Behind us, five amazons came out of the forest with their bows ready to shoot. How many more stayed hidden behind some bushes? Difficult to assess.

This fucked-up game! These amazons should not be here, and this road should be safe. They are from higher-level areas! What is this for a mess-up? Why are they here?

I sighed.

It doesn't matter if they were supposed to be here or not. It was all on me. This shit would not have happened with Alice up here on the coachman's bank instead of me. I drove the carriage along the road, too deep in my thoughts, not keeping an eye on the surroundings. The girls inside the covered carriage had almost no view of the outside and had other worries, like, for instance, trying to come to terms with what I unveiled from my activities.

So what are these Amazons doing here?

Thinking about it, this may explain some things, for instance, why there were no low-level players on the road…

The leader of this small group of Amazons – actually the tallest one that I supposed was the leader - addressed me:

“Coachman, don't try to do anything stupid!”

I almost burst into laughter. Should I tell her that I am the master of doing stupid things?

I was still hesitating. Should I fight, or should I try to negotiate?

Amazons are an independent nation or tribe that sometimes quarrels with others over resources and tries to be neutral in the great war. Still, they fight Mephisto and his minion (or anybody else for that matter) as soon as these come over their land. Usually, their tribe's warriors achieve medium-range levels with some rare and notable exceptions. Threat assessment: low for me and the Lynx, high for Spartacius, extreme for Thiara and the horses. Pardon Tina.

I should have a free passage with them, as I managed before to get several achievements that should count in my favour, and even met their queen. Therefore I had no reason to be hostile to them, yet this encounter could delay me and create difficulties in fulfilling my quest.

Fight or negotiate?

Quick and dirty solution with added potential 'bonus' of a horror trip chased by a tribe of angry furies? The decision was not difficult; I asked Spartacius to obey. I do have with us two soft targets, Tina and Spartacius. Besides, why on Earth would I alienate another nation?

The leader appreciated that:

“That was wise. Now tell those in the carriage to come out slowly.”

I knocked and asked the girls to come out.

As Alice and Tina came out, I raised my hand with the open palm towards the amazons, signalizing 'friend', but it was at precisely this moment that the Lynx decided to break from us and run for the woods. The speed with which he managed to disappear from sight astounded me. Arrows whistled through the air, and I think I saw one hit him, but he was gone somewhere between trees in the next moment. Alice looked reproachful to me. Yeah, I know I could have used the moment, but I already decided against the fight.

“We will take care of that cat later. I see you are escorting a highborn!”

I almost rolled my eyes hearing the leader. The more I observed these amazons, the more I realized we were dealing with juniors. Juniors who were hoping to have made a prized capture that would bring them money and fame.

The leader turned towards two amazons and ordered them:

“Pick up their weapons!”

I tried to negotiate with her.

“I am Cala; I know In'Hetta, the queen, we live in peace. I have…”

The leader did not let me finish:

“You are nothing but Grackak's slave! Now move!”

I almost forgot that. Yes, the amazons can see hidden things. Interesting that they know him, know about the ring's meaning, and even recognize it!

One of them climbed in my previous place to lead the carriage. My katars, Alice's bow, and Spartacius' sword were put inside the carriage. As Tina had no weapon, she was treated as if she would be the noble lady that was transported by us. This amused her immensely. They were more courteous with her, and she was offered to travel inside the carriage, not having to walk like us, the peons. She even showed me her long rosa tongue when she climbed back into the carriage.

This little revenge on her side made me think that Alice did some excellent work in talking and calming her.

On the other hand, the amazons did not seem to realize we had spatial inventories. I planned to have a couple of words with their instructor after this.

I sighed.

OK, this whole story may get a little more complicated. I'll have to talk to the queen or some other high-ranking perp to get us free. These low-level grunts cannot decide anything but will bring us there.

As I walked behind the carriage, I thought to entertain some conversation with them.

“Are you at war with Grackak?”

“Of course we are; the gnome tried to kill our queen. I doubt she will speak to you. The elders will clarify your whereabouts.”

"Hm. Why would the idiot try to do such?"

"I had no time to ask whilst he was rampaging through our village, you know?"

I shrugged.

"I lost a damn fight with him, but this does not mean that I am his friend. I have a burden, I have to complete a quest from him, and then I'll be free from his influence."

She shrugged at her turn:

"The elders will see through your attempts to deceive us. They will decide."

Maybe this is my lucky day; perhaps I could use the situation, and with a couple of dozen of amazons on my side, I could neutralize Grackak? I wonder if they could use regular, non-enchanted arrows, but they'll need to come pretty close to the idiot to do that.

“Where do we go?”

“You don’t need to know. Just follow her.”

She pointed to one of the Amazons who started to walk towards the woods. The carriage came behind us.

I realized they were all very young. Somehow clumsy. Not your usual hardened warrior. Even their levels were lower than the average I was used to. Such young Amazons would have been trounced easily, and possibly the Lynx has seen it. We followed the guide whilst the Amazons came behind us. They were talking between themselves about how they spied on us for a while and how easy they made us prisoners. We were advancing slowly now on a meandering pathway in the thick forest. I was just wondering if the carriage would make it when the Lynx attacked. Not even I saw him before his attack. In mere seconds two amazons that were surveying us ended up lying on the ground. I mind blasted another one and trapped the one on the coach's bank with a magic trap. The black tentacles immobilized her whilst Alice and Spartacius recuperated their weapons. Game over.

The trapped one screamed from all her lungs towards our guide:

“Run, warn the queen!”

But she was already running. I tried to sprint behind her, but before I arrived in range to trap her, she disappeared into the woods. The Lynx wanted to follow her, but I stopped him:

“Let her run.”

No use running after her; I already heard her whistle echoed by others not far away. More are around. This is not good. If I cannot fix the situation, the journey from now on will be a continuous fight for survival; they are implacable and vengeful hunters.

I watched with horror as one of the Amazon already had the convulsions of death with blood spilling from her throat wound.

I jumped at her and said:

“I want to heal you!”

Will this help? Is White Flower's magic strong enough to heal her? She had a deep cut at her broken neck made by one of the Lynx's long fangs, but to my astonishment, the blood flow stopped instantly, the neck fixed itself, and she breathed deep as if finally coming up to the surface from underwater. She trembled with her face still showing the horrors of having faced death.

The other Amazons were keeping silent. I turned to the Lynx:

“You crazy Lynx!! You almost killed this girl!”

He protested:

“But they shot at me! They made you prisoners!”

I sighed and turned toward the next girl.

“I am friends with their queen; they are just erring children. Something is wrong.”

I did not want to admit I did also consider fighting them. Only to speed up my journey. When nobody knows you did it, does it matter?

My next Amazone was also severely wounded, had a broken leg, was losing blood, but looked stable. The other one was in better shape. Yeah, probably only mentally hurt from my mind blast.

The first one tried to protest against my healing:

“Don’t touch me; I can take care of myself.”

I hesitated only for a second. Everything is ok; nobody died. I still can meet the queen and talk to her.