Untitled Novel - Excerpt #1

“Look, there's Chaya.”

            “No,” Petra said at once. “We don't have time or money to pay a bard for a story.”

            “Oh, come on! Just a short one while we eat.”

            Rolling her eyes, Petra walked a few stalls down to where an old woman with a wizened face and watery blue eyes. Upon their approach she smiled, revealing crooked, yellowed teeth. Many said Chaya was blind, but Amazonia wasn't so sure. She thought it was a misconception that Chaya was devious enough to allow everyone to believe, especially since it incurred favors that normally no one would bestow, such as extra money for her tales, free food, and offers to complete chores from her young neighbors. Amazonia thought it quite a clever ruse, something she would do herself if she were very old, as Chaya was.

            “Ah, would the Princess like to hear a story?”

            “How did you know it was me?”

            “I know your footfall quite well, my dear, and I know you favor Adonia's lamb kabobs, which smell quite delicious.”

            “I have one qin left. Is that enough for one short story?”

            “It is sufficient enough to buy a tale that will whet your appetite to pay for more when next you receive your allowance. Sit, sit...”

            Petra didn't like fanciful stories, preferring to stick to hard fact and logic. Amazonia, on the other hand, loved to be entertained. She gave the last of the previous week's allowance to the old bard and took a seat on the ground before her. They were shaded by the hut behind old Chaya, and in the narrow lane the air seemed to move more than it did on the North Road, all of which made this spot a more comfortable place to hear a story in the heat of summer.

            “Have you ever heard of Ameena's Armor?” Chaya asked mysteriously.

            “No,” Amazonia said.

            “I have,” Petra replied dryly. “It's a myth about Ameena giving her armor to-”

            “Shhhh!” Amazonia nudged Petra in the ribs. “Go on, Chaya.”

            “In the days of men, before the First Queen led the women of her village to freedom from the tyranny of their men, Ameena would ride across the earth on the back of her great and terrible wolf, Esidore. As you know, Ameena would often disguise her true face and visit many kingdoms around the world, always as a beautiful woman eager to fight and defeat men who abused their women.

            “One day a particularly clever wizard named Gorsedd lured Ameena into Narsengaard. He was determined to gain Arekon's favor by putting his wayward daughter in her place. He believed that if he humiliated her by defeating her in combat, he would become king, and all in his bloodline would rule the most powerful kingdom in the world for eternity.

            “To get Ameena's attention, Gordredd brewed a potion that would lure the most beautiful woman in the kingdom to him by putting a scent that only she could smell in the air, a scent she would find irresistible. She could not just be beautiful on the outside, but she had to possess great inner beauty and strength.

            “It did not take long for Qiari to come to him, and when she did, Gordredd took her into his home to hold her captive. There, he...” Chaya looked as though she didn't know how to continue.

            “He raped her,” Petra said matter-of-factly.

            “Yes, he did,” Chaya said heavily, as though disappointed that a girl as young as Petra, who had never even met a man, understood the concept of something as brutal and ugly as rape.

            Amazonia, however, had no idea what rape was, and asked, “What’s that mean, raped?”

            “You will learn of that when you are older,” Chaya said pointedly, prompting Petra to roll her eyes. “Suffice it to say he did the most terrible thing a man could do to a woman. She cried bitter tears, begging Ameena for vengeance, just as Gordredd wanted her to. Ameena answered the next day, swooping into the wizard's inner sanctum to rescue Qiari.

            “Immediately upon seeing her, Ameena fell in love. The young woman’s beauty, and the work of healing her wounds, distracted her completely from the evil wizard Gordredd, and he attacked with an enchanted sword dipped in the blood of a virgin sacrifice. Ameena was grievously wounded so that she was forced to flee the kingdom, bleeding and humiliated, slumped over Esidore's back.

            “Ameena had no choice but to retreat to her mother's garden and drank nectar from Jhade's very hand if she wished to survive. Arekon foolishly believed that Gordredd had humbled Ameena, and rewarded him with everything he desired. Neither the man nor the god fully understood how deeply the depths of Ameena's desire for revenge went. She stole away to the Kessorian Mountains where her favorite brother Polydes, the god of the forge, lived worked to make wondrous works of beauty for the gods. When he heard of Gordredd's insult, and their father's betrayal by rewarding him for what he had done, Polydes created armor and weapons that no man—or god—could defeat. Not even Arekon could destroy this armor, for they were made with enchanted metal that held Arekon’s own blood, which had been stolen by Jhade when she heard of his treachery against Ameena.”

            Flies had settled on Amazonia’s half-eaten lunch, but she was too engrossed in the tale to notice or care. “What weapons did he make?”