Nixiesocean: Hullo. I'm not sure if this belongs in Greek Myth or Fairy Tales. I include the Amazons, Greek Myth- Women Warriors. Yet, it doesn't include anything else Greek. I'm going with the safer bet and going for Fairy Tales. If you think otherwise, send me a PM. Don't use a review solely for that purpose, if you would like to review for my story, by all means do so. If you just feel like pointing out why this should be in Greek Myth, send me a message, I'll respond ASAP. Okay, enough babble from the freaky writer.
For ease of understanding, Fr'ain is the language and the people. You'll understand whilst you read.
PS, If I slip OOC for Lilka (the main char) bear with me. I'm trying something radically different. :) k? Buh-bye. Read and Reivew please!
Chapter 1: Lilka
I am a maiden. I have auburn hair and light blue eyes. My arms are built and I am well tanned. I wear the typical Amazon garb: white tunic with a brown rope tying it close to my waist. I wore breeches sewn by the local tailor on this desolate isle with only my fellow Amazons for company. I was content where I was, being totally ignorant of any outside world. The only thing that I loved was my reigning hold on archery. I have to let the Amazon Queen, Hippolyta, win every so often or she'll get angry. But don't tell her that, she'll send me away.
My ignorance of any world outside the isle I lived on wouldn't go on much longer. I was naïve. I thought everyone was as honest as my comrades and fellow friends. I thought the world consisted of three tournaments: Archery, Arms and Footraces. I was always in the top three of each. I was the best at Archery. I say this not to brag but to set the scene.
So, here I am, sitting on a rock looking out across The Endless Blue as I had dubbed it. The other Amazons called it S'lanki e S'tanoe, or One Which Carries Strangers. We were taught the language of the Fr'ain (The Ones Who Come). We never spoke it except in class. It was forbidden. We only knew such a traitorous language to trade.
I never knew the meaning of the word. I had never met outsiders, not in the eighteen years I have lived. Sailors rarely pass this area. The rocks the outline our Isle destroy many a ship unless you know how to enter. There is one place where the water is deep enough, where the current is slow enough that one can pass unharmed.
Such a passage is available every eighteen years. I had deduced at a young age that I had been born on such a year. Yet, if men never came, how did I get to be here? Did the Great Warrior Goddess drop be off to the Amazons and I was raised here? Such questions floated in my head for years until this day. I have been too scared to ask Queen Hippolyta. She may seem all nice and cheerful in those stories you all tell, but she isn't made of sugar and spice. She is a just ruler, as many Amazon Queens have been, but she's just that, a Queen.
Back to my story, as I was watching S'lanki e S'tanoe I saw a large ship cross the secret passage. It easily dodged the treacherous rocks and missed the iron spears Ancient Amazons had placed there. The wind blew hard into its sails and it landed at our neglected docks. I ran, nay sprinted, to the Queen's Chambers to inform the Queen about the Fr'ain that had come to trade. I ran past the Amazon Guards, quickly saying that I had important news. They let me pass, knowing I was the Archery Mistress, the one who is the best at Archery that year. I burst into the Queen's Chambers. She sat at her desk, quietly drawing.
"My Queen!" I said, breathless.
"Lilka, Archery Mistress." She greeted me with grace and elegance I could never hope to master. "What brings you here, breathless and sweaty?"
"My Queen, Fr'ain have docked. The spears did not deter them." I said. I was giddy. Fr'ain were legendary for the stupidity and thick-headedness for thinking we could not best them at whatever they chose (most often Arms). They also were terrible traders. Absolutely dreadful. We always came out on top because of their idiocy.
"Thank you, Lilka. Ring the silver bell on the temple of The Great Warrior Goddess." She ordered. I did a bow/curtsy and left. I, again, sprinted to the temple of The Great Warrior Goddess and up to the back of the temple. There, I found a wooden staircase and quickly climbed them.
At this rate, I thought to myself, I'll be the Footrace Mistress next year! I was breathing heavily but kept climbing. At the top there was a room covered in dust. I saw a small set of footprints and stepped on them. They fit my feet perfectly. I walked over to the dust-covered bell. A rope hung limp under it, I grabbed the rope and yanked hard. The dust on it shook off and I could see tiny engraving. In my native language, it read Rung once but every eighteen years. Rung but once by a woman. Rung but once by the Queen. I'll admit it right here and right now. I was curious. Why only every eighteen years? Then it dawned on me. It was rung when Fr'ain came to the Isle.
I was giddy. What would the Fr'ain bring to trade? When I thought about it, the only thing we could trade would be the cloth that was taken from the sheep. I looked out over the balcony. Women had come from everywhere. They were starting to swarm the docks. The older women had smiles, almost like they were happy. The younger women, about my age, were confused.
I joined my friend, Kayla. She had blonde hair and brown eyes. We talked about the Fr'ain. When we reached the dock, Kayla and I were in front. There, I saw the oddest creatures that have walked this earth. They had bulkier bodies than any woman. They stood taller than any woman I had met. They had hard and weather bodies, unlike our well-tanned bodies. Not even the Red heads burn.
"What are they?" I whispered to Kayla.
"I don't know." She replied. There was one of those older women next to us. She obviously had overheard our questions.
"They're men." She said the pronoun so reverently that we wondered what Men could do to us.
"What is men?" I asked. They had never been studied in our classes.
"A man is the opposite of a woman." The older woman, Elena, said to us, as it in explanation. "And this is the best day for you two." She said giddily. She looked around. "Where did Kayla go?"
I looked around. I shrugged. "Why?" I told you I was naïve, didn't I?
"Oh," She seemed unembarrassed about such a topic. "How do think we populate our Isle?" She asked, grinning broadly.
"The Great Warrior Goddess-" I started.
"Brought you to the Isle. Don't worry, I believed that too eighteen years ago. No, every eighteen years Fr'ain come to the Isle. We are ready here to greet them." She explained. "As you know, the only thing we have to trade is our cloth. We found out a while ago that this is not what the Fr'ain want. They had traveled weeks aboard the sea. We were a welcoming Isle to them. So, we provided the service they desired. In return-"
"But- what if you get pregnant?" I was horrified! How would we fight while with child? How would we hold our Tournaments if everyone was with child?
"My dear, that is the idea!" She said, barely avoiding bursting aloud from laughing. "You yourself were made that way!" My eyes were about a mile wide right now.
"But…" I touched my stomach. I didn't wish to stoop to such a low level! "I don't wish to be pregnant…" I trailed off.
At this Elena put her arm on my arm. "My dear, that is your duty. We can only bear children twice. After that, well, we're just too old. It's now or wait another eighteen years."
"What if I left here on that ship?" I asked, now giddy about leaving the Isle. "What if I left to see the world?"
At that, Elena blanched. Then she got angered. "If you were born here, you die here. That is the way it has been for a long time. Longer than you were even a thought in a mother's mind." She threatened, and then backed away. By this time, Queen Hippolyta had made it to the Captain-Man.
"Welcome to the Isle of the Amazons. What have to trade?" She asked in Fr'ain
Then, the Captain-Man did something no one had done before. "My Lady Queen," He responded in our native language. "I have many a thing to trade. The men and I know what you offer, we have read the fables." He did a sign of respect to the Queen. "Anything you name, we have to trade."
The Queen smiled. "Ladies, what do we need?" She asked us.
We responded in our language. "My Lady Queen. We need nothing. My Lady Queen would look nice in silver or jewels."
She smiled again. "Captain? You have silver or jewels?"
"I do, my Lady Queen." He said.
She nodded. "Enough of this drabble. We will have a party. Then, my Captain, your men may choose a woman for tonight." We had the "party" the Queen talked about. Afterwards, the Captain nodded to the men. We all stood in a line, me trying not to be seen. I didn't want to be chosen. I didn't want to take part in this. The twenty or so men passed over the line, eyeing each of us up.
Finally, one stopped in front of me. I expected him to be ugly. His skin to be salt-worn, have two teeth and foul breath. Instead, I came eye-to-eye with a man my age. My auburn hair fell in strands around my face. His once-black hair was bleached to a lighter brown and his almond-colored eyes looked at my face.
"This one," He called to the captain, thinking I couldn't understand him.
"Sir." I said in Fr'ain. "My name is Lilka." I tried to muster enough courage to tell him I wasn't 'this one'. But I bit my tongue back.
He looked back at me. "You- you know Common?" He seemed startled.
"Yes, sir. I know Fr'ain." I said, referring to this 'Common' as my native name for it. "You came across the S'lanki e S'tanoe. Here you are, referring to me as 'this one'. Yet, I tell you I am Lilka, the Archery Mistress."
He was stunned. "A m-mistress?" He took a step back. "Maybe a different one…"
I was confused. Why was he looking at me funny? "Sir, as Archery Mistress, I won the Archery Tournament this year." I explained. He seemed to relax.
"Will you join me tonight?" He asked quietly.
"I wish not to be in your bed." I said, keeping my voice polite. "But if it is company you want, I will talk."
He relaxed. "Show me when I am to sleep," he said. "And you may talk with me tonight."
I led him to the Guest Quarters, which were kept in good shape, even if no one was using them. We were only slightly obsessed with keeping things in good shape. That fact took my mind away, why, then, was the Bell is such a desolate shape?
I opened a door. "Here." I told him, pointing to the four-poster bed. He smiled at me and allowed me to enter.
"My lady," he said. "You may enter my quarters." Something nagged in my mind, but I shooed it away. He sat on the bed and I pulled up a chair.
"What is your name?" I asked him.
"Brian, Lilka." The sailor responded. When I opened my mouth to ask another question, he shook his head. "My turn. Why do you look at me like I'm poison?"
"I do not wish to be with child, unlike my fellow Amazons. I want to be off this Isle." I was used to being honest. "Why didn't you care that I don't wish to share your bed?"
He thought about it for a second, then responded. "I'll be honest, like you were to me. I didn't want to. I don't have any desire to take place in such dissolute actions. I chose you because you looked at me with fear. He other women looked eager." He shook his head. "They wouldn't understand why."
I was curious, damn my curiosity. "Why? Why don't you?"
"I don't know. The other sailors talk about all the women they had met. It just never felt quite right to me. That and," He smiled. "I was taught to respect a woman's wishes." Brian ended.
I smiled. I knew he wouldn't try anything so rude as to make me go against my will. I reached behind me and into a drawer (I had cleaned this room, so I knew where everything was) and drew out a small board with little stones. "Do you know how to play Pui e Pui?"
"Phwey ee phwey?" I winced at his pronunciation.
"Pui e Pui," I corrected. "A game of thought and strategy." I set the board on the bed and separated the white stones and the black stones. I opened the board of alternating black and white and laid it flat. Then, I set the black stones on the white squares and the black stones on the white squares. The three rows of black stones faced the three rows of white stones. "Black or white?" I asked Brian.
"White." He said, adjusting himself so he could play the white side properly. I moved the board so I could sit on the bed. "How do we play?"
"White starts, so I'll explain as best I can. We move our stones forward until their squares touch. When they do, you have the option of moving around, or jumping the one of my stones. When you do, you claim the stone and put it in your stone stack. Whoever has more stones when we're done wins.
"Now, if I make it to one of the black squares bordering your side, I can reclaim a lost stone. Same with your white squares on my side. When one us runs out of stones on the board, we count the stones we have in our possession. Got it?" I asked him.
"So, it's like Checkers?" He asked, looking at the board.
"I wouldn't know, I don't know what Checkers is." I told him. He shrugged and started. By the time the game ended, we were laughing and joking like old friends. I listened quietly to the tolling of the Temple bells. I deduced it was around the middle of the night. "It's about the middle of the night."
He yawned. "That was a long game." He said through yet another yawn. "Who won?" I looked at the stack of stones. Twelve to twelve.
"It's a tie." I said, surprised. "You're lucky, I've always won at Pui e Pui."
He winked. "Maybe I'm just that good!" Another yawn escaped his mouth. "Wow, I'm tired!"
"We should stay up. The other women would be offended if I was active tomorrow." I said.
"Why? Because you have a duty to populate the Isle?" He asked, barely containing a smile.
"Yes. The problem is that the other women want to do this 'duty' with a man, since it comes every eighteen years." I explained. "Therefore you…"
"Will be with a different woman tomorrow, I see. Why can't you come tomorrow again?" He seemed confused by our customs.
"Because then you would have to stay longer than the Queen wishes. She probably has figured how long it will take us to each have a night with a man." I explained. "That and the other women would think I was taking more than my rightful share." I smiled. "Though, the Queen gets the Captain every night you are here." I said with a smile.
He laughed. "He'll like that, Captain Jamison will." Captain Jamison. I committed the name into my memory for later use. Someone knocked on the door that joined the next room over. "Brian, why are you still talking?" A gruffer voice called. "Get 'er in bed!"
He shrugged at me. "I'm getting ready, Clyde. You having fun?" He asked in a sailor's cheery voice.
"Sure am! I'll talk to you-" I heard a thump and some gross noises from the other side of the adjoining door.
He shrugged again. I backed off the bed, suspicious of this two-faced man. "Lilka, I told you, I'm not interested."
"I- I have to go." I stuttered and quickly left through the door that led to the hall. Brian poked his head out the door, a confused look on his face. I ran to the Dormitories and into my room I shared with Kayla. I closed the door softly behind me.
"Lilka? Why are you here? Don't you have a man to entertain?" A familiar voice called. I shucked my outfit and got into my nightclothes.
"Yes." I said. What would Brian say if I told her he didn't want to share his bed? I shook his face from my head. "I left." I said crawling into the four-poster bed I was given. "Where were you today?" I asked, deftly changing the subject.
"Lilka, don't change the subject." Her form came running from her ajoining room and jumped on my bed. "How did it feel?"
"What?" I didn't know what she was talking about. Once again, I was naïve.
"To lose your virginity!" She squeaked.
"I didn't."
"You what?" She screeched. "You didn't?"
I sighed. "Brian didn't want it, neither do I." I said flatly.
"You didn't want it?" She yelled.
"No, Kayla. I am fine without a child!" I said harshly. "I am going to leave with the boat!" Before I could think about the result of such a rash decision, she stormed out of the rooms we shared. I followed her down the hall, past the Guest Quarters and to the Queen's Quarters. She passed the Amazon Guards (who never looked twice) and knocked hard on the door. Whispers were heard behind it by us and the Queen opened the door. She was cross.
"What are you two doing here at this hour?" She hissed. She had a towel wrapped around her body.
Kayla spoke first. "Lilka didn't continue through the agreement. She now wants to leave the Isle with the ship!" When the Queen looked at Kayla, she added, "My Lady Queen."
"Is this true, Lilka, Archery Mistress?" She asked with a cold stare.
"It is, my Queen." I said, not meeting her eyes. "Brian didn't want it either, Queen Hippolyta."
"We cannot let this go on. Kayla, Footrace Mistress, go to this Brian's room and seduce him. Lilka, Archery Mistress, go to the Beach of S'lanki e S'tanoe. I was you to take a bucket with you. I want two hundred grains of sand tomorrow morning. I nodded in submission. I went to the kitchens and grabbed a bucket. When I passed the Guest Quarters, I heard talking in Brian's room. I stopped to listen.
"Hello, Brian." – "Hello, who may you be?" – "My friends call my Kayla. You can call me Kay." – "It is nice to meet you, Kayla." – "Like I said, call me Kay." – "I like your full name better." – (a giggle) – "Oh, thank you, Brian." – (pause) – "So, uh, why did you come?" – "Oh, I thought it better to know the men I'll be serving," – (another giggle) – "You're a Kitchen Aide?" – "Oh no, I'm the Footrace Mistress." – (pause) – "Lilka, stop listening." – "Lilka? She was here earlier." – "Oh, I know. She is a betrayer." I stepped back. I had thought Kayla my friend. Yet, she would stop at nothing to get his bed. Tears stained my cheeks, but I went out to the Beach and started my punishment. I lost count at one hundred and one. Tears made the sand stick together. I fell asleep on the beach, approximating two hundred grains.
"Lilka?" A voice asked. It was distinctly male. "Hey, wake up." Sand was stuck in my hair. I opened my eyes. I didn't even look for the voice. When I felt around for my bucket, all I felt was sand, all around me. I screamed.
"Where is it? I needed that bucket!" I stood and dusted my nightclothes off. I looked around for it. I saw Brian's bare feet. "Why are you here?" I asked. "I got in trouble for last night." I looked around, spotting the bucket off in the distance.
"Look, I'm sorry about last night." He apologized. "A girl named Kayla came after you left last night."
"I know. I was outside your door." I said. "I pass it on the way from the kitchens to the Beach. "I heard her call me a betrayer." I informed the male.
"Anything after that?" He asked, peering into my eyes with his almond orbs.
"No, I left. I'm sure you had a nice night." I said, breaking his hold on me. I was stronger than I looked. I picked up my bucket and tried to walk away, but I heard his soft padding behind me.
"See, that's the thing, Lilka. I sent her away." His voice said. "She never even got near my bed." I turned around. He saw my hurt eyes. "Why do you care so much?"
"Brian, let me give you a riddle. It will answer your question.
You can have me but cannot hold me;
Gain me and quickly lose me.
If treated with care I can be great,
And if betrayed I will break.
What am I?" I saw his puzzled face. A thought dawned on him.
"Trust. You trust me?" I nodded, tears staining my cheeks. I turned away.
"I have to go, Brian. I have to give this to the Queen." I said over my shoulder.
"Captain Jamison is cutting our visit short after he overheard you, your friend and Queen Hippolyta." He said. "We're leaving tonight." I kept walking. "I want you to come with us, Lilka. I can get you on the boat." I felt his hand touch my hand. "Will you? I know you want to leave. This is your chance."
"I'll try, Brian. I really will." I said and turned away from his face.
"Say you will come, Lilka. Please."
"I will come Brian. But right now I have to leave." I reminded him. He let my hand fall to my side.
"Say nothing to Captain Jamison, we need to smuggle you into one of the empty crates." He cautioned me. I nodded my head and continued on my way. I dropped the bucket outside the Queen's Chambers. I left to go to the Hot Springs. There, all the women looked at me with a snooty expression. I heard whispers.
"Betrayer…"
"Coward…"
"Ungrateful…"
"Goody two-shoes…"
"Queen's Pet…"
"Fr'ain…"
With that last insult. I turned to the woman, a red head with freckles covering her face. "If anyone is a Fr'ain, it is you, Perdita! Lost woman indeed! Throwing such an insult because I met a man that doesn't want me for my body! You know what? I think you're jealous, Dita, that I was picked first-day and you were not!" I said ending with a spit in her face.
"How- how dare you!" She yelled. "I was Arms Mistress three years in a row!"
"And I have been Archery Mistress since I could handle a bow!" I retorted. I smiled. "Say it."
She hung her head. "Touché,"
"That's it, Perdita." I said, patting her back. She glared at me.
"Just because you bested me at a word fight does not prove your superiority." She lashed back.
"Only for now." I said, stripping my clothes and sliding into the Hot Spring and swam a bit under the water. Today, I told myself, this is strictly for usage. I won't stay longer than necessary by these gossiping birds. I dried my hair and re-braided it. I redressed and left. By this time, it was near High Noon.
Nixiesocean: Those two days had to pass quickly. BTW, if you think I left out one attribute that physically differentiates men from women, PM me.
Okay, I think I'm done. BTW go to if you want to know where I got my names and what they mean. The meaning of names coincides with their personality.
Oh, and I forgot this at the top:
Disclaimer: I do not own the idea of an island of Amazons or the character Hippolyta.
Claimer: I do own the names of things, Brian, Lilka, Kayla and anyone/anything you don't know!
Thank you and review please!