Queens of Tristaine

by Cate Culpepper

  “Would it be best to send them out tonight, Shann?” Brenna rubbed her neck, wincing. “If this is something really scary, time’s going to be important.”

  “Hmm.” Shann tapped her thighs. “I’ll follow your counsel, Blades, if you feel strongly about this, but my own choice would be morning. Sounding an alarm at night can invite fear and rumor, and we don’t have much true knowledge yet. I think we can allow ourselves these few hours.”

  Brenna hesitated, and Jess read uncertainty in her silence. Then her features cleared and she nodded. “In the morning, then. Jesstin, will you divorce me if I spend the night here? I’d like to keep an eye on Sam.”

  “I’ll bed here too, lass, if you like.” Jess moved behind Brenna and began a gentle massage of her neck. “Lady, get some rest. We can call you if our little sister in there stirs.”

  Shann smiled at them both, and when Shann smiled at the women she loved, they knew to their bones they were cherished. “Then with you two on watch, I’ll retire to my humble cabin. Let me wish Samantha a good night.” She parted the curtain of beads that separated the two rooms.

  Jess grinned. Brenna was making cat-like sounds of pleasure as her strong fingers eased the tightness in her neck. “Why is my adonai so tense?”

  “Your adonai spent most of the day watching your fine, unarmed self jump around with killer warhorses,” Brenna reminded her. “And if that weren’t relaxing enough, we had to stumble upon a possible plague that might wipe out half our clan.”

  “You think Shann is wrong to wait until morning.” Jess’s breath stirred the silky hair over Brenna’s ear. She felt her uneasiness through the palms of her hands.

  “Something’s happening, Jess.” Brenna leaned back into her, and Jess folded her arms around her waist. “I heard the queen’s summons today.”

  Jess’s embrace tightened slightly. “Just the summons?”

  “‘J’heika, rise,’” Brenna confirmed. “Nothing else. I didn’t recognize the voice.”

  “Bren, did you tell Shann this?”

  “Ah, Jess.” Brenna sighed and rested her head on the smooth curve of Jess’s shoulder. “Shann’s right, a few hours won’t matter either way. And everyone seems so intent on this queen...thing right now. I’ll tell her if it seems important.”

  “I’ll trust you with that.” Jess rested her lips in Brenna’s hair. “For now, I’ll build us a nest by the window.”

  *

  Brenna dreamed of the veiled woman for the first time that night.

  She was young—Brenna could tell that much by the easy grace of her carriage. She wore a simple white robe. The silver fabric that shrouded her head and shoulders shimmered in the scant illumination of troubled dreams.

  Brenna couldn’t see her features, but she knew with certainty that the veiled woman was watching her with an intensity that sent a shiver up her sleeping spine.

  “Hello,” Brenna said politely. “Have we met?”

  The apparition didn’t answer. To Brenna’s astonishment, she lowered herself gracefully to one knee and inclined her head.

  “I honor you, j’heika.” The voice was rich and warm with respect, and Brenna had heard it before. After a moment of stillness, the woman stood.

  “It was you.” Brenna strained to see her features through her gleaming veil. “You called me earlier today.”

  “Yes, I sounded the queen’s summons.” The woman’s tone was calm, but then it grew stern. “Hear me, Brenna. You have seen the face of our enemy. Now act.”

  And that was all. The veiled figure faded and Brenna awoke, unrefreshed, in Jess’s arms.

  *

  By dusk that day, three other women and two children had joined Samantha in quarantine in the healing lodge. Samantha and both children were running low-grade fevers.

  Shann called an emergency summons of her Queen’s Council.

  *

  “We have to go back to the Clinic.”

  An appalled silence fell after Brenna’s words faded.

  Twilight found the grassy park in the center of the Amazons’ village deserted. Tristaine’s women had gathered early in their cabins, as if the protective walls of their lodges could hold out the pestilence. Shann and the six sisters who formed her Queen’s Council sat in a loose circle around a small, snapping fire enclosed by stones.

  “Brenna.” Dana cleared her throat. “No disrespect, you know that. But have you flat out lost your flaming mind?”

  “Dana,” Kyla murmured.

  “No, Ky. This is nuts.” Dana got to her feet. “Have you forgotten everything you ever knew about the City, Bren?”

  “Tell me again, lady.” Sarah, the oldest of the queen’s advisors, rubbed her bald head, scowling. “You insist on including this rude young weed on your Council because...?”

  “Because our young bring us energy and insight far fresher than yours or mine, grandmother.” Shann’s gaze on her elder was affectionate. She nodded at Dana. “We’re listening, sister.”

  “Good. Because we need to find another way, Shann.” Dana’s normally animated face was set and still. “Returning to the Clinic would be a suicide mission, you know that. The City has guns. They have technology and an entire Army with guns.”

  “An Amazon warrior can kill with her hands, little girl.” Aria’s sensual purr took the sting out of her words. She reclined in the thick grass and smiled up at Dana. “And Tristaine has always had her dealings with the City. Jesstin and Kyla survived their own exiles in that detestable sinkhole.”

  “Barely,” Dana muttered.

  “Tristaine has never needed the City,” Sarah growled and spat delicately into the grass. “Lady, Amazons are hardy stock, or we’d have died out generations ago. And you’re one of the greatest healers our tribe has ever had. Can’t we use our own store of herbs and your knowledge of Gaia’s healing lore to fight this illness?”

  “We can and we will, grandmother.” Shann lifted a kettle from a flat rock near their small fire and refilled Sarah’s mug with a fragrant tea. “We’ll call all the natural remedies we’ve harvested in these hills to our defense. But Brenna’s vision was powerful, and it warns against easy cures. I’ve already begun our search for a new remedy, but that requires a great deal of testing, and time is precious to us now.” Shann nodded at Jess. “I’d like to hear my second’s thoughts.”

  Jess stared at the crackling flames in the center of their circle. “I’ve heard our sister’s opposition to this plan, lady. I’m still waiting to hear what hope Dana has to offer in its stead.”

  “Jess, Brenna—” Dana sighed harshly. “Dang, please know I don’t mean to doubt you. But this is the first I’ve heard about any outbreak of this weird flu in the City.”

  “Dana, if that surprises you, you’ve forgotten everything you ever knew about the City.” Brenna rose and went to Dana. Her tone was warm, even loving, but absolutely firm. “It hit the South Borough—zoned for mixed races, Caucasians banned. The Clinic needed human subjects to make a vaccine. Where would you expect to learn about that, the City Gazette?”

  “And they found a cure, Brenna?” Aria asked. “Those barbarians down in the City?”

  “No resource was spared once the Government realized their own class could fall ill just as easily as people in the outer boroughs.” Brenna smiled without humor. “Yes, they had a vaccine and a cocktail of drugs that beat this flu in record time.”

  “We need the Clinic’s medicine to save our clan.” Jess looked at Dana. “You’re right to respect the danger of this quest, adanin. The City is a formidable enemy. But we don’t shirk from danger when the prize is so dear and the cost of losing beyond bearing.”

  “We haven’t heard from one of my wisest councilors.” Shann drew their attention to Kyla, who sat quietly in the grass. Her expression was almost serene, but her features were pale.

  “I might throw up,” Kyla began politely. “Because I’m terrified. I hate the thought of any of us going back down to that slaughterhouse. But I can’t
think of any other way to help our sick, Shann, and we’ve got so little time.” She looked at Dana with regret. “I think we have to go back.”

  Shann murmured agreement, and another silence fell as she met the gaze of each of her Amazons in turn. “All right. We’re not in perfect accord, so I’ll pray we follow our Mothers’ lights. We’ll send a party to the City.”

  A sigh moved through the Council, and Dana and Brenna sat down again in the hush that followed. Twilight had become full dark, and the stars were extraordinarily bright with no moon to rival their flickering. Overhead the Seven Sisters, the constellation that housed the spirits who guided Tristaine, glowed brilliantly.

  Jess was the first to pull her gaze from the star-drenched heavens. “I’ll need a team of six, lady. Four in the City, two as backup nearby.”

  “You’ll need me to get into the Civilian Unit in the Clinic where the study was done.” Brenna returned their grave regard. “I was assigned there as a medic before I was transferred to Military. I might still have contacts there.”

  “And a few enemies with grudges, I bet.” Kyla frowned at Brenna and nudged her leg with her foot. “Caster had blood-kin, didn’t she?”

  “She was married, with two teenagers. Boys.” Brenna’s gaze grew distant. “But Caster was a scientist, Ky, not a Military leader. We haven’t sighted any City patrols since we found this mesa. I don’t think either Caster’s sons or the Army have much invested in avenging her death.”

  “Caster’s kin probably sacrifice virgins to Tristaine nightly in thanks.” Sarah drew on the pipe that was perennially clenched between her strong teeth, lighting her withered cheeks with a robust glow. “Artemis herself owes us for freeing the world of that lunatic shrike harpy bitch, spit thrice on her grave.”

  “Sheer poetry, Sarah.” Aria lifted one long arm and her many bracelets trickled down her wrist. “If we’re to take on this dangerous quest, we must prepare. I can have food packed for our intrepid warriors by dawn, Shann.”

  “Thank you, sweet girl.” Shann smiled at her old friend. “Jesstin, who will ride with you and Brenna?”

  “I should go, lady.” Kyla looked at Jess. “Camryn and I hid in the City before we broke into the Prison to find Jess. At least I know enough about how to act like a City dweller to get by.”

  “Well hell, if Kyla’s going, I am too.” Dana scratched her scalp fiercely, frowning. “And I’d have to anyway. I’ve been down there more recently than any of you guys.”

  “You train your warriors well, Jesstin.” Shann looked at Dana with approval. “They speak their minds, but even if they don’t agree, they’ll fight for the good of their clan.”

  “I try,” Jess sighed. “I’ll take Hakan and Vicar too, lady.”

  “Time is of the essence.” Shann stood in one graceful motion. “Aria will arrange provisions. Sarah, please alert Hakan and have her prepare our party’s horses and weapons. The rest of you, to my lodge. We have maps to study and strategy to plan.”

  *

  Tristaine’s cartographers were genuine artists. The parchments bearing their etchings were multi-colored, jeweled landscapes, richly detailed and accurate to the league. Jess spread out their largest map on the burnished surface of the oak table in Shann’s private lodge. Finished only that spring, this map held their most up-to-date charting of the terrain between their mesa and the City.

  Half an apple hovered beneath Jess’s nose. Tristaine’s apples were the size of the City’s cantaloupes, and the fruit’s fresh, tangy scent tickled her nostrils. She smiled and pushed the apple away gently with one finger.

  “You should eat something.” Brenna laid the fruit aside. “This is looking to be a long night.”

  “I will soon. Just don’t want to drip juice on our maps.” Jess lifted Brenna’s hand and sucked a drop of juice from her thumb. She looked around the small cabin, illuminated with a mild gold glow by oil lamps and the fire in Shann’s wide hearth. Shann was laying out a light spread of cold meats and cheeses on a low table along one log wall. Kyla and Dana were studying the entries in Brenna’s journal that chronicled the clan’s migration up to the mesa.

  Jess wasn’t hungry. Her body thrummed with a current of restless energy, a familiar sensation that came with shifting into crisis mode. She tried to ignore the uneasy churning in her gut, which was both unfamiliar and unwelcome. Jess had never wrestled this particular brand of gnawing dread before at the dawn of any mission. She stared down at the map and cracked her knuckles, and Brenna nudged her hip gently. She’d been trying to break Jess of the habit for years.

  “Keep it up, ace,” Brenna murmured. “See how much fun it’ll be, pulling a bowstring with arthritic fingers before you’re forty.”

  Jess heard the strain in her wry tone and knew it didn’t concern the future of her knuckles. Brenna stood stiffly beside her, her gaze unfocused, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. Jess put a finger to Brenna’s chin and turned her head. When their eyes met a low, reverberating pulse sounded in Jess’s sex, followed by a rush of warmth. Ah, battle lust, she thought ruefully. I’d take you on this table here and now, girl. She brushed her thumb lightly across Brenna’s full lower lip. “Second thoughts, lass?”

  “Several dozen.” Brenna looked up at Jess with naked uncertainty. “We’re not really going to do this, right? We’ll come to our senses soon?”

  “Aye, querida, absolutely.” Jess stepped behind Brenna and slid her arms around her waist. “This is a bad dream. We’ll wake before you know it, and morning will find us both whole and well.”

  Brenna leaned back into Jess and sighed. “And damned if I don’t believe that, coming from you. How do you do it, Jesstin?”

  “What’s that?” Jess nuzzled the lush softness of Brenna’s hair, breathing in her clean scent.

  “How do you make me feel so safe when I know good and well we’re both about to pitch headlong off a cliff?”

  Jess felt that unpleasant roiling in her stomach again. “I’ll admit to wishing we had other cliffs to choose from, Bren. But this City drug offers us hope. It’s worth the risk.”

  “You offer us hope.” Brenna shook her head. “I swear, Jess, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you rattled. The entire clan looks to you to lead our defense, and you’re as calm and centered as a sage—even tonight.”

  Jess ached for Dyan’s presence with a longing that was almost physical. It seemed many long years had passed since her mentor’s death. She’d give much to feel that rough palm on her neck again and to hear Dyan’s low brogue whispering guidance.

  “Hey, Jesstin.” Brenna turned in Jess’s arms to face her. “Your hands are freezing.” She reached up and touched Jess’s forehead, concern darkening her eyes. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m not sick, Bren.” Jess tried for a reassuring smile and found it. “Just eager to get started.”

  Brenna studied her and then nodded and laid her hand on Jess’s chest. “I just want to promise you something, Jess, okay? I know this mission is dangerous as hell, and I won’t let you down. I’ve got your back in this. You hear me?”

  “I hear, adonai.” Jess lowered her head and brushed her lips softly across Brenna’s. “And I thank you for your promise. You know I trust you with my life.”

  “Brenna?” Dana was holding Brenna’s journal, flipping through its last pages. “Where was that mountain pass you warned us not to take when the clan was trekking up here? The one you had the dream about, with the waterfall of blood?”

  “Ah, yes, delightful memory.” Brenna smiled weakly at Dana. “Yeah, the dream warned of a disaster if we tried to get the entire clan over that pass. I asked Shann to take another route. It added a good two weeks to our travels, but it was necessary.”

  “Well, I’m afraid we’re not going to be able to avoid it this trip.” Kyla took the journal from Dana and brought it to the table that held the unfurled parchment. “We’d lose way too much time going around.”

  “Six women travel more lightly than six hund
red.” Jess studied the break in the mountain range on the map. “We won’t be hauling wagons of supplies. We can risk the pass.”

  “And Kyla’s sharp eyes will find the safest path over it.” Shann joined them at the table and slipped her arm around Kyla’s waist. “Our young singer can best most of Tristaine’s warriors when it comes to scouting a trail, Jesstin.”

  “Aye, lady, I plan to abide our little sister’s guidance on this journey.” Jess felt their gazes on her as she unsheathed the dagger in her belt. The women in the cabin fell silent, waiting for her to begin.

  Jess touched the tip of the dagger lightly to the small swirl of color in the map’s upper left corner. “Our mesa.” She skated the tip across the map’s surface. “And here, the site of our first village in these hills.”

  They all stared down at the vibrant patch of blue that marked the mountain lake that covered their first home. Then Jess traced an oblique, curving line from their mesa to the dark streaks at the base of the map that signified the City. “This looks to be the easiest grade down, lady. No sheer drops, once we’re over the pass.”

  “The bloody waterfall pass,” Dana said, and Kyla tapped her head smartly.

  “Even the shortest route will still mean a very long ride.” Brenna followed their planned path with her finger. “If this is the same strain of flu that appeared in the City, Shann, it could prove fatal within a week.”

  The tension in the cabin ratcheted a notch higher, but Shann answered Brenna calmly. “Our sisters have an advantage over the unfortunates who fell to this plague in the City, Brenna. Sarah was right; the women born to Tristaine are physically hardier than City-dwellers. Our life expectancy tops theirs by a decade. Our air is cleaner, our produce more nourishing, our immune systems are stronger. It will take this flu longer to kill Amazons.”