Chapter 22

"You know...I was a slave once, too," Rebecca said suddenly-almost casually-as they made their way down the corridor.

Jacqueline squinted at her in the torchlight for a moment, trying to reconcile the woman standing before her with what she'd imagine someone who'd experienced the horrors of slavery would be like. "But you're so...so..."

"Together?" The younger immortal nodded, and the elder shrugged. "I suppose my own experience wasn't quite so traumatic as Siroc's, though it certainly had its moments."

"So what happened...if you don't mind my asking? I mean, were you born into that life, or were you forced into it later on, like he was?"

"I was captured by slavers when I was about twelve and taken back to Mycenae, where I'd come from originally. But before I became a slave, I was something far different." She paused, stopping in front of what looked like a doorway...though it was hard to tell for sure due to the poor lighting. "Tell me, Jacqueline...have you ever heard of the Amazons?"

Jacqueline snorted. "They're a myth, like the Greek gods. Why?" She paused for a moment, frowning. "Wait...you're not trying to tell me that there really were women who ran around naked with one breast cut off, castrating men and kidnapping baby girls?"

"Hardly," Rebecca chuckled. "We generally wore clothes, no one cut off anything, we never kidnapped anyone, and the only men we castrated were guilty of rape and deserved what they got." As the female musketeer's jaw dropped, the ancient grinned. "What? You know what they say...myths and legends are just the truth, a few generations later."

"So...so you're saying that everything I've heard about Amazons is..."

"False?" Jacqueline nodded. "That's right."

"But they really did exist?"

"Yes, they did."

"And you...you were one of them?"

Rebecca smiled. "Now you're catching on."

"Is that what you brought me down here to tell me?" the younger immortal asked, frowning.

"Not just tell you, Jacqueline...show you." With that, Rebecca opened the door she'd been standing in front of and, grabbing the nearest torch, used it to light something inside. A moment later, the whole room was filled with light, as if the sun itself were shining in despite the lack of windows to the outside.

"H-how did you do that?"

She grinned. "Mirrors, strategically placed around the room so that a single source can light the whole thing. But that's hardly what we came down here to see. Look around."

Slowly, Jacqueline ventured inside, where she found what looked almost like a cross between a library and a museum. One wall served as a bookcase, stuffed full of scrolls-far more than she could count. Another was lined with various weapons-swords, staves, bows and arrows, crossbows, and a few that she couldn't identify. But what really caught her attention was the statue over in the far corner. The statue itself-a marble likeness of a young woman-had been dressed in a leather skirt and top which left little to the imagination. And while the dress was rather plain, the accompanying accessories-armbands, gauntlets, etc-were intricately designed using various beads and feathers. Even more fascinating than the outfit, however, was the headdress. It was more like a mask, really; made to look like a bird's head, complete with feathers sticking out of the top and sides almost like a halo. Jacqueline found herself reaching out towards it, as if her hand had a will of its own.

"You like it?" Rebecca asked, interrupting her train of thought.

"It's...amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"That's the Queen's mask. It belonged to my mother."

Withdrawing her hand, Jacqueline turned to look at the ancient immortal. "Your mother?"

"Closest I've ever had, anyway."

"Were the Amazons the ones who found you?"

Rebecca shook her head. "Sadly, no. My first family, if you could call it that, consisted of a pitiful excuse for a human being who stumbled across me just after his wife died in childbirth along with the infant she delivered. For whatever reason, he decided to keep me and, since he fancied himself a traveling bard, we spent most of our time on the road. Truth was, from what little I can recall from those days, the man was really a violent drunk who was occasionally coherent enough to tell a halfway decent story and earn money for more ale. And if that wasn't bad enough, he was also of the opinion that women should be seen and not heard, and made damn sure I knew it, little as I was. Much of the details are rather fuzzy at this point, but I remember the fear...always walking on eggshells around the man lest I say or do something to set him off."

"That's horrible," Jacqueline gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. "Anyone who could treat a child like that ought to be shot." She paused. "So...what happened? How did these Amazons get involved?"

"Well, one day...I think I was about three or four at the time... 'Father' and I found ourselves in the middle of their territory. I tried to warn him off when I saw the talismans on the trees, remembering the stories I'd heard about them from actual bards, but he wouldn't listen. In fact, he got angry with me for daring to contradict him. What he didn't know was that the Amazons kept their territory very well guarded. There were at least a half-dozen eyewitnesses watching from the trees when he started to beat me and...well...let's just say that they pretty much agreed with your assessment of what that man deserved. Of course, I was still just a child, and seeing them go after him-even if he had it coming-was pretty frightening. I ran and hid at the first opportunity, but I suppose my hiding spot wasn't very good. When it was over, someone wearing that very mask," she said, gesturing to the one on the statue, "knelt down in front of me and removed it, revealing herself to be a beautiful woman with flaming red hair, like mine. She introduced herself as Cyane, the Queen of the Amazons-that tribe, anyway-and gently asked me if I'd like to go home with her."

"And you said yes?"

"Of course I did. What else was I to do? It's not like I had anywhere else to go." Rebecca sighed. "Anyway...after that, I can remember her scooping me up in her arms and holding me close. It was the first time anyone had ever held me that way, far as I could recall, and it felt...good. I knew then and there that she would take care of me...that where I was going would really be home. She asked my name, but I don't think my so-called father ever called me anything but 'girl' and I told her as much."

"Is she the one who named you Rebecca?"

"Close. She called me Riveka, which is the Greek version of the name. I changed it to Rebecca after I converted to Christianity over a millennium later."

"I see...." Jacqueline sighed. "Fascinating as all this is, what does it have to do with me?"

"You're not one for patience, are you?" the elder immortal chuckled. Jacqueline glared, and Rebecca shook her head. "I promise there's a point to this, but you have to hear the whole story to understand."

The female musketeer nodded. "Okay."

"Good...now, where was I?"

"The Amazon Queen took you home and named you Riveka."

"Right. Well, when we got back to the village, Cyane announced to the tribe that she was officially adopting me as her daughter, then took me back to her hut and introduced me to her two natural ones. There was Melosa, who was about five or six at the time, and Terreis, who was still nursing. I was right in the middle. It was nice having a real family, and I adapted to the Amazon way of life pretty quickly. Terreis and I grew pretty close, being so near in age to each other, but Melosa was a bit more aloof...then again, she was next in line to be Queen and much more was expected of her. But Cyane-Mother-loved us all equally and made sure all three of us were properly educated. We learned reading, writing, history, philosophy...and, when we started to grow into womanhood, we were to begin our training as warriors. I remember how, after Melosa started her training, Terreis and I would sneak away from our lessons to watch her and her friends practice, longing for the day when we would be able to join them."

"Seems like an awful lot of education, especially compared to what I got," Jacqueline muttered, more than a little envious.

"Well, society's idea of how women should be taught hasn't changed all that much in 2,000 years. The Amazons were a bit of an anomaly. As Mother always told us, it's a man's world...not because it should be, but because we let them have it."

"What's that mean?"

"For most of the world, the 'natural order' is based on the idea that women are the weaker sex and therefore must be protected. We are taught as much from birth, and most of us never bother to question it. The Amazons, on the other hand, rejected that idea and encouraged women to live up to their full potential...to realize their own strength and use it. It wasn't about hating men, as most people seem to believe, but about helping women to be all that they could be."

"To help them become warriors?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Warriors, healers, teachers...whatever they wanted. All Amazons learned how to fight, but that didn't mean it was the only thing we were allowed to do with our lives."

"So what did you choose to do?"

"Sadly, I never got the chance to decide. I was twelve years old, as I said earlier, and just starting my training when the village was raided by some warlord whose name I never found out. He and his men came right for us younger Amazons, probably hoping we'd be easy marks. They were looking for girls to sell as slaves. Melosa told Terreis and I to go find Mother and the other adults while she and her friends held the men off. Terreis went, but I foolishly stayed behind, thinking I had something to prove."

"And you were taken."

Rebecca nodded. "Mother tried to save me, but she was killed in the attempt. The last thing I remember seeing before one of the men knocked me out was her taking an arrow in the chest from one of their archers. Next thing I knew, I was in some sort of prison wagon and headed for the slave market in Mycenae, where I was quickly sold to King Agamemnon himself."

"Agamemnon...as in the Trojan War?" At Rebecca's surprised look, Jacqueline shrugged. "Siroc gave me a translation of The Iliad to read after he figured out that 'Jacques' wasn't really a noble...said I needed to have at least some knowledge of the classics in order to keep up with the others, since they all had formal educations. You know how persistent he can be when an idea gets into his head."

"Yes, I know...and yes, it was that Agamemnon, though I was brought to him a few years before the war even began. At first, I was treated just like any other slave...which is to say, not very well. It wasn't the most horrible situation I could've been in, but nor was it exactly pleasant. I think the worst part was that I was alone. Most of the girls that had been taken when I was chose to end their own lives rather than become slaves, and those that did not ended up with other masters. And though, as I said, I was treated the same as any other slave, when Agamemnon and his court looked at me, I could tell they thought of me as some sort of savage. The only one who didn't look at me that way was Aganesthes, the captain of his personal guard, though I wouldn't find out why until much later." Rebecca drew in a deep breath, not looking forward to reliving this part of her past. "Anyway...as I grew into womanhood, things started to change. Agamemnon started to look at me differently. It wasn't a savage he saw anymore...I wasn't exactly familiar with the notion of lust at the time, but even I could tell that his attitude had changed. I talked to his wife's chambermaid about it, since Mother never got the chance to have the whole 'birds and bees' discussion with me. She told me what it was that Agamemnon wanted and said that it would probably be best if I just gave it to him when and if he asked." She shook her head. "The thought horrified me. One thing I do remember Mother telling me was that I should never, ever allow a man to treat me like an object, and here was this other woman advising me to do exactly that."

"So what happened?"

"What do you think?" She sighed. "Believe me, I had every intention of telling him to find someone else. But then another one of his slave girls turned up dead, reportedly after refusing his advances. I know that any self-respecting Amazon would've preferred death over becoming someone's concubine, but I wanted to live. I gave up everything I'd been raised to believe for the sake of Agamemnon's mercy, and was his mistress for nearly a decade. He even took me to Troy with him, leaving his wife at home. Of course, all things come to an end eventually. For me, it happened when another slave, jealous of the attention Agamemnon was giving me, decided to take out the competition. She stabbed me in the back, and the next thing I remember was waking up in a ditch, where I'd been left to rot." She paused. "No, that's not exactly true...I do have a rather vivid memory of meeting Mother in the Amazon Land of the Dead, only to have her tell me that I didn't belong there. And all I could think when I woke up was that I was being punished...that by giving myself to Agamemnon, I'd betrayed my sister Amazons, and therefore was unworthy to reside with them in the afterlife...if the goddess would even allow me one after what I'd done. Under the circumstances, it didn't seem likely, considering that I was alive when I should have been dead."

Jacqueline stared at her for a moment, finally starting to understand Rebecca's point. "But you were only doing what you had to do to survive. What god or goddess could possibly find fault in that?"

"Exactly," Rebecca grinned, glad that the younger immortal was getting the message. "But at the time, I didn't see it that way. Not knowing why it was that I'd survived that fatal blow, I could only assume that it was some sort of divine punishment. It wasn't until Aganesthes found me that I started to understand what had happened, and even then it took quite some time to fully convince myself that my immortality wasn't Artemis' way of making me pay for my sins."

"The captain of Agamemnon's guard...he was immortal?"

"And my teacher. After he found me, he resigned his post and returned to Greece so that he could train me properly. I stayed with him for about a year or so, then made my way back to Amazon territory, hoping that they'd take me back." She chuckled. "I needn't have worried. As soon as Terreis caught sight of me, she abandoned her post and rushed over, throwing her arms around me. Though she tried to hide it, I could tell she was crying. But once she settled down, she started firing all kinds of questions at me about where I'd been and how I'd survived. I couldn't answer all of them, obviously, but I told her as much as I was able. And she didn't seem to care that I'd done the things I had with Agamemnon. All that mattered to Terreis was that her sister was alive and had come home."

"What about Melosa? How did she take it?"

Rebecca sighed. "I didn't get as warm a greeting from her as I did Terreis, but I think that had more to do with the fact that she'd had so much responsibility shoved onto her shoulders at such a young age...the burden of being Queen had hardened her. But she didn't object to me rejoining the tribe, just so long as I worked with Eponin-the current weapons master-to finish my training. She never really acknowledged me as her sister, though...not even after Terreis was killed a few months later by a warlord trying to provoke us into war with the Centaurs across the river."

At that, Jacqueline's eyebrows shot way up. "Whoa...wait a second. Are you actually trying to convince me that Centaurs existed? Creatures that are half man and half horse?" She shook her head. "Amazons, I can accept. But Centaurs...?"

"Just because they don't exist today, doesn't mean that they never did. You'd be amazed at the sorts of creatures that roamed the ancient world. Centaurs, hydras, harpies, bacchae, dryads...the list goes on and on. But Caesar and his legions made sure that the ones that hadn't died off already were wiped off the face of the earth by the time he attempted to seize power. Amazons included."

"You were there...you were still with them when Caesar came." She frowned. "But wasn't that hundreds of years later?"

Rebecca nodded. "All things considered, an immortal being was hardly the strangest thing the Amazons had ever come across. They never asked me why it was I didn't age, and I never explained. It was just accepted." She shrugged. "Maybe they thought Artemis had blessed me with immortality or something. I don't know. But I was allowed to remain with the tribe to the end."

"So you did get to become an Amazon warrior after all."

"Technically, I suppose, but I never really felt much like one. Maybe it was the baggage from my past with Agamemnon, but I just didn't feel like I was worthy of the honor of carrying this blade," she said, reaching up and taking one of the swords from the wall. It was a broadsword, but shorter and lighter...made for a woman, obviously. The guard was designed to look like a golden bird, with wings stretching up towards the point of the blade. The handle was wrapped in black leather, and there was an odd design on the pommel...kind of like a circle on top of a 't'. "This is the blade of a true Amazon. I carried it while I lived with them, but over time I found my true purpose-not in fighting, but in helping to preserve their history for future generations. That, and teaching new immortals, though that didn't come along until much later. After the conquest by Caesar, I returned and gathered what was left...clothes, weapons, art, and the scrolls I'd written, detailing the lives of my sister Amazons...the ones I'd known, as well as those who'd gone on before that I'd managed to research. I found a safe place to store them temporarily, and after I acquired this abbey some centuries later, I moved everything down here." She paused, turning to look at Jacqueline. "You're the first person I've ever shown this to. Not even Siroc and Amanda know my true history."

"Why me?"

"Because," Rebecca smiled, "you are an Amazon. Perhaps not by birth, but you possess all the qualities that the Amazons prized. Strength, intelligence, courage, independence, determination...you pursued your dream of being a musketeer despite the fact that it was a career open only to men. And not only did you achieve that dream, but you've earned the respect of both your comrades and your superiors, at least a few of whom know the truth and still want you to serve."

Jacqueline couldn't help but blush at the praise. "Not just serve. The King...he wants me to lead the musketeers someday. Me...a poor farmer's daughter, captain of the musketeers." She paused. "And I think His Majesty suspects something...I mean...he said I can be a musketeer for however long I wish, then told me to 'watch my head.' Do you think he knows?"

Rebecca shrugged. "Who knows? But maybe that's why you became immortal."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...what if God isn't punishing you? What if He wants you to be an immortal so that you can protect the Bourbon line, however long it may last?"

"Do you really think that's true?"

"It's certainly a strong possibility. But only you can decide for sure. I can't tell you how to live your life, but take it from me...letting unnecessary guilt over your past consume you is no way to go."

She nodded. "I understand, but I'm still not sure I can do this."

"Do what?"

"This...this so-called 'Game.' I mean, I can understand killing in the heat of battle. It's not my preferred way to end things, but sometimes it just can't be helped. Still, when I've fought in the past, I never went in planning to kill someone. Going into battle, knowing that your opponent is going to have to lose his head for you to survive...the more I think about it, the more it feels like murder." She sighed, lifting her head to look Rebecca in the eyes. "How do you do it?"

"It's not easy, I can tell you that. To be honest, I've never really believed in this whole 'Game.' Never even heard anything about it until centuries after I became immortal, around the time Christianity started to become the dominant religion...not that I'm blaming Christians for this. My theory is that it was Hunters...Watchers who think that we're abominations that need to be cleansed from the earth. And if it was, they certainly found an ingenious way to get the job done. Convincing immortals that there's some great prize waiting for them if they kill the rest of their own kind was a stroke of brilliance. I mean, immortals did kill each other before the prize rumors started going around, but it was for the same reasons mortals kill each other...greed, anger, revenge, power....We knew about the quickenings, and so did the Watchers, so it wouldn't have been much of a stretch to twist it around so that taking heads became the goal, rather than simply a means to an end."

"But if you don't think the Game really exists, why do you fight?"

Rebecca shook her head. "I never said the Game didn't exist...just that I didn't believe in it. Unfortunately, my belief is hardly enough. As long as most immortals do believe in the Game and its so-called prize, then, for all purposes, it does exist. I don't think there's really some big prize waiting, but I have to fight in order to survive just because there are so many immortals out there that do, whether I like it or not. It's the reason I chose to build a home on Holy Ground. That rule predates any talk of a prize, and having this refuge helps me to live my life as I choose, rather than having to constantly look over my shoulder for the next challenge. Not that I can't hold my own. Believe me, you don't live as long as I have without knowing how to fight. I just prefer to find alternatives when they are available."

"Alternatives? Can you show me?"

"Are you asking me to be your teacher?"

"Yes...no...I don't know....I mean, I don't want to leave Siroc, but...."

"He's been rather preoccupied lately?" Jacqueline nodded. "Understandable, given the circumstances. Tell you what...I'll work with you while you're here...give Siroc a chance to focus on his own upcoming fight. I'm sure I know at least a few tricks he hasn't even thought of yet," she grinned. "And after it's over, if you still want me to take over as your teacher, then I'll be more than happy to do it. Deal?"

"Deal," Jacqueline replied, and the two of them shook on it.

"Good. Now...if I'm going to be your teacher, even temporarily, then you're going to need this," the elder immortal said, handing Jacqueline the Amazon blade she'd shown her earlier.

The young immortal recoiled. "I-I can't take that...it's yours."

"I may have carried it once, Jacqueline, but like I said...it never really felt like mine. It belongs to you. I've just been holding onto it." She held the blade out once more, and this time Jacqueline took it.

It was strange, but the blade just felt...right...in her hand. Like it had been made for her. She swung it experimentally a few times, testing the weight, and it was a definite improvement from the borrowed cutlass. Smiling, she moved to put it away, only to remember that she'd left her jacket with the hidden sheath upstairs.

Rebecca chuckled. "Let me guess...Siroc made you a special musketeer jacket to hide the sword in?"

"Isn't that what we're supposed to do?"

"That's one way, but I know a much better one. Come...let me show you." Smiling, the elder immortal threw an arm over the younger one's shoulders, and the pair left the hidden archive to start Jacqueline's new training regimen.