Wrapping up loose ends and moving forward.
Book 3 in 18 parts, By FinalStand. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.
Love is like a crossbow quiver. You only have so many bolts to shoot before it runs out
There was a long pause. Pamela took another long breath then an impish grin came to her lips.
"With your luck you'll get those, then end up in the Artic," she scoffed.
"Not the Antarctic? I've got a soft spot in my dreams for penguins."
"Nope. You get to be chased by polar bears," she nudged me. I nudged her back playfully. She gave me a Charlie horse.
"Ow!" I yipped. The two SD chicks from the front of the plane looked back our way. I didn't care about their misconceptions. My muscles needed some self-massages.
"I was pretty scared," I whispered to Pamela.
"Good for you. You were also pretty lucky and I'm sure pretty pissed with your 'Albanian' attackers," she replied quietly. "I missed you too."
I liked the way she read my mind about that. I would have liked it some more if I hadn't glanced to my other side, then fallen straight to sleep.
{1 pm, Monday, August 25th ~ 14 Days to go}
On Tuesday night, Aya got one of her wishes fulfilled ~ sorta. I slept in Caitlyn Ruger's bed and I wasn't alone. The Sandman had dropped a Scottish sand trap sized load of sand on me and there was more than enough spillover to flatten little Aya too. Because I lived among Amazons, Caitlyn woke me up at 5:45 in the A M and only so much lollygagging was allowed.
Aya got to sleep for fifteen whole minutes more than I did. She hugged me and kissed my cheek (which amused her three Fatal Squirt compatriots to no end) while I stuffed away my breakfast. Desiree showed up to take me to work minutes later. While Aya showed off her battle scar to the pre-caste Amazons and her Aunt D. (they had not been awake when we showed up the previous evening), I was chided for being late for weapons practice.
Yes. Life and death battle successes meant nothing to the Amazons. If you had a spare moment you had better be training, or working out your mind and/or body. We had no 'weekends', though we did get an quarter day off in celebration for the religious festivals based on the sacred days of the various matron Goddesses. A full day off didn't happen.
7:00 AM saw me with the intern group, just as if nothing had happened to change our relationship over the past two months. Oh, we were different. They teased me about my sunburn and wanted to see my latest scars. I couldn't work with Buffy anymore, since I was her spiritual leader. Due to my 'high risk' status, Desiree was the only other Amazon Katrina trusted me with, so I got to get beaten at her hands for the last three days of the week.
To be fair, I teased Desiree incessantly. I made her smile when she thought I was doubled over in pain on multiple occasions. Beyond that seven-to-five schedule, I exercised after work until six and then managed to bike home in a manner that avoided the paparazzi.
I was easy to track outside of the building by the members of the press (who thought I was still somehow newsworthy) and despite my persistent desire to not talk to any of them. Felix had 'vanished', so I was the only man left. What had happened to him? Katrina allowed me to take a glance. He was at an Epona Wyoming freehold training for the Great Hunt and reveling in his 'lone man in a household of twenty-two single women' status.
Unlike the three other members of our 'first class', Felix got to choose his re-location location and communicated with me daily because he wanted us to create a battle plan for the upcoming Hunt. It was official; it was going to be a two man vs. thirty Amazons affair and there was no rule that we couldn't work together though only two Amazons could win by capturing us and holding onto us until sunset on Sunday, September 14th.
No one except Krasimira, the Keeper of Records, knew what terrain we would be hunted on so we could expect anything from swamps to mountain ranges. The Amazons were in the same boat. Already the House heads had volunteered one member for the Hunt. The ancestors would be consulted for the half who would actually participate. Krasimira had also added her own twists.
House Ishara couldn't compete because technically, I was already their participant. With 52 houses halved, that equaled 26. The final four? Runners. If a runner won, the Keeper would consult the ancestors to see which house they would automatically be inducted into. Eight runners were nominated by the department heads and four of those would be chosen by the Augurs as well.
In a normal organization it would have been thought that Krasimira was abusing her station since there was no High Priestess to oppose her decisions. Not in the Amazons. No. She consulted the Augurs and the Augurs worked the will of the Ancestors and that was that. No Augur would lie about the sacred communications imparted to them. That was inconceivable sacrilege.
What that did mean was that at sunset on Thursday, September 11th, Felix and I would be inserted with a knife, map and clothing into the hunting zone. When the sun rose on Friday morning, the thirty Amazons would be put into the zone. No Amazon could attack another unless they, or their targets, 'possessed' a man. They could team up but only two could win. It was promising to be a great 'get to know your buddies at work' moment for all of us,
What was Felix getting out of this besides his freedom? (His freedom was no longer in danger. House Epona would protect him.) No, for Felix, if he survived free until the sun set on Sunday, he would become a Runner. If he lost, he would have to spend another year as an intern. This convinced me that Felix was totally dedicated to avoiding capture. I was good with that.
Meanwhile for me, it was Brooke Wednesday night, Oneida on Thursday and Timothy and Odette going clubbing with me on Friday night. Saturday was my first House Ishara group activity. We gathered in the early morning at Doebridge, me with a hangover and Buffy giving me crap at every opportunity. Fortunately the rest of my 'sisters' treated me with a great deal more reverence.
Now they all knew about my Summer Camp role, Romania and my kidnapping. Even in their 'man-hating' ideology, I was the exception to the rule ~ I was reliable, dedicated, smart, lethal and worthy of their trust and respect. On the council front, Buffy hinted to me that there was a way around the deadlock for who would be foisted onto the Regency Triumvirate, but she refused to tell me what it was. That was a cause for concern.
Sunday, I worked with JIKIT, did some Amazon diplomatic stuff and discovered Desiree was my new bodyguard. Katrina thought a full SD team would be cumbersome and my best bet was to remain unconventional and mobile. I agreed because it allowed me to play the field a little more. Speaking of playing the field,
This bright Monday afternoon, I was standing in a hangar at Stewart International Airport waiting on my fiancée, Hana Sulkanen. She had flown from Tibet to London with the Dali Lama. That exalted individual had passed on the mantle of national leadership to the Tibetan Constitutional Committee and left the country with the stern decision that the country would move forward toward democracy and not backwards toward theocracy.
Now he was playing the role of goodwill ambassador, encouraging the Tibetan Diaspora to spend a few months to a year back in their homeland to help rebuild and teach. He also was rallying support for Tibetan recognition and financial support. Already the UN had voted to send a small international group to establish border security against both the Khanate and the PRC.
With the PRC treaty-obliged by the ceasefire to not oppose Tibetan freedom, the UN acted rapidly. The UN Tibet Force(UNTFOR) combat elements consisted of the UK (+ Gurkha), Chilean, French (+ French Foreign Legion), Germany, India, Italy, Romania, Spanish and Thailand each sending one battalion each. Algeria, Denmark, Chile, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Canada, Cameroon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brazil agreed to make smaller contributions. The USAF would supply a serious level of logistics support for the mission.
The UN also created the UN Tibetan Training Force (UNTTFOR) which provided a structure for giving access by Tibetan forces to German, Italian, Chilean and Romanian bases to train to E U standards over a five month period. The Khanate provided gobs of captured Chinese hardware to the creation of a tiny Tibetan Armed Forces, easing worries about adequately equipping the troops once they were trained.
The Dali Lama was simultaneously arriving at JFK to public fanfare in order to thank the UN personally on behalf of the nation he loved. Hana was able to finally shed the limelight and was coming into a secure National Guard facility to finally take a step back to a 'normal' lifestyle. The last bit of oddity: the hangars used by the Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 452 of the Marine Corps Reserve was courtesy of JIKIT. No press was allowed, or expected.
It was an odd grouping of us. Jormo Sulkanen (Hana's father), his chauffeur and Hana's daughter Annela were in one car. Hana was traveling with Libra and Ms. Meacham, so they would need the limo he came in. My appearance was a simple moment for us to touch base in person, as opposed to over the internet, or mobile phone. The third group waiting was Sten Phillip M nnik (her ex-husband) and two unnamed associates.
Sten was being a total jerk, which may have been due to me calling him Philip when we first met. Philip wasn't 'ethnic' enough for him, so he never used it. Because he hated it, Brennan (Hana's deceased step-brother) had used it constantly. I had overheard it and thus screwed up our first meeting. But Sten's current blistering hatred had two positive side effects: Jormo came over and stood by me, a suggestion of solidarity I hadn't expected, and since we were standing next to each other, we finally began the dialog that we needed if Hana was going to be family to both of us.
We chatted about the thing that mattered most ~ Hana. He asked me if I had really hired a team of assassins to protect her, so I told him a little bit about the Ghost Tigers. He talked about how proud she was to be bringing peace to a suffering planet and I agreed that she looked spectacular doing so.
Some things remained the same; I had set in motion the death of his youngest son who had paraded a raped lady in front of me. A bunch of other dilettantes had perished as well. Balancing that was the joy I brought to the child closest to his heart, his adopted daughter Hana. I also had proved to be my own brand of eccentric knight in tarnished armor. I meant well, and in Jormo's book that meant something.
He also told me he would strangle me with my own intestines if I broke her heart. I looked him straight in the face and asked him how he felt about open marriages. He hit me. To be fair, I let him hit me. He didn't try to do me serious harm.
"Don't be an asshole," he grumbled.
"I'm not sure I know how?" I shrugged. I got another hard stare.
"She loves you," he said with surprising tenderness.
"I would rather face that typhoon again than break her heart. The thought of that scares me because I've never been all that good at romance," I confessed.
"That wasn't what I expected you to say," he harrumphed. "I recall those two ladies I first saw you with. Libra Chalmers and,"
"Brooke Lee," I said.
"Yes, her. Are you staying loyal?"
"She has never asked more than she thinks my current level of maturity can hope to achieve." He looked at me. "I'm discrete and mindful of her sensitivities."
"You aren't trying to befriend me," he noted.
"I don't feel it is right to expect you to like me. I think we both know I'm supposed to be nice to you and you aren't going punch me again. I believe Hana would see thru any deception on our part."
I paused. "I wouldn't mind us getting along. I'll try not to piss you off because that would be rude to you and cruel to her," I continued. "I'll never ask you to forgive me and I'll never feel like what I did was inherently unjustified. I am sorry that I caused you pain because I think you are a hard, courageous man, and she loves you."
"That's her plane," he stated.
"Thank God," I muttered. And thank you Ishara. I was starting to blather. We remained thankfully silent until the plane had pulled into the hangar and the people started to deplane. The first out was a young woman with dark blonde hair and hunters glasses.
No one else appeared until she had reached the bottom of the stairs and continued to look about for a moment. Hana came next, smiling at me, then her eyes were following Jormo as he moved to the car to retrieve little Annela. Libra followed with Ms. Meacham on her heels. Libra still wasn't used to playing the second fiddle/personal assistant. A short Mongolian fireplug of a man was the last passenger down the stairs. He looked like, a wolverine with his feral, primordial energy and general hostility.
I imagined the girl was his apprentice and he was the prime assassin. That was how the Ghost Tigers operated. They were doing me a deep personal favor by putting aside their normal role as hunters to take up body-guarding duties. According to Addison, they had also managed to get their fair share of killing people of various persuasions. Not only had the Seven Pillars tried to take her out more than once, Chinese Intelligence and some criminal cartels had taken an active interest in her too.
The young woman scanned from me to Desiree, then to Sten. She had a good eye for threat assessment. Jormo was partially concealed, but would rather die than put Hana at risk. I was the ally of the 9 Clans, and she probably thought she could take me in a quick-draw contest. Desiree? She left Desiree for her mentor to worry about.
"Ms. Sulkanen?" Sten's closer minion walked her way. The bodyguards got in the way instinctively. The man reached into his coat and nearly died. The women did a palm strike to his windpipe then grabbed his tie, yanking him to the hard concrete floor of the hangar.
(Russian) "He has a piece of paper," she stated in a detached manner
"Sten, what is the meaning of this?" Hana worried. I moved toward the woman.
(Russian) "I am Cáel Nyilas. Let me help."
She did more than that. She retreated from the downed man and put her body between Hana and Sten.
I was schooled enough now to realize that was the deception. I hadn't seen the older man draw a gun but I knew he now had one out. It was down by his side and he was using his body to shield it from view.
"Are these the kind of people you want around our daughter," Sten asked haughtily. I had an inkling suspicion. I wasn't alone.
Desiree pushed past me and attended to the downed man. She had him standing, patted him on the back and frisked all inside ten seconds.
"He's a process server," she commented to the group.
"What he is here to do is serve you with papers, Hana," Sten grew angrier. "You are an unfit mother and have developed an unsafe environment for her to grow up in."
"What?" Hana growled. "You don't like the fact that I've finally moved on and found someone new. You don't care a damn thing about our daughter."
"We will let a judge decide that. Right now I have an order of detention for Annela," he grinned wickedly.
"Ms. Sulkanen," the second of Sten's minions step forward more cautiously, "the Family Court in the State of New York has,"
I laughed.
"Oh," Desiree looked my way then shared a sliver of a smile with me.
"There is nothing laughable, I assure you," the lawyer snapped.
"Really, what's your name?" I asked.
"Mr. Dornier, not that,"
"Where are we?"
"What does that matter?" then, "New York State."
"Incorrect Dornier. You are on a Marine Corps base, dumbass. Look around you," I smirked.
"So? What does that mean?" Sten harangued us.
"This is federal property," I explained as I strode toward his car.
"Hey, what are you doing, I'm talking to you," Sten pursued me.
"Excuse me," I grinned. I flipped out my Amazon Honor Blade and slashed one of his tires.
"What?"
"Go for it," Hana simmered. "Touch Cáel and he will defend himself."
"He has a knife," he countered. He didn't touch me. A second tire began to deflate. "That's assault with a deadly weapon."
"It would be if he turned to face you, or anyone else," Desiree had her 'bored ~ don't press me' voice. "Right now he's being a vandal." She put her hand on the process server's shoulder and shoved him back toward Sten and Dornier. "You should know your jurisdictions, asshole," she told him.
"Hana, I will drive back with Cáel," Libra announced loudly. That was a cue for Hana to shoot me an apologetic look, which was odd, considering that even knowing me was putting her child custody at risk. It took me a second to realize what a bastard Sten could be. I also doubted he had three spare tires. I left one untouched as I headed for my car.
"Hana, I'll catch up with you after you talk with your lawyers," I called out. It was infuriating for me that this was her reception home. Sten had better be thanking his lucky stars we weren't alone or I would have pummeled his ass, and given him the nuclear wedgy of all times, jackalope.
"Let's go home," Libra tapped my arm. Desiree was watching Jormo's limo speed away. She didn't dawdle. The Marines would want their hangar back ASAP. We'd let them decide if they wanted to help Sten, or not. Desiree tossed me the keys. That was her way of telling me I need to blow of some steam, and not by getting frolic-ee with Libra on the hour long commute home.
{11 pm, Monday, August 25th ~ 14 Days to go}
{Late that night with Hana}
"So, who was the guy who gave you this?" I looked over at Hana while running my hand over the silk scarf some lama in Lhasa had given her to give to me ~ a 'Thank You' gift for the liberation of his homeland and the aid package heading his peoples' way.
"I never got his name, but my translator said he had traveled for three days straight to be there for the celebration," she smiled warmly.
I picked up my second gift and began to play with it. The object was a fascinating toy, all the more so because it was more than a child's plaything. It was a simple prayer wheel. I put the handle between my two palms and rubbed them back and forth, causing the two balls to beat against the drum heads.
"I think you find that thing more interesting than you do me," Hana pouted.
"Oh no you don't," I pounced on her. With one hand I tickled her while I placed my Tibetan gift aside. I didn't want us rolling over on it as we frolicked naked on her queen-sized bed. "You were a happy little camper ten minutes ago and you certainly drove your vigor home with this grand Lothario."
"Eek!" she playfully tried to bat my hand aside. She began giggling hysterically.
Even when I pulled away so that she could breathe, she kept snickering.
"What?" I worried. I had been ramping us up for a second round of sex. Round one had been 'comfort' sex, helping her compartmentalize her feelings for that bastard of an ex-husband and the threat he posed to her custodianship of her daughter, Annela.
Those were emotions she'd deal with later. Fretting about them tonight, her first night back in the States, was counter-productive. She knew that, which was why she'd accepted my dinner invitation. We had now been seen in public together for the first time since she became famous; afterwards we had traveled back to her place. How serious was I about cheering her up? I'd brought a spare suit, biking clothes and my bike. I was planning to spend the night and make my way to work my usual way come sunrise.
"I," she gasped, "asked Libra how you "compared" in her experience, which seems to be extensive, as a lover on the way over. And after several, very long, I must say, seconds of introspection, she told me you were indescribable and incomparable. I've been trying to put my thoughts together since Rome and, why are you scowling?"
"That was rude of you two," I now play-pouted. "I like to think I'm 'thunderous', though 'stunning' will do in a pinch."
Hana helpfully pinched me. "Ow!" I squalled. And back to tickling I went. I quickly showed her my 'sheet-fu' was superior to hers, which meant I tangled her up in her sheets before she realized she was helpless before me. Or so I bragged. Hana played helpless well.
"Oh please, Mr. World-Conquering Wombat," she pleaded. Wombat?
"Wombat?" I questioned her. "How have I become an irascible furry marsupial?"
"Well Honey, you need a shave," she teased me. "You are a little furry."
"Romantically that is called a five o'clock shadow," I protested.
"It scratches my thighs," she murmured.
I had a remedy for that. Sliding down to her hip, I turned my palms toward me, interlaced my fingers and positioned my thumbs pointing up. My chin rested on my fingers and the thumbs covered the sides, so when I stuck my tongue into the three-sided void created, my hands, but none of my scruffiness, touched her intimate flesh. Once I had this technique in place, I rolled over her thigh and got to work.
"I find," she gasped, "that you have the answer to that conundrum down pat. It makes me, ah, think I'm not your, ah, first girl." My dedication to my erotic task (and the carnal reward that waited) kept me from responding. Besides, my upper lip was busy rolling back and forth over her clitoris. There I let the bristles of my oncoming moustache teasingly tickle her. I was pleased when the pleasure I caused quieted her and she settled down to running her fingers across my crown as she ramped herself up toward a climax. 'Not my first girl' indeed.
Forty-five minutes later, I was coming back to her room from the kitchen with a glass of tomato juice for her and rice wine for me (she was out of beer). I heard a noise from Annela's room, so I deviated to make sure she was okay. I was in boxers, not totally naked. Annela was out like a light, caught up in some sort of childish dream. By the cherubic grin on her face, she was having a good one.
She was another delicate female issue in my life. I had made her existence harder by just being me. Hana let me know that nothing 'bad' had better happen to her ex-husband, Sten. I couldn't beat him up, threaten him, or sic any of my Amazons on him. Stupidly, I had asked if using the CIA was okay. She'd banned all of JIKIT intervening as well, negating the use of the best pest removal people on the planet, the 9 Clans.
"You are going to have to get used to children making sounds while they sleep," Hana surprised me. "You'll learn to tell the dreams from the nightmare."
"In spades, I'm going to have to learn that in spades," I nodded.
{4 pm, Tuesday, August 26th ~ 13 Days to go}
My schedule had remained steady. I had firearms practice at 6 am every morning, was in Katrina's office by 7 and working my cue by 7:15. According to my regular morning briefings, I continued to be a menace to the foundations of freedom, civilization and the terrestrial biosphere. It was wonderful to stand there side by side with my fellow New Hires.
At lunch, around 11 o'clock, I had a brief get together with the other members of the Amazon diplomatic corps since I was still Chief Diplomat of the Host ~ we were a small unit. Daphne, who now worked with JIKIT, would give me a brief briefing on what the 'office' was up to in my name. I gladly kept my distance from their regularly scheduled mayhem. The truce in China didn't stop the Secret War from raging on and on.
My three o'clock knife training with Pamela was slowly evolving into a greater study of human fighting philosophy and anatomy. I still studied the techniques of a larger single bladed hunting knife as well as the hilt-less, double bladed Amazon Honor Blade. Pamela promised me she'd start teaching me how to do the 'long-distance' and 'short'/snap throw for the blades. She made it look so easy.
Pamela also began educating me on the basics and basis of the Amazon personal hand-to-hand fighting style. The eight points of emphasis in Amazon combat were: the finger, fist, elbow, shoulder, foot, heel, knee and hip. It encouraged channeling both your energies and the energy of your opponents by using fluid blows and throws. It also worked well with the close-in knife fighting Pamela was teaching me. Working with her once more did her as much good as me. We had come to feed off one another's moods, which was a good thing.
Tuesday, walking to the elevator at the end of the session, the door opened to reveal Rachel talking to an SD chick I barely knew, Meridian.
"Oh, it is great to see you, Rachel," I enthusiastically stated. Her hesitation as she replied worried me.
"It is great to see you too, Cael Wakko Ishara," she responded softly, compassionately.
"Ladies, can you spare Rachel and I some private time," I asked Meridian and Pamela.
"Come on," Pamela addressed the SD Amazon, "we have tons of nothing to talk about."
"As you wish, Ishara," Meridian answered. She looked to Rachel. She stepped off the elevator as Pamela stepped on. Away they went.
"I heard you were back in New York," I told her.
"I heard you were off of JIKIT for the time being."
"I was running on fumes psychologically and my body wasn't too much better. Javiera gave me a week off. I go back Thursday."
"That was the right move, Cáel," she said. "You've been stuck sweating both the small stuff and being caught up in the big picture. That is a humongous burden to bear for someone with your training and background."
"I know, I'm not ready for where my life has taken me."
"No one is, Cáel. You have training that has let you get this far when most of us would be lost. You carry that weight, plus you've had to work the physical side of the equation. I get to focus on you. You've had to focus on all of us."
Rachel was being both honest and kind. I felt a sudden renewed kinship with my primary guardian.
"Thanks for that, Rachel, can I tell you a secret? Something you can't tell another soul. Something I've never told another living person?" I could tell Rachel. I couldn't tell Katrina because she was so close to Hayden. Pamela, Pamela had already prepared herself for a miserable afterlife and wouldn't have connected with my pain for another.
Since she was my 'sister' in Ishara, I couldn't really confide in Buffy, but only an Amazon would understand my thoughts on the matter. It had to be Rachel.
"I cannot betray the Host, but you know that. What is it you wish to share?"
"Hayden lived life as an Anahit, yet lives forever in the Halls of the Isharans." Since that was now well known, Rachel knew that couldn't be the secret.
"When I was trying to induct her, Dot Ishara refused her entry. I thought she was challenging me and I was right."
"I recall that she wouldn't accept Hayden, even though her death was righteous in the name of the Host. Has no one ever asked you what changed Ishara's mind? Not Buffy, or Helena?"
"Neither one ever asked. I think it was because they sensed I didn't want to talk about it, nor insult them by not opening up. Ishara refused Hayden because of me. I was refusing to accept my place in the Host. I kept playing, pretending, I was not really one of you. I kept thinking I could divorce myself from the evil we did because I was special."
"But you weren't special in the way I think you are using the word," she nodded. "You were chosen by the Ancestors to be one of us, man, or not."
"Yeah. I stupidly put my life on the line because I wanted to be the 'good guy'. I've always wanted to be the 'good guy', even when I hurt people. I'd tell the girl it was my fault, yet I excused that behavior by thinking that I hadn't meant to hurt anyone, so I was okay. I have never blamed myself for any of the shit I caused."
"That has always been a rather annoying quality of yours," she noted.
"When I was on the roof of Havenstone, daring Ishara with my life on the line, that's when I felt it. I owed and owned my Amazon heritage in that moment. I finally blamed myself for something, for not accepting sacrifices were being made for me and I was dishonoring every one of you by denying their purpose."
"You are Ishara," Rachel stated firmly. That was her entire argument.
"I had to believe that. I had to believe I was nothing more than one Amazon in a long line of Amazons dating back to that first night of betrayal. I had to realize I was one of many, not someone special, with special rules. I wasn't getting to be the good guy, or even the bad guy. I was just, an Amazon. One more Ishara among the hundreds that stood in my place."
"And it took that moment for you to realize what most Amazons know from the age of five," Rachel stroked my cheek. "It is easy for us to forget your bravery comes from a place that is uniquely you and you didn't grow up around the fires with tales of our mothers, grandmothers and all those who have come before. We see our honor is gold and sing the songs in the First Tongue. We live as Amazons."
"I wanted you to know because," I faltered at the last memory.
"Charlotte. You want to make peace with me about Charlotte," she touched my cheek yet again. "Cáel, I told her mother and daughter about how she died. They want to meet Vincent when he is feeling better. They want to talk to you. They worry about you not understanding that Charlotte lives and will live on until the Sun dies and the stars burn out."
"Charlotte was in the Warband that killed Ajax the Unconquered, Cáel. She fell on that ridge, looking down on Ishara's triumph over Ajax and her spirit took the news of that victory to the next life. She is a welcome exemplar to House Ska i. She will be remembered in the lists of the Security Detail, our Warrior Elite. Charlotte was my friend and I didn't wish her to die, but war is what we do. And she buried her enemies and saved our lives."
Ska i was a j tunn and the Nordic goddess associated with bow-hunting, skiing, winter, and mountains. I had known her house. The SD didn't talk about their families much because of their devotion to the craft of war, so I had never known her mother was still alive, or that she had a daughter.
"She did much more than die, Cáel. She killed men so that when you finished with Ajax, none of them, left on that field, could avenge him," she added.
"I hadn't looked at it that way," I confessed. "I'd like to meet her family. You said she has a daughter. I didn't know."
"You didn't need the distraction. We all knew you would have only done incredibly stupid things trying to keep us alive. If it helps, she is five and cried freely, deeply and long. Her mother is fifty-two and runs a freehold in Saskatchewan. She'll be around for a long time, trust me."
Charlotte's mother had to be one tough D O B (daughter of a bitch) to see sixty. I did know she was the second of five daughters, with the middle one being in the Ska i House Guard.
"I am doing something for, well, for me, but for Charlotte too. Sakuniyas is leading seventeen House Isharans and two ladies from MI-6 in West Africa."
"I'd heard about that," she smiled. "Charlotte's Fist." Four (the core of any war band) was a sacred number to the Amazons, as was five (the number of digits) so twenty was a classic warrior unit. It was also the number of the original houses. Normally these groups were referred to by their leader's name, but I wanted the Condotteiri to know they'd killed the wrong Amazon and Sakuniyas agreed to the naming convention.
The Condos had sent Ajax to Hungary and Romania to kill me. Charlotte had died stopping them, but this was not a matter of revenge. This honored her and was a request for her to watch over those who sought inspiration from her when they went into battle. West-Central Africa was one of the three Amazon Homeland (Eastern Europe and Southern India being the other two) and was where the war was heating up.
JIKIT (Joint International Khanate Interim Taskforce) became involved when the Condos and Coils of the Serpent (one of the 9 Assassin Clans) began killing local civilian and military leaders. The Condos did it to spread chaos for them to use as a smoke screen behind which they could hide the large numbers of mercenaries in the area hunting down the Amazons. The Coils attacked any official that was on the Condo's payroll.
As the body count began to rise, the US and UK began having 'normal' covert agencies investigate the killings, yet they remained blind to the reasons behind the actions. It wasn't until a whole Condo 'training camp' ended up being extinguished that they realized there was a third player in the game (as opposed to the governments and the rogue mercenaries).
The Coils of the Serpent were one step ahead of the intelligence agencies. And that allowed the Amazons to hunt down the Condos. We in JIKIT had estimated it was roughly 15,000 Condotteiri foot soldiers (consisting of mercs, local paramilitaries and the occasional regular army commander) versus the roughly 3000 Amazons and 1000 members of the 9 Clans. The Golden Mare was asking for Havenstone and the Freeholds in North and South America to raise up 'fists' to join the struggle in Africa. In Belize they would be trained for two months to ten weeks in jungle warfare before heading over.
"Are your people going to be ready?" Rachel inquired.
"We have done well in Japan," I replied. "The former 'Runners' actually do better moving through urbanized society than their Old School Amazon sisters."
"I heard they are more prone to taking orders from the Ninja," she looked me in the eyes.
"I told them to. This is the Ninja's war and we serve them best by doing what we do best ~ taking the fight to the Seven Pillars when they expose themselves," I clarified. "And you got me off talking about Charlotte," I realized a second later.
"A long period of mourning is not our way, Cáel," she confided. "You were our friend, but you were our mission first and foremost. That hasn't changed."
"Are you going to," I began to say 'remain my bodyguard'.
"Yes. I have a dozen House Guard members expressing a desire to join the Security Detail and be our new electronics expert. Eight of those I'm giving serious consideration to."
"The other four?" I asked.
"Three are too young and are too interested in you for my taste. One is too old and a rather odd individual."
"I like odd."
"I will reconsider her then," she allowed.
"Are you saying that to make me happy?"
"No," Rachel grinned. "I admire your instincts. Do you know how soon you will be needing us?"
"I'm going to stay in town until the Great Hunt. After my stupendous victory, I'll see if I can get to Brazil, so mid-September."
"It will take longer to integrate a member ~ the last week of November," she bargained. I really wasn't in the mood to argue. I was too much the boy who was glad to see his primary guardian standing before him. Pamela was by far the most loving and lethal one of the pack. Rachel was my rock. She kept me alive and I helped give her something to live for, even if it was a flawed 'me'.
"And Wakko, you don't need to give me a piece of your soul to replace Charlotte. What is hers is hers and what is ours is ours. I'll always miss her and I'm okay with that. She was a good friend and a proud compatriot and I loved her. I never had any sisters of the flesh. Mona, Tiger Lily and Charlotte have been the only real family I've had. I will find another sister and I can now accept that."
"Is it alright if I still miss her?" I pondered.
"Of course, Ishara. Will you still be capable of taking my orders when required?"
"Yes. If I started ignoring your advice, I wouldn't have been worthy of leading someone like Charlotte into battle. I can honor her by letting you do your job."
"Thank you. I still worry about you trying to save everyone, but now I'll worry a little less," she confessed.
"I still plan to do crazy stuff, hey, do you have a daughter?"
"No."
"Want one?"
"I'm in the final drawing of lots for the Great Hunt," she smiled once more.
"You could just ask."
"My way is more fun. This way I'll be sure you'll obey," she let her eyes sparkle with a mirthful fire.
"Don't think I'll go easy on you. I plan to win," I pledged.
"Of course not. Why would you change now?"
"I'd rather you bust my balls than mock me?" I pouted. "Instead of spending a moving moment, you are cheering me up."
"It is my job to look after you, even now," she stroked my neck affectionately.
"Especially now," I added as I hit the elevator button.
"Let's catch up with the others. I need to tell Meridian that she's back in the running."
"Oh, that is fortunate," I grinned. "Oh, we'll start our mission to Brazil on Thursday, February 12th."
"Is there a significance of that date?"
I laughed. I put an arm around her shoulder as the doors opened. There were two others Havenstone ladies onboard.
"Carnival in Rio de Janeiro!" I exulted. "Half a million tourists a day. Two million Brazilians. Everyone wears a mask. What's not to love?"
"You are so fortunate you waited until you had witnesses around," Rachel groused.
"Desiree says it's bad for my prestige to be beaten in public," I chortled. "I'm glad you agree."
"Maybe we can spar on the mats today when you get off work?"
"Oh, I'd like to see that," one of the other Amazons remarked. "Weapons or hand-to-hand?"
"I'll let him use a weapon. I'll use my hands. I want him to think he has a chance," Rachel declared. My arm was still around her shoulder, so I knew she wasn't really pissed.
"Didn't you kill Ajax?" the other one noted.
"He tripped over his shoelaces and impaled himself on his own sword," I sighed dramatically.
Since the two women looked at one another, then to Rachel, I knew I'd told the lie well.
"Cáel had an ally shoot a grenade overhead, Ajax died in the confusion, so whatever blow killed him is irrelevant. Cáel beat Ajax with his mind before a single blow was landed. He made his foe fight his battle and that was how Wakko Ishara won," Rachel responded.
"Like an Amazon," the first one nodded.
"With balls," I added.
"An Amazon with balls? I guess you are, but I don't think the testes mattered in that you beat our foe in a matter your ancestors can be proud of," the second one said.
"Well said," Rachel nodded.
"Thank you," I shook her hand. "I'm Cáel Wakko Ishara aka Nyilas."
"Oh, I'm Wynona of Allatu," she answered. She shook my hand, I ran a finger over her pulse and got her to blush slightly. Allatu was the Goddess of the Underworld in Canaanite mythology and one of the First Houses.
"Behave," Rachel whispered.
"Not likely," I whispered back.
"Did I say something wrong?" Wynona worried.
"No. Rachel is my moral guardian. So, do you want to go fishing, I mean swimming tomorrow after work, say 5:15?" I inquired.
"Sure," her smile broadened. "I excel in the water."
"Good, maybe you can teach me a thing or two," I answered. The door opened at the lobby and there stood Desiree.
"Here," Rachel shoved me out the door. "Take him before he fishes himself into more trouble."
"I understand," Desiree grumbled. "Come on fisherman. Financial Investigations is working late tonight and we need to pick up Italian food for twenty-two."
"Lead and I shall follow," I proclaimed.
"Why do you call him the 'Fisherman'," Wynona asked Rachel.
"Fish, barrel, I'll explain it to you on the way to the garage," Rachel sighed. The doors shut and off we all went.
{7:10 pm, Wednesday, August 27th ~ 12 Days to go}
"Will you still be having dinner with us once you return back to JIKIT?" Europa asked as Lorraine passed me some Cajun rice.
"Every Monday and Wednesday night and on Fridays early," I grinned.
"We are going to be spending some time in Doebridge over the Labor Day weekend," Europa griped. "Do you want to come with us and save Aya from retelling her ordeal to yet another band of pre-Amazons?"
"Aya, do you want me to run interference for you?" I asked.
"No," she smiled. "I want you to train for the Great Hunt. Aunt Katrina says Elsa is virtually a guarantee to be one of the thirty."
"Ugh," I groaned. "That's the cherry on the top of a rather bizarre day."
"Was today bad?" Loraine asked.
"Let me see, for starters I got to use a variety of weird weapons for firearms practice. I had a feeling I was part of a round-robin, the way they rotated their assistance to me. In the elevator, I was with Brielle and her buddy when we had a security drill. The elevator cut off, but the air handler went into overdrive, dropping the temperature. After a quick democratic vote, I lost my shirt to an impromptu fire to stay warm, alive," I chuckled. "Then we cuddled together for warmth. I was about to lose my undershirt and pants when the alert ended."
"Security alerts last less than fifteen minutes," Caitlyn noted. "I doubt you were in any danger of freezing to death."
"Brielle was under the impression security alerts could last hours, despite my questionable knowledge otherwise from the handbook I'd read. Since she had the seniority, I thought she knew better."
"So now you are shirtless," Europe smirked.
"I had a spare shirt stashed in Katrina's office, but I was required to change during the meeting because we were running late. Oh, and yesterday I forgot to feed some genetically superior white rats at one of our labs. Apparently they gnawed through their cages, broke out and now are in the Manhattan underworld, plotting a rodent rebellion," I related.
"Oh, that was my idea," Loraine perked up.
"Do you sit around the table with Katrina thinking up this kind of crap!" I protested.
"Occasionally," Caitlyn admitted. "Most of those are pure Katrina though."
"Glad to know my misery is a family bonding experience."
"You should be glad to know we care about you," Europa beamed.
"Yeah, I'll remember that and once you are casted I'm going to absolutely abuse my authority in some serious payback," I faux-glared at her.
"I promise you we will make it fun," Aya pledged.
"You would betray your own sisters?" Caitlyn questioned.
"Sisters are sisters, Mother, but boon companions are for life," Aya countered.
"That's cool, Mom," Europa snorted. "We'll always be taller than Aya, and faster."
"Only more proof she'll be smarter," Caitlyn shook her head. "So Cáel what happened next?"
"What makes you think the rest of my day wasn't mundane and boring?"
"According to Katrina, you are the best stress reliever at Havenstone since they put in the Jacuzzis. With it being open season on you today, I figured your day was one misadventure after another," Caitlyn smiled warmly.
"Fine, I had to go to Financial Investigations to discuss my expense account in Europe."
"That doesn't sound all that exciting," Loraine said.
"We were in the pool swimming in the classic Amazon style, I swear, sometime I think I should go to work wearing nothing but a trench coat and a smile," I grouched.
"Did you make any babies?" Aya chirped.
"No, I can't have that kind of fun with any employees for another twelve more days. Anyway, they were quite cross with me not using their services and let me know for an hour and, thirty-six minutes. After that I had to get a reference physical."
"You are as healthy as a horse," Europa neighed.
"Funny Epona," I sniffed indignantly. "You are a load of laughs, filly. After I had been turned into a prune they made me undress again. There was some nonsense about all the combat I had been in had made me shorter and given me muscle constriction."
"That is a good one," Aya nodded. "I'm glad they were being as creative as you are, Atta."
"Who is to say that I'm not being the creative one here?" I winked at her.
"Were your muscles 'constricted'?" Loraine snickered. Europa gave her a thumbs up for joining on the fun.
"Nope, all my reflexes are in working order and I can still salute on demand," I smiled. "Which was good because after that, I worked through lunch with Acquisitions discussing Khanate plans for Siberia." There was a pause.
"What was so horrid about that?" Loraine inquired, as if I had been tortured up until that point.
"We had to do the whole three hour routine on the practice mats. I was pinned grappled and I had something that was strangely reminiscent of a titty-snuggle. I mean, all that skin-tight clothing, close contact and sweaty bodies was murder on my concentration," I confessed.
"We aren't going to be investing in Siberia, are we?" Aya winked at me.
"I don't know. I spent three hours saying "I don't know" and "I haven't a clue."
"You are good at that," Europa jibed. I flicked a pea at her, bouncing it off her chin. She was getting ready for a spaghetti & meatball counterattack when Caitlyn's cough brought her up short.
"He is the Head of House Ishara. He can act that way. You are Epona and we are better behaved."
Europa stuck her tongue at me, I returned the gesture and this time Caitlyn's cough was aimed at me. She followed that up by rubbing her foot along my shin. I smiled at her, then caught Aya smiling at the both of us. Then I recalled Aya had set the table, damn it.
"I'll get us dessert," Aya beamed happiness my way. I was thinking about dessert alright, damn that girl.
{Rhada Revisited}
"I'm home gang," I exhaled. "Ready to go out?" and was promptly shot with a Nerf gun. "What did I do this time?"
Timothy and Odette were getting off the sofa. Odette was taking aim while Timothy left his single-shot where he'd been sitting.
"We are going out. You are not," Timothy grinned. "You have company in the bedroom."
"Man, I was looking forward to," then Odette shot me in the stomach with her six shot nerf repeater.
"You have company," Odette emphasized the 'company' part. To me this implied someone who I couldn't seduce with a few words, maybe get busy for half an hour then go out partying. That could only mean,
I opened my door and there lay Rhada, completely naked, hogtied and bound. She had even been gagged. Her look of hate and loathing turned to, something else; part fear and part heartsick yearning. Could Timothy and Odette, really just Timothy, I loved Odette but she had the combat skills of a Tribble. Could Timothy defeat Rhada so thoroughly that she could be so bound?
Not likely. I'd been neglecting her, What with being kidnapped, running off to Europe and generally doing my job, I'd neglected her well-defined physique, olive skin and athletic curves. I'd been a fool for letting her waste away while I'd been 'not' earning a paycheck. Hell, I was working too much. I'd played around in college and still managed to graduate with good grades, and it wasn't like I had been hired for my brains.
"Oh, I've been missing this," I relished her helplessness while rubbing my palms together.
"Mumph," Rhada protested. It was hard for her to move her body. Her legs were bound above the knee to her shins while her ankles were lashed together and then to the top of her thighs.
Her elbows and wrists were tied behind her back, wrists to wrist. The ropes securing her arms crisscrossed above and below her breasts and looped around her neck. She looked tightly secured. A bit too secured. I couldn't see how to un-hog-tie her.
"Don't you dare go anywhere," I warned Rhada then backed out of the room hurriedly.
"I suggested the ass plug!" Odette smiled as I turned around. I'd missed that given the shapeliness of her buttock,
"I color-coded the ends of the ropes for you. Pull the yellow, then green and then pink and she'll come undone just fine. I put some ointment by the bedside for after. It will help numb the burn and promotes healing without scarring," Timothy patted me on the shoulder. "Now that you've been taken care of, Odette's going to be my wing-girl at the Commando." That was a gay hot spot.
"Sorry I'm missing out," I laughed. "I'm popular there too."
"We'll have fun," Odette patted my cheek. "You two have fun here."
"Come on girlfriend," Timothy put an arm around Odette. "Let's go feed you to some lesbians."
"You are joking, right?" Odette feigned fearfulness.
"We'll see," Timothy laughed. They left, leaving me alone with my favorite deviant. I weighed the 'anticipation' pathway but decided Rhada had waited long enough. I returned to the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind me.
"My captive looks absolutely delicious this evening," I leered. She struggled again, nearly choking herself with her bindings. Next she tried to bite thru her gag to no avail.
I sat down on the bed beside her, trailing two fingers from her sternum down to her navel and further still, into her cunt. She was creamy, torrid, fervent and inviting. I wiggled my fingers inside, coaxing her G-spot.
"Don't you dare cum," I cautioned. "Amazons climax. Slave girls serve at the pleasure of their masters."
Rhada's eyes widened and she inadvertently humped my hand. I could tell she was ready to go. I teased her clit and thumped the inside of her cunt in just the right way to make her orgasm. She tried to stifle some sobs to little effect. She was too needy and ready. I was being cruel, just the way she wanted it.
"A simple fucking instruction," I teased her tear-streaked face.
Timothy with, or without Odette, had laid out a paddle, riding crop and lash at the foot of the bed for just such a time as this. I went for the riding crop, brandished it in front of Rhada's face and grinned lasciviously.
"When I ride my slave, I expect her to go where I tell her," I studied her with remote emotions. She'd been 'bad' after all, even though I'd not left her much of a chance to be 'good'.
Whack!
She took a quick hit to the nipple. I rubbed her mammary with the leather head then gave her opposite nipple the same treatment. Rhada struggled to meet the lashing, savoring the sting and orgasmically relishing the pain. Wanting to change up my routine, I worked the crop down the sides of her ribcage, caressing her flesh, gave her stomach a good smack and then rubbed it wet between her legs.
I had to get rid of my clothes, so I made a production of it. I stretched, showing her every scar that represented my martial vigor on me. This was the fiction that allowed me and me alone to be the one who could dominate her, own her and trade in her haughty demeanor for her inner war captive. On that one time when we had fought and I had been left kneeling over her, binding her with my belt, she had created this mythology that allowed her to submit while remaining true to her Amazon heritage.
She was the warrior humbled. She was my slave and mine alone. Sure, she'd let Timothy bind her twice now, but in her mind that had all been a prelude to submitting to me. And here she was in the same boat again. She was watching me disrobe. Her legs were twitching in anticipation. I didn't make her wait long. With one fluid move, I sidled onto the bed, raised her right leg to the side and plunged into her.
Damn she felt good. Five pushes in I turned her around, placing her right knee beneath me and pulling her left leg to my hip. That traction allowed me to shamelessly plow away. This was primal fucking and nothing but. I was using Rhada to slake my lusts and letting her get inside my mind. I turned into her warrior dominant and she lay helpless before me.
Rhada must have felt this, because by the time I regained some of my senses she had had her second climax. She'd been waiting a long time for this. I had to wonder how many times had she brought herself close to her orgasm, only to practice self-denial. I'd ask her later. For now, her undulations and my new mindset sent me over the edge and I shot up into her, filling Rhada with my seed. Vague warnings from Ishara about renewing my House were temporarily ignored.
I yanked Rhada's gag down and filled her mouth with my tongue. My lips pressed down hard on hers. It was a violent case of mouth to mouth with lives on the line. I left Rhada wanting more, her lips reaching up for me as I pulled away. I looked down her body. Her legs bindings were getting in the way of me manipulating her body the way I liked. Sure enough, there at the end of one cord was a yellow aglet.
Rhada was on her stomach spread eagle on the bed. Her breathe still came in ragged gasps. Sex was over. I had ravished Rhada, taken all of her holes, I needed to find the ass plug wherever I'd thrown it, and made her cry in pleasure repeatedly.
Now was the after-care. I had already rubbed the sensation back into her arms and got the blood flowing back into her numb hands. The unguent smelled like watermelons and caused my fingertips to tingle where I was gracefully applying it over her burned up ass, lashes welled up and angry looking.
"Ah." Rhada purred. "That feels nice."
"It reduces the pain and swelling plus decreases the likelihood of permanent scaring," I informed her. One aspect of our relationship was the limited skin area I could safely lash. If a sports bra and boy-shorts couldn't cover it, the lashing had to be very light lest someone ask embarrassing questions when she worked out sometime tomorrow. That meant her ass received a great deal of attention.
That translated into very delicate finger work for me as I poured the oily mixture on her behind without causing her more undue pain.
"One day you may need to keep me," she sighed happily.
"One day we won't have to hide," I mused. "We'll leave Havenstone in the same car, go over to our apartment and play all night long."
That was a fiction. I'd done wonders to Amazon society, mainly in the category of wondering what cosmic forces had converged to keep me alive in this misandrist Hell hole. Allowing me to take one of their princesses out on a date in order to submerge her in a secret rape fantasy was as likely as me becoming the next High Priestess.
The only two that had an inkling of what we were up to either actively didn't want to know for certain (Katrina), or had this delusion I was an ancient hero reborn and she could cure me of any dark impulses with her pure love (Oneida). Katrina was the most open-minded and adaptive full-blooded Amazon I knew and we had an understanding that if the nature of my affair with Rhada became public, bad shit would happen. Oh yeah, Pamela would understand, but her opinion meant squat to everyone but me, and Selena the assassin was also on the list.
I rolled Rhada's limp body to one side and gently applied the ointment to her swollen and raw nipples and lashed breasts. In retrospect, I'd been harsher than I thought I could be. She relished the attention then and now, and I was as careful as I could be. The right side done, I went to the left before letting her rest on her front once more. That part of aftercare done, I began using some massage oil on her shoulders and thighs where her muscles and joints had been stretched.
By the time I had finished, she was, I thought, sound asleep. I settled in beside her, running my hand through her luxurious black hair now sticky with sweat and down her spine avoiding the wounded flesh. She surprised me by catching me tenderly petting her with her eyes slit open. Rhada had been watching me.
"You do care for me," she trailed off.
"If I didn't care about you, I would have told Katrina by now and let her forbid us from seeing one another," I enlightened her.
"Oh, but you kept us a secret from her," she smiled languidly. "Thank you. I know you value her as your mentor."
"That's one way to look at our working affiliation," I shrugged.
"Speaking of affiliations, was it your idea, or Buffy's?" she yawned.
"Not mine, since I have no clue what you are talking about."
"Buffy proposed to the Council an answer to our issue of the Regency," she eyed me. I went back to plucking the sweaty strands of hair off her back and brushing them to the side.
"Still not me, what did she propose?"
"That the Regency be a single House head, an Apprentice and a Runner," she informed me. "I doubt we will approve a runner." Rhada's eyes closed as she soaked up my presence and compassionate gesture. "I was thinking I might volunteer to be the Apprentice since, the Regency will remain in New York."
"Madi would allow this?"
"Madi wants to get back to the Homeland (India) now that the fight has heated up there. She is worried about our sisters going into battle. She wants to be there to lead them," she confessed.
"What about you? What do you want, Rhada?"
"I want to, serve my people,"
"And be close to me?" I inquired. She looked away. "I'd like that. Besides, I'm getting into danger all the time, so no place near me is safe. You will have plenty of chances to fight for the Host by staying here."
"Surely?" she turned back to me. "I should have thought of that. I would like to stay, to fight by your side, Slayer of Ajax." More unwanted glory.
"So who you think the House Head will be?" I changed the subject slightly.
"Madi wants to insure it will be a 'reliable', meaning conservative member," she sighed. "We might have to pick two. I doubt we will elect a Runner to be our leader."
"What about Buffy? She is a former Runner and now Ishara's Apprentice," I suggested. Rhada studied me.
"I don't think we have considered that. You are honored now and Buffy is honored because of your efforts in the war. She might be acceptable," Rhada smiled up at me. "I love you," she murmured softly.
"I love you too," I replied in the same tone. Did I love her? I didn't know. I really wasn't sure what love was. A romantic soul would have confessed that and their loneliness to the world. Me? Nope. Truth didn't belong in passionate, thus irrational, relationships. Being caught in the lie destroyed relationships, not necessarily the lying itself.
Telling Rhada 'I love you' made her happy and she deserved to be happy with the torturous means she had chosen for herself. I thought she was freaky, but I was okay with that because it made her shine inside and out. If Rhada wanted to believe we had a special bond, so be it. I'd had special bonds with plenty of women before her, and with this one, she was a further part of all the other weirdness that I called a normal day. Our seriousness had returned to sensual play.
She stretched her left leg over my left, hissing slightly. I'd tore up her Heine but good and it hurt when her gluts flexed. Even with the unguents, she was going to know pain for the next few days. I was sure she'd enjoy the perverse thrill.
"Did my captive enjoy her spanking?"
"No," she fibbed piteously. I almost expected 'thank you, may I have another'.
"Lying will just make me impress upon you my domination more firmly next time," I grumbled. She shivered.
"Next time I'll fight harder," she swore. I wasn't convinced.
"You'll still end up tied to my bed with my rod driving in deep," I promised. That earned me another shiver of lust.
"Promise," she whispered. I tilted her head up so that we were eye to eye and nose to nose. Rhada pushed her body up and forward until we kissed. "I like this."
"I like this too. You feel good beneath my hands," I told her. She smiled warmly, affectionately. Muscle fatigue took hold and she collapsed on my chest. I stroked her hair for several seconds until her gentle snoring reached my ears.
{7:10 am, Thursday, August 28th ~ 11 Days to go}
When I arrived at weapons practice in the morning, I was dog tired and sure I had to take care of one more thing before showing up at the office. I relayed a message to Saint Marie I needed five minutes of her time right after Katrina's morning review in Katrina's office. I sent word to Katrina, warning her as well as Buffy and Helena. Pamela showed up right before seven and I couldn't figure a good way to shush her away. That meant I had enough pain in my life for the moment.
Once there, after my final intern work review (I had facilitated a project that created a flying fish/piranha hybrid), after the other new hires left, I told those four how I had killed Ajax: I had fed him to an angry goddess. SzelAnya had done all the heavy lifting and she deserved the accolades. I couldn't in good conscience continue living under that cloud and accepting the glory that was truly hers.
The Golden Mare stepped up and we clasped arms.
"I'm about to hug you," Saint Marie cautioned me. "Don't do anything stupid." Then she hugged me and I kept my hands above the waist despite my innate temptation to do something erotic.
"I suppose you will let everyone know," I said when she pulled back. Our arms were still clasped.
"I plan to tell the Council," she snorted with amusement, "mainly because it stands to help SzelAnya become an Amazon House. As for the rest of the Host ~ I have no problem letting you be the heroine, hero, who slew one of our greatest enemies. After all, if you could kill Ajax with your wits and will, how can they do any less?"
"We are in a desperate war against stiff odds, Cáel," Katrina explained. "That you killed Ajax, and I do believe Ajax wouldn't be dead without you, helps us believe destiny is on our side. There is nothing we can't do. What I want to know is how did you get SzelAnya to aid you?"
"Oh that," I released the Golden Mare's arm. "Umm, I believe that when Ishara enacted that curse through me, I was able, in a limited fashion, to peek through the Weave. When something supernatural is looking at me, I can sense it. That is how I saw the ghost at summer camp. When I interacted with Alkonyka, I drew SzelAnya's attention."
"I could see her just on the other side of the Weave, trying to interact in some way to help her few surviving descendants. I hypothesized that I could contact her if I was rendered violently unconscious and since I was bound to the Unconquered in the same way I am linked to Temujin, Saku and Alal, I could bring him over into what I call my 'Ishara-space' and deliver us both to SzelAnya."
"What if she had killed you?" Saint Marie studied me.
"I was actually hoping Ajax would last long enough for me to regain consciousness," I shrugged. "Barring that, I was going to try talking my way out of it."
"Which was it?" Katrina mused.
"She decided she had uses for me, so I got to live," I grinned. "It was a close thing and an experience I hope never to repeat. Unfortunately she also saved my life over the Pacific so that's two I owe her, and Ishara isn't happy about that."
"Your female deity is disappointed in you," Saint Marie snorted. "I'm happy I am not alone."
"Not so much disappointed as,"
"Territorial," Katrina finished for me. "I know the feeling."
"What? Me?" I looked her way.
"I'm about to lose you to JIKIT," she pointed out, "and I barely got you back. Now I'm not even getting my last eleven days, all because the larger world needs you. Cáel, I want you to know that you have made my job far more fulfilling because of the attitude you take toward our work."
"I thought I was giving you headaches."
"No. That would be me," Saint Marie interjected. "Katrina is your third greatest fan."
"Buffy and Helena?" I looked to Buffy and Helena.
"Of course," Katrina nodded. "They will be forever trying to repay you for the gift you gave them ~ to make them a full-fledged Amazon. Buffy is even prouder that you have entrusted her and Helena with expanding your House."
"We earned the right, Cáel, but so had many other deserving Runners who never got the chance," Buffy stated. "You gave all Runners real hope that any of us could one day be in a House, with children of our own. That our souls would go on for eternity."
"I especially like your idea to induct Runners whose time had passed so that your history would run both forward and backwards at the same time," Helena added.
"Speaking of telling people something they deserve to know," Katrina's hawk-like gaze regarded Saint Marie. "Being the sponsor of House SzelAnya, he needs to know something about House Illuyankamunus."
"I am not the High Priestess, Katrina," Saint Marie bristled.
"You have her authority invested in you," Katrina persisted. "How is he to know how much trouble he is causing unless you enlighten him?"
Saint Marie growled, torn between two difficult choices.
"Everyone else, leave the room," Saint Marie grumbled. Buffy shot me worried look before scooting out with Helena.
That left Pamela.
"I'm not staying because I think you will lie to him," Pamela stood. "I'm staying here because Cáel needs a filter, and he'll tell me anyway when I ask."
"I'm glad I never had to work with you," Saint Marie glared. "You and I would not have gotten along."
"I think we would have gotten along fine," Pamela gave a lopsided grin. "We would have hated one another then let each of us do what we are good at. You are a good strategist, Golden Mare. You are the right War Leader at the right time. I despise you, but I acknowledge the Host could do a whole lot worse."
"I am not even going to respond to that backhanded compliment in any other way than say, may death welcome you soon."
"Hey now," I intervened. "Pamela is the Pat Garret to my 'Billy the Kid'."
"Cáel, Garret murdered Billy," Katrina grinned.
"No I didn't," Pamela struck a pose. "I helped him fake his death so he could live a normal life."
"What she said," I agreed.
"Fine! Fine," Saint Marie threw up her hands. "Ishara,"
"Call me Wakko," I interrupted. "We are friends."
"We are not friends," she growled. "Besides, I thought your code name was Yakko."
"That didn't work out for me. People think I'm the crazy one."
"Crazier one," Pamela corrected me.
"What she said," I pointed to Pamela.
"To think I am letting you be more famous than me," the Golden Mare muttered. "Why have the ancestors done this to me?"
"In private you get to hit him as much as you like," Katrina pointed out. Saint Marie punched me in the upper arm hard!.
"Ow!" I squawked. "Shouldn't you be doing something about this?" I looked to Pamela.
"I don't like her, but she's justified," Pamela shrugged.
"Bitch,ow!" I yelped when Saint Marie punched me again, in the same spot.
"I was saying that about Pamela," I told her. Saint Marie looked to Pamela.
"Oh no," she smirked. "I'll get him later, when he's not expecting it."
"Where were we?" Saint Marie shook her head.
"House Illuyankamunus," Katrina steered us back on course.
"At the end of the Second Betrayal, the entirety of House Illuyankamunus protested the Council's decision, yet refused to oppose the decision. They swore to be a daily reminder of our shame until the last one died, which they thought would be soon. They were not alone in feeling shame over what we did, which you have proven to be wrong. Others felt the same way, and instead of 'taking themselves to the cliff' when the Host was in such dire circumstances, they joined the House of the Thunder Dragon."
"Since that time, when individual Amazons feel they have been heinously shamed by their fellows without redress, the High Priestess has given them the option of joining Illuyankamunus instead," the Golden Mare explained.
"But, oh, by the time SzelAnya recovered, all the original Illuyankamunus must have been dead," I reasoned. "Her heart remained with the children of Bolu, so she never returned to the Amazons who fought in her name."
"This 'out' has only been known to the highest ranking Amazons," Saint Marie cautioned me. "Only the Council heads involved in such decisions have been told of the true nature of Illuyankamunus, and not all have agreed that the House should have been allowed to continue. Only the High Priestess, the Keeper of Records and the House Head knew the goddess had turned her back on her followers, and until you intervened, we didn't know the 'why' of the matter."
"Had you not jumped the gun, we might have been able to integrate the two Houses, but you had to speak up and now we have the option of retaining House Illuyankamunus as an alternative to a wasted death and adding a new House that will re-forge a bond with men."
"Even in a small way," I nodded.
"It is never enough for you," Saint Marie glowered.
"He does not push from behind," Katrina rallied to my defense. "He leads from the front like the charming lemming he is."
"Squeak!"
"The fox is an animal I identify with," Saint Marie kept glaring. "Foxes eat lemmings."
"Is that an invitation to, Ow!" she punched me. "At least hit me somewhere else next time," which I realized a second to late meant, "OW!" she punched my other arm.
"Bodyguard! Body-guard," I staggered toward Pamela.
"You are in no real danger. That's just Amazon foreplay," she beamed happily my way.
"No, it is not," Saint Marie seethed. "I find him abhorrent."
"Come on fisherman," Pamela shrugged.
"I'm coming. I'm coming. Katrina, I'll have something to report to you by the end of the day. I'm out of here while I still have use of my arms."
"Cáel, remember to not tell anyone," Saint Marie warned me.
"About the Amazons having another weird way of being obstinate survivalists? Sure, no problem," I shrugged.
"That's breaking down a sacred tradition into another one of your delusional qualifications," Saint Marie accused me.
"That's his way of saying he understands and has sympathy for our answer to the dilemma of unanswerable personality conflicts," Katrina translated.
"That's not what he said."
"Fine, the Host is doing something that keeps some people alive so I heartily approve and understand the need for secrecy because rapid and complete solutions are all too often the solution our people reach," I elucidated.
"You could have told me that," Saint Marie said. I put some distance between us.
"What fun would that be, come Kato!" I hurried out the door.
"You got that one right," Pamela laughed as she followed me out. "Now that the fun is over, it is time to get ourselves to the office."
{3:45 pm, Thursday, August 28th ~ 11 Days to go}
In a simple life you can always go 'well let me ask (somebody)'. On the surface, my relationship with JIKIT and the Khanate was that way. When JIKIT wanted something from the Khanate, they formally asked me and I asked Iskender, or if the matter was crucial enough, OT (Beg Oyuun T m rbaatar, the Earth and Sky's representative in North America). The opposite was also true. Or, that was the way it should have been.
Since I was no longer twelve and asking the teacher for a bathroom pass, or giving the Vice Principle a note excusing me from school, I had to be careful what I asked for and had to filter requests through my own insights. Lady Yum-Yum (Fathom Worthington-Burke of the UK's MI-6) and Addison Stuart (CIA's National Clandestine Service) taught me to divine the 'yes, I'm on it', 'we'll work on it' and 'not in this lifetime' replies.
I couldn't make those decisions on whether or not the asking individual was a douche. Lives were hanging in the balance, even if the terms used were 'frozen assets' or informal requests to locate missing persons lost in the chaos of Western China. I had taken those lessons into my meeting with Ferit Hoxha, Permanent Representative of Albania to the United Nations.
I was supposed to smooth things over with him concerning my kidnapping. I did my normal in depth internet research (I swear, I keep meaning to donate money to Wikipedia) before our meeting so we could have something to talk about. We kept it simple, he expresses his country's deepest regrets over my kidnapping (because telling the truth that the Chinese had done it was too plain for me) then began talking about family.
Around dessert time the words 'what would you do if the Khanate asked you to join?' came spilling out of my mouth. Why? Maybe I was possessed. Did I know about the political background of the Balkans? No. I knew that Albanian and Greek girls looked different and that Albanians were Muslims whereas Greeks were Christian.
Thanks to the JIKIT team, I knew Greece had economic problems poor Albania could barely aspire to. They were the wimpy kid on the playground that never had a real shot at coming into their own. I felt bad about that, I guess, so I offered to bring them into Temujin's Big Tent. He would feel honored, I'd feel good about it and, he leaned across the table and said 'really?'
So I made shit up. Of course Temujin valued Albania's geopolitical location on the European continent. How could he not? With the home of pizza and nun-porn just across the, Adriatic and bunches of hot Slavic chicks to the north, what wasn't to love? My blood-brother, the Great Khan, was worried about his growing position via-a-vis Europe and who better to be his point men than the Albanians?
I am so full of shit. Sometimes I even stun myself.
Of course he would have to check with his government, but he and other factors within the Albanian government had been hoping for such a thing, huh?
Of course he was pleased that of all the languages in the world I was able to speak, I had chosen Albanian. It showed my dedication to his country's cause. Blame Alal.
Of course Albania would maintain its palatinate status within the Khanate, because I said so, that's why.
Of course my buddy Temujin wouldn't leave me (and the Albanians) hanging around with our cocks in our hands looking like idiots, because I was doing him a great favor I was totally unaware of.
Of course Greece was viewing Turkey with growing alarm due to its powerful position within the expanding Khanate, because they have over five hundred years of bad blood and blood feuds I was ignorant of. Come on now, it doesn't take me a week to forgive people who have tried to kill me.
Of course Greece was in 'secret' talks with Russia about the Turkish Question since it looked like the rest of NATO wasn't going to do anything,
And Temujin was aware of this threat to his European flank but had been unable to address it,
And now he could use Albania to flank Greece the same way Russia was using Greece to flank Turkey.
I'm a freaking Realpolitik genius. Just ask Fathom, Addison and OT. I had to look 'realpolitik' up to realize it was spelled with a 'k'. I had called Iskender, he had called OT and OT had immediately called the Khan. Twenty-seven minutes later, OT called me back and had me set up a meeting with Ferit. Oh, and Iskender was coming over to talk about something the Great Khan wanted JIKIT to work on.
I said okay.
To be continued.
By FinalStand for Literotica.