Authors: Robin Roseau
Beria
looked at them and said quietly, "Parlomith whipped me." And then she started to cry.
I immediately went to her, sitting down in the grass and pulling her into my arms. Soon all the remaining companions were clustered together in one large group hug, soothing her.
"Why?" asked Jasmine.
"Because she's a psychopath. You all know she challenged Malora, right?"
They nodded.
"This was the opening move, challenging Malora's authority. I'm only shocked she didn't whip me, too, but maybe she decided going after my sister would cause more damage to my relationship with Malora."
Beria was still crying quietly, clutching at me.
"We'll have our wrestling match this afternoon," I declared. "We're going swimming instead. Beria will that be all right?" She nodded. We climbed to our feet.
"We need to train," Aura said.
"We're going to train," I replied. "Go ahead. I'll be along in a minute." I gave them a collective push towards the river then ran over to speak to Nori. She was watching Malora facing off against
Ralla. The other warriors had divided themselves into swords and staffs as well and were working through moves slowly.
"I'm taking them swimming, Nori," I said. "I'll give them a good workout. When you're done here, we want company. Bring everyone."
She nodded.
I watched Malora with Ralla for a moment. "Will she be ready?"
"She'll be ready." She turned to me, putting her hands on my shoulders. "Parlomith is good. She's very good. But she doesn't have all of Queen's Town behind her. She doesn't have you, soothing her voices. She doesn't have Ralla and me, working her hard. She is probably training against two swords; everyone knows that's Malora's style. But she doesn't have anyone who she can train with that is as good as Malora. She'll need to train against four opponents to match Malora, and four opponents make a very big, very clumsy target. I promise you, Malora will be ready."
I nodded.
"Meet us in the river. I'll have towels and soap but no changes of clothing."
She nodded once more and turned back to Malora and Ralla.
I ran to the laundry and collected as many towels as I could carry, stuffing a few bars of soap in my pockets at the same time. Laden down, I waddled to the river then set the towels out in the sun to warm up.
The companions were just stepping into the water when I got there. Beria was still dressed, sitting on the rocks next to the pool, her knees clutched in her arms. I sat down next to her.
"They'll see," she said.
"They need to see."
"I don't want their pity."
"They need to know why we're fighting."
"We should be fighting demons, not other Amazons."
"Beria, an Amazon fights to protect the weak from the bullies. Demons are not the only bullies in the world. Will the water feel good?"
She nodded. "I'm sorry I cried. I thought I was over that. I don't want their pity." I was worried when she began to repeat herself.
"You won't have pity. You'll have strength and love." I stood up. "Sisters!"
Out in the water, they all turned to me. I was pleased to see Aura had been splashing around with Bea, well out in the deep section of the pool. She had come so far in three years.
"We are all companions. It is our duty to ease the pain of our warriors. We do so when we honor their strength and we ho
nor their sacrifice. And we ease them through our touch, our love, our laughter, our play. But sometimes it is not only our warriors whose pain we ease. We must also, from time to time, ease the pain of our other sisters."
I bent down and took Beria's arm, then began tugging her to her feet. I turned her to face me, her back to the river.
"I love you," I whispered to her. "Close your eyes."
She did, and I began to untie the laces of her tunic. Slowly, I eased it from her shoulders. I left the unders
hirt in place, then I took her boots from her, then her leggings. Finally, very carefully, I pulled the shift from her.
There were several gasps from the companions in the water, and
a tear slid down Beria's cheek. I stepped closer, whispering, "I love you," to her again. "Keep your eyes closed."
Then I took her hand and turned her, leading
her to the water. By the time we arrived, Jasmine was there, surprising me, and she reached for Beria's hands. "You're still dressed," Jasmine said. "We've got her." Then Neela and Bea were there, too, and the three of them led Beria into the water.
While I undressed, all of them took turns bathing her, talking quietly to her, being gentle with her back, but I heard laughter, and I thought perhaps they were all teasing each other.
I undressed slowly and entered the water quietly, swimming out into the middle of the pool without disturbing the ritual cleansing of my sister. They were companions, and they would ease her soul. It's what we did.
I floated in the water, watching. The companions were gentle with her, but they didn't baby her. They washed her hair, which is always soothing, but they also washed her back, their touch gentle. I watched as Beria stiffened for a moment,
then relaxed.
Finally, she turned to me, and she smiled before ducking under the water. I wonder if she was about to begin a dunking game. Instead, she surfaced a few feet in front of me, smiling. I returned her smile.
"We should be training," she said.
"Before the warriors join us, we are all going to talk." I led the way back to shallower water, collecting all the companions together into a loose circle around me. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Some chief from the south challenged Malora," said Gweneth, the youngest. "Malora will beat her." She shrugged. "What's the big deal?"
"The chief who challenged Malora is the same chief who whipped Beria's back," I explained. "That's a big deal, I'd say. And she's the same chief who once beat me so badly I couldn't properly serve as companion to Malora."
Bea, Aura and Neela knew the story. "That Parlomith?" Bea asked.
"Yes."
"She's a bitch!" Bea said. "Why didn't Malora kill her then?"
"That's my fault. I begged her not
to. The Amazons needed every warrior we had, and I didn't want her blood on my hands. It was my mistake."
"No," said Bea. "You made the best decision you could at the time, and no one can blame you."
"That's right," said Beria. "So put that guilt away."
I nodded.
"But Malora's going to beat her. Will she kill her?" Gweneth asked.
"It's to the death," I said. "One of them is going to die during that fight."
"So no biggie," said Gweneth.
"You never underestimate your enemy," Bea said. "And
Parlomith is good." She paused. "Clara is worried."
"So is Ralla," Jasmine said.
I explained the concerns, and I explained the other challenge matches. "If you hear warriors challenging Malora, and they are Malora's allies, do not become angry."
"But Malora is going to win. Right?" said Gweneth. "She can't lose."
"The entire village is going to do everything we can to make sure she wins," I said. "But she may lose. And that is why Nori and Ralla and most of the other warriors have challenged Malora."
"All of them?"
"I don't know if Omie has gotten around to it yet. She wasn't here."
"What do we do?" Aura asked.
"Our jobs. We are companions. For the next two weeks, we do everything to ease the souls of everyone in Queen's Town. Our warriors will need us."
Aura, Neela and Bea conferred for a moment then Neela said, "We'll bring our rabbit snares in for now. We'll do that this afternoon."
"Take your warriors for walks or rides, though," I said. "Anything to ease their souls and drive away the voices. Remain calm and steady."
"And you, Maya," Beria asked. "Will you remain calm and steady? Or are you going to fight with Malora like you always do."
"I will make sure Malora is ready to fight." I looked around. "Any other questions?"
There weren't any.
"All right," I said. "Which of you thinks she is the best swimmer?"
"You are," Beria said immediately.
"After me."
They looked around, eyes finally settling on Beria.
"All right, Beria and I are captains for team water wrestling. I'll explain the rules once we've picked teams. Beria, pick first."
"Bea."
I ended up with Neela, Aura and Gweneth. Beria had Bea, Jasmine, Serra and Careen.
"All right, you have to protect your team captain," I said. "We'll start at opposite sides of the pool. The idea is to get the other team captain to either tap out or get held under for a slow count of thirty. Anyone else who taps out or is held under switches teams. You should each play your best for whatever team you're on. Anyone who has recently been flipped to another team can have a brief break out of the water if she needs it, and anyone towing someone
to safety is immune to attack. Questions?"
There were none, so I led my team to the right side of the pool. Be
ria took hers to the other side, and the four of them huddled for a minute.
"
You three can hold your breaths for a long time, right?"
"Sure," Gweneth said, Neela
and Aura nodding. I clasped Aura's hand for a moment, proud she wasn't afraid of the water.
"Okay, what we're going to do is this. When
I say 'go', we're all going to sink. You're going to both stick together and swim to the right, way over to the edge near the rocks. Then stay underwater together as long as you can and still come up very quietly. Keep doing that. Catch your breaths then if they see you, go back under the water and come up somewhere else."
"We're supposed to protect you,"
Aura said.
"I'm going to try to
strengthen our odds. I'm going to see if I can flip one or even two of them. Got it?"
They both nodded. We looked across the water and waited for Beria's huddle to finish.
"We're ready!" I called out.
"Us, too," Beria said. "You are going down, big sister!"
I laughed. "Then begin."
Immediately the
five of them began moving towards us, calmly, Beria's team spread four across with her immediately behind them. I saw that Careen, the weakest swimmer, was on our right.
"Move forward slowly," I said. As soon as the two teams were about six strong strokes apart, I sa
id, "Now," and immediately dived to the bottom. I looked up, and all three from my team were under and swimming away. At the bottom, I found a rock I could pick up, cradling it in one arm, then moved forward another few feet. Above me I could barely see kicking feet. I pushed off the bottom, grabbed the rightmost foot, pulling it into my arms, and then let us both sink.
She struggled. I looked to be sure, and I had Careen. Down at the bottom, I began dragging her backwards, further from her teammates. She continued to struggle to free herself. As soon as I thought we were far enough away that her teammates wouldn't find us, I reeled Gweneth down towards me.
She stopped struggling and then she doubled over, tapping frantically on the top of my head.
I pulled my feet out of the way and dropped the rock, then pushed hard off the bottom, pulling Gweneth to the surface. As soon as we broke surface, I dragged her to the nearest edge of the pool. She sputtered a little, but I put her hand on the rock and checked on her.
"I'm fine," she said. "They're after you."
I turned around and I saw Beria's team after me.
Careen turned to climb out onto the rocks, and I gave her a big push, shoving myself underwater at the same time. I swam away.
Neela
, Aura and Gweneth were to my left, so underwater, I swam to them, coming up amongst them. "Good job," I said. "Duck down and head ten strokes to the left. I'm going to bring someone to you. As soon as I tap you, grab her and hold her until she taps out. Go."
They disappeared, and I felt them swim away together.
"You're teammates seem to be deserting you," Beria said, the three of them stopping about ten strokes in front of me, treading water. "How long does Careen sit out?"
"Careen, rejoin the game as soon as you've caught your breath," I hollered to her. "Try to hook up with Neela." And then I ducked under, swimming left then towards where Beria had been, hoping to see Jasmine. It too
k me a moment to find her, but there she was, her face in the water, watching for me. I surfaced, grabbed her, then climbed up her body, pushing her under, then let myself sink as well, pulling Jasmine away from her teammates.
They were slow to respond, and I managed to deliver Jasmine to
my team, handing her to their waiting arms. I took a big breath and launched myself at Beria, Serra and Bea, letting them catch me. Together, they dragged me from my own teammates as I struggled in their hold. I could hear Beria laughing, and then they pushed me under.