Chapter 19

Karen was beginning to feel more than a little guilty. She often wondered how Cousin Julie and Aunt Joan were faring against the Arion invasion. The invasion that she had once been a part of, the invasion that she had since then been helping to oppose. Were they out there looking for her? Or had they assumed that the explosion of the plasma grenade had killed her? She had gone up the stream on several occasions to where she had first woken up, with the old wolf trying to eat her. She had seen no signs of how she had gotten here. Certainly no signs of a plasma grenade explosion. And no signs of a time machine either; not that she would have known what one looked like. But there were no signs of any advanced technology.

Here, she had seen no signs of an Arion presence. Other than for herself, of course. And certainly no Velorian presence. But then, she hadn't been looking too hard or too far, either. And she really didn't want to attract the attention of a Velorian Planetary Protector, if there was one here on this planet, in this dimension and time. There was no guarantee that another Velorian would look as kindly on her as Julie had. And 'cousin' Julie had looked on her in ways that a cousin shouldn't have.

After all, Julie was definitely a special case. She had been taught from infancy that Velorians, and especially Planetary Protectors, always tried to kill Arions on sight. Aunt Joan, who had lived and worked among Velorians for ten years, had told her that it was all propaganda. Still, Karen much preferred being careful to being dead.

Still, she wished that she had some way to contact her friends, to let them know that she was alive. But by the Stars, she didn't know where she was, or when she was! She wanted somehow to let them know that she was still alive, and that she was happy. Almost happy.

She had almost everything she could want, except for her old friends and family. She had been adopted by a good family. Almost married into it, in fact. She loved being with Erik. And she also loved being with Siegfried whenever they went into the village. Siegfried really seemed to enjoy being with the only person in the village who was stronger than he was.

So did Erik. Erik had not begrudged her the time she spent with the huge blacksmith. He often joined them for some great three-way fun, the two of them combining their strength, their energy, their stamina, to give her more pleasure than either one of them could have done by himself alone.

Somewhat guiltily, she wondered if this was what Julie had felt with her two engineers, Mike and Rob. They worked for Karen in the electronics and communications lab, but Julie had made it clear that outside the lab they 'worked' for her.

Siegfried did not mind any more that Erik often came along when Karen came to visit. At first he had resented it, wanting to have Karen all to himself, even though he knew that Karen had selected Erik for herself first. And Erik was a good lifelong friend, one of his best friends in the village and the neighboring farms.

Karen was an incredible girl. She could effortlessly beat him at arm wrestling, when no one else in the village could even come close to matching his strength. And then she had effortlessly moved those ore blocks. And then what she had done afterwards! That was even more impressive.

And that had not been the only time. She usually came to see him at the smithy when she and Erik came in to the village. But he had discovered that even with himself and Erik putting forth their best efforts, Karen was never the first one to be tired out. Nor was she the second.

By the gods! The girl was incredible. She would usually only stop when both he and Erik were too exhausted to continue. Even then she could somehow prolong their efforts, drawing forth more from the two of them than he had thought possible.

Yes, by the Stars! It was so much fun having one big strong man between her legs and another working over her breasts.

But as fun as it was being with Siegfried, she always came home with Erik.

Home. The farmhouse outside the village, with Erik, Karl, and Frieda, was now home for her.

But she was not just a guest. She was definitely earning her room and board. And not just from Erik's point of view either, though she certainly enjoyed that part of it. She did her fair share of the work around the farm. More than her fair share, when it came to the heavy work; Karl had often told her that she was better than four hired farmhands were. And four horses.

She wasn't quite as helpful for Frieda around the house, though she tried her best to be. Things were definitely different, cooking over a wood fire instead of putting things into a microwave oven. Frieda would not leave her alone while cooking, not after Karen had ruined a whole goose one afternoon. Laundry was a little better, after she got used to washing in the stream; at least she couldn't burn anything while doing the laundry. And she did have experience with Terran clothing; she didn't tear too many items. But it wasn't as easy as simply tossing everything into the washing machine and turning on the switch, either.

It had been impossible for Karen to keep her strength a secret for very long. Not after she had so easily defeated Siegfried at arm wrestling that first time at the tavern. Too many people had seen that for it to be a secret. Though she had tried to be careful not to show off too much, she still got called upon to help whenever somebody had some heavy work to be done. Not that she was being singled out for the heavy manual labor, whenever a big project came up, like putting up a new barn or a new stone fence, the entire village turned out to help.

Though a lot of the men, especially the younger ones, seemed to be more interested in watching Karen work rather than in helping in the actual work. She knew that she could have had any of them after work, but she refrained. She contented herself with Erik, and with Siegfried whenever she was in the village.

Erik had taken the three swords she had gotten from the bandits in to Siegfried. Despite her care, her fingers had damaged the blades where she had grasped them. He had been able to repair the damage to the blades, and now both the Erik and his father had new swords. Though they were only used as decorations, hung on the mantle over the fireplace. Being simple farmers they had no real need of swords.

At least not usually. Occasionally there had been roving groups of bandits, like the three that Karen had met and taken care of her first day here. She had encountered them again, but they had immediately fled at the sight of her. That particular group never bothered the village or any of the neighboring farms again.

No other group of bandits bothered the village or the neighboring farms after once encountering Karen. There was another group of three who would never bother anybody again.

Karen was walking back from an outlying pasture when she heard a scream. Dropping her pack, she leaped over the fence and ran into the pasture on the other side. Running in the direction of the sound, she soon saw Inga, the neighbor's daughter, a girl who couldn't have been more than fourteen. A very cute girl, but still too young. One day soon she would be a real beauty. If she lived that long.

Three men who Karen had never seen before surrounded her. From their words and gestures it was obvious what they wanted.

Karen immediately ran in, knocking the nearest man aside, sending him flying with a sweep of her arm. She picked up the young girl in her arms and ran through the gap between the other two men before they could do much more than stare in amazement as she sprinted past them.

Once clear Karen set Inga down on her feet and told her to run home as quickly as possible. As Inga started running Karen turned around to face the three men, who were now running towards her.

She put her hands on her hips as the three men surrounded her. One of them started to draw a knife from his belt.

"A knife isn't what you want to use on me, is it?" she asked him, walking towards him. He looked surprised as he held his knife up in front of her chest. "Don't you have something else you want to use?" she asked again, before taking the blade in her hands and twisting the knife out of his grasp. A quick flick of her wrist sent the knife flying into a grove of trees a hundred feet away.

She heard the rustling of the grass and braced herself just as one of the other men came up from behind and put his arms around her waist, trying to force her down to the ground. She stood there for a few seconds as he struggled to get her down, his male Terran strength being no match for her female Arion strength. Then she lightly grasped his wrists and loosened his hold, flinging him down to the ground. The others quickly joined him as she grabbed them by their shirts and flung them down. She was on top of them immediately.

Karen briefly thought about having some fun with them, as they had been intending to do with Inga, as she started ripping their clothes off. But Inga's father probably was on his way, perhaps with Inga's brother as well.

Any remaining thoughts of fun went out of her mind as she felt a knife blade against her ribs.

Inga ran all the way home. Through her tears she told her father what had happened, and that Karen, the girl from Karl's farm had saved her. Her father quickly collected her older brother, and picking up some pitchforks, quickly ran out to where Inga said that she had been, where Karen was.

When the father and his son got to the spot, they did not find Karen. They did find the three men, men that they did not recognize. All three of them were dead, their clothes ripped off, their bodies crushed.

Gods! Had Karen done that? They had heard Erik tell the story about how he had first met Karen, that she had taken care of three armed bandits by herself. They had thought that Erik had been exaggerating; though they knew that Karen was much stronger than she appeared, they both had seen her easily defeat Siegfried at arm wrestling.

The two men carried the three corpses over to the trees, leaving them for the crows.

After that no bandits troubled the village or the neighboring farms again.

But this latest group was different. A runner had come from an outlying farm with the news of something different. Something much different from a mere handful of bandits. Runners had been sent out to all of the farms, bringing everybody together in the village for protection.

Some of the men, including Siegfried and Erik and his father, and the village elders, went out to meet this latest group outside the village. Karen tagged along with the men. None of the men were about to tell her that she couldn't come along with them.

Marcus had been on this campaign for much too long. Finally he was heading for home. His legion had been split up. He and Justin, another centurion, along with twenty legionnaires, were on the river road, screening the left flank of the main column. Justin was saying how good it would be to once again see the Seven Hills of Rome when Marcus saw a village up ahead around the bend in the river.

"A village, Justin. Hot food," Marcus said, pointing. They had been on rations for days. Even heated, the rations couldn't compare with real food.

"Aye, hot food. And warm women," Justin replied, smiling.

"Aye, and warm women too," Marcus smiled back. He'd been without that even longer than he had been without a good meal. "Though I suspect that the village would be more willing to share their food than their women."

"Aye, but they're only villagers and farmers. They cannot hope to stand before the might of Rome," Justin said, patting the hilt of his sword. "If we threaten to destroy the village, I'm sure that they would be happy to let us have their women for the night."

"Aye, at that they would." This wouldn't be the first time Marcus had been involved in such barter.

The villagers met the newcomers on the road. Karen immediately saw that this was not a simple group of marauding bandits. They were too well armed and disciplined. Their clothes and equipment were too uniform. They had to be a military group. She thought that they might be Roman legionnaires, from the pictures she had seen of them. There were twenty-two of them. Two of them were dressed differently. Officers, she thought, from their fancier gear. They also had two horse-drawn carts with them, apparently loaded with their supplies.

Her guess was confirmed when the two officers approached the group of villagers. They spoke the language passably well, though even Karen could detect an accent. They seemed to be asking for food and a place to camp for the night.

Even though the harvest was still a month away, the elders agreed to share some food with the soldiers. As for a place to camp, one of the farmers pointed to his field, just visible through the trees.

The soldiers seemed to take exception to this offer. They seemed to want something more, something that Karen couldn't quite understand. One of them even drew his sword halfway out of its scabbard.

As the villager elders drew back a few steps and started talking amongst themselves, Karen turned to Erik, standing right next to her. "What is it? What else do they want?"

"They want our women for the night." At least he wasn't too embarrassed to say it, though he didn't say anything else after they rejoined the group discussion.

Stars! The gall! That was so, so--she hated to think of it this way--but that was so Arion of them! "You don't have to do that, do you? They have no right to come in here and demand that!"

"We have to fight them!" one of the younger men exclaimed. Some of the other young men echoed the sentiment.

"Fight them with what? We do not have enough weapons," one of the elders said, quietly. "These men are trained soldiers, armed with weapons and they know how to use them. And there are more of them."

"We have to fight! We can't just let them walk in and take our women."

"Would you rather we all simply died? Then who would protect our women?"

Karen knew that in a battle the villagers would be overwhelmed. She had to make a stand. "No, you will not let them take the women. But you will also not fight them."

Heads turned to look at her. "But how?" "If we don't fight them...." Questions flew.

"You will not fight them. If they want a battle, I will fight them."

"You?" "Alone?" The questions flew at her again.

"I do not want to. But this is now my village. You are all my friends. In my country I was trained as a soldier." This was something that she had not told any of them before, not even Erik. "You know that I am different. I think that I can defeat them. But I do not want any of you to get hurt. But I also do not want any of them to get hurt. Please ask them to accept what you have already offered, but also to take no more."

The villagers quickly agreed. One of the elders approached the officers.

Marcus saw the villagers discussing his terms. Just as he was about to demand a reply, one of the elders came towards him. "We will gladly share our food with you. We will let you camp for the night in this field. But we will not provide you with women."

Marcus put his hand on the hilt of his sword. "You are not in a position to make conditions, old man. If you do not give us what we ask for, we will take it."

"Then you will have to fight our champion first."

These villagers had a champion? Marcus looked at them. He saw a rag-tag group of men, mostly older men with a few younger ones. Only a handful of them were carrying swords, the rest were only carrying farm implements or sticks. One man stood out. His red hair would have made him stand out in any crowd, even if he wasn't a full head taller than anyone else was. His clothes marked him as a blacksmith, but the lad didn't look old enough to have had any soldiering experience. Still he looked like a big strong man. "A champion? And what if I refuse? Will your champion fight all of us?" he gestured back at his men.

The old man nodded, looking unperturbed. "If needs be, our champion is willing to fight all of you. But be warned, our champion would rather not hurt any of you. Please, accept our hospitality for the night, but no more."

"Enough talk!" Justin broke in. "Either we march on your village or else your champion," he spat on the ground, "faces us all."

"Very well. The rest of us will go back to the village. Our hospitality ends with this field. You are free to camp here. Or to bury your dead." With that, he turned and walked back to the others. After a few more words the group all turned and walked back up the road.

All except for one. Marcus was surprised to see that it was not the big red-haired blacksmith. It was a slim black-haired lad, shorter than the average man, even shorter than the old man who had addressed them earlier was.

Then he looked again. This was no lad! It was a young woman! Hardly more than a girl! The villagers had left one girl for all of them! The anger boiled up within him. Those damn villagers! With all of their brave talk about a champion, and they leave a young girl behind!

Well, they might be able to get some use out of her. But then they would go to the village and burn it down to the ground! Any man they found would be killed. And the women would wish that they had been killed as well.

Marcus ordered two of his men to go forward and get the girl.

After the others had left Karen stood still. She felt a moment of uncertainty. She had never fought this many men at once. She knew that she was at least ten times as strong as all of these men put together, but Stars, there were more than twenty of them! Fighting twenty men was not the same thing as fighting one man with the strength of twenty.

She wasn't too worried about their swords. She knew that her half Prime body was impervious to the swords. But Stars, there were more than twenty of them!

Her thoughts were interrupted when two of the men walked forward towards her. She waited patiently until they were upon her. When they grabbed her arms, she shook her arms free and grasped them by their armored breastplates. Lifting them both up into the air, she threw them back at the others, knocking a number of them down as well.

Marcus couldn't believe what he had just seen. The girl had just picked up two of his legionnaires and thrown them back at him. Not even the best gladiators in the Coliseum could have done that. He didn't think that even Mars, the god of war, could have done that. He had just barely managed to avoid getting knocked down himself from the impact.

He quickly ordered his men to subdue her. The men scrambled to their feet and approached her, drawing their swords as they surrounded her.

Karen was disappointed that her first display of strength had not deterred the soldiers. On the contrary, they were now coming after her, drawing their swords as they approached and surrounded her.

She tried to block the sword thrusts with her hands and with her arms. But Stars, there were so many of them! She tried to throw the men back, but they kept coming back. She could feel the swords striking her body. It actually felt kind of good, the hard metal blades hitting her body, especially her breasts, much harder than any ordinary Terran man's hands. There certainly was no pain, but she could see and feel that her clothes were being slashed to ribbons.

Enough! She started hitting back. Not wanting to kill them, she pulled her punches. Still, her punches were usually enough to knock the recipient unconscious. Soon there were only a handful of men left standing, along with the two officers who thus far had stayed out of the fighting.

Brushing the remaining men aside, she walked up to the two officers.

Marcus definitely could not believe what he was seeing. His men's swords seemed to have no effect on her, other than for shredding her clothes. She knocked most of the men out with her fists. She then brushed the others aside and walked towards Justin and himself, brushing off the tattered remains of her clothes.

He drew his sword, even though he realized that it would be useless against her.

She stopped in front of him, putting her hands on her hips. "Put those down," she told him. "And tell your men to do the same," she gestured with a hand towards the few men who were still on their feet.

He saw Justin drop his sword. Realizing that he didn't stand a chance against her, he let his sword fall to the ground.

"You can either camp here," she pointed to the field beside the road, "or you can continue on the road. Your choice." She put her hand back on her hip.

"We will camp here," he heard Justin answering. Marcus was too busy staring at the naked girl standing in front of him. He could hardly take his eyes off of the large firm breasts that stood above an incredibly narrow waist. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She might have fought like Mars, but she looked like Venus.

And certainly the best fighter he had ever seen, male or female. That had been absolutely incredible. Alone and unarmed against twenty of the best legionnaires that Rome had to offer. And she had been holding herself back in an attempt to avoid killing any of his legionnaires. She might have fought like Mars, but yet she definitely looked like Venus. Or perhaps even better.

Karen watched as the soldiers loaded their unconscious comrades onto the wagons and headed out to camp in the field. She was relieved to discover that none of the soldiers had been hurt too badly, let alone killed.

But she wasn't satisfied. The swords hitting her chest had definitely gotten her aroused. "Wait! You!" She pointed at one of the officers, the taller one. "Come here!"

He looked a little scared. But he was also too scared to refuse her command. After looking back once at the other officer, he shrugged his shoulders and walked towards her.

As soon as he was in reach she took hold of his brass breastplate. Pulling at it she ripped it apart, tossing the pieces away. As his mouth opened wide in surprise she threw him down onto the grass. Ignoring his feeble struggles she ripped of the rest of his clothes before mounting him. As he continued to struggle she caught his wrists and moved his hands to her breasts.

As she held his hands to her breasts she let loose with her pheromones. Soon he quit struggling and began fondling and squeezing her breasts. She tightened her vaginal muscles around the base of his cock, delaying his orgasm until hers approached.

After they climaxed she kept herself tight around him, keeping him rigid. She kept pumping her legs, soon bringing both of them to another orgasm.

As she came down from her second peak, she looked down at the man between her legs. He was about to pass out from the exhaustion. She unmounted him and picked him up in her arms. Standing up, she began walking towards the campsite. She saw that they had gotten the tents set up and some cooking fires started.

Marcus had his remaining men revive the unconscious men, with the simple expedient of carrying water from the river and dumping it on them. Then he set them to work, setting up the camp and preparing the evening meal.

He had just taken a drink from his wineskin when he looked up to see the girl walking towards him. She was carrying Justin's body in her arms. He quickly got up and walked over to meet her. He was again amazed at the girl's beautiful body, and the strength it contained. It seemed as if the weight of the man meant nothing to her.

He also realized that Justin was naked, his armor and clothes completely gone. And his eyes were closed, though he was still breathing. "What happened? What have you done to him?"

"He's just asleep," she replied, laying Justin down by the fire.

Karen was still too pumped up. She had never had to use this much of her strength since she had been here. Those swords hitting her breasts, though they hadn't hurt her at all, had only added to her arousal. And the exhausted man she had just carried to the camp hadn't taken much of the edge off of her. She needed more.

After laying the first officer down by the fire, she put her arms around the other officer and picked him up. Ignoring his struggles she carried him into a small clearing among the trees. She laid him down and ripped his clothes off, he had already taken off his armor at the camp.

She quickly got on his back and mounted him. He struggled briefly, until she put a hand behind his head and pulled his mouth up to her breasts. With a nipple in his mouth and her long hair covering his head, he stood absolutely no chance against her and her pheromones.

Marcus was stunned. He had hoped for a woman at the village, but not quite in this way. As he tried to fight her off, she had pulled his head up to her breasts. The same breasts that he had seen his men's swords strike with no effect. As she forced an incredibly hard nipple into his mouth he thought that he smelled honey and wildflowers.

All of a sudden he no longer wanted to fight her off. He wanted nothing more in life than to make love to this girl. He wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life making love to this girl, to this Venus incarnate.

As Karen took the second officer, she saw that some of the other soldiers had gathered round, drawn by the sound and activity. One of them let his curiosity get the better of him and came within her reach. She quickly reached out and pulled him to her. Without stopping the pumping of her legs she quickly pulled his head to her breast.

When the man between her legs reached his orgasm and shot his load into her she laid the other man down on the ground. She quickly stripped him and mounted him. She then pulled the first man up to her breasts.

Three other men had crowded around them. She quickly took each one in turn, often holding one or two others up to her breasts to suckle.

Even after taking, and draining six men, she realized that she still wasn't finished. She still wanted more. She thought about all of the other soldiers available at the camp. Stars, that would be great fun!

But she remembered that her duty was to protect the village. The village and its people. Taking a cloak that she had stripped from one of the soldiers she wrapped it about her naked body and began jogging back to the village. Two of the soldiers, who hadn't yet had their opportunity with her, tried to run with her, but they quickly fell behind as she accelerated to over twenty miles per hour.

Outside the village she saw the men standing guard, armed with pitchforks and hoes. She assured them that the soldiers wouldn't be coming to the village that night. Taking Erik's hand, she started towards the village. But she knew that it wasn't going to be enough. Seeing Siegfried, she took his huge hand in her other hand.

With a man's hand in each of hers she walked into the village leading the two men, ignoring the stares they were getting from the other men. She led them to the smithy, to Siegfried's place. Once inside the house, she put her arms around their waists and carried them to the bedroom. She threw the two unresisting men onto the bed, it wasn't the first time that she had done that to them.

The two men truly put forth a heroic effort that night. Finally near dawn, she was sated enough for sleep. She lay down to sleep between the two exhausted men, cuddling next to their large warm bodies.

But she was not to get much sleep. Shortly after dawn a messenger came to tell her that the soldiers were breaking camp.

But were they breaking camp to leave, or were they breaking camp to attack the village? Karen didn't want to get up; she had just gotten comfortable between the two big men, their body heat keeping her warm. But she knew that the comfortable bed wouldn't mean a thing if those soldiers attacked the village. She got up and dressed. At least she'd had the foresight to leave a set of clothes with Siegfried.

Karen left the two men sleeping. By the Stars, they had earned their rest!

By the time she had reached the outskirts of the village, most of the other men were also there, still armed with their farming implements.

In a few minutes the soldiers finished breaking camp. They loaded up their two wagons. They headed out on the road, around the village and past, as the villagers circled around with them, keeping themselves between the soldiers and the village. Karen stayed with the men, making sure that the soldiers could see her. And a good number of them did see her, remembering what she had done to them last night.

They also remembered that she had also been pretty good in a fight.

The harvest was over. At least for this year. Now it was time to celebrate, and to give thanks to the gods for their bounty. This year it was their village's turn to host the harvest festival. Everyone was busy, preparing for it. Even the men were helping the women prepare the food for the crowd. People would be gathering from all of the nearby villages.

It wouldn't be quite as festive this year, however. Some of the neighboring villages had been plundered by the soldiers as they had passed through. But after encountering Karen they hadn't plundered any of the other villages. They had merely passed through, asking permission to camp in the fields.

Erik was still amazed that one girl, unarmed, had defended them against over twenty armed soldiers.

Karen knew that the big festival was to start the next day. Fortunately, she didn't have to help with the cooking. Frieda had told the other women that Karen could help out the most with the cooking by avoiding it.

Of course, that didn't mean that she could slack off. Instead, she was working with the men, mending the fences and helping the men from the other villages rebuild after the soldiers had gone through. And she had certainly helped with the harvest, helping to load up the wagons with the grain.

She was looking forward to the festivities. She had always loved a party, and this was going to be the biggest party of the year. Erik had told her about some of the events, including the horse race.

"I almost won the horse race last year. But she stepped on a rock and almost threw me," he told as they lay in each other's arms.

"You'll have to do a better job of holding on this year. After all, you've gotten a lot of practice riding me," she smiled at him and kissed the tip of his nose.

"I was hoping, that if you would like to, that you would let me ride you this year in the race."

"Ride me? But I'm not a horse." She gave him a playful squeeze. "Or do you think that I am?"

He winced with the pain, but she quickly let up the pressure. "No, but you could still run faster than any horse, even carrying me."

"Carrying both you and Siegfried. But no, I will not run in the horse race. You will have to ride the mare again this year. Unless you want to ride me and sleep with the mare."

It didn't take Erik long to make his decision.

True to her word, and much to Erik's disappointment, Karen stood on the sidelines and cheered as he rode the mare in this year's horse race. The mare didn't stumble, and Erik stayed on, but he came in second, just being nosed out at the end.

Karen continued to cheer for Erik and Siegfried, and the other men of her village, as they competed in the various contests. A man from another village won the footrace.

Siegfried was the clear winner both at wrestling and at arm wrestling. But then, he had been training with Karen for several weeks.

Karen remembered helping Slanek and Korek train while in school. Even though they didn't have any vids of the wrestlers from the other villages, Karen was still able to help Siegfried. She also taught him some of the techniques that she had picked up from her twin brother and her first lover. She also taught him some of the techniques that she had learned from Uncle Steve.

Both Erik and Siegfried had urged her to enter the wrestling competition herself. But it wouldn't really be fair for an Arion Prime to compete with Terrans. A little arm wrestling for a few coins was one thing, but the annual wrestling competition was something else.

They had prevailed on her to give a little exhibition after the arm wrestling competition. After Siegfried had defeated another big man, also a blacksmith, from another village, she took on both of them at the same time. She held her right arm rigid as the two men pushed against it. Even when they got to their feet and put all of their weight into it, her arm refused to budge.

Then she slowly started pushing her arm forward. There was nothing the two men could do to stop her from pushing them down to the table.

The harvest festival was also a popular time for couples to announce their betrothals and to celebrate their nuptials. Erik had been quite persistent until she had insisted that she wasn't quite ready to take that step. Perhaps by the planting festival in the spring. She did assure him that there wasn't anybody else.

She wouldn't even discuss betrothals with Siegfried. She was certain that if she had to stay here the rest of her life, then she wanted to stay with Erik.

She just wasn't ready to accept the fact that she would have to spend the rest of her life in the here and now. To never see Julie and Aunt Joan and Uncle Steve and the rest of her friends.

And Erik deserved someone better. She knew that she could never give Erik any children. As Frieda and Karl's only child, Erik deserved a woman who could give him children, somebody who could take over the farm in Erik's old age.

Karen knew that it was too good to last. The snow would be coming soon; there had already been some signs of frost. She still didn't like the cold and the snow. The cold didn't bother her as much as it used to; it was just that she didn't like it. She hadn't liked being in the Aleutians, and winter hadn't exactly been her favorite season in Colorado.

But there was nothing she could do about it. If it was going to snow, then it was going to snow, and there wasn't a thing her Prime muscles could do about it.

Except maybe to help gather more firewood. And that she did, often pulling down dead trees and chopping it up into manageable lengths. She could chop up logs faster with her bare hands than Erik could with his ax. And of course she helped carry the wood and load up the cart.

The old wolf was puzzled. This morning the pack, drawn by the scent, had come across the carcass of a big stag, apparently freshly killed in the night. There had been no signs of another pack in the area. And the carcass was mostly untouched, only a few nibbles as if something had just tasted it.

He approached the carcass and sniffed. No, it definitely had not been killed by wolves. Nor had it been killed by anything that he knew about. The scent was unfamiliar, though it somewhat resembled that of a cat. But what kind of a cat could have killed a stag? And then to leave it without eating it?

The cat-like scent was completely unappetizing. Not even the most playful of the pups would touch the meat, nor would the hungriest of the pack eat any of it. The pack quickly left the carcass, to go in search of an untainted meal.

Karen and Erik were riding the cart back from the village. It had snowed the night before and the entire countryside was blanketed in white. They were sitting and snuggling under a blanket and Karen was thinking about trying out some innovative methods for keeping Erik warm. And for having him keep her warm. But they were now only one farm away from home; they could warm each other up once they got there.

Out of the corners of her eyes she saw some men gathered around and looking down at something in the pasture. "What do you think is going on over there?" she asked Erik, pointing at the group.

Erik stopped the mare and looked. "Isn't that my father with them? Let's go see," he said, pulling off the blanket and jumping down onto the snow-covered ground.

Karen gave up on trying to keep the two of them warm and jumped down to join him as he started walking across the pasture. She recognized the man from this farm and his son, as well as the men from a neighboring farm. And as Erik had said, his father Karl was also there.

As they got closer she could see that they were looking down at a cow. Or rather, at the remains of a cow. The snow was stained red. There were pieces of the cow scattered around. The cow had been ripped to pieces. The sight was enough to make Karen sick; she had to make an effort not to lose her gorge.

"Wolves?" she heard Erik ask his father.

Karen shuddered inwardly. She remembered the first thing she had done when she had arrived in this time and place. The old wolf that she had rejuvenated and enhanced. Could that enhancement have done more for the wolf than she had expected? Was there a super-wolf out there somewhere?

"No, too big," Karl replied. He showed his son a piece of the cow's flank. On the hide were the gouges from a claw. It was much too big to have been made by a wolf, even a wolf as large as the one that Karen had encountered.

One of the younger men had been walking around the area. "Only one set of tracks coming and going," he announced. "Not wolf, but I don't know what."

There was something not right about the scene. Even Karen could see that there was too much meat left. Hungry animals would have eaten it all. But this had not been a pack, but a solitary killer. This almost looked as if someone or something had killed the cow for sport, or perhaps for a snack.

Karen realized that the smell wasn't right, either. The overriding odor, of course, was that of the dead cow. She could smell the other people, as well. But there was something else. Picking up a piece of the carcass, she wrinkled her nose once before bringing it up to her face. Her sensitive nostrils picked up something else. Putting it down, she turned towards the men.

"Could it be a, a," she began, before she realized that she didn't know the proper word. "A cat, a big cat?"

Erik supplied a word that she assumed was 'lion' or something similar.

"No, it can't be," Karl said. "My grandfather used to tell me stories that he had heard from his grandfather, about lions to the south. But there have been no lions here since long before that time."

Karen had trouble going to sleep that night. Even though Erik did his best, as usual, her mind kept going back to the sight of the cow's carcass, lying in the bloodstained snow.

Karen finally fell asleep. But it was not an easy sleep, troubled by the images of a dead cow. She began to dream about something that killed for fun, for sport. Humans did that, at least many races. Terrans did that, and certainly the Arions. She didn't know about the Velorians, she certainly didn't believe the Arion propaganda that she had heard in school, that the Velorians killed their own young who didn't measure up to their standards. Aunt Joan had told her enough stories from her time living and working with the Velorians.

She thought that there was one other race that she knew of that killed for sport, but she couldn't remember what that was.

Erik woke up as he was thrown out of the bed onto the cold wooden floor, landing with a loud THUMP. Karen had never thrown him out of bed before; it was his bed after all. Looking around, he saw that it had been unintentional, her incredible strength had just pushed him out of the bed. She was in the bed, sitting upright, her hands over her mouth, a look of pure terror in her deep blue eyes.

In her dream she realized what that other race was, the other one that killed for sport. They enjoyed killing even more than the Arion Primes, if that was possible. She woke up screaming, a school-holo picture of an orange-furred Kintzi grinning out at her from the darkest recesses of her mind, its fangs bared.

Even though she had never actually seen a live Kintzi, she had never liked them. She had hoped that she would never have to work with them, and had been relieved when she had been assigned to a Kintzi-less taskforce.

Erik was immediately beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders and whispering soothingly to her. Eventually she began to calm down. There couldn't be any Kintzi here! She was part of the first Arion expedition against this planet, and that was centuries in the future. Or it would be centuries in the future. And without the Arions the Kintzi wouldn't have any spaceships to go anywhere.

Belatedly she realized that Erik had had to climb back onto the bed in order to comfort her. Stars! Had she thrown him off of the bed in her panic? Fears about the Kintzi evaporated, replaced by the fear that she might have hurt him. He reassured her that he wasn't hurt, only shaken and surprised.

Nonetheless she examined him thoroughly as they got back in bed. And she let him examine her thoroughly as well.

She was not thinking of the Kintzi when she finally fell asleep again.

But two mornings later another farmer found one of his dogs, its throat ripped out. The next morning another cow was found, killed like the first one.

The men met at the tavern to discuss these events. Again, Karen tagged along with Erik and Karl. She was the only woman there, except for Brigid, and she was there simply to serve the mead.

It was quickly decided that the men, and Karen, should take turns patrolling the area at night. Karen and Erik were among those who volunteered to take a watch that night.

A light snow was falling that night. Near midnight, Karen and Erik were walking along a fence towards the rendezvous with their relief when they heard a scream coming from the trees up ahead. They ran towards the sound, with Karen quickly leaving Erik behind as she put on her Arion speed.

The sight that met her Arion night vision in the trees did make her sick. She dropped to her knees and retched, losing all of her dinner.

Erik ran with all of the speed in his long legs. But Karen was a blur in front of him, faster than a horse, even faster than an arrow, quickly disappearing into the trees ahead. When he finally got there, it took him a moment to see anything. He heard rather than saw Karen. She was crouched on all fours, gasping and sobbing.

He went to her and knelt at her side, putting his arm around her. She looked up at him, and then pointed to something on the ground about ten feet in front of her. When he recognized what he was seeing, he also retched.

It was horrible! Two men, fellow villagers, had been torn to shreds. The remains of their clothes were strewn about. The broken pitchforks were lying with the clothes. The remains of their bodies were also strewn about. But unlike the cows and the dog, there wasn't much left. They had not just been killed, but it looked they had been eaten.

Karen quickly realized that whatever had done this might still be around. But as she cast about with her sensitive Arion vision and hearing, she could detect nothing. Nonetheless the stood up, wary and alert for any signs of danger.

When Erik had emptied his stomach, she raised him to his feet and hugged him briefly.

"What could have done this?" he asked her. "Not wolves, they wouldn't attack people. Nor would they have eaten them, and not the cows."

Karen didn't want to think about. The implications were horrible. Something that could so easily kill two armed men. And something that favored the taste of human flesh. The conclusions seemed inevitable. But wanting to delay that conclusion for as long as possible she searched the area for any signs that it was something else, anything else.

Unfortunately, what she did find only confirmed it. The prints in the snow were decisive. There was no denying it now; it was conclusive, the conclusion was inescapable.

Erik saw the prints that Karen had found. They were unlike any that he had ever seen before. They were shaped like those of a cat. But they were huge! Even bigger than his own footprints. But Karen seemed to recognize it. However, the word she used meant nothing to him.

Wanting to deny it but unable to, Karen could only utter one word. "Kintzi."

"What? What is this 'Kintzi'?"

"It's something that shouldn't be here. My people know of them, but they should not be here." She refused to explain any further; she wanted to get all of the people together so she could explain to everyone at once.

With their relief killed, they had no choice but patrol the remainder of the night. Karen took some comfort in the thought that having fed, the Kintzi wouldn't be bothering them again that night. Not that it was much of a comfort; there still would be tomorrow night. And the night after that....

In the morning the villagers met at the tavern. Karen tried to describe the Kintzi, in terms that these people could understand. She couldn't just explain that they were a geneticly engineered cross between Arion Primes and Terran Bengal tigers. "They are like big cats, like lions, but they walk on two legs like people do. They are as smart as people are. And they are strong. Even stronger than I am." That brought gasps from the crowd; everyone in the village knew about her incredible strength, even though she had never shown all of it. She knew that the Kintzi had strength rivaling that of Arion Primes, greater even than her half Prime strength.

She hefted one of the swords that she had taken from the bandits her first day. "Your best weapons would have little effect on them, as they do on me." She also knew that unlike their swords, the Kintzi's claws and fangs could actually hurt her. Stars, the Kintzi could actually kill her, something that she knew that those soldiers couldn't have done.

As she sat down everyone else started talking. "What can we do?" "Gods help us!" "If our weapons won't stop them, what will?" "Will they come after the village?"

"Who's the best tracker here?" she asked when things had settled down a bit a few minutes later. This time the discussion was much shorter, everyone agreed that Johan was the best tracker in the village. Somewhat embarrassed by the acclaim, a young blond man stepped forward. "If I showed you some tracks, could you follow them?"

"I can only try," he replied, trying not to look too hard at Karen.

"Johan can track a dream back to the sleeper," one of the men said. The other men murmured their assent.

"Go get what you need. And can we get some food and water to take with us?" The tavern keeper and his assistants all but fell over each other preparing the provisions.

Erik tried to come along, but Karen insisted that he stay behind to help protect the village. Accompanied only by Johan and his dog, she set out early in the morning.

When Karen showed Johan the place where the two men had been killed, he had the dog sniff around the area. The dog definitely didn't seem to like the scent of the Kintzi. But eventually it followed the scent, as Johan followed the tracks.

The trail led into the hills to the east, someplace where Karen had never been, though she had heard Erik and Karl talk about the fishing here. The trail led up a low ridge. From the top they could see the valley on the other side, dominated by a large, crystal clear lake. And by the lakeside, Karen could see something that was completely out of place.

"Thank you, Johan. You can go back now."

"I can't leave you here alone," he protested.

"Please. You saw what happened to those two men back there."

"But I can't leave you here by yourself. Erik would kill me."

"Please, go back." She put her hands on his waist and picked him up. Turning him around to face home, she set him down and gave him a very gentle nudge to set him on his way. "Tell Erik and the others that I will be back as soon as I can."

When she was sure that Johan would go back, carrying her message, she descended down into the valley.

Staying downwind, Karen went slowly through the trees towards the lake. Crouching behind the last tree she looked out.

Standing by the lakeshore was a large tent made of some kind of a camouflage fabric. Definitely not indigenous to this place or time.

Behind the tent was something even more out of place, a small Arion shuttlecraft. She didn't recognize the exact type but she knew that it was an old type, obsolete long before she had been born. Or would be born. She thought that it was probably obsolete even in this time, the Arion High Command had never been in the habit of supplying the Kintzi with the latest equipment. For maybe the first time in her life, she thanked the Arion High Command.

At least it was a small shuttlecraft, she didn't think that it could have carried more than four people. Or four Kintzi. That thought didn't comfort her very much, four Kintzi was about a dozen too many for her liking.

But she realized that her likes had nothing to do with it. This wasn't just for her. It was for Erik, and for Siegried, and for Frieda and Karl, and for everyone else in the village. And maybe even for everyone else on the planet. She had already lost two families; she was going to do her best to not lose her third family. By the Stars, she would find some way to protect the village from the Kintzi!

Stars! Who did she think that she was, a Planetary Protector? The first Arion Prime Planetary Protector in history? Or at least the first half Prime? What a concept, an Arion Planetary Protector!

What if this really wasn't Earth? Was there a real Velorian Planetary Protector here? And if she should show up, would she think that Karen, as an Arion, was here with the Kintzi? What could she do to show the Protector that she was on her side?

One sure way would be if she could start killing some Kintzi. But how? Even unarmed, a Kintzi was almost a match for an Arion Warrior Prime. She was only half Prime, her strength was nowhere near Prime levels, even though it had grown considerably since she had defected from the Empire.

Perhaps she could steal a weapon from the Kintzi. But what kind of weapons would they have for such a small scouting expedition? A disruptor would be nice; she could pick them all off one by one if she had one. However the Arion High Command wasn't in the habit of arming the Kintzi with heavy disruptors, nor with any other weapons that might be turned against them. At least not any weapons that would threaten Warriors Prime at a distance.

She didn't think that she would even find any laser rifles. She wasn't sure if a laser rifle would actually kill a Kintzi, unless she hit it in a vulnerable spot. A Kintzi wasn't quite as invulnerable as an Arion Prime, but then neither was she. A sharp sword might be able to cut a Kintzi's soft throat.

Thinking of swords made her think of layer swords. Though they were of Arion design and manufacture, the layer swords were usually associated with the Kintzi, being their preferred weapon. At least after their own claws and fangs; Kintzi, like Primes, preferred unarmed hand-to-hand combat. A layer sword was formed from two very thin sheets of Vendorian steel with a long continuous edge made of the purest diamond sandwiched in between, the edge sharpened to nearly mono-atomic thickness. Not even an Arion Warrior Prime could dismiss a layer sword, when wielded by something as strong as a Kintzi a layer sword could slice right through an Arion Warrior Prime's body. She didn't think that even a Velorian could ignore the threat posed by a layer sword, she just might be able to hold her own against a Kintzi if she had a layer sword.

Yes, a layer sword just might be the ticket. But how could she get one? Other than by having a Kintzi slice her in half with one? Could she find one in the tent? Or in the shuttlecraft? And just where were those Stars-forsaken Kintzi, anyway? Were they in the shuttlecraft, or were they in the tent? Or were they in the forest, hunting for food?

She was debating the best course of action when she heard some rustling behind her. Turning around, she saw two Kintzi. The smaller younger one looked barely old enough to be on an expedition, just as she herself had barely met the age requirement for her own expedition. But the other one made up for it. It looked like a grizzled veteran, large even for a Kintzi. Crouching on its hind legs it was at least a foot taller than she was.

The Kintzi grinned at each other. Apparently they didn't realize that she was an Arion, mistaking her for a Terran. The older one set its rifle down on the ground and they split up so that they could come at her from either side. Whenever she tried to charge one, it would give just enough ground to let the other one come at her unprotected back. It took all of her skill and training just to keep them from getting their claws and fangs into her.

She recalled that one of the few vulnerable spots on a Kintzi was the throat. However she didn't have the claws or the fangs to use against the throat. In addition the two Kintzi were too much for her. Working together as a team they were able to batter her while avoiding receiving too much punishment in return. She had just ducked a vicious swipe of a claw when the other one hit her head from behind. "I'll never see Julie and Aunt Joan again," was her last thought as she lost consciousness. She didn't have the time to think about Erik and her newest family.

Karen felt something warm and wet across her face as she woke up. She brought her hands up to her face, with the effect that they were also warmed and wetted. Opening her eyes, it took her several seconds to recognize what she saw. It was the same old gray wolf that had woken her up the first time in this time and place. Or rather, the once-old wolf.

The wolf saw that she had awoken and backed off to give her room to sit up. Looking around, she saw one Kintzi, the larger older one, on the ground not more than five feet from her. She was about to jump away when she noticed that its throat had been ripped out, the foul-smelling blood spattered around. The other Kintzi, the smaller younger one, was sitting on a tree branch about twenty feet up, with half a dozen wolves around the tree. She also saw that the laser rifle was still where the bigger Kintzi had put it down. She stood up and walked towards it.

The young Kintzi was stunned. He and his sire had thought that they had found a little midday snack. His sire had indicated with a flick of his tail that he could have this kill. His first human kill!

But this human, a female, had proved difficult to kill. Instead, this human female had fought back with a fury almost matching that of an Arion Prime, not that he had ever fought against a Prime. He hadn't thought that any of the humans on this planet were that strong, that skilled in combat.

He had just managed to maneuver her into position for his sire's stunning blow. But even as the human started to fall a large gray blur streaked by and knocked his sire down. Before he could react the animal had sunk its fangs into his surprised sire's throat, the only vulnerable place on a fully-grown Kintzi warrior.

He had quickly realized that the animal was not alone. He knew that he could hold his own against a few of the native animals, but not against this many. He had tried to make a run for his sire's laser rifle but the animals had cut him off, surrounding him, barking and snarling at him.

Now he was sitting up in this tree while those animals paced below. His fear of those, those canines, had overcome his racial fear of heights. This was no way to become a Kintzi warrior! Treed by a pack of flea-bitten canines!

He saw the human get up and walk towards his sire's laser rifle. How could a human know what it was? These primitives couldn't even make a good sword, let alone figure out how to use an advanced weapon like an Arion laser rifle.

He was surprised as she picked it up with one hand. That rifle should be too heavy for any of these weaklings to handle.

That surprise disappeared to be replaced by an even bigger one as she hefted the rifle as if she knew exactly what she was doing, checking the charge and then flicking off the safety. She raised the rifle to her shoulder, elevating the barrel towards him.

An absurd thought came into his mind even as he saw her finger reaching for the trigger. "With that black hair and those blue eyes, that human could pass for an Arion."

Karen was a little surprised to see the Arion-made laser rifle. It was a much more primitive model than the ones that she had received her training on. But it wasn't the oldness that surprised her, that was only to be expected given what she thought about where, or rather when, she was. But she didn't think that the Arion High Command armed the Kintzi with such weapons. And the Kintzi maintenance, or more accurately the lack of maintenance, was obvious. Even in school, she would have been punished for having even a tenth of the dirt and grease stains that covered this rifle.

But she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, as Mark would have said. Now she wouldn't have to use her fingers or teeth on the Kintzi's soft throat. One clean shot drilled it through its throat. It fell heavily to the ground, the wolves jumping back from the body. It lay motionless on the ground. One of the big males went up to it and ripped its throat out for good measure, but other than that the wolves showed no further interest in the Kintzi, not even bothering to sniff at it. She couldn't blame them; she could smell the Kintzi herself.

One of the wolves snarled at Karen and started towards her. She didn't want to hurt any of the wolves, the wolves that so obviously had saved her from the Kintzi. But she certainly wasn't going to let the wolves kill her as they had the first Kintzi. She hefted the rifle, prepared to defend herself if necessary.

The old gray wolf quickly interposed himself between the two, snarling at the other wolf, his tail waving in a signal that only another wolf could understand. The two wolves stared at each other for about five seconds before the younger one yielded and slowly backed away.

As Karen lowered the rifle the old one turned back to Karen and began licking her hand. Karen dropped the rifle and fell to her knees, hugging the wolf as he licked her face. "Oh, am I glad to see you again. Thank you, my friend," she managed to say when the wolf stopped licking her face long enough for her to speak.

Following their leader's example, the other wolves all came up to her and sniffed her, some of the more adventurous ones actually licking her face as their leader had done. She thanked each of the wolves, speaking to each of them and patting them on the head or rubbing them behind the ears. Even the one who had snarled at her earlier now licked her face as she hugged it back.

Even with the wolves' timely intervention it had been a close call. She knew that her muscles alone wouldn't be able to finish off the Kintzi. And that Stars-forsaken Kintzi technical incompetence! They didn't even bother carrying fully charged energy cells for their laser rifles. That one shot that she had used to kill that Kintzi had used up all of remaining charge in the energy cell.

Checking the position of the sun, she saw that it was still high in the sky. She thought that the remaining Kintzi would still be sleeping until the sunset. She would have a few hours to see whether she could find enough weapons to finish off the remaining Kintzi. Or perhaps she could find something with which to blow up the shuttlecraft.

Even as she was debating whether to investigate the tent or the shuttlecraft first, she noticed that the wolves had begun running around and barking softly. A few seconds later she heard a high-pitched whine. It seemed to be coming from somewhere above her.

The whine got louder. She could tell that the wolves were in real discomfort now. In less than a minute she saw an Arion drop shuttle coming down out of the sky. Running and catching the old wolf, she grabbed him around his neck. She pointed down the trail and started pushing him along. The wolf apparently got her message. After one final lick of her face, he barked at his pack and began running along the trail. The rest of the pack quickly followed, gladly running away from the source of the high-pitched whine.

Staying in the trees, Karen knelt down and watched as the drop shuttle landed beside the smaller shuttlecraft. She was dismayed as more than a dozen Kintzi emerged from the drop shuttle. Some of them were armed with laser rifles; the rest carried swords, which she immediately recognized as layer swords.

Stars! What could she hope to do against more than a dozen armed Kintzi warriors? She hadn't been able to hold her own against two unarmed Kintzi, one of them hardly more than a child. If it hadn't been for the wolves, the Kintzi would even now be feasting on fresh Arion instead of the wolves declining to feast on Kintzi.

Staying well hidden, she watched as all of the Kintzi went into the tent, not even bothering to post any sentries. After a while two of them came out and walked to the drop shuttle, talking animatedly, gesturing with their hands and with their tails. They removed the cover from the engine access hatch and began working on the engine. Though she couldn't hear any words, see saw that their idea of working on the engine mostly involved the two mechanics arguing animatedly and vehemently over what needed to be done. Thinking of the typical Kintzi technical incompetence, she figured that at least the arguing was doing the engine less harm than any maintenance work that they might actually get around to doing.

Shortly after dusk the remaining Kintzi came out of the tent. Some crates were brought out from the drop shuttle, and the Kintzi settled down to eating. And drinking. And still no sentries posted anywhere. Neither was their any search for the two missing Kintzi.

Well, if they were partying, at least they weren't hunting. But with all of the Kintzi out on the lakeshore around the shuttles, Karen knew that she couldn't approach them. She withdrew further into the trees. Finding a secluded spot under some boulders, she settled down to eat some of her food and to get some rest.

Getting up shortly before dawn, Karen crept back to the lakeshore to see what was going on. Apparently the Kintzi had finished their party. She saw the stragglers heading back into the tent to sleep for the day. The engine access hatch cover was still off, but there were no signs of the mechanics. Kintzi! The only reason they could even sharpen their own claws without losing them was that they were permanently attached.

She tried to remember everything she had learned in school about the Kintzi. Recalling that they were primarily nocturnal, she decided that this was her best opportunity to try to steal some weapons from them. The day looked like it was going to be clear and warm. Using the last of the pre-dawn gloom, she crept forward until she reached the smaller shuttlecraft. Seeing and smelling no Kintzi inside, she opened the hatch and cautiously went in.

The interior looked like a standard Arion craft, except for the seating, which had been replaced with Kintzi-style seats, made to accommodate humanoids with tails. The controls were marked in Arion, with little stickers marked in Kintzi stuck next to them. She saw no weapons.

Briefly she thought about trying to fly it, to get away from here. But no, she couldn't do that. She couldn't leave Erik and the others. Besides, she didn't know how to fly it. She was sure that she could operate the communications equipment, but she certainly didn't want to talk to any of the Kintzi that might be up there somewhere in orbit. Nor to the Arions that might be with them.

Looking outside to make sure that the Kintzi were still in their tent, Karen emerged from the shuttlecraft and headed towards the drop shuttle. She walked by the open hatch. If only she had a plasma grenade, it would be an ideal place to put one. Even an ordinary Terran hand grenade could really mess up the engine. Well, maybe she could find something inside the drop shuttle. Preferably something with a time-delay mechanism, she wouldn't want to be in the valley when the engine core blew up. She walked on to the open cargo bay hatch.

She remembered back to the last time that she had been in the cargo bay of a drop shuttle. That had also been on snow-covered ground, but so far away. So far away, in both space and in time.

Even though she had only seen him once a month as the drop shuttle had made its supply runs to the camp in the Aleutians, she had made sure that she saw all of the copilot on those occasions. Of course, he had also seen all of her. They had seen each other not only with their eyes, but also with their hands. It wasn't as comfortable in the cargo bay as it would have been in the passenger compartment, but that had been reserved for the pilot and for Korek. Oh Korek! Her twin brother had been convinced that he was going to die at the hands of a Velorian. Instead, he had died in the arms of one. In the tender arms of her 'cousin', Julie.

Karen was snapped out of her reverie as something hit her hard in the back of her head, flinging her against the side of the drop shuttle. Bouncing off, she landed in the mud at the base of the drop shuttle. She looked up to see an orange-furred Kintzi standing over her, looking surprised that a blow with the hilt of his layer sword hadn't completely crushed her skull.

As much as that had hurt, Karen was glad that he had used the hilt. If he had used the blade then she would have been dead before she even knew that she had been hit. As he reversed his sword she kicked out at his legs. That bought her just a little more time as he staggered back a few steps, surprised that a human had been able to knock him off his balance.

But not too far off balance, he was approaching her again, his sword in his hand, even as Karen was still struggling to get to her feet. From a crouch she dove to her left, evading his sword swing and rolling when she hit the ground. She knew that unarmed as she was, she couldn't keep evading that layer sword for long, a sword that could cut through a full Prime's body. Eventually the Kintzi would figure out that she was moving faster than a Terran and compensate. After all, a Kintzi was almost as fast as an Arion Prime was, just as fast as she was. And all that the Kintzi had to do was to raise the alarm, and she would definitely be finished. As he came for her again, his tail twitching in anticipation, she dove again, this time to her right. She thought that she could feel the whoosh of the sword through the air only inches behind her back.

She sprang back up to her feet just in time to see the Kintzi go flying sideways, a large gray wolf at its throat, the Kintzi's sword flying in the opposite direction. For the second time in as many days the old wolf had saved her life.

Then it was the wolf's turn to go flying as the Kintzi managed to throw the wolf off of it, sending it flying head over heels for twenty feet. It managed to get to its feet. With a howl the wolf leaped again at the Kintzi, driving it back against the side of the drop shuttle. The two rolled across the side of the shuttle, both of them trying to get its jaws around the other's throat.

Even as Karen retrieved the Kintzi's fallen layer sword and approached to help the wolf, the Kintzi tripped as its feet met the hatch cover propped against the side of the shuttle. It staggered as it sought to regain its balance. Just then the wolf lunged again, forcing the Kintzi backwards into the open access hatch. The Kintzi's feet slid on the muddy ground as the two of them fell through the hatch into the engine compartment.

Karen could hear the wolf's yelping from inside the engine compartment, telling her that he still lived. Carrying the sword she started to run towards the access hatch. She could hear the continuing sounds of the struggle as the two nearly invulnerable bodies of a Supremis feline and an enhanced canine fought each other amidst the softer metal of the engine. A shower of sparks erupted from the access hatch as some metal part of the engine succumbed to one of the bodies.

Then something else erupted from within the engine compartment, as the Orgone converters that powered the engine went critical. She saw a blinding flash of blue-green light and felt the shock wave as the concussion sent her flying backwards.

Then she saw and felt nothing.

Erik had been standing watch on the road at the end of the village for two days, ever since Karen and Johan went in search of whatever had killed those two men. The creatures that Karen called 'Kintzi'. The day before he had thought that he had heard some distant thunder, even though their had been no clouds in the sky the entire day. His father, and Siegfried, and several of the other men, had offered to take their turns on watch, but Erik had turned them down.

He had just finished eating the simple meal, bread and cold smoked fowl, that one of the boys from the village had brought him when he saw a single person approaching, a dog following at its heels. He immediately jumped onto his mare and rode out to see who it was. As he got closer he saw that it was Johan and his dog. Where was Karen? How could he come back and leave her out there by herself?

Erik knew Johan better than that. He realized that Johan probably hadn't left Karen out there, that she probably had forced him to come home. Giving Johan a hand up onto the mare, he rode back to the village, the dog trotting at the mare's heels.

After Johan had eaten and rested, he led Erik, Karl, and Siegfried to where Karen had left him. They then pressed on, spurring their horses up to the ridge. Erik remembered the valley on the other side, when he was still a boy his father had brought him here often for some fishing in the lake. Turning and looking at Karl, Erik saw from his father's smile that he also remembered it. There was some talk of splitting up and establishing a new village here in a few more years, when the population grew too much for the present area to handle.

When they crested the ridge the sight that greeted them made them stop in their tracks. This valley was not like anything that Erik had remembered it to be. There would be no new village here for a while.

Gods! What had happened here? The valley, with its beautiful forests and meadows was gone. The lake was still here, but what had happened? Instead of the clear blue fish-filled lake that he remembered, the entire valley floor seemed to be one dark brown muddy lake. Charred and broken tree trunks were floating in it. There were no patches of snow in this valley, as there had been on the other side of the ridge.

It was as if the biggest of Wotan's thunderbolts had struck the valley. Perhaps even all of Wotan's thunderbolts. Was this the thunder that he thought he had heard the previous day? Surely nothing could still be alive down there.

The four of them searched the valley, riding all the way around the muddy lake, but they did not find Karen. With heavy hearts they turned and headed back for home.