Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Judge Dredd characters, places, etc.

A/N: You guys are awesome indulging a mad woman and even reviewing!

Chapter 11: Negotiations

Dredd kept his vigil through the night at Anderson's side. Whatever she had managed with the horned serpent had been incredible and unsettling. She'd been fearless, walking straight up to the jaws of death. Her approach had minimized destruction. The few shots fired had ricocheted off the metallic scales and three civilians were dead. If the whole town had opened up there was a good shot most of them would also have found themselves dead.

Taharka though, now there was a problem. He'd become aware of them before Dredd was confident in Anderson's capacity to dispatch him. After the close call with Taharka's test he was forced to admit that going unprepared against the warlord could spell out certain death. No sense in risking the whole mission before Anderson had a sturdy foothold in her workings. Taharka's curiosity however was piqued and Radkov had looked absolutely green. Devon was less than thrilled too.

"He sets his teeth into something and doesn't let go," the lion man sighed as dawn was beginning to filter in overhead. He handed Dredd a mug of water and a warm sandwich of some sort. Sitting down on a crate of something he glanced at Anderson.

"What's the relation between Elliot and Taharka?"

"Lust," Devon shrugged. "Taharka and Wynne were a pair for a while but nobody keeps Wynne for long. Its not in her nature."

"And so are you a pair?" Dredd prompted.

"Never was, never will," Devon shook his head. "Perk to feeling the emotions of everyone around you. You always know the score."

"What convinces you she's loyal then? How do I know she's not setting us up?"

"Because she thinks of you as her quarry now."

"Flattering," Dredd snorted.

"Its Anderson she wants to piss off," Devon leaned back as he took a bite of his sandwich. He chewed meditatively, his animal eyes fixed on a point somewhere over Anderson's bed. Dredd glanced at his sleeping comrade, the only visible thing one hand and the top of some tawny curls. "Mean streak in her, a sick need to break whatever happiness she finds. By her mark the best way to do that is to pull you two apart."

"And that...goal will keep her from handing us over to Taharka?"

"That and a score to settle with Sunakarib. He left her. Its complicated with Wynne if you're looking for back story. But she's pretty cut and dry since joining the Murugans. She'll follow the terms of her contract."

"You might want to consider collecting her then. We need to get moving, preferably before Taharka comes for a more thorough investigation of us," Dredd advised. Devon nodded and got back up, sauntering through the door. When he was gone Dredd leaned forward and hooked a corner of the sheet, pulling it back from Anderson's unusually pale face.

"Anderson," he shook her shoulder slightly. Her eyelashes fluttered open over dark bags of exhaustion, slightly glazed eyes seeking him. She pushed herself up, still dressed but for the boots he'd stripped off her the night before.

"Right, sorry," she flung the covers back and swung her feet onto the floor. She pushed her hands back through her hair and ground sleep out of her eyes. Looking unusually frail to him as she hunted for her uniform he put his back to her while she changed. When he did turn back to see her she was settling her Kevlar jacket in place. "Where's 'Berg?" she asked, squinting towards the window. There were still traces of blood on her face.

"By the hummer," he suggested, tearing the sandwich in half and offering her some. She nodded and shuffled past him, taking the sandwich in one hand and tugging the gun belt tighter as she went. Clenching her breakfast between her teeth she hooked two fingers under the visor of her helmet on a nearby chair. Anderson was so tired as she focused on wolfing the sandwich and walking that she didn't notice the bent little creature that had housed them. Dredd nodded his thanks instead as he bolted his breakfast on the way out. The man nodded in return, his dirt crusted fingers pressing over his heart as he bowed deeply.

"'Berg, can I have my chip?" Anderson called, flinching away from daylight.

"No," Rosenberg replied. She turned something that may have been intended as a glare his direction but just came up a crinkled nose and narrowed eyes against offending sunbeams. "You're not well. Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow I won't phrase it as a question. And you can explain the data gap to Al-Sayid," she grumbled and moved towards the Lawmaster. It had been stripped down in order to correct the bent frame and suspension, the computer systems removed since they had neither the means nor the know how in replacing it. A far more rudimentary AI worked the weaponry now, nothing more than the same sort that responded to commands in the Lawgiver. There were assorted replacement parts patching the bike like a calico cat, some of the metal much older than others. Anderson ran a glove over the bike thoughtfully.

Radkov held out the keys. His eyes were hooded, fear making his jaw tight. Anderson looked up and read all of that in his face and hers assumed one of resignation. She held out her hand and Radkov very carefully placed them in the hollow her palm created. He hesitated, searching for something to say, perhaps questing for his old animosity to reestablish their relationship.

"Try not to break it again mutie? We'll be out in the bush and I really don't want to come back here while Taharka's in town." His voice was strained but the words themselves made Anderson smile.

"It was a beautiful speed roll though," she replied and Radkov rolled his eyes.

"She never gets the keys to the hummer," he informed Rosenberg who strolled right up to Anderson and pulled some of her hair out of the way before pressing the flat, pricked end of a shot against the back of her neck and injecting another dosage of stimulant to hurry the healing process.

"No sir, you do not," he agreed.

"Bullies," Anderson complained, stiffly climbing onto her bike and then rubbing the shot. "Don't even warn a girl."

It was a slow process and not exactly as Dredd would have conducted it but Anderson seemed to be winning the hearts and minds of her new unit. Both Teks clamored into the hummer just as Devon rolled up with Wynne on the back of his bike. She yawned and swung down.

"Ah, sleeping beauty," she nodded to Anderson who let the barb pass and simply nodded back. "Or perhaps you're the beast mistress. Shall we then? I know the way."

"Its eating the seat!" Radkov shouted from inside the hummer. There was the frantic sound of hooves clattering about and a bleat followed by a crash. "It ate my seat!"

"Fire blanket?" Rosenberg offered, muffled by the vehicle.

"Lets move this circus," Dredd sighed, turning his engine over as he sincerely hoped Anderson's education would benefit from this mad scheme laid down by their superiors. She'd already improved, of that he was certain, but it was dangerous business. The work of a Judge was dangerous of course but at the very least good was accomplished. Out here they were spitting into the wind and hoping to come back from countless possible deaths and none of it would make a damn bit of difference.

Anderson winced at the sound of the engine before she pulled on her scratched, dented helmet and followed the hummer out into the wilds. Wynne and Devon took the lead while Dredd and Anderson brought up the rear. Occasional racket came from inside the hummer, presumably Radkov dealing with the two headed goat they'd procured as one of the necessary tokens to enter Amanirenas' lands.

They didn't encounter much beyond a pack of something like wolves pulling apart a Gici Awa carcass. The creatures looked up and watched them pass but gave no pursuit. The ground was mostly unimpeded by anything except for the nearby Green until they reached a place where the ground was suddenly alive with...something. The convoy drew to a halt to stare at the bizarre flora.

"This was as far as I could get," Wynne leaned over her handlebars, perching her chin on one hand. "These plants are toxic. I saw a Cudo wolf die in a matter of minutes after brushing one of them. There's no path through that I could see and I went around the perimeter, all three miles."

The strange black plants were gathered around faintly green tinted pools and the earth was dark with moisture, the air humid. Dredd looked either direction and saw no break, no path through. Just an old stake with a rope where the goats appeared to be normally left.

Dismounting his bike Dredd extracted the large coins the village shaman had given he and Radkov to treat with Amanirenas. The altogether too long man had insisted they tie up the goat and drop the coins into the hole by the stake, that these coins would signify a desire to parlay. There was nothing else to be done after that but wait. Radkov flung a side door open on the hummer and emerged with the two headed goat bleating and squirming, slung over his shoulders.

"Is the Gitaskog nearby?" Dredd asked Anderson as she fell in beside him, following after Radkov. The Tek put the goat down and grabbed one collar as the other head butted his shoulder rather forcibly. He swore and knotted the rope in place before backing away. The goat jumped and thrashed, raising a ruckus.

Anderson pulled off her helmet and seemed to reach out. She gave him a nod.

"Does it have any insight into getting past the grasses?"

Anderson went back to her searching, standing perfectly still with her eyes moving beneath their lids. Dredd looked back at the man sized grasses, rustling in a faint breeze. Beyond them he could see what looked like...trees. The tops of emerald leaves shivering in the same breeze were an alluring sight he'd only ever seen in passing, through the glass of a green house or on garden rooftops of neighboring buildings he noted as peripheral details during a shift.

"There's a clear entrance only accessibly via the river," Anderson informed him as she made for the bank. Dredd followed. "I don't know if I can convince it to take me and there's a chance it could just drag us into the river," she warned him. Dredd made no answer as they came to the bank and Anderson looked out over the sparkling green surface.

In a few moments Dredd saw a smooth, silver head rise from the water and two yellow green eyes blink at them curiously. As it rose further upright the scales on its head bristled like fur and approximated the horns they'd seen. These scales smoothed after another fraction of a second and the jagged toothed serpent came carefully closer. Its long neck arched until its nose met the palm Anderson offered. She pointed back over her shoulder and the serpent moved slowly past them towards the bleating two headed goat.

Anderson and Dredd followed it and the psychic cut ahead when the Gitaskog's head scales bristled against the alarmed members of their team. She put herself between them as Dredd made for the others.

"We're going in. You four should consider moving around to a different location in the event that Taharka pursues us."

"Sunakarib sent an assassin in to rustle up some action. Taharka rolled out this morning to confront him," Wynne replied.

"If we're not back by the evening your job is to make it back to Mega City One," Dredd addressed Radkov. The Tek was staring at the Gitaskog snapping the rope with a tug and swallowing the troublesome two headed goat and Anderson watching it patiently.

"Sir," Rosenberg saluted. "See you this evening." Radkov's eyes flicked to Dredd and he went through the motions of a distracted salute. Dredd nodded to them both and made for the serpent currently laying its head on the ground. Anderson pulled her helmet on and moved to climb on. She slipped a little and released the scale as the Gitaskog rumbled at her, one eye half open watching. Dredd climbed on first and held a hand back to her. She took it and he pulled her easily up after him. There was plenty of space for them to sit side by side on the rock solid scales of a skull almost eight feet across.

The Gitaskog carefully lifted its head and moved back towards the water. Dredd almost felt his stomach drop out as it slid seamlessly into the water, a good sixty feet of serpent slithering along the acidic surface of a river of death. Anderson remained perfectly cool next to him, her broken arm loosely held by the other, hunched forward over her broken ribs.

"What exactly did you do to this thing?" Dredd asked, not totally sure he wanted to know.

"I associated our smell – mine in particular – with something pleasant."

"So you rewrote its memories."

"Yes."

"Who taught you that?"

"It was a desperate attempt to save our skins last night. I don't think I could explain exactly how it worked sir."

Back to "sir". She was nervous. But was it because she feared his poor opinion or because she was guilty of something? That was the question that nagged at him.

On the surface she seemed honest and he knew she was just, but it plagued him that she had not only the ability to read his thoughts but to manipulate them too. It was so dangerous a thing and yet Goodman was risking everything on it. Dredd had worked with Goodman long enough to know the woman wasn't a fool but all the same this was a gamble. Anderson was powerful. It was only her free choice to serve the Hall of Justice that truly bound her. Dredd put precious little faith in the average person's dedication. So then the question became how much faith did he put in Anderson?

"Sir, I mean to maximize my powers, push them as far as they will go." She was staring directly ahead as the Gitaskog moved upstream. Along the shore their companions disappeared. "I can't help what I am, but I will absolutely capitalize on my powers for the benefit of MC1. I'm a Judge before anything else."

"I know," he said and realized he meant it. He thought about the prickle of suspicion that initially appeared at his ready acceptance and then reminded himself who Anderson was. For now he would go on faith. With her helmet on Dredd couldn't tell exactly what her expression was but she kept staring dead ahead.

The black grasses gave way to paradise suddenly. Dredd heard Anderson's intake of breath but kept silent himself somehow. Trees filled with fruit and flowers were scattered up in the background while bouquets of flowers overflowed everywhere, splashes of pink, white, saffron, purple, blues more magnificent than the sky, and reds so vividly sinful they almost hurt to look at. The Gitaskog came up a rise in the earth that separated the river from paradise and then settled into a crystal blue pool the likes of which Dredd had never seen. It perched its head on a wooden dock and the pair of Judges disembarked.

Anderson's helmet came off and fell onto the wood with a stupefied thock. The smell of the flowers was glorious, delicate and aromatic. Anderson was smiling, her eyes shimmering as she looked around them.

"Don't lose focus," Dredd advised, hard pressed not to gawk. He tossed the coins implying the desire to parlay onto the dock and 4refsgpointed ahead at a woman in a vibrant red skirt hanging in folds around her and a pale white blouse falling over her shoulders. Slender and tall, her skin was an earthy blue black, features sharp, patches of dark green scales standing out. With her hair braided into neat, tight rows and rolling thick down to the small of her back she had silver bangles hanging on her wrists and silver coins strung around her neck. In one hand was a bouquet of flowers in assorted shades.

"What business here?" she asked around fangs, her eyes a dazzling yellow gold with vertical pupils. "Has not my Gitaskog suffered enough?"

"My name is Cassandra Anderson," Anderson stepped forward a pace and lowered her head in something of a bow. "I'm a Judge in Mega City One."

"I know the uniform. Even should your jurisdiction extend this far I have broken no laws. You however are trespassing."

"I have come to ask you to teach me."

Amanerinas blinked a few times. She turned away after that and made for a house built of mud and moss. Anderson must have projected some thought because the woman swirled around and a hunk of earth leaped up from the ground and flew at them. Dredd blasted it clean out of the sky without batting a lash.

The Green Witch looked between both of them, her pupils narrowed to slits. She came forward, marched onto the dock, and snatched Anderson's chin in a vice grip. Dredd moved the Lawgiver to point between her eyes but the mutant didn't even look at him. The two women stared at each other a long time before Amanirenas' lips curled.

It was the Gitaskog that rose up and rumbled ominously, scales on its head puffing like the feathers of an irritated bird. Amanirenas slowly let go of Anderson, eyes never leaving the younger psychic.

"Why did you opt to change Gitaskog rather than kill him?" she demanded.

"Truthfully because I didn't know how to kill him," Anderson replied. Amanirenas let a pearly white smile slash across her face as she shook her head.

"I would have slain cities with the raw power you possess, not allowed norms to poke and prod and enslave me." She took Anderson's chin again and turned her head so she could make out the raw patch of skin where Al-Sayid's device had been sitting. "Why? Why should I teach you? My power is not like yours but there is much you could learn. Why?"

"Because you don't like Taharka and Sunakarib around. And I could remove them for you with the right training."

Amanirenas considered this, head cocked like a bird's. She shifted her bouquet into the other arm and put the now free hand down on the Gitaskog's very close nose. All at once something slimy hooked around Dredd's boots and wrists. They jerked his feet out from him, Anderson beside him thudding onto the docks a split second later, and they were both dragged back towards the water. Dredd caught a plank and jerked to a halt despite the pressure on his shoulders. Anderson disappeared beneath the dock and struck the water with an enormous splash. Dredd struggled to get his Lawmaster aimed, a timer running for how long Anderson might be able to hold her breath.

"You fools think I should just trust you? I did not make this place because others were kind to me," Amanirenas shouted. Dredd felt a stone pelt between his shoulders, followed by another and a third.

"Ricochet," he gasped, and felt the Lawgiver click over. He pulled the trigger and the bullet pinged off the now agitated Gitaskog's scales. It clipped Amanirenas' side but he barely felt any give in what he realized was vegetation. Hargrave had called her telekinetic so she must have been manipulating the leafy tendrils. Another stone came down near his gun hand. Dredd barely avoided having it crushed. He squeezed off another couple of shots, one most certainly landing in Amanirenas' upper arm. With a snarl the tendrils released but he was suddenly hoisted off the ground and dangled upside down.

"I have had to fight every step of the way. Do not think you can come here with false promises or threats, Judges," Amanirenas snarled at him and dragged him back down towards the ground from almost twenty feet head first.

The Gitaskog lunged forward and Dredd was suddenly inside an enormous mouth, pressed against the roof between two fangs almost as long as he was tall. There was some thumping outside and shouts, he was jostled about, and the Gitaskog's maw opened up so he might climb out.

"I am asking for your help," Anderson panted, waterlogged and bedraggled, a knife in her hand and vines tangled across her uniform. Dredd struggled out of the Gitaskog's mouth, the beast coiled around them protectively. Amanirenas was picking herself up out of some foliage from where she'd been plunged. "Yes, I need your help to train but I will remove Taharka and Sunakarib in exchange. They've brought the area enough sorrow in addition to their previous assault on Mega City One soldiers during the war with Texas city."

"You're fools, all of you city kind," Amanirenas snarled, picking herself up. She gripped her wounded arm and the water behind them seemed to boil. The Gitaskog snarled and turned to face the water. Dredd only caught the incoming projectile in the corner of his eye. He snapped out a hand and yanked Anderson out of the way as a boulder almost four feet across crashed into the dock where she'd been standing. They were both thrown up into the air as the Gitaskog's weight pulled the rest of the little structure down.

"Stun!" Dredd barked and fired as he twisted through the air. Amanirenas fell to the ground convulsing as he and Anderson both hit the water. Struggling up in their bulky street gear they made for the shore and dragged themselves up the muddy edge. Anderson pulled out her Lawgiver, coughing water back up but the psychic was down.

"Negotiations could have gone better," Anderson said around a gasp. "I'd like to try again when she wakes up."

"Look for leverage," Dredd suggested. Anderson staggered towards the unconscious woman and collapsed on her knees. She shut her eyes, breathing hard, but the rest of her seemed to quiet as her mind left its body behind. Dredd waited standing just behind his counterpart with the muzzle of his weapon trained on Amanirenas.

Slowly Anderson looked up and her hand strayed to the field kit on her belt. She pulled out a small set of tweezers and rolled the unconscious psychic onto her side. Her jaw seemed set in a hard line, eyes dark with thought.

"Do you know how people get married out here?" she asked, extracting the bullet. She applied a healing gel and then stapled the wound shut as Dredd waited for her to elaborate. "They purchase brides. Sunakarib bought her, and when he was through he...cast her aside. She had no status. People were horrible..." Anderson seemed to struggle to get a handle on her reaction. "They were horrible." She twisted and just sat down next to their former assailant. "Our leverage is specifically Sunakarib. She has to believe we'll really kill him."

"Will we?" Dredd prompted. Anderson smirked darkly, pushing wet hair out of her face.

"He's guilty of at least fifteen murders she witnessed in the four days he took using her. Execution is his only sentence."

"Then we'll assure her of that." Dredd moved and sat on a stump as the Gitaskog stared at them from his pond. "Was it you that made the Gitaskog catch me?"

"Crude, but I couldn't get through her defenses and she wasn't expecting me to use her own pet," Anderson nodded. "He's a little bewildered but I promised we wouldn't really hurt her."

"We'll see."

It was maybe fifteen minutes before Amanirenas groaned. Her eyes opened to Anderson, still damp but no longer dripping. The blond psychic was watching the water where the Gitaskog watched them apprehensively in turn. Amanirenas' eyes flicked towards Dredd, his Lawgiver still on her.

"Crude," Amanirenas remarked. "But powerful. Most of you telepathic types can only eavesdrop, and then usually in concept or image."

"I got lucky," Anderson shrugged. Amanirenas fingered the bandage on her arm, yellow eyes vacant. "I meant it, about going after Sunakarib. He's guilty and I'm a Judge."

"What does the city care out here?" she asked bitterly.

"Usually they don't," Anderson agreed, her voice edged in weariness. "But I was sent into the Cursed Earth for training. I don't stop being a Judge when I cross the Boundary Wall. I will execute him for his crimes so long as there's a breath in me Beatrice. It'd make it a whole lot easier to keep breathing though if you helped me out."

"You were poking around were you?" Amanirenas sighed. She slowly pushed herself upright and then folded her legs, arranging her skirts just so. They sat side by side for a long time, both of them looking out over the water and towards the horizon. "How many?"

"How many what?"

"How many in your party?"

"Four. Two psychics and two norms."

"Why did you select me?"

"Dr. Hargrave recommended you."

Amanirenas smirked as she looked over at Anderson, her yellow eyes running up and down the water weeds tangled on the armor. Reaching out she pulled one strand from where it tangled in whatever was left of Anderson's braid.

"That man came here for two weeks straight and brought a goat every day imploring me for an audience. I should have known conceding would one day bring me trouble."

After a few more seconds she made a gesture. The earth seemed to rumble in the direction of their companions.

"You man, bring your friends in then. In exchange for the removal of Taharka and Sunakarib I will teach what can be taught. Girl there is a bucket. Fill the tub around back and we will clean you before you enter my house. You are rancid with old blood and sweat and water plants."

Anderson and Dredd looked at each other. Slowly he holstered his Lawgiver as she shrugged. Both of them got to their feet. Anderson made her way to the water and collected a wooden bucket. Dredd watched her fill it, ensuring that Amanirenas wouldn't try anything foolish. Anderson winced at the weight as she lifted it with both hands. Her broken bones must have been protesting.

"No harm here man. My walls are down and she is in my thoughts," Amanirenas assured him. Anderson seconded that with a nod.

It was a twenty minute trek through her botanic wilderness before he came out at the walkway opened in the black grass. Devon and Wynne didn't seem nervous but both Teks looked uneasy, Rosenberg in the tap of a stylus against the steering wheel with Radkov calmly holding an assault rifle. The Teks emerged from the hummer as Dredd approached, walking through the twelve foot channel Amanirenas had opened and coming to stand with them.

"Radkov take Anderson's bike. We make camp with the Green Witch."