Chapter Ninety-Three
Thalassa’s mouth remained open, filling with blood.
A heartbeat later, and she toppled to the ground, face-first. For the briefest moment, I thought the arrow had been sent by an , one rebuking her for the way she spoke to her queen.
But a red feather fluttered at the end, and we had never used such fletching.
As I turned, another metal-tipped shaft flew in my direction.
“Amazons! We are under attack!”
Arrows rained down, both ours and theirs. I grabbed my bow and fired in the direction the first two had come.
“Go!”
The Amazons mounted rapidly, kicking their heels into the horses as they raced uphill, but the ravine was steep.
The steeds slipped and slid as more arrows pelted down on us.
A horse fell behind me, its wild scream drowned out only by the cry of its rider, yet I could not even glance back to see who had fallen.
Instead, I forced Erebus up and onto the flat path above.
Three dozen men faced us, armed with bows.
Tattoos and scars marked their skin. These were not raiders or farmers hoping to steal another man’s crops.
These were warriors. I fired my arrows as fast as my fingers would allow and struck more than one.
There were enough of us to take them. The question was how many of us they would take before they were overpowered.
“Do not let any escape!” I ordered.
It took only moments for us to surround the surviving men and form an impenetrable barrier of women and horses. Yet their faces did not show even the slightest glimmer of fear. Instead, they brandished knives wildly in our directions, snarling as they spoke words I did not understand.
“Get those weapons from them!” I shouted before yelling even louder. “Where is Trapezitai? We need Trapezitai!”
Several women spoke different tongues, yet Trapezitai was the most skilled. For an instant, I feared she had been the one who had fallen on the slope, but she rode forward, her fiery red hair gleaming with blood from a mark on her head.
She barked a word I could not make out, harsh and consonant-filled, as others rode forward to seize the men’s weapons. I doubted it was truly a word at all until one of the men barked back.
“What did he say?” I asked.
Trapezitai turned to face me. She did not fear having her back to these warriors. Not while we had them surrounded.
“They say we have come to their land. Trespassed,” Trapezitai said.
“We were traveling through,” I snarled. “The same way we have traveled through here before.”
She spoke in the strange foreign tongue, yet the men were speaking again before she had finished.
“They say we started the fight when we began shooting.”
“They shot the first arrow! They brought bloodshed onto this land!”
It was not I who shouted, and I did not know which woman did, but they were the same words that filled my head.
Anger rolled through me, fierce and furious.
Anger that manifested in my hand drawing back my bowstring.
The action was copied by every . I could feel it, the strength of my betrothed running through me.
I could take every one of these men, and I could make it painful in return for the suffering they had caused me.
And I wanted to, but they were talking again.
Fear flashed across Trapezitai’s face as she spoke.
“They say they have an army of hundreds that will come after us. They will hunt us down.”
I scoffed. “If such an army existed in these lands, I would have heard of them.”
Trapezitai spoke, then translated their response.
“He says you have. That they are the Phrygians.”
An icy cold filled my belly, though I tried not to show any reaction.
It was true. I knew of the Phrygians, and not merely because they came from the land of the gods that Melitta and my mother worshipped.
I had been told of them as a child, heard of them in threats to make me head to bed at night or not wander off from the house alone.
Yes, I knew of the Phrygians, and I also knew their land was far from here.
We had not trespassed on their homes. They were the ones wandering, the ones who had seen a group of women drinking by a stream and believed themselves in the presence of easy prey. A mistake they would not make again.
I dismounted Erebus and kept my bow at my side as I approached the man who had spoken with Trapezitai.
“You are a long way from your homeland, Phrygian,” I said. “Why is that? Perhaps you have been cast out? Too weak or too old to fight? Or perhaps you are cowards who have fled a real battle.”
The moment Trapezitai’s translation met their ears, it was not just the man to whom she spoke who snarled and hissed but every one of them. Only the tightening of the Amazons’ bows made them fall silent. I took the response with glee.
“The Phrygians have a reputation, it is true,” I said, Trapezitai translating as I spoke. “But even if your threats had merit, it does not matter. Do you know who I am?”
His eyes were wide as he stared at me. His lips pursed while his hand clenched and unclenched as if in search of a knife or spear with which to strike me. So I stepped forward.
“I am Otrera. Queen of the Amazons.”
I took another step toward him, not because I needed to but because I wanted to see his pupils dilate. I wanted to see his chest rise and fall with the quivering breath of fear. Fear that I invoked.
“I am betrothed to the great god Ares.”
As my words met their ears, a rattle of laughter flew from one of the men’s lips.
I repaid him by nocking an arrow. A moment later, the man was dead on the ground.
Several other men attempted to use the distraction to strike out at us, but each of them met the same fate.
By the time they had stopped fighting, only eight men remained alive.
“Does anyone else wish to laugh at the future wife of a god?” I said.
Silence followed, but only for a moment.
“Bitch!” one called out. They may not have been fluent in our tongue, but it appeared some knew at least a single syllable. He was the next to die.
“Your men are reckless, foolish,” I said to the one who had led them.
“I do not mind, but I think perhaps your wives will. You have families, do you not? Women and children back home? Do they know the truth of their power? Do they know how quickly you have submitted to women? Perhaps if they learn, they, like us, will rise up. I would certainly offer them a place among us if they did.”
The bait worked, as another spat at the ground and someone else swore. This time, it was Damaris who took the first shot, Sotiria the second.
“There are very few of you left now,” I said, looking at the remaining men. “Perhaps this is enough. Perhaps I will let you live.”
I turned to Althea, whose eyes were black with fury.
“Kill one more,” she said. “It was that one who killed Safak. He deserves to die.”
Safak was dead? The knowledge sent a bolt of pain between my ribs, and I barely offered any attention to my aim as I fired, knowing I would hit the target’s heart regardless.
“The rest live,” I said, only for the women to rise in protest.
“You cannot!”
“They must die!”
“They have killed four of our women.”
Four? The loss spread as an ache through my chest, but with a wave of my hand, I silenced them before turning my attention back to the men.
“I will let you leave with your lives for one reason,” I said.
“So that you can spread the word to every corner of the world. You are to tell them of the warriors feared even by the great Phrygians. You are to tell tales of how they shot their arrows from the backs of horses, right through your men. Tell all you meet how the Amazons are blessed by Ares himself, how their arrows never miss and their courage never falters. That is why I will release you. Do you understand?”
As Trapezitai translated, the one who had spoken lifted his head and spat at the ground. It was a shame that I had to repay such bravery with death, but he left me no choice.
With so many of their men fallen, the last few offered no resistance. They nodded rapidly, one after another, a sight that brought a small smile to my face. With that, I gestured to the women. Knowing my request before I had even spoken, they spread apart, creating a gap within the circle.
“Go. Run, before I change my mind.”
For a split second, they remained, looking at me, certain I was laying a trap, until it dawned on them there was no choice. Either they died in a trap, or they died at my hand. And at least this way, they still had a chance.