Aablar the Neanderthal Ch. 09

A ghost of a smile flitted across Elizabetha's face. Her fist remained poised to strike.

'I am waiting and listening,' she said slowly and clearly, as though speaking to a child. 'I want to know everything about where Aablar is going.'

Leia's fear was palpable and her defiance was gone. Slowly her gasping eased and the pain receded to a dull ache. Her expression was one of abject misery.

'Forgive me, O mighty hunter, for I have not your strength,' were Leia's first whispered words. 'I cannot bear this pain. I wish that you would kill me before I speak, dominess.'

Elizabetha said nothing.

'The pool descends to great depth,' Leia said tonelessly. 'But Aablar has reached the bottom before. There is an underwater passage leading to an underground river within the mountain. There are many passageways in the mountain and there is a way out to the northern ice fields. Aablar and his brothers have hunted mammoth there. They have a large store of frozen meat. He will hide there in the ice fields and then plans to strike further north where no one of the Clans has gone before.'

Elizabetha listened with increasing horror. Aablar may survive this mad scheme, she thought, but Katnissa! How long would she last in the northern ice fields? Elizabetha was tempted to relieve her frustrations by striking once more. She knew that she could easily break Leia's neck with a blow, killing her here and now. Instead she opened her fist and struck her captive's solar plexus with extended stiff fingers into. Leia collapsed with a moan and her muscles lost all function. The pain blinded her. Erin held up her limp form. But Elizabetha drew scant comfort from it. Her mind was fully occupied with planning her next move in the pursuit of Aablar.

Moments later a clatter of boots signaled the return of Melania and Dar-Ella. They each wore a power-chute and had strapped together the other three with tendril ropes. Elizabetha waved aside their greetings and rapped out her orders.

'Erin, I will entrust the savage girl to double with you on your power-chute. Seignora Melania can take the Lady Althea. I do not trust my own strength at the moment. Sophie, Dar-Ella will remain here with you. We will get diving equipment down to you as soon a possible. You will lead a diving party and follow the trail of the savage from this end. I will monitor the north face of the mountain. We should be able to catch him between our two forces. But do exercise extreme caution. At all costs we must ensure that the Lady Katnissa is not put at risk.'

The dominesses worked very quickly. Both Erin and Melania used their tendril ropes to create crude but effective slings. Sophia gently shepherded Althea to Melania who secured her so her arms and thighs were supported by the power-chute webbing harness. Elizabetha pushed Leia much less gently towards Erin, who bound her wrists before securing her in the sling. Then Elizabetha strapped on her own power-chute harness, suppressing a grimace of pain as the weight stressed her cracked ribs. The party made for the entrance to the cavern. Sophia went ahead of them and worked the laser beacon to send up a repeating signal to the 'Andromeda'.

They were about to ignite their power-chutes when impulsively, Elizabetha turned and held her arms to Sophia. They rubbed nipples. Elizabetha held her tightly, much longer than protocol called for, oblivious to the watching Dominesss.

'Take care of yourself, Sophie,' she whispered, her melodious voice betraying a note of concern. 'I grow more fond of you every day.'

Emboldened, Sophia ran her fingers down the powerful muscles of Elizabetha's back and kissed her on the lips. Their tongues entwined, but briefly.

'Elizabetha, your regard makes me the envy of every Amazon,' she whispered. 'Every moment in your arms is bliss. I pray we shall have time together in peace after this is over.'

Sophia and Dar-Ella retreated into the cavern to stay clear of the rocket blasts. Elizabetha, Melania and Erin ignited their power-chutes and were quickly aloft. They set their altimeter-gauges to achieve fifteen thousand feet. Both Althea and Leia were terrified. Althea closed her eyes and prayed, repeating a childhood prayer to Hera for safety again and again in her head. Leia had no such comfort and felt a rising tide of panic sweep through her. However, she was so tightly trussed that her struggles produced no noticeable effect on their flight path. Erin could feel her burden beginning to hyperventilate and intoned into her ear,

'Calm down, savage. We will soon be safe on the aircraft.'

Leia took no comfort from this announcement, but it served to slow her breathing.

It was Elizabetha whose keen eyes first caught sight of the 'Andromeda'. She steered her pack into a horizontal flight path. Melania and Erin followed Elizabetha's rocket exhaust closely. Carol had set all the ship's powerful searchlights on a steady flashing pattern to maximize her visibility in the storm. But even so, it was some time before the other two Dominesss made them out. As they approached her, Elizabetha opened a communication channel to Carol, linking it to Melania and Erin as well. They were close enough that the channel was virtually unimpeded.

'Captain Carol, I am approaching with two dominesses, both of whom have passengers. Please warn your deck party. They will approach first. I am unburdened and will come aboard last.'

'I will do so immediately, Colonel.' There was obvious relief in Carol's voice.

Elizabetha's communication was clear and Melania powered ahead, followed by Erin. As she approached, she could make out the launch deck crew, lashed in place. They saw the flashing strobe on her rocket pack and two hundred yard extensible hooks snaked out towards her. She jockeyed with the power-chute controls until she was very near one hook. Just as she was about to reach for it, a powerful wind gust swept it several yards away, out of her reach. She eased open the thrust of her power-chute and pursued the hook. The turbulent effects of the gale increased at this slow speed and she was buffeted up and down and rolled completely over several times. With great skill, she kept her eyes on the hook. All this was too much for Althea, however. Even though she kept her eyes tightly shut, she began to be violently airsick, retching and spewing the contents of her stomach into space. Through it all Melania remained focused on her prize. Three, four, five attempts, and each time she just had her target snatched away from her by the storm. Finally, on the sixth attempt, she overshot the hook and caught it with a lightning reflex as it was whirling away. She quickly snapped the hook's clasp into the reinforced eye on her power-chute harness. She opened a comm. channel to the launch deck. 'Ready for tow-in,' she cried, tired, but relieved.

'Steady on for tow-in,' intoned the launch deck seignora. As she was drawn near the ship, willing hands heaved her and Althea onto the launch deck. 'Welcome back, Melania,' said the launch deck dominess, unable to completely mask her delight behind her professional demeanor.

A second crew was working with Erin and they had similar difficulties. Leia was heavier than Althea, so Erin's task was harder. Both grappling hooks were now deployed to retrieve her and finally, by working them in series, they were able to get one right to her. She was also quickly brought on board with Leia.

Unburdened as she was, and with her almost supernatural body control, Elizabetha caught a hook on her first pass. Melania and Erin had barely unfastened their power-chutes and secured themselves and their charges to D-rings when Elizabetha swung herself, unaided onto the launch deck. This time she could not suppress a grimace of pain as she unfastened her heavy power-chute. The launch deck dominess had quickly activated the controls and jump-door slid closed, suddenly shutting off the roar of the storm.

Within moments, the ship's hatch to the launch deck opened and Carol with her staff of ship's officers appeared. She approached Elizabetha and rubbed nipples formally.

'Colonel, we are delighted to see you back,' she said. Surveying the tall colonel, she continued. 'You are injured. Shall we proceed to the sick-bay right now?'

'We will escort you, colonel,' said Melania anxiously.

'Yes, bring the Lady Althea and the savage as well,' said Elizabetha, faintly. Her long ordeal had taxed even her great strength to its limits. Now that she was back in the safety of the ship, she began to relax her iron control and her wounds began to exercise their effects. She began to say, 'Melania, I will need your help ....' but she felt her knees begin to give way before she could finish her sentence. She began to pitch forward.

Melania and Carol rushed forward and caught her. Carol rapped out commands and the crew produced an air cushion. Elizabetha was gently laid on it. Another two air cushions were brought for Althea and Leia (the latter strapped to hers with leather restraints) and the three, escorted by Carol, some of her crew and the two anxious dominesses, hastened to the sick bay.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

3. Dragged down by the heavy rock, Aablar and Katnissa sank swiftly. Aablar had watched his brothers and some others of his clan do this dive and had done it himself several times. So he adjusted easily as they sank to lower and lower depths.

Katnissa had a summa diving qualification, so she had automatically obeyed his shouted instruction and had a large lungful of air. Her training stood her in good stead and she was not uncomfortable even as the surrounding depths grew murkier and murkier. She mentally counted to try and gauge their depth, but the speed of descent was more rapid than she had ever experienced before. 'This is really risky!' was the thought that kept running through her conscious mind.

She reached a count of seventy-five and reckoned that they were approaching a hundred feet. By the time she reached a count of a hundred, she had to fight her fear, for she was now deeper than she had ever free-dived before -- they were certainly deeper than a hundred and fifty feet! She began to think that he meant to drown them both. She had exhausted much of her stock of air and it was becoming very difficult to think clearly. Should she try and fight him, even though her wrists were still bound?

She had reached a count of a hundred and fifty and her thought processes began to get confused. All she could think of was that they were approaching two hundred feet --

deeper than any known Amazon had free-dived before. She only vaguely saw the approach of the bottom and the beds of blue stones that sparkled even in this dim light. Aablar felt her body begin to go slack and knew that she was beginning to lose consciousness. He quickly dropped the chain to his ballasting rock and grabbed a large blue stone. With one powerful kick, he propelled them both in to a wide tunnel at the floor of the pool. Two more kicks and they were in another watery shaft.

Now came the tricky part. Even though he had done this before, Aablar had to fight the urge to shoot for the surface. He stroked upwards with a measured ascent, dribbling out air expertly to maintain a safe pressure in his lungs. Even as they rose, he pumped Katnissa's chest to get her to exhale slowly. He saw the bright surface and fought the temptation to accelerate their ascent. Gradually it grew nearer and relief flooded over him as they broke surface. He stroked gently for the side of this pool, towing Katnissa, who was now inert. He dragged himself over the side and then pulled her out of the water.

They were in another cavern, similar to the one they had come from, but even larger. The pool here was fed by an inflow of warm water from the far recesses of the cavern and a corresponding flow drained out of it on to a small waterfall and then proceeded to the lower levels of the cavern. Light streamed in through vents high above. Forests of stalactites and stalagmites grew around them. But at the present, Aablar had only concerns for the dominess. Her body felt cold. Putting his ear to her chest, he could barely discern a heartbeat. He stripped off her deerskin halter and unfastened her wrists. Then he began to press down on her breasts. Her nipples, flaccid from there immersion it he warm water, began to harden and stand out. He smiled to himself. 'She is not dead yet,' he thought. He continued working on her, until finally she retched and some water emerged from her mouth. He did not stop and she retched again and brought out more water. She coughed once, but then collapsed and lay deathly still. The buds of her nipples began to soften and he could no longer discern a heartbeat.

Mentally and physically exhausted, he felt the uncharacteristic urge to weep. She is an Amazon dominess, the foremost enemy of my race, he thought. She would not hesitate to torture and kill me. Why should her death cause me grief?

'Because you love her,' said a deep voice. 'You were meant to become lovers since the time you were born.'

Aablar rose to his knees and whipping out Katnissa's dagger, looked around the cavern wildly. There was no one in sight.

'Show yourself and face me, whoever you are!' he called out. He repeated the call again and again, but was only greeted with silence. Finally, his resolve, so sorely tested in past days, began to crumble. He beat his head on the stony floor, drawing blood.

'I am losing my mind!' he cried out. 'Raritar, my father, let me join you in death before I descend into madness!'