Amazon Maidens 8: One Heiress
By Littlesilverstar, silverstar222b@yahoo.com
The conflict between Livia and Jenova is settled once and for all


Inside the Colonial Capital's walls, the Governor was having a meeting with
his staff officers. There had been no word yet from Princess Katarina, and
many of the men in the room were uneasy at the lack of news.

Some of the men wanted to attack the Amazon camp, despite Katarina's order not
to do so. Foremost among those men was General Waterstone, a fat, incompetent
aristocrat who had only risen to his rank due to his wealth and political
connections. He was a sexist, a closet admirer of the usurper-king Frederick
X, and perhaps in the closet in another way as well. He longed for glory on
the battlefield, and resented Katarina mightily for her orders. But every time
he brought it up during the daily meetings, the Governor refused to go along
with his plans, as the Governor, unlike Waterstone, had actual brains.

After the day's meeting ended, Waterstone decided to try a new strategy, known
as going behind the Governor's back. He gathered together a group of
like-minded officers, men who didn't like taking orders from women, men who
wanted quick and easy glory, men who, despite all evidence to the contrary,
still thought they could actually outfight the Amazons. He suggested that they
gather up their brigades and battalions, attack the Amazon camp, and present
the Governor with a fait accompli. He told his subordinate officers that they
would get first pick of the treasure and the women once they had defeated the
Amazons. He even hinted at using the momentum from their glorious victory to
switch sides and start openly backing Frederick X. He had counted his chickens
up very nicely. The only problem was that they hadn't hatched yet.

And so early the next morning, General Waterstone, leading 1500 foolish men,
rode out of the city gates, confident of victory. He had no idea that he was
going to be outnumbered by more than 10 to 1. He was in denial about the fact
that one Amazon woman was the physical equal of four or five men. In his
inexplicable arrogance and stupidity, he took not a single cannon with him,
only a few dozen cavalry scouts and the rest of the men infantry. Even General
Donner (remember him, from the very first Amazon Maidens story) hadn't been
quite that terminally retarded. Donner had at least taken artillery and
superior numbers with him. In another time and another world, a foolish
lieutenant colonel named Custer had done something similarly stupid as
Waterstone, although at least Custer hadn't been quite so dumb as to attack
Amazons!

Two officers, a male captain and a female major, watched from the city gates
as the army headed off into the distance. "Should we try to stop them?" asked
the captain.

"No," said the major. "Just let them die."

* * *

"Enemies approaching!" called out an Amazon scout. "1500 men, coming out from
the city walls."

"Only 1500?" asked Jenova. "This must be part of some trick. We have 17,000
Amazons waiting here."

"My girls have every inch of the surrounding terrain covered. There's no place
for an enemy army to hide," said the scout.

"By the Mother Goddess," breathed Livia. "Could they possibly be just that
stupid? They are! They really are that fucking dumb." She licked her lips.
"Mother, I request permission to personally lead the force to squash those
male fools like insects."

"Granted," said the Amazon Queen. "Jenova, do you want in?"

"Remember how we practiced hunting when we were little by shooting arrows at
fish swimming in a barrel?" said Jenova.

"Um...we didn't do that," said Livia.

"That's right. Because it's too damn easy! I have no desire to be part of this
farce."

"As you wish. More glory for me."

Jenova shook her brunette head. "There's no glory in this."

"Whatever." Livia turned to her mother. "I'll take 200 cavalry and 200
archers. That's all I'll need."

"Livia, try to be a little less cocky than the enemy," the Queen scolded her
daughter.

"Fi-ine, Mom. Double those numbers." She gathered up her bow and sword and
mounted her horse. "This is going to be fun."

* * *

The first volley of arrows caught the men completely by surprise. A hundred
men dropped dead to the grass, and a hundred more cried out in agony as they
were wounded in their arms, legs, buttocks, or groins. Then 400 Amazon archers
appeared over a small ridge, drawing back their bows again.

"Volley fire! Blast them!" cried General Waterstone. The men fired their
muskets, but the girls were far out of range of the short-ranged weapons, and
the musket balls fell harmlessly into the dirt. A second volley of arrows
slammed into the hapless males, causing even more carnage than the first.

"Cavalry, charge them!" roared Waterstone. The tiny cavalry force, about 50
riders, charged the Amazons. None of them made it even halfway to the enemy
before being ruthlessly shot down by lethal female markswomanship. Waterstone
himself had not charged, staying behind like the coward he was.

"Infantry, advance!" shouted a colonel. Unlike Waterstone, he had some remote
semblance of brains, and he realized that the men had to get closer for their
muskets to be of any use. The men charged, trying to reload their clumsy
weapons as they ran. All this time, Amazon arrows were falling like rain upon
them. Hundreds of men fell dead, with many others wounded, including the
colonel, who took a powerful longbow-arrow to the thigh that cracked his
femur. Falling to the ground in agony, he managed to cry out, "Take aim!
Fire!"

As the survivors' muskets spat flame, the Amazon archers all executed perfect
standing back handsprings. The musket balls flew safely between their legs as
they were upside down. Landing elegantly on their leather-booted feet, the
girls began raining death with their arrows again.

The men in the rear, having had enough of this, decided to turn and run.
Suddenly, 400 Amazon cavalrywomen, led by Princess Livia, burst out from the
forest. A hail of arrows, thrown spears, and thrown axes cut many runners down
with lethal precision. One man hopped on a stray horse whose original rider
had died at the beginning of the battle and began riding away as fast as he
could. Livia drew a dagger from her boot and hurled it at him, the blade
entering his back with tremendous force and piercing his heart.

Then the Amazons rode into - or onto - the rest of the men, lancing, slicing,
and decapitating every male body in sight. Meanwhile, the archers on the other
side drew daggers and short swords and charged, closing the trap. They
elegantly backflipped like pro-gymnasts to the men, starting with cartwheels
and going into one-handed back handsprings, easily dodging any musket balls
the men fired at them. The girls crashed into the Royalist soldiers with
brutal kicks from their booted feet.

Now that they could see the Amazons close up, many of the men began sporting
erections, as the Amazons were all smoking hot, with muscular yet feminine
bodies, skin tanned various shades of brown from dark to very dark, and long
silky black, brown, blonde, or auburn hair. Their leather outfits covered
slightly more than bikinis, showing off their hard six-pack abs, muscular
thighs, heavily developed forearms, biceps, and triceps, and alluring
cleavage. Many of the men died hard, frustrated expressions on their faces,
unable to handle the fact that these incredibly beautiful women that they
wanted to have sex with were instead slaughtering them like sheep.

Livia looked up from the carnage. It was a perfect sweep. Not one man had
escaped, and not one girl had died. The most seriously wounded Amazon had
gotten a small cut on her right forearm when a man, holding his musket in his
death spasms, had scraped the point of his bayonet across her arm. Livia's
sword was soaked with blood, and all save one of the dozen arrows that had
been in her quiver were spent. Eleven shots, eleven kills.

As the Amazons were finishing the wounded men off, Livia passed by the colonel
who had been shot in the thigh. As he groaned and crawled by her, she casually
fired her last arrow into his torso without even stopping or looking at her
target. The arrow went straight through his heart.

Two Amazons dragged General Waterstone up to Livia. "The enemy commander, my
Lady," said one, backhanding him across the face just for fun, the ring she
was wearing leaving a nasty welt on his cheek.

Livia sneered at him. "Pathetic, just pathetic. You make that General Donner
look like a genius. Now what kind of death can I arrange that will be fitting
enough for a worthless cocksucker like you?" She suddenly snapped her fingers.
"I know. Bring me a musket."

An Amazon handed Livia a musket with bayonet attached. Livia, although she had
just recently come into contact with these weapons, was able to swiftly and
expertly load the musket. "Strip him."

Waterstone cursed and struggled, but was helpless as the Amazons stripped him
nude, exposing his pale, flabby body that stood in sharp contrast to the dark
brown, steel-hard Amazon girl-bodies all around him. There was one part of
Waterstone that was hard, however.

All the girls burst into laughter at seeing the captive general's hard-on,
which was only four inches long. "Look at him, the big general, hung like a
little boy!" smirked one girl.

"What a pussy and a coward he must be, getting aroused by women who are more
of a man than he could ever be!" another snickered.

"Turn him over," instructed Livia. She stood over him as his pale, flabby ass
pointed vulnerably up into the air. "This will be the perfect ending for a
pathetic short-cocked fairy like you," she whispered as he quivered in terror.

With that, she rammed the bayonet up his asshole. She taunted him as she
thrust it in deeper. "That's it, baby. Take it up the ass like a good little
submissive bitch." She roared with laughter at his screams of agony. As the
bayonet disappeared all the way inside and the thick musket began going in,
she smirked, "You're pretty loose. Have you done this before? Do you like
taking it up the butt, cocksucker?" The other Amazons joined in the giggles,
shrieking, holding their sides, adding to his eternal humiliation.

"Oh, by the Mother Goddess," said Livia. "I just can't hold it back any
longer! I'm gonna shoot!" With that, she pulled the trigger. The musket ball
ripped through his insides and went straight through his heart, exiting out
the front of his torso, mercifully ending it all.

* * *

Princess Livia rode cockily back into the Amazon camp, with General
Waterstone's decapitated head dangling from the side of her horse. She
dismounted in front of the Queen and Princess Jenova. "Mother." She bowed. "I
bring you tidings of a great victory. It was a perfect sweep. We killed every
single one of the enemy, and lost none of our girls. Three Amazons are
slightly wounded."

The Queen simply nodded, her face expressionless. Jenova whispered to one of
her staff officers in a voice too low for anyone else to hear. "At least she
took the extra girls that the Queen wanted. Without them, we probably would
have taken a few losses before we annihilated the men."

"We should attack the city now!" Livia urged. "With the losses they just took,
they can't have more than three, maybe four thousand men inside the walls at
most. We have seventeen thousand women here. They won't stand a chance, walls
or not!"

"Their artillery outnumbers ours five to one," said the Queen. "We must take
that into consideration. But I agree, now is a good time to attack."

"Mother, what about Princess Katarina?" demanded Jenova. "You said that you
respected her. Isn't there a chance for peace?"

"There can be no peace with men or any woman who puts men in her army!"
snarled Livia.

"Livia, calm yourself," the Queen urged her daughter. "Jenova, Katarina
appears to be gone. She never would have allowed those foolish men to ride out
and try to attack our camp."

"I know where she is!" cried a new voice. Everyone turned to look. An Amazon,
a makeshift bandage wrapped around her thick, muscular left forearm, rode into
the camp. Behind her came perhaps six dozen others, many of them wounded, some
riding double on their horses. "That bitch attacked us at San Sebastian,
without provocation!"

"That *is* her fort, and you *were* attacking it. Perhaps your definition of
provocation is different from mine, Commander Celia," said the Queen mildly.
"But let's set that aside for now. Tell me the whole story."

"Yes, my Queen," said Celia. "As you know, we were part of the thousand women
that stayed behind at San Sebastian. One morning, Katarina and an all-female
battalion of Royalists attacked us by surprise at dawn. We fought back hard
and killed some of them, but their sneak attack had inflicted too many losses
on us and I gave the order to bug out. But that's not all. Katarina only
attacked MY division, the glorious division under the banner of Princess
Livia! She left the women under Jenova's banner alone! Commander Allura must
have cut a deal with her, the traitor! And SHE must have been in on it too!"
Celia pointed an accusing finger at Jenova.

"Celia, that is enough," said the Queen sharply. "Jenova is my daughter, and a
Princess of the Amazon Nation. You will treat her with respect, and not sling
around wild accusations. Now, did Allura and her girls ever fire on you at any
point?"

"Well, um..." Celia had been watching from the woods when two of her Amazons
had murdered the two female Royalist prisoners and had subsequently been shot
down by Allura's girls. But if she answered yes, she would have to explain the
circumstances, and she knew that the Queen would not approve of taking female
soldiers hostage and executing them in cold blood. So she was forced to
answer, "No, my Queen. They did not. They just sat out of the battle and
refused to help us."

"Cowards," growled Livia. "I'll have Allura's head!"

"The hell you will!" snapped Jenova.

"Girls, QUIET, both of you, or I'll turn this chariot around and no one will
get any ice cream!" shouted the Queen. "No one is having anyone's head. I'm
sick of all this infighting within the Amazon Nation. That is not what we are
about. Now, on to more important matters. We will make plans to attack the
city." Livia smirked triumphantly.

"MY plans and MY orders, and you will follow them to the letter, Livia," said
the Queen. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Good," said the Queen.

"If we run into Katarina, we will offer her and any women under her command
safe passage off this island," the Queen continued. "Her men we will take as
slaves. Livia and Jenova, follow me. It's time to plan for battle."

* * *

The night was cloudy and pitch black. Two male Royalist sentries were chatting
on the walls of the Colonial Capital. "Thanks to Katarina's triple sentries at
night order, we have to pull night duty once a week now instead of once every
three weeks," the first man grumbled. "I should be in bed fucking my wife
right now."

"Tell me about it," said the second soldier. "What does Katarina think she
knows that we don't, anyway? We haven't heard anything from the Amazons for a
while. I bet they're too scared of us now to..."

Those were the last words he ever spoke. The Amazon arrow struck him right in
the right eye and he toppled over dead. Then more arrows were falling like
rain, sending men down dead or painfully wounded.

The first sentry, overcome with panic and terror, began running away. "Abandon
your posts! Flee for your lives!" he shouted. As he reached the bottom of the
stairs that went down the side of the wall, he suddenly found himself staring
into the business end of a flintlock pistol. A powerful, thick female arm, its
heavily developed muscles at full tension, was holding the weapon in a
confident one-handed grip. The sentry looked up into the face of the female
major (remember her?) who had ordered her subordinate to just let General
Waterstone and the fools who had followed him die.

The female officer spoke a single word. "Coward."

Then she fired, the round metal ball impacting the sentry's forehead and
splattering his brains all over the wall. She blew the smoke away from the
barrel as his corpse collapsed down.

She shouted up to the rest of the sentries. "Prepare for battle!"

At the major's orders, the Royalists began firing their cannons back at the
Amazons. Katarina's order to have half the guns loaded with canister helped,
as it was far more effective against enemy soldiers in the open field than the
traditional large, round metal balls. After the first shots had been fired,
the major ordered all the cannons to be reloaded with canister.

Then the Amazons began firing their own cannons at the city. However, since
they only had eight guns to the Royalists' forty, their effectiveness was
limited. In addition, although men and a few women were still dropping from
the volleys of Amazon arrows, the retaliatory fire from the canister had taken
out many of the archers and reduced their firepower. As the clouds broke and
the sun rose in the eastern sky, the battle continued.

* * *

Katarina's mixed force of Royalist women, Royalist men, and Allura's Amazons
marched northward through the forest. They were now almost all the way back to
the Colonial Capital.

Most of the soldiers had stayed within their respective groups, despite
Katarina's encouragement of mingling. She knew that they would all become a
stronger fighting force if Royalist men and Amazon women could both discover
that neither of the other was born with horns on their heads. She was
encouraged, however, by the sight of a few of her men cautiously and nervously
chatting with Amazon girls. General Norton and Commander Allura had also
spoken congenially with one another, although Kezia still acted coldly towards
the men.

Colonel Summers, riding next to the Princess, suddenly paused her horse.
"Listen."

"By the gods. Cannon fire," murmured Katarina. She called out loudly.
"Summers, Allura, and Kezia, you're with me! We're going to ride ahead with
the scouts. Norton, you're in command of the rest. Keep them in the woods
until you see a signal from me. Now let's ride!"

As Katarina and her female companions reached the edge of the woods, they
gasped at the sight before them. Amazon cannons and archers were firing at the
Colonial Capital, while the Royalist artillery fired back at their opponents.
Hundreds of Amazons lay dead on the wide plain in front of the city, blasted
apart by cannon fire, but a huge horde of warrior girls covered the plain in
brown, their brown leather outfits and their dark brown skin, pumping volley
after volley of arrows into the capital. Hundreds of dead Royalist men and a
few women, bodies impaled with arrows, were visible at the base of the walls
where they had fallen after being shot.

"Give me the white flag," said Katarina. "I have to put a stop to this."

"No! You're too valuable! I'll go," said Colonel Summers.

"Summers is right, Princess Katarina. If you die all chance for peace will be
lost. The colonel and I will both go," said Commander Allura. "The Amazons
won't fire on one of their own, and the men won't fire on a Royalist officer.
If we ride out together we should be able to get both sides to stop the
shooting."

Men and women, busy killing one another, were suddenly treated to the sight of
Colonel Summers, waving a large white flag, riding onto the plain, Commander
Allura riding right behind her, both women shouting as loudly as they could.
"CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE! TRUCE! TRUCE!"

"Amazon in the firing range! Cease fire!" shouted the Amazon Queen.

"That's Colonel Summers out there! Cease fire!" shouted the Colonial Governor
from atop the city walls.

The booms of cannons and the whizzing of arrows ceased. The two women sat
between the two armies. Dead silence loomed over the plain.

Allura opened her mouth to speak, but her body suddenly jerked, spasmed, and
slid off her horse. She landed on her side, rolled onto her back, and lay
there still and dead, a wicked-looking crossbow bolt impaled in the center of
her chest, right between her perky breasts.

"NOOOOOOOO!" shouted Summers as she saw the body fall. At the edge of the
forest, Katarina and Kezia's mouths both dropped open in shock and anger.

From the Amazon lines, Commander Celia smirked as she reloaded her crossbow.
"One traitor to her nation down!" she snarled, her face twisted into an
expression of blind rage and hatred. "And now to kill a traitor to her sex!"
She began aiming at Colonel Summers.

"NO!" Princess Jenova, her own bow already in her hands, drew the string back
and fired a lightning-quick but perfectly aimed shot. The arrow struck Celia
in the head and she crashed to the dirt.

"Allura!" cried Jenova and Kezia, from different places at the same time.

"Celia!" cried Livia. She glared at her sister. "You murdered her!"

"No, she murdered Allura and was about to murder Summers!"

"ENOUGH!" roared the Amazon Queen, positioning herself between her daughters.
"No more fighting! Not now!"

Summers rode slowly towards the Amazon lines, still carrying the white flag.
Katarina and Kezia rode out of the woods to join her.

Katarina stopped before the Amazon Queen, dismounted, and bowed. "It is an
honor to finally meet you."

"And you as well. I only wish it were under more pleasant circumstances."

"They may be ugly now, but we have the power to make them better if we work
together."

* * *

The truce established, men and women from both armies were busy burying their
dead and treating their wounded. The ship-of-the-line Frederick VI had arrived
at the docks, unloading its injured soldiers. The frigate Roslyn II was still
out searching for other Royalist ships.

On the barren plain between the Amazon camp and the city walls, the Amazon
Queen, flanked by Livia and Jenova, stood regal and elegant, watching as
Princess Katarina and Colonel Summers walked towards them. Behind them, the
Colonial Governor and General Norton were walking considerably more nervously,
as for months they had been dealing with Amazons whose policy towards men was
to kill them on sight. Nearby, Kezia sat over Allura's corpse, weeping.

Livia spat onto the ground. "I will never parley with men as equals! Never,
never, never! All men are the eternal enemies of the glorious Amazon Nation!
ALL of them!"

Kezia stood up. "Enough, Livia! All you do is scream and kill and hate! Over
the past few months, your stubbornness has led to the deaths of thousands of
Amazons from the nation you claim to love so much!"

"How dare you speak to a Princess that way! You are but a junior officer! Know
your place!" snarled Livia.

"Somebody has to stand up to you!" Kezia looked down at Allura's dead body,
then boldly walked up to the Governor and the general. "Allura confided in me
that she wished that the Amazons could have normal relations with men," she
informed them. "Under Amazon tradition, even to speak of that is heresy. I
kept her secret, but I couldn't understand why she felt the way she did. Until
now." Kezia held out both of her hands. After a moment, the Governor and
General Norton each grasped one of them. Livia screamed in rage. Jenova
gasped, then smiled. Katarina and Summers were smiling as well. The Amazon
Queen raised an eyebrow, but otherwise her face remained expressionless.

"Now that that is settled, perhaps we can commence the negotiation of..."
Katarina began.

"It is NOT settled!" shouted Livia. She turned to the Queen. "Mother, surely
you will not allow this! We as Amazons have never negotiated with men! Men are
slaves, or they are corpses! Nothing else!"

The Amazon Queen remained silent for a while. A long while. Jenova began to
grow uneasy. "Mother, surely you're not considering starting the war again,
after all we..."

"You're not going to take HER side, are you?" demanded Livia, interrupting her
sister. "I am the eldest daughter! I am the heiress to the throne!"

The Queen took a deep breath. She looked up at the sky, trying to channel the
spirit of the Mother Goddess. She knew in her heart that Jenova was right and
Livia was wrong. But she also knew that if she spoke up in favor of one
daughter, the divisions that had been festering within the Amazon Nation would
boil to the surface, and the likely result would be civil war. She sighed. She
knew what she had to do now. She knew what she had to say.

"My daughters. So often you have fought with each other. Too often. This
cannot go on. Both the personal dispute between you two, and the dispute on
what course our nation should take, must be settled. There is only one way for
all of this to be settled. You both know what it is."

Jenova's hand flew to her mouth, then she nodded, slowly and grimly. Livia
smirked cockily.

The Queen shook her head sadly. "One last fight. And then, there will be no
more fighting. I wish there was another way."

"Aw, don't get all melancholy, Mom," said Livia. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Jenova rolled her eyes.

"We will work out the details here and now," said the Queen. She looked up at
the position of the sun. "You'll each have about an hour to prepare. Then, at
high noon...the fate of thousands will be decided."

* * *

Katarina had ordered a large tent to be set up by the city walls. Inside,
Jenova was preparing for her big fight like Rocky Balboa (well, not really),
doing various backflips and cartwheels, and practice-dueling with Kezia.
Katarina, the Governor, General Norton, and Colonel Summers were talking as
they watched them.

"I guess it could have been worse," said Norton. "If Livia wins, we'll have to
evacuate the entire island forever, and only the women and twenty handpicked
men will be allowed to leave. The rest of the men will become slaves of the
Amazons, with Livia allowed to take vengeance upon them however she wishes."

"At least we'll be safe," said the Governor. "Thanks, Kat."

"I had to twist the hell out of the Queen's arm to even get her to agree to
twenty men," said Katarina. "The men I'll have to leave behind! By the gods."

"Come on, Kat, think positive," said Summers. "Jenova's going to whip that
bitch's ass."

"You're right," said Katarina. "If Jenova can pull this off, this will be the
beginning of a beautiful friendship between our two nations. We could even get
Amazon help when we invade the mainland to overthrow my evil brother the
usurper."

Jenova moved on to practicing her standing back tucks and standing back
layouts. Kezia put away the practice swords and began sharpening Jenova's
battle sword. Katarina walked over to her. In a low voice, she asked,
"Honestly, what do you think her chances are?"

Kezia glanced around, then whispered, "Well, both Amazon princesses are
equally fast, but Livia is stronger. Livia, however, is just so hot-tempered.
She's liable to fly into a rage at some point and make a critical mistake.
Jenova is calm, cool, and collected. I honestly do think she can win."

Katarina nodded. "By your gods and mine, let's hope she can."

* * *

A large round circle, forty feet in diameter, was marked off in the dirt
between the city walls and the Amazon camp to serve as the battle area. A
troop of Amazon maidens, flowers in their hair, sprinkled the circle with holy
dust in a religious ritual, blessing the ground. The Amazon army watched,
waiting, in perfect formation.

Up on the city walls, thousands of Royalist men and women were crowded to
watch the fight. Vendors hawked hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, ice cream, and
beer, and more money changed hands as citizens made bets on the outcome of the
duel.

Princess Katarina, the Colonial Governor, and General Norton walked out of the
gates and seated themselves in three large chairs that had been set up just
outside the walls. Then Princess Jenova walked out, accompanied by Kezia and
Colonel Summers. Jenova paused before the chairs. "May your gods and mine be
with you," said Katarina.

"Thank you," said Jenova. Her voice was calm, but there was a hint of
nervousness in her eyes. She made her way towards the arena, Summers and Kezia
trailing her. The Amazon Queen was waiting next to the circle.

The ranks of Amazons parted and Livia appeared, accompanied by two of her
loyal officers. Her face was icy and determined. She stood at the edge of the
circle, crossing her thick, heavily muscled arms in front of her. Her long
auburn hair blew in the breeze, its femininity contrasting sharply with her
powerful muscles.

Wordlessly, Jenova tossed her curly black hair and made her way to the edge of
the circle opposite from Livia. Jenova was muscular as well, but her figure
was more slender than Livia's. The two women stood there, facing one another
silently, their darkly tanned brown bodies looking great in their little
Amazon leather miniskirts and halter tops. Kezia handed Jenova her sword as
one of Livia's companions handed the older princess her own blade. Then they
retreated, leaving the two Amazon princesses standing there, facing off woman
to woman.

The Queen spoke, raising a toned arm into the air. "I will not make a long
speech. We all know what is at stake here. May victory go to whoever is
favored by the Mother Goddess." She dropped her arm, signalling for the fight
to begin.

Both women started out cautiously, keeping their distance, occasionally going
in for quick swings which the other girl parried easily. After about thirty
seconds of this, Livia moved to attack with her sword again, but it was only a
feint. With her free hand, she punched Jenova in her left eye, turning it
black. The powerful blow would have stunned a male opponent, leaving him
completely vulnerable, but Jenova was tough, despite her slender figure. She
let out a cry of pain, but kept her wits as she saw her older sister coming at
her again. Jenova did a standing back handspring to avoid Livia's sword, then
continued her series of standing handsprings to the edge of the circle. She
landed elegantly on her feet and twirled her sword a couple of times.

Livia let out a high-pitched warrior cry that struck terror into the hearts of
the men watching from the city walls. She performed a cartwheel followed by a
series of whip-backs directly at Jenova, her speed increasing with each
no-handed flip. Whirling into a blindingly fast double full twist at the end
of her tumbling pass, Livia's blade lashed out, which Jenova blocked. A wild
melee of swings, counter-swings, and parries ensued, both girls using their
almost superhuman speed to stay alive. Finally, Jenova spin-kicked Livia in
the side of the head, sending her to the dirt face first.

Loud cheers erupted from Princess Katarina and her companions, and from the
city walls. Surprisingly, not everyone was cheering, however. Some of the male
citizens had such extreme fetishes for being dominated by women that they were
secretly hoping that Livia would win so they could be the Amazons' slaves
forever.

Jenova charged her opponent, but Livia expertly rolled over and kipped up to
her feet, at the same time swinging her sword low, forcing Jenova to jump over
it. The two women circled each other like rival tigresses. "What's the matter,
little sister?" Livia taunted. "Afraid you won't measure up? Well, you're
right to be afraid. I was always better than you."

"Better at running your mouth," said Jenova. Livia growled and charged with an
aggressive series of attacks, pushing Jenova to the limit as she blocked or
dodged them. Finally, however, one of Livia's swings sliced a cut open on
Jenova's side. The younger woman let out a cry, but kicked Livia hard in the
chest as she was preparing her sword again, sending her flying backwards.
Livia, for her part, turned the motion into a graceful backflip, landing
perfectly on her feet. Jenova used the brief respite to check on her wound.

"Oh, no," said Colonel Summers, who was now standing next to Katarina. "Is it
bad?"

"It's a long cut, but shallow," said Katarina. "She'll be all right."

Jenova, though she was bleeding, performed a front tuck somersault to take her
over to her opponent. Another dazzlingly fast series of swings and parries
followed from both girls until Livia suddenly executed a blinding aerial
cartwheel, kicking Jenova in the head with both of her booted feet, one after
another. The dark-haired girl was sent stumbling away, spun around by the
force of the kicks, her vulnerable back towards Livia.

The older princess smirked and prepared to finish her opponent with a
backstab. But suddenly, Jenova donkey-kicked her sister in the solar plexus
with all her strength. As Livia doubled over, Jenova spun around, sword
flashing. Livia let out a scream as her right hand was cut off and her sword
fell to the ground.

Livia, to her credit, had balls. She reached down and picked up her sword with
her left hand, despite the blood pouring from the stump of her other limb, and
tried to attack. It was too late for her, however. With an elegant swing,
Jenova cut off Livia's left hand as well, then looked into her sister's eyes,
which were defiant to the last.

Then Jenova made one final swing, cutting off Livia's head.

There was dead silence on the plain. The Royalists watching from the city
walls suddenly realized just how serious this was. There was no whooping and
hollering, no gaudy celebrations. The right woman had won, but the Royalists
respectfully limited themselves to a few subtle fist pumps and handshakes. As
for the Amazons, both the Jenova and Livia factions had sense enough to avoid
showing their emotions, at least at this time, lest a massive rumble break
out.

Katarina let out a huge sigh of relief. She looked at the men and women around
her and simply nodded.

Jenova walked up to her mother, shaking her head sadly. "Well, one thing's for
certain," she said. "My sister lived like an Amazon, and died like one." The
Queen gave her daughter a tight hug.

* * *

The Amazon Queen, Princess Katarina, and Princess and Heiress-Apparent Jenova
emerged from the large tent three hours later, a document in hand signed by
all three. The peace treaty established official diplomatic relations between
the Royalist kingdom and the Amazon Nation, with a line running from San
Sebastian to Fort Osweiler becoming the official border between the two
countries.

At Jenova's personal urging, a plan was drawn up for gradual, compensated
emancipation of male slaves who had done the Amazons no wrong. The first
group, men over the age of fifty and men who suffered from chronic illness,
were to be released after this year's harvest was complete, with more groups
to be liberated each year for a period of ten years. This great reduction in
the amount of cheap labor opened up many new jobs and drove up wages for the
second-class citizens of the Amazon Nation, the women who had failed their
warrior tests, leading to more financial equality and less disgruntlement in
society.

The men who had been captured making war on the Amazons, however, would remain
enslaved forever. This included the men from the Royalist kingdom, the ones
who had been in the usurper-king's army. They would beg Katarina to set them
free, but she would respond with a simple message of, "Tough shit. I gave you
a fair chance to join me earlier and you didn't take it."

Citizenship in the Amazon Nation would remain restricted to women, but a
mating season protocol was established where worthy men could visit the
Amazons for the purpose of making babies, and be treated as guests and leave
as free men when their "work" was done. Some men would end up liking it so
much that they begged their female lovers to let them stay, and eventually,
many years later, when Jenova had become Queen, a system of permanent
residency was worked out, where certain approved men were allowed to
officially live in the Amazon Nation, although they would not be allowed to
participate in government.

Katarina, as Queen-Apparent of the Royalists, decreed that all the trade
guilds were now open to women, as well as all branches of the military. She
knew that it would take time, probably decades, for the next generation of
women to assimilate with their male counterparts and gain enough experience to
rise up through the ranks, and she was wise enough to know not to try to force
the process faster than it should go. With luck, she would live to a ripe old
age, long enough to see all the seeds she had planted bear fruit.

Most of the people in both nations were satisfied with these sensible
arrangements. There would always be a few fanatics, of course, men and women
who didn't want to accept compromise. A few men plotted to switch sides and
join the forces of the usurper-king at the first opportunity, but they were
very small in number. Most men acknowledged the strength and wisdom of
Katarina's leadership.

Allura was given an Amazon state funeral, with flowers and bugles and speeches
and the whole nine yards. Livia was allowed a state funeral as well, a
political move calculated by the Queen to try to gain the support of her
followers. For the most part, it worked, although a few diehard Livia
loyalists slipped into the woods to launch a low-scale guerrilla war, making
cross-border raids on outlying Royalist villages and sniping men with their
crossbows. These actions, however, only served to bring the two nations closer
together through the cooperation of the Amazon and Royalist militaries in
their anti-guerrilla operations.

With the peace treaty signed, Katarina could now concentrate on retaking the
mainland from her sniveling little brother, the usurper-king Frederick X. Over
the next couple of weeks, several more of her ships returned to the Colonial
Capital, and she prepared an army of invasion.

She knew it wasn't going to be easy. She could draw upon 6000 male and 1000
female Royalist soldiers, but there just weren't enough transport ships. They
would have to make two trips, leaving half her force unsupported on the
mainland, vulnerable to Frederick's far larger forces. She knew that most of
the men in the usurper's armies were willing to switch sides and support her,
but only if she showed herself to be strong enough. An early defeat in battle
would mean her campaign would be over before it began.

"My Lady?"

Katarina looked up. A young female officer that she had recently appointed to
her staff stood in the doorway. Behind her, the Princess could see men and
women busy working, loading supplies, preparing for war. "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Princess Jenova is here to see you."

"Send her right in. Thank you."

Jenova and Katarina hugged each other tightly. The Amazon princess's black eye
was still visible, and there was a long scar on her side where Livia's sword
had slashed her. "So, how go things with the new Amazon Nation?" Katarina
asked.

"Well enough, I suppose. The Queen is handling all the hard stuff. There are
some diehards who don't like the new changes we've made, and they see me as a
rather biased party. It'll be easier for the Queen to ease them into it. But
that's not what I came here to talk to you about. I hear you're going back to
the mainland to overthrow the sexist usurper, and I'd like to bring some of my
Amazons and join you."

"You know I'd love your help, Jenova. The gods know we need all the women and
men we can get. But will those Amazon girls really be okay with being ordered
to serve under a foreign banner in a mixed-sex army so soon? It takes time for
minds to..."

"They aren't being ordered to. They volunteered. I put the call out and I got
about 500 girls willing to go and fight. You're right. It takes time for minds
to change. But these young women will be the vanguard of a new era of
cooperation. I got the Queen's blessing for them to go, too."

Katarina's face broke into a wide smile. "Thank you, Jenova. These girls will
be a huge help."

Finally, the long-awaited day arrived. It was time to liberate the mainland.
Katarina had seven large, slow, clumsy transport ships, each of which could
carry 500 soldiers. These would be protected by her warships - three ships of
the line, the Frederick VI, the Avenger, and the Sentinel, and three frigates,
the Roslyn II, the Antonius IV, and the Snowbrook. Jenova's small Amazon
warships, carrying her force of 500 volunteers, would accompany them.

Katarina said her goodbyes to the Governor and her other friends on the
island, among them many Amazons, including the Queen herself. Then, climbing
aboard the Avenger, she stood on the deck as the fleet sailed out of the
harbor, watching as the spires of the Colonial Capital disappeared into the
distance. It had been her home for so long. But now, it was time to go to her
real home. It was time to go where she really belonged. The Imperial Palace,
with the royal throne underneath her sexy, well-muscled arse.

For the next several days, it was just the fleet and the open sea. She prayed
to her gods for calm waters and no trouble during the crossing. Calm seas she
got, but lack of trouble was quite another thing. About halfway across the
passage, she saw the Roslyn II, which she had sent ahead to scout with Colonel
Summers aboard, returning to the main fleet. Her darkly tanned face paled as
she deciphered the flag signals that Summers sent:

"A powerful fleet with the black sails of the usurper-king Frederick X is
approaching. Eight ships of the line and five frigates."

Her small frigates couldn't stand against ships of the line. And the enemy had
eight of those to her three. She brought the fleet close for a council of war,
getting Colonel Summers and Princess Jenova within shouting distance on their
respective ships. She spoke to them quickly but calmly. They would have one
chance to get this right. If they failed...the revolution would be over before
it began.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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