Chapter 4.1

Heir Making
Erista

She watched Earnest sullenly for a long time. He watched the door until he fell asleep and every time it opened he looked up. The look of disappointment in his eyes was almost enough to make her want to cry. He missed his mistress. She wondered what made him choose her to be his human.

“Your Majesty, don't you think he should go to the kennel?”

“No,” she said, “Such a noble creature does not belong in the kennels with the beasts.” She fiddled with the gold chain around her neck. There was something about him that was almost human.

“Why does he pine so?” her lady in waiting asked.

“He must love her more than life itself. He has hardly eaten anything,” another one said. She did not pay enough attention to know who was speaking. She agreed though. He must love her more than anything.

“It is getting late, Your Majesty,” Matiline said.

“I will retire in a moment,” she said and continued to watch the lonely hound. She could relate in some ways, but in others she could not. He knew what he wanted. He knew who he wanted. Surrounded by all these people Erista felt alone, and how no one to want to keep her company. She did not trust her ladies in waiting and she could not talk to the guardians who thought their their only function in life was to make certain no harm came to her person.

The door opened again and he lifted his head up once more. When he started to struggle to get to his feet on the stone she looked to see who it was. Amazon was standing there in a uniform that looked too big and too old to have ever been hers. She raised up her hand and the hound stopped dead. His brown eyes were devastated.

“Oh, do not be silly,” Erista said. “Let him go to you. He has desired nothing but your company since you parted with him.”

The hound bounded over to her and she knelt down and wrapped her arms around him as a mother would her child. She whispered gently to him, but she could not hear the words. He licked her face and pushed his face away but smiled.

That smile was like a pink flower to someone whose eyes were starved for color. It was subtle, but it was earnest with love and affection. She wished someone would smile about her like that.
“Enough of that, Amazon,” Matiline said sharply. In the short time that Erista was Empress Matiline never showed so much life. It was a shame that disgust and jealousy were the only things she knew how to feel.

“No,” Erista said sharply and then quickly changed her tone. “I like watching this. It...is so unlike what I am allowed to experience.”

That caught Amazon's attention. Her focus went from the squirming hound to the Empress. Her expression was...intense. At first it appeared to be blank and disciplined, but then the light caught the wetness that gathered. Her lips trembled faintly in the fire light, but Erista could see it.

The hound's attention turned to her too and he left Amazon's embrace and went to Erista. He put his head on her lap and the women around her gasped at the audacity, but Erista touched his head and then bent over and embraced it with all the love and affection she could muster. She thought she could cry, but she pulled herself together.

“Ladies, please prepare my bed for me,” she said and the women filed out. “Matiline, you are dismissed for the evening.”

Matiline looked rebellious at the idea of being “dismissed,” but she bowed down low and backed out of the room.

“Amazon,” Erista said slowly, tasting the name in her mouth. “You are blessed to have such a companion.”

“I do miss him,” she said. “I have been confined to my quarters except for when I guard you and when I go to meals.”

“That is awful. Whatever for?” she asked.

“Matiline said it was to be so. Therefore it is,” she said. “I can not go against my superiors.”

“No, you cannot,” she agreed. “Well, you may come and visit me whenever you wish to. I would not have you go mad in the broom closet I am sure they put you in.”

“I would be honored to be in your company,” Amazon said.

“You seem as though you want to say something. You may speak freely with me.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Amazon said with a bow of her head. “I was just wondering why you are so lonely when you are surrounded by those that love you most.”

“Oh, I do not think they love me,” she said. “I think they despise me.”

“That is not possible,” she said so earnestly that it too the young empress aback. “You are everything we were raised to live for.”

“Perhaps that makes them resent me.” Erista sighed. “Come, get off of the floor and sit next to me. You must be lonely after so long in a room without any human contact.”

Amazon shrugged as she sat down. Her attention was entirely focused on Erista. “I would rather be entirely by myself than surrounded by people that do not want me around.”

“I feel the same way. I know that they do not love me or want me. I am a title, or perhaps the body attached to the title.” She sighed. “Do you understand what I am trying to say?”

Amazon nodded and licked her lips. “There are many things they seem to have forgotten about their duties to you, Your Majesty.”

“What do you mean?” Erista asked curiously. She was eager for whatever Amazon had to say. Her company in such a short time was turning into an addictive thing. She felt herself suffering from withdraws at the thought of her leaving.

“We are supposed to be your closest friends and supporters. They focus so much on us being able to protect you, that many forget our other duties and simply focus on what they understand best. We were not permitted to have friendships with one another. It was understood that we would have to kill each other in the end. It was the only way.”

“Did you ever fear you were going to die?”

“If I felt I was inadequate I would not have come. I have come close to dieing many times, and death does not scare me. It seems incapable of catching me anyhow.”

“Are you running from it?”

“No, I simply saunter along as I please, but it seems to be racing for me.” She laughed nervously. “I should not bore your majesty.”

“No, it is fascinating. No one has told me their story before,” she said.

“I do not think you could think anything other than pity for us if you knew it,” she said honestly. “We do not desire pity, and the chance to be understood by our mistress is not worth the pity that may occur.”

“That is so... sad.”

Amazon shrugged. “Our fate is no worse than yours, Your Majesty. You have been bartered off to be in this position. Our fates are similar. To pity one another is to accomplish nothing.”

“Why are you so much wiser than the others?”

Amazon opened her mouth to speak, but the ladies came to tell her that her bed was ready and Amazon withdrew. Earnest licked her hand affectionately and backed away as well.

The yearning to stay in Amazon's company almost made her feel sick. She did not want to enter the white room that imprisoned her again. She rose and Pandora positioned herself behind the Empress and followed her inside.

“Everyone but my guards outside, please,” she said. “You may enjoy what is left of your evening,” she said. The women suppressed their smiled and curtsied and left. Amazon closed the door and situated herself next to it. Earnest sat next to her and leaned heavily against her leg. Amazon reached down at touched his head affectionately and he closed his eyes.

“Will you talk to me for a bit longer?” Erista blurted out. Her own voice surprised her and made her jump.

“Certainly,” Amazon said. “But perhaps you should get into bed.”

Erista nodded and sat down on the sheets where the ladies had pulled it back. Before she could pull back the sheets Amazon was there pulling them over her. She sat down next to her on the bed and situated the quilt and sheets. Erista smiled at her and Amazon smiled back.

“I like you, Amazon,” she said.

Amazon looked away and then looked back. “Your Majesty, this weighs heavily on me, and I would understand if you wanted to dismiss me because of it.”

“What is it?” Erista asked, her heart beat all but stopped.

“I did not complete my training as a guardian.”

Erista blinked. “Will this stop you from doing your duty by me?”

Amazon shook her head. “It is more than that though,” she said.

“What is it?”

“My mother disowned me because I did something that displeased her and I left the city at a very young age. I have had quite an adventure...but anything that I tell you I hope you will keep between the two of us. I do not want the other guardians to know what I have done in my life. I do not believe that they would understand.”

Her breath slowed. Everything seemed to stop. She had no idea what her face looked like, but she could feel her eyebrows twitching and her lips drawing more and more into a pucker. Amazon looked away from her.

“Why did you leave the city?” she asked.

“Do you know what happens to children if they stay in the city with no home?” she asked. “It was hard enough for me that my mother lost our family name, and then to be disowned by her was scandalous.” Amazon sighed. “So I left and lived in the wild after a time...but that was only after I discovered that a person such as myself could never be accepted into any society.”

“Why is that?” Erista asked. How anyone could dislike someone like Amazon escaped her. She was a captivating mystery.

“I did not want to become some thug or a...prostitute or both. I learned how to survive on the land and taught myself what I could. I learned how to kill things with my bare hands. I was never good with weapons anyway. I met a lot of people though and learned many languages along the way.”

“Oh? Who all did you meet?” she asked and leaned forward.

“I was in the underdark for a time and I met the elves and dragons there. I also met a race of lizard people. They were scary and I could not communicate with them, but thankfully they worshiped a dragon that helped me out of a sticky situation. All together, they were not so bad as people might think. A little smelly, but they were kind and I missed them when I left.”

“Dragons?” Erista said. She barely heard what was said after that.

“Yes,” Amazon said with a nod. “They are a fascinating people, but they are very warlike. They breed too fast and live far too long. They would rather die in battle than live forever. I suppose that is their only choice.”

“I would love to meet a dragon,” Erista said and then the door opened and she threw her gaze to it. Her husband stood there in his night gown and fur lined robe. He looked like he meant business. Amazon looked at him more slowly. She could hear a dog growling.

“Get out,” Vandon said sharply. Erista looked at Amazon who looked at her and then darted her eyes in the direction of her husband.

Erista nodded to her guardian felt her weight lift off of the bed. She patted her leg and the hound followed after her. Amazon was careful not to look at the Emperor as she bowed out of the room. The hound, however, snarled at him with bare teeth as he stalked away.

The expression on Vandon's face as he watched Amazon made her insides go cold. “And to what, my lord husband, do I owe this unexpected surprise?”

“I have come to father an heir out of her belly,” he said, and shut the door.