First Chapter, [Flames of Revenge]

CHAPTER ONE

Villagers were loading carts with goods ready to take to the Hippolyta’s port the following morning.  Queen Hippolyta would pay them for their trade before sending it either east or west, depending on what the trade was.

It was mid afternoon when a young runner rushed out of the thin strip of forest to the east of the village.  He was twenty paces from where the carts were being loaded when an arrow struck him in the back.  His momentum carried him forward, bowling him over as he crashed to the ground.

From that same forest two hundred mounted warriors appeared, the like of which had not been seen before in that part of the Queen’s Realm.  The horseman headed straight for the runner’s body, making sure that he was dead.

The villagers turned and ran, leaving their half-loaded carts and their goods and making for their little hovels where they closed and bolted their doors.

The mounted warriors stopped near the carts in the centre of the village, and the leader shouted orders to his warriors.

“We will take what these peasants have loaded and return east.  There is a long way to travel before we meet the rest of our army, and these supplies will help feed us until the General arrives.”

He turned to the two horsemen to his left.  “Organise the warriors to tether the carts to our horses.”  At that moment, an arrow hit each of the two horsemen in the chest and they fell from their horses.  It looked to the leader as if the arrows had each struck at the same moment, which made him think that there were at least two archers in the forest and quite possibly many more.  For a moment, he was frozen, and indecisive, but before he had made up his mind what to do his horse dropped from beneath him, and he went crashing to the ground.  As he stood up to look around he saw many of his men falling off their horses with arrows in their chests, and now he was convinced they were dealing with a substantial force hidden in the forest.

Hiding behind the carcass of his dead horse, he looked towards the forest that surrounded three sides of the village.  He pointed to one end, shouting, “There is a group of archers in the forest north of the village.  Attack them and leave no one alive.”

A few of his warriors who were still mounted and uninjured rode over to the northern edge of the village, drawing their swords, but another twenty fell with arrows in their backs and many of those by the carts also fell.  The leader was unable to pinpoint where the arrows came from, and he shouted, “Leave them.  There are too many for us, and leave the carts.  We must get away from this village of death before we all perish.”

The leader grabbed hold of a loose horse and mounted, and then he galloped out of the village with his army following.  There was a silence.  Even the birds had stopped singing.  As the sun went down, a shadow came out of the forest.  He walked over to the loose horses, and within a few minutes he had tethered most to the carts.  He then went to two of the dead archers and relieved them of their full quivers of arrows, and then he silently returned to the darkness of the forest.

* * * * *

It was morning before the villagers plucked up the nerve to step out of their houses.  They saw dead bodies around the centre of the village.  Their carts were still where they had left them, and most had horses tied to them.  The villagers checked all round the village, looking into the forest with caution, but whatever army had killed all these men was long gone.

On returning to the carts, the peasants were looking towards one person, and one of them asked, “What shall we do with the dead, Milo?”

The person they asked the question of was the village elder who was standing with a staff in his hand.  The top of the pole that had once been a gnarled lump of wood had been crudely carved into head of a growling wolf.

“Take all the weapons from the dead and put them in the carts.  We will use them as trade at the port, along with the other goods.  Take the bodies to the hole in the top of the sea cave and throw them down, making sure there is no one left.  We will inform the Queen of this new threat to her realm when we arrive at the port.”

* * * * *

Hippolyta walked over to the council room with Hippolyte.  Inside, the commanders and Echephyle were already seated, with Alexius and Andromache in their seats near the Queen.  Hippolyta had just sat down when the lookout shouted, “There are villagers coming from the north western trail.  They have at least a hundred horses with the three carts.  It’s Milo from the northwest.”

“Toxis, you had better tell Milo to come here and tell us how he got hold of that number of horses,” Hippolyta said.  “This should be interesting.  He is a village elder from the northwest, south of the lake with the island.  They have never had that number of horses before, and I wouldn’t think there are as many wild horses as that in the whole of the west of the realm.”

The door to the council room was pushed open and a giant of a man walked through behind Toxis.  He saw the four queens and bowed.  “I am humbled, my Lady.”

“Welcome, Milo.  It has been over a year since you came this way and it is a pleasure to see you again.  It is unusual for you to arrive here with the trade goods, so I am sure that this is more than just a trade visit.  We are just about to eat.  Sit down while Toxis cuts you off some meat before we talk business.”

After everyone had finished eating, Milo told the story of the killing of the thieves.  “There are one hundred and ten horses that we have brought with us.  We counted the same number of dead warriors spread about the village.  During the attack their leader shouted to his warriors that they were being attacked by an army.  There was no one there when we went outside, although we did not leave our homes until it was daylight.  There was no one about and no sign that anyone had been there except the thieves.

“When we removed the dead, we found that all the bodies still had their swords, bows and axes.  Two of the archers had no quivers, but two empty ones had been left in their place.  We know that the quivers did not originally belong to the thieves because they were a different design, and so were the arrows in the bodies.”  Milo lifted his hand and showed Hippolyta the arrow he had brought with him.

“There is one other thing, my Lady.  Just before they rode off, I think their leader shouted, “We are outnumbered.  We must escape and go back to the main army.”  The following morning, their horses had been tethered to the carts to stop them wondering off.  I walked the outside edge of the forest but I could see no tracks where any army rode out, whether large or small.”  Milo then stood up and said, “I must go and see to the trading stores, my Lady.”

“Of course, Milo, and your news, although bad, has been useful.  I will be sending an army to that area to keep an eye on that part of my realm.  I would think that they will be there before you get back to your village.  It will give you safety from this strange army of thieves.”

Milo bowed once more.  “Thank you, my Lady.  When I go near the other villages I will pass the word of safety to them.”

Hippolyta watched Milo leave, and then she asked, “Has anyone any views on this invading army?”

“Which one are you talking about, Hippolyta, the one attacking the village or the one that savaged them?”

“I think we had better talk about both, seeing as they are both in my realm, but we can start with the ones that were attacking, Echephyle.”

“By what Milo told us, although only about one hundred escaped they were escaping to a bigger army.  We have no idea how big that army is or where they are.  Like so many times before, until we have information on those two points, there is no safe way our army can go about its business, Mother.”

Hippolyta faced Hippolyte and smiled.  She knew that over the past few years Hippolyte had matured, and she had Vlad, Hippolyte’s barbarian warrior, to thank for that.  He had taught her much the same as Danilo had taught Echephyle.  In doing so, the two barbarians had made both the queens the most dangerous royal warriors for tens of thousands of paces in any direction.

“I thank you for those words of intelligence, Hippolyte, and you are correct in all that you have said.  As this is taking part in my realm, the realm that is yours to oversee, then it will be up to you and Scyleia with your armies to put this army to death or send them back to where they come from.  I think that while this is taking place Scyleia had better take Omeed with her army.  It might be best if Vlad went to Milo’s village first to see if he can find tracks that might give us a clearer picture of what happened.”

Hippolyta turned to Vlad.  “Will you need a horse, Vlad?”

“Thank you but no, my Lady.  I think it might be best if I am not seen by either army.  It might be best, also, if I leave now.  The sooner you know every detail about these armies the faster you will be able to destroy them, my Lady.”

“Thank you, Vlad, and you may go, but always remember that speed is not important but your information is.”

The queens and commanders waited for him to leave before carrying on with the meeting.  “These armies must be camped en mass, Danilo.  Do you think you might see them from the top of the mountain?”

“I need to set snares, my Lady.  If I set them in the eastern forest, I could go over the mountain while I am waiting.”

“That will be fine, Danilo.  Omeed, I would like you to go west as far as the old burnt out port.  I doubt very much that you will find any armies, but you might find fresh tracks of moving armies.  At the moment we know there is an army in my realm, but we have no idea where they are or where they arrived from.”

Speaking to the commanders, Hippolyta said, “Until my wolves return here with information, our army can do nothing.

“Alexius, have you any news from the Emperor or any of your spies?”

“I am expecting a galleon to arrive sometime today or perhaps tonight with news from Constantinople.  The Hun has been crushed and there is peace in the east with Sangiban.  I don’t think the Goth army has entered war with you.  I have another army in mind, but until I get word I will not place them on the battlefield.  I have not heard from any of the traders that they are worried or have been attacked.”

“I believe it might be best to be patient until we have whatever information you find out.  I think that in the next few days we will know all there is to know about this invading army, once my wolves return.”

* * * * *

Omeed had been running west for half a day and was now not far from the burned out docks.  She turned south, stepping into the thin forest that was hiding the sea.  It took her hardy any time at all to walk through and step out onto the shore.  She journeyed west once more, and she soon arrived at the pile of rocks where Danilo had camped for the night.  The sun was going down and the shadows were getting longer.

Omeed could see the place in the rocks where the large stones formed a small cave, and decided she would hunt for food then go there to sleep for the night, but as she was in the forest setting snares she heard the sound of horses’ hooves.  They were not galloping but they were moving quickly, and the sound was of many and they were heading towards her.

She walked closer to the northern edge of the forest, and was just in time to see more than fifty horsemen riding west.  Omeed watched as the leader headed for another forest five hundred paces northwest of where she was standing.  The small command dismounted and walked their horses into the edge of the forest.  Omeed sat for a while to see what they were doing, and as the sun eventually went down she could see the flicker of sparks from a few fires.

Omeed realised that by the noise they was making they were sure that they were not going to be bothered by anyone.  The smoke from the fires was drifting her way on the gentle coastal breeze, and she could also hear the odd word being spoken.  She knew from her experience of some of the traders who spoke the same language that this army was from the distant west.

It was midnight before she broke cover of the forest she had been waiting in.  The time was late summer and the grass was high, with the soil underneath dry.  Some of the tufts of grass were almost as tall as she was, and although there was a small plain between her and invading army there was also a few low shrubs scattered about.  She took her time walking over to where the army was camped, stopping frequently to listen to the sounds of the night.

She was lucky that the tall grass grew right up to the small evergreen shrubs that surrounded the forests.  At those shrubs Omeed went to ground, and crawled forward until she was close enough to hear what was being said.  For a short time she could only hear a lot of nonsense talk, and then she heard someone ask, “When is General Leopold’s army going to be here, Timo?”

“He should have already been here, and in fact he could already be here but we have no way of knowing.  We ourselves are still too far west of where we should be.”

“Why are we here?  And what are we going to do now we are here?”

“You ask too many questions, Oswin.  Our army in the west needs paying, because all our battles in the last few years have been costly.  There are rich pickings here in the east, which are just waiting for us to steal.  East of this sea there are mountains, with a trade route running for tens of thousands of paces.  We are going to attack the rich traders along that route before we go back to the south of the sea.”

“I heard there is a village here somewhere this way with an army of fierce women.”

“You worry too much, Oswin.  We have had battles with the Romans and defeated them.  Do you think that a few women with sticks are going to bother the great Vandal army?  We will push them aside as we pass through their village, but not before we have had our fun with them.”

“Do you know how big the Generals army is, Timo?”

“I have been told by our own commander that he is bringing thirty thousand warriors with him.  With the ten thousand in our army I don’t think we have a need to worry about those whores in the village.  It has been a long time since we have had women, and I cannot wait to see this village.  We had better rest, because we have to leave early in the morning.”

The camp went silent and Omeed moved back out of her cover.  As soon as she was a good distance from the evergreen shrubs she stood up and walked back towards her own forest.  She knew that because this army was close she would risk sleeping little through the night.  She killed the only rabbit that was snared and picked up the other snares before making her way through the thin forest to the shore and the piled rocks.  There, she made a small fire and cooked her catch before she sat looking out to sea while she stayed warm.  She thought, ‘I will leave in the morning once I have heard the army ride away.’

* * * * *

Vlad arrived at the small village and he was walking between the houses.  On seeing him, three of the village hunters came out of one of the houses.  All three had bows and their arrows were pointing at Vlad’s chest.

“Who are you and what do you want here?” one of the men asked.

“I am Vlad, one of Queen Hippolyta’s barbarian warriors and hunter.  I have been sent here to look for signs of the army that was here attacking you, and also the one that saved the village.”

“How do we know that you are not one of them, and returned to carry on where they left off?”

“I was in the council room with the Queen when Milo told her about the army yesterday.”

The three hunters spoke between themselves before lowering their bows.  “You are much too late, barbarian.  Those armies disappeared during the night.”

“Yes, I understand that, but there will be tracks which will lead me to the armies.  Queen Hippolyta is sending a big army to look after all the villages in this part of her realm.  She believes the realm is under threat once more, and on the edge of another war with invaders.”

“We will leave you to go about your business, barbarian.”

The three hunters went back into the house they come from.”

* * * * *

In the forest, a figure walked silently through the darkness, making no sound and leaving no trace that he had ever been there.  There was a sentry no more than fifteen paces away, an even darker shadow in the darkness.  The bracken was at its tallest here, and still green, and that aided the almost invisible person as he glided through soft, supple plants while bent forward at the waist.  No sound of his movement could be heard over the slight rustling of the leaves on a few deciduous trees in the light breeze.

At the last moment the dark form stood up straight and rapidly stepped closer to the sentry.  Before the sentry had time to make a noise, the almost invisible warrior had his hand over the sentry’s mouth and had slit his throat.  The warrior held the sentry and lowered him to the ground without making any noise, and then, as silent as a ghost, he stepped forward towards a sleeping body next to a burnt out fire.  He squatted down and silently pressed his hand over the man’s mouth before he plunged a knife through his chest.

The warrior repeated this many times, and no one saw anything until shortly before the dawn.  By then there was a bow in his hand, and he fired twenty arrows into the dusk light with speed, striking a target every time.  He looked around him, but his work was complete.  To make sure there were no others that he had missed, he remained where he was until the light filtered into the forest, comfortably hidden behind a wide laurel bush to check there was no more movement.

* * * * *

Vlad walked round the perimeter of the village just inside the forest.  He examined the ground carefully, also checking the lower branches of the trees – particularly those that were dead and brittle.  He moved silently as if hunting, pushing branches out of the way with his hands before releasing them slowly so as not to make a noise.  All the time he looked around him, searching for anything out of place, but all was as it should be.  He was near a huge, thick fir tree when he suddenly stopped and went down on one knee.  He looked at the pine needles that were thick on the ground, and there were definite signs of footsteps, leading to the west.  He followed them, and soon found the heavy imprint of where someone had been standing for a while.  There was something lying on the ground in the low bracken, and he bent down and picked it up.

* * * * *

Omeed waited for daylight, and then she doused the fire and walked back into the forest.  She moved cautiously.  She had been waiting for the sound of the horses and warriors leaving, but she had heard no movement.  She was now asking herself if she had heard correctly the talk the two men had had the previous night.

As she reached the edge of the forest, she had her first shock.  Out on the small grass plain were all the horses belonging to the Vandal army, but instead of being tethered up they were just walking free.  No army would allow their horses to graze like this, and there would be sentries even if the horses were tethered.

She still could not hear anything, and with her sword across her back and bow over her shoulder she walked out of the forest with her spear at the ready.  She realised that this was a dangerous thing to do, but she had little choice if she intended to find out what was going on.  She had no intention of staying where she was all day and waiting for darkness.

Omeed kept as concealed as she could, moving from one lump of tall grass to another and using the small shrubs in between.  The grazing horses took little or no notice of her because they were used to warriors walking near them.

Finally, she crawled though the small evergreens, and then she was able to see the army of Vandals.  They were silent, many of them lying on their backs, and many of those with an arrow sticking out of their chest.  She remained where she was for a long time, looking for any sign of movement.  There was none, nor any sound, and eventually she broke cover and walked into the camp.  There, she saw the warriors with throats cut and with their own knives in their chest.

As she walked incredulously around the camp, finding nothing but dead Vandal warriors, she had no idea she was being watched by someone, or that someone had a bow with an arrow ready, although not yet with the arrow on the string or the string pulled back.

A voice startled her: “So, girl, you have made a mistake.  I think it is time that you are tested with your other weapons.  Do you know how to use them as well as you use that bow?”

Omeed turned about to see a warrior standing with a shield and an axe.  The warrior lifted his bow and was about to put the arrow on the string when Omeed spoke and he lowered the bow.  “Whoever killed all your friends must have known I was in need of practice, and left you for me.  I will just get the weapons.  I need to send you to hell in a short time.”

There was an axe near a dead warrior, with a shield, and without taking her eyes off the Vandal warrior, Omeed dropped the spear and picked up the axe.  She removed her bow from her shoulder before picking up the shield.

“It is going to be my pleasure to kill you, whore.  I might just wound you first, so that I can have my fun with you before I go with my friends and tell them you are dead.”

Omeed stepped closer to the warrior, speaking as she advanced on him.  “We have only just met and you are calling me names without getting to know me.  You are a pig, and I hate pigs.  Now, are you going to do something with that axe, big boy, or is it only there to frighten young girls?”

The warrior lurched at Omeed with his axe high, and swinging wildly at her, but her shield was up and stopped his strike.  He then swung his axe sideways, but she stopped him again.  Omeed smiled at the look of frustration on the face of the warrior, and that made him even angrier than he already was.

The warrior tried a backhand but the move was telegraphed and Omeed stepped back, allowing the axe to pass her harmlessly.  Once the warrior’s shield was to his front, covering his chest as his momentum pushed him round, Omeed struck his shield three times with such speed and such force that he fell to the ground.  She walked forward to finish the fight, but he was fast and rolled to his left, and her killer strike missed.

Omeed stepped back as the warrior rose to a standing position once more and faced her.  He gave a laugh, and said, “So you think that you have this fight won, you whore.  I will now show you what I can do with a sword.”

“I hope it is more than you can do with an axe, because I am getting bored.”

“That’s right, whore, you keep making jokes, but only I will be laughing at them when you are dead.”  He then threw the axe on the ground and withdrew his sword.”

Omeed laughed.  “You will not be alive to see my death, you ignorant pig.  You seem to keep getting my name wrong every time you open your filthy mouth.”  Omeed then threw her axe on the floor and withdrew her sword.  The warrior swung his sword, striking her shield, and he lifted his arm to take another swing.  Omeed quickly jabbed him in the shoulder of his sword arm.

She saw his look of shock and smiled, which was like showing red to a bull.  The warrior rushed at her swinging wildly, so she stepped aside to let him past.  As he went past she stuck her legs between his and watched him trip over, falling head first.  While he was face down, Omeed jabbed him in the buttocks with her sword.  The warrior shouted abuse at her as he rolled over and stood up again.

“This is no time to sleep, you pig.  Night time is the time to sleep.  Get up and stop playing the fool.  You are supposed to be trying to kill me.”  Omeed gave him another jab in the ankle before she stepped back to let him stand up.  He stood, and she saw the way his leg trailed as he swung his sword, showing her that he was in pain from the wound in the leg.  She stepped back and let the sword glide past her.

Once his sword was the other side of her with his body not covered by the shield, she thrust her sword forward, pushing it deep into him.  She stopped in that position as he stared back with the realisation of death in his face.  As she withdrew the sword, the lifeless body of the warrior dropped to the ground.

Omeed sheathed her sword before walking back to her spear to pick it up.  She took one more look about her before she went deeper into the forest beyond the camp.  She looked on the ground for signs of another army, but she could see none.  She stopped for a moment listening for any sounds but there was only silence.  She turned and walked back to the edge of the forest, and then out onto the grass plain once more.

The person who had been lurking in the bracken stood up and put the arrow back in the quiver he was carrying.  He then turned and walked in a north-eastern direction, but at no time did he look as if he was in any hurry.  A pheasant flew up from its hiding place, heading east over the camp of the dead Vandal army.

Omeed mounted one of the stray horses and was heading east when she heard the cry of a bird.  She stopped the horse and looked back at the forest she had just left, and she saw the pheasant fly out.  She waited a while longer but nothing more happened.  She kicked the horse forward as she headed towards the east, returning to the village.