Aablar the Neanderthal Ch. 06

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 Zon. The Zon hunt Neanderthal men for their wild semen. Aablar has captured a Zon huntress and her acolyte and is now the object of a massive search.

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1. Diana Tragina stood on the glass domed flying bridge of the airship 'Andromeda', overlooking the captain's command station. She was armed for combat with a microwave disintegrator slung over her shoulder, her special issue laser 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 her pistol belt, so called because of the whistling sound it made when swung. It had a two-handed hilt and a razor sharp blade. Diana was one of the best Zon swordswomen and proud of it.

Lady Alexandra Scheel, similarly attired for combat, though without a sword, approached her. 'We have received further analysis of the savage's DNA from the Repro Institute,' she said. 'It confirms the original analysis done on the 'Thetis'. It is from the Clan of the Bear. However, the genetic signature appears to hold some unique impurities. Repro 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 Jondolar and he was killed in the raid.'

'Who was the raid commander?' Diana asked.

'You were, Cornelle,' said Alexandra impassively.

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

The ship's captain, Hebe Nevis called up, 'We have a large grouping of the Bear Clan on the scope, Cornelle. 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 Alexandra. 'Quinta Lady Alexandra,' 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.'

Alexandra bowed. 'It will be done, Cornelle,' she said. They left the flying bridge together and made for the holds where their huntress squads waited with their horses. The debarkation of the two units about two miles apart was completed within half an hour. Diana's plan worked like clockwork. When Alexandra's twenty huntresses 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,' Alexandra ordered over her helmet communicator and quickly ten men were blown to pieces with disintegrators. This served to increase the panic still further and at this point they suddenly found themselves running squarely into Diana's squads. They were brought up short and milling around in confusion, shrieking and begging for mercy.

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

Surrounded by the mounted Zon, the Bear Clan group members subsided into a hum of mutters and eyed their captors wide-eyed with fear. Diana quickly clicked her helmet's magna-vision into place and identified six prime age males for semen harvest. Setting her laser 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 Diana spoke into her helmet communicator, 'Alpha Squad, take those six.'

The squad moved forward into the milling crowd, laser 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 Zon horsewomen. They were quickly shackled and led towards the 'Andromeda', now anchored a few miles away.

Diana 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 huntresses 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, savage,' Diana demanded, 'and point out your group elders.'

He was still defiant. 'I will tell you nothing! Others may call you Lady Death, but to me you are just a Zon bitch!'

Diana smiled. 'You will point out your group elders or I will kill each and every one of you, starting with your women.' To underline her point she drew her laser pistol again and branded one of the young women who had been clinging to the chief. She was just a girl, perhaps a teenager, and she began to howl with the pain of the laser burn. The chief's expression changed rapidly to a mixture of rage and concern. His powerful muscles knotted under the unbreakable zircon lasso.

'You are evil, Lady Death,' he rasped, 'I will tell you what you want. I am Shabor, 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 Diana's huntresses. Diana now holstered her laser pistol and hung her disintegrator 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. Diana drew her 'singing' sword and hefted it with a two-handed grip. The next move happened so quickly that not even the highly trained huntresses actually saw it. There was the sharp whistling sound of Diana'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.

Diana 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.'

'Lady Death, you are very brave attacking bound men with your weapons,' said Shabor scornfully, 'Turn me loose and I will make you suck my big cock and then stick it in your tight ass.'

'I see,' said Diana evenly, 'I would very much like that. I like a savage with spirit.' With that she returned to her horse and took up her round stainless steel shield. As she began to loosen her zircon lasso to release Shabor, Alexandra's worried voice came over her communicator.

'Cornelle, this is against regulations and I must register my concern.'

'Concern noted, Quinta Lady Alexandra,' returned Diana formally. 'By all means make a note of it in your report.' She switched her communicator to megaphone mode. 'My huntresses will immediately shoot anyone who interferes. Shabor, collect weapons of your choosing.'

Within moments, they were arrayed against each other. Diana now hefted her sword in one hand balancing her round shield in the other. Shabor had collected a heavy bone club and a stone-tipped spear. From ten feet away he hurled the spear with all his might, a throw that would have brought down a mastodon. Diana's shield moved a fraction and caught the stone point at an angle on her shield, dissipating its force and deflecting it away from her. The point shattered on her shield and the shaft landed forty yards away. She smiled grimly.

'Come to me, Shabor,' she taunted, closing in. Shabor was the veteran of many combats. He was wily and strong and liked his chances in close combat with this woman. His eyes followed her sword and shield like a hawk's, his heavy club at the ready. She watched his eyes rather than his arms and could almost read his thoughts. She was amused by the irony of situation. She reckoned that Shabor and she were virtually identical in their chronological ages – about 35 Eartha years. Yet she was a picture of youth and health, her skin smooth and unblemished, her forehead unlined, her eyes clear and her pale blonde hair fine and thick. At six foot two in her stocking feet and taller in her heeled riding thigh boots, she overtopped him by a good six inches. He, on the other hand, was an old man. He had a slight stoop, his hair was almost all white, his faced was wrinkled and his eyes bloodshot. Only his muscles were big and powerful.

Her next move was a ballet choreographer's delight. She spun on her left foot and her right leg kicked high up describing a vicious arc. Her steel toe caught Shabor just under his heavy jawbone, completely lifting him off the ground. She completed her spin and landed on both feet, sword and shield at the ready.

Shabor was lying on his back and groaning, blood trickling out of his mouth. The blow would have shattered the jawbone of a lesser man, but Shabor's jaw and skull were incredibly thick. He still managed to haul himself to his feet as Diana approached.

'Come to me so I can push my big cock into your wet cunt, Lady Death,' he slurred through broken teeth.

Diana did not answer him. As she closed in he raised his club, but now his attention was divided, as he warily watched her feet as well. Again her sword issued its warning whistle and he raised his club to protect his head. The sharp blade met the bone, and cut through it cleanly, leaving him holding a stump. Raising her shield, she jammed it edgewise into his club arm. Bone and muscle were no match for stainless steel. He screamed with pain, for this time she had pulverized his right elbow. The stump of the club dropped from his nerveless fingers and he cradled his elbow, his face grimacing as he resisted the urge to whimper. His three women set up a cacophony of wails and were only frozen in place by the huntress' disintegrators trained on them.

'Come on, Shabor,' said Diana with great good humor, 'I thought you wanted to fuck me.'

Then she grew serious, and switching to Greca the Zon language, rapped into her communicator, 'Lay out the coals and set up the grills. I want all of these three trussed up and ready to roast. Separate out the valuable breeding stock and get them out of here. We need them to procreate and multiply in the wild. Once they are out of sight, shoot the rest.'

Led by Alexandra, the huntress squads immediately rode into the cowering Neanderthals and with a few well-chosen disintegrator blasts shepherded the younger women and fit boys and men away from the clearing. Diana's thrashing of Shabor had knocked all the fight out of them.

Two huntresses dismounted and emptied coals from sacks on their saddles and set up large metal grills with heavy iron rings set in them. First they manhandled Shabor on to one of them and shackled him spread-eagled to the iron rings. He screamed anew as they dragged him by his arms, aggravating his crushed elbow. The other two elders yielded with only minor struggles.

Diana walked up to Shabor, now reduced to wheezing in pain.

'Let me warm you, Shabor,' she said mockingly, 'and then ask you some questions again.'

She pointed her laser pistol at the coals under him and emptied the entire charge, turning them instantly from cold and black to glowing red and blazing hot. The heat took a few moments to begin to be uncomfortable. Diana watched impassively and placed the small indentation in the butt of her laser pistol on a small protuberance on her wrist bracer. It matched seamlessly and the powerful energy pack in her wrist bracer quickly returned the pistol to full charge. She repeated her actions twice more under the other two elders.

Very soon, Shabor called out to her.

'For pity's sake, Lady Death, kill me! Kill me now!'

'I want to know where I can find Aablar,' Diana said sharply, 'then we can discuss killing you.'

'I threw him out of the group almost a moon ago. He was fucking one of my women and I banished him.' Shabor's voice was faltering with the increasing pain. The skin of his back was beginning to peel off. Fortunately his women were young, fertile and excellent breeding stock, so they had been amongst those herded away. They were now almost a mile away and fleeing further as fast as they could go.

'Where can I find him now?' she asked patiently.

'Please, I cannot speak! Dowse the fire!'

'All in good time, Shabor,' said Diana, 'I'm still waiting for your answer.'

They were interrupted by disintegrator blasts as Diana's huntresses 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.' Shabor paused, laboring for breath. 'He must drink of the Spring and bring up a blue stone from the sacred pool to top his staff, since he wants to be a chief.'

'Where is your blue stone, Shabor? And where is this cavern?'

'The cavern is on the north face of the Claw Peak.' Shabor's fought to make his thick tongue form words now. The coals were beginning to burn through his outer skin and his grimaces of pain were giving way to whimpers. 'I left my staff on the ground when I came to do battle.'

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

'Lady Death! Lady Death! You promised! Please kill me now!'

Shabor implored in vain. Diana ignored him. 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 disintegrator and swung back into her saddle. She looked down on him scornfully.

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

Within a few more minutes, their screams of agony were so loud that the huntresses withdrew a few hundred paces from them. Diana opened a personal line to Deirdre, who responded at once.

'Princess Deirdre,' 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 are roasting the chief and his elders over the coals. They have told us all they know. We have some leads to go on.' With this she widened the reception band of her helmet communicator and the screams of Shabor and his elders came as music to Deirdre's ears.

'I knew I could count on you, Diana,' said Deirdre 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. Caitlin, 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 Caitlin 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 Caitlin 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 Caitlin 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 Caitlin's steel dagger in his leather waistband. He crouched behind the rocks at the mouth of the cave. Both Caitlin and he knew what they had heard – microwave disintegrator blasts that meant there were huntresses 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 Shabor square off against Diana. His mouth tightened. Even at this distance, and after the long years, he recognized her stance instantly. It was the pale blonde Lady Death, who had beaten, tortured and killed his father!

As if in a dream, he saw Shabor beaten and then the roasted alive along with his elders. The screams carried clearly up to his ears. Shabor 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.

The screams of the three roasting and dying men were plain to the three women. One at a time, Aablar picked up Caitlin 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 huntresses were just more than specks on the valley floor far below them. But the even at this distance, Caitlin could make out the purple and green leotards of the Queen's Household Legion. It was clear what was happening with the grills and the spread-eagled screaming men. A faint smell of burning flesh reached their nostrils. Aablar caught a hank of Caitlin's hair and twisted her head, gag and all, to face him.

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

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

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3. It was deep twilight by the time the last of the three roasted Neanderthals died. It was Shabor who hung on the longest, almost half an hour after his elders were dead, beyond speech, beyond conscious thought, but in excruciating pain till the end.

Diana opened a channel to the 'Andromeda' and Captain Hebe Nevis answered immediately.

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

'We are on our way, Cornelle Diana,' Hebe Nevis replied.

'Andromeda' was the newest, largest and fastest of the four Zon airships and she was hovering above them literally within minutes, her running lights winking. Hebe 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 Diana, Alexandra embarked her two squads. A powerful winch on the airship whined and the platform was quickly hoisted into one of the 'Andromeda' holds. A few minutes later, it was lowered again and Diana 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.