Living in the shadow of Amazons, Interlude: The Amazons versus the Cappadocians, Part 1. By J. Allan J. - jallanj@yahoo.dk The Cappadocians march against the Amazons. This story is a 'lost' chapter in my series. It describes the life of Myria during the months from when she and Lucius reconciled at the peace celebration until she finally decides to follow the emissaries and pay him a visit in Thermodonus. Please read my first edition: https://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc29/homians_revisited01.txt and in addition read the first half of my second edition: https://www.thevalkyrie.com/stories/1misc29/homians_revisited02.txt to see where this missing piece of the series correctly fits in. Quick notes by author: About Homians --> Thermodonians: I have (finally) decided to cut away from my Homian 'inheritance'. It seemed convenient when I first started my series, but it has now become a drag that I should get rid of. Therefore, I have decided to use the phrase Thermodonians instead, as I had already made the city of Thermodonus the initial home of Lucius. I will of course have to rewrite the old chapters 'Homians revisited', part I + II. Furthermore, I have also altered certain names of characters like the Amazon Queen Heta into Hentiope, Varus into Varioux, Lucius will sometimes be referred to as Lucianus (Greek spelling instead of Roman), etc. About Cappadocians: An Anatolian nation who lived south of Amazonia. Unlike the Amazons, the Cappadocians survived the transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age. The Cappadocians first repelled the Greek invaders, but adapted Greek as their language. They remained independent when the Persians ruled Anatolia and repelled Alexander the Great by choosing a Persian as their king. Later they kept their independence by becoming allies of the Romans in their wars against Armenia. And please don't confuse them with the Vampire clan 'Cappadocians' in the PC game 'Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption'. Short synopsis: The Cappadocians march against the Amazons. Captain Myria along with the Amazon army under leadership of Princess Artianna intercepts the invaders. During the battle an Amazon and a Cappadocian officer fight a duel on the battlefield. The last remains of the Cappadocian army refuse to yield and one brave Cappadocian officer gives himself as blood-offer to save the rest of the survivors. The story: Myria was granted some leave after the Amazons signed a peace treaty between with the Thermodonian nation whose armies now had been annihilated after the last grand Amazon victory whereby all threats from the West had now been put down. She spent her leave in Themiskyra doing basically nothing but eat, drink and make love to her girlfriends. However, there was a small concern on her mind; The casualties that her platoon took while fighting against Lucius' troops on the hilltop where they first met. Her Amazon warriors were all so embarrassed about the fact that they had lost a skirmish against enemy males, although it had absolutely no significance at all to the Amazon nation. Nevertheless Myria decided to cover up the matter in order not to stain her references when promotion was up ahead. The surviving Amazons had all agreed that they should keep a close lit on what really happened. Furthermore, the fact that her adjutant had been spared by the commanding Thermodon officer was a rather delicate matter; According to Amazon tradition Lydia could never again raise arms against him or his people, and therefore she would have to leave the army, but she was much too young to become a civilian and her broken leg had healed just fine. With the consent of her surviving warriors, Myria wrote a fake report to the Amazon Queen that she and her platoon of 20 warriors had encountered a much larger group of at over 70 Thermodon enemies way inside Amazon territory and that she had duly engaged them and chased them off across the border. She reported only one warrior dead and Lydia and two more wounded. Later she shrewdly covered her heavy losses as tragic accidents during hunting or weapons training. She never figured that anyone would notice or even care because death was a frequent guest among Amazons. Myria sat quietly drinking in a tavern and thought a bit about Lucianus the Thermodon, this strange male who had defeated her troops in combat. He had courteously approached her at celebration of the peace treaty between Amazonia and the Thermodonia. Myria and her adjutant Lydia were assigned to participate in the celebration although she wasn't really interested in that sort of thing; Peace-talks, diplomacy and similar did not interest her, but the Queen had insisted that a number of Amazon officers should be present and be giving their best behaviour despite their prejudice towards foreigners. Myria instantly knew who he was when this confidant looking Thermodon officer walked across the palace courtyard followed by a fellow Thermodon officer who look scared and out of place among the Amazons. Lydia looked happy as she led Lucius and Varioux to her table because she anticipated that Lucius wanted to challenge Myria to duel to the death, but it was a different kind of 'duel' which Lucius had in mind. He instead wanted to show his courage and asked her to stab a dagger around his hand on the wooden table. She could not get him to move his hand and soon got tired of his game. She therefore stabbed his hand with the dagger which finally wiped the arrogant smile of his face. She courteously kissed him hard to muffle his scream of pain, but he took no heed to the fact that she wounded his hand and he even wanted to orally worship her in bed. Therefore Myria cut herself in her own hand and let the blood from their wounds mingle in order to settle their personal differences. Unfortunately he was useless in bed at first, but she ball-busted him into submission and then gracefully instructed him how to please her with his tongue. He responded well to her instructions and eventually gave her considerable pleasure during the night. Strangely, the Thermodon gladly accepted the pain that she so generously dished out to him and he even tried to hug her in the morning. Usually her male sexual 'partners' among her vanquished enemies spat in her face when she was done with them and then killed them. She had a funny feeling that she would meet Lucius again, either on the battlefield or in bed. However, her leave was ending soon and she was due back in action again. The Cappadocians march against the Amazons: The enemies of the Amazons were now knocking more frequently at the gates of Amazonia. Whenever they put down one enemy tribe, the next would arrive the following year, like flowers in the spring. However, the Amazons were but one piece in the mighty puzzle of the struggle for Anatolia: After destroying Troy, the Greeks settled in Miletus, the first Greek colony and city in Anatolia. The Greeks started migrating across the Aegean Sea and pushed further into Anatolia from the west, while the rising Persian Empire threatened Anatolia from the east. Therefore many tribes were forced migrate from both east and west into central Anatolia. Too many tribes and nations were now squeezed in a too little territory, and the Anatolians were fighting both migrating barbarians and each other over the few scrapes of land that there were still left. That's why the once quiet and peaceful Anatolia had become an increasingly violent and dangerous place to live, also for the Amazons. Now the Cappadocians were at the doorstep of Amazonia and threatened the Amazon nation. One afternoon Myria got the order to muster her troops outside Themiskyra. It would take a full day for her troops back in her outpost close to the border to get ready and make the journey to Themiskyra, therefore Myria spend some time inspecting the new warriors who were assigned to her to replace her losses. When Myria got the order to ready her troops, she was told that the Cappadocians were marching against their Motherland. Queen Hentiope and Princess Artianna held a war counsel with the rest of the members of the Amazon military high command. Myria was not a member, but she hoped to be one day. She was past 30 now and had an ambition about continuing her military career and, if possible, to join the Amazon high command as a permanent member. She had no plans whatsoever about becoming a civilian. The Cappadocians had mustered an army of approximately 4000 men and they were, according to the preliminary intelligence report, getting ready to march north towards Amazonia at any moment. However, the Cappadocians did not use horses for warfare and therefore the Amazons had the upper hand in the upcoming war. Princess Artianna was appointed general by her mother and in that capacity she were assigned an army 3000 warriors which consisted of 1000 cavalry archers, 1000 cavalry armed with war axes and swords and finally 1000 infantry who would serve as auxiliary troops. The infantry of course rode horses for transportation, but were trained to fight on foot. The infantry consisted of combined swordswomen and archers. The Amazons were getting their intelligence from a well-organized spy-web that reached far and wide into enemy territory: Informers who worked as barmaids in the taverns where the off-duty officers spend their evenings or Amazons dressed as peasant girls herding sheep or goats near wells or springs where the enemy army were likely to march through. The girls willingly allowed a horny soldier of the passing by army to take her; She stood bent over, leaning against a tree with her ass towards him, and while he hammered his tool inside her, she moaned and pretended to like it while she carefully observed to troops marching by. When he was done with her, she accepted his silver coin and hugged him in order to check the consistence and thickness of his armour. Once the enemy army had marched by, she quickly ran to where her fellow Amazons were hiding. They always worked in teams in order to avoid suspicion if the same peasant girl remained to long at the same spot. Then a follow Amazon took her place at the sheep, while she quickly rode a horse back to Amazonia to report of her sightings. Myria was due at the palace courtyard where Princess Artianna mustered her officers. However, the two emissaries who travelled back and forth from Thermodonia called her name outside the palace courtyard and informed her that they carried a message from Thermodonia, more specifically from Lieutenant Lucianus of the Honourable Legion in Thermodonus. "Hrff," Myria grunted. "The lecherous little Lieutenant of Thermodonia, what does he have to say?" One of the emissaries read Lucius' letter out loud. Myria listened indifferently at the formal beginning of the letter, but her face fell when the emissary read out the part where Lucius invited Myria to visit him in his home and sit on his face, and even offered to take the pain that she obviously enjoyed giving to him. She noticed that his letter contained certain courteous expressions which an ignorant male like Lucius wouldn't know about. She rightfully suspected the emissaries had guided him. They were for some reason interested in forging a liaison between the two former enemy officers. "He expects a straight answer back," the emissary said. "What shall I tell him?" "Tell him nothing!" Myria firmly said. "I have no time now for his follies. We are off to war against the Cappadocians. I will deal with him when I get back." Then she bid the emissaries good day and rode into the palace courtyard to join her fellow Amazon officers who paraded in front of the Amazon Queen Hentiope and Princess Artianna. The Amazon Queen gave a speech to inspire courage and bravery into the officers who she referred to as the backbone of the Amazon army. The Queen told them to always look out for their fellow sisters in peril and always keep their Motherland safe and not to seek personal heroism. Then Myria along with the other Amazon officers led by Princess Artianna rode through the city streets of Themiskyra while the civilian citizens cheered and speeded them on their way. Outside the city gates, the Amazon officers joined their units and then the Amazon army moved south along with their horse-driven carts which contained spare weaponry and armoury, food supplies, tents, and the surgeons with their mobile field infirmary. The Amazons used mules to carry big clay vases for their drinking-water which they replenished at every well or spring that the Amazon army passed. The Amazons moved fast down south towards the Taurus Mountains where Princess Artianna planned to intercept the invading Cappadocian army. Here they were joined by the standing southern Amazon army who had abandoned their border outposts further to the south in order not to leave isolated warriors behind to be slaughtered by the invading enemy. Princess Artianna's army was now complete in numbers. Princess Artianna made camp and immediately held a war counsel in her royal tent where the Amazon informers presented her with the latest intelligence regarding the Cappadocian enemy army who now were marching towards the Amazon Motherland. Myria was also present in the tent, but did not speak due to the fact that she was still a mere outpost commander, but she had a burning ambition to rise to a higher position and take part in war counsels like other high ranking trusted officers. The Princess listened carefully to the informers report without interruptions, except to ask for additional information of specific troop unit, their amour and their weaponry. The Amazon informers told the war counsel about the different enemy units and how their general lined them up in formations when they were on the march. The Amazons had no intension of allowing their enemies to line their troops up in battle formations; they always struck at them when they were woundable, and on the march. "The Cappadocian invaders are led by a general by the name of Diodorus," one informer began. "The Cappadocian officers speak highly of him. He has the confidence of both his king as well as the common foot-soldiers of his army. He is known for using brute force as well as his brain." "The front of the army is made of shook-troopers, or 'First Men' as they call them," another informer continued. "They are armed with swords and carry leather armour which is re-enforced with bronze plates. They carry a medium wooden shield which also have bronze plating and wear bronze greaves. "And how many?" the Princess asked. "Diodorus has approximately 1000 of these swordsmen," the informer answered. "His archers march in the middle of the formation," a third informer said. "They are armed with composite bows made of long wooden staves, reinforced with horn and animal tendon. They can penetrate our armour from a distance of 250 yards. These bowmen are not to be trifled with!" "Although he only could stamp up 500 archers, they will do considerable harm to our warriors if they are not eliminated quickly." "However, Diodorus knows what he is doing. He protects his archers with his elite spearmen. The spearmen carries thick leather armour re-enforced with iron plating! Furthermore their wooden shield are also re-enforced with iron and their greaves are also made of iron. "We counted approximately 500 spearmen," the third informer concluded. Iron! The Amazons dreaded these 'Men of Iron'. The Amazon arrowheads were made of bronze and didn't have the usually impact on enemies who were protected by this material, nor did their swords or war-axes. But iron was expensive and very hard to come by for the Amazons due to their isolation and lack of trading routes. "The rear of the enemy army consists of the usually skirmishers; peltasts, slingers and marauders, but he has also brought along sappers (trench builders), ladder men and siege engineers as well as weapon smiths and carpenters," the informers finished speaking. Ladder men and siege engineers! Diodorus was obviously planning to take the Amazon capital Themiskyra, but he would have to pass through the Taurus Mountains. He most likely wanted to make a name for himself as the one who laid siege to Themiskyra, capital of the Amazons which never had been under siege by any man. And even if he should fail to take Themiskyra, he would still be famous for cracking open the defence of the Amazons. Artianna thought carefully on how to engage the incoming enemy; He is careful, yet he is confidant and ambitious. So confidant that he will most likely march his army through the Gelding's Gates, and that's where we will strike at him! 'Gelding's Gates', the Amazons had given the name to this pass in the Taurus Mountains due to the fact that great many males had lost their lives, and some had lost certain body parts, while trying to march through here. "Right, it's settled! We shall strike at them at the Gelding's Gates," the Princess firmly concluded. The princess lined wooden figurines up at the conference table which symbolized the different units of Diodorus' army. "Here," the Princess pointed. "We must first strike at the archers the middle of his formation, we can't allow them to engage us, or we shall loose many sisters in the battle." The other Amazons looked worried at the symbolic army of Diodorus. The spearmen would protect the archers behind their shields, furthermore their spear would kill the horses of the Amazons before they could strike at the archers. "What about Diodorus' spearmen?" they asked. "They will kill our horses before we can kill his archers." "The trick is to make both archers and spearmen disappear with one stroke, as if they have been hit by lightning," the Princess said and tipped over the figurines in the middle section. "Then his army is divided into isolated rear and front sections which can easily be defeated by our brave warriors." "And in which section does Diodorus place him self when his army marches?" she then asked the informers. "He is always placed within the middle of the archers and spearmen." one informer said. "He is very proud of his elite troops and minds them as if they were his own children. And with proper cause, as they have won most of his battles for him." "There is one thing you should be aware off, noble Princess," the other informer stepped forward. "Diodorus travels with four personal bodyguards at all time." "We snuck into his camp one night attempting to assassinate him, but we couldn't get to him. Two of his bodyguards are females who also share his bed. They take turns while watching over him and sleeping with him." "The female bodyguards are possibly rogue Amazons!" the first informer concluded. "Rogue Amazons!" the Princess spat and cursed and so did the other officers in the tent. The two rogues had properly been dishonourable discharged which could happen for many reasons; personal grudges which led to duels to the death, common thieving or other criminal offences. However, Amazons were too noble to become mercenaries, even if they were dishonourable discharged from the Amazon army, but there were always exceptions. The Amazons did not take lightly to Amazons who chose to fight for outsiders, the penalty for an Amazon to become a mercenary was death by crucifixion, that is provided that she was caught alive, but that had never happened. That's why the brat is so confidant, Artianna thought to herself; they have properly told him everything that they know about Amazon tactics and now he thinks that he can easily take us. He knows that he will have the upper hand against us once he has passed through the Taurus Mountains. This makes it even more essential that we strike here. "But how do we actually make these archers and spearmen disappear as if they were struck by lightning?" the Amazon officers asked. "I'll show you," the Princess answered. "If you ladies are ready for a walk in the mountains?" Setting up the trap at the Gelding's Gates: Princess Artianna and the Amazon officers followed one of the old goat paths that led up to narrow plateau on each side of the pass. There stood the massive stone heads of the ancient gods which the indigenous people in these parts worshipped long before the Amazons migrated to here. The indigenous people had carved plateaus on each side of the pass and had then carved the massive stone heads in the mountain rock long ago. It was once a impressive sight to behold for the incoming travellers, but time had withered the stone heads and most of them had cracked and big pieces from them lay around on the plateau. Some of the officers looked down over the edge, but had to step back because they got dizzy in the head from looking down. They pointed out the fact that the mountain sides were too steep for the archers to shoot at people marching on the ground, and that the plateaus were not suited for archers to make an effective ambush. However, it was not arrows that Princess Artianna had planned to fire at the enemies who soon would be marching through the Gelding's Gates. The Princess explained that she intended to use the big pieces of rock which were laying around as boulders to annihilate the central core of the Cappadocian army. The boulders would, with a bit of luck, create a avalanche on their way down which would bury Diodorus and his men of iron. The rear of the enemy army would escape out of the pass, only to be annihilated by the Amazon cavalry. Meanwhile the front of the enemy army would rush to towards to top of the pass, and be engaged by the Amazon infantry. "Our girls will risk that they have to fight the males uphill if the surviving males rush to the top," the other officers correctly pointed out. "That's right!" the Princess said. "But the males will be confused and disorganized when they reach the top. Our girls know what they are up against, so they should be able to prevail." Furthermore, the Princess planned to assign several units of cavalry archers to assist the infantry. The archers on foot could risk being locked down without being able to get clear shots if the formations of the enemy and Amazon swordswomen clashed head-on against each other. However, cavalry archers would still have a clear view and could continue their rate of arrow fire. But it went without saying that there would be casualties among the Amazon infantry, but it was a price well worth paying if Artianna could annihilated the archers and spearmen of Diodorus. All generals take casualties in battles, but the true strategists make the enemy strike at him or her where it hurts the least, and on the other hand the strategist will strike where the enemy is hurt the most. So for the following days the strongest Amazons assisted by their male slaves worked on mowing the boulders to the edge of both the plateaus from dawn to dusk. The princess banned any light be lit in order not to be detected by Diodorus' scouts, and therefore they couldn't work by night. No fire was lit in their camp either, so the Amazon warriors had to eat cold food and sleep out in the cold while they waited for the Cappadocian army to arrive. Shortly before Diodorus and his army approached the pass, Princess Artianna ordered the Amazon camp broken up and removed and all her warriors moved into position far away in order not to be detected, but the Amazons they could, due to their horses, quickly move and engage the enemy when the Princess gave the signal. Artianna received some happy news from her own scouts; Diodorus had decided to split his shock-trooper swordsmen into two separate units; one still served as the front unit, 'The First Men', while the other guarded his lightly armed and armoured rear. This made good sense now that he was close to Amazon territory, but he had unknowingly lifted the pressure from Artianna's Amazon infantry by splitting up his own swordsmen. Artianna split her own troops up into three sections; She first sent her main force of her cavalry along with a portion of her infantry on horses on the other side of the pass, there they split into two separate sections and rode far away along the mountains in order to stay well out of sight of Diodorus' scouts. They were assigned to annihilate the remains of Diodorus' army coming back out of the pass. Her infantry along with a portion of cavalry archers stayed on the other side of the pass and would attack the remains of Diodorus' army coming towards the top of the pass. They also rode far away to avoid detection, but she left a well hidden small group of sharp eyed archers by the foot of the pass. They were assigned to kill the enemy scouts when they returned from reconnaissance. Artianna herself stayed behind on one of the plateaus to oversee the task of moving as many boulders into position on the plateaus as possible because this part was vital for the Amazon's attack plan. During the final night before the arrival of the Cappadocians, Princess Artianna slept out in the cold alongside the other Amazon officers and workers. They crept close to their male slaves to keep warm during the night. By dawn the next morning, the guards gently woke up the Princess and the other Amazons. They had noticed riders in the horizon, Diodorus' scouts were approaching the Gelding's Gates. The horse riding scouts examined the ground on the foot of the pass. The Amazon cavalry had shrewdly let their horses trot backwards when they left the pass. This way the horse tracks appeared to lead up into the pass, and not away from it. The scouts thought that the Amazons must have pulled all their forces behind the pass. The scouts proceeded slowly up towards the top of the pass. The Amazons just remained still and let the scouts take their time. They also bind and gagged the male slaves so they couldn't cry out, although none of them were of Cappadocian origin, but better safe than sorry. Finally, the scouts reached the top where most of them remained while a few of them doubled back to inform Diodorus that the pass had been secured. Then suddenly the Amazons could see the Cappadocian army approaching in the horizon. The enemy moved slowly because the troops were marching on foot, except Diodorus, his bodyguards and some Cappadocian officers who rode close to him. At the foot of the pass Diodorus waited and sent a group of approximately 100 swordsmen up trough the pass. Then the scouts proceeded forward and left the swordsmen 'in charge' at the top of the pass. Still, the Amazons remained motionless and silent while they patiently waited for their prey to enter the trap. Then finally Diodorus' army moved up the mountain pass. One sharp eyed Amazon kept lookout by laying flat on the ground of the plateau while looking over the edge. She silently signalled that the swordsmen had just passed on their way to the top and the 'prey'; Archers with spearmen and Diodorus himself were moving towards the pass. The Amazons silently readied their levers in front of the boulders on both plateaus and waited patiently for the signal to launch them. Then suddenly the lookout jumped and waved her arm. Princess Artianna sounded her horn and the workers immediately started to tip the boulders over the edge of both the plateaus. It didn't matter any longer that the swordsmen also heard the horn because the prey had entered the trap. An Amazon archer ignited a flaming arrow and shot it high into the air as a signal for all the waiting Amazon warriors jump on their horses and engage the enemy. The Amazon workers kept tipping boulders over the edge until there were none left. The boulders made loud noises when they hit the mountain rock, cracked and started a avalanche on their way down. Terrible screaming was heard from the trapped males below, but a mighty dust cloud rose from below and made it impossible to see the exact impact of the avalanche on the Cappadocian army below. The Princess and the Amazon officers rushed down the goat path to where they had kept their horses. She was going to oversee her swordswomen fighting the Cappadocian swordsmen on the top of the pass.