Sakis Queen (Shredder/April 1987)

Part 12

Chapter 12

The drums of war sounded deep in the mountain and spilled out into the jungle night like the crash of some great machine, silencing the insects and sending flocks of birds spiraling off into the darkness with inhuman screams.

"Our numbers and very existence will be surprise enough. Do not be afraid to beat the drums!" The King of the Men, Loma, stood before his army at the mouth of the great mountain fortress, surveying his troops bearing torches like so many fireflies in the dark. "Do not be afraid to yell like the men you are! Tonight the women will cower before us and the old Queen will be killed! Tonight we take back our world!"

The men, thousands of them, cried out with a roar and started off through the brush, crashing through trees and clearing a swath through the jungle.

Amidst the surge of well-muscled, angry men walked three befuddled turtles.

"This is taking the battle of the sexes, like, way too far," said Michelangelo, surveying the wash of manhood around him with distaste.

"It's incredible! But where did they come from? There must have been thousands of them hiding in that mountain! How did they do it?" Leonardo said, blinking.

"I've got my suspicions," Donatello said darkly. To this whisper, the turtles heard a strange giggle weave through the night and they looked to see Maya, and his waify gaggle of eunuchs walking along beside them. Unlike the brutishly garbed warriors, the eunuchs still wore white flowing shifts delicately weaving around their bodies, their faces veiled my gauze. In the darkness, they were indistinguishable from women.

"Hello, Maya," Don ventured, gesturing him closer.

"I heard you speaking," he said in his strange, sing-songy voice. "I wonder what you may think of all of this."

"We're not sure what to think," Leo said. "We are no friends of the women, but as warriors of honor, we do disapprove of surprise attacks of this magnitude. Don't worry, we won't interfere...but, we can't help but wonder, where did all these men come from? We were told the men died out long ago...if there was no women..."

"I have a feeling they have a few stowed away..." Don said, looking at Maya very carefully.

Maya blushed beneath his veil, and giggled softly. "The cute, purple one is most correct." He fell into step beside the turtles and lowered his veil a little. "And in the end, these men would never have survived without us eunuchs, though now, I wonder what will become of us."

"But," Mike said, confused. "How could these dudes stay alive? Any man on this planet would have been captured and sucked dry if he'd been caught."

"Exactly," Maya said. "And that is why we were created. The men needed someone who could move among the women, learn their ways, go into the margins of their villages, examine their defenses...and, ah, collect things that were needed."

"Like food?" Mike asked.

"Like women," Don said grimly.

Leo and Mike looked aghast.

"Yes," Maya sighed. "We brought all they needed. Food sometimes, raw materials, and what women we could capture."

"I don't think they would have gone willingly!" Leo said.

"No...they were taken for one purpose alone. To bear boys. They are impregnated again and again, the sons join us, the girls, ah, are put to the same uses...what few survive, live deep in the mountain never to see the light of day. "

"That's disgusting! That's slavery!" Leo said. "You ARE just as bad as the women! How could the same people become so divided? How could you both be so horrible?"