The Amazon and the Warrior

by Judith Hand

  “Ask!”

  They reached the door. He opened it and she followed him inside.

  The boy, Bias, sat at the table. Arranged before him were several simple clay bowels holding different colored, pea-sized stone beads. He was fixing the beads in a fancy pattern onto a harness. He jumped up, all arms and legs, and said, “I see you found him.”

  Damon clapped him on the shoulder. “How about you warm us some soup.”

  Bias headed to the cupboard by the window. The falcon perched hooded, where she had been when Pentha spent the night in his room. The wolf, which had been lying at the boy’s feet, rose and came to Damon, who roughly scratched him behind the ears. The beast had grown considerably. How huge he was. He probably wouldn’t get much bigger, he would just fill out. His gold-yellow eyes seemed to look past her surface, into her mind, gauging her strength or her possible weakness. She swallowed nervously and looked away.

  She took a seat at the table. Damon sat, took up the harness, and inspected it with his eyes and this thumb. “Looks good.”

  The boy returned having ladled soup into an iron pot. He stared at Pentha. “You’re the fearless woman of the arrowhead, aren’t you?”

  “Bias!” Damon barked, his brow deeply creased in a frown of dismay.

  Pentha laughed.

  A slow grin warmed Damon’s face. “Have I no privacy at all?”

  -Bias added, “He said you were quite tall.”

  Damon shook his head, and Bias hung the pot over the fire.

  Continuing to examine the harness, and without looking at her, Damon said, “So what is it you want to ask?”

  “It’s about the Acheans.”

  “And?”

  “I have been given the task of preparing the People of Artemis to defend Themiskyra against an attack, one likely to come next season.”

  “I don’t see any alternative. An attack will surely come.”

  “I’m here because we need your help.”

  32

  PENTHA ALMOST FLINCHED AS DAMON SHOT HER a glance like a hurled javelin. “What kind of help?”

  She wanted him to agree to come to Themiskyra, but clearly she was going to have to approach the idea slowly. Indirectly. “For one thing, we need to know what you think it would take to defeat them.”

  He sat the harness down, took a handful of beads and rolled them in his palm. “If they come in sufficient force, your horsewomen will lose. The Acheans will kill the horses and then overwhelm you by sheer brute strength. And they will not come unless they are prepared to take you down.”

  “We know that. I have decided that we will arm and train the men.”

  He raised an eyebrow, surprised. “That’s a move in the right direction. But if your men use Amazon shielding, they will still be outmatched. Both the cavalry and the infantry need body shielding like the Acheans’.”

  “That won’t work for the cavalry. The weight is excessive for the horses. And my women’s movements would be restricted. But I agree, making bronze cuirass’s and greaves and better shields and helmets for the men is a good idea.”

  “Then your women must at least adopt a heavier corselet. Heavily padded linen or leather.”

  “Perhaps. We could try it. Damon, this is exactly why I’ve come to ask you to return with me to Themiskyra. To oversee what needs to be done.”

  He poured the beads back into their bowl. “You know I won’t do that.”

  “Why?”

  He took her hand. She saw pleading in his eyes. And to her amazement, fear. “Is there anything I could say to you that would convince you to stay here with me? To never return to Themiskyra? We could even leave here and go somewhere else.”

  “I don’t even know what to think of such a question. It’s absurd. I am Warrior Queen.”

  “Do you think that only you can serve as Warrior Queen? You’re free to choose otherwise. Let someone else take on the Acheans. I see disaster ahead.” He studied her hand, then once more looked at her with such tenderness. “Come live with me.”

  She pulled her hand away.

  He spoke firmly. “I love you. I want to live my life with you. And I believe that maybe you love me. Perhaps not as profoundly yet as I love you. But I tell you, we could be happy.”

  Bias, embarrassed at the turn in the conversation, left the table to stir the soup now smelling richly of onion.

  “I can marry in a few years. But at this moment, my duty is to protect my people.”

  “Even if your duty leads to your death.”

  “You’re being overly dramatic.”

  He stood, his chair scraping across the floor so that hair raised on the back of her neck. He walked away a few steps, then walked back to the table and stood over her. His face was drawn and stern. “You come to me because I know Acheans. Because I know how they practice war. And when I tell you I see nothing but disaster ahead, you accuse me of being overly dramatic. Which is it? You trust my judgment or you don’t?”

  “Sit down, Damon. I do trust your judgment. But every creature has its destiny, the thing it’s meant to be. My destiny is to be Warrior Queen at this time and in this place.”

  “Destiny!” He spat out the word.

  “Yes, destiny.” She pointed to the falcon. “Have you never thought about Dia? She is your captive. Perhaps you should set her free to find her destiny. I know I have to be free to seek mine.”

  He bent close. His voice soft again. “Listen to me. No good comes from war.”

  She rose so she could look him in the eye. Her heartbeat throbbed, a great lump in her throat. Fighting growing anger, she kept her tone firm and tight and controlled. “We Amazons are free women. We do not serve men. All other women, soft women, become little more than another convenience for men. I’m asking you to help us keep our freedom. Help us keep Themiskyra safe and at peace.”

  He drew back, shook his head. “Let me tell you something you might find surprising. Fighting doesn’t bring peace.”

  “Neither does hiding here in the woods!”

  The room fell silent. The muscles of Damon’s neck bulged, his face flooded red with blood. He roared. “I have had my fill of killing.”

  He grabbed up the closest bowl of beads and hurled it at the wall. It struck close to Dia. She panicked, lunged off her perch and hung upside down from her jesses, her wings thrashing up a great noise. Bias ran to set her upright.

  “You don’t know all the reasons I’m here,” Damon shouted again, his gaze terrifying. “So why spit out accusations of hiding?”

  She shouted back. “You are hiding, aren’t you?”

  He turned his back and, clenching his fists, walked away, then turned to face her again. Fire still blazed in his eyes and the muscles at the angle of his jaw clenched and unclenched, but his voice was back in tight control. “I, too, want peace. And I’ve come here to find it.”

  “Well, with the Acheans, I don’t know of any other way to find it or keep it than by fighting. And I do know that I will never have peace until Agamemnon and Achilles and their pillaging scum are rotting in Hades.”

  The air between them vibrated with things said—and things unsaid.

  “So, you will not help us?”

  Silence.

  She drew a deep breath, shaking but regaining control. She finished. “I will be leaving you now. To your peace.”

  Bias rushed up to her. “It’s too late for you to leave. You will be riding half the way in the dark. And it’s snowing.”

  The boy turned to Damon, expecting Damon to back him up.

  Maybe he will ask me to stay.

  Damon simply continued to glare at her.

  He did not care for her safety. He would be happy were she gone. She turned and walked out, sick with hurt, sick with failure.

  33

  ALONG WITH SEVERAL HUNDRED RESIDENTS OF the citadel out for an early evening stroll, Derinoe stood on the citadel wall, one of five women in their party. The other four women were the mistresses of Hektor’s friends. Wi
th nervous fingers, she checked that her veil hung securely. She glanced at Hektor, walking with his four companions just far enough away that the two groups of five—five men, five women—should not look connected.

  In Derinoe’s mind, this public outing was wildly dangerous. Hektor was becoming ever more reckless, almost as if he didn’t care if their relationship was discovered. The wives of Hektor’s friends might not know or care if their husbands were truly out with men, but Andromache would. Was Hektor having problems with Andromache? Did he want to hurt his wife? Was Andromache already certain of his infidelity so he no longer cared what he did? Why this recklessness that held so much potential danger for Leonides and Myrina?

  Derinoe had suggested that she preferred not to go to the wall. “So long as you are veiled,” he insisted with a frown, “there is no reason for us not to enjoy the evening. We’ll circle the citadel once, then come back for dinner. Humor me.” It had been a command, not a request.

  They stopped walking, the men pausing to watch other men at archery practice in a garden below the wall.

  Looking into the far distance, Derinoe imagined the Achean compound at the bay with all its massive construction. She remembered Achilles in one of his tender moods. They were in bed and he had proclaimed that he loved her. Love. What did he know of love? A killer. A rapist. A slaver. And he had had the arrogance to speak to her in all seeming seriousness of love. Had there been some way to kill him before she escaped from him, she would have.

  Nausicaa touched her arm and pointed to the men in the garden. “There’s Paris.” Nausicaa was the mistress of Hektor’s oldest friend, Glaukos, the only one of the women Derinoe knew. “Isn’t he handsome?” Nausicaa asked.

  He’s dissolute and irresponsible. “He has beautiful features. But I prefer Hektor’s strength.” She took Nausicaa’s hand in hers. “I think this is very dangerous, for us to appear in public with the men this way. Even veiled. Anyone with keen eyes and a vicious tongue will start talk about Hektor and the others being out with women.”

  “You worry about Andromache?”

  “If she finds out, she’ll be furious. She’ll want to know who the women were. Especially who was with Hektor.”

  “We’re veiled. We’re safe. Don’t fret.”

  Laughter erupted from the men. Hektor continued walking, his men following, and with the other women, she followed at a distance.

  Later, in his quarters, she joined the women in a dressing room to remove their veils, fix their hair, and touch up the dark kohl that brought out the color of their eyes. Hektor’s servants would pour wine and place food on the sideboard and then depart. Their party of ten could dine, and converse, in private.

  Peering into the copper mirror, she discretely studied the other women’s reflections. Nausicaa wore a shimmering gown of green silk shot through with lavender swirls. Derinoe was certain the dress was so expensive that Glaukos must have bought it. As far as Derinoe could tell, Glaukos treated Nausicaa with kindness. Derinoe had early on concluded that Hektor’s best friend was essentially a good and brave man.

  Two of the women were fair of skin and hair and quite young. Derinoe was twenty and four. She guessed the young women could be no older than sixteen. They were chatting about the price of rose perfume. The embargo had long ago made it so expensive that only the immediate royal family could afford it. The fourth woman, whose hair was red, stood to Derinoe’s left, sharing the mirror.

  Derinoe caught the woman’s gaze and smiled. “Your hair reminds me of my sister.”

  In the dining room, the men already reclined on cushions at low tables, drinking wine and eating onion. Hektor smiled at her, and she felt immediate warmth and let her fears melt. At least here in his rooms, in his presence and in privacy, she was safe.

  From the side tables, she and the other women selected delicacies they knew their men liked. For Hektor’s first course, she chose squid marinated in oil and boiled eggs split in half from which the yolk had been removed and blended with finely chopped olives and garlic and then spooned back into the hard whites. The bread, made of corn and barley, was his favorite.

  Carrying it to him, she thought again of Pentha. And of their mother. And of being Amazon. And that here she was, serving food to a man. How her mother would be frowning in dismay that her daughter had been reduced to such a state. Perhaps frowning in disapproval that she had accepted such a state. But what alternative did she have? The brief sense of peace she’d felt seeing Hektor’s smile retreated once more as the guilt she worked hard to ignore rose to replace it. I have only done what is necessary.

  34

  DERINOE’S ATTENTION, WHICH HAD BRIEFLY BEEN lost in thoughts of the past, rushed back to Hektor’s room, the dinner, and his friends when Glaukos asked, “What do you propose to do about the wall, Hektor?”

  Listening intently, Derinoe returned to the sideboard and selected foods for herself.

  She returned to sit slightly behind Hektor. He said, “It is truly formidable. I sent word to Hattusilis telling him we need Hittite forces now. Supplies from them are no longer enough. We need warriors. And I sent word to the Nubian king. I believe he will come. I hope with substantial forces.”

  Hektor’s youngest commander, Poulydamas, said, “You should consider contacting Harmonia. The Amazons have been highly successfully defending their borders. Their ability to fight, I hear, is extraordinary.”

  At the sound of her Queen’s name, Derinoe’s heart skipped a beat. And to her astonishment, she felt her throat tighten and the welling of tears behind her eyes.

  Hektor took a drink, then said, “We all hear the same talk about Amazon fighting. And where there is talk, there is usually truth. They are strange women. Unnatural. And no one doubts their ferocity. But Priam is not about to ask for help from Harmonia. He has been at odds with the Amazons since he was young.”

  The conversation turned to the buying and breeding of horses, and her mind wandered.

  After the dinner she accompanied the other women to the dressing room where they donned veils. Nausicaa spoke in a hushed voice, so only they two could hear. “We do need the Amazons to help us. Couldn’t you convince Cassandra to talk to Priam. I know you are close to her.”

  “What do you think of the Amazons?”

  “Glaukos speaks highly of them.”

  “Well, Cassandra is not only High priestess of Athena, she doesn’t take kindly to any followers of Artemis, and especially she seems to hate the Amazons.” And I, to my shame, have sacrificed my devotion to Artemis to please her. “She would never have any part of asking them here. Besides, Priam rarely pays serious attention to anything she says. She thinks her father considers her slightly mad, with all her portents and warnings and visions.”

  “Better then that you convince Hektor. We must draw everyone we can to help us.”

  “When an opportunity arises, I’ll try.”

  Later, alone with Hektor, Derinoe sat on a cushioned stool at a dressing table, preparing to let down her hair. He placed his hands on her shoulders, bent down and breathed on the back of her neck, then kissed it. A shiver of delight ran over her arms. She looked into the mirror and smiled at him.

  He let go of her shoulders and said, “I like to watch when you take the pins out.”

  She proceeded to do just that as he stood behind her, arms crossed. When her hair tumbled down, he bent and kissed the top of her head.

  She swiveled and took both of his hands in hers, always deeply pleased by their symmetry and strength, and touched by two deep scars that still could not hide that beauty. She looked up at him. “I owe you so much.”

  “Don’t talk of owing.”

  “I’m sick with worry for you.”

  He pulled her to her feet and kissed her. She lingered on the kiss, willing that it should replace this quivering sickness inside her with peace. But it didn’t. When the kiss ended, she drew away, walked toward his bed, turned. “If something should happen to you, and if Andromache should ever di
scover what is between us, …”

  He quickly closed the distance between them, drew her against him, and one hand gently pressed her head against his chest. “My beautiful Derinoe. Nothing is going to happen to me. And Andromache is a good woman.”

  He was so oddly blind to his wife’s jealousy. He must love her in some way. Cassandra had said more than once that he loved Andromache. Was it really possible to love two people at the same time? “The Acheans are—”

  “Agamemnon is growing tired, Deri. Reliable informants tell me so. We have survived this long. I am confident that during next battle season, if we just hold on, this monstrous siege will end.”

  “But there will be battles.”

  “Of course.”

  “And you will always be there, leading.

  “I will always come back to keep you and the children safe. I promise.”

  “But what if—”

  He silenced her question, but not her fear, with a kiss, then smiling, picked her up and tossed her onto the bed.

  35

  A NOISE FROM OUTSIDE—THE BLEATING OF LONESOME, his nanny goat—jerked Damon from sleep. He raised his head from the table and felt a shooting pain from a stiff back. In his hand he still held Pentha’s arrowhead. He’d obviously fallen asleep, finally, at the table.

  He glanced behind him. Bias still slept soundly on his pile of skins.

  Damn Pentha! Damon thought. But he nevertheless retied the arrowhead by its thong around his neck.

  He rose and grabbed up his woolen cloak from the floor where he had thrown it last night. Wolf, too, rose and stretched. Twice last night Damon had wrapped himself in the cloak and started out the door to go after Pentha and bring her back. Twice he had changed his mind. To worry about her, as he would have worried about his wife in similar circumstance of falling dark and snow, was ridiculous. Pentha was as competent to care for herself in the woods as he was to care for her. And since he had no intention of helping fight the Acheans, what point would there be in fetching her back.

  He crossed to the door, Wolf at his heels, and stepped outside and close the door behind him. He threw the cloak around his shoulders and studied the gloomy, gray sky. Pentha was either back in her barracks or she had bedded somewhere for the night and would now be rising herself.