Amelia Earhart Vs. Manjaro the Manslayer: The Maze of Death

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The man and woman had been at a costume party in a Hollywood mansion when they sensed each other across the room. They had made their way to the center of a garden maze at the far side of the mansion's back yard, had revealed their swords, stayed at a cautious distance, and began to talk.

The woman, dressed as an aviator, said, "I do not wish to fight tonight." She held a slim sword with a dragon's head for a pommel, pointed low to the ground, and added, "But I will if I have to."

The man, dressed as a Viking warrior, had a bit heftier sword that he held out to the side like a cane; the point resting on the ground, and his hand resting on the studded mace pommel. "And I have no wish to fight one as beautiful as you. Tell me though- have we met? You seem familiar, but the years have been many. I am Manuel Jaro."

"For me as well," she answered. "I am Amelia Earhart."

Manuel chuckled. "That explains the costume, but what is your real name?"

She shrugged. "That is my real name... this decade, anyway. You should see the looks people give me when I tell them that."

They both smiled.

"Fair enough," conceded Manuel. "But I have definitely not met 'Amelia Earhart' before. Perhaps in a past life?" He thought for a few seconds, and said, "In World War Two, I was ace reporter Chic Carter, A.K.A. The Sword."

Amelia winced. "A bit on the nose, isn't it?"

Manuel shrugged. "You?"

"At that time, I was Ritta Farrar, alias Senorita Rio." She curtsied as she spoke her alias.

Manuel wagged a finger at that. "Ahh, that name I know, but still, I never met her. Hm," he said as he picked up his sword, and began to walk a wide circle around Amelia. He considered her as she watched him circle, and then he said, "There was a time when I was Jeffrey Scott- The Black Buccaneer!"

She nodded in appreciation. "I heard tales of him, to be sure. During that time, I was a nurse in a maternity ward."

"Noble," said Jaro, nodding his own appreciation.

"Selfish," she said, shaking her head. "We immortals are cursed to not have children of our own. I sought to share the joy of others as they brought newborns into the world."

Looking the slightest bit sad, he offered, "Still understandable, and you were helping."

She smiled at that.

"Well then. In the late 1800's, I was Don Diego de la Vega, known to the people of Alta California as El Zorro!" Manuel proclaimed, standing tall and throwing his arms in the air.

Amelia now circled him, considering. She shook her head. "Before my time in California."

"In 1792, I was Sir Percy Blakeny."

Amelia gave him a confused look.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel?" Manuel prodded.

"Ooooh," said Earhart. "Saving French aristocrats from the guillotine? And I'm the noble one?"

"Ah, a bit selfish of me as well," he confessed. "Beheading? It hit a little close to home." He shrugged, and then with a flourish of his sword, he declared, "But in the 1620's, I was a Musketeer!"

"Ha!" laughed Amelia. "In 1692, I lived in Salem, Massachusetts."

"No!" gasped Manuel. "They tried you as a witch?!" His voice said he was horrified, but his face showed his amusement.

"Easy for you to laugh," said Amelia, stepping in and taking a swing at the man in the Viking garb.

He stopped her sword with his, and caught her wrist, stepping in close. "It's funny now, certainly? Those tests could only have revealed you as a witch?"

Amelia swung a foot around and buckled Manuel's leg, using his moment of unbalance to shove him backwards, and back away herself. "That damned ducking stool," she shuddered. "Just a ludicrous excuse for killing women, if you ask me," she said angrily. "If you drown, you're innocent. If you don't, you're a witch?"

Manuel couldn't help laughing again. "They must have been quite surprised when you didn't die."

"Oh, yeah," confirmed Amelia. "So, they burned me at the stake!"

Jaro winced at the thought. "Oh, my dear woman. I'm truly sorry- there's no humor in that."

"Especially since they buried me after that," she said, trembling involuntarily.

"A fear for us all," was the only thing Manuel could say.

"I was buried near a river, and there I stayed until a flood loosened the soil enough for me to escape my grave. I can't tell you how many times I died for lack of oxygen, revived due to my immortality, and died all over again before that flood. It was maddening."

"Were the witch trials how you found out you were immortal?"

Amelia sighed, then smiled, shaking off the memory of her time in Salem. "No. My time as an immortal goes back much further than that. B.C., even."

"Oh?" prodded Manuel, now truly intrigued.

"I was an 'Amazon' enslaved to the Roman Empire--"

"--And condemned to the gladiatorial arena!" finished Manuel. "Your name? What was your name?"

"Long forgotten," she said uneasily, the light of recognition flickering in her eyes. "But in the arena, they called me simply Amazona. You? You were--"

"--Yes!" shouted Manuel. "I was there too! That is how I know you! I was part of a Viking invasion force," he said, sweeping his hands over his costume as he said it, "but we were conquered and enslaved by the Romans! I was taken to the arena, where I showed all of Rome to fear the name--"

"--Manjaro the Manslayer!" gasped Amelia, full recognition flooding her face.

"YES! MANJARO THE MANSLAYER!" he yelled. "We faced each other in the arena, and I killed you!"

"My first death," recalled Earhart. "When I discovered my immortality."

"And mine," said Jaro, pointing his sword at her. "When you revived, they said I spared you against the Emperor's verdict, and they condemned me to death, forcing me to fight in the arena, unarmed, against twenty men. I held my own for a couple of minutes, but they were too many, and I succumbed to a sword in the back. They allowed me a Viking burial- setting me adrift on a boat full of oil, and setting it on fire with a flaming arrow. I revived as the boat was engulfed, and managed to haul myself overboard to extinguish the flames."

It was Amelia's turn to chuckle. "So. You burned just as I did."

"And you were rescued by water, just as I was," countered Jaro.

They thought about that momentarily, then both took fighting stances, shouting in unison, "It's your fault I'm immortal!" Then they charged each other.

"Now, Amazona Amelia! You find out why men fear Manjaro the Manslayer!" he screamed as he swung his sword over his head and down at the woman in the pilot gear.

Stopping his blade with hers, and grabbing his wrist as he had done her a few minutes before, she gritted her teeth, and said, "You might have noticed- I'm not a man!" With that, she kneed him in the groin, used her sword to throw his to one side, and then landed a left cross that surprised them both, knocking him to the ground. She swung for his head as he laid on his back.

Manjaro brought up his sword to block, and said, "A dragon said that to me once." He kicked Amelia's legs out from under her, and she fell towards him. Their sword arms stretched above their heads, the swords still crossed, and he wrapped his arm around her waist as she fell on top of him, holding her fast. "Are you a dragon, Ms. Earhart?" Manjaro asked with a playful grin.

Breathing hard, she smiled at his audacity. "No, but I do have a secret you have yet to learn."

"Oh? And what is that?" he asked, clearly pleased at this turn from their fight.

"I was the original Amelia Earhart too."

Manjaro was clearly surprised at that, but then realization came. "Being immortal, fame wasn't good for you. So, you faked your death during your final flight."

"Fame wasn't the only reason," she said with a smile.

"What else was there then," he asked, slackening his hold around her waist just a bit.

"I was chosen to be part of an elite group of women warriors," she said with pride.

"Back to being an Amazon then?" he asked.

"No," she said, dropping her sword to caress his face, making him smile. "A Valkyrie."

"A chooser of the slain?!" Manjaro's face fell and went ashen, but before he could move, Amelia kissed him hard. He died then and there.

"Yes, Manjaro," she said to his corpse as she stood up. "We immortals cannot help but to cross the paths of other immortal groups. Like international marriages, we are bound to intermingle eventually. And I did," she said as she lifted her sword, "But when it comes to our type of immortal, well... there can be only one!" she cried as she swung the sword.

Immediately, lightning began to crackle around Manjaro's body, and then jumping to hers. It swirled around them, then flashed through the maze. It grabbed Amelia, and her body went taut as she screamed with the power that came from the fallen immortal. Lightning arced from her body to the sky and back again, and she sank to her knees as the Quickening washed over and through her. The lightning subsided as she fell, and only wisps of smoke were left, trailing away from her in all directions.

The guests of the party had come out into the backyard to see the spectacle flashing from the garden maze. They assumed this was just some Hollywood special effects trick cooked up for the party, and cheered as the lightning crashed, and the thunder boomed. The cheers turned to gasps of amazement as a winged stallion descended to the maze just after the lightning. They clapped in appreciation of the show their host had set up for them, and their host was shrewd enough to take the credit, raising his champagne glass to his guests.

Inside the maze, Amelia declared, "Rise, Manjaro the Manslayer! Rise, and ride to the halls of Valhalla!" She leapt lightly onto the back of the winged horse.

His body restored, Manjaro looked on his killer with new appreciation. Invigorated anew, he picked up his sword, and mounted up behind her with a fierce smile. At last, the eternal reward he had so long thought denied to him was within his grasp. They arose from the maze, and flew away. Behind them, the guests cheered at the sight. It reminded them both of the cheers of the crowd in the gladiatorial arena.

Story owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 2021, 2022.

Thanks for stopping in! :^D

Notes:

Amelia Earhart originally appeared in my story Death Gets Recruited, but her being a Valkyrie was only hinted at.

Manjaro the Manslayer orignally appeared in The Day the Vikings Landed, later in Heironymous vs. Leviathan, and another minor appearance that I'm not really fond of, and probably isn't canon.

This story probably isn't canon for Amelia or Manjaro either, but dang, it is a grand way for Manjaro to die! I had fun. :)