The Water Queens (Keeper of the Water) (13 page)

I glance toward Amelia, who remains by my side though she keeps looking around at the surrounding trees. At first I’m worried she hears a noise – that she senses possible danger – but I realize she must be looking out for her
own
recruit, who’s yet to show up. I have the same concern for my third recruit though part of me is afraid to find out from Harriet what happened to her. 

“Months passed and Jane kept preachin’ how peace was needed to those that stayed behind. But we all knew there’d be no peace once the queens come back, ‘specially if they bring back Isabella. I figured things would turn ugly; I just didn’t know
how
ugly till today. I was out on patrol by myself. With our numbers few and me bein’ most comfortable in the jungle, I did most of the patrollin’ ‘round camp; that’s when I heard sounds in the jungle goin’ crazy. It was the queens runnin’ toward the water, with Cassie leadin’ them. They didn’t even make no secret that they was comin’.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“I hid behind a tree and watched them go by. I wanted to stand in their way and fight, maybe bash a couple heads,” Harriet says, tapping the trusty club still firmly in hand. “I
know
I coulda took a couple of them out but there was too many to fight ‘em all. Bein’ alone and so far from camp, I know they woulda tried killin’ me if they found me. Plus I saw they was takin’ a roundabout route to camp so I took a shortcut and got back just in time to warn everyone.

“This was the moment we was dreadin’ from the time you and Isabella was turned to little babies and took away from the jungle. I wanted everyone to prepare for a fight; we couldn’t kill Isabella but nothin’ said we couldn’t destroy Catherine and the rest of them. But Jane still thought we could handle this all peaceful-like so we circled the water and waited for them to arrive. Isabella got there first but Catherine hurried in front of her and kept those little swords of hers raised and ready. Isabella told us that she was the
rightful
Keeper; I reminded her how she stole that job from my mentor.”

The thought of losing my role as Keeper sends a pang of sadness to my heart; it’s a loss I feel as heavily as the deaths of Celeste and my parents. Making it worse is that I gave up the job to save my distant granddaughter, only to lose her to the women that had her kidnapped in the first place. I glance at John standing next to me and can’t help think about the role he played in taking Katina out of her normal life. There’s no telling what kind of life she’d be living now, how different things could’ve ended up had she not lived her life in constant fear. I know she’d still be alive, that much I can say with utmost certainty.

An explosion of anger grips inside my chest and I want to unleash that fury on John. He’s voiced his regret countless times about the past; he’s nearly died twice to save me, to prove his love for me, to show he’s a changed man. I
want
to love him back but I don’t see how that’s possible while I’m still living this life. I almost forget that Harriet is still talking…

“Jane tried explainin’ that without unity or agreement ‘bout who should be Keeper, the tribe couldn’t protect the water the way it needed. That was ‘bout the strongest way Jane could say we wasn’t givin’ Isabella back the water,” Harriet says. “We was hopin’ Isabella changed over the years she was gone, that bein’ raised by Cleopatra woulda gave her a new way of lookin’ at life. Ends up she
did
change, just not the way we hoped. Didn’t take long ‘fore she turned worse than ever, more brutal than we coulda worried.

“She knew we couldn’t hurt the Keeper so she walked right up to me and Jane and the others guardin’ the water. We had our weapons raised, they had their weapons raised, but she walked between the two groups without no care in the world. The closer she got to us and the water, the brighter the blue light glowed behind us. She stopped just in front of our group but ignored our weapons. She told us somethin’ ‘bout makin’ her offer only once so we all should listen good and choose wise. She said how we betrayed her seventeen years ago, tried to get rid of her forever, that it was her right as Keeper to punish us severe as she wants. But she tried to sound all understandin’, said those was confusin’ times, that everyone was weak-minded and followin’ a former Keeper who was just jealous of her and ‘fraid to put the water to good use. She told us we no longer had to do what Keepers and Amazons from the past always done, that she returned from exile to lead us to the power we deserved.

“I gotta admit, Isabella always been good at talkin’. I had to remind the others that she was just lookin’ out for herself but nobody listened to me. Isabella said she wasn’t gonna stand for no deserters so we had to choose between joinin’ her right away or bein’ killed off like the rest of the old ways of the Amazons. A couple traitors stepped away from the water right away and joined them; I could tell a couple others was thinkin’ ‘bout doin’ the same. I was gettin’ nervous and could barely stop from attackin’ ‘fore we was too outnumbered. But Jane stayed calm and tried to tell everyone that we should follow the peaceful teachin’ of Cleopatra and Sacajawea.

“That’s when Isabella told us you was both dead. We was all shocked but I didn’t believe nothin’ she said till Catherine started boastin’ ‘bout bein’ the one to put an arrow through your chest though I never seen her use no weapon but them little swords. I was so mad and upset and they didn’t like when I noticed that Queenie ‘Lizabeth was missin’ from the group. Wasn’t long till it was just me, Jane, Marilyn, Mary and Babe still left in front of the water.”

The last name brings the tiniest of gasps from Amelia. I put my hand on her shoulder; we
both
wait to hear to fate of our respective recruits.

“Isabella asked, ‘Do I need to issue a final warnin’?’ I held my club, ready to fight to the death with my sisters by my side. Then, the worst betrayal of my life happened,” she says, shaking her head in disgust.

“Mary?” I ask.

Harriet looks surprised but nods her head. Somehow I’ve known this outcome from the beginning of the story. Mary Bowser was my first ever recruit, a former slave who willingly returned to the south during the American Civil War. She made her way into the Confederate White House, where she stole enough secrets and military strategy to help the North win the war. When I approached her, Confederate troops had learned of her betrayal and tried to hunt her down. In what she thought would be her final move of desperation, Mary set fire to the southern version of the White House but I saved her before flames could engulf her. Mary had been willing to give up her life to stop those forcing injustices upon others; now, she seems to have joined a cause just as nefarious as the one she once helped to stop.

“She stepped away from the water and joined
them
,” Harriet says, her face scrunching up as if the words taste bitter on her tongue.

I slowly shake my head, hardly able to believe what I know is true. Sure, Mary must’ve thought I was dead but I still can’t imagine her turning her back on Harriet and my other recruits to join Cassie.

“Only person more surprised than me to see Mary move forward was Isabella,” Harriet says. “Catherine jumped in front of
her
Keeper and looked ‘bout to attack Mary when Isabella held up a hand to stop her. Mary hung her head low but followed the queen’s order to get to the back of her group. Jane finally stepped forward, tried to reach out to Mary to make her stay. But without warnin’, Isabella attacked and ran a knife straight through Jane’s heart.”

I can’t stop from glancing sadly at Jane’s body again.

“I didn’t even see no weapon in Isabella’s hand; she musta been hidin’ it when talkin’ to our group. I was shocked to see Jane go down but I didn’t hesitate no more to attack. I wanted to rip out Isabella’s throat but the tinglin’ in my body was too strong to let me do that. ‘Sides, Catherine jumped in front of her and I finally got my chance to land a few good shots on her. Now I know the Lord don’t like violence but I wasn’t upset I got to defend myself ‘gainst her. Gotta admit, she was quicker with them little swords that I expected but not quicker than me.”

She holds up her massive club, which has several deep notches cut into it from where club met sword.

“Couple more minutes and I’da taken for down for good,” Harriet says regretfully. “I got me a buncha good licks on her but the rest of the queens jumped in ‘fore I could finish the job. Isabella backed away but the other queens attacked the four of us left to guard the water. They circled ‘round and fought us from all sides. I tried to help Jane and Marilyn and Babe was there was three of them for every one of us; if Mary and the other traitors hadn’t stayed back and watched the fightin’ in shock, I may not be still livin’ now.

“They finally knocked me to the ground and was stabbin’ at me with swords and knives and spears. I moved out the way of them weapons but didn’t have time to stand back up without them gettin’ me. Thought they was about to kill me off when Babe suddenly showed up and threw herself onto Catherine and a couple others though she had her own queens tryin’ to kill her. You’da been real proud of your recruit, Amelia.”
             

Amelia nods; she doesn’t say a word but a few tears escape her eyes, which she quickly wipes away.

“Babe only bought me a few seconds but that was ‘nough to get to my feet. I kept tryin’ to fight but odds was too much ‘gainst us. I wanted to get to Jane and help but I could see she was already dead. I looked over and seen Marilyn tryin’ to escape but they hunted her down like they was a pack of wild dogs. I ran over to help my recruit but the queens cut me off. Babe and me barely fought them off. But if I knew what would happen to Marilyn, I…”

She stops and shakes her head. I reach out a hand to comfort her but she brushes it away. Most people would be sad to speak about what happened; Harriet’s eyes narrow and her jaw clenches in intense anger.

“I woulda died to save her but I never had no chance to help. I lost sight of her durin’ all the fightin’ and Babe finally pulled me away, yelled for me to run away with her. I hated to abandon the water but the last thing I saw ‘fore leavin’ camp was Isabella standin’ in the water over there. It was so bright blue that I could hardly see her.”

I know the feeling of stepping in the special water, being bathed in intense cool blue light. But when I look back at the spring behind us, it’s hard to believe it
ever
held Mother Earth’s essence of life. The entire camp is dark and dreary without the glowing blue; very little light permeates the canopy of trees above and the water is dull and listless, nothing more than an occasional sparkle indicating its former glory. I wish Marilyn or Jane was alive to try healing them with the water’s residual effects but the queens made certain that wouldn’t be possible.

“I wanted to stay with Babe but we separated once in the jungle; it was probably better to split up the queens chasin’ us,” Harriet says. “I was faster than any of them women and it wasn’t long ‘fore I lost them. But I didn’t wanna get too far from camp in case Marilyn or Babe was in trouble and needed me back here. I hid up a tree and waited for them to give up the search. Wasn’t long ‘fore a small group of them – led by none other than Mary – started pokin’ ‘round and got right near my tree. I climbed real high and was hid real good in the shadows but Mary looked right near where I was hidin’. I coulda swore she was gonna tell the others; I considered jumpin’ down and takin’ out my
friend
‘fore she could do the same to me. But she told the others I wasn’t nowhere nearby and they went off in a different direction. It almost made me disappointed that she learned so little ‘bout trackin’ from me over the years.

“I felt like a coward just hidin’ so it wasn’t long till I jumped outta the tree and came back here. I stuck to the shadows, determined to sneak attack Catherine and fight to the death to take out as many of them as I could. But when I got back, the water, the queens and Isabella was all gone. Only thing left was my dead recruit and your dead mentor. I feel awful ‘bout failin’ to protect the water, ‘bout failin’ Marilyn and ‘bout failin’ you, Mentor.”

I shake my head vehemently.

“There’s nothing for
you
to be ashamed of,” I say. “I should’ve gotten here sooner. For that matter, I should’ve made sure Cassie never remembered who she was in the first place. It is
I
who have failed
you
and the rest of the Amazons, who I’m no longer even part of.”

John clears his throat beside me but I don’t have to turn to realize he’s nodding. I’ve known this fact from the moment I was no longer the Keeper but I’ve been trying so desperately to cling to a life that’s now in my past. Both of my parents are dead – my Keeper, too – and Cassie and her queens control the water. It may have been better if I’d just disappeared into the jungle like every other Keeper whose time ran out…

“You don’t know what happened to
my
recruit, do you?” Amelia finally asks.

Harriet shakes her head. “I ain’t seen her since we split up while runnin’ away. I looked all ‘round camp but she ain’t nowhere to be seen. Hopefully she’s still runnin’ far from them but I got no idea where she mighta ended up.”

Not exactly the news Amelia wanted to hear but it was better than the alternative that Marilyn suffered.

“Now what do we do?” Amelia asks.

The slightest crackle echoes from a nearby thicket of trees. The four of us raise our weapons, ready to fight, but the next sound is a voice that brings a sigh of relief to us, especially Amelia.

“It’s a good thing we have the two best trackers to hunt them down and get our water back.”

Babe Didrikson limps out of the jungle, as bruised and beaten as Harriet but not badly injured. She’s by no means tall – standing at just about 5’ 7’’ – or imposing in size but Babe was once considered the greatest female athlete in the history of American athletics, excelling in track and field and golf among other sports. She often competed with men, a fact that had drawn Amelia to her considering she’d done the same thing in the world of flying instead of athletics. The two were inseparable for years and I can’t believe I hadn’t remembered Babe until we found the camp in tatters.

After we somberly celebrate the victory of Babe still being alive, there’s one thing we must do before considering our next move: bury the dead. Amelia helps dig the grave for Harriet’s recruit; Babe – the most naturally athletic of our group – climbs the tall trees and helps me lower Jane’s body to the ground, where we prepare a final resting place for her beside the spring. At one point John offers to help dig but a single sneer from Harriet is all he needs to know to back off.