Past the Altar of the Elementals

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 9327

The next day a guard came and opened up the cage. "Come" was all she said and with a grimace Fred went with her. He didn't like this woman or any of these amazons. They treated him worse than a serf or a slave. They treated him like a dog. And they hadn't even fed him breakfast yet.

The guard took him through the walled compound of the amazon city. Fred couldn't tell if it was large or small. The prison area he had been led to on the previous day had been at the edge of the jungle and the view from it was obstructed by the overhanging canopy of trees and vines. As they walked together the guard kept completely silent. Fred tried to say something once, but she told him to be quiet or she'd cut out his tongue. He got the message loud and clear and kept his mouth shut after that. Instead, he paid attention to the things around him. The streets she led him through were narrow; tall stone walls on either side. He got the impression he was walking through a maze and the many intersecting streets and alleys quickly made any attempt to trace his steps impossible. On many of the stone walls were carved eerie, passive faces - huge, single blocks of a grey stone that was pitted with age, some framed in green due to vegetation overflowing around and even through the stone.

The sounds of birds and monkeys filled the air, and the breeze blowing through the boughs above. Fred was surprised though at what he failed to hear; the sound of neighbors gossiping, farmers selling, tradesmen bartering. What kind of city or village was this? And then, off in the distance, he thought heard a faint voice call out. It sounded like, "Ready!" The sun above was hot and the air was humid. Fred was sweating and his body smelled. He noticed that the amazon was oiled, her skin glistening and she had a smell of violets about her. Again a voice called out, this time closer. What had he heard? Aim? They were now approaching a large archway. On either side of it were the images of holy men, or women, Fred couldn't tell even though they towered over him, easily ten times the size of normal humans. But perhaps they weren't human? He passed under the arch and entered a courtyard. A line of stone columns shaped into figures of magnificent women stretched ahead of him. At the end of the columns was a work of splendor, a barbaric temple altar made of marble and seashell and thick jade. At the foot of the altar were two posts and tied to the posts were two men. One was young, tall and muscled, the other stooped, old and wrinkled. Both were gagged. On either side of the altar were twelve women dressed in gold and white ceremonial armor, their bows at the ready. At the top of the altar stood another woman, dressed likewise except for a golden tiara above her brow, a ruby star inlaid within it. It was her voice Fred had heard and now she finished the ceremony, this woman of the altar.

"FIRE!"

Twelve arrows apiece thunked into the bodies of the men tied to the posts and they died instantly. The guard struck Fred angrily with her stave; he had slowed to a stop behind her to stare at the ceremony and she was not pleased. He resumed following her and was taken to a room not far from the altar. Waiting within was Queen Astra. The guard bowed and then left, leaving Fred alone with the amazon. He stared at her, in awe of her beauty and power, but sickened at her alien barbarity. He was so far from the world he had known and somehow he didn't think he would ever get back there. And this new world was like something out of a poet's darkest dream. He needed to escape this place, even if the only way out was his own death.

"Those men, on the altar..." he said without benefit of being given permission to speak. Astra glanced out of her window, toward the altar which lay out of sight. "One of them attempted to escape. From the asper pits. Escape is not allowed. And the other was old, useless; good only as sacrifice to the Elementals." Just then figures passed by the window and Fred saw that they were two women, held aloft in palanquins above the shoulders of amazons. The two women were old, wrinkled and gray, their muscles withered and useless. Fred turned back to Astra and she saw the burning in his eyes. "The poor old dears, they're so old they can't do a thing for themselves. But we take care of them," she smiled. Fred stood silent a moment, trying to calm his anger. Although he knew the answer without asking, he felt compelled to ask, "They're old and useless, just like the man. So why take care of them?" Astra laughed. "Because they're women," she answered.

  1. Fred, the Stone of Destiny and an African Swallow

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WolfRun

5/16/2000 1:06:08 AM

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