Aablar the Neanderthal Ch. 11

Fiona's eyes widened with shock.

'What are you talking about, Charlotte? How can you make such wild accusations? You have seen countless savages in semen harvest, but that is after they have been broken by the dominesses and are tractable for your priestesses. Have you ever seen a prime age male taken straight out of the field? Believe me, they are wild! And Aablar is the biggest and strongest we have ever encountered. I am sorry that we failed to protect you and you have my sincerest apologies ...'. Here Fiona got out of her chair, dropped to one knee and bent her head in supplication. '... but please don't make such accusations.'

Charlotte patted Fiona's silky head and sighed.

'All right then, let us drop the subject. I am sure that you have been clever enough to use a drug that will leave no traces. However, I must say that I am disappointed in you, Fiona.'

Fiona did not reply immediately. After another pause, she said, 'Dearest Charlotte, you are in no condition to campaign. I propose that we request the Queen to remain on the throne for another few days, so we can postpone the election until you are ready to campaign.'

'I accept, Fiona,' said Charlotte faintly. 'Please contact the Queen on my behalf. Thank you for your magnanimity.'

At this point the medical officer knocked and entered without waiting for a response. 'I must ask you to rest, Princess Charlotte,' she said kindly, but firmly. 'You are recovering from a very complex procedure.' She bowed low to Fiona. 'With greatest respect, I must ask that you allow Princess Charlotte to rest, Peeress.'

'I was just going, Medical Officer,' said Fiona pleasantly. 'Take very good care of her. She is a jewel of the sisterhood.'

* * * * * * * * * * *

7. When Fiona was gone, Katnissa had a quick shower and found a full set of one of her purple-and-green Queen's Regiment uniforms in the walk in closet. She dressed, and as she pulled on the thigh boots, she noted that someone had polished and replaced the dagger that Aablar had taken, back in the sheath. One of her pistol belts hung on a peg and as she put it on, the familiar weight of her laser pistol felt good on her hip. One of her formal helmets with tall purple and green plumes was on the shelf and she donned it, adjusting the polished chain-link chinstrap as she left the stateroom.

She walked purposefully to one of the elevator banks, acknowledging salutations from the few airship crew that she passed in the corridor. She took an elevator to the lowest deck and passed forward until she reached the very end of the long corridor. A single dominess of the Queen's Regiment was on duty. Katnissa recognized her from a raid the previous year. She touched her halberd to her ceremonial plumed helmet saying, 'Greetings, Lady Katnissa. Praise Hera that you have returned safely to us!'

Katnissa embraced her and they rubbed nipples.

'Thank you, my dear Amber,' she said warmly. 'You did well in the dangerous task of bringing the savage back here.'

Amber Willey' face clouded over. 'I failed in my duty to protect Princess Charlotte,' she said disconsolately. 'I will never forgive myself! I don't know how the savage could have had the strength to get away from Seignora Melania and me.'

'It was not your fault. He is crafty in a low animal sort of way and has enormous brute strength! Typical male! Ugly, stupid and destructive.'

Amber nodded and Katnissa continued.

'Has anyone been to see him?'

'At Colonel Elizabetha's orders, a medical officer examined him soon after we shackled him. She said that he was weak, but in no danger of dying immediately.'

Katnissa hesitated and then plunged on. 'Amber, could I ask for a favor? I know that you are probably supposed to prevent any one from seeing the savage, but I would like a few moments alone with him,' she paused significantly. 'After all he has done to me, I would like to give him a little foretaste of Amazon revenge.'

For a few moments, Amber was nonplussed. She looked as though she understood Katnissa's desires, but Elizabetha had given her strict orders over a secure channel to see that no one saw the savage. Finally, she made up her mind.

'I understand your desires. The savage must pay! But I cannot let you into his cell. Here, take my halberd. You can use it to reach him through the bars. But I must have your word as a dominess that you will not kill him.'

'You have my word. Thanks for the halberd. Please take up station down the corridor, so you can truthfully say that you did not see us together.' Amber approached and rubbed nipples again before retreating down the corridor.

Katnissa powered through the force field into the prison hold. It was pressurized, but not heated and was as cold as she remembered. At sixty thousand feet, the temperature in the hold was well below freezing and frost had formed along the bars and bulkheads. Katnissa immediately tapped her wrist bracer to set her temperature shield and relaxed in the gathering warmth.

Aablar was chained as before, but now force field restraints bound his forearms, biceps, thighs and calves together, so he could barely move at all. His whole body was one big bruise. Blood still dripped from head wounds, and his face was swollen beyond recognition. His lips were puffy and broken and both his eyes were almost swollen shut. His whole body shivered violently, even though he tensed his muscles in an attempt to prevent it in her presence.

He tried to give her a crooked grin, but it came through as a grimace.

'Hello, Katnissa,' he said through chattering teeth. 'Come to play with me? I'd rather you poke me with the sharp end of your spear than beat me with the round end.'

She looked at the halberd in her hand as though seeing it for first time.

'No, no, I don't want to hurt you,' she said hastily. 'They said you gave yourself up to save me. I had to see you. I want to help you.'

'Then kill me, Katnissa,' he said bluntly. 'We both know that would be the greatest kindness at this point.'

She tentatively raised the halberd. He managed to stop shivering for a moment and looked straight at her, unafraid. Their eyes remained locked for several moments. Finally, the halberd drooped in her hands. She couldn't do it! Instead she tapped her wrist bracer again to widen the band of her temperature shield. The warmth cascaded over him and he stopped shivering. But the warmth also intensified the severity of the pain that had been numbed by the cold. He gritted his teeth to prevent himself from crying out, but he did not entirely succeed and a deep groan escaped his lips, reverberating around the prison hold.

'Oh! You Amazons are so good at torture! I will pay for fighting you. So be it!'

'Aablar! I don't want to hurt you!' said Katnissa desperately, wishing she were a doctor. 'I am only warming you to keep out the cold. I would not torture you, of all people! But you must listen to me. We are returning to the City. You will be placed in the dungeons of the Medical Institute and go through a semen extraction program with the priestesses there. They will treat you well and heal you, before returning you to the dominesses. We have some time -- I will work on a plan to rescue you. But have faith in me! Don't give up hope!'

Aablar looked at her, clenching his jaw to hold in his pain. Even in his agony, her loveliness shone through to him like a beacon. Unlike the cold, hard beauty of Fiona and Elizabetha, her beauty radiated warmth. He thought -- the old man said she was born to be my woman.

'I will wait for you, Katnissa,' he said. He tried to smile, but on his ruined face, it looked ghoulish.

Katnissa quickly left the prison hold and her temperature shield powered down automatically. Amber came down the corridor and she handed her the halberd.

'Oh, you did well, Lady Katnissa,' Amber enthused. 'I heard his cries of pain down the corridor!'

Katnissa nodded dumbly and hurried away. She trotted and than ran to the elevators and back to the Royal Stateroom. Once in, she darted into the bathroom and set the lock on the door. She leaned on the counter and looked at her perfect face and body in the holographic mirror. Her shoulders began to shake first and then a sob forced itself out of her dry throat. Then there was another. Finally, she fell forward on the counter and buried her face in her hands. She sobbed noisily and inelegantly, tears finding their way through her fingers and pooling on the counter.