Aablar the Neanderthal

It is the middle of the last Ice Age, about 50,000 years ago. The Neanderthals roam the Earth, but co-exist with a recently arrived tribe of technologically advanced aliens known as the Amazon. The Amazon hunt Neanderthal men for their wild semen. Aablar has captured an Amazon dominess and her acolyte and is now the object of a massive search.

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1. Elizabetha Warren stood on the glass domed flying bridge of the aircraft 'Andromeda', overlooking the captain's command station. She was armed for combat with a blaster slung over her shoulder, her special issue pistol in a holster on her belt and a long steel dagger in a sheath on her right thigh boot. In addition, she wore her 'singing' sword in a scabbard on herpistol belt, so called because of the whistling sound it made when swung. It had a two-handed hilt and a razor sharp blade. Elizabetha was one of the best Amazon swordswomen and proud of it.

Lady Sophia Stirling, similarly attired for combat, though without a sword, approached her. 'We have received further analysis of the savage's DNA from the Health Institute,' she said. 'It confirms the original analysis done on the 'Helena'. It is from the Clan of the Bear. However, the genetic signature appears to hold some unique impurities. Health has matched it to a boy that was picked up and entered in the database in a raid twelve years ago. His name was recorded as Aablar and he was recorded as verging on puberty. The boy's father's name was recorded as Raritar and he was killed in the raid.'

'Who was the raid commander?' Elizabetha asked.

'You were, Colonel,' said Sophia impassively.

Elizabetha took the statement without comment. She had been one of the most successful (and some said, the most ruthless) of the dominesses in the pursuit of savages. Her love of swordplay was well known and her 'singing sword' had seen much blood.

The ship's captain, Carol Oates called up, 'We have a large grouping of the Bear Clan on the scope, Colonel. There are about two hundred of them. Your orders?'

'Prepare for immediate debarkation. Debark two squads on to the north and two to the south.' She turned to Sophia. 'Quinta Lady Sophia,' she said addressing her aide by her rank, 'you will command the southern squads. I will come from the north. Drive them towards us. I want to capture them all this time.'

Sophia bowed. 'It will be done, Colonel,' she said. They left the flying bridge together and made for the holds where their dominess squads waited with their horses. The debarkation of the two units about two miles apart was completed within half an hour. Elizabetha's plan worked like clockwork. When Sophia's twenty dominesses galloped into the Bear Clan grouping, they had already caught their smell and begun to flee. Chaos reigned, with men frantically looking for escape, women screaming and trying to protect their children, belongings discarded.

'Shoot the old men,' Sophia ordered over her helmet communicator and quickly ten men were blown to pieces with blasters. This served to increase the panic still further and at this point they suddenly found themselves running squarely into Elizabetha's squads. They were brought up short and milling around in confusion, shrieking and begging for mercy.

Elizabetha switched her helmet communicator to megaphone mode. Her use of the savage tongue was heavily accented with the Amazon acent, but quite understandable. 'We want you all to stand still. We will shoot any one who moves. Is that clear?'

Surrounded by the mounted Amazon, the Bear Clan group members subsided into a hum of mutters and eyed their captors wide-eyed with fear. Elizabetha quickly clicked her helmet's magna-vision into place and identified six prime age males for semen harvest. Setting her pistol to its lowest setting, she methodically fired six times, burning two-inch long brands on each of their shoulders. They howled with pain as Elizabetha spoke into her helmet communicator, 'Alpha Squad, take those six.'

The squad moved forward into the milling crowd, pistols at the ready, and golden zircon lassoes whirled through the air. The six branded men found themselves caught and dragged away from their clan group by the Amazon horsewomen. They were quickly shackled and led towards the 'Andromeda', now anchored a few miles away.

Elizabetha surveyed the cowed and crowded mass of Neanderthals grimly. Her long experience stood her in good stead -- she located one older male, taller and more powerful than the rest, surrounded by three or four females and looking at the dominesses defiantly. She judged him to be the chief of this group of the Bear Clan. Without warning her golden zircon lasso whirled through the air and he found himself ensnared. Backing her horse quickly, she pulled him off his feet and dragged him out of the surrounding crowd, which parted with murmurs of fear. She pulled him about twenty yards from the milling group and stopped. He raised himself erect again with difficulty, since his arms where still pinioned to his sides by the lasso.

'Tell me your name,' Elizabetha demanded, 'and point out your group elders.'

'You are evil, dominess,' he rasped, 'I will tell you what you want. I am Genghis, chief of this group of the Bear Clan. I will point out my three elders.'

He proceeded to do so and they were quickly lassoed and brought up to join him by Elizabetha's dominesses. Elizabetha now holstered her pistol and hung her blaster on her pommel by its strap. She dismounted, leaving her horse to hold the lasso binding the chief. She walked up to the four bound Neanderthals and said, 'We are looking for one of your Clan. I am almost certain he is one of your group. His name is Aablar. Where is he?'

The four looked on in stoic silence. Elizabetha drew her 'singing' sword and hefted it with a two-handed grip. The next move happened so quickly that not even the highly trained dominesses actually saw it. There was the sharp whistling sound of Elizabetha's blade and then the head of one of the elders fell to the ground with a thud, his face registering a look of mild surprise. His body remained standing and swaying for a few moments before pitching forward and hitting the ground in cloud of dust.

Elizabetha made slow circles with the bloodstained blade in front of the remaining three. 'That was a very easy death,' she said, poking the chest of one of the other elders and drawing a trickle of blood, 'I can make it much slower and much more painful. I want to know where I can find Aablar.'

'I threw him out of the group almost a moon ago. He was fucking one of my women and I banished him.

'Where can I find him now?' she asked patiently, pushing the point of her sword through his shoulder.

'Please, I cannot speak with this pain! Pull out of your sword!'

'All in good time, Genghis,' said Elizabetha, 'I'm still waiting for your answer.'

They were interrupted by blaster booms as Elizabetha's dominesses began to shoot the old, the feeble and the other remnants of the Neanderthal group.

'All Bear Clan chiefs go to the Cavern of Eternal Spring at the edge of the ice in the week of the vernal equinox.' Genghis paused, laboring for breath. 'He must drink of the Spring and bring up a green stone from the sacred pool to top his staff, since he wants to be a chief.'

'Where is your green stone, Genghis? And where is this cavern?'

'The cavern is on the north face of the Tooth Peak.' Genghis's fought to make his thick tongue form words now. Elizabetha pushed her sword deeper into his shoulder and Genghis's grimaces of pain were giving way to whimpers. 'I left my staff on the ground when I came to do battle.'

'Thank you, Genghis. You have been most helpful.' Elizabetha nodded to one of her dominesses, who quickly went over to where Genghis had been standing with his women and recovered a stout staff that would have been lost among the rocks. Elizabetha hefted the staff, her eyes gleaming. Glued to the head of the staff was an egg-sized raw and uncut emerald.

'Dominess! Dominess! You promised! Please kill me now!'

Genghis's cries finally drew a response from Elizabetha. She returned to her horse, hung her shield on her pommel and carefully placed the staff in one of her saddlebags. Then she hefted her blaster and swung back into her saddle. She looked down on him scornfully.

'Genghis, you couldn't have known it, but banishing Aablar was probably the worst decision you ever made.'

She pointed her pistol at Genghis and shot him at point blank range.

Elizabetha opened a personal line to have Fiona, who responded at once.

'Princess Fiona,' she said formally, 'we have captured the savage Aablar's group of the Bear Clan and your orders have been carried out. All non-essential adults have been killed. We have killed the chief and his elders. They have told us all they know. We have some leads to go on.'

'I knew I could count on you, Elizabetha,' said Fiona warmly.

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2. Dusk was beginning to gather when Aablar stirred. It would be dark within another hour and it would be time to move again. Althea was still lying on her back, an unaccustomed position for her, breathing shallowly and sharply, causing her firm little breasts to quiver. She was unconscious to the world.

Leia stirred with Aablar and sat up, stretching and yawning luxuriously. Katnissa, however, was awake and her cat-like eyes followed Aablar's every move. He drew some more meat from a deerskin pouch and passing some to Leia, walked over and fed Katnissa a few pieces before wolfing down several large chunks himself. When they were done eating and had drunk water from Aablar's leather satchel, Leia gathered up the remaining meat and wrapped it in a deerskin pouch to carry with her. Almost at the same instant, both Aablar and Katnissa froze. Their ears pricked up and they strained to hear more of the faint sound they thought they had just heard. An instant later Aablar flung himself at Katnissa and pinioned her bound body to the ground. He produced the leather gag and tied it on tight, heedless of her struggles. Then he quickly went over to the sleeping Althea and tied a leather gag on her, and ignoring her shocked awakening, bound her wrists and ankles again. Leia was frightened by Aablar's urgency, for though she had heard nothing, she knew that danger must be nigh.

Aablar picked up his spear and stuck Katnissa's steel dagger in his leather waistband. He crouched behind the rocks at the mouth of the cave. Both Katnissa and he knew what they had heard -- blaster booms that meant there were dominesses close by. Aablar peered into the valley below and checking over his shoulder to make sure once again that all was secure in the cave, descended several hundred yards quickly and soundlessly. He made excellent use of the scrub on the mountainside and eventually settled behind a clump of rocks and brush about half a mile along a line of sight from the scene unfolding on the valley floor.

He saw the shooting, his erstwhile group rounded up, the six prime age males selected and taken away. Then he saw Genghis square off against Elizabetha. His mouth tightened. Even at this distance, and after the long years, he recognized her stance instantly. It was the dominess who had beaten, tortured and killed his father!

As if in a dream, he saw Genghis beaten and then tortured and killed. His cries carried clearly up to his ears. Genghis had been no friend of his, but to see him die in this way still gave Aablar pain. He made his way very carefully back to the cave, using every hunter's wile to remain invisible to those below.

One at a time, Aablar picked up Katnissa and Althea and carried them to the rocks at the mouth of the cave. Leia came up and crouched beside them as well. The mounted dominesses were just more than specks on the valley floor far below them. But the even at this distance, Katnissa could make out the purple and green uniforms of the Queen's Regiment. It was clear what was happening with all the dead bodies lying around. Aablar caught a hank of Katnissa's hair and twisted her head, gag and all, to face him.

'See what you dominesses do to my people,' Aablar whispered.

Was it his imagination, or were her eyes less flinty that they had been?

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3. Elizabetha opened a channel to the 'Andromeda' and Captain Carol Oates answered immediately.

'We are ready for pickup Captain Carol,' she said. The Amazon used their first names for official addresses.

'We are on our way, Colonel Elizabetha,' Carol Oates replied.

'Andromeda' was the newest, largest and fastest of the four Amazon aircraft and she was hovering above them literally within minutes, her running lights winking. Carol ordered the large platform lowered. It was a huge rectangular metal sheet with grooved wooden floorboards and a five-foot high railings. It was large enough to accommodate two fully equipped mounted squads. It hit the ground with a clang. At an order from Elizabetha, Sophia embarked her two squads. A powerful winch on the aircraft whined and the platform was quickly hoisted into one of the 'Andromeda' holds. A few minutes later, it was lowered again and Elizabetha embarked her squads. She embarked last, leading her huge eighteen-hand stallion. He snorted and pranced. She patted him and cooed in his ear, calming him down. As he calmed down, she surveyed the carnage around her. I was assigned to this search just a few hours ago, she thought. And I already know where that savage is headed. All I have to do is go there and wait.

She surveyed the valley around her as the platform rose. Her sharp eyes were ever watchful, scanning the mountainsides around like a hawk's. Was there a tiny movement on the mountainside in front of her? Her gaze zeroed in on what looked like a minute cave opening. But all was still. Maybe the dim twilight was playing tricks with her sight. It was probably one of those infernal mountain goats that were so plentiful in this area.

Elizabetha made her way to bridge as soon as she settled her horse in his stall. Carol was at her command post looked questioningly at her.

'Take us to the north face of the peak the savages call the Tooth,' she said. 'You know the one?'

'Yes, Colonel,' said Carol quietly. 'Its due north along this ridge to our starboard side about fifteen miles from here. The weather is always awful around there and the mineral deposits in there really impede our communications.'

'Good,' said Elizabetha ignoring Carol's misgivings. 'I'm going to get cleaned up and changed for dinner. I'll see you in the wardroom, Captain. In the meantime, please ask Quinta Lady Sophia to stop by my cabin at once.'

'I will relay your orders, Colonel. And I look forward to dining with you.' Carol's voice was very level, but not very warm.

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4. Aablar and the women lay very still. Katnissa's gaze grew wistful and then desperate as the 'Andromeda' appeared over the horizon. She watched in despair as Sophia's squads were embarked. Then as the last squads were being embarked and she saw the unmistakable form of Elizabetha, tall and erect in her saddle, she gave way to desperation and began to struggle and cry out through her gag.

'Mmmmphphff!! MMMMphphphffff!!!' Her cries did not carry far and her struggles brought forth a swift reaction from Aablar. His powerful hands went around her throat and he choked her, cutting off all sound. Her body continued to thrash for a while, but he was able to subdue her and drag her away from the cave mouth.

Within minutes the aircraft was gone over the horizon again.

Aablar left them in the cave and descended to the valley floor. He took the remains of his former comrades and buried them so that they would not be set upon by carrion. 'Goodbye, Genghis,' he said gravely. 'You did your best as chief. You deserved a better end.'

Then he returned to the cave and pushed his small party onward and upward along the ridge. Althea was soon in trouble, stumbling and in real danger since the path was now narrow and the drop to their left was nearly sheer and hundreds of feet. Without a word, Aablar picked her up and slung her over his shoulder again. Their night hike was much steeper now and they made slow progress. Aablar called a halt considerably before first light. Leia's exhaustion was apparent and Katnissa was weakening. They rested on the path and after an hour, Aablar had them moving again, slowly. They made two more rest stops. The women were too exhausted to talk and Aablar did not make or invite any comment.

Finally, the first fingers of dawn appeared, but Aablar still continued. With the gathering light, they could make out their surroundings much more clearly. They were extremely high! There was snow and ice all around them and the path itself was slippery. The drop to their left was now thousands of feet and there were clouds obscuring the valley far below them. Mists began to surround them as well and Leia grew very afraid.

Aablar sensed this and said to her, 'Don't worry, my woman. We will be there very soon.'

His words were soothing and turned out to be true. A few hundred yards down the path a large rock loomed. As they approached it, it turned out to be a carved stone warrior. It was worked in exquisite detail and held a sword. Leia had never seen anything like it and it defied everything that Katnissa and Althea had been taught about the savages. The stone warrior guarded a small opening in the mountainside. One by one they entered, Aablar last with Althea still on his shoulders. He set her down on the floor and unfastened her wrists and ankles.

It was a cave of wonders! In contrast to the cold outside, it was pleasantly warm. It was more a cavern than a cave and the ceiling was very high, well beyond their sight. It was lit with a surreal bluish light that Katnissa traced to openings in the ceiling far ahead. Shafts of light streamed in and reflected off a luminescent pool of the palest green. A stream of water gushed from the cavern wall, feeding the pool. Steam arose from it, indicating that the water was warm, perhaps hot.

'Aablar,' said Katnissa, in awe, 'I have never seen anything like this in my life.'

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