Zania’s desire transcended want to become need, desperate and undeniable.
"Take me, now," she whispered in his ear.
The magic words seemed to give Svend new vitality. He quickly fumbled with the front laces of Zania’s skort then unhooked his cod piece. Arching under him, Zania helped him free her hips. The heat at her core blazed hotter than the fires in the faraway clearing.
Svend’s deep caress told Zania she was ready.
"I can’t wait any longer," she whispered, biting his ear. At that moment Zania realized that life with Svend might still be possible, and in any case better than a perfect death.
His sudden penetration elicited a gasp from Zania. His forceful thrust filled her so completely, she wanted to scream with the sensation, but she couldn’t make any sound for fear of discovery. Other sentinels would stand guard nearby. That very restriction intensified her other senses. The acute awareness of Svend swelling inside her with each stroke made her whole being hum.
As Svend accelerated his tempo, Zania grasped his shoulders tight. The heat of Zania’s imminent orgasm must have prompted his release. Shuddering waves shook Zania more deeply than the tremors of the volcano. But she managed to remain quiet as ripples of pleasurable energy coursed through her.
What had she done? Even in the afterglow of Svend’s lovemaking, Zania realized how weak she had been. Why couldn’t she resist him?
She rolled away, severing their embrace.
Svend reached for her and laid his head on her shoulder. "I love you," he sighed. "I want you to know that."
Was he telling Zania what she wanted to hear? Zania’s thoughts darkened at the memory of the Amazon queen. "What are you doing with Dakini, then?" Her harsh whisper blended with the night breeze.
Svend caressed her cheek. "I need to keep up this charade until we get to safety. Hopefully, between now and then I’ll find a way to elude Dakini’s snare."
"What do you mean?" Did he say snare?
Svend traced Zania’s jaw line with one finger. "If I refuse to marry her, she’ll kill you, then declare war on the Vikings."
Zania realized that Svend didn’t like Dakini. She remembered a flicker of annoyance every time Dakini called him. Could it be that he never returned her advances? Of course, Svend would consider the welfare of others before his own. "You went along with her to save my life?"
Svend nodded. "And avoid a war that would destroy the fragile community the tribes are trying to forge."
"Why does Dakini think she can get away with such blackmail?" Zania had to remind herself to whisper.
"She has the old tribal law on her side." Svend’s clear gaze enveloped Zania like a shield. "But maybe the laws can be changed."
Zania’s heart sang with hope. She kissed Svend’s cheek. "Unexpected things can happen before we reach our destination." And Zania would keep a keen eye on Dakini. Maybe she’d find a way to break off the sordid engagement. Morrigan might help.
Zania sat and pulled up her skort while Svend readjusted his leather pants and cod piece. Then he sat up and leaned back against the tree trunk.
"Hold me," Zania murmured, cuddling against his chest.
And there, in the safety of Svend’s strong arms, Zania confided in soft tones her doubts, her fears, her sadness, and her hopes for the future. She shared her suspicions that the slave traders might hide among the translators. Svend patiently listened, kissing and caressing her hair.
When a strident scream rose from the camp, Zania jumped up, adrenaline coursing through her veins. Instantly alert, Svend rose and gazed toward the fires.
With a feeling of impending doom, Zania sprinted toward the camp, aware of the pounding of Svend’s footsteps at her heels.
Chapter Sixteen
A clamor rose in the night as Zania rushed toward the ring of camp fires. Could a predator have sneaked into the camp while she wasn’t watching? If Zania’s distraction with Svend had cost lives, she would never forgive herself. How could she be so careless?
The horrified screams came from the outer circle of the camp, from the area where Zania had slept. A few people stood around and lamented. Could Morrigan help, or was it already too late?
Zania stepped between the fires forming the perimeter. "What happened?" Her heart tumbled in her chest.
The citizens looked haggard as they stepped away to reveal the scene.
Zania’s heart sunk like a stone in her chest. "Morrigan!"
The head of flaming hair lay in a wide pool of dark blood. More blood sprayed the scene with each heart beat, spurting from a wound that almost severed the neck from shoulder to sternum. But Morrigan was still alive. Zania recognized the wound, a typical strike from a labrys, the double-edged hatchet of the Amazons. This wasn’t the work of a wild beast!
Zania knelt at Morrigan’s side and took her hand. The blood gushed out so fast, Zania knew there was no chance of survival. Still, she pressed the wound in a futile attempt to staunch the flow.
Cold anger pooled in Zania’s veins. "Who did this to you?" But she already had her suspicions.
Morrigan stared at Zania. A bloody gurgle escaped her lips. Her body shook from the loss of blood. She only had minutes to live. Her hand already felt cold.
Zania wiped the blood around Morrigan’s lips. "Can you hear me? Blink once for yes, twice for no."
Morrigan blinked once.
"Was it Dakini?"
Morrigan blinked once slowly, deliberately, as if making sure there would be no doubt.
Then Zania remembered the blanket with the large white Z on it. "She tried to kill me and hit you instead!"
Morrigan blinked once.
Zania couldn’t help her wracking sobs. "I’m so sorry." She caressed Morrigan’s red hair. "You’ve been such a good friend... You saved my life..."
Morrigan’s pale lips strained into a phantom smile.
"Dakini will pay for this," Zania vowed in earnest. "I swear it."
Morrigan blinked once in agreement. Vengeance belonged in the Amazon code.
"I love you," Zania mumbled, ignoring the tears rolling down her face. She wanted to say much more, but there was no time. Then she remembered her vision. "Your Zania is waiting for you on the other side... I know she misses you. She’ll be happy to be with you again. But I will miss you, too." Zania kissed the cold white forehead. "Good bye, my friend."
Morrigan’s body relaxed, then the spark in her green eyes vanished.
Zania’s best friend was gone forever. Unable to quench the flow of tears and the sobs of grief, Zania collapsed upon Morrigan’s body. She couldn’t bear the thought that her friend had died in her stead.
After a while, Svend picked Zania up gently. "I’m so sorry. But we have to dispose of the body, or the smell will attract the wild beasts."
Zania clung to his shoulder. "Thank you."
She couldn’t imagine doing the gruesome job herself. Morrigan had taken care of many dead Amazons, proving that under the slender frame resided an indomitable spirit. She had displayed the strength of a true warrior.
Still holding Zania, Svend turned to the Vikings who came to help and pointed to the boots laid beside the naginata. "The boots should fit someone in need of them."
Zania nodded. "Morrigan won’t mind."
She remembered how Morrigan had dressed her in the clothes of a dead Amazon after her nearly fatal fight in the arena. Where was Dakini? Zania considered the dead branches piled for the fires.
"We could build a pyre. It would be more respectful to burn her body than throw it to the wild animals." She’d hated that custom in the bunker.
"I think we can do that." Svend smiled sadly and pushed a strand of Zania’s hair away from her face. "The Vikings burn their dead on a wooden boat."
Zania struggled to regain control of her emotions. She disengaged herself from Svend. Warriors shouldn’t cry, at least not in public. Besides, she needed an outlet for her growing anger.
"Where is Dakini?" Zania would kill the bitch
for sure.
"I’ve sent for her." Svend touched her arm gently as if to calm her. "But she’s nowhere to be found. Nor is the Gorgon."
"I’m not surprised." But the miserable pair couldn’t hide from Zania forever. "Those two never claim responsibility for their crimes."
While Svend and his Vikings built the pyre in the no-man’s land between the camp and the forest, Zania examined the scene of this odious crime. Even though the ground had been trampled, she noticed bloody boot prints leaving between the fires. Amazon boot prints. She knew what direction Dakini had taken. She couldn’t go in search of her at night, but just before dawn, Zania would go hunting.
Svend and Zania laid Morrigan upon the pyre. Zania lovingly arranged her clothes and laid the naginata beside her. It was her favorite weapon. No one else really knew how to wield it like her. It made sense that she would keep it in death.
Several Amazons and a few Vikings attended the simple ceremony. Morrigan would have approved. Those who knew her said a few words, kind words. Morrigan had helped many and saved more lives than Zania knew.
When the flames licked the top of the pyre, Zania saw an ethereal form, like a white veil, rise from the dead body and ascend toward the starry sky. Was it a trick of the flickering light on the smoke? Was it her imagination? Or had she really seen something?
Zania believed in rewards after death for all deserving souls, and Morrigan definitely qualified as deserving. Aries, God of War, please ease Morrigan’s entry into the Elysean Fields, and may she be joined with the warrior she loved. It occurred to Zania that Morrigan had different gods and called the Elysean Fields by another name, but in death, names of gods and places didn’t really matter.
Zania watched the body on the pyre burn into the predawn hours. When the night sky paled in the east, the pyre still smoldered. The caravan hadn’t awakened yet. It would be hours before the refugees broke camp and moved on.
Zania would have time to find Dakini and return, or she would catch up with the column later. She had sworn to avenge Morrigan’s death and she would. But for that, she had to find the Amazon queen.
Svend started the preparations for the day’s march with the Vikings and Amazons who attended the funeral. Furtively, Zania tied her hair in a tight knot on top of her head, checked her weapons, then slipped away from the camp unnoticed. She followed the bloody boot prints in the grass leading to the tree line, then trailed the evidence of Dakini’s progress through the forest.
When she found Dakini, Zania would show no mercy. She would not allow the Amazon queen’s body to feed a funereal pyre. She had more fitting plans for her remains.
*****
Determined to kill Dakini, Zania tracked her heavy footprints, reading broken saplings and disturbed shrubbery deeper into the awakening jungle. Soon, she noticed two sets of boots in the muddy ground. One narrower and lighter than the other. Dakini and the Gorgon? From the shriveled look of the half-broken twigs, they’d come through here hours ago.
It seemed too easy. Had they left these telltale signs on purpose, to lure Zania into a trap? What had the two Amazons been doing for the last hours in the wild? Devising another way to kill her, no doubt.
Zania welcomed the challenge. She didn’t feel the cold, or the fatigue from lack of sleep, only the consuming need to vent her raging anger. She’d promised to avenge Morrigan, and she always kept her word. Dakini’s death would rid this world of her evil influence. Such a monster didn’t deserve to live.
Mist lifted from the jungle floor, and early birds sang to welcome the dawn. Soon, the first rays of sun made the dew on the leaves sparkle. The trail led Zania to a small clearing flooded with dappled light at the foot of a rock wall. Black dirt lay in clumps on top of the grass, as if someone had dug and spread the excess soil.
"It took you long enough!" Dakini, tall, dark, and muscular, stood on the far side of the clearing, poised for a fight, brandishing a labrys.
Next to her, the Gorgon, slender but just as deadly, swung her double-spiked mace in slow circles above her head. Behind them, the remnants of a fire smoldered.
At the sight of her enemy, Zania felt warm blood rushing to her cheeks. She struggled to keep her anger in check in order to think clearly. Had the two Amazons spent the night here? Doing what? It would have been too dangerous to sleep.
Zania drew her sword but controlled the urge to charge at a run. Something felt wrong. The hair at her nape rose in warning. Then she heard a deep, muffled growl. Large cats didn’t hunt after dawn. The guttural sound came from the ground.
Instantly, Zania understood her position. The two Amazons must have dug a pit. Judging from the growls, they had lured a tiger into it. Zania noticed small branches and dead leaves covering a wide area. A big game trap! The trench stretched from the rock wall on the right to the large tree on the left of the clearing. A shiver fluttered along Zania’s spine. Thank Aries for her self-control.
"You were lucky last time," Dakini jeered. "Have you no shame, making your friend sleep in your blanket to be killed in your stead?" She laughed like a hyena. "Come and fight, coward!"
Did she expect Zania to rush across the clearing and fall through the thin cover of the trench? Not a chance. "You and your cohort will pay for your crimes." Zania hated herself for reacting, but Morrigan’s murder had worn off her patience.
The Gorgon emitted a malevolent hiss and the serpents on her head coiled, ready to strike. "You couldn’t win against Dakini in the arena. What makes you think you can take both of us?"
Whirling the mace with one hand, the Gorgon reached for a metal star at her belt and threw it across the expanse in Zania’s direction.
Zania ducked. The star whistled above her head and struck a tree behind her. From her experience in the arena, Zania knew both women’s weapons would be poisoned with the Gorgon’s venom. Just perfect!
"Nice try!" To stand a better chance in this fight, Zania had to shake the Amazons’ confidence.
The vertical cliff on the right of the trap and the overhanging tree on the left, along with dense vegetation, prevented Zania from circling the pit. Going around the clearing would take time, during which the two Amazons could find a more defendable position.
How the hell would Zania get to them if she couldn’t cross the trench? She wished for a gun, or at least some explosives, but she’d used them all to blow up the Collectors’ ship. Besides, explosives wouldn’t bring a satisfying death. This fight had become too personal.
"Come on, Zania," Dakini prompted, as if encouraging her. "Don’t forget that if you kill me in combat, you could become queen of the Amazons." She cackled. "Not that a runt like you would stand a chance."
"Tempting!" Could it be that easy to become queen? Zania couldn’t trust anything Dakini said.
Thanking her sharp instincts and her training, Zania advanced as fast as she could. She ducked five metal stars whistling in her direction while testing the ground with her foot before taking each step.
As she neared the wide area of strewn branches, Zania recognized the stench of blood. So that’s how they’d lured the cat into the pit, with a fresh kill for bait. Now Zania discerned the more subtle scent of the angry tiger. She grabbed and shook a sapling at the edge of the pit. A defiant roar answered, deep and cavernous. Definitely a large male. Just perfect!
"What’s the matter, Zania? Afraid of a kitty cat?" Dakini railed.
The trench was too wide to jump. Frustration clouded Zania’s thoughts and she fought for clarity. Could she somehow climb the tree flanking the pit and manage the leap to the other side? Once there, maybe she could bait Dakini and the Gorgon, dare them to meet her at the brink of the pit. A battle so close to the trap would even the odds somewhat. She had to try.
Sheathing the sword, Zania pulled her daggers and climbed the blind side of the wide trunk, using its width as a shield. Poisoned stars rained past her and dug into the bark with a thump.
"Only cowards hide behind trees." Dakini’s voice held contempt
.
"You know all about cowardice, don’t you?" Zania burned to shut Dakini’s mouth.
When she reached the lowest branch, she could almost see the tiger pacing under the thin cover of the trench. Eying a long vine, she grabbed it and pulled to test its strength, then leapt and swung at the end of the vine. She landed on the opposite edge of the pit.
Zania barely had time to pull out her sword before Dakini and the Gorgon charged, brandishing their weapons. Sword in one hand, dagger in the other, Zania blocked Dakini’s labrys with her short blade, but the chains of the Gorgon’s mace curled around her sword.
Zania shook her sword free then stepped back. She couldn’t let the Gorgon get too close. The snakes on her head hissed and bared their fangs, and Zania remembered only too well their paralyzing venom.
Lunging between her two assailants, who stepped away on each side to avoid her blades, Zania moved out of the danger zone and turned around. Now the two Amazons had their backs to the pit. Zania attacked, forcing them back further.
Dakini retreated too far back. She lost her balance and dropped through the branches at the edge of the pit. Quick to react, she desperately grabbed at the vegetation and held on precariously to a broken tree root protruding from the edge. As she planted her labrys into the dirt to provide traction, the tiger growled.
But Zania had no time to rejoice. Recovered from the shock, the Gorgon, attacked. Zania hoped her blade could sustain the repeated assaults of the double mace. The clicking of the chains and the rasping of steel on steel accompanied the heavy breathing of both combatants.
Zania could feel the strain. Would the Gorgon ever weaken? Her stamina reminded Zania of the training hall. No one had ever matched the Gorgon’s resilience, not even Dakini. This fight could go on forever. Zania had to win before her strength waned.
Thinking of Morrigan, Zania screamed like a Berserker as she charged the Gorgon in a reckless assault, straight on, with both long and short blades. The Gorgon stepped back, barely avoiding the sword. Zania pressed her attack.
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