Amazon Companion

by Roseau, Robin

  "Then how much flour do I need to send to Black Oak?"

  "I get the point," Valen said quietly. Then she looked at me. "You are overly cautious."

  "As I said, I am not an Amazon quartermaster. I am a schoolteacher. I have been here only a few weeks, and I do not know the implications of the things I asked. Would you rather my questions remain unasked?"

  "No. You made good points."

  "Valan, I was not trying to embarrass you, but I have been asking for proper inventory for some time."

  "I understand, Queen Malora. I am embarrassed, but I am not offended. Did you warn your companion what you intended here today?"

  "Only that she might be asked to take notes."

  "She understood in a heartbeat what you wanted, and I didn't understand after years."

  "When we are accustomed to doing things a certain way," I said, "then it is very difficult to see other ways. I am unaccustomed to nearly everything about Amazon life, so I see everything fresh and am not bound by old methods, whether they are tried and true or tried and failed."

  Valan nodded. "Thank you for the lesson. Queen Malora, I will endeavor to assemble a proper inventory, and I will include the stores in the kitchen. I do not promise to empty every sack to verify the mice have not eaten too much."

  I grinned.

  "Then our trip today has been successful. I hear noises outside, so perhaps we have hungry warriors waiting for their meals."

  Agreeing to Fight

  "Well done," Malora told me later.

  "I did nothing special," I said. "I was perhaps more forward than Valan expected. Did you know she does not like her companion approaching a conference?"

  "No. That was why you waited?"

  "Yes."

  "Don't do it again. We are guests in these villages, but you are my companion, and you serve me, not the village chiefs."

  "Yes, Malora. I didn't know."

  "Of course you didn't. Did you and Honna talk?"

  "She asked about how I came to become your companion, and she asked about my hair. Both led to conversations I did not think I should pursue." I explained further.

  "You disagree with your punishment for being tardy?"

  "No. She did. She thought I got off too easily and expressed doubt my punishment would deter further tardiness. I disagree with her receiving a beating, but she didn't offer details. Perhaps there was history."

  "Is she right?"

  "The punishment was not meant as a deterrent. If it were, then I would agree with her. If you wanted to offer me a deterrent, you could make me attend training. Oh wait..."

  She didn't think I was very funny.

  "Why did you feel this was an uncomfortable conversation?"

  "I do not believe you would care for me to spread my opinions regarding Amazon punishment systems. Furthermore, it could be taken as an attempt to spread sedition. I would not wish to undermine your position by even the smallest amount."

  "And the other conversation?" Malora asked.

  "I did not believe you would appreciate my sharing my opinion on kidnapping schoolteachers."

  She looked over her shoulder at me. "So we're back to that?"

  "You asked."

  "I suppose I did."

  "No one has even attempted to convince me my outlook is inaccurate," I said. "Your need for a companion does not override my village's need for a teacher. Your need for companions and soldiers does not give you the right to wander through a village and say, 'this one and this one are leaving right now', most especially the way I was taken or the way Beria would have been taken if I had not interceded."

  "If your village elders had continued to tithe properly, we would not have been forced to such measures!" she said hotly.

  "Then perhaps you have a legitimate complaint with them. How does that translate into kidnapping a twelve-year-old girl from her mother's arms? Or taking me? You had a body count to fill, and you didn't care about the lives ruined as a result."

  "The demons don't care whose lives they ruin."

  "Congratulations! You're in the same league as the demons."

  "Silence!" she bellowed at me.

  I waited about a minute.

  "You didn't give the children you tore from their mothers a chance to say goodbye. You didn't give them a chance to grow accustomed to the idea. You didn't judge their fitness for what you ask. You. Were. Wrong!"

  "Silence!" she bellowed again.

  "By your own rules, you take girls at fourteen, but Beria is only twelve."

  She spun her horse. "Silence!"

  "And is it a new policy to kidnap school teachers and other village members with positions of responsibility, or only those who stand up to you when you're doing something wrong? I suppose you wouldn't want me spreading subversion, and after the way I was hauled from Gallon's Cove, everyone else will think twice about standing up against you."

  "Maya, that's enough!"

  "In the villages where you got Bea, Aura and Neela, girls learn at twelve they are to go, and then two years later, they go. And the village decides, not a troop of women who have no clue who they are taking, picking this girl or that one because of how she looks."

  "I said be quiet!"

  "I detest the idea of a quota, but at least someone who is sickly or ill-suited to the Amazon life could appeal to the village council."

  "You will close your mouth, right now!"

  "For all Riva knew, Beria could have asthma. How good a warrior would she make? Or maybe she took a concussion the week before and shouldn't be on a horse for a month. Riva didn't ask."

  She began moving towards me, her fist clenched. I didn't know if she would strike me or not.

  "You did not inquire as to which girls had no siblings, and you could easily have taken a family's only child. You did not inquire as to which families had already lost children to sickness or accident, and thus should be spared from losing another child, especially so abruptly."

  "Enough!"

  "You could have presented the description of an ideal Amazon and let us at least weed out the poor choices. For instance, who thinks a schoolmarm could ever become a good warrior?"

  She had come along side me, facing back the way we had come. Her fists were clenching and unclenching, and I was sure she was going to hit me. I could see the veins in her neck, and her face was bright red.

  I knew if she hit me, I'd never forgive her. I looked down at her fists, wondering if that's what I wanted. Did I want her to hit me?

  "I am fighting with words," I said very quietly. "Why aren't you?"

  "Because you're right!" she screamed. "About all of it! You are right! Is that what you want to hear?"

  She sat there, panting at me. I waited for her to calm down, then asked quietly, "Are you just saying that?"

  "No," she said, approaching some level of calm. "All right, you are wrong about some of the details, but the rest -- you're absolutely right. What we did was wrong."

  "May I ride with you, Malora?" I asked gently.

  "Yes," she said, holding her arms for me, and I climbed from my horse to hers, letting her wrap her arms around me as I sat in front of her. She held me that way, still panting, breathing into the back of my neck.

  "Do you hate us?" she finally asked. "You must hate us. You must hate me."

  "I don't hate anyone," I replied.

  She turned her horse, collecting the reins of mine, and then we began riding slowly down the trail. I could feel her heart pounding into my back.

  "We were wrong," she said, her head against my back. "We're desperate, Maya. Nothing else we were doing was working. At least this worked, but that doesn't mean it was the right thing to do. But we can't go back to begging for table scraps, either. This problem has been growing. When I was a fresh Amazon, no warriors went more than a season without a companion. At the start of this spring over half our warriors had no companions, and most villages are down on their allotment of warriors. I have to do something."

  "Al
l right," I said. "I'll help you. You promised to let me help." I paused. "Are we agreed we don't want me talking about this to anyone outside our own village?"

  She laughed. "Oh yes. We are definitely agreed on that."

  "And to think, that's what started this fight, something we agree on."

  We rode quietly for several miles before Malora said to me, "Maya, I need to be clear. My warriors need companions, and I will do whatever is necessary to provide them. And the Amazons need more Amazons, or soon the demons will overrun us, and once that happens, they will overrun Morehama. What we did to you was wrong, but doing nothing is more wrong. If the villages will not give us the companions and future warriors we need, we will take them. Right or wrong."

  "I understand what you are saying, Malora. On the other hand, I have not yet seen these demons for myself."

  "And I pray you never do."

  Several more miles passed before she said, "Maya, there was one thing you had wrong."

  "What?"

  "I told you the day we met you would never be a warrior."

  "Then why are you trying to turn me into one?"

  "Let me finish. You will never be a warrior, but you are exactly the companion I need. Do you understand? I cannot stand the thought of losing you. I am very, very sorry for the way we took you from your home, but I couldn't be happier you are here."

  I pulled her arms more tightly around me, and she laid her head against my back.

  "No one has ever treated me the way you do," I told her. "I am terrified to disappoint you, and it makes me sick when I do."

  "You never disappoint me, Maya."

  Of course I did, and I didn't understand why she would lie about it.

  A few moments later, we sighed together.

  "How close was I to getting hit?"

  "What?" she asked, lifting her head from my back. "I don't think I heard that correctly."

  "How close were you to hitting me?"

  "I wasn't going to hit you, but I was exceedingly close to tying you over the top of your horse with a gag in your mouth."

  "Been there, done that," I said.

  "I can certainly understand why Nori transported you that way. You have quite the tongue."

  "Honesty hurts."

  "It sure does." And at that, we chuckled together.

  We rode quietly after that, talking at times, lost in our own thoughts at others. As late afternoon arrived, I asked her, "Will anyone care if we arrive like this?"

  "No. They will be happy to see I am content to hold my companion. They may assume we have become lovers. Would that bother you?"

  "Not one bit," I said. "You're pretty enough, I guess, although you would look much better with pink lip paint."

  She guffawed.

  "But you have an okay body, I guess, for a woman. You're only a little scrawny."

  "My body is not at all scrawny!"

  "Meat and bones," I said. "And no hair on your chest. I checked."

  She laughed again. "I bet you did."

  "So my point is, I guess if people assume we're lovers, I wouldn't be entirely embarrassed."

  "It is not too late for you to arrive gagged."

  "Have I offended you, Malora? Perhaps I should swoon instead. You are the queen, after all. Have I not been suitably impressed with your regal bearing?"

  "No," she said. "You have not been. You are nothing but backtalk."

  "Perhaps I believe you are strong enough to take it."

  That shut her up.

  I giggled. "Malora, what is the real reason Ralla gave me such a lovely coat?"

  She stiffened.

  "Ha!" I said. "I knew there was more to it."

  "What makes you say that?"

  "Do you not believe I am at least owed honesty? I'd rather you flat out said you weren't going to tell me than lie to me."

  "Fine. I'm not going to tell you."

  "What does she want from me?"

  "Nothing. She had no nefarious motivations."

  "Then it's from guilt." And Malora stiffened again. I made a mental note to make sure she was holding me so closely in the future when I needed to question her.

  "Please don't ask more about it. The coat is a gift because she knows you need it."

  "And because she feels guilty about something." I paused. "Did she go back to Gallen's Cove and take my sister away?"

  "What? No. Your sister is home safe and sound, the best I know anyway."

  "Well, she wasn't one of the warriors who was in Gallen's Cove the day I was taken," I said, "so I don't know what she has to feel guilty about. If it's an apology gift, don't I deserve knowing what she's apologizing for?"

  Malora tried changing the subject to distract me. "Do you remember what I told you about Two Bends?"

  I chuckled. "I am allowing you to change the subject."

  "Thank you." She kissed the back of my neck.

  "It is on a river and there is a garden to tend. You mentioned no other special rules, but you didn't mention Valan's rule."

  "So today is to be a discussion of my oversights?" But she said it with humor in her voice.

  "No," I replied. "I was prompting for anything similar, that is all."

  "I do not want you to observe any local customs of that nature, but you should be more formal with the warriors on our travels than perhaps you are at home."

  "What is the purpose of this trip? You never told me. Are we taking inventory everywhere?"

  "We are visiting everywhere, and in some places there are specific things to address, like inventory. At others, we are simply visiting friends and perhaps reminding them that I exist."

  "Are there threats to your rule?"

  "There is always muttering. Every ruler faces that. There are always people who feel they would rule better."

  "People who feel they would rule better are rarely the rulers I would want."

  "That seems like an astute observation to come from someone who is only twenty-two years old."

  "I teach history. The history books are filled with stories of rulers, good and bad. Do you disagree with my impression?"

  "No. I listen when someone suggests another woman would rule better, but not when someone puts herself ahead of me."

  "What are the main issues of contention?"

  "Collecting tithe, replenishing the ranks, and a more unified approach to training. There are some who feel Morehama should pay us far more than we ask. Some would have the Amazons assume rule of all Morehama. Others have plans for at least collecting what most of us feel we are owed. Because these have been legitimate problems, and I haven't solved them, I must admit the possibility of someone doing better than I have."

  "But that's one issue," I pointed out. "Do they ignore the things you do well?"

  "Yes. It is easy to focus on the problems, after all."

  "How did you become queen? Was your mother queen?"

  "No. I defeated the old queen in single combat."

  "What?" I said. "You staged a coup? Was she a poor ruler?"

  "She was an excellent ruler, but she was getting old, and she knew it was a matter of time. She asked me to challenge her. I refused for two years, but then I knew she was about to be challenged by someone I was sure would be horrible for the Amazons, so I challenged the queen."

  "So you could be challenged at any time?"

  "Yes."

  "During this trip?"

  "At any time, but I am allowed to set the time and place."

  "So if you were sick or recently injured, you can delay the battle."

  "Yes. If I were challenged tomorrow, I would demand the fight back in Queen's Town in one month's time, and then Nori, Balorie and Ralla would make absolutely sure I was ready."

  "Are fights. Um."

  "To the death?"

  "Yes."

  "They don't have to be. Mine with the old queen was to the first significant blow. Her wound healed, although she lost some motion in her arm. I have accepted three challenges since. I killed all t
hree of them."

  I turned around and looked at her.

  "If I let them live, they could come back. If I let them live, then others may try, believing they have nothing to lose, and then I would constantly be fighting challenges, every time someone disagreed with a minor policy decision. If someone challenges me, she better be serious. There have been no challenges in four years, and I think I have at most one, possibly two more years before I will face a string of them."

  "Because of tithing?"

  "More because of replacements. The women who see only one issue are the ones who believe we should be far more aggressive collecting new companions."

  "Did this drive your desperation this spring?"

  "It was in the back of my mind, but primarily it is a real problem that must be solved. If someone ever faces me who I believe will do better than I will, I will offer to fight to first significant blow. That can still be dangerous, but if she is good enough to beat me, then she is good enough to hold the position. And if she would be a better ruler, than I would rather have her queen than me. But I will defend aggressively against a poor ruler."

  "If we solve these issues of replacements and tithe, then what?"

  "Then the ones claiming to be able to do better will have no issue to stand on."

  "But they could still challenge you?"

  "Yes, but it would be very dangerous to challenge a queen who solved a problem that has plagued us for so long. She may find herself lacking support."

  The village came into view, and I asked quickly, "Anything else I need to know?"

  "Nothing I can think of. You have good instincts." She hugged me quickly once more, and then we were dismounting to an audience.

  At Two Bends, I met Chief Loren and her companion, Meena. Meena was several years older than I was, perhaps approaching thirty, with Loren a few years older than Meena and much younger than Valan at Black Oak. Over the course of the evening, I also met everyone else living in Two Bends, not counting those out on patrol.

  On our introduction, Loren looked at my hair and said, "Queen Malora, I do believe your companion has a story to tell."

  "She does," Malora replied with a chuckle.

  "Then I wish for her to delay any inquiries into her shocking hair until the bonfire this evening."