Amazon Queen

'Thea, Tess, Areto. . ' Padia shook her head. 'Who can you trust?'

The weight of the sword increased again. It felt as if an army was hanging from my bicep. A groan escaped my gritted teeth.

She laughed and waved her empty hand in the air. 'Enough. I'm tired of this. Kill-' She bit off her own words and stared at me again. The blade moved back to her chin, tapped once, twice, a third time. 'Tess gave Thea the idea to sacrifice you, did you know that?'

I did. Thea had already enlightened me.

'I can see you did. . But did you know where Tess got the idea?'

At my lack of response, she tilted her head. 'From me. I needed to get Thea here unaware and with the knife. She thought Tess was on her side and had set up a trap to delay me, that by the time I arrived you would be dead and Athena would have already gifted her and her birders with the goddess's powers. She was wrong, obviously. But the idea. . it isn't a bad one. What goddess wouldn't want a queen as a gift?'

'Padia?' Tess's voice, calling from the woods.

Padia smiled. 'Bring him in.'

Tess moved into view, the blanket-wrapped baby held against her chest.

The priestess glanced at me. 'Baby's first. You understand. He's the main course; you're just the candles on the birthday cake.'

Tess slipped the infant into Kale's arms.

'Don't kill her. Hold her,' Kale yelled over her shoulder at the Amazons. Four sets of hands grabbed my arms. My mind free of Padia's hold, I jerked my body, strained to escape. Still locked in my grip, the sword swayed erratically. It sliced into the cheek of the closest warrior. She didn't let go.

A dead voice, one of the Amazon's, muttered in my ear. 'It's only a son. His death will increase our power.'

'I don't steal my power from others, I make my own.' I jerked again, and this time I broke free.

The scream I'd held inside, while Thea tormented me, while Padia boasted, exploded from my lungs. I spun, slicing through the bellies of four Amazons as I did. They stumbled back, their hands pressed against their bleeding guts.

I screamed again and jumped toward Padia. She had Andres and the knife; I had nothing to lose.

But another warrior cut me off, and this one had a sword of her own. I parried and lunged, thrust and dodged. Pulled every trick I could think of to get past the Amazon, but she was well trained and met me blow for blow.

I could beat her, eventually, but there was another Amazon to take her place, and another. . then another. . and Padia had the knife. . and Andres.

The warrior took advantage of my wandering mind, lunged and sliced my side. With a curse I jumped back.

I didn't have enough time or blood to defeat them all.

Where the hell was Jack? Even if he'd believed I'd switched sides, he wouldn't have left Andres like this.

That thought kept me strong, gave me the resolve to swing my blade again and again.

Over my current adversary's shoulder, I saw Padia repeating what Thea had done to me, drawing an arrow on Andres's forehead. The baby, quiet seconds earlier, opened his mouth and screamed.

I spun and slashed, willing the Amazon who stood between us to fall. My blade caught her on the neck; her eyes turned glassy and her arms lowered slowly as if released click by click-like an automaton rather than a feeling, thinking being.

I got it then. They were automatons. They were under Padia's power, probably had been for days.

Tess might be too.

Thea had used darts on me, to weaken me so she could control me more easily. Who knew what Thea and Padia had done to the others? How long either had been working on them? Perhaps since I had left, perhaps some of them. . the newcomers. . longer.

I was lucky Thea hadn't done the same to me, but I realized Padia had tried. There was the food Lao had fussed over and thrown out. Padia had probably been poisoning us, thought she was weakening us, but thanks to a hearth-keeper her efforts had been scotched.

I smiled. If Lao could do that, why couldn't I take on an army?

I raised my sword, ready to battle, ready to save Andres and myself.

Something glimmered in the woods. Without shifting my gaze, I willed my brain to see what it was: Mel with a bow and arrow, the Amazons' most traditional weapon, Artemis's most treasured tool, was perched in a tree.

Mel was here. She pulled back the string.

A thought. . a plan coming to me, I shook my head.

Padia expected me to fight and she had the band of Amazons programmed to hold me back. I was making the mistake I'd made before, letting my enemy dictate the rules.

I didn't want to fight these warriors, didn't want to see them dead. I only had one enemy here, one heart calling out to be pierced.

I dropped my sword.

A warrior hurtling toward me faltered, tripped, and fell. She'd been told not to kill me. I'd heard Padia myself. I didn't have to fight these Amazons. .

Sensing something had changed, Padia turned and stared at me. 'Zery?'

I stepped to the side, forcing her to move too if she wanted to see me past the waiting warriors. She did, giving Mel one clean, clear shot.

With a ping, the arrow left the bow.

Padia raised her hand. The arrow shot off course as if swatted away. She smiled. 'Don't think I've forgotten your merry band of misfits. I thought I had them all accounted for. . I didn't realize one had slipped my trap.'

Another arrow and another flew toward us.

Padia swatted each to the side. 'Get her,' she yelled at two of the stupored Amazons.

They left their positions and jogged into the woods.

'Now, back to what I was doing.' She closed her eyes and raised her arm.

I moved to attack her, but something grabbed hold of my feet. They wouldn't move. I stared up at the tree where my friend had been. She was gone.

Then a few feet away there was a glint, another arrow, this one pointed at me.

My best friend was about to shoot me.

And then she did.

Pain sliced into me. My knees buckled; unsure and confused I stared down at the metal shaft that protruded from my shoulder-an arrow, Artemis's arrow.

Suddenly, understanding my friend's plan, I jerked it out of my flesh, turned, and stared at my target. . at the priestess who was trying to tear my tribe apart. Then I threw it with all the frustration, anger, and faith I could summon from my soul.

The anger alone would have done the job.

The arrow hit, slammed in and through Padia's throat. Still holding Andres, she turned. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came. The bloody arrow, protruding from her throat, shone in the sun.

She stared down at the child, then up at the knife she held overhead.

My feet free, I lunged to the side, grabbed the sword I had dropped and, swinging it overhead, raced forward.

The blade easily accomplished what the arrow had started.

Blood sprayed, blood beyond anything I had seen before. It seemed to coat Padia before her head had even separated from her body, well before it clunked onto the ground.

A growling snarl sounded from the woods. Jack in his wolverine form shot forward. The air waved and the animal was gone. Jack, the man, naked and covered in Padia's blood too, grabbed a screaming Andres before the baby's body could collide with the packed earth.

Somehow Padia still stood; her headless body tottered backward into the obelisk. . slid down its side and collapsed onto the dirt.