Forsaken 337 BC

by Sharon Leslie

  While Daphne spent the time building the walls, towers and temple, Cain laid out the training ground and began training the Amazons. Toni had the support people create three hundred back packs from thick Hessian. Cain wanted the Amazons to carry forty pounds of equipment, alongside their shield, Doru, gladius, bow and quiver.

  They built three assault courses which included a fifteen-yard-high climbing net, two sets of monkey bars, several running planks, a twenty-yard tunnel crawl down a shallow stream and a rope swing over a wooden spike pit. Along with the assault courses, they build a basic kill house, equipping it with observation balconies. The house had six rooms and used a mixture of straw manikins and other Amazons. Cain led the number one squads and his wives through how a kill house worked and the principles behind training troops in close combat work.

  After, Alpha1, Beta1, Charley 1, Delta1 and Echo1 had been through the kill house, once slowly with Cain leading them, they then went through on their own. Areto saw how important these skills were and had the support personnel construct another two kill houses. With three kill houses they could speed up and train each of the groups in close combat fighting.

  A typical day for the Amazons was up with the sun followed by ablutions. It took the Amazons a while to understand hygiene was important. Once they had one member from each squad washed at the end of the first day, they let them return to their own squads.

  They soon convinced the others being clean was important because Joseph and his DreamBabes, the wives washed twice a day, in the morning and at night. The Amazon who washed soon noticed her sisters had a ripe and often rank odour, unnoticed unless one washed.

  After their ablutions they had a light breakfast then their first short run using the backpacks, each contained four of the small blocks Daphne made.

  Carrying forty pounds of blocks they ran for two miles, the first day took the group three quarters of an hour. By the end of the third week they covered the distance in twenty minutes.

  After the first run they practiced fighting wearing their backpacks in a mixture of group sizes, but never fighting as phalanxes, although they practiced the phalanx formations. They improved their bow firing rate over the three weeks, going from ten shots per minute to a maximum of twenty-five. Once they constructed the kill houses, working on a rota, their squads spent up to three hours working through them in their individual groups.

  In the mid-afternoon they had a longer run of five miles, like the first run with one block by the end of the third week, carrying the four blocks. Their times improved from one hour down to three-quarters of an hour. After the run they helped build the new town of Kerabele, labouring and building houses, roads and defensive structures.

  After the evening meal they broke into the larger groups and spent two hours with Cain and his wives. Building upon the basic skills they first taught them. In, the fourth week Cain brought all the training together and improved the base fitness of all players and NPCs. At, the end of the week Cain spoke to all, players and NPCs alike.

  Speaking directly to the Amazons, Cain said,

  "I want you all to know how proud I am of each and every one of you. You have all achieved in four weeks more than I hoped for and originally planned. People will find out what I and my wives already know, you have become the most adaptable and toughest fighters in Greece, even with its long history of famous warriors. Tomorrow, we will move out to begin the quest and open the main road to trade and traffic. We know there is a large force of Centaurs and more than likely players working for Erebus and his agents.

  "Tonight, we will hold a dry celebration. There will be no wine, mead or spirits, for tonight we celebrate and give thanks to Athena and Cybele, for guiding our training making us ready and strong. We move out at dawn, I want us to cover twenty plus miles by mid-afternoon; we cannot manage if we are hung over. Go celebrate, show the new town's folk and the militia how we celebrate life. How you embrace your destiny as the DreamBabes," said Cain.

  While the Amazons had been training and building Kerabele, former residents returned and more besides. Two high priestesses, one each for Cybele and Athena arrived, each with four acolytes. At the end of the fourth week, Kerabele had a growing population of three hundred and seventy-seven, not including the eighty-man militia and the assorted priestesses.

  Chapter 25

  Centaur Charge

  While the Amazons were eating and celebrating with the towns-folk of Kerabele, Cain and his wives returned to Bounty. Cain managed three steps inside before Bethany and Sophie pounced and began to strip him, he was hugged and kissed on the way to the bed. He made love to Toni first, the other wives said it was only right. After Toni had her first orgasm, it seemed to Cain to be a free for all. Yet he knew his women had arranged who was next and who wanted just him, while others were keen to have both him and their sister-wives.

  Making love to each wife, Cain noticed it was Lesley who fell asleep first tonight, Areto and Myrina followed her less than a minute later. Within five minutes everyone barring Cain and Bethany were deeply asleep. Cain slipped off the bed and headed for the shower room, Bethany followed quietly and held his hand. Cain lifted Bethany up on a vanity unit before he knelt on a towel laid over the tiled floor. He kissed up the inside of her legs, starting at her ankles, kissing from leg to leg he soon reached her knees.

  Bethany's eyes were closed, she had never experienced this level of foreplay from a man and was enjoying every kiss. She sat further forward, opened her legs then put her feet on Cain's back. Cain continued the kissing upward from side to side, some kisses he used his tongue to lick her skin, making Bethany shiver in anticipation, until he reached her vagina.

  Rather than tease, Cain's tongue licked the little nub of Bethany's clit, rolling his tongue around the cluster of nerves. Putting his mouth over her clit, he sucked it gently between his lips and nipped it with his teeth, all the while rubbing his tongue over it, causing Bethany to gasp and shake with pleasure.

  Bethany gasped loudly as the end of Cain's tongue rolled around her clit, the pleasure it brought filled her with desire. When he sucked the clit into his mouth and nipped it between his teeth her passion increased, she pushed herself forward more into his face, while holding the vanity with her hands and pushing against Cain's back with her feet.

  As Cain flicked his tongue on her clit, Bethany felt the building of an orgasm, every bit as good as when Lesley licked her, while waiting for Cain to make love to her. The nipping and flicking of her clit nearly pushed her into that place where all sensations explode with tingles.

  "Fuck me, please my husband," Bethany gasped. Cain stopped his licking and stood, his penis fully erect. Guiding his penis between Bethany's wet lips, Cain pushed gently inside her vagina. Standing on his tiptoes Cain finally entered his full length into Bethany.

  Together they made love slowly at first, then increasing in tempo. Bethany already high from the oral sex came first as she pulled Cain deeper into herself by locking her legs behind his arse. The feelings of Bethany's tight vagina and her pulling him deeper in, soon had Cain thrusting hard as she came. Seconds later Cain joined her as he thrusted deep then came, filling her with his cum.

  Holding each other as Bethany came down from her orgasm, Cain still hard but softening inside her. He lifted her off the vanity and sat on a toilet with the lid down, and Bethany sat on him.

  As they kissed, Bethany cried on his shoulder; she told him how much she loved him, Toni and her sister-wives. Cain wrapped her in a hug and told her he loved her too, which Cain knew was the truth.

  Cleaning themselves after Cain's penis slipped out of her vagina, they returned to bed. Toni laid on his shoulder, whispering to him how much she loved him. Cain fell asleep knowing he was one lucky man.

  Enoch woke Cain early the next morning, {So you know there is now a shortage of PODs as over one billion players were actively online, all of them potential victims. If you can not find Vince and beat the game those players will join those already
unable to log-off.}.

  He listened to Enoch climbed off the bed and had a quick wash and a bite to eat, Cain went to the workshop and brought up the 3D interface. He remembered a dream he had while he slept, a dream about a repeating crossbow the Chinese used around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, in eighteen ninety-nine. As the women were getting ready, Cain drafted a basic design which looked like a letter t from the top, and a weirdly drawn letter p laid on its back from the side.

  :It would be easier to make and use, especially at close range, maybe look at making them once we leave the island,: Cain thought as he closed the 3D screen.

  Cain was the last out of Bounty and pressed the blue button, he watched as Bounty neatly folded itself, then he placed her in his inventory. Leaving the building where they erected Bounty, they gathered the Amazons and the twenty-five covered caravans and headed to the main city which Areto called Mantabele.

  They easily covered ten miles by their midday break, by the time they made their first camp they had covered twenty-six miles. Toni suggested they have night patrols and made a four-hour rota. Cain, his wives and group one took the graveyard shift.

  They carried out this routine for four days, covering one hundred and three miles. According to the map Cain looked at in his HUD, he spoke during the evening meal saying they should be approaching the area the Centaurs are in, either tomorrow or the day after. Mantabele is only thirty miles away.

  In the morning Alpha1 and Beta2 took point and left the camp thirty minutes before the convoy. Cain had the feeling something would happen, during the mid-morning break for the horses. Cain spoke with all the leaders and his wives.

  Myrina and Areto agreed, the Centaurs favoured flatter ground, flatter than they were on, but they could fight in lower hills. Everyone equipped their fighting gear, each Amazon now had toughened leather breast plates and iron-reinforced knee-length skirts. Each archer carried two quivers, one of a point the other of the broad-head arrows. They all had two Doru spears, two gladii and either an Aspis or a Parma shield.

  They moved in a fighting formation, group one minus Alpha and Beta took the front of the convoy. Group two rode in the covered wagons, groups three and four walked on either side while group five brought up the rear.

  Stopping for a water break, Alpha1 and Beta2 came back and spoke to Cain, who was with his wives and Areto. They told them a small group of thirty Centaurs were heading this way. They separated from a larger group of ninety who rode down the main trail.

  Toni sent Charley1 and 2, Delta2 and Echo1, 2 and 3 out ahead on point duty, they set off ten minutes before the caravan, jogging at a fast pace. Nearly an hour into the resumption of the journey, one of Echo's squad ran back flat out, she told Cain the Centaurs were up ahead planning an ambush.

  Toni and Daphne ran with Cain and caught up to the other squads on point duty. Cain looked along with Toni and they could see the Centaurs were planning on riding down from a small rise.

  Returning to the caravan, Cain sent the forty Amazons of group five to join with Charley1 and 2, Delta2 and Echo1, 2 and 3 squads. They were to attack the Centaurs from the rear, after the Centaurs made their charge.

  Cain felt pleased with himself as they had practiced being charged by Centaurs, the Amazons would work on units of tens, using six as a shield wall and four as sword fighters or Doru wielders.

  Arranging the Amazons, the short group, group one led the caravan, group two still rode in the covered wagons, and group three hid under the covers. Group-four covered the left side of the caravan which left the rear unprotected.

  The Centaurs waited until the whole length of the caravan was nearly at the next turn, on the trail before they attacked. With the bellowing of the Centaurs, the blowing of horns and the bashing of swords on shields. The Centaurs rushed out of hiding and charged down the short one-hundred-yard long slope, aiming to break the lead wagons and block the trail so they could finish the caravan off, a piece at a time.

  The attack faltered as group two and group three dismounted the caravan and made a shield wall which to a horse looked impassable. The wagon drivers spurred their horses off the trail and bunched together, making it impossible for the Centaurs to get between them.

  As those plans took shape, the archers of group four sent three volleys of arrows raining down on the Centaurs. The lead Centaurs stopped the charge around twenty yards short, held back by the high shield wall, bunching up the remaining Centaurs. One of the leading Centaurs shouted, "She-Devils, She-Devils," before an arrow pierced his chest and ruptured his heart.

  As one the shield wall moved and took a step closer to the Centaurs position, the archers of group four had killed seven Centaurs, while they wounded several more.

  After another six steps their shield wall was now a yard from the Centaurs, forcing them to step backward. As the Centaurs stepped back, the shield wall split into squads of ten, six shields and four fighters. Three Centaurs watched in horror as She-Devils cut the lead Centaurs down, butchered them before their eyes.

  Turning where they stood, they ran back up the incline, heading for the path they took to hide. They were even less prepared than their leaders as they rode into a hail of arrows, arrows which punched holes in their armour.

  The three Centaurs were the last to die under the hail of arrows. It took the Amazons four minutes to harvest their arrows, clean their gladii and loot the Centaurs.

  Pop-up messages read and closed, Cain had the caravan move out as they left the area the Centaur corpses returned to the game. Group two took point duty and group one rested on the wagons. Cain and Toni ran over to Myrina and Areto to discuss the small battle. They talked about what they thought went right and what they could improve, as they headed toward the Centaur herd. Enoch and Rahab informed Cain and Toni, {[The main herd is near Mantabele, while the majority of female Centaurs are nearest the city walls. We believe and it looks like the Centaur war leader is keeping them separate from the males, as a form of leverage,]}

  Nighttime Attack

  During the evening meal Cain came up with an idea of how to defeat the Centaurs after he had been sat on the lead caravan next to the driver and watched their caravan horses as night closed in. While sharing a meal around a large campfire the group leaders and his DreamBabes sat with Cain, he shared his idea.

  "From what we noticed fighting the Centaurs today, although they are a meld of a draft horse and men, I noticed the men acted much as a horse would when faced with a large barrier. I don't really want to kill all the Centaurs we come across, as I think someone has forced them into this situation. Centaurs are not inherently evil or Cybele's quest would have asked us to eradicate them.

  "They are like mankind, each have good and evil inside, as do we. I was thinking if it was possible could we capture the Centaurs, we could hopefully use that to our advantage rather than killing them. I was thinking of the advantages we could gain if we used the Centaurs, especially to the people on the island. What do you think, Myrina, Areto, as you are from the island?" Cain said.

  The discussion was unlike a normal discussion; the Amazons were orderly, each spoke in order nobody shouted the speakers down. The consensus was that the Centaurs were normally useful additions to the island people and communities where they were.

  "There are histories of the island," said Areto, "which say occasionally there is a war leader who pulls all Centaurs, male and female together, then fights against the humans. They lose but it takes a long time for the humans to overcome the Centaurs."

  "So, if we could capture or kill the war leader, we could put an end to the current Centaur problem. With the problem over and the main road open without killing the majority of Centaurs?" Toni said.

  "We are at the most three days from where the base of the main herd is located. We should come across some small raiding forces tomorrow, or the day after, around the size of the party we killed earlier. We could try to capture those, see if we can find out why the Centaurs are behaving as they are," said Myrina
.

  As the sun rose, Cain, Toni and Daphne ranged ahead of the caravan taking point duty. They left Sophie in charge with Myrina and Areto. Toni asked Bethany if she could create and add an enchantment to the Athena pendant, which would give the Amazons night vision. Cain, Toni and Daphne made good time, they kept to the shade and low places as they ran ahead. Cain's idea was to pinpoint ambush sites that the Centaurs could use and see if the Centaurs had been in the area.

  They found a small crevasse surrounded by a large grove of cottonwood trees. Fresh water bubbled up out of the crevasse and fed a wide stream running through the grove before disappearing back into the earth.

 

 

  Cain agreed it was good news, it would make attacking or defending in the dark easier. Stopping for a break, they each took a drink from the magical flask, Cain was the last to drink, as he put the flask back he could hear the clomp of horse hooves on stone.

  They squeezed into the crevasse and watched as four Centaurs approached the grove before drinking from the steam.

  "I'm telling thee, one of thee outer patrols hasn't reported back. I've heard from Bar'iche, who thinks they have been eaten by a hoard of She-Devils, like what protect Mantabele. Let's go find the others we've seen sleeping out by the waterfall," a Centaur said.

  The Centaurs trotted off after they had drunk their fill. Keeping out of sight, Cain led Toni and Daphne across the land in a hope to find the waterfall, before the sun went down. Neither the world nor local maps showed any water courses that could be the waterfall. Cain wanted to hit the HUD, but since it was a game construct it was not really there.