Amazon Chief by Robin Roseau Read Free Book Online

replied. "But we have huts at home."
    "Huts?"
    "A one room house," Omie explained. "Normally each warrior gets a hut to share with her companion, but Queen's Town is overfull. Vorine and I are sharing a hut, and our old warriors are sharing a hut."
    "I think we're going to build some new huts this summer," Vorine said. "Maya is trying to get us the materials we need?"
    "Maya is?" I asked.
    "Yes," said Vorine. "Do you understand about the tithe?"
    "That's when we send you food."
    "That's when the villages send us food," Omie said. "At least for tonight, you're an Amazon, Beria."
    I thought about it, and my heart swelled. "Really?"
    "Yes," she said. "Isn't she, Vorine?"
    "Tonight, everyone in this tent is an Amazon," Vorine declared. "After tonight, we'll see."
    "All right," I said, "The tithe is when the villages send us," and I stressed that word, "food."
    "They also send us other things."
    "Like the materials to build huts?"
    "Yes, sometimes, if we ask," Vorine said. "Or something. You know, I don't know. But Maya said she'd get us materials, so she'll get us materials. She didn't explain how, and it didn't even occur to me to ask."
    "So, to answer your question," explained Omie, "at home we sleep in beds in our huts. When we're traveling or on patrol, we sleep in tents. When there are a lot of us, Queen Malora has that pavilion you saw, but when she is on patrol or when she and Maya are traveling without the rest of us, she sleeps in a tent just like this one."
    I tried to envision my bookish sister sleeping on the ground in a tent, but I realized my sister had changed quite a bit in the last year.
    "Vorine," said Omie, "I heard another voice here. You've met Beria, but I'm not sure who else is in here with us."
    "Oh, I'm sorry," said Vorine. "Careen, you know Beria."
    "Yes."
    "And this is my sister, Omie. Omie, this is Careen."
    "Pleased to meet you," Omie said. "Are you and Beria friends?"
    "Um," said Careen. "I'm a little older than her."
    "We're in school together," I explained, "but she is two grades ahead of me, and we don't really play together or anything."
    "Two years make such a difference?" Vorine asked.
    "Um," said Careen again. "Beria is my old teacher's sister."
    "So?"
    "Some of the other kids don't like to play with me," I explained. "They're afraid I'll tattle on them."
    No one said anything for a minute, and it felt awkward.
    "Maybe I should go," I said quietly.
    "No!" Omie and Vorine both said at the same time, and Omie put a hand on my shoulder, pressing me into the bedding. "Please don't go, Beria," Omie said, and there was a great deal of emotion in her voice.
    "Do you two fight?" Vorine asked quietly.
    "No," said Careen. "I hang out with my friends. I don't have anything against Beria."
    I didn't care for Careen that much. She'd been a troublemaker for Maya. I didn't say anything.
    "Beria?" Omie asked.
    "What?"
    "Do you and Careen fight?"
    "No." But I didn't elaborate.
    The tent was silent for a good ten seconds, and then Omie said, "This is where we're all going to act like Amazons. As your warrior, Beria, if I ask a question, I expect an answer."
    "I answered," I said. "We don't fight."
    "And yet, there is something you aren't saying."
    I didn't know what to do, except I suddenly felt a great need to flee. The evening had been going really well, and I was excited at the thought of camping out, but I felt like I was on the spot, and I didn't like it.
    "She doesn't want to bad mouth me," Careen finally said. "I used to pick on her."
    "That was a long time ago," I said.
    "And cause trouble for her sister," Careen added.
    I didn't respond to that. That was far more current.
    "How much trouble?" Vorine asked.
    "Not a lot," Careen said. "I didn't mean it."
    I felt Omie next to me, shifting position, and then her mouth was over my ear. "Is she lying?" she asked quietly.
    I thought about it. Maya had never complained, but I knew Careen had been one of the girls most likely to cause her consternation.
    Yes,