Amazon Queen by Lori Devoti Page B

body warmed from my walk, the ache in my back subsided. Thankful for that, I rolled my head left then right and forced any possibility that Mel had gone to the other side from my mind. I would find out tomorrow, no need to dwell on it today.
    The path I was on led to the obelisk. There was another trail that wound through the fifty acres we owned. All except the two acres the house sat on were wooded. Amazons and animals alike used these paths. In fact, parts of it predated our ownership of the land. There was more than one “thong” tree, trees manipulated by Native American tribes to point to places of interest, off this path. All pointed toward our obelisk.
    We had raised the stone, but we didn’t make the woods sacred—that energy had been there forever. And we weren’t even the first to recognize it.
    I got on the longer trail behind the barn. It wove around the back of our property, eventually branching into three paths, one continuing until ending at a barbed-wire fence erected by a neighbor, one going out wider around the outskirts of the neighbor’s holdings, and one that led to the obelisk. I took the outer path. It was cool this morning and the air smelled of leaves, flowers, and earth.
    Birds were out too, lots of them screeching at each other and me to keep away from their nests. As I approached an oak that had been struck by lightning a few springs back, something stirred high above my head. I glanced up to see an owl fluttering overhead, like a very large brown-speckled butterfly. He seemed to watch me, his eyes flaming.
    He hovered a second longer, then took off, flying up and out of the trees.
    I ran my fingers up through my hair and stared after him, not sure what I expected to happen next.
    Nothing did. I lowered my hands and shook my head.
    The sons were making me jumpy. Every animal, no matter how small or safe, I now saw as a potential threat.
    I didn’t like it. I had two weapons on me today. I reached to the small of my back where I had stored a pair of nunchakus. They were a weapon I wasn’t as skilled with as others—my staff, for instance—but I had been practicing and they were easier to carry with my strained back. I also had a belt on that concealed a blade disguised as a buckle.
    So, the first wasn’t my strongest choice and the second wasn’t my fastest. Deciding on the nunchakus, I pulled them free from my pants and held both ends in my right hand. If a son surprised me, I could quickly drop one end and attack.
    With my fingers wrapped around the weapon, it was hard to relax my body or my brain. I kept moving, every inch of me on alert.
    It was just as well. Maybe nine yards further along I heard voices, murmurs. I had left all the Amazons back at camp.
    My arm tensed as I moved closer.
    There was a flash of blue and yellow, and bodies jumped out at me from nowhere. I spun, raising my arm automatically over my head and my fingers letting go of one end of the nunchakus. My back complained; I twisted my face in response.
    “Oh dear. We surprised her.”
    “Did you see him? Did you?”
    An elderly woman with a pair of binoculars pressed to her eyes searched the sky above my head. “They are so rare. Emily, do you have the camera?
    “Karen, how about the recording? Did you get him?”
    I staggered backward, my gaze dashing over the group. There were six of them, all dressed in T-shirts, khaki shorts, and a variety of head gear. The one with the binoculars shoved her hand flat against my chest and pushed me back a step.
    “Damn. He’s gone.” She lowered the binoculars and glared at me. “Without the picture, we can’t prove anything.” Her hair was steel gray and she was carrying an extra forty pounds around the middle, and it didn’t seem to occur to her or bother her that I not only towered over her, I was holding an actual weapon.
    The free end of the nunchakus rapped against my knuckles, and a muscle tightened in my jaw. “Who are you?” I asked, my arm still