The Gleaner had just pulled the last of three arrows from the chest of the dead warrior
and then rose to stand upright and straighten her back as she paused to regard the corpse.
Pariah slid the shaft into the bundle of them she had accumulated and shook her head in wonder that this lone warrior had been able to single-handedly stave off the attack on this small temple for as long as she had.
The Gleaner had witnessed the final assault on the temple which had come only a matter of minutes earlier.
The Temple had long ago ceased to be a shrine with which the Amazons had any concern,
and so once the warrior who had chosen this place to make her stand was dead,
the position was left to those who would rise no longer.
The Gleaner's weak ankle was causing her a good deal of discomfort and so as she stood at the entrance to the temple,
the woman was not particularly anxious to begin the task that lay before her.
As she surveyed the carnage that had been wrought this day,
the Amazon found herself hard put to see how either side could claim a victory in the contest.
But then, from a Gleaner's vantage point it was always difficult to see that there was ever any clear-cut winner,
for never did any clan come away from a confrontation unbloodied or unscathed.
So very many dead!
Well! The Gleaner shook herself from her reverie.
It would be best that she get on with it!
This process was disagreeable enough at best!
And if there was one thing for certain,
it was that no corpse improved with age!
Not in this sun nor in this heat!
And if she waited much longer,
she would have those damned vultures to contend with!
Ugh!
The woman didn't know which she preferred less ...
Those feathered eaters of carrion or the wolves and hyenas that would be along later!
This one, at least, would keep for a while!
The gleaner watched as the dying youngster thrashed about on the ground
as she continued in a fruitless struggle
with the arrow that protruded from beneath the left side of her rib cage.
"Here! Let me help you with that!"
The Gleaner may have spoken out loud as she knelt beside the stricken warrior.
Grasping the shaft, the Gleaner thrust it at an angle beneath the woman's rib-cage - upward and deep into her heaving chest.
The girl's eyes went wide, blood bubbled from her mouth, and her body slumped back to the ground - her struggles ended.
"It was the least I could do for you!" The Gleaner thought.
"Seeing as how I was going to have to leave you with an arrow in you somewhere! Such superstitious foolishness!"
As a Gleaner, she had no fondness at all for the ancient custom that one should leave an arrow
protruding from the body of an enemy.
Such a waste!
And worse - it deprived her of a portion of the profit she hoped to reap on the day!
The custom had been handed down through the generations based on the belief that a arrow left in the corpse
prevented the spirit of the dead from escaping along with the lifeforce.
In this way, one would not be faced with the unwelcome prospect of another encounter with the spirit
of this self-same warrior again one day ...
An encounter the outcome of which may not be as fortuitous as the one they had just enjoyed!
Ah! Well! An arrow was a small enough price to pay, the Gleaner had to admit ...
Why, just suppose she was expected the leave the weapon that slew her buried in the body of a fallen warrior!
She shuddered to think of the loss that would be!
A sword for instance ... Or a pike!
By Hecate, Herself! What was she thinking of?!
While the main battle was over, there remained pockets of resistance where the fighting raged on
as hotly contested as long as there was a life to give ...
And here the Gleaner, lost in thought, had strayed right into the midst of a fray!
"Gleaner!" A warrior shouted at her.
"What are you doing here?!
Are there not enough of the dead to keep you amused out there on the main battle field?
Stop day-dreaming! Lest you get yourself killed!"
"I thought I recognized that girl from somewhere?"
"One dying warrior wandering aimlessly about with a blade in her belly looks much the same as the next!
Come! Let us get thee hence!"
"How came you to be here, Gleaner?
You will pardon me for speaking thus, but it seems rather unlike you to be anywhere near the heat of the battle!"
"In truth, I was fascinated by the leggings that warrior wore, Mayah! I have need of them myself!"
"Ah! Yes! To lend support to your ankle! Of course!
Well! Fear not!
There are plenty more of them where they came from!
A goodly number of her clan are wearing them! We will find you another!"
"But for the nonce, pluck that sword from the belly of our fallen chieftain!
She has no further need of it while we may yet!"
"Great Goddess! Gleaner!
And here I bethought to give you safe passage so that you could get on with your work!
And here we are ourselves under attack!"
"Arm thy bow, Mayah! See! Their leader sports the leggings I covet!"
"In that case, Gleaner, we will bring down the lot of them!"
"That was an admirable bit of archery, Mayah!"
"For which I thank thee, Gleaner! But thy dost not do too badly in thy own right!"
"I would not have thought that anyone could arm and release a bow as quickly as you have just done!
Why, you have brought down two to my one!"
"It doth take years of practice, Gleaner!
But see how prettily your warrior has taken your shaft between her breasts!
It is almost as though she were in some way anxious that we should bear witness to how well she dies!"
"Aye! I guess there is naught to do now but to fetch those leggings and my day will be a success almost before it has begun!"
"There can be no better time than to retrieve your prize now, Gleaner! We will not pass this way again!"
"No! Mayah! Wait! It is far too dangerous!"
"Pah! Do you expect to live forever, Gleaner?
I shall fetch them!"
Sssh-wuck!
"Aiieeeyaah!"
"Mayah! No!"
Seeing her friend struck down, the Gleaner tossed her bow aside and, grasping a sword, started forward to assist her ...
Heedless of the fact that she could easily meet a similar fate ...
"Pull that shaft, Mayah! Pull it!"
The Gleaner shouted her exhortation to her friend who struggled with the arrow that protruded from her belly ...
"Unngh!
Oh! Help me Gleaner!
It's buried so deep!"
So intent was the Gleaner on the plight of her friend,
that it is doubful she ever saw the arrow in flight until it struck her in the breast ...
"Hiieeungh!"
The warrior, Mayah had fallen to the ground where she still attempted to summon the strength to pull the shaft that had taken her.
Yet somehow the warrior appeared to doubt that she possessed the stamina
to withstand the intolerable pain the action would mean to her ...
No ... Perhaps it was better to lay still ... and accept death quietly ...
The Gleaner realized that she was mortally wounded ...
And yet she was determined to pull the offending arrow ...
Though to do so would certainly be the death of her ...
"Must ... Pull ... Shaft!
Spirit ... Must ... Go Free!"
"Mayah! Mayah! Mayah! Do you hear me? Pull the arrow! Mayah!"
With her remaining strength waning rapidly,
the Gleaner summoned the monumental will it took to jerk the arrow free ...
And at last - in spite of the intense pain, the Gleaner offered her final act in defiance of her adversaries and pulled the shaft from her body!
"Mayah! I can see the Gate, Mayah! Come! We can make it! You and I? Mayah?"
Alone now, the Gleaner felt herself falling into the blackness that seemed to surround the Amazon Gate ...
