And none nasty enough to explain the pain I had felt when I stepped into the clearing. The incident was already fading from memory, though. . perhaps it hadn't been as bad as I recalled. I was tense at the time. That amount of anger and frustration could easily have amplified my reaction. I was calm now, though, and ready to find the sons.
I left the wound open to the air. It would heal quickly. I could already put weight on my leg with no pain, and I didn't need a bandage as a reminder of what had happened.
I left my room and stepped into the hall. There were sounds coming from the kitchen-the hearth-keepers fixing breakfast and preparing goods for the farmer's market in Madison, Wisconsin, in three days. It was a weekly event during the summer for us. Technically everything sold at the farmer's market was supposed to be a Wisconsin product, but we weren't big on technicalities, and a small piece of land the tribe owned in northern Wisconsin provided a convenient address for the paperwork. Marketgoers knew us as Amazon Farms, and they loved us. Who wouldn't?
I personally didn't frequent the market; Lao handled it and handled it well. I seldom went to Madison at all.
But Thea had said the bird last night was heading north. Madison was north, as were the only two sons I knew how to find. I'd met both of them in the fall, or seen them at least. We hadn't exactly sat around the fire and exchanged war stories.
One worked for my friend Mel in her tattoo shop as an artist. The other, his mentor, was an older man confined to a wheelchair. His handicap was the result of the old Amazon ways, when we still killed or maimed our sons to keep them from becoming threats.
If the council didn't call this morning with a new direction, searching out whatever sons I could seemed a sensible step. So a trip to Madison would clearly be in order.
First, though, I needed to track down my new high priestess. I walked through the living room. Except for the two threadbare couches and a few dirty coffee mugs and plates, the room was empty. The front door, however, stood open.
Thea stood in the yard with her hands raised above her head. Her hair was wet and her dark curls glistened in the early-morning sun, but it was the expression on her upturned face that stopped me. Her eyes were closed, as you would expect with the sun streaming down on her, but she still looked rapt, like she was soaking in the rays, recharging, growing stronger before my eyes.
For some reason, I found the idea disturbing. I stepped onto the porch.
Most of the other occupants of the house had formed a half circle around the new priestess. When I walked out the door, they turned faces filled with curiosity and a bit of wariness toward me.
I suddenly felt out of place-as if I'd stumbled into something uninvited, but that was impossible. This was my camp. I was queen here and had been for over a decade. Despite the fact that many of the Amazons present were newcomers to this house, I was the one steady factor. Their expressions were unfathomable.
Unless someone had told them something to make them doubt me, to question my reliability. I scanned their faces, looking for any sign of censure.
Thea dropped her arms and turned. "The queen joins us."
The words were innocent enough, but there was something about Thea's tone that caused my body to stiffen.
I opened my mouth to utter a rebuke, then saw her expression. While not friendly, it wasn't mocking either. I snapped my jaws shut. She was new; we were still getting to know each other. I could easily have been reading her wrong. Most important, though-now was not the time to be taking our aggression out on each other. It would only get in the way of doing our jobs.
Still, I couldn't bring myself to smile. Not that I smiled much anyway. Life was too serious.
I walked down the two steps that separated the wide front porch from the yard, then moved toward our new high priestess with my shoulders back and my footsteps tapping on the concrete walk.
The Amazons who had surrounded the priestess took a step back. I stopped a staff's length away.
She tilted her head. "We are enjoying the sun. It helps me feel centered, ready to take on any challenge." The fingers of her right hand brushed over her left arm, over Medusa.
I registered the gesture, realizing it was a habit of hers. What I didn't know was why she did it, what emotion she was feeling at the time.
"I'll be going to Madison today." I paused, wondering if I should ask her to come along. After only a second of consideration, I added, "It would be best if you stayed here."
It was normal procedure. It wasn't often the high priestess and the queen were both absent from a safe camp. And I preferred to handle the trip to Wisconsin's capital city on my own. Mainly because I didn't want her with me when I visited Mel's.
Mel was an outsider now. My relationship with her was not necessarily looked on kindly by others in the tribe. Plus I needed Mel to help me get access to the sons. Bringing a high priestess she didn't know along would not be a help.
My plan announced, I turned to the other Amazons. The circle had broken into parts. The hearth-keepers were wandering back inside or toward the garden. Our one artisan was still at Thea's side. As I turned away, she began talking to the priestess. The warriors had clustered together under a nearby maple. They were obviously waiting for something. . direction from me, I assumed.
They were all fairly new arrivals. I knew them from Amazon gatherings, but most had only been staying at the camp since spring. I had, however, been running them through their paces for weeks. Not only did we have a martial arts exhibition at the Illinois State Fair in a month, I needed a lieutenant. I had lost my last lieutenant to our run-in with a son last fall-our first encounter with them. I hoped one of these warriors could fill the position.
I called to Areto. She was only five ten, small for an Amazon, but she was quick and limber. I'd had the group scale the side of the barn earlier in the week with nothing but a rope and Areto had arrived at the top minutes before the rest. She also reminded me of Mel; it might have just been a superficial resemblance, her dark hair and short height, but I didn't think so. I thought I could trust her, as much as I could trust anyone.
"You're in charge of the exercises today. Let me know if anyone slacks." She didn't question why and she didn't glance at the high priestess I knew was still standing only a few feet behind me; she just raised her hand in signal to the rest of the group and led them toward the barn.
Thea was still behind me, still waiting. I walked toward the house. I needed car keys if I was going to drive to Madison.
"Are you going to inform the high council of what happened?" she asked.
I turned. My voice steady and sure, I answered, "I have a call in, but we can't sit around and wait. We need to get the baby back."
She inclined her head in agreement, then motioned for Sare, our lone artisan, who still stood beside her to move along. The girl picked up a leather bag from the ground and wandered off to sit in the sun and do her work-carving totems, I guessed. They sold well at fairs.
"You can't go alone," Thea said, her voice low.
I exhaled through my nose. I was not used to being ordered, at least not by anyone below the high council. My arms hanging loosely at my sides, I addressed her. "I don't expect to find the baby in Madison, just information."
"And you can't get that with a phone call?"
I couldn't. I needed to see Mel face-to-face if I wanted any hope of convincing her to help the Amazons. She didn't trust us. She might even believe the child would be better off with the sons.
"No," I replied, then walked away.
My foot had barely hit the step when she called again. "It was my failure too. I'll get the knife and meet you here."
I paused. My first instinct was to turn on her, to tell her exactly who was queen and what my orders were, but when I processed her actual words, they stopped me. She had admitted fault. She suffered guilt for it. I could appreciate that, could see how she would want to be part of righting what had happened in the woods. I still didn't want her in Madison, but I couldn't deny her the right to fix what she had been part of screwing up. Not without hearing her out.
I continued on into the house, torn on what to do.
Thea was crouched on the ground next to Sare when I came out. I could see that the artisan was drawing rather than carving as I'd guessed earlier.
As I approached, Thea took a piece of paper from her and rolled it like a scroll.
Ignoring them both, I got into the safe camp's car, a ten-year-old Jeep Cherokee. The Amazons who came and went had their own vehicles; this one was communal property, meaning for today it was mine.
Despite my complete lack of acknowledgement, Thea climbed into the passenger seat. I took my hand off the key. I'd told her she needed to stay at the camp. While inside the house, I'd realized no matter her guilt or desire to right her part in our mistake, she needed to comply.
She tapped the rolled-up paper she'd gotten from the artisan against her leg. "What is your plan?"
"I am going to Madison. You are staying here."
My direct response didn't seem to bother her.
"You haven't explained why you think going to Madison is the answer. Seems more likely we would find out something around here." Her thumbnail flipped the edge of the rolled paper.
I hadn't explained because I didn't need to explain. I still didn't, but remembering her admittance and not wanting to put more pressure on our strained relationship, I replied, "We know the sons have the baby. We just need to find out where. There are two sons in Madison. Seems logical they might know something about the pair who has the child."