1. The weeks passed. Aablar's routine never varied and Leia began to chafe at her long periods of inactivity, bound hand and foot for much of the time. They were continually on the move, covering up to twelve miles a day as Aablar followed signs of game. She was now able to fashion herself a new deerskin halter and panties from the hides he gave her and she dutifully made new bearskin cloaks for both of them.
She continually asked him to refrain from tying her up while he hunted, but it was like talking to a post. Now and then he responded to her pleas by cuffing her head sharply, making it ring for hours. Finally one evening, as they ate some fresh venison, she said, 'I am your woman. Why don't you trust me?'
He looked up and she involuntarily flinched, expecting a blow. But he merely looked at her. After a long pause, he said, 'You are Amazon.'
'But I am from the Clan of the Stag,' she protested, 'The medicine woman told me that I was with them seventeen winters. I know no one else!'
'You are not a Stag woman,' he said shortly, 'You are Amazon.'
'The medicine woman said that they found me with my mother,' Leia admitted, 'My mother was badly hurt when she was found by the Clan brothers and she died. I was but a few moons old.'
'Your mother was Amazon,' said Aablar harshly, 'Amazon women hunt our men from their flying baskets and ride us down on their horses. The Amazon killed my father and they have taken many of my brothers as slaves. The Amazon are have always hunted us. That is why the Stag Clan cast you out when you were full grown.' He paused. 'But I do not fear you. You are Amazon, but I will keep you as my slave.'
'But you said I am your woman,' she pleaded, 'I know no Amazon, they are nothing to me. You are my man, mighty hunter. I will bear your children and rear them and they will become mighty hunters in their time.'
Confusion briefly flitted across Aablar's face. Leia was a Amazon and he knew that Amazon women had hunted him all his life. But Leia was beautiful. Her blue eyes were wide and guileless, not at all like the steely eyes of the dominesses of his boyhood. And while she was fit and strong, her hunting and fighting skills were poor.
He remembered pale blonde Amazon with colorless eyes who had beaten down his father. They knew her only as 'Lady Blonde'. He lay at her feet, his spear broken, his right arm shattered with a blow from her steel shield. The tableau played often in his mind. 'You are a savage,' the Amazon said, 'If we didn't need wild sperm from your kind, we would exterminate you.' With that she plunged her sword into his belly and twisted it as he writhed in pain. She sheathed her sword and turned away from him and from the young Aablar, displaying her powerful bare back. 'Turn the boy loose,' she had said contemptuously to one of her raven-haired lieutenants who had just finished shackling some of his Clan brothers, 'He is too young to be of use to us. Maybe we will catch him in a few years!' She laughed. It had taken his father many long hours to die.
His face hardened. 'I was wrong,' he said firmly, 'You cannot be my woman. You are Amazon. You are my slave.'
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
2. The next day they broke camp before dawn, as was his custom and began moving quickly. They were in hilly country and Aablar moved just below the ridgeline, constantly scanning the distance and surveying the air. This last activity puzzled Leia. She had never feared any of the birds she saw in the air and they made poor eating, so she wondered about Aablar's constant surveillance of the sky.
The sun was high in the sky when Aablar stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. Signaling her to silence, he cautiously made his way up to the ridgeline. Leia followed him noiselessly and peered over his shoulder. The hillside fell away steeply below them into a narrow and rocky canyon. The bottom was sandy and covered with scrub. At first she did not see anything. But then, following Aablar's keen gaze, squinting against the bright sunlight, she saw two figures. They were quite far off, but moving towards them at a steady pace. They were perched high from the ground and it took her a few moments to recognize that they were on horseback. This was a fearsome sight! The Stag Clan was rarely a target of the Amazon, but on the rare occasions that they were attacked, she had fled with the Clan and hidden. Her strongest Clan brothers had invariably been caught and taken. She had learned to tremble with fear at the smell of the Amazon and their horses.
Aablar dropped below the protective ridgeline again and pulled her down with him. Grabbing her by the hair, he twisted her face towards his. 'They are Amazon,' he hissed, 'If you make a sound, I will kill you.' He quickly bound her hand and foot and ripping a strip of deerskin from his pouch fashioned a gag and fastened it tightly. She knew he would beat her if she protested, so she accepted this in silence.
Aablar dropped his bearskin cloak and all his other gear by her. Armed only with his heavy bone club, he emerged over the ridgeline and moved silently through the sparse undergrowth. He was a brilliant hunter and remained undetected by the two approaching Amazon. He found his way to a thick piece of scrub that was on an overhang about twenty feet over the sandy canyon floor. He crouched behind it soundlessly. The canyon was quite narrow here, so that the horsewomen would have to pass directly beneath him.
While the shadow of the scrub made him invisible to the oncoming riders, it was still possible for him to see through it. The riders were now only about hundred yards away and his keen eyes could make them out clearly. One was clearly a dominess, for a long bow, a quiver of arrows, a small round shield and lengths of chain and rope hung from her saddle. She wore a sharp two-edged steel sword around her waist and had a long dagger strapped to her one thigh. She wore steel shoulder pads and breastplates and a very short skirt of thick chain mail. She had on elbow length gloves of heavy leather with steel rings sewn into them. Her thigh high riding boots has similar steel rings sewn into them. She wore a steel helmet with a plume fastened tightly with a chinstrap. She was tall and Aablar could see her sinuous muscles that denoted great strength. The second rider was similarly attired, but smaller and less heavily armed. She wore a shorter sword and dagger and her saddle only bore a shield and some leather pouches. She rode behind the first rider. Both of them rode very erect in their saddles and were approaching steadily, without fear.
Aablar had seen such Amazon pairs attack his Clan several times. He knew that they could kill from afar with their arrows and could hack off heads with their swords. He knew that as the Clan fled, they would separate out one or two brothers to beat down and take away in chains. But he also knew that their attacks always followed their being found and observed by Amazon flying baskets. Like gods, the Amazon could speak into the air and be heard miles away by their sisters on horseback.
So Aablar constantly scanned the sky behind him looking for Amazon flying baskets. So long as he was unseen, he had the advantage. The Amazon had always hunted him, but now he was the hunter. Enslaving Leia had given him confidence. He could fight the Amazon! He would not always run and hide!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
3. Katnissa and Althea had been riding for three days through craggy and mountainous terrain since they had been put down by their airship. They were on a training mission and had completed their minimum required surface time. Katnissa had decided to do one more unsupported day before calling for aerial pickup.
'I don't know why we must do these stupid training missions,' Althea was saying, 'We can become strong inside the safety of our walled citadels and we can hunt the savages from our airships. Why must we do this dangerous unsupported training?'