Amazon Companion (53 page)

"This counts against your commitment for today, but you are not paying off old debt."

"Of course. I wanted your company."

She kept me company, talking to me when she could, and when I made mistakes, she said, "You just said seven large needles and five small ones, but earlier it was five large needles and seven small ones."

I went back and checked then thanked her for her assistance.

"I am distracting you, but I am glad you summoned me."

The village chief stopped in. "Quiet for a moment," I whispered in my head, and then I told the chief I was making progress. "Did I miss dinner?"

"No. Another hour. Thank you, Maya, for your help."

"We'll need to go over it later and make sure I know your needs. Tithe will be soon, and we must make any special requests in advance."

"I'll leave you to finish."

"Send someone for me when it is nearly dinner, if I have not finished. I can complete it after dinner if I must, but I will want to make sure I break at a good point."

"Of course."

The chief left, and I whispered, "Are you still here?"

"That sounded very dull," the demon replied. "If this is what you do for pleasure, I can improve upon it for you. Even if I were angry with you for failing to worship me properly, I would not make you count needles."

"I do not do this because I want to, I do it because I must."

"I do not understand."

"Do you understand tithe?"

"No."

"Do you understand that only a small number of people are Amazons?"

"Yes."

"And you understand we have material needs, that we can not summon our needs from the soup you swim in."

She trilled. "I understand a material existence."

"It requires effort to raise food," I said. "There are people who raise food for themselves and for others, trading some of their food for other material needs. And these people give us a portion of the food they produce so that we have time to fight the demons. That is the tithe."

"I understand now. And they also give you sewing needles?"

"Yes, many of the things we need. We hunt for food, and some villages raise some food, but not everything they need."

"Your clothing is from animals. I do not understand clothing."

"It is because we are fragile. The animal skins offer protection from the world and the cold air. And it also protects our modesty."

"I do not understand that that, either."

"And I am distracted from counting bandages, so we will discuss it another time."

She trilled, and it took me a moment to recover. "Please wait until I finish counting to do that."

"You like it."

"I do, but I have limited time to finish."

* * * *

I accrued a significant debt with her, as I missed a number of days, and even the days we did talk, it was not with the quality she preferred. She grumbled to me about it midway through the trip.

"I know. I miss our times, too. When all is done and we have more time, we can discuss whether I owe you more debt than we have discussed. But I am doing the best I can, and I do not wish you to pressure me. It would make me unhappy with you."

And so she tolerated the situation, but the first day I contacted her when we got back, she said, "You owe me a great deal."

"I agree."

"We will play a new game today."

"What game?"

"We will discuss what your life will be when finally you come to me."

"All right. Then you should also touch me."

She didn't need more permission than that, and for the rest of the conversation, I felt her hands upon my body, but the touches were no different than the ones Malora had once given me.

I had to admit at the end of the conversation, she painted a pleasant life.

I summoned her again that night, paying one day of debt, and she spent the entire time stroking my skin while asking me to describe how it felt to me.

On the third day, she said, "I am better to you than your warrior is."

"You have never struck me," I agreed. "And you always have time for me."

"And I do not make you count needles."

"No, you do not."

"I would not let you wear clothes, though. You could not properly worship me while wearing cloths."

"I would become cold."

"I would adjust my bubbles for your comfort," she replied. "And I would give you a warm bed with warm blankets."

"It sounds nice," I said. "But my warrior will never allow me to leave her."

"Then you must kill her."

I froze. "I may love you, but I love her, too."

"She holds you prisoner. If she loved you, she would not hold you prisoner. If you loved me, you would kill her then come to me."

"We mustn't discuss this. I could never come to you like that. They would catch me long before I arrived."

"Then I would come and get you, and carry you away, but you would kill your warrior first."

"We cannot discuss it."

"We will discuss it!" she said. She trilled at me and stroked my mind, and I shuddered with the pleasure. "I bring you pleasure, but I can bring you pain, too. I do not wish to bring you pain. We will discuss it."

"I will think about it," I said. "We will not discuss it any more tonight. Now, stroke me and soothe me. You have upset me."

And she did, and I told her how good it felt.

* * * *

"Again," said Nori. I launched myself at her, and she struck my blade away and slapped me with hers. And again, and again, until I begged to stop.

"I'm not getting any better anymore," I said, panting.

"No," she said.

"I could never kill a demon."

"No, but that is not your job."

"I wrestle well, though.
Omie taught me a headlock today. She said you can snap a neck with it, if you aren't careful."

"You will not snap a demon neck so easily," she replied.

"No, I suppose not."

* * * *

"Your debt was paid yesterday," she said. "And you have summoned me today."

"I am tired, Lathana," I told her.

"You know the words to make you sleep."

"I am tired of fighting. I am tired of training. I am tired of Nori and Malora hurting me and humiliating me. I want it to stop."

"I would do none of those things to you. You would worship me, and I would treat you with great kindness. I would be gentle, if you worshipped me."

"I cannot."

She began stroking my body and trilling in my mind, caressing my mind, and the onslaught was like nothing she had done before. She didn't speak, she simply stroked me, and my body responded, waking under her touch, and I found myself panting.

"You want to come to me," she said. "You want to love me. You want to worship me. Your body betrays your desires to me. You crave my touch."

I moaned and thrashed, completely out of control from what she did to me.

"Why do none of the other warriors feel this?" I managed to ask.

"I explained this once before. The other people of my land do not know how to seduce you humans. I do. You will not resist now. Say yes, my little companion. Say you want me."

And she doubled her efforts, and then doubled them again, and it went on and on and on.

"Lathana... Lathana..."

"Invite me to you," she said. "Kill your warrior, and I can do this to you for days, weeks, months at a time. Your life will be pure pleasure, and you will worship me, for I am a god."

"No..." I moaned, but she stroked me further, and then all I could do was pant.

"Imagine, Maya Softpeace. I promise, this is what your
life will be, and all you need do is kill your warrior and go away with me, and then love and worship me, and your life will be eternal bliss."

I thrashed and moaned, and then she stopped.

"Or not," she said.

"Please. Lathana... Please don't stop."

"Promise me," she said. "And I will give you what you asked. Say yes."

"Yes. Don't stop. Yes."

She began stroking me.

"I am a god," she said. "Tell me, or I'll stop."

"You're a god, Lathana," I said. "Oh..."

And she stroked me until I called her name in my passion, her name over and over.

"You will worship me," she whispered. "I will come to you, after you have killed your warrior, and you will kiss me the way you kiss her, and you will wrap your naked body around me, like you wrap it around her, and you will say you love me, the way you say it to her. Promise me."

"I promise."

"When will you do this?"

"Three days time. Late at night, after she would be asleep. I couldn't do it otherwise."

"Three nights from tonight."

"But after midnight, you may need to be close and be patient. It may be nearly dawn."

"Promise you will come to me."

"I will come to you."

"And you will be naked."

"I will wear boots for my feet and a blanket for the cold, but you may remove them once you take me somewhere warm. I will not survive otherwise."

"I will see your naked form," she said.

"With my boots, and the blanket over my shoulders. But I will press against you, and wrap my arms and legs around you, and then you will pleasure me while you carry me. But you must be small and delicate when we kiss, or you will frighten me overly much."

"Yes," she said. "I go now. You must prepare. You need not summon me again unless there is to be a change."

"I will summon you before I do it, so you know. You can watch through my eyes."

"Yes. I would like that. You will kill the queen who keeps you from me, and then you will worship me, and only me."

"Yes," I agreed, and she was gone.

It was very late, well after midnight. The form next to me lay still, and I slipped from the bed.

"Lathana Jara Marquine," I called, ones, twice, thrice.

"I am here," she said.

"Are you near?"

"Yes."

"Your true form? Your avatar will not be fast enough."

"I am in your world, all of me. Can you not feel how strong I am?"

"Yes. Can you see through my eyes?"

"I can when I am so near." She paused. "It is so dark."

"It is. You see the form in the bed, in her place."

"Yes. Kill her. Kill her!"

"I will stab the form, over and over, but I must know where you are."

"I am east," she said. "I cannot say how far. Closer to your village than to the edge of the trees."

"You must be very close," I said. "It will be dark, and I may not see well, and I will be cold and not running well through the trees."

"I am on a trail, the trail east from your village, and I will draw closer. Kill her and come to me!"

I moved slowly, careful to make no noise, and I took my sword, the one Malora had given me.

"Tell me when you are close, no more than fifteen minutes run for me. I will not be able to run further in the dark."

"Soon," she said, and I could tell she was moving.

"I will see you soon," I said. "Will your eyes glow?"

"Brightly, to help you find me."

She spoke to me as she drew closer, telling me I would love her and worship her and belong to her. She would keep me in a cage, and I would be hers, and she would give me eternal pleasure beyond any I could imagine.

"Yes," I said. "Yes. Hurry."

"I am near," she said. "Do it. Do it now. Kill her!"

I raised the sword, and I ran it into the still form. There was a sickening sound, and then I pulled it out and slid it in, again and again and again.

"Yes!" she said. "Yes. Again. Do it again!"

"Enough," I said after a time. "I am the only one alive in this hut now."

"Yes! Come to me now!"

"I must put on my boots," I said. I found them and pulled them over my feet, lacing them tightly, then I collected another blanket and wrapped it around me. I grabbed the sword, and I ran, I ran east to my demon lover.

She guided me, telling me the trail to take, and the entire time she spoke gleefully, "You will love me. I will be loved and worshipped, and you will be mine, forever and ever. There is no going back now! You must come to me now, you must come to me. Run faster, little Maya."

And I ran.

Ahead, I saw her eyes, her glowing eyes, and I ran towards the glow.

She was beautiful, and still very large. I stared up at her.

"I will kiss you," I said, "when you are small and delicate. You frighten me so."

"Drop the sword," she said. "You do not need it."

"No," I said. "I do not need it." And I dropped it to the side. And the
n she shrank, taking only seconds, until she was no larger than I was.

But she was beautiful and delicate, and I stepped closer. "So beautiful. So beautiful." I moved into her arms, and looked at her from very close. "Show me your tongue."

She slipped it out, brushing my face with it, and it tickled.

"When we kiss, we touch tongues."

"Yes!" she said, still in my mind. "I will fill your mouth with my tongue. Yes!"

"You must not crush me. Are your claws away?"

She held up her hands, free of claws, and I took one, studying it. "Beautiful," I said. I ran my hands along them, feeling the scales. "So soft one way, and so rough the other. You must never rub me the wrong way, or you could remove my skin."

"I will never hurt you, Maya Softpeace. But you must tell me you love me, and you must worship me, and you must kiss me."

"I am human, Lathana Jara Marquine, and that is not the order we do things. First, we kiss, and we kiss again, and then you take me home, and we make love, and then I love you and worship you."

"Yes!" She said. "Kiss me now."

"You must let me kiss you my way first, or I will be too frightened." And I reached for her slowly, touching her cheek. "So beautiful," I said. And I wrapped my arms around her neck, and I came to her. "Hold my body, gently, but support me. Are you strong enough to hold me?"

"Of course."

"Your lower hands can hold my ass," I said. "I would like that."

And she did, her hands cupping me, and then I lifted my legs and wrapped them around her body, and she held me to her. I lowered my mouth to hers, and we were kissing.

"Yes!" she said. "You are kissing me! And now my tongue!" And she slipped her tongue into me.

I moaned, adjusting my hold, wrapping my arms around her more completely, pressing my naked body against hers.

"Yes. You are naked and in my arms. You are mine now. We will go!"

"Not yet," I said back. "More kissing. Closer kissing. I must touch you." And I wrapped arms around her. "I must kiss you here." I pulled away from her mouth, kissing her shoulder. Kissing her neck. I pressed her face away from me, my arm reaching to caress her cheek, then reaching even further, I clasped her chin, and I kissed where a human ear would be.

"Yes. I will make ears for you to kiss."

"Not tonight," I said.

I clasped her tighter, and then I tightened my muscles and I pulled, my right hand wrapped around her head, holding her chin, my right arm, strong from months and months of swinging a sword.

I pulled, using the headlock
Omie had taught me, I pulled until there was a pop!

She slumped, but still her voice was in my head.

"What have you done?"

I pulled further, and there was another pop! But her head did not pull away.

I reached down into my boot, and I pulled out my knife, and I began sawing at her neck. The ichor, black in the night, boiled over me, coating me, and still I sawed.

"No! No! You love me."

"I never said I love you," I told her.

She began to grow, returning to her original size, pleading for me to stop. "I can heal this, stop. You must stop!" And after a moment she was her original size, the muscles strong and tight, but my knife was sharp.

Her head popped free, and her voice began to plead, and then... she was gone.

Her body tumbled to the ground, and then I dropped the head beside it, and I fell to my knees.

I could have loved her, but she wouldn't have been satisfied, not until Malora was dead.

And I could never leave Malora.

I knew I couldn't resist her forever, with her voice in my head. She spoke so seductively, her voice a caress against my soul. I knew in time I would do anything, anything for more. I would have crawled into the cage she prepared for me, her human thrall.

I had no choice.

But still, I mourned.

* * * *

They found me there, some hours later. Nori and Ralla found me first. "She's here!"

I lay there in the snow, next to the body of Lathana Jara Marquine, demon. I was covered in her ichor and nearly frozen to the bone.
I lay numb.

I had killed her, and my soul cried in anguish.

She had been a demon, but she had a lock on my soul, and I needed to be free.

Nori knelt next to me.

"Don't touch me," I said.

"Maya! You'll be okay."

"I killed her."

"I know."

"She's gone," I said. "Her voice is gone. I'll never feel it again." I rocked slowly. "I have been lying, all along."

"You can tell us later."

More Amazons arrived.

"What in the world is that?" Aura asked.

"Her name was Lathana Jara Marquine," I said. "She was a demon."

"That's not a demon," Malora said, and then she knelt next to me. "They disappear when we kill them."

"No," I said. "I have a great deal to tell you." I looked up at her and smiled.

"Does the story explain why there is a bag of
flour in my bed, dressed in my second-best tunic, and with multiple stab wounds through it?"

"How was your trip?"

She shook her head and reached for me.

"No. I am... sticky."

"I don't care." And she pulled me into her arms.

"You mustn't kiss me," I whispered. "Not until I am clean.
Take me home and bathe me, Malora, bathe me until I am clean." I began to cry quietly while she held me.

"What do we do with the body?"
Ralla asked. I blinked tears away and looked past Malora. Everyone from the village had arrived, and they were staring at either me or at the dead demon.

"Burn it," said Malora.

"No," I said. "Does it have talons?"

"Six inches worth," Nori said. "How did you kill it?"

"Head lock," I said. "And cunning. Send the head and the hands to Giorda in Broken Knife. Tell her to preserve them as best she can." I looked at Malora. "We have another trip to take. Take me home now. Can you carry me?"

Together, they carried me home, and there was a pause. Malora held me, rocking me gently while a bath was prepared.