BECAUSE OF THE bruised and battered condition to which she had been reduced in the course of nearly fifteen minutes of continuous, hectic, rough-and-tumble, practically no holds barred, hand to hand brawling, Jill Jervis was already on the verge of collapse and found herself completely bewildered by what was happening. She was not sure whether it was a fist, foot, elbow, knee, or head, which caught her with shattering force under the jaw. Kit Fox had used them all with vigour and impartial frequency since the fight commenced. All the redhead knew for certain was the impact sent her over backwards on to the soft sand, with what seemed to be a multitude of brightly coloured lights exploding inside her already dazed and pain filled head.
In fact, apart from considerations of what to do in retaliation for all that was happening to her and putting the ideas into effect, the thoughts which Jill had had since the conflict she had deliberately provoked had been at best jumbled. Smaller and lighter though the Amazon Apex undoubtedly was, she had proved to be a tough opposition. She had given her opponent the impression of possessing at least four pairs of arms and legs, every one of which was packed with powerful muscles and capable of inflicting punishment separately or in conjunction with one another wherever they made contact. Whether it was to kick, knee, punch, or slap, Kit Fox had done all with great regularity and indiscriminately. She had also taken all that was being given to her in return, which had been far from inconsiderable, displaying a gusto, spirit and disregard for suffering, seemingly out of keeping for one of her diminutive and, on the surface only, fragile build.
Sitting on the grassy verge, close to the wide and level sandy edge of the stream upon which the fight was taking place, despite it having become increasingly apparent their red haired companion was getting the worst of the punishment, Beryl Snowhill and Charlotte Topper had not offered to intervene. She had, in part at least, brought whatever happened to her upon herself and now much face the consequences. Nor, having known her for many years, did either woman believe Jill would want it any other way.
While helping the little Apex to retrieve her saddle from the dead horse, the trio from Earth had exchanged introductions. They had also led Kit Fox to assume they were of different grades in the social structure of their nation, with the beautiful platinum blonde being the senior. She had also been informed that the word, “ma’am”—which had no equivalent on Zillikian, the Amazons using “lady”—was a term of respect instead of being Beryl’s name.
Having ascertained it was the custom to leave the bodies of fallen foes where they lay, therefore no action needed to be taken for the dead Gruziak female warrior, the party had started to descend the kopje. Although the Apex had protested that the assistance was not necessary, they had taken turns in helping her to carry the rig as they were crossing the savannah. Walking along, in addition to keeping a careful watch for enemies or dangerous animals, they had carried out an interesting and informative conversation.
Beryl had done most of the talking for the trio, but points raised by Jill had resulted in the conflict between herself and Kit Fox.
The interest had been far from one sided!
Every instinct having suggested that her new acquaintances could become good and useful friends, even though they did not belong to her nation, the little Apex had found herself looking forward to learning more about them. She had also hoped they would make a similarly good impression upon Queen Hippolyta. In view of certain rumours which had reached her ears, the kindly generally liked and highly respected ruler of the Amazon nation might be in need of women who could be relied upon implicitly. Unless her assessment of their characters was at fault, she believed Beryl, Cha and Jill would come into that category.
With the possibility in mind, Kit Fox had studied the smallest of the foreign woman. She had concluded it might be advisable to find out what kind of fighting skills they possessed, particularly as she had seen little beyond archery skill displayed by the redhead. What was more, Jill clearly being unwilling to accept it unproven, she felt she should establish her right to superior status where the two of them were concerned. However, while this could not be done while they were on the move, she did not doubt the issue could be settled to both their satisfaction on arrival at the rendezvous with her hunting party.
Sensing something of what had been going on in the little Apex’s head, the blonde had not mentioned her suppositions. Instead, she had tested whether Kit Fox would accept a suggestion that she, Cha and the redhead belonged to a branch of the Amazon nation which the Suppliers—of whom the little woman admitted to being aware, albeit only as some form of deity—had for some unknown reason elected to settle in a land far across the “Lake With Only One Shore”. From the responses she had made, Kit Fox was apparently satisfied that she had been told the truth. She had shown considerable interest in how the ‘sister nation’ was comprised and, as a sign of her good faith, had not hesitated to describe the organization of her own people. In return, Beryl had outlined a similar formation for her “branch” with herself as Captain of its senior regiment, Cha as Junior Second and the redhead as the highest ranking Fist.
Having noticed one omission while the Apex was describing the structure of her nation, Cha had asked about the status of men in their society. Remembering what she had read in Greek mythology, the brunette had been surprised to be told there were none. However, something in the attitude of the little Amazon had warned the trio against pursuing the subject. However, they had concluded, correctly, this was in some way arranged by the Suppliers as a means of ensuring the continued purity of the race. Declaring their own “branch” was equally devoid of males, Beryl had led the conversation to the Gruziak and other people who inhabited the planet upon which she and her companions had been deposited.
Kit Fox had explained how the Amazons, while considering everybody other than their own people as enemies, were in contention against three races as adversaries. There were the Gruziak, domiciled in the mountainous territory to the south of the land claimed by her nation. Dwelling upon the plains to the west, the race called the Mun-Gatah rode what the trio from Earth concluded from the description must be some form of domesticated zebra. Travelling across the “Lake With Only One Shore”, in fair sized boats equipped with sails, the Cara-Bunte—who appeared to be of Oriental stock—came at intervals and fought on foot. There was also a race living in the jungle to the north called the Telonga. However, as they never made war nor ventured on to the savannah, the little Apex knew nothing about them other than that they existed20.
From the various comments made by Kit Fox, the trio decided that full scale battles between the various races never took place. Instead, there were only raids and skirmishes, such as the one in which they had just participated, when small groups met. Remembering what the Suppliers had told them, the blonde realized—unpleasant as the thought might appear to a “civilized” person—such a constant attrition as was caused by the conflict was necessary. Without it, because of the extremely healthy living conditions, there would be no natural check to hold the human population at a level where the terrain could continue to support it and the vast quantity of wild animals. She also concluded that her party had not been transported to Zillikian to try to change the life-style of the people by bringing peace between the nations.
Considering the Suppliers had anticipated the need, while the nations maintained a state of constant and mutual hostility, the blonde had felt sure they had conditioned the people to accept some conventional means of calling for a truce should this be required by a situation. She had found her assumption was correct. An assurance that peace would be kept for a limited period to allow negotiations, should a temporary cessation of aggression be requested and accepted, was attested to by swearing the sacred oath applicable to the nation doing so and which was known to all the others. In the case of the Amazons, the name of Hera, Queen of the Gods, was involved. Knowing the need to use it might arise at some time in the future, the trio had committed the proscribed ritual to memory.
More and more, with each succeeding mile they had covered, Beryl and Cha had come to believe Zillikian was where they wanted to make their new home. From all they had learned, they felt it offered a freedom and opportunity to attain achievement which was severely restricted by convention, or changing standards, upon Earth. For her part, Jill was willing to accept any decision on the future made by “ma’am”. Nevertheless, her thoughts had remained upon the humiliation she had suffered at the hands of the little Apex and annoyance at the others’ attitude of unproven superiority towards her. Despite sensing she was not meeting with Beryl’s approval, she had raised the matter of how disputes were settled between members of the same race.
Kit Fox had explained how promotion was on merit and that the holder of a rank was expected to be ready to defend it against challenges from subordinates. While going into detail, knowing what was implied by the question, her words had been accompanied by a pointed glance at the differing amounts of jewellery she and Jill were wearing. Unless serious, when the Queen alone could sanction the use of weapons for a settlement, the disputing pair met in formal bare-handed combat. The way of delivering a challenge for this—which could be made irrespective of rank—was to ask for the removal of the metal brassiere by saying, ‘Shed your cups!” and, disregarding the difference in status, the senior must do so whenever it was demanded by a junior.
In addition to considering such knowledge could also be of use to herself and Cha, the blonde had been aware of what prompted the third member of their party to raise the matter. Knowing Jill very well and having sensed her feelings towards Kit Fox, Beryl had also concluded a clash between them was inevitable. However, she had been equally confident the redhead would wait until the moment was propitious before provoking it.
The blonde’s faith in her smaller companion had proved justified!
Having elicited the information, Jill had relapsed into silence and the remainder of the journey had continued to be uneventful.
Shortly after Kit Fox had concluded the explanation, the rendezvous had been reached. The Amazon hunting party had not yet put in an appearance, so she and the Earth women had settled down to wait. However, when satisfied they were both sufficiently recovered from the exertions of the walk, Jill had confronted her and issued the ritual challenge. Saying she had thought she would never be asked, the Apex had disrobed until all she wore was a pair of brief black panties and laid aside all her jewellery. The redhead had also divest herself of all attire except for equally skimpy red briefs which was all she had been given for underwear by the Suppliers.
Accepting they were living in a world with vastly different standards to their own, Beryl and Cha had made no attempt to try to prevent the fight taking place.
Knowing Jill was perfectly fit and had kept up the training in unarmed combat she received as a member of Group Thirteen, apart from any further help along those lines she might have received from the Suppliers, neither had felt particularly perturbed by the prospect. Therefore, both her companions had felt sure that while she would be able to give a good account of herself regardless of the eventual outcome, she and Kit Fox would be sensible enough not to take the conflict to serious extremes.
There had been another thought on the minds of the blonde and her cousin.
Each had assumed that she too would in all probability be compelled to demonstrate her ability in a similar fashion before, as it seemed likely the Suppliers wanted to happen for some reason, being allowed to gain acceptance by the Amazons.
Therefore, both wished to form some idea of what kind of opposition they might in turn come up against!
The ensuing fracas had warned Beryl and Cha that they would gain no great advantage from the knowledge of Earth’s various bare-handed techniques they had acquired.
Going on to the level and sandy bank of the stream, Jill and Kit Fox had started fighting without any preliminaries.
It had soon become apparent to the two spectators that their companion was as adept without weapons as she had proved at archery.
Equally obvious had been that Jill, her advantage being, somewhat larger and heavier notwithstanding, was matched against an antagonist worthy of all her skill.
No matter how the redhead was feeling with regards to the way in which her diminutive opponent was treating her in the latter stages, the fight had been very closely contested. In fact, even while causing Jill serious misgivings, there had been occasions when the Apex was wondering whether she had bitten off more than she could chew by going out of her way to provoke such a competent antagonist. While she was faster and somewhat more experienced, the foreigner was heavier and marginally stronger. Nevertheless, there was so little difference between their respective abilities that neither had been able to gain more than a temporary ascendancy through the long and gruelling minutes during which they were in contention.
In fact, the punch which toppled the redhead over backwards was almost the last fling for Kit Fox!
Swaying exhaustedly upon spread apart and none too steady legs, the little Apex was looking decidedly worse for wear. Her black hair now resembled a sodden and tangled woollen mop. Blood trickled from her nostrils and enlarged, cut top lip and her left eye was swollen almost closed. Under the coating of sand she had accrued while rolling with Jill on the ground, her sweat soaked body had a mottling of bruises. Gasping in breaths of air, she gazed at the equally battered and even more dilapidated redhead for a few seconds. Then, staggering forward, she sank until straddling and sitting upon the supine torso of her practically immobile opponent.
‘We’d better stop her!’ Cha suggested, noticing how limply Jill was lying and, as Kit Fox drew back a fist to strike at her, knowing she was capable of no further resistance.
‘There isn’t going to be any need,’ Beryl estimated.
On the point of delivering what she hoped fervently would prove to be a coup de grace and, anyway, was just about all she felt capable of doing, the little Apex became aware it would not be needed. Beyond the rising and falling of the bare bosom between her thighs as the lungs instinctively replenished themselves, she could neither see nor feel any movement from the woman she was straddling. Letting out what little air remained in her own chest with a gasp of triumph and relief, she gave her defeated opponent an admiring pat on the cheek instead of the intended punch. Having paid the tribute, she rolled from her perch and dragged herself slowly to the stream. Sprawling face down in the cool water, she allowed it to wash away the sand which was encrusting her and help revive her. When she had recovered sufficiently to sit up, she found the blonde and the brunette were performing a similar service for Jill.
‘Will you fetch the buckskin pouch you’ll find in my saddlebags, please, Cha?’ Kit Fox requested. ‘It has medication in it. which we can both use!’
‘Certainly,’ the statuesque brunette beauty assented, smiling in admiration. ‘Good work, Apex. That was quite a fight.’
‘It was!’ the little Amazon agreed with feeling, and gingerly fingering at her jaw.
Then, nodding to where Jill was propped against Beryl’s raised left knee and showing signs of recovery, she went on, ‘You don’ t need to tell her but there were times when I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to!’
Chuckling and concluding the rest of the Amazon nation would make good companions if they all possessed a spirit similar to that of the diminutive Apex, Cha turned to do as she had been requested.
Before the brunette could take her first step, a dozen well-armed women erupted from amongst the trees.