Amazon Companion

by Roseau, Robin

  Parlomith walked around me, then stepped closer and made minor adjustments in my stance. "A little wider, and settle into your knees lower. You'll be able to move with more agility." I adjusted. "Better."

  She checked everyone else, and they required no adjustments.

  She began drills with us, arranging us in a line a few feet apart and then she stood in front of us. We were to emulate her, step and a slash. Step and a different slash. Parry, slash. She named each swing as she did it. Up and down the practice area we worked.

  Parlomith stepped aside, watching us for a while. She had established a pattern to our moves, but I quickly lost track of the pattern and fell behind, watching the girl next to me before duplicating the move.

  "Maya! This exercise is to be done all together."

  "I'm sorry, Parlomith. I did not know we were to memorize the sequence. I only watched you."

  "All together," she yelled. She called a strike, and we did it. She called another, and we did it. I tried to memorize the sequence. "On your own now," she said finally, and I tried to do them in the right order, but I still made mistakes.

  "It is not a difficult sequence, Maya! Again."

  She moved behind me and called the strikes for me, and I learned how they were organized. "Better," she said.

  We worked up and down the practice ground, swinging swords that, while made of wood, were as heavy as their steel counterparts. I began to sweat, and still we swung our swords.

  "Your form is terrible, Maya!" she said. "You are hacking. You may as well use a blunt stick if you use it that way. Slash, not hack. Slash." I didn't know what the difference was.

  I did something different, and of course it was wrong. "What is wrong with you?"

  But she stepped up and showed me, running the blade in a slicing motion like a knife cutting a piece of meat, and that made sense. "Why do you not know this?"

  I didn't have an answer for that, but I knew I was embarrassing Malora and Nori.

  Up and down the field we slashed, my arm growing tired, the sweat matting my hair and running into my eyes. I brushed it away with the sleeve of my tunic, and of course, Parlomith yelled at me.

  Slash, slash, slash, until I could barely lift my arm. Parlomith criticized my form. She criticized my stance. She criticized my stamina.

  When finally she called an end, I collapsed my arm in relief, and she criticized my care of the practice sword when the tip touched the ground.

  For that I apologized, but she said, "I understand why the queen took you as companion. She couldn't possibly saddle another warrior with you, so she takes you on herself."

  If I weren't already flushed from heat and exertion, I would have flamed as red as a beet from that comment. I turned away, replacing the practice sword in the storage shed. And then again it was time to run.

  Parlomith ran along beside me, berating me the entire time, urging me to greater speed and expressing her disgust when I wiped the sweat from my eyes.

  "You'll never be a true Amazon if you don't apply yourself," she told me at the end. And she walked away in disgust.

  But it was Malora's look that hurt the worst.

  There was time before lunch, and Malora didn't need me, so I asked her for permission to go swimming. Most of the villages we'd visited were next to a river or lake, and Northglen sat next to a fast river, but I thought there would be somewhere to swim. I didn't find a pool I would have taken new swimmers, but I found the lee side of a boulder with an eddy I could enjoy.

  The water was fast and cold, and I felt reinvigorated from the swim. I was about to climb out, but I encountered a booted pair of legs, and when I looked up, Parlomith was staring down at me.

  "What are you doing? We do not swim in this river!"

  She stepped aside as I climbed out, collecting my sweaty clothes and pulling them back on. I stood up straight and said, "I was not offered a list of special rules last night, and so I did not know there were special rules for swimming."

  "There shouldn't need to be special rules. That river is dangerous. Anyone can see that! So you are a fool as well?"

  I didn't care to argue with her. "I am undamaged from the river. In truth, it was quite refreshing, and I would have spent more time, but I do not care to be late to tend to my warrior. If you wish to question my judgment of swimming locations, we should include my warrior in the discussion."

  "I had hoped to not embarrass the queen by pointing out how foolish a companion she has chosen."

  I looked at the river. It had been a challenging swim, and I could understand how it would be foolish for a lesser swimmer.

  "Parlomith," I said, "after having seen me fight, would you call it foolish if I stood against three bandits?"

  "The height of foolishness," she replied.

  "Would it be equally foolish for you?"

  "Of course not."

  "Consider the river five or six bandits," I said. I turned back to her. "But if I miscalculated, if I had drowned in the river, perhaps that would have freed my warrior to find a more worthy companion. Are you sure you don't want to encourage me to take another swim?"

  I collected my staff, strapped it into place, and stepped past her. Let her complain to Malora. I didn't care.

  As I stepped away, she finally replied. "I know why your hair is pink. It is so everyone is warned a clown approaches."

  I froze for a moment then walked away from her.

  * * * *

  Parlomith did not complain to Malora, or if she did, she did so out of my hearing, and Malora didn't say a word of it to me. Over lunch, she asked me, "Have a good swim?"

  "The river is dangerous," I said. "It felt good."

  Malora laughed. "Now you sound like an Amazon!"

  "A river Amazon," I said. "Not worth much. I found no demons to drown."

  "You are worth everything to me," she said, hugging me with one arm.

  I didn't understand why she would lie to me. I wondered if she was planning how she could return me home without losing face. Of course, she was losing face keeping me around, so perhaps cutting her losses was the best choice.

  I served her meal, and we ate, and then I cleaned up.

  Then it was time for the afternoon training session, and I couldn't have been filled with more dread.

  Before we began stretching, Gin approached me. "You will do the stretches you know. If you were staying longer, we would teach you, but we do not feel it is worth everyone's time today."

  I couldn't have agreed more. And so when they did stretches I knew, I followed along, but when I didn't know the stretch, I did something similar instead. I received a few looks for that, but no one commented.

  Parlomith was watching me, however, frowning.

  We were told to collect staffs from the shed. Parlomith intercepted me. "Your warrior coddles you. You should have done the same stretches as the rest of us."

  "I did the stretches Gin told me to do."

  "At your warrior's suggestion."

  "I do not know how to do the same stretches as the rest of you or I would have done them. I do not know what you wish me to amend."

  "Get your staff," she said after a moment. "Let us see how you do with your weapon of choice."

  I had no idea what that meant, but I collected a practice staff from the shed, leaving my real weapon aside.

  Parlomith collected us together, asking us each to demonstrate our stance with our staffs. She tsked at me, but didn't bother correcting me. I didn't care anymore.

  Like she had with the swords in the morning, she had us move up and down the practice area, miming a fight with another opponent, blocks, swings, thrusts, and ducking, and jumping. The day had warmed, and the sun was hot, and my time in the river soon became a distant memory.

  At least my braided hair was still wet, offering a cooling touch to the back of my neck.

  Parlomith berated me for my style. She berated me for my stance. She berated me every time I was slow to perform the correct maneuver. But final
ly she halted the exercise. "Pair off," and she named who was to fight with whom. An unfortunate girl named Finn was partnered with me.

  Finn was young, fourteen or fifteen, and she looked unsure of herself. We greeted each other for a moment, and then Parlomith told us what she wanted. We were to practice swing, block, and riposte.

  "Begin!" she declared, and I nodded to Finn. She swung, and I blocked, then swung back. Finn blocked, and she swung, and this went on and on. But then Finn fell off-balance on her swing, and her block was late. I would have hit her quite firmly, but I pulled the staff, stopping with it not quite touching the girl.

  "Maya!" Parlomith screamed at me. "What was that?"

  I stepped away from the girl and turned to the instructor. "I don't understand the question."

  "Your opponent was at a disadvantage, and instead of striking her, you pulled your swing."

  I thought about it. That was accurate. "Yes."

  Parlomith stepped close to me, looming over me. "Why?"

  "I didn't want to hurt her."

  "You didn't want to hurt her? If she were a demon, would you have pulled your swing?"

  "No, but-"

  "Perhaps you would pull your swing if she were a bandit trying to kill you."

  "No, but-"

  "Perhaps you think coddling her-" and she changed her voice for the last two words, pausing afterwards, "is doing her a favor. Perhaps when she faces a real opponent, when she falls off-balance, that opponent will tell her, 'oh, you weren't ready, I'll wait for you'. Is that what you think?"

  "I didn't think about any of that. I thought about how to hold the staff and how to avoid getting hit, and then I thought I didn't want to hit a little girl, the same age as most of my students. My instincts are to protect my students, not hurt them."

  She stared into my face. "You are a pitiful excuse for an Amazon."

  "Well, there's something we can agree on," I said.

  That response seemed to surprise her. She stepped away and say, "Switch partners."

  I got hit a few times. I didn't make the same mistake of not hitting my sparring partner a few times, but I pulled the strikes. I couldn't tell if Parlomith realized I was doing it or not, but she didn't berate me for it.

  I couldn't wait for the afternoon to be over, and all I could think about was a return trip to the river.

  Finally Parlomith called an end to the exercises, and I thought we were done, perhaps with only a humiliating run between me and the cool, fierce water.

  I was wrong. "We will spar," Parlomith announced. She called for a pair of partners, and the rest of us stood to the side and watched. The two girls fought for three blows, and Parlomith declared the winner.

  There were an odd number of companions, and when Parlomith had paired each of them off once, skipping me, I thought perhaps she had seen the light and would omit me entirely. No such luck. "Maya has not yet sparred. Volunteers?"

  Two of the somewhat older companions raised their hands, both of them sixteen or seventeen. "Suza," Parlomith said, choosing between the two of them.

  I sighed and stepped forward, squaring off against the girl. Parlomith called for the start, and the girl came after me, swinging her staff.

  I blocked and I blocked, but she was a dervish, and I backed away from her, barely able to defend myself. Finally one of her swings came through, and I took a solid thump against my chest, knocking me onto my ass. Parlomith called a halt, telling the girl to back away.

  I sat there for a moment, trying to catch my breath and hoping my ribs weren't cracked. Parlomith yelled at me to get up, but when I didn't move, she knelt down in front of me and looked into my eyes.

  "Are you hurt?"

  "I don't know," I gasped, rubbing my chest.

  "Try taking a deep breath, as deep as you can." I did. "Hold it. Now, let it out." She waited until I had then asked, "Any sharp pains?"

  I shook my head. She stood up and offered a hand. I accepted a pull to my feet and thanked her.

  "Why weren't you attacking?"

  "She was too fast."

  "She's not that fast."

  "She's fast enough I worried any attacks I made would be sloppy."

  She studied me. "You have seen what happens when you let your opponent set the battle. Fight back or die."

  I nodded understanding and realized while I didn't care for her methods, and I didn't want to be here, she was trying to teach us.

  She stepped out of the way, gave me a moment to prepare, then called, "Fight!"

  I didn't wait for Suza. I stepped forward, swinging my staff. The girl blocked it, but this time, I pursued her.

  "Better, Maya," Parlomith said, and I glanced at her.

  Suza took my distraction and whacked my arm.

  "Hold!" Yelled Parlomith.

  "Don't say it," I said. "Concentrate on the fight, not the distractions." I rubbed my arm. "Got it."

  "If you got it after one strike, you're doing better than most of my students." She didn't yell. I prepared, and she said, "Fight."

  Suza came after me, and I defended myself, counterattacking when I could. Her swings were growing harder and harder as she tried to finish the bout, the blows stinging my hands as I deflected them. Finally she swung high, a blow that would have hit my head if it had landed, but I deflected it over my head, ducking, instead of blocking it, and the girl spun halfway around before she controlled her spin.

  I reached with the other end of my staff and tapped her back lightly. There was no reason to leave a bruise.

  "Hold!" Parlomith advanced on me. "What was that?"

  I blinked at her, trying to blink the sweat from my eyes. "I don't understand the question."

  "That was not a proper blow."

  "There was no reason to leave a bruise, but if you don't want to count the blow, then don't count it. I don't really care."

  "She hit you when you were distracted, and you learned something from it. Do you think she learned something from your little tap on her back?"

  "You know, Parlomith, I don't know, but I'm sure she'll learn something from you berating me for offering an Amazon a moment of kindness."

  I looked down, tired. "Parlomith, this is the first day I have stood with my staff facing anyone except my warrior or Nori."

  "So now you brag? You are so great with your staff that only the queen or the queen's right hand are good enough to train with you?"

  That hadn't been what I meant. I meant to explain my inexperience. I'd never had an opportunity to capitalize on such a large mistake, or any mistake at all.

  "If you are so good, then I guess you require a real opponent." She took the staff from Suza, faced me, and said, "Fight!"

  I stared at her. She gave me about two seconds, then she came after me.

  She could probably have disarmed me in seconds. Instead, she swung at me with no more force than the other girls had, allowing me to block her swings, and pausing between swings so I had a chance to counterstrike if I wanted to. I did when I could, but of course, my swings didn't land.

  But then I made a real mistake, and she swept my staff to the side. The other end of her staff came up and smacked me solidly in the side. I cried out and backed away quickly.

  She paused, watching me, raising her staff. I lifted mine, and she said, "Fight."

  She let me come to her, and we exchanged blows, but then I made another mistake, and her staff punched into my chest in the same fashion Suza's already had. I fell on my ass, clutching my chest.

  "I didn't hit you hard enough to crack your ribs," she said. "Get up."

  I climbed slowly to my feet, and she said, "Fight."

  It went on, and on, and on. I collected two or three solid bruises on each arm, several more on my legs, and a variety on my sides and back. Finally, she hit me again and I collapsed to the ground, lying on my hands and knees, panting.

  "We're done," she said. "Put your staffs away and run ten laps. Do not embarrass your warriors." She walked away.

 
I turned my head to watch her, and Malora was shaking her head.

  I hung mine in shame.

  I ran my laps, then, panting, stepped up to my warrior. "I am told the Amazons here do not swim in the river due to the speed of the current. Will you trust my judgment?"

  "Of course. Is it too swift for me?"

  "Yes."

  "Go ahead, then find me when you're ready."

  "Thank you."

  I was tired when I climbed into the water, and I clung to the rock for several minutes, letting the cool, refreshing water invigorate me, but then I released hold of the rock and moved into the eddy I had chosen. I swam hard for several minutes, holding my position in the river, and it felt good to swim hard, working my abused muscles in far more familiar motions than working with the staff or sword.

  But then I looked ahead and saw a large tree branch come barreling down the river. I had a moment to decide, and I cut to the right, out from the protecting eddy, but also out of the path of the oncoming missile. I knew what would happen, of course. I was a strong swimmer, but I was not strong enough to fight the full onslaught of the current.

  I was swept downstream towards the rocks, but also away from the dangerous tree branch.

  I kicked off a large boulder, my eyes searching for the tree branch one moment, watching for more boulders the next, and all the time looking for an opportunity to escape the current. I knew there was another eddy in a hundred yards, and I decided that would be my best opportunity, but I would need to time it well, and it would be a difficult swim making it into the eddy so I could climb from the water.

  I slipped between most of the boulders and kicked off two buried under the water that I didn't see so much as sensed by the back pressure they caused in the water. And then I swept past the large boulder that caused the eddy I needed, and I swam hard, very hard, slowly pulling into the gentler water. I finally reached the safety of a large boulder forming the shoreward border of the mini-pool of safety. I clutched a grasp on the rock and panted, building the strength to pull myself out of the water.