Living in the shadow of Amazons, Part II: How the Amazons became female dominated.
By J. Allan J. - jallanj@yahoo.dk
Lucius meets the librarian Gemmalina and studies the history of the Amazons.


This story is continued from 'Part I: Beginning a new life with an 
Amazon'. This chapter has been updated with a new title and a 
synopsis. The phrase 'Homian' is borrowed from Hardie, but apart from 
that the two series have nothing to do with each other.


Short synopsis:
Lucius learns how the original Amazon tribe transformed from a 
nomadic tribe under male dominated into a settled tribe under female 
supremacy and how Marpesia, the first Queen of the Amazons, won a 
great victory over a barbaric tribe by using female archers.


Quick notes by author:

About Amazons and Amazons:
When searching for background material for my stories, I soon noticed 
that there is much confusion about the original myths of the Amazons. 
This confusion is partly caused by the fact that there were two 
different Amazon tribes in Ancient times:

a) Amazons who lived in modern day Libya. They lived with males, but 
they crippled their boy children when infant, (they either crippled a 
leg or an arm or blinded them), so they posed no threat to female 
supremacy. These Amazons fought the Gorgons at Atlantis.

b) Amazons who lived in Anatolia in modern day Turkey. They lived 
without males - they killed them all! Instead they mated with males 
from the tribe of the Gargareans to produce girl children. They 
fought in the Trojan War.

I of course borrow from both Amazon traditions.



The story:


The next morning Myria asked Lucius what he wanted to do. She had 
plans of her own, but she couldn't just leave him to roam freely in 
the streets of Themiskyra.

"Back to the market, please," Lucius said. "I still owe you a new 
dress as a substitute for the one that was ruined back in 
Thermodonus."

"To the market it is," Myria said. "And then?"

"I would like to visit the library of Themiskyra, please," Lucius 
answered.

"An excellent idea," Myria responded. She had of course expected that 
Lucius would like to spend some time reading books and scrolls. After 
all, he was a desk-soldier and bookworm, while she was a woman of 
action.

She on the other hand needed to settle things with her girl-friends 
here in Themiskyra. She had to inform them that she was going away 
for a year or so.  She might be back to visit occasionally, but the 
Queen expected her to spend most of her time in the nation of the 
Gargareans, now that she was nominated the commander of the northern 
frontier and also assigned to the task of keeping Lucius under 
thorough observation.

When they arrived at the market, Myria selected a fancy dress and 
Lucius duly paid for it.

However Lucius also had an agenda of his own for the day; he wanted 
to buy Myria a horse as a wedding gift and he had noticed that there 
were some fine horses for sale at the marketplace.

"Did you lose your horse back in Thermodonus?" Lucius asked.

"The horse that I rode was issued to me by the Queen's Royal 
Cavalry," Myria explained. "I don't own a horse on my own."

"Well, a woman in your position should ride her own horse when we 
travel to the nation of the Gargareans," Lucius said. "Please permit 
me to buy you a horse as a wedding-gift."

"You are very generous, my spouse," Myria said. "Although gifts are 
always welcome, you should be careful not to spend your money too 
freely."

Myria was quite impressed with his generosity. She wasn't very civil 
to him the day before, but Lucius was obviously of a forgiving nature 
and didn't take much heed to her insults or beatings alike.

"It's your money too, now that we are married. It's all in the family 
now, I suppose," Lucius said.

"Perhaps," Myria parried. "But I am not rich as you are and you have 
'married down', so to speak. Money will not come as easily in this 
part of the world, so you should spend it wisely."

"I shall heed your words, dear Mistress," Lucius said. "Now, let us 
go to the corral where they sell horses."

Myria carefully examined the available horses and settled for a fine 
mare.

"Buying yourself a fine horse for your personal use?" the horse-
seller looked at Myria. "I hope you realize that these fine creatures 
actually costs money!"

"As far as I remember you usually spend your soldier's pay in the 
taverns. But perhaps you have struck gold?"

"I don't visit the taverns anymore unless I have to pick up some of 
my troops, who have become too thirsty while on duty," Myria 
responded. "Besides my spouse will pay for the horse."

"Your spouse?" the horse-seller looked Lucius up and down a bit. "You 
look a bit outlandish and rather impoverished, good sir. Have you 
even got coin to pay?"

Lucius was still wearing Blasius' old clothes. The new fancy clothes 
that Myria had bought him the day before were meant for the upcoming 
farewell party at the Queen's palace.

"My clothes are merely a bit dusty from the long hard road. I can pay 
my way," Lucius said and slapped the pouch with the silver coins. 

"I take it back!" The saleswoman froze. "Your business is of course 
most appreciated here."

"So, you struck gold after all," she winked at Myria.

"Now that you got a fine horse for yourself, I would recommend a fine 
bridle and saddle for it. My colleague on the other side sells some 
very well-crafted accessories for horses."

"An excellent idea, come along my dear wife and mistress," Lucius 
headed towards the other shop.

Although his choice of words reflected humility, the tone of his 
voice was cocky which provoked Myria. She quickly reached down his 
crotch from behind him when he passed by her, grabbed his balls and 
squeezed them hard.

"Arhhh," Lucius howled from the pain.

"Get your ass behind me at once, worm," she hissed at him. "You're 
out of line!"

On top of his cocky attitude, it was also very embarrassing for her 
that Lucius was spending his money on her. After all, she was the 
female and supposed to be providing for him and not the other way 
around.

However, she had managed to hustle some money from the queen the day 
before by saying that keeping a male meant certain extra expenses. 
The queen had just grunted and acceded to her wish.

"Don't spend it all in the taverns!" the Queen had barked at her.

"I don't drink anymore, Your Majesty," Myria had objected.

"A wise policy, Myria," the Queen then said. "Keep it up and you 
might still have a career within the Amazon realm."

Myria went to shop for horse accessories with Lucius humbly trotting 
behind her. She settled for a fine-crafted saddle with a matching 
bridle, both beautifully decorated with silver, which she secured on 
her new horse.

Then she told Lucius to get down on his hands and knees so she could 
use him as a stool to climb on her horse. Lucius froze and discreetly 
informed her that this act was considered disgraceful and disgusting 
and even regarded as a deadly insult in his old country, meant only 
for lowlife prisoners of war or condemned criminals.

Myria explained that in Amazonia this act was considered a polite 
gesture of humility which she would appreciate very much. But Lucius 
was still reluctant to get down on all fours.

"Do it, just to please me," she initially cooed in a sweet voice; but 
when that didn't work, her face hardened.

"Get down or I will break your fingers!" she spat at him.

Lucius immediately dropped to all fours without hesitation.

"If my wife and mistress insists," he murmured in a meek voice.

"She does!" Myria concluded and climbed on her horse.

Lucius face was contorted with disgust when he felt her foot on his 
back. He discreetly looked around to check if anyone were watching, 
but everyone did. It was obvious to everyone that Lucius was a new 
arrival in Amazonia and that Myria was breaking him in to the new 
lifestyle of a male living under female supremacy, which always was 
an entertaining spectacle to watch.

He wondered if his humiliations would ever end? 

"That was really wasn't so hard, now was it?" Myria said. "Cheer up! 
I promised you a trip to the library and that's where we are headed 
now. If my memory serves me well, we should follow the road to the 
southern part of the city."


Librarian Gemmalina:

Myria rode her horse through the streets of Themiskyra with Lucius 
walking behind her until they came to large building by the end of a 
deserted side-street.

"Behold, the Library of the Amazons," Myria proclaimed and jumped of 
her horse.

When she was sure that no-one was watching, she quickly hugged and 
kissed Lucius passionately and then whispered in his ear.

"My thanks for the horse, my noble spouse. It was a great favour 
which was uncalled for and it shall not soon be forgotten."

Then she gently pushed him away. Keeping up appearances was also 
important for Amazons and she couldn't be seen showing affection for 
him out in the street.

"Come along now. Inside we shall find an old acquaintance of mine, 
whom I'm sure you'll get along with splendidly."

Inside they were greeted by a woman about Myria's age with shabby 
looking clothes and messy hair. She had the look of a grey mouse and 
gave the impression that she really didn't care about her looks.

"Myria!" she called out. "Well, I haven't seen you at the library in 
what? Ten years?"

"Twelve," Myria softly said. "How are you, my dear Gemmalina?"

"Oh, I'm pretty good! Can't complain," she said while she hugged 
Myria and kissed her cheeks.

The two of them had once been an item when they were very young, but 
they drifted apart due to the simple fact that Myria chose a military 
career, while Gemmalina became a civilian, indifferent and even 
hostile to warfare and bloodshed.

"So, you brought your handsome spouse to visit my library," the 
librarian said. "Lucius, is it not?"

"Yes ma'am," Lucius said. "Thank you for receiving such an ignorant 
brute like myself." Lucius kneeled before her and kissed her hand.

"Nonsense!" she said. "I know you already; you are a reader of books 
and a formidable swordfighter. These two virtues are seldom found in 
the same person, male or female.

She took a firm hold of his and made him stand up and then she shook 
his hand.

"We are not so keen on formalities in my library so you don't need to 
kneel to me. It's nice to receive a male for once, most of the local 
lads can't even read and the boys, those who come from the outside 
usually never visit the library."

"I was wondering when you were going to show up, I have been 
expecting to see you here."

"Oh, I wasn't aware that my reputation had preceded me," Lucius said.

"Not quite, someone beat you to it," Gemmalina said and pointed 
behind them where a group of clerks were occupied with copying 
scripts and scrolls into books.

The scrivener from his old country stood up and made a clumsy attempt 
to salute him with a bright smile on his face. Lucius smiled and 
saluted him back.

"Yes, I took the liberty of hiring your scrivener, Alexioux," 
Gemmalina explained. "I hope that you don't mind."

"Not at all!" Lucius said. "He is his own man now and has earned his 
freedom like the rest of the brave males who followed us here from 
Homia."

Obviously Lucius wasn't the only Homian male who was interested in 
books. After the lunch at the Palace, Scrivener Alexioux had 
persuaded Androlyta and Blasius to follow him to the library, where 
he immediately was employed by Librarian Gemmalina.

"Now, Lucius, spouse of Myria, what would you like to read today?"

"The history of the Amazons," Lucius proclaimed.

"Excellent choice! Any else?" Gemmalina asked.

"Dissertations on Amazon tactics," Lucius suggested.

"Ha! That I cannot do," Gemmalina said firmly. "I'm not allowed to 
let you read anything regarding the Amazon military."

"Princess Artianna came by yesterday, giving herself such airs as if 
she was already Queen. Ever since Princess Lida died that girl 
anticipates power like no one else."

"First she forbade me to even grant you access the library and even 
had the nerve to demand that I get rid of Scrivener Alexioux. But I 
told her that the library of Themiskyra is my domain and that she is 
not yet Queen, so I will employ anyone and receive any visitor that I 
choose."

"Instead we agreed that I will keep a close lid on everything 
regarding Amazon military matters. She seems to think that you are 
some kind of spy and an infiltrator."

Myria remembered that the Queen had mentioned something about Lucius 
raising suspicion. She certainly didn't intend to let him observe 
Amazon weapons training or similar, but what could he possibly learn 
from dusty old books and scrolls? She wondered.

"The Princess is much too kind," Lucius said.

"Eh? That was not a compliment," Gemmalina was confused.

"No, but I was being sarcastic!" Lucius explained.

Librarian Gemmalina laughed out loud, but put her hand to her mouth 
to muffle the noise from her laughter. This was after all a library.

"I think I like you, spouse of Myria," she said.

"You can leave him with me and get on with your own chores of today," 
she said to Myria. "I'll make sure he has something worthwhile to 
read. Something that will not insult his intelligence nor be too 
controversial."

Myria thanked her and left. She firmly instructed Lucius to behave 
himself and then went out the door.

While Gemmalina fetched some books and scrolls for Lucius, he 
entertained himself with conversation with Scrivener Alexioux. When 
she returned, she positioned Lucius at an empty reading desk and 
placed a book and some scrolls in front of him.

"I'll leave you to it then," she smiled to him. "Mind the scrolls, 
please, they are rather brittle and I must get them copied one of 
these days."

Lucius began reading the book made of parchment, which was entitled; 
'History of the Amazons'. It consisted of several scripts, which had 
been written into one book.


How the Amazon tribe initiated female supremacy:

It seemed that once the Amazons were a nomadic tribe which originated 
from the mountains to the east of the Euxine Sea (modern day Black 
Sea). At that time they were male-dominated like any other tribe, but 
when they headed south-west into the great plateau of Anatolia their 
lifestyle changed drastically.

In the new land they found rich new pastures for their horses and 
domesticated animals. However they also found new enemies; the 
original inhabitants worked the land for food and also hunted the 
wild horses of Anatolia for their meat.

The Amazons had already when they lived east of the Euxine Sea 
learned the art of domesticating horses which they used for riding 
and pulling their carts.

But the local inhabitants quickly grew jealous of the Amazon's large 
flocks of horses which were regarded as nothing but walking packs of 
meat by the locals. On the other hand the Amazons grew envious of the 
local inhabitants stockpiles of grain. It was inevitable that a 
violent confrontation was coming.

The males of the Amazon tribe held a council of war. They decided to 
strike at the most numerous of their neighbouring tribes immediately 
after harvest. Then they could not only wipe out a threat, but also 
secure their stockpiles of food. The males reckoned that the lesser 
tribes would be intimidated by the Amazon's fierce and swift 
annihilation of the most important local tribe and fall into line.

Then the whole army of armed males took off, happily singing their 
war-songs, leaving their women, children and old behind, completely 
defenceless. But they were convinced that their use of horses and 
superior military skills would bring them a swift victory.

When five days went by without any news, the Amazon tribe grew 
worried and the sentry guards kept a sharp lookout.

Then in the afternoon on the sixth day, they spotted a lone rider 
approaching in the horizon. They sounded the alarm and rode off to 
meet him. They could see from the distance that he was severely 
wounded.

When the wounded warrior saw the sentries riding to him, he tried to 
wave at them, but he fell from his horse and couldn't get up. 

"What has happened?" the sentry guards asked him.

"We were ambushed!" the wounded warrior said in a weak voice.

"Fire scared our horses and they panicked ... all was in disarray. 
The enemy slaughtered us."

More people from the tribe gathered around him.

"Where are the other warriors?" they asked.

"All dead!" he whispered and then he expired.

A young girl knelt by the side of the dead warrior and wept while she 
pressed his lifeless hand against her pregnant womb. Their child 
would grow up without a father, that is if she even lived long enough 
to give birth to their child.

The remaining members of the Amazon tribe looked at each other; they 
were suddenly left naked and defenceless like newborn children.

Alas! A tribe where all the males at fighting age were slaughtered in 
battle. It sounded depressingly familiar to Lucius and he sighed.

Worse still, the lone survivor did them a grave disservice by riding 
directly back to camp to warn them and perhaps their enemies even had 
let him escaped badly wounded in order to follow the his trail back 
to the unprotected remains of the Amazon tribe.

The tribe elders began discussing what to do. There was no chance 
that they could defend themselves without warriors. Perhaps they 
could run and hide? But where could they go?

"I think that I will stupefy myself with wine tonight and then I will 
kill myself," one of the male tribal elders proclaimed. "Anyone is 
welcome to join me."

His wife, Marpesia, spat at his feet.

"You always were a spineless coward!" she scolded him.

He raised his hand to strike her for her insult, but one of the 
sentries secured his arm.

"Save your wrath for the enemy, old man, don't hit your own people!"

"Alright, what do you suggest we do then?" the old man asked his 
wife.

"Train new warriors!" Marpesia proclaimed. "We still have some time 
before our enemies arrive; because they do not know the art of taming 
horses, they must march on foot."

"But who can we possibly train?" the sentries asked. "There is no one 
left, just old men, children and cripples." 

The old woman looked the young women, who stood with saddened faces
from the loss of their loved ones and talked about the horrors that 
most likely awaited them as slaves of their enemies.

"Not so!" she objected. "I see perfect young women right here in 
front of us. Let's train them!"

The sentry guards and the other males looked at each other dubiously 
and then looked to the sky, had the old woman gone mad?

However, Marpesia went to the young girl, who was still weeping 
beside her husband's corpse.

"Stop your weeping, my dear," the old woman took her by the hand. 
"Save your tears for the funeral tonight. We have better things to do 
now."

"Do you know how to shoot a bow?" Marpesia asked.

"Surely, for hunting and such," the young girl sobbed.

"See! If this fine young woman already has the skill to shoot a 
running rabbit, surely she can find the courage to hit a brute male 
coming to rape her," the old lady proclaimed.

"So, we will train female archers but what about swords? Learning how 
to use swords doesn't come overnight," the males objected.

"The remaining males shall use swords, all of you," Marpesia 
explained. "You have lived by the sword all your life; it's only fair 
that you die by it, if need be, to save your families from slavery."

"Fine, count me in!" one of the sentries said. "I'll neither run nor 
drink myself into oblivion, while waiting in quiet desperation for 
our enemies to come and slaughter us."

They lined all the young women up and made selections on whether they 
could shoot a bow, if not, they were put to work as fletchers 
instead. Their plan was to make as many arrows as possible and they 
kept the furnace burning all night and all day to make arrowheads.

The weapon smithy had lost his only son, but he trained his two 
daughters to be his apprentices instead.

Their arsenal consisted mostly of the hunting bows which didn't 
inflict the same impact as war bows, but they would have to do for 
the upcoming battle. The archers would just have to allow the enemy 
to close in order to kill them.

At nightfall they burned the corpse of the dead warrior on a mighty 
funeral pyre and while the flames lit up the night, they sang songs 
of love and war from their old country.

The Amazon tribe appointed Marpesia new tribal leader and she 
appointed a woman by the name of Lampetia her second in command and 
leader of the horse-riding archers, whom Marpesia calculated would be 
the key to victory against their enemies.

In the following days they all worked hard at their assigned tasks to 
produce arrows and target-practice, the latter both while standing 
and while riding their horses. The remaining males, mostly old, but 
also some crippled, trained how to assemble in single line formations 
in order to protect the archers while they would fire at the enemy.

The horse-riding archers did not have any protection because there 
was no time to produce armour for them. Instead the carpenter and his 
female apprentices produced small wooden shields, called bucklers, 
which the horse-riding archers would use to catch the enemy's arrows.

At the same time the young ladies with the sharpest eyes continuously 
rode out to check if the enemy was approaching.

On the twelfth day the horse riding lookouts reported back that a 
large army was approaching. They estimated that the enemy outnumbered 
them approximately seven to one, but Marpesia remained calm.

"Let them come!" she proclaimed. "They don't expect resistance and 
are probably just as dumb as our own males, who marched straight to 
their own demise."

"We have arrows enough and our brave archers only need to kill seven 
enemies each to bring us victory."

It was still early in the day and the enemy would likely arrive about 
midday, which gave the Amazons sufficient time to prepare themselves 
for the upcoming battle.

The Amazons loaded their valuables on carts and send them along with 
their flock of horses and domesticated animals so far to the rear 
that they couldn't be seen by the enemy. They also set fire to some 
thatched cottages to make an appearance that they had packed up and 
left in a hurry.

The horse riding archers escorted the carts and livestock away from 
camp and would await a signal to return and attack. The foot warriors 
hid in the bushes or trenches that they had dug to the east and the 
west side of their camp, or what appeared to be left of it.

The male tribe elders collectively decided to sacrifice themselves as 
a blood offer to ensure victory. This was only fair because it was 
their reckless tactics which had led to the loss of all their male 
warriors.

When the scouts of the barbarian army walked into the abandoned 
Amazon camp, they found it deserted except for a group of old men 
sitting in the middle, looking indifferently at the strangers who 
approached. The barbarians of course thought that the old Amazonian 
men had been cast out of their tribe and left behind when the Amazons 
left.

The barbarian scouts reported their news back to the tribal chief, 
who marched with his army into the camp and stood towering before the 
Amazon tribe elders. Unknowingly they had walked into a trap and were 
caught between the hammer and the anvil.

The enemy tribal chief barked something to the tribal elders in his 
barbaric tongue. They couldn't understand his words, but they could 
gather that he was asking where the Amazon tribe had fled to.

When the tribe elders failed to respond, he kicked the nearest in the 
guts. However his fellow tribe elder produced a dagger and stabbed 
the tribal chief in the foot, who howled from pain. Before he could 
draw his sword, the tribe elder he had kicked drew his own sword and 
cut the tribal chief's leg off at the knee.

The tribal leader screamed from the pain and fell to the ground while 
the two Amazon tribal elders swung their swords into him and killed 
him. Then the rest of the tribe elders jumped up as fast as their age 
and agility allowed and also drove their swords into the fallen 
leader.

Then the barbarian horde went at them and cut them down where they 
stood. However, the commotion of the sudden resistance and the 
killing of their tribal leader brought confusion into the barbarian 
horde.

Then Marpesia sounded the horn. The bushes around the barbarian horde 
came to life and the males lined up in a single formation and the 
female archers at the front started shooting straight at the 
barbarian horde. The archers in the back aimed their bows to the sky 
and shot trajectory volleys of arrows which hit the barbarian horde 
from above like deadly rain as they crowded around the falling 
elders.

Then a archer shot a flaming arrow in the sky, signalling to the 
horse-riding Amazons that they should initiate their attack.

When the barbarian horde realized that they were under attack they 
first stormed forward, trying to rush the Amazons by using sheer 
numbers, but the archers shot them down long before they reached 
their formation. The waves of barbarians that came close were cut 
down by the males in to front of the Amazon formations. If the males 
in formation were crippled and only had one good arm, they used their 
shield to parry the barbarians rush, giving the archer behind a extra  
shot at point-blank range.

The slingers and archers of the barbarian horde started firing back 
at the Amazons, but they were well-protected behind the shields of 
the males in the front of their formations. All the while the archers 
in the rear of the Amazon formations methodically fired trajectory 
volleys of arrows which took a heavy toll of the numbers of warriors 
in the core of the barbarian horde.

Then the barbarians extended their line both north and south to try 
to outflank the Amazon formations instead, but now the horse-riding 
Amazons arrived on the scene to join the battle. The first group of 
horse-riding archers drove the barbarians back from the northern 
flank of the Amazon formations and the two remaining groups of horse-
riders separated from the first to support the southern flanks of the 
Amazon formations.

Here the Amazons were taking losses! The Amazon males formed a 
defensive line to protect the flank of their archers, but the 
barbarians could use their numbers against them. The males fought 
bravely until they fell, but their deaths bought time for the archers 
to pull back and maintain their rate fire.

However, the arrival of the horse-riders intensified the arrow-fire 
and the slaughter of the barbarians in the front lines held back 
their further advance, while other Amazonian males could form new 
defensive lines against the incoming barbarians. 

Some barbarian warriors attempted to form a defensive line to check 
the female riders, but the Amazon horse-riders continued to outflank 
them faster than the barbarians could cover their rear. The 
barbarians finally began to realize that they had walked into a trap 
and were becoming encircled themselves.

They had of course expected to find the Amazon camp unprotected and 
full of valuables to loot and women and young girls to rape and 
torture. They were completely taken by surprise by the hardened and 
disciplined resistance, which they faced and therefore soon started 
to disengage and flee to the south.

Marpesia gave a command to allow fleeing barbarians to escape in 
order to avoid stretching her own troops thin. Instead she 
concentrated her fighters on defeating the core of the barbarian 
horde which remained on the battlefield. They could pursue the 
fleeing barbarians on horseback and cut them down as the fleeing foot 
soldiers exhausted themselves in their headlong retreat.

The barbarian horde was in fact now caught between the hammer and 
anvil. With the arrival of the horse-riding archers, the devastation 
from the rain of arrows Amazons intensified on all sides. The 
barbarians could not storm the Amazon archers protected by the 
shields of the males to the west and east. And the horse-riding 
archers to the north were too mobile to be caught by frustrated 
charges of the incoming barbarians, who were cut-down before they 
even get close enough to engage any Amazon horse-rider.

Instead the formations of the Amazons slowly moved forward 
simultaneously to squeeze the life of the core of the barbarian 
horde. Even those escaping the narrow gauntlet to the south were 
harassed by arrows and only very few actually got away.

The situation for the barbarians grew evermore desperate. They lost 
hope of defeating the Amazons and grew weary of uselessly and 
bloodily charging into point-blank arrow-fire. The only way left was 
to close ranks, rely on their remaining numbers and slowly but 
orderly retreat southwards with shields locked together, but they 
clearly never had the discipline nor cohesion for this kind of 
complicated military manoeuvre.

Instead more and more barbarians panicked and looked to their own 
safety. A few remaining attempted a last blind charge only to impale 
themselves on the unending volleys of the Amazon archers, while some 
most broke ranks and ran south, only to be shot down in the back, 
sides or even in the front if they discarded their shields. Soon the 
very core of the barbarian horde also started to move southwards and 
their wall of shields parting, making their slaughter an easier task 
of the Amazons, who slowly cut into the barbarian ranks and separated 
them into smaller groups.

Marpesia gave the order for the Amazonian males to stay behind and 
kill any wounded enemy that they could find. The Amazon horse-riders 
followed the barbarian horde and attacked the barbarians from the 
east, west and north and drove them back to the south towards their 
inevitable demise. The archers on foot followed behind and collected 
the weapons and armour from their fallen enemies while also killing 
any wounded enemy that they encountered.

After a few hours the barbarian horde dissolved and then was finally 
completely wiped out, except for a last order by Marpesia to capture 
a group of ten barbarians alive.

In the evening the Amazons burned their dead and Marpesia addressed 
her people:

"Sisters, we have won a great victory today. We have vanquished a 
male army that outnumbered us seven to one and on the other hand we 
only suffered losses less than a one in ten of our fighting force. A 
great day, indeed."

But what future awaits us? There is now one less enemy to deal with, 
but there were still many more to come. However there were also 
potential allies to be found and Marpesia was formulating her 
thoughts on a plan for the future of the Amazons.

"Let us pay a social and peaceful visit to the women of our deceased 
enemies. They will soon be worried about what has happened to their 
males. Let us bring them the news ourselves."

Later in the evening Marpesia marvelled at a sight of a young 
Amazonian couple sitting close together at the campfire.

The young man had already been wounded by arrows in one arm in an 
earlier battle. In this recent battle he was therefore armed with a 
shield and assigned to protect archers on foot. However, during the 
battle a barbarian crushed his other shoulder with a club. Now 
neither of his arms could function.

"How am I to embrace you now that I have no arms to do so fit to do 
so?" he complained. But his girlfriend just hugged and kissed him.

"Hush, my love. I will hold you instead," she would not abandon him 
because of his disability.

This was obviously the way forward for the Amazon tribe.

In the morning, Marpesia assigned the males and the archers on foot 
to stay behind and rebuild their camp under command of Lampetia. She 
loaded the few prisoners on a cart and set out with the horsewomen on 
the trail of their vanquished enemy.

During the day they caught up with several survivors, who had escaped  
the slaughter the day before, but now the Amazons easily killed them 
because they were too exhausted to out-run them.

On the second day they passed the battleground where their own males 
had perished. This was a horrid sight to behold. Everywhere lay the 
corpses of males and horses alike. The emaciated state of the horse 
carcasses was proof that the barbarians had feasted on their meat 
after the battle.

The Amazons made camp and burned both their humane and equine dead 
during the night. The scouts reported that the camp of their enemies 
was only half a day's journey away and by its appearance those 
dwelling there had no knowledge of what had happened to their own 
army.

In the morning Marpesia and her Amazons continued towards the enemy 
camp where they stopped just outside. Marpesia ordered her warriors 
to stay back and lower their arms in order not to intimidate the 
enemy. Instead she proceeded forward with the cart of prisoners and a 
small escort of warriors as bodyguards. Then she ordered her scout to 
make verbal contact with the other tribe.

A small group of people came forward and looked interested at the 
strangers who came to visit. However, they froze when they saw their 
own warriors as prisoners, but Marpesia ordered her warriors to 
release the prisoners as a friendly gesture.

The Amazons didn't yet speak the same language as the tribes of 
Anatolia, therefore the former prisoners had to inform their own 
people of the situation in their own tongue. The faces of the other 
tribes-people fell as the survivors told their tale.

Marpesia signalled to them that she came with peace and wanted to 
negotiate. However, she dismissed all the males and negotiated only 
with other females. They had to communicate slowly through signs and 
gestures because neither side could communicate verbally with the 
other.

Marpesia demonstrated to them that she and her people had no ill will 
towards their tribe and that, if they had no warriors left alive, 
they were welcome to join the tribe of Amazons, but only if the 
surviving males accepted to live under female supremacy. Marpesia 
simply offered friendship instead of demanding surrender.

The other tribe discussed the proposition made by Marpesia and the 
female negotiators came back and signalled that the females of the 
other tribe were interested in joining the Amazon tribe. If the 
Amazons would teach them how to fight, they would on the other hand 
teach them how to work the land for food, but the remaining males 
were reluctant to let them go.

However, Marpesia brought the rest of her army forward to attention 
with arms raised and the obstinate males quickly fell into line. Most 
of them packed up and left to join other tribes, but some of the 
males agreed to join the tribe of the Amazons.

So, there is a method to their madness after all, Lucius thought to 
himself. First they slaughter the male warriors and then the 
civilians (mostly women with a few males) have no choice but to join 
forces with the Amazons if they want to survive.

Marpesia was hereafter known as the first queen of the Amazons and it 
is said that the mighty city of Themiskyra was build on the very site 
of the battleground, where the Amazon tribe under female supremacy 
won their first battle under her leadership.

Marpesia declared that only Amazon women should engage in warfare. 
The males should instead handle domestic affairs, work the land and 
herd their domesticated animals.

Furthermore only crippled males should be allowed to dwell among the 
Amazons. When the boys reached puberty, they had to accept mutilation 
of one of their limps or leave the tribe. Later they initiated the 
tradition of mutilation of infant boys instead. This way being 
crippled when male in the Amazon tribe would seem perfectly normal.

And thus how the Amazon tribe under female supremacy came to be.



To be continued ... 



The tale of Myria and Lucius continues in the next chapter, where 
Lucius will read more of the history of the Amazons and receive more 
punishment from Myria.

The storyline is set for many more chapters, however comments, 
suggestions or story ideas are welcome, just email the author at 
jallanj@yahoo.dk