Chapter 21:
Wounded Pride
While Nameless and Booker continued their discussion at Paul’s, Yana and her two Amazons excused themselves to visit with Milly and the Saenga warriors.
It was not a joyous reunion.
While crossing the field, Yana took in the sight of Milly training with Myrina and her girls.
She heard their boisterous voices and the clear ring of Milly’s laughter as they worked.
Without a word of greeting, Yana stalked over to stand between Milly and Myrina and rudely snatched the other Amazon’s spear away.
“What-”
Yana’s glare cut Myrina off mid-sentence and she took up position opposite Milly.
“Kar’s spear was given to you in trust Milly. It is time for you to show me that trust was not misplaced.”
Milly had barely recovered from the sight of the Brael girls when Yana attacked.
Even with the massive gourd on her back containing her Undine bond-sister, the Amazon was a blur of motion and the Minotaur was immediately on the defensive.
She barely managed to bring Kar’s spear up in time to block the initial assault, and she was nowhere near ready for the follow up strikes.
The veteran warrior struck her three times down her left side in rapid succession with the padded tip of Myrina’s spear, far harder than was necessary for training.
“Is this all you have learned?! You have to be faster!”
Yana struck her low on her thigh and Milly lowed in distress from the force of the blow. Her own spear always seemed to get in position a fraction of a second too late to protect her.
The powerful Amazon wasn’t holding back and Myrina and Riya were sharing worried looks now as Milly stumbled backwards under the onslaught.
Yana hit her again, this time spinning to drive the butt of her weapon into the cow’s gut before she had time to blink, causing her to double over, only to be forced straight again when Yana’s knee connected with her shoulder.
“You still hesitate, you think too much! Stop being soft and hit me!” She snarled as she stepped past Milly’s clumsy guard and threw a left cross that caught her in the cheek.
She spun again and brought her spear low to Milly’s injured calf, this time causing the Minotaur to crumple in a heap.
Yana was surprised for a moment though, after she hit the ground the cow girl rolled backwards out of harm’s way and scrambled to stand.
It was the very same maneuver that Myrina had just been drilling with her and she executed it flawlessly.
But the raging Amazon wasn’t impressed for long. She lunged forwards with her weapon held in a bar in front of her, body-slamming the Minotaur back to the ground before she could fully regain her feet.
“Not good enough! Kar would be ashamed of you!” Yana snapped as she placed the butt of Myrina’s spear between Milly’s breasts and pinned her to the ground.
Before she could say or do anything else though, tendrils of water sprang from the gourd on her back and wrapped all around her arms and legs as a tearful Juni poked her head out of her water.
“Stop it!” The Undine cried out.
“Juni! What are you-”
Yana stumbled back, tearing her limbs free of the magically animated water, but sudden golden light blazed before her as Volka landed between her and the prone Minotaur, her wings spread wide and her shield held at the ready.
“Find another outlet for your rage and grief Warleader! Dare to strike at my sister again and you will face my wrath!”
Volka’s angelic voice was great and terrible as her golden eyes bored into the water-bound Yana, and her condemnation was enough that the furious Amazon had to turn away from her severe glare.
The standoff lasted until the others were running towards the commotion, Booker and Nameless at the forefront. The young Empath had sensed Milly’s distress and sent Volka ahead to help her while he sprinted towards home.
“Yana! Juni! What in the hells is going on?” Booker demanded.
There was another long silence, broken only by Nameless’s worried voice as he and Kaylee helped an injured Milly to her feet.
“A training mishap, Aegis Booker.” Volka’s shield slowly lowered as Yana finally tore free of Juni’s water; “Your wife merely got carried away, I think.”
Even as she explained, Yana slipped the gourd off her shoulders and dropped it to the cold ground before storming off, tossing Myrina’s spear back at its owner almost reflexively.
The gourd stayed upright for a second, before spilled its contents into the dirt, the water darkening the earth as the exposed Juni’s sob echoed out of the rapidly emptying jug.
Booker moved to follow but Volka put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him.
“Let her go Aegis, your wife is in turmoil, some time alone would be good for her, I think.”
Reluctantly Booker agreed as he knelt beside the gourd and pulled the blue-skinned Juni into his arms.
Meanwhile Milly was trying to wave off the concerned Nameless and Kaylee with a weak smile.
“I-I’m fine, really.”
“You are not, War-sister. I can see the bruises forming already, let us tend to you.”
But Milly shook her head, quickly wiping a tear from her bruised cheek and taking up Kar’s spear again.
“Really, I’ve had worse. Myrina, I want to try that thrusting stab thingy from yesterday again.”
She looked to the other Amazon and spoke as if nothing had happened, though the tremor in her voice gave her away.
“Milly, please-”
Nameless reached one hand out to her, but she shook her head again, her smile faltering for a moment until she spoke and her body assumed a ready position.
“Myrina, the stance, it was this way right?”
After sharing a quick look with Nameless and her warriors, and with some reluctance, the Amazon leader stepped forward and made some minor corrections to Milly’s posture, soon leading her through the spinning thrust maneuver.
All the while her family watched with worry.
__________
A mixture of frustration and guilt tore through the Brael warleader as she sought solace in the woods on the other side of the new fence.
She lashed out, her fist tearing a sizable chunk out of one of the trees around her, the pain in her knuckles easy to ignore as her internal strife ravaged her.
The look of condemnation from Volka would have been the worst, except as Yana turned to leave her eyes had met Milly’s.
While still laid out from the unprovoked assault, the kindly Minotaur had already forgiven her for her outburst.
Yana struck the tree again, though this time with much less force as the emotional woman let out a gasp and hot tears spilled down her cheeks.
“You hurt Milly like that again, and I don’t care what my master says, I’ll tear you apart.”
She looked up quickly at the threat.
Nina had followed her into the woods, her hammer at her side while both arms were crossed over her breasts.
Her voice was cold as she stared at the Amazon.
Yana turned her face away, shame creeping up on her again.
“Nina I-”
“Milly has suffered a lot, she loved Kar, and training with Myrina is one of the only ways she knows to honour her memory. And like an asshole, you just took that away from her.”
The giant’s voice dropped lower, the trees around them shaking slightly as she glared at the one who had hurt her bond-sister.
Her ire dissipated though when she saw the tears sliding down Yana’s face.
“I am sorry.” The Amazon whispered.
Nina’s chest heaved as she reined herself in, though she wasn’t finished.
“I’m not big on apologies. Ask my master.” She said as she rested one hand on the hilt of her hammer; “I get it, you’re hurting because of Kar. But so is everyone else. It blows. Deal with it.”
The warleader let out a heavy breath as more tears fell.
Her emotions still in chaos, she rested her fist against a nearby tree with her forehead pressed to her bloody knuckles.
“I don’t know what I am doing anymore. Even when the fight with Evadne started, and I witnessed her power dropping my sisters one by one, I was convinced that we could best her, that I could best her.”
Nina cocked her head to one side.
“And now?”
The Amazon looked to the mighty Gigas, a monster who, had their positions been reversed, might have been able to stop Evadne and save Kar.
“Now I look to those around me, even warriors I’ve fought beside for years like Tiana, and I see them falling before her. Worse, I see them doing so, while holding me back.”
“Welcome to my world.”
Yana snorted at the giant’s wry comment
“How do you stand it? Dow do you stand knowing everyone around you is weak?”
“Because I know they’re not.”
The Amazon pushed off from the tree, her expression aghast at the giant’s words.
“Nina! You could best anyone I know, save maybe Xalanth!”
“Of course, I am the mountain.”
“Then how-”
Nina cut her off.
“Before I bonded with my weakling, I was never truly afraid in my life.”
Yana frowned in confusion, so Nina clarified.
“I also had never loved anyone, at least not since my mom died. Before I bonded, that is when I was weak. I was a lifeless peak, strong, but cold.”
She gave Yana the longest look she had ever received.
“Now I’m a fucking volcano. Evadne will get what is coming to her, believe that. We just have to be patient.”
There was a minute of silence between the two warriors, but in the end Yana wasn’t convinced.
“I wish I could believe. But you didn’t see her in Divinity Square, her power, her malice. I have fought many powerful foes, even bested a Grizzly once when I was young, but Evadne is beyond anything I have ever seen. I want to believe that the Aegis will catch up with her, but at the same time, I am afraid of what she will do if that happens.”
Without warning Nina closed the gap between them and punched her in the stomach, causing her to double over with a gasping cough.
The Gigas spoke in a growl.
“I thought you were a warrior? Don’t be a wuss. The magic users will catch her and then Xalanth will eat her. Or she will come out of hiding and I will smoosh her. She isn’t the strongest, and even if she was, she is still alone. Her death is coming, so don’t worry about her. Your job now is to protect everyone else, like the Saenga are doing for my man.”
The Amazon coughed a few times as she tried to regain her breath, wiping the tears from her eyes.
“Ch-cheap shot.” She wheezed.
“Tell that to Milly.”
Yana stood to her full height and looked to the Gigas, once again they shared a long moment as understanding passed between them, until finally the Amazon offered a grudging nod.
In response Nina gave her a hearty slap on the ass that bowled her over again before abruptly turning to walk away.
“Good talk.”
__________
After training with Myrina for a few more minutes Ophelia had finally convinced Milly to come inside and let her take a look at the numerous injuries that Yana had given her.
The cow girl sat on a chair in the kitchen, Ophelia having chased everyone else out of the cottage with a dark scowl.
With deft movements of her delicate fingers the Flutterby unbuttoned Milly’s overalls and pulled the front down to expose her upper body. Milly’s naked side had several bruises in an ugly shade of purple from the merciless beating.
She was a Minotaur and it took a lot of punishment to mark her creamy skin, which was testament to how harshly the Amazon warleader had treated her in the short fight.
She flinched when Ophelia pressed a cloth full of ice to her ribs.
“Oh dearest, I am so sorry.”
“I’m alright. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just cold.”
Milly wore one of her smiles, but the canny Flutterby wasn’t fooled.
She leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“No you aren’t and yes it does.”
Milly’s smile faltered and she gave a little sniffle as her eyes welled.
Without saying anything else Ophelia held her close, pulling the Minotaur’s face into her cleavage and running her fingers through her hair.
They stayed like that for a long time as Milly shed some stressful tears.
“I th-thought I was doing so good.” She whispered.
Her words were muffled by Ophelia’s breasts, so the Flutter shifted back slightly and lifted her face off of her chest.
“You are, dearheart. Whenever I speak to the Saenga girls all they can talk about is how much progress you’ve made, and Volka has said much the same. I don’t know the first thing about fighting, but the word of a warrior angel should be proof enough!”
“But Yana-”
“Yana is in pain. One of her sisters died, and she doesn’t seem to be handling it well. Everything that just happened had nothing to do with you, or even Kar for that matter. She is angry and the ones she wants to hurt are beyond her reach, so she foolishly turned that anger against you.”
Milly wiped the mess of tears from her face with her oversized hanky and then stood with a wince.
“I-I want to go back and train.”
But the older monster girl placed her hand between Milly’s breasts to stop her.
“You are out of luck, Myrina and the girls are tired, so you have nobody to wrestle with.”
“Really Ophelia I’m alright!”
“Well I’m not!”
Milly blinked at the heated admission as Ophelia held her hand over her mouth, as if to take back the outburst.
“O-Ophelia?”
With a sob the dam broke and it was the Flutterby’s turn for a good cry.
“I hate this! I hate you and Erica learning how to fight, I hate Nameless blaming himself! I hate being so scared for all of you all the time!”
The Minotaur mooed plaintively as Ophelia turned to lean on the counter, her shoulder shook for a time as her wings fluttered slightly in agitation.
Milly placed one hand on her shoulder but Ophelia immediately whirled around to face her.
“I just want us to live together without a care in the world! But I can’t have that, so the least you can do is let me take care of your damn bruises!”
The Minotaur struggled to find the words to respond, but ultimately couldn’t.
A few minutes later and Ophelia let out a shuddering breath as she composed herself.
“I’m sorry dearheart, I’ve been terrified since seeing our master in the square, with Kar dead at his feet.” She lifted Milly’s arm again to hold the ice to her injuries once more; “I’m not a fighter, I’m weak so I have to be useful in other ways. Just let me take care of you, please?”
Her face was twisted with desperate need, so Milly could only give a slow nod of acceptance.
“You are the strongest person I know.” She whispered as cold relief was pressed to her side again.
Ophelia sniffled and shook her head.
“No I’m-”
“When we first met, you were the one who told me about our master, who helped me get closer to him when he was so afraid to even let me touch him. You’re the one who helped Erica get over her past, and who got Nina to relax enough to be with us. You even helped Volka, and she’s an angel!”
Milly’s sincere blue eyes held Ophelia’s violets as she spoke.
“You always know what to say, what to do. We all look up to you so much, I hope you know that.”
The ice forgotten, Milly pulled the Flutterby in for a deep kiss, her tongue slowly working over the smaller girl’s, their breasts pressing together as Ophelia sighed into her mouth.
Several moments later, the kiss broke apart. Both were breathing heavily as Ophelia reached up and placed her hands on Milly’s cheeks, her thumb caressing her lips while she once again stared into those perfect blue eyes.
“And here I was supposed to be taking care of you. Master holds my heart, but he is not the only one. My sweet Milly, I love you too.”
She stood, pulling away slightly, but only far enough to take the topless Minotaur’s hand in hers.
Without saying a word, she led her into the bedroom.