Eurydite found herself following the God as he walked along the rocky ground in the vastness of what could only be described as a arid place. Mountains in the distance told her nothing of where she was except for the white peaks. Her feet were starting to become bruised from walking on stones and following after a being much taller than her. She was thirsty and her belly ached from being so empty while her bladder was screaming for release as well.
All these things paled to the pain she felt when she thought of her mother. Eurydite did not know what would become of her mother and she didn't know what had happened to her grandfather as well. The only one who had the answers was walking ahead of her with his black cape billowing out behind him. He was out of place in this vast country and it showed. His skin had not seen daylight in some time.
"Where are you taking me?"
It was the only thing that she would utter and when he stopped she did so as well with just a few feet in between them. He didn't turn around to look her in the eyes, but he did turn his head to acknowledge that he had heard her question.
"Somewhere you cannot be found." He turned his head forward again as he saw a group of riders approaching on horses. Hades motioned for her to come to his side as the riders approached.
It wasn't the fact that they were all dressed rather strangly that made her spine tingle, but the fact that most of them were women. They weren't dressed like anyone from Greece, but they were covered in furs and thier heads were adorned in silver beads that fell to their eyebrows. Some of the women wore antlers about their beaded caps as if saying they had rank.
"Coming upon a God is not by chance." The woman at the front of the group of seven said as she pulled her grey horse to a stop. "My Lord, Aidoneus." She nodded to him in respect before laying her eyes on Eurydite. Hades said nothing but the message was very clear between the two.
He held out his hand to Eurydite showing her the two plants that he had kept with him. She looked up at him and he down at her with passive eyes while she took the two plants from him and clutched them to her chest.
"Go with them, Eurydite. You will be safe with them."
He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her towards the women on horses as the leader got down from her mount to come to her. There was a motherly air about the black haired woman that calmed Eurydite's nerves, but at the same time she found herself wanting to stay with Hades. It was all too much to understand and when she turned to look back at the God, she found a hint of remorse in his passive eyes. He didn't want this any more than she did, but it was for her own good and the women would take care of her.
"Come, we will not harm you." The woman held her hand out to Eurydite and the girl turned her attention back to the person in front of her. She looked kind enough, but her mother had always taught her that appearances could be very misleading. "Come."
Eurydite looked back at Hades one last time just as he was fading away in a cloud of black dust. He was leaving her without giving her any answers before she could even ask the questions. She heard the crunch of the rocks against the soles of the woman's boots. Boots that were not of Greece. These women were not from this place either and turning to look upon the woman, Eurydite suddenly felt as though she would never see Greece again.
"The child is scared, Hippolyta." One of the other women said from atop her horse.
"It is okay to be scared, child. I would be too." The warrior woman's eyes softened as she held out her hand. "Many have come before you, scared and alone and abandoned. We are all products of such things." She smiled at the girl.
Eurydite looked at the hand outstretched before her, weighing the options in her mind and of course the rational side of her mind was telling her one thing completely different from the other. The rational part was telling her that she would not survive out here on her own and that if Hades had brought her here to these women, it was because there was a reason for it. A God such as him would never do things without purpose and for whatever reason, she did not understand.
The other part of her mind was telling her to run and return home with the hope that maybe she would be able to find her mother and free her. Ultimately, she went with the more rational part, knowing that perhaps these women could help her in more ways than one. She was no longer a child. She didn't feel like a child anymore. She felt like it had all be ripped away from her when her mother was taken and her home burned to the ground. There was no room for innocence anymore and all that was left was a wounded girl who was no longer naive.
She took the woman's hand and soon enough she was sat infront of the warrior atop her horse headed in the only direction she had never been. East. As far east from Greece as she would ever go. At some point Eurydite had fallen into a fitful sleep full of memories and visions. Some were of her mother while others were of what had happened during the night and when she woke again the sun had gotten to the highest point in the sky.
"Where are we?"
"The far eastern borders of Thrace. We have a long journey ahead of us." Hippolyta said as she held on to the girl in front of her.
"Where are we going?"
"You are an inquisitive child, aren't you. I suppose that is to be expected." The woman smiled. "We are going home to Themiscyra."
"Themiscyra?" The girl looked up at the woman and met her brown eyes.
"It is a beautiful place that lies between two mountain ranges and two bodies of water on each end. We are safe from all outsiders there because of it." Eurydite tried to invision the words that Hippolyta said, but failed to see it in her mind. "My village lives in the shadow of the north range in the forests."
"Can I see the stars from there?"
"Of course. You can see the stars from wherever you stand on Earth. They are always with you." Eurydite gave Hippolyta a sad look and turned her gaze to her hands where the mint leaves and little flower lay wilted from her body heat. "My turn to ask the questions now, Little One." The woman noticed the items and became curious herself. "Where are you from?"
"Ammoudia." The girl answered quietly.
"I have never been there, personally, but I know of those who have. They say it is a beautiful place despite the God who presides over it."
"It was beautiful until the Argosians came." The tone of the girl's voice had Hippolyta feeling empty. She knew the feeling well as she had once been in this child's position, only it was somewhat different. "They took my mother and I know I will never see her again." The girl hiccuped as she began to silently cry and the tears she began to shed dropped onto the womans bare forearm.
"My heart knows your pain, Little One. So, do the hearts of my sisters here with us. We were once like you." Hippolyta squeezed the girl lovingly. "We are sisters now, Little One. We will look after you from now on."
Eurydite didn't say anything as she thought of what this could all mean and how it would affect her, but something inside of her kept saying that it would not be forever. She would see her mother again and she would get answers from Hades as to why he brought her to these women. She was in turmoil really and as she continued to silently cry she wondered if she would be strong enough to eventually leave the new home she was going to.
The next two weeks they had slowly made their way east, far from Thrace and most certainly far from Greece. The band of women encountered fair weather most of the time except the storms that had come in across the great sea to the west. The lightening had been feirce one night as they had settled down for slumber. The storm had been a few miles away, but it was close enough to hear the thunder and see the flashes. The stars were still visible above and the mountains to the north had made their appearance earlier that day.
Eurydite was unable to sleep so she sat on a bolder nearby watching the storms violence. It reminded her of the storms that often came into Ammoudia with fierce winds and rolling thunder that would last for hours and in her heart she felt so far away watching the storm. There was a hollowness there that made her long for the familiar touch of the grass that grew on the hill by her home, or the way the breeze would feel on her skin.
When a drop of water landed on her hand, she had thought it was from the storm, but she soon realized that it was her own tears and she rubbed them away before pulling out a small scrap of leather. Unwrapping it she looked down at the now dried mint leaves and flower that Hades had left her. She didn't know if he had given it to her as a momento or if it was just a way of making her feel so lonely. Was it that he was punishing her? She did not know.
"It has been a long time since I have seen a storm so violent." Hippolyta's voice broke Eurydite from her thoughts and the girl turned to look at her 'sister' as she hurried to wrap up the leaves and put them back in her chiton. "It must be coming to winter again."
"Is it very cold where we are going?"
"In winter it is somewhat cold, but mostly it is mild all year." The woman took a seat next to Eurydite on the bolder. "I am sure it is much more humid where you are from."
"It stayed warm all year." The girl said in response. "We would always get good weather, but sometimes we would see storms like that one." She pointed to the roiling storm.
"I would love to have fair weather all autumn, but it rains and rains until the rivers are too swollen to cross and the mountains begin to come down on us."
"Why live in a place like that? It doesn't make sense." The girl questioned Hippolyta and the woman sighed before pulling her knee up to her chest.
"Because it is home. You may not understand now, Little One, but soon you will see." The dark eyed woman assured Eurydite as if it would be the only thing she would know for the rest of her life. "We live as we please and no man or God will tell us otherwise."
"Not even if your people suffer from it."
"We do not fear death. My people go to war when called for it and we fight until there is nothing left but ash and bone." Hippolyta tried to make the child understand about the people who were now fosters to the girl. "There is no shame in dying for what you love most and we love our home. Just as much as you love your home."
"What about dying because of it?"
"That is something we accept. If the mountains will it so, then it is so." The child that was timid and quiet in the presence of Hades was more adult than a child now. It was clear to the warrior woman that what Eurydite had witnessed had stolen away all the childlike innocence away. "What would you give to go home again?"
"Everything."
"Then you must come with us. There is much you do not understand and I am sure there is a reason Hades brought you before me." Hippolyta said to the silent girl who looked up at her. "I do not understand his ways and I will not question them."
"Then don't, but teach me. I want to learn." Eurydite stood up and turned to face Hippolyta who looked her in the eye. "I want to learn how to fight so that I can get my mother back and then go take Ammoudia back from the Argosians!" There was a hint of a red glow in Eurydite's eyes that confirmed the woman's suspitions as to why Hades took charge of the child for a time.
Hippolyta looked at her with a smirk on her lips and a knowing glint in her eyes. Eurydite was passionate about what she wanted and it was clear that all the girl wanted was to get back to her mother somehow. As long as it took, it didn't matter, she wanted to be with her mother and go home. The woman could understand that very well, but she also knew that Eurydite would fail in this because she knew next to nothing about the world outside of Ammoudia. She may be wise in her youth, but she was very naive about everything else. Hippolyta would have to rectify that eventually.
"You have to swear to me that you will do everything I tell you, no matter how cruel you think it is or how horrible you feel. This life is not an easy one and we do things to ensure our survival. If I tell you to do something, you do it without question and you will listen to everything." Eurydite nodded as lightning flashed behind the woman.
Hippolyta was not a horrible woman, in fact she was very motherly, but she was also a warrior who loved the freedom her people had. Eurydite found her to be more violent in her nurturing than gentle or loving and perhaps it was because her people needed to be strong in order to survive. As far as she knew, Hippolyta did not heed the expectations of the Greeks or the traditions of their worship of the Gods. This is why Eurydite agreed to the terms that the woman put before her.
"Get some sleep Little One. Tomorrow we make for the mountains." Hippolyta put a hand on the girl's cheek and smiled before leaving her to sit there on the bolder.
The storm in the distance was slowly dying and before long Eurydite found herself growing too tired to stay awake so she lay on the bolder curled on her side as the sounds of the night lulled her into a deep sleep. She heard the call of a screech owl as it flew overhead and down into the trees near to where the women slept. She knew no harm would ever come to her so she slept peacefully until dawn.
When day had come to full height, the group of women were at the base of the Lesser Caucaus and miles away from them lay the shores of the Black Sea where the mountains bowed down to the water. She could smell the salty air with her mind recalling the shores of the Ionian Sea as if it were yesterday and perhaps it was only days ago she had left the land of her birth to come to this place.
"We must take the pass Hippolyta." A red headed woman rode up next to Eurydite and Hippolyta, her grey eyes casting a glance at her leader. "Something is wrong here."
"Are you sure of this Irina?" The woman seated on the horse behind Eurydite asked and the red headed woman's eyes hardened as she looked up towards the peaks.
"It is best we do not disturb the beast." Irina looked to Hippolyta with a sure looke on her face. What beast could be strong enough to frighten a band of warriors so? "The pass to the west is the better choice."
"Then we will go to the west. The beast can guard his mountains as he pleases as long as he keeps his business to himself and not our livestock." Hippolyta answered squeezing Eurydite's waist as she began to turn her horse to the direction of the sea. "It will delay us for a day or two, but if it means not having to deal with the gryphon then so be it."
"Perhaps one day someone will come along who can defeat it." Irina said with a smile on her face as though she knew something no one else did.
"We have tried before and it has killed many of us like it was nothing."
"Hippolyta, don't be so negative, someone does have the advantage." The red head said.
"A gryphon? I have only heard stories of them." Eurydite spoke up as her curiosity got the better of her. "They are supposed to be mounts for Apollo."
"That may be true for most gryphons, but this one is not of your Gods. This one came from the North." Irina told Eurydite as she rode along side her and Hippolyta. "This one came one night and slaughtered most of the deer on the mountain years ago, then it came for our cattle and goats. For a while we were scarce on food until it had its fill. Since then it has remained on the lesser peaks,"
"The only thing it would leave behind was a black feather. No one has ever seen it, but we know its cries." The girl looked up to the woman behind her and blinked in confusion. How does one know what something is without laying eyes on it? It could be any creature in the world and from the stories that she had been told it could be any one of a number of feathered creatures. "That and none of our sisters ever returned when faced with it."
"I don't think it is what you think it is." The girl said after putting the facts together.
"It doesn't matter what it is child, it is a beast and it is dangerous." Hippolyta said with her tone becoming stern as a signal to drop the subject.
"I have a daughter about your age." Irina spoke to her with a motherly smile in response to the girl's sullen appearance after being berated by the woman who held her. "You and her would get along well."
"What about Tira?" Another dark haired woman piped up from behind them.
"Or Beina!" Another voice said.
"Yes, they would all do well together in helping our dear Eurydite learn." Irina said.
"Then they will learn together." Hippolyta said with a lighter tone in her voice while Eurydite wondered and thought on who these women were.
As the women spoke to one another she listened to the way they spoke before switching to another language that she had never heard before. It was like they were discussing something they didn't want her to know, but by their actions she knew it was about her as they would glance to her every now and then. It made her feel left behind somewhere in the dust until they started speaking her tongue again.
"You will be in Irina's care once we cross the mountains. You will be her daughter from now on."
"You speak as though I will stay forever." Eurydite turned her head to look up at Hippolyta with a questioning glare.
"You will stay until you are strong enough." The woman said to her with another stern glare, but Eurydite was smart enough to know there was a catch to this. "You are a child and you must be able to survive on your own to leave the mountains. I will show you how to do so."
"Then I can leave?"
"Yes, but only when I deem you ready."
The girl knew there was a catch and she knew that Hippolyta would never let her leave, not willingly anyway. Eurydite wanted to go back to Greece and she also wanted to hate the God that brought her here, but she couldn't. Hades brought her to Hippolyta for a reason, therefore she would stay until she was able to leave on her own and survive.
