Chapter 3
Village of the Amazons
Island of Theros in the Center of the Bermuda Triangle
Jake walked into the village proper and looked around. Everywhere were small thatch huts either in disrepair or flat out shambles on the ground. Only three huts seemed to be in good enough shape to be of use. Two of the huts were about the size of a large shed, while the third hut was about the size of a small house.
"Yours, I take it?" Jake asked Tatiana, nodding his head to the larger, well-kept hut.
He had his arm around Sestia's waist, supporting her on her weak side. While the wound on her leg had completely healed, the residual effects of the tourniquet made walking difficult for her.
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"It feels like the sting of a thousand bees," she had described the sensation after Jake bathed her. She had woken up halfway through her bath commenting about the ache and lack of feeling in her left leg, completely ignoring the fact that he was mostly naked and his manhood was pressing against her back through his underwear as they sat in the shallow water of the river. Jake had helped her to shore where he turned his back again while she sat and dressed. She didn't tease him about it this time, but did quirk her eyebrow at him with a smirk. She had made a point of watching him, however, as he put on his clothes over his wet underwear.
"We call that having your leg fall asleep," Jake had told her. "It will go away after a while."
Her spirits weren't dampened by the situation because she grinned as she responded with, "If that is what it feels like to be asleep, then I am glad I sleep through it."
Jake had roared with laughter.
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Tatiana nodded. "Sestia and I sleep there."
"That one is mine," Lenore told him, pointing to hers. It was about halfway across the village from the queen's hut.
Jake looked at the only remaining hut that was in decent enough shape to be livable. It was on the far edge of the village by the estuary. Well, that was going to make sleep difficult. Where the river opened into the estuary, the water raged like rapids, sounding like a waterfall. "Home sweet home," Jake said.
"We will help you repair it," Tatiana offered. "It should not take much. It belonged to Hestia before she was killed."
"Your Shaman?"
She nodded.
"I don't mean to be indelicate, but how did she die?"
"She was killed by the Grak'gull that you slew," Sestia replied. Was that pride in her tone?
"You killed that one," Jake replied. "Not me."
"But you might as well have, Jake," Sestia argued. "I give the kill to you, no matter that I dealt the final blow."
"Now, wait a minute-" he started to argue but she cut him off.
"Compared to us, you are a mere mortal man. You have no enhanced strength or healing. You have no magical weapon to speak of. Nothing about you would indicate that you would be a skilled warrior such as we." Her tone was informative, not condescending.
"Hold on," Jake replied, getting defensive.
"Yet you battled an otherwise immortal Grak'gull and defeated it. The victory is yours, again, no matter if you dealt the final blow or not."
Jake stopped and chewed on her words for a moment. They had arrived in a large area directly in the center of the village that looked like it was a gathering place. There was an area that looked like it might have been a large fire pit at one time, but it now looked like it hadn't seen a fire in ages. Large logs encircled the abandoned fire pit, the bare dirt under them packed to an almost concrete slab-like quality. Jake saw what looked like a rut that circled the perimeter of the area.
In the end, Sestia might have been right, but still, he DIDN'T kill the thing. She did. Deciding not to argue a moot point, he just nodded.
"Finally!" she declared with a grin. "He is not so humble after all!" Her left arm was around his shoulders and she used it to slap him on the ass.
Jake stumbled from the strength of the blow and almost tumbled to the ground, taking her with him.
Lenore giggled and Tatiana chuckled. "Come," Tatiana said. "We will take Sestia to our hut then look at yours to see what needs to be repaired."
Sestia was about to protest but the queen stopped her with an upraised palm.
"You are injured, my love," Tatiana said. "Rest. We will return to you soon."
Sestia looked at Jake hopefully.
"I will," Jake said, answering her unspoken question. "In the meantime, work the muscles of that leg like I showed you. The more blood you get back into the muscles the quicker the feeling will return to it."
"I would rather you did it for me, Dikos Mou," she replied with a coy smile.
Tatiana rolled her eyes playfully.
Jake chuckled. "I don't know what that means, but we have work to do." He helped her to Tatiana's hut and ushered her inside. The furnishings were sparse. There was a simple, woven blanket in the back, opposite the entryway. A small table and a chair was next to the support pole in the center of the hut. Just inside the entryway on the floor was what Jake could only guess was an ancient chamber pot. He got Sestia settled on the blanket and stood up. "We'll be back soon."
"Kiss me again, Dikos Mou?" she asked.
Jake looked down at her. She was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that his heart ached. He leaned down and kissed her softly on her lips. As he broke the kiss she arched her neck upwards, trying to keep their lips connected. Jake smiled down at her as he stood.
"Keep working on that leg," he ordered.
She rolled her eyes but smiled. "We must talk, you and I," she said, suddenly serious.
"I know," he replied as he walked backward toward the entryway. "We just met today, but I'm already falling for you."
He winked at her. Then, he tripped over his feet and landed on his ass. Sestia burst out laughing.
"See?" Jake said, still grinning as he got back to his feet and left the hut.
Once outside, he found the other two women talking quietly. Lenore had tears in her eyes and was struggling to keep them from falling down her cheeks. Jake approached and Lenore broke away, passing him with her head down, and took up a sentry position by the entrance to Tatiana's hut.
"She's not coming?" Jake asked the queen.
She shook her head. "She will stay and guard Sestia while you and I inspect Hestia's hut."
"Is she okay?"
"She is okay, Jake. Come," she said as she turned in the direction of Jake's new home. "I am not the most skilled laborer, but I know some of hut repair."
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"Yeah, I can easily take care of this. No problem," Jake said an hour later.
They had finished inspecting the hut and there were only a couple of minor things that needed to be repaired. One of the logs making up the wall of the hut had shifted outward, causing the ones to either side to lean in on each other. It would be a chore, but all Jake had to do was separate the logs and pull the other one back inward. He would have to pack the dirt around the ground again and figure out a way to tie the logs together, but it shouldn't take too much effort.
There was also a small hole in the roof, but Tatiana assured him that since it didn't rain, there would be no issue of water getting in the hut.
"It doesn't rain?" Jake asked, incredulous.
"No," she answered.
"Like, ever?"
She shook her head. "The rains and storms pass right over us because of the barrier."
"Then how do you water your crops? Surely you don't cart water in a bucket from the river all that way?"
"We have no crops," she replied, embarrassed for some reason.
"Oh," Jake said. He hesitated to ask his next question. He didn't want to humiliate the woman but he had to know. "Not to be indelicate, but is it because you have no seeds to plant? Or because you don't know how?"
"We have the seeds," she replied with a shrug. "We have tried planting them since Frania and her camp perished, but we lack the knowledge."
"She never taught you how?" Jake asked.
"Why would she?"
"You...ah...are the queen. Isn't it your responsibility to take care of your people?"
She nodded. Her face was flushing crimson and Jake couldn't tell if she was angry or embarrassed. He hoped it was the later. The last thing he wanted to do was piss her off and have her take off his head, which she could do easily.
"There...are many things...I am ignorant of," she finally replied haltingly, face flushing a deeper shade of red.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel inadequate."
"You did no such thing. I have felt this way for many years, now. My mother would be ashamed of me. If she knew what would happen to our people she never would have trusted me to lead them."
"Nonsense," Jake said. "You're not inadequate. You're just inexperienced. There's no need to be ashamed of that."
"You are kind, Jake," she said as tears gathered in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
Tatiana knelt on the dirt floor of the hut and sobbed into her hands. Jake wasn't sure whether to give her some space or try to comfort the woman. Woman. Jake couldn't help but assume that these women, despite being thousands of years old, looked little older than eighteen or twenty years old. If that was the case, then her mother should have trained her better.
Jake couldn't sympathize with the queen, but he could empathize with her. Making a decision, Jake knelt in front of the woman and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, drawing her to him. She stiffened in his embrace, her hands going to his chest as if to push him away. Instead, she looked up into his eyes.
"What are you doing?" she asked. She sounded wary, not angry.
"You look like you could use a hug," he replied with a genuine smile.
Jake didn't move. He didn't adjust his position or try to make a lame excuse. His response was genuine, from the heart. He let her make the next move.
Her eyes roamed back and forth between his, seeming to measure him, his intentions. Finally, she relaxed into his embrace. Her hands moved around his torso to wrap around his back as she fell into him. Tears flowed freely again as her face pressed into his chest.
"I am no queen," she said, sniffling through her tears.
"Again, nonsense," Jake replied, stroking her hair.
She was shaking her head.
