The Draconia Chronicles
Lion's Roar
Chapter 1: Immortality
What does it mean to be immortal? It does not mean to live forever as that is a gift only reserved for the Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus. Immortality for those of mortal flesh and bone comes from your deeds in your mortal life. The deeds that the minstrels and bards will sing of when the flesh becomes the earth, and you are but dust and bones.
My name is Kosmima. I am a warrior from the island of Xiphos. By species, I am a lioness and in flesh clad in armor I am a warrior. Our hallowed kind are trained from the time that we can walk as cubs in the deadly arts. Our training, the 'Agoge', is made to weed out the weak. Only the strongest lionesses will be warriors to defend our sacred homeland
Our weapons are much to us as our beating hearts. The soul of the warrior is the sword or 'kopis'. Just a hair over two feet long and weighing three pounds, this sacred sword can slash through flesh or hack off a limb with ease. Next is the spear or 'dory'. Eight feet long with a nine and a quarter inch long and two inch wide spearhead and a butt spike.
Mated to the spear is the shield or 'hoplon' which gives rise to the term of our warrior kind, 'hoplite'. Made of wood and faced with bronze, it is not just for defensive means, it is also a weapon. Warriors would decorate their shields with images drawn from the legends told by or elders. My shield is blue and decorated with the face of the gorgon Medusa.
"Kosmima, an envoy arrives" said one of my finest, Hypatia.
"An envoy? It can only be her" I replied, and saw to the visitor,
Off all those to come to Xiphos, it was a tiger. White as spring blossoms with stripes as black as fresh ink on papyrus, she looked young just like me and likely the same age is I or Hypatia. I grinned, and nodded to Princess Kiriad, "Welcome, our queen is expecting you," I said, and with the help of Hypatia, we escorted our visitor up the marble staircase
The Queen of Nemea is Gorgo. A noble lioness and full-figured with muscle, she is aged forty years but her skill in battle makes her feel twice as young. Princess Kiriad bowed in her presence. Our queen lightly grinned, "I respect you alerting me of your arrival though the timing of your arrival is late in the year, now what brings you to our land Princess?"
"Your majesty, I come asking for help, the war with the Dragons has dwindled our numbers, and I come asking for your assistance in this war, please there are no better warriors in all the kingdoms," said Princess Kiriad mixing praises with her plea. I cradled my Corinthian helmet in my left arm behind my shield. I clinched my spear, looking to our Queen
Our queen closed her brown eyes for a moment and nodded with a grin, "I will not give you any doubt in the skill of our warriors, I will see to it that you have assistance in your war," agreed our queen, it was a time to celebrate. Our queen looked to me, "Kosmima, see to it that the tigers have proper assistance, and see to it that your finest are ready,"
"Yes, my queen," I replied, and bowed my head to our queen,
"Hypatia, gather a band of our finest warriors," I ordered to her,
With a fist to her chest and a bow of the head, Hypatia went to gather all our finest warriors. After all, we will offer only the finest for this tiger princess. On our island homeland, Xiphos is not a united island. We are all divided into 'city-states'. My comrades and I are from Nemea while other prides of lions come from rival city-states in Sarissa and Labrys
A single band of warriors, two lines of eight. All of them have mates. All of them have children to carry on their legacy. The greatest of our hallowed kind, our queen, inspected our warriors. Adoni, Chara, Demetra, Enyo, Hypatia, Iokaste, Kore, Maia, Melina, Rhea, Xanthe, Zona, Sappho, Rhoda, Ptolema, and myself all answered the queen's call to arms
We are known as a 'Sacred Band'. Our bonds are as close as sisters, and some among them are lovers which is a very common practice among some warriors. The mighty queen lightly grinned and nodded in approval of those I have chosen to fight. The queen is recognizable on the battlefield with a golden laurel wreath decorating her Corinthian helmet.
Queen Gorgo has two high crests on her helmet with blue and white horsehair. Warriors like me have a single high crest, but mine is blue with a tail in the rear. Blue is the color of Nemea. The sacred color of Sarissa is gold and for Labrys their color is black. All warriors wear a bronze cuirass and greaves for protection, "You will accompany us?" I asked,
"I never shy from battle," said Queen Gorgo, cradling her helmet,
"We of Nemea only know one trade...war," I said to Princess Kiriad,
Using a trireme, we escorted Princess Kiriad back to the lands of the Tiger Clans. We carried ourselves with readiness for combat. Our shields decorated with images of gorgons, griffons, dolphins and eagles among other things. I ran my fingers through my cornrows of black hair at the sight of the Tiger Lands. They are very much like our own territories.
The last pieces of our attire is a thong with a cloth flap in the front and back going down to our knees and a blue cloak. By our sacred laws, we fight. For there is no greater glory than to fight and die on the battlefield. We give praise to Zeus to help us strike down our enemy. To Athena to fill our hearts with courage, and Ares to quench his thirst for blood
Princess Kiriad led us over the mountain trails and we took in the scenery, "It seems we have not even left our home," joked Hypatia behind me, earning a few giggles from the other warriors. Our armor clattered lightly with every step on the pebble ladened trail. From behind boulders on the outskirts of the path, we met tiger warriors for the first time.
(Author Note: To 'RazorFox' They're back...Hope you Tigers like these Lionesses)