"No one is really sure what keeps the Savage Land this way. . . It is a natural phenomenon. The umbrella of clouds overhead traps heat and moisture into this valley, somehow, and therefore it hasn't changed. . . But then again, there are species here from all over the prehistoric era of the world. For example. . . Humans, mammoths, mastodons, and the like, definitely didn't exist at the same time as dinosaurs, yet here they do, somehow."
Hippolyta watched as thin wisps of smoke curled up from the jade canopy into the darkening sky, from villages across the valley. "Perhaps it is the work of the Gods. . . If they can raise an island from the sea, preserving beings from across eons should not be beyond their power."
Ka-Zar looked at the Amazon queen, her lovely visage illuminated in the softly glowing light.
"Normally I would be skeptical about such theories. . . but a land like this, and now seeing women who can single-handedly defeat Long-tails, shatter stone with their voices, and fly. . . " Ka-Zar trailed off.
"What is your story, Lord Ka-Zar?" Hippolyta asked, turning towards him.
"Several years ago, the British government set up a research facility here. My father was one of their scientists, and, being a bit of an oddball, brought me here to see his work when I was ten. Unfortunately, an accident at the facility resulted in us stranded here. We wandered into the mountains, and we found a cave. My father. . . died. . . " Ka-Zar choked at this part of his tale. Hippolyta rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Trying to keep me warm. . . but I managed to live, and wandered deeper, where I was found by a saber tooth cat. . . Zabu. He's back in the village. He took care of me until I was adopted by the chief of the Fall People. I learned the language of the Savage Land, and they raised me to be a warrior of their tribe. When my adopted father died, I took over the rule of the Fall People."
Wonder Woman was fascinated. "The Fall People?"
"Yes. The Savage Land is separated into several different tribes, all part of the United Tribes. Each tribe is designated by where they live and the deity they worship. My tribe is the Fall People. The nearest to us is the Lake People. The Sky People live up in the mountains, the River People near the center of the valley, the Swamp People hidden in the bogs, and so on. We are all under the rule of Nereel, mistress of the United Tribes."
"Amazing. . . " she murmured.
Ka-Zar nodded. "But I do have a favor to ask of you. Recently, raiders mounted on leatherwings have been ravaging the villages, accompanied by monstrosities with extraordinary powers. The people of the Savage Land are proud warriors, but we can't keep on fighting the others like this. . . We need your help, and the help of your comrades."
"Of course," Hippolyta replied. "Let me go find the others, and we'll meet with you later."
"Gosh. . . that Ka-Zar is a dreamboat!" Dinah gushed, her cheeks flushed red with the wine the Fall People had provided her.
Hawkwoman nodded, sipping at her earthenware mug with the delicacy and grace only a debutante could manage. Helena sulked in the corner; they had refused to give her any wine.
"I don't like your irreverent tone," a steely voice hissed from the foliage. "Don't you dare speak of Lord Ka-Zar that way."
In front of the trio of heroines stood another woman, a towering blonde who moved like a leopard, carefully crouched. In fact, she wore a leopard pelt to cover her more delicate areas, but like all denizens of the Savage Land she left most of her skin bare. On one hand she clutched a small flint knife, her eyes blazing. Beneath her tanned skin, muscles flexed and bulged. Despite her relaxed stance, she was obviously ready for attack.
"And who are you?" Hawkwoman asked.
"I am Shanna of the Fall People," she responded, regarded the winged warrior with a look of disdain.
"I'm. . . " Black Canary began to introduce herself.
Shanna turned away. "I don't care who you are. Just leave."
"You speak as if we actually wanted to be here!" Hawkwoman taunted.
Black Canary glared at her. "Yeah. . . we didn't ask to come here."
"Then leave," Shanna responded. "The Savage Land doesn't need pampered outsiders polluting it."
Hawkwoman snapped her fingers. "I figured it out! You're Shanna O'Hara, the daughter of Gerald O'Hara, the rich businessman with the mines and farms in Africa. You disappeared three years ago. . . "
"So you're an outsider?" Black Canary said. Shanna spun quicker than the Canary could react with a vicious backhand that sent her reeling.
"No! Never!" Shanna snarled, clutching her knife. "Even before I found the Savage Land, I loathed the pigs that call themselves human in the modern world!"
"I'll handle this one, you girls back me up!" Black Canary replied. She wiped away the thin trickle of blood running from her lip, and fell back into a fighting stance. Shanna hissed, and Dinah wondered if she truly was from the outside world. She seemed altogether too primal for that; Shanna belonged in this land.
Shanna lunged, fluid and graceful as a cat, swiping overhead with her small dagger. Black Canary deflected it with a martial arts block, but Shanna was too quick, ramming her knee into Dinah's chest. The darkly clad heroine fell to the soft earth, the wind driven from her lungs. Shanna fell with her, clawing at her face. Dinah responded by firmly planting a fist into her stomach. Gasping for breath, Shanna rolled away. Canary pressed her advantage, but Shanna was too quick for the roundhouse aimed at her skull. She drove her shoulder into Dinah's midsection, sending her crashing to the ground again.
"Shanna!" a commanding voice yelled. The primitive warrior woman rose, her face flushing, as Ka-Zar and Hippolyta burst onto the scene. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm sorry. . . " she said quickly. Ka-Zar glared at her, and she stepped away, swiftly vanishing into the surrounding jungle.
"Please excuse her. We call her 'Shanna the She-Devil', and with good reason," Ka-Zar said, helping Dinah to her feet. "She doesn't take well to outsiders, as you can see, and we've had a few of those Japanese soldiers wander in here. Shanna's scared to death of firearms, and they didn't help."
Wonder Woman turned to her comrades. "Lord Ka-Zar has a request to make of us."
Ka-Zar nodded. "Someone has managed to mutate some of the Savage Lands denizens into superhuman creatures. . . And we need your help stopping them. They attack in raids, atop pterosaurs like those that attacked you earlier."
The heroines were silent, except for Hippolyta's soft voice translating what Ka-Zar had said into Greek.
"Of course! We're the JSA," Black Canary cried. "We've gotta help them!"
"Good." The foliage was brushed aside as Shanna came sprinting through, here brilliant eyes flashing with anger. "Then you can start now!"
The sounds of battle echoed over the jungle; shrill war cries and the unnatural screams of pterosaurs rang clear and loud across the night sky.
When the heroines arrived on the scene, the village was in chaos. Everyone, warriors, elders, pregnant women, teens, were up in arms, battling against the burly riders. Pterosaurs screeched and wheeled overhead, their riders raining a deadly hail of spears and arrows upon the villagers below.
"Great Hera!" Hippolyta cried, instantly falling into the role of warrior queen as she charged alongside her teammates into the fray. Almost immediately, a warrior shattered his stone axe against her bracelets. Black Canary aimed her screams towards the sky, and Hawkwoman set about taking down the flying raiders.
Fury grabbed the spear of a man attempting to skewer an elderly woman, and broke his ribs with a roundhouse. The fire-hardened wood snapped like a matchstick in her hands.
<"Cowards! Attacking helpless old people. . . how pathetic can you get?!"> she cried. Suddenly, a blur slammed into her stomach, driving the wind out of her lungs and hurling her against the wall of a hut. The tiny building shook with her impact, and she blinked away the stars across her eyes. In front of her crouched a creature that resembled a bizarre meld of human and frog, with smooth, slimy emerald skin, large eyes, and powerful legs. It wore a sort of loincloth, and carried a small axe in one hand. Helena thought it on the cute side; something she would enjoy to have as a plush toy, if not for the murderous glint in its shiny black eyes. <"What sorta thing are you?">
A shrill howl caught her attention, and lost her several strands of her silvery blonde hair as the frogman hurled his hand axe towards her, narrowly missing caving her skull in.
Howling in rage, she charged the mutated monstrosity, only growing angrier as it deftly avoided her wild punches. Another grotesque shape leapt into the fray, this one anything but cute. It resembled more of a man, but was covered in coarse hair. Thin, pointed ears jutted up from its skull, and its mouth was filled with needle-sharp fangs.
"Hello there," he snarled. "Such a pretty little thing. I'm Lupo. . . and my froglike friend over there is Amphibius."
"I no. . . understand, dog-man," Helena said shakily as she sprinted towards him. The wolf-like mutate stepped nimbly out of her reach, but he let loose a yelp of pain as her second, quicker punch landed on his arm. With a cry of triumph, Fury landed a right-hook to his jaw. Lupo was lifted up, off the ground, and careened through the mud-brick walls of the same hut Amphibius had hurled Fury into earlier. "But I no care!"
With a squawk of surprise, Amphibius began to bounce towards a different opponent. He had underestimated Fury's strength, as well as her speed, as she easily caught up to him. Cursing at the frog in Greek, Helena launched a powerful sidekick that Amphibius narrowly ducked. One of his huge, webbed feet smashed into the leg that supported her, downing her. He bounced high and fell towards her, powerful legs aimed to crush her ribcage. She rolled to the side and stood, only for the world to swing on its axis. Crying out in surprise, Fury dropped, her stomach wrenching in circles. Amphibius landed a blow to the back of her head that sent her swirling into unconsciousness.
Wonder Woman took two moments to assess her situation. Hawkwoman was down, but Ka-Zar and a cluster of Fall People warriors were adequately defending her. Black Canary was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with a few of the raiders, and Fury was pounding away at a wolfish man with her characteristic . . . well, fury.
Hippolyta landed an open handed slap to one of the men attacking her, sending him flying ten feet back. She dropped, sweeping two more off their feet with a swift kick. Her warrior instincts screamed as she sensed another presence appearing behind her. The Amazon spun, only to have a fist the size of a watermelon collide with her midsection. The force of the punch sent Wonder Woman sailing several yards back.
She hit the ground, rolled, and was back on her feet in seconds to face her opponent. She gasped in shock and disgust. It was a grossly over-muscled man, with four arms as thick as small tree trunks, who was charging towards her with surprising speed.
"Wow. . . Is this what the outside women look like?" he gushed, massive hands reaching for Hippolyta. The Amazon Queen responded by slashing his closest hand with her broadsword. He howled in pain and stumbled back. Ducking beneath his wild punches, Wonder Woman caught him with a series of lightning quick jabs, peppering him across his broad chest and driving the wind from his lungs.
"Who are you?" she asked, kicking him solidly in the jaw.
"I am Barbarus," he growled, wiping the back of his hand across his split lip. "And no woman can beat me!"
"Has the Savage Land's culture truly remained stagnant since the Stone Age?" Wonder Woman performed a lightning swift cartwheel to avoid his grabs, but Barbarus turned with surprising speed and managed to land a few powerful punches; two to the Amazon's midsection and an uppercut to her jaw. Stars danced across Hippolyta's field of vision as she barely managed to stay on her feet. Barbarus caught her arms in crushing grips and lifted her up. Her sword clattered away uselessly. His two free arms pummeled her slim body without mercy.
Hera give me strength! Hippolyta prayed. "No matter how many arms you have. . . no man can best an Amazon!"
She struck Barbarus in the solar plexus, kicking with both her legs. The mutate gasped, and his massive hands loosened their grips on Hippolyta. She swiftly slipped away, darting around his back and landing a devastating chop to his shoulder. Barbarus immediately felt one of his arms go numb, hanging limply at his side.
"What. . . have you done to me?" he asked, charging.
"Made you angry. . . " Hippolyta said, rolling with his assault and turning his momentum against him. "And made you stupid!"
Wonder Woman hurled the massive mutate into the ground with a resounding crash. Barbarus groaned. The judo-like move had stunned him, but he was obviously more resilient than that. Hippolyta raised her boot, aiming it for a blow to his skull, but a small shape slammed into her, forcing her to put her foot down for balance. Her powerful hands wrapped around what felt like a slimy marshmallow and tossed her new attacker away. Amphibius landed agilely and hurled his tiny axe, which bounced uselessly off Hippolyta's Amazon bracelets. The froglike mutate knew he couldn't hope to stand up to this woman, but he had managed to gain Barbarus the precious seconds he needed to recover. A devastating punch sent Hippolyta skidding across the hard-packed earth, as a cry rang out in the unintelligible language of the Savage Land.
Two pterosaurs swooped downward, allowing Barbarus and Amphibius to board them, before they soared off to join their brethren.
"Hippolyta! Fury's been captured!"
Hippolyta looked to the sky to see her new protégé dangling limply from the talons of one of the pterosaurs.
"By the gods - no! Helena!" she cried. Immediately, her lariat was whirling around by her ear. As she cast the golden loop towards the flying beast, the world twisted around her, wavering and spinning. The Queen of the Amazons fell to her knees, her lasso sailing several yards off its mark. The ancient, glimmering weapon fell through the sky, limp and helpless as its owner.
The next thing Hippolyta knew, her sudden nausea had passed and Ka-Zar was helping her to her feet.
"What in Gaea's name happened?" Hippolyta asked groggily.
"You were hit by Vertigo, one of the mutates," the Lord of the Fall People explained. "She has the power to twist people's equilibriums upside down. It was her who helped capture the young woman."
"Helena!" Wonder Woman cried. She felt sick once more, the sense of failure creeping up within her.
"But she was alive as far as we could tell," Ka-Zar said quickly. "We believe that they are kidnapping people to make more mutates, so I doubt they'll kill her."
Wonder Woman rose, eyes flashing with determination. "They will pay for this!"
"That's the spirit!" Black Canary said from nearby, where Hawkwoman's wounds were being tended. The winged warrior woman pushed herself up.
"I can still fight," she said.
"Don't worry your pretty little head, Your Majesty." Dinah put a comforting arm around her friend and teammate. "We'll find these freaks and get Helena back!"
Next Issue: The search for Helena begins!