The Mutant World (25 page)

“I give you greetings, L…King Barrat,” said Maya. “You look well and in good health.” Actually, Barrat’s scarred and abused body, although still impressive, was not the same as it had been. He was smaller, and most likely weaker than when he was before.

“Better than last we saw each other,” said Barrat coldly. “You look just the same though…physically.”

Maya looked again at the young warrior at Barrat’s side. “Who is this young man? He bears a strong resemblance to you. Perhaps he is a cousin or…younger brother? Perhaps, your mother found her mate and…”

“He is my son,” said Barrat. Maya and the others were speechless. They knew this could not be physically possible. Barrat gave Sonja a look who then stepped forward and spoke.

“He is my son. His name is Ken. When Barrat left my village I was disappointed. I wished that he had remained longer for I yearned to have a child by him. I never realized that he didn’t leave me with nothing after all!” Despite the place and company, Sonja laughed out loud at this.

“You said nothing of this child when I summoned you to the capital,” said Maya, trying to control her temper. “I was your queen!”

“Do you think me a fool!” snapped Sonja. “You had maimed your mate and murdered your own offspring to destroy his bloodline! You would have done the same to mine…or tried to steal him to replace your own murdered baby!” Maya could not deny the accusation; even now she looked at the boy with envy and regret.

“Enough!” said Barrat. “You have your answer. As you can guess, because I was no more than a human when you ordered me castrated…”

“I didn’t order you castrated!” cried Maya.

“When I was castrated,” continued Barrat, “I had to heal like a human. Because of the collar, my body could not regenerate, so…I am incapable of siring anymore young. I should be grateful that you let me keep my yard though. My woman, although she has vainly sought healers among every tribe we’ve conquered or allied with, hoping to find someone capable of correcting the damage, is still satisfied in at least
one
way.” Maya saw the Lady Sonja glaring at her in intense hatred. Barrat’s body still bore many of the scars of his past torture. Normally, these would have healed without a trace. But he was in an inhibitor collar when these wounds were received. Once it was removed his powers to transform and regenerate returned, but the old injuries were obviously permanent. He spoke the truth. Again Maya looked at Sonja and the youth.

“She is your woman now?” said Maya quietly. “B…Barrat, I swear, I didn’t order this thing done to you.”

“I don’t believe you,” replied Barrat.

“Your telepaths can read my mind!” said Maya desperately. “That will prove…”

“Don’t believe her, my love. Perhaps she has had this memory
erased
to cover her guilt,” smiled Sonja in vicious mockery. “She is guilty!” Maya looked at Sonja in fury, but then looked at her feet unable to speak.

“What you did to me is irrelevant now,” said Barrat, his eyes now blazing with a terrible light. “It’s what you did to my son. You killed him and left his body in that stinking pit in front of me and never looked back! Do you deny that it was you who killed him?!”

“No,” Maya whispered.

“Reconciliation!” said Barrat looking at Lady Kima. “What do you mean by that? If by that you mean reunification with your people under her again,” he said nodding to Queen Maya, “never! And why should I want peace? We’re winning! I rule from here to the lands beyond even what you once called the borders of your domain. Why would I wish to make peace with that creature? Besides…I have many scores to settle and many enemies still above ground in Mavieland.” Maya looked at Barrat in misery. He glared at her and spit. “Here is my promise! I will hate you forever! I will not lay down my sword against you until I see you, your mother, your lover and your daughter impaled on STAKES!! I will burn your capital to the ground and have every Mavie either dead or on her knees in a collar!” Suddenly Barrat seemed to get control of himself again and sat back down. “Leave!” he snarled. “There will be no peace.”

“Allow me to see them off,” said Sonja. Barrat nodded.

The women walked back to the gate silently. Then Maya turned and looked at Sonja. “He’s mad, isn’t he?” Sonja’s reply surprises her.

“Yes, yes he is. Or I should say
half
mad. He lost part of his sanity during his imprisonment and torture. He’s never been the same. Yet, being half mad hasn’t affected his abilities as a leader and warrior. I think you’ll agree with me there.”

Maya sighed and nodded. “How…How is the life for women under Barrat’s rule? Are they…happy?”

“Are you as mad as my lord?” said Sonja bitterly. “For the females of the original followers of Barrat and those of the people and tribes who joined him willingly, life is comfortable enough, although they have no political power or say in the government. However, for most females in this land, life has become something that we’ve only heard tales of from Earth’s ugly history. Or worse…our history during our time as slaves under the humans!”

“By the goddess, how could…Don’t these people know this man is unstable, mad?! And you, he is your mate? You lay willingly with him? Your son doesn’t mind seeing his mother in a collar?!?”

“Hump!” snorted Sonja derisively. “My son has always known his parent’s story. I jokingly told him many times of our game of ‘Collar the Man’ we once played. Believe me. I did my best to get my collar on that boy when he was in my village. I bear no malice towards my lord. Besides,” said Sonja, reaching up and removing the collar herself. “It’s only for appearances. I can’t say the same for others though.” Maya was shocked. “As for my serving and loving my lord willingly, I served your mother’s equally twisted regime as well. My reasons are the same as always, to protect and serve my tribe. I was NEVER Mavie, I but served them because I couldn’t challenge them. It is the same again.”

“Opportunistic whore!” hissed Maya.

“You dare to make yourself my judge?” laughed Sonja. “You’re the one who made all of this happen, you and your fanatics. Explain to me how you would expect to keep the loyalty and trust of the men after you abolished the male council and tortured its former members either to death or until they confessed to lies…and then executed them anyway. In what way could it be called ‘Good’ to overturn every positive thing that came of mutual collaboration and opportunity among the sexes here. Even if Barrat himself was guilty, the nation was running better than ever and the people happier than ever. Why go back to the ugly old system, only ten times worse than before? Did you
really
expect there wouldn’t be a price to pay? I can see from the faces of some of these fools with you now that they think you did the
right
thing.”

Maya’s eyes moved nervously. The very reason that Rachel wasn’t being slowly skinned alive right now for what she’d done and her own mother banished, was because many did indeed feel that they had done what was needed to preserve the deteriorating values of the ‘Mavie’. This however, did not include the women who had actually been raped and manipulated to that end.

“Every Barratian boy is taught from almost day one,” continued Sonja, “that women are treacherous and not to be trusted. The boys are taken from their mothers at about four and five and placed into the male dormitories to live. There is no female council in this land. Ancestry is now traced through the male line. Women are seen as having only three purposes, servants, pleasure and breeding. And there are some who believe that there is only
one
purpose for that women are
really
indispensable. There are now homosexual warrior societies who see women as only needed for procreation and that’s ALL! Goddess help any of your warriors taken by those devils.”

“I see now that your people must be destroyed,” said Maya sadly. “I will fix the damage we’ve done afterwards, this I swear. I am already suffering for my part in these things, but Barrat must die and his society with him.”

“It’s no use,” said Sonja bitterly. “Even if you could fight hard enough to take back all of the lowlands they’ve already taken, and the foothills, you can’t win the war. You’ll never get them out of those mountains! And worse, in the western mountains captured Mavie women, both human and mutants are used for one purpose only,
breeders
. Barefoot and pregnant isn’t just a metaphor there. They’re dropping Barratian babies every year, as fast as they can be knocked-up again.”

“Goddess!” breathed Maya in horror. “He’s become a monster!”

“Your creation,” said Sonja simply. “The Barratians will be able to replace every warrior of theirs slain by two within fifteen years, then five and ultimately ten! Your
lesbians
can’t match that. Not all shapeshifters can gender-shift you know. Or had you forgotten that your own birthrate had been low before Barrat came, for obvious reasons, and only rose markedly during the reformation. It has begun to drop again since the men revolted, hasn’t it? War has changed here ladies. No, you aren’t affected by it yet, but soon you’ll learn your folly as the dead begin to mount and not enough people are born to replace them. You’ll either die out or be wiped out. You’re finished!”

With that Sonja turned and walked away, and the Mavie began their miserable journey home, the trip
to
the talks being far longer than the talks themselves.

“I fear she is right, my queen,” said the Lady Kima.

“I know,” said Maya. “I knew we were at a disadvantage even before we left. I was even prepared to give greatly for the sake of peace, if the old Barrat was still in there somewhere. Now…I have no choice. I must ask for aid from Illyria. If I don’t, we
are
finished.”

“No, my queen!” cried a Mavie noblewoman. Maya recognized her as a woman of the conservative group. “We can fight them the same way! Force our males and captives males to…”

“Fool!” snapped Maya. “It’s not the same! A frightened man doesn’t function to his true potential under such conditions, and even if the opposite was true, or we used other methods for them to mate willingly, most of us will have to wait three months before we can safely mate again! Have any of you forgotten the time needed to feed and care for the young or the fact that during pregnancy our warriors cannot fight! Nor will we be able to fight at all if we breed constantly until our bodies fall to ruin! A man is not so hampered by nature, you stupid bitch! You tell me HOW we can mate, go through our pregnancies, feed and protect our young AND fight! Even if only some of us mated at a time we would be crippled as an effective fighting force!
They
can continue to breed and fight more effectively, faster and longer than we! Finally, need I point out casualties? How can we hope to replace our fighters who are killed or taken under such conditions? Worse, every one of
us
taken will be pushing out more Barratians before the next year is out! You and all your stupid kind have brought us to a very dangerous place! Now you don’t want me to use the only avenue available to save us?!?” The other woman said nothing. “We must call on our sisters in the empire for aid, but there is still no guarantee that they will help us. If I remember right, the Illyrian queen and high council refused to listen to my mother’s proposals, and rightly so! They warned of the consequences of such actions. They could very well choose to let us reap what we have sown.” Many of the women looked at one another. “Our closest neighbor is the Great Forest Kingdom. The only male ruled domain in the empire. It’s the realm of King Sakuba, another descendant of Cato Curtis, and thus blood kin to Barrat. In fact, Barrat, being The Cat’s son, is his uncle! We must be careful that King Sakuba doesn’t learn of this before whoever is now acting queen, or I hear empress now, is approached. If he learns of what happened here, if he should hear of Barrat’s relation to him and that Barrat was tortured and even castrated for a crime he didn’t commit, if he should learn of what befell Barrat’s son, we could find ourselves between hammer and anvil!”

******

CHAPTER EIGHT
THE SEEKERS, BARRAT’S GUESTS

D
espite the urgency, it would take at least two years before a delegation arrived at Illia to plead their case before the empress and her court.

Empress Shoko II looked at the Mavie delegation curiously. Rumors had been drifting into the empire for some time now, and the stories of these strange warrior women calling themselves ‘Mavie’ were far from flattering. Her kinsman, King Sakuba of the Great Forest Kingdom, was so disturbed about these tales that he was prepared to raise an army and march west to see for himself and, if the tales proved true, destroy the Mavie utterly. Fortunately, the council got wind of this and urged his patience or risk punishment. The people beyond the rim of the empire were to be watched at a distance. Unless they came to the empire for aid or war the empire would not involve themselves in their affairs. After all, they were barbarians and of little threat to any of the major nations. But now a delegation of barbarians had indeed arrived, and they were led by none other than Mavie herself.

It had been centuries since Mavie had been to Illyria. When last she was here Ramia was the capital and ‘Queen’ Beral I, Bellasaris’s daughter, was on the throne. Now she felt small and tiny. Her former peers prospered and had many, MANY children and descendants. Despite her long life and status as a founder of a people, she had only two…living.

Mavie looked at Shoko II and swallowed. The empress was a tall, slim beauty. Her hair was long and reddish brown. It reached to the back of her thighs when she stood. Her skin was brown and her eye’s green and feline, truly a descendant of ‘The Cat’. Unlike Bellasaris and Beral, this woman was
not
remarkably large of breast or curvy of body, but her figure was very pleasing. She looked at Mavie in mounting curiosity.

“Who are you, Sister? Where do you come from?” said the empress.

“I…I am called ‘Mavie’, Empress. I am the retired queen of Mavieland.”

“Mavie? Mavieland?” murmured Shoko II, trying to place the names…or pretending to. “Hmmm, I’ve heard that name somewhere before I think.”

“I was once a member of the lower council during the reign of your great ancestor, Beral I.”

Shoko’s II eye’s registered recollection, “Oh,
you’re
the one my cousin, King Sakuba, was so hot to fight a year or so ago.” Then she looked at Mavie closely, and said. “I hear you had radical ideas that the council found utterly ridiculous! I hear you implemented those ideas beyond the empire and ruled over your own land for centuries. I understand that these ways have finally sparked a very ugly war now.”

“Empress,” said Mavie, “our system was not perfect. Whose is? But I assure you, the enemy is like nothing you have ever experienced or heard of among the mutant nations and peoples of Bellasaria. Women who fall into their hands are treated with the utmost barbarism, and even their own women are little higher than slaves! These men show NO distinction between females of mutant stock or human. All are treated equally as chattel.”

There was a murmur of shock and outrage among the assembled nobility. Ironically, much to the shock and shame of the Mavie, the first Illyrian to step forward urging aid to the Mavie, was an Illyrian nobleman.

“My Empress, let me take my clan west, there we will lend our swords to those of our sister mutants and destroy this enemy!” There were shouts of approval from many of the assembled nobility at this, many others offering their aid as well. The empress nodded gravely, but raised her hand for silence.

“These are serious charges indeed, my lords and ladies of the empire, but let us not be too eager to charge in without knowing the all of it.” Then she looked at Mavie again. “What are these people you are at war with called? How did they come to war on you and who leads them?”

“They are called the Barratians,” said Mavie nervously. “They are led and named after their leader, a terrible warrior named ‘Barrat’. Once, we were one people till…till the troublemaker appeared and…He is quite mad empress.”

Shoko looked at Mavie and a young woman bearing a physical similarity to her of about nineteen or twenty. Mavie was obviously leaving much out of this very vague description of the enemy and their motives for fighting her people. The girl’s face and its expression of shame as the elder spoke led the empress to believe that Mavie and her people were far from guiltless in this war, despite what she charged her enemy with.

“Who is this child?” she said nodding to the younger woman.

“Apologies, Great One,” said Mavie quickly. “This is my granddaughter, Princess Dalia.”

“I am honored to meet you, Empress Shoko,” Dalia said bowing.

“That this villain should distress and threaten such a pretty girl grieves me greatly,” said Shoko sympathetically. “Should I aid you, I would see every one of these villains slaughtered down to the last man and Barrat and his entire clan utterly destroyed.”

“No,” said Dalia, tears forming in her eyes. “Don’t do that. The panther is mad, true, but his son…his people…I just want peace.”

“What my granddaughter means is…” began Mavie quickly.

“I know what she means,” said the empress, her voice now like ice. “I too have heard the rumors of what has transpired beyond our realm. I had hoped it was just exaggerated nonsense, but it seems there is real substance to these terrible rumors. I also know why my honored ancestor refused to listen to you and your fanatical man-hating ideas! The princess has just confirmed without saying much what King Sakuba was told all along. YOU started this war! I have heard that not only was the lord you fight
driven
mad by unjust and unspeakable torture, but also he is of MY blood! Don’t deny it! She called him the panther! I saw his form in her mind! He IS of the Catonian line or I’m a human! I have heard that this all began because he rebelled against your barbarous treatment of your men and you tortured him and killed his kin before he escaped! I don’t know how many of his clan you may have killed, but every one of them was related to me by blood!”

“Empress,” said Mavie with a shaking voice, “you are a little off in some ways, but there is more truth in it than I am proud of. We…I bear my share of the blame for what is now happening back home, but what Barrat is doing, what he has become…it’s monstrous! He has to be stopped, not just for our sake, but yours as well. As one of your blood, you know he is no ordinary man. Even mad, given time he could become a threat to even you!”

The empress looked at Mavie for a long moment. Mavie had the feeling that the empress was doing more than just looking at her and she was right. All queens of this line were known to have very high levels of telepathy, the women of the high council as well. Already she had said she had seen Barrat somewhat in Dalia’s mind. Mavie’s mental defenses were strong, but not completely impenetrable. Unfortunately for Mavie, this soon became apparent by Shoko’s shocked and then horrified face.

“Unspeakable!” gasped the empress. “Absolutely UNSPEAKABLE!!” Mavie dropped to her knees quickly head to the floor, along with the rest of her party. “And you DARE to come here now and beg for aid?!? I will not send any such thing! You made your bed and now you will lay in it!”

“Wait,” cried an elder. “I pray you wait, Your Highness. I too believe that these people started this thing and created the beast, but a mad dog must still be put down. He cannot be allowed to continue the way he has. He leads thousands who now follow a path just as flawed as this fool’s. This needs to be corrected before they’re at our door. I don’t know how close a kinsman of yours he is, the woman was very difficult to read in some areas, but he must be close kin indeed since she defended this knowledge so well.”

“So you think we should help her?! Not I!” cried the very same nobleman who at first was eager to fight for their cause.

“No,” said the councilwoman, “but we cannot ignore the danger either.” She then looked at the empress who nodded.

“We will think on this matter,” said Shoko coldly. “Rest yourselves and be refreshed, Lady Mavie. But I vow to you, NO army of mine will give you aid!”

Mavie and her delegation left the room with very dim prospects for getting any real aid from the empire. Indeed, they had incurred the wrath of the empress herself. Once they had left the audience chamber, Empress Shoko dismissed the nobles and consulted with the high council.

“I agree, Elder Lady Elena, Barrat cannot be allowed to continue his mad methods of extracting his revenge and waging war, but I will not declare war on him.”

“Truly we understand, empress,” replied the council woman, “but warriors must go. I do not say that any nation of the empire should send warriors under their banners, but those who would volunteer to protect the innocent. I must stress ‘The innocent’! Not Mavie herself, the fanatical followers of her old teachings and her wretched daughter, but rather those who are guilty of nothing save being women of Mavie. Only those who understand that should be allowed to go.”

“In my mind, to blindly follow an unjust leadership even after they’d been proven to be the villains makes them equally guilty!” snapped the empress. “No doubt, my kinsman, Barrat, feels the same. But you are right…his methods are unprecedented, effective, but unprecedented. Be discreet. Any who fights for Mavie will do so with the very clear understanding that the empire is not involved and will send
no one
to save them should they be captured. In the event that any are taken, I want Barrat’s telepaths to know that these people fight of their own choosing and that the empire and his kin did not send them. Is that understood?” The councilor nodded, and after quick debate among themselves, the high council agreed.

******

Empress Shoko II, now in her private chambers, sat before her writing table and placed the laptop sized communication device before her and opened a channel to those she knew would be interested in these new developments. She hoped that someone would respond immediately. This was not the sort of thing to be left in a message. After about a half minute the image of a beautiful woman with long brown hair with streaks of white very visible appeared. The woman’s eyes bore the same feline traits as the empress, but her face was fuller. The empress, who had backed away from the table a bit the moment she opened the channel, now bowed head to the floor at the sight of this woman.

“Greetings, Great Grandmother Beral,” said Shoko humbly.

“Greetings, Empress,” said the other woman smiling. “I am always happy to see you.” Then Beral chuckled and said, “Your face especially.” Quickly Shoko sat up. “That’s better,” Beral said.

“Honored ancestor,” said Shoko. “I have both great and disturbing news.”

Beral’s eyebrows rose. “Oh? Is this something that even the ruler of the most powerful nation on the known planet can’t handle herself?”

“Oh, no, lady,” said Shoko. “But I do believe that I may have found another clue to the whereabouts of the long missed ‘Great Ancestor’. A mighty warrior has appeared in the far west, beyond the domains of King Sakuba. He is at war with a people founded by a former Illyrian noblewoman named ‘Mavie’.” Quickly Shoko gave the other woman the details of all that had been learned and decided upon.

“You have done well, beloved descendant,” said Beral gravely. “I believe that when this troublesome bitch returns home, she will have company from Hylos as well. My long absent father’s whereabouts in that region, or at least his trail, could be picked up through this ‘great grand’ or ‘great, great grandson’. Mother Bellasaris and Mother Gorgo will want to see this ‘Barrat’ for themselves.”

******

It had been two months since Mavie had gone to Illia and sought aid from Empress Shoko II. She had returned home with many warriors, but less than she had hoped for. Furthermore, two elderly women had also returned with her. She really would have preferred not to have brought these women back with her, but this was a nonnegotiable command by the empress. The women had stayed in their land for about seven days and then left and entered the lands of the enemy with only a few women of their choice. What they had seen in Mavieland had not pleased them. What they were seeing now in the domains of Barrat scared the hell out of them! Curiously, although occasionally men would politely challenge them as to who they were, none tried to physically detain or abuse them once it was made known and proven that they were not Mavie, but merely travelers from the far east come to see the king. Curiously, even their Mavie guides were safe. Despite this, the elders had a feeling that the only reason they were not questioned more rudely and even forcibly detained was because of their very advanced age. One look at their hair, long, lustrous and snow white, was usually enough to make a seemingly arrogant male pup rethink his attitude. However, by the end of their first week in Barratian territory, a strong delegation of warriors arrived and humbly offered themselves as their personal escort to the king’s current location. They gratefully agreed. Three hours later they arrived at the encampment of King Barrat.

Bellasaris and Gorgo entered the large encampment and looked around themselves. The women all wore collars and went about their tasks with downward cast eyes. Others waited on various men as slaves. Occasionally, they noticed a woman not wearing a collar and with a bearing that was clearly not that of a slave, but even these differed to the men as their superiors nor did they treat the women in collars any better than the males. Indeed, often worse. Bellasaris and Gorgo were then brought before a powerfully built warrior with feline eyes and white hair, sitting on a stool being served by a naked slave girl. The big woman’s eyes lit up and she was about to run forward when she was stopped by a mental command by the smaller woman.