Queen Erotas tapped her staff solemnly. “This trial of refusal is over. Outsider, you will return to your boat and leave in peace as per our laws. If you linger or return, we will kill you where you stand.”
“And what? On the morrow you will stand and be slaughtered? What do the scriptures say? Pressing a battle that cannot be won is no victory, and ending a battle that cannot be won is no defeat. You will lose everything!”
“Everything, except our honor.”
Erolina turned away painfully. “Honor doesn’t work like that.”
* * *
It was nightfall by the time Erolina and Storgen made their way back to the beach. When they arrived, they found a sight they never could have suspected. Hundreds of young amazons, many only as old as five, stood there waiting for them, anxious expressions on their young faces. A few adults were mixed into the crowd, but not many.
“Come to see us off, have you?” Storgen asked.
The young girls looked at one another uncertainly. When Storgen wondered why, he realized most of them had probably never seen a man before.
A huntress in her mid-teens stepped forward. Her raven hair was cut short, giving her an almost boyish look. “Is it true? Are the armies of both nations to attack us from both sides in the morning?”
Erolina nodded. “It is true.”
The young girls looked at one another and nodded in assurance. The raven-haired girl stepped forward again. “I am called Cathenna. If we come with you, will we still be amazons?”
“You will always be you, no matter where you go or what you do. Perhaps, you may be an even better version of yourselves.”
Their expressions became brighter, and Storgen caught glimpsea of innocence in their eyes. A smoldering ember of youthful hope that had not yet been beaten from their hearts.
Cathenna smiled. “We will join you, Princess Erolina.”
One by one, the girls with longer hair took their knives and cut off their locks, until they were all shorn as Erolina was.
“What is this?”
The crowd retreated in fear as Apollonia drew near. Her hand was on her sword hilt, disgust was in her eyes. “You should all be resting, we will need you fresh for battle in the morning.”
“They have decided to leave, Apollonia.”
“Their Queen has made her will known unto them. It is their duty to obey.”
“Her will is for us to die,” Cathenna argued. “Without hope of victory.”
“There is always hope,” Apollonia stated.
Erolina nodded. “Yes, there is, and it is out there, not here. I’m not asking you to give up hope, I’m asking you to embrace hope. If you stay here, you have no future. Out there, you will have one.”
Apollonia drew her blade. “I will not just stand by and allow you to taint my bloodline yet again. I’ve worked too hard. I’ve sacrificed too much…”
She lifted her sword to swing, but something struck her from behind, and she fell limply to the ground. Rodania stepped out of the shadows and into the light. “…And I love you too much to let you stay here and die. Even if you hate me for it, I will protect you, my princess. I swore that I always would.”
Erolina put her hand on Rodania’s shoulder. “I want you to know, you are the bravest, most honorable woman I have ever known.”
“I am brave enough to die for my people. But you, my princess, you are brave enough to live for them.”
As darkness fell, they quietly boarded the ships, and sailed as fast as they could to the south.
* * *
Apollonia regained consciousness amid flashes of lightning and thunder. Sea water sprayed up over the side of the ship, drenching her from head to toe.
She shook her head and looked up to the sky, but it was perfectly clear. Stars twinkled and the moon beamed full. Something soft landed on her nose, like a warm snowflake. A second flake landed on her cheek, and when she wiped her hand, it came back with a grey streak.
“Ash?”
It was raining cinders around her. Sailors were shouting and working frantically. Amazons were hollering orders and firing their bows. She saw Storgen working near her, tying down life lines and securing belaying pins as best he could as waves crashed over him.
Another crash of lightning, and she realized they were under attack. She sat up enough to peek over the gunwale, and saw a fearsome sight. Themiskyra was burning in the distance. A fleet of iron warships bombarded the battlements, shattering stone and uprooting mountains of rock. Dragons flew above the fortified island, dodging ballista bolts and raining down gouts of bright blue flame unto the island below. Even miles away, Apollonia could feel the heat from it. Flames licked up the wooden embrasures, and exploding mortars catapulted mountains of bones high into the sky. Amazons returned fire, blasting airships out of the sky with beams of light. Everywhere above Themyskira was a sea of orange and red fire.
There was a snap of lightning and something hit the ship’s mast. The mainsail burst into flame, and sailors jumped away in fright.
Erolina stepped forward, holding out her hands and draining away the flames, gathering them together in her hands and saving the scorched canvas.
“What is happening?” Apollonia asked, her head still reeling.
“The invasion arrived ahead of schedule,” Erolina answered, forcing the flames into a smaller and smaller ball in her hands. “We’ve been caught by the leading edge of their battle formations.”
Apollonia watched as a terrifying, armored dragon darkened the skies above them. Its rider spurred it on, firing arrows down at them. The dragon tossed back its long neck and inhaled sharply, its belly glowing from within from blue balefire.
Erolina spun around and released the energy she had gathered, a white hot beam as tight as a thread. It sliced through the dragon’s wing as it breathed fire. The jet of blue flame went wide of the ship, boiling the seawater and creating a wall of superheated steam as the beast fell from the sky and plummeted into the ocean.
All around her, amazons were firing arrows and guarding one another with their shields, but Apollonia could only look back at the blazing inferno of her homeland.
“What will happen to those who stayed behind?”
Erolina took out her shield and blocked a pair of crossbow bolts. “They will earn a warrior’s death.”
“You should have left me there. You have stripped me of my honor, and I cannot live without it.”
A steam-powered speed boat came up alongside them. The soldiers on board fired their steam rifles. The heavy alchemic balls tore through the amazon’s shields, hitting many of the huntresses even as they hid behind them.
“Husband, hand me a mortar shell.”
“You got it.”
Storgen threw open an ammunition chest and pulled out a heavy iron ball. Fighting the rocking of the ship, he rolled it to her as iron balls shredded the wood of the deck.
Erolina took her sword and scraped it along the surface of the shell, striking a spark. “I once thought as you did, daughter. But that isn’t the real you talking. That is the indoctrination and brainwashing of your training talking.”
Erolina tried again and the fuse caught, burning with a crackling light like fireworks.
“I’m devout, not brainwashed. I chose my path, and you cheated me out of it.”
Erolina sprinted across the deck and leapt overboard, the sparking mortar shell tucked under her arm. Three soldiers fired directly at her, but she deflected the shots away with her sword. She landed squarely on the deck of the speed boat, kicking, slashing, and bashing the soldiers as they moved in to surround her.
With a mighty war cry, she thrust her sword into the hatch, cracking the lock. Summoning all her strength, she pried back the heavy metal hatch, shoving the mortar shell down into the bowels of the ship.
The soldiers screamed in fright as she leapt free of their ship, curling up behind her shield.
The speed boat exploded from within, sending shrapnel and fire in an expanding
sphere of flame and iron. Erolina took the brunt of the shockwave, using it to propel herself back over the water.
Her feet hit the deck of her own ship and she rolled to her knees, ending up right next to Apollonia again.
“No other option was ever presented to you, daughter. You had the illusion of choice, not actual choice. You have never known true freedom since they took you from me.”
Apollonia sneered. “They rescued me from you!”
Suddenly, one of the other wooden sailing ships exploded in a ball of splinters and metal. Of the original twelve ships, only nine now remained. Apollonia looked on as an Erotanian warship swiveled its steel turret, the barrel smoking from the shot it had just fired.
As Apollonia looked down the enormous barrel, her face grew pale, and her blood ran cold. The steel beast loomed before them, harsh spikes and razor sharp angles. Glowing eyes peered out of the vision slits like beasts in the night.
Rodania stepped forward, as calm amid the ash and spray as if she were taking a walk in the snow. “Amazons, remember your training. Let them fire.”
She held out her hand, Erolina joined in alongside her. Then, the older amazons got in formation, a perfect line across the deck. Still more amazons readied themselves, all with their hands outstretched.
From within the barrel there was a flash of light, then a shell struck out, a blur of metal and explosives as large as a handcart. The amazons activated their powers at once, and she shell began to slow. They drained away the energy of its motion, the power pouring into them. The shell slowed more and more, but still moved towards their ship. The amazons strained, their faces growing tense. The shell drew closer and closer, now only a few feet from the side of their ship.
“It’s too much,” Rodania exclaimed.
“We need more,” Erolina struggled.
Apollonia pushed aside her fear and ran to their side, joining the formation and stretching out her hand. She pulled energy from the shell, and it came to a halt. For one excruciating moment, it hung there, motionless in the air, then fell into the waters with a splash. A second later it exploded, bulging out of the sea like a giant bubble, then exploding like a geyser. The ship nearly capsized, thrown from its keel to its prow like a mere toy amid the boiling, sizzling waters.
When the ship settled, the amazons fired the energy back at their pursuer. The beam tore a deep gouge into the side of the warship, melting the steel plates into bubbling droplets that oozed down into the water. The side of the warship caught flame, and it listed heavily to one side.
A strong breeze filled the sails, and the fleet of wooden ships began to pull away. The amazons and sailors let out a great cheer. Many jumped up and down, pumping their fists. Some sailors and amazons even embraced for joy, before realizing what they were doing, and backing away shyly.
Apollonia lowered her hand, elated that they had won. She looked over at her mother, and found her staring proudly at her.
Realizing what she had done, Apollonia’s expression became confused and conflicted, and she turned away.
It stung Erolina deeply.
The sailors and amazons trimmed the sails for the new wind direction, and the nine ships slipped farther and farther away from the battle. The sounds grew fainter, the lights grew dimmer.
Once she was satisfied they were out of harm’s way, Erolina allowed herself to sit down and lean against the charred mast. Sensing her pain, Storgen scooted himself up alongside her, and placed his arms around her waist.
“My heart aches,” Erolina admitted. “I look at her and I feel so much regret. So much remorse.”
“It’s all right. One day, she will understand.”
Erolina looked up and watched as Apollonia looked out towards the shrinking island.
“For years, I have thought about coming back home and seeing my daughter again. Now, I realize, she will never look at me the way she once did. What they stole from me, I will never get back.”
Storgen held her close. “Your daughter lives. Your daughter is free, that is what is most important.”
“I’m trying very hard to believe that.”
Rodania stepped in close, using the shrouds to guide herself. “Come on, it’s time.”
Erolina and Storgen looked at one another and nodded. “All right.”
Apollonia watched suspiciously as Rodania produced something from within her cloak and the three of them huddled over it.
“What are you doing?”
When they didn’t answer, she walked closer, and found them pouring over a book of silver plates with a golden cover. “Is that… the Book of Katálixi?”
“I may have borrowed it from my mother,” Erolina explained, carefully reading the ancient tongue.
“You can’t read that. You shouldn’t even touch it.”
“When Raelyn created the amazons, it was never meant to be a permanent thing,” Erolina explained. “The Goddess wanted to torture them by cutting them off from love. And when they finally broke, she left our ancestors with an escape clause. A spell that would bring the full force of the curse against them, and end their miserable existence forever.”
Storgen looked up and smiled. “We’re going to invoke that rite.”
“But that would kill us all!” Apollonia shouted. “Why bother saving us only to end us?”
Storgen winked. “Come on, have faith in your mother, she knows what she’s doing.”
“Don’t call her that.”
“Don’t talk to your father like that.”
“And don’t call him that either!”
Erolina finished reading and turned the metal plates over. There, with a tight band of copper covered in warning runes, was a sealed plate.
Erolina broke the seal and opened the plate. The runes danced with ancient energies as she ran her fingers over them.
“O Raelyn, o sofós kai díkaios, i talaiporía mas échei gínei pára polý megáli gia na v…” Erolina read aloud, and the skies began to darken.
“Raelyn, the wise and just, our suffering has become too great to bear,” Rodania translated into common.
“…O Raelyn, i ómorfi kai éndoxi, metanooúme gia tin amartía tis génnisís mas, misoúme ti sárka mas kai...”
The stars twinkled from existence one by one, the seas began to swirl and broil. Apollonia spun around warily. “We’ve got to stop her.”
Rodania held up her hands. “Raelyn, the beautiful and glorious, we repent of the sin of our birth, we hate our flesh and despise our own blood.”
“…O Raelyn, paradínoume ti díkaii krísi sas. Teleióste to axíomá mas. Na teleiósoun oi vrómikes zoés mas. Termatízoume ti voúlisi pou théloume. Na teleiósoun ólio ekeínoi stous opoíous réei to katarméno aíma tou Calania ton ápiston!”
The winds hollered and galed, straining the sails and rocking the ships. The air became unbearably cold. The amazons looked at one another, unsure of what to do. “What are you waiting for?” Apollonia spurred. “Draw your weapons and help me stop her.”
“Raelyn, we surrender to your righteous judgment. End our deserved suffering. End our filthy lives. End our willing blasphemy. End all those in whom flows the cursed blood of Calania the unfaithful.”
The amazons stood firm. “Let her finish,” Rodania bade.
Apollonia looked around in disbelief, her strawberry hair whipping around in the freezing wind. Black lightning crashed into the waters around them, and splintered the mizzen mast with dark energies. She turned to look at her mother. Erolina was covered in twisting energies, her eyes closed as she held her husband’s hand.
“How? How can all of you trust her like this?”
Rodania smiled. “Because, she is our princess.”
The heavens tore open in a great wound, black ichor dripping down into the water, setting the seas aflame and filling the air with choking, caustic smoke. From within the festering gash, dark light began to emerge. A false light beyond indigo, which made the dust and salt in the air glow unnaturally. Metal began t
o heat up, wood began to freeze, water thickened into a heavy dross, and the air tasted bitter.
Lengths of chain, formerly imperceptible, began to reflect the light. The amazons looked on in horror, finding themselves bound from head to toe in these ethereal links.
“What is this?” Apollonia asked, trying to pull them off.
Erolina opened her eyes. “Those are the chains into which you were born. A prison you could not touch or smell or see, yet it was always there, binding your destiny, limiting your vision, cutting you off from the love that would have been yours to enjoy.”
Apollonia held up her hands, and looked at the chains in terror. “Is this what it means to be an amazon?”
The light from above grew brighter, and a great eye looked down at them. An iris of false light, burning with hate, piercing in its intensity.
“Your suffering will now end,” came a booming voice from above.
“Now, Erolina!”
Erolina scooped up Storgen and threw him like a javelin. He soared up towards the eye, reeling back with his fist as he pierced through the mists.
“You cannot harm me, human,” the curse chuckled.
“Are you kidding? I’ve got everything I need right here!”
Storgen punched the eye with a titanic crack. His fist punctured the gooey membrane and sunk inside. Storgen opened his hand, releasing the crimson stone within the eye itself.
The heavens shuddered with a screeching storm, as if a million voices cried out discordantly at once. The eye thrashed and jerked, the air pulsating with crackling energies as it was undone from within.
As Storgen tumbled down into the waters, the darkness began to recede. Stars began to wink at the horizon, and the dark mists began to draw up into the eye itself. Black lightning arced down, but was sucked back into the buffeting eyeball.
Ambrosia Page 100
