V. For the Rescue
Sameer was enjoying his meal. It was not even so far away from what he knew from home: nice slices of meat, fresh vegetables of different kinds, everything spiced with herbs and hot peppers — really hot ones, and dry, pancakelike bread. But everything was so tasteful and deliciously prepared he feared he would faint. Although the fact that he hadn't seen a decent meal in three days could also account for that reaction to some extend.
A servant poured sparkling red wine in a heavily decorated bronze chalice. He drank eargely. The situation was far from a regular dinner-time — those who mind doubting that only had to glimpse at the two robust guards in glistening bronze armour behind his chair. The Queen of the Amazons and some of her most trusted counsellors watched him eating in silence, obviously impatient, but polite enough to wait until he finished his meal. He put his cup with a smack on the table and looked at the little gathering in front of him.
"Your Royal Highness, your excellencies — ", they had got a taste before of his stilted rhetorical style —, "I'm all yours to tell you whatever you want to know. Now, what do you want to know?"
Queen Hyppolita bit her tongue. She couldn't figure out whether to be irritated or amused by that man. She decided to settle for "amused" — at least for the moment. After all, he was a friend of her daughter's, or at least, so he claimed.
"You may begin by telling us how you met my daughter, and how the two of you got involved in that war — and how Diana ended up in German hands while you did not, obviously."
There was a hint of a threat in her tone. Sameer scraped his throat.
An hour or so later, they all sat, dumbstruck, watching the small stature of the dark skinned man before them. Sameer's eyes were shining while he ended his story. Was it sadness that shone in those dark orbs? Fear? Excitement? A combination of those and many things more?
" — we saw her, capturing white lightning from the air thrown at her by that — thing. She launched it back and made everything, well, pretty much explode. We had already blown up the production plant itself, but now really everything was gone. I don't know exactly what happened afterwards; her opponent was gone, wiped out I believe we may safely assume. But Diana herself seemed struck somehow as well. I saw her falling from the sky and a bunch of Germans rushing to the place where she'd touched ground — we couldn't do anything anymore and did what we could to make sure we'd get away with our own lives... "
He lowered his chin to his chest.
"I'm really sorry we couldn't save her. I believe seeing Steve Trevor die in the sky had unsettled her and made her weak. But I still don't see what good we could have done by getting ourselves captured or killed instead of getting out of there. Ares was dead, and the Germans, that was for sure, were not going to kill anybody by means of their gruesome gaz anymore — and that was what she wanted first and foremost."
He looked up again, staring the Queen straight into the eyes.
"Steve had plotted for us the rough course they had followed when coming back form Paradise Isl — I mean, from Themyscira, to the known world. Diana had shared with us that evening at Veld some astronomical data allowing us to locate it more precisely. I think she wanted to make sure that someone — eh, that someone might make it to here, in case of — "
A moment of hesitation. Than an impressive black warrior stood up, an indignant look on her face.
"It is a pity that the Lasso of Hestia is not with us right now. I have a hard time to believe this story. It is clear from what he tells that Diana discovered her true powers and her true nature. How then can it even be that she got caught by mere mortals?!"
Philippus came to the fore, pointing a threatening finger in Sameer's direction. Sameer jumped up from his chair, reaching out for the Queen in a pleading gesture.
"Hey, warrior lady! I don't need your Lasso, I'm speaking the truth — "
He was halted in his steps in the flash of a moment, sprawling under the pressure of a sturdy knee between his shoulderblades. The Queen waved the guards away.
"Leave him. I think he speaks the truth. We have to consider what to do next. If all of this is true, Diana won't even know for sure whether she succeeded her mission; she must be smashed, devastated. We cannot leave her in the hands of her enemies. She needs, now more then ever, her home and her family."
To Hyppolita's dismay, the otherwise so reticent Artemis spoke, her voice filled with disbelief.
"You intend to command the army to leave the island? And put everything and everybody remaining at risk? I have to strongly oppose to such a plan."
Menalippe interfered as well with a critical comment. This worried the Queen even more.
"Diana left without your consent, My Queen, even in direct violation of your orders. By doing so, she revealed to even more mortal men our location and endangered us all. Such defiance cannot go unpunished."
Hyppolita exasperated, such was the degree of her anger.
"She did what she was created for in the first place! If anyone was wrong, it was me, trying desperatedly to protect her and to keep her out of harm's way. She was unprepared, that's why she failed! Which may have cost her life, and Antiope's, for that matter — "
Hyppolita turned away from them. A swift, sweeping movement with her hand over her eyes. An unfamiliar voice threw itself in.
" 'Fail'? Who speaks of 'fail'?"
The Sultan of Kashmir straightened his back.
"Your Highness, if you allow me: Diana did not fail. She did end the war, or in any case nearly so. She saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. She's a hero, a true hero! By losing the gaz factory, the Germans lost every hope of winning the war by military means. It will be the armistice for them, or complete defeat, and they know it. It's only a matter of time. The question is how much more time it will take for them to realise this. By the way, they also know where you are, don't forget that; Diana could never have exposed you more than you already were. She at least deserves an attempt at being saved."
The Queen turned towards him with a grateful glimpse in her eyes. She held out the German newspaper, featuring her humiliated daughter on the front page.
"What are her chances to come out of this trial alive?"
"Honestly? None. And can you blame them? Diana murdered one of their top generals. Frankly, if you find your man nailed to the roof of his HQ by a sword... She not only destroyed the weapons factory in its entirety, but after Steve's dead she went — berserk, and close to wiped out nearly its whole garrsion. Also, Steve wàs an agent for the British intelligence, and they know that — they'll try her as a spy and a secret agent, and execute her for it. This is war; what else would you expect them to do, hmm?"
Queen Hyppolita was lost in thoughts for a while. Nobody uttered a word. She was weighing all her options — which were very limited. But it was clear to everyone that she was not going to give up on her daughter without a fight. After what seemed an eternity, she let her gaze go around the circle and landed it on Sameer.
"My generals are right, of course. We cannot leave Themyscira defenseless. Especially not if what you say is true. Sultan, you claim to be my daughter's brother-in-arms. Would you and your friends, together with some of my best warriors, be prepared to set up a rescue operation on German territory to find her and bring her back?"
Sameer's eyes were radiating with anticipation.
"We'd definitedly need some extra support. But yes, I think I speak for everybody if I say we'd go to hell to find that mademoiselle magnifique and get her back over here. I — eh, only hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but my friends and I — eh, we're not rich; we'd be happy with a little — reward, you know, in case we'd be succesful, hmmm? What d'you say?"
The Queen approached him, holding out her arm. A flicker of hesitation, then he grasped it firmly.
"You may name any reward you want, and it will be yours."
"In that case, Your Highness, — " and he made an exaggerated curtsy, "You can just leave the rescue of your daughter to me."