Amazos Ch. 02

She paddled across the peaceful lake and down towards an even more peaceful river. Amazos was a much larger planet than Earth, and Rachel had barely scratched the surface of her explorations. Not that it mattered much to her, because she had all of time to do it since the transformation had made her practically immortal. Eventually she knew she would see everything, but was willing to wait. Besides, in the near future she hoped to build a ship that would allow her short trips off planet to visit other worlds. But that was all to come along later. Right now she needed to focus on the task at hand and look for the missing ship. She soon reached the beginning of her search area but light was fading fast. She decided to get off the river and make camp for the night, resting up to begin the search fresh in the morning.

After a little sleep during the mostly restless night, Rachel was setting out early at first light to begin her search. The first course of the river carried her through the Old Valley, so called because that was where the early inhabitants of the planet, now long gone, had lived. She intended to return to treasure hunt in the area, a hobby she was growing to love during her time on Amazos. She looked for any signs of the ship, getting out every few miles to search on foot, but saw nothing. She decided it was not likely to have crashed in the valley, after she climbed up a cliff to survey the area. She looked at the thick rainforest and figured if it was anywhere on Amazos, it would be there. She returned to the canoe and entered the unknown rainforest, hurrying to find any hope of survivors.

The journey down river through the rainforest would have made an adventure for Rachel, but she would have to return for that later. Right now she was on a mission, just like the ones from her old military life. She would paddle for a mile or so, then get out and cut a path through the dense foliage to look for signs of the ship's wreckage. This went on for the rest of the day and she eventually stopped as night fell for another night of camping.

The next morning, well rested after her exhausting day, Rachel finally found what she had set out for when she found the crashed ship. When she first laid eyes on it, it did not look badly damaged. She called out but got no reply from anyone, just a rustling in the trees she thought came from some animal she frightened off. She approached the ship and confirmed that it had been a soft crash-landing, not much damage but appeared to have one engine that was destroyed. What was surprising to her was that nobody was around. She thought the crew would stay with the ship but they were all gone. Since they weren't there she guessed they would not have been badly injured in the crash.

She looked around and soon found the footprints she was looking for, several large ones she recognized as coming from the men of Hermeditiese and some she guessed came from the three invaders that were bound for Juxia with the other prisoners.

One set of footprints stood out, however; a much larger print than any of the others. This one was strange to her, it looked like her own footprint only much bigger. She wondered if someone else was onboard the ship but then remembered the stories of Connia, knowing she was probably the only person living in the rainforest. They could be her prints, but she did not think Connia would be so far up north, risking contact with people coming down the river and staying further in the brush. She ignored this for the moment and set out to track the footprints left by the missing occupants of the ship, following them as they set out into the rainforest.

She walked for some time, seeing signs of their trail but whacking her own with the machete. She kept going through the thick growth of the rainforest, seeing footprints and the occasional sign the men had stopped; crushed plants where they laid down, peels and cores of fruits they had taken from the trees and eaten, among others. She kept on their trail, hoping that she would come across them soon and lead them back towards civilization.

After some time, she arrived at a ruined temple complex the men's tracks had led to. She looked at her map to confirm that this was the abandoned temple of the goddess Tat. Rachel was still learning about the goddesses worshiped by different sisters of Amazos, but she had heard about Tat quite a bite. Tat was the goddess of war, and for centuries in the past temples devoted to her were found all over the planet when she was a major deity worshiped. After the times of peace began, however, worship of Tat had fallen off since the sisters no longer went to war. The temples were either repurposed to be devoted to other goddesses, torn down and the materials used for new construction or abandoned all together. Herrena had once told Rachel that the only worshippers of Tat were a small band who lived on an island in the Wide Orange Sea alone. Even though they were not a warring people anymore, it was still important to show homage to all goddesses and this group of sisters chose to do this.

Rachel wandered the abandoned complex, looking around at the ruins. This was a large area, the temple must have been large and thriving in its day. The sisters of Amazos took worshiping their goddesses very seriously; most had a personal goddess they were disciples of. Rachel did not go this far, but was open to the idea of paying homage to the goddesses. The long abandoned structures had fallen to the elements, however, as they all lacked roofs and many walls caved in. The buildings were slowly being reclaimed by plant life as the walls were covered in vines. She saw that many of the temple's artifacts were still there, but others had been plundered.

There were signs that some large creature had destroyed parts of the buildings for unknown reasons. She did not know what animals lived in this rainforest but did not want to stay around to find out. The men's footprints, as well as the large unknown prints, were all over the temple complex, showing that they had all wandered around. Eventually, looking into the trees, Rachel saw a building that, thanks to being sheltered in the forest, was mostly intact. All the men's footprints led in this direction, so Rachel headed in that direction, hoping to find everyone alright.

As she approached the building, Rachel called out for anyone to come out and talk to her. Sounds of movement inside the building were followed by a group of men from Hermeditiese coming out. Rachel recognized the three leading the group as friends of hers; Exxo, Joffer and Helus. The other six were the prisoners. The men, all clad in the traditional togas of Hermeditiese, approached her. They stood roughly as tall as her and were just as muscular. They greeted her like a sight they prayed for and help they never thought would come.

"Praise that you have come to us Rachel," said Exxo, the leader of the group and the captain of the ship. "We have experienced some startling times here in this forest over the past few days."

"I am sure. Let us sit together and you can tell me all your group has experienced."

As the prisoners sat out of the way and stayed out of the conversation, the three men over them explained the situation to Rachel. One engine on the ship had given out over Amazos, forcing them to crash-land on the planet. They had hoped to land closer to one of the villages but came down in the rainforest to the south. It was not a hard crash so nobody was injured, as Rachel guessed. They planned to stay at the crash site and work to build a signal fire, but the ship had gone down close to dark. Fearing what would happen if they went in search of firewood in the dark and not wanting to get lost, they decided to wait until morning. They spent the night in the ship, trying to sleep but being disturbed by sounds of disturbance all night long. They would look out and see a large creature stalking their ship. To them, it looked almost like one of the women of Amazos only much larger than they normally were.

In the morning, they searched for firewood but were constantly stalked by the creature from the night before. She stayed far enough they could not see her but her massive side made her visible from far distances. She kept throwing things at them so, fearing for their safety, they struck off into the forest for shelter and to get away from her. Eventually they came to the temple complex and took shelter in the only sturdy building. The creature had followed them however and stuck around, preventing them from leaving. They said they had last heard her take off into the forest late the day before and she did not appear to have returned. They planned to stay in their shelter until the next morning and if they did not hear her again, they would begin again attempting to make a signal fire.

Rachel listened closely to their story, noting every detail and guessing who the so-called creature really was.

"I believe you encountered an inhabitant of the rainforest named Connia. She lives alone in the rainforest and does not socialize with the sisters. I have also heard she is much larger than the normal sister is."

"Is she a danger to us," one of the prisoners asked.

"I do not believe so. She just wants to be left alone, or at least in the past. I think it's strange she focused on you all instead of retreating into the forest to avoid you."

Helus asked, "Do your sisters know we are here?"

"Yes, your ship was spotted going down. Since I have a canoe to travel on water, I made the trip much faster but a party is coming by land soon. If I could take you all in one trip, I would but I do not have the space. I think it is best we wait for the land party to arrive then they will help you get to the capital and back to your mission."

The three men in charge of the prisoners looked at one another. Exxo spoke, saying "It is best we be on our way soon. Is there anything we can do to meet up with the land party soon?"

Rachel thought before replying. "Most likely they are going to follow the riverbank down towards the rainforest. That means they will probably follow the road through the Old Valley." She pulled out her map and pointed to locations before continuing. "If we were to head north through the rainforest and come out, we could follow the river up into the valley then cut west towards the road. Eventually we would probably find them."

"That sounds best," Exxo replied. "But what about Connia? Would she hinder us or cause trouble with our rescue? What we saw from the creature shows pure anger and rage that was being let out on us. We would normally go after her and try to drive her off, but our main charge is the prisoners and getting them to the transport."

The group sat in silence for some time before Rachel spoke. "If I give the three of you my map, could you find the locations I describe?"

"Most likely," Exxo replied. "What do you have in mind?"

"You three take your prisoners and head towards the road you should meet the land group on. I will go deeper into the rainforest and try to drive Connia to follow me. Wait sometime after I leave before your group sets off so she is sure to go in my direction."

"Do you fear for your safety Rachel?"

"Not really. As only one person and a woman too, I feel that Connia will probably stay back and observe me instead of confronting me. I'll lead her in circles deeper in the rainforest before crossing to the other side of the river. Once there, I will start making my way north. When she senses we are getting close to her confronting other sisters, she will probably turn and head back to her camp wherever it is. She doesn't want it discovered and just wants to be alone from what I've been told."

"Are you sure you don't want one of us with you?"

"No. I can move fast and I feel her great size will slow her down. Besides, there are twice as many prisoners as you so one of you leaving to go with me will only make more work for the others. By the way, why did they not try to escape after the crash?"

"They were told that most likely the sisters would execute them for being escaped prisoners if they were caught rather than attempting to bring them back to civilization. Besides, they are too afraid of the creature we saw to run into the forest with it."

The group stayed together for sometime before Rachel gathered her pack and headed out. She told them to wait at least two hours before setting off to give her time to get a few miles away and hopefully take Connia deeper into the rainforest. The three men guarding the prisoners embraced her and wished her luck, saying they would make it up to her in a way she would probably like if they all made it out. Rachel then took off for the rainforest, going deeper and deeper into the unknown land.

What nobody except Rachel knew was that she had another reason for trying to get alone with Connia besides driving her away from the party of men she would likely be hostile towards. She wanted to get her alone so the two could talk. Rachel thought it was sad that Connia chose to live all alone in the rainforest and did not believe that was what she really wanted. She felt that Connia just did not want to be happy because she underwent the transformation without choice. If Rachel could show she had been in the same situation and made the best of things, she felt that she could convince Connia to give life among the sisters a chance and become one of them.

Rachel walked and walked for the rest of the day, with the occasional rest stop to drink from one of the rainforest's many springs. The entire time, she listened behind her, hoping to hear signs that Connia was behind her. After about three hours, she began to hear the sound of something large moving behind her. As she traveled miles and miles, the sounds continued, telling Rachel that whatever made them was following her. Hopefully it was Connia. She stopped close to dark and built a fire to camp in a clearing. She figured by building a fire, Connia would stay away from her.

In the morning, after a night of zero disturbances, Rachel continued on her journey south. She soon heard the sounds from the day before, telling her she was once again being followed. She journeyed on, but soon she found herself stuck in a canyon she wandered into. Only seeing one exit, going back the way she came, she started to go back. Before she could get far, however, something large moved closer towards her through the trees. Rachel took off her pack and set it on a nearby tree stump, ready to greet whoever was coming her way.

Through the trees, into the canyon, walked a large woman Rachel had never seen before. The woman was probably nine feet tall, slightly shorter than Rachel. Her long blonde hair flowed down but was filthy. In fact the woman was completely dirty, as if she had not bathed in years. She wore absolutely no clothing at all, fully naked as she looked Rachel up and down. Rachel looked at her as well, but was taken back by the massive muscles the woman had. While Rachel and the other woman on Amazos were known for being extremely muscular, this woman made them look small by comparison. Rachel and the strange woman stared on another down for several minutes before Rachel spoke the first words.

"You're Connia, aren't you?" The strange woman did not speak but gave a grunt that Rachel took for yes.

"My name is Rachel. I wanted to meet you. Can we sit down and talk?"

Instead of offering a verbal reply, Connia showed she did not want to talk by running right at Rachel and tackling her, sending the smaller woman back to crash into a tree. Her muscular body unharmed, Rachel stood up and tried another plea.

"Please Connia, I do not want to fight. Can't we just talk this out?"

Before she could say anything else, Rachel found Connia grabbing her by the neck and throwing her against a much larger tree. Rachel hit the tree, again being uninjured when she got up. She found herself growing angry.

"Look, I don't want to fight but you are leaving me little choice. Now can we stop this and just..."

Before being able to finish that sentence, Connia once again slammed her massive body into Rachel's, this time sending her flying towards the canyon wall. Rachel held her hands out and bounced harmlessly off the canyon wall, still uninjured. She decided it was time to give up on a diplomatic approach.

"Okay you want to fight, I'll fight," she said at Connia. She grabbed her shendyt and tore the garment with no effort off her body, throwing the ruined skirt into the trees. Now free from the restraints of her little clothing, a naked Rachel charged directly at Connia, ready for combat.

The two hulking women charged, meeting as they hit one another. While Connia was much larger and sent Rachel flying back further, Rachel's hit was good and sent the large silent woman falling flat on her back. Before the larger woman was up, Rachel was already on her feet and charging. She jumped and went flying, kicking Connia as she flew through the air and sending her to the ground again. Rachel was correct in her prediction; Connia's massive size was slowing her down.

Before Connia could get back on her feet, Rachel grabbed her and picked her up, lifting her over her head. Rachel's muscles bulging a little from picking up her massive opponent, she threw Connia towards the trees as she had been thrown earlier. Due to the woman's massive size, this time instead of bouncing off the trees Connia crashed and tore the trees down as she flew. Rachel felt that she would have no problem winning with her increased speed.

While Rachel had the speed advantage, Connia was really starting to get angry. Once again she charged right at Rachel. This time, Rachel jumped up in the air and landed on Connia's shoulders. She wrapped her muscular thighs around Connia's neck, using them to squeeze and hopefully cut off her opponent's airway and get her to surrender. This only enraged Connia more; she grabbed Rachel off her and threw her to the ground. Before Rachel was able to get back up, her opponent delivered a powerful kick, sending her flying back into the forest much faster. This time, due to the greater speed she was kicked at, the tree she hit broke off at the trunk and fell, Rachel on top of it. Rachel got up off the tree and saw Connia standing back at their battleground. She picked up the massive tree her body broke and threw it in her direction. Connia caught it and snapped it effortlessly like it was a dry twig.

Rachel knew she was in trouble but it wasn't her nature to just give up. Connia's greater strength was a much bigger threat that Rachel planned, easily making up for her slower speed. She would have to be creative in her next move. She came up with a plan to modify her last idea. She charged at Connia once again, jumping the air and planning to wrap her thighs around her neck once more. This time instead of doing this from behind, however, she would go from the front to bury Connia's face between her legs and help to cut off air. She landed perfectly once again, attempting to choke Connia with her massively muscular thighs.

While she was not sure that this was working, she did notice that Connia did seem to be thrown off by the move and was distracted. When Connia's mouth was covered by Rachel's crotch, she felt that having her naked pussy that close to her mouth was getting Connia's attention more than the fight. Before she could choke her opponent out however, Connia once again had torn the smaller woman off of her neck.

This time, holding Rachel by the ankles, Connia used her body as a club as she hit trees, rocks and the canyon walls. After swinging Rachel around in this manner for some time, she threw her towards the stump Rachel's pack was sitting on. She crashed into it, spilling the contents on the forest floor.