Living in the shadow of Amazons, Part IV: Departure from Themiskyra. By J. Allan J. - jallanj@yahoo.dk Myria and Lucius enjoy passionate sex with Gemmalina. This story is continued from 'Part III: 'The war against the Gorgons'. The phrase 'Homian' is borrowed from Hardie, but apart from that the two series have nothing to do with each other. This chapter has been updated to fix some name confusion of Greek characters participating in the Trojan war, and a short remark from author has been added. Short remark from Author: In this chapter I describe certain Greek atrocities against the Trojans. Please note that I'm only a messenger, I did not commit these cruel acts, the Greek invaders did! I'm a historian and have an obligation to tell the truth, regardless of how ugly it appears. Point your finger at the Greek invaders, or rather those ignorant fools who nowadays regard mass murderers like Achilles as heroes. Short synopsis: The brief Amazon involvement in the Trojan war is described. The truth on how the war between Amazons and Homians started is revealed. After attending the farewell feast at the palace of Queen Heta, Myria and Lucius enjoy passionate sex with Gemmalina. Then Myria and Lucius leave with the rest of the Homians for the nation of the Gargareans. The story: Lucius continued reading at his desk the next day. He had already finished the book 'History of the Amazons' the day before, but he still had some scrolls left to read. He gently edged one from the shelves and unrolled it carefully because it looked rather brittle. It contained an Amazon account on their participation in the Trojan War. The Amazons and the Trojan War: The spark that started the Trojan was the so called 'abduction' of Helena, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Prince Paris of Troy was handsome, soft-speaking and charming, and also very skilled in the art of lovemaking. Menelaus on the other hand was a brute who battered his wife privately when they were in bed and bruised her publicly outside the house. The noble Prince Paris inspired her with his talk of freedom, dignity and respect that awaited her as his wife in his home across the Aegean Sea. Greek women were treated as mere household slaves by their brute husbands. Many of them were not even allowed to leave the house, but were practically kept as prisoners in their own homes. Queen Helena seized the golden opportunity for a better life and the two lovers stole away during the night with the valuables from the Spartan treasure, but it consisted only of Helena's downy which were rightfully hers. Menelaus had no or very little income of his own, but preferred to live as well as his wife's fortune would allow. Menelaus went to his older brother, Agamemnon, King of Mycenae who would just love to go to war against Troy. It was not hard for Agamemnon to rally troops for the upcoming invasion. The Greeks envied the Trojans their wealth which they made as traders, dominating the lucrative sailing route through the Dardanelles channel between the Aegean and the Euxine Seas. Unlike the Greeks the Trojans were not a violent people; on the contrary they had reduced their navel forces in order not to intimidate incoming merchant ships. The Trojan navy was only fit to deter pirates and protect merchant ships. Therefore the Trojan navy was easily annihilated by the more advanced and numerous Greek navy when the invasion finally came. After landing their troops on the Trojan shores, the Greeks encircled the fortified Troy city and raided the defenseless Trojan countryside far and wide. Those unarmed peasants who could not flee within the city walls were brutally murdered by the Greek invaders and their crops and live-stocks were seized to provision the invading army. The Greeks tortured many male peasants to death in order to extract intelligence on the location of what proved to be non-existent treasures while they raped the peasant women and girls, many of whom were mere children who had not yet reached puberty when they were brutally ravished by those 'brave' Greeks. The Greeks then raided the towns and cities surrounding the Troy stronghold. These raids were usually led by the mass-murderer and child molester Achilles. In the defenseless Trojan towns and cities they found lots of loot to fill their hungry pockets. The Greeks slaughtered the Trojan males, raped their women and took them and their children as slaves. The Trojan slaves were sold at the slave markets at the Islands of Lemnos and Samos. Some unfortunate Trojan females ended up as sex- slaves in the Greek encampment where they withered towards a slow painful death caused by brutal mass-rapes and beatings, lack of nutrition and venereal diseases. In the end every scrap of earth around Troy lay ravished and lifeless, scourged by the evil Greek invaders who could not storm the walls of mighty Troy and then instead shrewdly chose the strategy of slow strangulation. Agamemnon, Achilles, Neoptolemus, Menelaus, Odysseus etc., were all regarded as heroes back home in Greece, as most common Greeks did not know their reputations hid savage deeds. However, the people of Anatolia tasted the true character of the Greeks invaders and knew them as common thieves, mass-murderers, rapists and child molesters. The mass murder and war criminal Achilles personally murdered 12 innocent Trojan children who were held as hostages to quell his psychopathic bloodlust and urge for revenge for his fallen friend Patroclus. In the aftermath of the fall of Troy that sick sadistic bastard Odysseus forced the poor Andromache, already devastated by her noble husband Hectors death, to watch in terrible agony as he held her son Astayanax by the foot and swung him back and forth over the wall while he taunted her. Then finally he threw the helpless infant boy to a by-standing henchman who crushed Astyanax' scull by smashing his head against the stonewall while his desperate mother screamed at the top of her lungs. Then Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, proceeded to viciously rape Andromache and when he was finished ravishing her, he slowly strangled her to death by crushing her windpipe with his thumbs. When they lit the fire at Achilles' funeral pyre, King Priam's youngest daughter, Polyxena, a mere child not even 12 years old was brutally gang-raped by eight or ten drunken Greeks, led by none other than Odysseus and Neoptolemus. The poor little ravished girl was bleeding hard from her molested womb and was hardly breathing when the savage Greeks finally were done with her. Then they tossed her in the funeral fire while they laughed out loud. Polyxena screamed wildly and called out for her mother when the fire burn her hair and then she went silent. The drunken Greeks continued to celebrate their 'glorious' victory through the following days where they committed further atrocities against the Trojan prisoners; Noble Hekabe, widow of King Priam, was raped and then stoned to death like a dog by the savage Greeks. 'Noble' deeds of true Greek 'heroes', indeed. No wonder that decent Anatolians like Lucius and Varus usually referred to the Greek savage invaders as low-life scumbags. Lucius read the 'Iliad' by Homer when he was a young lad and he remembered well what happened to the Amazons at Troy; the nation of the Amazons chose to support Troy and dispatched band of female warriors led by Captain Penthesilea to fight by their side. Unfortunately the Amazons arrived at the scene just after Hector had fallen and they all perished without turning the tide of the war. It was quite ironic thinking about the fact that Amazonia and Homia could have been allies during the Trojan War against the Greek invaders, but while Amazonia in those days was an advanced civilization, the Homians were backward and insignificant, still living in mud-huts. However, Lucius learned from the scroll that the leader of the Amazons at Troy, Captain Penthesilea had prior to their departure for the battlefield at Troy tragically killed her own sister in a hunting accident. This killing, although accidental, meant that she could never again return the realm of the Amazons. She informed her warriors that she was going to head west to the city Troy, which had already been under siege by the Greeks for several years. There she would fight gloriously and kill as many enemies at possible in order to immortalize herself for those deeds so that she was not remembered for the tragic killing of her own sister. Her warriors decided to follow their leader to her destiny. Lucius froze when he read the truth behind the Amazons involvement in the Trojan War; The Amazons didn't support Troy at all, they actually couldn't care less about who were winning that war. The strategy of the Amazon nation was to let the males fight amongst themselves and stay in the background in any conflict and only make a move if their own existence was being threatened. Captain Penthesilea only wanted to join in a battle where she could gain a glorious death in order to make amends for the killing of her own sister. The Amazons at Troy were in fact on a suicide mission and not a rescue mission. When the truth dawned on Lucius, his thoughts drifted back to the old librarian at the Library of Thermodonus. "Beware young man," he had said to Lucius when he first came to visit. "At the library you shall find knowledge that will shatter your illusions! Be welcome and be warned." Then the librarian had asked what he wanted to read and Lucius had suggested some dissertation on tactics of modern warfare. "Warfare?" the librarian had fumed. "It makes more widows than heroes! Does the youth of today only care for war? What has happened to prose and poetry, I wonder?" However, 400 years had now passed since the great Trojan War and the Greek civilization was gradually spreading in Anatolia, and changing the balance of power along with it. The Homians were the first of the so-called 'civilized' nations to be vanquished by the Amazons, but mainly thanks to an ignorant Homian general. But nowadays many male dominated nations around Amazonia had learned how to fight in formations and several of them had even learned how to tame horses. The Amazons could still easily overcome attacks from tribes of unskilled barbarians, but Lucius wondered how the Amazons would fare if they went up against male general who knew what he was doing? The truth behind why the war between Homia and Amazonia started: Lucius sat quietly and wondered why their two nations had even ended up fighting each other; were the gods at the Olympus just playing them, setting them up against each other like pieces on a game-board, or was there in fact another reason behind their differences? Lucius once asked Myria if she knew the reason why the war between Amazonia and Homia actually had started. "I honestly have no idea, my spouse," Myria had answered. "And quite frankly, I don't care! I'm a soldier and I don't declare wars, I just fight them. I let emissaries sort out those trivial things." The war broke out when Lucius was away on bodyguard-duty for a group of emissaries whom he escorted up north to the northern people by the Euxine Sea. A band of Amazons led by Princess Lida performed a very brutal covert operation where they attacked a Homian outpost and killed everyone inside. Many of the victims were in fact unarmed civilians. Several of the Homian soldiers, including the outpost captain, were viciously tortured to death by the Amazon murderers. On their way back they also attacked several Homian villages and burned them to the ground in order to strike fear in the hearts of the Homian nation. The Homian army to the west immediately marched against Amazonia, but were intercepted and crushed by an Amazon army, led by Princess Lida, who deliberately had provoked the Homians into marching headlong into their own demise. When Lucius got home from the trip up to the northern people, the Homian nation and the senate were enraged and cursed the 'Evil Queen' Heta out loud. The senate demanded that a new army should immediately be sent against the Amazons. Lucius were not allowed to speak in the senate and therefore he approached one of the leading senators in the corridor outside the speaking-hall. "Senator Flavius, a word please," he began. "We really shouldn't get ahead of ourselves at this moment. We have already lost one army, now is the time to build-up defenses and negotiate." "Have we even heard from the Amazons? Do we know for sure that they were behind the attack on our outpost? Perhaps we are fighting a war over a simple misunderstanding?" "Those are wise words for one so young!" senator Flavius looked appreciative at him. "However, it's too late now. A motion has been proposed, its all in the hands of the king and the gods now. There is nothing we can do, but pray in the temples." And so the Homians prayed night and day in the temples, but little did it help. It only speeded the ignorant general Herculum on his way to the tragic fate of the Homian army in the dreaded Appian pass. However, only the Queen Heta and a few of her trusted personal bodyguards knew the ugly truth about why the war between Homia and Amazonia had actually started. Queen Heta had originally given Lida, her oldest daughter and heir, orders to sneak across the border and obtain intelligence on whether or when the Homian nation planned to push further west into the realm of the Amazons. Homian and Amazonia were now neighbours after the Homian army had vanquished the last barbarian tribes which served as buffer-zone between their nations. Queen Heta was reluctant to make contact with the Homian males before she had a clear picture of their military intensions and which tactics they would use on the battlefield. The ideology of the Amazons had always been to be at least one step ahead of the enemy, and to always keep tabs on any potential enemy among their male dominated neighbors. However, Princess Lida had her own agenda and she felt that the best way to observe how the males would fare in combat was simply to attack them and se what happened. During the night by the light of the pale moonlight, she therefore ordered her warriors to attack a lone Homian outpost. Her warriors snuck up and silently assassinated the sentries guarding the gate to the outpost. Then her warriors proceeded to kill everyone inside, except for three prisoners who she tortured to death to get information from them. She learned that the Homian males to the west didn't even know of the Amazon presence so close by. The males were totally unprepared for war against the Amazons who would have no problem vanquishing them. And Princess Lida couldn't care less about the fact that the majority of male victims were unarmed. They were males and therefore fit to die. It was their own fault that they did not possess weapons with which to defend themselves. Lida also reported that the Homian civilians in the villages were easily panicked and fled hysterically when she set a couple of their thatched cottages on fire. Queen Heta's face grew pale when she heard her own daughter tell the horrid tale of her atrocities. This was not what she wanted! She then ordered Princess Lida to stay in the palace while the Queen would send out her emissaries to try and sort things out with the Homian nation. Queen Heta planned to offer the Homian nation blood money for the lives that Princess Lida had taken. But Princess Lida would not sit back and let things go by because she was a warrior and a true warmonger at heart. She thought that her mother had gone soft and that bringing peace with males through negotiations were a humiliation and sign of weakness. True peace could only be achieved if the Amazons massacred all Homian males at fighting age. And this was exactly what she planned to do. She snuck out of the palace at night and secretly gather three of her most trusted and fanatical warriors. Then they quickly rode through the night and laid a trap for the Queen's emissaries. They waited patiently until the emissaries and their bodyguards came riding by in the morning. Princess Lida and her warriors ambushed the emissaries and their bodyguards and killed them with arrows. Then Lida dressed some male civilians which she previously had killed during the night up in some Homian uniforms which they had brought back from her murderous raid into Homia. Now the scheme was perfect and anyone would think that the Queen's emissaries had been killed by vengeful Homians. Although her warriors were fanatical believers in the Amazon cause, Princess Lida took no change. She therefore also killed her own warriors as soon as they had served their purpose. Thinking that the Homians had retaliated on the Amazons by killing her emissaries, and upon hearing the news of the first Homian army marching against Amazonia, Queen Heta had no choice, but to let Princess Lida have her war. The secret demise of Princess Lida: Queen Heta didn't suspect any fowl play from other than the Homians until shortly after that the second Homian army was massacred in the Appian pass. During the celebration of this grand Amazon victory, Princess Lida got drunk and cocky and she bragged about how she single-handed had started the war against the Homians and on top of that she had won the war all by herself. However, one of her officers still had some sentiment left in her although she was a strong believer in female supremacy. She was disgusted by the fact that Princess Lida had killed the innocent emissaries in order to gain a glorious war and casually dismissed their deaths as casualties of war. The Amazon officer decided to betray her oath to the princess and contacted the Queen in the middle of the night. She begged for an audience in private and told her horrid tale. The Queen froze, but chose to believe her. Queen Heta then sent her out in the garden to wait in case she had additional questions for her. The Queen was unsure what to do; Heta feared that if the truth came out on how Princess Lida, heir to the throne of Amazonia, had conducted herself in the war against Homia the other male dominated nations in Anatolia would rally against the Amazons and crush them. The Amazons had survived these many centuries by shrewdly conducting the policy of divide and rule against their male dominated neighbors. But the Amazons were by their nature isolated and had no allies except the Gargareans who were useless in warfare. On top of that they were also invariably outnumbered by their more populous neighbors. She called for her personal bodyguards and went with them to the other wing in the palace, where her oldest daughter lived. She arrested her and ordered her bodyguards to gag her so she couldn't call for help. Then the Queen calmly explained that she now knew the truth and that Lida's life therefore was over. The Queen offered her daughter the dagger so she kill herself, but Lida tried to stab her mother instead. However, the Queen's bodyguards saw it coming and quickly cut her down. Heta ordered her bodyguards to wrap the corpse of her daughter up in a blanket and discreetly carry it out in the garden where the Amazon officer still waited for the Queens next order. It was slowly getting light now as dawn was approaching so the garden was deserted. The Queen found the Amazon officer sitting peacefully under a tree. She quietly called on her to help with digging a hole in the garden, but she didn't react. Queen Heta walked to her to wake her up, but froze when she noticed that the side of her uniform was drenched in blood. She had killed herself by slitting her own throat. The noble Amazon officer was trapped in a moral dilemma between following the love for her Motherland and betraying her oath to her commanding officer and therefore she had decided to end her own life herself. They secretly buried the naked corps of Lida deep in the ground in the garden of the royal palace. Then they put on the Princess' clothes and full armor and helmet on the dead corps of the deceased Amazon officer and burned her corps instead of Lida's at the official burial ceremony a few days later. The official story was that Princess Lida had tragically died from drinking during the night. The death of Lida made Princess Artianna the new heir to the Amazon Queendom. The Amazons believed in the wheel of rebirth. All living things had its purpose in the earthly pattern of Mother Nature and all humans were reborn to a new existence after their eternal soul transcended when their corpses were burned during the funeral fire. But the wicked soul of Princess Lida was now trapped inside her rotting corpse. And as her body slowly withered in the ground, so did her soul until it eventually would be destroyed along with her corpse. The punishment of destroying the life of an eternal soul was only meant for evil females who were guilty of grave betrayal against the Amazon Motherland. The last days before departure from Themiskyra: During the last days before the inevitable departure from Themiskyra, Myria still dropped Lucius off at the library and spend her days and nights with her girlfriends. It was bad enough that she had to put up with him when they arrived in the nation of the Gargareans, but she had no intension of letting him pester her during her last days in Themiskyra before her exile up north began. Lucius also paid a few social visits to the Amazonian emissaries whom he had befriended back in Thermodonus. They both lived with spouses and one of them also met her spouse in the battlefield, but under rather different circumstances than when Myria and Lucius met. The emissary met him in the aftermath of her final battle before her retirement from military service. She had just turned 34, so she would retire soon from military service. The males that the Amazons were fighting in this battle had actually put up a decent fight and caused the Amazons considerable losses. The hard core of the enemy warriors refused to yield, but were put down in the end by arrow fire. She had her eyes on one of them because she was actually looking for a spouse, and his fighting skills made a good impression on her. He was severely wounded by arrows, but she gave the orders to cease fire and saved his life. She rode up and approached him when his legs gave away and he fell to the ground. He had arrows sticking out of both arms and legs and had also one buried deep in the shoulder which had brought him down. He was too weak to resist her when she gently took his sword from him. She squatted on his chest and removed his helmet to get a good look at his face. He was quite good looking and therefore she removed her own helmet and introduced herself. He gave his own name in a weak voice. She would have to do this quickly because he would expire soon. She bluntly asked if he would be her spouse, she also used the term 'husband' in order to make sure that he would understand what she was suggesting. He promptly said yes and she quickly called in the Amazon surgeons who immediately stopped his bleeding. Later the surgeons removed the arrows from his body. They also cut away some vital tendons in this right arm which prevented him from taking up arms again. Lucius did notice that his handshake was a rather loose when they first met. He had just enough strength in his right arm to raise a cup of wine to his mouth, but he couldn't cut up his own meat at the dinner table and so his wife had to do it for him. But Lucius spend most of his time with Gemmalina whom he got along with just splendidly as Myria predicted. The two of them sat in her private study and discussed different aspects of life while Gemmalina served wine and fruits. She suddenly asked him how he felt when he killed his first opponent in battle. Lucius thought that this a strange question because she was living alongside man-slayers herself, but he didn't object and told her that he had killed in battle first time when at 16 back when he was still enrolled at the Royal War Academy in Thermodonus. Their drill-sergeant had taken all the boys in his class out on a field trip at the midterm of their officers training. He lined the 20 boys up against a group of approximately 42 brigands who were harassing the local villages. The boys arrived at the camp of the brigands at dawn and the drill- sergeant shouted loud to the sentries on the outskirts of the camp to make sure that everyone was alarmed because there was no sport in killing enemies in their sleep. The drill-sergeant ordered the Homian youths to move forward in two sections and attack the group of brigands who quickly gathered in front of them. Now it was time for the boys to get their first battle experience. The boys fought in two well organized formations while the brigands were disorganized and undisciplined, fit only to go up against unarmed peasants. The brigands were no match for the Homian boys who despite the fact that they had no battle experience quickly cut the brigands down. Lucius clearly remembered how euphoric he felt when he trust his sword into flesh of an enemy for the first time. Many of the boys even stopped fighting when they had made their first kill, but the drill-sergeant rode on a horse behind them and spurred them on while giving them directions or banged over the head with the flat side his sword if they stood and marvelled at the corpse of the enemy that they had just killed. When the class of homian boys had finished killing the brigands, their adrenalin was running high and they all were feeling euphoric, while they shouted cries of victory loud and banged their fists together. But then the mood of the fragile minded boys suddenly changed. Some of the boys started crying, others wetted their underwear. Lucius felt sick and puked up his breakfast beside the corpse of the enemy that he just slew a moment ago. The drill-sergeant explained that their extreme change of emotions were quite normal for a first-time killing. When Lucius was 18 and serving in the Honoured Legion, he killed some brigands again while he was on guard-duty for some senators, but this time he didn't feel the same effect. Gemmalina informed Lucius that she had never killed anyone in combat, but she had tragically killed her first love during intercourse when she was very young. She met the first love just after she reached puberty at 14 and he was a handsome male Gargarean at 17. She met him outside her school where she was standing and gossiping with her friends when he rode by with his farther who had business in Amazonia. The Gargareans politely asked the girls for some water. Myria first barked at them and informed them that Amazons never served males. However, Gemmalina pointed out that it was also considered bad manners to refuse polite requests for food or drink from travelers, male or female. Therefore she fetched a jar of cold water from the well inside the schoolyard. She looked the Gargarean youth straight in the eyes when she served him his water. He had blond hair and the bluest eyes that she had ever seen in a male and she practical fell in love from the moment they met. He was obviously also in love with her because the next day the other girls at the school informed her that the young man from the day before was riding back and forth outside her school. She immediately went out to greet him. Then he introduced himself as Aristarchus and politely asked if they could meet somewhere private and she invited him out into the woods. They met secretly the next day in the afternoon. Her tutors were against any liaison between Amazonian girls and Gargarean boys, so she had to sneak out of class and climb over the wall and run through the city to meet him outside the city gate where he waited patiently for her. His horse was big enough to carry the two of them and she guided him to a glade in the woods where the grass was very soft and felt good against their naked skin. Aristarchus was obviously sexually experienced and was very gentle to her. He kept kissing her and arousing her until she gave the word for him to penetrate her and take her virginity. Then he unhurriedly made love to her in the soft grass, while they slowly worked each other up to a higher sexual plateau. But when they were getting close to mutual orgasms things went terrible wrong. They both were armed because of the danger from wild animals in the woods. Aristarchus had his sword lying beside them and she had her dagger strapped on her back. Then when she felt her first orgasm coming something snapped inside her head and she reached behind her neck, drew her dagger and slit his throat. She grabbed Aristarchus by the hair and aimed the flow of his hot blood which splattered all over her breasts. Her many orgasms seemed to build on top of each other. It wasn't until he lay lifeless on top of her, that she realized that she had actually killed him. She had no logical explanation on why she did what she did. It just felt so right in that particular 'magical' moment. First she gave a scream when she realized that a dead man was inside of her and then she started crying because of what she had done. However, she got a hold on herself and first wiped his blood off her body with tufts of grass. Then she got dressed and also dressed him and then she headed home and left his horse by his corpse. His horse came to the city after dark when it was scared off by wolfs or wild dogs. His farther searched the woods for him by the light of torches. Some wild animals in the woods had eaten pieces off the flesh of his corpse, so therefore his father naturally thought that his son had been attacked and killed by wild animals while riding in the woods. Gemmalina didn't talk to nobody at first although all her friends at the orphanage asked her about what she had been up to since she slipped away from the school. Although his father did not suspect fowl play Gemmalina was haunted by a terrible guilt. Therefore she stood up and spoke in her class the next day and told her tutors what she had done. Some of the girls in her class found it very arousing that she had killed her mate while having intercourse, just like the 'Black Widow' spider. Her tutors just informed that she had done well; the Gargarean youth had tried to rape her and he only got what he deserved. Gemmalina objected and explained that she consented to having sex with him and that Aristarchus did not enter her before she gave the word for him to do so. Then her tutors slapped her hard in the face and told her to banish any thought of sentiment or compassion for males who according to Amazon ideology were considered inferior, fit only to be killed by the superior females. And the girls from Amazonian orphanages were supposed to become soldiers and fanatical believers in this fundamentalist ideology. Gemmalina started crying because this was not what she expected. She wanted counselling on how to deal with her guilty conscience and how to make amends; instead she got scolded by her tutors for having sentiment about the killing of an innocent male. However, Myria took her outside to comfort her. Myria suggested that since she felt so terrible she should seek out the father of the Gargarean youth whom she had killed. She was unable to pay him blood money, but she could maybe work as slave for a given period of time to make amends for the killing of his son. Myria's suggestion made good sense and therefore she sought out the father of Aristarchus just before he left Themiskyra with the body of his son to bury him at home. However, she didn't make much an impression on the father who properly couldn't understand half of what she was saying because she crying and sobbing while she tried to explain what she had done. In the end the father of Aristarchus just smiled at her and dismissed her because he thought that she had just come to offer sympathy. So she embraced the body of her lover one last time and stood watched silent while his father drove away on his cart with the corpse of his son on his way back home. Later in the day Gemmalina took a long walk through the city streets to calm her nerves. She drifted by the library and went inside just to rest her legs. However, here in the company of books, she found mental tranquillity to ease her troubled mind. Therefore she became the apprentices of the old librarian when she finished school. Even today Gemmalina still felt ashamed thinking about the murder of the poor Gargarean youth. Was it really in their genes that women and men should kill each other like her tutors said? No! The books told a different story; the nation of Amazons were once a tribe of wise women who also knew how to fight. But somewhere along the line they seem to have lost their wisdom and now they only knew fighting and merciless slaughter. Gemmalina's snakes: She finished her story and finished her cup of wine. She decided to show her pets to Lucius in order lighten things up again after telling her horrid tale. Lucius had noticed that Gemmalina kept some big straw baskets at the back of her study. They contained Gemmalina's 'family'. She lifted the top of the biggest basket, reached down and gently lifted a Python snake up and showed it to Lucius. "Now, look at this beauty." she said and gently put the snake down on the floor. "Her name is Salome and she is a noble female. Unlike her 'sisters' here in Amazonia she does not kill for sports, but only when compelled by hunger." "Look here." Gemmalina pulled out one of the drawers in the big cabinet at the wall and produced a fat male rat which she obviously was fattening for Salome. She let the rat loose and it scurried fast along the wall past the Python which didn't react at all. Salome had no need of nutrition at the moment and therefore she had no need to kill. There was no hole which the rat could escape in, so Gemmalina caught it again and dropped it back in its drawer. However, Lucius froze when Gemmalina picked up Salome from the floor and curled the snake around his shoulders and chest. Although he forced a smile, Lucius almost vetted his underwear from mere fear of the Python which slithered on his body. Instead, Gemmalina reached down in one of the other baskets and brought forward a venomous Egyptian white snake. "Now, this vicious little lady is a different breed; she practically kills everything that moves!" Gemmalina said and let snake loose on the floor. "But fear her not, Salome will protect you, just like Myria protects you from harm." Now Lucius was even more scared and sat trembling while Salome slithered on his body and the venomous snake drew closer. However, when it sensed that another snake was near it backed off and went in another direction. Gemmalina explained that she used some venomous Egyptian snakes to keep mice and rats away from the books and scrolls in the library. She just let the venomous snakes loose in the library after closing time and put them back in the baskets when her scriveners arrived in the morning at opening time. Gemmalina caught Egyptian white snake by its head and put it back in its place in the basket. Then she also relieved Lucius of Salome and let the snake slither on herself while she continued their conversation. Lucius was pretty shaken by the event, so when Myria arrived to pick him up Lucius hasted out of the library without even saying proper goodbye. "What's the matter, spouse?" Myria asked when they got out on the street. "You look like you have just seen a Gorgon. Did she try to do something 'funny'?" She could see that his face was pale, but Lucius just shuck his head and explained that Gemmalina let her Python snake crawl all over him which had frightened him. "Well, she surely must like you since she already introduced you to her pets." Myria explained. "And before you ask; No, she did not involve her snakes when we had sex back when we were intimate." Then it was time was to prepare for the farewell feast at the royal palace. They both washed themselves by the well and then Lucius put on the new clothes that Myria bought for him a few days ago while she appreciative looked him over. Then she sent him outside to wait on the porch while she put on the fashionable dress that Lucius had bought her and arranged her hair attractively. When she was ready the two of then walked off to the palace where the guest already had started to arrive. Although she was a bit embarrassed to have her spouse by her side Myria put on a smiling face for the rest of the evening. Farewell feast at the royal palace: They were greeted by Queen Heta in the feast hall of the palace and Lucius duly kneeled to her and kissed her hand while Myria curtsied to her. The other Homians were all there, including scrivener Alexioux who had taken residence in an adjacent building to the Library. He was gonna stay here and become an Amazonian citizen. Androlyta was also there with Blasius at her side. She had managed to get new commission as the Quaestor for the tax collection in the nation of the Gargareans. The Homians anticipated freedom soon and their spirits were high. Librarian Gemmalina presented them with a book which she gave as a wedding present for Myria and Lucius. She knew well that Myria was properly not ever gonna read it, but that didn't really matter. The atmosphere at the party was quite warm and friendly, that is until Princess Artianna made her entry. She immediately seized the book which Gemmalina had given to Lucius. "I did not authorize this gift!" Princess Artianna proclaimed and then thoroughly looked the pages over. Then she tore each page out of the book which she thought contained sensitive information and dropped it on the flow, while Gemmalina just stood and silently watched with a very sad look on her face. Lucius wanted to step in and stop Artianna's actions, but Myria restrained him. "Stay back!" she hissed at him while pulling his ear. "This does not concern you." Lucius explained that he could not allow his guest to be insulted in this brute manner. It was his duty to defend Gemmalina since he had invited her. "I will not physically attack the Princess," Lucius said. "Ill just give her a sound scolding and tell her to get lost." The face of Myria fell by the words of Lucius. He was maybe brave, but that was crazy-brave. He wouldn't last long if he was left on his own. "You simply have to forget all customs from your old country," Myria softly explained. "They will get you killed when you are living in the shadow of Amazons. If you want to survive then you must never act on your own impulse, but always consult me before taking any action." Lucius gave a grunt of disgust, but nodded his head. He knew Myria was right; unlike his fellow Homians who were artisans, Lucius was not safe here in Amazonia because he was considered a potential threat as long as his limps were still functioning. When Princess Artianna had finished tearing up the book she threw it down on the table. Myria and Lucius went over to Gemmalina to comfort her. "She ruined it!" Gemmalina complained while she picked the torn pages up from the floor. "Only a mindless brute ruins a book!" Myria explained that Lucius would have thrown the princess out of the room. Then Gemmalina sighed and explained that Artianna would have him beheaded as soon as opened his mouth. "No need to loose your head over a book," she explained, but she of course appreciated his concern. Then the two women started to mingle with the other guests while Lucius did what many males usually do when they are disgusted and can't do anything about it; he took to drink to numb his frustrations. Soon he started walking with a stagger and spoke slowly with a garbled voice. Myria noticed it and took his wine from him and ordered that he only drank water for the rest of the evening. However, the other Amazon officers thought that he was hilarious and therefore fetch more cups of wine which they discreetly passed to him. He on the other hand insisted on teaching his newfound Amazon drinking-friends the traditional Homian greeting between officers; namely banging their clinched fists together. But when Lucius banged his fist against theirs, they quickly lifted their hands so Lucius hit empty air and span around and lost balance. The Amazon officers laughed out loud while Lucius stumbled around them. The Amazons served him unmixed vine which made a person even more drunk than with the practice of serving wine mixed with water which usually were served at the royal palace. Myria was startled at first by the loud outbursts of laughter from the other Amazon officers which Lucius caused. However, she also noticed that whenever the Princess came close to him, he discreetly moved away from her in order to avoid confrontation. So Lucius wasn't as drunk as he appeared to be. Gemmalina also suggested that acting up as a village idiot was a good strategy for Lucius to stay alive. By making the Amazons laugh at him he seemed harmless and therefore unlikely to be killed. But in the end the unmixed vine took its toll on Lucius and he finally got so drunk that he forgot time and place. When he started to call out for Varus to come and have a drink with him, Myria decided to call it a day and went to fetch Lucius. "That's enough, girls. The show is over," Myria said to the Amazons whom Lucius entertained. Then she took a firm hold of him by his neck and walked off with him. They greeted the Queen goodbye outside the feast hall. "Loveerly party, Your Highness!" the voice of Lucius garbled from the heavy drinking. "Love.(hic).ly party!" "Well, so good to see my honored guest are having such a good time, do come again," Queen Heta courteous said. He raised his arm to hug her, but Myria quickly secured it and forced it behind his back, then she smiled to Queen Heta and marched Lucius out the door. She knew that he would not be any use to her in his present intoxicated condition, but she knew exactly what to do: She marched him to the well in the palace courtyard where she first motioned him to kneel, and then she gently put two fingers down his throat which made Lucius puke. Urrgg! His puke was a red as if it was his own blood. She proceeded to put her fingers down his throat again to make him puke a second time. Then she drew a bucket full of water up from the well. She threw Lucius on the ground, away from the mess that he had just made. She first splashed half the water in the face of Lucius and then she forced him to drink the rest. "I'm not drunk," Lucius softly objected. "Now, you're not!" Myria corrected. "Get on your feet, drunken fool." The reunion of Myria and Gemmalina: Myria started walking back to her house with Lucius trotting behind her. Then she suddenly saw that Gemmalina had just left the party too. She had taken the torn book with her to make a new copy. Myria thought that she looked a little lost and lonely, and therefore she called her name and rushed to her. Myria smiled sweetly at her and indiscreetly invited her to spend the night with her and Lucius. Gemmalina blushed at first and was reluctant to intrude on her and Lucius, but Myria stepped closed to her and started caressing her while she spoke exciting words to her ear. Myria's bold fingers sent shivers through the whole body of Gemmalina and she suddenly felt forgotten passions rise in her and therefore started kissing Myria passionately. The two women kissed for a while then Gemmalina agreed to come home with them. They walked close together with their arms wrapped around each other like when they were lovers in the old days. Lucius trotted humbly behind his mistress who obviously had decided to reconcile with her old girlfriend. When they got back to the house the three of them immediately went to the bedroom where Myria first made Lucius undress and then tied his hands behind his back with the same leather cords from their first encounter. Then she tied his leg securely to the bedposts. With Lucius securely restrained the two women could un-distracted concentrate on making out with each other. They were in no hurry, but gently kissed while they undressed each other and let their bold fingers wander across their bodies. Soon the both of them were fully aroused from their caressing and deeply tongue-kissed while they boldly caressed each others pussies with skilled hands. Then finally Myria took a firm hold on Gemmalina's buttocks and led her to the bed were Lucius patiently waited. His cock had grown erect while watching the women caressing each other. Myria made her girlfriend squat over Lucius' crotch and gently guided Lucius' erect member up in her vagina. Gemmalina gave at loud sigh and started riding his cock while Myria stayed behind her and cupped her breasts, squeezed her nipples and softly rubbed her clit. Myria instructed Lucius not to thrust his cock into Gemmalina while she rode on it. They were not here to extract his semen, in fact she instructed him to restrain himself and not ejaculate at all. Myria put her knee to his balls, but overcome the temptation to bust them and gently massaged them instead. Gemmalina started moaning and leaned back against Myria, turned her head and started kissing Myria with her tongue while her hand found her pussy and caressed it while her other hand massaged Myria's buttocks. Soon Gemmalina's body shook from a mighty orgasm. Then she crawled forward to let Myria ride his cock. She gently kissed Lucius and then sat in reversed position on his face so she faced Myria who now was riding Lucius' cock. The two women hugged and kissed each other passionately on top of Lucius who remained still. Again the women used their skilled hands to provide pleasure for each other while they enjoyed riding Lucius' face and cock. Gemmalina had another orgasm while Myria still not hat yet orgasmed, but Gemmalina knew what to do. She left the face of Lucius and crawled forward to Myria and started to lick and suck her nipples and then she took a firm hold of one her buttocks and made her pick up the speed of riding his cock. Then with her other hand she pressed her hand against Myria's pussy so her clit was stimulated by the friction of Lucius' cock going in and out of her vagina. The skilled hands of Gemmalina provided a mighty orgasm for Myria who gave a little scream when she finally came. She grabbed her girlfriend by the hair and kissed her passionately in an almost violent manner. When Myria had settled down Gemmalina suggested that they changed positions. She was obviously experienced with having sex with males and enjoyed riding Lucius' cock while Myria felt more comfortable with riding his face. Lucius was by now in a state of sexual bliss by his own beloved mistress riding his face and caressing his nipples and her girlfriend riding his cock simultaneously. The strong scent of aroused females filled his nostrils and excited him even more. Finally, when he felt the bodies of the two women on top of him shaking and twitching from more powerful orgasms he could not control himself, but started thrusting his member deep up into the vagina of Gemmalina who on the other hand courteous met his intrusions by falling down hard on his crotch, penetrating herself deeply on his member. Then a powerful orgasm hit him and his whole body jerked with spasms while he screamed his pleasure into Myria's pussy which he eagerly licked, but his passionate oral servitude became a little sloppy in the aftermath of his mighty orgasm. However, Myria quickly brought him back to reality by squeezing and twitching his nipples hard. Then Myria motioned Gemmalina to switch positions again because Lucius was always due to clean up the mess he made in the pussy of a noble female. Myria on the other hand had a little unfinished business to take care of concerning Lucius' balls. When Gemmalina was firmly settled on Lucius' face and he started thoroughly cleaning his semen out of her vagina, Myria positioned her herself with her knee right in front of his exposed balls, just like a siege engine being setup and readied to start hammering down the gates of the besieged city. The bare thought of the torments which awaited Lucius sent shivers through Myria's body and she started fingering her pussy while she let her knee gently caress his balls at first. She put her sharp nails to his soft skin at his inner thigh, made some deep scratches and gleefully watched how Lucius writhed from the pain, while she eagerly anticipated the inevitable vicious ball busting act which had become their main way of sexual 'communication' along with cunnilingus. Then finally she hammered her knee hard into his balls and made him scream into Gemmalina's pussy, but he continued to lick her despite his terrible pain. This suffering which Myria brought on to him felt much more intense than Myria's usually bull busting because she dished it out when he was most woundable right after having an orgasm. Myria continued her vicious ball busting torment while she eagerly stimulated her pussy and masturbated herself to several orgasms and Lucius whimpered and writhed from the pain. Gemmalina felt his suffering and turned her head to see what Myria was doing to him, but Myria gently but firmly put her hand on her girlfriend's head and prevented her from watching her torturing Lucius. Gemmalina noticed the tears streaming from Lucius' eyes, but Myria whispered reassuring to her that Lucius was only crying and writhing because was so happy about being allowed to provide so much pleasure to noble females. Gemmalina knew very well what was happening behind her back, but this was between wife and spouse and no concern of hers. Finally when Lucius was totally exhausted and almost too weak to lick Gemmalina properly, Myria let up hammering her knee into his tortured balls. Instead she crawled up and sat close behind Gemmalina on Lucius' chest. Myria gently caressed her girlfriend's nibbles and whispered passionate words in her ear. Lucius was almost spent, but with his last effort he managed to pleasure Gemmalina into another delightful orgasm. Myria then informed her that Lucius would not be any use to them anymore, but they instead should continue making love to each other like back in the old days when they were still in love. Gemmalina agreed and therefore Myria took her place at Lucius' face. She then softly explained to Lucius that the two girls would like to be alone and that she therefore was gonna put him to sleep. She told him to relax and breathe out, and then she sat on his face in reverse position where she placed her pussy on his mouth and blocked his nose with her ass. She secured his head with her legs to make sure that Lucius couldn't turn his head and escape her smothering. Then she pulled Gemmalina close and kissed her. Myria completely blocked Lucius' air supply and the weight of the two women quickly smothered him into unconsciousness. As soon as Lucius passed out they quickly untied his hands and legs and gently pushed him over to the side of the bed so they could enjoy themselves in each other's company. They threw themselves at each other and kissed passionately while their bold fingers explored each other's bodies. Then it was time for girl action; Myria reversed her position so her head rested on Gemmalina's thigh while her head rested on Myria's. Then they went to work on each others genitals with their tongues and fingers. Myria occasionally pinched hard at her girlfriend's clit while she eagerly licked her pussy which mixed Gemmalina's pleasure with a little pain which spurred her on to thoroughly explore Myria's vagina with her talented tongue and bold fingers while Myria continued her soft torment by biting gently into Gemmalina's pussylips. They didn't change this position for the next couple of hours while their many orgasms seemed to build on each other and they seemed to last almost infinitely. When the both of them were finally sated from their intense lovemaking they lay in each others arms and softly started talking about the events that drove them apart in the old days. Although they chose different paths in life they became lovers shortly after Gemmalina's tragic loss of Aristarchus and they stayed close friends and lovers through their early youth. However, their relationship ended in tears when they were 19 and Myria came home from her first campaign against some barbarian male invaders. She was all exited about experiencing a real battle for the first time instead of the fake ones with blunt weapons in the training facilities. Myria explained how she personally killed several barbarian warriors in the battle. Gemmalina understood well the necessity to defend the Motherland against invaders, but then Myria told her about how the Amazons had executed some enemies after they had surrendered. Furthermore Myria had personally cut off the genitals of one prisoner of war and then killed him by choking him to death with them. Gemmalina felt sick when hearing of these atrocities and therefore called her a murderess and psychopath right in her face. Myria then slapped her hard in the face and walked out the door, never to come back until many years later. When they occasionally met in the streets of Themiskyra, Gemmalina tried to speak to her, but Myria's feelings were still hurt and she always turned her back to her former girlfriend and lover. They had actually not spoken in 12 years when Myria finally took Lucius to the library. It seemed that his arrival had suddenly melted the ice between them. They both agreed to lay their differences behind them and renew their friendship. Gemmalina promised to come and visit them soon in the nation of the Gargareans. In the morning at first light Gemmalina had to say goodbye and hasten back to the library to secure the poisonous snakes before her scriveners arrived. However, she promised to come back and wave goodbye at the palace courtyard. Departure from Themiskyra: Myria was in a relative good mood after her reconciliation with Gemmalina. After she left Myria gently woke Lucius up and proceeded to sit on his face and let him lick her to a couple of orgasms until it was time to leave because they were due at the palace courtyard. When they arrived Myria ordered Lucius to fetch their horses in the palace stables. Their belongings had already been packed on a cart which Androlyta had leased for the journey. Several of Myria's other girlfriends also came to say goodbye. Some of them had tears in their eyes and sent hateful stares at Lucius, this foreigner and former enemy who came to take Myria away. One suggested that Lucius could have an accident on their way to the nation of the Gargareans. For example; a loose arrow which would come out of nowhere and kill him and nobody would ever know who were behind it, but Myria froze and put her foot down. "He is the heavy stone that I must to carry in order to re-enter the realm of the Amazons," she proclaimed. If he in fact should meet an untimely death all fingers would point to her and she would most likely be exiled forever. That is if she was not simple executed because the Queen seemed to like that little fool. When Lucius came back with the horses Myria ordered him to get down on all four so she could use him as a stool to climb on her horse in order to show off in front of her girlfriends. Again Lucius was reluctant because the other Homian males were also present, but Myria softly reminded him of the consequences if he refused to obey her orders. Then he submitted and got down on all four to let her use him as a stool to climb on her horse while her girlfriends laughed out loud. The other Homians were disgusted and turned their backs to the embarrassing spectacle, but Androlyta had something to say and rode up to Myria. "Was that really necessary to humiliate him like that?" Androlyta barked at her. "In front of his own men!" "He is my spouse, and this was a courteous display of humility which I highly appreciated." Myria parried. "Whatever you two are playing at in private is your own affair," Androlyta firmly said. "But if you publicly force this degrading act upon him inside the nation of the Gargareans, you shall not be welcome in our house!" Myria was about to throw some insults back at her, but Androlyta turned her horse and rode back. Then Queen Heta came out of the palace gate and gave a short speech and whished them good luck in their new home in the nation of the Gargareans. Then they slowly rode off while the crowd waved them goodbye. Gemmalina arrived to just in time to shout her goodbyes and wave at them. Outside the city the Homians and the Amazonian migrants picked up their pace and rode north; Blasius drove the cart while he smiled to his wife and the rest of the Homians who rode with them. Their spirits were high and they happily sang songs of love and freedom from their old country. Androlyta didn't know the songs, but she felt the warmth from their hearts. Myria let her horse trot behind them and didn't participate. Occasionally Lucius rode back to her to check on her and pleaded that she should let the warm hearts and high spirits of the Homian freemen comfort her aching heart, but Myria just grunted, hung her head and looked longingly back at the city of Themiskyra. Then finally in the afternoon the following day they arrived at the border which was guarded by two Amazonian sentry towers. Myria's depression almost overwhelmed her and she stopped her horse, turned it halfway around while she tried to make up her mind whether to proceed into the nation of Gargareans or return back to Themiskyra and face the wrath of the Queen. Lucius also stopped his horse and turned it halfway, and then he waited patiently for Myria to make up her mind. Myria on the other hand looked at him and then she started thinking about what she was going to do to him once they had settled together in the nation of the Gargareans. The thoughts of the many torments which awaited Lucius from her skilled hands seemed to lift her depression and she therefore suddenly spurred her horse and rode forward to Lucius who greeted with a bright smile. "What are you grinning at, you hapless fool?" Myria smiled at him despite her harsh words. "You have pain coming to you, lots of it!" "Well, I'm your man to boot!" Lucius proclaimed and his smile got even brighter and he duly let his horse trot after hers while they passed the Amazonian sentry towers at the border and finally rode into the nation of the Gargareans. To be continued ... The tale of Myria and Lucius will continue. However the next chapter features Myria and the Amazons fighting an invading Cappadocian army. The storyline is set for many more chapters, however comments, suggestions or story ideas are welcome, just email the author at jallanj@yahoo.dk