Swords and Spears 

Chapter One – Tallis’s Rescue

Tallis slipped on her riding gloves as she approached her beloved mare, Shanter. Strong, fast and brilliantly brave, Shanter had appealed to Tallis as soon as she had been old enough to ride. Her first horse had become her only horse, their bond unbreakable as soon as Tallis had fed Shanter a freshly picked apple for the first time. The mare was large and mainly white except for black spots near her black tail and beneath her equally dark mane. She was beautiful and Tallis adored her.

Sniffing Tallis on the air, Shanter immediately began to pull on the reigns held by an apprentice horsewoman. The teenager yelped and started to pull back which only irritated Shanter. Eyes rolling, the mare reared up a little to scare the girl, and it certainly worked. The young amazon fell onto her backside, eyes wide with terror as Shanter loomed over her.

“Shanter, nay!” Tallis roared.

Recognising her name and the low, husky voice of her partner, Shanter back away from the girl and turned to her deeply loved rider. Tallis, eyes still lingering on the girl, passed an apple to Shanter and patted her rump as she passed.

The young amazon, still on the ground, swore to herself and prepared for Tallis, the tough, powerful warrior well known among all to unleashed her fury on her. Closing her eyes, the girl prepared for the worst.

“Are you alright, young Canir?”

Canir’s eyes opened a little and widened to see Tallis’s hand held out to her, offering a hand up. Swallowing hard, Canir gripped her hand and was hauled to her feet with ease. Still in shock, she wasn’t sure what to say as Tallis picked her cloth hat from the ground and dusted the dirt off. Canir’s cheeks reddened as the warrior placed it back on her head.

Tallis held back a smile at the apprentice’s enflamed cheeks. So many of the young amazons acted that way around her, engulfed in hero worship. She realised that by showing Canir kindness, she had likely made the youth the envy of the other apprentices.

I’m not a goddess. I haven’t earned this worship, she thought to herself. But I suppose, if it helps morale…

“T-thank you, T-Tallis,” Canir stuttered, something she only seemed to do around the warrior. Hesitating, the young girl admitted aloud, “I-I didn’t even know y-you knew my name.”

Smiling brightly, Tallis touched Canir’s shoulder lightly. “Of course I know your name, Canir. No one else can soothe Shanter as well after a long ride. You know how excited she gets. I also know how you sing to the other horses as well to calm them when a storm arrives.”

Canir looked as though she would faint and Tallis held back a laugh.

Alright, maybe that was a little rough, mentioning her singing. She deserves the praise though.

“My point is,” Tallis went on, “that you try hard at your work, and that will never go unnoticed by me.” Canir was beaming now Tallis turned back to her horse, satisfied she had made the young apprentice feel more at ease.

As Tallis approached a patient Shanter who was finishing off her apple, she turned to Canir over her shoulder. “And don’t fear Shanter, she’s all bluster. She would never hurt one with such a fine singing voice.”

Canir blushed so red her she resembled an apple herself. Tallis gave the amazon salute and pulled herself effortlessly onto her mare. Shanter whinnied with excitement as they rode off through the main gates of the amazon village to begin Tallis’s patrol.

Ashlin’s consciousness returned fast as wind buffeted her clothes and the sky rushed up around her. She let out a strangled cry as she realized she was falling again, but this time through the sky and not the tunnel.

Surrounding the young woman was a land of forest and grass, rivers and mountains. It was vast and beautiful, nature completely ruling this world. Ashlin would have wanted to pause and take it all in if she weren’t falling to certain death.

 Heart pounding in her ribcage, she tried to turn herself to see what was directly below her and let out another cry as she saw a fast-running river, the rapids tearing over smooth dark stones. She swore out loud as she quickly approached and tried to straighten her body as best she could to avoid as much damage as possible.

Hitting the water was painful at the speed she had been falling, but the pain didn’t last as the water quickly gripped her in its powerful clutches and dragged her along the rapids. She didn’t have a chance to drag in any air before crashing beneath the surface and her lungs were already burning with the lack of oxygen as she tumbled through the water. Her hands reached for anything, clawing for a handhold. Her back slammed into a stone and whatever air had been trapped in her chest was released in a rush.

A shadow loomed ahead, coming at her fast. Her head collided with the object and she immediately lost consciousness.

Tallis chewed on her travel rations as Shanter drank steadily from the river. As Tallis’s mouth worked around the nutty bar she had brought along, she made a face of disgust. Staring at the block of nuts and fruit in her face, she scowled.

“Why are these things so awful?” she asked her horse as Shanter glanced over at her rider. “Fruit and nuts bound together with honey. It doesn’t sound so bad until you actually let your tongue near it.” She woman sighed and stashed the rest of the food into her carry-sack. Shanter gave a small snort and Tallis glared at the horse.

“What are you laughing at? You eat grass and hay all day long. Whoever knows what’s been in those before you come along and start munching.”

Shanter ignored her rider and turned back to the water, leaving Tallis to sulk. The woman was unmatched in her swordsmanship, excelled as a rider, and was known as the toughest warrior among the amazons for multiple reasons, but she couldn’t stand bad food.

Standing, the woman stretched and started to step away from Shanter to find something better, an apple perhaps, when she heard Shanter’s warning snort from the edge of the river. Turning to her mare, Tallis saw her ears fold back and her head nodding wildly at something that had her concerned. Tallis was at her side in an instant, sword already gripped tightly in her hand.

Tallis’s well trained eyes searched the area from where she stood, her muscles taught and ready for a battle. She couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, though, and she frowned. There was no scuffle of feet on the dirt, no disturbance in the water. No bushes rustled and she couldn’t hear a disturbance amongst the animals around her apart from her own horse.

“Shanter, calm,” she ordered, her unarmed hand rubbing her horse’s rump soothingly. “I don’t think there’s any danger. What has you so…”

Tallis trailed off as she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Something that didn’t belong. Floating in the centre of the lake, a few metres from a small waterfall was a face-down, unmoving body.

Swearing softly, Tallis pointed to the ground beneath Shanter’s feet and ordered her mare not to follow with a click of her tongue. Shanter knew Tallis’s order well and remained as her warrior sheathed her sword and rushed to the water.

Tallis ran as far as she could through the shallows of the lake before she dove into its depths. She had been taught to swim as a young amazon like all of her sisters and tore through the water toward the stranger. Or she hoped it was a stranger. Her heart would break if one of the young amazons had snuck out of the village to play in the lake and ended up drowning themselves.

Don’t think like that. Just get to them, she told herself, arms slicing through the cold water with little effort.

Upon reaching the body, Tallis treaded water and flipped them onto their back. A female stranger’s face emerged from the water. Tallis stared down at them, certain this was no amazon. Short black hair cut in a style she didn’t recognise, strange piercings in her ears that weren’t made from a known material the amazon’s used… This girl wasn’t from their part of the world. Tallis had no way of knowing if they were a threat, but dangerous of no, they needed her assistance immediately and Tallis couldn’t just let them go. Her heart wouldn’t ever allow it, and neither would her queen.

Holding the young woman to her chest with one arm slung around her front, Tallis used her free hand to carry them through the water to the edge of the lake. She couldn’t feel the youth’s chest moving beneath her arm. They were lifeless and freezing cold. Glancing at the young woman’s face as she swam, Tallis was alarmed to see the stranger’s lips beginning to turn blue. Tallis knew that time was running out for them, if there was any left at all.

Shanter nervously shook her head from side to side at the edge of the water as Tallis approached with the stranger. Tallis clicked her tongue at her horse to calm her as she reached the shallows. She tested the youth’s wight and found her light enough to carry. Swinging her up into her arms, she rushed from the water and onto the grass where she lay the stranger flat on her back.

Tallis’s heart pounded with nerves as she tried to find any sign of life in the youth. She touched her fingers to her neck but couldn’t locate a pulse. She touched the stranger’s jaw and tilted her head back in the grass, hovering her ear centimetres from her slightly parted lips to feel or hear for a drawn breath. Again, she found nothing.

“Damnit,” Tallis growled, but determination rose like a fire in her belly. It wasn’t too late. She could still bring life back to this girl.

Placing her fingers on the stranger’s chest, she felt for a catch in her outer clothes to remove them, but found they were just as strange to this land as the person herself. A small latch shone in the light as Tallis searched and she gripped it, pulling it down to find it opened up the young woman’s clothing. She pulled the strange tag-like bit to the bottom of the thick clothing and pulled open the two sides, revealing a simple, thin shirt beneath, which Tallis was more familiar with. She gripped the bottom of the stranger’s shirt and moved it up till it rested beneath her chin, leaving her chest bare apart from her undergarments. Staring at the strange apparel that bound the stranger’s breasts, Tallis had to shake her head to clear her broken concentration. The person’s strange clothes could be a query for later.

Trying desperately one last time to find life in the stranger, Tallis rested an ear to her chest and listened for a heartbeat. She could hear nothing beneath her ribs and knew she was all this stranger had to save her from looming death.

Resting her hands on the young woman’s bare sternum, Tallis started shoving her palms against the girl’s ribs, hoping every thrust would force the water out of the girl’s lungs and get her heart beating again. After ten pumps of the chest, Tallis focused on breathing for the girl. She opened her mouth with her fingers and pressed her lips to the stranger’s cold mouth. Tallis blew a lungful of air down the girl’s throat, clamping the stranger’s nose shut with her fingers to keep the air from escaping.

Minutes went by as Tallis worked on the girl’s drowned body, hope quickly following after time as it passed. Shanter nervously pawed the earth with her hooves. The wind pushed gently at the grass and trees, unaffected by the scene of desperation.

Finally, the silence around Tallis was broken as the stranger gave a spluttering cough. Water burst from her mouth and continued to stream out as the girl released the river water she had inhaled. Tallis turned her to her side as she struggled to breathe around the water she vomited over her front.

As the youth expelled the water from her lungs, Tallis rubbed her back gently. The stranger was shaking from the cold and, Tallis assumed, shock. The girl’s hand reached up and Tallis took it in her own without hesitation, stroking her hand with her thumb to offer comfort.

“You’re alright now,” she soothed gently, moving her hand from the stranger’s back to gently rub the back of her neck softly. She had done this before for young amazon’s in the village when they sought her out at night after a frightening nightmare, or when they had been chastised by their fellow warriors after making mistakes. Tallis was seen as a strong, mighty warrior in the village, unbeaten and unshakable, but she had a softer side for her sisters that shone through when needed.

The stranger may not be a fellow amazon sister, but to Tallis she needed a stranger’s kindness right now and there was no one else there to offer it. Tallis was also well aware that this person was not of the forest and not one of her people. The amazon woman was on alert as to who she may be as her station demanded, but she also imagined how frightened this youth must be right now. Her heart ached for her and she tightened her grip on the girl’s cold hand.

After another few moments, the girl had stopped coughing up water. She had fallen unconscious and her breathing was shallow. She was cold to the touch and still shivering, too, and Tallis was torn by two decisions. The girl could be a serious threat to her fellow amazon’s, and her queen. If she brought her back to the village, they could all be in danger. However, as Tallis looked down at the girl she didn’t see a dangerous person. She saw someone who had almost died this day and needed further help immediately. She would die out here without assistance, and Tallis, as hard as she could be and as careful as she was when it came to her amazon family, couldn’t leave the girl in the wilderness to face certain death.

Her decision made, Tallis pulled the girl into her arms and lifted her effortlessly from the ground. She whistled to Shanter and placed the stranger onto her back before climbing up behind her. Tallis wrapped her arms around the stranger and nudged Shanter’s ribs.

“Quickly, Shanter,” she instructed as her horse began to gallop back down the trail. Tallis tightened her grip around the girl’s middle with one strong arm as the other held onto her horse. If she concentrated she could feel the stranger’s chest rising and falling weakly as she breathed. Her small frame continued to shiver with cold.

Tallis held her closer to her body, sharing her warmth and hoping to the goddess it would be enough.