toward her. He had some idea what she meant, and was disgusted, but the weapons bristling about him discouraged overt protest. He saw Soil sitting up and wanted to go to hers If only he weren't restrained by the odds against him! Alone, he could have made a break, but he did not want to start trouble that would hurt the dazed girl.
He came to stand immediately before the gross Queen.
She was even more repulsive up close. Fat jiggled on her body as she breathed, and there was a steamy unnatural smell about her.
She reached out and caught what she termed his finger in her hand. 'Yes, your Queen will use this once, now and no woman after her.' She spread her legs, hauling Var toward her.
It was no longer possible to pretend to mistake her meaning. Var acted. He whirled on his guards, grabbing at their weapons, shoving the women down. He caught the handle of a fighting hatchet and raised the blade toward the Queen.
The guards fell back, for they could not mistake his meaning either. He could split her head before they reached him.
'Bring her!' Var cried, gesturing toward Soil. He hoped they would not realize that they could nullify his threat by threatening Soil.
Bows came up, arrows nocked. Var put both hands on the hatchet and poised above the Queen. Even if a dozen arrows transfixed him, he would take her with him.
Soil came, listless but walking by herself. She. still wore her two sticks; they had not been noticed by her captors.
Something flashed. Var jumped back as the Queen drove for his loin with a jewelled stiletto. 'We shall remove it now, I think,' she said.
In that moment of confusion Var saw the arrows coming. One grazed his thigh. The guards closed in.
In a fury, Var leaped at the Queen and clove her head with a two-handed stroke. A cry of horror went up. He did not need to look. He knew as he yanked free the blood-soiled blade that she was dead.
He caught Soil by the arm and sprinted for the nearest compartment behind the throne. For a moment no one followed. The women were too shocked by the fate of their breeder Queen.
There was a ladder. 'Climb!' he said at Soil, and she, unspeaking, climbed. Var stood with the hatchet, ready to fend off attack. He was sure that he himself would never have the chance to use the ladder.
Then, as the amazons advanced keening in fury, he struck at the wicker door supports. Rope and fiber sliced easily, and the door began to collapse, and the floor beneath it sagged. He hacked some more until there was a tumble of material ealing him off, then dived for the ladder.
Soil waited for him at the next level 'Where are we, Var?' she asked plaintively.
'In a hive!' he gasped, drawing her through another door. 'I killed the Queen-ant!'
They entered another large room. Men were working here, weaving baskets. Naked, flabby Var saw at once that they were castrate. No wonder the women had been fascinated by the visiting male they seldom saw a complete man!
But though these men were harmless, even pitiful, the amazon women were not. They burst through the door behind, screaming.
Var and Soli bolted again. But the next room was a blank cubbyhole, next to the gentle curvature of the exterior wall. They were trapped.
'Fire!' Soil cried.
Var cursed himself for not thinking of that sooner. He fumbled for his pack for a precious match and some kerosene. This thy hive would ignite rapidly.
His pack, of course, was not on him. It lay with the rest of his clothing in the Queen's hail.
But Soli was already making fire from the duplicate materials in her own pack. As the first female warrior charged into the compartment, she ignited a puddle of kerosene on the wooden floor.
The amazon stomped through the sudden blaze and screamed. Var clove her with the hatchet and she fell, her shield rolling away, the fire licking around her body.
