Amazon Moon (18 page)

* * *

The following day, I again worked with Ankus in the bakery grinding flour.

"I never knew that you were a mercenary for Thessaly," I told him when we were alone. "How did you become an Amazon captive?"

He wiped wheat dust from his beard and told this tale:

"The army commanders saw that I had a keen mind, so they trained me to make accurate maps for the military. I studied with a smart old surveyor who knew how to measure hills and valleys. He taught me to count my paces over long distances, and to gauge faraway locations by holding a template at arm's length, so its notches matched the height of a far-off man, revealing the distance. Most of all, he taught me to use a dioptra, with two movable sighting tubes and a protractor to measure the angles of different lines of sight. Soon I could make reliable maps.

"I was ordered to chart the Thermodon Valley and was sent on horseback to join a small Greek patrol there. By coincidence, I arrived just after the patrol had captured an Amazon. She had been riding along a valley trail, disguised as a boy, but her posture on her horse looked suspicious, so the Greeks surrounded her. She tried to run but they forced her into a cove and trapped her.

"It was evening when I reached the patrol's camp. The Amazon was on the ground beside the campfire, face-up, her outspread arms and legs tied to stakes. She glared at her captors, saying nothing. The patrol leader told me of her capture: 'We know that she speaks Greek, because she cursed us up, down and sidewise when we seized and bound her.'

"The leader said that, after dinner, he would use glowing coals from the fire to torture her into revealing the hideout of her Amazon clan. He introduced me to his men. We ate and drank wine around the cheery blaze. Some of the men taunted the tied-down woman, and tossed pebbles at her. She glowered in silence.

"Full of wine, a large soldier stood and asked the leader: 'Before you burn her pretty skin, let me have her.' Other soldiers cheered and laughed. The patrol leader nodded with a grin.

"The big soldier drew his dagger, lurched to the supine captive, and cut off her garments. He tossed the slashed clothing into the fire, telling her she wouldn't need it any more. The naked woman jerked against her ropes, watching him with blazing eyes like a trapped panther. Everyone in the camp stared at her bare body. We almost held our breath, awaiting the rape.

"Standing over her, the soldier peeled off his tunic. He was unlatching his belt when a whiz came out of the darkness. An arrow pierced his chest. He stiffened and his mouth fell open. His knees buckled and he went face-down into the dirt.

"While he was falling, arrows whizzed everywhere. The leader beside me was pierced through the abdomen and screamed. Soldiers jumped to their feet, yelling, but several were cut down. I felt terrible pain as an arrow went through my thigh. I fell and crawled toward bushes.

"Women warriors rushed out of the darkness, swinging double-bladed axes. Thuds and screams filled the night. It ended quickly. I heard women calling each other and spearing wounded soldiers.

"Then I heard them laughing with the naked captive spread-eagled by the fire. One told her that if the Amazons had attacked a moment later, they would have shot the rapist in his upturned rump. The prisoner chortled as they cut her loose.

"Two warriors took blazing limbs from the fire and searched the campsite. They found me under bushes and dragged me back to the group. I expected death, but the women decided that I would become a slave instead. They pulled the broken arrow from my leg and tied a thong to stop the bleeding. I was hoisted onto a horse for the trip to this colony. That's how I came into servitude.

"Incidentally, the captive by the fire was Comella, the tough, funny, bawdy warrior. After my leg healed, she summoned me to her bed one night. As a joke, two other Amazons stripped me and tied me down, face-up and spread-out as she had been. Comella climbed onto me naked. She said she wanted to repay the hospitality she had been shown in the Greek army camp."

Ankus and I laughed. I'm sure that he, too, felt affection for our owners.

27

Again the Amazon Moon waxed full, and again I was selected to be Eros in the lusty ritual on the torchlit altar with the naked Priestess Eila. But on the appointed evening there was no moon. Dark storm clouds spread overhead, ending daylight early. As I washed in the lower pool and hurried to the shrine, distant thunder rolled closer and lightning began.

The open-air temple had a small roof covering the painted wooden statues of Aphrodite, Hera and Artemis the huntress. As I arrived, Amazons were stretching a horsehide canopy from the roof to nearby trees, to extend a rain shelter over the love pallet before Aphrodite. Torches were lit. Their yellow light was pierced randomly by white flashes from the approaching storm.

Temple aides peeled off my clothing and lowered the Eros mask over my head. I flushed with excitement. Teasingly, one attendant tweaked my exposed genitals as if to improve my sacred performance. But the inducement wasn't needed. Eila removed her headdress. Just as a loud thunderclap shook the village, she opened her robe, revealing her luscious body in the torch glow. I burned with anticipation.

As the nude priestess raised her arms to the statue and chanted her Aphrodite prayer, rising wind lashed her hair around her face. She donned her Aphrodite mask and reclined on the pallet. I knelt between her outspread legs. As I entered her, the fury of nature shook our tableau. Wild gusts whipped the horsehide canopy like the sail of an imperiled ship. Flurries of rain swept under the roof, splattering us and the watching Amazons. One of the torches sputtered out, but the others cast gleams on Eila's writhing body and the transfixed faces of the watchers.

The storm didn't ruin our ritual. Instead it heightened it. Our lust was extreme. We were savages. Eila's wet form glistened as she shuddered, her damp hair streaking her face. Her look of passion turned to pained ecstasy. Then she clutched me fiercely and cried out. Spasm after spasm rolled through her. I joined her in violent release. We slumped so limp that we almost became unconscious. Murmurs of approval rippled among the observers. I barely remember staggering to my feet, walking through the downpour to the slave quarters, and sinking onto my pallet.

As sleep swallowed me, I pondered the dual pulls drawing me two directions at once: I love Litha completely, yet my command performances with other Amazons can be tantalizing.

* * *

Next morning, rain continued briskly and the village suffered distress. Water washed over walkways and entered doors. The muddy creek roared swiftly, almost out of its banks. We slaves were wakened early and sent without breakfast to carry objects to shelter. Amazons scurried to rescue their favorite things. Little girls watched the excitement.

Abruptly, childish shrieks erupted. A section of creekbank had collapsed where tots were watching. Tiny Bella, big-eyed daughter of the construction chief, tumbled into the torrent. She was swept downstream, half underwater, screaming when her head emerged.

Muscular Andor, Mitha's favorite, had been working beside me. Without a word, he dropped the sodden pallets he was carrying and lunged to the creek. The burly soldier dived headlong among cracking limbs and groped for the girl. On the third try, he caught her wrist, pulled her to him, and held her head above water as they careened downstream.

The whole village was in mad pursuit. Other slaves ran along the bank, trying to reach the floaters. Then Ankus arrived with a long leather strap and flung an end to Andor, who caught it. The slave and tot were pulled to safety.

The stolid construction leader, tears streaming, ran to the bank and clutched her daughter desperately. The little girl clung to her mother's neck and wailed. Then something remarkable occurred: The mother handed the child to Ankus and embraced Andor gratefully. Assembled Amazons cheered. The slave looked embarrassed. Mitha, her eyes shining, rushed to Andor and held him passionately. He looked more embarrassed. Other slaves grinned.

The mother carried Bella back to their quarters. We slaves resumed saving village items from the deluge.

That evening, with calm restored, the village council summoned Andor. I recorded their lavish praise as they rewarded him with a gold chain and five days of work-free leisure.

Next day, as Octos and I repaired horse harness, he philosophized:

"Deep down, there is no master or slave. We're all just people, and our human instincts are alike. A general, even a prince, might have done exactly what Andor the lowly slave did."

I nodded. "That's how it is during a crisis. But when the crisis is over, the rulers resume supremacy."

Octos sighed. "Melos, dammit, you're growing as cynical as I."

I pondered in silence, then added:

"Regardless of who outranks whom, when Andor risked his life to save that child, I felt proud to be a human."

28

Darkness is total in the Amazon village at night. Except for red embers from the evening bonfire and faint lampglow from a few windows, black shrouds all.

The engulfing dark brings to life a nighttime wonder: the sparkling picture display in the sky. From the habit I learned from Grandfather, I scan various star patterns. First I observe the dipper of the Great Gourd, then trace a line from the end of its cup to the North Star, the fixed pivot around which the rest of the night sky slowly revolves.

Farther south is the invisible band plied by the moon and wandering planets. Night after night I observe that the moon is fatter and farther east as it waxes. Roving planets dot the moon's path, forever changing. Each evening I note their locations, first before the advancing moon, then trailing behind it.

Along the path of the moon and planets are star designs. Twelve of these constellations appear one after another during a year, and slowly cross the sky in line with the moon's course, each remaining visible for about six lunar cycles.

Among the scrolls captured from caravans, I found one on astronomy, citing the studies of Eudoxus. It applied the name "zodiac" to the thin band occupied by the moon and planets. The parchment contained drawings of the twelve constellations and told the Greek legend behind each. They become visible at night somewhat in this sequence:

Mid-autumn: Aries, the winged ram whose golden fleece was taken by Jason.

Late autumn: Taurus, the bull. Zeus became a snow-white bull to seduce a princess.

Early winter: Gemini, the twins, named for Castor and Pollux, twin sons of Zeus.

Mid-winter: Cancer, the crab that was crushed by Hercules.

Late winter: Leo, the lion that was strangled by Hercules.

Early spring: Virgo, the virgin, named for a daughter of Zeus and Themis.

Mid-spring: Libra, the scales, marking the balanced time of the equinox when days and nights are of equal length.

Late spring: Scorpio, the scorpion that killed Orion the hunter.

Early summer: Sagittarius, the archer who aimed an arrow at Scorpio to avenge Orion.

Mid-summer: Capricorn, the goat, named for the goat that fed the infant Zeus when he was raised in secrecy, and also for the goat-horned Aegocerus, who accompanied Zeus to battle the Titans.

Late summer: Aquarius, the water-bearer, representing Ganymede, cup-bearer to the gods on Mount Olympus.

Early autumn: Pisces, the fishes. When Aphrodite and Eros were pursued by a monster fish, they changed into fishes and swam to safety.

A calendar in the night is formed by the constellations as they arrive year after year after year.

There is wonder in contemplating the majesty of the heavens. People who watch the dark sky see four different tableaus: the nightly rotation around the North Star, the monthly moon phases, the wandering planets, and the yearly march of figures across the zodiac. Awe and humility are instilled by the never-ending display.

* * *

Another caravan raid occurred on a hot summer night as Virgo was low in the sky. At daybreak, Saria and her warriors returned with wagons of loot and fresh horses. Sitting in one of the wagons, bound hand and foot, was an odd-looking captive. He was plump and pale with thin hair and large eyes like an owl. When Amazons untied him and helped him to the ground, his legs bore no wounds, unlike other male prisoners. He was ungainly, with feet pointing outward as he walked.

"This is our new slave," the War Queen told the gathered villagers. "We don't know why he was in the guard tent of the caravan. As we stormed the encampment, the other men fled into the night, leaving him behind. He was struggling to don armor when Leeantha whacked him on the head with the flat of her ax. He's the most pathetic guard we ever saw. His legs, such as they are, have not been damaged, but we doubt that he is likely to escape. We will find slave work for him, but he probably won't be summoned to many beds."

Laughter rippled among the women. One Amazon joked: "A chubby fellow might be interesting, as long as I'm on top." More laughter. The plump stranger was led to our slave quarters. We showed him to a pallet to sleep before we began our daily tasks.

That night, as slaves returned from the fields, he joined us for dinner. Several of us introduced ourselves. He responded:

"My name is Augur. I was astrologer to the Assembly at Thessaloniki, but I departed."

He seemed reticent. We prodded him with questions, asking how he became a caravan guard. Finally he loosened:

"I studied astrology many years under the great master Zakarus, who also divined by casting bones. I learned his skills thoroughly and he recommended me to become his successor in Thessaloniki. But I met with misfortune."

We begged Augur to explain. He stalled, but took a deep breath and proceeded:

"I foresaw a summer of bounteous crops. The Assembly was pleased. My prediction was sound: all the planets aligned perfectly for a rich harvest, and when I cast the bones, they fell in complete agreement. I can't understand what went wrong. A terrible drought came, plunging the people of Thessaloniki into hunger. Bitter mobs filled the streets. The Assembly was forced to send a regiment into Macedonia to raid granaries and bring wheat to our city.