Vara and the minotaur By Montrose Queen Rumplus looked down at the mercenary standing on the purple rug at the base of the steps to her thrown. Two guards lay at her feet, dead for trying to disarm her in the presence of the queen. A handful of other guards rushed into the room. The queen raised her hand to stop them. She could not afford to loose good men during a war. Not that any of her men were as good as this woman. "I am Vara." Declared the young woman as she sheathed her sword. "I am answering your call for a hero to vanquish your foe." The queen looked again at the men at her feet. "You handle yourself well enough. Do you know the terms?" "Bring Omphale, a renegade captain of yours, back alive. The prize is the castle she occupies and her servants." replied Vara. "And her guards, dear girl." The queen stood. Vara stepped back instinctively and touched the hilt of her sword. Even at 70, Queen Rumplus showed power and agility. If she were young enough she would do the work herself, no doubt. "I want to kill her guards with my own hands. Bring them back alive." Vara bowed her head slightly. "As you wish." "Don't you want to know how many there are?" The queen smirked as she descended the steps. The young woman was only a hair taller than the old woman. Both towered over everyone else. "Only to know when I am done." The Queen chuckled and flicked a hand to summon wine. "Our best intelligence tells us she has four of my amazons working for her, and she has recruited one more." Vara did not react. "I have heard of you, Vara. You are good. But so are my girls. Omphale took my best with her and killed the rest. These men fall before them like wheat." She offered Vara a goblet and took the other. "To your victory, dear girl." Under a black velvet sky pricked with a trillion pin hole stars Vara swam the mote in silence. The starlight glistened on the crest of the gentle ripples that pulsed from her flesh. Once against the castle wall she dug into the modest niches available and scaled to the second story like a spider. She drew even with a window and paused hugging the wall. Someone was speaking, and very near. "I tell you I can feel it! Danger is near! I have a sense of these things!" said a young male voice. "You know my..." "Your grandmother was a witch!" finished another young man. "I know! You keep saying. But if you're such a fortune teller, why aren't you Omphale's advisor instead of her assistant cook?" "Well, I am a very good cook..." murmured the first man. Vara slipped over to the window and peeked in. One man was leaning on the sill with his back to her. They continued talking. By his speech she could tell he was the second man. She pulled her sword from its scabbard. "I wish you would move from that window." said the first man. "Why?" Vara slammed the hilt of her sword into the back of the man's head driving him face-first into the other man, knocking them both cold. She slipped in. "That's why." she replied. She used the men's clothes to gag them and bind them, then she packed them into a cupboard. They would make good slaves later - and she could always use a truth sayer. The room held four or five massive stone ovens and rows of counters and cupboards. Roots, herbs, and fruit hung from the rafters giving the room a magnificent aroma. A kitchen this big was bound to be on the same level as the banquet hall. And one level up is the master suite, she recalled from the maps she had studied. She cracked open the thick door and glanced up and down the hall. All clear, and the stairs were only steps away. She slipped out, closed the door, and dashed to the stairs. Her long hair flew in her wake. At the base of the stairs she listened. Nothing. All was quiet. Too quiet. She took her hard boots off and slipped up the marble steps barely drawing a breath. She was only halfway up when she was attacked from above! Someone landed hard on her back! A powerful pair of legs clutched her ribs as a thundering blow landed on the back of her head. She fell to the stairs and tumbled down rolling over her assailant. She had met one of the amazon guards. The fall down the stairs did not break the scissors hold, but the woman had dropped her war hammer. Vara's sword was pinned to her side. She staggered to her feet with the woman astride her. The woman locked Vara's neck in a choke hold. She clutched at the arm, but the hold was well applied. She ran backwards into a wall mashing the girl with all the strength of her legs. The woman blasted all her air out, but kept her hold. Vara aimed for the opposite wall. This time the woman's hold weakened. Vara grabbed her and hoisted her slumping body back up. She charge the first wall again. Her attacker dropped to the floor. Vara drew her sword and almost beheaded her, but remembered, bring them back alive. She stripped the woman and was about to use her uniform to tie her up when she noticed that the woman was about her size - and as blonde as she. She put on the constraining iron chest piece (not as roomy as she would have liked), crimson skirt, and strap sandals. She hefted the naked guard and dropped her hard in an empty room. She gagged her with strips from a table cloth and rolled her in a rug. The woman was coming to as Vara tied the rug shut. She bucked like a mule! Vara punched her in the head three or four times. The woman lay still again. She left her cloths and weapons in the room, too. If she was to be mistaken for this guard she would need to use the hammer. Again she made her way to the stairs. She saw the guard post above the stairs where she had been ambushed before. It was impossible to see from the base of the stairs but plain as day at the top. It was empty now. Vara heard footsteps, many footsteps! She took the post of her attacker. An amazon guard walked by leading twenty men in formation. A hall patrol? This could be tricky. Vara returned a salute but then turned and stuffed her face in a scroll she found on the guard desk. As the troop passed, she noticed the scroll was a schedule of patrols. What a break! She studied the document and plotted a course to the master suite. The next patrol would not pass for another hour. Now was her chance. She slipped down the hall until it ended in double doors. Beyond was an antechamber, and beyond that the master suite where she hoped to find Omphale. The schedule said there would be three guards in the antechamber. She stood straight, adjusted her breasts, flipped the hammer onto her shoulder and opened the door. She hoped to get close enough before the disguise failed. As she stepped in she saw three women dressed just as she was guarding the double doors on the other side of the large empty room. The two on either side held swords. These were normal amazons, almost as big as Vara. But the woman in the middle was no normal woman. She had only seen an axe that big in the hands of a minotaur, and the girl looked like she had the arms and back to wield it. She stood head and shoulders taller than Vara. Her hair was a tremendous black tangle that ran to her rump. The other two girls were blondes. "This must be the wringer," thought Vara. "Nice add to the team." The girls looked at Vara as she stepped into the room. They stood thirty paces away. They recognized Vara as an imposter when she drew within ten. The girls on the end charged but the big girl held her post. "Thank the winds!" thought Vara. She met the first sword with the unfamiliar hammer handle and had it sawed off in her hands. Suddenly unarmed against two skilled swords-women, Vara backed against the wall. They worked well as a team, alternating their swings, never giving Vara a moment's rest. She hopped and ducked, sometimes slapping swords away with her hands. At one point her 'rented' iron chest piece saved her life as it drew sparks from a descending sword. But she grew tired of the dance. Vara tore her chest piece free and used it for a weapon. First she blocked blows, then she delivered them. The right cup came down on the head of the girl to her right and dropped her to her knees. The girl to her left drew blood from Vara's back. Vara swung around and smacked her across the face with the iron bra. She dropped backwards like a fallen tree. The other girl had lost her sword but drove her shoulder into Vara's gut and lifted her. She flipped Vara over the top and fell backwards onto Vara's head and chest, driving the wind from her. Both amazons staggered to their feet. The guard leveled a punch into Vara's gut. Vara returned her own. The guard dropped to her knees again. She was about to finish her when the other girl blind-sided her with a foot to the face. "The queen was right," thought Vara as she fell. "They're good." She staggered back to her feet. How Vara loved the smell of close combat! Both girls charged her as a team and cloths-lined her to the ground. One tried to drop a knee on her neck, but Vara rolled out. The girl damaged her knee coming down on the hard stone. Vara lifted the other girl and treated her to two back breakers, first over one knee and then the other. She stood up with her and threw her at her friend. She straddled them both and repeatedly crushed their heads into the floor. She remembered just in time... alive! She wants them alive. She stood and faced the big guard with the axe. The monster had not moved! Vara grabbed a sword. She stood bare breasted, skirt torn, and splattered with blood. A trickle seeped from the wound in her back. Sweat dripped in her hair. The mammoth woman with the axe looked unconcerned and relaxed as she gazed down. Vara took one step forward. The woman breathed deep and snorted. Vara took another step. The woman readied her axe and breathed harder. Her rippled musculature leaped to the surface. Her eyes took on a red tint around the edge. "You are no human." whispered Vara. She was half right. After her next step the beast-woman warmed up with several arching swings. She turned into a massive saw blade as fast as that axe zipped first from one direction and then another. Vara could see she was facing an artist. She wished she had her own sword. Vara leaped at the woman and ducked the return blows, but she never left her post in front of the door. "Only one beast is so loyal to a gate." said Vara. "I am Tauriana. My mother was a human slave girl who died giving me birth. My father was Taurion, gate keeper to this castle until Omphale cut him down. Now I serve her." said the woman in a deep growl. For the first time Vara noticed the short black horns peaking from the massive tangle of dark hair. "This will be my castle soon, big girl. Join me and you can be captain of my guard." Tauriana snorted. Talk enraged her. "Or maybe I'll turn you into a dairy cow." Vara teased on. "Those udders of yours must hold a load of buttermilk!" The minotaur leaped forward and brought her axe down right were Vara had been a blink before. The blade cut into the stone. Vara sank her blade into the massive shoulder. Tauriana stood quickly pulling the blade from Vara's hand. It wagged and remained lodged. Tauriana bellowed, then lowered her head and charged. Vara leaped and cleared the blow, but was now perched on her assailant's neck. Tauriana charged clear into the hall and crushed her head into the far wall. The impact crumbled stone. Vara crushed Tauriana's neck with her legs. She stood strangling the massive beast as thirty men charged up the steps. She pulled the blade from Tauriana's shoulder and cut down the first five men with three strokes. The other's held their ground. She relaxed her hold on the minotaur's neck and let her slump to the floor. She snorted and twitched between Vara's legs. "Step up boys." snarled Vara. "I don't have all night." "As a matter of fact, your time is up." Everyone turned. In the doorway to her antechamber stood Omphale the renegade captain. Her silky white skin was crossed with scars. She wore a jeweled crown, black fishnet panties, and little else. She held a bastard sword casually in one hand. Only her bulging biscepts displayed the effort. Her face was relaxed and sublime. From down the hall came the last guard, running at full tilt. She stepped in front of Vara. "No!" Yelled Omphale. Everyone froze. Then in her calm voice once more, "She's mine." The amazon backed slowly away from Vara. "Perhaps later." Suggested Vara. "There will be no later for you." replied the amazon. Omphale stepped seductively into the hall, waving her round hips. She stroked one man's chin as she passed. Vara stepped into the clear and they circled. Omphale's moves were cat-like, nonchalant. Vara hunched over her blade and sized up her foe. Omphale reminded her of her first teacher - a worthy opponent. The crowd formed a circle around them. The women charge and exchanged blocked blows. Cheers for the curvaceous captain erupted from all sides. She waived. Vara charged. Omphale blocked her blow and drove the hilt of her sword into Vara's ear, drawing blood. Vara cursed her fatigue and bad judgement. Omphale smiled across at her as they circled. Steel rang out again as the women met. Omphale backhanded Vara with her rings, cutting her cheek. Enraged, Vara drove the hilt of her sword into Omphale's nose, braking it on the bridge. The captain staggered back in shock. She recovered just in time to block Vara's down-stroke. She sliced across but Vara danced back and the stroke missed. Vara stepped in and planted her foot in between Omphale's bouncing breasts, driving her into the antechamber. The crowd followed. Stroke after stroke backed the captain into her master suite. Vara was renewed! Steel danced in her hands. Omphale stumbled and lurched to keep from being cut to shreds. She fell onto her canopy bed. Vara leaped on top of her and smacked the weapon from her hand. The crowd filled the door to see Omphale beg for her life under Vara's blade. Vara lowered her blade and relaxed on top of her victim. The crowd sighed. Then Vara lashed out, slapping Omphale's face back and forth with her bare hand, drawing blood from her full lips. She pulled Omphale off the bed by her hair and dropped her to the floor. She picked up the crown and set it on her own head. Then Vara stuffed her foot in Omphale's bloody face. "Kiss it. Suck my toes and tell your slaves to follow me." With her round ass in the air and her lips on Vara's foot she commanded her slaves to serve only Vara, her new master. Vara looked at the remaining guard in the doorway. She summoned her forward with a finger. The guard complied. "Drop your weapon." She complied. "Now sit on this bitches ugly head and eat me." As the crowd watched, Vara proved her superiority over her vanquished foes on and on and into the next day. Queen Rumplus had given up hope of ever seeing Vara again. Surely she was dead, or converted to the other side. A month passed before the blonde returned riding, of all things, a voluptuous, dark-haired female of giant proportions. Walking before her were the renegade captain and guards in shackles. They were naked and bruised, but otherwise in good shape. "I let them heal before bringing them to you." Called out Vara from the garden where she sat on Tauriana's shoulders. "They will stand up to your torture much better this way." The queen waived down from the window. "Well done, my hero!" Then to her guard, "Send them to the dungeon. I will see them tonight." then back to Vara. "But you deserve a feast! Come and tell your story! You will have the best of what is mine!" And so, Vara gained her land and castle, and Queen Rumplus gained her revenge and entertainment. A young cook was appointed Vara's male toy and truth sayer. And Tauriana guarded every gate that Vara passed through. A happy life for many.