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Episode
II Return of the Dragon
Che
Sha
wiped the sweat from her brow and slowly circled her
opponent. Across from her the
silver-haired Silvani maiden emulated her every
move. “She’s very
good,” thought Che
Sha. “Much better than a
few weeks ago, but she still has that tendency to lower her guard slightly
when she gets tired.”
Che Sha darted forward, striking toward
Vayasha’s legs with her foot.
As she expected the Silvani ranger stepped back, avoiding the attack
with ease. Then she counterattacked
striking over the top of Che Sha’s
guard. The Shang princess blocked
the blow effortlessly and then struck
back. Vayasha had dropped her
guard ever so slightly. It was
the opening she had expected. Her
left arm snapped out dragging Vayasha’s arm down further and her fist
flashed across, aimed for the girl’s
jaw. But suddenly Vayasha’s
head was not there. She had moved
ever so slightly to one side and Che Sha’s fist struck only empty
air. Off balance she fell full
length as Vayasha’s foot caught her ankle and swept her feet out from
under her.
“Eeyyyaah!” Vayasha cried triumphantly striking with her heel
just below Che Sha’s sternum.
Crack!
A sound like the snap
of a whip resounded through the cabin.
Vayasha jumped back and Che Sha got to her
feet. Both girls bowed respectfully
to one another.
A tall woman with hair like fire stepped
forward. In age she was only
a few years older than the two girls, but she radiated a strength and maturity
that neither of the combatants could
match. The two competitors bowed
to her, even more deeply than they had to one
another. “Excellent,”
she said. “You have both
improved immensely in the last few
months. I think that is the first
time Vayasha has been able to score against you, Che
Sha. You will have to remember
that move.”
She clapped her hands sharply again, the sound
exploding through the room.
“Now Shasara,” she said to a woman who was almost the twin
of Vayasha, “it is your turn.
You train against me.”
The tall silver-haired woman stepped
forward. She was about nineteen
summers, a year older than her sister and she moved with the fluid grace
of a Silvani ranger. Bowing to
the redhead, she assumed her fighting stance, her brilliant blue eyes wide
with concentration. She had no
chance against her mistress and she knew it, but she would fight as well
as she was able.
A shout from above distracted the women in
the cabin. There was the sound
of running feet on the deck above followed by more
shouting. The red-headed woman
paused. “Perhaps we should
find out what is going on. That
sounds like more than normal
activity.”
Bowing to Shasara she stepped back from her
opponent. “Carlona,”
she said to a young woman dressed in the simple dress of a
servant. “Would you please
see what the commotion is about?”
Carlona
curtsied. “Yes, mistress,”
she answered heading out of the large
cabin. She returned a minute
later with a rather worried expression on her
face. “Mistress, the captain
requests you stay in the cabin.
There may be trouble.”
Melissa Noble known to her companions as
Sha
zhu, the Red Dragon,
frowned. “I think I will
see to this. Bring my
clothing.”
Slipping out of her loose fitting gei, she
dressed. Her clothes were rather
unusual for a woman, consisting of tight fitting black pants, a white blouse,
and knee high black leather boots.
Winding a red sash about her waist, she finished her ensemble by belting
a long-bladed sword over her shoulder.
“Come,” she said to her
companions. “We will see
what all the excitement is about.”
Her companions had changed out of their
loose-fitting training gear and had dressed in a fashion similar to that
of the Red Dragon, the only real difference being the colour of sash each
woman wore. Che Sha chose green,
a colour that seemed to set off her ebony hair and peach
skin. The two Silvani girls had
both chosen blue, a traditional colour of warrior maidens among the
Silvani.
Voran Dragoth glared angrily at the four women
who trooped out of the main cabin.
On board ship he was in absolute
command. Didn’t these strange
women know how to follow orders? He
raised his eyebrows at the array of weapons the women were
carrying. Did the tall redhead
know how to use that deadly blade?
He doubted it; women didn’t
fight. Still, there was something
about her that was very strange.
She had paid him enough money for her passage to almost buy the
ship. He hadn’t minded giving
up his cabin for that sort of money, but he was damned if she was going to
let her run his ship.
“You
women,” he
screamed.
“Go
below before or I’ll have you locked in the
hold!”
To his further annoyance, the four women merely
looked at him. Not one of them
made the slightest effort to obey his
orders. He opened his mouth to
scream again but the aristocratic redhead preempted him.
“From the looks of things captain, you
could use our help.” She
nodded her head beyond the bow of the
ship.
Dragoth glared at
her. He didn’t approve of
women on board ship, except as part of a slave
cargo. He should have asked for
more money. The redheaded bitch
hadn’t even blinked when he had made his outrageous demand; she had
simply plunked down a bag of gold and told him to take what he needed.
It wasn’t until he had consented
to the arrangement that he realized what a strange bunch he had allowed on
board his ship.
Four women, but nothing like the women he
was used to. Women who knew their
place and paid proper subservience to
men. These women dressed like
men and were armed to the teeth.
And what a mixed bunch they were.
First there was the tall redhead.
He had never seen so beautiful a woman, but there was something in
her eyes that froze his gonads. She
moved like some jungle cat and exuded a sense of menace that he was far from
being ready to challenge.
And then there were her
companions. If anything they
were even more bizarre than she was.
What was he to make of the two silver haired women who never went
anywhere without their bows?
Strikingly attractive, they seemed very young, but moved with a doe-like
sensuous grace that had the members of his crew salivating every time they
came on deck. No man, however,
dared approach them. There was
something mysterious and intimidating about them, from the pointed tip of
their lobeless ears to their intense blue eyes.
Finally, there was the golden-skinned
girl. She exuded an air of exotic
danger. Head held high, it was
obvious that she was used to being
obeyed. Her
To say that Dragoth was intimidated was an
understatement, but that did not mean he had to like them or show any
respect. He was still master
of his ship and what he said was law, but as the red-headed woman spoke he
followed her gaze. A few miles
away was the shoreline of Sandor.
Plumes of smoke rose from burning villages as far as the eye could
see. Directly ahead of the ship
was the
Sea
warriors. And he was sailing
directly toward them. His crew
scampered in the rigging attempting to turn his vessel around, but the wind
was behind him. It would take
time to turn to windward and the narrow hulls of the Sea Warriors, propelled
by two dozen oars were winging their way toward
him.
“Move
your asses,” Dragoth roared
toward the sailors struggling in the
rigging. There was little chance
of outrunning the Sea Warriors.
Their dragon-hulled ships were flying over the waves, cutting the
distance between them alarmingly.
The ship heeled over as it struggled into
the wind. One of the sails flapped
wildly, dislodging one of the sailors and sending the man plunging into the
ocean. He shouted in fear as
he hit the water, but there was no saving
him. Most sailors could not swim
and this one was no exception.
Dragoth cursed fluently in several languages,
ignoring the presence of the four women who had still not gone
below. The ship lurched into
the wind, fighting the oncoming waves as the sailors desperately trimmed
the sails in an effort to move away from the
shore. But even as she ship responded
to their efforts Dragoth knew that it was
hopeless. The Sea Warriors were
less than half a league away and closing the distance with
ease.
The tall redhead joined him on the quarterdeck,
her eyes taking in the pursuing Sea
Warriors. She seemed completely
unafraid. A head taller than
he was, he had to look up to meet her green
eyes. “I think, captain,
that I and my companions will be of much more service to you here than hiding
below deck.”
Dragoth
sighed. There was no escaping
the Sea Warriors anyway. The
women would be caught and enslaved along with the rest of them no matter
where they hid. He licked his
lips as he thought about what would happen to the four
females. Weapons or no weapons,
they would be defenceless when the Sea Warriors caught up with
them.
He looked again toward their
pursuers. They were visibly closer
now and gaining with every sweep of the
oars. He could clearly make out
the fantastic creatures carved into the prows of the
ships. There was one with the
head of a boar; another was a griffon; and a third was a
dragon. The closest ship was
some creature he had never seen before; a grotesque beast sporting two
tusks. Just behind was a vessel
with the head of a hawk and another carved into the likeness of a
wolf. They were intended to frighten
and they did, but they were not half as frightening as the men who manned
them.
He could se them
now. Those who were not rowing
crowded near the bow, no doubt preparing to loose a volley of arrows when
they were near enough. It would
not be long now. They were less
than a third of a league away.
Melissa tied back her long hair and took her
sword from its sheath. The
captain’s eyes turned back to her; his mouth curling in a
sneer. “You think you can
win against more than 200 Sea Warriors?
Put the sword away and maybe they’ll only rape you instead of
gutting you and feeding you to the fishes.”
The look the redhead turned on him made him
take a step backward. “They
might rape me, captain, but a number of them will die first as will you if
you seek to order me again.”
Dragoth blinked; the tip of the redhead’s
sword was a fingernail width from his
throat. He had not even seen
the blade move. He licked his
lips nervously, realizing that those members of his crew who were not struggling
with the sails were watching with
interest. Slowly he raised his
hands. “Forgive me, my
lady. I misspoke
myself.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway,”
he thought. “We’ll
all be dead in a few minutes, except those who are fortunate enough to be
spared for slavery.”
Melissa lowered her sword, her anger
dissipating. The captain was
a fool and not worth killing simply because he was too stupid to hold his
tongue. Besides she needed him
to run the ship. She looked toward
the encroaching Sea Warriors. Their
animal headed boats were only a few hundred paces
away.
The two silver-haired young women stepped
forward, drawing arrows from their
quivers. Dragoth shook his
head. “You’ll hit nothing
from here. They’re much
too far away.”
The two slender young women seemed not to
hear him. Nocking arrows to their
bowstrings they drew back their bows.
The older of the two girls released her shaft
first. To Dragoth’s open-mouthed
amazement it flew directly to the throat of the Sea Warrior holding the tiller
of the tusk-headed boat. The
man clutched at the shaft, the sounds of his death struggle lost in the distance
separating them.
The girl muttered something in a language
Dragoth could not understand. It
was almost as if she was disappointed with the most incredible feat of archery
he had ever seen. “By the
gods!” he exclaimed.
“How did you do that?”
The girl
shrugged. The action sent a shiver
through Dragoth’s loins.
In a voice that was heavily
accented she replied. “I
was aiming for his chest.” She
drew another arrow from her quiver.
Deprived of its tillerman, the tusk-headed
boat sheered away, and almost immediately another man took his place at the
steering oar. This time an arrow
from the younger of the two silver-haired women pierced the Sea
Warrior. Once again the ship
floundered to one side as it lost
direction. This time when another
man took up the tiller several men formed a shield wall in front of
him. The ship came on gaining
with every stroke.
The two girls lowered their
bows. The other ships had seen
what had happened to the first and had taken the same
precautions. Now each ship came
on, knifing through the waves in eager
pursuit.
Dragoth swore
again. For a moment there had
been an instant of hope. Now
he and his crew faced the same inevitable end as
before. It was apparent, however,
that the four women were not about to give
up. Waiting until the lead ships
drew closer, the two silver-haired women drew their bows once
again. This time their arrows
were returned by the Sea warriors, but the wind was against them and most
of their shafts fell short. It
was just a matter of time, however, before they closed the
range.
Both of the silver-haired women changed their
targets, this time loosing their arrows at the bowmen on the Sea Warriors’
ships. Once again with unbelievable
accuracy their feathered shafts found their mark, forcing their adversaries
to take cover. But all the time
the enemy closed the gap. In
a very short time they would be close enough to grapple and then it would
be all over. Dragoth prepared
himself for his surrender speech; if surrender was
possible. The resistance of the
four women was likely to make the Sea Warriors most
unreasonable. His only hope was
that they would be satisfied enough with gang raping the four women and their
servants to allow him to allow him to give himself
up. Perhaps if he hid in his
cabin…
“By the gods, what were they doing
now?” Redheaded woman had
drawn her sword and was climbing into the rigging followed by the exotic
dark-haired girl. Tucked into
the green sash the almond-eyed girl wore, were the two strange weapons he
had noted earlier. They resembled
short swords with a razor edged hook on the inside
edge. He had never seen such
weapons before and wondered how they would be used in
battle.
The redhead climbed the rigging like a seasoned
sailor, the golden-skinned girl following nimbly if a bit more
slowly. He was momentarily distracted
by the two silver-haired archers.
They were releasing arrows so fast that he could hardly follow
them.
His eyes went back to the two women in the
rigging just in time to watch the redhead toss a rope into the rigging of
the closing Sea Warrior boat, and then as the rope caught, launch herself
across the intervening space.
Speechless he watched the golden-skinned girl
follow. Two women against an
entire ship of Sea warriors! They
must be mad!
He saw the madness a heartbeat
later. The two women went through
the crew of the Sea Warrior vessel like a crew of reapers through a stand
of grain. He now saw how the
golden-skinned girl’s scythe-like blades
worked. Holding one in each hand,
she caught the weapons of the sea warriors on one and attacked with the other,
her hands moving so fast that they were just a
blur. Alongside her went the
redhead, her sword cutting and slashing with a ferocity and precision that
Dragoth could not have imagined.
Both women seemed to be everywhere at once, darting,
cutting, ducking, stabbing, and whirling their way through their stunned
opponents. All the
while the two silver-haired archers picked off anyone who got behind them
or tried to use a missile weapon against
them.
The end came
suddenly. The remaining Sea Warriors
broke. With nowhere to retreat
they dove over the side of the boat.
Weighed down by their chain link armour, most of them sank
immediately. A few of the stronger
swimmers struggled to reach the other boats before disappearing beneath the
waves.
The effect on the remaining boats was
astounding. Almost as one the
oars stopped moving and the Sea Warriors lined the gunwales seemingly
thunderstruck by the fate of their
companions. Then one of the ships
stroked slowly and turned about, heading for the safety of the
shore. Within heartbeats the
other boats followed.
Dragoth made the sign of protection, crossing
his hands in front of him as the two bloodstained women returned to the
boat. Most of his crew emulated
him. A few sailors edged into
position to dive into the sea, preferring to take their chances with drowning
rather than be trapped on a ship possessed by
demons.
Ignoring the horrified stares of the crew
and their superstitious jabbering, the two women walked slowly back to the
quarterdeck. In their eyes was
a strange elation. Dragoth fell
to his knees as they approached, covering his face with his
hands.
“I appreciate your change in attitude
captain,” the redheaded women said drily, “but I would prefer that
you turn your ship around and take me to shore.”
Dragoth lowered his
hands. The two women were trailing
blood across his once pristine deck.
The fact that it was not their own only made it
worse. Forcing his rubbery legs
to support him, he struggled to his feet and yelled orders to his
crew. Taking their cue from their
captain, the men obeyed, swinging the ship toward
land. Each was thinking the same
thought. The sooner they were
rid of their unwanted passengers the
better.
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