Titans of Chaos

I made it to the top of the cliff with surprising speed, considering my aches and pains. Themaenads yelled and yodeled when they saw me in motion, and one ill-aimed tree fell across therock face above me, wedged solid. It provided me a quick impromptu ladder to the top.

At the top, I saw a break in the trees, a meadow sloping away to my left. A line of electrical powerpoles ran down the middle of the open area.

I wondered if I was on Earth. The writing on the transformer boxes was English. This could stillbe in America, perhaps even in Northern California.

I thought: a straight sprint down the meadow, with no obstructions, while the maenads jump theriver and swarm up the cliff. Gives me some distance. Downhill; slope will block the view. Whenthey lose sight of me, vault into the forest, hide. Good plan? Good plan.

My feet felt light as I sped across the grass, transformer towers buzzing and muttering above me.

Too light? Maybe the hallucination that I hid been in four-space while I was swimming had beenhalf-true. Maybe I could just get out of range of the Glum-effect the maenads were radiating.

Oh, I know Mr. Glum had not suffered from any range limits when he was wishing me into athree-dimensional girl-shape. And I know the blood-lust of the intoxicated bacchants was nodoubt as fierce and powerful as Mr. Glum's lust-lust. But I had to have a reason to hope. Even anirrational reason."

So down the slope at my best speed, and then, after a glance over my shoulder to confirm that theshoulder of the slope was blocking the maenad view (They were in the riverbed, I guessed. Nolookouts in the trees. No leader, remember?) I took off into the brush.

The trees grew thick, and then thin again. With unexpected suddenness, I broke out on a little trailor deer-path.

There were two women on horseback, dressed in skintight films of black metallic substance. Theywore futuristic-looking helmets of black ceramic fiber, and the ponytails of their hair were pulledthrough holes in the rear of each helmet, giving them a pseudo-Roman look. They both hadidentical weapon belts with cartridges slung low across their rounded hips, holstered pistols tiedto their left thighs, slim knife sheaths tied to their right.

Both women were young, trim, athletic, attractive. Both had expressionless expressions, eyeswithout passion or compassion. They held riding crops in hand.