Amazon Chief (65 page)

"It has to be Tamma," Lia said. "Who else would dare? But I haven't been able to catch her. She hasn't acted as if she's guilty, either."

"If it's a companion other than her, then her warrior knows," I said. "I can't see Ree or Frida being involved."

"We need proof," Lia said. "Beria, I'm not absolutely sure Tamma won't lie if you confront her."

"There's something else. If there are two of them, then our entire process of elimination has been wrong."

"We have to catch her," Lia said.

In the end, we set a very simple trap across the doorway to my hut. Lia collected some
pinesap, and we painted the floorboards. By stepping carefully, we could avoid it, but as long as our miscreant didn't know about it, she would step into the sap and leave a sticky residue on the bottom of her shoes.

It took another three days before Lia noticed Rahna
, Glorana's new companion, scrubbing the bottoms of her boots.

"What happened?" Lia asked her.

"I stepped in something," she replied. "It seems to be pernicious."

Lia looked closer. "Looks like you've almost got it. Is that sap from a tree?"

"I don't know," Rahna said. "I haven't been in the woods for days."

"We live in the woods," Lia said. "I'm constantly finding no end of things in the girls' clothes."

Lia went on her way, and we wouldn't get a moment alone for hours, but she served me lunch and whispered, "Got her," into my ear. I hadn't been back to my hut, but I stopped by before afternoon training. There was a clear boot print in the stick sap, and I found a few rocks in my bed, under the mattress so I would have a lumpy bed. I only found them because the perpetrator left a sticky set of footprints right to the side of the bed.

Lia came to me that evening.

"It was Rahna," she said.

I stared at her. "I cannot believe a companion, even a new companion, would engage in behavior like this without her warrior's involvement. And if Glorana is involved, so is Frida and probably Yalta."

"Four miscreants. What are we going to do?"

"Without better proof, we can't do anything too terrible," I said.

* * * *

We assembled more proof and came to the conclusion all four were in on it. But they were being very careful to avoid getting caught. We didn't find direct evidence of Frida's involvement, and I wasn't sure we had enough evidence to convict them if we brought it to Malora. But of course, we weren't going to do that.

They were just pranks, after all.

"What do you want to do?" Lia asked. "Confront or prank back?"

I smiled. "What do you think?"

She grinned. "I think it's time to make absolutely sure my sister isn't involved."

"Go get her, and her warrior," I said. "Make it subtle."

She nodded, hugged me for a moment, then slipped out of the hut. She was back five minutes later and pulled me to the bed, offering comfort for me. Ten minutes later, Tamma slipped into the hut. She smile when she saw us but only pulled up a chair. "Badra will be another minute. Is my sister a good companion, Chief Beria?"

"She is," I said.

We talked quietly until Badra slipped in.

"No one saw Tamma or I enter," Badra said.

"Grab a chair." I sat up, dislodging Lia. "I am going to ask a very direct question, and I need the truth."

"We're not involved," Tamma said. "We stayed out of it."

I turned to Lia. "I didn't say a word."

"I need you to tell me exactly what you haven't done."

"Neither Badra nor I have pulled anything resembling a prank on either of you since the two of you started your little war," Tamma said.

"I need to be clear. I am offering complete immunity to both of you, one time only. If you have been involved in the pranks in any way, then I forgive you if I receive a full confession. I even forgive Tamma lying to me, if she just did."

"She wouldn't lie, Chief Beria," Badra said. "You know that. We stayed out of it. It was far too much fun watching the two of you going after each other."

"How did you know that's what this conversation was about?"

"I didn't," Tamma said, "until I saw her in here with you. You two are way too comfortable to be frustrated with each other and are working together. How long has that been going on?"

"About a month," Lia said. "We've been warning each other about the pranks and letting ourselves get caught."

"Someone else is playing with you," Badra said. "Who?"

"I need vows of silence from both of you."

"Are you kidding?" asked Tamma. "I want in! They messed with my sister."

I looked at Badra. "Hey," she said, "three of my favorite five people in the world are in this hut, and the other two are in Lia's hut. What do you want us to do?"

I turned to Lia. "For someone who never pranked anyone before meeting me, you've become amazingly adept."

She smiled. "I had a good teacher. I think it's time to turn the tables."

"We could be wrong," I said. "Our evidence isn't rock solid."

"Then we'll turn the tables and get confessions at the same time," she said. And then she said what she wanted to do. She talked for a long time.

"We need to keep the girls out of it," I said at the end.

"Would Maya help?" Lia asked.

"Oh yes."

"So maybe Queen Malora wants to demand they spend a day or two at Queen's Town."

"We've got the patrol in the morning," Badra said. "We can get a note to her."

We spent another hour planning.

* * * *

Malora and Maya didn't send for the girls; they came themselves. They arrived shortly after lunch, trained with us, and then Maya offered swimming lessons to the girls while Malora chatted with me. Malora and I retired to my hut and immediately asked me, "What's going on?"

I told her the entire plan, speaking very quietly.

"How sure are you?"

"Pretty sure, but
I'm not positive. If I were positive, then we'd act more directly against them. If it turns out we're wrong, I'm pretty sure whoever we should have been targeting will confess."

"All right," she said. "At dinner, Maya is going to ask me to demand you let us take the girls to Queen's Town. How long do you want them out of your way?"

"You don't mind? We could just ask them."

"Oh no. Maya would be vexed with me if we didn't help, and the girls are darlings."

"Then if you could bring them back the morning three days from today, we'll do all this the evening before. If that isn't too long."

"No, that will be lovely."

* * * *

The next day, I got Lia with a particularly terrible prank. It was her idea. Three hours later, she caught me in one that was even worse. That one had been Tamma's idea. We
escalated, and the next day, she caught me with three more. I hadn't been expecting the second one, not exactly; she had just asked permission to do something I wouldn't expect.

But the third one was set up in my hut, and I got "caught" near dusk. I stormed out of my hut screaming, "Lia! Get your ass out here."

She appeared from her own hut. "What's that in your hair, Chief Beria?"

"You know exactly what it is. Get your ass over here." I pointed to the ground in front of me.

She closed the distance and smiled at me. "It's blue," she said. "Did you get caught in a blueberry bush?"

"I've had it!" I said. "When you confined your pranks to innocent fun and controlled their delivery, I enjoyed sparring with you. But you've been going too far!"

"Maybe you shouldn't have made Annalise cry last week," she replied. "Don't talk to me about going too far."

We proceeded to have a major fight there in the middle of the village. The idea was to collect an audience. Finally I said, "Wait right here!"

One of the pranks I'd pretended to not find hadn't been hers, it had been one of the four miscreants, and they had ruined an old, tattered tunic of mine. I didn't care; it was already largely beyond repair, and I had long stopped wearing it, but Amazons don't throw anything away. There was material I could harvest from it. Maybe. If I were to be careful.

I stormed to my hut and returned with the tunic. "Do you know what this is?"

"It looks like a ruined tunic," she said. "So?"

"You may not recognize the significance of this, but this is the first Amazon tunic I ever owned."

"Oh shit," I heard Frida say. Oh shit, indeed.

"Omie made it for me. I have almost nothing she made for me, and the reason this is so worn is because I kept wearing it long after it was ratty. Do you think maybe it has a little extra significance to me? You know how I feel about her! Now look at it!"

"I don't know why you're screaming at me. You're the one who wore it to death."

"I may have worn it to death, but you added this damage." I flipped it over and showed the large stain.

"I did no such thing."

We fought for a minute while I accused her of lying, and she denied it. I actually thought the real miscreants would confess, but so far they hadn't said a thing. I wanted to look at them to check for body language, but that would have been two obvious.

"But the worst part, beyond your lying, is that you involved your daughters in these pranks."

"That is another lie!" Lia said.

"I absolutely know you didn't do all of them, because some happened while I was watching you. I would accuse your sister-" I looked around and pointed at Tamma, "-but she was on patrol for some of them. That leaves your daughters. And I've had it. The three of you will share a punishment tomorrow."

"Chief Beria!" she yelled back. "You are making baseless accusations. I told you what would happen if you ever accused me or my daughters without real proof. Give me your knife. I have hair to cut."

"Oh, don't worry," I said. "You'll get your hair cut. Tomorrow, when the queen returns with your daughters, I am shaving all three of you bald and tattooing something amusing on your scalps."

"Chief Beria!" screamed Tamma, "No!"

"Shut up!" I told her. "You assured me I could trust them, but she's lying through her teeth to me." I turned back to Lia. "That is a flogging offense."

"You. Wouldn't. Dare."

"Oh, wouldn't I? Confess your misdeeds, and I'll only banish you after I tattoo your scalps."

"I haven't lied!" she screamed at me.

I reached out a hand and grabbed her by her hair, yanking her forward. It would have looked a lot crueler than it was. "Frida, get my whip. Glorana, I need rope."

"Stop!" Tamma yelled. "You can't do this!"

"Interfere, Tamma, and you'll share her fate."

"Chief Beria!" Tamma yelled. "Stop this!" I started pulling Lia to the training field. We didn't have a whipping post, but I could have tied her to a tree, I suppose. Tamma interposed herself. "Stop this!"

"Get out of my way, Tamma. Or, I suppose, you could challenge me." I said it coldly.

"Fine!" she spat. "I challenge you!"

"Frida," I yelled. "I won't need the whip for a few minutes. Get my sword instead."

"Chief Beria," Frida said. "Perhaps we should all calm down."

Badra stepped forward. "Chief Beria, you cannot accept challenge from a companion. I challenge you."

I stared at her. "Fine. Frida, I need my sword. Now."

"She didn't do it," Frida said.

I turned to her. She was standing ten paces away. Glorana and their companions were behind her several more paces. "What?"

"She didn't ruin your tunic. I did. I thought it was just an old, ratty tunic. I've seen you wear it for some of the dirtiest jobs. I'm very sorry. She didn't do it. She hasn't been lying."

I hadn't released Lia. I turned to her and named two more pranks she hadn't done. She denied both of them.

I turned back to Frida. "You and your sister were on patrol when those happened. Just how many other miscreants do you expect to step forward?"

"Three more," Glorana said. She and the two companions joined Frida.

I released Lia and stood to face them.

"Full confession. Right now."

And they gave one.

I felt Lia step up behind me. She slipped an arm around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder. Tamma stepped up to Lia's other side and wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulder, and then Badra stood next to me, an arm around my shoulders.

"Thank you for confessing," Lia said sweetly. "We knew."

"What?" said Glorana. "You knew?"

"We figured it out weeks ago," Lia said. "We caught you."

"You didn't!" Frida said. "We were careful."

"Rahna stepped in the tree sap we painted on the floor of my hut," I said. "You three were on patrol. I was rather surprised a brand new companion was involved. We've spent the weeks since gathering more evidence."