Chapter two
Cyane watched closely at the faces of the villagers in front of her. She could see the fire in their eyes, a fire fueled by revenge, by a need to create your own kind of justice. As they were still applauding the speech of Tadeuzs, she stared at him, an unlikely opponent, and by looking at the grin on his face and the mixture of pride and anger in his eyes, she could see he would be a tough opponent. She contemplated the scene in front of her and, with a sad expression on her face, the amazon queen realized the very strong possibility of a futile bloodbath was on the horizon. She turned around and walked away at the sounds of the crowd screaming " Kill the Amazons! Kill'em all! ".
The young queen arrived at the Amazon village after a while. As she walked in the village she was immediately met by Lodka, Bhala and Daek. " So what's going on?", Lodka asked anxiously.
"I can't say for sure. Apparently, the village of Ot was recently attacked by Amazons.Their village has been raided. There's no denying that. But it could not have been by us."
"By who then?", Lodka asked.
"Well, for them to think they were raided by Amazons, they must have a reason to believe it. Now, what I think is that the ones who raided Ot must have looked like us, which would mean they were raided by..."
"Women," Bhala cut her off.
"Exactly."
"Scythians?", Lodka asked.
"Highly unlikely," Cyane replied. "They were not near Ot when it happened."
"The Sarmatians were close to Ot recently. They have many women soldiers. After all, sarmatian women fight alongside the men," said Daek.
"Absolutely."
"So the Sarmatians would have sent only their women to raid the village of Ot in order to make them believe they were raided by us," Lodka said.
"That's it."
"But why?"
"Probably to occupy us with the villagers and the peasants while they're attacking us from somewhere else," the queen answered.
"So what do we do now?", Bhala asked. "We could always try to negociate with them. Try to explain to them what happened."
"That probably won't work. You didn't see the expression on their faces, Bhala. They won't listen to a thing. We better get ready to fight," Cyane replied with a disgusted tone.
"Come on, Cyane. Can't you try to reason with them first?," Lodka asked, trying to convince her friend. "You have to at least try to negociate, to show them they're making a mistake. Otherwise, they'll just get killed. They're not warriors. You guys are."
"I know that, Lodka. But judging by the way they were acting earlier, it might not be safe to go talk to them. They're extremely unpredictable right now."
"Lodka's right you know. Even though they're unpredictable and angry at us, you have to tell them first. If you don't, there's going to be many deaths and the Sarmatians will try to get their noses in it as well," Daek told her queen.
Cyane looked at Daek, Lodka and Bhala.
"You're right. I'll go there right now," she said in a rezignated voice.
"Want us to come with you?," Daek asked.
"Naah. It's better if I go alone. It will look less threatening. What I would like is for you guys to make sure the Sarmatians are far enough for now."
Cyane went to her horse and mounted it. She rode to Ot.
The young queen arrived in Ot about an hour later. It was already dark and as she entered the village, she could see the weapons were ready. Not many swords or spears. Mainly pitchforks and clubs. She walked by a villager and asked him: "Take me to Tadeuzs.".
The old man looked at her.
"Who's asking?," he replied having noticed she was dressed like an Amazon.
"I am Cyane. I'm the queen of the Amazons and I need to talk to Tadeuzs. This is really important.
The man backed up a step. He took a few seconds to think.
"Amazon!," he yelled. "There's an Amazon in the village."
Immediately, half a dozen people were out of their house, weapons in hand, surrounding Cyane. The blonde warrior looked all around her.
" Well, well,well. If it isn't the queen of the Amazons," Tadeuzs said arrogantly as he arrived on the scene.
"Hold your men back,Tadeuzs," Cyane ordered. "I just want to talk to you. There's been a terrible mistake."
"Right. You made the mistake. First, you raided our village. Now, you come here alone to talk. Your really,really dumb for a queen," he said with a victorious grin. "Get her, lads. She'll be a nice catch."
Quickly, the skirmish started. Cyane ducked the first person to come at her and tossed him over her shoulder, landing on the ground with a thud. The second and third men attacked her simultaneously. she caught one of the pitchforks with her left hand and kicked another out of an opponent's hands with her right foot. She struck them both with numerous blows to the head with the wooden part of the pitchfork. She stood, weapon in hand, staring at the others who stood in front of her. Obviously realizing his men were no match for the Amazon queen, Tadeuzs said:" Boys, that's enough. I will speak with Cyane in my home." Tadeuzs led the way. As the men who had been beaten got up, Cyane looked at them and threw the pitchfork at their feet, her eyes saying "pathetic".
She walked in Tadeuzs' home. He sat at the table, his feet on the table. Cyane approached the table.
"May I..."
"You may remain standing, please," The large man defiantly answered while cutting her off.
"Look. I know you do not like me or the Amazons right now. But you have to believe me when I tell you that we did not raid your village. We are not raiders. This is not our style. You were raided by some other tribe."
"Pffff... Come on! Who could have raided us. We were raided by women on horses. Pardon me but I don't know any other women troops on horses other than the Amazons."
"Listen to me, Tadeuzs. You are wrong. There are other women warriors on horses. The Sarmatian women fight as well as the men. They are deadly cavaliers and they are known for raiding. You have to believe me."
"Hmmm."
Tadeuzs got up and started walking to his left and right, back and forth. He held his chin, thinking.
"The Sarmatians are trying to trick you guys into believing we raided your village so that you would attack us. They were hoping that it would distract and tire us so that they could attack my village."
Tadeuzs kept walking.
"Tomorrow, your village and the Amazon nation will be destroyed!"