Myths and Legends - Amazons Ch. 01

Jake got a better look at the thing as he cautiously approached. It appeared to be about eight feet tall, without the upper arms you'd see on a raptor, twenty feet or so from nose to tail, and as big around as an elephant. Before the thing could heal itself, he put the tip of his rifle against the thing's eye and pulled the trigger, hoping the bullet would scramble its brain and kill it for good. He wasn't taking any chances, though.

He shouldered the fifty cal by its strap and hurried to his flight seat. He quickly emptied the contents into a rucksack and shouldered the modified M-4 5.56 caliber rifle after loading and chambering a round. He'd organize his gear in his rucksack later. For the time being, he wanted to get as far away from this thing as possible. Satisfied he'd gotten everything he needed, he hoisted the rucksack on his back and turned to leave. That's when he stopped in his tracks, yet again.

Twenty feet away and staring at him in complete disbelief were three of the most gorgeous women he'd ever seen. They all had dark, tanned skin and were incredibly fit. Their bodies were toned with skin that seemed to glisten even though it was dry. Perhaps most notable to Jake, because it was just so uncommon in modern society, was the body hair on the women. Their arms and legs, while not unattractive, had a visible light carpeting of hair. Jake blinked slightly at the realization. No woman he'd ever seen would be caught dead with hair on their legs and most even shaved or waxed their arms as well, seeing arm hair as unsightly or unwomanly. He'd heard of women in foreign countries like Russia, for example, that didn't shave their body hair but the concept was so foreign to him he just stared for a few awkward seconds before moving on to other aspects of the women.

They were all dressed in the same outfits. Molded leather chest plates covered them from just above their breasts to just below their belly buttons. Their skirts were long strips of leather tied together side by side that barely covered their naughty bits. Their skirts looked like something you'd see on an old episode of Xena, but shorter.

Each woman had a corded leather whip with a nasty-looking barb at the end wrapped around their waist, and Jake couldn't tell how it stayed in place. Each woman also had a corded leather headband and what appeared to be sandal-style boots with cords of leather wrapped up and around their calves, tied just below the knee. They were armed with a short sword each and a dagger.

That's where the similarities ended, though. The one in the middle had rust-colored hair pulled back in a single braid that snaked down the front of her shoulder, and piercing gray eyes. She was about the same height as Jake's six-foot-four frame. She had a stern expression on her face.

The one to the right of the middle one had black hair tied back in a ponytail down her back that stopped just above her ass. She had brown eyes and stood a couple of inches taller than the redhead. Her expression was a mix of curiosity and amusement.

The one to the left of the redhead had light brown hair, almost the color of honey, done up in a messy bun atop her head, and blue eyes. She stood a couple of inches shorter than the redhead and had a look of wonder on her face.

Behind him, Jake heard the beast growl. He quickly turned and brought his Ka-Bar to bear, pointing it at the beast. It didn't move, but it began to breathe again. [Fucking hell,] Jake thought. [How do you kill these things?]

The black-haired woman strode past Jake on his right side and, before he could catch her arm, approached the beast. She grabbed for the whip at her waist.

"That's not going to work," Jake said. "If a fifty caliber bullet doesn't kill these things, then-"

He cut off as the woman gave him a knowing smirk over her shoulder. As the whip uncoiled from her waist, it started to glow alternating wisps of pink and orange. She whipped it around once over her head, then snapped it down. Abruptly, the beast went quiet. Jake stared in shock. The beast's head separated from its body. The woman approached and pulled the head away from the body.

"We do not want it to regenerate," one of the women said from behind.

Jake turned as he lowered the muzzle of his rifle. "You speak English?" he asked, surprised. He couldn't place her accent. It sounded somewhere South American, maybe? Maybe even Spain?

"I learned from the Saxons," the redhead replied. "Who are you, and how did you get here?"

Strong hands grabbed his forearms, pinning his arms to his body. His rifle fell to the ground with a thump.

"What is this?" he protested, unable to move in the firm grasp. "Some kind of Wonder Woman bullshit?"

The redhead narrowed her eyes at him. "I do not know what a 'Wonder Woman' is, but you will answer my questions if you want to live to see the sunrise on the morrow."

"Alright, alright," Jake said placatingly. Seriously, the woman holding his arms to his sides was STRONG. He had no doubt that she could have ripped his arms from his body if she wanted. "This just surprised me, is all. My name's Colonel Jacob Blackburn, and I don't know how I got here. My plane lost power, and I ejected. I watched it crash into some invisible barrier, which I still don't know how to explain. I passed out after ejecting and woke up in the trees up there." He motioned up with his head.

The two women in front of him looked up in the same direction he did. "Made my way down from the trees when that dinosaur over there attacked me. I shot at it with my pistol, but my bullets skipped off its skin like I was hitting stone. Popped one of its eyes, but it grew back. Or maybe it healed? I don't know. I realized I wasn't going to kill it that way, so I hid for a few hours. When it left, I came back and tried to hoist my seat up in the trees so I could get my equipment when the damn dinosaur grabbed my seat and pulled it back down, pulling me out of the trees with it.

"Did you know those damn things were smart as fuck? Sorry about the language. Shot it again with my pistol and got a lucky shot popping its eye again. While it was distracted, I grabbed my fifty cal and pumped its mouth full of metal. It passed out; I grabbed my gear and turned to leave before it woke up if I didn't kill it, and you were there. And there's your Paul Harvey."

"What is a 'Paul Harvey'?" the honey-colored-haired woman asked.

"Er, that just means you know the rest of the story," Jake answered.

"Where are you from?" The woman behind him asked.

Jake grinned. "That's top secret. If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

The women tensed and put their hands on their swords, the hands holding his arms tightening.

"Whoa, easy ladies," Jake said. "That was a joke. I didn't mean it. Just trying to lighten the mood. I'm from Nebraska."

They looked at him, confused.

"Uh, the United States of America?"

They shook their heads.

"Which way does the sun set?" he asked.

The redhead pointed directly to his right.

"Then about two thousand miles behind me and to my right," he replied with a jerk of his head, indicating the direction.

"Your clothing is...unusual," the redhead commented.

Jake looked down at himself. He supposed he did look a little weird. Traditional flight suits are one-piece garments like coveralls with a zipper from crotch to neck. This one, because of all they data the government needed to accumulate, had little wires all over the side of it, sticking out about six inches from the seams of the flight suit, making Jake look like some sort of human-sized amoeba.

"Yeah, necessary to record data while I was flying."

"Data?" the honey-color haired one asked.

"Uh, information."

When no further questions came for a minute or so, Jake said, "Can I ask who you are? And how you're here? No, scratch that. How the hell did this island get here? We're in the middle of the Bermuda triangle, right? There's no island in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, so where in the hell are we?"

"Release him, Sestia," the redhead said.

When the raven-haired woman let go of his hands, he picked up and shouldered his Ka-Bar, put his hands up with his palms out, and sat down cross-legged on the forest floor.

"What are you doing?" the redhead asked.

"Sitting down so you know I'm not a threat," he replied. "I couldn't move when your gorgeous friend here held me, but I just want to make sure you know I'm not going to hurt you."

There was a slight intake of breath from behind Jake. "You think I am gorgeous?" the woman from behind him whispered. Jake nodded.

The redhead scoffed. "As if you could. Besides, you already are a threat just by being here. Tell me, did you happen to see where the Grak'gull came from?"

"The what?" he asked. She pointed at the dead monster. "Uh, no. But if you're up for it, we can go to the cave I saw about fifty meters that way." He pointed behind him. "It might be safer so we can talk."

"What cave?" the redhead asked quickly, perking up.

"There's a cave back that way," he replied, pointing again.

"Finally!" the woman the redhead called Sestia said excitedly. "After all these years, could this be their lair? Will we be able to avenge our dead sisters at last!?"

"Will you show us this cave, Colonel Jacob Blackburn?" the redhead asked.

"Sure," Jake said, standing. "But can I get your names first?"

"Tatiana," the redhead replied.

"Lenore," the one next to her answered.

"Sestia," the one still behind Jake answered.

"Tatiana..." Jake said, pausing and waiting for more.

"What?" she asked.

"No last name?"

"What is a last name?"

"You know, a surname. Mine is Blackburn. First name Jake."

"We have no surnames, or whatever you call them. I am Tatiana. No more."

"Queen Tatiana," Sestia emphasized.

Jake's eyebrows rose a fraction as he looked at Tatiana. "Queen?" She nodded. Jake bowed slightly. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady."

Tatiana rolled her eyes. "The cave, Colonel Jacob Blackburn?" she asked.

"Right," Jake said. "And, just Jake." He turned and led them toward the cave he'd seen.

When they were a few yards off, Tatiana stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. She leaned in and whispered, "Stay here, Colonel Jacob Blackburn. We will kill the Grak'gull, then take you to our village where you can tell us how you got here."

Jake took in her scent. Her breath smelled like wildflowers, and it was intoxicating. He was about to reply that there was no way he was letting them go in there alone when a low growl emanated from the mouth of the cave. They all crouched low, eyes on the cave entrance. Jake readied his fifty cal and waited.

The monster inside roared. The women fanned out, their glowing crimson whips at the ready. All eyes were on the entrance to the cave when the beast lunged out of the entrance and cut a hard right away from the hunting party. This one was even larger than the one he'd helped take down. It was easily twelve feet tall and a good thirty feet long, if not more. Lenore's whip lashed out and took off the tip of the monster's tail. The beast roared in pain again as it ran. Jake took aim, sighted, and fired. A lucky shot; the force of the bullet hitting the beast splintered the end of its already injured tail, and then the damn thing vanished. They all ran toward where it disappeared and nearly fell off an unseen cliff a hundred feet to the river below.

"Cursed Grak'gull!" Sestia roared. "Five thousand years and two-hundred of our kin dead. We were so close!"

"Five thousand years?" Jake asked.

"Auuugggh!!" Sestia screamed in frustration and stormed off toward the cave.

"I will see to her," Tatiana replied. "Lenore, instruct him."

"Yes, my queen," Lenore said as the queen walked off to console her comrade.

Lenore turned back to the cliffside and sat down on its edge. Jake joined her. "Five thousand years ago," Lenore began. "the Grak'gull invaded our home city of Themiscyra. We mistakenly took them for mindless beasts before they destroyed our city. Had we known they were smarter than we thought, we would have hunted them to extinction long before that day, so we left them be. However, they breed mercilessly and quickly. In no time at all, their numbers reached the tens of thousands. With a mere five thousand amazon warriors and two thousand men for breeding, we were quickly overrun."

"Wait, you're Amazons?" Jake asked, incredulous. "Like 'the' Amazon warriors of legend?"

"Legend?" Lenore asked.

"Well, I mean, little is known about your people. Some speculate that you never existed at all, while others insist you did."

"Do your eyes deceive you, Colonel Jacob Blackburn?" Lenore asked, bristling slightly. "I sit before you, alive and well, do I not?"

"Yeah," Jake said. "Sorry. Please continue."

"As I said, Themiscyra was over-run. In less than an hour, our people were nearly slaughtered to a woman."

"Didn't your glowing lassos kill them easily enough?" Jake asked. "Surely, with five thousand Amazons, you'd have been able to hold them off."

She turned to him with a sad smile. "Our thongs did not begin to glow until the ritual. We were here on the island of Theros a year before performing the ritual, and their number had grown to as many as two hundred."

"How did they get on the island?" Jake asked.

She gave him a patient smile. "Please, Colonel Jacob Blackburn, allow me to tell the story."

"Sorry," Jake replied. "But, uh, just call me Jake. Okay?"

She nodded. "Yes, Jake. As I said, we were quickly overrun. Knowing we would not survive the attack, Queen Themys instructed her daughter Tatiana to take what survivors remained, a mere two hundred, and flee here to the island of Theros. Three of the Grak'gull managed to stow away on one of the ships, destroying it when we reached land. We killed one, but two escaped into the island, where we have been hunting them ever since.

"A year after our arrival, the island itself claimed a quarter of our number, lust claiming half another of that." Jake's eyebrows shot up at that, and Lenore paused. Looking at him, she continued. "All of our men were killed in the raid on Themiscyra. With no men to breed with, we began to go out of our minds with desire.

"Twenty-five women died from either infection because of wounds to their bodies from being penetrated by objects not designed to give us pleasure or inadvertently killing themselves by being so out of mind with their lust they stabbed themselves with swords or daggers thinking they were penetrating themselves with the hilts. Queen Tatiana almost succumbed to such an injury before performing the ritual to save us."

"Why did she wait so long?" Jake asked.

"Because I was not sure what effect the ritual would have on the Grak'gull," Tatiana replied, coming up behind them.

"Where's Sestia?" Jake asked.

"Searching the cave."

"What if there's more inside?" Jake asked, moving to get up.

Tatiana put a hand on his shoulder. "Easy, Colonel Jacob Blackburn. The one that got away was the last of her kind."

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Lenore told you our history?" She sat down on the other side of Jake.

"Most of it. She was just getting to the ritual when you came back. I have a ton of questions."

"All for another time," Tatiana replied. "For now, let us finish our tale."

Jake nodded. "Please, call me Jake."

"Very well, Jake," Tatiana said. "Our Shaman, Hestia, and I performed the ritual. To keep our people safe, the island disappeared from the world. We Amazons grew powerful, stronger, faster, with the ability to heal from any injury that is not immediately life-threatening. Our thongs took on the quality of metal, like our swords, and began to glow pink and orange.

"Our lust also abated," she said, blushing slightly. "It remains, still, but hidden just under the surface of our consciousness, like a desire to scratch an itch that has not yet manifested. The need to procreate is strong in our bodies and minds, but the ritual abated our inability to control it.

"As our bodies changed, so did those of the Grak'gull. Their hide became like stone, impenetrable to all but the strongest of weapons. Until you came, only our thongs were able to kill them. Our swords bounced off of their surface like striking a boulder.

"Likewise, they lost the ability to procreate. They made up for it with enhanced healing far greater than ours. As you said before, you destroyed one of their eyes with your, what did you call it, pee-stoll?" Jake nodded. "And it grew back almost immediately. Such an injury would take us the better part of a day to heal from."

"Wow," Jake said.

"Yes," Tatiana said. "They are formidable indeed. However, without their ability to multiply, combined with our enhanced abilities, we have been able to almost eradicate their species."

"If they're so smart, wouldn't they be able to hunt you undetected until the last possible moment to attack? I mean, I didn't even hear that one approaching when it pulled me out of the tree." Jake thumbed over his shoulder behind him, indicating the monster they'd just killed.

"Which brings me to the last of our abilities given to us by the ritual," Tatiana replied. "We seem to know when they are about to attack, almost like our subconscious warns us of imminent danger."

"Like spider-sense."

She looked at him curiously. "What is spider-sense?" Lenore asked. "There are no spiders on the island."

"None?" Jake asked. "Like, at all?"

"No," Tatiana replied. "We thought it odd as well."

"Weird," Jake said. "Anyway, there's this superhero from a comic book called Spiderman. One of his abilities is to sense danger before it happens to him. That's what I meant. He calls it his spider-sense."

"What is a comic book?" Tatiana asked.

"Never mind. It's too much to try and explain. So, you're able to anticipate the attack even when they're silent."

"Precisely," Tatiana said. "We learned of this ability early on when they would set up ambushes for our hunting parties."

"Shit," Jake said. "They're viciously smart."

"What does shit have to do with it?" Lenore asked.

Jake laughed. "Nothing. It's just an expression."

"You used that word before," Tatiana said. "When we thought you were going to attack us. What does it mean?"

"Yeah. In this case, we use the word 'shit' as a form of exclamation or incredulity. In the case of before, it's a running joke among Americans about sensitive information. As in, information that could get people killed if it fell in the wrong hands."

"How would knowing where you are from get people killed if it fell into the wrong hands?" Lenore asked.

"It wouldn't," Jake replied. "Hence, the joke, or expression."

"I don't understand," Tatiana said.

"In simple terms, it means using a phrase to indicate a particular terminology. In this case, 'If I told you, I'd have to kill you' is a phrase to indicate something is 'Top Secret'."

"I still don't understand," Tatiana said. "Why not just say 'top secret'?"

"Eh, don't worry about it," Jake said, shrugging his shoulders. "Suffice it to say you're bound to hear me say any number of things that don't make sense."

Tatiana looked at him skeptically for a few moments. "May I see your weapon?" Lenore asked.

"Which one?" Jake asked.

"The one you killed the Grak'gull with," she replied.

"I didn't exactly kill it with this," Jake replied as he emptied the chamber and pulled the magazine from the rife. He handed it to her with a smile.

"But you were able to incapacitate it for a time," Tatiana replied with a hand on his shoulder. "That's not something to take lightly considering their ability to regenerate. Weapons of war have greatly advanced if a modern weapon can take down a seasoned Grak'gull as easy as you did."

"That was far from easy," he replied.