The Mutant World (15 page)

“Humph! The old lady is wearing you out?” said the girl.

“Who are you?” said Barrat. “I’ve seen you before with that woman called Mary. You two seem rather close.”

“She’s my lover,” said the girl matter-of-factly.

Barrat shook his head and chuckled. Personally he didn’t care one way or the other about who people like to fool around with, but Lady Mary was at least seventy from what he was told, and yet she had referred to Chieftess Sonja as an old lady. “You should talk, girl. That woman is no cub. Again…what are you called and what do you want?”

“My name is ‘Dian. And I am curious about the touch of a man.”

Barrat chuckled again. He didn’t really need to ask the reason she had sought him out. The girl’s scent was quite strong. She was in heat, as many of these repressed females were. Their partners were able to keep “The Hunger” under control, but many were not satisfied. It was like giving someone enough food to live, but not enough to be full, happy. At least this seemed to be the case with the females who went with other women because of the culture rather than the real desire. Obviously this female’s orientation was hetero and she didn’t even realize it…yet.

“The Lady Mary doesn’t satisfy you? I wonder…in what way
could
she be lacking?” said Barrat sarcastically. “And why me? There are plenty of other males in this village.”

“I have friends, both human and mutant, who like men, but I never see them as
satisfied
as Chieftess Sonja after they have used their males.” Barrat’s eyes narrowed at the word ‘Used’. “Nor have I heard them scream and moan like the chieftess either. You are different. I think, perhaps, that you are a real man.” Even Barrat had to smile at that compliment. The girl wasn’t trying to flatter him; she was just stating a fact, which of course, only made the statement all the more flattering. Barrat couldn’t help liking the girl. But he needed to set something straight before this went any further.

“You cannot cut a man’s balls off and then complain that he is not a real man, girl,” said Barrat. “Your men are the way they are because you have forced them to be so. It’s really that simple. I have not been among you Mavie long, nor have I had any experience with women before coming here, but from what I have seen and been told, you people were not always Mavie, nor did you always exist this way.”

Dain shrugged. “That was a long time ago. I assume that there was a reason for this change. I have been told that men are naturally untrustworthy and try to rule over women. We collar you for our own protection.” Barrat snorted at this. These women seemed to be the ones who were untrustworthy and they didn’t just collar their men, they abused and degraded them…and
enjoyed
it. With some disgust, he noticed that there were some men that had become used to and even craved it now. Men were seen as useful for labor and other low work here, and he realized now…for other things as well. “Enough talk,” said Dain. “Remove that and lie back, but don’t touch me. I want to try you out now. Hmmm, I wonder…is it the size that makes the chieftess so happy?”

With that Barrat burst out laughing. “Fool, I have seen many females in this village who were just as
happy
with a woman who has no manhood at all. And your approach is very bad. Do you think that I’m like
these
guys?
‘Take off your clothes and lie back, but don’t touch me. I want to try you out now.’
What was that?! What would you do if a man said that to you? How would you feel?”

Dain didn’t know how to answer that. It had never happened before. She did realize though that her female lovers and even she herself
never
behaved or approached each other in that way. Thinking of it that way, she felt it might be offensive. But then he was a man.

“A man wouldn’t dare say such a thing to a woman!” she said indignantly at last.

“Come here!” said Barrat, now a bit annoyed at this girl. He pulled her to and beneath him.

“Wait!” cried Dain. “This is improper! I must be on top! You can’t touch me! You must…”

“I thought you wanted to have
fun
,” laughed Barrat. The girl’s smell was very strong now, her body jumped a little beneath him.

“Let me go,” panted Dain. But it was obvious that she really lacked conviction when she said this. Her hips were moving against Barrat now and her hands were beginning to wander.

“Your body is more honest than you are,” Barrat chuckled. “If you really want me to let you go, say it now. I will not force any female against her will, even one that originally came to me first.”

Dain swallowed in horror. She heard herself say,
“Please.”

Barrat looked confused. “Please? What do you…?”

“Please touch me!” she cried, unable to control herself anymore.

“Alright then,” said Barrat. “Let’s have fun…together.”

******

“Chieftess, Lady Mary is beside herself with rage. She complains that your pet male has defiled and corrupted her lover, the girl Dain. She says for the last month she has shown no interest in her and has been following, Lord Barrat…”

“
Lord
Barrat?” said Chieftess Sonja in surprise. She hadn’t heard a man referred to by that title in this village in almost one hundred and seventy years.

“Well,” continued the woman, “the girl followed him around like a puppy for a week or so, but now seems to have bonded with one of the males of his group. There are ten in all now. Anyway, be that as it may, she doesn’t seem to have any interest in females anymore,
especially
Lady Mary. Also, other young females have sought him out and well…”

“No wonder I haven’t been getting as much attention lately,” said Sonja dryly.

“Chieftess?” said the other woman.

“Never mind!” snapped Sonja. “The Lady Mary always did have a thing for little girls. But Dain is already a young woman. She’s already past Mary’s preference. Mary would have discarded Dain and picked up another fifteen or fourteen year old eventually. Frankly, the woman disgusts me. Well, just tell her to get over it!”

Not far away, in one of the Women’s Houses reserved for young females, several young ladies were also talking about Barrat and his males.

******

“I thought you liked him a lot, Dain.”

“I do!” said Dain. “He taught me many nice things, but…”

“But?” asked another girl.

“Well, I always liked, Bebe,” said Dain. “I mean…we were little together and…Well, I couldn’t (sigh) you know what I mean. Now that things are changing and he doesn’t have a collar anymore…Look, Lord Barrat is
very
good, but I don’t love him! Besides, Bebe is just as well-made and I’ve been sharing what I’ve learned with him, so…who needs, Barrat? Well, at least for
that
anymore,” added Dain with a giggle. There was much laughter at this.

“Well, I guess we should be thanking him,” said another girl, again there was laughter.

“Did anyone ever imagine we’d be talking about the pleasures of men in this place two or three months ago?” laughed a girl. The other women looked around and giggled. “Guess we didn’t know what we were missing.”

“I’ve tried one or two of the collarless males that were to my liking,” said one girl, “but I think I still like women better. But…the change was nice.” There was more laughter.

Not far away this conversation was being overheard, and it was not as humorous to her as to the girls. Mary decided then and there that enough was enough. Barrat had to die, and die immediately, his mother too if she appeared and stood in their way. But Tamara had come and gone sporadically since their first week there. Barrat had obviously stayed close to the village for other reasons. In any case, NOW was the time for action.

******

“What the hell is all that racket?” said Chieftess Sonja running from her house. The sounds of shouts and cries of rage could be heard and soon those of terror and pain.

“Chieftess!” cried a terrified woman. “Lady Mary and a number of her followers have attacked, Lord Barrat! They’re even using their males. Already two human women have been killed!”

“Damn her to hell!” roared Sonja. “I warned her not to…” The screams became louder. “Shit!” cursed Sonja as she rushed to the sound of the commotion.

******

Mary had sent in the humans first to confuse Barrat and then her mutant fighters. In human form Barrat unintentionally, but easily, dispatched two of the armed human women permanently in seconds and plowed into the pack sending others flying. The mutant women then entered the fight and seemed to fare better until a furious and bleeding Barrat shifted into his semi-human form. Mary, screaming to her warriors and hurling obscenities at Barrat, charged in and managed to drive her blade home to Barrat’s heart, or at least where it was located, but the blade made very little headway through the dense muscles of Barrat’s powerful chest. That she was able to draw blood at all was impressive, showing above human strength. Barrat quickly backhanded the woman and she went flying. A loud roar was heard and the women saw Terence, fully transformed and the rest of Barrat’s males rushing to his aid.

Her head dizzy, Mary looked on in horror as the fight was quickly becoming a very lopsided battle. Barrat and his followers, greatly outnumbered were more than holding their own against the attacking Mavie. The men of the village were now free to unleash some very long held anger against those who had abused them, and this had now become blood lust. The better trained and more powerful Mavie mutant women were managing to stay alive, but the square was strewn with the bodies of screaming and dying human females. Mary was now regretting not having listened to Chieftess Sonja. This was turning out just as she had warned. She did have a back-up, but didn’t want to use them except as a last resort. After all, the Mavie were supposed to be superior to men in every way, using these people would be the same as admitting defeat. But the boys were too powerful and it was obvious that they had been receiving some training from the outsider. The women were much better trained, but what the males lacked in skill they made up in raw power. Mary had no choice,
“Use the males!”
she gasped.

The male mutants with Mary had hesitated at first, but attacked nonetheless. At first this was half-hearted, but soon, especially those who were feral, they began to be overcome with bloodlust and things got ugly. Fortunately, all these males were still collard and could not fully or partially transform, not a weakness shared by Barrat and his fighters. Barrat transformed fully once the male mutants were used and the fight quickly turned around. The women and even some of the men screamed in terror and ran once faced to face with the giant Brown Panther; others were frozen in their tracks. Only one male mutant actually tried to fight, but was smacked down by a monstrous paw. A lesser mutant would have been killed. A human would have become a bloody splat! But this man staggered to his feet and snarled defiantly. Barrat was impressed.

“Hold on, Brother!”
said Barrat mentally to the man.
“You’ve fought well. You might have done better if not for that collar. Join me and I will see it removed forever!”

“I…I cannot,” replied the man. “I am a man of this village. I will never…I…”

“Then rest friend,”
beamed the great cat.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of…as far as courage goes.”
The man looked at Barrat for a long moment and then turning, staggered back to where Lady Mary was watching in fury. Obviously, she had a different view of the situation.

“You worthless male piece of SHIT!” she screamed, slapping the man in the face. “How dare you drag your pathetic ass back to me in defeat!”

The man seemed to finally see what exactly his loyalty was worth in this town and said so. “I did my
best
you evil bitch! Better by far than your human and she-mutant tramps! You call us scum and animals! But in the end you still needed
men
to do your fighting for you!” Then he turned and faced Barrat. “I believe I have changed my mind, Lord Barrat. I will come with you.”

Quickly Mary turned his collar on completely and then screamed, “The only place you’re going is hell!” and with that she plunged her sword into the now powerless man’s neck. The others watched in speechless horror as the dying man fell gaging and coughing blood face first into the dust. There was a long pause and suddenly an awful roar and the last thing Lady Mary Taft of Mavie saw in this world was the giant gaping maw and fangs of the enraged panther, Barrat. Chieftess Sonja words had proved prophetic. Mary’s dismembered body was indeed scattered all over the village square. Barrat was about to charge the rest when a familiar voice gave him pause.

“In the name of the Goddess…STOP!” Chieftess Sonja had arrived with the council and fresh warriors just in time to see Mary kill the mutant man in cold blood and then be torn apart by Barrat. A great crowd was now gathering and Barrat spread his legs wide and roared in defiance. His men made a circle and it looked pretty bad. Sonja believed that she could possibly overcome these people by sheer numbers, but half the adult population in the village would die in the fighting…both human and mutant. It was also possible that the death toll would be just as large and Barrat and some of his people would escape anyway. No, neither scenario was acceptable. “My lord, I think it is time for you to go. I can’t have my people slaughtered in droves. The Lady Mary was a woman of high standing in this village.”