The Mutant World (16 page)

“The Lady Mary was a back stabbing murderer!”
replied Barrat.
“She berated a man who risked his life for her and this strange village and then struck him down in the most cowardly manner!”

“I know,” said Sonja. “I saw it all. This was not done by my order. I don’t want any more killing…leave.”

“I will, but not alone. If there is anyone here who wishes to be free of this stupid place, follow me!”
Several young men came forward and surprisingly some women too. The girl Dain looked sadly at the remains of her former lover, but her own behavior had brought it on her. Besides…her mate was with Barrat and they were bonded.

“Terrence! Terrence! Where are you going?!” It was the young girl who Barrat had seen bullying the boy when he first arrived in this village. The girl called, Annie. “You can’t leave! You’re one of us!”

Terrence snorted, “One of you? Please! I’m getting out of this place and never coming back!”

“But…You can’t…I…I’m coming too! You’ll only get into trouble if I’m not around to look after you!”

Barrat looked at Annie and chuckled to himself. Terrence had much to learn about women, but then again, so did he. But he wasn’t quite as clueless as Terrence who stood there looking confused and lost at this. It was obvious that he though the girl really disliked him, when in fact it was just the opposite.
“Let her come,”
said Barrat. He knew the feeling was mutual even if Terrence didn’t yet. Terrence hadn’t killed her in their last fight even though he was fully transformed. There was a reason for that. Barrat then looked at Sonja.
“Why don’t you come with us?”
He said.
“You don’t belong here with these…people.”

Sonja chuckled. “I was borne in this tribe back before this stupid society was even formed, two hundred years before you were born you little scrapper. I am their chief. But come back and see me once you’ve become a
real
adult. Maybe then I’ll take you up on it. Right now you’re still a cub. Who knows, maybe I’ll even let you be my mate.”

Barrat’s ears moved in such a way as to indicate amusement. His eyes clearly showed this emotion as well.
“I’ll remember that, Chieftess, farewell.”

Barrat and his followers left the village and Sonja shook her head as she watched them leave. “Damn that bitch!” she cursed under her breath, looking at what was left of Mary and several of her women
. “I had at least wanted to conceive by that boy before he left! Well, I’m sure I’ll see him again. He’s going to be something else if he survives, and he will survive. They know it too now,”
she mused, looking at the council members.
“Any elder can see who sired THAT cub! I wasn’t sure before, but after seeing his full transformation it couldn’t be anyone else!”
Then she smiled grimly.
“Queen Mavie is in for some trouble I think. If I really had any love for this perverse society I would warn her.”

******

CHAPTER FIVE
THE LAST OF THE MAVIE

I
t was the morning of the fourth day and President Chambers and the other dignitaries were sitting down to breakfast. Many of the Bellasarian kings and queens were already there. Several noblemen and women warmly greeted Luther Jeffries or “Lord Jeffries” as they called him. He greeted them in kind and sat down at his place at the president’s table. Indeed, right next to her.

“It’s good of you to join us, Mr. Jeffries,” said President Chambers.

Luther smiled and nodded. “I’m sorry, Lady President.”

Beverly smiled.
“Lord Jeffries,”
she said in sarcasm, “I assume you’ll have something interesting to tell me about last night with the boys?”

“Yes Ma’am,” said Luther. “But…your husband was there.”

Beverly sighed. “I’m afraid neither my husband, nor any of the other people here are as popular with the Bellasarians, human
or
metahuman, as you are. They don’t speak as freely with them as with you. What do you know of what happened last night with these…Barratians?”

“Well,” said Luther, “Barratians are some real tough customers I’ve heard. Women are scared shitless of them and the local men, surprisingly, respect them greatly. I understand that they overthrew some crazy female nut-jobs a few centuries back who had all but enslaved the men of their region, and then carved out a kingdom of their own in some pretty strategic territory. Their king and his family arrived last night. Evidently, there was some mischief perpetrated by a noblewoman to keep them from coming, but here they are.”

“What are they like?” said a now very curious President Chambers. “Have you seen any of them?”

Jeffries shook his head. “No. I think they wanted to settle in and rest once they got here. From what I was told, they made most of the trip here by pretty conventional means.”

“Oh?” said Beverly.

Luther nodded. “Yes, Ma’am, their country is pretty far west. And I’m told it’s pretty behind in a lot of ways. Also, the people are quite fierce and the men don’t trust women. I understand there are raids launched from time to time against their neighbors, the warrior women of Mavie.”

“They’re still around?!” said President Chambers in shock.

“Oh yeah,” said Jeffries with a smile, “it seems that they have a stronghold that has managed to resist the Barratians for a long time now. Ironically,
they
have a teleport system and…”

President Chambers’s eyebrows rose. “So they
do
enjoy some patronage from the empire. Yet the Barratians do not? Curious.”

“Well,” said Luther, “the Barratians could have these things too if they would open their country up completely to the empire. But as I said, they don’t trust women and women rule here. Besides, although Bellasarian women do sympathize with the Barratians and recognize the cause of the animosity, they’re still women. And they don’t like the way the Barratians treat their women in the least. They also don’t want the Mavie wiped out either. I hear they’re nothing like what they used to be. But they’re barely holding on. Men are few there. It’s like how it was with all Bellasarians during Queen Bellasaris’s time there. They must share and even raid obscure smaller barbarian tribes and nations for men and children…even human. I also hear they give every incentive for outside males to visit their land of their own accord and hopefully stay. But very few do. Men, although VERY well treated now, still have little voice in Mavie society. Those who stay willingly could care less for obvious reasons, but this still harks back to a much uglier time in their history. By the way, Barratians do not look kindly on men taken in battle fighting for the Mavie or
willing
living among them as pampered pets for stud-service.”

“I’m still surprised that some queen or empress hasn’t just gone in there and crushed them by now,” said President Chambers.

Jeffries chuckled. “Well, it was tried once or twice, but the Barratians are tough, well-trained and hardened by two or three centuries of war with the Mavie and other invading tribes. Their land is very well suited for defense. It is mountainous and filled with dense forests, hidden valleys and mist at times. Mutants won’t fight with long range sophisticated weapons of mass destruction or even firearms, not against other mutants or even native humans here, so you see the problem. By the way, those minor conflicts were started by rebellious elements of the Mavie, not by any orders by the true rulers and governments. Still, they were bloody. And I have it from reliable sources that the men of both sides learned to respect each other greatly as warriors.” Then Jeffries leaned closer to the president’s ear and whispered, “Bellasarian men in general have no love for the Mavie and a lot of sympathy for the Barratians who were the ones originally wronged. If the empress and the minor queens did try to make a major offensive against the Barratians, but not the Mavie, many of their men would refuse to fight or worse…” Jeffries paused a moment. “I have been told that men from other imperial states have defected to the Barratians, and they have had
some
aid by Bellasarian kings.”

“Soooo, that’s what the empress and other female leaders meant about walking a tight line concerning the Barratians.” The president was about to say something else when there was a sudden silence among the Bellasarian women. The cause was soon obvious. A group of mutants were entering the hall that had the look of forest mutants, but were obviously not of the Forest Kingdom. The leader was a large powerfully built, cat eyed man with tanned skin and black hair. He seemed to be in his twenties, but Chambers had a feeling he was probably much older. An attractive dark complexioned woman walked a pace behind him and a large olive complexioned boy of about fifteen with the same feline eyes of the man walked behind her. Chambers noted that usually a king or queen’s consort walked beside them, then their children followed, but not this time. The woman was noticeably in a clear position of an inferior. The men that followed the royal family were some of the toughest looking men she had seen to date on Bellasaria. Most of the Bellasarian males of the other states nodded in grim respect, but the women seemed…anxious.

“Welcome, King Roc!” said Queen Tabitha of Melmoria with a warm smile. “I am so pleased you made it here.”

“Greetings, Sister!” replied King Roc warmly. “I too am glad to see you, but I fear not everyone was as eager to see me here as you were.” Roc looked to Tabitha’s consort, a tall, fair skinned man with brown hair and the same feline eyes as his own. “Brother! Do you remember that battle?”

“Remember it?!” laughed Lord Clave. “It was the best fight I’ve ever had! We fought tooth to tooth, claw to claw and fully transformed till we were both half dead. Truly you have the blood of ‘The Cat’ in your veins!” The two men embraced at this.

President Chambers looked over to the Akkadian President. “What’s that all about?”

“Lord Clave and several Melmorian warriors entered Barrat to avenge a rumored slight to his manhood by King Roc, oh…about twenty years ago. The two men fought a bloody duel and they nearly tore one another to pieces, but King Roc was ultimately the victor.”

“He didn’t kill him…obviously,” observed Chambers.

“No,” the Akkadian chuckled, “he had gained Roc’s respect. The two men became blood brothers. Queen Tabitha was invited to Barrat and is one of the few women to be treated with the same honor and difference of a male chief. By the way, that whole story of King Roc saying Clave was not a man, but a kept house pet, was a lie. It was spread by a noblewoman with the intent of Lord Clave either killing King Roc or the other way around, basically starting a war that could spread and lead to the total conquest of Barrat. It not only backfired, but the plotter and her accomplices were captured and punished.”

President Chambers was at a loss. “But…isn’t Melmoria all the way…Didn’t the empress try to stop this mess? And this man was willing to go to war over that?!?”

“Lady President, Bellasarian men are very touchy about their honor and manhood…even the homosexuals. Hetero-sexual males are even worse. There are two sure ways to provoke a man to violence here, one, slur his parents, especially his mother; two slur his manhood. Neither Queen Tabitha or the empress herself could have stopped him after such a thing was said.” Chambers looked again to the laughing Bellasarian leaders.

“I’m so glad you didn’t kill my baby,” said Queen Tabitha now also hugging Roc. She then embraced his mate and son as well. “When am I going to see you in Melmoria?” said Tabitha turning again to Roc.

“My lady, your lands are very far away and we do not have a teleport system. My people and I would have to make the trip through several other domains. And as you know, Barratians make other Bellasarians nervous.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” said Tabitha. “But…maybe we will be able to do something about that now.”

King Roc smiled and nodded and many of the Bellasarian women began to relax and introduce themselves to him and his family. Many had never met King Roc or Barratians in general, only heard of them. This show of mutual respect and friendliness initiated by Queen Tabitha had really shown a different side of the Barratian leader and his people. However, it wouldn’t take much for the side they were more famous for to emerge. Another late arrival had appeared and was now making her way into the hall.

A medium height woman with a typically curvy Bellasarian figure and her followers entered the feasting hall with no small amount of anxiety. The woman was fair skinned and blond. She would have been beautiful if it were not for her disfigured face. She had a scar that appeared to have been made by a claw on one side of her face and was blind in one eye. The good eye was blue. Queen Bal of Mavieland had high hopes that at this meeting of leaders something could be done about the unrelenting aggression of the Barratians. She was confident that the Barratians could be reasoned with now…or at least that’s what she hoped. Bal’s people had started something long ago that was now threating to wipe them out entirely. Their once large domain had now shrunk to a tiny stronghold kept alive only by the most determined resistance and grudging support from the Bellasarian Empire in the form of technology and supplies. Although rightly blamed for their situation by other women in the surrounding nations, they had nonetheless covertly aided the Mavie. However, this was done for no other reason than because they didn’t like what was bound to happen to them as women if they were defeated. The monster the Mavie had created was what many women feared most everywhere. Despite this though, the end was inevitable. Many men from other parts of the empire sympathized with the Barratians and some had even joined them. Kings had secretly and even openly supported the Barratians at times. The empress and other queens were very nervous about this development and had lessened their open aid to her nation to allay any perceptions of the men of bias for the Mavie. The
kings
had never sent any aid at all to the Mavie, despite tentative suggestions by their female councils. The issue was
never
pushed. In a nutshell, Bal’s people’s survival was dependent on peace. The problem was that the Barratians had a long standing grudge and distrust of the Mavie that had smoldered almost to the point of dying at times only to be violently reignited because of betrayal by fanatical diehard followers of the old flawed Mavie school of thought. By now though, even these had seen the light, but too late.

At the sight of the Mavie, King Roc and Prince Pantherus immediately transformed into semi-human forms and exposed their fangs, the other Barratian men just as quickly formed up behind their leader and his son. The Mavie queen and her followers immediately did the same. Everyone instantly jumped out of the way. There were screams and shouts of alarm. Most of the Bellasarian leaders’ guards seem only interested in protecting their lords, not stopping the fight.

“Husband please!” begged, Lady Ayala.

“When I give the word,” growled King Roc, totally ignoring his mate, “we charge right into them! Bal is mine!”

Queen Bal swallowed and glanced around. She didn’t have shifting ability and she was unarmed like all of the other leaders present. She did have superhuman strength and great durability, but her disfigured face was proof that her healing ability was not on the same level as Roc’s and others of the mutants present. It was few people indeed that were capable of breaching her dense skin and muscle, but this king and his kin were most definitely counted among that number. She knew this better than anyone.