Amazon Princess Ch. 2

We girded ourselves for the hunt in kilts and light armored breastplates, then ate honey cakes and fruit. After a blessing from the High Priestess, off we ran into the jungle. We ran for two days, sleeping at night hidden in the branches of the trees.

The morning of the third day, we came down out of the jungle and into a vast plain. We could see a collection of huts off some distance to our left, the sounds of human habitation rising from the plain to greet us. We ran toward the village, reaching it shortly before sundown, but stopping short of entering the clearing surrounding the ragged collection of huts.

Athela was our huntmistress and she sent me and another young huntress, Leetha, in to scout the village. We circled the village silently, finding just women and young children moving among the huts. There was a track running away from the village toward a river and we followed the track to where it branched off in two directions. Down the left fork of the path was what appeared to be a deserted laundering place, with bits of sudsing flowers and other detrius scattered about.

Up the other fork, we found the men of the village at the river, bathing in the swift-flowing water. As silently as we had approached, Leetha and I returned to where our huntresses were hidden. We quickly explained what we had seen, drawing diagrams in the dirt, and five groups of huntresses moved silently out toward the river.

I carefully uncoiled my binding fiber and thought back to the men I had seen bathing. There was one in particular who had caught my eye. He was tall, several hands taller than even me, and had brown hair. His sacred rod had lain flaccid against his thigh but even in its sleeping state had looked powerful.

We reached the river and I signaled to my team which male I wished to take. Rushing from the tall reeds, we surrounded him quickly and I threw a loop of binding fiber around his torso. He stood there momentarily; looking bemused by the women surrounding him then calmly flexed his arms and broke my binding fiber.

I snarled and jumped upon his back, wrapping my arms around his neck as Leetha approached with her binding fiber. I shouted to Ameeni and she quickly poured the sleeping fluid into a cloth. Brisha ran up with the cloth and tossed it to me where I clung to the now thrashing and shouting male, and I quickly placed the cloth over his mouth and nose, holding it tightly so he would be forced to breathe of it. He continued to fight as the sleeping fluid did its work, until he collapsed on the bank of the river, half in and half out of the water.

The other Amazons had not been idle, and we soon had five sleeping men trussed up on poles and ready to carry back to our village. While the capture had taken less time than it takes to slaughter a pig, the rest of the men had run back to the village and the entire area was in an uproar. Athela signaled that we should move quickly, lest the entire village pursue us and we moved out at a fast trot, four huntresses to each man.

The village did send out warriors to pursue us, but we moved throughout the night and the less-skilled trackers of the village were not able to follow where we went, as we moved up into the foothills.

Mid-morning of the next day Athela called a halt and we all happily placed our burdens on the ground and stretched our aching muscles. I noted with some curiosity that my captive was awake and looking around with bemused eyes. None of the other captives had recovered from the effects of the sleeping fluid, so that this male was awake came as a surprise.

"Greetings." I said to him, speaking in the common tongue.

"Who are you? Why am I your prisoner?" He asked, lacking the good graces to respond to my salutation.

"We are Amazons, and you are our captive." I said, shrugging as if it should be obvious. Athela came over and looked down at the male with me. She seemed surprised by the amount of binding fiber we had used to secure the male to his poles. But after seeing him snap my lasso without seeming to exert any effort, I was not taking any chances.

"Amazons? But that's just a myth!" The man gasped.

"He is awake?" Athela asked in Amazon, glancing at Ameeni, wondering if she had been lax in her assigned duties.

"Ameeni and all of us did as we were supposed to," I reassured her. "This one just seems unusually strong."

"He will struggle. Put him back to sleep, or he will interfere with our travels."

"Yes, huntmistress." I said, turning toward Ameeni and gesturing for her to bring more sleeping fluid.

The male had been watching our exchange with bright eyes, even though he could not understand our words. As I turned back toward him, cloth in hand, he began to pull at his bindings.

"Wait!" He cried. "Just tell me your name."

I paused. "Why is it you wish to know my name?" I asked.

"I would know the name of my captor." He said, suddenly serious. "My name is Leonidas."

I shrugged. He seemed very serious about wishing to know my name.

"I am Kayelli." I replied, moving forward again. I quickly placed the cloth over his nose and mouth, sending him off into sleep once more. I noticed as his eyes fluttered shut that they were the same deep brown color as his hair.

We traveled several more days, our burdens making our travel slower than it had been on the way down the mountain. Our captives were kept asleep throughout our journey, only being given small amounts of water when they awoke, before being put back to sleep.

After traveling for six days, we stopped for the night at the sacred grove where we had first started on this hunt and gave thanks to the Mother Goddess for her bounty. Our village was two more days' slow travel up the mountain.

As we trekked into the village on the afternoon of the eighth day after our hunt began, we were greeted by a joyous sight. The High Priestess had heard our cries of victory and had prepared a great welcoming feast. A wild boar roasted over the central fire and all the huts were festooned with flowering jungle vines. The entire tribe came out to welcome us.

Our captives were finally released from their bonds inside a wooden corral with a high fence. They slowly awoke and stood looking out as we greeted family and friends. I hugged my mother, the village chieftess; and my aunt, the High Priestess. They congratulated me on a successful first hunt, and I drew my hunt-mates into the circle so they could share in the words of praise.

The feast was filled with stories recounting our hunt, and songs around the fire. Even the captives were allowed a share of the roast boar. Tomorrow would start the trials, and they would need the sustenance.