Amazon Challenge (9 page)

"It wasn't a threat so much as an attempt to intimidate coupled with frustration."

I glanced over. Malora had involved Badra in her discussion with Lia and Tamma, and a moment later she rose and moved to us. As soon as she arrived, I pressed myself against her, and she wrapped her arms around me.

"You're trembling."

"I'm a little cold," I replied. "Hold me, please."

"You are not cold. What happened?" But she pulled me more tightly against her.

"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 frustra
tion, 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 sa
id. "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.

"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 s
pend 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.