Chapter 13: The Prophesy

Athea lay awake that night thinking, could it be true? Here she had just accepted her nature and that of her brother. That was no easy thing to accept at all, her nature, the roots of her existence. There wasn’t even a word to truly describe it. No surprise though, it wasn’t a human nature, not even from this world. How could humans have a word for it? However, she had accepted it, she was Chaos. With the acceptance her feelings made sense again. Finally she could understand herself. Acceptance and understanding, gave her peace. Funnily enough, as her nature was mainly the craving to disrupt any kind peace. Peace, balance, order, she detested it. She was lost in her own thoughts again.

Back to the question, could it be true? Her nature wasn’t from this, world, so her real father wouldn’t be from this world either. Chaos was an aspect of the nature of war. That was the reason she had accepted her father was the God of War, Khor. It made sense. That was easier to accept than her own nature, for mainly one reason. She didn’t care! Now suddenly she had heard there might be someone else responsible for her existence, a mother. Nyome, of all the Goddesses. What a joke, the Goddess of the hunt and virtue. Hunting she didn’t care about ... or ... there was a certain aspect to the hunt she enjoyed as well, but virtue? Maybe that was the reason it was so difficult to lose her virginity! She fell asleep without an answer to the question.

They broke camp after a quick breakfast. Now that Roban was awake, the amazons used a rope to connect his bound wrists to the saddle of his horse. Hassika was riding it, dragging him along with a triumphant smile upon her face. Saddle and Hassika were almost pulled from the back of the stallion, when Roban suddenly stopped to take a break for a piss. Athea couldn’t stop laughing, obviously not Hassika, who couldn’t find any humor in it. For a while she tried to retaliate, suddenly prodding the stallion to let Roban take a fall. It didn’t work, the stallion refused to cooperate. Athea was wondering if the horse liked Roban that much, or just didn’t want to suffer the drudgery it would mean.

It was a little later than noon when they reached the gate of the village. It was surrounded by a high palisade. There were three to four hundred wooden huts. Hassika was leading the group straight along the main road to a big building in the middle of the village. Unlike the huts, it was built out of white stone. Above the entrance was a statue of a dove carrying an arrow in its beak, the symbol of Nyome.

Many women and girls came running to watch their procession through the village, even following the group to the building and inside. At first approach they all stared hateful at Roban, but lost interest in him as soon they became aware of Athea, riding along with Hassika. Passing through a small entrance room, they entered the large main hall. Wide steps of marble led to a slightly raised floor opposite from the entrance. Set back in its center was an empty throne, made out of polished dark wood. It was richly decorated, and on its high back-rest sat the dove with an arrow. A woman was sitting on a smaller stool to either side of the throne.

The woman to the right was about thirty years of age. She was tall, but not as tall as most of the other amazons. Her light blond hair was made up to a braided knot. She had intense dark blue eyes, a straight fine nose and a mouth with a lightly accented lower lip. She was slim and lean compared to the usual stronger and more muscled looking amazons. Most noticeable were her different clothes. She wore a long sleeveless dark blue gown that hugged her body in gentle folds from neck to ankles. After a short look at the whole group, she kept her intense gaze solely fixed on Athea.

The woman to the left was tall even for Amazonian standards. She seemed to be around the same age as the other one. A wild looking mane of raven black hair was flowing down her back. Her forehead was decorated with a silver band. A ruby the size of a dove’s egg was in its center. She had steel gray eyes, a straight nose and a wide mouth with full lips. Her broad shoulders, strong arms and legs seemed even more muscled than average for an amazon. She wore leather armor, but her belly with its defined muscles was left bare. A long sword was girded to the belt at her waist. Her whole appearance was of regal haughtiness.

Hassika waited before she spoke until the crowed behind them had gathered and was quiet again. More than a hundred amazons had followed them inside the building.

“First daughter Assanka, the Dreamer was right, we found her and her companions a day’s march south from here. Her name is Athea. We caught the man, but didn’t kill him. The girl declared him to be her guardian and was very adamant about it. We bound him and brought him here. You’ll have to decide about his fate. The little girl is Menja, daughter of Atyssa. As we feared, our three missing sisters were captured by slavers. According to the girl and the others, they followed their spirits to Nyome’s hunting grounds. The other girl’s name is Denyssa, she’s probably the mate of the man.

Poor Denyssa got many disgusted looks at the end of Hassika’s report. She took it with her usual calm demeanor, and blushed furiously.

The trio was lined up with Athea to the right, Denyssa in the middle and the bound Roban to the left. Menja stood fearfully behind Athea. Assanka, the woman to the left of the throne, stood up, slowly stepped down and walked over to Athea. She paused in front of her and looked down in her eyes, before she moved on to stand in front of Roban, ignoring Denyssa totally. The two amazons behind Roban placed their hands on his shoulders and pressed down when Assanka approached. Roban didn’t follow the implied command and kept standing upright.

“You have to kneel before the first Daughter!” Hassika shouted at him.

“I don’t bow for anyone anymore.” Roban replied. “Did it once, but I found out it just isn’t my style,” he finished musing.

Assanka coldly glared up into his eyes. “We could cut the sinews in your knees and make you bow.”

“I already told your hunting girl what a bad idea that would be. Shouldn’t you find out first if I am the Matassaja, before you try to piss me off even more? After all I’ve heard, if I am, you would expect some help from me.” The anger in Athea’s voice was easy to notice.

“If you would be the Matassaja, you wouldn’t care about a man. You would have killed him yourself!” Assanka replied and drew her sword.

“ASSANKA, beware the Prophesy!” Came the barking shout from the woman to the right of the throne, the Dreamer, Valira.

Angrily Assanka pushed her sword back in the scabbard. “Her hair and eyes doesn’t prove anything. She is a little girl! Where is her sword to destroy our enemies?” Assanka yelled back at Valira.

“I saw her in my dreams! She is the Matassaja. Question her loyalty, as said in the Holy Prophecy, and the wrath of the Goddess Nyome will come over us! Do you want to fight the Matassaja over a meaningless male? If you don’t believe in my dreams anymore, test her! It’s easy enough to verify if she is the Matassaja or not!” Valira shouted, as angry as Assanka now.

Assanka turned her cold gaze on Athea. “Fine, let’s test the girl!”

“What test are you talking about? I didn’t come here to be tested for anything. No one of you will lay a single finger on me!” Athea screamed as loud as the other women.

“And no one will Matassaja. I apologize. All you will have to do is to take your rightful place on the throne. Only a true descendant of the Goddess Nyome’s blood is allowed to sit on the throne. Everyone else will die! Don’t be afraid, Athea, I know you are the Matassaja, the true blood daughter of the Goddess,” Valira told Athea, calm now, and with a gently soothing voice.

Everyone else in the hall was stunned in surprise as Athea suddenly began to laugh. It took a few moments before she could suppress her laughter long enough to say something.

“That is your test, I have to sit on that throne? Girls, I will do your test, and MORE!” Laughing again Athea walked over to Roban.

Grinning at him she just said, “Come,” and pulled on his bound wrists. No one stopped them as she dragged the grumbling Roban behind her up the steps, and to the throne. In front of the stunned crowd she draw her dagger and cut off his bounds. Her next move was even more mortifying to the amazons. She pushed the surprised Roban onto the throne. With a thud his ass hit the seat and the wooden frame groaned under his sudden weight. To finish the Amazonian horror show, Athea jumped in Roban’s lap, happily giggling and hugging her brother.

“Did I pass your test, or what?” She asked, and her laughter rang like a bell inside the deathly silent hall.

When the stunned amazons found their voices again, the following uproar was deafening.

Assanka was furiously screaming something about betrayal, and dark magic. The Dreamer, Valira, was mostly mumbling about The Prophesy, and how they all could have been so wrong. The favorites among the general crowed were “Impossible!” followed by “The Goddess has abandoned us!” and the usual fatalistic “We are lost” in many forms.

Athea was watching it all, happy about the chaos she had caused among the amazons. Well, no surprise there...

Denyssa had used said chaos to walk up to the throne, and was eying it suspiciously.

“So, if I understood it right, I would be fried sitting on this throne?” She asked.

“No, not fried. The last one sitting on it was Hapatha. She was the first daughter before Assanka. No one knew why she did it. One morning she was found here. Her body was frozen, but it was summer. The body had to thaw for three days before we could do the funeral ceremony. It’s happened before, but she was the last one,” Menja told them. She was following Denyssa seemingly scared of all her screaming amazon sisters.

“You never told me about you’re relation to Nyome. Khor, the God of War, somehow I can see the family traits in you, but Nyome?”

“What?” Screamed Assanka who had come closer too. “By the Goddess, of course! Now it all makes sense.”

“Quiet!“ Her yell silenced the hall. “Everyone out now!” In a normal tone she continued. “Hassika, take twenty sisters and get everyone out. When it’s done, leave them to guard the entrance and come back here.”

Assanka turned around and watched Athea and Roban intensely, while she took the steps up to them.

“You are not just some guardian. You are Roban from Kurgath, the heir to the Norgar’s legendary Throne of Blood.” Assanka stated, talking mostly to herself. “And the girl, Athea, she is your sister!”

As they watched Assanka, they could almost see how some puzzle was forming a picture in her mind. She smiled when it was done.

“How do you know who he is? I never heard any names, just about the legends of the Law of the Blood.” Valira had joined the group as well.

“I am the First Daughter, leader of the tribe. I can’t just depend on your dreams! I have spies in Notabir, and other sources of information as well. The capture or disappearance of the sister was reported years ago. I thought she was hiding somewhere. However, no one could find a trace, she just vanished and it became quiet again. Goddess, how much I wanted to find her, but I wasn’t even First Daughter at that time. About two years ago, suddenly her brother vanished as well. Most people, like myself I’ve to admit, thought a Norgar Clan Chief had finally killed the heir. Maybe even the same who held his sister captive, or at least knew where she was. It became quiet again. I was sure once the girl turned sixteen, she would suddenly reappear as the mate of some Norgar Clan Chief, and soon to be Chieftain of the Norgar nation,” Assanka finished excited, just as Hassika returned and reported.

“It’s all done.”

“Good, now I want you to get our best sisters and guard the Matassaja and Roban. Bind him again if he troubles you, but try not to kill him. It would be a waste. We can use him for the next Conception Ritual.”

“Have you gone mad Assanka? You want to keep the Matassaja a captive, the Blood Daughter of our Goddess! Don’t you understand what that would mean? THE HOLY PROPHESY!” Valira screamed.

“Shut up Dreamer! You are the one who doesn’t understand. Probably you don’t even understand the Prophesy. It is just a dream, isn’t it?” Assanka laughed. “You, and all of the Dreamers before you, you never knew anything about what really would happen. The Matassaja was sent to us, that much is true. The will of our Goddess Nyome is obvious. The next full moon the Matassaja will become an amazon, and I will be the one taking her virgin blood. The strongest warrior on Calmyra will be the leader of this tribe!”

Assanka left after that, obviously quite pleased with the events after all.

“Hassika, you can’t follow her orders any more. Assanka has gone mad!” Valira was pleading now.

Hassika just shrugged. “I don’t know. She sounds more reasonable to me than what I know about The Holy Prophesy. If a man can sit unharmed on Nyome’s throne and we have to accept it, I don’t like your Prophesy at all. I won’t harm the Matassaja, not even the man if he doesn’t force us, but that’s all.”

Now desperate, Valira turned to Athea, who had calmly watched and listened to all that happened and was said around them, just like Roban.

Valira fell to her knees and pleaded again. “Please Matassaja, Assanka doesn’t understand, she always wanted too much and too fast. She is a strong leader of the tribe, but not a wise one.”

“How did she know I’m still a virgin?” Athea calmly asked.

Menja blushed when she heard the question and Hassika smiled.

Athea noticed and calmly continued. “I see, some girl-talk. You know, I would like to hear all about your Prophesy, and about those holy rituals as well. It sounds quite exciting. Don’t you think so too, brother?”

Roban nodded.

“Whatever you want and I can give you Matassaja. Please understand, Assanka and Hassika don’t stand for all amazons. Don’t let their deeds judge all of us, please.”

Athea didn’t answer. Denyssa was the first to speak after a moment of silence.

“I hope we don’t have to stay here all day and night. I don’t have a nice throne to sit on like you do,” Denyssa complained.

“Do you want to sit here?” Athea grinned at her.

“No, thank you very much, but I feel cold enough as it is.” Denyssa stuck out her tongue at Athea.

“You heard my friend, Hassika. Although I really like my seat, it’s wonderfully comfortable. You should try it too some time. Do we have to stay here, or is there a room we can retreat to?”

“I’m told to keep you guarded, but it doesn’t have to be here. Of course I can’t let our chaste and virginal Matassaja out of sight. And thank you, but I’ve to pass on your offer to sit on the throne as well.” Hassika grinned at her.

“Ohh, I wasn’t talking about the throne.” Athea replied grinning and wiggling her butt in Roban’s lap.

Just then a girl entered the hall and came running up, until she was standing at Hassika’s side. She was young, about the same age as Athea. Tall already, but didn’t have the broad build and wide shoulders of the mature amazons, yet. Her body was lean with slim hips, but although less muscular, it was well-defined. A plaited leather string around her head and a ponytail kept her long black hair in control. She had a straight nose and a wide mouth with full red lips. Her steely gray eyes were shining with excitement at the moment.

“Hello Hassika, mama told me all what happened. I wanted to see the Matassaja and the Norgar heir.” the girl hastily said, her eyes already on Athea and Roban.

“Well, look at them all you want Rhabina, but I fear our Matassaja is far away from being an Amazonian role model.” Hassika said, still disgusted from Athea’s latest show of affection towards her brother.

Athea stood up, for the first time since she jumped in Roban’s lap, and walked around the still kneeling Dreamer, up to the new arrival. She seemed almost as excited to meet the girl, and obvious daughter of Assanka, as Rhabina was about it. Her eyes took her all in. Even her clothes looked familiar to what Assanka had worn. No armor, but a tight brown leather-shirt, which drew attention at the two tightly enclosed, fist sized swells of female flesh beneath it, and left her belly bare, free to be watched. She also wore an equally tight leather skirt, reaching from her hips to the middle of her toned thighs. Only the slits at both hip-sides allowed her to run like she just did.