Amazon

ғɪvᴇ

Amazon | Five

Surrounded by a fire, Rhea was skinning a large dear; she had trapped it earlier in the afternoon. Bastian had more freedom, he wasn’t tied to a tree but she had kept a sharp eye on him all afternoon. So far Xanthe and Leora had not caught up to them, Bastian had kept quiet too – paranoid she’d cut out his tongue. But Rhea had decided to give him wine, the wine she had grabbed before she left. The drunker he got the more vocal he became, he was complaining about something that Rhea did not understand, but he continuously complained about it as if she cared.

“Why?” He cried, his words were slurred as he fell back, laughing slightly, “Why did you have to kidnap me?” Rhea ignored him, shoving some meat onto a stick and holding it over the fire. “Do you want me?” He asked and looked at Rhea, her eyes flickered up to look at him and she said nothing. “Why don’t you talk?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he took a drink of some of his wine, Rhea handed some meat over to him for him to stop him from talking to her.

“Cook,” she ordered.

“Food,” he snorted, “Eat.” He said the words slowly as if he was mocking her and she narrowed her eyes, shaking her head. “Do you know any more words?”

Rhea raised an eyebrow, “I was talking to you earlier, was I not?”

“Right,” Bastian narrowed his eyes, “Of course.” He nodded his head slowly, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, “Where are we going?”

“To my encampment,” Rhea reminded him.

“Of course,” Bastian grunted, “So you can force me to get you pregnant.”

“Force you,” Rhea suddenly jumped up, fire in her eyes as she glared down at him, “I would never do that to anyone, I am not a man!”

Bastian frowned as he watched her bound off into the forest. He did not understand why she would say something like that; any man who had forced a woman into anything was a bad kind of man in his books. Maybe she had been forced before, Bastian doubted it though, it seemed like she had never met a man before. It seemed like she had only been told bad things about men. Bastian wasn’t a bad man, he was a warrior sure, but he was not a bad man.

He stood up slowly, putting the cooked meat to the side as he went looking for Rhea. “I am not weak!” He heard a scream, “I will show them I am not weak!” She seemed to cry out and Bastian frowned, he didn’t understand why she was saying such things. He walked out into the dark to see her stabbing her dagger into a tree, “I am not weak, I am stronger than you would ever be!” She cried, “I will not let you defy me!” It sounded as if she was sobbing, but it could have just been Bastian’s foggy brain.

Bastian ran his fingers over his short hair and frowned, dropping the flask filled with wine as the red liquid leaked out of the flask and he rubbed his stomach. “Rhea,” she jumped around and gasped, her dagger was imbedded into the tree and her chest was rising and falling. She looked annoyed and stressed out, Bastian wanted to help her but he was unsure how, especially when it looked like she wanted to grab the dagger and jam it into his chest. “Are you feeling well?”

A range of emotions flickered over her face, surprise, annoyance, suspicion and curiosity seemed to the dominant emotions. Did she seem… astounded by the fact he had a heart? “I don’t know what you mean,” her breathing slowed and she smoothed herself out.

“Right,” Bastian muttered slowly as she stalked passed, “You know you can talk to me, the ladies say I am a good listener.”

“Sure,” she muttered with as much sarcasm as she could muster, Bastian did not think a woman could handle sarcasm.

“No seriously,” Bastian frowned, “Maybe that is why I never married, never took any control you know?” He shook his head, looking up at the sky as he whistled, “But seriously, I can help you.”

“You do not want to help me,” she turned around to glare up at him and Bastian gulped.

“But you look like you’re hurting,” he muttered.

Rage flared up in her eyes once again, “How would you know what hurting looks like?”

“Wow,” Bastian rubbed his face, “Are you serious? You sure you are not telling lies?” She shook her head, “I’ve seen what hurting people look like many times in my life, I am a warrior and I have watched my comrades die. I have watched women be left with child and hurt. Do you know how many bastard children my brother has?” She shook her head, “I do not want bastard children so I am not having your child unless you marry me.”

She blanched, stepping back, “I will not be forced into slavery!”

“It is not slavery!” Bastian cried as he followed her, she began stomping toward the stream, “It is a sacred vow of love.”

“I will not give myself to you!”

“You are perfectly well with throwing yourself at me to have a child!” He shouted after her, “What am I, cattle?”

“You are impossible!” She screamed.

“Right,” Bastian grunted and began storming away from her, “I am impossible,” he snorted, “That woman has never met a normal woman before.” She probably hadn’t, but she was different and he liked it. The other women he knew would have bowed down and then probably left him when they got back to civilisation. She fought him, she thought marriage was a trap and slavery and she was a warrior. She was his perfect girl. He had always thought Amazons were something that men made up to stroke their egos and give the submissive woman a small taste of freedom, but they were very real.

Rhea stood by the river and bent down, cupping her hands as she drank the water in her hands. She sighed and looked down at the clear water. She felt heavy and ill, she wanted to head back to her encampment and forget about Bastian. But she could not, so instead she stood up and wiped her hands together and headed back to her fire. Bastian was sitting in front of it and she glared at him slightly, leaning against her own tree as she watched him from afar.

Bastian did not bother to look up at her and Rhea took a deep breath, she wrapped one of her arms around her legs as she bit into her deer and looked down at the carcass. She would have to move it out of the way before they fell asleep, who knew what type of animals would come to hunt down the dead carcass. Rhea looked over her meal and rubbed her legs, she was soon finished and she stood up. Bastian looked over at Rhea and raised his eyebrows; she only ignored him and grabbed the deer, pulling it into the forest.

“Wait!” Bastian shouted and Rhea rolled her eyes, dragging the deer into the forest, “Let me help you.” Bastian breathed out through his mouth as he picked up the deer. Rhea ignored him and decided to let him help her, dead weight was heavy and she would prefer to have anyone to help her. But there was no way she’d let her guard down with the male human, she would rather he escaped and ran away from her. Who was he to propose marriage? It made Rhea angry just thinking about it, she’d never put herself willingly into any sort of slavery.

They disposed of the carcass and Rhea headed back to her camp, she sat herself down again and grabbed her water flask. She took a drink and Bastian took a drink of his own, they were quiet as Rhea stared at the dying fire. It was becoming late and Rhea knew she needed to sleep; she needed to put herself to bed so she could be up tomorrow to head to her encampment. They would be there tomorrow and if they left earlier they would get there by midday. But if they slept too late they would not get there until late afternoon.

“Rhea,” she heard Bastian whisper and Rhea turned her head, looking down at him, “I’m sorry.” Bastian mumbled, “I didn’t mean to make you angry or anything.” He seemed to be guilty and truly remorseful, it made Rhea frown.

“It is fine Bastian,” Rhea looked up at the dark sky through the thick canopy of the trees, “Do not worry yourself.” But Rhea knew the man would worry himself, he seemed like the type. He thoroughly confused her, she did not like it one bit and she would prove to him that he was every bit like every other man she had ever heard of. He was just like the man who raped her mother – who forced an unwanted pregnancy onto her mother and the tribe.