"Can you imagine, Cass? Not one but two male prisoners were taken!"
"Yeah! And here we are ... Stuck out here on guard duty!
And forbidden to so much as lay a hand on either one of them!"
"I'm tellin' ya, Del! It gripes me! It really does!"
"Yeah ... Well ... Nothin' can be done about it, I guess!
So I try not to think about it too much ...
Gosh! But I'm getting sleepy sitting all alone out here with nothin' t'do!
Aren't you, Cass?"
"Not me honey! I got the hots for the one with the yellow hair!"
"And there's no way that I'm gonna doze off tonight!
You go ahead and catch a few ZZZ's if you want!
I won't tattle on you!"
"I'll just sit here and dream about what I'm gonna do with that fella with the yellow hair just as soon as its my turn!"
"Yeah ... Well I can assure you that he probably won't be all that great..."
"Oh now, just think, Del!
I'll bet he's hung as long as this broad-sword!"
"Oh,sure!
But f he were ...
What do you think you were going to do with all that?"
"Well ...
At least I helped capture him!
And what did ypu do, may I ask?"
"Me? Oh ...
I tried him on for size...
That's why I know that you're exaggerating ...
But only slightly, of course!"
"You did what!?"
"I said that I sampled the goods!
Why?
Did I do something wrong?
And what's it to you, anyway?"
"I go out and risk life and limb to bring home the bacon ...
And you go and ...?"
"Now, don't go gettin' all steamed up about it!
You'll get a rash or something!"
"By the Gods!
By rights I oughta let you have it right here and now!"
"But - I'm tellin' ya...
I've already had it..."
"I... Ooops!
Now you really are getting excited!
Did I say the wrong thing, maybe?"
"On your feet, Cass!
I wouldn't want to be seen to be taking unfair advatage of an opponent!"
"Now get ready!
Cuz I'm about to put about a half meter of this blade of mine in your belly!"
"But now wait just a minute here!
I'm confused ...
Or maybe I don't understand!
What did I do?
You were the one who jumped his bones!
Or didn't you?"
"You went and took that yellow-haired guy right out from under my nose when I had him at the tip of my fingers!
That's what!
I'm riding him for all I'm worth ...
And all the time he's moaning, 'Cassandra! Cassandra!'"
"Oy! What can I say to that?"
"You can watch how you're waving that sword around for one thing!"
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"Oh! Now look!
Are you gonna quite this nonsense, or what?"
"Yeah!
I will!
Just as soon as I drive this blade of mine inta your guts!"
"Ha!
You'll never get the chance!"
"Who says I won't?"
"I'll goudge your eyes out!
You ...
Uufff!
"Ow! That hurt!"
"Well! What the Hell do ya think you've done t'me?"
"I forgot that you took Freida's kick-ass class!"
"Yeah! An' kickin' ass isn't the only thing I learned!"
"As you'll soon find out ..."
"Right about ...
Now!"
Even in the low light of the darkened theater
I could see Zula's smile as she looked up
and patted the seat next to her that she had saved for me.
As I sat down it did me good to think that this Amazon would think to save a place for me ...
"I'm running late again, Zula!
Thanks for saving me a seat!"
I murmured gratefully for want of a more meaningful greeting.
"You're apt to be late to your own funeral, Buck!" The woman whispered in reply.
"Where the heck have you been lately?"
"In Florida!" I whispered back.
"For two whole weeks?
And you didn't take me!"
"I certainly would have, Zula!
But you weren't anywhere around here when I left!"
"Humph!
But you're right!
I wasn't - was I?"
"Well Zula!
Returning to the subject at hand ...
What's all this ruckus about?"
"The girls?
Oh, they're fighting over some man ..."
"Amazons?
Fighting over a man?
That doesn't seem possible!"
"I know, Buck!
It's a silly excuse, I suppose!
But you know ..?
These Women will fight at the drop of a hat over almost anything at all!
Don't you know that?"
"Well ... I suppose so ..."
"Besides ...
The important thing is not so much what the fight is about ..."
"But that one or another or both of them gets skewered!
Am I right?
Or am I right?"
"I'm always hoping that both of 'em get the business myself!"
"Humph! Dirty Old Man!"
"I resemble that remark!"
"You know, Zula?
What beats me how a little girl can take a blade in the gut like that ..."
"And then hop right back up
and keep right on fighting as if nothing had happened!"
"Oh, com'on, Buck!
That happens in the movies all the time!"
"Besides!
She hasn't 'hopped right up' ...
She's trying to trip up her opponent!"
And now we shall return our attention to the dialogue transpiring on stage ...
"Looks as if the shoe were on the other foot now!
Doesn't it, Cass?"
"That belly-wound will be the end of you, Delphinia!
Dammit!
Why don't you just lay down and die?"
"You should 'a taken me out for good while I was down an' ya had the chance, Cass!"
"Now it's I who have the upper hand!"
"Could be!
But you no longer have the strength to press the advantage!
Brief as it was!"
"Who do you think will win the match, Zula?"
I asked the opinion of my companion, who I considered to be expert in these affairs...
"I wouldn't put much money on either one of them to win at this point, Buck!"
"The one called Delphinia will certainly die of her belly-wound eventually ..."
"But no Amazon is ever inclined to simply lay down and die ..."
"That would run contrary to our nature ..."
"A woman wouldn't likely be called 'Amazon' in the first place were she inclined to do that..."
"No ... Amazons are more often made than born ..."
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"And so, Delphine will summon her 'reserves' ..."
"To use every last ounce of her strength ..."
"To bring death and destruction to her enemy ..."
"By any means at her disposal!"
"Even now see the way Delphine's blade has sought out the navel of her opponent!"
"Now there is nothing to do but to drive the blade deep ..."
"Deep into the belly of the woman ..."
"A woman whom only a matter of minutes before, Delphine had dared to call a friend!"
"Vengeance is mine!" Delphine gasps...
"Vengeance is mine!" Delphine gasps...
Impaled by the sword of Delphine that still protrudes from her belly ...
And so now at this point both of this evening's contestants are actively dying ...
"Just look at Cassandra!" Zula enthusiastically exclaimed ...
"See how she's trying to pull Delphine's blade from her belly!"
"As if by doing so it will lessen her pain to any measurable extent ...
Oh, wait!
Cassandra is saying something ..."
"Well, Delphine ...
I guess the only question now is ..."
"Which one of us gets to upstage the other?"
"You mean ...
Who goes out on top, Cass?"
"Yeah ...
I ...
Uungh!
(This damn sword!)"
"It doesn't matter much t'me, Cass ..."
"I guess that now - nothing..."
"Nothing... Really matters..."
"Well... I guess there we have it, Buck!"
Zula turned to me as we sat watching the final frames of the scene that had taken place before us...
"Yes ...
And once again you were quite right, Zula!"
"Right about what, Buck?"
"Right when you said that both girls would get it in the neck ..."
"In the neck?
Did I say that?
Why, neither one of them got it in the neck, Buck!
Both of them died of belly-wounds!
Plain and simple!"
"I only meant that you said earlier that neither of them would survive the contest, Zula!
How did you come to know that?"
"Ah, Buck!" My friend said tapping her temple lightly with her fore-finger.
"We women have a way of knowing these things, you see!"
