Amazon Companion

by Roseau, Robin

  "I know."

  "As my warrior, if you weren't going to let me bring anything with me, then you should have provided better. And if you're not going to provide better, you don't have to be bitchy when I'm doing the best I can."

  "I said I'm sorry."

  "Yeah, well." I turned away.

  "Don't go angry," she said quietly.

  "Where did that come from, Malora? I was basking, and then you have to give me that? It came from something. What?"

  "I'm jealous."

  I turned to face her.

  "Of what?"

  "The time you spend with Nori and Ralla."

  "You told me to!" I yelled. I lowered my voice for the next part. "And they need someone. It's not like I'm having sex with them!"

  "I know."

  "Fine. You can be the one to tell them to find someone else to comfort them."

  "No."

  "Well I'm not doing it!"

  "Lower your voice, Maya."

  "Why?" I asked. "Are you going to have me whipped for being disrespectful?"

  "No, I don't want anyone to know the details of what we're talking about."

  "Fine," I said quietly, but I didn't approach her. "What do you want?"

  "I want you to forgive me."

  "What else?"

  "Nothing else."

  "I'll forgive you when you stop lying." I climbed on the horse.

  "I want to kiss you."

  That stopped me. I turned to face her, looking over my shoulder at her. She was nearly twice my age, but she was beautiful and had a hard, lean body I could do nothing but admire. She was gentle and kind to me. She listened when I spoke. And she was a good, if perhaps sometimes harsh leader. I thought perhaps I shouldn't judge the last part, as being an Amazon training to fight demons was a lot different than being a schoolteacher or living in a fishing village.

  "Kiss?" I asked. She nodded. "And more?" She nodded again. "I've kissed before. Boys. Never girls. I've never done more."

  She looked down. "I don't interest you then."

  "I didn't say that, Malora. I'm trying to tell you it's a big step for me, and I wanted you to understand how big."

  She looked, and there was a glimmer of hope.

  "But we both know I don't fit in here-"

  "That's not true."

  "We both know I am not convinced I fit in here."

  She smiled. "All right."

  "We both know I haven't promised to stay."

  "If you run, we'll catch you."

  "And then you'll drag me back, and you'll tie me to the post in the training grounds, and we both know what happens after that, and then we know I'll never forgive you. We know it will break my spirit, and you won't want me any more than I will want you to touch me. Even if you eventually send me home, I'll be broken for years. And do you think I want my first lover to also be the woman who did all that to me?"

  She stared up at me. "I understand," she said finally.

  "I consider this a puzzle for you to solve."

  "A puzzle for me?"

  "I share your bed, Malora. I kiss your hand, and it's not your hand I am thinking about when I kiss it. We touch like lovers. We talk like lovers. Get the hint."

  Her mouth opened, and she gawked at me. Slowly she closed it.

  "I have to go. I have dinner duty and I am going to be late."

  "I'll get you off dinner duty. Take your time. Do you forgive me from earlier?"

  I held my hand towards her, and she rushed to take it, squeezing and coming closer, leaning against my leg. I lowered my head and kissed the top of her head.

  "Yes. I'm going to ride slowly. If there is anyone available to chase after me, please send her. If no one is available, that's fine. I'll be somewhat longer than usual, but I will be back in time to serve dinner."

  "If I solve this puzzle, Maya?"

  "You'll have your kisses and your promise, but if you ever tie me to that post, I won't forgive you."

  She squeezed my hand, and then I rode away from her.

  It took twenty minutes, but I heard several horses on the trail behind me. I stopped and waited for them, and soon I saw Bea, Neela and Aura riding fast for me. They slowed their horses when they saw me.

  "We heard you wanted company," Bea said.

  I smiled. "Thank you. Yes. Do you know where Backbend Gulch is?"

  "Yes."

  "Please lead. I'm tired."

  "I bet." I stepped my horse off the path so Bea's could step past us, then I dropped in behind Neela and in front of Aura, squeezing hands as the woman rode past me.

  The three of them chattered at me, drawing me into conversations. I hadn't really spent much time trying to be their friend, but I decided I liked all of them. They were much younger than I was, of course. Neela and Aura were young enough to be my students, and Bea only two or three years old than that, sixteen or seventeen years old. But they weren't my students, and I wouldn't mind having friends, even young friends.

  "Nori says we're to wrestle tomorrow, on dry ground," Bea said. She turned over her shoulder to look at me. "I really enjoyed our bout."

  "Don't take this the wrong way, but I didn't."

  She frowned and faced forward, but said loudly enough for me to hear, "Because you lost?"

  "Because... I don't like wrestling. It wouldn't matter if I had won. I was terrified the entire time."

  "Why is it different in the water?"

  "It's slower and no one gets hurt."

  "I was terrified today," Aura said from behind me. "You were gentle, but I was terrified. I guess I can understand. I'm not used to the water, and it scares me."

  I looked back at her. "You should be respectful of the water. It can kill you."

  "Yes, but it wasn't going to kill me today any more than the training grounds are going to kill you tomorrow. But if I can be afraid of the water, I guess you can be afraid of the training grounds."

  "It doesn't help that they whip us when we run slowly," Neela said. She massaged her bottom, even though I was pretty sure she hadn't taken any cracks from the whip there lately. She looked over her shoulder. "It gives you bad memories, and if you think of Queen Malora as a demon chasing you." She paused. "I've had a few nightmares of demons chasing me around and around."

  "Bea," I said. "Were you a volunteer or a conscript like I was?"

  "No one was a conscript quite like you were, Maya," she said with a laugh. "I was in between. I'm from a village where we continued to tithe, but one far enough west that it is considered a duty to join the Amazons, not a privilege."

  "My village, too," Aura said. "But I'm a volunteer. I wanted to be here."

  "In my village," Bea explained, "during the year you turn twelve, we draw numbers from a hat, and if you draw a one, then in the spring of the year you turn fourteen, you go with the Amazons when they come. I had two years to get used to the idea."

  "My village was the same," Aura explained. "I drew when I was twelve, and wasn't selected, but then I let the people who had to go know that I would go instead."

  "What happened?" I asked.

  "One of the girls who was selected to go was the daughter of a merchant. He offered to pay some of my family's debts and made sure I was equipped when I left home."

  I laughed. "I arrived with the clothes on my back."

  "I was a conscript," Neela explained, "but they gave us time to collect some things."

  "Were you really a teacher?" Bea asked.

  "Yes. Head teacher. The old head teacher died, and they gave the job to me even though I was so young."

  "It seems wrong to take a teacher," Bea said. "That's an important job."

  "You guys don't know the story?"

  "No," Bea said. "I saw you when you arrived at the queen's camp, but I don't know why you were tied up."

  "I'll tell the story at the next fire," I promised.

  "Why would someone want to become a teacher?" Neela asked. "The best part of being an Amazon was not having to go back to scho
ol! I can't imagine making it a job."

  "So getting stung by Queen Malora's whip is better than school?"

  "Yes," she said. "Math. Ug."

  "Math is a lot of puzzles," I said. "I love puzzles."

  "I hated being inside so long," Aura said. "I wanted to be outside. Here, we're outside all the time. It's a lot better."

  "Back home, my village elders had to order me to go outside."

  "No way!" Bea said. "Now you're telling a tall tale."

  "Nope. Totally true. They told me I worked too much and ordered me to take one day off a week."

  "You made your kids go to school six days a week?" Aura asked. "I'd hate that."

  "No, but I spent a lot of time preparing for classes so I would teach the best I could. I was a young teacher, and it was a lot of responsibility. I wanted the elders to be proud of me."

  "I want Lidi to be proud of me," Neela said. "Even though I wasn't happy when they made me come."

  We arrived at the gulch. "Do you girls know about rabbit snares?"

  "I do," Bea said. "Sometimes I set some around the village, when Clara or I need more skins. But she's a good hunter, so we usually have enough."

  "I hunted rabbits at home," Aura said.

  "Not me," Neela said. "Rats."

  "Eww. Rats?"

  "To keep them out of the grain. We were farmers."

  "Well, I'll show you how Nori taught me to set snares." And I took them around all my snares. There was only one rabbit, and I moved two of the snares. We returned to the meadow at the base of the gulch.

  "Do you know what I want to do?" Bea asked.

  "Stay out here all night and skip training tomorrow?" Neela asked her.

  "No! Do you know what kind of trouble we'd get into?"

  "I was kidding. What do you want to do?"

  "Wrestle. Maybe the reason Maya doesn't like wrestling is because she doesn't like where we wrestle. Maybe if we wrestle here, she'll like it."

  I had to admit the girl had a brain. It was a clever thought. I didn't think it would help, but it was a clever thought.

  "Are we allowed?" Aura asked. "Nori isn't here."

  "Yes," said Bea. "Well, I am allowed. I've never heard any rules about wrestling. Did any of your warriors tell you that you couldn't?"

  "No," I admitted. "I tell you what, if you girls want to wrestle, I'll watch, and then I'll decide. But Malora said no takedowns, and that rule has to apply here, too. And because Malora isn't here, the two who aren't wrestling can both call a halt."

  Bea turned to the other girls. "Can we? Do you want to?"

  "Okay," said Aura.

  "Me too," said Neela. "Who is first?"

  "Well, it was my idea," Bea said. "So I think I should help judge for you two first, then whoever wins can wrestle me. And then Maya can decide."

  "Okay," Aura said, looking to Neela, who nodded.

  We climbed down from our horses and set them loose; they were well trained and wouldn't wander, not with plenty of forage to eat.

  We picked a spot, and Aura turned to Neela. "You can have up or down."

  "Down," she said. The two of them took their positions, and I told Bea to run it, but I'd yell 'hold' if I thought they should stop.

  "Ready, fight!"

  The two of them scrambled around for a while, neither getting a significant upper hand. Bea had to stop them a few times and restart them, as they separated.

  I watched carefully, my heart beating faster, but the two of them were clearly having fun.

  In the end, Aura won, but Neela gave her a good match.

  Bea turned to me. "What do you think?"

  "They had fun," I said. "Good match."

  The two of them panted and agreed it was a good match. Bea let Aura catch her breath, and then Aura decided she wanted to start down.

  Bea outclassed Aura, but she had the same kind of trouble pinning Aura that she'd had pinning me a couple of weeks ago, and then Aura squirmed out from under her and flipped her onto her back. A few seconds later, Neela slapped the ground.

  "Congratulations, Aura," I said.

  "I almost had you," Bea said.

  "Several times," Aura panted at her.

  Then all three turned to me. "Did you hate it?"

  "Did you have fun?" I asked.

  "Yea," said Neela. "Please, can we wrestle?"

  I was older than all of them, but at fourteen and sixteen, they had their full height and all the curves of adults. Neela was small, shorter than me, but wiry. Aura and Bea were both taller than I was, and I thought as they grew into their twenties, they would be powerful warriors.

  "I'm bigger than you, Neela," I told her.

  "I don't care," she said. "Aura is bigger, too, but I had fun. Please, Maya."

  It was hard to say 'no' to the 'please', especially with the big eyes she batted at me. I couldn't help but laugh. "All right," I agreed.

  "Up or down?" she asked. I started down.

  It was a good match, although I was still worn out from all the swimming earlier, my arms weak. Neela scrambled around a lot, most of the time on top of me, and eventually she pinned me.

  I sat up, and she was grinning. "Thank you, Maya," she said. "Good match."

  "It was," I said, pulling her into a hug. "Someone else wrestle while I catch my breath."

  "You're going again?" Bea asked. "You liked it?"

  "I wouldn't say I liked it," I said. "But I didn't hate it."

  "All right!" she said. "It's the training ground!"

  "I think it's the post in the middle of the training ground," I said. "It scares me."

  "It scares me, too," Bea replied.

  "I think Omie and Vorine scare me, too."

  "Varda fights dirty," Bea said. "We're sort of getting along now, but I told Clara I don't ever want to fight Varda. Who do I get to wrestle?"

  "Me, I guess," Neela said. "Give me another minute."

  Bea won, but Neela came up laughing. Aura turned to me.

  "All right," I said. "But remember I've already had something like twelve matches this afternoon."

  She laughed. "And you almost drowned most of your opponents."

  I snickered. "Not even close. You'll know when you're drowning. It's a lot worse than getting dunked."

  I knelt down, and we began.

  She was stronger than Neela. Even though I was eight years older than she was, she may have been stronger than I was, too, but neither of us was trained, and there was a lot of rolling around before she was sitting on my chest, my hands pressed to the ground over my head. I looked up at her, laughing and panting at the same time.

  "What?" she asked.

  "I used to sit on my little sister like this," I said. "She's younger than you, and she was a brat when she was eight."

  Bea had already slapped the ground, and Aura climbed off of me. "Good match, Aura. Thank you."

  "Fun?"

  "Maybe. You guys aren't scary."

  "That's just what a warrior wants to hear," Bea said. "You're not scary. Great."

  We all laughed.

  "Am I getting a turn with you, Maya?"

  "Yes, but then we have to go. We're late."

  "Oh no. Maybe we should go!"

  "I'll take the blame," I said. "Let me do the talking when we get back. I hope none of you have kitchen duty."

  Bea gave me two more minutes, and just like the other two, she was all over me, but she struggled to pin me. I couldn't get away from her, but she couldn't get me pinned. But I was getting tired, and I knew she'd get me soon.

  So I cheated.

  "You know," I said, panting. "I never heard any rules about tickling. Are you ticklish, Bea?" And I began digging my fingers into her sides.

  "Hey!" she said. "There's no tickling in wrestling!"

  She tried twice as hard to pin me, and I stepped up my efforts to tickle her. It took a minute, but she was, indeed, ticklish. Pretty soon she was squirming to get away, and Neela and Aura were laughing.

  "That'
s cheating," Bea said, but by then I was sitting up, pursuing her with my fingers while she tried to back away from me. I climbed on top of her, still tickling, and she tried to squirm away, but I held her down and tickled and tickled.

  I never pinned her, but she finally tapped out, laughing.

  When we were done catching our breaths, she said, "Please don't tell anyone you won by tickling me!"

  "I'll have to tell my warrior," I said. "She'll ask." I smiled. "I have to admit. THAT was fun."

  "Oh, you think so, do you?" She eyed Neela and Aura, and suddenly the three of them launched themselves at me.

  I'm pretty darned ticklish, too, and they didn't have the slightest trouble pinning me to the ground and tickling me until I surrendered, but then Aura grabbed Neela, and we ganged up on her, then finished with a good tickle of Aura, who disappointedly wasn't very ticklish.

  "We are so late," I finally said. "Bea, you can get us home without getting lost?"

  "Yes, but we should hurry."

  We collected the horses and were soon on our way, pushing the horses.

  When we reached the stables, Ralla was waiting with a scowl. "Did you four get lost?" she asked.

  "No," I said. "I take full responsibility. I will explain to the queen and take any punishment that is due. I think she might forgive us."

  Ralla studied me. "All right. I will run interference. The queen is upset, Maya."

  "Where is she?"

  "We were holding dinner. Everyone is gathered. You three take care of the horses. Maya, you come with me. Hurry with the horses, girls."

  I followed Ralla, everyone staring as we entered the square in front of the kitchen. Malora stood, watching me approach.

  "Where have you been?" she asked.

  "I can explain. It is my fault, and I will take any blame. May I explain before you decide?"

  "Explain."

  "In private?"

  "Fine. Hut." She pointed, and I hurried along in front of her. As soon as we were inside, she said, "You know what I was thinking."

  "And you thought I talked the three of them into going with me?"

  "You are far older and smarter than them, and I worried you tricked them somehow."

  "Well, that's not what happened."

  "Did you get lost? What excuse can you have for being this late?"