Hippolyta 7: Flames of Revenge

Hippolyta 7:

Flames of Revenge

by Ian Johnstone

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2016 Ian Johnstone

Published by Strict Publishing International

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CHAPTER ONE

Villagers were loading carts with goods ready to take to the Hippolyta’s port the following morning. Queen Hippolyta would pay them for their trade before sending it either east or west, depending on what the trade was.

It was mid afternoon when a young runner rushed out of the thin strip of forest to the east of the village. He was twenty paces from where the carts were being loaded when an arrow struck him in the back. His momentum carried him forward, bowling him over as he crashed to the ground.

From that same forest two hundred mounted warriors appeared, the like of which had not been seen before in that part of the Queen’s Realm. The horseman headed straight for the runner’s body, making sure that he was dead.

The villagers turned and ran, leaving their half-loaded carts and their goods and making for their little hovels where they closed and bolted their doors.

The mounted warriors stopped near the carts in the centre of the village, and the leader shouted orders to his warriors.

We will take what these peasants have loaded and return east. There is a long way to travel before we meet the rest of our army, and these supplies will help feed us until the General arrives.

He turned to the two horsemen to his left. Organise the warriors to tether the carts to our horses. At that moment, an arrow hit each of the two horsemen in the chest and they fell from their horses. It looked to the leader as if the arrows had each struck at the same moment, which made him think that there were at least two archers in the forest and quite possibly many more. For a moment, he was frozen and indecisive, but before he had made up his mind what to do his horse dropped from beneath him, and he went crashing to the ground. As he stood up to look around he saw many of his men falling off their horses with arrows in their chests, and now he was convinced they were dealing with a substantial force hidden in the forest.

Hiding behind the carcass of his dead horse, he looked towards the forest that surrounded three sides of the village. He pointed to one end, shouting, There is a group of archers in the forest north of the village. Attack them and leave no one alive.

A few of his warriors who were still mounted and uninjured rode over to the northern edge of the village, drawing their swords, but another twenty fell with arrows in their backs and many of those by the carts also fell. The leader was unable to pinpoint where the arrows came from, and he shouted, Leave them. There are too many for us, and leave the carts. We must get away from this village of death before we all perish.

The leader grabbed hold of a loose horse and mounted, and then he galloped out of the village with his army following. There was a silence. Even the birds had stopped singing. As the sun went down, a shadow came out of the forest. He walked over to the loose horses, and within a few minutes he had tethered most to the carts. He then went to two of the dead archers and relieved them of their full quivers of arrows, and then he silently returned to the darkness of the forest.

* * * * *

It was morning before the villagers plucked up the nerve to step out of their houses. They saw dead bodies around the centre of the village. Their carts were still where they had left them, and most had horses tied to them. The villagers checked all round the village, looking into the forest with caution, but whatever army had killed all these men was long gone.

On returning to the carts, the peasants were looking towards one person, and one of them asked, What shall we do with the dead, Milo?

The person they asked the question of was the village elder who was standing with a staff in his hand. The top of the pole that had once been a gnarled lump of wood had been crudely carved into head of a growling wolf.

Take all the weapons from the dead and put them in the carts. We will use them as trade at the port, along with the other goods. Take the bodies to the hole in the top of the sea cave and throw them down, making sure there is no one left. We will inform the Queen of this new threat to her realm when we arrive at the port.

* * * * *

Hippolyta walked over to the council room with Hippolyte. Inside, the commanders and Echephyle were already seated, with Alexius and Andromache in their seats near the Queen. Hippolyta had just sat down when the lookout shouted, There are villagers coming from the north western trail. They have at least a hundred horses with the three carts. It’s Milo from the northwest.

Toxis, you had better tell Milo to come here and tell us how he got hold of that number of horses, Hippolyta said. This should be interesting. He is a village elder from the northwest, south of the lake with the island. They have never had that number of horses before, and I wouldn’t think there are as many wild horses as that in the whole of the west of the realm.

The door to the council room was pushed open and a giant of a man walked through behind Toxis. He saw the four queens and bowed. I am humbled, my Lady.

Welcome, Milo. It has been over a year since you came this way and it is a pleasure to see you again. It is unusual for you to arrive here with the trade goods, so I am sure that this is more than just a trade visit. We are just about to eat. Sit down while Toxis cuts you off some meat before we talk business.

After everyone had finished eating, Milo told the story of the killing of the thieves. "There are one hundred and ten horses that we have brought with us. We counted the same number of dead warriors spread about the village. During the attack their leader shouted to his warriors that they were being attacked by an army. There was no one there when we went outside, although we did not leave our homes until it was daylight. There was no one about and no sign that anyone had been there except the thieves.

When we removed the dead, we found that all the bodies still had their swords, bows and axes. Two of the archers had no quivers, but two empty ones had been left in their place. We know that the quivers did not originally belong to the thieves because they were a different design, and so were the arrows in the bodies. Milo lifted his hand and showed Hippolyta the arrow he had brought with him.

There is one other thing, my Lady. Just before they rode off, I think their leader shouted, We are outnumbered. We must escape and go back to the main army. The following morning, their horses had been tethered to the carts to stop them wondering off. I walked the outside edge of the forest but I could see no tracks where any army rode out, whether large or small. Milo then stood up and said, I must go and see to the trading stores, my Lady.

Of course, Milo, and your news, although bad, has been useful. I will be sending an army to that area to keep an eye on that part of my realm. I would think that they will be there before you get back to your village. It will give you safety from this strange army of thieves.

Milo bowed once more. Thank you, my Lady. When I go near the other villages I will pass the word of safety to them.

Hippolyta watched Milo leave, and then she asked, Has anyone any views on this invading army?

Which one are you talking about, Hippolyta, the one attacking the village or the one that savaged them?

I think we had better talk about both, seeing as they are both in my realm, but we can start with the ones that were attacking, Echephyle.

By what Milo told us, although only about one hundred escaped they were escaping to a bigger army. We have no idea how big that army is or where they are. Like so many times before, until we have information on those two points, there is no safe way our army can go about its business, Mother.

Hippolyta faced Hippolyte and smiled. She knew that over the past few years Hippolyte had matured, and she had Vlad, Hippolyte’s barbarian warrior, to thank for that. He had taught her much the same as Danilo had taught Echephyle. In doing so, the two barbarians had made both the queens the most dangerous royal warriors for tens of thousands of paces in any direction.

I thank you for those words of intelligence, Hippolyte, and you are correct in all that you have said. As this is taking part in my realm, the realm that is yours to oversee, then it will be up to you and Scyleia with your armies to put this army to death or send them back to where they come from. I think that while this is taking place Scyleia had better take Omeed with her army. It might be best if Vlad went to Milo’s village first to see if he can find tracks that might give us a clearer picture of what happened.

Hippolyta turned to Vlad. Will you need a horse, Vlad?

Thank you but no, my Lady. I think it might be best if I am not seen by either army. It might be best, also, if I leave now. The sooner you know every detail about these armies the faster you will be able to destroy them, my Lady.

Thank you, Vlad, and you may go, but always remember that speed is not important but your information is.

The queens and commanders waited for him to leave before carrying on with the meeting. These armies must be camped en mass, Danilo. Do you think you might see them from the top of the mountain?

I need to set snares, my Lady. If I set them in the eastern forest, I could go over the mountain while I am waiting.

That will be fine, Danilo. Omeed, I would like you to go west as far as the old burnt out port. I doubt very much that you will find any armies, but you might find fresh tracks of moving armies. At the moment we know there is an army in my realm, but we have no idea where they are or where they arrived from.

Speaking to the commanders, Hippolyta said, "Until my wolves return here with information, our army can do nothing.

Alexius, have you any news from the Emperor or any of your spies?

I am expecting a galleon to arrive sometime today or perhaps tonight with news from Constantinople. The Hun has been crushed and there is peace in the east with Sangiban. I don’t think the Goth army has entered war with you. I have another army in mind, but until I get word I will not place them on the battlefield. I have not heard from any of the traders that they are worried or have been attacked.

I believe it might be best to be patient until we have whatever information you find out. I think that in the next few days we will know all there is to know about this invading army, once my wolves return.

* * * * *

Omeed had been running west for half a day and was now not far from the burned out docks. She turned south, stepping into the thin forest that was hiding the sea. It took her hardy any time at all to walk through and step out onto the shore. She journeyed west once more, and she soon arrived at the pile of rocks where Danilo had camped for the night. The sun was going down and the shadows were getting longer.

Omeed could see the place in the rocks where the large stones formed a small cave, and decided she would hunt for food then go there to sleep for the night, but as she was in the forest setting snares she heard the sound of horses’ hooves. They were not galloping but they were moving quickly, and the sound was of many and they were heading towards her.

She walked closer to the northern edge of the forest, and was just in time to see more than fifty horsemen riding west. Omeed watched as the leader headed for another forest five hundred paces northwest of where she was standing. The small command dismounted and walked their horses into the edge of the forest. Omeed sat for a while to see what they were doing, and as the sun eventually went down she could see the flicker of sparks from a few fires.

Omeed realised that by the noise they was making they were sure that they were not going to be bothered by anyone. The smoke from the fires was drifting her way on the gentle coastal breeze, and she could also hear the odd word being spoken. She knew from her experience of some of the traders who spoke the same language that this army was from the distant west.

It was midnight before she broke cover of the forest she had been waiting in. The time was late summer and the grass was high, with the soil underneath dry. Some of the tufts of grass were almost as tall as she was, and although there was a small plain between her and invading army there was also a few low shrubs scattered about. She took her time walking over to where the army was camped, stopping frequently to listen to the sounds of the night.

She was lucky that the tall grass grew right up to the small evergreen shrubs that surrounded the forests. At those shrubs Omeed went to ground, and crawled forward until she was close enough to hear what was being said. For a short time she could only hear a lot of nonsense talk, and then she heard someone ask, When is General Leopold’s army going to be here, Timo?

He should have already been here, and in fact he could already be here but we have no way of knowing. We ourselves are still too far west of where we should be.

Why are we here? And what are we going to do now we are here?

You ask too many questions, Oswin. Our army in the west needs paying, because all our battles in the last few years have been costly. There are rich pickings here in the east, which are just waiting for us to steal. East of this sea there are mountains, with a trade route running for tens of thousands of paces. We are going to attack the rich traders along that route before we go back to the south of the sea.

I heard there is a village here somewhere this way with an army of fierce women.

You worry too much, Oswin. We have had battles with the Romans and defeated them. Do you think that a few women with sticks are going to bother the great Vandal army? We will push them aside as we pass through their village, but not before we have had our fun with them.

Do you know how big the Generals army is, Timo?

I have been told by our own commander that he is bringing thirty thousand warriors with him. With the ten thousand in our army I don’t think we have a need to worry about those whores in the village. It has been a long time since we have had women, and I cannot wait to see this village. We had better rest, because we have to leave early in the morning.

The camp went silent and Omeed moved back out of her cover. As soon as she was a good distance from the evergreen shrubs she stood up and walked back towards her own forest. She knew that because this army was close she would risk sleeping little through the night. She killed the only rabbit that was snared and picked up the other snares before making her way through the thin forest to the shore and the piled rocks. There, she made a small fire and cooked her catch before she sat looking out to sea while she stayed warm. She thought, ‘I will leave in the morning once I have heard the army ride away.’

* * * * *

Vlad arrived at the small village and he was walking between the houses. On seeing him, three of the village hunters came out of one of the houses. All three had bows and their arrows were pointing at Vlad’s chest.

Who are you and what do you want here? one of the men asked.

I am Vlad, one of Queen Hippolyta’s barbarian warriors and hunter. I have been sent here to look for signs of the army that was here attacking you, and also the one that saved the village.

How do we know that you are not one of them, and returned to carry on where they left off?

I was in the council room with the Queen when Milo told her about the army yesterday.

The three hunters spoke between themselves before lowering their bows. You are much too late, barbarian. Those armies disappeared during the night.

Yes, I understand that, but there will be tracks which will lead me to the armies. Queen Hippolyta is sending a big army to look after all the villages in this part of her realm. She believes the realm is under threat once more, and on the edge of another war with invaders.

We will leave you to go about your business, barbarian.

The three hunters went back into the house they come from."

* * * * *

In the forest, a figure walked silently through the darkness, making no sound and leaving no trace that he had ever been there. There was a sentry no more than fifteen paces away, an even darker shadow in the darkness. The bracken was at its tallest here, and still green, and that aided the almost invisible person as