Amazonia

  Hades’ hairy eyeballs, Az, that was brilliant. Lord Paulus had taught her there were times to press the attack and times to defend what you’d already gained, and she’d already won a major victory. “Fox isn’t much of a fighter, but she knows the Shadowlands. We’ll make this happen when the time comes.”

  “You hearten me,” Prince Timur said as he refilled her cup. “Amazonia, stories of your prowess in the arena have reached even our ears, and while I was once skeptical, travelers being known to exaggerate, I see now I have been gravely mistaken. Come, tell me more about your former life.”

  Amazonia took a swallow of the excellent red wine and put down her cup. “I grew up on the southern coast of the Great Sea, not far from the ruins of Carthago, joining the skirmisher corps against my mother’s wishes when our province rebelled against the Etruscans…”

  Speaking of her life as a slave, Amazonia let the prince run his fingers over the callouses her pain collar had left there, then told him about Lady Jhadra crafting her body into a champion’s. Prince Timur stroked his beard as he listened. “Do you think it possible that this Jhadra was already considering you as a Reaver Knight when she changed you?”

  Amazonia grasped her wine cup, but instead of drinking, merely held it as she considered the question. “I honestly don’t know,” she replied after a few moments.

  “It wouldn’t surprise me,” Asena said from where she sat next to Titan. “That Daemo’s been around since Babylonia became an empire, and they don’t live that length of time without learning how to play the long game.” With her tankard, she motioned towards the temple district. “Jhadra knows if Konstanopolis falls, the first thing the Sasnayams will do is destroy the Daemo’s temples along with the rest of them, and send every Daemo sorceress back to the spawning pits.” Asena pointed a clawed finger at Amazonia. “The person she chose to be the spirit of the Rune sword—”

  “Antonius. He was a nobleman’s son Eurax wanted changed into a girl, so he could marry her and gain nobility.”

  Amazonia couldn’t be sure, yet it seemed a sly expression stole over Asena’s inhuman face. “I’d bet a silver piece this Antonius had feelings for you, didn’t he?”

  Amazonia stared at her as Dancer replied, “Antonius told all of us he loved Domina so much he would die for her.”

  “And he did,” Troll added. “Died in her arms with a smile on his face.”

  Asena smacked the tabletop with her black skinned palm. “Ha, I knew it. Reaver Knights were first used against us by the Daemo during the Prince’s war, and to make the spirit of the sword keep the Reaver Knight focused on its mission, the sorceress would find a man or woman who hated us so much that they’d willingly die to see us destroyed.” She pointed a finger at Az again. “Emotion’s the key. If he’d hated the Eastern Empire with a passion, Antonius’ spirit would’ve had you kill Prince Timur regardless of whether you wanted to or not.”

  “Then I’m fortunate this young man loved Amazonia as deeply as he did,” Prince Timur said.

  Asena took a slurp off her tankard. “More fortunate than you know,” she replied, setting it back down onto the table with a thump. “Amazonia swore you an oath to obey you in all things, which means that even if you ask her to do something foolish or evil, she will do it with a will, even if she’s got reservations.”

  Porthos, who’d been sitting beside Greywolf unnoticed, spoke up. “What if Amazonia had decided to obey the emperor’s decree and travel into the Khitian wastes?”

  “Then I’d have a lot less people drinking my wine right now,” Asena said, picking up her tankard again. She motioned it towards Titan. “For instance, if you’d been foolish enough to fall in love with this Reaver Knight, and if her heart wasn’t into destroying the Sasnayams, then if you’d asked her to come with you to the Roof of the World, the spirit of the Rune sword just might have gone along.” Asena shrugged, taking another slurp of wine. “Now, if the spirit truly hated the Sasnayams, she’d still be here because the spirit would’ve demanded it, but I doubt that would’ve been the case.”

  Though she kept her face in its neutral mask, Amazonia felt like she’d just had her chimes rung by a mace to her head. Hades’ hairy backside, is this true? “Asena,” Titan rumbled, “is this right? Because the only Reaver Knights I have ever faced were consumed by hatred.”

  “Most of them were,” Asena replied, “which is why you’ve never known anything else. At the end of the Prince’s War, I was instructed to interrogate the Daemo prisoners worth keeping, which included Alexina. Even though she wasn’t able to create them herself, her powers more in line with being a battle-mage, she freely told me everything she knew about their creation, which was one reason I let her live.”

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Prince Timur asked, “Have you ever known one not consumed by hate?”

  Asena closed her eyes for a moment as old pain seemed to grip her face. “Oh, yes. Long ago, I had two sons with a mortal, Romulus and Remus, the first who founded the city-state of Roma, the second the city-state called Tusci, later the capital of the Etruscan kingdom until it was moved to Roma. The brothers quarreled and their cities fought, but neither could gain mastery over the other until Titan and I arrived with Alexander’s army, fresh from its victories over Indus.”

  “It was not much of an army by then,” Titan said to Prince Timur and the others as Asena took a pull off her tankard. “Many of the Greco soldiers were tired of being away from their families for so long, while the lands Alexander had won needed to be governed.”

  “Which is why Alexander had me approach both of my sons, to see if their city-states would join us. Remus jumped at the chance, which of course meant Romulus balked, wanting nothing to do with his brother. So Alexander’s army, augmented by Etrusca, fell upon Roma and stormed its walls.” Asena glanced at Titan. “You remained in the city with Alexander as the blood sucking physicians tried and failed to save his life, while I went with Remus to the island of Sardia, where Romulus and the last of his supporters were holed up. None of us realized Romulus had become a Reaver Knight until his remaining forces ambushed us and I saw the bloody runes on his Artifact blade.”

  Asena stared down into the remaining wine her tankard held, and after a moment Amazonia said, “Did one son kill the other?”

  One black clawed hand held the tankard while the other closed into a fist. “Remus died on his brother’s blade and his brother died on mine. I didn’t know for certain it was Romulus until he fell and I pulled off his helm, the Rune sword crumbling beneath him as he died. We interrogated the survivors, and one of them told me the spirit of the Rune sword was his mortal wife…” The words trailed off, and after a moment Asena shook her head. “Wotan’s blood, it’s been so long I don’t even remember her name. But she loved him fiercely, so much so that she gave her life so Romulus could have his revenge.”

  In the silence that followed, only Titan dared speak. “You should have told us. Everyone assumed you left because Alexander had died, but if we had known the truth—”

  “Both sides would’ve hated me,” Asena snarled, draining her tankard and reaching for the pitcher. She shook it. “Parnax,” she roared, “bring more wine.” One of the servants must’ve been close to hand, for a few moments later she scurried in with a pitcher in each fist, filling Asena’s tankard before moving on to the others as Asena regarded the room with eyes like twin pits of obsidian. “All the victories we’d won, all the glory, turned to ashes after that. I went east and wandered the lands past the Khitian wastes for a while, exploring the old fortresses and the relics of war.”

  “After all this time they still exist?”

  Asena slurped more wine. “They exist,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hairy hand, “as do the relics… but good luck finding enough energy to make them work.”

  “I did hear you’d joined Wotan when Etrusca tried invading Germania, and failed.”

  “Who then kicked me out when Ghostdog got me a cub that could keep me alive, the bastard.”

  Amazonia wasn’t sure whether Asena meant Ghostdog or Wotan or both as Titan said, “Greywolf is your son.” There was a dangerous edge to his voice Amazonia recognized as he leaned forward. “Whatever else Ghostdog did to him, your son shares at least half your nature, and likely more. Your son,” Titan emphasizing the word, “needs to be trained according to the Code.”

  “My true born sons were trained according to the Code,” Asena snarled, “and they still succeeded in getting themselves killed. No, I taught Greywolf how to fight, and if I can keep him from making any more stupid mistakes like today’s debacle, I’ll keep him free of Muzen’s or anyone else’s plots. Once I’m dead, he can do any cursed thing he wants to, but until that happens, Greywolf belongs to me and no one else.” Before Titan could reply, Asena belched loudly and lurched to her feet. “Where’s the privy?”

  “Bathhouse,” Greywolf replied. As she turned to leave, he added, “Don’t fall into the pool.” He leaned away from Asena’s open hand, drawing his knees to his chest as he watched her leave. Bells jangled wildly as he continued to stare at the doorway. “She always gets like this when she’s in her cups and needs mana,” he said, Asena’s footsteps thumping the floor as they started to fade. “She’ll be better in the morning once she’s had Kaffe.”

  Amazonia asked, “What’s Asena like when she’s in her cups and doesn’t need mana?”

  Greywolf gave her a sour smile as he sat up, cross-legged. “Maudlin.”

  Amazonia and several others chuckled while Titan’s expression remained serious. “If Asena ever relented, would you be interested in being trained as your father was, by the Code?”

  “Papa gave me the basics before he left us. Yes, I’d love to learn more, but Asena’s never going to relent.”

  “We will see.”

  Greywolf gave Titan a curious look but the Ogri merely took a pull off his tankard as Prince Timur leaned towards her. “Amazonia—”

  “Az,” she said. “All those close to me call me Az.”

  The prince smiled. “As you wish. Now that you know more about me and about being a Reaver Knight, Az, do you wish you hadn’t sworn me the oath you did?” Amazonia opened her mouth but remained silent as Prince Timur held up his hand. “We have sworn, so it makes no difference. Yet I am curious.”

  “I have no regrets.” As she said it, Amazonia realized she spoke the truth. “Up until tonight, my life’s had no real purpose; I just did what I was told because I had to. But I swore the oath I did swear because I wanted to, not because I had to. For the first time in my life, I’ve chosen the path and not had it chosen for me.”

  Argat, sitting at the next table with Fox in his lap and his arm around her, said, “What if the path doesn’t lead to where you want, and Avitohol becomes Khan of khans?”

  Amazonia shrugged. “Then we continue supporting Prince Timur in whatever he decides to do. Yet, I don’t think that’ll be his fate,” she said, her eyes meeting the prince’s. “I believe you’re destined for great things, and if you truly want to become Khan of khans, my Wardogs and I will do everything we can to see you succeed.”

  Prince Timur gave Amazonia a broad smile and raised his cup. “Tengri is with us tonight. To the future.”

  “To the future.” Prince Timur and his newly extended Bloodguard raised their cups together and drank.