The Girl From Ithaca by Cherry Gregory

Author:Cherry Gregory [Gregory, Cherry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, (v5), Greece
ISBN: 9780989741866
Amazon: B00T6UW7I8
Barnesnoble: B00T6UW7I8
Goodreads: 18273641
Publisher: Grinning Bandit books
Published: 2015-02-03T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter SIXTEEN

Amazons!

As soon as we felt the warmth on our faces and the winter changing to spring, Achilles returned to his sea raids almost every day. By the summer he’d caused devastation along the whole length of coast and started to work inland by attacking the poorly fortified towns around Troy.

“Refugees flood into Troy and food is now scarce in the lower city,” Odysseus announced at the war council, held in our hut. “My spies report the mood of the ordinary Trojan was low until two days ago. Then their hopes were lifted by the arrival of their northern allies.”

Agamemnon scoffed. “Northern allies? What have they got to compare with Achilles and his troops?”

Odysseus took a deep breath. “Amazons.”

The group fell silent. I stole a glance at Io, but she shrugged. I’d heard vague stories about women warriors called Amazons, but never thought they were true, but the mention of their name was enough to drain Agamemnon’s florid complexion until he looked pale and sickly. He wiped his face with the edge of his cloak and stared at Nestor, waiting for inspiration.

Old Nestor cleared his throat and tried to offer encouragement. “The Amazons are competent fighters, but the stories about them are highly inaccurate and fanciful. Their fame is due to the novelty value of women warriors, rather than any true ability in battle. How could a woman, even if well trained and well equipped, be a match for any of us here? I don’t think we need fear the Amazons.”

“I’d like to see a woman with as much muscle as me or my cousin Achilles,” Ajax laughed, holding his enormous arm against mine while I stretched over him to refill his cup.

Palamedes smirked at me. I ignored him and continued pouring wine, but as I walked past, Palamedes grabbed my wrist. “That reminds me, you dropped your little knife that time, up at the fort.”

He drew my knife from his pocket and thrust the blade towards my arm. I snatched my hand away and stepped back. Antilochus was already on his feet, when a larger knife flew past Diomedes’ face, skimmed over Ajax’s goblet and then nailed the edge of Palamedes’ cloak to the table.

Palamedes dropped my knife. I dipped down to retrieve it and moved towards the wall. Odysseus walked up to Palamedes and yanked the large knife out of the wood. Then he looked over to me and seeing I was unhurt, returned to his seat between Diomedes and Menelaus.

Immediately, Palamedes turned on Odysseus. “I was handing it back to her. I would have thought gratitude was in order, not a childish display with a toy.”

Odysseus shrugged. “It’s a toy that can cut the throat of a prince, if you need a demonstration.”

Ajax laughed and nudged Diomedes. Agamemnon got to his feet and glared at the big man.

“That’s enough. We’ve had our entertainment and now we need to decide what to do about the Amazon women,” he barked.

Once Ajax stopped laughing, everyone seemed to forget the incident.

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