I touched her:

“I want to heal you.”

The light passed through my hand as if it would be a kind of a neon tube, and a cloud of silver-white dust enveloped the amazon. She got 'fixed' in seconds: a fascinating fast-forward display of bones knitting themselves, tissue and skin binding themselves together.

Impressive little show they (whoever programmed this) did with healing spells; I could not stop wondering and admiring these. It was for a moment as if an angel would be hiding inside me to be revealed by the spell... ahm, ok, I do not mean here White Flower being the angel revealed, but the spell's effect did make it look like this.

The healed amazon looked at me, angry and confused:

“Do not expect that I will thank you for this!”

I wanted to answer, but the first amazon that I've healed answered for me:

“Shame on you, Bar’Etta!!”

She then turned toward me:

“I am sorry that we attacked you. We misunderstood your intentions due to your neck-ring. I am Her’Thaya.”

“Don’t believe her, Her’Thaya! She saved you only to find the way to our camp. They are Grackak's spies!”

Well, theoretically, she could have been right if that would have been my Grackak's quest. What would I have done if he had given me such a quest?

I shrugged. I would have found a solution.

The Lynx mixed up in the conversation showing me his rear where an arrow still hanged.

“It's not my intention to be impolite, but that little arrow is a pain in the ass; if you can spare the time, maybe you could heal me too?”

I chuckled, removed the arrow and touched him:

“Sorry, Lynx, for the delay. I want to heal you.”

but the healing started as soon as I touched him. My tattoo didn't need me to tell it what it had to do.

“Aaah. Thanks, Cala. It feels much better now!”

I patted him on the head as I felt guilty for having forgotten about his wound. Interesting to see, he accepted my patting. I turned to Spartacius:

“Spartacius. You and Her Thaya should pick up the amazons’ weapons.”

“Yep, already on it...”

As he answered, he started wondering:

“Me and Her Thaya?”

"Aaaaah!"

The Lynx followed my hand and made funny sounds as I scratched him behind his ear. Eh, like a big cat, he likes scratches. Does a Lynx purr? I wonder, could I make him purr, or would that be under his dignity?

Questions, questions.

Bar'Etta started to scream:

“We will not go with you! We will not tell you where the camp is!! You can kill us here, we….”

Obviously, she wanted to attract the attention of other amazons that were in the woods around us.

I felt how the Lynx twitched under my hand. He protested against the noise:

“Oh, please stop screaming; it hurts my sensible ears. They've heard you already. I saw the camp behind the next row of bushes; that's why I attacked before you got there."

He then turned toward me:

"Are you sure, Cala, that you want to enter into that hornet's nest? There are several hundred girls there. Do you know their queen, and do you think it matters?”

I made a gesture, and the magic trap dissipated, freeing the fourth amazon. The amazons came closer, looking at me, not sure what to do.

“Now, on the way, ladies, I can’t wait to see my friend the queen!”

I turned to the Lynx:

“Believe me, their honey cookies are delicious!”

We came in a glade, and I saw the 'welcoming troop' approaching us. It was a group of about ten amazons. Most of them gave that low-level feeling; only one or two seemed to have somewhat higher levels. All looked to be around twenty. I've never met before such low-level amazons.

Seeing us, they stopped, and suddenly Bar’etta ran towards them:

“Kill them, kill them; they are Grackak's spies!!!”

As the bows were spanned, I raised my hand again with the open palm towards the group. It was a cumbersome situation, and for a moment, I wondered if I had made an error relying on the rules and Cala's instinct. I am friendly with the amazons, they should not attack me, but do they know this? I was relieved to find out that seeing my gesture, one of the older amazons stopped them:

“Stop! Spread! Do not dare fire an arrow without my command!!”

After she ordered them, she returned the gesture.

I was a bit surprised as to why the squad leader needed to use such harsh words with her troops? Typically, this would have been solved with two simple gestures, first to tell the grunts to spread and be ready, then the answer to me with an open palm. The troop would not shoot without a command or a good reason. No words would have been needed. These are obviously young and not adequately trained recruits, as the first group was. To make matters worse, she did not come to shake hands with me to achieve the magic friends check, the so-called moon-handshake. Why? Can it be that even she does not have the needed level? Or is there another problem? Does my new Grackak-necklace change the situation to such a degree? Meanwhile, looking around to assess the status, I realized the Lynx had again 'disappeared'.

The amazon, who seemed to be in charge, finally came closer and stopped several meters away whilst Bar’Etta was mixing behind in their group.

Her’Thaya and the other two stayed with us. The new leader addressed me:

“Who are you? Do you come in the name of your master?”

She asked that pointing at my 'necklace'.

“My name is Cala. I am with Alice the archer, Tina, a mage apprentice, and my friends Spartacius and the Lynx… who is somewhere around...

We are on our way to the Silver Town... for reasons that you see on my neck. That is my quest from Grackak as I lost a fight to him.

I want to present my best greetings to Queen In’Hetta. We did not know this was amazons' territory. Will the queen allow our passage? I request an audience.”

“You cannot see Queen In’Hetta. I Hua’Lena am in command here. Tell your beast to come out!”

“Hua'Lena, why so distrustful? Why no moon-handshake to clarify?”

She answered a bit awkwardly:

“I haven’t had my Moon Supper yet.”

Say what? A novice in charge of a squad? All who mattered something in the amazon's world were invited to the Moon Supper – a ceremony they make to celebrate the 'reunion' of the two bigger moons in the sky and, for the amazons, the passing from initiate to the warrior class.

OK, this explains why she did not come for the magic handshake; she was not yet a warrior; therefore, she could not check if I was a friend. The magic handshake does not work; this basic spell is too much for her to control.

“Where is the queen?”

“I cannot give information about the queen. What do you want here? You have your quest to solve, and your way to the Silver Town is not through our village. Go away.”

I nodded, but she was interrupted by the young amazon I had saved:

“Hua’Lena, she has magical healing powers; she might be able to help us!”

“Nobody can help us, Her’Thaya. You spoke too much!”

“Is the queen wounded? I could heal her!”

Hua'Lena turned and spoke as angry as she could be:

“One question more, and I'll have to kill you!!”

I sighed. Oh, come on, stop with these cheap cliches.

“Hua’Lena, you do not want to attack us with those children.”

“They might be young, but their arrows are as good and deadly as any amazon's arrow!”

Spartacius looked uncomfortable at me, with Tina trying to hide behind him and Alice. Sending a mana pulse to get their levels was generally viewed as an impolite action, so I refrained from doing it.

Of course, 10 amazons, 15 with Hua'Lena's group, should not be underestimated, even if most, if not all, seemed to be still novices. Strange, I think I saw children amazons who had more training than these novices grown-ups.

However, it does not make any sense to push this. It is enough that it does not come to a fight, and we can leave.

I was just going to explain that we would leave when I heard a voice:

“Hua’Lena, let them come!”

I recognized the deep, profound, and still melodious voice of In'Hetta, the queen.