"Loose!"
A volley of arrows pierced the heavens, aiming for the heavily guarded citadel full of Greek soldiers. A muscular woman with long black hair haphazardly tied behind her head began to climb up the makeshift ladders that had been swung against the walls. As she glanced down to check her footing, a mass of burning oil was poured from above, drenching her hair and melting the flesh from her shoulder. She patted at the wound, attempting to ease the pain and loosing her balance in the process. She landed on her hands and knees, pain shooting through her body. Disgust and contempt flooded her countenance as she glared up at the soldier. Hot oil continued to drip from loose hairs onto her arm. In the blink of an eye, she swung her bow from her back and shot him down from his assigned turret. She smiled as she stood, running after her people to collect their bounty. Her vengeful state of mind was beneficial during these battles. The Greeks were becoming relentless, but that only made their sacrificial offerings easier to obtain. Four of her 'sisters' lifted his unconscious body onto their shoulders. She had cleverly aimed for his right shoulder instead of his left - the gods would not appreciate an offering of one that was already dead. They left first, the rest of the clan continuing to shoot at the fortress as they escaped through the trees. The soldiers were moving closer and closer as the weeks wore on - soon they would find where the women had set up their dwelling. They would have to leave, quickly, or everything they had worked so hard for would be in ruins - it was too devastating to contemplate. Should they give the Greeks what they came here to retrieve? That was up to the matriarch to decide - and she hated both Greeks and men. War peaked on the horizon.
~*~
The four warriors dropped the soldier unceremoniously from their shoulders onto a crude wooden platform in the center of their village. Straw and sticks were brought in and piled around the man, at an upward angle. He trembled at the sight of these powerful women, whom he had only heard about in passing. The Amazons were violent, unkempt, rude, like cavewomen. He had laughed at these conversations - as if women would ever be stronger than men, or even as strong as! But now he saw he had been very wrong.
"Vicious," he mumbled. A torch was brought to the pile of straw. Bales of hay were placed over his body.
"It's more like unforgiving, actually," the woman whispered to him. She kissed his lips with more passion than he had ever experienced in his short life, then placed the last bale over his face. A torch was brought and given to her.
"Burn him!" the masses screamed.
"Great mother, your sacrifice!" she yelled and placed the flame on the straw. It quickly set ablaze. Everyone in the vicinity cheered. A blanket of dark clouds lay overhead, threatening rain. She glanced up with hatred.
"Zeus, you cannot save all of your pawns," she said to herself. She threw down the torch on his body and walked away. Screams echoed around her, both cheers and the pain of the dying man. She smiled evilly and entered her temporary tent. Rain began pouring down along the sides. But the god was too late. The soldier was gone. Nonetheless, she heard her sisters screaming at the god. Thunder echoed, lightning clashed, and the god and goddess began their centuries-old fight. The woman pursed her lips and sat on the edge of her bed. More would come, more would fight, and the ceremony would be rekindled once more. Hera would rise up and conquer. Men would die. A head poked inside the tent flap.
"Ailis, come quick!"
"What is it, Meshari?"
"Idiu is giving birth."
"Fetch the midwife."
"She...cannot be found."
"She'd better be found within the hour!" Ailis leapt up in ferocity. She had knowledge, but no experience. She had never been through childbirth, and had never been needed before. It was now or never, however. Ailis was getting older, soon she would no longer be fertile. A man must be found to complete the life cycle of womanhood. She wrinkled her nose in the thought of bedding with such filth, but it must be done. She'd find one tomorrow. Ailis followed Meshari to the birthing tent.
The child's first screams burst into the air. It had quite a voice for a newborn. And it was very healthy. Ailis checked the gender.
"It's a boy," she spat. Idiu cringed.
"The man I laid with...he must not have been enough to keep the fetus a girl..."
"You have a choice, Idiu. Either you leave us and raise your son on your own, or we kill him. You have the week to decide. We cannot have a male live among us. Come, Meshari. We have a battle to plan." Ailis left the tent with Meshari in her wake.
~*~
Ailis fired arrow after arrow at the new tower that had been erected at the edge of the forest. A priestess magicked vines to climb the stone and choke the life from the mortar. Man after man fell from the tower. It was too easy. Ailis eyed a tan soldier cowering in the back of the room at the top of the tower. His dark curls poked out from his helmet. He was virile, in his thirties at the youngest, and strong. His cowardliness could be trained out of any offspring. She smiled as she aimed her arrow for his ankle. He fell out of the window. She ran to him, tearing off the bottom of her tunic to tie around his eyes. She glanced around warily, picked him up easily and carried him to a remote location in the forest she had prepared for this. Ailis had hollowed a huge tree to create a small room and had tied vines together to creates a door to droop over the opening. A pile of soft moss was created as a bed. She set him down on it and took off his blindfold.
"Where am I? What did you do? You were the one that shot me, weren't you? Let me go, my men will..." Ailis placed a finger over his mouth.
"Your men are dead. I saved you, soldier. You are chosen to do great things." Ailis took off his helmet and threw it aside as she straddled his waist.
"What...what are you doing?"
"Giving you eternal life," she whispered in his ear. He trembled as she nibbled it. Her black hair fell loose from its binds and fell in a curtain around his face. He stared into her clear blue eyes and breathed heavily. He became more confident and raised his face slightly. She smiled in reassurance and grabbed his face in her hands and gently pressed her lips to his. He caressed her shoulder. She soon had rid their clothes and pulled him horizontal. He became greedy. She felt it in his convulsions - they were purposeful, but she didn't mind. Unless she birthed a boy - then she would care. She needed a daughter, needed more for her army. That was all. But for now, the lust made her feel light-headed. She knew now what the others had spoken of. She could fly if she wanted. Her muscles spasmed and she gasped. That only encouraged him. He rolled on top of her and pressed down onto her body. She could no longer remember what she was here for, why she hated men. All she was conscious of was his body becoming one with hers.
Ailis woke up, her body tired and lips swollen. The soldier was asleep beside her. They were still without clothes. She knew what she must do, and almost regretted it. He had been very...adept. Her body had been pleased. But he was a man, and she hated him. His ego, his masculinity, was poison. But...it had been...no. He must die. Ailis got dressed quickly and grabbed on of her arrows from the corner of the hollow. He looked so peaceful in his sleep. Full of regret, Ailis closed her eyes and plunged.
Orpheus woke with a start and sat up. An arrow was in the ground beside him. He looked down and jumped to his feet, grabbing for his clothes. He had intercourse with one who would have killed him, and he did not even know her name. His cowardliness was in full force. Mumbling stopped him. She was still here.
"Spawn of Zeus...must kill. Must kill spawn of Zeus. Plague...it has to be done! But the intoxication...the freedom. NO...spawn of Zeus. Dirt...sickness...plague. Must die," Ailis was curled up against the inside wall of the tree, rocking herself, seemingly mad. She was going to kill him. He had to leave, quickly. He turned towards the vines, but tripped on a root.
"Do not leave me. You are the father of this child now, you cannot leave," Ailis looked up with fire in her eyes. His blue eyes grew wide with fright, and he ran. She was alone, and the world still had this man to live and fight another day. Ailis felt a tear drop from her eye and she forced herself to stand and go back to her village.
~*~
NINE MONTHS LATER
Ailis fell backward onto her bed in exhaustion. It was such a burden, such a curse to carry a child while the leech roamed free, ignorant of her even existence anymore.
"Ma'am?"
"Hello, Meshari."
"Do you need anything?"
"Come closer, Meshari." Meshari came to Ailis' side.
"Do you remember the life you left?"
"The one I was taken from?"
"The one you were saved from," Ailia raised her voice slightly.
"Yes'm," Meshari bowed her head to her mentor. She was but fourteen years, but wise. She knew when to be compliant.
"You were but three years in this world, but your father was a drunken fool and your mother was...away often. You would have been forgotten. I could not let that happen to you - you were yet innocent, not filled with the Greek's babble. I knew you would be an asset to us. And an influence on my child."
"Ah, your child. The mystic is ready to read you."
"Send her in, I cannot lift myself." Meshari left. Ailis turned onto her side and grunted with the effort. She felt hands on her stomach and looked into the mystic's wise though clouded eyes. The old woman frowned.
"It is as we always fear. I am sorry, my queen, but you..."
"Don't say it! I could tell by the weight that it wasn't what I wanted. Help me through the pain, and I will repair it with pain. Life results in death. Sooner for others than some."
"That is not the only choice you have, highness."
"I have my people to care for, I cannot abandon them for Zeus' blight upon me!" Ailis closed her eyes and heard screams from without the tent.
"They are coming for me!" Meshari screamed. Ailis sat up gingerly and then slapped her face.
"It's been eleven years, do you think they remember? And even so, would you go with them, so they could have their way with you so you can birth their heirs? No, we shall fight!" Ailis erupted in her battle scream and fell back in pain.
"Mistress!"
Ailis had gone into labor.
~*~
Ailis held her newborn in her arms. She could not remember why she hated it, nor did she want to kill him. He was the most beautiful baby she had ever seen.
"Highness? Do you want me to bring him to the sacrificial table?"
"NO! He's my son, Meshari! I shall leave - raise him myself. Idiu has sacrificed her child, she shall be the new queen of the Amazons. I am now just a vagabond with a child to care for." She brushed a feather of raven hair from his forehead.
"That is good, ma'am."
"Mystic, meet your new apprentice," Ailia gestured to Meshari. Meshari gasped.
"Train her to be a healer. I don't want her to fight. She's too pure," Ailis brushed Meshari's cheek with her hand, left the tent and walked into the woods.
~*~
Ailis entered the hollow, the same tree in which her child was conceived. She sat on the moss and cradled her son.
"You shall be Leo, as strong as the lion, as perfect as the constellation."
"At least I know my son's name. But I have yet to learn yours." Ailis jumped at his voice.
"Why are you here? You have not forgotten me yet?"
"I have been coming here every week hoping to see you again. The arrow was in the dirt, not my heart - there is a reason you did not kill me, Amazon."
"I am Ailis, the cunning one. I have left my people to raise my son. I did not kill you because...I felt remorse. It was a strange feeling."
"I am Orpheus, named for the great musician. Would you permit me to play for my son?" Ailis nodded. Orpheus reached for a thick twig and pulled out his dagger, whittling a flute on the spot. After a few minutes a sweet lullaby floated out from his lips into the instrument. Leo yawned and cooed, blinking sweetly and closing his eyes. Ailis smiled in spite of herself. Orpheus stopped and opened his arms. Ailis handed him his son. More screaming echoed around them.
"Why are your people still attacking?"
"They want the Amazons extinct. They believe you are a menace."
"Menace? I'll show them menace!"
"Ailis!"
"No, I'm going. My people need me one last time." Ailis ran back to her tent and strapped on her daggers and arrows. The battlefield was nearby. She ran towards the sounds. One tower was almost down. She notched her arrow in her bow and shot the last sentry down as flames engulfed the tower. A soldier jumped onto her back and she threw him down, taking out her daggers and slicing him open. Blood poured from his neck. She jumped over him and continued attacking others.
"AILIS! AMAZONS! CEASE OR DIE!" A large voice came from the hill behind the battle. It was Achilles. Ailis spat in his direction and kept fighting. Slash. Blood. Whoosh. Soldier on a stick. Or rather, stick through a soldier. Jab. Intestines. Plunge. Heart cut in half. Whistle. Nothing. Ailis heard it but had not done it. She looked down. An arrow stuck out from her breast. Then the pain came. It was like someone had cut out her heart and pulled it out but she was still alive. Her left arm went numb before the rest of her. She was dying. Orpheus had Leo and would care for him, which was the important thing. Ailis fell to the ground on her knees, her head swimming.
"Surrender?" she heard Achilles' voice from above.
"Never," she whispered, spitting on his boot. He pressed his lips together.
"That's a shame," he said, slicing her head clean off her shoulders. Blood poured over his legs. He cursed. Ailis' body fell over, but right before she hit the ground her body burst into a million serpents, which chased after the soldiers and poisoned them all. The Amazons won that battle because of her death, but it was only a matter of time before Achilles would win the war, and they would cease to exist.
link to "Million Voices" by Barlowgirl lyrics (perfect song for Amazons): http://www.sweetslyrics.com/508383.Barlowgirl - Million Voices.html
