Amazon Chapter Twelve: Danger and Destiny

Amazon By Luckycat Chapter Twelve - Danger Luna felt a sharp sting in her calf and glanced down to see the line connected to Seena’s ankle zipping past at speed. As it yanked tight, Luna looked out across the gorge to spot the tall warrior awkwardly floating mid-air. A coil of sturdy rope around her chest dragged her over the chasm toward the waiting Skulls; another loop around her ankle tethered her to a stout tree standing in the middle of the village path. Seena’s body was twisted sideways, with her arms pinned tightly together just beneath her breasts. She writhed wildly trying to free herself from the heavy rope binding her, but couldn’t reach the knot at her back. As Luna watched in horror, Seena began to rise higher into the air as the Skulls tried to pull her across to them. The pressure on her body was immense and she cried out in pain as she was stretched taut. In a flash Luna understood what needed doing. Dropping her bow, she reached for her quiver of arrows and tossed it aside too. Then taking her knife from her belt, she held it between her teeth. Luna grabbed the rope attached to Seena’s ankle and started making her way out along the taut line for several feet before wrapping her legs around it. Shimmying upside down along the rope, she slowly made her way toward her friend. In no time at all she had reached Seena. As she climbed onto the warrior’s body, Luna dragged her fingernails across the sole of Seena’s bound foot. Seena jerked and shrieked loudly. Crawling forward carefully along Seena’s body with the knife still clenched between her teeth, Luna said, “You have laughing feet mighty warrior!” Despite her pain, Seena met Luna’s eyes and grinned. “So what huntress?” Panting hard, Luna said, “I wish I’d known this when we were at war.” Seena laughed shortly. “And I wish that you weren’t so fat!” Luna advanced until she could go no further. Wrapping her legs tightly around Seena’s waist, she took the knife from her mouth and reached down to cut the rope. It was right then that another poison thorn struck Luna’s shoulder. Luna jerked upright and quickly pulled out the thorn. Immediately waves of intense drowsiness overwhelmed her. The paralysis hit instantly. Unable to move, her sad eyes met Seena’s. “Forgive me tall one!” The knife fell from her hands as she arched her back in a final act of defiance against the Skulls. The village women watched in horror as another loop of rope settled neatly around her shoulders and was quickly drawn tight. As Luna slipped into unconsciousness, her body rolled off Seena’s. Then as an unseen Skull attempted to pull in their catch, her body was swiftly raised up beside her friend’s to hang suspended mid-air. Destiny Cody and Bea walked from inside the cave into the afternoon rain holding each other’s hands. They were worried about Luna and the other women warriors but were still anxious about Oola and wanted to find her. In a subdued voice Cody asked, “Are you okay?” Bea shook her head. “No Cody, I’m totally pissed!” “At me? Well I suppose you should be, I feel so damned guilty about…” “No.” Bea interrupted. “Not at you, at me!” “At you! Why?” “For being such a damned fool! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve kept my emotions bottled up, afraid to express myself physically, you know; sex. I been waiting so long for the ‘right’ person to come along, that I’ve missed out on all the pleasure that a few of the ‘wrong’ ones could have given me.” Cody smirked. “Well you couldn’t have missed too much, you seemed to know what you were doing back there with that dildo.” Bea stopped walking and squeezed Cody’s hand. “Did I really do okay?” Cody’s eyes grew wide. “Okay? Bea, you blew my socks off!” Bea giggled. “You weren’t wearing any socks little lesbian imp.” “Hey! Watch your pejoratives. Now you’re a lesbian too.” Bea smiled dreamily and stared into Cody’s eyes. “Is that what I am Cody, a lesbian? Because I don’t see it that way.” “What then?” Bea gave a little shrug. “I’m not sure quite yet. I’m still attracted to men you know.” Cody shrugged. “So what? Then you’re bisexual, like me.” “Little liar!” Bea said. “Why don’t just admit it Cody? I know that you don’t hate men; back home you had too many male friends to prove that you’re no man-hater. But honestly now, when was the last time you laid awake at night dreaming of having a man inside you?” Cody looked down and wiggled her toes. “Been a while I guess.” “A long while would be my guess.” Bea squeezed Cody’s hand again. “Why don’t you just admit the truth? There’s no shame in being who you really are. For once, be honest with yourself and with me. Admit the truth Cody, right here and right now, just between us—friends.” Cody met Bea’s eyes and stared into them for a long moment. Then she looked back down at her toes and wiggled them. “I’m a lesbian.” She said simply. Bea wrapped her arms around Cody and pulled her close. “Thank you for that my best friend, I know it was hard for you.” Cody rested her head on Bea shoulder and kissed her neck softly. “The strange thing is, is that someday I think that I’d like to have a child.” Bea hugged her tighter. “So? What’s the big deal? I’d like one too. Not right now you understand, I have a feeling that I’m going to kept rather busy pleasing Oola for the next few years!” Cody smirked. “Not that I apparently have much choice in the matter. Luna’s already told me that when she decides that it’s time for us to have a baby that I’m the one that’s going to have it!” “Oh shit!” Bea squealed, and threw her hands to her mouth. Cody nodded. “And what’s more, she’s going to be the one to pick the baby’s father.” “Oh my God!” Bea said with a laugh. “Luna sounds like a real chauvinist pig!” Cody wrinkled her nose. “Oink, oink!” Then she laughed. “No, not really, Luna’s wonderful. It’s just that since she beat me at war she thinks that she owns my body and soul.” “Does she?” Cody smiled wistfully. “I wouldn’t tell this to anyone else in the world but you Bea, but yeah, she does own me. And the thought of being so helpless in another woman’s complete power turns me on more than anything I’ve ever experienced before.” Bea beamed with happiness. “So then, you intend to stay here with Luna forever?” Cody smiled sadly. “I’ll stay with her for the rest of my life.” Cody touched the golden pendant Bea wore around her neck. “This is Oola’s tarka. Do you understand what wearing it means?” Bea’s face became very serious. “Yes. It means that I’ve agreed to be with her forever.” Cody took Bea’s hand and squeezed it gently. “Are you sure Bea? Absolutely sure?” Bea smiled and nodded. “Surer than I’ve ever been of anything in my life.” * They found Arris and Oola sitting side by side on the large stone altar in the center of the open area near the entrance to the labyrinth. They appeared to be in deep conversation. At the sound of their approach, Oola looked up and squealed with delight. Bea!” The red-haired Amazon jumped down from the stone and raced to Bea and throwing her arms around her kissed her passionately. “Bea! Mi amore!” She said. Bea looked at Oola with concern. “Are you Okay?—esta usted bien?” “Si…si, perfecto!” Arris moved beside them. “There is no need to worry, Oola is fine.” She said quietly. Cody’s eyes widened in shock. “Arris! You can speak English!!” Arris turned to the small woman and nodded. “Yes, although I am badly out of practice. I also speak some French and German as well.” “God!” Bea said. “You spoke English to me yesterday after Oola had nearly been killed. I’d completely forgotten!” “One of the effects of the ‘Monkey trap’s’ poison is to induce forgetfulness.” Arris explained. “Maybe,” Bea said. “But there are a few other things that I can remember quite clearly!” She smiled at Oola and winked. “How did you learn to speak English?” Cody asked. “It is a long story little one.” Arris said. “But suffice to say that many years ago, before I ca

“I came to love Oola’s mother Zima, a stranger arrived among us. His name was Thomas and he was an English explorer of note. We fell in love, and before his death, he taught me his language along with others he knew well.”

“How…how did he die?” Bea asked softly.

“Thomas was killed during an assault by the Skull people, standing bravely beside the warriors to defend our village.”

Bea nodded sadly.

“But that happened many years ago and I no longer grieve for him. We must all live in the present moment and leave behind the pains of our past.”

Oola, who had grown bored listening to words she didn’t understand, took Bea by the wrist and led her away to the stone altar. Sitting down with her long legs dangling over the edge, she pulled Bea onto her lap and locked her arms and legs tightly around her.

Trapped, Bea endured Oola’s kisses and small sharp bites on her ears and neck. Bea squirmed and giggled, trying to kiss Oola back, but the red-haired woman would duck away, averting her head while giggling with delight.

Arris smiled wistfully. “Look at them. Little Oola is the very image of her mother Zima.”

Cody nodded. “They seem so happy together; it’s as if they were always destined to be united.”

Arris looked at Cody in surprise. “Why, of course, they were!”

Cody continued staring at the two lovers and shook her head in disbelief. With her chestnut hair cut into the Cleopatra style, Bea could pass for Oola’s twin.

“They look so much alike,” said Cody. “How do you explain that?”

“I cannot, just as I cannot explain why they both closely resemble Ixabala. But Beatrice’s presence here is a true miracle. Since Oola first became a woman, I have prayed to our Goddess that she would send another for her to love.”

“Looks like your prayers have been answered.”

Arris nodded. “And her love for your friend will temper Oola’s wild, playful spirit. Having Beatrice beside her will help Oola concentrate on the great task ahead of her.”

Cody turned. “What task?”

The Priestess’s face grew very serious. “Oola is to become the living embodiment of Goddess Ixabala!”

A smile tugged at the corner of Cody’s mouth. “You want Oola to become a Goddess?”

Arris nodded solemnly. “From her first day born, I have known this was her destiny. I am no longer young, but there is still time for me to teach her and Beatrice all they need to know to serve our people.”

Cody wrinkled her brow; she hadn’t expected this odd turn of events.

“Bea? What do you expect Bea to do?”

“Only to learn from me, so that one day soon she may wear this.” Arris opened her purple robe to reveal a large golden pendant.

“It is the tarka of Ixabala, representing my station and duties to the people of my village.”

“Whoa!” said Cody, horrified. “Bea? You’re going to teach Bea to be a Priestess… Bea?”

Arris nodded firmly. “Yes! The prophecies have foretold that two women shall come together in love to rule this village, bringing forth an age of prosperity and happiness. It is written they will refresh our bloodlines and, through their eternal love, bear many tall beautiful children.”

Cody was stupefied. “But… what if Bea and Oola don’t want to have any children?”

Arris smiled. “All women wish for a child, little Cody; even you.”

“Me?”

Arris nodded with zealous certainty. “Yes. It is also written in the sacred book that two women will come from afar, and one who resembles the Goddess shall slave at the side of her twin. And her truest friend will remain by her side and bear many children.”

Cody gulped. “Does this book happen to say just how many children?”

“Many!”

Cody gulped harder. “But women can’t have children on their own; it takes a man to make babies. If your book is right, then who will be the father of my children?”

“The same father as the child of the Priestess.”

“Excuse me?” said Cody, confused.

“The only man in our village with the proper heritage and physical attributes to pass on necessary qualities to future generations.”

Cody had stopped breathing.

Arris smiled. “Xan, of course; Oola’s twin brother.”

Death

Warriors and village women watched helplessly as the bodies of both Seena and Luna hung suspended high above the chasm. The two women lay close together, Seena struggling futilely to reach the rope knotted behind her back, while Luna lay limp and unmoving, perhaps dead.

Suddenly, a tall figure pushed through the crowd roughly aside.

Syral, daughter of Seena stood peering intently into the driving rain where mist made it appear as though soles of two women’s bare feet were floating in mid-air.

As she continued to stare, the rain momentarily lessened and for a few seconds she saw both figures clearly.

“Mother!” Syral screamed and raced to stand at the very edge of the void.

Xantha, standing nearby, hurried forward to grasp Syral’s arm and attempted to pull her back toward safety. Syral’s reactions were lightning fast as she spun to push Xantha away with one arm while stealing her knife from its leather sheath with the other.

Then, before any warriors could react, Syral had quickly lowered herself onto the rope leading to her mother’s ankle and began moving toward her.

Numb from pain and near exhaustion, Seena felt strong fingers grasp her legs. She turned to see Syral mount her and begin inching along her legs.

“Syral, go back!” said Seena weakly.

Syral didn’t speak; her cold determined face appeared set in stone. Sitting astride her mother’s hips she reached out one long leg toward Luna, trying to pull the huntress closer. But Luna was several inches too far away.

“Go back my daughter!” cried Seena. “There is nothing you can do here but die!”

“Wait!” spoke Syral cooly with nerves of steel.

Tilting her body to one side, then the other, Syral began using her mother’s body as a human swing. As they moved together, they swung closer and closer to the unconscious Luna.

At the end of the fourth swing, Syral was able to place her heel around Luna’s waist and begin pulling her toward them. As the tied woman came close, Syral took the knife from her belt and quickly cut the rope binding Luna’s arms.

As the rope parted, Luna swung down and backward to land heavily against the cliff wall. In seconds, Amazon warriors grabbed hold of her ankle rope and pulled her up onto the path.

The Skull people had watched proceedings with almost as much interest as Amazons. But when they realized one of their captives had been stolen from them, they became furious and cursed obscenely at Syral.

The fusillade of thorns and ropes began again in earnest.

But showing partiality to the defenders, rain suddenly increased in ferocity, deflecting tiny thorns before they could come within feet of the two suspended women.

The rope snares were a different story however. The Skulls’ aim was incredible. If they succeeded in roping her, Syral knew that with no ankle tether she would soon find herself hanging from a pole, tied hand and foot. Twice she moved with lightning speed to remove ropes from her shoulders before they could be tightly drawn to drag her away into enslavement.

“Are you ready mother?” yelled Syral with a feral grin on her face.

Seena grinned tightly and nodded. “I have always known one day you would become a most powerful warrior. Cut the rope my daughter! I am ready!”

Syral bent to place the blade of the knife between her mother’s back and the thick hemp rope. The rope was larger than the one that had captured Luna and much harder to sever, forcing Syral to saw at it.

Suddenly, the two women’s bodies shook violently causing Syral to nearly drop the knife. Very slowly Seena’s head began tilting downwards toward the waiting chasm below.

life. The edge of the opposite cliff had loosened from the mountain side, sliding slowly downward under the weight of so many heavy warriors and being eroded by fierce rain. Syral’s sharp eyes located the tree where the rope around her mother’s chest was tied. She realized that as it fell, it would drag them both to their deaths on the rocks far below. With a purpose greater than she had ever known in her life, Syral put the knife back into the rope and began tearing at it savagely. The earth made vulgar sucking sounds as it slipped down; tree roots snapped loose and mud cascaded. The pitiful screams of terrified Skull warriors echoed in her ears as Syral frantically tried to save herself and her mother. Lightning flashed, followed almost simultaneously by an ear-splitting crash of thunder. Some Skulls began slipping from their precarious perch, falling screaming and flailing toward their painful deaths far below. Then, with a deafening tearing sound, the huge mass of earth and stone detached itself from the mountainside and plummeted down. Only a small bit of rope remained uncut. As the tree raced past, it jerked violently against the rope; then gave way and parted. With Syral still astride Seena, they flew backward against the cliff’s rock face. At impact, Syral was thrown free and fell downward. With her arms now loose, Seena grabbed her daughter’s wrists tightly. Syral’s fingers locked around her mother’s arms in a vise-like grip. In seconds, they were pulled up to safety and life.

ds nodded.

“It’s not just the end of the Skull threat for us; it marks the start of a fresh, happy life under our Goddess Ixabala’s guidance and wisdom. She has taken living form in our younger sister—Oola!!” The women exchanged surprised glances before bursting into excited chatter.

“Sisters!” Arris called out loudly to quiet the crowd. “As your Priestess, I have studied the holy texts with great care. For years now, I’ve known that little Oola, Zima’s daughter, is the true reincarnation of Goddess Ixabala!” The women whispered amongst themselves in growing excitement; some smiled.

“Put aside her artistic eye and her mischievous spirit for a moment. Beneath that rebellious exterior beats a heart full of passion and deep love. Just look at her face to see the likeness of the reborn Goddess!” The Amazons nodded eagerly in agreement.

Arris pointed toward Cody. “Two women have arrived as prophesied: this petite, soft-footed one here, and the Bean-woman—whose real name is Beatrice—who has come among us fulfilling ancient prophecies!” The excited murmuring started up again.

“The last task of my devoted life will be to teach Beatrice her duties as our new Priestess and consort to our living Goddess, Oola.” A collective cry of approval rose from every woman present.

“And the Cody-woman, whom I have grown to love and respect for her wisdom and courage, shall also stay with us forever as one of our sisters.” Cody glanced at Syral, then over at Seena, who lifted her head to wink back. Her gaze moved down along the giant warrior’s body to her injured ankle, where the terrible marks left by the rope had carved a deep, bleeding wound. Tears streamed down Cody’s cheeks as she noticed the same cruel indentations on Luna. “I’m so sorry, Seena. My idea of tying your ankles was foolish! I only wanted to help you…” Seena winced in pain but pushed herself up onto her elbows.

“What foolishness, woman! Do you not realize that your plan has saved both us and Faringa? If it weren’t for those ropes, and Syral’s bravery, we would all be lying beneath the dead Skulls right now—or worse, bound hand and foot in their cages as slaves to their lust!”

Cody looked at Arris with a questioning expression. Arris nodded once and stepped forward. “Our village owes you a great debt, Cody-woman. It was your wisdom that saved the lives of three who are dearest to us. No act of gratitude will be too much, and I allow each of my sisters to thank you privately in her own—personal—way.”

Cody smiled nervously and swallowed hard. “Great,” she muttered under her breath. “Bea gets to become a Priestess, while I’ll probably end up having my feet tickled by every woman in this entire damned village!” Cody looked down at Luna’s beautiful face and began to smile again. She whispered, “Maybe that might not be such a bad thing after all.”

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The Amazon continues in chapter thirteen. *