"Imagine that you are in a fight with an Amazon," Nombe read.
"Huh! It's no great stretch of the imagination for me to imagine that!" she thought.
"She'll make a mistake," the author asserted.
"Perhaps ... If you don't make a slip of some kind yourself first!" was Nombe's response.
"Bide your time ..."
"If you think you can afford to ... Yes ..." Nombe agreed.
"Here it comes ... "
"Yes ... Okay ... I'm waiting ... So now what?" The reader thought impatiently.
"She over commits ... They always do."
"I wouldn't count on it fella!"
"Aw, now c'mon! Buck!
Buck? Where are you?
Would you come in here for a minute, please?"
I entered the living room bearing two cups of tea which I set down carefully on the old glass-topped coffee table.
"Tea? For me? How nice!"
"Tea for thee and me!
Now, what were you saying while I was in the other room?"
"First - a small token of my appreciation for your thoughtfulness ...
Um ... Oooh ...
Your hands are nice and warm!"
"It's from the teacups ...
Would you prefer cold and clammy?
I can arrange that just as easily!"
"Oh, no! Not at all!
Now ...
Scratch ...
Ahh ...
A little bit lower ...
Now a little to the right ...
Ahh ..."
Why is it that women only want their backs scratched - when I have other equally accessible places firmly in mind?
"Now then, Nombe ... You were saying?"
"Hmmm? What? Um ... Oh ... This article ..."
"I take it that you and the author are not in complete accord?"
"Not entirely ... No ..."
"Oh, come now!
You must admit that with your superior strength and knowledge
that you haven't allowed an opponent
to wear herself out to a certain extent!
She becomes desperate and makes a fatal mistake and you move in to make the kill!"
"Certainly, I have, Buck!
At one time or another anyone who survives in this business has done the same!"
"But that's not to say that the Wait an' See strategy will work every time without fail!"
"But that's not what's bothering you, is it, Nombe?"
"Well ... No, it isn't to tell you the truth, Buck!"
"Do you want to tell me what is it then?"
"It gives no credit at all to the skill of her opponent!"
"Who happens to be another woman?"
"Most often - Yes!
And an Amazon besides!"
"Ah! Now we are beginning to get somewhere!"
"Look, Buck!
Unlike many other of the earlier civilizations the Amazons,
for all their perhaps well-earned reputation for ferocity,
their religion was not one that involved human sacrifice ..."
"At least certainly not in any formalized pattern or ritual!"
"In almost any contest, the loser could and did expect to have a blade thrust into her chest ..."
"And sometimes, I'll be the first to admit that the contests were one-sided in which there was an obvious favorite ..."
"And the outcome of the contest was, if not guaranteed, then at least it was apparent from the outset ..."
"Indeed, many of these one-on-one contests were in fact little more than executions!"
"Only rarely was an Amazon Warrior to be dishonored to the extent ..."
"That she was cut down ..."
"Without being given at least a fighting chance!"
"But as I said, in that the culprit was sentenced to face the mightiest warrior in the clan,
there was seldom any doubt that justice would be served!"
"Did the convict ever succeed in killing the favorite, Nombe?"
"Only rarely, Buck!"
"But it has been known to happen!"
"What happens then?"
"The convicted one is free to go ...
For she has proved her innocence in that the Amazon Goddess has chosen to smile upon her
and so give her the strength to overcome superior odds and so spare her life!"
"As there were no sacrificial rituals as such, so too an Amazon Warrior,
to my knowledge has never been requested to fall upon her own sword!"
"As a matter of fact, the act of suicide as such is virtually unknown ..."
"Now, that being said, let me hasten to say that while neither sacrifice nor suicide are practiced to any extent ...
"Both are in fact very much a part of everyday life
and only rarely does any Amazon avoid
being called upon to participate in what amounts to one of the two ..."
"We have to remember that the Amazon Clans are in a near perpetual state of conflict ..."
"As a Warrior-Nation, we women are killed in combat ..."
"The Amazons were born and bred in battle and Death is a very real fact of life!"
"Because of this, there is the realization that any individual is expendable ..."
"The Sentry - unless the position is one that is purely ceremonial -
is a prime example of one who gives her life in order that the many may be spared ..."
"Alone as she is at her post, there is every liklihood that she will be cut down ..."
"It is only to be hoped that she will be able to raise an alarm that will serve
to give warning to the others of her clan!"
"Then too there is the delaying tactic in which a of mere handful of Amazons
will stand fast to stall an attacking force so that the other members of her clan may escape ..."
"Here there is no thought of escape or survival on the part of those chosen or who volunteer to participate ..."
"They know that they will be slaughtered, Buck!
Their only concern is to stand and fight until they can do so no longer!"
"Then too there is the Amazon who volunteers to serve as a decoy ..."
"This can occur most often when a hunting party discovers that it is being tracked by a superior or unknown force ..."
"One of their group will strike off on her own with the intention of luring those that are following away from the main party ..."
"And of course we must not forget the mother who falls in defense of her young!"
"The Maternal Instinct, though one may well believe it to be extinct among our kind,
is only submerged in the Amazon due to the necessity of being a Warrior ..."
"Much as with any other woman, she has only to see or come in contact with an infant for these instincts to rise to the surface ..."
"And should she have a baby of her own ... Well, Buck! Think of the lengths almost any animal will go to to protect her young!"
"And I should not forget to mention that ambition may often play no small role
in an Amazon's point of view in her approach to doing battle ..."
"Ambition, Nombe? How does that enter into it?"
I couldn't refrain from interrupting ...
"Amazons are brought up in the belief that they have every chance of improving their lot in the next life, Buck!"
"Do the Amazons believe in an afterlife, Nombe? A heavenly reward?"
"Not an afterlife, Buck ... The next life!"
"It's not so much a reward - although one can always live in hope, I suppose!"
"If it's not the promise of rewards in the afterlife then what is it, Nombe?" I can't help it if I'm dense!
"Buck! There's only just so much of anything in the world! Right?"
"Well ... I guess so ... No supply is inexhaustable ... As we are finding out more each day!"
"Right! So, that being the case ..."
"Then it becomes only reasonable to suppose that there is only just so much Life to go around! Am I right?"
"So when an Amazon takes a shaft to the breast, for instance ..."
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"She may be losing the Life she has ..."
"But it will be passed on ..."
"And her life will be reborn in the next generation ..."
"And so her life contines!"
"On and on!"
"Forever!"
"I guess that's what is called a 'Transmigration of Souls', isn't it Nombe?"
"I guess so ... Whatever!"
"But where does the 'ambition' enter into it, Nombe?"
"An Amazon always hopes to better her lot in life the next time around!"
"Doesn't everyone, Buck?"
"I guess we do, Nombe ... For one reason or another!"
"Certainly we do, Buck!"
"Hey! If I am reborn often enough ... One day I may be born to become a Queen!"
"So you see, Buck!"
"No matter how or where she dies, the Amazon does not believe that her death is in vain ..."
"For there is always another life to follow!"
"It makes the Amazon ... Well ..."
"If she doesn't actually seek death ..."
"Then at least it makes her less inclined to seek to avoid it at all costs ..."
"The Amazon has her Code of Honor to think of ..."
"And dying in a worthy cause can only be to her benefit ..."
"When she is in line to receive the next life!"
"So you see, Buck!
The Amazon's life is not 'taken' from her so much as that her life is 'given' ...
She dies because she believes that it is her due and her time has come!"
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