"The God Wars" - Chapter Thirteen: Amazon of Knopso

The God Wars

Chapter Thirteen:

Amazon of Knopso

By Dwayne MacInnes

"...the airfield is now 90% complete," Colonel Jenkins briefed General Crist inside the building that had now officially become the general's headquarters. "We have also started to address the need for paper. As you know, these people have not advanced that far. So, we are planning on another mill for lumber and then making a paper plant down river.

"We have also set up many of the outposts you wanted to the north and east. Some have radios and those that don't, we plan to set up telegraphs."

"That is good," the general replied looking over the report the colonel just presented to him.

"We have been hearing the locals referring to 'naphtha'. Our historians claim that is an ancient Greek word for petroleum or possibly even pitch. We have dispatched a field crew to look into it," Colonel Jenkins added.

"That is some of the best news I've heard all day," General Crist smiled. "Once we get the refinery going we will need to start producing various fuels."

"Well, sir," Jenkins replied. "We aren't sure for certain what it is yet. However, we have located a seam of coal and there is a small iron mine to the north as well."

"How are we doing with wiring this place up?" the general asked.

"The Olympus will be able to provide electricity once the wires are strung," the colonel said.

"Sir?" the colonel asked a bit uncomfortably.

"Yes, colonel," Crist looked up from the papers on his desk to Jenkins.

"It is damn strange is it not?"

"You will have to be more specific colonel," Crist responded.

"Well, the king...er, what's his name..."

"Podaistas," Crist offered.

"Yes, sir. King Podaistas just giving us a huge tract of his property," the colonel said. "It strikes me as strange. We liberated his people and his city; you'd think he'd just thank us and have us move along."

"He has actually made a rather shrewd move," General Crist explained. "Think about it. To the far north somewhere, there is Mount Olympus where the gods live. The same gods -- I remind you -- who sometimes just come south to slaughter his people. Now, he not only has given us land to make sure we are available to repel any future attacks. He has also established a buffer zone. The gods can't get to his realm without first passing through ours."

The colonel thought for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. "He sure loved those gifts you gave him."

The general smiled as well. The king loved the new horse gear including the stirrups. Not to mention that he also loved the M1 Garand, which after a few lessons, the king proved to actually be a decent marksman. The best gift though proved to be the case of brandy. Some men found the case in one of the cargo vessels and Crist reasoned it was bound for some European monarch anyway. Moreover, it helped establish the beginning of a trade route between the two.

Sokos was now the leader of the bandits after Pheidas died in the ambush a few days back. Many of his men were reluctant to continue the road south. Even Sokos remembered the carnage at the pass; the farmer militia killed 23 of his men. Worse still was when he and his men reached the crest of their hill and dispatched the three men there they could see the combat on the opposite hill.

The bandits had killed the two men on the hill but the woman fought like a seasoned warrior. Her sword and spear flashed and none of the bandits could touch her. She actually fought eleven men at once, the entire force of bandits on that hill. Sokos felt helpless like the other men with him when they watched their companions die one by one by either her sword or spear.

When the last bandit died with the spear through the throat, the woman looked over at the bandits on the hill opposite her. Sokos felt a chill run down his spine as he remembered staring into her blue eyes. Her face was smeared in gore and her brown hair was matted with blood. The militia woman glared at the bandits, and they could feel the hatred she bore them. In that one glance, they all felt like she would personally kill each one of them.

The woman then quickly retrieved her spear out of the hapless bandit whose throat it pierce and then retreated into the woods lining that side of the road. The bandits were hesitant to descend their hill and then climb the one the woman was just on. They had all seen how well she fought. The men heard stories of the Amazons and feared ever to cross one of the warrior women's path.

The story of the Amazon of Knopso, as the men dubbed the militia woman, spread through the army. Many of the men prayed to meet up with her and show her who the true masters of arms were. However, all the bandits who did witness her prowess with arms did not even joke about it. Even with Ares riding with them, they all feared to meet the woman again.

So, it was at first with great relief when the scouts reached Thelos to find it utterly abandoned. The livestock was gone, the villagers torched their own fields and even the village was in flames. The populace took everything they could, and what they could not carry, they burned.

However, as the army reached the next village and the one after that, they discovered that the inhabitants destroyed everything in the same manner as Thelos. At first, the army did not give this much thought until their supplies started to run low. The foragers were not finding anything on their forays. The stores the army brought with them would not last much longer.

Regardless, Ares drove his army south across the blackened plains. None dared to complain in front of the war god for fear of facing his wrath. Ares always found those few who tried to desert. He made sport with them in front of the army before he killed them.

Sokos was now learning that scorched earth could work both ways and he did not like the way in which it was going.