Recruits (Keeper of the Water Book 2) (10 page)

A hand lightly touches my shoulder. I nearly turn and attack until I see that it’s Anne.

“First dead person you’ve seen?” I ask.

I shake my head. “Hunting on the plains is dangerous. I’ve seen several men trampled or gored to death, much more gruesome than this.”

I don’t add the part about how this is the first
murdered
person I’ve ever seen, but Anne doesn’t need to be told to know this.

“Protecting the water is
very
important, far more important than the life of one person. It had to be done. One day, you’ll understand. Now help me hide the body.”

Anne doesn’t really need my help dragging the dead soldier into the thicker brush but strangely enough, it’s a bonding experience. By the time we walk back to the rest of the tribe – which has made plans for our next move without Anne and me – I don’t feel quite so horrible.

With the sound of gunshots closer and closer, the Amazons act quickly. The first thing I do is retrieve my bow, which Cassie dropped unceremoniously in the dirt. I find myself wiping it down with the sleeve of my blouse, as much to wipe away Cassie’s essence than the actual dirt. I think the part that annoys me most about what just happened is that she had the gall to use
my
bow.

As most of the Amazons scout the nearby area and figure out where they’ll hide, the Keeper takes a step back into the water. She whispers a few words and swirls the water for a minute, which ends with her scooping a few drops out of the spring. The bright glowing disappears and a part of me feels sad that my place of Amazon initiation lasted such a short period of time.

I hope that’s not a sign of things to come for me in the tribe.

I would love to remain close to the Keeper, to prove my worth by keeping her safe, but it’s not my place to do so. The Amazons climb trees – two women to each one – and form a protective circle around the tallest, fullest tree in the area. This is the one where the Keeper will hide, as she tucks the bright vial of water into her shirt. I expect the older woman to have trouble climbing but nothing surprises me anymore, not even when the Keeper scales the tree with ease. Cassie follows closely behind and within seconds, the two of them disappear from sight, hidden in thick leafy coverage.

“Let’s go Recruit, we don’t have much time,” Anne says.

I follow my mentor toward a smaller tree just ahead, the first tree in the circle of protection. We’re the last Amazons to climb, but not before Cassie’s main crony – and my second recruiter – calls down from another nearby tree.

“Well Anne, you have your own recruit now. You’ve become a teacher so I won’t always be there to tell you what to do,” says the woman with the twin short swords.

“Let them concentrate on what they have to do now,” a timid voice says.

I look up to see the woman with the short curls on the branch above my second recruiter.

“Yes,
Mentor
, whatever you say,” says the member of the Queen Clan, though she calls down one final warning to me. “Hey, Recruit, just make sure Anne holds her temper.”

Anne chuckles, though it’s clear she doesn’t find her mentor very funny.

“You should be lucky to have a mentor like me, one who will try to help you and show you the
right
ways instead of one who hates you,” Anne says.

We climb high into our tree as the morning sun peeks above the horizon. It’s not the first time I’ve ever climbed a tree but it was certainly the easiest time. Within seconds we’re in position with a great view far into the forest. We spot plenty of movement of men in gray uniforms in the distance, apparently the young soldier’s regiment. From this vantage point, I can also see into many of the nearby trees, spot some of the Amazons who appeared invisible from the ground. Though the Keeper has plenty of protection, I’m still glad to have the perfect view of her tree from where I am.

Unfortunately, that means Cassie has an equally good view of us and I can see her eyes watching us through the leaves of her tree. I’m starting to wonder if I have more to fear from her or the soldiers.

Once Anne and I settle into our branch, she places her long spear on an empty branch and reaches into a scabbard slung over her back. I never noticed her wearing it before. She reaches into the scabbard and pulls out a sword. With gold hoops lining her ears and the skull branded into her arm, the sword appears much more appropriate.

“I’ve never seen you with anything but your spear,” I say.

“The spear seemed more appropriate for life in the tribe,” Anne says. “But my sword has kept me alive through plenty of dangerous times long
before
I became an Amazon.”

We wait in silence until the sun rises higher in the sky. The distant sound of laughter and gunshots continues to fill the air but the soldiers do not arrive as soon as we expect. The faint smell of a campfire finally wafts into our area as I keep my eyes peeled for any sign of approaching movement. But none comes and after nearly an hour, I can no longer keep silent.

“Why did we need to kill that soldier?” I whisper to my mentor.

“Some of the Amazons have been protecting the water for hundreds of years, traveling all across the globe to keep its secret safe,” Anne explains. “You’ve seen what it can do, how it can heal, how powerful it can be. Now imagine what would happen if the water fell into the wrong hands, if a power-hungry
man
happened to gain control of it and use it for the wrong reasons.”

“I guess that wouldn’t be good,” I say with a frown.

Anne nods. “It would be
especially
bad for one of
these
men to harness the power of the water. This country is in the middle of war and if used correctly, our water could swing the tide to one side or another. Our interests don’t exactly rely upon the outcome of this war – our singular goal of protecting the water will far outlast the results of this war – but we certainly don’t want the men in gray to have any more chance of winning. A single man’s life is not worth that risk.

“I never question the Keeper’s decisions, even when they might seem unsavory. She is very wise and has done so much for all the Amazons, especially me. Despite my questionable past, she was able to see that I could prove beneficial to the tribe. Not all of the women here were so willing to trust and accept me; as I’m sure you can tell, some of the women are still unable.”

“The Queen Clan doesn’t seem to trust anybody,” I say supportively – not that Anne seems like the kind of woman who relies upon the support of others.

“You got that right,” she says. “But they weren’t the only ones. It didn’t help that Catherine was my unwilling mentor. Like I said, I never question the Keeper’s decisions but my life around here would’ve been much easier if the line of succession was followed and I became Jane’s recruit.”

Anne stares off into the distance. I’m not sure if she’s focused on searching for intruders or if she’s trying to stop me from seeing the pain in her eyes. Regardless of her deep-seeded appreciation for the Keeper, I sense that Anne
does
question some of the old woman’s choices that have impacted her life. Anne has always been kind to me but I’ve seen the way she acts around others, the way the Amazons look at her. I wonder if she’s truly as tough as she seems to act.

“I’m sorry, Mentor, but I’m not really great with names and nobody’s exactly introduced themselves to me yet,” I say. “Who’s Catherine and Jane? And what do you mean about the line of succession not being followed?”

“Now that you’ve become one of us, there’s no point trying to hide anybody’s true identity anymore. Normally, the last recruit to join the tribe then becomes mentor for the next recruit: I was the last to be initiated an Amazon so I was sent to recruit you. The last to join the Amazons before me was Jane Austen, the woman with the short curly hair. She was some sort of writer; I don’t know, I never really read much. Technically I was here before her but Jane
should’ve
been my mentor since she was fully accepted into the group before me. In the end, the Keeper decided that Catherine should mentor me since she recruited me. I suppose Catherine didn’t fully embrace the welcoming ways of the Amazon spirit with Jane either so the Keeper had her take a second turn with me. Just my luck, huh?”

“Catherine? She’s the one with the two short swords?” I ask.

I look toward one of the other nearby trees and spot Jane between a break in the leaves. I don’t see Catherine, who must have taken the better spot hidden higher up.

“That’s her, Catherine the Great,” Anne explains. “She was obviously welcomed into the Queen Clan with open arms and seems more than willing to do Queen Cassie’s bidding. Catherine clearly didn’t want to be my mentor and from what I gathered, she wasn’t the greatest teacher for Jane either. When the Keeper requested that Catherine accompany me in finding you, I was worried I wouldn’t get my own recruit.”

A part of me feels relieved that Anne
wanted
a recruit, that she
wants
me to work so closely with her. There’s been times I’ve felt like I was a burden to her…

“I’m sure Catherine would’ve
loved
if I was her recruit,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“She would’ve
acted
like she hated it but her goal might have been to keep you away from me. She sure wasn’t very supportive the few times we met you before,” Anne says. “The Queen Clan makes no secret of the fact that they don’t like us
commoners
in the tribe. I think Catherine has
tried
to dissuade Jane and me and you from joining. And I’m sure her little friends had something to do with that. They should’ve known enough about my past to realize I’m not easily pushed around.”

Anne grins the grin of a woman with a mischievous past. I should probably stay quiet but I can’t help asking the obvious question.

“What
was
your past? You said before that some of the women didn’t trust you because of it…”

“I know all about your life so it’s only fair you find out about mine,” Anne says. “As I’m sure you noticed, many of the Amazons were once famous for different reasons. I’m not different. My full name is Anne Bonny.”

She pauses long enough to let this news sink in. Unfortunately, I’m not exactly sure
what
is supposed to be sinking in.

“I’m sorry but I’ve never heard of you before,” I admit.

Anne’s sinister smile returns and she lightly tosses the handle of her sword from one hand to the other.

“I appreciate your honesty,” she says. “But at one time in my life, I would’ve slit the throat of anyone who said that to my face.”

Instinctively I put my hand to my throat and try to back away but bump into the tree trunk. Anne lowers her sword and smiles again, though this time without the malice.

“Relax, Recruit. I’m an Amazon now. The only time I use violence is in defense of my Keeper, the water or my fellow Amazons. But before I became a woman of nature, I was one of the world’s most feared pirates,” Anne says, pausing again to let me ponder this. For the second time in minutes, I don’t give her the response she expects. “You
do
know what a pirate is, don’t you?”

Now it’s my turn to smile.

“I may have spent most of my life on the plains but I lived for years in outposts and forts before you saved my life,” I explain. “Toussaint was abusive in many ways but he never stopped me from learning. If I was never married to him, I probably wouldn’t have learned to read, learned about how much more is out there in the world… like pirates.”

“It was a very exciting life,” Anne says. “For years, I grew up as a normal, proper woman living a normal, proper life. It was also painfully
boring
. My father married me off to a poor sailor, who was good for little more than teaching me how to work on a boat. He was overbearing and drunk most of the time and took me to away from my family to live in the Caribbean. I was forced to move from Ireland when I was a girl and then South Carolina when I got older – and they wondered
why
I had issues with my temper?

“Anyway, I met a pirate in the islands and he immediately took a liking to me. You don’t find too many fair-skinned, red-haired Irish lasses down in those parts. I was enthralled by his lifestyle so I left my husband and joined forces with Calico Jack. Along with our friend Mary, we stole a ship and pirated the seas for several years, looting and pillaging and drinking and fighting. We were wanted pirates but lived each day like it was our last. Those are days I will never forget…”

Anne’s green eyes twinkle in the early morning sun. If I hadn’t known her, it would be difficult to imagine such a beautiful woman living that sort of rugged, manly lifestyle…

“I can see why the Amazons – especially the Queen Clan – were nervous about someone like you joining.”

Anne chuckles but quickly forces herself to be quiet. We
are
supposed to be hiding though there’s still no sign of approaching soldiers.

“Many of my exploits on the high seas became stories of legend and the Amazon scouts undoubtedly told the entire tribe. Most of the women still act nervous around me but the Keeper recognized something from those stories. I’m glad she did: I would be dead now if not for her,” Anne says. “In hindsight, I realize that plundering was not the best way to exert my feminine strength but it sure felt great to prove that no man would be the boss of me.

“But the good times could only last but so long. We were eventually caught, though
I
certainly fought well enough so it didn’t feel deserved. By that time, Mary and I were the ones in charge of the ship and Calico Jack was our inferior. I no longer needed him for anything and he did not appreciate that. The authorities tried stopping us several times but we always fought them away. But that last time, Jack was too busy sulking to properly battle and the three of us were overwhelmed, captured and sentenced to death. Jack was the first to be hung but I was not sad to see him go; if he’d fought like a man, he wouldn’t have had to die like a dog.