tall woman seemed unaffected by the high humidity that had - mercifully - grown less as they climbed the hill, but she didn't want to mention it. Instead, she just sat there and moped. Up at the cone, the clouds had developed even more and were now blocking some of the sun's strong rays, but unfortunately, that only added to the humid conditions.
Glancing around the small clearing, Carol Ann cocked her head when she caught a glimpse of a familiar-looking cobweb some fifty yards to her left. It reached between no less than four trees and bore a striking resemblance to the one she had nearly slipped into earlier in the day. She furrowed her brow and continued to glance around the site. After a short while, she spotted the pathway around the mountainous cone she had used to get to the second plateau. "Oh God," she croaked, narrowing her eyes down into slits. "I've… I've already been here… I walked right up there… on the pathway… earlier today! I don't believe it! I'm right back where I bloody started!"
Lexa chuckled and followed Carol Ann's stare up the side of the small mountain. "Well, that's-"
"Where's the cave, Lexa? Where's the entrance to the damn cave?"
"Directly ahead of us… look," Lexa said and pointed at the face of the rock which was still a good thirty yards away.
At first, Carol Ann couldn't tell the difference between one section of rock and the next, but by squinting, she caught wind of a darker area that could be a crack in the rock face. "Wait… that's the cave? That's just a crack in the wall!"
"No, it's an optical illusion," Lexa said with a grin. "You'll see what I mean when we get up there… are you ready to move on?"
Carol Ann grimaced and got up from the tree stump. It took a little while for her joints and bones to line up, and when she finally got going, she staggered along like she was a hundred and ten years old. The queen offered her a hand, but she swatted it away. Once she had found the narrow crack in the rock face, she moved her eyes up the small mountain until she spotted the pathway. It couldn't be more than twelve feet above the entrance to the cave - she had been right next to it the whole time she had been at the mountain.
Groaning, she came to a stop and began to rub her face while she thought of all the sweat, exhaustion and terrors she could have been spared had she looked down at the right moment.
It took Lexa a few seconds to realize she had once again lost her companion somewhere along the way, but when she had, she turned around and put her hands akimbo. "Do I need to carry you the rest of the way?"
"No. I'm coming," Carol Ann croaked and resumed her staggering.
---
Like Lexa had said, the entrance to the cave formed an optical illusion. From the outside, it appeared the crack in the jagged rock face was no more than five or six inches wide, but up close, it was revealed it was really a crevice shaped like a Z that led to a far wider corridor. The crevice allowed sunlight to enter the cave, but kept out all those who weren't familiar with the natural roadblock.
"Goodness me… wow," Carol Ann mumbled as she was the first one to slip through the Z and enter the corridor beyond it. The deep shaft was five feet wide and roughly seven feet tall, and it wasn't as dark as she had expected it to be. The light that fell in from the crevice illuminated the millions of glittery fragments in the dark-gray rock and made them twinkle. The shaft continued straight on into the sacred mountain and seemed to turn a corner some fifty feet ahead of their position.
"Go on," Lexa said, gently putting a hand on Carol Ann's shoulder. The younger woman nodded and staggered on into the system of caves.
The ground was obviously bare rock, but a thick layer of palm leaves had been distributed evenly from the entrance and further into the shaft to make it soft and comfortable to walk on. After all, the queen and her natives all wore sandals or had bare feet. The temperature dropped at once, as did the humidity, and Carol Ann ended up rubbing her bare, flushed arms before they had made it to the kink in the shaft.
Sounds of babbling, splashing water echoed through the cave and revealed they were headed for the first of the two springs Lexa had mentioned. When Carol Ann turned the corner with the queen in tow, she gawked wide-eyed at how the corridor opened up into a small room. It was darker than the shaft preceding it, but the glittery fragments in the walls twinkled enough to create a modicum of light. The ceiling seemed lower in there, but to compensate, the floor was a step down.
A wide, natural pool - that was shaped like a reasonable facsimile of the real crater further down the side of the old volcano - had evolved over the eons at the center of the room just below the spot where water trickled out of cracks in the ceiling. The water backed up in the pool that only had a tiny exit at the bottom of the reservoir, but the flow rates were matched perfectly which meant the pool never spilled over.
The perpetually disturbed surface of the water worked together with the glittery fragments in the rock surrounding the pool to create abstract patterns that played on the walls.
"Oh," Carol Ann breathed, still stuck in the doorway. "It's almost a living entity! Oh, this is so beautiful, Lexa…"
"I knew you'd like it. Of course, it gets better the closer we get to it," the queen said and gave the distracted woman in front of her a little nudge.
"Huh? Oh… of course," Carol Ann said and stepped down onto the slightly lower floor. Walking around the pool, she dipped a pinkie into it to make sure it was the cold spring, and it certainly was - or more to the point, it was icy. "Where does the water come from?" she whispered, afraid of talking out loud in case it would disturb the magic so clearly permeating the room.
"It's rain water that trickles down the many cracks and channels in the sacred Tima'uela. After long periods of drought, it'll run dry, but it always returns after the next storm."
"Fascinating… may I have a sip?"
"Sure. It's great."
Carol Ann smiled and cupped her hands. It was a shock to feel the ice cold water on her flushed skin, but she scooped up a handful and sipped from it. One sip lead to the next, and pretty soon, she'd had her fair share. "Oh, I needed that," she whispered as she wiped her lips clean of the excess drops. "If only I could get something to eat, I'd be a lot happier."
"I can go out and find some fruit and a few berries later-"
"Oh… berries," Carol Ann mumbled under her breath, sounding very much like she had reached her limit when it came to berries and fruit. She had a strong urge to ask Lexa about killing an animal and building a fire so they could cook it, but she thought better of it.
"-but before we do that," Lexa continued, oblivious to her guest's taboo-riddled train of thought, "how about we remained here for a little while so you can cool off? I could even wash your hair for you… if you want?"
Carol Ann cocked her head and looked up at the tall, imposing queen whose face bore a look of acute shyness that was rarely seen on the six-foot tall being who usually had confidence to spare. "Well, I could certainly do with getting my hair washed," she said and ran a hand through her filthy locks. "But wouldn't we contaminate the water if I… uh… dunked my head into it?"
"Yes, and it would also make you pass out!" Lexa said and let out a snigger. "I've washed my hair many times in here. C'mon, I'll show you," she continued as she took Carol Ann by the hand and led her around the pool and over to the other side of the small room.
Carol Ann furrowed her brow as she looked at the queen who had remained in her friendly phase since entering the cave. How the older woman could change her persona from one of authority to being just one of the girls in such a short span of time was a mystery to her, but she decided to go along with it. It was better to humor Lexa and keep her in a good mood than to bring out the cold, angry warrior who had come out to play in the palace at the camp.
"If you sit here," Lexa continued and pointed at a natural ledge next to the central pool, "I can wash your hair with no hassle at all. Do you want me to?"
"Well… yes, please." Looking down, Carol Ann found the ledge and made herself comfortable. She adjusted her black fur to sweep it around her rear end so she wouldn't be sitting directly on the hard, cold rock. Once everything was in place, she swept her long, blond hair out of the fur's collar and leaned her head back.
"All right. Don't be alarmed… this is icy!" Lexa said and cupped her hands. Dunking them into the water, she scooped up a large handful. "Are you ready? It's cold… and it's coming."
"Will you get a move on- Ohhhh!" The water was even colder on Carol Ann's scalp than she had imagined, and she became as taut as a bowstring as the frosty liquid trickled through the matted hair and down her neck. Her breath hitched, and for several seconds, all she could do was gasp and clamp her hands down onto her thighs.
"Four or five more of those, and your hair will be silky and beautiful again," Lexa said and worked her fingers through Carol Ann's soaked hair to get the worst knots untangled.
"Th- th- thank… you," Carol Ann croaked around an impressive bout of gasping. Though the cold water had numbed her skin, the queen's long, skilled fingers soon sent waves of pleasant warmth across her scalp, and she had to close her eyes as the sensations grew into something more than what the domestic situation called for.
Her cold water-induced gasping turned into a deep, even breathing as Lexa continued to massage her scalp and untangle her battered hair. It was the most comforting thing anyone had done for her in a very, very long time. She let out a content, little sigh when Lexa's fingers strayed behind her ears and down her neck. She had always been sensitive there, but Charles couldn't be bothered to explore that area when they slept together.
Comforting wasn't even a strong enough word. The gentle stroking of her scalp was relaxing, soothing, invigorating - and deeply erotic. The startling realization made her open her eyes and stare wide-eyed into the semi-darkness while Lexa continued to care for her hair.
Erotic it certainly was with the queen's long fingers using tender strokes to massage the scalp. Now and then, they ventured down to caress the base of Carol Ann's neck. Each time the fingertips brushed across the fine hairs, lightning bolts shot through her system that left little tingles where it mattered the most. The tingles grew and became insistent. A wonderful warmth spread through her that took care of all her aches and pains, and her skin became even more sensitive to Lexa's gentle touches and caresses. Her breath quickened as the warmth within trickled due south and made her part her legs.
It suddenly dawned on her what was happening. She was a married woman, after all, even if her husband had never, ever been able to give her such a thrill despite his best efforts of grinding into her during intercourse. Like self-satisfaction, adultery was a crime and a cardinal sin for any woman no matter how useless her husband was in the art of carnal pleasure.
Licking her bone dry lips, she closed her legs in a hurry so she wouldn't give Lexa the wrong impression of her. "I… I think that's enough now… thank you," she croaked, reaching behind her to stop Lexa's motions.
"Not really… but if you say so," Lexa said and bundled up the golden locks to squeeze the excess water out of it. When it was mostly dry, she fluffed it and let it hang down Carol Ann's neck.
Carol Ann needed a moment to push everything that rattled around inside her back into the little straitjacket labeled 'holy matrimony' before she could move on. The tingles were reluctant to leave so soon, but eventually complied and settled down into a lazy murmur that remained just below the surface. Sighing, she got up and shuffled around on the spot. "Thank you very much. It was lovely."
"Oh, you're very welcome," Lexa said and wiped her hands on her black fur bandolier.
"So now what? We go back to the camp?"
"I was thinking that we had something to eat first. I informed my two warriors that we would be back later in the evening, but not a specific time. They don't understand the concept of time well, anyway, so…"
"Eat? I could eat…" Carol Ann parroted. Her comment was followed by a loud, insistent rumble from her stomach that seemed to go on for a while. Embarrassed by her un-ladylike conduct, she scrunched up her face and patted her tummy. "I beg your pardon, Queen Lexa. I'm so hungry I could eat a cow!"
When the queen gasped and drew her lips back in a horrified grimace, Carol Ann sighed and rolled her eyes. "Or a few berries. Your choice."
"Berries. Definitely berries," Lexa said and shuffled the long way around the meat-eating woman so she wouldn't be infected with the bug.
As the queen left the room with the cold spring, Carol Ann leaned against the wall and observed the tall, graceful woman strolling away. Working in conjunction with the devious libido, a hand slipped in under the black fur and began to caress the skin on the lower part of her stomach. When she realized what she was doing, she broke out in a blush and whipped the hand away before it could spur her into doing anything dangerous and immoral.
---
Three minutes became five, then eight, then more than ten. When the queen still hadn't returned after nearly fifteen minutes, Carol Ann jumped up and paced the floor of the room with the cold spring. She circled the pool again and again until she grew dizzy. The headache that had been eased by the chilly water and the gentle fingers returned with a vengeance, and she reached up to rub her temples. "Oh, what's keeping her?" she mumbled as she continued walking the well-trodden path around the pool. "Has she encountered some of the male natives? Or one of those bear-like things? Or did she slip and break her neck? Or did she change her mind and… and… oh, why am I even worried about her? Last night, she threatened to execute me! And she threw me into a prison cage… but now she's all smiles and friendliness incarnate. I don't understand how she can change her personality on a dime. It's so infuriating! If she wasn't so beautiful, I would have run away screaming by now."
"Now, I do hope you're talking about me," a silky smooth female voice said from the doorway leading to the corridor.
Carol Ann jumped a foot in the air and let out a resounding "Gah!" Upon landing, she spun around and clamped a hand on her wildly beating heart. "Lexa… God… don't do that! You almost gave me a coronary…"
The queen chuckled huskily and stepped into the room with the cold spring carrying an armful of fruits and berries. "I'll remember that. Were you?"
"Wh- what?"
"Talking about me?" Lexa said as she deposited the food on the edge of the pool. She took a few berries and washed them in the cold water. "Mmmm?" she continued when she didn't get an answer.
Carol Ann blushed like she had rarely blushed before. A shrug was the only affirmative answer she could give before she shuffled over to the edge of the pool and sat down on the same ledge she had used earlier. She took one of the berries and popped it into her mouth so she didn't have to answer verbally.
Lexa chuckled and mirrored her companion's actions. Once she had swallowed the first of many berries, she folded down her loincloth and rested a buttock on the edge of the pool. "I'll admit there are two sides of me, Carol Ann. One of me is Lexa, Queen of the Mu-Kwanda… and the other is… well… the woman behind the title. And that's who I am right now. I will also admit I read you wrong last night."
"Oh?" Carol Ann said and reached for another berry.
"Yes. My first impression of you was that you didn't have any backbone. That you were a… mmmm, a weak, little flower who would wilt under the gentlest of touches. But you proved me wrong."
"Huh… yeah. There's more to me than meets the eye. There's more than what people want to see… or are comfortable seeing. My husband among them," Carol Ann said with a shrug. When Lexa didn't go on, she looked up and locked eyes with the older woman. The pause became pregnant, and Carol Ann used it to snatch a pear-like fruit that she bit into.
It took a while, but Lexa nodded pensively and picked up a few berries. "The weather's gotten worse now," she said and crossed her long, bare legs the other way. "There's a thundercloud moving towards us fast… I could already hear a few claps in the far distance. The wind's picked up, too. To be honest, I don't think we should attempt traveling onto the camp before the bad weather has moved away."
"Oh… will your subjects accept that?"
"Of course. I'm their queen."
"Of course," Carol Ann mumbled, taking another large bite out of the juicy fruit.
The two women looked at each other eating for a brief moment before Lexa broke out in a smile and leaned across to put a hand on top of Carol Ann's. "It gives us a great opportunity to look at the hot spring. It's further into the sacred mountain. You won't regret it."
"So you keep telling me," Carol Ann said with a chuckle. She finished off the pear-like fruit and put the core on the edge of the pool before she licked her fingers clean of the tasty juices. As she did so, she happened to look over at the queen whose eyes were firmly locked onto the fingers that were in close contact with a pair of lips and a pink tongue. Yet another blush spread over Carol Ann's cheeks as she hurriedly wiped her fingers clean on her black fur instead.
Lexa clapped her hands down onto her bare thighs and scooted away from the pool. "I'll throw that outside so an animal can have a little snack as well," she said and took the core. "Don't carry on without me… it's very dark down there at the best of times."
"But… how are we-"
"Last time I was here, I left an almost new torch that I'll ignite once we get there."
"A torch in an enclosed cave? Sounds like the perfect recipe for disaster if you ask me… we could suffocate on the smoke," Carol Ann said and cast a nervous glance down the next offshoot from the cave. Like Lexa had said, it was far darker than the room they were in.
"No, there's a crack in the ceiling. A natural ventilation shaft if you will. Oh, you'll see what I mean," Lexa said and waved at Carol Ann. "Don't go anywhere. Please."
Chuckling darkly, Carol Ann shook her head. "I won't."
-*-*-*-
"Goodness me, you weren't kidding when you said it was dark…" Carol Ann whispered as she inched her way through the pitch black corridor. She held onto the queen's black fur as a guide, but even though the tall woman walked only a foot ahead of her, she couldn't even see her characteristic shape. "Oh… I hope there aren't any spiders in here… I've never liked them… but now I'm terrified of bumping into one… those black and yellow monsters… oh, God, I get the creeps just thinking about them…"
"Do you always talk this much when you're walking in darkness?" Lexa said somewhere up ahead. The question was accompanied by a merry, harmonic chuckle.
"I never walk in darkness, full stop…"
"I can tell. There aren't any spiders in here, Carol Ann. They don't like the cold. I was bit by one a few years ago, actually. My hand swelled so badly I thought I was going to have to cut it off. Most of us have been bitten, especially when we harvest their venom."
"Wh- what? Spiders don't carry venom!"
"Well, these do."
"Oh God… don't tell me… you use the venom for… f- for the poisoned darts in the blowguns?"
"Yes."
"Ohhhh," Carol Ann breathed and let go of the queen's fur to clamp a hand over the welt on her neck. The little bump had become more painful by the high humidity, but now that she knew what kind of poison had caused her to rave like a half-witted maniac, it really started hurting again. Instinctively, she reached down to her pants pocket to take the cloth that she had been given by the medicine man, but only grasped her thigh - she had forgotten to take it when she left her clothes behind.
Up front, Lexa turned left indicating they had entered the next room, the one with the hot spring. The sound of water splashing onto the rocks confirmed it though it was impossible to see where it came from.
The air held a certain scent of warm water, but also something else that Carol Ann couldn't identify. It smelled vaguely of the kind of exquisite bathing oils she used in her cast iron bathtub back at the mansion in California, but she knew that was a nonsense.
"Here we are," Lexa said and came to a halt. "Here's the torch… and here are the fire stones. Take care."
"Oh, I will. Don't worry…"
The Queen of the Mu-Kwanda smacked the two stones together once, then twice. The third time was the charm as sparks flew from the impact and onto the torch to set it alight. Within seconds, a warm, orange flame rose from the soaked fabric at the tip of the long stick. The light revealed it was tied to a piece of wood that was in turn hammered into the wall so it couldn't be moved out of position.
The ceiling above the torch was cracked, and the smoke escaped through the numerous, tiny little fractures like Lexa had said. At first, it rose up lazily, but as it got nearer the cracks, it sped up and disappeared into the ceiling like it was sucked up by some sort of vacuum.
As the light grew, it enveloped the entire cave. At the center, the hot spring revealed itself to be a large, tub-like circle that protruded from the floor. Unlike the cold spring, the bubbling water rose to the surface and splashed over the edges in an unpredictable pattern. The excess water pooled here and there, but the underground was so porous it was soon soaked up.
"And I give you… the hot spring. With room for two," Lexa said and strolled over to test the temperature by flicking her long fingers through the water.
"I must admit it looks really delightful," Carol Ann said and walked around the tub-like structure. She opened her mouth to ask a question when her eyes fell upon a small reed basket that stood on a narrow ledge above the water.
It seemed to be full of petals from the various flowers Ka'una-Kameha had to offer, and as she shuffled closer to it, it was revealed where the special scent akin to bathing oils had come from. She gave the basket a little nudge which released another wave of fragrances into the air. "But isn't it hot? It's bubbling up from below, and it's a volcanic island…"
"Oh, no. It's warm, but not hot. I've spent hours in here, and I've never been burned. Catch!" Lexa said, suddenly pulling her hand up and throwing a few droplets at Carol Ann. The younger woman flinched and didn't catch anything, and Lexa sniggered at her surprised look. "This is one of my favorite spots on the entire island. No matter what's going on outside, this place is always warm, nice and cozy."
"It certainly seems like it," Carol Ann said, too preoccupied with checking the floor, the walls and the ceiling for critters of the multi-legged kind now that she could see better, even if the orange, flickering light from the torch created all kinds of abstract patterns on the walls that made it difficult to discern between critters and the jagged rock itself.
Satisfied that everything was in good order, Carol Ann sat down on a natural ledge near the tub though she kept vigilant in case a long-legged creature would try to sneak up on her. Staring hard at a shadow on the wall that could potentially contain something scary, she missed the fact that a long-legged creature had indeed moved up close and was ready to strike using one of the most powerful weapons on earth.
"Come on," Lexa said and slipped the black fur bandolier off her shoulder.
"Oh, are we leaving already?" Carol Ann said, shifting her attention to the next wall just to be on the safe side. "The weather can't have improved that quickly. It hasn't been five minutes since you came back and said-"
That's how far she made it before her throat tied itself into a knot. Not only did she see the black fur bandolier lying on a ledge separated from the person usually wearing it, a movie was playing in the flickering shadows on the wall opposite her. An adult movie, judging by the curves that were suddenly on full display.
Gulping hard, she inched around on the ledge to verify what she had just seen in orange and black. Lexa was naked from the waist up, and her bronzed skin and swooping curves seemed to glow in the torchlight. Carol Ann could hardly tear her eyes away from the older woman's chest, at least not until Lexa did one better and reached down to untie her loincloth.
"Oh… God…" Carol Ann croaked as the fabric was thrown onto the ledge to join the fur bandolier. She forgot how to blink, breathe and think as she let her eyes glide down Lexa's body. She stared at everything the older woman had to offer; stared at the long legs as they were swung up into the tub; stared at Lexa lowering herself into the water; stared at the swell of her breasts that were just at the waterline - and she stared at Lexa's hooded eyes and parted lips as the warm water rolled over her bronzed skin.
Only then did she notice human beings were supposed to breathe to stay alive. Gasping for air, she took several deep breaths and wiped a few drops of sweat off her brow. Deep down inside her, her libido took a sledgehammer and smashed the straitjacket labeled 'holy matrimony' into roughly five hundred pieces.
Lexa grinned and reached up to move her long, black hair over the other shoulder. "Why don't you join me? It's so wonderful here… and there's plenty of room for two."
Carol Ann took another deep breath or three before she shook her head. "Oh, that… you know… I could… couldn't… it would only… I don't… I'm… I'm a mar- married w- uh… woman…"
"I think you should."
"No, I… it wouldn't be… um, proper…"
"Suit yourself, but you don't know what you're missing. The bubbles tickle so delightfully."
Carol Ann let out a deep, tormented sigh and looked at the ceiling, the floor, the walls and everywhere else Lexa wasn't at that moment in time. If she looked at the naked woman in the tub, she wouldn't be able to stop gawking at her, but that would be rude, impolite and immoral.
She had to admit the attractive woman did have a strong gravitational pull on her, but at the same time, she was worried the queen would flip and become the cold warrior again if she happened to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. The years she had spent with Charles had been a lot of things, but never unpredictable. Lexa, on the other hand, was the very definition of unpredictable - which was, also by definition, alluring.
In the tub, Lexa reached into the hot water and scooped up a few handfuls that she poured down her bronzed shoulders and front. When she leaned back to get the most out of it, her breasts became visible above the waterline.
Carol Ann stared at the two globes that seemed to mock her with their bare existence. She licked her dry lips and tried to think of something else, but it wasn't easy with such a prime example of the female of the species in the room.
The second time Lexa poured water down her front, Carol Ann rose but sat down at once. The third time, she crossed her legs in despair. The fourth time the queen of the Mu-Kwanda poured water on herself, she also slid a hand over her full breasts while she shot the breathless spectator a smoky gaze.
"Immoral my eye… I need it," Carol Ann said in a trembling voice. She rose from the ledge and slithered over to the tub on shaky legs. She still wore the heavy hiking boots, but they were quickly pulled off and thrown into a corner. The horrendously un-sexy socks followed in a flash.
No words were exchanged between the two women, so the decision to pull back or go ahead would be Carol Ann's alone. Breathing heavily to keep a cool head despite the booming temperature inside her, she slipped the black fur off her shoulders and threw it onto one of the vacant ledges. Standing in front of a near stranger in only her brassiere and bloomers was awkward and terrifying, and her heart hammered in her chest over what she was doing and what the immediate future might bring. At the same time, it felt right for very nearly the first time in her life.
She was grateful that Lexa knew to keep quiet and let the situation develop on its own. Had the queen spoken at that moment, she would have lost her nerve. Hardly anybody bathed with their brassiere on, so she reached behind her and released the clasp. The fabric became loose and fell down into her hand. It soon ended up on the floor which left her bare from the waist up. Inside her chest, her heart took the opportunity to turn up the heat even more, and she wondered why Lexa couldn't hear it beating.
By instinct, she moved an arm up to cover her breasts, but reconsidered and let it fall down to the elastic band on her bloomers instead. She had never been topless in front of another woman before, and she was concerned her smaller chest wouldn't be appreciated by the well-endowed queen. She needn't have worried as Lexa offered her a smile and a little wink which was soon followed by the pink tip of her tongue that ran across her lips to wet them before it was withdrawn.
The support gave Carol Ann the nudge she needed for the final, frightening, part of getting undressed. She hooked her thumbs inside the band on her bloomers but stopped before she could push them down. So far, it had all been fairly innocent, but taking off her britches in front of someone she wasn't married to would push it beyond that stage. It would be her moral Rubicon in more ways than one.
Could she trust Lexa not to claim her royal right to take advantage of her while she was in such a vulnerable state? How would Lexa act in case they became intimate? Would she be tender and giving, or coarse and demanding? So many questions were burning in her mind, but the answers were few and far between. Dithering with her thumbs inside the elastic band, she was waiting for a sign, though of what kind she didn't know.
A warm, supportive smile on Lexa's face knocked down the final hurdle. Charles had never smiled at her in such a way. He had never satisfied her after she had given him her most precious gift; he had never rewarded her through love for allowing him to use her body whenever he needed sex, which was often. Now she needed sex. She needed it so badly she could taste it, and she needed it with the gorgeous creature who sat in the natural hot tub. That it was a woman only made it better.
Carol Ann slipped down her bloomers and threw them away. Once again acting on instinct alone, she reached down and covered her triangle of golden hair and the treasure below, but she realized she didn't need to do that in front of Lexa. There was no need to feel vulnerable when the object of her desire had done nothing but support her, unlike Charles who always looked at her like she was something to be conquered, or simply a piece of meat to grind into.
Smiling nervously though her heart was playing a double-time fandango in her chest, Carol Ann swung a leg over the edge of the tub and slipped down into the warm water. As it enveloped her flushed body up to her collarbones, she closed her eyes and let out a sensual groan as a sign of things to come.
"Welcome," Lexa husked and shuffled to the side to make room for the reborn Carol Ann next to her. "You are a very beautiful woman… from top to toe," she said and put out her hand.
Carol Ann took it and allowed herself to be pulled closer. "Thank you. God, the water is so wonderful… oh, the bubbles!"
"Told you!" Lexa said and sent an exaggerated wink in Carol Ann's direction while the pink tip of her tongue came out to play. The two women chuckled at the silliness before they fell quiet and moved closer still.
Another big question was burning on Carol Ann's mind - the big question of what they were about to do. It was perhaps silly on her part, but she needed to hear it confirmed by Lexa so she wouldn't do anything that would ruin the moment. "Lexa… there's something I need to know," she tried, putting out her hand in an invitation for a little squeeze. It came at once when Lexa took it. "Call me insecure, but I need to know that we're both on the same page… it's a big step for me… for… for several reasons. Are you… are you just playing with me-"
"No. I would never do that," Lexa husked and pulled Carol Ann closer. When they were only inches apart, she ran her long fingers up the tender skin of the arm she still held onto. "I need you too," she added in a hoarse whisper.
The combined sensations of Carol Ann's libido performing a backflip upon hearing Lexa's heartfelt answer, bubbles trickling up her legs and caressing her center, her stomach and her sensitive breasts, and the long, gentle fingers that stroked her arm nearly sent her into a meltdown. Inside her, the tingles exploded into a starburst that made every last part of her jitter and stand on edge.
As she moved closer still, the first thunderclap could be heard rolling around the mountainous cone above them. The sound was noticeable, but never intrusive. Another clap followed not long after signaling the start of the thunderstorm. Tremors rippled down the sacred mountain and into the cavern with the hot spring, but with the pleasant warmth, the flickering light from the torch and the burning hot company, it never became scary.
"We've already made the ground shake," Lexa husked.
Carol Ann smiled, but her eyes never left Lexa's orbs that had undergone a full transformation from the night before. Then, the cold steel had lurked just behind the pale blue, but all she could see now was warmth and friendliness. It was perhaps worrying the same woman could be so different, but she had to admit the version of Lexa who sat next to her in the hot spring was a very intriguing woman, indeed. "So that was real? I thought it was just me…" she said and let out a snigger.
As another thunderclap rolled around the sacred mountain, Carol Ann closed the distance between herself and the object of her desire. The moment was so close she could already taste it on her lips, but she could also feel her nerve leaving her. Who was she actually kidding? She, who had zero experience in making love to women, was attempting to make the first move on a woman who had to be a hundred times more experienced than she. It could be something out of a dime-store pulp novel, but it was actually happening, and happening to her, Carol Ann Lawrence.
Wavering, she blinked several times and looked down just as she had been about to reach the luscious lips. "Lexa, I… this is so embarrassing, but… I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing… well, I do, but… no, I don't…"
"You were doing just fine until now. Are you afraid of me?" Lexa whispered, moving a few locks of golden hair out of Carol Ann's eyes.
"Not anymore… but I'll admit to being intimidated…" As Carol Ann spoke, she reached out and placed a hand across Lexa's flat stomach. Though the warm bubbles concealed some of it, the skin was silky soft to the touch unlike Charles' coarse, hairy body. The soft skin cried out to be clawed, so she did. When Lexa responded favorably with a purr, she tried it a little more, then a little more again after moving her hand an inch or three higher up the long, graceful torso. The side of her thumb brushed against the underside of a breast; she let it stay there.
"You could have fooled me. Now… I have a suggestion," Lexa husked. She cocked her head to be at the right angle to Carol Ann's lips that were only a few inches away. "Kiss me once and tell me you don't like it," she added in a sensual whisper.
Carol Ann's libido performed another backflip, and down below, her sex clenched in anticipation of the erotic encounter - yet another thing she had never experienced with Charles. Though her nervousness went through the roof, she licked her dry lips and finally closed the distance between them.
As her eyes slipped shut to savor the moment, she claimed Lexa's lips in a probing kiss. The energy that crackled between them at that exact point in time was undeniable, and it even produced a thunderclap that rolled around the sacred Tima'uela mountain.
For the first time in her life, she kissed another woman in a sexual context. She loved the taste; she loved the texture of the soft lips against her own. She loved the little moan that escaped Lexa's throat, and she loved the way her own body responded to the event. Although her conscience was still trying to raise a warning flag at the back of her mind due to the moral implications, the sweet contact was so good it overruled everything else.
Her breath quickened and the kiss became more insistent. Acting on instinct alone, she put a hand behind Lexa's head to press their mouths closer together. Her tongue wanted more, and it was rewarded when the luscious lips parted and allowed it access to the warm cavern beyond. Their tongues began an intimate dance that made both women let out moans of passion. The kiss grew evermore intense as the pent-up emotions and years of frustration simply burst out of Carol Ann in an unstoppable rush of blood to the head and elsewhere.
The distant thunder and the flickering, orange flames from the torch were silent witnesses to Carol Ann devouring Lexa's mouth until the need for air was too strong to ignore. Panting and moaning, the women separated but held each other tight.
"Oh God…" Carol Ann croaked with a heaving chest. Everything inside her tingled and throbbed, and demanded with a loud, clear voice that they went further while the going was good. Her skin had come alive and had turned so sensitive that even Lexa's warm breath on her neck was enough to give her a deep thrill. All her fears and insecurities had been blown away by the burning hot gale force winds that screamed around inside her.
She had never been so aroused in her life, not even by her secret, supposedly sinful, fantasies. Better yet, the bronzed woman close to her - who appeared to be in a similar state of rapture - wasn't a figment of her imagination; she was really there, ready to make love with her. The mere thought of what was to come made Carol Ann's libido give her a kick up the proverbial.
"I need you… I need you now," Carol Ann husked before she dove in for another scorching kiss that was the opening round of her life's most important journey of discovery.
*
*
CHAPTER 4
The warm cavern inside the sacred Tima'uela mountain echoed with the lustful sounds uttered by the two people involved in the most ancient of pastimes. Hands caressed, fingers probed and rubbed, lips kissed and suckled, tongues played the magic symphony, and heartfelt moans were exchanged when a sweet spot was found, or a particularly good idea was reciprocated.
Outside the cave, the thunderstorm mirrored the hard work of Carol Ann and Lexa by creating lightning bolts of crackling energy that screamed across the darkened sky. Cascades of rain pelted down upon the mountainous cone, and high winds tore down from above and made the crowns of the trees creak and groan as they swayed in every direction.
The throes of passion had rarely been sweeter, and the women had worked each other into an electric state that only a friendly touch could get them down from. Kissing, fondling, moaning, they each helped the other achieve the highest of highs as their releases ripped through their bodies. They were left as boneless creatures that needed to fall into each other's arms so they wouldn't be swept away by the strong tide.
---
Still flushed and panting from her glorious climax, Carol Ann helped Lexa collect the black furs and pull them around their bodies after they had moved out of the warm tub and over to a ledge. Naked as babies underneath the warm covers, they wrapped their arms and legs around each other and sat so close they were one being.
With a heaving chest, Carol Ann closed her eyes and allowed the afterglow to claim her. She rarely experienced the warm sensation; never with Charles and only infrequently when she took care of her needs herself. Now it was there, and it was the best she had ever had. It reached out into every fiber in her body and left behind a deep sense of being well-loved. Even while it was there, she laid sneaky plans to experience it again, and with Lexa.
"Oh…" Lexa breathed, opening the black fur to get some slightly cooler air to her naked body. "That was special. Thank you very much."
"Oh, you're welcome," Carol Ann said with a husky chuckle that was matched by a similar one from her new lover. The two women rubbed against each other and sniggered a little more.
Their frantic breathing evened out and left them warm and sated. Carol Ann never wanted to leave the cave or her new lover, but she knew she had to eventually. The little voice of reason called conscience once more waved the warning flag at the moral implications of her actions, and this time, she couldn't get it to keep quiet. Sighing, she leaned in and kissed Lexa on the cheek. "I'm a terrible sinner. I've committed adultery," she said quietly.
"Pah."
"No, I have. I'm a married woman who has just had sex with someone she isn't married to. I'm an adulteress, plain and simple."
"Guilt isn't a valid emotion here, and sin doesn't even apply. I think you'll find that on Ka'una-Kameha, many things from the so-called civilized world don't count. Mmmm?" Lexa said and gave Carol Ann a little rub underneath the fur blanket.
Carol Ann shrugged and fell silent. They sat like that for nearly a minute before she let out another sigh. "Charles will know if I ever find him. I won't be able to keep it a secret from him. He'll see the guilt on my face… I just know it."
"Carol Ann, listen to me… did you want it?" Lexa said and moved around so she could look her lover in the eye.
"God, yes," Carol Ann breathed as the sensations of Lexa's hands upon every vital zone of her body flashed before her mind's eye. Her skin still held a flushed, tingling echo of the experienced woman teaching her all there was to know about her body; all the things she knew were possible but had never explored beyond the most basic. "It was incredible. I've never been so aroused… I've never had a release quite like that one. I can still feel it inside me. God, this is going to sound pathetic. Just now… that was my life's first release that didn't come by my own hands."
"I beg your pardon?" Lexa said and turned Carol Ann around for verification of what she had just heard. "You've been married for how many years? And he's never been able to give you an-"
"No."
The single-syllable reply sent one of Lexa's dark eyebrows creeping up her forehead. When it became clear Carol Ann wasn't going to elaborate on her brief answer, she shook her head and pulled her new lover closer to her instead. "You're right. That's pathetic… on his part."
"It's not for a lack of trying," Carol Ann said quietly. A flashback to the countless times Charles had been on top of her grinding away sent a strong shiver through her body. She was terrified what would happen if she ever found her husband and they were able to escape the island. He would claim his God-given right to have sex with her as her lawful husband, but after experiencing the full glory of what making love could really be with Lexa, she would react with loathing or even disgust when he mounted her and carried out his regular, one-sided grinding that only satisfied himself. She just knew it. And then, everything would change for the worse. She shook her head and let out a small sigh. "He's my husband. I can't refuse him. I guess that's marriage-"
Lexa growled out loud, and for a brief moment, the angry warrior bubbled to the surface. "No! That's all kinds of wrong! It doesn't have to be that way… if you don't want to have sex, just tell him."
"You don't know Charles Lawrence. In the six years we've been married, I have never seen him accept no as an answer to anything… not once. He wants it all, and he gets it. Even if I could persuade him to postpone it… like I did on the Empress of the Pacific on our way here… he'll come looking for a double feature the next time. I'm his wife. I'm his property. There's the concept of holy matrimony in a nutshell," she said, shrugging.
Lexa sighed deeply and shook her head. "And you actually want to go back to that world? What for, Carol Ann? So you can be a slave again?"
"I beg your pardon? Didn't you tell me last night I was now your property? Didn't you say I could be a breeder, or a birther, or whatever-"
"I did, but that was the queen speaking. I have certain obligations to my people when I'm working. When I'm myself, I see some things differently."
"Must be difficult to keep track of," Carol Ann mumbled under her breath. She cast a sideways glance at the woman who carried what could only be described as dual personalities - that was the only term she could think of that painted a clear picture of the unpredictable Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda. If she could somehow get the warm, kind woman she had just made love with to stay for good, it would make her life on Ka'una-Kameha so much easier.
"Here," Lexa continued, oblivious to Carol Ann's inner thoughts, "you can be a free woman. You're free to make love with anyone you wish in our camp… of course, I hope you would choose me just once in a while-"
"Well, there's no one on my agenda but you…"
"Good. But in theory, the whole camp is your playground. And more importantly, it would be your choice. Do you still want to go back?"
Carol Ann mirrored her new lover by letting out a long, deep sigh. "My whole life is back in California, Lexa. Nearly my whole life," she said and offered the bare thigh next to her a little squeeze. "Call me a slave, but I'm not ready to give it all up. My heart tells me staying here wouldn't be the right thing for me. I'm sorry."
"Yeah… I'm sorry too," Lexa said and fell silent.
Outside, the thunderstorm had moved on with only the occasional clap coming through the sacred mountain. The howling winds appeared to have died down as well, but it was hard to tell from inside the warm cave. On top of that, the torch in the corner had burned down to about half mast, so the signs were all pointing in the direction that it was time to move on.
When Lexa began to stir, Carol Ann pulled her close one last time before it was too late. Leaning in, she placed a loving kiss on the older woman's sweet lips. "Thank you for showing me what making love can truly be. It was wonderful. I'll never forget it for as long as I live," she whispered, nibbling at Lexa's lips.
"You're welcome. I think we better head back," Lexa whispered in return. "The Mu-Kwanda don't have much knowledge of time, but they'll get impatient if something takes too long. There's no point in getting them angry over nothing."
"No, I'm in enough trouble as it is," Carol Ann said and swept off the black fur. Casting a glance at Lexa's naked body as the queen rose and found her clothes, a strong urge to make love to her away from the hot tub flashed through Carol Ann's mind. There were things they hadn't had a chance to try, and she couldn't wait to sample the rest of the taller woman's treasures - even if it was forbidden fruit.
She licked her lips as the steaming hot thoughts threatened to take over her mind once more. They didn't have time for that, so she found her bloomers and fluffed them thoroughly to make sure no critter had used them for a cozy nest while she and Lexa had been busy exploring paradise.
-*-*-*-
Once they were standing out in the open, Carol Ann took a deep breath to fill her lungs with fresh air that had become much less humid after the thunderstorm. The sky was still a shade or two darker than its usual hue, but the thundercloud itself had moved further west. A confirmation of that came when a lightning bolt lit up the sky a few miles out over the ocean; a lazy, rolling thunderclap followed several seconds later.
The strong rain had ceased too apart from a faint drizzle, but there were still rivers running down the sides of the sacred mountain. All that water had to go somewhere, so it pooled at the base before it overflowed and carried on into the jungle below. It didn't appear the strong winds had damaged any trees as such, but there were fresh palm leaves everywhere around them on the ground indicating it had been a stormy affair.
Another stormy affair had occurred inside the cave, and Carol Ann couldn't keep her eyes off the tall queen who moved around checking the perimeter. The muscles in the long thighs rippled as she crouched down to look for tracks; the curvature of her hips was plainly evident through the loincloth, and her chest moved around with grace as she rose and waved Carol Ann over to her.
Grinning goofily while blushing over the inappropriate thoughts that rattled around inside her mind and elsewhere, Carol Ann moved away from the concealed entrance to the cave and shuffled towards her new lover. She felt like whistling a merry tune but thought better of it even after puckering up her lips. "So… did you find any tracks?" she said instead.
Lexa chuckled and pointed down at the soggy ground. "It's all turned to mud."
"I should have known that. Does that mean it's safe to move on?" Carol Ann asked, seeking out Lexa's hand.
The queen took the offered hand and swung it back and forth. "Yes. It's back to the camp with you… prisoner."
Lexa accompanied the last word with a wink, but it wasn't enough to stop the chill that trickled down Carol Ann's spine. That she was still the queen's prisoner was an unfortunate fact, but it was an undeniable fact that she had become far more than that in the last few hours.
They set off in silence, but the question of what would happen to her in the immediate future weighed so heavily on her mind she didn't pay attention to the path, and thus bumped into just about everything there was to bump into.
---
"Are you sure you're all right? You don't look all right to me," Lexa said after the fourth different incident where Carol Ann nearly took a tumble. The look on the younger woman's face proved she wasn't anywhere near all right, so they came to a halt in the middle of the jungle after walking for close to half an hour.
The vegetation around them looked like it had before the storm, save for the many palm leaves that had been scattered about. Just off to the side of where Carol Ann and Lexa had stopped, a cluster of the red and orange carnivorous plants caught wind of a potential early evening snack and turned their heads towards the two women.
High above the jungle, the sun was slowly moving down towards the horizon. The sunlight had grown strong again after the disappearance of the hazy clouds, but the long shadows being cast meant there wasn't any time for the jungle to return to the stifling temperatures it had held earlier.
Carol Ann shrugged. "Yes… and no. I'm going into the cage for what I did to the guard, I know that. I accept that. But please… please don't let me stay there for more than a day or two. I've had the time of my life with you, Lexa, that's the honest truth, but I need to get home. This isn't my world. Ka'una-Kameha is a terrifying place if you don't belong here. And I don't."
"Oh…"
"You asked me to stay with you," Carol Ann said and reached up to caress Lexa's cheek. She was afraid the queen would move away from the touch, but she didn't - in fact, she leaned into it and let out a low purr. "Now I'm asking you to at least consider leaving with me. If you stay, you'll die, you know that. A challenger will get the better of you-"
"Leave with you?" Lexa said in a voice that was tinged with a steely undertone. "I told you last night why it wouldn't be a good idea. And besides, how do you suppose that would suit your husband? Are you planning on marooning him here? Or push him overboard once we hit the high seas?"
"God… of course not!"
Lexa sighed and reached out for the younger woman's hands. When she had them, she pulled her new lover in for a squeeze. "Well, don't you think he would be just a little suspicious of me? You said yourself he would know about your perceived sin the moment he saw you," she said in her regular, velvety voice.
"True…"
"Could we keep our eyes off each other on the return trip to Hawaii? Or even our hands? Or our lips? We would need to live a life in the shadows, Carol Ann. Like criminals. Here, on Ka'una-Kameha, we could live free… in the open. And no one would bat an eyelid at us holding hands or kissing on the porch. I'm asking you, can we do that in California now? Because our kind was hunted down when I lived there twenty years ago."
Carol Ann shook her head and let out a long sigh. "No. We can't. We would be sent to a correctional institution if we were discovered."
"And we would be. There's always a busybody with big ears."
"Probably…"
"And yet you call this island a terrifying place?"
Carol Ann looked away and gulped down the bitter lump that had formed in her throat. Lexa spoke the truth; there wasn't really anything she could say to counter it. "Nothing in my life is ever easy," she mumbled.
Looking up at her new lover, she was about to ask another question when she noticed a marked change in the queen's demeanor and stance. The tall woman had zeroed in on something over Carol Ann's shoulder. Whatever it was that had caught her attention, the steely glare in the pale-blue eyes sent a shiver down Carol Ann's spine. "What's wrong?" she whispered in a shaky voice.
"Trouble," Lexa said and pushed the younger woman behind her.
Carol Ann spun around and stared in wide-eyed terror at the three male natives that had snuck up on them while they had spoken. Two of the three held their blowguns ready, and the last wielded a spear that was poised to be thrown at the two women. "Oh God," she croaked, wringing her hands, "what should we do? What should we do?!"
"We kill them all!" Lexa cried and jumped forward with the agility of a lioness. Before the three natives knew what hit them, she had grabbed hold of the first blowgun and yanked it out of the native's hand. Spinning the long tube around, she slammed a sandaled foot into the man's fur codpiece while she held the reed to her mouth and blew the dart at the native holding the other blowgun.
As the first man went down hard letting out a sickening cry of pain while holding his crotch, the dart zipped through the air and buried itself into the second man's neck. He screamed and clutched his throat, but a split second later, he began to jerk and spasm like the sentries Carol Ann had seen atop the clay perimeter wall at the male camp.
All of that had taken place within three seconds. Carol Ann was so petrified she couldn't even scream. She just stood there like a marble statue and watched how an evil, unseen puppet master controlled the native's strings and forced his limbs to jerk around like a manic rag doll long after the man had died. He eventually fell down, but even that didn't stop the frightening motions.
Two down, one to go; the last one picked up the proverbial gauntlet and jabbed the spear at Lexa's torso while he hurled abuse at her in the local language. His first thrust was wide in one direction; his second went wide the other way. For the third jab, he aimed dead center, but that was what Lexa had been waiting for.
With all the ease in the world, she grabbed hold of the spear and yanked her opponent closer to her.
Howling, the native was wrong-footed and stumbled forward, directly into the path of Lexa's elbow that tore through the air and scored a direct hit on his chin. His eyes rolled back in his head and he took a tumble head-first onto the jungle floor.
All three attackers had been eliminated and the queen had hardly broken a sweat. Her chest heaved as she stood there with the captured spear. She scanned the surrounding trees to see if other opponents would be hiding there, but it appeared the three men had been alone.
Carol Ann finally tore her eyes away from the dead, spasming native to take in the sight of the queen of the Mu-Kwanda in all her glory. Danger rolled off the tall woman in spades as she was in full battle-mode; her muscles were taut and she was hunched over with the spear poised to kill as she continued to scan the surrounding jungle. Carol Ann knew better than to disturb a warrior who had entered the Zone, and wisely kept quiet.
After a short while, the queen relaxed her stance and turned to face her new lover. The two women locked eyes for a few seconds before Lexa smiled and let out a adrenaline-induced breath. "Carol Ann, head for that small clearing you see there. Don't look back… I'll catch up with you in a moment," she said and pointed the sharp end of the spear at the next section of the jungle.
Carol Ann opened her mouth to inquire what the queen was going to do, but slammed it shut again when she realized the answer was right there in front of her: the spear. Lexa was going to make sure the other two natives who had merely been knocked out wouldn't follow them, or report back to their camp. She closed her eyes to quell the nausea that rose within. Nodding, she turned away and shuffled off to the small clearing Lexa had pointed at.
On her way there, she stopped with a jerk when she heard the sound of the spearhead being thrust into flesh. It was difficult for her to reconcile the image of the hard-edged warrior queen with the soft, tender woman she had just made love to, and yet, the two were the same. She shivered, but didn't look back.
-*-*-*-
The final part of the return trip to the female camp went without a hitch; they saw neither hide nor hair of male hunters, ugly spider monsters or the animals dubbed the king of the jungle. Along the way, they were escorted by several monkeys that seemed to want to come along for the walk, but the small animals with the brown fur soon left the two women behind when they didn't want to play.
Carol Ann and Lexa spoke less and less the closer they got to the camp. Carol Ann dearly wanted to - she had so many things to say after the beautiful shared experience in the warm cave - but it was obvious the tall queen had other things on her mind as her face was set in stone. She had kept the bloody spear and used it as a cane though her stride was already perfect.
For a while, it seemed Lexa ignored her companion on purpose, but she did turn back now and then to offer the younger woman a smile; a gesture that warmed Carol Ann's heart each time it happened.
---
By the time the two women entered the cleared area leading up to the tall perimeter fence, the sun had already gone below the crown of the sacred Tima'uela mountain. The shadows had lengthened, and it wouldn't be long before the brief period of dusk would fall over Ka'una-Kameha.
Because of the heavy rain during the day, the soil sent out a strong, musky smell that was so penetrating the best way to proceed was to pinch one's nostrils. Soon, wood smoke from the burning bonfire and a distant scent of salt water that was brought inland by the last push of the easterly breeze were added to the mix.
The return of the queen with the prisoner attracted attention up in the watch towers, and several sentries came over to watch the two women cross the final stretch of land. "Carol Ann, listen to me," Lexa said and pulled the younger woman closer. "When we go through the gates, we'll be scrutinized by my challenger and those she may have on her side. I need you to play along to everything I do. You're my prisoner… I can't treat you kindly. Please tell me you understand."
"Well… I do, but… I hope it doesn't mean you'll be cruel to me… or behead me after all…"
"No. But you'll need to go into the cage for the time being. Later tonight, or maybe tomorrow morning, I'll grant you a pardon and move you to the palace staff for the completion of your sentence."
Carol Ann bared her teeth in a worried grimace. She agreed she needed to be punished after hurting the guard, but she was still walking into a huge unknown - and on Ka'una-Kameha, the unknowns had a tendency to jump up and bite you when you were least prepared. "Lexa, please don't take this the wrong way… I had the time of my life in that cave, you know that… but right now, I wish Charles and I were sipping Gin-Tonics on the foredeck of the Empress steaming for Peru instead of walking here with you."
Lexa chuckled darkly but abstained from making a comment. Instead, she raised the bloody spear high in the air and roared something in the local language. The native sentries in the watch tower at the corner of the perimeter fence all roared back. Soon, the large gate was opened.
"Carol Ann, I'm sorry. We have to begin the charade now," Lexa said quietly.
"Well, all right. If it can't be help-" Carol Ann was cut off when Lexa gave her a strong shove in the back that made her stumble ahead. Clenching her jaw, she looked down at the ground to appear sufficiently obedient. Even though she understood why it had to happen, it was a shock to her system to feel the queen's strong hand forcing her ahead like that.
---
Inside the camp, the queen and her prisoner were met by an enthusiastic response as they shuffled along the pathway from the gates to the two-storey, richly decorated building. A surprising amount of warriors and commoners were assembled in the square at the prison cages, and Carol Ann had to swallow hard at the thought of the heckling she would no doubt be exposed to once they got there.
All around her, the natives spoke in excited tones in their own language, and the queen responded to most of the comments. "I don't get it," Carol Ann mumbled to herself, looking down at the ground. "Is it really such a big deal that Lexa brought me back? She said she would… there must be something else going on…"
Now and then, she glanced up to see if she could figure out the reason behind the cheering, but it was difficult since she didn't dare look anyone in the eye. Even though the mood in the camp was cheerful, she noticed that several of the warriors assumed neutral expressions while they stayed back to observe the queen and those who cheered for her.
When they reached the central square, the crowd parted to make way for the two women. It also cleared the view of the prison cages - and Carol Ann stopped dead in her tracks at the sight that greeted her. She had expected the cages to be in the same state they had been in at the time of her escape, but they weren't.
In the cage she had occupied earlier, a large man was slumped against the bamboo-like reeds which made the whole thing tilt dangerously. He was dressed in a khaki safari suit that had been torn and dirtied. His knuckles were bloody like he had been in a fight, and dried blood caked on the right side of his face from his eyebrow to his chin.
"Oh… God… Charles…" Carol Ann breathed, unable to move an inch further. She was rooted to the spot, staring wide-eyed at her husband inside the prison cage. It wasn't until one of the warrior women gave her a shove that she continued across the square, but her feet dragged so hard she nearly made scuff marks in the ground.
Behind Carol Ann, the house-sized warrior came through the throng and greeted her queen. She and Lexa spoke rapidly to each other in the local language that Carol Ann didn't understand a single syllable of, but the intensity of the delivery gave a hint that it was about Charles rather than Carol Ann.
Her shock grew no less when she finally tore her eyes away from the largest cage to look at the two others. The last cage was still occupied by the male native who hadn't moved an inch since she had seen him last, but the rotten corpse had been thrown out of the middle cage and had been replaced by the easily recognizable figure of Spyros Antonakis.
The Greek was also slumped against the reeds, but he was able to move his arms in a drunken fashion that Carol Ann recognized as being the first stage back from the venom-induced blackout. His white shirt and navy-blue sailor's pants were torn and bloodied like Charles' clothes.
When a hand was clamped down on her shoulder, she let out a terrified gasp and jumped a foot in the air. The hand turned out to belong to Lexa, but there was no sign of the tender, loving woman on the queen's face or in her cold eyes that had nearly turned gray. "We could be in serious trouble, Carol Ann," the queen said in a steely voice. "After I had left the camp, my challenger formed a raiding party to see what was going on. They came across a team led by your husband and the other man. They killed two Filipinos and brought the others back here."
"No… is Ramón and the others dead?"
"I don't know their names."
"Oh, no… but why are we in serious tr-"
"Because my primary challenger got that victory while I was away! Don't you understand that?" Lexa said harshly. "This is the biggest feather in Mala'uena's cap she could ever hope to get! She caught the man responsible for murdering seventeen natives of the Mu-Kwanda… and I came home with one measly, little woman who couldn't hurt a fly! She'll be very dangerous now. Very dangerous."
"Oh, God," Carol Ann said and rubbed her mouth nervously. "Do you think she'll attempt to stage a… an… well, a coup?"
"We'll find out in a short while. She has requested an audience with me. I can't refuse it. But you're coming in with me!" Lexa said and grabbed hold of Carol Ann's shoulder.
"But… but… the guard I injured…"
Lexa shook her head angrily as she stomped back across the central square with her supposed prisoner in tow. They were met with a few annoyed faces, but most of the crowd were just thrilled to see some drama at the camp. "Never mind that now. We can't be separated. You won't be safe out here. Not now. My challenger has gained a host of supporters after today. Q'uola is one of them."
"Oh no, not that crazy bitch…"
"Yes," Lexa said and stomped up the short flight of stairs to get to the porch in front of the palace. Turning around, she spoke a few words with the house-sized warrior who nodded and moved over to block the steps behind them with her large frame.
Carol Ann closed her eyes as they walked past the five shrunken heads nailed to the wall, but they moved so fast it only took a few seconds. Inside the throne room of the richly decorated two-storey building, Lexa let her go, and she used her newfound freedom to run into the center of the one-room floor. With a heart that thumped in her chest from the shocking events, she sat down on the same bench she had used the night before when she saw the queen for the first time.
A nervous, screechy chuckle bubbled up from her chest when she thought of what had taken place within the last twenty-four hours: she had arrived at the camp in a net, she had spoken to the queen, she had discovered the queen was stark-raving bonkers, she had been thrown into the prison cage, she had escaped, she had roughed it at the foot of a mountain, she had nearly become lunch to a family of spiders, she had been inches from being torn to shreds by the black beasts, she had met the queen again, she had discovered the queen wasn't all that bad after all, and then she had been brought back to the camp as a prisoner - though not in a net. And now? "Lexa…"
In the meanwhile, the queen had shut the double doors and had stomped up to her throne. Growling, she smoothed her loincloth and sat down with a bump. Her face was scrunched up into a dark mask that didn't exactly betray her emotions, but it wasn't necessary to be a mind reader to see that she was agitated, as she leaned forward at once and put her elbows on her knees in a most un-queen-like posture. Her state of mind was confirmed by her right foot wagging at high speed.
"Lexa," Carol Ann tried again, rising from the bench. She didn't know if she should venture closer to the queen considering the dark expression on the older woman's face, but she did so anyway. "Please tell me, are we in danger?"
Sighing, the queen propped her head up on her arms. "Not at the moment. But we're definitely in trouble. This has introduced an element of unpredictability to this challenge. I'm not good with events I can't predict or control… I prefer a clear plan. Through this, I've lost the advantage I had. Many of the best warriors are on Mala'uena's side now."
"Mala'uena?"
"You'll meet her in a few minutes. My challenger."
"Oh… this is all my fault, isn't it?" Carol Ann said and rubbed her brow with a hand that had suddenly begun to tremble. "If I hadn't escaped… or if we hadn't taken so long in getting back, none of it would have happened… would it? And you would still have been in a commanding position. I'm sorry."
Lexa shook her head. "Don't be sorry for what we did back in the cave. It was wonderful. This would have happened anyway. Mala'uena wants my head on her wall… I knew that when she announced her challenge," she said and performed a casual wave. Sighing, she pulled her hand back and clenched her fist. "But I hadn't counted on fate giving her such a victory before we even met in the arena. We can't trust anyone now. My reign is effectively over though I'm still breathing. Even if I defeat and behead Mala'uena, her followers will fall over me like vultures."
"Oh, God… I'm really sorry for all the mess I've caused-"
"I said, don't be!" Lexa barked, but regretted it at once. Groaning out loud, she leaned back on the throne and covered her eyes with her hand. "Forgive me. I didn't mean to yell at you."
Carol Ann smiled wistfully and moved up to the throne. At least the queen had apologized for her outburst - it was a start. She put a warm hand on Lexa's bronzed thigh and gave it a little rub just to feel her new lover. "We'll get through this. Lexa, please… don't lose faith now. Can't we just slip away under the cover of darkness? And let these peculiar women fight their own war? You know all the shortcuts, we'd be-"
"No."
"But couldn't we-"
"No, Carol Ann. It would paint me as a coward."
Carol Ann scrunched up her face and studied her lover who was still leaning against the backrest with her hand covering her face. The situation had to be a disastrous one for the usually so unflappable Lexa to react in such a resigned fashion. The moment was interrupted by someone knocking on the double doors.
The queen sighed and moved her hand down. She locked eyes with Carol Ann for a brief moment before she leaned forward and uttered a loud command in the native language. Even as the double doors were opened, she waved the younger woman closer to her. "Come up here. Stay at my side like you're my personal slave. You're about to face my challenger."
Carol Ann swallowed a nervous lump and hurried over to the right-hand side of the queen's opulent throne. She didn't know if she should stand, sit or lie flat on her back with her arms spread out, but she chose the second option and sat down. Removing her clumsy hiking boots and the horrendous socks, she folded her legs to the side and leaned against the throne with an expression on her face that she hoped was suitably subservient.
The two women who walked into the room couldn't be more different if they tried. One was the house-sized warrior who promptly bowed to her queen and stepped aside for the challenger. The other was a wiry, intense native in her mid to late-twenties. She wasn't as tall as Lexa, but it was clear by her posture and stance that she had plenty of experience in the art of killing. Unlike most of the natives, her shiny black hair was so short it barely reached her ears, but she wore the same clothes as most of the other women at the camp: a black fur bandolier and a piece of dark-brown fabric that covered all her female bits.
The woman was unarmed, but so had Lexa been when she had eliminated the three male natives in the clearing. Carol Ann gulped down a nervous lump as she took in the challenger's intense presence and steely eyes. The woman known as Mala'uena didn't even worthy her a look but kept staring at the queen. After what seemed an eternity, she bowed to Lexa to remain respectful.
Lexa crossed her legs and leaned back in the throne to show she intended to possess it for as long as she wanted to, and not a minute less. Acting with sublime confidence, she congratulated her challenger for bringing back such a grand prize. Mala'uena responded with a one-syllable answer.
Carol Ann's eyes were out on stalks as the conversation continued between the two warriors. Once more, she cursed the fact that she couldn't understand a single word of the difficult language. Lexa and Mala'uena's body language never changed during the talk so it was impossible to deduce any progress or setbacks through that, but Carol Ann had no doubt they were sizing each other up for the real challenge that Lexa had told her would happen during the next full moon - and that was soon.
The talk continued unabated until Lexa waved her hand to signal the end of the audience. The house-sized warrior moved away from the wall at once and stepped over to Mala'uena whose reddish-brown face had gained a darker tone. Like before, she waited for an indecent amount of time before she bowed to the reigning queen and left the throne room with the large warrior in tow.
When the double doors closed behind the warriors, Lexa let out a long sigh.
Carol Ann jumped to her feet at once and ran around the throne so she could look her new lover in the eye. "What happened? What did she say? What were you talking about?" Her rapid line of questions didn't garner a response, so she leaned in and placed a warm hand on the queen's thigh. "Oh, Lexa… please… tell me what went on!"
"Nothing I didn't know going into the conversation. She reiterated her desire to challenge me. I accepted her challenge. That was it, basically," Lexa said and reached down to put her own hand on top of Carol Ann's.
"You had to use that many native words to say that?!"
Lexa chuckled and mussed the back of the hand that rested on her leg. "No. She promised me she would tell her supporters to uphold the ancient traditions and wait for the full moon. Let's see if she means it or if it's designed to make me lower my defenses. Carol Ann…" The queen suddenly moved forward on the opulent throne and took a firm grip on Carol Ann's hand.
"Uh… yes?"
"I don't want you to be out there on your own tonight. You won't be safe from Mala'uena and her cronies… and Q'uola. I'm afraid I have to demand that you stay with me. That you spend the night with me here in the palace. That's a royal decree."
Carol Ann smirked at the issuing of yet another royal decree, but this one had at least been made to offer her some protection against the potentially violent warriors. "Well… I could… I could definitely do that," she said with a nervous, lop-sided smile gracing her lips.
Lexa let out a sigh of relief and fell back against the backrest. "Thank you. I hope we'll be here to see the morning light. It's going to be a fraught night…"
The words had barely left the queen's lips before two things happened almost at once: first, there was a quick knock on the double doors, and second, they were yanked apart in a hurry. Carol Ann shrieked and dove for cover behind the throne, and Lexa jumped to her feet and went into a defensive stance.
It turned out to be the house-sized warrior who ran into the center of the throne room and spoke to the queen going at a hundred miles an hour. Bowing, she ran back out at a speed that belied her size.
"When it rains, it pours," Lexa said darkly.
"Wh- what? What's g- going on now? Are- are we under attack by the male natives?" Carol Ann said, peeking around the throne.
"No. Your husband has come to. And I take it he's not happy."
"Charles is awake?" Carol Ann croaked, suddenly picking up the characteristic sound of her husband's voice floating in through the opened doors. He was roaring at the top of his lungs, hurling the worst, most obscene words in the dictionary at anyone who looked vaguely female.
Groaning out loud, she buried her blushing face in her hands. "They'll kill him if he keeps that up for much longer," she said around her fingers.
"Yes."
"There must be something we can do…"
"There is… we need to shut him up before they do. I'm still the queen, whether Mala'uena likes it or not. Come on," Lexa said and strode away from the throne. Carol Ann squeaked and followed the tall, imposing woman out of the palace and onto the porch.
Once there, she came to a halt and felt her cheeks catch fire. The words her husband used to describe the female warriors in the camp were so filthy and vulgar she was ashamed of even knowing him. "Oh, Charles…" she mumbled before she followed Queen Lexa off the porch and onto the square.
*
*
CHAPTER 5
The former Air Force Captain Charles William Frederick Lawrence the Third stood up in the wobbling cage and roared out his frustrations at being incarcerated. He continued to hurl the worst curses of the English language at the crowd of native women who had assembled around the prison cages - none understood a word of what he was saying, but there was no mistaking his tone of voice.
Several of the youngest members of the Mu-Kwanda thought the whole thing was highly amusing and mocked Charles relentlessly by stomping their feet, swinging their arms and letting out screechy calls like the man inside the cage was an overgrown monkey without a tail.
The mockery didn't appease the irate man, and his voice grew in volume to one step below an all-out heart attack. It wasn't until the female crowd parted to make way for two special women that he returned to his previous noise level that had only been loud, not thunderous. Then, from one moment to the next, the abuse ceased like he had been stunned into submission.
His eyes bugged out on stalks as he took in the sight of his wife dressed in the garments of the natives. Standing there with a slack jaw and a comical look on the rest of his face, he eyed her from her boots, past her bare legs, arms and midriff to her hair that hung loose instead of the elaborate hairdo she had always preferred. "Carol Ann… what… in… the… hell?! Where have you been?! Why are you dressed like that?! I demand to know!"
Lexa knew it was a matter between Carol Ann and her husband, at least to begin with, so she mussed the hair of the three mocking youngsters and told them to run off while the adults screamed at each other. Sniggering, they ran back to their huts but got in a parting shot at the angry man.
Stepping closer to the cage and her steaming mad husband, Carol Ann wrung her hands over and over again. "Calm down, for God's sake, Charles! They… they… they might hurt you if-"
"Calm down?! Don't tell me to calm down after being manhandled by these apes! You don't know what they've done to me!"
"Actually, I do," Carol Ann mumbled and touched the sore welt on her neck.
On the whole, Charles didn't seem to feel a need for calming down. Grabbing the bamboo-like reeds, he gave them several strong shakes. Unfortunately for him, the cage was built to withstand everything short of an earthquake so he didn't even manage to loosen them. "Carol Ann, I demand to know why you're dressed like that? Have these savages brainwashed you already? They have, haven't they? I should have known… I should have known your puny little mind wouldn't be able to withstand their psychological pressure."
"Charles! Please, I-"
"What else have they forced you to do? Tell me! How did they lure you in? Did they tempt you with glass beads or shiny trinkets? These brainless savages are animals, Carol Ann! Animals!"
The emotional abuse became too much for Carol Ann who slid over to Lexa with a look of raw pain on her face. Letting out a quiet sob, she acted on instinct alone and wrapped her arms around her new lover's waist in a clear display of seeking warmth and comfort.
Lexa sighed and looked at the heavens. Now the proverbial would really start to fly.
Charles hadn't noticed yet as he had turned away to show his wife the blood that caked on his temple and down his cheek. "Look what the female scum did to my face! Look! I swear that I'll- what are you doing?"
Not a sound came out of Carol Ann's throat apart from a pained, strangled croak when she realized she had been right - she hadn't been able to hide her perceived sin, and Charles had found out about her in no time flat. She looked up at Lexa for moral support and moved in even closer.
"Carol Ann, let go of that ape," Charles said in a calm, dangerous tone that made Carol Ann flinch and Lexa scrunch up her face into a dark mask. "I am ordering you to get away from that… that Godless animal and come in here with me. Maybe I need to slap some sense into you so you'll remember who and what you are… and who and what I am?! I am your husband! They drugged you, didn't they? They must have. Let go of that brown savage and come in here where you belong!"
Instead of complying with her husband's demands, Carol Ann buried her face in the crook of Lexa's shoulder and began to cry. Large tears ran down her cheeks that eventually stained the hard ground by her feet.
"Carol Ann, what power does that savage have over you? Have you been raped? Has she raped you? Is she one of those sick, unnatural perverts? Answer me, Goddammit!" When Carol Ann wasn't in any state to speak, Charles slammed his fists against the reeds to break free. He soon realized it was an exercise in futility, but it didn't stop him from trying again. "I swear to God, I'll kill you all! Do you hear me? I'll kill you all for violating my wife!" he roared, slamming his fists against the reeds for each word he uttered.
Enough was enough, and Lexa grabbed a blowgun from a warrior near her. She had already put it to her mouth when she reconsidered and took out the dart to check how much poison it was coated in. Satisfied Charles would only be knocked out, not killed, she slipped the dart back into the hollow reed and took a deep breath.
She gave the raging man one final chance to calm down, but he didn't take it. Blowing hard into the reed, she watched the dart fly out the other end and bury itself into Charles's neck.
Screaming in terror, the large man clutched his wound and staggered back from the bamboo-like cage. Within moments, he fell down onto his knees and swayed back and forth for a few seconds. Then he collapsed onto his stomach and became still.
A cheer rose from the assembled crowd that Lexa responded to by raising the blowgun in the air and shouting a few words in the native language. Smiles spread through the closest onlookers which gave her a little moral boost in the distant, cold war she was fighting with Mala'uena.
When she felt Carol Ann stir in her arms, she gave her a little squeeze and looked down. "I didn't kill him, but he'll be out of action for a few hours. The fun and games are over. And you need to lie down. You're as pale as a sheet," she said quietly to the weeping woman.
"Yes… I… I need some rest. Lexa, I'm… I'm so sorry for the names he called you. My husband is a narrow-minded swine. I know that now."
"Ah. I've heard worse."
Carol Ann shrugged and wiped away a few of her many tears. She glanced at her husband but couldn't feel even the slightest amount of sympathy for his plight of getting shot twice by the darts in such a short span of time. Sighing, she moved away from the prison cage.
"Mmmm. Come on," Lexa said and turned around, but Carol Ann stopped her.
"No, wait… before we go back inside, I want to see if Spyros is awake… he's always been so kind to me," she croaked and shuffled along the cage to get to the next one.
---
Spyros Antonakis was in better shape than Charles Lawrence, but he was still battered and bruised. The soft tissue around his left eye was discolored and swollen, and he had knuckle-marks that stood out like white blotches among the two-day stubble on the right-hand side of his chin. Blood from his nose caked on his upper lip, and he had several minor scrapes on his forehead. Like Charles and Carol Ann, he had a tell-tale, angry red spot on the side of his neck just below his ear - but unlike his companions, Spyros sported two welts, one just below the other, indicating he had been shot twice.
His shirt and sailor's pants were torn and bloodied, proving he had bleeding wounds on his legs as well. He had lost his left boot somewhere in the struggle, and only a few tattered threads remained of his sock. His chest was heaving so he was alive, but he appeared to be sleeping or still under the influence of the venom.
Carol Ann bared her teeth in a horrified grimace at the brutality shown to the man she had befriended on the long voyage from Hawaii. The Greek had always treated her with respect, and he had shown her kindness where her husband had only sought to control her. "Oh, what did they do to you?" she whispered, trying to reach up to the bottom of the cage which was suspended ten feet off the ground like the others. She obviously wasn't tall enough, but she wished she could pull Spyros into a comforting hug.
Lexa intercepted her hand at once and pulled it back. "Don't," was the only comment out of her.
"I wasn't going to unlock the cage! Did you notice it's four feet higher up than I can reach? Oh, why are you people always so distrustful…" Carol Ann said, grunting when she realized it had been worded too strongly. Sighing, she turned around and put a hand on her heart. "I'm sorry, Lexa. I didn't mean to-"
"Never mind. I'll stir him awake for you," Lexa said and poked the borrowed blowgun in through the bars high above them. She gave the slumbering Spyros a few nudges that made him crack open his working eyelid.
When the Greek came to with a start, he shied back from Lexa's commanding presence, but he relaxed when he spotted the wife of his employer. "Oh… Mrs. Lawrence… I'm so glad to see you alive," he said in a voice that carried a stronger Greek accent than usual. Moaning, he shuffled all the way over to the bars to get a better view of the ground below him.
"And I you, Spyros," Carol Ann said and stepped forward. She had no intention of adhering to Lexa's command to stay away from the friendly man, so she tried to reach up once more in the hope she had grown five feet in the minute that had passed since her last try - a moment later, she thoroughly ignored the groan that came out of the queen next to her. "You've had it far worse than I have… oh, your injuries look terrible. Are you in much pain?"
"Some. Mrs. Lawrence-"
"Oh, please… call me Carol Ann."
"I'd rather not, Mrs. Lawrence." Spyros gave Carol Ann's odd clothing a once-over with his good eye before he slumped back against the bars. He tried to wipe the blood off his upper lip, but he was forced to give up when he found it had become stuck to his mustache-stubbles. "How much have you been told about… about what happened at the other camp?"
"Enough, Spyros," Carol Ann said somberly. "I know my husband became a mass murderer there."
Spyros nodded as he probed his swollen eye. It was just as painful as the lip, so he put his hands in his lap and let out a sigh. "Yes. There was nothing I could do," he said with a shrug.
"I'm not holding you responsible. That was all my husband's doing."
"Thank you. After the nasty business at the male camp, we tried to get back to the Empress … no, I better start from the top… oh…" Spyros said and tried to shuffle around, but all he did was to aggravate his injuries. Grimacing, he fell back against the bamboo-like reeds and let out a pained sigh. "Wh- when Captain Lawrence and I returned to the Empress after losing you the other day, we sailed around the island to find the native camp you were brought to. We did, but it was the wrong camp. We've anchored the Empress just off the coast here… below the cliffs."
"Oh!" Carol Ann said and whipped her head around to look at the rocky cliffs that were obscured by a line of tall, wide trees. The ocean beyond it was just a dark-gray mass in the growing darkness, but it was possible to discern the edge of the cliff itself. "That means that… that we're no more than three or four hundred yards from freedom?"
While she spoke, she pinned Lexa to the spot with a green glare. "If we could get to the boat, we could sail home!" she continued for Lexa's benefit rather than her own.
The queen sighed and looked towards the cliffs. Her expression was unreadable, but her stance wasn't too hopeful.
"Yes… in theory," Spyros continued, but broke out in a cough. It was obvious the small fit sent ripples of pain through his abused body, and his face flushed red. Once he had recovered enough to go on, he shook his head. "But it's several hundred feet straight down to the surface of the sea. There's only a tiny trail going up here… we couldn't climb it from below. We had to use the tender to find a better spot for a landing…"
Lexa still wore the unreadable expression as she turned back to Carol Ann. "I know that trail. Even if you were three able-bodied people, you'd still only have a one in five chance of making it without slipping off and falling to your deaths. But you're not. You're one able-bodied person and two half-cripples. There's no way you'd be able to get down that trail. No way."
Spyros' good eye popped wide open at the surprising news that the queen of the natives spoke English with an old-fashioned American accent. He tried to shake his head, but even that hurt his many wounds and injuries so he settled for grunting. "I don't believe it," he said a few seconds later.
"She's Queen Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda, Spyros… she's also the daughter of an American fisherman. She's been here for fifteen years," Carol Ann said and put a tender hand on Lexa's arm. Her new lover's disheartening message left her deflated after her brief high, but if there was a will to escape, a way would present itself - it had always been thus.
Spyros cleared his throat and moved around to find Lexa with his good eye. "Pleased to meet you, uh… Queen Lexa. I'm Spyros Antonakis, originally of Piraeus. My father was a fisherman too. So… on… on our way back to the yacht tender after… after the business at the camp with all the natives, we were caught in the storm. We decided to brave it out, but as soon as the weather had improved enough to carry on, we were attacked by the female warriors. You know the rest."
"Spyros," Carol Ann said, once more trying to reach the bottom of the cage - and once more ignoring the groan that came out of Lexa - "is Ramón dead?"
"Yes. I'm afraid he is. And his cousin Luis too. They died in this attack. Their bodies weren't buried… they were just left behind where the warrior women found us. Unfortu-"
"Oh, how ghastly! To deny a man a proper burial is simply barbaric! Lexa, isn't there anything we can do?" Carol Ann said and took hold of the queen's arm.
The answer came in the shape of a brief shake of the head. "No. Not now. I can't be seen showing mercy to enemies of the Mu-Kwanda… not even the dead ones."
Carol Ann sighed and turned back to Spyros to let him finish what he had started to say.
"Unfortunately, there's more, Mrs. Lawrence," Spyros said and shuffled around a little more. "Manuel and Rodrigo were killed in the initial fight down near the beach… by the male natives who abducted you."
"Oh no… please… please tell me Elissa Helani hasn't been harmed as well… the hostess from Hawaii?"
Spyros shook his head and let out another cough. "She's still on the Empress with the cabin crew. Women shouldn't set foot on this hellhole of an island…"
Lexa chuckled darkly. "Some of us think Ka'una-Kameha is quite all right. Until you people came and ruined everything, that is," she said and sought out Carol Ann's hand to give it a little, apologetic squeeze for including her in the 'you people' part. "You should get some sleep, Spyros. You look awful. We'll be back later with water and food."
"Thank you…" the Greek said in a croaking voice.
Carol Ann felt she needed to add her two cents' worth with the fact the warrior women were all vegetarians so souvlaki, gyros or even moussaka were out of the question, but she didn't get a chance to as the queen had already taken her by the hand and was leading her back to the palace. "We'll speak later, Spyros!" she cried, waving at her friend with her free hand.
-*-*-*-
The camp grew quieter as the night crept closer. Most of the warriors and commoners withdrew to the nine barracks lining the square or the ramshackle huts at the far end of the enclosed area. A few warriors remained at the square to stand guard at the prison cages, and others were joined in huddles around the camp to relay - or exaggerate - their own involvement in the day's traumatic experiences for the Mu-Kwanda.
As darkness fell over the camp, a commoner shuffled around to the many amphoras and lit the torches. A few of them were reluctant to ignite after being drenched by the torrential rain earlier in the day, and the native had to smack the fire stones countless times to get everything to light up.
Lexa's challenger Mala'uena had laid claim to a corner of the mess barrack where she and her cronies, Q'uola among them, drew grand plans for the future. The warrior women spoke in hushed tones about the period leading up to, and following, the moment where they would seize the power by separating Lexa's head from her shoulders. It had already been agreed upon that Q'uola would get the reigning queen's blonde girlfriend to play with.
Up on the porch of the richly decorated, two-storey building, Carol Ann and Lexa stood with their arms wrapped around each other as they looked out over the camp. Working in perfect unison, they both glanced at their new lover at the exact same moment and broke out in identical smiles.
Chuckling, Lexa pulled Carol Ann even closer before she turned the two of them around and shuffled over to the double doors. "Whatever else happens tonight, I'm glad we took the time to make love in the cave. It put things into perspective for me."
"It did?"
"Yes," Lexa said and pulled one of the doors open so they could slip inside. When they were safely into the throne room, she peeked out to make sure they weren't being followed. Everything was fine, so she closed the doors and added the sturdy crossbeam that was always in use during the night. Dusting off her hands, she turned back to Carol Ann and pulled her new lover in for a long, deep kiss.
"Oh!" Carol Ann mumbled, but that was all she had time to say before her lips were claimed and she was swept away by the kiss that followed. Though she was exhausted, the moment was too good to miss, so she put her back into it and repaid the kiss at once with one that was even better.
When they separated, she reached up and traced the side of Lexa's face. "Thank you… I needed that," she husked, stealing a few, little nibbles on Lexa's lips since she was so close it would be criminal not to.
"I knew you did, because I did too…" Lexa said with a grin.
They gazed fondly into each other's eyes for a brief moment before Carol Ann snuck her hand around the taller woman's waist. "What did you mean before? Why did it put things into perspective?"
"Well," Lexa said and began to shuffle over to the staircase that would take them to the upper floor where her bedchamber was located along with the small bathing room. Reaching the bottom step, she paused and pulled Carol Ann closer. "It showed me there's more to life than what I've been doing here for all those years. You might say it pulled off my blindfold."
"That's nice… but you've lost me completely."
Lexa chuckled and leaned down to place a small kiss on the shorter woman's forehead. "I'm getting old, Carol Ann. I'm already the oldest reigning queen for several generations. I know that for a fact, because I've spoken to the tribe elders. I'm fast and strong, but a warrior several years my junior like Mala'uena will inevitably be faster and stronger. Such is life."
Carol Ann furrowed her brow and studied the queen's bronzed face. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Lexa, but didn't you tell me it would paint you as a coward if you left before the challenge?"
"I did, and it would."
"So…? I'm sorry, but I can't see what you're getting at."
Chuckling again, Lexa turned around and began to climb the creaking steps with her arm wrapped around Carol Ann's waist. "I feel I'm strong enough to defeat Mala'uena. Once I have, the traditions dictate I can't be challenged for another year. Perhaps it would be time to call it a day and leave while I still have my head where I want it."
"That's what I would prefer too, quite frankly! But you said yourself Mala'uena is a different matter to your other challengers, simply because she has such a strong following among some of the warriors. Are you sure they would stick to the traditions, even if you… God… kill their leader and nail her shrunken head to the wall?" The last part of the sentence was delivered with a horrified grimace.
"It's hard to say. Traditions are important to the Mu-Kwanda, but some think I've been queen for long enough already. One of those is Q'uola. She was always difficult, but after confessing her support for Mala'uena, she's become unbearable. I wouldn't put anything past her."
"I'm glad I broke her toes… she's such a conniving bitch," Carol Ann mumbled, earning herself a dark chuckle.
"Mmmm. All of that adds up to why I'm thinking about leaving after the challenge… provided I win."
They reached the top landing and shuffled into the bedchamber. The centrally placed bunk was a single rather than a double, but it didn't matter after they had already been so intimate in the cave.
"To be honest, I don't understand this warrior mentality," Carol Ann said as she looked around the small chamber. The furniture was sparse to fit the queen's limited needs. She had a pile of spare black furs in the corner of the room along with several pairs of sandals. Three spears with flint heads - two long and one short, but all lethal - stood in another corner next to a selection of blowguns. An empty squat-pot was pushed in under the bunk where it was joined by a few large, green leaves and a bowl filled with what appeared to be dried moss. "May I ask where I would fit into all your plans?"
"Well, I certainly hope you'd come with me," Lexa said and shuffled over to the hole in the wall which was covered by a curtain. "Women like us need to stick together," she continued, looking out of the window instead of back at Carol Ann.
"But what about Charles?"
Lexa swept the curtain down and turned to face her companion. "I'd pardon your husband and the Greek in exchange for the use of your tender. I'm an experienced sailor… I would know how to get us to one of the neighboring islands."
"No, no… no, that wouldn't work, Lexa," Carol Ann said and underlined her words by shaking her head strongly. "The tender is just a tiny little service craft. But it wouldn't even come to that because my husband would never accept it… never. You heard what he said just now."
"I heard what he said, and so did you. Carol Ann, be honest with yourself. Do you really think you can go back to what you and he once had?" When Carol Ann didn't reply beyond biting her lips and furrowing her brow, Lexa moved closer to the younger woman and put out her arms. The hug was labored, but at least they connected. "You can't," she added quietly.
"But he's still my husband… for better or for worse," Carol Ann mumbled into Lexa's chest.
The queen sighed and reached up to muss the blond locks. "I hate to break it to you because I know it'll cause you pain, but… he's found out about you. Like you said he would. Although I live in a camp inhabited by women, I know men. If we injure their pride… if we take away their ability to govern over us, they'll react like wounded animals. They'll attack, Carol Ann. And so will Charles. He'll hurt you-"
"He's never been violent," Carol Ann said and shook her head vehemently.
"But that might change now that he thinks you've… well, become sick and unnatural. Perverted. I believe he used those words to describe me. And you too, mmmm?"
"Oh, but that was just bluster…"
"Like when he threatened to slap some sense into you?"
"Well, yes, but… but he's never-"
"I know men. Losing control over us is the one thing they cannot accept. Even if he won't hurt you physically, he'll cause you endless emotional pain. You know it. He may even send you to one of those institutions."
Carol Ann sighed and pushed herself away from her soft support. She went out at an arm's length and looked at the queen. "So you want me to leave my husband of six years to go with someone… you… I've only known for just over a day? I'm sorry, Lexa, but that's just… that's the same kind of possessive mentality you just attributed to Charles. When is it ever going to be my choice?"
With eyes that gained a steely edge, Lexa took in a deep breath. She held it for a few seconds before she mellowed and let it out slowly. "You're right. I apologize. Ah, it may all be a moot point anyway if Mala'uena defeats me in the challenge."
"I don't want to worry about that now. You're too strong for her," Carol Ann said and moved back to her new lover for a hug.
"Let's hope so. Now… I think you should get some rest while you can. We never know what the future will bring."
Carol Ann grunted into the queen's chest before she looked back at the single bunk. She was tired beyond belief and she had to admit that catching a bit of rest was one of the better offers she'd heard over the course of the day. "Yes… I need to lie down. Will you at least join me?"
"In a little while," Lexa said and caressed Carol Ann's cheek. Smiling at each other, the two women shared another kiss before Carol Ann shuffled over to the bed and Lexa turned back to the window to keep a close eye on what went on in the camp.
-*-*-*-
In the darkest hours of the night, the mood in the camp was far too calm. It came as no surprise to anyone who had ever carried a spear or a blowgun in anger that it proved to be deceptive. Though she needed the rest, the sleeping Carol Ann was stirred awake by Lexa running a gentle thumb across her forehead.
"Oh, is it time for breakfast?" Carol Ann mumbled even before she had found enough energy to crack open her eyelids. "I'd like eggs and bacon… and two slices of toast, please. No pancakes today. Oh, and some pineapple juice." She smacked her lips in anticipation of the grand feast, but suddenly remembered where she was.
Opening her eyes, she glanced up at Lexa's bronzed face and understood at once something had happened. The queen just stood there in the darkness without as much as a candle to bring light to the proceedings. The tall woman was fully dressed like she hadn't been to bed at all.
Carol Ann furrowed her brow and grabbed hold of her new lover's hand that had been moved down onto the blanket. "Lexa… what's wrong?" she whispered hoarsely as she pulled the hand back up to her cheek.
"You were right," Lexa replied in a voice that seemed darker than her regular velvety timbre. "Mala'uena and her supporters threw the traditions to the wind. It's time."
"Time? Time for wh- oh, God… the challenge? Now?!"
When Lexa nodded and moved away, Carol Ann hurriedly swung her bare legs out of the bunk and put her feet down onto the wooden floor. Though she had kept on her brassiere and bloomers, she had shed the black fur, but the soft garment wasn't where she had put it. Patting the bunk to search for it, she realized it had slipped onto the floor on the other side.
Once she was covered, she stuck her feet into a borrowed pair of sandals and rose from the bunk. She joined the queen at the window where the curtains had already been pulled to reveal what went on in the camp.
Below in the torchlit square, a group of warriors readied large hunting bows that were no doubt intended to be aimed at the two-storey palace. Each warrior had a fire bowl and several coated arrows at her disposal.
Mala'uena and her strongest supporter, the hobbling Q'uola who had a flint axe tied to her right forearm, stood at the center of the line and looked up at the window like they were waiting for the queen to make a move - it didn't take a genius to predict the warriors would burn down the palace unless Queen Lexa would heed the call to engage in the challenge.
Carol Ann shook her head slowly. When that wasn't strong enough to bring out what she really felt about the situation, she clenched her fists and smacked them down onto the windowsill. "You savages! Insane bitches the lot of you!" she barked down at the warriors.
"They don't understand you," Lexa said in a resigned voice.
"I don't give a… I thought traditions were supposed to be important to you people… but those savages down there are just as greedy, just as murderous, just as willing to bump off their damn grandmothers for personal gain as the old, white men back in the civilized world!"
"None of that matters now. It's too late to walk away. I have to fight her to the bitter end."
Since Carol Ann's only comment was an angry grunt, Lexa moved over to the corner of the bedchamber and picked up two of the three spears. The short spear was put on the floor at once, but she took her time to weigh the full-length one in her hands.
It was the spear she had captured from the male native who had tried to jump her and Carol Ann at the sacred mountain, but its balance wasn't to her liking. Putting it back against the wall, she picked the remaining spear and held it in a variety of offensive stances. It wasn't perfect for the task at hand, but it would have to do.
"Lexa, wait," Carol Ann said in a shaky voice as she jumped in front of the queen to stop her from taking off without saying goodbye. She moved her trembling hands around the taller woman's waist in the hope she'd get a kiss or at least a hug, but the woman underneath her fingertips had changed.
The hard-edged, battle-forged warrior had stepped into the body of the soft, loving woman Lexa became when they had a quiet moment together. Her eyes had changed from warm pools of pale-blue to cold, detached, gray steel.
Carol Ann knew at once it would be a waste of breath to explain anything to the warrior while she was in such a state of mind, so she settled for going up on tip-toes and placing a quick kiss on Lexa's lips, but even that was a one-sided affair. "Please don't get yourself killed. Please come back to me… in one piece," she said and caressed Queen Lexa's cheek.
A curt nod was all she got out of it before Lexa stomped out of the room and down the creaking staircase. Carol Ann stayed behind for a few seconds, but the separation became unbearable and she hurried after her lover to provide the moral support - and scathing barbs if such a response became necessary.
---
Lexa's stride never faltered as she took the short flight of stairs off the porch in one, long step. Stomping across the central square, she only came to a halt when she stood face to face with Mala'uena, her challenger. The butt of the longest of the two spears was thrust into the ground to mark that it was her turf and that she intended to defend it like she had done for five straight years.
Nodding, Mala'uena moved over to her second-in-command, Q'uola, whose face shone with a look of expectancy that bordered on the maniacal. It was clear that to her, there was no doubt the battle would be a brief one.
Behind the fierce warrior women, Carol Ann's shorter legs gave her a disadvantage at the staircase and she had to hop down all the steps or else she'd stumble. She hurried up to stand behind Lexa, but the queen brushed off the hand that she put on the small of her back.
Q'uola glared at the fair-skinned westerner with a face so full of contempt it was twisted into a hideous mask. The warrior sneered at the younger woman and let out a comment in the native language that didn't need to be translated. The mocking bout of laughter that came from Mala'uena's supporters proved it had been lewd or worse.
"Go to hell, bitch," Carol Ann mumbled, feeling a blush burn on her cheeks.
Lexa took the short spear and pointed it at the moon which wasn't yet full, thus rendering the challenge illegal. She spoke a long sentence in the native language to make everyone aware of their grave, tradition-breaking mistake, but the only response came from Mala'uena who spat on the ground.
Carol Ann snorted at the blatant display of disrespect but thought better of commenting on it.
Beyond the warriors directly involved in the challenge, the square was slowly filling up with interested spectators. Young and old came out of the barracks to see if they needed to bow to a new queen, or if the old one got to keep her head for another year. One native was missing, though - the house-sized warrior who had always been loyal to Lexa. Carol Ann furrowed her brow when she realized it, but the thought had barely entered her mind when the growing crowd parted to reveal the large warrior who had an old, frail woman in tow.
The old, white-haired woman wore a black fur bandolier similar to those the younger natives had over their shoulders, but hers was a poor fit and didn't do a good job of protecting her bony, aged body. She carried a six-foot long cane equipped with a top shaped like a Y that she pointed at the moon like Lexa had done earlier. Turning towards Mala'uena, she spoke a long sentence in a frail voice, but the challenger rejected the argument once more by shaking her head and tapping her spear.
"She's the tribe eldest," Lexa said unprompted.
Carol Ann had been so absorbed by the elderly woman's appearance she almost missed the comment. Grunting, she moved around so she could look at Lexa without getting in her way. "I see… and the challenger rejected the claim about the full moon?"
"Yes. Now the eldest will summon their war goddess and pray for a fight with a decisive result. Once she has… we'll start."
"Oh, God," Carol Ann croaked, wanting to touch Lexa so much it caused her physical pain that she couldn't. To take her mind off what she couldn't do, she clutched her hands in front of her chest and stared wide-eyed at the tribe eldest.
The old woman raised the cane with the Y-shaped top and began reciting an incantation designed to attract the attention of the goddess of war. While she sang the ancient words in a rhythmical chant, she thrust the cane at all four corners of the heavens before she stomped the butt into the ground.
"You have to go. The Goddess is watching… the fight's on," Lexa said over her shoulder. To ease her freedom of movement, she kicked off her sandals and slipped out of her black fur bandolier. Dressed only in her loincloth, Lexa flexed and shook her muscles to warm up for the fight. When she was ready, she hunched over and moved into a defensive stance with a firm, two-handed grip on the flint-head spear. She glared across the fighting arena at Mala'uena who had also shed most of her clothes. The challenger had assumed a similar defensive position in case the reigning queen would strike first.
Carol Ann's eyes nearly rolled out of her head at the acres of bronzed skin on display, but before she could even wish Lexa the best of luck, she was shepherded away from the fighters and over towards the prison cages. Behind her, a whole battalion of broad-shouldered warriors lined up with their arms hooked inside each other's to form a living boundary to the fighting arena.
Kicking and screaming, Carol Ann fought to remain at the queen's side, but the warriors dragging her away were too strong. To add injury to the already insulting behavior, they dumped her flat on her butt on the ground, but she jumped to her feet to give them a fist-shaking piece of her mind even before they had moved away from her. "You worthless savages! My place is at your queen's side, why can't you understand that?" she roared, earning herself a round of grunts and even the scattered laugh over her tantrum.
Lexa and Mala'uena hadn't yet begun to fight proper; the two fierce, half-naked warriors circled each other with their spears poised to strike. Lexa's eyes were locked onto Mala'uena's face to read her every move before she could perform it.
Carol Ann bit down on her knuckles at the sight. She could hardly breathe as her new lover and the wiry, intense warrior squared off with the intent to kill the other. Around the half-naked fighters, the crowd had grown to be four or five deep. A few cheered on Lexa or her opponent, but most held their tongue so they wouldn't attract the attention of Mala'uena's supporters.
Almost by default, the taller natives swamped Carol Ann so the shorter woman was unable to see anything. Howling in anger, she spun around to find a better vantage point, but the only available spot was the nearest prison cage ten feet up. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Charles was still face-down in the middle of the cage.
"Mrs. Lawrence! Mrs. Lawrence!" Spyros suddenly shouted, prompting Carol Ann to spin around again and stare at the Greek in the middle cage.
"Use the crane! Climb up one of the cranes!" Spyros continued, pointing at the three wooden structures that held up the cages.
A cheer rose from the crowd when one of the fighters had finally performed an offensive move. Carol Ann couldn't see anything and it made her growl out loud and stare at the tall structures. Each of the three cranes had a sturdy base that consisted of a second section of lumber that had been attached to the main arm to support it. It reached five feet or so in the air and would present a good viewing platform - and even better, the large wheel containing the coiled-up rope gave her plenty of spots to put her feet as she climbed up.
Evading the warriors who were too busy watching the fight to pay any attention to what she was doing, she tore over to the crane that offered the best view of the arena and put her sandaled foot up onto the crank handle. It held her weight, and she used it as the first rung to climb up; the next was the restraining bolt and the last was the arch at the top of the wheel.
From there, it was only another two feet up on top of the second section of lumber, and it was easy-peasy even for her. Clutching the crane's arm, she found a solid footing and turned around to watch the life-or-death fight that still went on between Lexa and her challenger.
Carol Ann almost wished she had remained on the ground when she saw Mala'uena jabbing her spear at Lexa's midsection. The queen sidestepped it with little effort and took full advantage of the opportunity to strike back. Her own thrust was evaded as well, and the two fighters withdrew from the charge.
As the many torches surrounding the arena cast orange, flickering shadows onto the two fighters, Lexa pulled back to regroup. It had become clear that Mala'uena was a stronger opponent than the five women whose heads now graced the palace wall had been. She was a quick thinker, fast on her feet and strong enough to parry and deflect the deep jabs with her own spear. Her biggest downside was her expressive face that often telegraphed her moves well in advance, but there was still a question mark over her stamina as well.
Lexa had no doubts over her own stamina. She could keep up the feigned jabs for hours and still have energy left for a lethal surprise attack. Hunched over, she took two steps to the side; then two forward. Her opponent matched the moves but went backwards up against the boundary. The queen held her spear ready in a two-handed grip, but suddenly jumped forward and thrust it ahead of her at the moment Mala'uena's back bumped into one of the warriors lining the arena.
Mala'uena had been caught by the boundary and had relaxed her stance too much. She reacted quickly enough and jerked to the side at the last moment, but the first blood had been drawn by Lexa's spearhead scraping along her side. It caused the younger woman to let out a cry of pain and slap a hand against her skin as blood began to trickle down onto her hip. Around her, her supporters cried out, but others cheered.
With the queen so close, an opportunity for a counterstrike was there for the taking, so Mala'uena grabbed her spear once again and thrust ahead. In a daring move, she followed the thrust by twirling her spear around and using the butt as a club directed at the queen's unprotected rib cage.
The hollow thwunk created by the daring maneuver was loud enough to be heard over the grunts and groans of the fighters. Another ripple of cheers and cries echoed through the crowd; Carol Ann was one of those who cried out while clutching her head and the arm of the crane at the same.
Lexa groaned from the pain that shot up from her side. The blow hadn't been hard enough to bend or break a rib, but it had winded her and would certainly bruise which would give her opponent a weak spot to zero in on. The best comeback from a dip was a full-on attack, so she took a leaf out of her challenger's book and twirled the spear.
Holding it high - though it would expose her midsection - she jumped forward like she wanted to bash in her challenger's head with the staff in retaliation. Mala'uena reacted like predicted by bringing her own spear up to block the move, but that left her entire front open for a strike.
At the last moment, Lexa redirected her aim and delivered a strong whack with the blunt end of the rod into Mala'uena's chest directly at her solar plexus. Moving up her spear in a hurry, she snagged the stunned woman's own weapon and yanked it out of her weakened hands. The rod with the flint head flew away and landed in the middle of the arena.
Mala'uena hadn't yet gone down, but the surprise attack had ripped the air out of her lungs. Wheezing and gasping, she jerked away from the queen and hunched down to present a smaller target for the fearsome, jagged spearhead. Had there been any loose sand on the ground, she would have used it to flick into Lexa's eyes to gain some time, but all she could grab were palm leaves which wouldn't have any effect.
She needed to retrieve her flint spear. After glancing at it out of the corner of her eye, she jumped up and went into a roll to the right. Once she got back in an upright position - though still with one knee on the ground - she had her weapon in her hand, but the queen had read the move and was already there.
Feigning one way, Lexa kicked out with her bare foot when Mala'uena reacted to the trick. She scored a direct hit across her challenger's face. The crowd cheered as the stunned woman went down hard and once more lost the grip on her spear that fell harmlessly to the ground.
Mala'uena's bare torso was fully exposed, and Lexa twirled her own spear to get the jagged head to line up with her opponent's thumping heart and heaving chest. Holding it in a two-handed grip above her head to get the maximum thrust for the skewering, she let out a victory roar to prepare Mala'uena for her inevitable death.
Atop the crane's base, Carol Ann bared her teeth in a grimace over the barbaric brutality of it all. Though her new lover had won the challenge, she didn't feel like cheering at all. She knew what was about to happen, but she didn't want to see or even hear any of it. Just as she was looking away, she caught a glimpse of a blade reflected in the light from the torches.
Carol Ann saw it unfold in slow-motion though it only took a second or two in real life. She wanted to cry out a warning, but she didn't have time. Just as Lexa thrust her spear down towards Mala'uena's exposed body, Q'uola was allowed a passage through the boundary with her flint axe poised to strike. The insane warrior jumped into the fray and attacked Lexa from behind by slicing the sharp edge of the axe across the back of the queen's right thigh halfway down to her knee.
Blood spewed at once from the horrible wound. The shock and pain caused the queen to fail in her finishing thrust which gave Mala'uena enough time to jerk away. Leaning her head back, Lexa let out a blood-curdling scream that was matched note for note by the one that came out of Carol Ann.
*
*
CHAPTER 6
The world continued to go by in slow-motion for Carol Ann as their screams echoed across the arena. When she had no more air, black spots invaded her vision from the extreme duress and the emotional strain that tore her soul apart. Fumbling around up on her unique viewing platform, she lost her footing and slipped off the base of the crane. Five feet straight down, she landed on her side with a hard bump that kicked up dust and old leaves.
The impact shot an arrow of pain through her elbow as well as the rest of her entire right side, but she staggered to her feet and tried to break through the natives who were still stunned by the dramatic events in the arena. By the time she made it to the broad-shouldered warriors who acted as the living boundary, she stared wide-eyed at Lexa who had fallen down onto her knees and used her spear as a cane to keep her upright.
The blood ran freely from the wound at the back of her thigh. Mala'uena had jumped to her feet and had her own spear ready, but Q'uola had withdrawn to the crowd like nothing had happened at all.
As Carol Ann watched the events unfold, the white-haired tribe eldest stepped into the arena and raised the Y-shaped cane high in the air while she made a sweeping horizontal gesture with her free hand. She spoke several sentences that made the various factions of the crowd cheer or boo. The elderly woman stood firm and repeated the horizontal gesture. Then she pointed at Q'uola who pulled a classic 'who me?'
Mala'uena didn't seem to take it well and stomped menacingly up to the white-haired woman, but the tribe eldest held her ground though she was faced with the much younger, aggressive native. Harsh words were thrown back and forth between the two, and several of the spectators began to boo and jeer at the people in the arena.
During the debate, Carol Ann couldn't tear her eyes away from Lexa. It was clear the queen was in terrible pain, and the way she held her right foot compared to the left indicated there was a real risk she couldn't move her lower leg. Blood continued to seep down the leg and onto the ground, but it didn't flow quite as fast as before. She had her eyes closed while she clutched the spear so hard her knuckles had turned white.
Carol Ann bit down on her own knuckles in sympathy. She looked at the tribe eldest to gauge what the old woman was doing, or wanted to do, with the steaming mad challenger, but she couldn't figure out the strange gestures.
It all became clear when the challenger shoved the tribe eldest aside to a chorus of shocked jeers. Growling at the crowd and the old woman, Mala'uena grabbed her spear and stomped over to Lexa who was still kneeling on the ground.
An ice cold tidal wave flushed over Carol Ann when the events began to unfold. As Mala'uena got closer to the injured Lexa, Carol Ann pushed all concerns for her own safety aside and barged her way through the living boundary to enter the arena. The broad-shouldered warriors grabbed her at once and squeezed her so hard she could hardly breathe, but she could wave her arms, and she did. "Get up!" she roared with the last of her breath, pointing at the murderous Mala'uena who was still stalking towards her weakened victim. She needed to take a wheezing breath to fill her lungs before she could croak: "Lexa! Get up! Watch out! She's going to attack you!"
Lexa looked up and locked eyes with Carol Ann. Her bronzed face was white as a sheet, but she staggered to her feet and raised her spear. A split second later, she had to intercept Mala'uena's wild, first swing that had been aimed at her neck.
Carol Ann screamed in anger and terror, but the warrior women just squeezed her harder and wouldn't let her go.
Inside the arena, Lexa deflected the first blow to a loud cheer from her supporters among the crowd. She put up a strong defense as she hobbled around and intercepted all the thrusts and swings she could - but with her bad leg presenting a perfect strike zone for Mala'uena, she was far slower than she needed to be, and was thus playing a losing game.
The physical balance between the agile Mala'uena and the hobbling queen had been upset following the dirty trick, and the challenger kept up an intense pressure on the weakened Lexa in the hope she could get her to run out of energy. Feigning right, she dove down to her left to whack the spear against the injured leg; scoring a direct hit, she made the queen cry out in pain and slow down even further. The moment was too good to miss, so Mala'uena twirled the spear and thrust the jagged head against the older woman's midsection.
Lexa managed to dodge the jab, but one of the sharp wings of the flint head carved a furrow across her stomach that began to bleed at once. She realized she had come too close to the boundary once more and began to shuffle away so she wouldn't be exposed to another sneak attack. Her right leg was dragging and slowed her down, but the worst was still to come: suddenly, it gave out from underneath her.
Grunting in surprise, she couldn't keep her balance and fell down onto her right side. She still clutched the spear and managed to parry the first vicious blow delivered by Mala'uena. Getting up without help was out of the question, but she still had one good leg to use in the fight. When Mala'uena got too close in her next assault, Lexa kicked out and scored a direct hit into her challenger's soft, unprotected abdomen - much to the pleasure of the cheering crowd.
While Mala'uena doubled over in pain and staggered away to get to safety, Lexa tried to roll over onto her left side so she could get up. She put the spear on the ground to make it work as a cane, but her little moment of insurrection took too long and came to an end when the spear was kicked out of her hands by an irate Mala'uena.
The cursing and swearing challenger shoved Lexa flat down on her back so she had space to jump on top of her. Roaring out loud, she grabbed her spear with both hands and pressed the jagged flint head down towards the queen's wildly thumping heart. Though the older woman grabbed hold of the spear to keep it away from her body, Mala'uena was in a far better position, and she watched in twisted, bug-eyed glee as the sharp tip of the flint spearhead crept down towards the bronzed skin at the heaving chest. Another two inches and she would be the ruler of the Mu-Kwanda.
The two inches were never reached - instead, a ferocious roar of anger heralded the arrival of a blonde lioness who came flying through the air on a direct path for a head-on collision with Mala'uena. A second later, a shoulder-block hit the challenger that sent the spear flying and the two women tumbling onto the ground.
Carol Ann had acted on instinct alone when she had escaped the clutches of the warriors holding her back; the attack run to save Lexa had come as second nature to her, but now that all the air had been forced out of her, her brain was rattling around inside her skull, and she was seeing black, white and golden stars, she questioned her mental state.
She didn't have time to collect herself down on the hard ground as the scene in the arena descended into utter chaos. Reddish-brown legs ran everywhere around her, and dozens of voices spoke all at once in the gobbledygook native language.
Raving like she was on the last day of a four-day bender, Carol Ann leaned back on her thighs to get her brain aligned with reality. There were natives everywhere; most cheered for the spectacular fight they had witnessed, but some were clearly angry, and a few minor scuffles broke out among the crowd. Q'uola and Mala'uena were nowhere in sight, but Lexa was already being tended to by the house-sized warrior and the tribe eldest.
Carol Ann groaned out loud as she tried to get up. It was too much and definitely too soon after her brutal full-body introduction to the queen's challenger, so instead of walking over to her new lover, she crawled.
When she got there - moving between at least fifty pair of reddish-brown legs - she let out a croaking sob when she saw the extent of the wound on Lexa's thigh. Q'uola's dirty trick had plowed a furrow that reached across the entire width of the leg. The tendons of the knee hadn't been severed, but it had been through sheer good luck and not a lack of effort on Q'uola's side, because the cut the insane warrior had given her queen was less than an inch above the critical spots.
Lexa was resting on her left side while she was being tended to by the tribe eldest, so Carol Ann had to crawl around the older woman to get close enough to provide support for her lover. She could barely croak when she finally saw Lexa's face - it was white, not bronzed, and contorted into a mask of pain. The two women locked eyes but neither could speak much, so they settled for giving each other's hands strong squeezes.
The tribe eldest, who had already unpacked a medicine bag and had begun to wrap the wound with some kind of herbal poultice, turned around and uttered a few words to the queen in the native language.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll lie still," Lexa croaked, clinging onto Carol Ann's hands. Looking up at the younger woman, she gave her hands another little squeeze. "Thank you for saving me," she whispered.
"I just couldn't watch you get skewered like that… and I was right there… I had to do something," Carol Ann whispered back. She wanted to kiss the queen's lips so badly it hurt, but she didn't want to disturb the tribe eldest while she performed the emergency medical procedure. Instead, she brought Lexa's hands up for a little peck.
Lexa managed to smile, though it was weak and tinged by the pain. "Who did this to me?" she said in a hoarse voice.
"Q'uola…"
"I should have known. Everything has gone to hell now…"
"Well, yeah," Carol Ann said and gestured at the horrible wound.
"I don't mean that… the tribe eldest suspended the fight after the challenger received outside assistance," Lexa said, but she suddenly gasped and pulled her lips back in a pained grimace. She let out a croaking moan as the eldest began to stitch a section of the wound with a bone needle. "Mala'uena… Mala'uena and Q'uola… carried on… the fight… they'll be… out- outcasts now…"
"Hush, don't speak… don't speak, love," Carol Ann said, stroking the back of Lexa's hand to keep her mind off the pain that had to be shooting up from the wound.
After a short while, the tribe eldest spoke to Lexa who nodded in return. The old woman finished wrapping the herbal poultice and closed it with a piece of bone that clearly worked as a clasp. Looking up, she nodded at the house-sized warrior who put her strong hands under Lexa's armpits and pulled her up from the ground.
Carol Ann grimaced when the full extent of the injuries sustained in the fight came into view on her lover's battered, bloodied frame. Lexa had bruises everywhere: several along her rib cage, at least two on her right side, one large slash across her stomach, and there was even an evil-looking, purple abrasion on her left breast.
The queen's black fur bandolier had been kicked around by the many natives running everywhere, but it had ended up not far from where they were standing. Carol Ann hurried over to it and fluffed it thoroughly to make sure it didn't contain any nasty surprises. Hurrying back, she helped Lexa put it on though the older woman had an amused look on her pale face at the efforts to cover up her half-naked body.
Lexa and Carol Ann stared deeply into each other's eyes, and it only took another second for the two to connect and share a deep, ferocious, all-engulfing kiss that nearly became too gooey even for the experienced warriors surrounding them.
Carol Ann wasn't about to be told she couldn't kiss Lexa when she finally had a chance to, so she really put her back into it and made sure the older woman knew she would always have a strong supporter in the lioness from England by way of California.
When they finally separated, Carol Ann and the house-sized warrior helped Lexa hobble away from the throng and over to the porch. On her way there, she was cheered by a large section of the crowd, and many of the native women wanted to get up close and touch their queen. It was nearly too much for the injured woman, so she let it be known she wanted to sit on the staircase once they reached it.
Safely seated on the top step, she rubbed her pale face and looked out onto the pandemonium that still raged in the camp. "Thank you for being here," she said in a hoarse voice.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be…" Carol Ann said and sat down next to her lover.
"I'm glad you feel that way. I know I haven't always been the kindest person to you…"
"I must admit I prefer this Lexa to the cold, angry warrior, but never mind that now. Let's catch our breaths."
The two women fell silent as the events needed to sink in. Carol Ann hooked her arm inside Lexa's. The contact felt too good for such a little touch, so she slipped closer and leaned her head on the queen's shoulder as well. The body heat rolled off the fighter in waves, but Carol Ann absorbed it all - though she took great care in not aggravating the many injuries.
"This could be the end of the female Mu-Kwanda," Lexa said after a while. The black fur chafed on the slash across her stomach, so she adjusted the bandolier to go elsewhere.
"Oh… why?"
"To prepare for the challenge, I spoke extensively to the tribe elders over the past few months. I know there's never been a situation like this. Ever."
"Lexa… please explain what actually went on out there. I must admit I don't understand… I mean, I know what I saw, but…"
"Well," Lexa said, trying to move her bad leg. The injury was still too painful even with the poultice, so she let out a hiss and forgot all about finding a better position for it. "Mala'uena and Q'uola are now outcasts. They disrespected all the sacred, ancient traditions so they can't remain in the tribe… but they have a strong following. So do I. Which faction is stronger? I don't know, but I fear we'll find out."
"Oh… you mean like a civil war? But that's-"
"I do, yes. Do you honestly expect those two warriors to accept being cast out? The blinkered fanatic Q'uola who lives to kill at the best of times?"
Carol Ann sighed deeply and looked out at the madness. "No. But why are they so strongly opposed to you?"
"Because I'm not a Mu-Kwanda."
"Even after fifteen years here on Ka'una-Kameha? And five years as a queen?"
Lexa shook her head and wrapped an arm around Carol Ann's waist. "In their view of the world, I don't have the proper blood in me. I'm not a Mu-Kwanda no matter how long I've been here."
"In other words, you're not as inbred as they are…?"
"Heh. Something like that."
"So after all you've done for the tribe… all the victories you've achieved… it's all irrelevant? Lexa… please," Carol Ann said and jumped up. Turning around, she knelt next to the queen so they were eye to eye. To stress her message even more, she put her hand on the queen's cheek and caressed it with her thumb. "Please, can't you see it's time to leave these savages behind and come back to the real world with me? This is madness…"
"Oh, I can't."
"Can't? What you can't do is to go back on your promise! Upstairs, before the fight, you said you would leave once you had-"
"Defeated Mala'uena, yes… but I didn't. This is a stalemate, Carol Ann. The tribe will be without leadership if I leave now. It'll be wide open for Mala'uena and her cronies to come in and-"
Carol Ann leaned her head back and let out a long, frustrated groan. A surprising amount of anger bubbled up inside her; she tried to hold it back, but the urge to speak her mind was too great and she needed to vent. "You just said they despise you for not being a Mu-Kwanda! And now you want to stay to… what… save them from themselves?"
"Some of them despise me, yes… but others depend on me."
Sighing, Carol Ann bumped down onto the landing next to the queen. She stared at the older woman in wide-eyed frustration over the insane twists and turns that were suddenly thrust upon her life. It all came to a head, and a red mist descended on her being. "All right! I'll tell you what I'm going to do while you sit there and bleed. I'm going down to the prison cages and spring my husband and Spyros free. Then I'll come back here and ask you one last time to leave with me while we still can. If you insist on playing the oh-so-holy queen to these… these… savages, you'll need to kill me to stop me from going! We'll use the trail at the cliffs to head down to our boat. And that's final!"
Without waiting for a reply, Carol Ann jumped up from the porch and stomped down the staircase. She heard Lexa cry out her name and tell her to wait, but she never looked back as she disappeared into the crowd.
---
Stomping along like a Fury on a mission, Carol Ann strode through the crowd until she reached the three prison cages. With her hands firmly akimbo, she glared at the natives who were still everywhere at the square. The mood around her was cheerful which meant they were most likely supporters of the reigning queen, but she couldn't ask anyone for help. She had to do it all herself if she wanted to get the two men down from their involuntary residence.
She ran a few steps back and cast a glance at Charles' cage to see if he had come to after being shot with the second dart; he had by the looks of it, because his body was now resting against the bamboo-like reeds instead of lying in the center of the cage.
Spyros' cage was closer to the ground, so she ran over there first. "Spyros? Are you awake?" she cried. When she didn't get an answer, she found a pebble on the ground that she threw at the cage in the hope she'd hit something. She didn't, but the result was the same: Spyros Antonakis crawled over to the edge and peeked down.
"Mrs. Lawrence? What are you-"
"Hold on to your britches, Spyros… this is a jailbreak!"
"Wh- what? Oh…" Spyros grunted, grabbing hold of the bars.
When Carol Ann had used the large wheel holding the coiled-up rope to climb up the crane, she had set her foot on the crank handle so she knew it was rock-solid. Though she tried pushing it with all her might, she couldn't get the handle to budge an inch. Only after nearly working herself into the ground, she noticed the other thing she had set her foot on was some kind of restraining bolt.
She had a flashback to when she had first arrived at the camp. The two natives had made the crank roll free by removing the restraining bolt. They hadn't taken it out, they had kicked it loose. Grunting, Carol Ann returned to the present and took a step back to have room to get a decent swing on her kick.
The first attempt wasn't forceful enough and sent a hard knock up through her leg and her lower back. "Ouch…" she croaked, rubbing her hide. Taking a deep breath, she aimed again and kicked the hardest she could at the restraining bolt.
This time it was a success, and the bolt flew off the large wheel. At once, the crank handle began rotating at a high rate of knots, and the rope was uncoiled so fast that Carol Ann jumped back to be at a safe distance to the whole thing.
Moments later, the cage holding Spyros Antonakis came crashing down onto the ground. Upon impact, the hatch blew open, several bars were knocked loose, and Spyros himself was sent head-first out of the opened door. Howling, the Greek landed on his stomach in the middle of the square.
Carol Ann bent down at once and helped her friend on his feet. "Oh… I'm so sorry, Spyros… I didn't think it was going to be that violent… can you walk?"
"I don't know… am I still alive?" Spyros croaked, staggering to his feet before the jailbreak would attract more attention than it already had - several natives stared at the ruined cage, but they didn't appear to be doing anything unpleasant, like running off to warn Mala'uena, or even Lexa.
Rubbing his bruised knees, Spyros looked at the pandemonium at the square with his good eye. "Sweet mother of Zeus… what was that fight about? Women aren't this brutal back home in Greece… not even the Amazons were this brutal…"
"I'll tell you later," Carol Ann said and wrapped an arm around her friend's waist to help him get over to the next, larger, cage. "First of all, we need to get my husband down as well… can you work the handle?"
"No… no, I can't," Spyros croaked, holding his ribs that were sore even before his belly-flop onto the hard ground.
"All right," Carol Ann said and ran a short bit away to get a better view of Charles. Though he was still slumped against the bars, he was moving, and she thought he had looked back at her. "We need to do it the hard way. Stand back, Spyros… this won't be pretty."
"Whatever you say, Mrs. Lawrence," Spyros said and hobbled away on his boot and his bare foot.
Carol Ann took a deep breath and aimed her sandaled foot at the second restraining bolt. The cage that held Charles was even larger than the first, so the resulting forces that would be unleashed by her kick would be greater, too. Sending a small prayer to whomever would listen that she would succeed without killing anyone, she slammed her foot against the restraining bolt. It came off at once and sent the wheel spinning - and like she had predicted, the larger cage was so much heavier it made the wheel spin out of control at once.
The weight of the cage tore the entire wheel off the crane and sent debris flying everywhere, forcing everyone in the vicinity to dive for cover. As the cage slammed into the ground, the rope continued to run through the eye atop the crane. The crank handle had come along for the ride after the wheel had flown off, but the handle was too big to fit through the eye. Once it got jammed tight up there, it sent such a hard knock down the crane's arm it nearly made the tall structure topple over.
Carol Ann stood with her arms covering her head in case the bamboo-like reeds would start to fly, but as soon as the dust began to settle, she jumped over to the cage and tore open the hatch. Ducking her head through the opening, she grabbed hold of her husband's torn safari suit and gave it a good shake. "Charles? Charles, you're free! Come on! Charles, can you hear me?"
The former Air Force Captain was suddenly much more active than he had been when Carol Ann had looked. He crawled out of the cage under his own steam and jumped to his feet at once. Spinning around, he grabbed hold of his wife's black fur and pulled her towards him. Even in the flickering light from the torches, the hatred and disgust aimed at the woman in his hands was plainly evident in his dark-brown eyes. "I saw you," he growled in a menacing tone. "I saw you kissing that black ape… no, you were gnawing on her! How dare you?!"
Before Carol Ann could even open her mouth to answer, Charles lashed out at her and slapped her so hard across the cheek her head spun around and she fell to her hands and knees out of sheer surprise. She vaguely heard Spyros cry out in her defense, but the slap had numbed her hearing so much on that side the sounds were all reduced to a muddy blend of murmurs.
She didn't weep, but she let out a pained moan that was fueled not only by the warm pain that blossomed out from her cheek, but by her foolishness. In all her naiveté, she had actually believed she and Charles would be able to sweep it all under the rug and return to normal. She had left her new - and far better - lover behind with an earful of heated, angry words to seek out her husband, and she had been punished for it. Too late she understood that her place was with Queen Lexa of the Mu-Kwanda though she had only known her for just over a day. Sometimes, lightning just struck. In this case, it had struck her heart.
Stumbling to her feet, she turned around to face Charles, but he had left without a word. Spyros hobbled over to her and wanted to put an arm around her shoulder in comfort, but she shook her head and took a step away from him. "Where did my husb- where did Charles go?"
A stinging pain shot up from her cheek when she spoke, and when she tested it, she was rewarded with a little blood on her fingers. She narrowed her eyes when she realized Charles had slapped her with his left hand - the one carrying their wedding ring.
"Captain Lawrence ran up to the tall building… I'm really sorry, Mrs. Lawrence… I couldn't stop him. I had no idea he was going to slap you…"
A look of raw panic was suddenly etched onto Carol Ann's face. If Charles had gone to the two-storey building, it could really only be because he wanted to seek revenge on Lexa for corrupting his darling, wholesome little wife. Groaning out loud, she set off in a sprint to get back as quickly as she could in case Lexa was in need of her help.
---
Racing back, Carol Ann heard Charles' booming voice at fifty paces. Like he did before, he cursed and insulted every woman he could clap eyes on, using the worst words found in the English language to describe the natives and their mothers three generations back.
He was the only one among the crowd to wear pale clothes, so he was easily spotted; it also made him an easy target for the native women who were becoming annoyed with the loudmouthed westerner. They couldn't understand his words, but there was no mistaking the way he spat them out, nor his continued display of rude gestures.
Carol Ann's progress across the square came to a halt as the crowd suddenly turned heavy. She needed to get up on the porch, but the path ahead was blocked by the many wide, reddish-brown backs. Grunting, she turned left, squeezed her smaller body between a couple of broad-shouldered warriors and headed down the alley between the two-storey building and the next hut. The porch was literally at her fingertips, but it was cordoned off by a three feet tall, elaborate mesh gate created by the same bamboo-like reeds used for the bars in the cages.
Undeterred, she put her sandal up on the first available protruding spot and began to climb up towards the railing atop the mesh gate. It didn't take her long to reach it and subsequently swing her legs over it. She finished off by jumping down onto the porch itself and dusting off her hands.
She scrunched up her face when she could see Charles yelling at Lexa. The queen seemed rather unperturbed by the whole thing, but Carol Ann had seen that look of detached interest on the queen's face before. The first time she saw it, it led to her incarceration in the same prison cage she had just destroyed.
"Charles!" she barked as she stomped along the porch. Lexa turned towards the annoyed blonde and offered her a lop-sided smirk and a little wink. "Charles, what do you think you are doing? How dare you slap me like that and walk away?!"
That piece of news made Lexa furrow her brow and shoot the irate man next to her a dark glare.
"Keep quiet, woman," Charles spat and pointed an accusing index finger at his wife. "I'll let you know when you can speak. And the first thing out of your mouth better be an apology to me… and to my family name for that matter."
"I abhor you, Charles," Carol Ann said in a voice that dripped with years of pent-up anger and frustration. She clenched her fists and stomped closer to the two people at the staircase. "I'm not your property. I'm not your little china doll that you can dress up nice and parade around. I never was!"
"I beg your pardon?! Have you lost your mind completely, Carol Ann? Need I remind you what this trinket represents?" Charles said and held up the gold wedding band. "This represents our marriage. And it represents my God-given right to command over you as your husband."
While Charles had spoken, Carol Ann had made it all the way down to the staircase. To underline the entire point she was trying to make, she went over to stand behind her new lover. "Maybe it did… but no longer. I've come to my senses, Charles," she said and snuck her hand inside Lexa's bandolier to caress her shoulder.
Charles stared at the friendly touch on the native's bronzed skin. It didn't improve his facial color which only turned redder. "What kind of voodoo spell does this black ape have over you, Carol Ann? What did she do to turn you into such a… a… perverted freak?"
"She has a name, Charles! It's Lexa."
"Awww… what a nice pet name for an ape."
Gasping like she had been slapped again, Carol Ann scrunched up her face into a mask of near-hatred. Her green eyes shot fire at her husband, and she had worked herself up into such a state she couldn't even croak.
Lexa had heard more than one such invective being hurled at her over the years so Charles' comments just bounced off her, but she drew the line at Carol Ann receiving the same abuse. "You ought to apologize to your wife, Mister. Calling her a freak is just rude. There's only one freak here… and I'm looking at him," she said in a voice that held just a tiny fraction of its regular amount of warmth - the rest was all steel.
Charles' jaw fell down to his chest at the revelation the native woman spoke perfect English. He stared at her bronzed face and gave her a full dose of hatred through his dark-brown eyes, but Lexa's steely-blue orbs gave as good as they got. "No woman talks to me like that… no woman. And certainly no half-breed Negro who should know her place!" he croaked, giving her sculpted body underneath the revealing black fur a close study.
"Treat Lexa with respect!" Carol Ann growled through her clenched teeth. "She's the queen of these people!"
Charles looked back at the many reddish-brown faces that watched the scene unfold from below in the square. Everybody seemed to be holding their breaths as it had turned so quiet a bone needle could have been heard falling onto the ground. "How appropriate," he said coldly when he looked back at Lexa. "The one-eyed should lead the blind. The Negro should lead the apes."
Smirking, Lexa cast a brief glance at Carol Ann, signaling that if Charles didn't pipe down in an almighty hurry, she would do it for him.
Carol Ann's system had reached its boiling point, and she didn't wait for Lexa to do anything about her husband's grotesque comments. Flying forward, she grabbed hold of the torn safari suit and went into Charles' face. "How dare you use that kind of language about people you don't even know?!"
"Oh, please-"
"Let me tell you a little secret, Charles. Do you wanna know what Lexa did to wake me up? Huh? Tell me, do you really wanna know?!"
"Will you get a grip, woman! You're being hysteri-"
"We fucked! We fucked, Charles, and it was good! Far, far better than anything you've ever done for me, you narrow-minded piece of garbage!"
From one second to the next, Charles exploded in a burst of unbridled fury. Roaring, he shoved his wife away from him and lashed out at her, but his raging temper and her close proximity made him unable to strike her face. His swing missed by a few inches, and that made the natives behind him let out a scornful laugh that only made him angrier. He needed to vent his hatred, so he turned to the next best target, Lexa, and grabbed hold of her black fur.
That was the cue Lexa had been waiting for. Her throbbing leg injury slowed her down, but she jumped to her feet and locked down his arms so he couldn't take a swing at her. They wrestled up onto the porch, but although he was strong and roared out his anger directly in her face, she had him mostly under control. As soon as she had the room for it, she moved an arm back and fired off a punch to his gut that shut him up and made him double over in pain. From there, it was an easy task to flip him over her hip - so she did, and he landed on his back with a bone-rattling crash in the middle of the porch.
"That's what you get for calling my people apes, Mister. You should count your blessings that I'm tired… or else I'd have shown you how the Mu-Kwanda really fight," Lexa said, towering over the beaten man.
Carol Ann stepped forward and hooked her arm inside Lexa's to seek some support. "Charles, you fool… now look what you've done. You brought this upon yourself."
Spyros Antonakis had finally caught up with the drama at the two-storey building. Panting from the exertion and the throbbing pain that came from all over, he leaned against the mesh fence lining the porch. He stared wide-eyed at the results of the showdown, having heard the last parts of the confrontation.
Down on the dusty porch, it was clear Charles wasn't finished. His teeth were bared in an ugly grimace, and a series of inarticulate grunts escaped his throat. "I'll make you regret that, Negro… I'll make you beg for mercy. I'll find a bullwhip and give you a taste of it!" he said and clambered to his feet. "And you! Carol Ann, my dear wife… when we get home, I'm committing you to a mental hospital… you've been struck with a debilitating illness… but don't worry, we'll get you cured!"
"It's not an illness, it's who I am!" Carol Ann cried, clinging onto Lexa's strong arm for support.
Carol Ann's parting comment was the last straw for Charles. Clenching his fists, he jumped forward to finally knock some sense into his wife who had always been perfectly subservient until she had met the tall woman.
Then everything happened at once: Spyros cried out to stop Captain Lawrence, Carol Ann shrieked and dove for cover behind Lexa, and the queen went into a defensive stance with her fists up to finish the argument once and for all - and down among the natives on the square, the house-sized warrior stepped through the ranks with a loaded blowgun and a perfect aim at Charles' neck.
She took a deep breath and fired off the dart that had been coated in the venom harvested from the black-and-yellow spiders. Unlike those designed to merely stun the targets, the dart had been dipped to the tailfeathers in the liquid poison. It whistled through the air and buried itself into Charles' neck directly at the vein that was already filled with his coursing blood.
The dart struck its target spot-on and distributed its lethal dose of venom into the bloodstream. As it reached Charles' brain, his muscles clenched involuntarily which made him jerk and spasm violently. His eyes rolled around in his head, and he let out a gruesome, throaty gurgle as the venom cauterized his gray matter from the inside out.
"Oh, God… no! Charles!" Carol Ann screamed. She tried to reach her husband, but Lexa held her back.
"No! It's too late, Carol Ann. Don't go near him… he might strike you!"
"But I have to… I can't… we can't just… Charles!" Carol Ann cried, reaching out for her husband of the past six years.
Charles was already dead, but his muscles continued to contract. He fell over and landed on the porch with another bang, but even that didn't stop the spasms from jerking him around bonelessly like an overgrown rag doll. It wasn't until the venom couldn't get further into his brain that his body calmed down and became still.
Down on the ground below the staircase, Spyros put his hands in the air to show the natives that he wouldn't pose any kind of threat to anyone at all.
Carol Ann fell into a stunned silence. She couldn't hear, she couldn't breathe and she could hardly see. A light-headedness rolled over her like she was on the brink of fainting, and she had to lean forward to put her hands on her knees to get everything under control. She tried to take several deep breaths, but they only amounted to weak gasps.
"I know it's bad timing," Lexa said and put a comforting hand on Carol Ann's back, "but I need to speak to Sha'uona. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."
While the queen hobbled down the stairs to acknowledge the large warrior's effort and to get an update on Q'uola and Mala'uena, Carol Ann kept staring at the gruesome sight of her husband's dead body.
Her entire world lay dead on the porch before her. Without Charles Lawrence, she had nothing. She may have regained her freedom, but it had come at a terrible cost. "Oh… Charles," she whispered, staring at the dead body with a heavy heart. "You could have lived… you could have walked away, but you had to possess me… look where it got you…"
Sighing deeply, she sat down with a bump next to the body. The six years they had spent together hadn't all been bad, and tears soon rolled down her cheeks. She didn't want anyone to look at her while she wept, so she buried her face in her hands to find some privacy.
*
*
CHAPTER 7
Life went on at the camp though the mood was still strange following the odd events that had taken place. Not only had the grand royal challenge been declared null and void by the tribe elders, the official challenger and her lead supporter had both escaped from the camp when their quest to claim power over the female Mu-Kwanda had failed. On top of that, two of the three prison cages had been destroyed, and one of the prisoners had been killed.
The natives shuffled around the camp speaking in hushed tones to one another. There had never been a night quite like it in Mu-Kwanda history, and nobody was really sure what to do about the odd situation where neither the reigning queen nor her challenger had been defeated and beheaded.
With the failure of Mala'uena's challenge, the factions that had been formed prior to the event were splintered and absorbed into new groups. Alliances and supposed kinships were slowly being formed among the natives as they cleaned up the mess at the prison cages and elsewhere. Some of the warrior women stuck together and eyed other warriors warily, while some of the commoners chanted Queen Lexa's name now and then to show they still supported her.
The queen herself hobbled around the camp on her bad leg, nodding at her supporters, clasping arms with those who wanted to touch her, and kissing a few babies that were held up by proud mothers. With her, she had Sha'uona, the house-sized warrior, who was armed to the teeth in case Mala'uena or her fanatical supporter Q'uola would dare to attempt a counterattack.
Toward the east, out over the eternal Pacific Ocean, the dark horizon had already become a shade or two paler. It wouldn't be long before the rays of the sun would brighten the sky to herald a new day.
Carol Ann looked that way, but didn't see anything. She was still sitting on the porch next to her husband's body. The tears had stopped, but the deep sorrow remained inside her as a heavy lump in her chest.
Now and then, she glanced down at the strong body next to her. Though her personal awakening had meant she had seen Charles in a different light in the past few years, they had shared many positive moments in their marriage. The honeymoon had been a romantic, wonderful experience for her; the fancy balls and upper-crust cocktail parties he had brought her to had been real eye-openers for the young, impressionable girl from England.
She had met and gawked at countless of the country's most famous and beloved actors and actresses at parties organized by the Hollywood studio big-wigs - shaking hands with Katharine Hepburn who had been wearing men's pants, a white button-down shirt and a necktie had been the singular most exciting event of 1949 for her. She had spoken to politicians and high-ranking officers from the Air Force and other branches of the armed forces, and she and Charles had played monthly games of mixed-double tennis against a grossly overweight steel magnate and his voluptuous wife who was half his age. The hours spent at the cocktail bar afterwards were the stuff of legend.
She sighed and shook her head. All of those things, as exciting as they had been at the time, were functions where she was required to look sweet and keep quiet. The emotional aspect of their marriage had been lacking for a while, and looking back, she understood it hadn't been there at all. She had only been too infatuated with the concept of being married to a dashing Air Force Captain who lived in a grand mansion and drove flashy cars to notice it missing.
He bought her flowers, but it wasn't from the heart. He wined and dined her, and gave her plenty of extravagant jewelry and expensive clothes, but it was to offer a meager compensation for being distant six days out of seven. Of course, when they did connect, it was in bed - and even that was to satisfy him, not her.
With her growing self-awareness, she had come to understand she was different from every other woman around her. She understood it, but whether or not she had accepted it was another matter. When it had dawned on her who and what she really was, she had been scared witless and had tried to be the most feminine little doll she could possibly be. Charles hadn't noticed a thing, of course, except in bed where she had begun to fake everything to keep him interested in her. Ending up on the street for being a cold, frigid fish was a nightmare scenario for her that tormented her in her darkest moments. As designed, the exaggerated moans and groans got his attention fast, but the situation soon became unsustainable.
"And here we are…" she said quietly, looking down at Charles' body next to her. Sighing, she reached down to his left hand and began to slip the gold wedding band off his dead ring finger. When it became loose, she clutched it in the palm of her hand while a single tear ran down her cheek.
Wiping it away, she put her hands under Charles' heavy body and rolled it over onto its other side, though the army of ants that marched up and down her spine told her that she really shouldn't. It was a difficult task, and she groaned from the strain on her lower back, but she wanted to take his wallet that she knew he always carried in one of the front pockets.
Charles' bloodshot eyes stared vacantly at the sky, but she looked away from his face as she went through his pockets. The wallet was quickly found, but since she was standing in a black fur and her brassiere and bloomers, she didn't exactly have anywhere to put the items she had retrieved.
She looked around for Spyros Antonakis and found him sitting on the bottom step of the small staircase. He appeared to be asleep, so she decided to leave him be for the time being. First, she needed to find the queen and deliver her an ultimatum.
-*-*-*-
The two women met in the middle of a crowd of cheerful natives. The queen was still clasping arms and kissing babies, but the dark look on Carol Ann's face made her aware it was time for a serious, adult conversation. She finished off the little victory parade and wrapped her arm around her new lover's shoulders. "Let's go over to the palace… I can see we need to talk," she said, leaning down to Carol Ann's ear to be heard over the cheering crowd.
"We do, yes."
The women still attracted plenty of attention on their way back across the central square - and not all of it was positive - but the large, heavily armed warrior who shadowed the queen made sure the natives knew it was time to get back to business.
When they reached the staircase, Carol Ann crouched down in front of the sleeping Spyros and stirred him awake. "Spyros… you need to come in with us. We have some important topics to discuss."
"Oh… Mrs. Lawrence… uh, all right," the Greek said and staggered to his feet. Rubbing his back to ease the many pains that shot up from every joint and muscle, he looked at the women surrounding him with a rising degree of trepidation etched onto his face; especially when he laid eyes on the large warrior who had killed his employer.
"Spyros, I need you to hold this for me… this is my husband's wedding ring and his wallet. I don't have any pockets…" Carol Ann said and held up the two items.
"Oh, I have deep pockets!" Spyros said and patted his sailor's pants. He stuck his right hand into the pocket to check if the lining was still intact. It was, so he took the wallet and the ring and shoved them as far down as they would go. He finished off by closing the two sturdy buttons so nothing could escape.
The missing sock and boot looked odd, and Lexa couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of five hairy, filthy toes sticking out at the bottom of the Greek's torn pants.
"Spyros, let me give you a pair of sandals. I think we use the same size," she said as she hobbled up the staircase, mindful of not putting too much pressure on her wound.
"Oh, thank you very much, uh… I'm very sorry, I forgot your name…"
"Queen Lexa," Carol Ann said with a smile as she hooked her arm inside her new lover's to help her up.
---
Inside the richly decorated throne room, the large warrior woman shut the double doors and leaned against them so no one would be able to get through.
Groaning under her breath, Lexa hobbled up to her throne and sat down with a bump on the opulent chair. She let out a strong hiss of pain when the edge of the seat interfered with the bandage on her thigh, and she had to scoot out to the very edge to find a comfortable spot to rest her weary, bruised body.
Carol Ann helped the fatigued Spyros over to sit on one of the benches before she moved into the center of the throne room and put her hands akimbo. The posture was a little too aggressive, even for the ultimatum she was about to issue, so she moved her hands down her sides instead. That looked even worse, so she moved them up and held them casually across her stomach. "Queen Lexa, I have made up my mind. I'm thankful for what you've done for me, but I can't stay. I need to go home… we both do," she said and pointed back at Spyros.
Lexa's face fell at once, and she leaned forward to put her elbows on her knees. A few seconds went by where she did nothing but look Carol Ann in the eye. "I see," she eventually said in a voice that was tinged with disappointment.
"I would like to ask you to come with us," Carol Ann said and began to wring her hands. "Like you said you would, before the fight took place. You survived the challenge-"
"No. I can't."
"Not that nonsense again! You said-"
"I'm sorry, Carol Ann," Lexa said and got up from the throne. She hobbled closer to the younger woman and pulled her into a firm hug that was stiff at first, but soon mellowed out. Leaning her head down, she kissed the blond locks. "Like I told you, it's turned into a stalemate. I can't leave my people now. There's too much at stake to leave them without someone in control."
While Lexa spoke, she glanced over at the house-sized warrior who locked eyes with her queen and offered her an imperceptible nod in return. They kept looking at each other and seemed to hold a silent conversation.
"Your voice betrays you," Carol Ann said and pulled back from the hug. She kept a firm grip on Lexa's arms to underline her words. "Don't forget… you're talking to someone who's had to put up a charade each time she's spoken for, God, years now. I heard the words, but they didn't come from your heart. Please… Lexa, please come with us."
The queen sighed and looked towards the ceiling of the throne like it would provide the clue she needed. "I can't. I just can't."
"We'll leave with or without you. I hope you understand that. I can't stay here. There'll be hell to pay when we return to the real world, I know that, but I could never feel safe or free here. There are so many dangers lurking behind every tree… I can't cope with the heat and the humidity… the male natives are out to get us all… the spiders and the black beasts are just dying to feast on me… Mala'uena and Q'uola are out there somewhere and we all know they'll strike sooner or later… our heads may yet end up on someone's wall… or we may get a blow dart in our necks like Charles. No. I'm sorry. I need to get back home. Please come with me!"
Lexa smiled wistfully and leaned down to claim Carol Ann's lips in a loving kiss. The kisses they shared were usually wild affairs, but this one was calmer and far more heartfelt. When they separated, Lexa pulled Carol Ann close to her chest and put a hand behind the blond locks to hold her tight. "I'll think of you always. You'll be in my heart until the day I die," she whispered.
"So it's final? I… I won't ask you again. We're leaving," Carol Ann said in a voice that grew evermore strangled as she spoke.
Lexa nodded and leaned down to place a peck on the blond locks. "Have a safe journey home," she said in a voice that was as strangled as that of her new lover.
Carol Ann didn't know what to say to that, so she settled for nodding. Another, just as important topic came to mind, and she cleared her throat so her voice wouldn't break up. "Oh… there's another thing, Lexa… will you please make sure Charles gets a proper burial? He was a piece of work, but he was my husband. I don't want him to be thrown to the animals."
"I promise, Carol Ann. I'll take care of it myself," Lexa said and added a little peck on Carol Ann's forehead just because she could. "Oh, I think our kissing has embarrassed your Greek friend…"
Carol Ann didn't want to let go of Lexa, so she wrapped an arm around the taller woman's waist as she turned around to look at Spyros. Like Lexa had said, the Greek's face had grown a shade of red not usually seen outside of a tomato farm, and he was looking everywhere but at the two women. "Spyros…? I guess we need to talk about certain things…"
"Oh," the Greek croaked, finally looking back at the women, "there's no need, Mrs. Lawrence. I know all the ancient scrolls of Saphhic love. My grandmother was born in Mytilene… on Lesbos."
"Oh… okay," Carol Ann said and glanced up at Lexa. They smiled and even let out matching chuckles, but it didn't last long. Carol Ann didn't want to be separated from the woman next to her, but she knew she had to let go. She pulled her arm away from the bare, warm, bronzed skin and instantly felt like a vital part of her being had gone missing.
The whole wretched mess tore at her heart and her soul; she knew she would never be free and happy if she had to stay on the mysterious, frightening island known as Ka'una-Kameha, but being away from Lexa would give her an even greater ache in her heart. It really was a stalemate though of a different kind than the one hampering the queen - leaving or staying would hurt her in equal measures.
"May I walk you down to the cliffs?" Lexa said and sought out Carol Ann's hand.
A brief, wistful smile played across Carol Ann's lips as her hand was given a squeeze that could be the last one. Her heartbeat quickened and she could feel the blood coursing through her veins. With it, it brought all kinds of pain and suffering that she could have lived without. "I'd rather you didn't," she heard herself say.
The queen scrunched up her face and gave Carol Ann's hand another little squeeze. Nothing needed to be said, so none of them spoke.
A brief hug followed before Carol Ann helped the battered Spyros up from the bench and over to the door. As the large warrior opened it, she cast a final glance back at Lexa to see if the Queen of the Mu-Kwanda couldn't be persuaded to change her mind. It soon became clear she couldn't, and Carol Ann and Spyros walked out of the throne room and down the short staircase.
-*-*-*-
The hike across the central square and onto the rougher terrain near the edge of the camp took place in a stony silence. Not even the gruesome sight of the male native that occupied the last remaining working prison cage could shake the funk out of Carol Ann. All doubts regarding his condition had literally been washed away by the torrential rain the day before. It had softened his leathery skin to the point where his rotten left arm had dropped off.
The camp wasn't equipped with a perimeter fence on the side facing the ocean, so Carol Ann and Spyros were able to venture unhindered into the cluster of tall trees and dense vegetation. They strode through the greenery with nary a word spoken between them. Only Spyros' occasional warnings about sink holes or cobwebs broke the silence, but Carol Ann ignored most of the rest.
It wasn't a wide stretch of jungle, only a little more than fifty yards, but it served as a microcosm of the rest of Ka'una-Kameha. For the last time, they observed the white, orchid-like flowers with the bright red catkins, the red-and-orange carnivorous plants with their bell-shaped heads that were always on the lookout for a living snack, and the deep purple flowers that resembled pansies. They heard a monkey calling from high atop a tree, they saw a pair of dragonflies buzzing around in circles, and they walked past - the long way past - a large cobweb that was suspended between two trunks. The web was occupied by a family of the black-and-yellow spiders that all became oh-so-excited when the fair-skinned visitor showed her face.
Carol Ann walked right past nature's many splendors without seeing any of it. Her mind was filled with images of the tall, gorgeous, warm, loving, sexy, dangerous woman she was leaving behind. She could hear her warm laughter, she could see her sparkling eyes, and she could feel her skilled hands where such hands had never been. And yet she walked away; despite the undeniable treasure on Ka'una-Kameha, she was determined to move back into a life without that special creature. "Charles was right… I am ready for a mental hospital…" she mumbled, watching her imaginary Lexa waggle her index finger in an invitation for a kiss. It was just a fantasy, so Carol Ann shook her head and carried on. She had made up her mind and she was going to stick with her decision.
Before long, the jungle thinned out and was replaced by dark-gray, jagged cliffs of volcanic rock. Sparsely vegetated with only tufts of moss and similar plants, the rocky terrain offered a splendid view out onto the eternal Pacific Ocean some three hundred feet below.
The daylight was just breaking through at the eastern horizon when Carol Ann and Spyros stepped out onto the cliffs, and it didn't take long before the level of light grew from muddy grays to brighter tones. Carol Ann breathed a long sigh of relief when she saw the Empress of the Pacific bobbing gently on the casually rolling waves far below them. The mahogany deck, the brass rails and the white superstructure were clearly visible even from the vantage point high atop the cliffs.
The empty space on the low rear service deck of the boat was the yacht tender's regular mooring spot. The small, but expensive, craft was elsewhere on Ka'una-Kameha, but with no time to retrieve it, they were forced to abandon it. Carol Ann could hear Charles' voice in her ear complaining about the criminal waste of money, but it would be suicidal to sail the Empress around the island to search for it. If they were lucky enough to get on board, they would need to get away in a hurry before the mysterious powers of fate controlling everyone setting foot on the island would strike once more.
A gentle, salty breeze touched the two people and made Carol Ann's hair flow out behind her. She scrunched up her face and stared out over the ocean. Spyros was talking to her, but she didn't listen. She had made a pledge to herself not to look back, and she hadn't. She knew in her heart she would never be happy on Ka'una-Kameha, but at the same time she knew she would never be happy without Lexa, even taking the woman's many facets into account. "What's a woman to do?" she mumbled to herself, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.
Spyros came over and touched her arm, making her snap back to reality. "Mrs. Lawrence… have you heard a word I've been saying to you?"
"No. I'm sorry. Was it important?"
"Well… yes."
Carol Ann sighed and pushed everything else out of her mind to focus on the friendly Greek and the matter at hand. "I'm sorry. Please, go on," she said and shuffled closer to the edge of the cliffs.
"We're at the top of the narrow trail that we saw from the boat… there's a small… a small… damn, I don't know the word… ah, landing, that we need to step out on and then we'll see the ledge going down," Spyros said and pointed at a hollow in the face of the cliff. "Oh… but it looks steep and very scary from up here so I hope you're not afraid of heights."
Carol Ann grimaced at the 'steep and very scary'-part. "Well, that depends… Charles and I went up into the Eiffel Tower two years ago, but… I didn't have to climb down it, so… I don't know." Scrunching up her face, she battled her own pledge not to look back. Spyros would help her, but she would feel so much safer in the company of Lexa, even though the queen had been the one to mention there was only a one in five chance they could descend the narrow trail and come out of it alive and in one piece.
"Oh, damn that pledge," she mumbled and turned around to look back at the camp. The growing daylight revealed many details, like columns of soot rising from the many torches that hadn't yet been extinguished, but it didn't reveal the one figure she was hoping to see: Lexa hadn't followed them. Grunting, she turned back and stepped even closer to the edge of the cliff. "All right, Spyros. Let's do it. I'll go first."
Carol Ann thought she heard the Greek mumble "Better you than me," but she wasn't sure. Grimacing, she looked over the edge and found a minuscule, rocky outcrop that was connected to a narrow ledge which went down, down and down the side of the cliff as far as she could see. There were natural steps carved into the rock, but it was still steep - so steep in fact that if either of them lost their footing just once, they would plummet to their death.
The vast, gray Pacific Ocean loomed large just beyond the ledge which couldn't be wider than two feet at the most. She nearly got vertigo from focusing on the water far below rather than the rock under her feet, so she clenched her teeth and forced herself to look down at her sandals the entire time.
"I wonder if I'm being punished for something I did in an earlier life… God, I should have taken the time to go upstairs and put on my brand new hiking boots," she mumbled as she took a probing step down the ledge. It wasn't wide enough to walk down it in a regular fashion, so she had to side-step all the way down. She kept her hands firmly on the face of the rock though it was a false sense of security - there wasn't anything to hold onto in case she lost her balance.
Ten feet down the ledge, she still had two hundred and ninety feet to go. She had already tensed up beyond belief, and her shoulders were next to her ears from the unbearable tension. Leaning against the wall, she looked back up at the Greek. "It's okay, Spyros… it's not easy… but it's okay."
"I'm coming, Mrs. Lawrence," Spyros said and ventured out onto the narrow outcrop.
-*-*-*-
Carol Ann didn't wear a watch so she had no way of knowing how much time had gone by - but she was sure it had to be at least an eternity. Out over the sea, the sun was a big, orange ball of fire that hovered a short distance above the horizon. It seemed it would be a clear, scorching hot day, but she had little use for a weather forecast at that exact moment in time.
She and Spyros had made it a good one hundred and fifty feet down the side of the cliff, but that meant they were still only halfway there. She needed another break, so she leaned her back against the rock to catch her breath.
Sweat poured off her body and her muscles all burned from being tense for such a length of time. Her thighs ached and her feet and calves had stopped talking to her many yards earlier. Her throat was as dry as Death Valley and the inevitable result was that she had once more become dehydrated. The tell-tale headache began to ring somewhere deep inside her skull, but she didn't have time for that.
Looking down, she had all the water she would ever need, but it was sea water, not drinking water, so it wouldn't do her any good. Sighing, she looked back at Spyros who was struggling just as much as she was, only fifteen feet higher up the narrow trail.
On top of all her other ailments, the back of her left hand began to tickle. Groaning, she turned her head to the left to try to blow away the straw or speck of dust that had fallen onto her flushed, sweaty skin - but the breath got stuck in her throat when she realized it was a spider instead. It wasn't all that big, and it wasn't black-and-yellow, but it was definitely an eight-legged creature of the nasty kind.
"Get off me!" she croaked in a jittering voice. Mortally afraid of being bitten, she slammed her hand against the rock face several times to get the critter to fall off. It finally did and dropped down next to her sandaled foot where it began to run around in a little circle. Following her small victory, she slammed her sandal down on top of the crawlie to crush it, but the gesture upset her balance and caused her to tilt forward.
Gasping wildly, she reached for anything to keep her balance and remain on the ledge, but there was nothing there for her to hold onto - it was only good fortune that kept her up there instead of in a watery grave one hundred and fifty feet below. "Oh… God," she croaked, leaning the back of her head against the rock.
"Mrs. Lawrence! Are you all right?!" Spyros cried, moving down towards Carol Ann.
"Yes… yes. There was a spider… don't come closer… we need the space between us if you fall," Carol Ann croaked, resuming the strenuous side-stepping down the narrow ledge. From bitter experience, she knew that if a certain spot was the home of one spider, others of its kind would find it attractive as well.
Ten feet further down, a shadow of something shaped like a rod flew past her. She didn't see it clearly, but she shook her head in the belief the dehydration had begun to play tricks on her mind. Moments later, a distant splash could be heard from far below. "What the…?" she mumbled, stopping so she could look behind her.
At first, she didn't believe her eyes. The second glance was hard to fathom, too, but the third glance proved that one of the Mu-Kwanda warriors was standing atop the rocky outcrop they had used as the starting point of the descent. Just as Carol Ann was watching, the warrior pulled her arm back and fired off another flint spear at the two mountain climbers.
"Spyros, watch out! They're throwing spears at us!" she cried, pressing herself up against the rock face to get out of the firing line. The second spear also went wide and drifted harmlessly into the ocean below. "What is that bitch doing?! Who is that? Is that… is that… that's Q'uola!" she cried, staring in wide-eyed disbelief at the grotesque sight of the warrior woman once more aiming and throwing a spear at them.
The third spear came far closer and bounced off the ledge some five feet behind Spyros. It too disappeared into the Pacific, but it was clear Q'uola's aim was improving.
Suddenly the insane warrior moved away from the outcrop. Moments later, cries and grunts could be heard from atop the cliffs like she had become engaged in a brutal fight with someone. Another warrior stepped out onto the outcrop but went back to safety at once.
Carol Ann thought she had recognized the second figure as being Mala'uena, but she wasn't sure. She wanted to cry out, but her throat had tied itself into a knot from the fear, and she could only shake her head in despair. The knot was dissolved with a bang when a third figure stepped out onto the ledge. There was no mistaking the unusual height of the woman who was wielding a spear, or even the long, black hair that flowed freely in the salty breeze. "That's Lexa!" Carol Ann cried and nearly lost her footing all over again. "We… we… we need to help her!"
"We can't go back up to help her, Mrs. Lawrence… we're more than halfway down! It would take us all day to crawl back up!" Spyros said in a voice that had turned more than a little screechy.
"Oh, hell!" Carol Ann cried, smacking her clenched fist into the rocks behind her.
Though no further spears were launched over the edge of the cliff, the sounds of fighting continued from above. From Carol Ann's vantage point, it was impossible to discern the voices among the cries and frantic grunting that trickled down to her, but there were more than two people involved, she was sure of that.
Groaning in frustration, she looked further down the narrow ledge. Spyros was right, they had already made it past the halfway point. The ocean below was far closer than it had been before, and the superstructure of the Empress - which was a good twenty feet up from sea level - seemed so close she could reach out and touch the antennas atop the bridge. In reality, the distance down to the boat was still more than a hundred feet.
"We might as well carry on…" she croaked, trying to wet her bone dry lips with her tongue, but the organ was even drier so it didn't give her anything. Shaking her head, she set off further down the narrow ledge.
Another ten feet closer to her target, a blood-curdling scream from above made her come to a dead stop. Almost at once, a black bundle flew over the edge of the cliff at the outcrop and plummeted the three hundred feet down into the Pacific. The woman screamed at the top of her lungs all the way down until she hit the surface with a bone-crunching impact that kicked up a huge splash. The bundle went under at once but resurfaced a few yards closer to the Empress as a motionless black lump in the vast, dark-gray ocean.
Carol Ann didn't have the mental capacity left to have but a single, clear thought in her mind. Unable to breathe, she stared at the ocean below with wide open eyes. The bundle had been too far away and had flown too quickly to identify which of the two, or perhaps three, warriors it had been, but the burning knot of worry in her gut told her it could have been Lexa.
Her heart sped up until a hollow pain blossomed in her chest. With a trembling chin, she looked up at the jagged outcrop to see if any of the warriors came out to look for the one who had fallen. No one came, and the sounds of fighting had ceased.
She tried to take another side-step down the narrow ledge, but her legs had turned to jelly and had become useless. She stared down at the black bundle to look for signs of life, but none came. "Spyros…" she croaked, turning her head to look at the Greek. "Did you see who that was?"
"No. I had my back turned…"
"I think it may h- have been… have been Lexa…" Carol Ann croaked in a voice that trailed off into nothing. Her eyes had been wide open for so long they felt like they were being rubbed in sand paper, and she blinked several times to make the ugly sensation go away. The small gesture seemed to muddle her mind even further, and her ability to think coherently went out of the window - perhaps it was for the better since the hurricane of thoughts that came to her weren't pleasant in the least. "Maybe she's only been knocked out… maybe she needs my help…" she mumbled.
"That's crazy, Mrs. Lawrence… nearly three hundred feet straight down? Forget it."
"No… no, I… I need to see for myself. I need to… to see who it was," Carol Ann said and pushed herself off the rock face. Suddenly seeing things very clearly indeed, she spread out her arms, tightened her leg muscles and took a swan dive off the narrow ledge to a soundtrack of the wind in her ears and Spyros Antonakis' voice crying out in raw, unbridled panic.
She never had time to get scared. The dark-gray water came rushing up at her at break-neck speed, and the flight was over in a matter of seconds. Her hands broke the surface of the water before she could even get a lungful of air, and her momentum sent her many feet down into the Pacific in a strong torrent of white bubbles.
The cold, gray, dead-silent water rolled over her and enclosed her fully. Before she could get flipped over and begin her return trip to the surface, her lungs were already protesting. Kicking out with her legs - which made her sandals fly off - she pushed herself upwards in the gray mass that surrounded her on all sides.
Light shining down into the depths of the Pacific proved she was getting closer to the surface, and she broke through only a dozen yards away from the low rear service deck of the Empress . Gasping for air, she wiped her wet hair out of her eyes and began to search the water for the black bundle. When she found it, it had drifted away from the spot where she had seen it last, but she swam over to it in a hurry.
It wasn't Lexa, but Q'uola, the insane warrior with the broken toes who had carried out the dirty trick during the challenge. She was dead, and Carol Ann let out a long, heartfelt sigh of relief. Though it wouldn't bring him back, the jailer Q'uola had killed in the male camp had now been firmly avenged. The warrior woman had apparently hit the water head-first, because her skull had been split wide open and some of her gray matter was floating next to her.
The gruesome sight was too much for Carol Ann on top of all the other horrible things she had been exposed to since her arrival on Ka'una-Kameha, so she pushed the dead body away and began to swim for the Empress .
---
She had made it half the distance back to the boat - which towered over her like a whale - when she realized she was so tired and cold her arms had grown weak to the point of being numb. She tried to tread water, but her thigh and calf muscles had been exhausted even before she performed the swan dive off the narrow trail, so they weren't of much use to her.
The soaked black fur weighed her down, but she couldn't stop treading water for long enough to slip out of it. The low rear deck of the Empress was right there, seemingly only a stone's throw away, but she was unable to close the distance. Even if she had been strong enough to swim over to the boat, she doubted she had the strength to climb up on her own - in short, she was in trouble yet again.
Looking up, she tried to spot the narrow, rocky trail where Spyros was presumably still waiting, but she couldn't see anything. She realized the cards were stacked against her. It wasn't the first time on Ka'una-Kameha, but there was a risk it would be the last unless she found a way to get over to, and up on, the Empress of the Pacific . "Maybe if… I cry… for help… Elissa… or the cabin… crew will… come with… boathooks? It's… worth a… try," she croaked, constantly spitting out the salty water that entered her mouth.
The Empress was right there, yet it was a million miles away. Groaning, Carol Ann changed direction in the water and began to shuffle over to the luxury yacht.
---
She wouldn't make it. And worse, she knew she wouldn't make it. Her legs had turned to lead, and her arms were even heavier. The hull of the Empress towered over her like the Empire State Building, and there was no way on God's blue and green earth she'd be able to get herself up on the service deck despite it being far closer to the waterline.
"Help… help, is anyone there? Can anyone hear me?" she croaked, but her voice wasn't strong enough to carry even the short distance up to the main decks. She opened her mouth to try again, but was surprised by a splash of salt water that filled her mouth. Spluttering, she spat it all out and tried to move back around the rear of the boat.
The black fur had become so heavy she needed to perform double-strokes just to stay afloat. If she could only slip it off her shoulder, its own weight would make it fall off her body - but with her luck, it would snag on something and drag her down into the murky depths.
A loud splash from somewhere behind her made her turn around in the water and try to look up the side of the cliff. This time, she was able to spot Spyros Antonakis who was still side-stepping down the rocky trail many feet above her. Apart from the Greek, it was empty all the way up, but a large, broad-shouldered figure was standing at the very top of the cliffs. The figure could be the house-sized warrior whose name Carol Ann had never learned, but she couldn't tell for sure. As she was watching, the figure acknowledged something, or someone, by waving her arm before she disappeared from the outcrop.
Using the last of her strength, Carol Ann moved a short distance away from the Empress to enable the crew up on the main decks to see her down in the water. So far, the boat was dead-silent like it wasn't manned at all, which didn't seem right. "Help…" she croaked, but her strength was gone and it had taken the last of her voice with it.
Exhaustion and fatigue rolled over her like the slapping waves that surrounded her. Just moving her arms and legs to tread water burned off so much energy she was afraid she'd fall into a catatonic state - or worse, cramp up - if she had to keep it up for much longer. Her breath came in arrhythmic gasps that nearly always sucked in plenty of salt water that she needed to spit out afterwards.
She began to sink into the water, and even redoubling her efforts couldn't keep her afloat. Her self-preservation kicked in again, but the surge of adrenaline that raced around her system only spent the energy that she could have used to tread water. She vaguely heard splashing noises close to her before she went under for the second time.
Panicking, she moved her arms and legs like drumsticks to get back to the surface, but her body ached so much she couldn't get her limbs to obey her commands. The cold, silent water rolled over her head and seemed to suck her down. Once more, she hadn't had time to take a deep breath of air, and her lungs had already started to burn. Looking around at the murky waters surrounding her, she felt her panic recede and be replaced by a sense of deep resignation. There wasn't any point in struggling, so she stopped trying to tread water and allowed herself to sink.
She needed to breathe. As she slipped further and further down the bottomless pit known as the Pacific Ocean, she needed to take a lungful of air. Everything inside her insisted she took a deep breath though she was submerged and she knew it was certain death if she did.
The moment finally came. She couldn't hold her breath any longer and took in a deep gasp. Instead of getting air, water rushed in and filled her lungs. It hurt, but she was past caring. An odd sense of weightlessness claimed her limbs as she sunk deeper into the eternal ocean. Akin to floating on a cloud, it was a strange though not unpleasant sensation, so she couldn't be bothered to do anything about it.
A second later, she let out a happy squeal at the sight of a half-naked mermaid swimming towards her. The fairy-tale creature had long, flowing black hair, bronzed skin and a striking resemblance to Lexa.
Carol Ann had always been fascinated by mermaids, so she was as excited as her nine-year-old self would have been when the magnificent creature swam closer to her with long, graceful strokes. Smiling broadly, she reached out for the beautiful denizen of the deep in the hope she would lead her to the mythical kingdom beneath the sea.
*
*
CHAPTER 8/EPILOGUE
The afterlife was strange and not what Carol Ann had expected at all. Instead of puffy white clouds, a harp and an angelic choir, it was dark and someone was beating on her chest. The beating stopped but was replaced by a pair of soft lips that claimed her own.
She could definitely get used to that but found she had trouble reciprocating the kiss since someone was also pinching her nostrils. The lips disappeared and the beating returned.
A double-thump hammered through her chest and caused the beating to stop. The soft lips came back to her own briefly, but she didn't have further success in returning the kiss the second time of asking.
"It's beating!" someone cried followed by a hasty padding of bare feet somewhere close to her head. "Yes, she's got a strong heartbeat!"
With the beating heart came an inclination to breathe, but weren't her lungs full of water? The tiniest of gasps proved that while her bronchi were sore, she could actually breathe on her own as well. Though she preferred the soft lips to return to her own for a third helping, she drew in a deep breath and found the air to be fresh, though a little warm.
Someone grabbed hold of her head and caressed her cheek. She reckoned the time was as good as any to attempt to crack open an eyelid, so she did - and stared directly into a moist pale-blue orb that hovered only an inch from her own. "Oh…" she croaked, shying back from the odd creature until she realized the pale-blue eye did in fact resemble those owned by Lexa, Queen of the Mu-Kwanda.
Looking around with one eye just wouldn't cut it over the long run, so she cracked open the other one as well to get a better view of the situation. It was Lexa's eyes, all right. And Lexa's nose. And Lexa's eyebrows. And Lexa's cheekbones. And Lexa's lips. All in all, she was pretty certain it was indeed Lexa. The lips were the best part, and Carol Ann rose to claim them now her nostrils weren't pinched the whole darn time.
The probing kiss soon became one of confirmation. It was deep, warm and loving, just like kisses should be between two people who had already gone past the early stages of falling in love though they perhaps didn't know it yet. They kissed and kissed and kissed some more until the need for air became an obstacle that needed to be overcome.
Lexa pulled back from Carol Ann's lips but kept her hand on the soft, dripping wet cheek. "Welcome back," she whispered, tracing Carol Ann's pale eyebrows with her thumb.
"Thank you… I was away?" Carol Ann said in a croaking whisper.
"You drowned. You were dead."
"Oh… I saw a mermaid… a big one!"
"That was me," Lexa said with a chuckle that was perhaps just a bit too forced.
"Where- where am I? I'm… I'm not back on the island, am I?"
Lexa moved back to reveal their location and the small group of people watching them with bated breaths. "No. You're on the Empress . The rear service deck. You're lying flat on your back…"
"Well, I know that part, silly."
"Can you sit up?"
"I honestly don't know," Carol Ann said and tried to get her muscles to comply with her commands. Her entire frame ached like there was no tomorrow which made her slam her eyes shut again, but she got all her limbs to listen to her pleas eventually. Shivers rippled through her when the words 'you drowned' finally filtered through to her soul.
Feeling her mortality slap her across the cheeks, she sat up in silence and propped her head up on her knees while she caught her breath, literally and mentally. Everything ached, so all she could do was to glance across the deck at the tall, bronzed mermaid who had saved her.
Only then did she realize that Lexa was naked apart from a soaked loincloth that didn't do its job particularly well. She shot the graceful mermaid a wicked, though dead-tired, grin that faded when she noticed her own brassiere and bloomers had become sheer from the rough treatment down in the salty water.
She smirked widely as she turned towards the group of people who were there to watch her resuscitation - Spyros Antonakis, Elissa Helani and several of the cabin crew whose names she couldn't remember.
"Hello again, Spyros… we made it," she said and tipped her non-existent sailor's cap at the Greek captain.
"We made it, Mrs. Lawrence," a dripping wet Spyros said. He wore a smile that only grew broader when he tapped his pocket. "I still have the items you gave me for safe keeping… I'll put them in the master cabin."
"Thank you… hello, Elissa."
It was clear the Hawaiian hostess couldn't speak without breaking into a storm of tears, so she settled for curtseying at her mistress before she ushered the male members of the cabin crew back inside so the half-naked women on the rear deck wouldn't die of embarrassment.
"Oh…" Carol Ann said when the doors closed behind Elissa. "I think they're all running away from us… I wonder why?"
"I have no idea," Lexa said and slithered her nude body closer to the woman whose life she had just saved. Since she couldn't find a reason not to kiss, she claimed Carol Ann's lips once more, though this one was calmer and more grateful. "I'm just happy I was here when it mattered," she whispered once they separated.
Carol Ann stole a glance at the Queen's strong, mostly undressed body. She chuckled and ran her fingers down a bronzed arm. "Not as happy as I am… thank you. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you. I was really dead?"
"Yes. You were just a lump in the water. I got the fur off you and brought you back to the surface. Spyros jumped in again to help push you up here. You know the rest."
Another ripple of shivers rolled over Carol Ann's body that left plenty of goosebumps in its wake. She would probably need to stay away from swimming pools for a while. "Thank you once again. I'm very, very glad to see you," she said with a smile that turned wistful. Lexa was there with her, but for how long? Did she just come by because she could spot the trouble, or was there more to it? "Lexa, are you-"
"Spyros is watching us… I think he wants to say something," Lexa said with a cheeky smile playing on her lips.
Carol Ann sighed and turned towards the doors. After waving at her friend, he stepped out onto the rear deck.
"Mrs. Lawrence, I've hung the various things I found in Captain Lawrence's wallet up to drip dry in the master cabin's bathroom," Spyros said while he dried his black, curly hair with a fluffy towel.
"Thank you…"
"Oh, and I'm going downstairs to help the engineman get the diesel running. We never had time to fix the lubrication problem on number two's crank casing so we can only use number one for now. We could fix it, but it'll take us several hours. I'm thinking you want to get away from this hellish island in a hurry…?"
"Good thinking, Spyros. Yes. I appreciate it, thank you."
"You're welcome, Mrs. Lawrence," Spyros Antonakis said performed a short bow to the two bare women as he walked back inside and closed the doors.
Carol Ann looked back at Lexa and was unable to stop a broad grin from forming on her face. "He's a good friend… who talks a lot," she said, looking at the older woman's enticing lips.
"He must be. He never once leered at us."
It was high time to kiss, so they did. When they separated, Carol Ann furrowed her brow and moved back a little so she could get the full picture. "Lexa… why are you here? I'm obviously grateful that you are, on so many levels, but… you said-"
Before Carol Ann could get going, they were interrupted once more by Elissa Helani opening the door from the hallway. The hostess peeked outside carrying two towels and two white bathrobes over her arm. "I beg your pardon, Mrs. Lawrence, Miss… uh, Lexa. Oh, Mrs. Lawrence, I'm sure you would like to dry yourself. I've also brought your favorite morning robe. Should I just leave it here, or-"
Carol Ann sighed and looked back at Lexa. She was boundlessly happy to see the tall, gorgeous woman back in her life, but there was one burning question in particular that needed to be asked - and answered - before she would rejoice. "Thank you, Miss Helani," she said in a tired voice. "Just leave them here. Lexa and I will be in shortly," she continued, wearing a smile she didn't feel like giving.
The hostess nodded and left the items resting on the empty davits where the yacht tender had been.
Carol Ann looked back at her new lover who had also become the woman who had saved her life. Both events were equally remarkable, though for different reasons. "Lexa… I owe you my life… but we need to talk."
"I know," Lexa said and got up, revealing by the length and shapeliness of her legs that she wasn't a mermaid at all.
-*-*-*-
Once inside the extravagant dining cabin of the Empress , Carol Ann tied a knot on her morning robe to stop anyone from getting a heart attack over the fact that she was as naked as a newborn underneath the flimsy fabric. Her brassiere and bloomers had only been fit for the trash bin after being soaked so thoroughly, so they had been thrown away, but Lexa's loincloth was made of a sturdier material that only needed to drip-dry before it was ready for further use.
Gingerly sitting down in her regular spot, Carol Ann let out a long, deep sigh of relief as a wave of fatigue washed over her abused, aching frame. Though she was hurting like there was no tomorrow, she was alive, she had made it back to the Empress , and if the cards fell right, there was a chance she could have her cake and eat it too.
The gingerbread-woman in question pulled out a chair and sat down on the opposite side of the table that had already been equipped with a bright white tablecloth. Looking at each other, Lexa and Carol Ann exchanged yet another grateful smile.
Elissa entered the dining cabin and moved over to Carol Ann's side of the table. Curtseying, she held her hands to her chest like she was praying. "Mrs. Lawrence, may I offer you my sincerest condolences. Mr. Lawrence was a handsome, charismatic man and I can't tell you how devastated I am to hear of his death."
Before Carol Ann had time to reply, the diesel engine came alive down in the bay with a guttural rumble that soon evened out. The characteristic vibrations of the lazy, long-stroke engine were felt through the deck of the dining cabin floor and even up into the table, indicating they were within moments of beginning the long trek home.
A small sob escaped Carol Ann's lips, and a few tears ran down from the corners of her eyes when she thought of all that had happened to her since they had first spotted the mysterious, dark island off their port side immediately after the storm. She had lost her husband and most likely her old lifestyle, but she had gained a companion who would take his place in her heart and in her bed - if the world would let her. She had died, but she had gained a whole new lease of life because Lexa had been there to rescue her. There would be nightmares, she had no doubt about that, but they would be eased by the warm, bronzed body pulling her close when the dreams turned evil.
She sniffled and began to pat her pocket-less morning robe for a handkerchief so she didn't have to use the sleeves. The hostess provided a box of tissues at once. "Thank you, Elissa," Carol Ann croaked and tore off the top tissue. "It was a terrible shock to us all. Just dreadful… also the tragic news of the death of poor Ramón and the other Filipinos… please, when we return to Hawaii, we must make sure their families are compensated handsomely for their sacrifice."
Elissa nodded politely, clearly not wanting to say that it would be Carol Ann's responsibility now that Charles was gone.
It dawned on Carol Ann a few seconds later, and she let out a long sigh. She would have a mountain to climb in the days and weeks following their return to the United States. There would no doubt be a police inquest, she would have to deal with the in-laws and Charles' last will and testament - not to mention the funeral with an empty coffin - and she would have to get her head wrapped around all the financial matters that Charles and his accountants had always taken care of. Later on, once the brouhaha had settled, she knew without doubt that her mother-in-law would pay her off and order her to leave. And then what?
She glanced over at Lexa and found the supportive smile she had hoped to see. The burning questions still remained, though - was Lexa there for good, or was she expecting to be dropped off back at the island now her job of life guard had been completed?
---
A short fifteen minutes later, Elissa bustled about between the two women to set the table for breakfast. She added large plates, small dishes, cutlery and tumblers before she found out it may have been a good idea to have asked beforehand what the mistress and her special girlfriend would be interested in. "Mrs. Lawrence, would you and Miss Lexa like to eat breakfast? I know it's rude of me to mention it, but you look famished."
"Apart from one, small bowl of soup, I haven't eaten anything but berries since we went ashore," Carol Ann said and blew her nose one last time. She didn't think she would be able to eat, but the mere mention of food made her stomach perform a jubilant backflip and let out a growl. Since her system agreed to it, she might as well get something down there. "Are… are there any pancakes left? And maple syrup? And pineapple juice? And some buttered toast? And… maybe bacon and eggs? Oh… and baked beans, perhaps?"
The 'bacon'-word made one of Lexa's black eyebrows creep upward and the corner of her mouth twitch into a horrified grimace.
At that point in time, Carol Ann didn't care one little bit what the queen felt about her eating habits. A craving for meat exploded in her tummy like she had suddenly become pregnant, and the craving was especially for the salty bacon that the boat's cook knew how to make so crisp it would break if someone whistled off-key.
"Of course, Mrs. Lawrence," Elissa Helani said and performed a small curtsey. "It will be ready shortly."
"Thank you. My companion wants some pineapple juice and some toast… I think?"
"Juice and toast will be fine, thank you. I haven't had toast for fifteen years," Lexa said and nodded.
Though Elissa stared wide-eyed at the odd reply, she soon curtseyed and hurried down the steep staircase to get to the galley below.
Carol Ann smiled at the prospects of finally getting some real food, but it faded from her face when she looked at Lexa across the table. At the same moment, Spyros worked the engine-room telegraph which made the engineman set the screws for all-ahead, slow. Soon, the vibrations changed note, and the waves of the dark-gray Pacific Ocean began to sweep along the side of the sleek boat as it cruised gracefully through the water.
"We're going home… at last. But you're still here," Carol Ann said and pinned Lexa to the spot with a dark frown on her forehead.
The queen of the Mu-Kwanda leaned forward, but the wound on the back of her thigh sent up a flash of pain that made her hiss. Grunting, she shuffled around on the dining chair to make the pressure ease off. "I'm still here. I had honestly hoped it would have made you happier…" she said with a worried look on her face.
"I need to know your intentions. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or to wake up, either of the two."
"You aren't dreaming, Carol Ann. I'm really here… and I'm really staying."
Carol Ann's heart began to beat faster and she narrowed her eyes down into green slits. Her breath became shallower and the vein on the side of her neck began to throb; she studied the face of the woman sitting opposite her so closely it nearly became obsessive, but she needed to know if she was losing her mind. Lexa hadn't faded away like a ghost, so it had to be true. Carol Ann suddenly jumped up and put her hands to her mouth. She wanted to cry out her happiness but she held it all back out of fear she would spook everyone on the boat into having a collective heart attack.
Instead, she staggered over to Lexa who had risen from her chair as well. The two women looked at each other like neither could really believe what was happening. The moment was too good to be at such a distance, so Carol Ann fell into Lexa's arms and gave her a strong crush that nearly made the air leave the tall woman's lungs.
"Oh God," Carol Ann croaked, burying her face into Lexa's broad chest while she gave her the hug of a lifetime. "Oh God, is it really true? Are you really here to stay? You're not just playing with me, are you? It's really true?"
"It's true, Carol Ann," Lexa whispered and stroked the blond locks at her fingertips. "I came after all. I… oh, it was so pathetic. After you had left, I just sat there… on my throne… so incredibly miserable. I missed you even before the doors had closed behind you. I didn't want you to leave, but I knew I could never persuade you to stay. So I had to follow you… it was a good thing I came when I did, too…"
"Oh, God!" Carol Ann cried and wrapped her arms even tighter around the strong body in her arms. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer in her chest, but it was performing a happy dance for a change. A pleasant warmth raced around her system and left her entire being sated and golden. With Lexa at her side, she was sure she would be able to climb the mountain that awaited her back home, even if they would have to hide the true nature of their relationship from the police, the in-laws and most likely the rest of the world - all that aside, with Lexa in her life as a constant, it would be a long time before she would come back down to earth, she was sure of that.
Stunned over the unexpected development, she moved back from the hug but kept a firm grip on her new lover's arms. "But your people? What about the Mu-Kwanda? Can you just leave them like this?"
"I abdicated… yes, it's true. I really did," Lexa said and swept several damp, stray locks out of Carol Ann's misty eyes. "I abdicated and gave my royal powers to Sha'uona under the watchful eye of the tribe eldest. Sha'uona will be a great queen."
Carol Ann gulped down a joyful sob as she gazed deeply into Lexa's pale-blue orbs. A question crossed her mind that she needed to get to the bottom of, and she took another small step back and cocked her head. "Sha'uona? Who… who is she?"
"Oh, you know her! The large woman… the broad-shouldered warrior who carried you into the palace when we first met…"
"Oh! Oh, I never learned her name…"
"She's always been fiercely loyal to me. I saved her life once… I guess I have a habit of doing that, huh?"
"I guess… Sha'uona… that's a pretty name. I wish I could have spoken to her."
"So do I," Lexa said and moved aside so they wouldn't block Elissa Helani's path up the staircase from the galley below.
The hostess knew to keep a respectful distance to her employers so she looked away from the emotional scene while she put the tray with the many little dishes on the breakfast table: a stack of pancakes and a vial of syrup, a jug of pineapple juice, two slices of buttered toast, an egg cup carrying a single egg, a plate with two slices of crispy bacon, and finally a bowl with steaming warm baked beans in tomato sauce to be put on the toast.
"You would have liked her," Lexa continued, turning back to the woman in her arms. "She always had a funny story up her sleeve. She'll be fine. Q'uola is dead and I gave Mala'uena a serious wound in the battle at the cliffs. I have every reason to believe Sha'uona will be queen for a great number of years. Nobody is strong enough to defeat her."
"Let's hope not," Carol Ann said while her nostrils flared at the delightful smell of the crispy bacon and the warm baked beans. Her eyes were soon roaming across the breakfast table and devouring everything in sight.
Lexa chuckled as she followed Carol Ann's gaze. "And there I was, thinking that you only looked at me that way…"
"Well… you're high on my list, that's true… but I can't deny there's something special about bacon and eggs!"
"If you say so," Lexa said with a chuckle as she pulled out the chair she had used earlier.
"I do say so… Alexandra… thank you," Carol Ann said and offered the former queen a look of deep gratitude for everything that had transpired since the perilous escape.
Lexa smiled back; a wide, toothy, though warm grin that betrayed there was something stirring behind the bronzed exterior as well. "You're welcome. Let's eat while the baked beans are hot."
"Oh, no you don't!" Carol Ann cried and snatched up the bowl. "You didn't want any beans! Those are all mine!"
Both women stuck out their tongues at each other before they dissolved into fits of giggles that lasted all through breakfast.
-*-*-*-
Ka'una-Kameha was but a bluish-green blur in the middle distance by the time Carol Ann and Lexa stepped out onto the open decks to have the salty sea air blow away their satiety. The cone atop the sacred Tima'uela mountain glittered in the sunlight like it had done for eons since the volcanic eruption that had created the island.
The wind grabbed hold of Lexa's long, black hair and whipped it around as she leaned over the brass rail at the port side of the Empress . Sighing, she looked back at the uncharted island where she had spent the last fifteen years of her life. Five of those years had been as the undisputed ruler of the Mu-Kwanda, getting the most out of the perks that came with the title - and one day had been in the company of the woman who had stolen her heart. That one day had made all the difference.
"It wasn't all bad," she said to Carol Ann who closed the flimsy morning robe tightly and moved up to stand next to the former queen. "It was a hard, brutal life… but there were good times as well. Within the confines of the island, we were free."
Carol Ann nodded somberly. She had only seen the bad sides of the mysterious island, but she understood what Lexa meant. "I wonder what's going to happen when progress finally catches up with the Mu-Kwanda. They can't stay hidden forever. The ships are getting bigger… the sea planes can fly longer. One day, Ka'una-Kameha will be added to the charts and maps, and I don't think it's too far off."
"Mmmm. The Mu-Kwanda will disappear, like other native peoples around the world."
"Are you going to miss the island?"
"To be honest… yes. I made friends there I'll never see again. I'll miss the sounds of the jungle, and the special smell the vegetation sent out. I'll miss the cave with the hot spring where we made love… that was my special place. At least we had time to explore it… eh?"
"Yes… and I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for that."
"Oh, I'm sure we'll find some way for you to show your gratitude…"
"A woman can hope," Carol Ann said with a grin.
Lexa grinned back, but the smile faded at the thought of the challenges that lay ahead for them. "On Ka'una-Kameha, no one cared about women kissing, making love for fun, or being in a steady relationship. It was the most natural thing in the world. Back in the so-called civilization, it's the most unnatural thing in the world."
"It's going to be difficult for us when we get back, I know," Carol Ann said and leaned against her new lover. "In some ways, women's rights have been weakened since you left in the late 1930s. The world's a different place now after the war. Far more conservative. I'm worried trouble will find us. Not just from the law, but from people in general."
"So am I… yet, they can't silence all of us. There are men and women like us everywhere, you know."
"I wouldn't know. I've never met any," Carol Ann said with a shrug.
"Oh, I'm sure you have, you just didn't know it at the time," Lexa said and turned around to lean her back against the brass rail. "Perhaps we shouldn't stay in America once all the legal nonsense is over. Perhaps we should find ourselves a paradise somewhere and settle down… just the two of us. Or perhaps we should found a new society with other women of our kind. We could be queens of our own little realm."
"Perhaps," Carol Ann said and once again hooked her arm inside Lexa's. "Will you look for your parents? They may still be alive. You had your base on Cook Island, didn't you?"
"Cook Island, yes. Oh… I don't know. I need to think about it," Lexa said and once more glanced out over the ocean with a distant look in her eyes.
The warm, caressing breeze that came in from the vast ocean surrounding the Empress of the Pacific sang in the antennas and made the little brass bell on the outside of the pilot house jingle a merry tune. The long-stroke diesel engine down below sent out a burble and a constant hum that soon became a soothing background noise. Behind them, Ka'una-Kameha finally went out of sight like the final remnants of a bad dream to close that bloody chapter in the lives of Carol Ann Lawrence and Alexandra Burnside.
Carol Ann sighed deeply and looked up at the tall, gorgeous woman next to her. She got what she wanted, but she had lost what she had - and she could already see the sordid tabloid headlines. The reporters would stick their filthy snouts into everything she did, and they would snoop on everyone she knew. The violent death of a wealthy businessman on some mysterious, uncharted island somewhere in the South Pacific was always juicy news. A rescued castaway with a silver tongue and looks fit for Hollywood who could be harboring a deep, dark secret was even better. Just the vague shimmer of a love triangle and a crime of passion was the stuff of legend and sold-out afternoon rags.
For the first several months after the funeral, she would have to play the grieving widow. It wouldn't all be a charade; a lot of her grief was real. Charles had been the controlling factor in her life since they had started dating in 1944, but it was only at the very end he had turned on her. They had shared many great things during those nine years, even if the emotional side had been lacking for most of them. At least she had their wedding rings.
Sighing, she snapped back to the real world. All of that would have to wait. First, there was the small matter of the long cruise back to Hawaii. It would take several days, so they might as well enjoy the peace and quiet before the human storm would inevitably strike. "Lexa, we have a really nice sun deck up front… with a parasol and sunbeds. Just the thing for two dead-tired women."
"Mmmm?"
"Yes. But first… lean down. My legs are too tired to stand up on tip-toes," Carol Ann said and waited for her new lover to comply. Once Lexa was close enough to touch, she claimed the queen's lips in a deep, wonderful kiss.
The road they were about to travel would be a rocky one, but they would manage. After all, they were together and nothing could tear them apart. Not the press, not the in-laws, not the police, not even the narrow-minded society in general - nothing would ever come between them, Carol Ann Lawrence would make sure of that.
*
*
THE END.
*
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