The Amazons

Thirteen

Sasha awoke with a start. It took her a second to locate herself, then all the memories of the day before came flooding back. She ran a hand over her face, her muscles ached from the long trek through the dense jungle, how on earth Ira had managed to navigate herself in the dark Sasha would never know.

She sat up on the side of her bed. Her room was spacious, furs covered the walls and the floor, skulls and bones of various animals decorated the room. When she had been shown the room, she had gotten the impression that the girl was expecting Sasha to be impressed by the grandeur of the room, but everything was made of wood or stone and the cold night air seeped in through the multiple cracks, and the animal decorations gave it a morbid atmosphere.

Sasha made her way towards the basin of water, splashing her face. She found she was eager to see Ira again, she felt out of place in the camp and innately was drawn to Ira for comfort, but she could sense Ira's hostility towards her. Sasha had always been self-assured and confident, possibly too much so. She could sense the inevitability of their personalities clashing.

As she walked out of her room and into the blinding sun, she heard raised voices coming from the Grand Entrance, she jogged over. As she approached the wooden doors she met Ira and Jett coming out of the pathway from the palace, Alanna was leading them. Jett nodded at Sasha in greeting, Ira just glanced at her.

"What's the problem?" Sasha asked.

"Your soldiers have come to pay us a visit. They must be better trackers than we gave them credit for." Ira mumbled as she strode towards the doors.

Alanna opened the grate and sure enough, the faces of Captain Ford and Burke were visible through the square. Ford smiled, sickly sweet, and put his face up close to the grate.

"Nice to see you two again. We only came to talk, no tricks, I promise."

"Why would we believe you?" Jett growled.

"Listen, we won't try to take you back with us, but we have reason to believe that you have something of ours. Once we get it back, we'll leave you in peace." Ira glanced back at Sasha, who was out of sight of the men. She turned back and nodded at Alanna who obediently started opening the grand doors.

As soon as the two men came into sight, guards rushed forward and frisked them viciously, they found nothing and roughly shoved them forwards. Ford approached Ira, spotting Sasha standing next to her.

"Ah, there she is. We've come to take you back home Sasha." His eyes simmered with the dare to challenge him. Sasha scoffed.

"That's not my home." She sneered.

"What on earth do you mean? We all miss you greatly, we can't stand the idea of you being out here all alone." A menacing chuckle escaped his lips.

"She's not alone." Ira claimed, Sasha was astonished by this change of heart. Ford looked towards Sasha.

"Come on now Sasha, you really think we don't care about you?"

Sasha stepped towards the two men.

"I think you're disgusting. Leading innocent men over here to do unconscionable things without even having the decency to tell them what it is. " Sasha's eyes burned with rage, blood rushed to her head. "You have no conscience, no heart. I wish I could see you dead." Her head buzzed. Ford regarded her with an unflinching, placidly murderous gaze.

"Traitor." Burke spat out.

"Yeah, I am a traitor, I freed Azie and I freed Ira and Jett, because I would rather die than assist you in anything you do." Sasha leaned forward into Burke's face, her words seethed with months of suppressed rage and humiliation. Then out of nowhere, Burke's fist came flying towards her face.

Sasha was knocked to the ground, her hand instinctively flew to the dagger in her thigh holster. Ira noticed this immediately. She dropped herself into a crouching position on top of Sasha, her hand grabbing hers, stopping her from pulling out her weapon. Ira glared up at the two men. Ford had his hand on Burke's chest, restraining him.

The sound of a hundred bows being stretched and loaded with their arrows sounded all around them. Ira raised her arm and raised her eyes to meet the Captain's.

"You might want to think very carefully about what you do next. Personally I would recommend getting your guard dog under control." She nodded towards Burke, "Just remember, I lower my arm and you each have 50 arrows in your chests."

"You're animals." Burke spat. Ira's fingers twitched slightly, the chorus of stretching bows twanged around them once more, but her arm remained up.

"That may be so, but don't be so quick to assume that is an insult. Animals protect each other, they are fierce when it comes to looking after their own and when threatened, they will fight to the death. You just threatened one of our family, so if we really are animals, you might want to get very far away."

The two men faltered, looking about them for an escape route. They rushed towards the Entrance and Alanna grudgingly opened it for them. Ford shoved Burke through the crack and shot one last glare at Ira before disappearing behind the closing doors, the points of arrows following them all the way.

°°°

"That was quite a punch. You did well not to pass out." Ira said, inspecting the cut on Sasha's cheekbone.

"I don't pass out." Sasha replied.

They were back in Sasha's room, Ira had offered to clean the cut left behind after Burke's punch. Sasha was perched on the edge of her bed, Ira knelt in front of her, mixing a paste in a bowl.

"Why did you defend me?" Sasha asked suddenly. Ira stopped mixing, and looked up slowly into Sasha's eyes.

"You saved us, you're part of us now. I have to protect you." The two women kept looking at each other for a moment, then Ira pulled her eyes away and back to her work. Finally, she stopped mixing, she scooped out some of the paste with her finger and leant towards Sasha's face.

"This might sting a bit." She warned.

"What is it?" Sasha pulled back slightly from the medicine, an off-putting smell was coming from it.

"I'm not quite sure. The medics make it. I know it smells terrible but it will help." Sasha looked her warily, "Trust me." Ira added.

Sasha nodded curtly, Ira gently put the paste onto her cut, Sasha didn't blink an eye at the pain.

"You don't trust me." Sasha stated.

"What?"

"You say I'm part of this family now, but you don't trust me, I know you don't." Ira averted her eyes towards the bowl as she busied herself with mixing the paste once more.

"I don't trust anyone." She muttered. Sasha laughed silently.

"Neither do I." They looked at each other, a sense of familiarity and understanding arose between them.

"I'm sorry about Azie." Ira's muscles tensed, she attempted a polite smile.

"Thank you." She whispered, she looked down, frowning. "Thank you for saving her."

"I only did what I had to."

Ira clenched the bowl so hard her knuckles turned white. She hadn't had time to grieve for her sister, and she didn't want any. She preferred to just get on with things instead of feel sorry for herself. There was a long pause before Ira spoke again. She took a long, heavy breath.

"I want to trust you. But I can't. I'm too scared, I can't lose anyone again." Ira finally looked into Sasha's eyes. They were filled with pain and sorrow, they pleaded for help, but knew that none was coming. Sasha gingerly reached down for Ira's hand, her skin tingled when they made contact.

"You won't lose me, I have the tendency to stick around." Ira smiled slightly, she took a calming breath and nodded.

The door of Sasha's room swung open, Ira jerked her hand away. A girl stood in the doorway.

"Our Queen Otrera summons the both of you to her palace. Kinzie is awake."