Life as a New Hire Ch. 16

The 'junior' members started the chorus as the last 'senior' joined the main intonation. When the chanting ended, everyone but Hayden sat back down.

"A small number of issues necessitate this unheralded meeting," Hayden began. "A male knows our language, our nature and the secret. I seek guidance."

And then the shit-storm began. The only people not involved were Hayden, St. Marie on Hayden's right, and an unknown older Amazon I didn't know. My life was being debated and I was losing in a bad way. Beyoncé rallied support for me. She was sadly outnumbered but persistent. Among the oldest houses I saw Oneida sitting junior with house Arinniti.

Her house was the only one silent, which seemed rather odd. A consensus was reached. I would get to live, but I would be imprisoned for the rest of my existence - not even a breeding male. That was my 'reward' for channeling the ancestors thus saving Oneida's life. Hayden rose once more, took a hand count and raised her hand for quiet.

"I will consult with the ancestors on this matter," Hayden announced. "Does anyone have other salient points to add?"

That was perfunctory. Everyone had already spoken so when the head of House Arinniti stood up, everyone around her whispered in confusion. She lightly slapped her hand on the table for attention.

"I do, High Priestess," the woman stated. Even Oneida looked worried and confused.

"I recognize Shawnee, Head of House Arinniti," Hayden nodded then resumed seating.

"My sisters, I seek your agreement that you refrain from comment before I have made my three key statements," Shawnee requested. She looked around the room, getting nods - some reluctant.

(1)"First, I must confess to a crime against the Host and the Council," Shawnee began. There were hushed murmurs. "At the end of the Second Betrayal, my house argued tirelessly for the salvation of the males who remained loyal. The Council voted against us so the head of my house defied the council and spared three of our sons."

Murmurs became shouts of outrage. Hayden used a subtle voice of menace to restore order.

(2) "Second, Two Ash Men arrived after the rest; a veteran fighter of three and a half decades and a young man of twenty years. Knowing there was no hope for our sons, we took these two aside and instructed them to take our sons south, to a dubious future. That was our crime and it might never have been revealed if it wasn't for the New Directive."

"As you now know, Oneida, my granddaughter and heir, gave her Death Pledge. Cáel Nyilas intervened and, acting as a vessel for the Ancestors, he showed Hayden that her pledge had been rejected - for the first time in 3000 years," Shawnee looked around the table. "At first I was simply grateful for my granddaughter's life."

"As that euphoria faded, I began to ask why he acted as he had. I began wondering why, while in dire pain, Cáel refused water and comfort, instead asking for songs in our tongue? That made no sense...unless," Shawnee's face deepened in thought as she let the implications of that thought hang in the air. "Thus I had Cáel's genetic identity tested, to see if..."

"To see if he was one of your bastard male offspring returned after all these centuries," Ursula stood and seethed. Hayden slapped her palm on the table for order.

"Oh Ursula," Shawnee smirked, "the ancestors are wiser than you, or me. Had I received my heart-wish and had one of those boys return, they would be condemned by Arinniti's sins and the Council's decision."

"But..." Shawnee persisted. Several Amazon's looked my way, clearly bewildered.

"We had to check the skulls of the ancestors for that," Shawnee stated. "We took a tooth and it confirmed his lineage. He is the descendent of the young man. He never broke faith with the Host. He was unaware when ordered by the Arinniti what the Council had decided, thus he was guiltless."

"Who?" Hayden demanded. Shawnee looked down the table, but not far.

(3)"Cáel Nyilas is of the blood of Ishara," Shawnee stated. I waited to see which house leader freaked out. None did. Then I realized they were all staring at an empty chair and it just happened to be one of the chairs closest to Hayden. NOT good.

The screaming, shouting and yelling began. The house leaders were standing up, shaking fingers and launching threats at one another. Me? I was trying to recall who Ishara was. She eventually became Ishtar, Goddess of War. In the Old Kingdom Hittite she was also the Goddess of Oaths, Love and Medicine. The only three people at the table not going nuts where St. Marie, Hayden and the woman at her side.

That woman was looking at her tablet intently. Once more the group reached consensus and I was still boned. I was still a male, so my lineage meant nothing. I wasn't part of the Host. Hayden took another deep breath, acknowledging this second decision.

"You are all incorrect," the unknown tablet-reader spoke.

Everyone looked at her and nobody was yelling.

"Elsa, who is that?" I whispered.

"Krasimira, Keeper of Records," Elsa quietly informed me.

"What...what do you mean?" Messina, Fabiola's Mom stammered.

"Only nine males went unaccounted for at the end of the Second Betrayal. The rest are recorded meeting their deaths in battle, or death by our hand. Of those nine, only one was of House Ishara and he would have barely been of mating age," Krasimira related.

"So?" Ursula remarked. "He's still a male."

Krasimira looked at Ursula as if she was talking to a five year old.

"He was a member of the Host. If Shawnee of Arinniti is to be believed, Vranus, Cáel's ancestor, lived and died in service to the Host. He was never removed from our records, so he died a member of the Host, so his descendants are also members of the Host."

"He married without permission of his house, thus he is illegitimate," an old enemy from Egypt chimed in.

"Perhaps," Krasimira nodded. "That is a matter he must take up with the Head of House Ishara."

"There is no Head of House Ishara!" Ursula stated the obvious and pointed at the empty chair.

"Again, you are incorrect," Krasimira shook her head. She half turned in her chair. "There is a Head of House Ishara and he's standing right there." Even Hayden had a problem with that.

"But he's male," Hayden declared.

"That is Irrelevant," Krasimira said.

"To be the head of a house, one must either be elected by the peers of your house, succeed in accepted ritual combat, or, in extremis, it shall be the eldest surviving member of the Host of that house. Cáel Nyilas is clearly the oldest member of House Ishara currently in the Host," she quoted Amazon law, "so he is House Ishara's head." Silence reigned.

"Gun," I extended my hand to Elsa. She looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. "Don't make me repeat myself." I growled. Elsa didn't look for guidance. She wasn't that type. She drew her .45 automatic and put in in my hand.

"The safety is engaged," she enlightened me. I left my spot and began rounding the table to 'my' seat.

"One more step and I'll shoot you where you stand," Ursula threatened.

"No you won't," St. Marie stood. "I'll kill you first."

"Ursula of Marda, you have no justification to attack House Ishara," Hayden explained. "I don't like this anymore than you do. We do not pick and choose which laws to follow. Accept the will of our ancestors."

There were between fifteen and twenty women close by aching to put bullets in me. I didn't stop because that wouldn't be me. I ended up by the chair and absorbed the essence of this tiny shard of reality. Was I the son of some lost 'First' House? Without a doubt, the placement of this chair was in the top ten on this side. The ones across from me were all clearly 'First' Houses as well.

The chair was old - maybe two hundred years. It held a sadness to it - no one had ever sat in it. It had been built knowing no one would ever sit on it. I thought about Pamela. I thought about holding Oneida up and refusing to let her die. That effort was me, physically conditioned over years, but I had never discounted willpower.

It was possible that man could indeed be found back somewhere in my ancestry. Few invaders wipe out all the indigenous inhabitants. Usually they intermarry with the invading culture overwhelming the previous one. I couldn't forget my present and future while examining my past. I put the gun down. Hostility washed over me in palatable waves.

I pulled back the chair. The room was about to explode. I kept moving it back, farther and farther until it was clear I wouldn't be sitting in it.

"I will stand for House Ishara," I announced. "I will not vote though I will speak my thoughts on matters. I will hold this spot until I have a daughter of age."

"No man of House Ishara has ever voted in the Council of the Host and no man will now," I kept going. "Outside of those concessions to my Mothers, I am House Ishara. I am right here. If you have a problem with me, I will be easy to find. I have never hidden from you bitches and I'm not going to start now."

"You insult us," Messina stood up. Five other women joined her.

"By all means," Katrina stood, "we eagerly await your challenge." Eight other women joined her. I hadn't suddenly become more popular. Between my refusal to vote, the bizarre revelation of Shawnee and the gravitas of the 'First' Houses, the more conservative women were retiring to regroup.

Messina's backing down lasted only seconds. She immediately proposed that no male be allowed to be a member of the Host - disqualifying me by fiat. Krasimira wasn't going for that. Amazons could not legislate a member of the Host, or a House, out of existence. That's why they had killed the Ash Men in the first place. Technically, they had been Amazons.

They couldn't make them 'not-Amazons' and there was no exile in this society. Eminently practical, they made them dead instead. That was coming back to bite them in the ass now, because they killed them - they'd never taken them off the rolls. Poor, young Vranus had loyally led his charges away on orders. Had he fled, they would have put him under a death sentence - which I would have to fulfill.

No, my ancestor was unsurprisingly pig-headed. One senior warrior and three children...sure, let's walk off into the wilderness with hostile tribes all around. Why? They told him to and like a loyal little mutton-head he'd obeyed. If I believed in magic, or mysticism, I'd worry about how I ended up in that first board meeting speaking this fucked-up language.

I'd re-examine how Leona had missed that crucial first shot because Aya had missed hers. Aya herself and the same spiritual twist that caused Oneida to hurl her life into my unsteady hands. I'd like to put that to accident and genetic abnormalities. Then there was Pamela. I'd like to think she was delusional, suffering from an acid flashback, or whatever.

Shawnee slid a wooden box - a meter by 70 cm - to me. Whatever parliamentary etiquette Amazons followed was unknown to me. I opened the box. Inside was what looked like a lamb, or sheep, skin pressed in some kind of glass. The artifact looked horribly old and was faded to the stage where it was barely legible.

I let the buzz die down around me as I squinted at the picture. There were five figures - from the left was a tall one with a shield and spear, three small figures, and another tall man...with two axes. That was...no I couldn't accept that, not right now. Along both sides and the top were prayers of some kind, though they were too faded to make out accurately. On the bottom were five names. The right-most was Vranus.

Oneida hadn't been trapped by madness and pride. She'd been a slave to destiny. She had seen this skin, I was sure. She'd seen me with my two axes and when it turned out to be more than show, she'd had to save me and she couldn't tell anyone why because of the Arinniti sin. Perhaps she had some delusion we were distantly related. Now wasn't the time to ask.

I closed the box and slid it back. In my absence, the verdict for House Arinniti was narrowed down. Some wanted Shawnee's head because she was the inheritor of those lies. Others wanted Oneida's head because it would be a more terrible lesson for her house. I didn't like those ideas.

"Are you seriously arguing about the paint on the doghouse while your home is burning down?" I mocked them.

"You don't...," a different, yet still hostile, Amazon choked out.

"They didn't sell your sisters to the Roman coliseum," I glared. "They valued bravery and loyalty over conformity. Did they defy the Council? Yes. I think we all agree with that. Put in context though, the rest of you fucked up."

Tons of 'how dare you' and descriptive insults to my family, gender, species and intelligence.

"Answer me this - Ursula, can you turn around right now and slit your 'apprentice's' throat?" I posed. I could see the 'no' forming on her lips before the Great Wall of Implications fell on her head.

"Everyone in this room that voted for the slaughter of the Ash Men broke your own laws," I explained. "You had every right to kill your sons. They were legally and physically helpless. The Ash Men - they were members of the Host...and there is every indication you butchered them without trial, or attempt at redress. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those men did not break the law; you did."

"You are correct," Krasimira said. "All members of the Host must be informed of their crimes and seek trial if they disagree. Any sentence of Death can be appealed to the High Priestess, who can commute the sentence, assign an ordeal of some kind, or have it carried out." What doomed Leona was the obvious nature of her crime in front of the High Priestess.

The only person who protested was Ursula, the Mistress of Leona's house. Looking back on things, Ursula had acted insanely sending Leona to kill me. Yes, she would have derailed the New Directive for a few years. She would also have alienated every neutral member of the Council. The vote for the New Directive was distasteful yet deemed necessary by enough houses for it to pass.

The vote at the end of the Second Betrayal...that was the issue now. Ms. Senior Egypt made one last end-run around the process.

"What is to stop him from bringing more men into the Host?" she muddied the water. Me? I pulled out my shirt and looked down at my chest.

"Is someone making fun of my A-cup sized breasts?" I appealed to Hayden. A tiny smile crossed her lips.

"I am not sure Cáel," Hayden responded. "Fatima, be precise with the nature of your worries."

"He should not be allowed to recruit into his house until his status is decided," Fatima stated.

"His status is not in question," Hayden purred. That was the 'I'm about to lose patience with you' purr.

"I would never recruit anyone into House Ishara who was not qualified. It is insulting to think otherwise. Is there a specific male you are worried about?" I inquired.

"I don't know you, or your ways," Fatima spat.

"You need to think about what you just said, Fatima," I snorted. "So, not knowing anything about me you are making assumptions about what I might do? As you said yourself, you don't know me."

"If you did, you would know that while I wish virtually every Amazon alive would drop dead, thus making the world a much better place, I would never embarrass Katrina, or betray her. Now, are you going to keep looking stupid, or are you going to accept that House Arinniti not only acted in accordance to Amazon law 2500 years ago, they continue acting so today," I stated.

"After all, they risked everyone's anger for the restoration of one of your eldest houses. When I turned out not to be one of Arinniti's long-lost sons, they could have kept quiet. They did not. Arinniti bravery means one day a daughter of Ishara will bring her voice to this council once more. They certainly didn't do this for themselves. Ask yourself if you would have the courage to bring such possible shame to your family prestige," I challenged the Host.

"You trained your monkey well," Messina mocked Katrina.

"Ah..." I mused as I picked up my pistol. "Safety." I got a feel for the weapon. "Messina, what's the name of your 'apprentice'?"

"You wouldn't dare," Messina hissed.

"You dare to insult me and my House, Whore-Bitch," I smiled insanely. "Why do you think I'll let you get away with that? I'm not going to kill her - just gut-shoot her."

"Pull that trigger and you will die," Messina spat. Her junior looked far less pleased with the turn of events.

"Not relevant. My House Prestige is too great to suffer such an insult. You did call me, the choice of a hundred generations of House Ishara ancestors, a monkey," I pointed out.

"Cáel of Ishara, put the gun down...please," St. Marie sort of asked. I clicked the safety and put the gun back down on the table.

Messina was looking terribly pleased with herself, ignoring 'The Golden Mare' coming around her side of the table. The hair-yank St. Marie inflicted made me recoil in shock and I was some distance away Messina. Slap-backhand-slap-backhand. St. Marie released Messina's hair. Messina stumbled back, fearful and furious at the same time.

"Are you going to exert some common courtesy, or shall we continue?" the Marshal of the Amazon Host glared at Messina. "I don't like him, or where he stands, but I am far more embarrassed by your behavior. At least the male exerts some restraint. The rest of you are acting like he is a weakling-idiot. He is not. Know your opponent dammit."

"Wait! Hayden, now that I'm..." I got all excited.

"No, Cáel, you still may not refer to the Marshal of the Amazon Host as 'Pony-Lady'," Hayden scolded me. I snapped my finger over the lost opportunity. A pregnant pause was suddenly vacated by a snicker and then several more until half the table had to hold their hands over their mouths.

"Did you really call '****' St. Marie, 'Pony-Lady'?" this unknown House Leader asked. She wasn't one of my fans.

"Only after she kicked my ass, totally humiliating me," I revealed. "I got one punch in. Next thing I knew I was wondering how regularly they changed the fluorescent lighting in the Firing Range while I was on my back, soaking up the cold comfort of the concrete floor."

It took them a second to figure out what I meant. St. Marie was already marching back to her chair.

"You are very poetic," another commented.

"That is how I learned your tongue - I was taught Old Kingdom Hittite erotic and love poetry. I know the same in nine other forgotten languages, as well as four current languages," I informed them.

"Hayden, you would not dare chastise any other Head of House the way you treated - him," Ursula griped.

"In what possible universe would Cáel Nyilas be considered normal?" Hayden countered. "He is not like any other Head of House. He forgoes voting because HE values our traditions."

"He does not sit in his designated seat at our table because he takes into consideration our sensibilities. This from a man we all decided to imprison forever not five minutes ago. If any of you think he does this out of fear, you are sorely mistaken. He is a person of many failings without question yet he is courageous to a fault," Hayden lectured the room. "St. Marie, what was the first thing he said to you after you crushed him?"

"He said 'What. Had enough already?'" she snorted. "Those were his exact words, lying on his back, looking up at me. I thought I had concussed him."

"This is not a humorous matter," Egypt Senior was still cranky.

"I don't know about that," St. Marie reposed. "I found it to be fun actually."

"Even the part where he had the gun pointed at me was interesting. I was certain he was about to shoot me," St. Marie continued.

"Pity he missed you," Messina glared.

"He didn't miss me, Messina," St. Marie sneered. "I told him to give me the gun and he gave it to me. He's not disloyal, just pugnacious."