Amazon Companion (39 page)

"Called you what?"

"My queen. You've called me Queen Malora, but never 'my queen'."

"What's the difference?"

"My."

"Well, you are, aren't you?"

"I am very pleased you feel that way."

"Until you decide to return me home, you are my queen."

"Then I am your queen forever," she said. "I will never choose to return you home."

I didn't understand.

* * * *

I slept heavily, exhausted, but I woke before her. Sometime in the night she had moved me to her other side, but still I lay atop her.

I was somewhat surprised to find I was cupping one of her breasts.

Slowly I released it, pulling my hand away, then climbed out from the bed and pulled my clothing from the tent. I dressed quietly.

I turned east. The sky was lightening, I could see through an opening in the trees, but it was not yet day. I turned to the stables, found our tack in the dim light, then one-by-one, caught our horses. I prepared them for the day's travel then left them. I went to the kitchen. The cook was already there, preparing breakfast for the village, and she had packed several days
' meals for us. It was all ready to go.

"If you wait just a moment, I'll have a hot meal for you."

I thanked her, collecting everything, and then hurried back to my warrior. When I arrived at the tent, I heard movement inside.

"Maya?" she called out.

"I have your breakfast, but my hands are full."

She poked her nose out of the tent, and I presented her with a breakfast sausage. She slipped out of the tent, pulling her boots on, and then we sat together, eating quickly.

"Better this morning?"

"Yes," she replied. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." I was glad I was at least of some use to her. But I'd seen her looks of disappointment yesterday.

Mar and Slip caught up to us at the stables as we were placing the last packs onto the horses. Malora turned to Mar as I finished readying the horses and pulling them from the paddock. I held their reins as Malora and Mar spoke briefly. It seems like an intense discussion, and both of them glanced at me a few times, but Slip moved to me and tried to distract me.

"Don't worry, Slip," I said. "I already know what it's about." I moved further away with the horses and pretended they needed attention. I triple-checked that everything was ready while Slip stood watching.

Several minutes later, Malora and Mar walked over. "Ready to go?"

"Yes." I held her horse's head while she mounted, and then I climbed aboard my own horse.

"Thank you, Mar," she said. "It has been an illuminating two days."

Malora turned her horse, and my heart jumped when she turned west.

She'd said we would go west. She said we'd travel faster through the western plains. But she had also said if she ever decided to send me home, she would take me herself. I wondered if that was what she was doing.

We rode quietly for a while, and then Malora asked me, "What did you think of Parlomith as a trainer."

"I do not believe I am qualified to comment," I said after a moment's thought.

"I am deeply aware of your qualifications, Maya. I asked you a question. I want an answer."

I thought about it. "I
believe Parlomith achieves results."

She turned her horse, blocking the path, and I came to a stop. "I want a complete answer. Do not play word games with me."

She looked angry, and I wondered when she would begin yelling at me, either about my poor performance on the training field, or my trip down the river.

"I believe I would rather train with you or Nori. Or Vorine and
Omie. I believe I would rather fight Omie in an all-holds-allowed wrestling match than train under Parlomith. But she would probably achieve results. If you had left me with her, I would have run at the first opportunity. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Then I smiled. "On the other hand, I wouldn't mind introducing her to water wrestling."

Malora laughed briefly.

"Tell me why you feel so strongly. Maya, I really need to know."

"While I dislike training anyway, at least you and Nori understand there are differences in students. She spent the entire time bullying me. I believe she thinks she was helping, but it was still bullying." I paused. "The question I have is whether she trains the same way you did before meeting me."

"You know," Malora admitted, "that's a fair question, and I'm not sure I want to think about the answer too hard. I may not like what I decide."

"Why are you asking me this?"

"She has asked to become the companion trainer at Queen's Town."

"So we're heading west to take me home before you accept, right?"

"No, we are not."

"I see. Have you accepted her offer?"

"I am still thinking about it."

I didn't have a response to that. I'd told her what I felt.

"
Maya, as you said, she gets results."

"Then I guess there's nothing more for me to say."

I stepped my horse past hers, heading west. After a moment, she rode past me to take the lead again.

We didn't talk again that morning until it was time for lunch. An hour later, we broke through the last line of trees, and the plains were before us.

To my chagrin, we immediately turned south, now riding side-by-side.

Hours later, we arrived at a small lake, an hour before dusk. Malora paused her horse, staring at the water then judging the sun. "This is the best location for several hours," she said.

"If we stop, I would swim."

"I think I would, too. I didn't bathe yesterday."

"We have soap. I wish we could wash our clothes, but I don't know how we would dry them. They would grow musty if we packed them damp."

She nodded, and we climbed from our horses. She helped me settle the horses and set up camp, then we grabbed the soap and stepped to the edge of the lake. We disrobed together, then she glanced over at me.

"Maya!"

I turned to her. "What?"

"I heard about your trip down the river."

"I thought perhaps you had."

"I told Mar I trusted your judgment. I see I was wrong to do so. I am very embarrassed."

I stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"You have dozens of bruises from your trip down the river. You could have been killed!"

I straightened up. "I have dozens of bruises," I spat. "That is true. But not a single one is from my trip down the
river. This one," and I pointed, "is from Suza. So is this one, although it is nothing compared to the one that Parlomith placed on top of it. All the rest are from your new trainer of companions."

She stared at me. "That isn't true."

"Believe what you want."

I turned away and began to wade into the water, but she stopped me with a hand on my arm. She began examining the bruises carefully, each one.

"These are all from a staff!" she said. "Every single one!"

"I told you. And you called me a liar. I bet if you asked
Parlomith, she would explain she was teaching me to defend myself, or perhaps accuse me of bragging."

"Bragging?"

I relayed that part of the conversation, and her expression grew even more incensed.

"Oh," I said, "Don't pretend to care now. You couldn't have been more disappointed in me. I saw the looks you gave me."

"What looks?"

"The looks that said how disappointed you were in me, and how much I embarrassed you."

"Well you are mistaken."

"I know what I saw."

"And I know what I saw when I saw your body."

"You were wrong."

"So were you."

"I saw the looks."

"You saw looks of disapproval and embarrassment, but you were not the target. Parlomith was."

I stared at her.

"I was going to turn her offer down until you said you thought she'd get results." She examined my body again. "This is barbaric!"

"Thank you for leaving me in her gentle care." I pulled away and stepped into the water. Malora followed me, and we waded out into the gentle water.

"This is why you didn't want me holding you last night."

"Of course. I told you I had a few bruises. But what's the difference? You're going to get rid of me sooner or later."

"That's ridiculous."

"I'm a pitiful, worthless excuse for an Amazon," I said. "I have it on good authority. I am an extreme embarrassment, and the only reason you accepted me was because you couldn't force anyone to take me and you couldn't send me home."

"That's ridiculous," she said. "Who would tell you something like that?" She paused. "Parlomith."

I turned away and began bathing.

"I'm going to kill her!" she screamed. "Pack up, we're turning around!" And then I had to run in the water to catch up to her and stop her before she got to shore.

"Let go! I know we've been riding all day, but we can get halfway back tonight and she'll be dead by noon."

"No!" I said. "Malora, no! That's murder."

She turned to me. "The relationship between a warrior and companion is sacred. Sacred! She interfered, and she knew what she was doing when she did it. Her actions directly impinged on your ability to do the most important duty you have! She knew you wouldn't want to be touched after
she did this to you."

"Maybe," I said. "So?"

"So I'm going to kill her! I needed you last night."

"Didn't I help?"

"You did, but any other companion may not have, and if we hadn't grown to trust each other, I may not have been willing to express my need after you pushed me away. It would have put a wedge between us."

"Honestly, Malora, she doesn't think that subtly." I tugged on her. "Right now, I need a swim, and so do you. Come swim with me. I promise I won't dunk you."

She didn't crack a smile, but the joke opened a crack in her anger.

"Please, Malora. Come swim with me. Calm down. She can't hurt me now, and you should decide what to do when you are calmer. You should talk to your advisors. And if you are going to kill her, invite her to Queen's Town and let me take her swimming."

"No," she said. "If she's going to die, it will be my hand, not yours. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Malora. It was a joke. Mostly. Come on. I don't want to ride half the night. Do you have any money?"

"Money?"

"How far out of
our way are the villages on these plains?"

"What do you want to buy?"

"Clothes. Fishing hooks."

"They won't have fishing hooks on the plains, and they won't have Amazon clothing."

I pulled her arm.

"They'll have leather," she said. "I have money."

I smiled. "Please, Malora. Swim with me."

We swam.

"Are one and a quarter Amazons safe if we go to one of the villages?"

"A quarter?" she said, pulling me very carefully into her arms while we bobbed in the water. "Are you an entire quarter Amazon?"

"I was rounding up."

"Was it a serious question?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then the answer is: maybe. You and another companion? No. I wouldn't let you go. But I am somewhat more capable than a companion. And while you don't believe it, you are more capable than anyone stupid enough to take on two Amazons."

"It's safe?"

"Yes. The villages here know what the Amazons do anyway. It's the bandits that are the danger."

"There are bandits?"

"The villages are few and far between, and there are rough canyons that can hide desperate men. We would need to travel through some of them. No one lives near the forest."

"Is it too far?"

"No. It's not too far. We'll go. We'll be a half day late meeting
Ralla, but she'll wait."

I wrapped myself around her, hugging her. "Thank you, Malora."

She wrapped her arms around me slowly. "You're bruised everywhere. I don't know where it's safe to touch you."

"She missed my ass, but we don't have that kind of relationship."

Malora laughed, and it was a pleasant sound.

"You'll have to let me do the holding for a few days, Malora."

"A week. Damn it, I need you, Maya."

"I'm here, Malora. You can map the bruises in your mind and consider it a puzzle to solve."

She smiled.

Later, on shore, she asked me to stand still with my hands on the top of my head, and she walked around me, cataloging my bruises. I watched while she figured out how she could hold me. She sighed.