"I know," I said. "I think about that a lot."
She was quiet for a moment, then said cautiously, "I do not detect a lie."
"I have never lied to you," I replied. "Never."
She trilled again, her pleasure evident.
"Do you wish to be mine?"
"I think about what it would be like, what it might have been like, if you had taken me through the portal. But it will never happen." I paused. "My warrior would not let me go to you. She would come for me, and even with a head start, she is so much faster than I am. I could never get away. I do not want to talk about that more tonight, though, so you must not ask."
"We will talk more another time then," she said.
"I have a problem you can solve," I said.
"I would like to help solve your problem."
"When we started, I warned you there would be times I could not come to you every day."
"Ah, the real reason we are talking?"
"I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to hear your trill." I paused. "I want my reward," I said in a small voice.
"What reward have you earned?"
"It is late. You asked me two weeks ago to pick a fight with my warrior. Today I did. I told her to shut up in front of everyone."
I could feel her pleasure. "And did you fight?"
"Yes."
She paused. "I like talking to you, too, Maya. You bring me pleasure." And I felt a mental caress that almost put me over the edge, leaving me panting, my reward for doing her bidding. She had been getting better and better at that, and if Malora didn't make love to me with such skill, I was sure I would be begging Lathana to do it.
"Enough," I said eventually. "Oh Lathana, enough."
"Oh, I don't think so, but maybe that is another conversation for another day. Are you coming to a time you may not summon me?"
I took a moment to collect myself. "We are taking a trip. There will be days I will not have a moment alone, and I will be too exhausted at night to slip away and give you the attention you deserve. But the problem is, I do not know which days I can summon you, and which I can't. I do not control my schedule."
"How many days?" she asked, her voice filled with caution.
"The last trip was ten. This one may be longer, perhaps as long as twice that, or perhaps not."
"I will not accept such a lengthy break. We must have a solution."
"What do you propose?"
"You will accrue debt, any day I do not receive a proper conversation with you. You will owe two conversations in a day to fill the debt, plus a penalty."
"What penalty?"
"You must give me permission to touch your body during the second conversation, the debt conversation."
"What type of touch?"
"I will not rape you," she said. "The same touches I gave you before."
"Oh," I said. I grinned. "Can you scratch an itch on my back?"
She trilled. "For you, yes," and then it felt like her long claws were gently scratching my back. It felt quite nice, actually.
"I agree to your terms," I said. "But I may not be able to repay the entire debt one day after the next."
"You will repay the debt as you are best able. I require one more agreement. If we go three days in a row without a proper discussion, then you must let me stay with you for the entire fourth day."
"You will leave during private times with my warrior or anyone else I am comforting. I do not believe I can be a companion while you are watching, and our agreement is I may remain a companion."
"Agreed," she said.
"If there is some sort of catastrophe, I may not be able to give you much time on that fourth day. I do not expect that, but if a warrior needs a companion, they turn to me."
"You will not seek to use my gentle nature to cheat me."
"Of course not."
"Is your itch satisfied? I would prefer touching you other ways."
"Yes, thank you. That was nice."
And it had been.
I let her hold me for a while, and she trilled for me. We stayed quiet for a few minutes, then I asked, "Does tonight count as my time tomorrow?"
"If you answer three questions."
"All right."
"Do you love me?"
"I am fond of you," I said. "I have grown to enjoy our time together. I did not think I would. I would miss this if it were to stop. I think I could grow to love you. I do not know if I do. I have not loved many others, so I am not sure I would recognize it right away."
"Is there something about me that frightens you?"
"Your claws," I said. "They feel good when they scratch, but I do not know how you could touch me without damaging my skin."
"I can make them disappear. There would be no claws when I did not need claws."
"You can?"
"I can do many things with this body," she said. "A great many things."
I thought about it. "If I come into your arms to kiss you, could you be more, I don't know. Delicate? It would be less frightening to me."
"I could, yes," she said. "I would shrink before your eyes for such a kiss. Would you wish me to change my appearance?"
"Only to be more delicate and less frightening," I said. "I find your form fascinating. Was that my third question?"
"And then some, perhaps."
"I must travel far tomorrow, so I must be rested."
"I can help you sleep well and wake refreshed."
"Not here! I'm by the river and must return home. I would freeze to death if I fell asleep here. I am already growing cold."
"Oh. I am sorry. I do not understand everything you said. Go to your bed, and when you are ready to sleep, say simply, Lathana let me sleep. Say it three times, and you will sleep."
"Malora will hear."
"It is enough to say it in your head."
"Would I be summoning you?"
"No, you would only be accepting my help to sleep."
"Thank you, Lathana."
"I will know you have used my little magic, but I will not invade your dreams. And you may do this other nights, but I will always know."
"Thank you. Do I need to banish you for you to leave."
"No. Your words do not banish me. I leave when I am ready. Good night, Maya Softpeace." And then she trilled until it faded away. I climbed to my feet, stiff and cold, and returned home.
Malora was sound asleep. I curled up next to her, and then I thought the words.
Lathana, let me sleep.
* * * *
For the first three days of our trip, I was able to keep my appointments with Lathana, but then on the fourth day, I was too busy all day and could not find a moment away. The same was true the next day. On the third day, I was performing inventory for a village to the north, and I found a time alone. I summoned her.
"Three days?" she asked immediately.
"I know, and I am not sure how much time alone I have, but I missed you."
"What are you doing?"
"I am in the storeroom for one of the villages, doing inventory. The person who normally does it has had a dispute with the village chief, and she has moved to another village. No one else here seems to be able to count sacks of flour with any accuracy. So I must do it."
"Why?"
"First, I must say, you may stay with me while I do this task, and it will take several hours, but if I stop responding to you, it is because someone else is here. And it may be boring, as I need to finish. I will be counting sewing needles soon."
"I must listen to you count sewing needles?"
"And not distract me unduly or I will lose track. But you will get more time than you otherwise get, and you will keep me company during a boring task."
"This counts against your commitment for today, but you are not paying off old debt."
"Of course. I wanted your company."
She kept me company, talking to me when she could, and when I made mistakes, she said, "You just said seven large needles and five small ones, but earlier
it was five large needles and seven small ones."
I went back and checked then thanked her for her assistance.
"I am distracting you, but I am glad you summoned me."
The village chief stopped in. "Quiet for a moment," I whispered in my head, and then I told the chief I was making progress. "Did I miss dinner?"
"No. Another hour. Thank you, Maya, for your help."
"We'll need to go over it later and make sure I know your needs. Tithe will be soon, and we must make any special requests in advance."
"I'll leave you to finish."
"Send someone for me when it is nearly dinner, if I have not finished. I can complete it after dinner if I must, but I will want to make sure I break at a good point."
"Of course."
The chief left, and I whispered, "Are you still here?"
"That sounded very dull," the demon replied. "If this is what you do for pleasure, I can improve upon it for you. Even if I were angry with you for failing to worship me properly, I would not make you count needles."
"I do not do this because I want to, I do it because I must."
"I do not understand."
"Do you understand tithe?"
"No."
"Do you understand that only a small number of people are Amazons?"
"Yes."
"And you understand we have material needs, that we can not summon our needs from the soup you swim in."
She trilled. "I understand a material existence."
"It requires effort to raise food," I said. "There are people who raise food for themselves and for others, trading some of their food for other material needs. And these people give us a portion of the food they produce so that we have time to fight the demons. That is the tithe."
"I understand now. And they also give you sewing needles?"
"Yes, many of the things we need. We hunt for food, and some villages raise some food, but not everything they need."
"Your clothing is from animals. I do not understand clothing."
"It is because we are fragile. The animal skins offer protection from the world and the cold air. And it also protects our modesty."
"I do not understand that that, either."
"And I am distracted from counting bandages, so we will discuss it another time."
She trilled, and it took me a moment to recover. "Please wait until I finish counting to do that."
"You like it."
"I do, but I have limited time to finish."
* * * *
I accrued a significant debt with her, as I missed a number of days, and even the days we did talk, it was not with the quality she preferred. She grumbled to me about it midway through the trip.
"I know. I miss our times, too. When all is done and we have more time, we can discuss whether I owe you more debt than we have discussed. But I am doing the best I can, and I do not wish you to pressure me. It would make me unhappy with you."
And so she tolerated the situation, but the first day I contacted her when we got back, she said, "You owe me a great deal."
"I agree."
"We will play a new game today."
"What game?"
"We will discuss what your life will be when finally you come to me."
"All right. Then you should also touch me."
She didn't need more permission than that, and for the rest of the conversation, I felt her hands upon my body, but the touches were no different than the ones Malora had once given me.
I had to admit at the end of the conversation, she painted a pleasant life.
I summoned her again that night, paying one day of debt, and she spent the entire time stroking my skin while asking me to describe how it felt to me.
On the third day, she said, "I am better to you than your warrior is."
"You have never struck me," I agreed. "And you always have time for me."
"And I do not make you count needles."
"No, you do not."
"I would not let you wear clothes, though. You could not properly worship me while wearing cloths."
"I would become cold."
"I would adjust my bubbles for your comfort," she replied. "And I would give you a warm bed with warm blankets."
"It sounds nice," I said. "But my warrior will never allow me to leave her."
"Then you must kill her."
I froze. "I may love you, but I love her, too."
"She holds you prisoner. If she loved you, she would not hold you prisoner. If you loved me, you would kill her then come to me."
"We mustn't discuss this. I could never come to you like that. They would catch me long before I arrived."
"Then I would come and get you, and carry you away, but you would kill your warrior first."
"We cannot discuss it."
"We will discuss it!" she said. She trilled at me and stroked my mind, and I shuddered with the pleasure. "I bring you pleasure, but I can bring you pain, too. I do not wish to bring you pain. We will discuss it."
"I will think about it," I said. "We will not discuss it any more tonight. Now, stroke me and soothe me. You have upset me."
And she did, and I told her how good it felt.
* * * *
"Again," said Nori. I launched myself at her, and she struck my blade away and slapped me with hers. And again, and again, until I begged to stop.
"I'm not getting any better anymore," I said, panting.
"No," she said.
"I could never kill a demon."
"No, but that is not your job."
"I wrestle well, though. Omie taught me a headlock today. She said you can snap a neck with it, if you aren't careful."
"You will not snap a demon neck so easily," she replied.
"No, I suppose not."
* * * *
"Your debt was paid yesterday," she said. "And you have summoned me today."
"I am tired, Lathana," I told her.
"You know the words to make you sleep."
"I am tired of fighting. I am tired of training. I am tired of Nori and Malora hurting me and humiliating me. I want it to stop."
"I would do none of those things to you. You would worship me, and I would treat you with great kindness. I would be gentle, if you worshipped me."
"I cannot."
She began stroking my body and trilling in my mind, caressing my mind, and the onslaught was like nothing she had done before. She didn't speak, she simply stroked me, and my body responded, waking under her touch, and I found myself panting.
"You want to come to me," she said. "You want to love me. You want to worship me. Your body betrays your desires to me. You crave my touch."
I moaned and thrashed, completely out of control from what she did to me.
"Why do none of the other warriors feel this?" I managed to ask.
"I explained this once before. The other people of my land do not know how to seduce you humans. I do. You will not resist now. Say yes, my little companion. Say you want me."
And she doubled her efforts, and then doubled them again, and it went on and on and on.
"Lathana... Lathana..."
"Invite me to you," she said. "Kill your warrior, and I can do this to you for days, weeks, months at a time. Your life will be pure pleasure, and you will worship me, for I am a god."
"No..." I moaned, but she stroked me further, and then all I could do was pant.
"Imagine, Maya Softpeace. I promise, this is what your life will be, and all you need do is kill your warrior and go away with me, and then love and worship me, and your life will be eternal bliss."
I thrashed and moaned, and then she stopped.
"Or not," she said.
"Please. Lathana... Please don't stop."
"Promise me," she said. "And I will give you what you asked. Say yes."
"Yes. Don't stop. Yes."
She began stroking me.
"I am a god," she said. "Tell me, or I'll stop."
"You're a god, Lathana," I said. "Oh..."
And she stroked me until I called her name in my passion, her name over and over.
"You will worship me," she whispered. "I will come to you, after you have killed your warrior, and you will kiss me the way you kiss her, and you will wrap your naked body around me, like you wrap it around her, and you will say you love me, the way you say it to her. Promise me."
"I promise."
"When will you do this?"
"Three days time. Late at night, after she would be asleep. I couldn't do it otherwise."
"Three nights from tonight."
"But after midnight, you may need to be close and be patient. It may be nearly dawn."
"Promise you will come to me."
"I will come to you."
"And you will be naked."
"I will wear boots for my feet and a blanket for the cold, but you may remove them once you take me somewhere warm. I will not survive otherwise."
"I will see your naked form," she said.
"With my boots, and the blanket over my shoulders. But I will press against you, and wrap my arms and legs around you, and then you will pleasure me while you carry me. But you must be small and delicate when we kiss, or you will frighten me overly much."
"Yes," she said. "I go now. You must prepare. You need not summon me again unless there is to be a change."
"I will summon you before I do it, so you know. You can watch through my eyes."
"Yes. I would like that. You will kill the queen who keeps you from me, and then you will worship me, and only me."
"Yes," I agreed, and she was gone.
Death and More Death
It was very late, well after midnight. The form next to me lay still, and I slipped from the bed.
"Lathana Jara Marquine," I called, ones, twice, thrice.
"I am here," she said.
"Are you near?"
"Yes."
"Your true form? Your avatar will not be fast enough."
"I am in your world, all of me. Can you not feel how strong I am?"
"Yes. Can you see through my eyes?"
"I can when I am so near." She paused. "It is so dark."
"It is. You see the form in the bed, in her place."
"Yes. Kill her. Kill her!"
"I will stab the form, over and over, but I must know where you are."
"I am east," she said. "I cannot say how far. Closer to your village than to the edge of the trees."
Amazon Companion Page 43