Glory of the Amazons by Erik C. Martin

  ***

  The next morning it was gray and a cold drizzle was coming in off of the lake. Sparrow told me that the Amazon’s clubhouse was on the edge of a neighborhood called Camm’s Corners, or just the Corners. It was more than six miles from Sparrow’s room in Red Spires. The little thief was in good shape though, so even with the congestion in the narrow streets, we got there in less than two hours. The whole time, my head was on a swivel as I was ready to be attacked at any moment, but no attack came.

  “You can usually hear Wizards coming,” said Sparrow. “They ride these iron steeds that actually float a few feet off of the ground and sound like thunder. Someone told me that they sound like that because they use lightning to make them go, but I don’t know if that’s true.”

  “That’s good to know,” I said, “but it’s still a good idea to be alert.”

  The Amazon’s clubhouse was a three story building on Green Street. It was surrounded by a high gate. Across the street was Emerald park, a thick wooded area that wound through the city for miles.

  I was certain that we were being watched.

  My suspicion was confirmed when we were challenged by a voice behind the gate as soon as we neared it.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” said a woman’s voice.

  “My name is Sparrow. I want to join. I spoke to Nevia a few days ago. She told me to come back when I had proven myself. Well, I have and I’m back.”

  “Who’s the barbarian?” asked the voice.

  “This is Glory of Angren. She wants to join up too. She’s a terrific fighter.”

  I heard a lock click and the latch open. The door cracked about a foot. A woman a few years older than me and a younger woman stood there. They both wore light armor, leather and chain, and appeared heavily armed.

  “I’m Tala,” said the older woman. “This is Shale. We’re friends of Nevia. She’s with Warchief Maygride. We’ll take you to them.”

  Tala called over two more women to watch the gate and escorted us through the house into a wide courtyard in the rear. About fifteen women were assembled there. I heard them before I saw them. They seemed to be having a fairly heated debate over something. As soon as we entered the courtyard, the talking ceased.

  “Tala, what’s the meaning of this? Who are these strangers?” asked a dark-haired woman who looked like she might have been close to forty.

  “My apologies, Maygride. This is Sparrow and Glory. They want to join us,” explained Tala.

  Another woman spoke up. “The small one came here three days ago. I told her to come back when she had done something to prove herself. The other one is a stranger to me.” This was apparently Nevia.

  Maygride made eye contact with Sparrow who met the older woman’s gaze. “And what have you done to prove yourself?”

  Sparrow grinned and held up the wand.

  “This!” she said.

  Everyone began to talk at once. It took Maygride a few minutes to restore quiet. When there was order, she turned back on Sparrow.

  “What do you mean bringing that here!? Do you want to ruin us? Did the Wizards put you up to this?”

  “No! I stole it. Right out from under them,” Sparrow told her.

  “Fool! You’ll bring their whole gang down on us,” Maygride said. “Get them out of here.”

  “Wait.” It was Nevia. “Warchief, this fits right in with what we were just discussing. Many feel that we are becoming too conservative. If we are going to advance on the council, we have to be daring.”

  “Daring, but not stupid,” Maygride replied.

  “We can beat them, Warchief,” said a woman I could not see.

  “My decision is final,” said Maygride. As long as I am Warchief of the Amazons we will do things my way—unless you want to challenge me for leadership, Nevia?”

  Nevia seemed bold, but did not appear to be willing to challenge the old leader. It looked as though we were about to be tossed out. Sparrow nudged my arm.

  “You challenge her,” she said to me quietly. “It’s probably the only way we’ll get in.”

  I wasn’t sure what the challenge involved, but I did not let that stop me.

  “Maygride, I’ll challenge you,” I said, stepping forward.

  The older woman laughed. “You? Only a member can challenge for leadership.”

  Nevia came forward. “I’ll sponsor her. And Tala and Shale too.” The two women nodded their assent.

  Maygride seemed to be considering. She was looking at me, but saved her most wrathful expressions for Nevia. Everyone else waited in silence.

  Finally, Maygride shrugged.

  “Very well, I will even forgo the vote. The sooner we get them out of this house the better,” she said. Then she turned to Nevia, “But when I am done with her, you and I are going to have some things to discuss!”

  The center of the courtyard was cleared. Shale came forward with two matching staves: they were dark wood and on one end was mounted a sharp, iron hook. From the moment I had challenged Maygride, women had been coming out of the house. Now there were about fifty standing around watching. Nevia took a staff from Shale and brought it to me.

  “The rules are simple. The fight continues until one of you yields, is knocked unconscious, or is dead. Good luck.”

  Maygride was not as tall as I was, but she was undoubtedly strong and experienced. I hoped I was quicker, but wasn’t counting on it. I was almost certainly better conditioned. Angren is in the northern mountains and I ran a lot back home. She might have been more than twice my age, yet I was not inexperienced. I had fought all of my life, with my brothers, against raiders, trolls, goblins, and several times against Olveroths, which were like white, hairy trolls, only faster and more cunning.

  We squared off in the center. From the easy way she handled her staff, it was obvious Maygride was expert. She feinted and I made a clumsy block. Her whole attitude was one of overconfidence and I wanted to encourage that feeling. I did not want her to know that in Angren, we frequently carried a staff to help travel in the mountains and in the snow, and that we are taught to use staves in defense as soon as we can hold one.

  Maygride almost caught me by surprise with a series of rapid thrusts. I backpedaled and this time my awkwardness was no act. She was good. I just hoped that my teachers had been better.

  She thrust low and tried to tangle my ankle with the hooked end of her staff. Already moving backward, I fell back into a roll to avoid it and swept my own staff in a wide arc coming up to clear space. When I came up I noted two things: she was sweating and she was breathing through her mouth.

  I took that as a cue. I had been taught that it is always better to attack than be forced to defend. I went on the attack now. Striking, thrusting, feinting, jabbing in rapid succession without pause. I was gambling that I could keep it up longer than she could. For several minutes she defended everything that I threw at her. Her face was grim as she realized that she was in a fight. For a moment, I even worried a little that I might have misjudged. But after a good five minutes her wind had fled and her arms were getting heavy. One of my thrusts scored on her shoulder and knocked her back. She recovered quickly and defended several more strikes. I had her backing up now though.

  I wanted to win, but had no desire to kill her, or even hurt her too badly. So when I could have hooked her in the stomach, I held back. Instead, I reversed my grip and landed a solid blow where her neck met her collar. I knew from experience that the blow would numb her whole arm and she lost her grip. I knocked her staff away and poised the hook in front of her neck.

  “Are you ready to yield, or am I going to have to knock you out?” I asked.

  She was furious, but not stupid.

  “You win. I yield. I just hope that you are as good of a general as you are a fighter,” Maygride said. “I’ve been an Amazon probably as long as you have been alive; I won’t see this gang destroye
d by you.”

  “And I don’t want to see it destroyed either. You’ll stay then?” I asked the older woman. “We can use your skill and your experience.”

  “Of course I’ll stay. I’m an Amazon.”

  To Nevia I said, “I’m not sure what your plans were, supporting someone you don’t know over your leader. I hope that it is because you’re an excellent judge of character, but if you had any other motives get rid of them. We’re going to do things my way.”

  Nevia bowed her head in assent. “Of course, Warchief.”

  “Good. Now is there somewhere we can sit and talk? I have an idea and I’ll need all of your help.”