Amazon Challenge (7 page)

"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 l
oft 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 was 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 t
hrust 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.

"Don't be afraid," I told them both. "I'm sorry about this, but your father wasn't taking us seriously. Now he'll take us seriously. Do your wrists hurt?"

I had the younger daughter. She looked over her shoulder, and there were tears. She shook her head.

It ate me inside, her look. I was responsible for that look, and I hated myself.

"For the record," Nori said to me quietly, "what your feeling now -- that's how I felt three years ago in Gallen's Cove."

"You hid it well," I told her.

"You're not doing so badly yourself," she replied. "It helps having the big picture."

We turned the girls to face us. "What are your names?" I asked them.

"Lia," said the eldest. "She's Tamma."

"Well, Lia and Tamma, would you like to meet a queen?"

Tamma looked at me nervously. "A real queen?"

"A real queen," I agreed, "although she won't look like any queen you've read about in school. She's the queen of the Amazons, and she's here today."

I looked around. Malora was a short distance away, watching. I gestured, and she stepped over.

"Queen Malora," I said, "this is Lia and Tamma. Lia and Tamma, this is Queen Malora."

They both looked at the dirt. Malora stepped forward and used her hands to lift their chins to her. Lia was full grown, but Tamma still had a year of growing left to do. "Hello, Lia," Malora said. "I am pleased to meet you, Tamma." Malora turned to me. "Did they misbehave?"

"Their parents did," I said.

She turned back to the girls. "You aren't going to misbehave if we untie your hands, are you?"

"N-no, Your Majesty," Lia said.

Malora smiled at them. "You should call me Queen Malora," she instructed. "Maya, untie them. They'll behave."

"You girls understand you need to stay with us for now," I said, and they both nodded. Nori and I untied their hands. The girls rubbed at their wrists, but they made no move to bolt.

Not that they would have gotten far; we were surrounded by Amazons.

After that, I let Malora work her magic on them. She was exceedingly charming, after all. The girls stood, enrapt, as Malora spoke softly to them. Nori and I stepped to the side, watching the square slowly fill with people.

"I made her cry," I said softly. "Damn it, Nori."

"I know," she said.

"I'm going to talk to Malora. I don't want you to keep being part of the bad team. But I need someone I know will stay cool. Badra was good."

"Don't worry about that," she replied. "You need either Malora or I there.
You keep doing what you're doing. And yes, Badra was good. She's steady."

"That c
ould have been a disaster with Tarine."

"Yep."

We watched as the square slowly filled. It took longer than twenty minutes, but as long as people continued to arrive, I was going to give them the opportunity. Finally the mayor approached, and Nori and I stepped forward to intercept him.

"Everyone is here. Give me my daughters!"

"Your daughters are busy talking to the queen," I said. "Is this everyone?"

"You said-"

"I said if you began to cooperate, we would talk. And we will. Your daughters are safe. You can see them." I shifted and pointed. "They are unharmed and they will remain unharmed. We will talk, and then we will tell you what is to happen next. And you are going to agree, aren't you, Mr. Mayor?"

"Please," he said. "Let me have my daughters back."

"We'll be discussing that." I frowned. "I have no intention of taking anyone from this village who doesn't want to go."

Then I turned my back. "What do you think?"

"We're short a few, but they may not be here," Nori said. "This village holds more than this."

"Do you think we have most of the daughters?"

"I can't tell."

"Mr. Mayor," I said, "right now the queen is asking your daughters for the names of all their friends. And in a moment, I am going to go over there and ask them to point to their friends. What do you think
we are going to do if any are missing?"

"Everyone is here!" he said.

"We both know that's not entirely true. Who is missing?"

"No one important!" he yelled. "No one!"

"Ah, Mr. Mayor, did I say 'bring only the important people' ? Who is missing?"

He stood up straight, and I was sure he was about to lie,
then he slumped. "There are a few old people who don't leave their beds any more. There are a few others who are sick."

"They may remain home," I said. "But we both know I will not be happy if I send my Amazon sisters on a door-to-door search. What will they find that will displease me?"

"There are a few mothers of very young children-"

I sighed dramatically.

"Who else?" Nori growled.

"And my sister."

No one said anything for a moment. "Small children need to be cared for, and I do not want young children here for this. If I go door to door, will I find any girls ages twelve to twenty-two, other than your sister's children."