Authors: Robin Roseau
"You can't have her!" I yelled again.
Everyone stepped away from us, not a single person stepping in to help. The women carried steel, but we greatly outnumbered them. How could we stand by and let them take our sisters and daughters? Well, they weren't taking Beria!
The woman -- Riva --
straightened, studying me. "You would fight for her?" she asked me.
"Yes! Wouldn't you fight for your sister?"
She smiled. "Yes, I imagine I would. Very well." She reached to her belt and withdrew her sword.
I gulped. I had come to a sword fight with nothing but an old woman's cane.
"Hold!"
It was the Amazon leader's voice, speaking firmly. She closed the short distance to us, taking a position as the third
point of a triangle. I saw her out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't take my eyes off the woman with the sword.
I was going to die, but I would do what I could to protect my sister.
"We did not come here to kill anyone, Riva," the leader said.
"She offers a fight," Riva replied. "I did not ask for this fight."
"Do you really want as companion the sister of someone you killed in an uneven fight of sword against cane?" the leader asked. She paused. "She looks fierce. What if she beats you? Those seem to be your two choices. Do you wish to lose a duel of steel against cane?"
"I have a right to my companion," Riva said. "What do you recommend, Nori?"
"I recommend you leave without a companion," I said hotly. "Beria isn't going with you."
"Maya," Beria said from behind me. "She'll kill you. Please, I'll go." She moved to step past me.
"No!" I said. "She can't have you!" I glanced at their leader. "She's only twelve. I know what you do with your companions. She's only twelve!"
"We do not consider a girl a woman until she is sixteen," their leader said. "We do not abuse children."
"You don't? You take them from their homes."
"We do not abuse them."
"You can't have Beria!" I said hotly.
"So you will fight for her?" the leader asked.
"Yes." I eyed Riva with her sword.
"Well then," the woman
said. "So be it, but let none say it was not a fair fight." And then she stepped forward towards me, holding her sword towards me, offering me the hilt.
I glanced at it. "I wouldn't even know how to hold it," I said. "She'll run me through, and then she'll take my sister. You're going to let my murderer have my sister?
"
The leader stepped back. "Yes, that was my point. Well, there is another solution." She raised her voice. "Glarine, I need two
staffs!"
"Coming, Nori," said another voice, and a moment later a woman strode forth from behind Nori carrying two of the big sticks some of the strange woman carried. She handed them to Nori, who had sheathed her own sword.
"Give one of these to Riva and take her steel," Nori said. Glarine took one of the staffs back then took Riva's sword and knife. Riva frowned but hefted the shaft. She had appeared more confident with the sword than the big stick.
"A cane is still outmatched by a staff," Nori said. "Would you trade with me now? I believe your village elder would like her cane back." I glanced at the woman, and she was holding the
staff out. I edged towards her, watching Riva carefully, keeping Beria behind me.
She handed me the staff and I thrust the cane at her. She held the cane out behind her, and after that I lost track of it. I assumed it would make its way back to Juna.
I held the heavy staff in two hands, crossed at an angle in front of me. While Riva didn't look confident with hers, I didn't have a clue what to do with it.
"You can still kill with a staff," the Amazon leader said. "It would be better if that did not happen." She turned to Beria. "Girl. Retreat to your mother until this is settled."
"Maya," Beria said again. "Please, I'll go with her."
"You will not!" I said. "You're only twelve. Go to mother."
Beria was long accustomed to obeying when I told her to do something, especially when I used my teacher's authoritative voice. She retreated away from me, and glancing backwards, I saw mother wrap her arms around Beria.
"The fight ends when one of you yields or I declare a winner. Either of you fighting after I call a halt will face my wrath. Village girl, what is your name?"
"Maya," I said. "I am the town teacher."
"I see. Maya, you do not want me angry with you. When I say stop, you will stop, win or lose. Agree now or I will run you through myself."
"Agreed," I said.
"Riva, I don't need to warn you."
"No, Nori."
"Ready. Fight."
The woman came after me without a pause. I found myself backing away from her, barely deflecting her blows with my staff, each blow making my arms shake. She struck, struck, struck. I made a few half-hearted attempts to swing back at her, which she easily deflected.
She smiled and paused. "Yield now and I promise to treat your sister well. She will be very accustomed to obeying me by the time she turns sixteen."
That was a mistake. She made me angry.
"You aren't taking my sister!" I screamed, and I launched my own attacks.
I learned in subsequent years that fighting from anger is a poor choice, second only to fighting from fear.
But it was all I had.
It was Riva's turn to give ground as I swung and swung at her. She thrust at me with her staff, catching me firmly in the chest and knocking me back a foot. It hurt, it hurt quite a lot, but I shoved her staff aside and swung again. She deflected, and I put renewed energy into each swing.
Twice more she managed to hit me with her staff, each of them hurting, one of them turning my arm numb for a moment, but I gritted my teeth and swung with everything I had. She blocked with her staff, but I had swung so hard, I still managed to hit her firmly against the shoulder.
She drew backwards, frowning. I paused, catching my breath and shaking my arm out.
The square remained quiet except for the sounds of two women, now both panting from their exertions, and a few younger children crying.
Then Riva came after me again, swinging heavily with her staff. She would have beaned me good, ending the fight for sure, but I barely ducked under it, planting my own staff in the ground and catching her in the chest with the other end. It was entirely accidental, but she bounced off of it, landing on her ass.
I'm not sure which of us was more surprised.
From her position on the ground, she swung at my feet. I jumped over the swing then decided it must be fair to fight like that, so I swung back, a glancing blow against her skull. She fell backwards, rolling away from me. I would have pursued, but I was so surprised I'd hit her I stopped and stared. She climbed to her feet, one hand rubbing her head.
"Yield, Riva?"
their leader asked.
"No!"
I went after her. "You can't have my sister!" I screamed.
My lucky blow had taken a lot out of her, and I was angry. These women came to our village to steal our food and our children. They were too lazy to raise their own grain and thought we owed them tribute for keeping us safe from non-existent demons, and I wasn't having it.
I swung and swung, and then I caught Riva across the arm again. She cried out, but she swung back at me, and I barely deflected her attack, retreating from her. She held her ground, but was now holding her staff one handed, the other hanging limply.
I stared. Had I broken it?
"Yield, Riva?" the leader asked.
"No! I will not be bested by a teacher of children!"
Holding the staff one handed, she swung it at me. I deflected it easily then thrust the end of my staff towards Riva's stomach. She turned it away, but it had been a feint, and I swung the staff, cracking across her injured arm again. She fell back, but I pursued, swinging, swinging, swinging. Every several swings I caught her a glancing blow, none of them individually seeming to do much damage, but she was growing slower. I feinted towards her face, and when she blocked it upwards, I swung the other end of the staff, catching a glancing blow to Riva's legs.
She went down, and I raised my staff to finish the fight.
"Hold!" came a firm voice. "Stop!"
I wavered.
"Maya! Back away. You won!"
I froze, staring down at the girl.
I felt sick. I backed away, and the Amazon leader stepped forward, her sword out, interposing herself between Riva and me. Two more of the Amazons stepped forward to deal with the injured woman, and Nori turned to face me directly.
"She held back, not wanting to injure you terribly."
"You said I won."
"You did."
"Beria is safe."
"Beria was always safe, Maya," the woman said. "But Beria will remain with her mother."
"And you will now all leave," I said.
"Oh no," the woman said. "Riva still needs a companion."
"She had her chance from this village," I said. "She lost."
The woman frowned. "Yes, she did."
I glanced past the woman. Riva was sitting up and talking quietly to the two Amazon women.
"Did I hurt her?" I asked.
Nori glanced around then turned back to me. "Only her pride." Then without turning her back on me she said, "Riva, you are owed a companion. I collected a present for Malora. Would that girl suffice for you? I will find a better present for Malora."
"Yes, Nori," the girl said from the ground.
"Well," said Nori. "That is settled." She eyed me and smiled. "And now you will be Malora's present."
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" I said. "Take your women and go."
She smiled. "I thought that was what you would say. Riva, give me your staff."
Riva struggled to get up. One of the other women traded Riva's staff for Nori's sword. Nori
handed over the scabbard as well, then her knife. She was left with the staff and, although I didn't realize its significance at the time, a coil of rope slung from her belt.
The
three women cleared away from us, one of the women helping Riva. I was left facing Nori, who was holding the staff with far more confidence than Riva had shown.
"Well," she said, pacing back and forth in front of me, spinning the staff casually. "If you go willingly, it will be far more pleasant for you."
"You're going to have to kill me," I told her.
"I don't think so," she said. "And that would be a waste." She eyed me up and down. "So much fire. Maya, set the staff aside and go willingly."
I raised it between us.
"So be it. Fight." And then she waited for me.
I stared at her, not moving. She smiled. "You don't want first swing?"
"You want me, come and get me," I told her.
So she did.
The fight didn't last long. She threw two swings at me with her staff, but they were carefully designed to pull me off balance. Then in a one-two strike, she hit the fingers of one hand and then the other, not hard enough to break my hands, but hard enough I dropped the staff. Two more swings struck my arms, more firmly than my hands, and I cried out, my arms numb; she had gotten my arms like I had gotten Riva's arm. Then Nori stepped past me, whacking the backs of my legs, causing me to crumple to my knees.
Before I could even move, or yield, she was on me, bearing me to the ground. She pulled my limp arms behind my back, and I learned why she had the rope. She began binding my hands.
I struggled, crying out, but she worked efficiently, trussing my arms tightly. She called out for a second rope and bound my legs tightly together.
"Someone help me!" I called out. "There aren't that many of them. Don't let them do this to us!"
No one raised a finger.
"Throw her over my horse," Nori said. Strong hands clasped me. I struggled, but they lifted me easily. I swore and screamed at them, but I found myself thrown over the back of a horse. I tried to slither down, but they held me in place, and then Nori mounted behind me, adjusting me across her saddle.
"Let's go," she said.
Riding the back of a horse on
my stomach with my arms bound behind my back may have been the most unpleasant experience of my life to that date. I thought perhaps childbirth could be worse, but childbirth comes with the promise of a child. My ride came with the promise of slavery and, presumably, abuse.
I didn't understand why no one had stood up to these women except me. My only consolation was that I'd kept my little sister safe.
I tried to slide from the horse, but Nori held me firmly in place, and I think she intentionally made the ride more uncomfortable than it needed to be. I spent the entire time swearing a blue streak, threatening all sorts of dire consequences.
"You'll never be able to turn your back on me!" I vowed. "I will kill you. I swear it."
"You shouldn't make vows like that," she said. "You should get to know me better before you vow to kill me. You might change your mind."
"That isn't going to happen," I told her. "Let me go!"
She ignored me. I continued to swear, calling them all sorts of names, at least as much as I could. The motion of the horse tended to make talking difficult, even painful.
Finally I told her, "You are a bitch with no honor, worse than any demon!"
And that did it. She called a halt, and then she lifted my head by the hair and threw me from the back of her horse. I landed on the ground feet first before collapsing in a sprawl. Bound the way I was, I couldn't get up.
She climbed from her horse.
"Yes!" I thought. "I have been a big enough pain in the ass. She will cut my knots and leave." Then I realized, "Or maybe she's about to kill me. At least I won't die a slave."
Instead, she knelt down and grabbed my hair, lifting my face to stare into hers. "I've had enough of your mouth." She raised her voice. "Bring me a gag!"
"No!" I screamed. I tried to bite her, but my struggles were futile. Another woman approached, and I realized it was Riva. She offered a variety of cloth to Nori.
"No!" I screamed again when Nori tried to shove some of the cloth into my mouth.
Again I tried to bite her, barely missing.
Nori leaned her face in closely to mine, her
face a grimace. "We give up everything for your comfort," she said. "We spend our lives to keep your lands safe, and all we ask is a tiny amount of help. Do you think we wanted to do things the way we did? Your council has ignored our pleas to treat honorably with us. We are not the ones with no honor; that distinction goes to your council. I've had it with your vile tongue. You will be gagged. We can do it the nice way or the not-so-nice way. Choose."
"
I do not deserve this treatment! Bitch!" I told her, then clamped my mouth shut.
"So be it." She studied me. "You were the teacher? I bet you care about the children. You seem very passionate."
"You wouldn't," I said.
"Open your mouth and we won't have to find out," Nori told me.
"Go to hell," and then I clamped my mouth shut again.
"Bring the girls!" she said.
"No! This is between you and me."
"It's your choice, Maya," she said.
She released my head, and I fell to the dirt. "Bring them!"
Two horses approached, and then when I looked up, I sa
w Morana held by one of the women, Olive by the other.
"Is this your teacher?" Nori asked them. I couldn't see the response, but I imagined the two girls were nodding.
"Leave them alone!" I screamed. "They didn't do anything to you. None of us did."
"This is your teacher's fault," Nori said, and then there was a striking sound of flesh meeting flesh. Olive cried out and slumped to the ground next to me. There was another strike, and then Morana was howling, covering her face.
"Stop it!" I screamed. "Stop it!"
"Pick that one up," Nori said. I didn't see which one she meant.
"I give up!" I yelled. "Stop hurting them."
Nori immediately crouched down in front of me and clasped my hair again, turning my face to hers. When she held the rag in front of me mouth, I slowly opened my mouth.
I didn't try to bite her as she filled my mouth with the rag. Two more followed, filling my mouth quite fully, and then she used one more to secure everything in place, tying the knot savagely.
Then she patted my cheek. "I didn't hit them that hard," she said. "Fight me again and it will be worse." She stood up. "Throw her back over my horse. We have a long way to travel."
We rode for hours. I tried very hard not to cry. My mouth hurt, my stomach hurt, my arms hurt, and I was angry and scared, deeply frightened.
We didn't stop until dusk began to settle. Nori called a command, and the entire troop came to a stop. From the back of her horse, I saw women descending from their mounts. Nori leaned over to me.
"I bet that was an uncomfortable ride."
I muttered a profanity into the gag.
She patted my ass condescendingly, making me even angrier, if that was even possible.
"If you struggle, all that is going to happen is you'll fall from the horse. It will hurt. You may break your neck. You may not. If you're set on killing yourself, I will allow you a duel of steel on steel in the morning. Is that what you want?"
I actually thought about it before shaking my head.
"Good. You show some sense." She slipped from the horse then helped me slide down the side, standing me on my bound feet and holding me steady. She turned me to face her. "Maybe by morning you'll be feeling a little more compliant. Today was only three hours. Imagine an entire day like that."
Then, surprising me, she bent over and picked me up. She carried me a short distance then set me down gently, rolling me onto my side.
I lay there while they set up camp.
My arms were in agony, bound firmly behind my back. I tried to reach the knots, but my fingers were numb, and I didn't think I could have reached them, anyway. Similarly, I couldn't reach the knots on my legs.
None of that stopped me from trying.
From time to time I watched as Morana and Olive stepped past me, performing this task or that as they had been assigned. Neither of them looked at me, and I thought perhaps they held their earlier punishments against me. I couldn't say I blamed them.
They had tents, small tents. I watched as Morana and Olive were forced to help assemble the tents of their respective new owners, or whatever word was correct. And then they each carried bedrolls and small packs into their tents.
Nori eventually sat down beside me, next to my head.
"When dinner is ready, you will have a choice. You can allow me to feed you, and I will replace your gag afterwards, or you can go hungry."
I told her to go to hell. The gag muffled my words.
"What's that, Maya?" she said. "You want to thank me for such a lovely horseback ride? I bet you've never been this far from home before."
She was wrong. I'd been fishing out on the open ocean, and the fishing boats go where the fish are. But by tomorrow, we will have traveled further than I've ever been.
We stayed there, neither of us communicating. I had long given up trying to swear at her, except in response to her taunts. Then she rested a hand on my shoulder. "Maya, I am going to tell you something. You may not believe me, but I think you should at least listen."
I looked up at her.
"I know you're angry. Honestly, I don't blame you. You are not responsible for your ignorance. You and I got off to a poor start, and it was undoubtedly exasperated by the way I tied you up. I didn't want to fight with you anymore, but I probably shouldn't have done it this way."
Was she apologizing to me?
"On the other hand," she said, "I needed you to know we're serious. I am sure right now that is little consolation to you."
Damned right it wasn't.
"The demons are real. What we do for your people is real. But we've actually done too good a job, and villages throughout Morehama have stopped tithing to us. Yours was not the only village, nor was yours the first to stop offering a tithe."
"Go to hell," I replied, my words still muffled, but my intention was clear.
"Don't be like that. I am trying to be civil."
I didn't reply. She hadn't been even slightly civil.
"We tried diplomacy. And there were groups of us that were ready to let a few packs of marauding demons through to stir up the countryside. But in the end, we couldn't in good conscience do that. But we need the tithe and we need the companions. We prefer when they come to us willingly, like they used to. It used to be considered an honor."
She paused.
"You probably don't believe me. But maybe you can ask yourself one question. What if I'm not lying?"
And then she said nothing else to me for a long time.
The women built a fire, and I realized that Nori had set me down near enough to the fire to receive some of its warmth. I looked up at her.
"Yes," she said. "There is no accident here." She had set me down exactly a proper distance from where the fire would be belt. If she planned something so small that carefully, what else had she planned carefully?
They used the fire to cook dinner, a stew. I saw them roast several rabbits, adding them to the stew; the rest appeared to be vegetables and water. And then one of the women brought a plate to Nori.
"Hungry?" she asked me. She inhaled from her plate. "It smells wonderful."
I looked up at her. I hadn't had lunch; I'd foolishly hadn't brought anything with me when I went out sailing. I closed my eyes, swallowed my pride, and nodded.
"The gag is going back in later," she replied. "I know the fight hasn't left you, and frankly, I don't want to listen to you all night."
I nodded understanding, and when she told me to turn my head, I did. She untied the knot, which took some time, and then slipped the gag from my mouth. I spit the cloth into her waiting hand.
"Let me be perfectly clear, Maya. I will not tolerate a challenge. I will not tolerate disobedience. Fight me, and you will lose. Do you understand?"
I opened my
mouth twice, biting back sharp retorts both times. "Yes," I finally managed to spit out.
"Good." Then she helped me to sit up, but I kept falling over again. Finally she pulled me into a sitting position but
was forced to support me, half draped in her arms.
I looked over my shoulder and glared at her. "And on our first date?" I asked her.
She smiled. "You're not for me, much the pity." But after that, she fed both of us, alternating. The stew was quite good. Someone brought a mug to her, and I learned it was cider.
She wasn't at all shy sharing food with me.
She let me eat as much as I wanted, rinsing it all down with the cider. Someone took the things away, and I said, "Please untie me. My arms hurt."
"I imagine they do," she replied. "I offered to let you come willingly, but then you threatened to kill me. I take threats like that seriously."
I wasn't going to rescind my threat.
"Please," I said.
"Time for the gag," she said. "Are you going to cooperate the way you promised?"
I hadn't cried yet, but right then I started. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I blubbered in her arms, embarrassing myself terribly.
She didn't try to comfort me. None of the woman seemed to pay any attention to me. I imagine crying captives were common for them. I cried myself out, then Nori helped me to clean up.
"Get that out of your system?" she asked me. I nodded, but my nerves were on the edge. "G
ood. Right now, you have a full belly but feel deeply vulnerable, and that is making you complacent. I do not believe it is going to last. I do not want you to do whatever you will do in the middle of the night if I untie you. I know it hurts. Your shoulders are probably in agony, and I can't imagine you'll sleep well, but a few days like this won't kill you or even do any lasting harm."
"A few days?" I said, swallowing another sob.
"If you remain complacent and cooperative, I may offer a more comfortable ride tomorrow. That's the best you're going to get."
"Go to hell!" I screamed at her. "Sadist!
Honorless bitch! Abuser of children! If this is how the Amazons treat their slaves, I can understand why the council stopped giving anyone to you. It's clear why you're alone." I was just getting warmed up when the cloth appeared in front of my face. I stared at it. Nori didn't say a word. I shut up, but she waved the cloth back and forth, and I opened my mouth. She filled it with the cloth and tied it off.
But she didn't tie it as harshly as she had earlier. When she was done, she patted my cheek. "At least you seem able to learn."
She lowered me back to the ground, with me resting on my side, and left me there.
* * * *
After dinner, the Amazons sat around the fire, offering entertainment. They told stories, some of them funny, many of them rather ribald. Nori was a frequent target of the stories, which surprised me, and someone named Malora was another frequent target.