The roar of the Black Sea could be heard even high up in the pass near while the open expanse of the sea itself could almost go on for miles. However, the Black Sea was not as open as the other oceans and seas of the world. Eurydite could almost feel the water laping at her ankles and the moist breeze playing with her long black hair while smelling the scent of the wonderful place she called home. She wished she had savored it more than letting it become a fleeting memory.
She rode with Irina now and though she had liked Hippolyta in the beginning, the red headed woman with no crown of fur or beads was a better person. Irina was a mother through and through in the way she held on to the girl and smiled at her every time, while it seemed Hippolyta was glad to be rid of her.
"Where are you from Irina?"
"I was born here, but my own mother is from a place far in the North. So far that at night the sky would become lit with different colors and half the year was nothing but darkness." Irina told the girl with some excitement. "My mother told me that she had been forced away from her home as a child. She never speaks of why and her tongue is not of this land so the stories are her own."
"I only thought the world was all that surrounded Greece."
"You will find the world is a lot bigger than Greece, Eurydite." The red head said with a light in her grey eyes. "It is far bigger and there are more Gods in it. Some may be the same Gods you know, but have many names. I would like to imagine that my mother's Gods are similar to yours, but they are so different."
"I know my Gods exist at least." Eurydite said as the bay horse she sat on snorted and shook his head. "Or at least some of them do."
"I know the people of Greece have a love for their pantheon, but we only believe in what is real. The Greek Panteon do not venture this far East, except two." Irina said. "The Lords of War and Death."
"Ares and Hades."
"And they both have many names. We call Hades by his original name, Aidoneus and Ares is Ares to us." She said to Eurydite who looked to be staring ahead while processing all she was being told.
It was hard to figure out, but the way that Irina put it was that there were said to be many Gods, but only few of them actually existed. To these women, they were not Gods per say, but powerful mortals? Or perhaps they were mortal, just had a longer life? It was a hard concept for the girl and soon her head began to ache trying to figure it out. The worst part was the fact that she had indeed met and had come into the care of Hades, who showed her nothing but mystical power that no mortal could understand. Somehow, the thought of the world being a bigger place and the Gods not being actual Gods made some sense, if only very little.
She rubbed her temples as they rode through the pass with the Sun beaming down on them from above. The air was slightly thinner at the height they were at, but not so bad as to cause a problem for anyone. Eurydite was tired of being on a horse and her body agreed with her very much as she felt stiff from not moving at all. Her thighs and calves hurt the worst as she had been using them to hold on all this time and never really relaxing in either Hippolyta's grip or Irina's. She was just so very tired of moving.
"It won't be long now until we see home again." Irina whispered into Eurydite's ear and ran her hand through the girls long hair as the horse followed the path.
Up ahead Eurydite could see where the path opened up almost into the sky, but as the horse walked, she could see the white peaks of mountians in the distance. She could hear Hippolyta shouting orders to the other riders in their group as they came from the pass to reveal the expanse of the valley before them. It was unlike any place she had ever seen with the high peaks of the Great Caucaus mountains standing strong as if holding up the sky.
It almost took her breath away.
There was a winding river that split the valley and to the west were the shores of the Black Sea where a great expanse of plains and forests rested in the great care of the mountains. If there was one thing that Eurydite could gather from this place it was the fact that the valley was well hidden from outsiders. It would take a great task to climb the north range while the lesser was full of surprises. The Black Sea was no easy thing to navigate either as it had its own weather pattern according to Irina. The group of women were well protected here even if the ground would shift beneath their feet every now and then.
"Welcome to Themiscyra, Eurydite." Irina spoke with a smile on her lips. "The home of the Amazons."
Eurydite did not say anything as she was in shock as the legends of the warrior women were now proven to be true. Would she become one now? The question rolled around in her mind for a moment, but ultimately she wished not to become one as it would mean she would never leave.
"Am I to become an Amazon?" She asked out of curiosity.
"No, I do not think so, unless you are deamed worthy." The red head said as she kicked her horse forward and down the path of the mountain. "You have to prove yourself capable of being called such and it is not an easy task."
Nothing more was said as they treked down the mountain into the valley going through the forests that lined the base of the lesser range and through the shallow parts of the river a day later. After the second day Eurydite was in and out of sleep feeling weak. Her clothes were ratty and she had not bathed in some time while Irina did her best to keep her steady on the horse as they crossed through the valley and then she fell into a deep sleep right as the group came to the village.
Eurydite's vision was blurry when she woke up again, only instead of seeing the sky she saw another face staring into hers and the face was connected to a body that was leaning over her as well. Green eyes and red hair with pale skin was all she could really see before sitting up and letting the furs that covered her fall into her lap. Putting a hand up to her forehead and using her other arm to push the person out of the way, Eurydite gathered her wits as she looked around.
"Mother! She is awake!" It sounded like a screach owl and hurt her ears.
Blinking her eyes so she could focus around her, she found herself in some sort of hut lined with all sorts of things. Dried herbs hung from the rafters in the ceiling that was made from thatch. Leather lined the walls and tapestries hung from various places depicting interesting things that she had never seen before. One of them had a tree with nine branches and a serpent wrapped around its base, clearly not of this place.
She turned her eyes to the person kneeling next to her and saw a girl her age with the brightest green eyes and flaming red hair that had never been seen in Greece. Obviously this was Irina's daughter.
"We thought you would never wake up." The red headed girl said to Eurydite who only squinted when the leather flap across the door opened to reveal Irina with a basket resting against her hip.
"How long was I asleep for?" The black haired girl asked.
"Two days. You needed rest and even though Hippolyta was not happy about it, I suggested you rest and then we would sort out the next part." Irina said placing the basket down on the floor. "Macaria, go get her some water." The other girl did as she was told and stood up with a smile on her face before running out of the doorway with a small bucket. "I suppose we should get you cleaned up. I will have to sacrifice some of Macaria's clothing for you."
Irina came to kneel by Eurydite and took the girl's arm to bring it up for measurement. The smile on the woman's face reminded the girl of her own mother and while it would be some time before she would ever see Menthe again, she imagined that her mother was still alive and safe at least. The king wanted her mother so badly he would burn down a village just to get her, so there was no way any harm would come to the woman who birthed her.
"You are about her size." Irina stood up and went over to a wooden box that had furs draped over it and opened the lid pulling out something similar to a chiton. "As soon as Macaria comes back we shall go to the spring and bathe."
The spring was located deeper into the forest at the base of the greater mountains, but not so far from the village. Not only was it fed from the waters beneath the mountains, but it was fed by a waterfall that kept it cool all year round. The black haired girl stood in the shallows as Irina sat on the edge of a bolder scrubbing every part of the girl. Macaria swam around in the spring as Eurydite held both arms out while the woman scrubbed every inch and made her way down to the girls ankles.
"Your skin is almost as white as the clouds. We should be careful that you do not burn in the sun."
"My mother always said that I got my skin color from my father." Eurydite said.
"Was your father from the North?" Irina asked as she turned Eurydite around to face the waterfall so she could scrub her back.
"I don't know. Mother never told me who my father was."
"I'm sorry to hear that. Most of the young girls in the village do not know who their father's are either. They are made to believe that Ares is their father, but that is not the case at all." Irina put down the cloth she had in her hand. "I am going to give you some advice for the future so that this will be easier for you. I know you may not want to hear it, but it will help you to survive here."
"What is it?" The girl was very wary and she turned to look at the woman in the eyes with a hint of confusion.
"Never forget who you are or where you came from. No matter what Hippolyta does to keep you here, you are not her child. A God brought you here and she means to take advantage of that."
"I don't understand."
"Eurydite, a God bringing a child to us is unheard of. Aidoneus brought you to us because he wants to keep you safe and the only reason I can give you that he did so is because you are of his blood." The girl let the words sink in and sat down in the water, bringing her knees up to her chest. Perhaps her own suspitions had been confirmed just now. "Don't let Hippolyta turn you into something you do not wish to be." Eurydite nodded solemnly and stood up again as Irina held up a dry cloth to wrap the girl in before calling her own daughter over.
It was a lot for Eurydite to process and even though she had a feeling that it was true when she had first encountered Hades that night in Ammoudia as it burned, she still felt as though it wasn't true. However, her Mother keeping it from her and everyone else almost made it true. It was then that she remembered the ony two things she had in her posession.
"Where is the leather peice I had?" She asked almost in a panic.
"It is safe." Irina said putting an hand on the girl's shoulder to calm her. "I did not want Hippolyta to take it from you."
Eurydite sighed as she let a wave of peace come over her and easing her panic. The mint leaves and the white flower was the only thing she had left from Ammoudia and her mother, also, possibly her God of a father. He had given both the offerings to her for safe keeping. A small, but sentimental gesture that one would not expect from the stoic Lord of the Underworld and that was her proof. However, the only one who could confirm the truth was currently back in his own realm and would not return unless things were very dire. For now, she would keep it to herself as the company she was in would use her to their advantage.
She followed silently behind Irina and Macaria in her new clothes. Nothing much, but comfortable and it kept the chill from her skin at least. The village she now called home was full of women and they moved about the huts with ease with children in tow or on their hips. Some were with child while the rest were sparing with one another to keep up their warrior ways.
Eurydite couldn't help but to watch a pair fighting with spears while further down there were a few women performing archery as though it were second nature. They hit targets that were being thrown up into the air with precise measure and firing arrow after arrow in rapid succession. It amazed her so that anyone could do such a thing with a bow, but these women were probably trained to do so since they could walk.
Turning her attention back to the pair of women fighting with each other, they had abandoned the spears and went to grappling each other on the ground and trying to subdue one another, eventually one getting the upper hand over the other. It intrigued Eurydite to no end and even excited her despite her earlier reservations.
"The Little One wants to try?" A blonde woman came up to her with a bow in her hand. "You are Irina's new ward."
"Yes."
"Here, see if you can pull it back." The blonde woman handed her the short bow which looked as though she could never pull it back.
The girl took the bow and held it firmly knowing that she would never be able to draw it back, but when the woman leaned down and showed her where to put her hands, she tried to draw the string back. It did not surprise Eurydite at all when she could not draw the bow.
"Perhaps when you are older you may be able to pull this bow."
"Why even try when I know I will never be that strong." Eurydite said handing the bow back to the woman and walking off in a huff. She was only able to get a few steps before an arrow whizzed past her ear leaving a small nick.
She turned to see the blond looking at her furiously and holding the bow out to her again. Putting a hand to her ear, Eurydite felt the sting of the oils from her skin interferring with the small cut. She looked at the small amount of blood that was in the palm of her hand before becoming somewhat irritated and walking up to grab the bow. Planting her feet firmly she put her hands back into the position that the blonde woman had previously shown her and began to pull the string back. Little by little she breathed and with every breath she let out she pulled the string harder until the bow was fully drawn and her thumb was meeting the corner of her lips.
"See, you can do it. You have the spirit of an Amazon." The woman allowed Eurydite to relax the bow before taking it from the girl. "I am Melanippe."
"Eurydite."
"I see you have met our best archer." Hippolyta's voice came from behind them as she walked up with her silver beads glinting in the sunlight.
"She would make a good archer herself, Sister." Melanippe said before shouldering her bow and smiling down at the child. "You shoud train her."
"She will be trained, harder than any of us here."
"It is true then." The blonde questioned her sister. "Aidoneus brought her to you himself." Eurydite listened to the two women silently observing their behavior before they started talking in a tongue she didn't understand.
She chose this moment to walk away unnoticed and back to where she saw the other women spar with each other using different weapons. She noticed the women were not all Grecian or even Northern, but there was a woman with an interesting style of fighting that she had never seen before. It was all done without the use of any weapon and she used her legs and arms as a way to block and hit. You couldn't see her features as she had most of her face covered except for her slanted eyes. The woman easily disarmed her opponent with the use of her hands as though she were a weapon herself. Her opponent on the other hand was dark skinned and very interesting herself. She carried a curved sword that hung from her belt and the bow on her back looked very old.
Eurydite had never seen so many women from so many places in one spot and wondered if Irina was right. The world was far bigger than she had ever imagined and then some. She felt that it was indeed very true and the thoughts of the places she could go only excited her, except for the fact that she would never be able to go on her own. Or at all.
She looked down at her hands and wondered if somehow she could learn to fight and perhaps use those skills to free herself so that she could go find her mother. When she looked back up she saw the women had all stopped what they were doing to observe her and she felt a hand fall on her shoulder.
"It is time we begin your training, Eurydite." Hippolyta's voice said. "We will begin with your strength."
Eurydite said nothing as Hippolyta pushed her over to a spot out of the way of the women sparing and came around to face her before taking both of the girls wrists and holding them out in front of her. The woman took a stick and placed it on the girls wrists to make it level and then stood back up.
"Stay here like this until I come to get you. Do not drop the stick or you will have to start over."
The girl said nothing as the woman walked away from her leaving that stick as a bridge between her arms. It sounded ridiculous, but after a while of being in the sun and feeling her muscles burn and then her fair skin, she understood. It was a test of her strength and patience with the ability to follow orders. Everyone ignored her as she stood there and it felt like it had been ages when in fact the sun had barely moved from its position high up in the sky.
After a while she could feel her arms start to go numb and in that numbness she found that she could feel them grow heavy. Her lack of control was evident when the stick started rolling to her knuckles as her arms couldn't hold up their own weight anymore. She was drenched in sweat and her skin was starting to turn a shade of red she had never seen before while her throat was becoming dry.
"Don't drop the stick." She said to herself while her mind kept scrambling for a way to make the pain and time go away. "Don't drop the stick."
Thinking to herself and now her mind was rolling with the possiblity that Hippolyta was only testing her ability to think of solutions. It was not a possiblilty when the task first started, but as the pain and now the actions of the sun plus the dehydration her mind turned to thinking about survival. The sun was now inching slowly towards the earth and it was a few hours past midday so she was not only in pain, but was in need of food and water.
She did not know that when she turned her wrists up slowly she was able to grab the stick after doing the whole task carefully, that she would be scorned for it. Hippolyta was not only testing her, she was also building up her strength, however the woman was not very joyful on the way Eurydite handled the task. The next day Eurydite was outside doing the same thing and for the next few weeks after in the rain and in the heat. Hippolyta was unrelenting in this until the girl could hold up her arms for a day and a night.
"Widen your stance and bend your knees." Hippolyta said as the girl put her arms down after holding them up for so long.
She didn't ask any questions or say anything as the woman helped her find the stance. She knew she would have to do this until she could do it for a day and a night as well and she didn't anticipate that it would be too painful. However after a few hours her knees began to hurt along with her ankles and hips. She did this for three weeks.
"Now that we have formed your base, we can start with combat." Hippolyta guided her over to Melanippe who stood over by a tree. "Combat is not just the use of a weapon, but the use of your own strength and ability. When you are without a weapon you must use yourself as a weapon."
"I will teach you things that have been taught to us by the God of War himself." The blond woman said leaning down and pinching the girl's cheek. "You will get hurt Little Sister, so prepare yourself."
The girl wasn't worried about that in the least. She wouldn't be for some time because she had already felt pain enough. She would be nine summers old soon and if she wasn't ready then, she wouldn't ever be ready.
Day became shorter and with every training session she had more and more bruises to go along with the tanned skin she had aquired. She was still paler than most of the girls, but she had tanned. Before long she was blocking every potential hit that Melanippe could deal and the woman even said she was a quick learner, however, Hippolyta was seemingly unimpressed and told Melanippe to get more intense.
One night as a storm had come in from the Black Sea, she sat in Irina's hut were the woman sat with her and Macaria telling stories of the Northern Gods as her mother had done with her. The woman was now obviously round with child and it interested the Grecian girl as to how that could happen so she asked.
"The ways of our people are not the common ways. It is tradition here that when a girl flowers at the right age she is ready to carry children so she must prove herself by hunting a stag alone. It is all symbolism of course, but soon after she will be painted in the stags blood to bless with fertility." Irina said putting a hand over her abdomen. "It is not a pretty thing, but the girl is no longer a woman and so when it comes time for our yearly trek to Thrace, it doesn't matter the age of the girl, she is brought along to witness or even partake."
"You mean to lay with a man?" Eurydite asked with red cheeks and Macaria's cheeks were also as red as her hair.
"Yes. If she becomes pregnant with a girl, she does not have to go until the child reaches the age of three. If it is a boy, she will have to go the next year after his birth." The red headed woman said the last words sadly and Eurydite picked up the tone.
"Why does she have to go back so soon after boy?"
"Because men are not allowed amongst the Amazons." Macaria said before looking to her mother with a sad look. "Mother had a boy last time and he was taken."
"Where do they take them?" Her curiosity was obviously causing pain to her foster mother, but she just couldn't help herself.
"We do not know. He was taken shortly after birth." Irina said wiping a tear from her left eye.
Eurydite felt like she had ripped open an old scar for the woman and her daughter and that sinking feeling of disappointment came with the realization that this would happen to her one day if she stayed here. This tradition was not one she would have in her life and she did not care if Hippolyta placed her in chains, she would find a way out of this valley somehow.
I don't intend for things to be slow, but the next chapter will have a lot more action in it and the plot will reveal itself even more than it has already (if you were paying attention of course).