Amazon Challenge Page 5

  I moved closer, leaving Malora and Nori behind me.

  "Do you know specifically who we are?" I asked. "Do you know our names?"

  "No," he said. He spat again, barely missing my feet. I didn't even flinch. My boots were so coated in mud, a little spit wasn't going to matter anyway. "The best road out is east."

  "My name is Maya. Does that mean anything to you?"

  "Should it?"

  "I don't know." I pointed at Malora. "But her name should. That is Queen Malora." I turned back to him. "I am her companion. I strongly encourage you to consider treating us with a modicum of respect. Now, does this village have a council of elders?"

  "Mayor," he said, "and a council, not necessarily made of the elderly."

  "Well then, perhaps someone could retrieve the mayor, or if she is unavailable, whoever is."

  "He," the man said. "The mayor of White Pine is a man."

  "Very well," I said. "Would it be possible to request his presence?"

  There were snickers from around the man. He smiled a cold smile and said, "You're talking to him."

  "Mr. Mayor," I said, "do you have a name?"

  "I reckon I do," he said. He didn't furnish it.

  I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? This is the game you want to play?"

  "You're not staying long," he said. "So you won't be needing my name."

  He gestured, and two of his buddies, two of his very large buddies, stepped forward, looming over me threateningly.

  I heard swords begin to clear scabbards, but I held a hand up.

  I raised my voice. "Malora, who is the worst warrior here?"

  "You are, Maya," she said.

  I moved my hand to my staff and loosened it from the sling across my back. "Mr. Mayor, we can do this the easy way and have a conversation over a pint of beer, or I can kick the asses of your two toughs here and dictate what is going to happen. Which would you prefer?"

  "How about my two toughs teach you a little respect," he suggested, "and you head on out, licking your little girl wounds."

  "So be it," I said. I pulled my staff and Malora yelled, "No one interfere!"

  The men were big and thought they were tough. The fight lasted nearly an entire minute, as I didn't want to actually break their bones. When I was done, the two men lay in the street, struggling to get up, and I stood over them panting.

  They never touched me.

  "Nori, watch my back," I said, and immediately Nori and Malora both moved forward. I began stalking towards the mayor, who backed away from me.

  "Now, let us try this again. Mr. Mayor, my name is Maya, Queen's Companion. The Amazons are here to address the people of White Pine. You will assemble them this afternoon. We expect everyone over the age of ten to be in attendance. Do NOT make us go door to door to make sure there are no holdouts!"

  "You aren't welcome here!" he said.

  "Well then, the sooner you listen to what we have to say, the sooner we'll leave." I shook my head. "You must really be an idiot to try to intimidate an Amazon, especially when I have twenty more of my sisters at my back."

  Then I backed away. "Mid-afternoon, Mr. Mayor," I said. "Everyone. We're not here to hurt anyone." I looked at the men slowly climbing to their feet, "unless that's what they want."

  I backed to my horse, holding out my hands. Someone slipped my reins into my hands. "We'll set up camp outside town. Do not disappoint us, Mr. Mayor."

  One thing about Amazons: they didn't fight amongst themselves in front of strangers. No, they wait until we're alone. The bickering didn't start until after we'd set up camp on a field east of town, although I heard quiet muttering begin long before then.

  "I thought we were here to collect companions and tithe!"

  I looked up. Tarine stood surrounded by six other women. She had her hands on her hips, glaring at me. Malora and Nori both moved closer. Inside, I smiled. Tarine was bringing this to me, not Malora. I considered that a battle won right there.

  "We are," I said. "Tell me, Tarine, how was my form earlier?"

  "Your form was terrible," she said. "You overextend your shoulders when you thrust and you have a tell when you're about to do a leg sweep."

  "I know," I said. "Nori has been trying to break both of those habits of mine for some time. Would you say every warrior here fights better than I do?"

  "With a staff?" She frowned. "I don't know about every warrior. Most of them, yes. What's your point?"

  "I kicked the asses of their two toughest men," I said. "I did it with enough control I didn't dramatically hurt them, taking no damage myself in the process. And I'm not even an Amazon warrior; I'm only a companion. I think letting word get around for a couple of hours will be useful."

  I turned to Malora. "They may respond badly later."

  "They may," she agreed. "We are never complacent."

  "Tarine, it takes time for messages to sink in. I don't like having to deliver messages that way, but I hate bullies, and that mayor and the two toughs I beat up are bullies. I bet the entire village knows it. They are very likely going to be far more willing to talk to us once word gets around. So we wait a bit and let it."

  "Waste of time," she said. "We should round up the girls and take every fifth."

  I narrowed my eyes. "That's one way to do it," I agreed. "What are the risks?"

  "Excuse me? It's not like they can stop us."

  "We could take a little ruffian with us," I said, "someone with a knife in her boot and a willingness to use it. I don't want to share a tent with her. Do you?"

  "She wouldn't dare!"

  "Nori," I asked, "would I have dared, if you hadn't bound me?"

  "Absolutely. There was no doubt in my mind."

  "Tarine, I was a schoolteacher. A gentle schoolteacher. And I was willing to knife Nori for taking me from my home against my will, regardless of the consequences."

  "You would have been whipped to death after we caught you."

  "I know. So that's what you want? Take some companions. Understand a few will knife some of us in our sleep. Whip those to death. That's what you want?"

  She didn't have an answer, but she wasn't happy with me.

  "You need to think through your entire plan, Tarine. If you don't, then I will, and don't get mad at me if I poke holes in it you should have seen."

  "We should take the companions we need," she said.

  "Perhaps," I replied. "But then we would find ourselves with a very large number of completely untrained companions all at once."

  "I am tired of waiting!"

  "I don't blame you," I told her. "And I will do what I can to see that your wait comes to an end in the next few weeks."

  Malora stepped up beside me. "Tarine, my companion has given you things to think about. The issue of companions has been building for two decades, and it is going to take more than two years to entirely resolve it. But I am convinced we are on a path that solves it. Over the last two years, we've acquired more new companions than we have since long before I became queen, and the quality of those companions has been very high."

  Tarine wasn't convinced, but she and her friends stepped away, muttering, and I moved underneath Malora's arm.

  "I'm tired, Malora," I told her. "It's always the same thing, over and over. They all see me as the impediment. I'm tired of arguing and arguing with them."

  "I know," she said, kissing the top of my head. "But you're so good at it."

  I sighed.

  * * * *

  We waited until mid-afternoon to return to the village. There were people standing around, watching us, but there wasn't anything resembling an assembly.

  "Do they never learn?" I asked.

  "Nope," said Nori.

  Tarine rode closer on her horse. "So, where's this big meeting you scheduled?"

  I turned to her then shook my head, not bothering to answer her. I couldn't fight two battles at once.

  "I need some muscle," I said to Malora. "I don't want it to be you."

  "Nori,
Badra," Malora said. Badra was from Northglen. She was easy going, but I assumed there was a reason Malora picked her.

  We all climbed from our horses. I stepped forward, Nori and Badra flanking me. "Nori, bring some rope."

  She smiled at me. We'd done this before. "Covered."

  "Badra, trust me."

  "Of course, Queen's Companion."

  I stepped forward to the nearest group of villagers. "Who wants to show us where the mayor lives?"

  The villagers were women, all older than I was. They looked at me nervously.

  "We didn't come to make trouble," I said. "We came to talk. Now, we have expectations, but when we're done talking, everyone here will understand why. The mayor, however, wants to play this the hard way. We tried to do it the easy way. Now, I need to know where he lives."

  The women consulted each other with their eyes, then one stepped forward a half step. "You're the one who beat up Bando and Grigon, aren't you?"

  "Two big, big men, follow the mayor around like large, stupid dogs?" I asked. "Sporting new bruises after this morning?" They nodded. "Yep, that was I."

  She stepped closer. She was taller than I was and, well, she had a figure suitable for brawling. I didn't, although I'd grown muscular over the last three years. Nori had seen to that.

  "You're not very big," she said. She eyed me. "There's not a mark on you."

  "None recent," I said. "This one bruises me from time to time." I nodded my head towards Nori.

  "She beats you?"

  "Only on the training grounds. We train twice daily."

  The woman nodded in understanding. She looked between the three of us. Then she pointed. "That house."

  I followed her gesture.

  The houses in White Pine were not fancy or large. In fact, other than the location, this could have been Gallow's Cove. But the mayor's house was bigger than the rest.

  "Is the mayor popular?" I asked.

  The woman didn't answer, which was plenty of answer for me.

  I turned back to all the women. "We came to talk. Please spread the word for everyone to meet here in the square, unless there's a better place that will hold everyone."

  "No. The square is where we meet. When we meet. Which isn't often."

  I nodded.

  "Twenty minutes," I said.

  They nodded, and I turned my back on them, heading for the mayor's house. I unlimbered my staff and used it to knock on the door. Loudly.

  "Kick it open, please," I said.

  It probably wasn't locked, but Nori stepped forward and, with one solid kick, knocked the door inward, surprising a woman who was about to open it.

  "My apologies," I said sweetly, stepping into the house and past her. Nori and Badra followed.

  "Hey!" the woman said, trying to get into my way. "You can't come in here!"

  "And yet," I said, "Here I am. I'm told this is the mayor's house. Is that correct?"

  "Plaank!" the woman yelled. "Plaank!"

  "I take it that's the mayor's name," I said. "Thank you." I raised my voice. "Plaank! You're missing an important meeting!"

  I stepped further into the house, looking around. It was not fancy inside, but there were several rooms and a staircase up to a loft area. I presumed that was the sleeping area.

  With the woman protesting, I led Nori and Badra deeper into the house, and it was the kitchen where we found the kids. I smiled. They were doing schoolwork, clustered around the kitchen table.

  "I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to disturb your homework, but there's a meeting. Everyone must come."

  From behind me, I heard the mayor's voice. "You can't be here!"

  "Badra."

  I heard a sword drawn and the hiss of a male voice. I knew Badra would handle it.

  "Don't kill him if you don't have to, Badra." I turned back to the children. There were four, three girls and one boy. The boy looked to be about eleven. He had two older sisters and one younger sister.

  "What do you think, Nori?" I asked. "Take all of them?"

  "Not the boy," she said.

  "No of course. I meant the girls."

  Nori stepped forward.

  The children stood up and stepped backwards as Nori and I strode forward. The two oldest girls shoved the two younger children behind them. Right then and there, I wanted them as Amazons, but of course, we weren't really going to do it that way.

  "You can't do this!" the woman yelled from behind us.

  "We tried to do this the nice way, but your husband didn't want to," I said. "So now we're forced to do it the hard way. Nori, what do you think?"

  "I think the youngest is a little too young," she said. "We can come back in a few years; let her ripen a little more."

  The woman and man both were trying to get past Badra, but I didn't need to look backwards to know she held them at bay.

  Nori and I stepped forward, and the look in the girls' eyes nearly killed me. I held a hand, and Nori stopped. I handed her my staff and stepped forward. I spoke quietly.

  "I am a schoolteacher," I said. "We're not here to hurt you."

  "You don't look like a schoolteacher," the oldest said.

  "I'm an Amazon now, too. Do you know what they are?"

  The two girls I could see shook their heads. I looked over my shoulder at Nori. She would have heard my question.

  "I knew because I was a teacher, but I was told not to teach the kids."

  She looked at me sadly for a moment.

  I turned back to the girls. "Your father was very naughty," I said. "He tried to have me beaten up this morning."

  Neither of the girls looked that surprised by my revelation. Either they had known everything or their father had a reputation I didn't care for. It didn't matter to me either way. But they were well dressed and I didn't detect any bruises. They didn't show the signs some of my students had shown, the signs that told me their fathers were abusive.

  "Everyone in town heard about that," the oldest girl said. "You beat them up. Daddy said you're very bad women."

  "Your daddy is wrong," I said, "but I understand why you are afraid of us. My name is Maya, and this is Nori. The first time I met Nori, I thought she was a very bad woman, too. But she's one of my best friends, and I love her, well, like an aunt."

  "Hey!" Nori said in protest.

  "We're not going to hurt you," I said, "but you need to come with us for a little while."

  I continued to ignore the yelling from the children's parents. I knew Badra had it handled, and I knew Nori was keeping an eye on it as well.

  The girls looked at me and they looked past me.

  "We won't hurt you if you do what we tell you," I said. "Are you going to behave?"

  "Where are you taking us?" the girl asked.

  "Just to the town's square."

  "We-" she started to say. She glanced at her sister. "We don't want to go with you."

  "I know," I said. "But you're going. Your daddy has been very, very naughty, and we're here to fix it. If you do what I say, no one needs to get hurt, and we'll try not to scare you too badly." I wouldn't have hurt the girls, but I didn't want to fight the villagers. I knew the mayor would fall in line the minute we walked out of the house with his little girls.

  The eldest was hiding the youngest girl. She moved the girl to hide behind the second oldest and stepped up to me.

  "We have to tie your hands," I said. "I'm sorry." I glanced at Nori.

  Nori stepped forward. The girl stood stoically while Nori tied her hands behind her back. She was gentle about it.

  The girl's mother began to scream. "What are you doing?" she screamed. "You can't do this!"

  "Badra, you okay?"

  "I'm fine, Maya," she said, "but next time bring one more warrior." I heard the slap of steel against skin and a male curse, and I knew Badra had her hands full.

  "Nori, tie the other one, too," I said. I turned around, my staff in front of me, and stepped up beside Badra. The mayor was nursing a cut across his arm. It w
as shallow and wouldn't need much attention. He was glaring at us, and his wife continued to screech.

  I spoke calmly. "We only came to talk. I'm not even going to try to reason with you anymore. If you won't talk to us, we'll take what we need instead. This could have been easy. A simple conversation over a beer, but you had to play it the hard way. Well, that wouldn't have been my choice, but it's what you selected, Mr. Mayor."

  "Ready," Nori said. I heard soft crying from behind me, and the woman was in hysterics.

  "You can't do this!" the mayor said.

  "I believe we can," I said. "Back up." I thrust with my staff, and he shied away. Working with Badra, we pushed them backwards, herding them into a sitting room off the main doorway. The woman never stopped screaming, and I had to thump her chest twice with the end of my staff to keep her from throwing herself on us. Nori got the two girls outside, and then I said calmly, "There is a conversation in the town square in twenty minutes. I expect everyone in the village over the age of ten to be there. Everyone. If you anger me further, we're leaving, and you know who is going with us."

  "You can't do this!" the mayor screamed.

  "You're an arrogant idiot," I said. "We're doing it. We still might take your daughters with us, but if you do not assemble the entire town, I can promise you they'll have a new home. The only question will be how many other daughters will we take with us at the same time."

  I looked at the woman. "We came for a discussion. That's all. This is your husband's fault. If you want your girls back, get everyone to the square, and then we'll see. Badra."

  "You first, Queen's Companion."

  We stepped away together, then I backed out the doorway. I knew Malora would have my back and didn't worry about an unfriendly greeting. I was surprised to hear Tarine's voice say, "It's about time you saw reason."

  I knew Tarine didn't like me, but I also knew she'd cover me.

  Badra stepped out of the house backwards, and I said sotto voce to Tarine, "Don't let anyone jump me. Try not to kill them; the woman is distraught, but this is better if no one gets hurt."

  Even though I knew Tarine didn't approve of my methods, I trusted Amazon discipline for her to follow orders.

  I turned around without a care in the world and hurried after Nori.

  "I hate doing it this way," I told Nori as I caught up. I took one of the girls from her, and together we marched the two children to the center of the square.