It was late spring or early summer ...
Or at least according to the calendar hanging inside the door of the pantry, it was supposed to be.
But it was one of those years when it seemed that the warm weather would never arrive.
Besides that the day had dawned chilly ...
Raw, and wet because it had rained during the night ...
Not hard enough to half drown anyone caught in it, but enough to make them plenty uncomfortable all the same.
I was puttering around with one thing or another out in the workshop ...
I wasn't accomplishing much of anything, but at least I could say that I was keeping myself busy.
It wasn't that I didn't have much to do ...
It was just one of those days when I just couldn't seem to get anywhere as none of my assorted tinkering
seemed to do much good.
My dog, Shadrack was laying there on the shop floor for the lack of anything better to do.
He was doing his best to keep out from under foot but as I was going from one place to another in the small
building to fetch this or that it seemed that the dog was constantly running interference, and my patience was
running thin.
About the time I was ready to invite him outside somewhere, raining or not, the dog suddenly came to attention as
though he were aware of something.
I had been looking forward to a visit from one or another of the Amazon Warriors who I thought were about due to
drop by.
The Amazons come from a substantial distance and they often travel on foot, so they are apt to arrive at any time
despite the inclemency of the weather.
The figure that approached was indeed a woman, but whether she were an Amazon or not, I couldn't tell.
If she was, then she had been injured because as she approached, I could see that she was walking with a pronounced
limp.
Concerned as we were, Shadrack and I both scampered forward to greet her.
Shadrack got there well before I did of course and at first the woman stood her ground resolutely, but then retreated
behind a tree as the dog came to meet her.
I realized that the woman could not be familiar if only for the way Shadrack was acting.
Not hostile, he was still not entirely cordial and so I knew that he was dealing with a stranger.
"You are Buck Simpson?" she asked as I came up to her.
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"I am called Pariah!" She stated her name as though with some defiance.
"I am sent here to this place with the guidance of the Amazon Lady Artemis!"
"Is the Lady Arremis here?
Is she all right?"
I couldn't help showing my concern, but then a tower of strength I've never been when it came to dealing with the
few women I've ever come to know.
The woman who called herself Pariah seemed relieved and the trace of a smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.
"The Lady Artemis is well ..." was all that she offered.
We stood there a moment longer before I realized that it was still raining, that I myself was getting increasing
damp, and that my visitor must be half frozen arriving as she had.
"Won't you come in the house were it is warm?" I invited.
The woman hesitated. "In that building?" She seemed unsure as she looked in the direction of the barn.
"No, m'am ... up yonder a bit to the house ..." And I pointed in the direction of my back door.
"Inside where there's a stove and it's nice and warm! Come!"
And the three of us, Pariah, Shadrack, and I went up and into the house with no further protest from any one of our
trio.
"I am called Pariah," my visitor repeated and then almost immediately set about inspecting her surroundings.
She was most curious abount the tub in the bathroom and it wasn't long ere she was alternately splashing and soaking
in a tub full of warm soapy water.
But after shaking herself dry she insisted on heading outside to the barn.
She said it was more comfortable to her in that it was more in keeping with what she was acustomed to.
And she didn't want to risk knocking anything about in the house as she practised swinging her sword.
She told me about herself and her life in the Amazon clans.
As she spoke I was given a different perspective than that which I had gained from Artemis.
The Lady Artemis, as Pariah respectfully refered to her, was born of royal lineage which Pariah,
I rather assumed was not, and so life's experiences for each of them may have been quite different.
Then again, it may have been only Pariah's perspective that was different.
She had been permanently disabled with an injury she had sustained and in seemed to color her outlook on many things.
I thought she was a handsome enough woman in her own right whether she limped or could run or not and I said so in my
clumsy way, which seemed to please her and cost me nothing at all.
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She told me of her various encounters with the Lady Artemis ...
How it had been Artemis who pointed out the location of the Gate to her.
Pariah assured me that many of the Amazons knew of it, but that few could pass through it.
Pariah had failed on a number of occasions, but it was Artemis who had encouraged her not to give up in the attempt,
because either when you least expected it, or when you needed it most, the Gate would open itself to you.
Pariah herself tended to think that it all rather depended on the state of mind of the person seeking passage,
but as she was in no way a mystic herself, she had no real idea.
It became apparent to me that like the Lady Artemis, the Warrior Pariah had no real mission to accomplish but was
seeking a respite from the ardors of life on the other side of the Gate.
She looked in wonder around the barn and at the various everyday tools, and I explained them as best I could while
she inspected them and, I rather imagine, retained the information as rapidly as had the Lady Artemis herself.
One thing pleased her immensely I could tell although she did her best to remain quiet about it.
But though she may have regarded it as a charade, still it did nothing to diminish me in her eyes, and I'm sure
that it served me in good stead.
While I did not, nor do I now know her given name, I always referred to my Amazon visitor as the Warrior Pariah.
"Why do you call me warrior, Buck Simpson? As I have told you ... I am a Gleaner and a Warrior no more!
Do you wish perhaps to further yourself in my Good Graces?"
The Amazon said this with a slight tongue-in-cheek inflection as I could tell from her reactions earlier that I was
well within her Good Graces.
Still, it behooved me to think fast, or at least as quickly as I could and so I measured my response.
"Warrior Pariah, in our civilization, anyone who has attained either rank or title at some time in their career
retains the title throughout their lifetime and beyond if they have done nothing to have been deprived of it.
A General or Captain is called that even long after active duty is over as a matter of respect to that individual."
I'm not certain that I was entirely satisfied with my own explanation but Pariah appeared to be, and regardless of
the less than savory reputation the woman may have had among her peers, we have always regarded one another with
mutual respect.
"Buck Simpson! I am come to relate to you a bit of our History!
Are you of a mind to hear it now or perhaps later?"
I am ever ready to hear an account from one of the Amazons who pass through the Gate, and so after a simple supper,
the Warrior Pariah settled down in her place by the hearth to relate that which follows.
They arrived by sea, the first of these men had.
Rather thoroughly exhausted by the harrowing experiences of their voyage,
they at first kept pretty much to themselves,
tended to their own affairs,
and offered nothing in the way of a threatening gesture to any of the native inhabitants.
Isolated and alone in a land that was strange to them,
they seemed from the first not to be at all inclined to offer offense to anyone.
But men are only men after all,
and that situation lasted only long enough for them to gather their resources which,
the Amazons were to learn to their everlasting sorrow, was not inconsiderable.
Had the Amazon warriors moved against this expeditionary invading force early-on
the outcome may well have been and likely would have been entirely different.
But either the clans were indifferent to the male interlopers
or perhaps some latent maternal instincts may have come into play?
Who is there now that can say?
And who is to say of a certainty that the outcome would have been otherwise?
In any case, the clans did little or nothing to deter the males until it became a case of being too little,
and far too late.
Left to their own devices, the men realized that they would not soon be able to leave this land
until repairs had been done to refurbish the ship in which they had arrived,
and adequate provisions secured before they could undertake another voyage at sea.
While some of their number went about outfitting the ship,
the others set themselves about constructing what was at first a wooden shelter for the purposes of their own protection.
The warriors of the clans in the area were not overjoyed at the prospect of having the males in their territory ...
Particularly when it became evident that they intended to establish a permanent outpost
when the original wooden barracks was gradually replaced with a far more substantial masonry fortress.
Still, it was a remote area they had chosen to populate and since food and game animals were in abundance,
the elders of the Clans were of the opinion that the men would finish making repairs to their ship eventually and
then simply depart.
Leaving them alone and in peace appeared to be the most reasonable and sensible course to take.
And this state of guarded neutrality might have continued had it not been for the coronation
of a Queen in one of the two Amazon Clans.
Warriors from the neighboring clan arrived in a celebratory mood and many arrived decked out in their finest costumes.
The Amazon warriors hardly knew what gold was and had little practical use for it.
It was far too soft to be of any use in weaponry of any sort and about the only use they did have for it
was as a means of personal adornment and ornamentation.
But, and there was no doubting his word,
the curious fellow who somehow managed to get close enough to the dancing warriors
knew precisely what the medallions were that adorned their bosoms, and what was more,
he knew and had an appreciation for its value.
The man lost no time in making his discovery known to his compatriots, who became intensely interested in his report.
I suppose that had there been a common language available between them that the men of the fortress
and the warriors of the clans might have reached some amicable arrangement with regard to the soft yellow metal.
But of course this was not possible, and the men found it far more expedient to simply
slaughter the females in their lust to obtain whatever golden trinkets they may have worn.
Now secure in their fortress, the men were no longer as interested in foraging for food
as they were in killing or capturing any unwary female whenever the opportunity presented itself.
There were likely many instances of this but for purposes of illustration, one will serve us as an example.
Melsa was perhaps typical of the warriors of the Amazon Clans who populated the territory inland of the Fortress.
A young female, for few Amazon warriors were ever known to survive beyond their latter twenties,
she was captured, as were a number of the women were at first,
by a male who acted as at first as though he sought to befriend her.
(My visitor regarded me with something that may have been suspicion
before she composed herself and continued in her narrative.)
Melsa was taken to the interior of the fortress, which was not as strange a thing as it may seem
because the women were almost all insatiably curious about the place.
There she was questioned about the gold medallion she had in her posession
but she steadfastly refused to offer her inquisitors anything in the way of information.
The woman was beaten repeatedly and we can only assume that each of the men sated his lust upon her.
It is highly improbable that Melsa had the slightest idea of from whence the gold came
but in due course the men tired of listening to her protests.
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Since there was nothing to be gained in keeping her, Melsa was handed over to an individual
who took his pleasure in first playing a blade over the Amazon warrior's bare chest and belly ...
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Then he took what seemed like perhaps somewhat more than adequate time in finding the proper location
for the placement of his first thrust, while Melsa stood stoically, mentally preparing herself ...
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And suddenly the first thrust had come ...
The blade seared a path through her flesh and deep into the left side of the warrior's gut.
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And now, contrary to the lethargy of his foreplay,
the executioner withdrew his knife and quickly drove it into the right side of the woman's belly.
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Melsa the warrior was determined to stand in true Amazon fashion to take as much punishment as she could,
in defiance of her murderers.
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But at length the warrior's knees failed her and her eyes rolled upward in their sockets as Melsa sagged to the floor.
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There lying on her back on the floor, Melsa continued in her struggle ...
Determined as she was to rise once again ...
To show those who would slay her that only a blade thrust to the heart would put down a true Amazon.
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Somehow the warrior succeeded in her determination to gain her feet and there,
almost as though to grant her the respect due her,
she received the final thrust of the executioner's blade through the left side of her chest and deep into her heart.
Melsa had truly proved to be of the stuff of which an Amazon Warrior is made and her body was discovered
by members of our clan draped upon a stone outside the fortress with evidence of several further wounds
that had been inflicted to the areas of her chest and gut.
Heretofore the women had taken the occasional slaughter more or less in stride.
A warrior from one clan killing a warrior from another was of course nothing new
and was often seen as being to the credit of the victor.
But the butchery perpetrated upon the warrior Melsa proved to be an affront that was too much to bear
and elders from several clans met and conferred about what joint action could be taken.
And so at long last it was determined that the men were to be driven from this territory belonging to the Amazons.
The experiment in co-habitation had failed and now two of the three clans formed an alliance
in launching an attack upon the Fortress.
Their intention of course, was to swarm the Fortress in a headlong frontal assault ...
Then to engage whatever defenders remained in the hand-to-hand combat in which the Amazons excelled.
It was simplistic perhaps, but it must be remembered that Amazon battles were often fought on Fields of Honor
where each opposing side could calculate and measure their losses.
I in no way wish to minimize the Amazon concept of war, but while it was a deadly serious engagement
for the warriors who lost their lives,
it was at the same time perhaps not as altogether destructive as the battles with men were to be.
Two distinctly separate clans were involved in the battle.
Our clan from the coast and the clan from the interior, known as the Clan of Artemis,
who chose to do battle as the traditional warriors of old had done.
That is to say they fought entirely devoid of any armament or other encoutrement.
In a word, Buck Simpson, they were what you might call a group of near-naked savages.
Amazons!
The ship that had carried the men to this land had in its holds a formidable supply of shot and black powder
in addition to long bows and arrows for their archers.
We Amazon warriors in this era knew nothing whatever of black powder, nor of firearms, nor of incendiary devices,
and certainly not of the considerable damage that they could inflict.
The Fortress stood on a low crag that outcropped on the rough beach near the sea and it is conceivable
that it would have afforded little in the way of protection to its defenders had another ship approached
with its cannon.
The Amazons wanted to determine the range of their archers and so the Queen from the clan of Artemis
appointed a warrior to come forward.
It was her assignment to draw fire from the fortress which the young woman was successful in accomplishing.
I know not whether she realized that she had advanced quite far enough to be greeted by an arrow ...
But she realized it soon enough when it seemed that from out of nowhere there appeared a shaft
that stood quivering in her gut.
Amazons!
The young warrior went to her knees where she agonized for a long moment before she pitched forward
face-first to the ground, driving the shaft through her belly.
It fell to a second warrior of the the same clan to test the range of the muskets of which the Amazons had no prior
experience.
The youngster advanced somewhat closer to the fort than had her sister when there came a small puff of smoke
followed by a solid thump as a leaden ball struck the girl directly in the middle of her chest.
Amazons!
She fell back with a wail of pain and anguish which fortunately for her did not last overly long.
It became immediately evident to the two War Queens that simply reaching the Fortress in the hope
of engaging the men in hand-to-hand combat was going to be no small feat in its own right.
And so the battle was joined by both our forces with the Clan of Artemis clan attacking
from the inland side of the Fortress while our clan came across the shallows to attack from the beach front.
Xena~Helicon
The defenders of the Fortress quickly opened fire and were rewarded almost immediately
as almost entire ranks of our warriors went down.
Xena~Helicon
And while the muskets punished our warriors, the women on the inland side fared no better,
for their naked bodies presented fine targets for the archers guarding the fortress.
A warrior looked momentarily startled as a shaft takes her high in the chest.
Amazons!
And in the next rank, a sister-in-arms struggled with the shaft of an arrow as it plunged into her belly.
Amazons!
She staggered forward a few steps further but never did she come within casting range of the spear she had carried to do battle.
Amazons!
Our Amazon warriors, seasoned veterans though they were, were far more used to fighting in hand-to-hand combat
and so as they had launched their attack across the open ground before the walls of the fortress.
Xena~Helicon
And so it was a relatively easy thing for the musketeers to fire balls of lead into their guileless bosoms
for the women simply had no real concept of what could and most certaily would happen.
Xena~Helicon
I witnessed flashes and explosions and warriors flying through the air to fall battered, brusied, and bloodied.
Xena~Helicon
Were she were not killed outright, the warrior was hardly in any fit condition to rise and rejoin the attack,
although to their credit, many of them sought to do just that.
Xena~Helicon
And then there stood another fine warrior of the Clan of Artemis, her body arching in response to the shaft
that suddenly protruded from the midst of her majestically molded bosom.
Amazons!
I stood there and watched in fascination as her body arched back and turned slightly as though it were somehow
of some concern to her that her companions should bear witness to the arrow as it protruded from her chest!
Amazons!
I find it strange to my way of thinking that the men used the figure of a woman mounted prominently at the prow of
their ship as if she were there to guide them and in some way bring them assurance and a measure of comfort.
The woman of the boat is of wood or plaster and yet when confronted with women of flesh and blood,
these self-same individuals seek only to fire their bolts or bullets into their bosoms!
Sitting here in comfort as I am now, I recall the warrior from Artemis coming to do battle as she had wearing
the leggings I had fashioned for her.
They served to offer her nothing in the way of protection for she fell with a shaft to her breast
as did so very many others that day!
Buck Simpson! These warriors had all but turned their backs to me!
Though once a warrior the equal to any one of them, I am now despised as a helpless and useless cripple!
They change the direction of their feet when they see me!
They take what little I can provide in the way of service but otherwise as for myself I am ignored!
It is as though to their minds I have ceased to exist!
And - Buck Simpson - I hate them for it!
But ... But ... No ... That is not the truth ...
(Pariah had been pounding the arms of the chair in which she was sitting so vehemently that for a moment
I feared for its integrity ... but the warrior relented suddenly and covered her face with her hands.
I knew she was weeping, and, never quite knowing how to contend with a woman when she is crying,
I did about the only thing that came to mind and stood up.
Pariah rose from where she was seated, I opened my arms to her in the age-old instinctive attempt
to offer solace and comfort, and I was not rebuffed for she moved forward and I placed my arms around her
in a gentle embrace. I couldn't think of a word to say in the way of comfort and I was relieved
when she began speaking as we continued standing there.)
No, Buck Simpson, I spoke not the truth. For it is not the warriors who spurn me that I loath and wish to see die ...
It is myself that I hate ... for what I have lost ... for what I have become!
(I attempted to murmur something in the way of protest, but the woman lay her index finger on my lips.
I ceased and she continued.)
For of all the warriors that fell that terrible day ... and a great many more of our number were yet to fall! ...
It was, as it is in so many things in this life ... the death of a single warrior who brought my own plight
into its proper perspective.
I was distressed to see the woman there among the ranks of the warriors in the first place.
She should not have been there! Not then! Not that day of all days! It was by far and away too soon!
And then I was horrified ... and yes ... amid all of this death and destruction I was horrified
as I stood witness to the death of this woman!
Amazons!
I stood there and watched as she struggled in agonized desperation with the shaft that had driven deep into her womb.
The very womb from which I had helped her to extract a new-born babe not more than a full moon before!
Amazons!
What was this warrior doing here going down to her death while I stood by and watched?
Am I a thing of evil, Buck Simpson, that I want so desperately to survive?
That I will insist on continuing to exist though every vestige of my former honor be gone?
(This demanded if not an answer, then at least a response of some kind and so I went with the first thing
that came to mind.)
("Your God has some purpose for you, Mariah. You may not know yet what it is ...
But you are being preserved in this life so that you may yet accomplish it.")
(My guest withdrew from me and was at first somewhat disappointed, but then she looked at me and beamed,
"That is the first time I have been addressed by my given name in what seems a lifetime! I thank you, Buck Simpson!"
I hoped that the rest of my message wasn't entirely lost on her, but then as she sat down to resume her narrative,
something she said set me thinking somewhere in the back of my mind. "Who is there to nuture the babe
of that young mother?")
I turned my gaze back to witness the plight of my own clanswomen.
Following the devastation of their initial onslaught, the warriors were doing their best to regroup.
I saw any number of women seeking to encourage and give assistance to their sisters who had taken
what little shelter they could find during the incendiary bursts.
Xena~Helicon
I expect that there were some among the defenders of the fortress who found it amusing that as the
first vollies were fired some of the warriors did not appear to realize what was happening to them
even as it occurred.
Xena~Helicon
And so rather than attempt to run in an effort to escape, she would first pause in either shock or astonished
bewilderment ... And then resume her charge until one of the marksmen put a ball into her chest.
Xena~Helicon
And still my sisters continued to run into the face of withering fire of the defenders of the fortress!
Xena~Helicon
Could it have been that it was all but a matter of simple pride to them?
Xena~Helicon
Could it have been that each and every one of them had the mistaken notion that her chest could withstand
the impact of a leaden musket ball or of the arrows of the archers?
Xena~Helicon
But if such were the case, then the solid thawump sound that issued forth as a ball or a shaft
punched its way into a warrior's chest should have been enough to convince them otherwise.
Xena~Helicon
What little heart I had remaining went out to a warrior who went to the assistance of another ...
Xena~Helicon
Only to take a shaft through her own body which bore her quickly to the ground.
Xena~Helicon
I hobbled forward as quickly as I could shouting defiance and trying to encourage the inland clan to press on with their attack.
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