Father Cypriano waited until Heraclitoris (still in her giant apid form) was once more hovering, looking for her next targets. Then, he cranked the handle.
RATTATATTATATATATTATATATATATATATATATATATATAT!
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"
The rapid-fire salvo destroyed some of the glass paneling at the top. Yet, that was nothing compared to what it did to Heraclitoris! With the help of Marshal Dalton, Oscar Humboldt--the town blacksmith--had melted down all of Father Cypriano's blessed iron quarrels. Recasting them in the shape of bullets compatible with the Gatling gun. And, to doubly insure their effectiveness, the good padre had poured an entire bottle of holy water into Oscar's cooling trough.
In short; the trail of bullets that threaded their way across Heraclitoris' tail end, from left to right, felt like Greek fire to her! And, in the process, they also amputated her stinger.
She swerved about, counter-clockwise, and spotted the hearse.
"You?!!"
"Hola, puta! We meet, again."
Whereupon, the good padre resumed his cranking.
* * * * *
As soon as he heard the main gate explode, Marshal Dalton had ordered the troops Lancer had loaned to him to mount up and charge. As their compatriots had done against Heraclitoris, herself, this detachment performed a pincer movement. Half of it, circling the fort from the right; the other half, from the left.
Dalton accompanied the latter. Riding atop the late Salty Peters' horse, while leading the other four. Both halves reassembled at the ruins of the gate, charging through the gap as one. They instantly opened fire at anyone armed and wearing a jaguar costume. They had not anticipated, however, the possibility of Heraclitoris turning four-fifths of her hostages into partial empusae.
Consequently, they were not expecting a pair of twelve-foot tall twins to attack them!
Lewis and Lauren (still clutching shrunken Clark to her bosom) had run up one of the two staircases flanking the ruined gate. They had joined Fleischer in the look-out box at the top of the staircase, while Tom and Skinner had provided decreasingly frequent cover fire from the other box, parallel to them.
It was at that moment that Alison Sillitoe had ordered the jaguar-men to step back. She and Bertha then scaled the front wall of the fort, to the left of Lewis and the others. While Charlotte and Deirdre mimicked their actions from the right. The wooden catwalk might not be able to support the weight of their semi-gigantic bodies. But, they could cling to the top of the wall like monkeys, and inch toward their intended victims, thereby.
"Yoo-hoo!" sang out Alison: "Lauren! Come out, come out, wherever you are."
Lauren could not help responding.
"Alison! Why are you doing this? We've been best friends from childhood."
"All good things must come to an end, Laurel-leaf. In drinking Heraclitoris' blood, I had a vision. A glimpse of the world as it used to be. The Gorgonian Empire! A matriarchy where men served women, and not the other way round. The thought of that appeals to me. Especially, in light of how Daddy has always treated me and my sisters. As two-legged cows to be married off only to the highest-bidding bull who shows serious interest in us!"
As she uttered that last sentence, she sprang upward, and literally raised the roof off the look-out box with her right hand!
"Peek-a-boo; I see you! You're it, Lauren."
tbc
Giantess World
