Styliani remembered the woman clearly and she drew her eyebrows down as she remembered her promise to not allow the Gargareans to know of Adelpha. “The woman you speak of died, as did her daughter,” Styliani said flatly and holding Adelpha, a little too tightly, made her way to leave as Adelpha squeaked in protest.
The boy rose to full height and she could see that he was contemplating stopping her. She glared at him and she saw by his sudden resolution that he saw her glare as a challenge to his masculinity and was going to fight to stop her. She lay Adelpha on the ground and stepped away, to prevent harm to her. The boy looked confused then arrogant in response to her fighting stance. “You really think you stand a chance against a Gargarean?” The boy chided.
“I am an Amazon warrior, not a milk maiden, boy,” she gloated, emphasising the boy to make him angry at his pride being mocked.
“You are still the weaker sex, no matter what childish stories you believe about the god’s giving your tribe strength,” he spat. Seeing his anger she goaded him further by laughing at him. She knew he would be easy to beat if he was fighting in anger.
“It’s funny a little boy like you would think that I would require a gods strength to knock you flat on your arse. I could use a feather!” She exclaimed and saw his cheeks going scarlet, “in fact, maybe it would be fairer to let this baby bite you and cause you to go running away, as I think this fight is a bit unfair to you,” She continued mockingly and saw him lose his temper. He charged at her and she was ready as he lifted his arm to punch her she ducked and used her own fist to punch him in the solar plexus, causing him to lose his breath, then stomped his foot to stop him moving backward and then smacked the heel of her hand into his nose to make his eyes water. The poor boy crumbled in a few seconds and she quickly picked up Adelpha and turned to the path. A grown man with the tribal face paints blocked the path and two others standing behind him. He was tall and had strong shoulders, with clearly evident muscles and her stomach dropped as she realised that he would be harder to take down, without weapons.
“I am impressed at your strength, little Amazon,” He looked at the young lad then back to her, “do you have a name?”
She realised that it had been a test to see if she was strong enough to fight. Melina had obviously failed the first test. She wondered how she could goad the Gargarean into making a mistake. She needed to keep him talking until she could find way to assess his weaknesses, “I have a name and am also protected by Artemis in these forests. Allow me on my way Gargarean and I will not have need to sacrifice you to her.”
Instead of incensing him, he seemed genuinely amused by her threat, “Don’t worry, little warrior, you will not be harmed, unless you attack us, I only wish to know your name.”
“Styliani,” she felt an irrepressible intimidation in the way he seemed to be so calm and felt a shiver of fear creep upon her as he smiled.
“What a lovely name and your daughters name?” He questioned in a kind tone, but she could see that his eyes showed danger and she took a step backwards in seeing that the tone and look did not match.
“She is not my daughter and her name is of no interest to you. Go away!” She yelled, hoping that one of her sisters might hear her. He looked around in shock and suddenly his jovial face turned to the dark side and she saw his true nature.
“You shouldn’t of done that, girl!” He scolded.
“You mean this,” She asked feigning confusion, then screaming with all her strength yelled, “Help sisters! I’m under attack by Gargarean’s!” He looked like he wanted to strangle her, but also knew his time was limited.
“I will get you little Amazon. You will not be safe forever,” He growled and helping the brother that she had wounded left. She felt tears pricking her eyes in relief as they left and hugging Adelpha to her quickly made her way along the other path back to camp. She knew that her sisters most likely wouldn’t be able to hear her from the distance, but luckily the Gargarean proved ignorant to the location of the camp.
She quickly went to the Queens tent and finding her eating lunch with an elder called Phenolpa, she dropped to her knees and explained the encounter. The Queen listened and after Styliani explained Melina’s fate, with tears in her eyes, clicked her tongue. “Would you recognise the Gargarean who did this?” She asked in consideration.
“Yes, he had dead eyes and a false smile,” Styliani nodded, feeling safer with sharing the threat he had made to her.
“Good, we’ll be meeting with them soon to hand over the male babies. You take over from Caryion, who was going to be attending me and whistle after you identify him as they arrive. We will demand justice for their indiscretions in our forests,” the Queen declared, she turned to Phenolpa, “Take twelve sisters and go collect Melina from the waters. We will need to prepare her for an honourable burial. Phenolpa nodded and hurried to do as the queen bade.
“This is the first time in many years that we have had any issues with the Gargarean tribes. I hope the new Anax will see reason. He is young and has arrogance. I have heard he has allowed members of the tribe to purchase women as slaves from the markets. This is his first year as Anax after his father was gored by a wild stag. Lets hope for a peaceful outcome,” the Queen mentioned while Styliani laced up her shoes.
“It’s almost time,” the Queen said as she heard a horn sound from a short distance, “Come stand with me where we’ll greet them.” They walked to the pathway that the Amazons returning used to come back to camp and slowly a crowd grew with the tribe members, all muttering and some of the younger girls whispering their thoughts at seeing the Gargareans for the first time. Styliani had placed numerous knifes on her person and had her bow and arrows, slung across her shoulders. She regretted being caught unarmed by them previously and would not be making the same mistake again. They watched as shapes in the forest shadows started to emerge into the light. Their leader, the Anax, had face paint and walked in the lead of the many following. He looked up and Styliani felt a queasy feeling engulf her as she realised that he was the one who had threatened her. The queen looked at her startled as Styliani made a strangled whistle sound and looked at her in despair…
Maxine the Magnificent 