(Note: Most stories about Wonder Women occur after World War II - after 1940. We're told that her history, though, goes back to the dim reaches of time. So maybe she acquired all her gear and super powers over time. This is part of a series of 9 stories relates how she got her costume and powers over time, after several adventures in "Patriarch's World".)
PROLOGUE, 470 C.E. (Christian Era):
The Amazons sailed from the Inland (Mediterranean) Sea in 65 C.E. and were led into the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually they landed on a small island amongst the Scilly Islands off the southwestern coast of England, an island with lush vegetation and agreeable weather thanks to warm ocean currents. Behind them, the Roman Empire grew in size but has been crumbling for the past 150 years due to barbarian invasions and other calamities.
The rise of Christianity has driven the 'old gods' - once called the Olympians of Greece, then named as the gods of the Roman Pantheon - away from the affairs of man. However, older gods are still worshipped here, gods as old as the Olympians. Christianity has also made some headway in finding believers in England. Currently there are two versions of Christianity in England, Roman and Pelagian, at war with each other and with the 'pagans'. Finally, there is a revival of Druidism by descendants of priests not killed by the Romans.
As the Roman Empire weakened, its troops retreated from the ends of their world. Hordes of nomadic northern tribes filled in the vacuum. Shortly after Constantine III led the last legion, the Second Augustus, out of England in 407, Saxons from central Europe pushed across the narrow English Channel and invaded England. Now there are two primary forces in England - the Saxons in the east and the tribes of the west: Britons, Celts and Welsh. The Saxons have their own gods while the Britons are split between two kinds of Christians and small pockets of Druids or pagans. The Celts and Welsh are pagans. The island is ravaged by warfare between the various tribal groups and religions. One man, Arthur Pendragon, has begun to create a Christian nation in the western part of the island, around his hill fort, Camuludanum, and based on Britons and Welsh and pro-Roman Christians. He has his hands full, with a resurgence of Druidism to his east and raids by Saxons and Celts.
Paradise Island:
"We shall call this new mineral 'feminum'," Queen Hyppolyta says sagely to her court. One of the Amazon stonecutters recently discovered the remarkably-strong metallic rock while excavating a new quarry. Tests by the queen's scientists proved that the strange metallic rock could be made workable once 'cured' by certain herbs and potions, then heated and hardened into a light but unbreakable metal. "The first project for you, Amanda, is to make new bracelets of this feminum for all of our subjects. But have a care, Amanda, as you replace their current iron bracelets. Remember that if you remove both bracelets at the same time, an Amazon is cursed to become like a man: warlike, short-tempered, irrational, and violent. Remove one bracelet at a time when you give out the new ones. Also make two hundred stout shields of the metal, please."
"Yes, Highness," Amanda replies, bowing deeply.
"Excellent!" the queen says. "Now our subjects must practice harder at deflecting swords, arrows and spears, as our daughter Diana has taught us. Soon, none shall have to fear attacks if caught without a shield."
"I can't wait to train them, mother," Diana gushes. She hugs her adopted sister Drusilla and smiles at the many members of Hyppolyta's court.
The Amazons have lived here in peace for several hundred years. As when they lived in the Inland Sea, their new home has been protected by mists, strong currents and rocks. No ship dares to land here. Even swimmers from passing ships think twice when they see schools of sharks, sent by Poseidon to protect the island. On Themyscira, the Amazons preserve their old customs, praying to the various gods of Olympus (especially the five paramount goddesses, Hera, Athena, Demeter, Artemis and Aphrodite). They still wear long white gowns most of the time and short white dresses when hunting. Sports are done Grecian-style, wearing no clothes.
The Amazons are occasionally visited by one of the Olympians. There is not much surprise, then, when a bright light fills the court and Hera, Queen of the Gods appears. Each of the Amazons falls to one knee in obiesance to their patron goddess but she quickly asks them to resume her seats. "Wine for our goddess!" Hyppolyta says to one of her guards.
"None this time, but thank you for your hospitality, Queen Hyppolyta," the tall, middle-aged-looking, gorgeous redhead says, moving to take a seat near the queen offered by Mala, the Amazons' healer. "I've come to tell you that a great evil is gaining power on the island to the northeast, called Britain. If unchecked, the balance between good and evil will be upset. I suspect Ares is involved but I haven't been able to reveal him.
"As you know, we have few believers left in the world. Mostly in small pockets in Greece and, of course, here on Themyscira," Hera explains. "Nonetheless, an ancient enemy of ours, the Dagda, the All-father of the Druids, is regaining strength in the land of the Britons. He accolytes are trying to bring him back, to roam the Earth. His followers are being taught the use of magicks - frightful, dark, deadly magicks, in his name. The Dagda must be stopped."
"How can we help, Great Hera?" Hyppolyta asks.
"Once again I must call upon your Amazons for assistance. Since the Dagda has been growing in strength, I fear you must send several of your best warriors to stop his followers. I cannot impress upon you how much more heinous is the Dagda than was Ba'al."(1)
"I'll go!" "I too!" "And me!" the various Amazons quickly shout, eager to serve the Queen of the Gods.
"Select three of your best warriors, good queen, and I will take them to Britain to stop the Dagda," Hera says, rising.
"Diana, who would you select?" the queen asks her daughter.
"Myself, of course, and two of our best warriors, Melissa and Iphegenia, I think," Diana says. The captain of the guards is sent to fetch the two warriors, women who in the most recent Amazon games showed the best fighting skills - after the princess, of course.
As soon as the two women reach the throne room, Hera, Diana and the two warriors disappear in a flash of bright light ...
... And reappear below a short hill in southwestern England. The tall princess discovers that once again she is dressed in the red and gold dress made by Haephestus and given to her, a special dress which can assume any shape she can imagine. A golden cord just below her opulent breasts holds the dress close to her body. Red shoes, held to her feet by straps which rise up her calves almost to her knees, are on her feet. She has a sword, bow and quivver of arrows hanging on her back. All materialized when Hera transported her and the others.
Melissa is a 5'6" woman with a petite figure and short brown hair. Iphegenia is taller, at 5'10", and with long black hair like Diana's. She is also massively-muscled, with biceps, when flexed, as large as Melissa's thighs. She actually looks more powerful than Diana! Both Amazons are wearing red shoes like the princess' and have on the short white dresses (mid-thigh length) commonly worn by Amazons when action/adventure is expected. Each is armed like her princess.
Hera startles the women when three golden girdles materialize in her hands. "These were made by Haephestus," she explains, giving one to each Amazon. "Your's will give you great strength, agility and healing, Diana," the goddess says as she hands one to Diana. "Much like the strength you used to defeat Ba'al, but other powers as well. Your girdles," she says, handing one to each of the other women, "will give you strength, agility and healing powers far beyond those of mere mortals. You must return these to Queen Hyppolyta when you return to Themyscira - they will only work when you are away from home."
Then she gives an iron arrow to the princess, who immediately puts it into her quivver. "This should stop the Dagda if it can be shot into its heart. I do not know what form the beast has taken, so you must discover this for yourself," Hera adds.
"Thank you, great Hera!" the three Amazons chorus, dropping to one knee and bowing their heads.
"Arise, daughters!" Hera says, pulling Diana to her feet. She points at the hill. Atop the hill one can see wooden walls, like a palisade. There is a small trail leading up toward the wall. "This is Camuludanum, Arthur Pendragon's strongest fort," the goddess says. "Inside the fort you will find Arthur, a man who is struggling to create a Christian kingdom here in England. He may help you track down the followers of the Dagda and stop its resurrection. Although he is not one of our followers, we have seen him to be a good man, Diana. Trust him." With that said, Hera vanishes in a blinding flash of light.
The three women fasten the golden belts around their waists and, after admiring the way they look, begin to climb the hill. As the three women climb they come to appreciate the defensive strength of the hill fort. "This would not be easy to attack," Melissa says. The others nod their agreement. The wooden palisade is twelve to fifteen feet high and below it is a steep slope running down to level ground. The track is barely wide enough for a cart and makes a sharp right turn in front of the gate. No siege engines could be used against the gate or the walls because of the steep slope and the fact that there is only an eight-foot long straight section of the track before the gate.
As the women make the last turn and head toward the gate, guards atop the palisade challenge them. The Amazons stop in surprise, then smile in a new appreciation of the fort's defenses. Archers atop the wall have arrows aimed at the three women and ready to fire. "We come in peace," Diana shouts at a helmetted soldier. "We've come to speak with Arthur Pendragon."
"KING Arthur is busy, wench," the soldier shouts, then laughs. "Come back on Saturday night and we'll give you a proper welcome!"
Melissa begins to reach for her bow but Diana stops the woman by putting a hand on her wrist. "Fine, we'll leave," Diana tells the guard, "just tell the king that Princess Diana of Themyscira was here but has returned home ..."
"Open the gates!" the soldier yells abruptly, raising a knuckle to his right eyebrow as a crude salute. "Sorry, your highness, I didn't know ..."
Diana and her friends smile as they pass through the stout oak gate and enter the fort's broad interior. Once inside, the women see that there is a dry stone bank or wall 16 feet thick rising almost to the base of the wooden palisade. Men standing on the wall guard all approaches to the hill fort from behind the safety of the thick wooden curtain wall. Across the 18 acres of flat ground inside the fort's walls is a large (63 feet by 34 feet) wood and stone building and a number of smaller buildings.
Melissa and Iphegenia marvel at the advances made since they became isolated on Themyscira. They note the variety of bodies among the men, the fashions of the women and men, how attractive the men appear, weapons, the way the men carry themselves, and of course the way the fort is designed.
One of the soldiers directs the women toward the largest building. They reach it a few minutes later and inside discover a long, wide hall. In the middle of the hall is a large, round table. Only one man sits at the table, Arthur Pendragon, a thirty-something man with black hair and a neatly-trimmed black beard. A crude gold crown atop his head identifies him as King of the Britons. Guards scattered around the room drop into defensive crouches and raise weapons at the sight of three armed women.
"Hola, King Arthur!" Diana says, moving around the table toward the king. She identifies herself and the others and asks to speak to him for a few minutes. After he nods 'yes' and points her toward one of the chairs around the table, she sits and explains her mission to find the followers of the Dagda and kill the false god before its powers become too great.
"I will support you in this," the king says a few heartbeats later. "We know of an area to the east, a day's ride, where the old ways of the Druids have been taken up by the people. Missionaries sent there have been killed mercilessly and our good cleric, Bishop Germanus of Auxerre, has asked me often to deal with those people. Unfortunately, my forces are stretched thin - some are far to the west fighting Celtic raiders, some are up north protecting an area which has just joined us, and most of my forces are facing Saxons to the northeast. I plan to go there tomorrow, myself. I can offer you little help, Princess Diana."
"Perhaps we can help," a deep male voice says from behind Arthur. An old man with a long white beard and an attractive, busty raven-haired 30-something beauty of 5'10" or 11 move around the king's chair and join the others. Merlin wears a long black cloak and carries a three-foot long rod, a rod with a gem (diamond?) on the end, his fabled 'Isle Sceptre'.
"Merlin!" Arthur says, smiling up at the old warlock. "And dear Aurora! Join us! We're talking about those druids ..."
"I did not mean to eavesdrop, highness, but my apprentice and I heard you," Merlin says, smiling at the Amazons. "Just how," he says, looking critcally at Diana, "did you learn about those people? And where are you from?"
Diana thinks for a moment, then says that her home is far to the west. Arthur's left eyebrow rises at this but he says nothing. Aurora also seems to react to this, but Merlin puts a hand on her wrist. "Our own, uh, high priestess told us about it," Diana lies. "She had a dream ..."
"LIAR!" Merlin shouts. "Your highness, this woman is a fraud! She is not as she appears to us. Have nothing to do with her!"
"I believe you have some explaining to do," the king says to the princess. "We know all lands to the west and Themyscira is not among them. And if my mage disbelieves your tale about dreams, well, I must accept his word."
Diana waits a moment, then explains, "Our land is VERY far to the west. So far that you could not reach it after sailing for several days. That is why our dress and customs are different than yours, your highness. As for the dream, well, that WAS a fabrication. I cannot reveal how we knew about the Dagda, only that we did."
The two men sit silently for a moment, then Merlin asks, "How do you propose to stop this thing you call the Dagda?" Diana produces the iron arrow from her quivver and tells him Hera's instructions. After a moment, he nods toward the king. "She might just be able to stop the Dagda with that. I know not what it is, but that metal has a strong magical aura about it. She also has her own small aura of magic, but it is a kind of which I know not. If she can get close to it, and shoots well, the Dagda might just be stopped before it causes any more trouble for us."
"Already the people near the Great Circle are suffering from the bestial practices of its followers," Arthur says. "Very well, I can spare a few men to help you, Diana. I suggest that you leave at first light. You'll have a hard ride ahead of you. Will you need anything else from us."
"And you can take Aurora, here," Merlin offers. The woman by his side starts to react but falls silent under the magician's withering stare.
Diana looks at the woman beside Merlin, then says to the king, "Only some horses, and perhaps some cloaks."
Early the next morning the three Amazons assemble outside the rude hut in which they spent the night. In the courtyard of Arthur's hill fort they women discover several men on horseback awaiting them. Aurora is also seated on a horse. Like the men, she wears a suit of chain mail under a loose green blouse, gauntlet gloves, and knee-high leather boots. A long red cape and hood protect her from the cold morning air. Only her face is uncovered. Her breasts form attractive tents in the metal covering her chest. Merlin and another robed man (this one in a brown robe) stand beside the riders.
"Hola!" Diana says as she and her friends join the entourage.
"Hola to you, Diana of Themyscira," Merlin intones. "May I present to you his grace, Bishop Germanus of Auxerre?" The old man in brown bows deeply toward Diana.
"The mage has told me of your plans, your highness," the bishop says. "We welcome your help. The beast is a foul and unholy thing and has taken too many of our faithful Christians. We bless you and your works!"
"Arthur left before first light to join his men fighting the Saxons," Merlin says. "Their warlord, Hengst, slaughtered several hundred Briton nobles and Arthur means to avenge their deaths. He left Sir Bede's squire, John Stannard, and twenty men-at-arms to ride with you to the Great Stone Circle. He also left this." Merlin produces a red cloak which he hands to Diana.
"Long ago, a warrior queen of the Britons, Boadicea wore this self-same cloak. His Highness deemed it appropriate that you should wear this to keep you warm," Merlin says.
"Great Hera!" Diana thinks, "this is the cloak I gave to her so long ago! And it is as fresh as if I had washed just this morning!" She smiles and tells the mage, "I am honored by this gift, Merlin. Please thank your king for me."
Ordinary brown cloaks are given to Melissa and Iphegenia. After the Amazons mount the horses provided by Arthur, Merlin raises his wand and intones some arcane words that not even Diana's ability for tongues can understand. She feels a tingling sensation on her skin, like having the hair on her arms rustle in the breeze, followed by a feeling of well-being and ease. "I've given you a spell of health," Merlin says. "This will keep you and your horses refreshed for several days. You must sleep for at least two ours each night, but you will only need two hours and then you'll feel as fit and ready for combat as if you'd slept for six hours.
"John Stannard, you are charged with the responsibility for getting these woman to their destination. If you encounter any human threats on your journey, or at your destination, you and your men must do all you can to protect these women. Aurora, my beloved child, you must use the magic I've taught you to protect Princess Diana and her companions, as well as the men, from any magical attacks. We trust that you, your highness, will then assume the responsibility of destroying the Dagda."
"We will, Merlin," the Amazon replies. "Thank you, and thank Arthur - King Arthur, for your help." With that, Diana and Aurora lead the small troop out of the hill fort and down the twisty path to level ground. They easily break into a trot and head eastward across the rolling countryside.
The small party works their way across the English countryside. The Amazons are amazed at how desolate the land becomes as they approach the apparent home of the Dagda. Not a soul is seen on their ride; homes have been abandoned - some with stock still roaming the yard or fields around the small homes.
"You look uncomfortable in that armor, Aurora," Diana says as the women, at the front of the troop, ride along at a slow trot.
Merlin's apprentice smiles at the Amazon princess and replies, "Yes, it is bothersome. I may take it off before we get to our destination. Merlin asked me to wear it. Wants me safe, I suppose, but still ... I feel so fatigued after a while."
"Probably too heavy for you," Melissa offers.
"Or you need to exercise more," Iphegenia says softly. Diana looks at the muscle-woman and scowls, making Iphegenia look down at her horse's neck.
"There's the Great Stone Circle!" Aurora suddenly announces, pointing at a blur on the open downland ahead of the riders. At her announcement, Stannard and his men catch up with the women and pass them, forming a wedge ahead of the women, with the squire in the lead. The men wear either chain mail or thick leather costumes with plates of metal woven into the fabric. Four men are armed with bows and arrows, the rest with swords.
The Great Stone Circle is actually two circles, one inside the other. A series of 30 huge upright stones form the circle. Atop many of the stones is another lying sideways across the tops of two of the upright stones. Some of the stones seem to have fallen off their perches. The inner ring of six pairs of stones (with a lintel stone atop each pair) seems to be arrayed in some manner, as if facing the cardinal directions relevant to some obscure religion. Well outside the stone circle is a series of large earthen berms or barriers and a series of low wooden posts. Not a wall, not even close to being a wall, so these too must be for some religious use, Diana decides.
"By your leave, mistress," Stannard says to Diana, "we should dismount soon. My men are not trained to fight on horseback as well as they can on foot. Also, the sun will set in an hour or so. We should not go to that place in the dark. There is great evil there, mistress, especially at night."
Diana nods at the veteran warrior - a veteran warrior at the age of maybe 22. She's over 1500 years old but she's only had a few chances to fight in real, life-threatening combat. Most of her skills were learned in combat with her sisters on Themyscira. She knows, from talks with Aurora and Stannard on the ride here, that he's been in over a dozen fights at the side of Sir Bede and has the scars to prove the violence of warfare here in Patriarch's World.
Half an hour later, with the large stone blocks at the circle clearly visible perhaps half a mile away, the small party stops in a shallow ravine. The riders dismount and hobble their horses and set up their camp for the night. Iphegenia stands on high ground beside the ravine, scanning the far horizon for signs of life at the stone circle. Aurora quickly strips off her chain mail armor, baring her body briefly to the men. Diana nods appreciatively at the woman's lithe figure, marred only by her large breasts. After doffing the armor, the woman dresses in her long brown leather shirt/dress, cape (with the hood lying on her back), gauntlets and boots and plops down on the ground to pore through a large bag she brought on the trip.
"What's in the bag?" Diana asks, sitting beside the sorceress-in-training.
"Some of my equipment and supplies, should we need powerful magicks tonight," Aurora replies, scratching the inside of her creamy white thigh with a dirty fingernail. Diana can't help herself - her eyes cast downward to look at the woman's leg and the small swath of her bushy red pubic hair. The woman obviously has no fear of displaying her body.
"Tell me about the stone circle," Diana asks, hastily changing the subject and looking up at the woman's eyes.
"Well, of course it's impossibly-old," Aurora begins. "It's been here for as long as Merlin remembers, and he's VERY old. He says it was here long before the Druids came from across the sea, and will be here long after they've left. The Druids are just the most recent users of the circle. No one knows how the stones were put there. I suspect magick but Merlin says some other power moved the stones, then he says no more on the subject. He's never been here - says it doesn't 'feel' right around it, whatever that means." She laughs, then says, "the poor old dear would have had the shock of his life if the king had ordered him to come with you. He persuaded Arthur that he was best used if he made sure that Camuludanum was safe until the king's return. Of course, Arthur quickly agreed when Merlin added that I could be sent with you on this quest."
Diana lies down on her back and stares up at the darkening sky. Aurora continues to rummage in her bag and a while later finds what she wanted. She sets it beside her then lies down next to Diana - very close to Diana, in fact. The Amazon can easily smell Aurora's musky scent as well as some other pleasing aromas. When Merlin's apprentice's hand brushes against Diana's bare thigh, an electric thrill courses through the princess' body. Part of her quakes inwardly as she recalls the way Selecchis betrayed her friendship and love.(2)The woman almost raped her, then planned to sell her as a slave. Instead of being a loving friend, as are all Amazons, the Carthaginian woman was evil. Diana often struggles to understand what makes people in Patriarch's World so different from her Amazonian sisters. Relief floods her body when Aurora rolls onto her side, facing away from the princess.
As the rest of the troop beds down for the night, Diana raises her eyebrows at the sight of Melissa and Stannard moving away from the group and around a bend in the creek. Then when Iphegenia is relieved by one of the men-at-arms, she drops onto the earth beside Aurora. As Diana tries to fall asleep, she's aware of Aurora and Iphegenia softly talking with each other. Then her eyebrows arch when she distinctly hears kissing and moaning. "I don't know whether I want to trust Aurora or not," Diana thinks to herself. "I've had nothing but pain and grief from people - and gods - here in Patriarch's World. Maybe it's just as well that Iphegenia learns for herself what people away from our home are like." The princess manages to fall asleep despite the intense lovemaking a few feet away.
Several hours later, with a full moon low in the sky, Stannard's guard hustles back into the ravine and awakens the squire. He then goes around, waking his men and the women from their short sleep. Someone is moving around at the stone circle! Instead of waiting for daylight, all see the need to move now! As the troop prepares for an attack on the circle, Diana notices that Iphegenia is now wearing Aurora's armor. "Are you sure you will be safe without your armor?" Diana asks the sorceress.
"I have put a ward around my body," Aurora explains. "Nothing can harm me now. I hope you don't mind that I gave the armor to Iphegenia. She looks so strong and powerful in it, don't you think? And it will make her a better warrior for you, I'm sure." Iphegenia DOES look good. Her bulging muscles and chiseled thighs seem to stretch and strain the shiny chain link armor. It covers her entire body with a shiny, silvery sheen. Around her waist is the golden girdle given to her by Hera, and on her wrists are the feminum bracelets. She's wearing only the cloak given to her by Merlin. Her dress and shoes are lying on the ground unused since they would only look silly over the armor and certainly wouldn't fit under it. There isn't even a bulge under the hood because her hair is short enough to not make a lump. As an Amazon, and especially now with Hera's golden girdle, running barefoot presents no problem for her.
"Of course, it's fine," Diana says, adjusting her bow on her back. Like the others, she's also wearing her cloak to ward off the chilly night air. Carrying her sword, she and the others climb out of the ravine and begin walking toward the stone circle. They can see lights ahead and hear chanting from a number of voices, but only half a dozen people are visible in the bright light inside the circle. As the troop nears the circle, they see that there are hundreds of people standing outside the berm, arms locked, swaying gently with the rhythm of the chants. Some thirty men armed with pikes and swords are at the gap in the berm on the northeast side, on the packed-earthen avenue leading to the stone circle.
"Morgan!" Aurora hisses as she looks at the figures illuminated by a great fire inside the innermost circle.
"Who is that?" Melissa asks.
"Arthur's own half-sister, Morgan le Fay!" Aurora replies. "She has always acted as if she's a good Christian woman, a loyal subject of the king. Yet here she is, LEADING some kind of pagan rite! I recognize the chants now. These are not Druids, these people are followers of Morgan and it is she who seeks to restore the Dagda. We are in great danger! She is a powerful magick-user!"
"Then let's attack her now!" Melissa says, rushing toward the men guarding the gateway to the stone circle, her cloak flapping behind her. Diana quickly grabs the young woman by her shoulders and restrains her. A few quick commands and Stannard's four archers, joined by Melissa and Iphegenia, drop to their knees and put arrows in their bows. As one, six arrows fly into the guards. A heartbeat later and after 18 arrows have been shot, fifteen guards lie on the ground outside the gateway.
"Let's go!" Diana yells, drawing her own sword. She has resolved to kill no one but she will use the sword defensively. The small force rushes the remaining guards and once the guards, dressed in simple peasant dress, see that armored men and women are attacking, lose their resolve. Half of the remaining guards run to the left or right, away from the opening in the berm, half a dozen run through the gateway and toward the circle, and the last few stand their ground. Foolishly. Stannard's men slam into the remaining guards like a tidal wave, knocking them aside without losing momentum. Inside the berm, the archery team begins to shoot at the men fleeing toward the stone circle and all the guards drop after two volleys.
"To the circle!" Aurora yells, pointing at the brightly-lit area ahead.
The area inside the inner circle is amazingly-bright and seems to be enclosed in some kind of bubble, entirely within the innermost stones. As the small force reaches the edge of the outer circle, Diana yells to Stannard, "Guard our backs!" With that, the three Amazons and Aurora cross between two of the 50-ton sarsen or outer stones and cross the few remaining feet to the inner circle. As soon as the women pass between the upright stones and into the inner circle, all four immediately freeze in their tracks, held upright like bugs trapped in amber. As they struggle to free themselves, Melissa and Iphegenia slowly drop to the ground, unconscious.
"What is this?" Diana yells at Aurora.
"I ... I don't ..." is all she says before her eyes close. Soon after that, Diana succumbs to the strange force holding her captive.
"NNnhhh ... what? Where ... where am I?" Diana asks herself when she awakens. Her vision and head clear and she sees that she and the other women are inside, more or less, the inner circle. She is tied by a thick rope to one of the northeastern pair of stones and one of the southeastern pair of stones. Aurora is similarly tied between one of the northwestern stones and one of the southwestern stones. Melissa is tied between the other southwestern stone and one of the southern stones. Iphegenia is tied to a southeastern stone and the other southern stone.
"Oh no!" the princess gasps. BETWEEN the pairs of bluestones stands a tall, swarthy man and a little girl, dirty-faced, dressed in rags, but spellbound and unmoving. "ALL OF YOU!!" Diana yells, "WAKE UP!!" Only Melissa stirs and struggles to regain consciousness.
Next Diana notices a woman entering the circle, carrying an infant or something else in a tiny little bundle. The woman is garbed in a long black gown and has golden brown hair. She smiles briefly at the Amazon, then deposits the bundle onto a kind of altar inside the circle.
"Noooo!" Diana moans when the woman pulls a long dagger from her belt and raises it over the bundle. "NNNOOOOOO!!" Diana SCREAMS when the woman stabs downward with the dagger, plunging it into the wriggling bundle, pinning it to the alter. "OOOHHHH ... NNNNOOOOOOO!!" the Amazon wails, certain that she's just seen a woman, a SISTER(!), kill an infant child!
Then Diana notices a disturbance in the air over the alter.
Diana looks at the ropes holding her hands, tightly stretching her body apart,
and then grimly begins to pull on the right-side rope. She strains with all of
her gods-given strength and the tall bluestone begins to tilt toward the Amazon.
With a mighty yank, there is a loud
She turns toward her left hand and freezes. At the southern-most pair of stones, the tall man takes out a knife with a curved blade. As the black-clad woman intones something in a language which Diana can't understand (even with her gift of tongues!), the man drags the edge of the knife across the little girl's neck, slitting her throat and almost removing her head. Diana hears the obscene words of Morgan - most are unintelligible but she makes out some 'nonsense' words - Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and Cthulhu. "Nyarlathotep will tell our Lord Cthulhu when to return, will tell him that we are worthy! Our Lord will return from R'lyeh when we prove we are free, wild, beyond good and evil, laws, our morals thrown aside!" Morgan says to the struggling Amazon princess.
The disturbance over the altar slowly forms into a small cloud, roiling and bubbling like a super-charged thundercloud. Morgan lifts the bundle off the altar and tosses it upward, into the cloud. It does not reappear. Then the hulking man between the southernmost pair of stones lifts the body of the little girl and tosses it into the cloud. This body also does not return from the cloud. It gets darker and a few sparks of light stab out of the cloud.
"STOP THIS OBSCENITY!" Diana roars. She pulls on the rope around her left wrist and her incredible strength snaps the rope, leaving a four foot long section on her wrist. She takes one step toward Morgan, who's still chanting, when the Amazon spots the men between the southwestern and southestern pairs of stones. Each man deftly slits the throat of the little girl in front of him, then lifts her lifeless body and tosses it toward the cloud over the altar stone. Again, the bodies vanish into the roiling black cloud. The cloud gets darker and more pronounced flashes of lightning stab out of the cloud. The air smells richly of water, sulfur, and decay.
By now, Melissa has awoken and is also struggling to free herself. Thanks to the girdle from Hera, the Amazon manages to break the ropes around her wrists and rushes toward the altar. "Save the girl to your left!" Diana shouts, turning toward the northern pair of stones. She can see the man there readying his knife to kill the young girl before him. As Diana completes her turn, she lashes out with her wrist and the end of the rope flies through the air. The tip hits Morgan on the side of her head and blasts her away from the altar. She lies on the ground on one elbow, struggling to remain conscious.
Diana continues her turn and again lashes out with the rope, letting the end snap like a whip as it hits the man's face. The force of the blow knocks him backward, away from the girl and out from between the upright bluestones. The child continues to stand like a statue between the two stones. Behind Diana, Melissa charges the northwestern pair of stones and leaps over the little girl between that pair and slams into the hulking giant, knocking him backward and out from between the stones. At the same time, Iphegenia has revived and is struggling to free herself. Despite her massive muscles and Hera's girdle, the woman seems too weak to break her restraints. She gasps and cries out to Melissa and Diana for help, but the two women are too busy to help her.
The men who stood in the three southernmost pairs of stones now move toward Melissa and Diana, who's now trying to get the little girl to leave the stone circle. "URK!" she gasps when she's suddenly grabbed from behind by a powerful pair of hands wrapped around her neck. She flails her legs, trying to hit the man, but he easily holds her at arms length and her legs and arms can't reach him due to interference from her long red cloak. The man lifts her higher then slams her body with incredible force against an upright stone. The blow stuns her briefly and her fighting slows. As she shakes her head to clear it, she's again slammed against the pillar and this time she groans from the pain.
Behind her, another of the hulking giants nears Iphegenia, who's still
struggling to break her bonds. Her strength seems to have left her. In fact, the
more she struggles, the more her arms hurt. They feel like they are on fire,
even! She lifts her head in time to see a massive fist racing at her face. There
is a loud
Meanwhile, Melissa is sitting on one man's chest, pounding his face with her
little fist. When she realizes that he's unconscious, she rises to her feet and
looks around the inner circle. A small hand rises to cover the
With a feral roar, Melissa pulls the bow off her back, nocks an arrow, and fires it at one of the man beating the helpless Iphegenia. The long shaft races across the inner circle and hits the small of his back. Even as the man drops to one knee, hands flailing futilely to remove the arrow from his back, Melissa looses another arrow that drops the second man to the ground, dead. She smiles when Iphegenia manages to raise her armored legs up to wrap them around the first man's thick neck. With a grunt, she twists her legs and snaps the man's neck. As he falls to the ground, Iphegenia again sags in her bondage.
The man battling Diana lifts her high into the air, one hand on the back of her
neck, the other holding her butt, his fingers between her thighs. She struggles,
trying to get him to drop her, but his hold is too strong. The man suddenly
drops down onto one knee and SLAMS the Amazon's back against it in a powerful
backbreaker move. "AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!" the woman screams piteously as her body
explodes in pain. As she lies helplessly, her back on his knee, her legs and
arms lying in the dirt, the man brings his clenched fist down onto her exposed
belly with a thunderous
"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOHHH!!" she screams from the intense pain. Diana is close to unconsciousness, despite her goddess-given strength and endurance. Obviously the magicks inside this circle are cancelling-out some of the Amazons' special powers.
Melissa looks at Aurora and notices that she's still unconscious and hanging from her bindings, like Iphegenia. Melissa is about to run to aid Aurora when the other remaining guard grabs her from behind in a bear hug. Huge arms wrap around the small woman's body, just below her breasts, and she is lifted off the ground, squealing and thrashing. "Pain ... so ... much ... uunnhhh ... pain!" she moans as the man-mountain crushes her body in the bear hug.
With no air left in her lung, Melissa reaches down and wraps her small hand around one of the man's wrists. Concentrating, trying to blot out the pain of his bearhug, she uses all of her Amazonian strength to squeeze his wrist. Even as she begins to gasp for air, she can hear the man grunting and moaning as his wrist cracks from the pressure of her grip. Emboldened, Melissa uses her left elbow to smash the man's ribcage. This time his grip around her loosens and she manages to gasp for air. Now she uses both elbows to pound the man's ribcage and after several powerful hits, the man drops the Amazon and backs away from her, holding his battered ribcage.
Diana finds herself lifted into the air and then slammed down on her back atop the altar. Her head hits so hard the woman is stunned, her vision blurry. The giant guard smashes her face with one of his huge fists as his other hand forms a fist and hammers her taut abs. The Amazon princess bucks and moans on the altar, struggling to regain the energy to free herself. "Hold her there," she hears a feminine voice order. Morgan moves close to the altar and runs a hand along Diana's cheek. Then she again begins intoning such nonsense syllables as "Iä ... Iä ... Iä! Yug! n'gha k'yun bth'gth R'lyeh gllur ph'ngui Nyarlathotep yzkaa!" The cloud over the altar thickens and suddenly a man-beast steps from it!
The creature looks like the tall, slim form of a young Pharaoh in prismatic robes and a glowing pshent(3) and has jet-black skin, no hair, and small horns atop his head. Nyarlathotep is the Demon Messenger of the Old Gods. Often described as "the Black Messenger of Karneter", he was the "Mighty Messenger, Stalker among the Stars, and Lord of the Desert", the "Master of Evil" in Egypt where his temples were demolished, his statues destroyed, and his priestcraft crucified in the olden days and his attributes were assigned to lesser deities, including Thöth, Set, Bubastis, and Sebek. This Dark God's worship was expunged from Egypt long before the receding of the ice-cap and the fall of Atlantis. His story was carried across Europe by returning crusaders and he became the Black Man of the witch-covens -- mentioned cryptically in the "Necronomicon" -- and is associated with rumors of secret caverns under the Nile and the Ninth Pyramid, imprisoned with the Pharaohs.
When Diana spots him, her resistance fails and her body bends toward him as a flower reaches toward sunlight. "So ... beautiful!" she gushes at the sight of the Dark God. He smiles at her and reaches a hand out to caress her right thigh. The electric thrill of his touch pushes her almost to an orgasm and her body shudders from the shock. A great smile fills her face and she thinks, "Oh, Hera, he LOVES me, I can sense IT!!" Then she screams out, "TAKE ME, GREAT LORD! TAKE ME!!"
"My Lord, she is but one of our offerings," Morgan says, trying to get between Nyarlathotep and the Amazon. "We want to bring back the old ones - Yog-Sothoth, Shub-Niggurath, the "Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young", the Nameless One, and Great Cthulhu!"
"You have done well, child, else I would not be here," the Dark God says indulgently, turning slightly to face Morgan. His hand still strokes Diana's body and she can't help herself - she stains her dress from the spurting orgasmic release caused by his touch. "I must explore this world to see that it worthy of the return of the Elder Gods. Then and only then will they return from sunken R'lyeh.
"I have not had a woman in a long time," he says, smiling again at Diana. "She will be honored as my first concubine in this new land." With that a thin black appendage appears at the front of his robes and snakes through the air toward the Amazon's crotch.
"Ohhh, yesssss!" Diana gushes as the god's tool slips under her dress and rubs against the well-lubricated nether lips. "YYEESSSS!!" she cries out when his appendage slips between her lips. She instantly explodes in a terrific orgasm that makes her body buck and shake on the altar.
"Let ME be the first, Great Lord!" Morgan pleads, dropping to one knee before Nyarlathotep. The god places a hand atop her head and smiles at her briefly.
"I will drain the life essences from this woman," he explains. "You should remain alive a while, until we can open a portal for the Old Ones to enter this great new world." As he speaks, his long, slender appendage continues to slip in and out of Diana, making her orgasm again and again. Each one siphons off some of her goddess-given strength. She has neither the strength nor the will to resist this alluring god. His long black fingernails drag across her creamy white thighs, leaving long bloody furrows in her skin. The pain just increases her arousal more.
Nyarlathotep leans down and presses his obscene lips against one of Diana's luscious red breast. His mouth expands to envelop it and he sucks at it hungrily. Diana moans throatily from his kissing and struggles to wrap her arms around the body of the demon god. She is thrilled when he moves up to place his lips against hers. When his tongue presses against them, the enthralled woman opens hers and welcomes his tongue into her mouth. She gags when his tongue grows and slides past her tongue and down into her throat. Her body betrays her with more and more powerful orgasms as her energy drains into Nyarlathotep.
Melissa again gasps in horror at the vision of the Dark God molesting her princess. She turns to face her assailant and kicks his chin, lifting him up and flinging him backward ten feet. He lands hard and doesn't get up. With grim determination, the petite Amazon charges the Dark God from behind, hits him just above his hips, and actually knocks the god away from the altar and to his knees. His long black tool is roughly pulled from Diana's vagina and his tongue slithers out of her mouth. Both demonic appendages trail after him as he lands in the dirt a few feet from the altar with Melissa on his back, pounding him with her tiny clenched fists.
With the foul touch of Nyarlathotep no longer on her body, Diana manages to shake off her false adulation. She quickly regains her composure and strength and as she looks up at Morgan and the guard. Both are looking away, toward the pile formed by Melissa and the Dark God. "Best ... chance I'll ... get!" Diana decides, and she strikes upward with both fists, one at the male and one at Morgan. Each is hit in the chest and knocked backward several yards, to fall on the ground in a heap.
Although she feels incredibly tired and weak from Nyarlathotep's effect on her body, Diana knows that the beast MUST be stopped here, lest he and Morgan unleash the foul Old Ones upon the world. She looks around and spots her bow on the ground near where she was roped to the two upright bluestones. Diana deftly leaps over the altar and the supine male guard and lands near her bow. She lifts it and her quivver, retrieves her iron arrow, and takes careful aim at Nyarlathotep. A slight gasp escapes her lips. The creature is now kneeling over Melissa's body and one of his fists holds her bloody heart.
"You! Creature!" Diana yells. Nyarlathotep rises to his feet and turns toward the Amazon, his long dick now ravaging Melissa's lifeless body. "This ends NOW!" and Diana looses the iron arrow. It flies true and strikes the Dark God right in the middle of the chest. He looks down at the shaft sticking out of his body, grins at Diana, then slowly topples backward onto the ground. Hera's magic arrow worked!
"NOOOO!!" Morgan screams as the Dark Messenger lies unmoving on the ground. "This can't be!" she says as she rushes to the stricken god.
Diana drops her bow and snaps the rope on her left wrist. The rope flies out and hits Morgan in the back of her head and sends her flying over the Dark God's body, splattering on the ground, legs spread wide. When the sorceress passes out, the magic spell laying over the inner stone circle disperses and suddenly the area is dark again. The dark cloud portal over the altar slowly collapses in on itself as le Fey's spells end. The surviving guards all seem to snap out of deep trances. They take one look at the carnage in the circle and flee. The mob outside the circle, as well as scores of men trying to break into the circle past Stannard's men also seem to break the thrall created by le Fay. The peasants drop their crude weapons, turn, and flee into the darkness. Silence descends over the Great Stone Circle.
"Wake up, Diana, we must ride," John Stannard says, gently shaking the shoulder of Diana of Themyscira.
Diana feels like crap. Her body aches, her pussy aches, and her mind is fuzzy. Nonetheless, the Amazon princess manages to rise up on one elbow and smiles weakly at the sturdy squire. "Is it over?" she asks. She dimly remembers that the fight ended but can't recall anything after that.
"Aye, m'lady, the false god was vanquished," Stannard replies, handing a mug of wine to the Amazon (who refuses it). "I'm afraid I have some bad news, though," the man says, pursing his eyebrows. "Mistress Iphegenia is dead from her injuries, as is Mistress Melissa."
"WHAT? How?" Diana asks, rising to a seated position.
"I know not, m'lady," Stannard replies. "We saw nothing of you after you entered the globe of light. When it suddenly ended, a few lads stayed to watch the crowd whilst some of us ran into the circle to help you. We untied the Lady Aurora - she was awakening even as we cut her bonds. She is ... ah, here she is now!"
"Good morning, Diana," Aurora says, limping toward the Amazon princess. "I imagine our good protector has told you about your companions?"
"He didn't say much," Diana says. "Do you know how Iphegenia died?"
"Magic. Evil," the woman replies. "I checked your dear friend and discerned that Iphegenia had died from her wounds, which were grievous."
"How could that be?" Diana asks. "Our goddess gave us strength, endurance and healing abilities far greater than most normal people ..."
"That may be, but we all seemed to lose some of our magical or, as you would call it, goddess-given powers. Dear sweet Melissa was killed by that foul demon that Morgan summoned. There is a huge chunk of her breast that the beast gouged open to take out her heart. We were saved only by the good luck you had in killing the creature with your arrow! I was skeptical but the iron arrow worked. You probably already know that Morgan was trying to bring back the Dagda. The Dagda is apparently the name of some sinister beings who would be like gods amongst us. Beings with great powers and a lust for evil, I imagine. Fortunately, you managed to stop them before you collapsed!"
"I think my goddess put some magic into the arrow. She said it had to strike the heart of the beast. Looking as it did like a man, I took the chance that an arrow to the chest would kill it. I'm glad it did. But what about Morgan?"
"I put some magical restraints on Morgan - they will hold her until we can return to Camuludanum," Aurora says. "Merlin will have a way to confine her more permanently. Possibly in a cave somewhere."
"What was that creature that Morgan summoned?" Diana asks. "I never heard her call it 'the Dagda' - she called it Nyarlathotep and talked about another called Cthulhu."
A few moments later, Aurora says to the Amazon, "I think that the evil force Morgan tried to reach is mayhap called by various names. I think such pure evil is always around, just waiting for a chance to prey on mankind, and one must remain ever vigilant to stop such evil from appearing. I hope to learn enough from Merlin that I may help good people such as you defeat evils such as those Morgan sought to release."
Diana smiles at Aurora as she and Stannard help the princess get on her feet. Her equipment, as well as the equipment of Melissa and Iphegenia are tied to one of the horses. The two Amazons were buried inside the stone circle in their Amazonian dress and their cloaks, in the hope that their strength and spirits would protect the circle from further abuse. Diana was briefly upset when told that the two women were buried with their golden girdles (given to them by Hera). Then she decided that they might be too much of a temptation to other Amazons, once they learned that they would be demi-gods when wearing such girdles here in Patriarch's World.. As she and the remaining members of Stannard's troop mounted their horses and headed westward toward home, Diana muses on this latest fight in service to her goddesses, and on Aurora's determination to continue to fight against great evil.
Epilog:
The party returned to Arthur's hill fort. Merlin seemed to be slightly younger, and much more vital, as if he has been rejuventated, somehow, when he took control of Morgan Le Fay. He quickly vanished with Morgan le Fay in a puff of smoke and she disappeared from the eyes of man. Diana spent a day resting at the fort, resting. Thanks to her goddess' girdle, even the worst of the woman's scars and wounds heal themselves, leaving her skin tanned and unblemished.
A day later,she leaves Arthur's fort and begins walking to the west. Soon after she moves out of sight from the fort, the familiar form of Hera appears before her."I know about the deaths of Melissa and Iphegenia," Hera says, consoling the Amazon princess. "Rest assured that both of our valiant warriors will enjoy the pleasures bestowed upon honored heroes in the Elysian Fields. Keep the golden girdle, Diana. I think you will need to return to Patriarch's World more often, to look for evil such as you defeated here. Even if we goddesses are being forgotten by mankind and are not as powerful as we once were, we are heartened that you Amazons still honor us.
"We would be honored, Diana, if you would be our champion here on Earth."
The stunned princess drops to one knee and bows her head. "I will fight evil in your name, Great Hera, with every fiber of my being!" With that, the Princess of Themyscira returns home in a burst of white light.
In time, the apprentice sorceress, Aurora, learns enough from her master, Merlin, to fight great evil and comes to be known as Britannia, the English Enchantress.
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(1) See Amazon Chronicles #2 <return to the tale>
(2) See Amazon Chronicles #2 <return to the tale>
(3) Red and white crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt merged into one <return to the tale>
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