Shadows 03 Greek Shadows

by K C West

  She slid her hand from my chest to my cheek, turning my head towards her. “Open your eyes, Amazon Hunter.”

  When I complied, she leaned in and kissed my forehead. “May the Goddess bless this body and the spirit dwelling within it. May this child overcome all obstacles and succeed in helping to restore the Amazon heritage for future generations.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but a clap of thunder sounded in the otherwise cloudless sky. The noise startled both of us. My arms and legs floundered and my head sank under the water. I came up sputtering.

  The shaman recovered quickly. “The Goddess has spoken. My work is finished.” She embraced me, drawing me to her bosom. “And your work has just begun.”

  Lucky me.

  I tried to respond with confidence. “Thank you, wise woman. You have placed a heavy responsibility on me and my soul mate. We have a lot to think about.”

  After a final hug, she pushed me toward the shore. “Go now. Dry yourself and dress for the ceremony. Join with your soul mate and share your love and your strength. Together, you will not fail.”

  Chapter 16

  The drums rolled, calling PJ and me to our destiny in front of the tribe. As if specifically ordered, a gloriously full moon rose in the east, casting a pale, otherworldly light over our assembly area. Queen Leeja was dressed in the trappings of her royal station, accessorized by feathers and medallions of hammered bronze. She first appeared with her face hidden behind a delicately carved mask, but she removed it when she stopped directly in front of me. To her left, Sappho slipped gracefully into position, wearing a gown of the finest silk in a shimmering, misty green. Marna took her customary stance at the queen’s right hand. Dressed in her warrior outfit with a sweeping cloak of gold draped from her left shoulder, she looked equally regal.

  Impressed as I was with the trio’s regalia, I had eyes for only one woman as we turned toward the sound of the single drumbeat. I watched PJ march with her escorts along the path to my side. Her blonde hair, highlighted with jewel dust, glowed in the moonlight and enhanced her natural beauty to the point of taking my breath away. I caught many of the young, unattached warriors eyeing her with desire.

  Feeling like a full-blooded Amazon warrior, I stood proudly in my tunic of the softest leather with leggings to match, knowing I would soon be formally united with the most beautiful woman in the village.

  The undertone of conversation stopped when Leeja stepped forward.

  “Distinguished guest and Amazon sisters,” she said in a voice that was clear, but gentle. “We are here today to honor Kim and PJ and the bond they share. Having them live with us for a time and seeing them together reinforces our belief that love is the strongest of all emotions, and that it will always be so. Though Kim and PJ come to us from another time, we have witnessed their connection and recognized its powers. We know that love like theirs wins battles and brings old enemies together in peace and friendship. It dispels the clouds of loneliness, offers companionship and care, and gives sympathy and comfort in times of pain. It also provides the gift of pleasure when two come together as one.”

  Leeja stepped back, motioning Sappho forward.

  The poet took our hands and held them before focusing her gaze on me. “Kim,” she said, “PJ wrote the poem you are about to hear. It’s fitting that it be shared with you now and form the basis for your commitment.”

  PJ tried unsuccessfully to keep a blush from coloring her cheeks. Sappho addressed the rest of the tribe. “Please form a circle around us.” We waited for everyone to find a space and become silent.

  “We stand in a circle,” Sappho continued, “celebrating the love that these two women have for each other. When I have recited the poem, all of you will bear witness to their eternal union. I will release them to each other, for then, their love can never escape. The poem is entitled ‘Only You.’

  It’s you I love

  with all my heart.

  When you are gone,

  I am lost -

  a rudderless raft

  upon a river flowing.

  When you are here

  beside me,

  I am whole,

  as together forever

  we are joined -

  two links in the chain of life

  that cannot be broken

  by sword or strife.

  It’s you I love,

  and only you

  with all my heart.”

  It was Sappho speaking, but I was aware only of the words, PJ’s words. They came directly from her heart. Tears stung my eyes as I realized just how much I meant to her and how much she meant to me. Unfortunately, I lacked the talent to describe my feelings in so poetic a manner. It was little wonder, I thought, that the Amazons chose her as their chronicler… their historian.

  Sappho retreated a few steps, and Queen Leeja and her consort came forward. Leeja produced a band of the purest white cloth, and Marna held a tiny gold-handled dagger. The firelight reflected off its shiny blade, scattering light like miniature stars.

  PJ and I looked at each other. I wondered if my eyes were glistening as much as hers were.

  Two young masked warriors moved to flank us; each held one of our hands, my left and PJ’s right, palms upward. I heard PJ take a deep breath and glimpsed a hint of fear in her eyes, before she steadied herself.

  “This will sting a bit,” Marna said, making a tiny cut on my wrist and then on PJ’s. The warriors dabbed the blood until Leeja pressed our wrists together and bound them tightly with the white band. “Now, you are truly one,” she intoned as a single drum beat filled the clearing. “Your blood flows together as two streams join to become a river. You will forever be together.”

  Other drummers picked up the beat as Marna presented us with the dagger. “Keep this,” she said. “It is the instrument of your perfect union.”

  I accepted the dagger from Marna and handed it to PJ, who held it briefly before sliding it into the belt at my waist. We stood together quietly, not knowing what else to expect.

  After glancing at Leeja, Marna whispered to me, “We’re all waiting for you to kiss her.”

  With pink cheeks and glistening eyes, PJ tilted her head up so I could press my lips to hers. The assembled women roared their approval, so I took the opportunity to deepen and prolong the event. Whistles and cries of delight rewarded me.

  “The ceremony is not yet complete,” Marna said. She removed the large band that bound our wrists and replaced it with small individual bands.

  We watched her sprinkle some secret ingredient on the blood-soaked cloth before ceremoniously dropping it into the main fire, creating a multitude of brilliant flames.

  “You two have become one,” Leeja said, hugging each one of us in turn. “You are of but one mind and one body through which flows the blood of both. In a little while, you will honor me by sitting at my side for the feast.”

  *

  I looked over at Kim and took a deep breath. “We made it. We’re officially hitched, Amazon style.”

  “Something else to tell the grandkids. Whoever they may belong to.”

  I was about to continue that line of conversation, but we were interrupted by what must have been another quaint tradition of this Amazon tribe. A few of the younger Amazons, their arms full of flowers, had joined our group. Queen Leeja now stood before us with two vivid specimens. As she gave me one, she bent her head and kissed me firmly on the mouth.

  “Relax, PJ,” she said, amused by my shock. “This is customary at a joining ceremony.”

  “In that case, could you do it again? I wasn’t prepared the first time.”

  She moved on to treat Kim to the same honor.

  I watched to make sure it did not last too long, but was distracted by another flower and another kiss, this time from Marna. Hers was brief but just as breathtaking.

  A line formed, and one by one, the women presented us with a kiss and a flower, or a piece of tall grass. The girls who had delivered the flowers stood to one
side and wove the floral gifts into wreaths for our heads.

  The custom continued. Some of the kisses were chaste, some rather bold. Once or twice I heard Kim clear her throat when I was kissed a little too long or, in her estimation, a little too fervently. I was relieved when Reena’s offering was quick and platonic. “Congratulations,” she said. She moved on to Kim, where she extended her arm for a warrior handshake, and Kim returned the gesture - two warriors honoring each other’s prowess.

  The wreaths grew into colorful rings of fragrant blossoms. When the line ended, Leeja came forward and crowned both of us. “And now, you may kiss each other once again,” she said, glowing with the pleasure of our joining.

  Once again the tribe appreciated our lengthy display of affection. We had just broken apart when Sappho approached. Not being a member of the tribe, she had not participated in the kissing ceremony. To the delight of the crowd, however, she put a wild pink cyclamen into my hands. I only had time to take a breath before she placed her hands on either side of my head, kissed my eyelids, forehead, and nose, and launched an all-out assault on my lips, even opening her mouth at one point long enough to slip her tongue between my teeth. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I’ve just been French-kissed by the greatest love poet in the known world. My knees weakened and threatened to collapse.

  Once I had been kissed to her satisfaction, she moved to Kim and repeated her ministrations, much to Kim’s delight and my consternation.

  When Sappho released my spouse, she had us join hands and placed both of hers on top. “May your union be joyous and long-lived,” she said. “May no danger befall you that cannot be conquered, and may you always remember how happy you were at this moment.”

  “Thank you,” Kim and I both said.

  Because we’d been focused on Sappho’s antics and our involvement with each other, we failed to notice that the joyous mood of the watching Amazons had shifted from passive to active. These women were ready to boogie, all night long if necessary.

  *

  Fires flared and sparks flew as new wood was added to the blaze. Dancers in artistically crafted masks leapt into the clearing. The evening festivities were underway. Kim and I wanted nothing more than to sneak off to our hut, but it was obvious that it would be several hours before we could escape unnoticed. We resigned ourselves to being guests of honor in a village full of lusty, half-naked, party-loving women.

  “If you can’t fight them, join them,” Kim said.

  I found a wineskin and squirted some of the contents into her mouth. She plucked a few juicy grapes from a platter and fed them to me without using her hands.

  “Goodness, you’re just full of talent,” I told her, after swallowing the first, slightly bruised grape. “Mind if I try to master your technique.”

  Her throaty chuckle had my blood sizzling. “Be my guest.”

  The grapes we consumed far into the night contained no wrath, only the tangy sweet discovery and delight of true love.

  The party wound down as the first few streaks of daylight appeared in the eastern sky. Kim and I stumbled toward our hut, anticipating a long, passion-filled melding of our slippery, sweat-soaked bodies and lustful, but kindred, spirits.

  Before we left the festivities, Leeja had instructed us to dress in our modern day clothing when we awoke in the morning. We were to bring our packs with us and meet Marna and her at the center fire pit. We had no idea what to expect after that, but for now, we had other things on our minds.

  Our wedding bed beckoned. Yawning, I prepared for a long, leisurely session of lovemaking with my heart’s desire.

  Kim groaned sleepily from her prone position on our bed. She watched me slip out of my shimmering gown. “Ooh,” she said, discovering that my Amazon dressmakers had apparently skipped the lesson on underwear construction when they created my wedding ensemble. “Now that makes it easy, doesn’t it?”

  “Easy for what, my big, bad warrior?” I extinguished the torches and slid under our bed covers.

  “Come closer and find out, gorgeous.”

  In the dark, I tugged at her tunic until her body was delectably naked. My hands roamed freely over her torso and buttocks. I felt the first few notes of a slow, sensual symphony course between us. After letting my fingers play solo across her receptive flesh, Kim started a musical interlude of her own.

  I felt her soft, seductive mouth find the hollow of my neck. I remember her tongue tickling the spots above and below my medallion, and then trailing downward. Her hands cupped and caressed my breasts with gentle, but urgent strokes. I recall whispering naughty things in her ear, nipping at her neck, and splaying my fingertips across her firm abdomen. I even remember stretching out on top of Kim’s long, smooth body and pressing my breasts contentedly against hers.

  That’s all I remembered, though.

  When I next opened my eyes, morning sunlight filtered into the hut. Kim and I were still naked and wrapped in a familiar tangle of cushioning warmth, but I felt no tingling in my lower body, no residual glow of shared passion.

  What happened? Correction. What didn’t happen?

  Kim stirred and opened her eyes.

  “Hey, wife,” I said. “Sleep well?”

  “Like a vat of grape mash was gurgling around in my belly.”

  “Okay, beyond that. Do you feel anything different?”

  “What should I feel? Making love with you shouldn’t feel any different just because we went through that ceremony yesterday.”

  “True. But what if it didn’t happen quite that way?”

  She pushed fingers through her sleep-tousled hair. “What are you talking about?”

  “I don’t think we got around to doing the deed, so to speak.”

  “Of course we did. I was so horny that I couldn’t keep my hands off of you. I distinctly remember kissing and fondling you until your moans threatened to alert the whole village.”

  “True. And I remember nibbling and teasing you until you drooled, but it was all just foreplay.”

  “Impossible. You mean, we never got around to - “

  “Consummating the marriage? Nope. We must have been too exhausted after all the festivities.”

  “Damn. I guess the honeymoon’s already over.”

  I cupped her chin in my hands and put my heart and soul into kissing her. “Take heart, wife. I still love you.”

  “Thank the Goddess.” She returned my kiss with a spectacular one of her own. “Hey, we can start the honeymoon right now.”

  “You’re a genius. I’m awfully glad I married you.”

  “Mmm.” Her kisses had migrated to my neck, starting a familiar warm tingle in my lower abdomen. “I’m the one who’s glad.”

  Unfortunately, Reena took that moment to interrupt with a request from Leeja to get our butts covered and report for the meeting. We hastily washed and dressed, as instructed, in our modern-day clothes.

  Minutes later, we were standing inside Leeja’s hut, hearing that the time had come to return to our regularly scheduled lives in our own century.

  I was surprised at the sadness I felt about leaving. We had just picked up our day packs when we heard a whistling sound overhead, followed by a streak of flame that thudded into the ground outside the hut. Reflexively, we ducked before following Marna and Leeja outside. Their signal sent the women scurrying in all directions. Apparently, we were under attack. Shouts rang out, and Amazons rushed for their weapons as more flaming arrows landed nearby.

  “Get back in the hut and stay down,” Marna cried, snatching up more weapons from the back wall.

  Kim pulled me down and covered my body with hers.

  Leeja was torn between racing after Marna and staying to protect us. She left us in the hut and, armed with a short sword and crescent-shaped shield, she left to join the fight.

  We could hear the sounds of battle. Metal against metal echoed around the compound. Every so often a cry or a gasp sounded as a sword struck flesh. I cringed at the thought of who might be injured, or worse
, by this unseen and unexpected enemy. Male voices told us that the Amazons were up against an army of trained soldiers.

  “I can’t just hide in here while they’re fighting all around us,” Kim said. “You stay put. I’m going out there.”

  “Not without me, you’re not.”

  “Okay, but you stick close to me, you hear?”

  “Like glue, kiddo.”

  We peeked through the door of the hut to discover that the Amazons had rallied behind Marna with a strong counterattack. Several warriors had circled around Leeja and were returning fire with crossbows. They seemed quite willing to give their lives to protect their queen.

  Smoke obscured the compound as the fire mortars slammed into the ground around us. One hit the hut we had just vacated, setting it on fire.

  Once outside, Kim drew her sword, and I found a staff with a broken spear tip. We left our packs on the ground and joined the battle. We sensed that the Amazons were severely outnumbered, and sooner or later, we’d be staging a back-to-back last stand, waiting for the inevitable.

  Our movements were tentative and uncoordinated at first, but Kim found her rhythm and used her sword skillfully to drive several men back and into the strongest of our warriors. I swung the staff at anyone who tried to get on Kim’s unprotected side, sometimes tripping, sometimes slamming an arm or a leg enough to weaken an attacker until Kim or another Amazon could do more damage.

  During a momentary lull, I glanced at my spouse. “If I don’t get the chance to say this later, I love you, tiger.”

  She gave me a tired roar. “I love, you, too, short stuff.”

  Leeja and two formidable-looking warriors approached. Blood and sweat coated their bodies, evidence of earlier conflicts. “I’m sending you back to your world,” Leeja said. “I intended to do it with more ceremony and happy tears, but it’s too dangerous for you to remain here any longer.”