Amazon Apocalypse 2: Chapter 7 (Patreon)

“I’m back!” Myrina called as she ran to the arena at full speed. She launched herself at me like a missile and wrapped me up in her arms. She pressed her cheek against mine, pulling me off my feet. “So sorry I took so long, Carter. My mom was mad at me.”

“About that. Sorry, Myrina. I didn’t think my presence here would--“

Myrina set me down, poking me in the nose. “Don’t be silly. It has nothing to do with you. I just made some decisions my mother doesn’t agree with, is all. I’m sure you did much the same, before... You know...”

I shrugged. Both of my parents died just before I left for college. That had been a rough year. The only good thing had been Myrina’s unexpected visit, where she’d given me her the Amazon patronage token.

Once upon a time bringing up those painful memories would have hurt. But not anymore. What was done was done, and the past was in the past.

Myrina wrapped me up in a tight embrace anyway. I returned it, though it was a little awkward doing so with Cyra standing behind the two of us and boring a hole right through the back of my head. The scowl she’d been wearing earlier returned with full force now.

She clearly wasn’t too happy seeing Myrina embrace me. After what she just explained to me, I realized she knew it would just lead us both into a world of hurt.

So I broke the hug off as quickly as I could.

“So... your sister was showing me how to use a sword. I picked up a few proficiency levels in it.”

Myrina’s eyebrows rose as she turned to her big sister. “Did she now?” A grin started spreading across her face.

“He’s a talented student,” Cyra shrugged.

Myrina’s grin spread even wider, and she pulled me right back into her arms, rubbing her cheek against my own. “What did I tell you, Carter? As soon as my family sees your handsome face, they’ll have no choice but to support your training! I’m a genius!”

“You’re not a genius,” Cyra rolled her eyes with all the confidence of a life-long big sister. “And I was helping Carter, not you. But now that you’re back, I’m sure you’d prefer to train him yourself.” Cyra turned and started walking off.

“Wait! Sis!” Myrina yelled. “I want you to run a dungeon with us! We need your help! The spatial one. Carter needs a dimensional storage item.”

Cyra sighed. “I have some free time. This week was supposed to either be my honeymoon or time to grieve. Since it’s the latter, maybe some fighting will take my mind off things. How’s the day after tomorrow sound? Carter should have at least three days here, right?”

“Yay! Thank you, big sis!” Myrina clapped her hands together.

I nodded my thanks as well. “Thank you very much, Cyra.”

Cyra took her leave, and soon, just Myrina and I were in the practice realm. Myrina let out a long yawn. “Well, I spent the last few hours getting chewed out. I’m sure you’re tired too. Let’s go to bed early. We have a long day tomorrow, after all!”

Glancing to the sky overhead, the sun hadn’t even set yet. With my twenty-first century background, it seemed odd to go to sleep as soon as it got dark. But I supposed Myrina’s culture was more in tune with the natural cycles of light and dark.

I had seen a few magical light sources back in the city I’d initially teleported into, but Valkyrie’s Watch was equipped with only mundane lamp posts. The rest of the locals weren’t too far off from medieval in my view, so it was no surprise to find their sleeping habits were the same.

Myrina led me back to her room. To my surprise, the changes she’d said she’d make were already finished. The side of the room previously housing a cozy chair and a shelf full of books had been partitioned into its own separate chamber.

And not with some flimsy curtains, either. Someone had actually built a wall right in the middle of the room. It was complete with a door and everything.

“Good. The servants got my message.” Myrina rapped her knuckles against the wall. It rang with the dull thud of wood. “I would have preferred if they’d made a stone wall. If you hear snoring tonight, it’s Cyra next door, not me!”

I chuckled. “Okay, Myrina.”

“Well, they set a bath up just outside. I’m sure you want to clean up after a sparring session and then a few hours of training. Bath, then bed. I’ve got to go register our little dungeon diving party for the day after tomorrow. I don’t want you leaving this place without a dimensional storage item! Plus, I want to claim your first dungeon dive.”

Myrina departed. I found the bath she indicated. It was a large bronze tub that looked like it weighed at least two thousand pounds. I would have been shocked by the size of it. Still, thinking about Cyra, Myrina’s family needed enormous bathtubs if they wanted anything usable.

I disrobed swiftly and slipped into the pool. There was quite an array of soaps, brushes, towels, and perfumes on the side. I wasn’t sure what was for Myrina and what was for me, so I ended up digging my own stuff out of my bag of supplies.

I’d been carefully watching the door for Myrina’s return. Cyra’s warning was still keen in my mind, and I figured if Myrina was going to try to set something off her family would disapprove of, now would be the time.

I was just finishing up when she returned. “All settled! We have a dungeon slot just past noon, and we’ll have four hours to complete the dungeon. It’s less time than I’d like, but with Cyra there, she can hack through just about anything in the blink of an eye. Also, you done in there?”

“Just drying off now.” I grabbed my towel from my gym bag and hastily wiped myself down. Myrina pushed the curtain aside and poked her head in.

She pulled her hair back, grabbed her tunic by the collar, and yanked it off her head. A moment later, she landed in the bath with a big splash.

“Ah... that’s the stuff. Nothing better than a cool bath after a good workout.” Myrina sighed. Then I heard her sit up in the water. “Wait a second. They forgot the bubbles. Bummer.”

“You still like bubble baths?” I laughed. She’d been rather fond of them as a kid. I’d have thought she’d have grown out of them by now, though.

“I don’t have to have a bubble bath. It’s just... nice,” Myrina pouted.

“Alright. If it’ll make you feel better, I’ll hunt down your bubbles. Where would they be?” I asked.

“The servants would know. They’re in a closet somewhere. But don’t trouble yourself, Carter. It’s not a big deal. Just hang out in my room for a bit. It’s--“

“No, no! I won’t let you go without your bubbles. Besides, you already took me for a tour through the whole castle. I know where I’m going.” I left the room before Myrina could talk me down.

Truthfully, I’d been waiting for the opportunity to get away from Myrina for a bit and talk to a servant in private. Myrina was shielding me from things. That much was clear. I was pretty sure she was looking out for my best interest in most things, but I still needed to keep my head on my shoulders.

How much political capital with her family was Myrina expending on my behalf? Was she right to do so, or was her mother and clan elders right to think I was just a resource sink they couldn’t afford? And what was all that Cyra was talking about about me dying if I slept with Myrina?

I had too many questions that Myrina couldn’t or wouldn’t answer. I needed the excuse to figure them out for myself, and from how tightly Myrina had been glued to me for most of the day, I doubted I’d get many opportunities like this one.

I slipped out the door. The hall was empty, though. It looked like there was an outpost for guards to check everyone walking down the hall. This wing seemed filled with the bedrooms of the clan matriarch’s precious daughters, so I wouldn't have been surprised to find it well guarded.

But with their clan at war, the post was empty. As was the one after that. Myrina’s family had deployed all the resources they had to spare fighting their war. They’d stripped their castle of all but a skeleton crew.

But while guards were lacking, there were still plenty of servants.

Wandering the halls, I eventually found a small alcove where several of them were gathered. They looked like they were off-duty, chatting quietly. All of them were women and were dressed in black and white uniforms. Most of them had a drink in hand.

“--And pop! Cyra turned his head to paste. Damn shame, but I heard he was an arrogant prick anyway. Any spawn he sired on Cyra would have been a pain in our ass for years hence,” one servant said.

“You hear Lady Myrina brought someone over this time?” another added.

I stepped back out of view, listening to their voices when I realized they were talking about me. If I was ever going to get some honest thoughts, this would be the moment.

“What? Another spoiled princeling already?”

“Maybe, maybe not. The guard I talked to said he was rather polite. He spent a lot of time with both Lady Cyra and Lady Myrina.”

“I thought the clan matriarch ordered all her daughters to stop chasing romance until the war is over?”

“She did. Lady Myrina brought him over anyway. Spent an entire year’s worth of allowance and her tournament winnings to do it. That’s more coin than you or I will see in a lifetime. Her mother was furious. You could hear her yelling all the way from the servant’s quarters. But somehow Myrina convinced her to let him stay.”

“Damn. To make Lady Myrina give up so much, this must be one handsome guy.”

“Eh, he’s alright. Less refined and cultured than Lady Cyra’s former man, but he looked a bit more battle-hardened.”

“High level?”

“Nope. twenty-nine average combined race and class level.”

“So you’re telling me Lady Myrina got seduced by some peasant boy?”

There was a round of laughter from all the gathered servants. Eventually, the one who seemed to know more about me than the others continued.

“But it wasn’t good looks that won Lady Myrina over. Rumor is she knew him from that training adventure she was supposed to go on to a newly integrated world, so he’s an old friend. You know, the one her mother canceled when the Shadefall rebellion started. I don’t know if he’s a prince there, but it probably doesn’t matter. It’s rare for any kingdom to survive the integration anywhere close to intact.”

The conversation started drifting off toward the topic of newly integrated worlds. I gave them a minute to jump to a new topic since it’d be a bit embarrassing to have me walk in on a conversation where they were gossiping about me.

I knocked on the nearby piece of wood politely and hoped the smile on my face was hopefully something at least halfway charming. I'd never considered myself a social butterfly, but my points and bonuses to charisma had proved their worth before. Hopefully they would again.

“Pardon me, I’m sorry to intrude,” I announced.

Several of the servants glanced over at me, then rapidly went quiet when they saw an unfamiliar face.

The women were a mix of races. Some had green skin and pointed ears. A few others resembled the ogres I’d fought. Another was covered in orange striped fur, making her look like a tiger. Each looked tough and brawny, which seemed to be the favored disposition here on the world of the Amazons.

I kept my curious glances quick and polite, but the same couldn’t be said of them. I felt their eyes on me and felt more than one tingle running up my spine.

I scowled a little at that but quickly hid the expression. I thought using Examine on someone without their permission was considered rude?

“Myrina’s in the bath right now and missing some supplies. You wouldn’t happen to know where those would be?” I asked.

“Oh, shoot. Her damn bubbles. I knew we forgot something.” The tiger-furred servant placed her mug of ale down on the short table and stood. “I’ll get them for you. Wait right here.”

I shrugged and did as asked, staring down the other servants. They remained silent, eyes darting between me and their cups. Apparently, whatever conversation they’d been having earlier wasn’t something they considered fit for my company. It wasn’t terribly surprising, but it did give me a good opportunity to direct the conversation where I wanted it.

“I’m Carter, by the way. Myrina’s guest.”

There were a few muttered hellos and greetings. From the looks on their faces, that was something they’d already known or guessed.

“Mind if I ask you all a question?”

“We’re here to help,” the ogre woman replied.

“I keep hearing rumors of something going down with Cyra recently. I spoke to her a little while ago, and she still seemed in a bad mood. What was it?”

The servants glanced at one another warily. “Uh... you don’t want to know, lad.”

I met their gazes with a firm and steady look of my own. “Trust me, I do.”

The ogre woman sighed. “I suppose you would. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. You see, last week Cyra brought home a would-be lover. He was brash and overconfident, thinking he could best Cyra in combat, prove himself worthy of her, then go on and use his magic to save the Samhain Clan from being overthrown.”

All the servants shook their heads.

“He didn’t last five minutes,” the ogre woman sighed. “More balls than brains, that one. Don’t you go ending up like he did. His death broke her heart, and Cyra’s a tough girl. Myrina’s isn’t as hard as her sister. I don’t think she could take it if she had to smash your head to bits.”

“Smash... my head?” I asked skeptically.

The ogre woman nodded. “Yep. That’s how Cyra’s lover died. Had his head squeezed between her thighs until it popped. At least it was quick.”

I gulped. When Cyra said I’d die if I slept with Myrina, I hadn’t quite been picturing that.

My mind went back to Cyra's patient hand as she trained me earlier that day.

"She wouldn't do that," I replied.

The servants gave me a dark chuckle in reply. "Oh she would."

"I don't believe you."

The ogre woman flashed me a mouthful of sharp teeth. “I used a recording crystal to copy it. Stuff like that always sells well on the black markets if you know who to sell them to. Here, take a gander.” She pulled a cellphone-sized tablet from her pocket that looked like it was made of polished jade.

She brushed her finger across a series of activation runes along the side, and an image slowly appeared from the cloudy and blurry mass within the stone. Compared to a cellphone, it was a blurry, hazy mess. It also looked like it was dedicated to playing this single video. But from the delicate way the ogre woman handled it, the device was likely quite valuable. I handled it carefully.

The video played, and I saw Cyra with a handsome and well-dressed man in the sparring arena I’d fought Myrina in.

Shortly thereafter, the man in the video was absolutely destroyed by Cyra. His spells were worthless against her raw power. She was too fast and too strong for him to hit, let alone beat.

But worst of all, how she fought reminded me far too much of my sparring match with Myrina.

Sure enough, the fight ended with the man’s head exploding between Cyra’s thighs. His body twitched and quivered as he wet himself in death. Whoever was recording zoomed in to get a really good view.

I wasn’t sure how long I stood there, knuckles white, as I had my gaze locked on the tablet.

Eventually, the tiger-furred woman returned, and she plucked it from my hands. “Girls! What are you doing torturing the poor boy!”

She snatched the jade tablet from my hands and tossed it back to the ogre woman. My own gaze was distant. Cyra hadn’t been kidding when she gave me her warning. She hadn't been exaggerating either. That had really happened. She'd really done that. Killed her former lover because he hadn't measured up.

“So, if I tried for anything serious with Myrina... that’s...”

“Yep.” The ogre woman snorted.

I walked back to Myrina’s room in a daze, only loosely holding onto Myrina’s bubble bath supplies. She called out as soon as I opened the door.

“You’re back! I was wondering if I needed to get dressed and search for you.”

“Sorry... I... uh... got lost a bit. Your servants helped me find my way,” I replied.

Myrina caught my pale and worried gaze. “Is something wrong, Carter? You look pale. Did you catch a fever?”

“I’m fine. Here are your bubble bath supplies.” I pushed the supplies through the curtain toward the bath. But instead of grabbing the soap bottles from my hands, Myrina grabbed my wrists and pulled me straight through the curtains.

She stood from the water, perky bare breasts dripping wet as she held me closer for inspection.

She looked my face over, examining me up and down as she touched my forehead.

“Oh, I get it. The servants said something to scare you, didn’t they? I should have guessed as much. I never should have made you go out there on your own.” She pulled me closer to her, and soon, my face was buried in her firm breasts. Her nipples against my cheeks felt like daggers in my soul.

“Don’t worry about anything they said. I’ve already spoken with Mother. Everything is going to be just fine.”

But despite Myrina’s comforting words and the boobs pressed against my face, the same warning kept playing repeatedly in my head.

If you sleep with Myrina, you will die.

<Note>

Boobs of fear!

Is nipple-daggers to much? It might be too much. Hopefully it doesn't sound as weird in context as it would out of context.