Hi, this is my first published story. Any spelling mistakes are on me, still looking for a beta.
Disclaimer: I own no well known character - ufortunately, otherwise Superman and Wonder Woman would be together ages ago.
Prologue
The forest went on forever.
Through its darkness, beyond its core, two women ran for their and the child's lives. The cold of that hole they were fleeing replaced the warmth within their bodies and made every limb tremble in fear. The unforgiving aura still followed close behind, gaining strength and speed, attributes the amazons had, but could no longer use to their advantage once exhaustion took over their cells.
Aside from the cuts and holes that filled the women's body, both minds were intact and screamed nonstop to remind they could and would not die that way. Not in the hands of the most despised man in their island, the only one who dared invade the sacred soil of Themiscyra. And not while with the little girl, the queen's pride and joy, who would no longer stay home, in the island beside her mother.
"You can't run from me…"
Without her notice, the young man stopped in the darkness, where they couldn't see even the glowing light eyes, and had his blade through the stomach of the older one before any reaction she could master.
"Run, Epione, run!", the General screamed while fighting the pain and the man. "Take the child to safety. Now!"
"Phillipus…"
Before the man came to her, the amazon ran with the young princess in her arms. Ignoring the pain in her bare feet, she jumped roots and evaded trees, doing her best to keep the child unharmed. To the shore, she thought, the boat in the shore.
The blinding light coming from her left gave her a relieved smile, but not for long. A piercing scream, that she recognized coming from her general, reached her ears along with the dry sound of cracking leaves and the sound of the ocean a few feets away. Following the latter, she crumbled across the end of the magical forest to finally reach the uninhabited shore where, days before the war, the Queen ordered them to make a comfortable and safe boat in case the victory wasn't achieved and she needed to send her daughter to the world, far away from the protected island.
Epione put the princess within the nifty sheets in the little boat beside the parchment written by the Queen's own hand introducing the child to whoever would find and take care of her. The ocean was quick to take responsibility of the young one floating in it. Within minutes, Epione could no longer see the boat and she prayed in this moment for the welfare of the only child of the past three millennia.
Like the General, she didn't see the man coming after her. Epione just felt the cold blade in her throat and fought it. She was an amazon and did everything a true warrior would do to survive. A deep gash on her back was enough to send her tumbling to the ground. Swiftly he was over her, dominating his prey until another man appeared to reclaim what was his. Under golden eyes of both men, she gave up her struggle and fainted, finally giving in into unconsciousness, relieved for accomplishing her mission.
"Wake up, darling!" A gruesome voice filled the caged cave, echoing far through its tunnels till it found some exit to vanish. "You are not dead… yet." The last word left his mouth in a whisper.
Slowly Hippolyta's eyes opened to reveal the earth and stones in the ground she was laying in. Her face was scrapped and the blood helped the sand glue in her cheeks and near the eyes. But worse than the grassy taste in her mouth was the feeling of emptiness inside her heart for not knowing what happened to Phillipus or Epione and, more importantly, her daughter. Forgetting the surroundings and the chains which tied her to a big stone, the woman concentrated on her injures, allowing herself to grief over the broken leg and torn clothes that exposed her bare and bruised front.
"Very wise, your Highness!", Ares stepped away from the darkness hiding his figure. "Sending my father's offspring away was smart…"
Hippolyta hissed in pain when he grabbed her raven hair.
"You thought no one knew?" he laughed. "I'll tell you… my mother wasn't pleased with the news. She sent me here to take care of her dirty business."
"You don't have my child, Ares. You would not be here otherwise."
"I don't need her anymore", Ares pushed her away like trash, giving his back to the fallen woman. "Do you know about the minor war the earthlings are bearing? No? Too bad you sent the poor girl to a war zone where sooner or later she'll die by the hands of… men."
Wide eyed, Hippolyta struggled uselessly with the chains. Screaming after the God of War to set her free. Screaming for the child she wanted to believe was not lost.