(Note: Most stories about Wonder Women occur after World War II - after 1940. We're told that her history, though, goes back to the dim reaches of time. So maybe she acquired all her gear and super powers over time. This is part of a series of 9 stories relates how she got her costume and powers over time, after several adventures in "Patriarch's World".)
PROLOGUE, 324 B.C.E. (Before the Christian Era):
The Amazons flourished on their new home, on an island they named Themyscira or Paradise, in honor of their former home in the Black Sea. Their new home off the coast of Africa and west of the island of Sicily is protected from men by a series of large, ship-killing rocks scattered around all landing-sites on the island and sticking up through the pounding surf. No mariner dares approach the island for fear of sinking.
On the island, the goddess Demeter, patron of agriculture, ensured that each harvest was bountiful and that their herds prospered. The women spent their free time improving their bodies and their minds until each was stunningly beautiful, intelligent, and athletic. Young princess Diana, now at an apparent age of 25, excels at all sports and is an excellent student of all that her sisters have to teach her. Her horrible night with Achilles and Ares is almost forgotten, but her mistrust of men and their motives lingers.
Not far away another kingdom has been prospering. The ancient city of Carthage, on the coast of Africa and south of Sicily, was once the capital of the Phoenician empire. Their civilization was advanced culturally and highly educated. Carthage was founded by Dido in the 9th century B.C.E. after she and some followers fled from Tyre in the eastern Mediterranean. The city-state built up trade and in the 6th and 5th cent. B.C.E. began to acquire dominance in the central Mediterranean. But over time, the kingdom began to deteriorate as religion consumed all aspects of life.
Paradise Island:
One day a small boat appears off the coast of Themyscira. An Amazon fishing in the surf spots the craft and rushes across the island to Queen Hyppolita's palace. The queen, her daughter Diana, and a dozen warrior women reach the beach just as the small boat grounds against the sandy shore. The warriors and Diana slowly approach the boat, weapons at the ready.
The only occupant of the boat is a busty young girl, maybe 19 or 20 years old, with long black hair. Diana hands her sword to a guard and lifts the young girl out of the boat. After the warriors destroy and hide the remnants of the boat, lest it be seen by any passing ships, all return to Hyppolita's palace.
A day later, the Amazon healer Magda ushers the young girl into the throne room to meet some of the island's leaders. "My queen, permit me to present to you Drusilla, a young woman from lands to the north."
"Welcome to Themyscira, Drusilla," the queen says, smiling at the young girl. The girl is dressed in a long Amazon gown. Drusilla stands with knees together, shoulders slumped, and eyes darting from woman to woman. She's obviously afraid of something. "What troubles you, child?" the queen asks.
"Am I in Carthage?" she asks. "Are you a priestess of Astarte?"
"We know nothing of this Carthage or Astarte, child. But we don't leave our island and have had no visitors. Here you are among friends, Drusilla. You may trust us as you would your family." The other women beside Hyppolita, including Diana, all smile at the frightened young girl. "Why does Carthage scare you?"
"They are the most evil people in the world," Drusilla replies. "All know of their harsh sacrifices."
"Please tell us about them."
"They sacrifice men, women, children, even very young babies to Ba'al and his wife Astarte. Once each year they sacrifice one in ten of their babies to him, to ensure a fruitful harvest. Twice a year they sacrifice all outsiders they have captured, to ensure rain when needed. There are other human sacrifices to Astarte for good hunting and wisdom. Their ships seize other ships at sea and bring the crew home for such sacrifices.
"I was on a ship from Etruscia to Syracuse when one of the sailors spotted a Carthaginian ship approaching. I leapt overboard and, a day later, found a small boat floating nearby. The boat had food and wine. When I finished that, I fell into a deep sleep and awoke here."
"This is an omen, my queen," Mala suggests. "Surely one of our goddess-protectors wants us to know about this evil place. How could anyone sacrifice their own babies?"
Suddenly a bright light fills the throne room. When the light fades, two women appear. One is a tall, athletic-looking blonde in a short skirt and sandals, with a bow over her shoulder. The other is a chubby brunette in a long brown dress. "I am Demeter and this is my sister Artemis," the chubby woman says, "and we, with help from my other sister Athena, guided this child to this island to tell you of an obscenity occurring in the Patriarch's World.
"Every baby sacrificed to Ba'al for improved harvests is an affront to my name. Every person sacrificed for wisdom or successful hunting profanes the names of Athena and Artemis. We would like you to send forth a champion to bring an end to this horrid religion. The gods of Carthage are a blasphemy we will no longer tolerate. Select a champion and we will help her travel to that foul place."
"Why don't you and the other gods and goddesses just enter the city and destroy this false religion?" Magda asks.
"Ba'al has extended his protection over the place. He and Astarte have the citizens in thrall to their religion and we cannot penetrate the strong beliefs held by the people in the city. Only a human may enter the city and get close to the temples of Ba'al and Astarte. She must do something to shake the people's belief in these terrible gods."
Silence fills the throne room. Finally Mala and Diana both volunteer to be the champion. When Demeter says that only one champion may serve, Hyppolita turns to select Mala when Diana speaks up. "I failed you when I went to Troy, my queen. I allowed myself to be captured and abused by a man. You must select me, mother, so I can redeem my honor as a warrior and cleanse myself in service to our goddesses." Her argument and resolve stir the queen's heart. She slowly nods 'yes' and, a moment later, Diana, Artemis and Demeter vanish in a blinding flash of light ...
Carthage:
And reappear on a hill overlooking a large coastal city. High walls surround the city and scores of ships lie in the harbor or are sailing in and out past the mole. The heat is intense and the sky is cloudless. They have been joined by another woman, a tall and mature brunette. "I am Athena," she tells Diana. "Thank you for helping us destroy this pestilence."
"Here is foul Carthage, Diana," the goddess Demeter says. "We know not how to advise you to bring down the religion of Ba'al and Astarte but to help you we grant you some gifts. First, we give you the gift of great strength. You will find that you have strength almost as great as any of us." Diana feels a surge of energy ripple through her slender body. Suddenly her muscles take on a tone and definition even better than that she had obtained with centuries of athletics on Themyscira. She looks at her 'new' body and flexes her muscles, admiring the way they bulge.
Artemis then hands Diana a long, hooded, red and gold cloak and says, "With this cloak, you will be able to travel through the city looking like one of the wealthy citizens. Perhaps no one will bother you. Watch, study, learn. In time you will see a way to bring down the false gods. But don't take too long. Babies will be sacrificed four days hence."
"And I give you the gift of tongues, Diana," Athena says. "You will be able to speak to anyone or understand their speech as if it was your own. Use these gifts wisely, daughter." With that, the three goddesses disappear, leaving Diana on the hilltop.
"Such a peaceful-looking place," she muses as she begins walking toward the nearest gate along a narrow dirt track. "How can there be so much evil here?"
As she walks, curiousity overwhelms her and she stoops to pick up a stone the size of a pomegranate. Looking at the stone in the palm of her hand, she takes a deep breath and says, "Here goes!" and closes her fingers around it. Her fingers don't reach around the curve of the stone it's so large. She squeezes the stone and suddenly it explodes into a shower of powder and small fragments. "No one will be able to stop me now that I have this power!" she gloats. Then she realizes such vanity is more like that of a man than an Amazon. Shaking her head, Diana dusts the powder off her hand and pulls the cloak more tightly around her body, as if warding off the cold. Her red sandals with straps encirling her calves and her short white and gold skirt vanish beneath the wrap.
As she approaches the gate, she sees a host of tents arrayed outside the gate. At the gate there is a long line of people trying to get into Carthage. She can see the sun setting over mountains to the west and decides she must get into the city today, before sundown. "Maybe there's another way in," she decides, leaving the track and heading into the tent city. A few steps into the tent city and she can no longer see the mountains or the track.
A cool breeze flows between the tents, making her cloak and the tents flap wildly. Suddenly the princess notices that people are rapidly moving into their tents. Soon, she is the only person still walking between the tents. Then a tent flap opens and a young woman wearing a long and colorful dress hisses, "Girl, get to your tent! Night falls!" Diana is briefly shocked at her ability to understand this stranger, then recalls Athena's gift.
"I have no tent," Diana replies. "I am a visitor here. What's happening?"
The young woman takes a step out of the tent, grabs Diana's shoulder, and pulls her into the tent. "You must not be outside your tent after the sun sets," she explains. "Guards roam this camp and arrest anyone not in a tent. Those arrested never return!"
Diana knows why they never return. The barbarism of these people is appalling! But she MUST get into the city! She's about to leave the shelter when she hears the clank of soldiers approaching. Her benefactor suddenly grabs Diana's shoulders and pulls the woman to the floor. Diana lands on her back with the other woman partly atop her as the soldiers march past the tent. Diana finds the woman's thigh over her crotch, raising slightly pleasing sensations in her loins, and her hand over her mouth, silencing her. The woman's other arm is around Diana's shoulders, holding her tightly.
A few moments later, the woman relaxes her hold on the Amazon princess and removes her hand from the woman's mouth, then rolls off the princess. "Thank you for your kindness," Diana says softly, "but I must try to get into the city tonight." She sits up beside the woman, who also rises to a seated position.
"My name is Selecchis," the woman says. "I have been trying to get into the city for two weeks without success. You will have NO success if you are seen moving around the city walls after dark. The dangers are just too great ... uh, what's your name?"
"Diana of Themyscira."
"Well, Diana of Themyscira, I can tell you there's no way into the city, there are patrols around the walls, and if you are taken, you will disappear into the city forever. I know! My brother went to the tent of another during the night and never came back. I was told that he's probably being held in the city. I keep trying to get in, to find out about him, but ..." and Selecchis suddenly begins to sob.
Diana wraps an arm around Selecchis' shoulder and a few minutes later the young brown-haired woman, who looks older than the Amazon but obviously isn't, slowly stops crying. "I will look for him when I get into the city, Selecchis. Tell me what he looks like."
Selecchis looks quizzically at the 'younger' woman, then begins to describe her brother. "But if you are going to rescue him, I should be with you!" she says strongly. "Let me come with you. We can try tomorrow to get in. You look like a noble, maybe the guards will let you in, and let me in as your slave?"
"No, Selecchis, I must go now. I need to enter the city as soon as possible. There will be baby sacrifices in four days!" With that, Diana rises to her feet and starts toward the tent flap.
Selecchis reaches up and grabs the princess' cloak. "You should at least wait a while. The guard patrols will become less frequent in a few hours and you can approach the city without fear of being taken."
Diana thinks for a moment, then nods her agreement. She sits beside Selecchis and removes her cloak. Selecchis looks at Diana's body and gasps at the woman's beauty. Her low-cut dress reveals the tops of two round, full breasts which seem to defy gravity. The musculature of her legs and arms is powerful but still feminine. Her skin is lightly-tanned from being outside so much, but not cracked and aged like that of a shepherd. In short, Diana looks like a goddess. Selecchis draws a ragged breath.
"What's wrong?" Diana asks. She plants a hand on Selecchis' leg, just above her knee.
"I ... I just never ... I mean, you-you're beautiful, Diana!" Now Selecchis puts her hand on Diana's leg, resting it on the woman's bare skin, just above HER knee. Diana seems to start slightly at the woman's touch, but settles down quickly.
"Thank you, sister," Diana says. For some reason not entirely clear to herself, Diana leans forward and lightly kisses Selecchis on her lips. It's barely more than a brush, but Diana's lips are moist and full and now Selecchis shudders at the touch of another. As the Amazon princess starts to pull away from the other girl, Selecchis suddenly cups her hand behind Diana's head and rocks forward on her butt. When her lips touch Diana's, the Carthaginian girl aggressively kisses the black-haired woman, forcing her tongue against Diana's lips. Diana's eyes widen in shock, then slowly she opens her lips, permitting the other's tongue into her mouth.
It feels good.
Selecchis' tongue probes and pokes inside the princess' mouth and the Carthaginian places one hand on Diana's shoulder. When Selecchis pushes on Diana's shoulder, the woman lets Selecchis push her over onto her back and lets Selecchis mount her. Selecchis' legs straddle the princess' hips and the two women quickly begin to run their hands over each other's body as their kissing becomes more frantic.
"Mmph
"Ohhh ... Hera!" Diana gasps when a sudden jolt of pleasure rips through her body. No one has touched her here since her rape by Achilles many centuries ago. The effect is electric - Diana's body convulses from the pleasurable feeling and she begins to aggressively return Selecchis' kisses. Now HER hands are exploring the other woman's body, seeking ways to return the pleasure.
Then "AAAAIIIEEEEEEEE!" when two of Selecchis' fingers press against Diana's maidenhead and apply pressure. For a second Diana freezes, then says, "Oooohhhhh ... don't touch me there!" She brusquely pushes the other woman's hand away from her nether lips.
"You feel as if you are still a virgin, Diana. Have you never laid with women, or pleasured yourself? Among my people, women must often amuse themselves when the men are away. There is no shame when a woman finds pleasure, either alone or with other women. Is this not so in your village, too?" Selecchis sits atop Diana's hips, looking quizzically at the lovely brunette.
"Yes, I guess it is," Diana replies, thinking about other Amazons who sometimes sheepishly slip away from the village in groups of two, three or more. Perhaps they too have been away from a man too long. Perhaps these feelings are not 'bad' per se. But she doesn't want to lose her virginity again. "Let's stop, please. I ... I don't know what my feelings mean."
With obvious sadness in her eyes, Selecchis rises off the Amazon and then helps the princess to her feet. "I must go now, to see if I can get into the city," Diana says, retrieving her cloak and wrapping it around her body. As she turns to leave, she feels a hand on her shoulder.
"Please take me with you, Diana," the young woman pleads. Several long seconds later, Diana nods 'yes' and the two women leave the tent. They walk carefully between the tents until they reach the base of the 20 foot high curtain wall around Carthage. Diana throws the cloak off one shoulder, cocks her arm and makes a fist, to hammer the wall with her new, god-given strength.
"What are you going to do?" Selecchis hisses at Diana.
"Punch a hole through the wall, that we may enter the city," the Amazon princess explains.
"That will make too much noise! We should find another way. Maybe there is a door ..."
"Wait, I have an idea. Put your arms around my neck, Selecchis," Diana says. She then helps the woman climb onto her back, over her cloak. With Selecchis hanging off Diana's back, the Amazon flexes her legs and leaps upward, straightening her legs like steel springs. She easily floats into the air and rises above the height of the curtain wall, then gently drops down beyond the wall onto the walkway used by patrolling guards. The two women wait a moment, but no guards appear.
"Quickly, let's go into the city!" Diana says. She wraps an arm around Selecchis' waist and the two women leap off the walkway and drop to the ground twenty feet down. Diana's powerful leg muscles easily cushion the landing so that neither woman is hurt by the drop.
"Now let's find Ba'al's temple!" Diana says as she grabs Selecchis' hand to lead the other woman down one of the city's streets.
"No, Diana," the woman says, digging in her heels. Her comment stops the Amazon from pulling on the woman's hand. Diana turns and looks at the Carthaginian. "We should find my brother first, Diana," Selecchis explains. "He has been in the city before and knows how it works, how the guards work. Surely he can help you in your quest?"
Diana considers this suggestion, then nods her head. "We will find out where your brother is being held and free him. Let's go!" And with that, the two women run toward the center of the city in search of someone who might know where Selecchis' brother might be held.
The two women search all night without success. Finally, after the sun rises and
people start moving around on the city's streets, the two women spot a guardsman
walking down the street ahead of them. The quickly rush up behind him and Diana
wraps one arm around the man's upper body, pinning his arms to his sides, and
covers his mouth with his other hand. The trio ducks into a nearby alleyway and
Diana pins the man against one wall so he can't see who's holding him. She nods
at Selecchis, who asks for information about her brother. When the guard chooses
to not reply, Diana begins to squeeze the man's upper body. He grunts and gasps
for air as her arm slowly crushes his arms against his chest. Suddenly there is
a
"I'll tell!" he gasps around the pain. He then tells the two women about a prison under a barracks just off the main square. Diana slams the man's head against the alleyway wall, knocking him out. Together, the two women leave the alleyway and head toward the main square.
"We must move immediately," Diana says. "I don't know how long that guard will remain unconscious."
"You should have killed him," Selecchis hisses.
"No, all life is sacred, even that of foes. I wouldn't want to be responsible for sending anyone to Hades, even if the person is bound for the Elysian Fields, and especially if he is bound for Tartarus! Each person has his time for death determined by the three Fates and I will not rush that time."
"What if your Fates want you to kill the person? By not doing so, are you not working against their desires?"
"I can't know for sure, but if I do not kill anyone, then I'm certain at least that I haven't killed someone before his or her time."
Several minutes later the two women stand across the street from the guard barracks. Selecchis goes inside to inquire of her brother and a moment later, Diana enters as well. She can see Selecchis talking with a guard when another guard asks the Amazon of her business. "I'm looking for some male slaves. My father," and she gives the guard a fictitioous name, "said to see if I could by someone from you for a few drachmas."
For several heartbeats, the guard examines the attractive and tall black-haired woman standing before him. Lust fills his eyes but he is wary lest her father be a powerful person in the city. He's about to relent when screaming begins a few feet away. Diana and the guard spin around and watch as two guardsmen drag Selecchis toward a doorway at the far end of the barracks room. "What did she do?" Diana asks her guard.
"I don't know, and you shouldn't ask such forward questions. You should know that a good citizen doesn't ask questions about strangers and their fates."
"I do. I just wondered why she screamed since she must have known that no one would help her."
"Quite so, madam. Come with me. Let's go find a healthy slave for you to purchase." The guard knows he can't really sell a slave. Well, at least not officially. Unofficially, no one will ask if a slave vanishes. They die. They are sacrificed. These things happen. If a lowly guard can earn a few drachmas ...
Minutes later, Diana and her guard stand deep beneath the barracks and look at a long cell filled with men and women, all wailing piteously. Diana is told to select the one she wants and she moves close to the cell bars, wrinkling her nose at the fetid smell coming from the poor souls inside the cell. After a second of looking, she spots Selecchis hugging a man. "I'll take that male. And the female, as well," she tells her guard, "if they seem healthy. Can I see them outside the cell?"
Eager to earn free money, the guard pulls Selecchis and her brother from the cell. Once they're outside and before the man can close the cell door, Diana does a cartwheel (her cloak flying in the air like ship's pennant) and her feet slam into the guard's helmetted head, knocking him to the ground and unconscious. "Quickly, let's go!" she orders Selecchis and her brother, dragging Selecchis by her hand up the steps. Halfway up the steps, she hears the other prisoners break out of their cell and run up the steps.
"Help us!" Selecchis yells up the steps to the guardroom. "Prisoners escaping!" Diana and her two companions flatten against the stairway wall as Carthaginian guardsmen thunder down the steps to stop the prisoners' revolt. After things quieten on the steps, Diana and her companions continue up the steps and out of the guard barracks. At this point, Selecchis and her brother are pulling the Amazon behind them.
"We must go back for the others," Diana says, releasing Selecchis' hand and turning back toward the barracks. "We can't leave them to the tender mercies of the guards."
"Diana, we must get away from here and lie low until we can plan a way to get out of the city." Selecchis continues down the street and turns into an alley with her brother and the Amazon princess in tow.
"My gods have given me a task to perform and I haven't completed it yet. I can't leave now."
"What gods and what task?" Selecchis' brother asks. "My name is Hanno, by the way." Hanno reaches out and grasps Diana's forearm in his, as if saluting a fellow warrior. This brings a smile of satisfaction to the Amazon's face. Hanno is several inches shorter than the six-foot Amazon princess and, like his sister, has curly brown hair and almond-hued skin.
"I, uh, I need to disrupt the next sacrifice to Ba'al," Diana says, hiding some aspects of her mission from these two locals. "I need to make sure no babies are sacrificed this time," she finishes.
Both Selecchis and Hanno look at her quizzically, then at each other, as if they're passing messages between each other telepathically. "Come with me," Hanno says a few heartbeats later, dragging Diana by her hand. Several minutes later, the trio enter a huge plaza in the center of the city. There is a broad, raised platform at one end, in front of a massive temple. Beside the platform is what seems to be a huge fountain. Across the platform from the fountain is a smaller temple.
"The big building is Ba'al's temple. The smaller building is Astarte's temple. First, virgins will be taken from the Temple of Astarte and given to men selected for their service to Ba'al. Each man will deflower a virgin for all to see. Then the sacrifices begin, starting with the first-born. One of every ten first-born in the city is sacrificed to Ba'al. Then any prisoners of war or foreigners are sacrificed." Disgust fills Diana's face at the way Hanno so easily describes such horror.
"All sacrifices are thrown into a huge fire which is set in the basin beside the platform. This plaza will be filled with Carthaginians in two days. There will be hundreds of the mercenary guards around the platform, ready to cut down anyone who might interfere with the ceremony." Hanno's words now make Diana wonder whether she can stop the sacrifices, or have her goddesses given her an impossible mission?
"Where do they keep the babies and other sacrifies?" she asks Hanno a few seconds later.
"The babies are kept in Astarte's temple. The adults are kept in mercenary barracks, as I was, until the day of sacrifice, then they are marched in chains to the platform, from which they are then tossed into the roaring fire."
"How awful!" Diana says, shaking her head. "We must find someplace to hide until ..."
"Hide?" Selecchis interrupts. "We must leave this accursed city before they find Hanno and hold him again for the sacrifice! We don't care who is sacrificed to Ba'al and Astarte as long as we aren't sacrificed! We just want to leave and return home!"
"Of course, go ahead and leave," Diana says. "I can do this on my own." She
turns her back to Selecchis and Hanno and begins to study the plaza more
carefully when
"Ooohhh ... whuh-what ... why?" she mutters. She's on her knees, her chin on her chest and one hand massaging the back of her head. Hanno steps around in front of the Amazon, lifts her chin off her chest, and then smashes her face with his fist, knocking the Amazon down onto her back, her legs crumpled beneath her body. Passersby look at the trio, then continue on their business. Interfering in others' business is not healthy in fair Carthage.
Hanno pulls the cloak off Diana and hands it to his sister, telling her to put it on and act like one noble-born. Then he lifts the unconscious Amazon off the ground and tosses her over his shoulder like a sack of meal, slapping her ass cheek to ensure that she is unconscious. Together, he and his sister head toward the main gate out of the city. Before the Amazon can awaken, the two are outside the city and heading away from Carthage. They stop at their tent long enough to get their belongings and their ass. They tie Diana's hands and legs together and lay her atop the ass for the long trip back to their village.
"She will make a good slave, brother," Selecchis says.
"I still think we should have sold her in Carthage," Hanno replies.
"And have someone recognize you and return you to the slave pens, yourself? She might bring more money in Carthage, but the risk to you is too great. Have heart! She is a virgin, brother. She might become your wife someday!"
As the sun sets over the western mountains, Selecchis and Hanno duck into a wadi to spend the night. The dry creek bed, some five feet below the trackless plain above the wadi, casts deep shadows as the duo set up their camp. Their prisoner is unceremoniously dumped against one wall of the riverbed.
"Nnnhhh ... oooohhh, my head," Diana moans when she finally regains consciousness. She looks around and sees rope binding her wrists together, more rope around her ankles and thighs, and a third rope binding her neck to her wrists. "Ooohhh, I've ... I've failed my goddesses and my queen."
"If you cause us any trouble, girl, I will whip you!" Hanno says harshly. He moves close to the Amazon and squats beside her. He takes her chin in his hand and pulls her face toward his, then leans forward and plants a sloppy kiss on her lips. "I am your master, now, girl, and you will do well if you obey my orders!"
"No man can be my master!" Diana says angrily, trying to turn her face away from his. Then all are surprised when the muscular young captive flexes her biceps and easily snaps the rope around her wrists. Hanno's eyes widen at the sight of such raw feminine power before she hits his jaw with an uppercut that tosses his body up out of the wadi and back several feet from the lip. As Selecchis rushes at Diana, brandishing a club, the Amazon grasps the rope around her thighs and snaps it like wet spaghetti. She's about to do the same to the rope on her ankles when she sees Selecchis' attack out of the corner of her eyes.
Diana raises one hand and stops the downward sweep of the wooden club. Selecchis drops the club and screams. It's just like hitting the wall around Carthage, she thinks as she cradles her sore hand with her other hand. Diana uses the time to free her ankles and leap to her feet. "Why did you betray me?" she asks Selecchis.
"We are slavers! We just sold a fine family to the Carthaginians but one died and the shopkeeper complained ..."
Diana pushes Selecchis backward onto her butt and looks down at the woman, pity in her eyes. "Such treachery and evil behavior would never be tolerated on Themyscira," Diana says. She picks her red and gold cloak off the ground and ties it around her neck (after removing the last rope from around her neck). Then Diana leaps up and out of the wadi and begins running toward the distant lights of Carthage.
An hour before sunrise, the Amazon again leaps over the wall and is inside the city. She races across rooftops until she's on a tall building facing the square. No other tall buildings are around her and all is quiet up here. She wraps her cloak tightly around her body and lies against a low wall around the edge of the rooftop and soon is fast asleep.
After sunset, Diana leaps down off her perch and heads into the plaza, her red cloak streaming behind her and flapping from the breeze of her quick pace. She climbs onto the raised central platform and goes into the Temple of Astarte. "I will find and free all the babies. That will disrupt their services!" she decides as she enters the temple. A few minutes later she finds a set of steps behind the main altar and leading downward. Diana cautiously descends the stairs, making no noises in her soft red sandals.
"What are you doing here, Mistress?" a voice suddenly asks. Diana whirls around to face two tall men with swords. Temple eunuchs, no doubt. Behind them are two slight women standing before a closed and locked door.
"I've come to check on the babies," she bluffs. "I have to take them elsewhere, to prepare them for today's ceremonies."
"SHE LIES!" a feminie voice behind her bellows. "I AM ASTARTE, THE STRONG ONE, SHE OF THE WOMB. HOLD THAT LIAR AND DEFILER OF MY TEMPLE!"
Diana spins around and gasps and recoils at the sight of a monster. Atop the body of a volupturous nude woman is a lion's head. Large wings hang off her back. There is a scythe in one hand and a sword in the other. "WHO DARES TO DISRUPT THE SACRIFICE TO MY HUSBAND BA'AL?" the goddess Astarte asks, taking a half-step toward Diana.
The Amazon princess backs away from the approaching horror and stops only when her arms are seized by the two huge temple eunuchs standing behind her. Pure fear courses through Diana's heart at the sight of the obscene beast. Her Greek gods and goddesses are usually ideal images of the human body, not some monster from Tartarus! Her mind reels as she wonders how she had the presumption to think she might defeat a goddess, even one as foul as this Astarte. She lets herself be led up the steps behind the obscene Astarte and the strong eunuchs seem to almost carry the shocked Amazon in their arms. They cross the patio and enter Ba'al's temple a few moments later.
Astarte bellows out Ba'al's name and a cloud of smoke forms. When it clears, there is a seven-foot tall man, naked and VERY well-endowed, with the curled horns of ram atop his head. Thick, curly black hair covers his body from his belly down, but doesn't hide his manhood. In one hand he holds a staff with a lightning bolt on it, in his other hand he holds a huge spear. "I AM BA'AL, SON OF DAGON AND MASTER OF THE EARTH. WHY HAST THOU BROUGHT THIS VIRGIN TO ME, WIFE?" Diana's jaw drops at this comment - how did he know? Of course, he's a god! Now Diana visibly begins to shudder. She's trapped by a god and a goddess, both easily capable of destroying her without a moment of pity and probably very little effort. She despairs at her situation.
Astarte explains that the virgin wanted to steal babies scheduled to be sacrificed this same day in Ba'al's name. "O' MY BELOVED, SINCE SHE IS A VIRGIN, NONE OF THE BABES ARE HERS," Ba'al intones. "WHY DOST THOU SEEK TO DISRUPT MY CEREMONY, GIRL?" the creature asks Diana. As it does so, it leans forward and transfers the spear to the hand with the staff, then cups Diana's chin in its massive hand, lifting her face up to look into his. Diana sees deep red eyes and smells sulphur on his breath.
"I ... you ... you accept human sacrifices!" is all Diana can reply to the god before her.
"KILL HER," Ba'al orders and begins to turn away from Diana and the others.
"O' MY HUSBAND, I PRAY YOU NOT ACT IN HASTE," Astarte replies. "SINCE SHE IS A VIRGIN, LET HER BE THE FIRST VIRGIN SACRIFICED TO YOU TODAY. REWARD YOUR MOST LOYAL WORSHIPPER WITH HER BODY, THEN KILL HER."
Ba'al considers the proposal, then nods his head once before vanishing into a puff of smoke. "TAKE THIS WOMAN BACK TO MY TEMPLE AND HOLD HER. SHE WILL BE THE FIRST VIRGIN SACRIFICED TODAY. GUARD HER WELL!" With that, Astarte also vanishes in a cloud of smoke.
As the eunuch guards march the Amazon back to Astarte's temple, Diana thinks
about breaking free and fleeing but then realizes she would not help her gods by
fleeing. She also would be condeming some unknown number of infants to a
horrible death. The woman's spirit droops as much as her body as she lets the
guards lead her down the steps to the temple's holding pens. She soon joins a
score of other women, all virgins, in a large cell. She sags down onto her butt
along one wall and buries her face in her hands. She softly sobs at her
situation. "Oohh,
There is no answer.
Just before midday, the guards open the cell door under the Temple of Astarte. Using spears, they prod the women in the large cell, herding them out of the cell and up the steps. As Diana and the other women are ushered onto the raised patio, her cloak is ripped from her shoulders. Carthaginians across the plaza cheer and clap at the sight of the virgins to be sacrificed to Ba'al. Across the patio stands a line of over twenty men, young, old, attractive or ugly. A cross-section of Ba'al's followers. The men who will have the great honor of deflowering all these virgins in Ba'al's name.
As the women are formed into a line, with Diana at the end closest to Ba'al's temple, other guards begin to bring screaming babies up to the patio. The infants are dumped into several large reed baskets behind the women. Diana and the other women steal furtive glances back at the children and stifle their thoughts about infanticide.
A man in a flowery blue robe with a tall headpiece steps out of Ba'al's temple and clangs his metal staff on the tiled patio, calling for attention and silence from the crowds in the plaza. He points his staff at the man closest to the temple, then at Diana. Guards prod Diana's back with spear points and force her toward what must be the altar of sacrifice, a stone platform some 6' by 3' by 3' in the middle of the patio. The man, a white-haired, bony specimen, scampers toward the altar. The priest tells everyone, "Shaddrap had the largest harvest last season. Let his power in the fields help him plough this infidel virgin!"
Then the priest points his staff at Diana and says, "This infidel woman conspired with others to disrupt this ceremony today!"
The crowd ROARS its disapproval of her blasphemous behavior!
"Shaddrap will make her a woman, but then she will be sacrificed to Astarte for profaning Her temple!" Again the crowd roars its approval.
As Diana and her two guards reach the altar, she takes a look at scrawy little Shaddrap, then at the priest. She swallows a deep breath and spins on her heels, flinging her arms out away from her body. Her fists hit first one, then the second guard, and knock the men down. A backkick into Shaddrap's belly sends him flying backward across the patio and into the line of men. As the priest moves toward Diana, she leaps over the alter and her two feet hit the man in his chest, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.
The mob begins to surge up the steps to the patio, roaring epithets at this
brazen woman who would disrupt THEIR sacred ceremonies! Before the first of them
reaches the top step, Diana kicks the altar and topples it on its side. The
crowd slows and halts on the top step as the heavy stone altar
Diana moves forward and lifts the altar into the air, holding the massive stone over her head as if it is a basket of fruit. The crowd begins to back down the steps, unsure how a mere woman can lift so much weight. Diana easily walks toward the side of the patio and with a slight grunt, tosses the huge slab into the air. It sails up almost fifteen feet before dropping downward into the firepit beside the patio. The huge stone hits the side of the bowl holding the fires and shatters its wall. Burning charcoal and embers bounce into the air and spill out of the firepit.
The crowd begins screaming and those closest to the raised platform turn to run from the plaza. In the stampede, scores of Carthaginians are trampled by people afraid of a mere slip of a girl.
Back on the patio, Diana turns toward the remaining temple guards and suddenly sees several arrows flying at her. Without thinking, the Amazon reverts to training she received with her sister Amazons on Themyscira. Her left wrist flies up and the bracelet on that arm deflects the first arrow. Then her right arm rises and another arrow flies harmlessly past her body. In seconds, the Amazon uses her strength and bracelets to deflect half a dozen arrows. Several of the guards drop their weapons and flee.
Several of the remaining guards toss their spears at the strange warrior woman. As the first spears hit the air, Diana leans down and scoops up a spear from one of the guards she decked earlier. As four spears whistle through the air at her, she deftly bats them aside with the spear in her hands. The remaining guards turn and flee the patio. Now only Diana, the virgins, and the babies are on the patio.
"Take the babies and flee ... flee for your lives!" Diana shouts at the women. She starts to move toward the women when they gasp loudly and point toward Ba'al's temple before turning to run away. Diana spins around and also staggers back a step. Both Astarte and Ba'al are walking out of a black cloud toward the Amazon.
"THOU HAST PROFANED OUR SACRED RITES!" Astarte roars at the Amazon. Her teeth, like those of a lion, glisten with her spit and her tongue flickers hungrily at the Amazon. Astarte drops the scythe from her left hand and grips her sword in both hands, raising it over her head.
"I WILL DEFLOWER YOU MYSELF, GIRL!" Ba'al bellows, dropping into a crouch as if about to ram Diana with the ram horns atop his head. "THEN WILL MY BELOVED AND I DEVOUR YOUR BODY!" The beast-god hurls its spear at the warrior woman and only by dodging at the last second does the huge weapon miss her slight body.
Diana instantly realizes that she may die in the next few seconds if she can't stop these two. She immediately does a pair of tight backflips away from Astarte and Ba'al, stopping when she's beside his spear. As she backflips, a bolt of lightning bursts from Ba'al's staff and hits the patio where the Amazon was standing a heartbeat earlier.
The warrior princess scoops up Ba'al's huge spear (over six feet long and two inches thick) and holds it before her body in preparation for battle. Suddenly Diana notices a hint of fear in the eyes of her foes. Maybe they can be hurt, maybe they can even be killed if stabbed by this spear? Suddenly her prospects seem better than zero!
Astarte steps sideways to Diana's left and Ba'al steps to her right. Neither chooses to smite Diana out of existence, for some reason. Maybe she's shaken belief in these two enough so that her own goddesses are protecting her! She will have no better chance to stop these two abominations! Diana stabs the spear toward Ba'al and laughs when the huge obscenity backs up a step.
Before either can react, Diana turns 180 degrees and leaps toward Astarte. As she closes on the goddess, Diana drops onto the patio and executes a forward roll that brings her to her knees just below the goddess, with Ba'al's spear thrusting upward. In a heartbeat his long metal shaft puncture's Astarte's belly and passes through her. She roars like an injured lioness and drops her sword, reaching for the spear in her belly. Diana makes the quick realization that although she considers life sacred, Astarte and Ba'al are so monumentally evil, they MUST NOT be allowed to live!
As Astarte falls to her knees, screaming about the pain from the spear, Diana grabs the goddess' sword and makes one swift slash that decapitates Astarte. Ba'al roars in anger as his wife's lifeless body falls onto the patio. "O' THOU FOUL FIEND!" it says, "THY PROFANITY KNOWS NO LIMITS!" He instantly appears beside the Amazon, even before she can recover from the beheading of Astarte.
Caught with the tip of her sword still pointed toward the patio, Diana reacts by raising the sword upward just as Ba'al reaches down toward her. The sword nicks his thigh but he quickly batters it away, bellowing in pain and rage at this latest insult. With his other hand, he reaches down and wraps his huge hand around Diana's head. He shoves her down onto her back, pinning her to the patio.
Diana fights down panic. The sword is out of reach and Ba'al has his hand around her skull. He can crush her head in an instant! Suddenly Diana's eyes widen. He has other plans, before killing her. He wants to deflower her. His hand releases her head and pins her to the patio by holding her neck.
The god-made-manifest rips the filmy white gown off the woman with his other hand, baring her body. A quick swipe with one finger and the under garment covering her womanhood is shredded. Ba'al leans back and flaunts its manhood before the Amazon. "PREPARE TO WELCOME ME, GIRL," Ba'al orders, flashing a foot-long, three-inch thick wad at her.
"Oh, Hera, nooooo!" Diana begs as the monster lowers its huge tool toward her womanhood. She hammers Ba'al's face with all her goddess-given strength and is gratified to see Ba'al stagger backwards from her blow. He had to release his hold on her neck and now the warrior woman leaps to her feet and rushes at Ba'al. On the way, she picks up Astarte's sword and begins to swing it over her head.
As Diana's sword approaches Ba'al's chest, the monster disappears and her blade cuts through empty air. "Come back, monster!" she bellows after the vanished god.
"AS YOU WISH," a voice behind her says. Before the Amazon can turn around, Ba'al slaps her bare back and she crashes to the patio. Again the sword flies out of her hand and skitters across the tiles, out of reach. "THIS ENDS NOW, HARLOT!" the god bellows. One huge hand lands on Diana's back between her shoulder blades and pins her body to the ground, crushing her large breasts against the dirty, cold tiles. His other hand reaches under her body and lifts her hips off the ground.
Diana's legs thrash and kick madly at the god but he easily steps between her flailing legs and presses his god-hood against her nether lips. "NN-NNOOOOOO!!!" she screams as the huge tip of his tool begins to press against her maidenhood. Then the plaza fills with "AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE" as, for the second time in her life, Diana's virginity is taken away.
"NNNOOOOO - TOOOO ... oooohhhhh ... TTOOOO BBBIIIIIIGGGGG!" she wails as Ba'al's massive dick forces its way into her body. Diana believes that her body must surely be split by this creature's huge tool! The pain is mind-numbing but there seems to be nothing she can do. Lying face down on the terracotta tiles, she can't see Ba'al or strike him, and her legs don't seem to bother him as she flails and kicks.
"UNH-UNH-UNH-UNH-OW-OW-OWWWWWWW, STOP!" the poor woman begs as Ba'al plunges deeper inside her body. He's exerting so much force on the woman that her body is sliding across the patio, her breasts making squealing sounds as they drag across the tiles. Suddenly Ba'al removes his hand from her back and grabs her hips. He lifts her off the patio and holds her against his dick, her body lying roughly parallel to the patio at a height of four feet. He slides the woman on and off his huge tool in long slow strokes.
Fighting through incredible pain, the Amazon princess bends at the waist until Ba'al's legs are in range, then she hammers his ankles, one hand on the outside of each ankle. There is a loud crack and the god falls onto his back, bellowing in pain and rage from her blow. The strength of her goddess gives her the power to topple another god.
With Ba'al now on his back and Diana pinned to him, his dick filling her hole,
she rises to a seated position and spins around on his tool. As Ba'al looks up
at her, Diana clenches her fists together and brings them down onto the beast's
chest with a mighty crash that craters the patio beneath Ba'al and shatters
tiles across the whole raised patio. Again Ba'al bellows in pain and rage at
this puny human's punch but before he can react, Diana pulls herself off his
dick with a loud and painful
Ba'al begins to rise off his back but Diana quickly drops onto the beast's
chest, pinning it to the patio. Her hands move like a blur as she places one on
either side of his head and twists it until
Suddenly, apart from Diana's deep breathing, silence fills the plaza. Even the babies have stopped screaming. Diana waits a minute or so to regain her breath, then rises off Ba'al's body. A trickle of blood runs down her inside thigh and numerous cuts and bruises stain the front of her exquisite body. Her nose is bleeding and her lip is cracked. But a god and a goddess lie dead on the patio.
At the far edge of the plaza, Diana can see nervous Carthaginians looking at her and the carnage atop the platform. She reaches down and lifts Ba'al's body up by one of its horns and turns it so his face is toward the townspeople. "See your false god?" she yells. "Sacrifice is not the behavior of a fit god. Find another, or I will return!" Diana commands. She then drops Ba'al's lifeless form and strides across the patio to pick up her red and gold cloak.
As the Amazon wraps her cloak around her nearly-naked body, she begins to tremble and shake from the combat. "Thank the goddesses they can't see me now," she says to herself about the townspeople, "or they would rush onto the patio and kill me!"
"They would have to go through us, Diana," a feminine voice says beside Diana. She turns to see Demeter and Artemis standing beside her, glowing brightly like the goddesses they are. Demeter takes a few steps toward the townsfolk and orders them to worship gods who don't require sacrifices. Most cower away from the awesome sight, but many nod their heads in agreement with the new goddess in town.
"Come, Diana, let us take you home," Artemis says, wrapping an arm around her champion.
"I have something to do, first," Diana says. She crosses the patio to the Temple of Astarte and places a hand against a thick vertical column on the left side of the doorway. Her back and leg muscles bulge as the Amazon strains against the marble column until there is a loud scraping sound. Suddenly the top of the column falls backward and crashes against the wall of the temple. Diana then goes to the other three columns and pushes each one until it crashes against the front of the temple. After the fourth column drops, the weight against the front of the temple collapses the building into a heap of dust and rubble.
"Now I'm ready, my goddesses," Diana says, smiling at the two holy beings. All three vanish in a puff of smoke. The only sound in the plaza is the sound of the babies, squawling once again.
Postscript:
"How will I get home, now?" Drusilla asks Hyppolita. "I should return to Etruscia, I guess."
"Do you have family there?" the queen of the Amazons asks.
"Well, no, they're all dead."
"Then why don't you stay here, Drusilla?" the queen asks. "You are welcome to join my household. Why, you can be Diana's little sister!"
"Oh, I would like that, Queen Hyppolita!" the young girl gushes.
Diana steps beside Drusilla and wraps an arm around her shoulder and says, "I would love to have a little sister!" As Diana and Drusilla leave the queen's chamber, the princess considers her refusal of Athena's offer to restore her virginity. "Without it, I may get closer to my sisters," she decides, happy with her decision.
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