by Robin Roseau
They both nodded. We looked across the water and waited for Beria's huddle to finish.
"We're ready!" I called out.
"Us, too," Beria said. "You are going down, big sister!"
I laughed. "Then begin."
Immediately the five of them began moving towards us, calmly, Beria's team spread four across with her immediately behind them. I saw that Careen, the weakest swimmer, was on our right.
"Move forward slowly," I said. As soon as the two teams were about six strong strokes apart, I said, "Now," and immediately dived to the bottom. I looked up, and all three from my team were under and swimming away. At the bottom, I found a rock I could pick up, cradling it in one arm, then moved forward another few feet. Above me I could barely see kicking feet. I pushed off the bottom, grabbed the rightmost foot, pulling it into my arms, and then let us both sink.
She struggled. I looked to be sure, and I had Careen. Down at the bottom, I began dragging her backwards, further from her teammates. She continued to struggle to free herself. As soon as I thought we were far enough away that her teammates wouldn't find us, I reeled Gweneth down towards me.
She stopped struggling and then she doubled over, tapping frantically on the top of my head.
I pulled my feet out of the way and dropped the rock, then pushed hard off the bottom, pulling Gweneth to the surface. As soon as we broke surface, I dragged her to the nearest edge of the pool. She sputtered a little, but I put her hand on the rock and checked on her.
"I'm fine," she said. "They're after you."
I turned around and I saw Beria's team after me. Careen turned to climb out onto the rocks, and I gave her a big push, shoving myself underwater at the same time. I swam away.
Neela, Aura and Gweneth were to my left, so underwater, I swam to them, coming up amongst them. "Good job," I said. "Duck down and head ten strokes to the left. I'm going to bring someone to you. As soon as I tap you, grab her and hold her until she taps out. Go."
They disappeared, and I felt them swim away together.
"You're teammates seem to be deserting you," Beria said, the three of them stopping about ten strokes in front of me, treading water. "How long does Careen sit out?"
"Careen, rejoin the game as soon as you've caught your breath," I hollered to her. "Try to hook up with Neela." And then I ducked under, swimming left then towards where Beria had been, hoping to see Jasmine. It took me a moment to find her, but there she was, her face in the water, watching for me. I surfaced, grabbed her, then climbed up her body, pushing her under, then let myself sink as well, pulling Jasmine away from her teammates.
They were slow to respond, and I managed to deliver Jasmine to my team, handing her to their waiting arms. I took a big breath and launched myself at Beria, Serra and Bea, letting them catch me. Together, they dragged me from my own teammates as I struggled in their hold. I could hear Beria laughing, and then they pushed me under.
I let them but then reversed and pushed away, yanking myself free from them. Believing all of them were in pursuit, I swam away.
I lost them, although I didn't realize it right away. When I came up, there was a four vs. three struggle in action on the far side of the pool. I took three good breaths then began swimming that way as quickly as I could. I dived under five strokes away, found Gweneth, and pulled her free, pushing her to safety, pointing away. I let her go and grabbed Careen next, then finally found Neela. I went back for Aura, but I saw her underwater, tapping frantically on Beria's arm, and I had to leave her. The rest of my team made their escape, and then I grabbed Bea and tried to drag her away instead of Aura.
Beria and Jasmine both came after me and pulled Bea away from me, then I was retreating from them, leading them on a wild goose chase until I managed to loose them. I surfaced, saw the rest of my team, and then ducked under and swam to them.
I surfaced amongst them and fought to catch my breath. They clustered around me, hanging onto me for support. Out in the middle of the pool Beria collected her team together. Everyone caught her breath, and then Beria said, "Good game so far, Maya."
"Thanks," I said. "You like?"
"Very much. You appear to be winning though."
"What can I say? I'm that good."
"Well, come on out here, whenever you're ready."
I looked at my team. "Ready?"
They nodded, but they looked tired. We paddled towards Beria, moving slowly. "I'll grab one of them and press her back to you and then I'll keep the other two busy while you drag her away."
We stopped a short distance from Beria. My team was clustered closely to me, and I decided they were more tired than I realized. They were hanging onto me a little like they needed help swimming.
"Sister," Beria said. "You did make a miscalculation."
"What's that?"
"She flipped me," Neela said, "and I flipped Careen." Before I could react, Neela and Careen each grabbed an arm tightly. "Together we flipped Gweneth." Gweneth began climbing onto my back.
I didn't get a chance to suck in air, but at least I avoided a good dose of river water. I went down, struggling. Soon, Beria, Jasmine, Serra and Bea were all there, holding me under the water, and then suddenly they pulled me to the surface.
"I won, Sister," Beria said to me, smiling.
I caught my breath, then said, "Sneaky, Beria, very sneaky. Good game?"
"Yeah," she said. "I'd do this again."
"All right. Time to swim laps until the warriors get here." I let Gweneth set the pace. Beria swam next to her, urging more speed from her from time to time, and I took the rear, keeping an eye on everyone as we swam a box pattern around the pool. We swam until Gweneth began to tire, and I called out to Beria, "That's enough."
She took over, leading them to shore. The warriors still hadn't arrived, and I didn't feel like I had gotten a good workout.
"I'm going to swim out in the current," I said.
"Out there?" Bea asked, pointing. I'd done it before; she shouldn't have been surprised. I nodded.
"All right. We'll be ready to fish you out when you're tired."
"Beria, keep an eye on me," I told her, and she nodded.
I swam out, pausing at the edge of our pool, right before the faster current. Then I moved into it, swimming hard, edging across until I was swimming as fast as I could without getting swept downstream. the river wasn't fast here, but even a slow current is faster than most people care to swim. The water was turbulent, and I would allow only our very best swimmers to swim here.
I got into the groove of swimming and lost track of anything beyond swimming, swimming, swimming. I don't know how long I was out there, but I felt myself growing tired and then more tired, and I edged slightly to the left. This put me in more turbulent but somewhat slower water. I went under a few times but came back up, swimming hard again.
"Maya!" a voice called, a voice to be obeyed. "That's enough!"
I moved into the lee, into calmer water, and then drifted to the rocks behind me. Strong arms were waiting for me, pulling me from the water. I stared dully ahead, worn to the bone, as those arms draped a towel over me, then held me tightly.
Still panting, I looked over my shoulder, and Malora was there, her face full of concern. I smiled. "I had a match with the river."
"Who won?" she asked.
"Good match," I said.
Beria knelt down in front of me. "You scared Malora," she said. "She almost sent Ralla in after you."
"A good Amazon knows her limits," I said, my heart beginning to slow.
"Yes," Malora said, "but are you a good Amazon?"
I elbowed her. She chuckled.
"I probably didn't work them hard enough," I said, "but I think they needed this time."
"We played a new game," Beria said. She smiled. "I won. It would be fun to play with the whole village, but there isn't enough room."
"It would be pretty chaotic," I admitted. "Help me up." Malora helped me to my feet, and we made our way back towards everyon
e else. Omie was waiting for her companion, pulling her into her arms when Beria approached. Most of the other Amazons were in the water, although a few were sunning themselves on the rocks, warming up. I helped Malora out of her clothes and pulled her into the pool.
I didn't comment on her bruises. It was rare she took bruises during training.
She let me bathe her then turned around and pulled me into her arms. We kissed, there in the water for a while, as the other Amazons ignored us, some of them wrapped in the arms of their own lovers, others playing gently in the water.
We broke the kiss and Malora insisted on bathing me. I felt clean, but I wasn't going to complain. While she was washing my hair, Nori floated over to us.
"Am I interrupting?"
"No," I replied.
"I've heard about a new game, but I didn't hear enough to understand the rules."
"Hmm." I paused, then lowered my voice. "Beria is showing the beginnings of leadership."
"She is," Nori admitted. "She has a lot of her big sister in her."
"I want her to teach everyone the game. It will be good for her. Is that all right?"
"Yes," said Nori.
I had my eyes closed, enjoying Malora's hands on me, but I heard Nori move away, then I heard her say loudly enough to carry, "Omie, if you can release your companion for a while, we would like her to teach the rest of this the game the companions played earlier."
"Me?" Beria asked. "It's Maya's game."
"Yes, but you were one of the team captains," Nori said, "and the winning one at that. We would like you to explain the game. You will perhaps have perspective Maya doesn't have."
She explained the rules. "It was chaotic," she said. "Maya played it completely the opposite I did. I used my team to protect me. She used her team to distract us while she picked us off. I was afraid she'd be mad about how we won."
So she had to explain that and when she was done, I said, "I wasn't at all mad. I had fun. I think everyone else did, too, although the better swimmers probably had the most fun." I was pleased Beria had won. Her entire demeanor changed. She had been upset when we arrived, but now she was laughing and her spirits were up.
"You did this for her," Malora said to me quietly. "You heal everyone, Maya."
I leaned against her. "She's my sister. She's not done healing. There's more for Omie to heal. And there's more for you to do, too."
"I know. I'm so sorry, Maya."
The Amazons had continued to talk about the game, and then Malora said, "I think I would enjoy this game, but I agree with Beria and Maya: it would be far too chaotic with all of us at once."
"We can have some people sit out and substitute in when someone gets tired," I suggested. "We could do five or six from each team in the water at a time. I think it takes at least three on a team to be worth playing."
"We have time for a game," Malora said.
"Oh she says that after I just spent ten minutes out in the river's current."
"Ten minutes?" said Malora. "It was more than ten minutes."
"Maya," said Beria. "You'd been out there for ten or fifteen minutes by the time Malora showed up."
"And I watched you for another ten or fifteen minutes."
I opened my eyes and turned around to look at Malora. "Seriously?" she nodded. "Guess that explains why I'm so tired."
Malora laughed. "I guess it does."
I looked around. "We have too many to play that game, so I can sit out on the rocks."
"Oh no," said Beria. "You and I are captains again."
I looked at Malora, and she was nodding.
I sighed. "Let's try seven on a side, three companions plus their warriors plus one extra warrior amongst those without a companion. Malora, you pick for our team and you can decide if you're the captain or I am."
"Oh, you are," she said. "Beria, who are you picking?"
"Ralla and Jasmine," she announced.
"Clara and Bea," Malora asked. "And Lidi and Neela."
"Ping and Serra," Beria said. "And Nori. That leaves you with Karena." The other warriors had companions.
The teams collected together to discuss strategy.
"All right, Captain," Malora said. "What's our strategy?"
"Last time, I had my team protect themselves, basically playing keep-away, while I picked off members of the other team."
"They'll be watching for that this time," Malora said, "and they'll readily catch you. There are more of them this time, and the average swimming level is much higher."
"All that matters is Beria. We can try driving straight for her."
"We need to keep you safe at the same time."
"I can hide," I said. "I can keep away for a long time. In fact, I might be able to draw some of them away and make it easier for you to steal Beria."
"Even as tired as you are?"
"Yeah, unless they manage to turn a bunch of you to their side, I can either hide, or if I see individual swimmers, capture them."
"What if Beria tries the same thing?" Malora asked.
"Then I stick with you. Pull anyone from their team and pass her back to me. I can take anyone but perhaps Ralla. Then just protect me and don't let them steal any of you."
"Sounds like a plan," Malora said. We broke our huddle, moved to our side of the pool, and then looked across. Beria's team was just moving into position as well.
"Ready," called Beria.
"Begin!" I responded.
Beria immediately disappeared under the water.
"Everyone stay together," I said. "Move forward slowly."
They formed a protective arc in front of me, and I swam along behind them, my face in the water most of the time, watching for my sister. Beria's team moved forward, too, although I never saw Beria.
The two teams approached. I ducked under water again. It was murky, as always, and I couldn't see much past my own team. I crowded behind Malora, sinking deeper, and in the gloom I could see the approaching team, but no sign of my sister.
I rose to the surface, crowding Malora and catching my breath. We got one stroke closer to Beria's team and they all disappeared, all at once.
I immediately stuck my face in the water, and they were diving deep, attempting to swim under my team. I lifted my face out. "Forward and turn!" I ordered.
Then I scissored, putting my head down and swinging my feet in the air, forcing myself deep underwater. I saw Nori, almost directly underneath me, and I grabbed her about the middle, then began trying to drag her away. She struggled against me, but her other teammates didn't see what I was doing right away, and for a moment it was just her and me. Then I felt arms wrap around my middle. I glanced back and saw Malora, tugging on me, and together we dragged Nori away from her team. Malora dragged me further, and I held on tightly to Nori, and a few moments later, she was tapping my arm. I began pulling her towards the surface.
The surface was chaos, with my team fighting with Beria's team, playing tug-of-war with Bea, and we were losing, but with Malora, Nori and me, we outnumbered Beria's team, and my sister was still nowhere to be seen. I was sure she'd surfaced a few times, but I hadn't seen her.
We lost Bea, Beria's team clustering around her and pulling her away, but we went after them. Malora grabbed Jasmine and pulled her away, pushing her backwards. I grabbed her and immediately gave her to Nori.
"Got her," Nori said, pushing Jasmine under. Nori was a better swimmer than Jasmine.
I looked and Bea was under water somewhere. I dived, saw her, swam to her. She was struggling to free herself, but I knew she wouldn't last long. I reached in, pried one set of hands from her arm, then grabbed her wrist and reached backwards. Someone grabbed me and began pulling, but it wasn't enough, and I couldn't pull Bea loose. I saw her tapping the arms that were holding her, and I released her, letting myself be pulled away by my team.
We had taken Nori and traded Bea for Jasmine. My team pulled me to the surface and clustered around me while I caught my breath.
I looked,
and I didn't see either Beria or Ralla.
"Where's Ralla?"
I had my answer when I felt hands on my legs. I disappeared under water, pulled by my legs, and when I looked, Ralla had one leg and Beria the other. They both had a solid grip, and I knew I wasn't going to break it. I struggled anyway, but I had already been out of breath when they pulled me under, and I hadn't gotten a good breath.
But then Malora and Nori were there with me. I reached for them, and they each clasped a wrist, but they used it not to pull me away, which wouldn't have worked, but to clamber down my body. Malora went for Ralla and Nori for Beria.
They better free me quickly, though. My lungs were burning.
Both my attackers clamped even tighter on my legs, with Ralla applying a submission hold to my ankle at the same time. It hurt! If Malora didn't release me fast, I was going to tap out.
I struggled and kicked, but I was tired and grew feeble. Then I felt Beria release me. I looked, and I couldn't see her, and Nori was helping Malora, the two struggling with Ralla.
I bent over, ready to tap out, my lungs burning, but then I felt Ralla begin to release my foot. More arms wrapped around me, and I felt myself pulled away.
They got me to the surface, and I lay limply there as they dragged me away. I didn't even care if it was my team or Beria's anymore. I didn't even look around to see who they were. I had my answer soon enough.
"She's done in," I heard my sister say. "Don't dunk her again. Tap out, Maya."
I didn't even bother. I hung there limply, not struggling, but I recognized my sister when she slid up behind me and wrapped an arm around me.
"I've got you," she said. "I won?"
I nodded weakly.
"Good," she said into my ear. "I could get used to winning."
Malora, Nori and Ralla finally surfaced. Malora took in the situation and said, "Good game, Beria."
"Yes. Good game," I agreed. "Fun?"
"Oh yeah," said Beria. "Again?"
I laughed weakly. "You can't be serious. I think I'll sink if you let go." I laid my head back against her shoulder and let her support me. I hadn't needed help swimming in nearly twenty years.