Amazon Challenge (13 page)

"I've got it now!" she yelled at me. "Stay clear, Maya!"

I glanced at her, and she had it easily. I was well out of position to flank her demon again, and it was clear she was driving it away from me.

There was a roar behind me, and then the sound of flesh on flesh, and when I spun around, I saw
Balorie flying through the air. The demon had swatted her with its tail. She came to a stop on the ground, panting for a moment, and the demon began to advance on her.

"Hai! Demon!" I bellowed. "Yes, you!
You spineless coward. You gutless, shriveled worm!"

The demon turned to me as I advanced on it, waving my staff. And then I felt its voice.

"Puny Amazon!" it said. "Are you prepared to die today?"

I laughed. "I am not the one who is about to die, demon," I told it. "You are about to suffer a true death. You just don't know it yet."

The demon tried to laugh in my mind, but I said, "Oh, can it. I know this is just a fake. You demons are so afraid of us, you refuse to come in person. But I am Maya Softpeace, queen's companion and true destroyer of demons. It was I who dragged the demon Lathana Jara Marquine across the void. It was I who gave her the truth death with my bare hands. And you have now fallen into my trap. My warriors will destroy this feeble construct you send, but then I will drag you across the void to face me."

I laughed. "And you.
shall. die. The truth death. Give me your true name, demon, so that I may readily summon you!"

"You could not pronounce my name," he declared, and I knew this one was male.

"Then I give you a name, a true name. You are now Banded Maldor Armine. That is your true name in the tongue of the humans, and when I summon you, you will come! You will come to your true death. It is inevitable."

And then Malora was rushing past me, her swords waving, and
Balorie was swinging with her swords.

The demon body never moved, and seconds later, the body disintegrated into dust.

And I felt the demon mind flee from mine, screaming, "That is not my name. That is not my name!"

"It is! And when I summon you, you shall die, or flee me now. Flee me and do not return. Plague me, and I summon you to your death!"

And I felt the voice leave.

I fell to my knees, breathing heavily. Moments later, Malora was there, her arm around me.

"You foolish girl!" she said. "Balorie, did you take the voice?"

Balorie
approached. "I did, but then it left. I'm sorry, Malora."

I looked up at my queen. "The other fight?" I asked.

She glanced over. "It's dead. Bea looks a little green."

"Oh no," I said. "She's a warrior now?"

"I don't know." Malora turned back to me, brushing at my face. I was a mess, having been sprayed by ichor. "Maya, oh Maya, did you take the voice?"

I smiled at her. "Evidently, demons don't appreciate being threatened with a true death. I took the voice, but it has fled."

"You aren't just saying that?" she asked. "Tell me the truth, Maya! Tell me the truth."

"Truth, Malora," I said. "Truth." I slumped. "I need to get cleaned up. Bea is going to need me. Help me up."

Malora pulled me to my feet, and we met the rest of our party near the river. I began shrugging out of my clothes. It was a braided river, shallow, slow, and silty, but I didn't care.

I stepped into the river, kneeling down in the cold, shallow water to wash the demon's filth from my hair. Moments later, Malora was with me, clutching at me, and I let her bathe me,
then helped her. When we were clean, we held each other, and she began to shake.

"You'll be okay," I whispered. "You'll be okay. I love you, Malora, I love you so much."

She buried her face in my shoulder, and I wrapped my arms around her as we knelt in the water, but I looked past her. Clara was holding Bea the same way I was holding Malora, and I knew: Bea was not yet a warrior.

"Bea?" I asked.

"Clara took it," she said.

"Three," Ping said. "Two chaotic to be picky." Ping was not a woman of many words, but when she spoke, we listened. "
Balorie, how are you doing?"

"Fine,"
Balorie said, washing off. "Maya took the voice."

"Maya?" Bea said. "But-"

"The demons seem to be afraid of our queen's companion," Balorie said.

"It seems I am not to become a warrior," I said.

And in my ear, Malora whispered, "Never. Do you hear me. Never. I need you too much. And you are in deep trouble."

"Oh, can it," I said. "You'd have to beat me to get me to behave differently, and you know what happens if you try that. Deal with it."

"You are so infuriating! I should spank your bare bottom right here and now."

"Fine," I said. "As long as you know you won't get laid for a month."

"I am the warrior and your queen!"

"Yeah, yeah," I said. "Whatever."

I pulled away from her, standing up and looking around. "Is anyone clean enough to go catch the horses?"

* * * *

For the next two days, Malora didn't let me out of her arms any longer than absolutely necessary. We rode home on the back of her horse, and Bea rode with Clara.

In bed that night, I made slow, gentle love to her,
then we lay together, my head on her chest as she held me, trembling.

"I love you," she whispered to me. "Please, Maya, please stop scaring me. I couldn't stand to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me, Malora. Ever."

I should never take a job as a psychic. My predictions are always wrong.

Malora declared we were due for another tour of all the villages. She and I had been taking
a tour two or three times a year. Sometimes we went alone; sometimes we went with a small contingent. For this trip, Nori, Omie and Beria joined us. Beria was especially excited to be going.

The trips all followed a similar pattern. Malora preferred traveling north
, then riding south through the open plains west of our forest, all the way to our southern border before reentering the woods to visit the villages south of Queen's Town.

Amazon villages are all very similar, but each has its own quirks. Some of those quirks are due to location, but most of the quirks are due to the personaliti
es of the chief of each village, and in one, it's due to the chief's companion.

Two
Bends is two villages north of Queen's Town. We arrived late in the afternoon after a day of traveling. Both Beria and I had spent the entire day's travels in our warrior's arms, leaving poor Nori alone on her own horse. But it had been a relaxing trip with a fair amount of friendly conversation amongst the five of us.

We pulled into Two Bends and were promptly greeted by Chief Loren and her companion, Meena. Meena was the Amazon who had taught me the basics of fishing in the rivers, and this village had become dominated by fishing contests, spurred on by my friendship with Meena.

Malora had become deeply amused at my influence.

We all climbed from our horses. Malora greeted Loren, but I pulled her companion into a hug and introduced her to Beria. The three of us chattered for a moment before I heard an "ahem" from behind me.

"Oops," I said, turning us around. "Um."

Malora was shaking her head, but fighting to look fierce and not smile.

"Chief Loren," I said. "Thank you for having us. This is my sister, Beria."

Beria greeted the chief, and then I asked, "After we tend to the horses and
do our duty in the garden, is there time for fishing before dinner?"

"No," said Loren.

"But there will be time in the morning," Malora said, "If you do not mind, Loren."

"I blame you for all the fish in my diet, Maya," Loren said. "This was a peaceful Amazon village, living properly on venison, until you came along. Your confounded love of fishing has spread like a disease."

"That's an interesting theory, Chief Loren," I said, "but I find it difficult to believe I have such influence as to cause you more than a pinprick of annoyance twice a year. Perhaps you should have this discussion with your companion."

Loren turned to Malora, "Are you going to let her speak like that to me?"

"Of course not," Malora said. "Maya, apologize for your irritating habit of pointing out the truth."

"I'm sorry you don't like fish, Chief Loren," I said, trying to sound like I meant it.

"I used to," she protested, "but now it's all we ever have." She turned back to Malora. "Couldn't you have picked a companion who liked to hunt instead?"

Malora shrugged. "She's hopeless with a bow, but she probably remembers how to set a rabbit snare."

"If not," Omie said, "my companion does."

Beria and I grinned at each other.

"Fine, fine," Loren said. "It's not like I would dare forbid Meena to go fishing."

After that, the warriors went off with Loren while the companions saw to the horses. We gave Beria a tour, ending at Loren's garden. Meena turned to me. "Are you up for some weeding?"

I eyed the garden carefully. "I didn't care for the punishment last time I stepped foot in the garden." I had accidentally crushed one of the flowers.

Beria had been just about to step into the garden
herself, and she froze before retreating. "You get punished for going into the garden?"

"You get punished if you damage the garden," Meena said. She turned to me. "It wouldn't have been so bad, but you had the bad luck to
destroy Loren's favorite flower."

"The bee startled me," I protested.

"She fell on her ass, crushing the life out of a small rose bush."

"Then I got tangled in the thorns and half pulled it out of the ground trying to free myself."

"And that was when Loren and Malora walked up, just in time to see her pulling the rose bush from the ground."

"It wasn't a very big bush," I said. "And it wasn't my fault."

"It was entirely your fault," Meena said. "Loren got there and it looked like Maya was intentionally pulling it out of the ground."

"It didn't help that you were laughing."

"What was your punishment?" Beria asked.

"I had to weave a necklace from the stems and wear it for three days. Malora wouldn't even let me take it off after we left." I turned to Meena. "
May I please haul water?"

"Oh no," Meena said. "That is Beria's duty today. You get to weed around the flower beds."

"For all I do for the Amazons," I said, "I think it's cruel to make me step foot in that garden."

"Oh don't be a baby. You were lucky your punishment wasn't a lot worse. It looked like you were intentionally ripping that bush out of the ground. You're lucky Loren believed you."

"It had thorns!"

"Of course it did," Meena said. "It wouldn't have been much of a punishment if it had been a garland of moss."

Beria was watching the exchange carefully. "Where do I get water?"

"You," Meena said, pointing towards the
flowerbeds. "Start at the far end."

"I'm sure I don't know which ones are flowers and which ones are weeds," I said. "I'm not touching it until you show me."

"Start at the far end. Surely you can recognize tulips." She handed me a small trowel.

I sighed and, gingerly, stepped into the garden, proceedi
ng along the path to the tulips, watching carefully for bees. There were a few buzzing around, so I moved slowly and carefully. I hoped Meena would allow me to work based on time, not on the amount of weeding I accomplished.

But soon I got lost in the work. The soil was moist and soft, and pulling the weeds was easy. I carefully examined each, working around the tulips
slowly. But finally I found a large piece of grass that appeared especially tenacious. I pulled, and pulled, and the roots seemed to keep going, and going.

I didn't realize it, but not only was I pulling out the weed, I was tugging on the roots of some of the flowers.

"Got ya!" I said when finally the weed came loose, dragging two feet of roots behind it.

From behind me I heard a "tsk, tsk, tsk", and a shadow fell over me. I looked up, and Loren was standing over me, her hands on her hips, and she was frowning.

"It's a weed! I swear! Look!"

"Yes," she said. "That's a weed."

"I haven't sat on anything. I haven't knelt on anything. They're all weeds!" I pointed to my pile of refuse.

"Yes," she agreed. "Those are all weeds." Then she pointed to the tulips. I followed the gesture and stared. I had half pulled three tulips from the ground. The ground was so soft, they had dislodged easily.

I stared, and then I said, "No. No, no, no!"

We began to collect a small audience, Beria edging around the outside of the garden to see what was going on, and Meena moving closer.

"It's not my fault!"

"It certainly is your fault," Loren said. "What you mean to say is that it wasn't intentional."

"I was being careful."

"Clearly not sufficiently careful."

I stared at the damage then looked up at Loren. "What are you going to do to me this time?"

"I haven't decided. It will depend upon a final report from Meena. There may be no permanent damage." She looked around. "Queen Malora, do you need to see the damage your companion has caused?"

"No, no," Malora replied. "I am sure she will graciously accept any punishment you mete out for her mistake." I glanced over at Malora and saw she was smirking at me.

Meena stepped forward and knelt down next to the damaged tulips. She checked them over carefully before gently patting them back into the ground, tapping the soil into place. She looked up at her warrior. "No permanent damage. They may wilt for a few days, but they'll spring back."

"It was an honest mistake," I said. "You wouldn't even have known if you hadn't shown up when you did."

"You mean if I hadn't been watching you the entire time, waiting for a mistake?"

I slowly climbed to my feet, looking her in the eye. "You were waiting for me to make a mistake?"

She nodded.

"I see."

I bent
down, picked up the weeds I had pulled, then carefully stepped past Loren and deposited the weeds in the compost bin. I returned the gardening trowel to the storage cabinet and made my way carefully from the garden. I walked to Malora. "I am going to the river to wash up."

"Queen'
s Companion," Loren called out as I turned to our assigned hut. I stopped and turned around. "I will announce your punishment after dinner."

"Of course you will."

* * * *

Malora, Beria and Nori joined me in the pools. "What's going on?" I asked Malora quietly while washing her hair. "Is Loren hazing me?"

"Probably. Be gracious. When I was first queen, everyone used to play pranks on me, but I got good at catching them, and then I was obligated to punish them for it. I increased the severity of the punishments until the pranks stopped."

"Ah, but I am deemed helpless and an easy target."

"Yep."

"She knows I have claws, doesn't she?"

Malora reached up and grabbed one of my hands from her head, pulling it over her shoulder to look at my fingernails. "Well-trimmed claws," she replied.

"I wonder if she realizes who coordinates the tithe. She seems to enjoy salted fish, don't you think?"

Malora laughed then turned around. "You're serious?"

"Of course I am. Furthermore, if you help enforce whatever she has planned, you better not need a companion while I'm calming down."

"Maya, be gracious."

"Did you let everyone get away with the pranks?"

"Well, no, but-"

"But I'm supposed to? Tell me, do you really think that's how it's going to work?"

She laughed again. "No, I guess I don't."

"If you prefer, I'm sure I can find ways to make you just as uncomfortable as she intends to make me. Or maybe it's just time for me to go visit my parents. You can handle a few weeks without me."

"I do not give you permission to leave," she said sternly.

"You aren't really telling me you're going to escalate this, are you?"

"All you have to do is be gracious-"

"While I'm the brunt of hazing? You first. Show me how it's done."

Nori edged over. "This looks like a serious conversation, and I judge the queen is losing."

"Of course she's losing," I said. "When have either of you won an argument with me?"

"Hmm," said Nori. "How about the one where you agreed to serve as the queen's companion?"

"Or the one when we told you that you would train?" Malora asked.

"How about when you threatened to kill me?" Nori asked. "And I told you not to make vows like that before you got to know me? I was right about that."

"And there was that time-" Malora began, but I'd had it. I dunked her. She came up sputtering, but
I was already five strokes away before she caught her breath.

"I believe, Nori," said Malora, "that the first to engage in a childish display of petulant violence has ceded the battleground."

"I choose to believe the battleground has moved," I told her.

Malora gestured me towards her, but I eyed her suspiciously.

"Maya," she said firmly. "Come here and accept your punishment for dunking your queen."

"Come get me," I told her. "I'm right here. This is a better dunking place, anyway. I promise to demonstrate."

"Amazons," Malora said, raising her voice loudly enough for Omie and Beria to hear her. "This is a direct order from your queen. Catch that Amazon-" she pointed to me, "and hold her for me."

"You cheat!" I yelled. Omie, Beria, and Nori all grinned and began to advance on me, spreading out to cut off my choices.

I was the best swimmer here. The rest were better than they had been three years ago, but individually, none of them was a real threat. They were each a challenge, but one-on-one, I still won the vast majority of our water wrestling competitions.

But four-to-one odds were not good, and I was going to lose.

That didn't mean I was going to give up easily, of course.

I waited for them to grow closer then went under, swimming away, exiting the circle they had formed around me before coming up, closer to Nori than the rest.

"Don't worry," Beria said. "She'll get tired before we do."