Amazon Challenge Page 7

  "Nori handled it."

  "Nori?"

  Nori wasn't stupid. She knew Malora would flip out if she had the complete truth delivered all at once. "Tarine feels your companion's recruitment techniques require improvement. The conversation grew heated."

  "Quit playing word games, both of you," Malora said. "Now."

  "She suggested we resolve it with a duel, here and now," I said.

  Malora tightened. "I'll give her a duel if that's what she wants."

  "She backed down when Nori pointed out what it means to challenge the Queen's companion," I replied. "Please let it go, Malora."

  "Did she back down because she realized challenging Maya was a mistake," Malora asked Nori, "or because you threatened to kill her?" Malora wasn't stupid, either. She would know what Nori's reaction would be to any threats against me.

  "That's hard to say," Nori admitted. "For now, she backed down."

  "I understand her frustration, but she's undermining me," I explained. "It's hard enough dealing with the villagers without her convincing them we should be feared. She wants them to fear us."

  "Do I need to talk to her?" Malora asked.

  "I don't know."

  "Nori?"

  "Yes. Put a little more fear into her."

  "No," I said. "She's already reacting emotionally. That's the entire problem. If she'd use her head, there wouldn't be a problem. I am happy to debate the merits, but not when the people I'm debating are emotionally tied to the outcome."

  "You're emotionally tied to the outcome, Maya," Malora pointed out.

  "I still debate rationally," I countered. "Do either of you think I'm wrong?"

  "No," Nori said. "Tarine doesn't see the big picture, and she's not willing to look."

  "I'm going to talk to her," Malora said. "Not to scare her, but to let her know she needs to take a longer view. Maya, do I need to warn you about going off with her in private?"

  "No, you don't." I glanced at the girls. "How is it going with them?"

  "They're very nice girls," Malora said. "Tamma asks more questions than Lia."

  "I think tomorrow we should teach them how to hold a staff." I looked at Nori. "You or me?"

  She looked at me, then at the girls. "Badra and..."

  "Gini," Malora said. Gini was young, only a few years older than Beria, and I thought that was a good suggestion.

  "In the future, I want Bea along," I said. "Her joy is infectious."

  * * * *

  We were using Malora's large pavilion for this trip, not the small tent we used when she and I traveled alone. I adjusted the bedding so the girls had the inner chamber, Malora and I in the outer. There was room in the inner chamber for all of us, but I didn't want any question of impropriety.

  We stayed up late, telling stories, playing music, and dancing. There were a few stories that may not have helped my recruiting efforts, but everyone had a good time, including the girls. When they started to yawn, Malora declared it was time for quiet, and we ushered the girls to bed.

  I showed them the arrangements. Lia accepted with a nod then asked if Malora and I would sit and talk with them.

  "Climb into bed first," I said. "Call for us when you're all bundled up."

  We moved to the outer room, sitting on our own bedding, cuddled together, until Lia called us back. We slipped into their section of the pavilion, pulling blankets with us to huddle under.

  "Are you going to make us leave with you?" Lia asked.

  "No," I replied. "If you want to go, it will be your choice."

  "Not Daddy's?" Tamma asked.

  "No, not your father's. Yours." The lamp gave enough light I could see them communing with their eyes.

  "Are you really a queen?" Tamma asked Malora.

  "I am the queen of the Amazons," Malora said. "You will have to decide for yourself if that makes me a real queen."

  "So all the Amazons do what you say?" Tamma suggested. "All the time?"

  "If I order them to do something, yes," she said. "If they misbehave, I must punish them."

  "Do you have people beat them up?" Lia asked. "That's what Daddy does."

  "No," Malora said. "If they have done something so horrible they need to be punished in that way, I do it myself. Most of the time, punishments are not that severe."

  "Like what?" Lia asked.

  "When I misbehave," I said, "she's fond of dying my hair pink."

  Both girls thought about that for a moment and laughed. "I might like my hair if it were pink" Tamma suggested. "If I misbehave now, will you dye mine pink?"

  "No," Queen Malora said. "I will do something you won't enjoy. But you're not going to misbehave. Good guests don't misbehave, do they?"

  "No," she said. "I just wanted to see Daddy's expression when my hair was pink."

  "He would punish you again when he found out what you did to deserve a punishment," Lia pointed out to her sister. "Remember that time when Talla punished you for stealing from her apple tree, and then she told Mama, and Mama told Father?"

  "Oh," Tamma said. "I'll be good," she added. She looked at me. "I'm sorry, I forgot your name."

  "Maya," I answered.

  "Maya, why did you decide to become an Amazon?"

  I decided not to give her the entire story, but I'd been asked this question before. "Queen Malora told me about the demons," I said. "I wasn't sure I believed her."

  "Did she show you that ugly head?" Lia asked.

  "No," I said. "Remember, I killed that demon almost a year later."

  "Oh. I forgot that part," Lia said.

  "So she didn't have any demon heads to show me, and I wasn't sure there were demons. I had never seen one after all. But she got done telling me everything she could, and then she asked me, 'If our story is true, what do you owe the Amazons?' And I decided I owed them a great deal, and I hadn't paid them anything at all."

  "You could have paid them in gold coins?" Tamma asked.

  "No," I said. "They aren't asking for money. They are asking for help, the kind of help you can't buy with money. So I agreed I should pay them in what they needed most, and what Malora needed more than anything else was a companion."

  "Daddy will be angry if we go with you," Lia said.

  "I imagine he will," I replied. "That is not the reason you should stay. It is not the reason you should go."

  "What is the reason?" Tamma said.

  "You should stay if you do not believe us about the demons."

  "You showed us one," Tamma said.

  "It could be fake," Lia said.

  "Do you think it's fake?" I asked.

  She was quiet for a minute. "No," she said finally. "I don't think it's fake."

  "Good. Thank you for not calling me a liar. You should stay if you do not like camping and bonfires," I suggested.

  "The bonfire was fun!" Tamma said.

  "Yes," I agreed. "You should go if you want to help keep Morehama safe."

  "Daddy could pay someone else to go instead of us," Tamma said.

  "I imagine he could," I replied. "I am going to give you my opinion. Do you know the difference between opinion and fact?"

  "Opinion is what you think, like chicken tastes better than venison," Tamma said. "Fact is what you can prove, like chickens are smaller than deer."

  "Very well stated," I said. "It is my opinion you should go if you want to do the right thing and not leave it to someone else to do. You should go if you want to take personal responsibility for keeping Morehama safe. All the other reasons don't matter."

  "What do you mean, they don't matter?" Lia asked.

  "There are some parts of being an Amazon that are a lot better than growing up here," I said. "What are some things you like here?"

  "I like my clothes," Lia said immediately. "I like some of my friends."

  "Do you like the clothes Malora and I are wearing?"

  "They're great!" Tamma said immediately. "Would I have clothes like that, too?"

  "You both would," Malora said.<
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  "But clothes are not the right reason. However, it might be something you would like better. You would have friends, too. New friends. Do you like school?"

  "Ug," Tamma said.

  "It's okay," Lia said. "Mama says it's important."

  "I was a schoolteacher before I became an Amazon," I said, "and I loved school. But a lot of children hate school, and you wouldn't have to go to school and learn any more math. You can if you want, but you wouldn't have to."

  "I'm going," Tamma said immediately. "No more math? I'm going!" She grew excited.

  "Slow down," I said. "You would go to a different kind of school. You would learn to fight instead, and that's sort of like going to school, but different. You would learn to hunt and snare rabbits. Your warrior would teach you how to build a fire and survive away from the village. You would learn the things an Amazon needs to know."

  Lia was watching me carefully. "You're not doing a very good job convincing us."

  "I am being honest. I don't want you to feel cheated later."

  Tamma stifled a yawn and burrowed more deeply into her covers.

  "Daddy never worries about cheating someone," Lia said.

  "That's a difference between your father and me," I said. "Girls, whether you come with us or not, I want us to be friends. Would you like that?"

  "Yes," said Tamma. She yawned again.

  "Well then, I'd say that's a start. You two get some sleep now. It's been an exciting day, and there's more excitement tomorrow. We'll answer any of your questions."

  "I have one more," Lia said. "If we go with you, who would be our warriors?"

  "That would be up to you, and the warrior, of course."

  "Badra seems nice," Lia observed.

  "I don't know her very well," I said. "Queen Malora?"

  "I don't know her that well, either. She's a good warrior and I think her companion would be lucky to have her as a warrior. She might be a little strict, but that's important."

  "I trust Badra," I said, "and that's important, too. But you should get to know all the warriors before you decide. That's why we're having the party tomorrow night."

  "But you'll get a head start," Malora pointed out. "You have all day tomorrow with us. So don't spend it just with Badra or Maya and me. Get to know the other warriors, too."

  "Not either of you?" Lia asked.

  "I have a companion," Malora said, "and Maya doesn't need one. But all the other Amazons here with us do."

  "I have one more question," Lia said.

  I smiled. "Yes, Lia?"

  "What about that woman you were fighting with?"

  I glanced at Malora.

  "That was Tarine," Malora said. "She's a good warrior."

  Lia looked at us carefully before asking, "Are you going to say more than that?"

  "You may decide you like Tarine," I said. "I find that I do not, but it might be chicken and venison."

  "I like venison," Lia said, "but I like chicken too. But Challi -- that's our little sister -- hates venison."

  "All right," Malora said. "Sleep now. And remember, whether you go with us tomorrow or not, you can now tell your friends you were tucked into bed by the queen of the Amazons." And then she did just that, stepping to each side of them and tucking their covers in more carefully, kissing each of them on the forehead.

  "Good night, Queen Malora," Lia said. Tamma muttered something, but she was nearly asleep already.

  "Good night," Malora and I both said. I turned down the lamp, and the two of us retired to our own beds, whispering to each other for a while.

  * * * *

  I left entertaining the girls to the other Amazons. I heard a lot of girlish laughter, and I decided it was going well.

  Tarine kept her venom away, which I appreciated. Around mid-afternoon, I sent a small contingent of Amazons into the village to check on the preparations and see if there was anything they needed us to do. They reported everything was handled and said we had a few more hours before we should appear.

  The mayor's wife came out to our camp complete with a pair of escorts. A couple of our guards intercepted them then led her to Malora and me. She was carrying a bundle of clothing with her.

  "I want to see my daughters!" she demanded.

  "Of course," I replied. "We have kept them entertained."

  "Where did they sleep last night?" she asked.

  "They couldn't have been safer. Would you care to see?"

  "Yes."

  I led the woman to our pavilion. We had made the girls roll up their bedrolls themselves, so I pointed to the two piles of bedding. "They slept in here. The queen and I kept guard over them in the outer room."

  "Was a guard necessary?" she asked through narrowed eyes.

  "Not from anyone here," I replied. "But they are young girls and may have needed a guard from their own mischief or perhaps someone who wishes your husband ill."

  "Oh." She paused. "Thank you. Were they warm?"

  "Warm and dry," I reported. "Dry has been a challenge on this trip."

  She nodded understanding. "It's been wet here." She paused. "I suppose that's harder for you than for us."

  "It's hardest for farmers," I pointed out. "Did you have other questions?"

  "My daughters have had an easy life here," she said, "and would not be accustomed to how an Amazon is required to live."

  "I was ill-suited to this life as well," I said. "I have learned. Your daughters seem very resilient, far more than I was. That is the wrong reason for them to remain behind."

  "Then what is the right reason?"

  "Because they do not wish to do their duty," I said calmly, "and would prefer to leave it to others."

  She pursed her lips, but didn't argue with me. "I would see them now. I brought clothing with me for them."

  I nodded. "Leave it here. They will need to bathe before the party, and they can change in here when done." I took it from her and set it aside, then I took her arm and led her to her children.

  Someone had loaned them Amazon clothing; I hadn't seen whom. And their hair was braided in the Amazon style. Their own mother didn't recognize her own daughters until we drew closer. She stared. Tamma was sitting in the grass with several of the warriors while Lia was squared off, facing Nori and holding a staff.

  "What's going on?"

  "Training," I said.

  She looked at me. "You're taking them with you!"

  "It will be their choice. I did not know they had changed clothes." I turned back. "They look good, don't they?"

  "Please don't take my little girls with you."

  "It will be their choice," I said again. "We need new companions. We need future warriors. This is not something we do because we want to. We do not want to take children from their homes. We have little choice, or eventually there will be no Amazons to fight the demons. Do you want the demons to knock on your front door instead?"

  "That warrior is going to hurt Lia," the woman said.

  I watched. Nori was being far kinder with Lia than she'd ever been with me.

  "That's Nori," I said, "our best trainer. The only way your daughter is going to get hurt is if she twists an ankle. Even I could spar with your daughter without hurting her."

  "Even you?"

  "I am the least of our fighters," I said, "discounting the younger girls."

  "The least? But-"

  "Yes," I said. "Your husband's toughs. The worst of the Amazons took them on, two to one, and beat them without severely hurting them. I did have to rap a set of knuckles when one pulled a knife, but that was the worst." I nodded. "Nori is teaching her how to hold the staff, how to swing with control, and how to block. They are going at half speed."

  "That's half speed?" she asked after a series of blows and counter-blows.

  "Your daughter is doing well," I said. "She's perhaps at full speed. Nori, however, is not."

  "I don't believe you."

  "I see." I stepped forward, the woman with me. "Hold!" I called out.

/>   Nori blocked another swing and stepped back. "That means stop, Lia," she said.

  "Oh. I'm sorry."

  "Lia, your mother would like a real demonstration," I said. I stepped forward, taking the staff from her. "Sit with your sister."

  She turned around and saw her mother and ran to her instead, offering a sweaty hug. Then both girls were there, babbling excitedly at their mother. After a moment, they pulled her to the grass between them, the warriors making room for them to sit together. The woman looked at the grass gingerly, but she allowed her daughters to draw her to the ground.

  I turned to Nori. "Full speed, please pull your strikes."

  She nodded. I hefted the staff and said, "Fight."

  She waited for me. I paused only a moment, then I flew at her, striking quickly. Of course, she fended off all my swings, and I did all my tricks to try to poke my way through to her. I was able to block her initial counter-swings, but then she caught me in the chest with a thrust, knocking me backwards.

  There was a gasp from behind me. I didn't let them see me rub my chest, giving Nori a dirty look.

  "You leaned into it," she said.

  "Point for Nori," I said loudly, lifting my staff. "Fight."

  Nori was able to pull most of her strokes, although I took one more bruise. Finally I stood there, panting. "Zero to five," I said. "Nori wins."

  I turned around. Everyone was watching. The warriors, I'm sure, were analyzing my technique and certainly finding it lacking. The girls looked amazed. Their mother sat there, stunned. "You're the worst here?" she asked.

  "Nori just beat me five to nothing," I said. "But she's almost the best."

  "Almost?"

  "Queen Malora is better," Nori said. "And with the staff, a few others. With the staff, Maya is not the worst; she is better than some of our warriors. But she is nearly hopeless with a sword. We do not use staffs against demons, but they are very handy against bandits, and it is easier to teach."

  "I want to point out that we were fighting at full speed, but Nori has such control that when she did hit me, they were only taps." I paused. "Well, I was at full speed. Nori was probably not."

  There were a few chuckles.

  Warina looked a little pale. "May I have a few minutes with my daughters?"

  "Nori can you spare them for a few minutes?"