LUMAR

<!LUMAR. PART 2. A LONELY MESSENGER.>

<!The only survivor returns to Lumar while taking good care of her chasers.>

The only time when the creatures of Mylar jungle show at least a feeble semblance of solidarity is when humans appear under its canopy. Though the newcomers know to behave as inconspicuous and quiet as possible, they are still strangers here and as such are constantly followed by dozens of watchful eyes with mixture of alarm and calculating interest. When a war party of swarthy, black-haired Amazons on their dark horses goes through the forest, they get quickly recognized for what they are. And all the magpies, parrots, monista monkeys and other loud-mouths of Mylar start screaming their little heads off, letting know everyone and his aunt that a pack of predators is on the prowl. White-bodied and blonde Lumaras cause quite different reaction. The wise-heads of Mylar are at lost how to place these weird species, completely devoid of any protective colorization or camouflage. So the forest greets them with bewildered silence.

At this particular moment at this particular part of this particular trail, the woods suddenly fell completely silent. And sure enough, a lonely female rider appeared on the trail a minute later. Anyone who looks like Mixa should be called officially beautiful. Completely naked, of a very pale, almost albino-white complexion, her long legs, full breasts and shoulder long golden hair softly swaying with each movement of her horse ' she was quite an eyeful going through the forest on a black Amazonian horse with another one in tow. She also had one of those incredibly blue eyes that would momentarily stop the breath of anyone who had never seen a Lumara before. Actually, she wouldn't even attract a second glance from anybody in Lumar ' this mysterious city of white beauties-warrioresses perched on the shores of Kamalata Bay. Despite her looks and gender, at her 21 years Mixa was hardly a walking example of the universal love and gentleness. Six young Amazons, whose souls departed so early by her skilful hand, would readily attest to that. In fact, her latest victory was no more than 20 hours old. The former owner of a black horse she was riding at the moment was never going to claim or need her property anymore.

Only 20 hours ago Mixa was still a member of a 20 strong unit of Lumara troops escorting princess LiudMila, a soon-wife-to-be of Queen Bessiera, to Tera-Tegana land. Last night their camp was raided by a prowling gang of Amazons. It all happened in early morning. Mixa and three others were sleeping in their tent, when they were woken up by some noise outside. Rika, the girl closest to the entrance, sprang to her feet, sword in hand, and rushed out. Mixa with her weapons went out just a second or two behind her. What she saw there wasn't good. To her left Rika was lying on her back, motionless, apparently dead, with an arrow sticking from her chest. 15 Yards in front of her a kneeling Amazon was inserting another arrow in her bow, her movements well practiced and fast. Mixa jumped to her right, shoulder-rolled and came up on all fours taking cover behind the tent. She heard a sound of a bowstring been released, a gasp and a noise of a body hitting the ground as the Amazon shot Lura, another girl from her tent, at the entrance. The lawn in front of the other tent, where ten junior warrioresses were staying that night, was literally paved with their sprawled bodies. She could see Amazons running all over the place. The camp was swarmed over and there was nothing she could do about it. Her death would definitely change nothing. On the other hand, there was still a chance that princess LiudMila wouldn't be killed, but rather taken a prisoner. Being a wild and murderous bunch, Amazons still had a very keen sense of reason, when they saw a valuable thing and a good bargain. The princess might still have a chance, but only if Mixa brought help quickly. Decision taken, Mixa bolted across open clearing toward horses. It was clear that Amazons would see her right away; the speed and surprise ' the only safety she had. A knife in the hand, Mixa sprinted to the nearest horse, vaulted lightly on its back (Whose horse is it? Grey. Looks like Rika's. Damn my luck! Bad choice! No time, no time!), cut the ties, felt an arrow ruffled her hair missing by an inch, and set off in full gallop. She knew that Amazons would be on her heels in no time at all, and tried to use her head start the best she could. Her head start didn't really matter. In about five minutes she started hearing sounds of horses gaining on her. No way anyone can outrun an Amazon on horseback on a jungle trail! They were coming all right. The old Lumara saying goes "The only way to shake an Amazon off your tail is to swat her." It was unlikely that more than two of them were after her, Mixa was sure of that. The rest was most probably pretty busy ransacking the camp right now. She could handle two, if she played her cards right and didn't wait till they actually caught her. After the next turning she stopped at a small clearing and dismounted. Leaving her horse in the woods, Mixa quickly walked into the center and took a well-balanced fencer's stance: left foot in front, right foot behind and at 45 degrees, both knees slightly bent. Holding her knife by the tip of the blade between thumb and forefinger of her right hand, she stretched both arms in front of herself and then made a slow round swing with her armed hand up and behind her back. Now she was ready. A moment later the first pursuer appeared at the turning of the trail. She was going fast, bent low to the horse's neck, hanging slightly off to the right side with the sword glittering in her hand, exactly as Mixa expected. Shifting to the front foot Lumara threw the knife with all her force, putting all her weight into the swing. Evading the extended sword, she stepped to the left, dropped to one knee, looked up, saw dark Amazonian eyes, wide-open in deathly pain, gliding over her with furious hatred, and the black horse with its hell-bound rider disappeared in the bushes down the trail. The first Amazon out of the picture and not a problem anymore, Mixa ran to her horse. An expert knife-thrower, she was sure that her knife was now immersed to the hilt in the girl's heart, she was dead, and would drop eventually off her horse twenty or thirty yards down the trail. Now her next problem appeared in the clearing riding at full speed. The second Amazon saw her right away and stopped dead on her tracks drawing the rains and raising the horse on its hind legs. Mixa drew the sword, nudged her horse and charged. Two young warrioresses met in the flurry of moves and countermoves, lunges, blows, thrusts and parries. Lumara was clearly much better swordfighter than her younger and less proficient opponent. From the very beginning the girl was desperately trying to defend herself, until finally Mixa struck the sword from her hand with a side-blow, sending it flying in the air and leaving her adversary exposed and helpless for the finishing strike. Though not a fine blade, the Amazon was still a damn good rider. She reared her horse, turned it around on a dime and dashed back to the woods. Mixa tried to stick her, putting all her weight into a lunge intended to spit the pestilent teen and- missed! Knowing perfectly well what was coming, the fleeing Amazon leaned forward, swung her leg over and speeded away hanging off the side of her horse, all performed in one fluid motion. Hitting thin air instead of a dense mass of bone and muscle, Lumara's sword went through too easy and too fast, and she had to franticly struggle not to fall of her horse and keep the grip on her weapon at the same time. The girl swung herself back on the horse (briefly flashing her firm and round bottom in the face of infuriated Mixa) and made a safe if hasty retreat before Lumara got back her balance. In exasperation, Mixa looked for a moment in the direction her unfinished job disappeared, decided not to give chase and shrugged. You can't kill them all anyway. The little monkey got away, and the best she could do about it was to get moving herself and as fast as possible, before the monkey came back with the others. Oh damn, how she hated unfinished jobs! About fifty yards down the road, her horse had to step carefully over the lifeless form of the first Amazon, sprawled on her back across the trail. The girl's eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open, and she looked relaxed as if asleep. Well, she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, not with a thin knife jutting from her chest. Mixa sprang down, placed the ball of her foot in the soft valley between girl's breasts, grabbed the handle with both hands and slowly, with effort pulled the blade out from the dead but still resilient flesh. It came out with an almost audible "swi-i-ish" leaving only a tiny mark on the bronze skin. Lumaras liked their weapons thin and honed to the highest sharpness. This way they were easy to get in and out and as lethal in their expert hands as any ax or mace. After conducting the operation of knife extraction with utter indifference, Mixa found the Amazon's horse much more interesting matter. A well-groomed black mare was shifting uneasily from one leg to another looking askew at Mixa and the corpse, confused but trained too good to run away. Lumara was still a long way from home, and a spare mount was definitely a plus. She wiped and sheathed the knife, climbed her horse and with the captured one in tow continued her way at a sharp trot. That's how twenty or so hours later she turned out alone with two horses on a trail deep in the forest, where we first met her. Actually, by now her long journey was coming to the end. Pretty soon she started catching glimpses of tall, fortified towers of Lumar looming over the treetops and came to the city gates twenty minutes later. The guards knew her well and took her immediately to Her Majesty Queen MariKole. The Queen listened to Mixa's report without interrupting, sunk in shocked and grim silence. LiudMila was one of her favorites. She watched her grow into a joyful, smart and incredibly beautiful 16-year-old young lady who only three days ago set out on that fateful journey. Damn, she expected so much from her! She needed a spy in Tera-Tegana to keep soft tabs on Lady Bessiera. A beautiful, subtle and reliable spy. And LiudMila was perfect for the role. Now the whole spy thing was most probably ruined. Damn! Well, still not all might have been lost yet. Something might still be rescued. With a sigh MariKole snapped out of her reverie and smiled to Mixa who was standing there unsure of what to expect. "You did well, Mixa." And then to Birna, her chief bodyguard, "Start the things rolling. We are leaving in the morning."