The Volatile Amazon

by Sandy James

  Her gaze settled on the hill where Sparks lay beneath the cold ground. Two small pine boxes waited there for everyone to pay their last respects.

  Then Beagan and Dolan would join Sparks in eternal rest...

  Anger surged inside Sarita, the power making her fingertips crackle and spark. She fisted her hands, smothering the energy and forcing aside the blackness the threatened to consume her. Yes, she would use the gift Freyjr had given her, but she wouldn’t let the Seior rule her. She hurried up the hill, needing to feel close to those she’d lost along the way.

  “I’m not like Helen. I’m not.” She fell to her knees on Sparks’s grave.

  Helen had become a monster. At her hands, almost everyone in world would die. The Ancients wouldn’t care. They’d sit back and watch it happen with no more emotion than one would feel watching a movie. There were other worlds for them to rule—worlds that hadn’t forgotten them the way humans had.

  The worst of the lot were the patron goddesses. They already had the sight—every single one of them. They could look into the future if they wanted. They just chose to remain ignorant. Because of their neglect, people—lots of people—would suffer and die.

  So why had they bothered to create the Amazons? Why had they set up generation after generation to fight and die for people the four of them cared nothing about? Why had they created the evil force that would bring about Armageddon?

  Looking up at the clouds, Sarita channeled her anger at the beings who most deserved her wrath. “This is all your fault! All of you! Every one of you could have stopped her any step of the way, but you didn’t!

  “Rhiannon, you knew what Helen held in her heart, how much she envied you. She’s always wanted to be you, always wanted to be better than you! But you made her an Earth anyway.

  “And, Freya, Ix Chel—even you, Ganga—you all knew what the future held! All you had to do was look to know what Helen would be, what she’d become and what she wants to do.” Sarita slammed her fist against the grass that blanketed Sparks’s grave. “You let Sparks die.” She laid her palms on the rough pine of the changelings’ caskets. “You let Helen kill Beagan and Dolan. And now? Now, you won’t lift a finger to save my sisters. You’ll just sit on your thrones and let that bitch you created destroy this world and everyone I love!”

  Breathing as though she’d run a marathon, Sarita closed her eyes and collapsed to rest her forehead against her knees.

  She couldn’t cry. Not anymore. She’d shed far too many tears for people she’d loved. “Please help me. Please don’t let this happen. I beg you all.”

  A hand suddenly grasped hers. Sarita blinked in surprise.

  Gina knelt at her side, squeezing her hand. Then she looked up at the clouds. “We need your help, Ix Chel. We can’t do this alone. Not this time.”

  Rebecca fell to her knees and took Sarita’s other hand. She raised her voice to the sky. “Don’t let Helen win, Rhiannon. You care. No matter how much you pretend you don’t, you care. That’s why you created us. Please don’t abandon us.”

  Megan joined the circle, hands joined with Gina and Rebecca. “Mother! Listen to us, please! We need you now. We need all of you to help us.”

  “Please, Ganga,” Sarita pleaded. “Don’t leave us to this fate.”

  The clouds above them rumbled, but instead of darkening in a gathering storm, they parted. Sunlight spilled through, striking the Amazons as they stood united on their knees, appealing to the patron goddesses in a way Sarita had never imagined. Four proud women had humbled themselves for the good of the world.

  But was anyone listening?

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The sunlight warming Sarita’s face was in stark contrast to the chills racing the length of her spine.

  The goddesses had to have heard the Amazons’ pleas. Would they care enough to come to their aid? And if they did, what could they do to prevent the horrifying premonition Sarita had about her sisters’ deaths?

  Minutes passed slowly before Rebecca squeezed Sartia’s hand. “At least we can say we tried.”

  Megan let out a ragged sigh. “I can’t believe my mom wouldn’t at least come and tell us to our faces that we’re on our own for good. I always figured the goddesses would come through for us if things got too rough.”

  Gina kept her face to the sky. “I’ve always trusted you, Ix Chel. Always. I’ve given you everything I have to give. Don’t abandon us now.”

  Us.

  Not me. Us.

  Sarita thought back to the last time she’d faced Helen on Ian’s island—the time when she’d stolen her sisters’ powers and wielded the strength of four Amazons instead of just one.

  She’d wounded Helen. Badly. The curse she hadn’t known she leveled had taken a hefty toll. And with the powers of the four Amazons joined, Sarita had been more than Helen could handle.

  She looked to her sisters, trying to find a way to explain the plan forming in her mind. “I wish there was some way we could...I don’t know...combine everything that we can do.”

  Gina dropped her gaze to capture Sarita’s. “What do you mean?”

  Sarita’s face flushed hot. “Back on Helen’s island, I hurt her. I had the power to really hurt her. I was so much stronger than I was when she came to Avalon.”

  “Because you’d borrowed our powers,” Rebecca said.

  Megan wasn’t nearly as diplomatic. “You stole our powers.”

  “I’m sorry for that,” Sarita replied. “I couldn’t control the Seior. The anger was in charge, and I wanted Helen dead so badly, I—I stole all of you powers.” She bowed her head. “I’m sorry. We’re so strong when we’re together. I needed that. I just went about it the wrong way for the wrong reasons.”

  A loud pop echoed from the hillside.

  Sarita’s head whipped around to see her goddess, dressed in a silver sari, standing next to the Amazons. “Ganga! Did you come to help?”

  Three more pops made Sarita’s heart skip a beat.

  The prayers of the Amazons had been answered.

  Or had they?

  Ganga was smiling, but the other three patrons threw fierce frowns at the group.

  Rhiannon strode closer, the train of her pink velvet dress dragging against the grass. “So, Sarita Neeraj, you blame me for the crimes Helen committed?”

  After years of feeding Rhiannon’s vanity, Sarita was done. This problem wasn’t going to go away, and telling Rhiannon what she wanted to hear wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

  She let honesty rule her words. “Yes. Yes, I do. You could have stopped Helen any step along the way—even when you took her from Gaia to be fostered by one of your priestesses. But you let her become what she is now—a threat to everyone. She’ll destroy almost all of humanity if you allow it.”

  With a dismissive wave of her hand, Rhiannon said, “I care naught for humanity.”

  Rebecca got to her feet. “That’s bullshit.”

  The Lady of the Lake whirled on Rebecca. “How dare you! After all I have done for you—”

  “I have thanked you time and time again,” Rebecca replied. “You can stop using that old excuse to try to keep me in line. This is too important for me to bow to your ego. I will have my say—and I say you care, despite your façade of indifference.”

  Blue eyes widening, Rhiannon breathed hard enough her nostrils flared.

  “I mean it,” Rebecca continued. “Come down off that high horse and be the goddess I know you can be. You’ve always cared about humans.”

  “I do not ca—”

  This time, Rebecca waved the dismissive hand. “You do care. You think I don’t know you? After all this time and after all you’ve done for me, I know more than you think. You care. You care about Bonnie and Darian. You cared about Beagan and Dolan. You cared about me and al
l the other daughters of Gaia you saved. You know what Helen is.”

  “Evil.” Rhiannon hissed like a cat. “Just like that black witch who destroyed my Arthur.”

  “Can’t the four of you kill her?” Megan asked.

  “Nay,” Freya replied. “Ancients have not the power to destroy one another. Had she not ascended by sacrificing Sparks...perhaps we could have put an end to her.”

  “If we could wield that kind of power,” Rhiannon added, “Freya and I might have destroyed each other long ago.” Her words were softened by the knowing smiles the goddesses shared.

  “Well then... It’s up to the Amazons. And we’ve got an ace hiding up our sleeves.” Rebecca pulled Sarita to her feet. “We’ve got a white witch on our side. That makes us evenly matched.”

  A smile filled Freya’s face. “Aye, we do. A balance, but now we need more than an equal match. We need a—what is the word you use? Ah, yes. We need a superhero the likes of which this world has never seen.”

  * * *

  Ian wasn’t sure he was welcome in this group.

  The lodge was so full, surely no one—even his wife—would notice if he slipped outside. Four goddesses. Four Amazons. Two Sentinels. A genius who wielded great power. All Ian could offer to them was a good sword arm. Not much help against what they faced.

  As though she’d heard his thoughts, Sarita glanced back. Then she motioned to him. Just a flick of her wrist, but he understood. Unworthy and unskilled as he was, she needed him.

  Ian laced his fingers through hers and tried to focus on what was being discussed.

  Rebecca was the most vocal. “Sarita should tell us everything she saw. We need to be on guard.”

  Rhiannon chuckled. “Oh, my dear Rebecca. Have no doubt. You shall see all that Sarita has seen—all that she will see.”

  “A superhero,” Megan said to her mother. “When you told us to all meet you here, you said we needed a superhero. That’s what we all are—that’s what we’ve always been.”

  “Nay,” Freya said. She stroked her daughter’s cheek. “You are Fire, but even you, my darling, have your weaknesses.”

  Gina’s brow knit. “If Megan’s not our superhero, who is? She’s the strongest Amazon.”

  “Nay, Sarita is.” Ian blurted out without thought.

  Sarita snorted a laugh. “As if.” She leaned the side of her face against his arm. “That’s sweet of you to say, but it’s not true.”

  “It is,” Ganga said with a decisive nod.

  “No,” Sarita insisted, “it isn’t. I love that you both think so, but—”

  “You have Seior,” Rebecca said. “Of course you’re the strongest Amazon.”

  With an exaggerated sigh, Sarita shook her head. “What’s it matter anyway? I’m strongest. Megan’s strongest. You or Gina’s strongest. Who really cares? This isn’t a competition. No matter who’s strongest, she can’t defeat Helen alone. Like Freya said, we need someone else.”

  Freya gave them an enigmatic grin. “Ah, I did not say you needed another. I merely said you needed a superhero.”

  “How do you know what that means?” Megan asked.

  “Please, daughter, do not mistake my keeping with ways of old for being uneducated about this world. I know what a superhero is, and my fellow patron goddesses and I are in agreement. ’tis exactly what we intend to make of you—an undefeatable force.”

  “Me?” Megan asked.

  “Aye.”

  “And Rebecca,” Rhiannon added.

  “And Gina,” Ix Chel said.

  Ganga smiled at Sarita. “And the smallest of all will be the vessel.”

  “Vessel?” Ian asked. “You mean to make Sarita and the other Amazons more powerful?”

  Artair stepped into the mix. “You want to combine their strengths.”

  Since his brother had made a statement rather than a question, Ian tried to follow his train of thought. “The women will surrender their powers to Sarita?”

  “Nay,” Rhiannon replied. “They will surrender their lives.”

  “Oh, hell no,” Johann said. He grabbed Megan’s hand and tugged her to his side.

  “After all I have done for you, you do not trust me, Johann Hermann?” Freya asked. “After I gave you Apollo’s cloak? After I gave you my Megan as a bride?”

  “Of course I do, but... You’re talking about Megan’s life now.”

  “We’re talking about all our lives.” Megan looked at each woman. “I think I see the plan they’re taking far too long to explain. The goddesses are going to combine our powers and our life forces in Sarita. Then the four of us—acting as one—are going to collectively kick Helen’s ass. Just like when Sarita had all our powers before—she was stronger. Sound about right, Mom?”

  “Very smart, my daughter,” Freya replied.

  “Talk about one for all and all for one,” Zach said. “Either you all kill her and come back to us, or you all—you all...”

  “Die.” Gina filled in the last word. “We all die. I’d rather go down together swinging than sit on the sidelines and let Sarita try this on her own. Can you really do this, Ix Chel?”

  “Sí. Although it is not without risk.”

  “If you’d seen everything I saw,” Sarita said, “you wouldn’t worry about the risk.”

  “But we did see,” Ganga said. “That is the reason we have come to you.”

  “We refuse to let humanity die,” Rhiannon added. “Not when the force of that destruction was our folly.”

  “When do ye plan to do this?” Artair asked.

  “Tonight,” Rhiannon replied. “’Tis time we ended this once and for all. The Amazons will meet on Gina’s tower.”

  “We need to be able to see my moon,” Ix Chel added.

  Johann didn’t appear appeased, but he nodded. “I’ll bury Beagan and Dolan before—”

  “Nay!” Rhiannon took a deep breath. “Nay. Not yet. I must...bid them farewell. We shall bury them when this distasteful task is over. Let their bodies rest where they are for now.”

  “May I stand at Sarita’s side?” Ian asked, not sure if any of the goddesses would bother to answer a mere mortal.

  Ganga smiled at him. “I fear this is a time where the women must face their task alone. None of you men may come.”

  “Then I will stay here and guard the bairns. ‘Twill comfort me to help them, and they’re sure to know something is wrong.”

  “All of you men must keep yourselves inside,” Freya warned. “Drink heavily if you must, but—”

  “You may not interfere,” Rhiannon interrupted, her tone more severe than the other goddesses.

  “None of us?” Zach asked. “Can’t I help with my binding power? I could go with them...”

  Ix Chel shook her head. “Your power cannot help them now, Zachary. You all love your wives. That is noble.”

  “But we have to do this alone.” Sarita gave Ian a hesitant smile. “You can all pretend we’re in labor and you’re not allowed in the delivery room.”

  Rhiannon’s laugh made Ian’s gut clench in fear.

  “That which you plan to undertake,” the Lady of the Lake warned, “will make bringing a child into the world seem a simple, painless task.”

  * * *

  Sarita jerked her T-shirt over her head and tossed it onto the pile of dirty clothes no one had dealt with yet. Her eyes blurred with unshed tears at the thought that the changelings were really gone. Not because of all they’d done for her and the rest of the people in Avalon, but because they were kind and sweet and represented all that was good in the world.

  The world she and her sisters would risk their lives to try and save.

  Again.

  “Are you sure you want to do this, loving?”

  She glanced to
Ian. He’d asked her that question so many times since they’d returned to her house, she’d lost track.

  There were only a few precious hours before sunset, and she didn’t want to waste a minute of that time worrying about what was to come. The goddesses were helping, which could only mean the Amazons would have a fighting chance at defeating Helen. That was a hell of a lot more than they’d had an hour ago.

  What Sarita needed now was a pleasant distraction, and Ian obviously needed the same. She knew exactly what to do.

  Facing him in nothing but her bra and panties, she crooked her finger. His responding smile made her heart do a flip-flop.

  “Damn,” she said, “I’m married to a handsome man.”

  He crossed the room. “And I’m married to a verra beautiful woman.”

  His hands slid up her back to pop the clasp on her bra. She dropped it to the floor. He wrapped his arms around her waist.

  Looping her arms around Ian’s neck, Sarita smiled. “So what are you gonna do about it?”

  He shrugged as though he didn’t have a clue. “Make love to her, I suppose.”

  “You suppose wrong.” She slipped out of his embrace and took a step back.

  He gaped at her. “Sarita? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. I’m just not going to let you make love to me.” The hurt in his gaze made her hurry to add, “I’m going to make love to you.”

  She wiggled out of her panties, loving the heated look in his green eyes.

  Closing the distance between them, she threw his plaid over his shoulder. Then she undid his belt and pulled it from his hips so the plaid fell to the floor.

  One by one, she undid each of the buttons on his shirt, pushing it from his shoulders. His erection bobbed toward her, so she wrapped her fingers around him and stroked.

  He hissed and closed his eyes.

  Sarita dropped to her knees and took him in her mouth, swirling her tongue around the crown as she held tight to his hips.

  Ian let out something between a groan and a gasp.

  Goddess, she loved the taste of him. She loved his reaction, too. He tugged at her hair and gently thrust his hips forward.