The Mutant World (22 page)

“It is as he says,” whispered one of the women. Her companions nodded.

“No!” the battered woman screamed, “It was HIM!!”

Maya looked at the assembled council, particularly the women. “Have these telepaths ever failed to find the truth of a matter?”

“No,” said one of the women. The others assented to this.

“Then my husband has been cleared. We will investigate this matter further and find the true culprit,” said Maya gravely. There were at first some angry shouting, but these women were dragged away. “I will now retire. Come, my lord!”

There were words in private between Barrat and Maya. Both the victim and the accused had been mind-scanned and both had been proved to be telling the truth, thus proving nothing. This incident had left a sour taste in the mouths of many. Lord Barrat had at one point defied or indicated that he would defy the council if they ordered him collard. Did he believe himself above the queen’s law? Also, the men had rallied to Barrat’s defense believing him innocent just as quickly as the women believed his guilt. This was one ugly and unresolved incident, and already it was beginning to undermine the work Maya and Barrat had achieved, especially in their own home…and it would get worse.

“Why would Vivian lie?” said Maya. “She admired you.”

“Why would I lie?!” shouted Barrat angrily.

“That is a very stupid question, my lord,” said Maya. “I mean…if you were guilty.”

“My mind was scanned! My innocence was proven!” cried Barrat.

Maya couldn’t meet Barrat’s eyes. “I…I know, lord. But…”

An angry Barrat stormed out of the palace a week later after some more words with his wife and yet another attack was soon reported.

“It’s true, my queen. Again, all the physical evidence points to,
Lord
Barrat,” said the woman in sarcasm. “But the mind-scans of both parties have turned out the same again.”

“Couldn’t a shapeshifter be behind this?” asked another woman. “Have feral’s been put to the scent. A person may be able to change their form, but not their scent.”

“Yes, Lady Kima,” said a woman, “but the villain has thought of everything. No scent was found anywhere. I believe this was deliberately masked somehow, thus making Barrat all the more guilty looking! Besides, there are no mutants among us that have the ability to take another’s form so completely.”

“That we know of,” mused, Lady Kima. “I believe that people are seeing what they want to see. I personally do not believe that Lord Barrat is so stupid as to destroy everything he hoped to build. He steps out, someone is raped. He goes to hunt, someone is raped. How convenient. I see another hand here.”

“Barrat is a man!” said one of the women, “and that says it all!” Much to Kima’s surprise, she noticed that for many of the women, indeed most, this logic was enough.

The Lady Rachel leaned close to Queen Maya. “My lady, I would keep a close eye on your mate. Men have been known to betray those closest to them. Maya thought on this. Rachel had been introduced to her by her mother and had proven a good confident over the last few months. “The men may be protecting their lord, too,” she whispered. “Perhaps it is the male telepaths participation that is so confounding the results of the mind-scans, hmmm?”

“I hear your words,” was all Maya said.

At home, life was becoming intolerable for Barrat. His wife professed her trust in him, but her actions and body language suggested just the opposite. Also, she had ceased to go into estrus for some time now. THAT was the biggest indication of her distrust. Only very negative emotions could cancel out the hunger. And then there was that woman that was now creeping about. She was always around now, almost like Maya’s personal bodyguard. Barrat saw the way she looked at Maya, and he didn’t like it. He wondered if Maya
did
. At last enough was enough, Barrat decided to move into the ‘Men’s House’ for a while and within a week of this, another attack occurred. This time his scent was placed at the scene
and
witnesses had marked him fleeing the crime. It didn’t seem to matter to the women that at least fifty men and boys could vouch for Barrat’s whereabouts that night. The Mavie women were now about to explode.

******

“I tell you it wasn’t me!” cried Barrat in outrage. “I was in the ‘Men’s House’ with my comrades the whole night! We drank, fought and laughed much of the evening and then passed out!”

“
They
passed out,” said Maya, coldly.

“You openly doubt me?!” said Barrat in outrage.

“Yes,” said Maya, bluntly.

“How many times must I have my mind scanned?!”

“You are no ordinary man, my lord,” said Maya. “For all I know, you may be strong enough to block or misdirect the telepaths. Or perhaps, your men are helping you.” There were shouts of outrage from the gathered men of the council. “Did you not swear that no one would put a collar on your throat? You protect yourself from our justice! And you wonder why we don’t trust you?”

Barrat looked at his wife for a long moment and then sighed. “No one will put a collar on my neck…I will do it myself! If I do this thing and you still find no evidence of guilt in my mind will you be satisfied?”

“Aye,” said Maya, “but only female telepaths will participate this time…agreed?”

“Agreed,” growled Barrat.

A control collar was produced, and true to his word, Barrat placed it on his own neck with his own hands. He glared at Maya in outrage, but he had kept his word. She summoned her telepaths and again his mind was scanned.

“Well?” said, Queen Maya.

“It…I…We found nothing of the crime in his mind, my queen. It is as he said. He was in the men’s dormitories the entire night.” There was a moment of silence at this.

“There!” said Barrat. “Are you satisfied?! Now release me as promised!” Immediately there were screams of outrage from the assembled women, none louder than from the women who were assaulted and their families.

Queen Maya stood up. “I never promised that I’d take the collar off, you stupid man. Did you think I was a fool?” Barrat just looked at her in shock. “I always wondered how you could be guilty, but yet no evidence could be found in your mind of your crimes.” Then she looked to the Lady Rachel.

“It would be a simple matter for you to have such incriminating evidence removed from your memory,” Rachel said with a grin. “I believe your men on the council and their male telepaths are accomplices in your crimes.”

“WHAT?!?” cried Barrat.

“Seize them!” cried Maya. Barrat felt a blade at his neck. The men cried out in fury. “If you resist, your lord will die!”

“Forget me!” suddenly shouted Barrat. “Fight! It is some Mavie plot! Fight and clear my name later!” But the men would not risk their lord’s life and surrendered. They were immediately collared.

“Now, my overheated love,” said Maya coldly. “I’ll get the truth out of you!”

In the following weeks, Maya, with her mother’s and Rachel’s eager help, began to undue the perceived damage that Barrat had done to Mavie society. Many men fled the capital while others, and their women, formed defiant bands in the outlying regions. To his credit, no one would rise in open revolt and march on the Mavie in the city for fear of Barrat’s safety. If they knew what was happening in the palace dungeons, an old but recently unused section of that building, they would have done so. The male telepaths and former councilmen were put to torture and many soon told Queen Maya anything Mavie and the Lady Rachel wanted them to say, and were immediately executed. Barrat, on the other hand, proved to be of much stronger stuff. He professed his innocence no matter how he was tortured. Curiously, there were indeed women among the Mavie who believed him.

The Lady Kima was a logical woman. She urged the queen not to be too hasty in condemning her former mate. She would find the truth, proving his guilt or innocence in a civilized and reliable way. Maya gave her leave to do as she willed, but despite this, allowed the Lady Rachel and her cronies to have their way with Barrat.

******

“Sisters, I’m ashamed to call myself ‘Mavie’. Do you know Queen Maya allowed that animal Rachel to torture, Lord Barrat?”

“Do
you
know, Sister, “said another woman, “that they castrated him yesterday?”

“Goddess, no!” gasped Kima.

“Yes, Lady Rachel let the women whom he allegedly raped take their revenge on him. And yes, Queen Maya approved it. Her only condition was that he not be killed. I do not know if she clearly understood or was explained the nature of what their revenge would be though.”

“Madness! Madness!” cried Kima in disgust and horror. “You know he is innocent, don’t you?”

“Yes,” said the other woman with a sigh. “It is so obvious. The moment
that
man put a control collar on his own neck to prove his words, I knew he was telling the truth. He really must have loved the queen greatly to do that.”

“Oh he was framed alright,” said Lady Kima, “but by who? It’s really not that hard to figure out in a broad sense. Mavie traditionalists’ hell bent on stopping progress, even to the point of the unspeakable, to be sure. The problem is finding the proof and the individual. The true rapist is obviously a shapeshifter who has not only cross-gender ability, but is also someone capable of complete mimicry. Planting Lord Barrat’s scent on the scene of the last attack would be a simple task as well for someone with access to the royal families living quarters. With the lord gone, taking an item of his left behind would be a simple matter. I trust you know who I mean?” The other women nodded. “It’s curious that no one bothered to notice or point out that the scent of Lord Barrat just appeared, neither leading back to the men’s dorms or even the palace. I warned the queen not to do anything rash until I had the truth, but I fear I’ve taken too long with no results and now she’s made up her mind. I have a terrible feeling things will get much worse.”

******

Barrat lay in agony manacled to the wall of his cell. A cell, the most degrading thing to be done to a person, but that was not the worst of it. He had been tortured for a while now as Maya and her bitches tried to force him to confess to barbaric acts he did not commit. The others had named him under torture, but he held no grudge. He never believed that Maya was capable of the things she’d done and indeed, she seemed shocked when she arrived and saw the latest cruelty inflicted on his body, but she did not free him. He wondered why she didn’t kill him. She now completely believed his guilt, but she would surprise him one finale time.

The door to his cell opened and Queen Maya walked in. She looked at Barrat coldly. In all the time she’d had him tortured she’d never heard a single anguished cry come from his lips. He glared at her with anger, but surprisingly, not hate. Barrat then noticed something dragging behind in the queen’s hand and an icy chill ran up his spine. It was small enough to fit in a medium sized sack, but something about the way it laid filled Barrat with dread.

“Your bloodline dies now, animal,” said Maya. “Your stones have been taken, but your accursed legacy might have continued to haunt our women again someday. Here is your cub. I’ll not have it grow big and follow your path and bring further dishonor to my line,” and with that she emptied the contents of the bag in front of Barrat and for the first time a cry of sheer anguish was heard from his cell. One of Barrat’s guards looked at Maya in horror and disbelief, and then at the body of the dead toddler. Queen Maya had slain a mutant child, her own offspring. As for Maya, if she had expected to receive some measure of satisfaction from seeing Barrat in further torment she was wrong.

After the initial shock and horror had worn off and terrible grief expressed, he glared at her through eyes burning not with anger, but blazing hate! Despite the fact that he was originally unable to move without agony from what was so recently done to him, he now lunged at her snarling and gnashing his teeth, held back by his heavy manacles, the pain in his privates totally forgotten. For some reason, deep down inside, Maya felt an emotion that she didn’t think she could still feel for him. She accomplished what she wanted, but she didn’t feel satisfied, no, just the opposite. She turned and quietly said to the speechless guards, “Don’t torture him anymore. Feed him enough to keep him alive. Leave his son’s body where it lies.” Then she walked away. “I will not come back to this place again,” she said to Rachel who nodded grimly. When Maya saw her Mother, she was looking for her grandson.

“Maya, where is, Brac? His grandmother has something for him.” Ironically, Mavie had a toy panther in her hand. The animal was black, with a white stripe on its head. Obviously, it was a doll of the child’s grandfather, High Lord Cato. “A little boy should have a good male role model,” she said, “and I can think of none better than Cato Curtis. “Where is the little darling?”

“I sent him to the place his father will be going eventually.”

Mavie didn’t seem to understand for a moment, but then a look of horror appeared on her face and the toy slipped from her grasp. “You…You didn’t! This…This thing has never been done before! He was just a…WHY?!?”

“He was the son of a serial rapist,” said Maya. “He would have grown into a monster. He had to be destroyed.” Mavie could not speak, but tears were now running down her cheeks. “You were right, Mother. I see that now. At least our bloodline is safe from this taint.” Maya then walked away. Despite her words, she seemed ill and pale. Mavie was never the same again after that. Nobody was.