II. A Queen in Despair

"Hyppolita! Hyppolita!"

The Queen of the Amazons was sitting in her private quarters, bend over a map of the sky. The Amazons were familiar with foretelling the future on the basis of the heavenly constellations, and she concentrated on trying to figure out a glimpse of what was going on in the outside world. Vigilance was paramount, now that their protective hull had been breached. The Queen had been in a gloomy mood for days, since the death of her sister and de departure of her daughter, both sucked into the mouth of a monster called "The Great War". Antiope's demise signalled a new era in the life on the island of Themyscira. As for the fateful quest of her daughter —

The doors to her chambers burst open and a tall warrior walked in.

"My Queen, pardon me, but you are urgently requested in the Great Hall. A messenger arrived from the World of Men. There might be news from Princess Diana."

The woman approached the table. The Queen looked up, her brow still furrowed in concentration. A strong hand landed on Hyppolita's shoulder and squeezed it tenderly. Menalippe, head of the Queen's Guard, was, together with Artemis, whom she appointed the new leader of the army, her closest confidante now that her sister was gone.

"Senator Acantha and general Artemis require your presence in the Great Hall, immediatedly, if you please, my Queen."

The Queen rose without a word and strode out and into the gardens, followed by her royal escorte. They marched quickly following the ceremonial road that connects the palace to the Great Hall, a sacred space at the heart of Amazonian society. Here the Senate convened to debate all matters of import to the community as a whole. This was also the place were the major religious ceremonies took place. Its lavishly decorated gates stood wide open at their arrival, and a noisy crowd gathered on the steps of the staircase leading into the main hall. They respectfully made way as soon as they saw the Queen arrive, but pressed into the room once she had entered. Hyppolita walked up the ceremonial platform in front of the Python, the snake goddess that gave wisdom and clairvoyance to the Pythia, the head priestess of the Amazon nation, and turned briskly to the dense crowd. A deadly silence fell.

A fearsome, darkskinned and broadshouldered warrior stepped aside to reveal the presence of a small figure kneeling in the middle of a group of guards, hands tied in front and secured by a rope held by one of them.

"This man," general Artemis said, pointing to the prisoner, "claims not only to have seen, but to have fought alongside with princess Diana and the American spy she left the island with to stop the war. He also claims that captain Trevor is death and Diana taken prisoner by the Germans."

An audible gasp went through the audience. Queen Hyppolita paled while hearing those words, which confirmed her darkest premonitions. She slowly descended the stairs and halted on the last step in front of the kneeling man. He looked up at her, they scanned each other's face intently. His tanned complexion was marked by the traces of a harsh life. He was apparently intimidated, but the spark that lit his deep brown eyes revealed a lively spirit. He lowered his gaze first and intoned, respectfully,

"Your majesty."

A slight move of her hand.

"Arise."

He stood and faced her, a faint smile curling his lips.

"Is it true what my general says? Do you have news about my daughter?"

The man nodded forcefully.

"Yes, Your majesty, I do. But I'm afraid it is not good news. Diana Prince is captured by the Germans. Together with captain Steve Trevor, whom I understand you already know, and some of my other friends, they destroyed a weapons facility where the Germans produced a deadly gaz. She moreover killed their commander-in-chief, general Erich Ludendorff; I — I understood from what she said that she identified him to, ehh —, to your Wargod Ares."

He fixed his gaze to the ground. A concept like the God of War still remained too hard for the pious muslim to digest entirely.

"He's lying! You can plainly see that he's lying! How could Diana ever have been captured by the Germans if she discovered how to unleash her powers? She's a demigodess — she could have wiped them out quite easely!" — Menalippe stepped in and grabbed the prisoner by his lapel, shaking him violently. "Who are you, anyway?"

The man fell again to his knees and lifted his hands to the Queen in a theatrically beseeching pose.

"Revered Queen, Your majesty, I beg you to have mercy on a humble messenger. Even if I'm unworthy to grovel at your feet, I swear that I am speaking the truth. I would happily have myself captured in Diana's Lasso of Truth if I only could, but sadly enough the Germans captured that one too, together with the rest of her magical equipment."

An outburst of emotional reactions and comments followed after these words. It was plain the man at least knew Diana in person. Senator Acantha took the stairs and called for silence. She turned to Hyppolita and said,

"My Queen, methinks it clear this man really knows something, and we need to find out precisely what. How would he have got here to start with if not with Diana's help? I propose we release him and listen to his story."

The Queen nodded slightly in confirmation. "But first we need to know who you are."

Acantha took him by his elbow and planted him on his feet. Artemis took out a knife and cut his bonds with one swift stroke.

"Ehhh — Thank you, thank you, Senator, General. My same is Sultan Imgur Metz Kashmir — my friends call me Sameer. I hope you don't mind that I point out that I'm myself of royal blood, although I'll gladly admit that the radiance of my house fades to nothing compared to the splendour I see here —"

"Come to the point — " Hyppolita's voice, sharply.

The Sultan nodded obediently, took something from his breastpocket and handed it to the Queen.

"I don't think I can be any clearer than this German newspaper, Your majesty".

Hyppolita took the thickly folded piece of paper and opened it. What she saw cut off her breath. A frontpage-large picture of Diana, head low, heavily chained, in front of a military tribunal. "WAR CRIMINAL FACING JUSTICE" the caption said. She quickly read through the accompanying article.

"What does it say?", someone inquired. "Why do they bring her to court? She's a warrior, not a criminal. Don't they respect the code of honour?" "What is a 'newspaper'?" Sameer could hear a young Amazon ask amidst the uproar. He couldn't help himself smiling.

"My daughter is charged with sneeking into a gala at German High Command in honour of the upcoming armistice, in an attempt to kill the German commander-in-chief on behalf of the British secret services. She is said to have killed hundreds of soldiers in a terrorist attack on an arms factory, during which she effectively executed the aforementioned general, murdering him in cold blood. Finally, she is charged with having a hand in a craven gaz attack on a meeting of the German chiefs-of-staff, with the aim of ruining the efforts towards peace negotiations urged for by the Kaiser himself!"

Hyppolita briskly lowered the paper.

"This doesn't make any sense! What is this madness?! Diana's call was for ending the war, not for prolonging it! That general cannot have been Ares, for then the war would have ended by now — so, what was going on there? My daughter is no murderer; this cannot be! You — " she pointed menacingly at Sameer, "you have to tell me everything you know! Everything, you hear?! Bring him to my quarters!"

Menalippe's troops took care of the unlucky human, while the rest of the crowd dispersed, agitately commenting on the course of events.