Amazon Companion (27 page)

I watched carefully, my heart beating faster, but the two of them were clearly having fun.

In the end, Aura won, but Neela gave her a good match.

Bea turned to me. "What do you think?"

"They had fun," I said. "Good match."

The two of them panted and agreed it was a good match. Bea let Aura catch her breath, and then Aura decided she wanted to start down.

Bea outclassed Aura, but she had the same kind of trouble pinning Aura that she'd had pinning me a couple of weeks ago, and then Aura squirmed out from under her and flipped her onto her back. A few seconds later, Neela slapped the ground.

"Congratulations, Aura," I said.

"I almost had you," Bea said.

"Several times," Aura panted at her.

Then all three turned to me. "Did you hate it?"

"Did you have fun?" I asked.

"Yea," said Neela. "Please, can we wrestle?"

I was older than all of them, but at fourteen and
sixteen, they had their full height and all the curves of adults. Neela was small, shorter than me, but wiry. Aura and Bea were both taller than I was, and I thought as they grew into their twenties, they would be powerful warriors.

"I'm bigger than you, Neela," I told her.

"I don't care," she said. "Aura is bigger, too, but I had fun. Please, Maya."

It was h
ard to say 'no' to the 'please', especially with the big eyes she batted at me. I couldn't help but laugh. "All right," I agreed.

"Up or down?" she asked. I started down.

It was a good match, although I was still worn out from all the swimming earlier, my arms weak. Neela scrambled around a lot, most of the time on top of me, and eventually she pinned me.

I sat up, and she was grinning. "Thank you, Maya," she said. "Good match."

"It was," I said, pulling her into a hug. "Someone else wrestle while I catch my breath."

"You're going again?" Bea asked. "You liked it?"

"I wouldn't say I liked it," I said. "But I didn't hate it."

"All right!" she said. "It's the training ground!"

"I think it's the post in the middle of the training ground," I said. "It scares me."

"It scares me, too," Bea replied.

"I think Omie and Vorine scare me, too."

"Varda fights dirty," Bea said. "We're sort of getting along now, but I told Clara I don't ever want to fight Varda. Who do I get to wrestle?"

"Me, I guess," Neela said. "Give me another minute."

Bea won, but Neela came up laughing. Aura turned to me.

"All right," I said. "But remember I've already had something like twelve matches this afternoon."

She laughed. "And you almost drowned most of your opponents."

I snickered. "Not even close. You'll know when you're drowning. It's a lot worse than getting dunked."

I knelt down, and we began.

She was stronger than Neela. Even though I was eight years older than she was, she may have been stronger than I was, too, but neither of us was trained, and there was a lot of rolling around before she was sitting on my chest, my hands pressed to the ground over my head. I looked up at her, laughing and panting at the same time.

"What?" she asked.

"I used to sit on my little sister like this," I said. "She's younger than you, and she was a brat when she was eight."

Bea had already slapped the ground, and Aura climbed off of me. "Good match, Aura. Thank you."

"Fun?"

"
Maybe. You guys aren't scary."

"That's just what a warrior wants to hear," Bea said. "You're not scary. Great."

We all laughed.

"Am I getting a turn with you, Maya?"

"Yes, but then we have to go. We're late."

"Oh no. Maybe we should go!"

"I'll take the blame," I said. "Let me do the talking when we get back. I hope none of you have kitchen duty."

Bea gave me two more minutes, and just like the other two,
she was all over me, but she struggled to pin me. I couldn't get away from her, but she couldn't get me pinned. But I was getting tired, and I knew she'd get me soon.

So I cheated.

"You know," I said, panting. "I never heard any rules about tickling. Are you ticklish, Bea?" And I began digging my fingers into her sides.

"Hey!" she said. "There's no tickling in wrestling!"

She tried twice as hard to pin me, and I stepped up my efforts to tickle her. It took a minute, but she was, indeed, ticklish. Pretty soon she was squirming to get away, and Neela and Aura were laughing.

"That's cheating," Bea said, but by then I was sitting up, pursuing her with my fingers while she tried to back away from me. I climbed on top of her, still tickling, and she tried to squirm away, but I held her down and tickled and tickled.

I never pinned her, but she finally tapped out, laughing.

When we were done catching our breaths, she said, "Please don't tell anyone you won by tickling me!"

"I'll have to tell my warrior," I said. "She'll ask." I smiled. "I have to admit. THAT was fun."

"Oh, you think so, do you?" She eyed Neela and Aura, and suddenly the three of them launched themselves at me.

I'm pretty darned ticklish, too, and they didn't have the slightest trouble pinning me to the ground and tickling me until I surrendered, but then Aura grabbed Neela, and we ganged up on her, then finished with a good tickle of Aura, who disappointedly wasn't very ticklish.

"We are so late," I finally said. "Bea, you can get us home without getting lost?"

"Yes, but we should hurry."

We collected the horses and were
soon on our way, pushing the horses.

When we reached the stables,
Ralla was waiting with a scowl. "Did you four get lost?" she asked.

"No," I said. "I take full responsibility. I will explain to the queen and take any punishment that is due. I think she might forgive us."

Ralla studied me. "All right. I will run interference. The queen is upset, Maya."

"Where is she?"

"We were holding dinner. Everyone is gathered. You three take care of the horses. Maya, you come with me. Hurry with the horses, girls."

I followed
Ralla, everyone staring as we entered the square in front of the kitchen. Malora stood, watching me approach.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

"I can explain. It is my fault, and I will take any blame. May I explain before you decide?"

"Explain."

"In private?"

"Fine. Hut." She pointed, and I hurried along in front of her. As soon as
we were inside, she said, "You know what I was thinking."

"And you thought I talked the three of them into going with me?"

"You are far older and smarter than them, and I worried you tricked them somehow."

"Well, that's not what happened."

"Did you get lost? What excuse can you have for being this late?"

"We were wrestling."

She froze.

"Turn around."

I turned away from her, and she stepped up behind me. "There are twigs in your hair and grass stains on your back."

"The grass stains could be o
ld," I said. "We were wrestling." I told her the entire story.

"If you're mad, do not blame them. I was the adult, and it was my decision."

She began to smile. "Wrestling." I nodded. "And you beat Bea by tickling her?"

"I bet that's a submission hold
Omie doesn't know."

She laughed. "Or would never stoop to using, at least."

"She begged me not to tell anyone. Please don't embarrass her."

"Of course not." She tapped her foot. "I have to punish you for being late, but it is going to be a token punishment, because I couldn't be more pleased about the reason."

"I figured. Please don't punish the girls. They were helping me."

"The training ground is what frightens you?"

"I don't know. Those three are fun, and they're so much younger, they aren't intimidating, even though all three of them can beat me."

"Except, apparently, anyone who is ticklish." She frowned. "Don't you dare try that with me."

I laughed. "Like you wouldn't turn the tables."

"I would use a submission hold you wouldn't like." She cocked her head. "It needs to look like a punishment without being a punishment. Do you mind embarrassment?"

"No."

"All right. Public spanking."

"Seriously?" I said. "I'm not a child."

"Which is why it's embarrassment." But she grinned. "I was making a joke. I'll think of something embarrassing and announce it after dinner." She hugged me. "You may wrestle with them if you want, but don't make everyone wait for dinner again, and please don't frighten me."

I nodded.

By the time we stepped outside, the three girls had finished at the stables and were standing in a group with
Ralla. I followed behind Malora as she led the way back to the dining tables.

"Maya, Bea, Aura and Neela returned from a venture far later than expected. If they were warriors, this offense would not be notable, but all four of them have duties that were being neglected, and dinner tonight is delayed due to their tardy return. Furthermore, the tardiness was lengthy enough we were on the edge of sending out search parties, which would have inconvenienced more of us."

She looked around. "My companion has explained the delay and accepts full responsibility." She turned to Clara, Lidi and Gaylie. "Will you accept my judgment on this issue?"

"Yes, Queen Malora," was the response from the three of them.

"Very well." She paused. "To be honest, I am torn as to what to do, and I think perhaps I should explain. As all of you have no doubt determined on your own, my companion is not fond of the martial arts."

"She could have fooled us this afternoon,"
Benala said.

"Quite," said Malora with a smile. "But on the training ground, her reticence is evident, and in private she has repeatedly begged to be excused from training."

That generated some discussion. Most of the women wouldn't have known that.

"In short, even light wrestling terrifies her."

"Why?" Lidi asked.

I wasn't sure if I was to answer, but Malora turned to me and said, "That is something I have tried to understand. Do you care to answer, Maya?"

"I don't know," I said. "I didn't choose this life like most of you did. I know I am not fit to be an Amazon."

I looked down, embarrassed to have admitted it in public.

They were quiet.

"Queen Malora," said Aura.

"Not now, Aura," she replied.

Nori stood up. "Maya has not been long with us, and her arrival amongst us was probably about as shocking as could have occurred. I have been aware of her emotional reaction to training, and I have been very disappointed with myself that I haven't been able to overcome it. I do not blame her. She was thrust into this life more rudely than anyone else here, and that is entirely my fault. I saw a woman I knew would be a valued companion, and she seemed very fierce, but I then was quite cruel in how I brought her to us. Maya, I am sorry."

"You once told me you wouldn't apologize until I understood why you did it that way," I told her. "Why now?"

"Because you are owed the apology. I do not apologize for taking you, and I disagree that you are unfit as an Amazon. But I was wrong in taking you so cruelly. I hope you will forgive me."

I considered it. "I cannot completely forgive you until I know I will never throw it in your face again, but I thank you for the apology, and I will take it to heart."

Vorine stood up. "You were afraid of me in the water today."

"And of your sister, and to a lesser extent of Nori the day I roughhoused with her," I said. "Yes."

"You thought we were going to hurt you."

"You did hurt me," I said. "And I am hurt every day during training."

"I misspoke," Vorine said. "You were afraid I would damage you, perhaps cripple you."

"Yes."

"Were you still afraid after we talked?"

"Less so."

"Only less so? You think I would cripple you?"

"Perhaps not intentionally."

"I wouldn't!"

"She doesn't know that," Malora said. "She sees our competitive nature but has not been amongst us long enough to know she can trust us." She turned to me. "I suspect there are a number of reasons for your fears."

"Yes, I believe
there are."

Clara stood up. "What does this have to do with why they were so late?"

Malora smiled. "Because they were wrestling. All of them."