The Prophet

Chapter 12
Serinina endures the hardships of life onboard a trireme and part of the crew during her voyage to her new homeland
Then she begins her training to become a warrior

It seemed that no sooner had Serin been assigned to the higher deck oars, than they were being attacked by the Denae Navy blockade. Several of the large sailing ships blocked their way, trying to force them back.

Serinina had gotten the hang of rowing her massive oar and pushing it forward at the beat of the drum and pulling it back. And now their captain had ordered ramming speed, and the drum began beating much, much faster, and Serin was working at a furious pace.

The bowwomen stood on the top deck and lit their arrows, ready to unleash on the attacking ships.

All of the oarswomen began pushing the massive oars forward and pulling them back as quickly as possible. They were all working at a furious pace now, and most of the women were able to do it. It didn’t tax their bodies at all. But Serinina’s upper body was burning and sore from doing this for just over ten minutes, and now they were going into battle. Their captain had ordered them to ram the ships trying to blockade them in the harbor. Other ships of the Amazon fleet were doing the same thing, and she saw the women on the decks pulling their bows.

The bowwomen unleashed a horrifying fury of arrows that descended on the enemy fleet with devastating effect killing their crewmen and setting the ships on fire. Then their iron ram tore into the other ship. That impact was even worse, the entire ship trembled with vicious force. Then their commander told them to reverse their course and pull them out of the enemy ship. Serinina did as she was commanded, and all of the other women reversed the ship's course and pulled their ram out of the other ship. The other ship began listing to the side and going into the water. Other amazon ships had done the same, and the enemy fleet was sinking. Their Queen ordered them to continue out into the sea and continue their previous course. It would take them nearly a month to get to the Amazon island.

Everything was very dull and monotonous onboard these huge oared ships and very routine. Except for the occasional sea storms they sailed through. And, unlike the large ocean-going vessels built by her homeland that were large and strong that were designed to survive the storms, Serinina didn’t think these ships were built to withstand the storms. They had many open spaces below decks for the large oars and for keeping the air circulated for the rowers. And they were built very close to the water unlike the large sailing ships that had very high level decks to protect them from the waves and the storms. So, she was petrified when they went through the first storm, and she got very, very wet. The huge waves washed over the decks like nothing, and she was seated at her station rowing the trireme. The waves washed through the hole and drenched her. She was shivering from the cold and from fear. Wave after wave slammed into the ship, washing over the decks, but no one was lost. The ship didn't even begin to list or flounder at all. One of the other women rowing behind her kept praying to Athena, and Serinina figured that the Goddess was probably looking after them.

The Queen saying that this was probably Poseidon taking revenge against them or Hera.

A massive bolt of lightning struck the mast of the ship. The captain let out a very profane curse at Zeus, and other women cursed at him. The bolt did no damage, and Penthesilea shouted, “You will have to do better than that!” Then she cursed, “Fucking idiot Zeus.”

The massive storm ended quick enough, and their monotonous routines returned to normal. They had finally entered the Mediterranean Sea. That was when she was approached by the Captain and their Queen Penthesilea. The Queen started the discussion, during her break from rowing, and while she was busy scrubbing the deck clean from the seawater. “We have decided to assign you to some new duties. You will still row for four to five hours, and I see massive improvements in your arms from it. You are very impressive now, and you are able to row much faster and with much less difficulty.”

“Thank you, mother,” Serinina said, smiling warmly.

“We have another woman that is willing to teach you our language. And you will need to know Greek. So, you will be learning our language during this voyage, and then hopefully, you will be ready for Latin. Few speak English there. So do you understand, Serinina?”

“Yes,” replied Serinina. “Most of what these women say is very incomprehensible. I am lucky the woman that's usually behind me knows my language, and we have spoken enough. I was worried.”

“She will be the one helping you,” replied Penthesilea.

Serinina's turned into a huge smile. “Julia is going to teach me Greek?”

“Yes,” said Penthesilea. “She has offered, and she is waiting for you below deck in the captain's quarters. She is ready to begin your first lessons.”

“Thank you, mother,” shouted Serinina and ran down to the cabin and saw Julia there ready to start teaching her Greek, and they began their first lesson. She started teaching Serinina the alphabet for Greek and what the various symbols meant and how they work together. Serinina was lucky she still had a very sharp memory and never forgot anything. She thanked Zakister for that bit of assistance. The other part probably had to do with the blessing that was bestowed on her as part of the horrible gender transformation spell. In addition to changing a person's sex, it also bestowed enormous power on the person. It was meant to bless a person that wanted it, and help them. It was misused on Serinina to destroy her life. But it was still meant to bless the person, and that blessing is what helped her survive and learn so fast. She had mastered the basic characters and their sound by the end of the first hour, and then they had other duties to attend to.

Everything else was a monotonous daily routine from her hours of rowing to scrubbing the decks, to eating with the rest of the crew, and then sleeping with the rest of the crew. Cassandra and her shared a spot below decks and spent some of the time getting to know each other.

Cassandra was fascinated to learn that Serinina lived most of her life as a boy before she was transformed. She was so intrigued she wanted to know what his life was like as a boy, and Serinina was brutally honest and admitted.

“Cassandra, I was an asshole,” Serinina admitted in English, which Cassandra knew. “I was arrogant and very self-centered. I ruthlessly and cruelly teased my sister. I knew that she hated the very restrictive life that was imposed on women by the priests in our land. I didn’t think girls could fight, and I knew she wanted the life of a warrior so bad. I cruelly teased and taunted her daily. But I loved her so much, and I knew what I was doing was wrong. I couldn’t help it. I am sorry for everything I did, but I don't think I deserved what happened.”

“No,” Cassandra replied. “You didn’t. What they did was wrong and very dangerous. It empowered you when they transformed you and allowed you to do everything you are now doing. Your sister stealing your life was a horrible mistake that won't turn out well for her. She will find she is unsuited for the life of a warrior if she wants to do it in a male way. You are learning to be a warrior the right way, and it will give you so much more power over her when you two meet again. She will find herself at a massive disadvantage.”

“Sister,” Serinina asked, “Tell me about Troy?”

“Troy is our client state, something like one of our vassals, and we protect them. I am also a princess of Troy, but my father, Priam has disowned me for going to the Amazons. He is very sexist, much like your father Gerrik was. He wanted me to marry Agamemnon, and I refused. He was going to force me when I fled to my mother's homeland. But he still knows he needs our protection. He was going to send his other daughter Helena to marry one of the Greeks. And that's going to lead to a war when she flees him. I don't know when men will ever learn that it’s wrong to marry us off like they try to.”

“My father died, and I was about to do the same thing to my own sister. I knew it was wrong,” Serinina admitted. “But the lords were threatening war, I was young and didn’t know how to get out of it and wasn't quite ready to start my new kingdom on the warpath. My sister took my crown and led them into a war. And I really don’t blame her for that. I admit she was more suited for the crown than I was. No.” Serinina admitted. “She liberated the women and suppressed the sadistic priests. She did what was right and what I knew was right but didn’t have the courage to do yet. What I blame her for is how she treated me. She was very cruel to my family, and all agreed and conspired to treat me very cruelly. Then I was raped by one of the nobles, I became pregnant, and then she tried to marry me off to one of the sons of the nobles. The same son that she was arranged to be wed to.”

Cassandra laughed bitterly and then said, “What an idiot. She took the crown claiming to free the women. Then she acts no better than a usual man in the role and treats the women of her family the same way. No Serinina, you are more suited for the crown than she is. You only had to mature, and you didn't have the time. That's why we adopted you, we know your strength and your wisdom. You admit you were wrong, she can't and won't. That's a man. And we know you have the strength of a woman.”

Serinina wondered why such a strange comment didn't bother her in the least now. She has the strength of a woman, while her sister was like a man. It all fit, and didn't seem insulting to her at all. And felt like it should be an insult. But, the statement brought a smile to Serinina’s face. “I am as strong as a woman.” And the two sisters embraced each other.

The voyage to the Amazons island took another three long boring weeks. The sisters bonded together so tightly during those weeks. They bonded so much tighter than her and Patinea ever bonded. And some of the things Serinina revealed about her life as a boy disgusted and angered Cassandra, Cassandra understood and didn't blame Sarinina for what she did. Cassandra simply dismissed it, saying, “You only did it because you had to. You mistreated women because you had to embrace the male lifestyle, but you knew what you were doing was wrong. And it did disgust you, but you were hiding your true self Serinina and did it well. That wasn’t the real Serinina. This is, and I am proud to call her my sister.”

Cassandra and Serinina stood at the bow, watching the enormous, majestic island of the Amazons loom closer as the fleet approached and entered into the harbor and dock.

Xxx

The Goddess Prognita had never been so afraid and angry in her long and glorious life. She had just regained her powers over a year ago and set these amazing events into motion with the visions to Patinea, who she made the vessel of her spirit. But since then, everything went as wrong as it possibly could, and now she doubted that she would ever be released from her tomb. She knew that everything was a long shot in this society. Turning the prince female and hoping he would be happy was a very long shot. But it was reasonable that he could adapt to the life and find happiness. But events conspired against it in the most horrific way. First, the women she relied on to help him learn his mistakes were so vindictive and cruel to him that there was no way the plan could succeed. Their treatment of the crown prince was so unnecessarily harsh that it inspired such a rage from the crown prince that he did everything he possibly could to undermine his sister and destroy the entire plan no matter how just it was to free the women of the land. He didn’t care, and why should he. Then he blamed her and blamed all of her followers.

On top of it all, he couldn’t stop wanting the life he lost. He would not settle for anything less than the life of a warrior. Even as a woman, that's all he wanted. He wanted war, fighting, and as a man or a woman, that's all he wanted. So, she watched helplessly as the prince totally destroyed her people and crushed his sister. Then he had her enslaved and raised one of the darkest evils in the land and enjoyed watching Lilith reign her destruction and death on the land. Then the prince restored himself, sought a vicious and cruel vengeance against her people, and freed her for only a moment to reset time to spare him the suffering of being a prince. He condemned her for punishing him for things he was not responsible for. But even in his new life, happiness evaded him, and he was still furious. She watched Patinea overcome her cruel brothers to take control of her family, and she was going to claim the crown very soon. She saw that Edwyn would be happy, and even Victoria would accept it. Patinea was the rightful heir.

But she also saw this would lead to a total disaster. It would enrage Serinina beyond all reason and sent him to total war against the kingdom. And she saw what Serinina was doing now. She was headed to the Amazons island to become a battle hardened warrior. She would emerge victorious and with many nations behind her. Serinina would direct the might of her new kingdom at her old homeland, and even Patinea's might could never withstand the might of the Greek states' army. They would all end up kneeling to Serinina, and she would become much more powerful than her sister ever could.

The Goddess said in sorrow, watching everything be destroyed, “Patinea, why couldn’t you be the great and noble king you were meant to be. You were so cruel, this is all your doing, and you have no idea how much you will pay for it. And I will never get out of this tomb.”

Everyone had disappointed her, and they were responsible for the disaster that was about to befall the Golden Isles. And, even she knew she was very responsible for what was about to happen. She had inspired Serin's transformation that he still regarded as a curse. It was that event that led to his abuse by everyone else's hands, and it was her that inspired it all. And now, Serinina was about to subjugate them all and likely murder her. And she doubted that she would ever rise again after this. This time, she would really die.

Xxx

Serinina was very thankful for disembarking from the trireme that had been her home for almost a full month. It had been a very difficult voyage, and she never thought a storm could possibly scare her so much. She felt thankful to be alive, and the boredom of it all was even worse. But, the endless rowing did wonders for her upper body, and she now felt almost as strong as she was when she used to be a boy.

Penthesilea led her warriors and advisers off the ship, and they led the way into one of their grand temples to their Goddess Athena to finally celebrate the end of her voyage and her succeeding in her objective on her trip to the Golden Isles.

Serinina followed her new mother to the temple holding her beloved sister's hand. She was amazed at the people assembled outside of the doors and the flood of people within the enormous temple. There must have been tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people. Penthesilea led them to a raised platform just outside of the enormous temple to their Goddess Athena. They stood just underneath a huge golden statue of Athena full with her shimmering gold armor and her Owl symbol on her helmet, holding her magical shield and her spear she often fought with. She met Athena, and this was a goddess she felt she would love forever. This was a great, a noble, and very kind goddess, unlike Prognita, who was cruel and wicked.

Then Athena manifested herself beside the Queen Penthesilea and herself wearing her brilliant golden breastplate and holding her shield with the symbol of the Gorgon on it. She looked down at Serinina with love in her eyes.

The Queen said in an enhanced, awesome voice so everyone could hear her. “My mission to the golden Isles was successful. I contacted their witches, and I can confirm they are an evil force in this world. I made contact with their female warriors; they call the hashashins who were holding and protecting the deposed princess Serinina. I was successful in rescuing the suffering princess, and I brought her here. She is eager to begin her life as an amazon warrior.

Athena gave her consent and her recommendation to adopt Serinina into Penthesilea’s family. “She is now my daughter, and I am her mother.”

Serinina stood in front of them, all holding the hand of Athena. She raised her fist in the sky, and all of the women cheered for her.

“Serinina was abused and mistreated by her own sister and her family in her homeland when she was denied the crown. She suffered abuse, rape, a forced marriage to a man she didn't know, and having her entire life stolen from her. We will show her how to be a warrior and earn the respect she deserves as a girl. This is my great daughter Princess Serinina, the princess of the Amazons.”

Everyone cheered and clapped for their new princess, who was holding the hand of Athena and Cassandra in the other hand.

“Princess Serinina is my heir to be the queen of the Amazons, That is the will of Athena.” Shouted Penthesilea.

Serinina looked up sharply and asked, “What about your Daughter Cassandra? Isn't she older?”

“Yes,” Replied Penthesilea. “But she will be the Queen of Troy in the name of her father and mother. I adopted her, but I adopted you, and Athena favors you here. You will prove very worthy of being my successor. This is the will of Athena.

She looked up at Athena, glowing beside her. “Thank you, Athena.” Said Serinina. At least one goddess felt she was worthy of a crown and wouldn't deny her. She just hoped that her older sister Cassandra wouldn't feel resentment or anger at this.

Athena said kindly, “She won't,” Athena smiled softly. “She loves you, and she has her own crown and will rely on you to defend her claim to it. Her brother Paris is conspiring with Agamemnon to steal it all from her. And now, you need to decide what you want to do. You said you want to be a warrior, but we have several classes of warriors. You, as the princess, will be the leader, of course. But what training do you want?”

“I figured I would be trained for all positions, but I want to be in the Phalanx!” Shouted Serinina.

Her mother nodded, “I will contact Alexina, and you will start training for the Phalanx tomorrow.”

Serinina was led to a massive dining hall, much like what was in her old homeland that all of the lords dined at after her father's funeral days before everything was stolen from her. She vowed again to get revenge for everything they did to her.

Many of the women lords met them at the vast dining hall, and she was introduced to all of the ladies that were heads of the great houses of the Amazons. She had no trouble remembering all of their names, all of their houses and their family's, husbands and children they had, and where their lands were. Apparently, the Amazon island is a massive chain of islands, with this being the largest called Themescura and the smaller island below them called Lesbos. There was another large group of islands. Serinina was talking to lady Hippolyta at the moment and her daughter Dianna

The lady Hippolyta was having trouble understanding her story right now. She asked with her jaw open in total disbelief, and she could tell the lady's blood was close to boiling.

“So, let me understand this. Your sister, the king Patinea,” Asked Hippolyta with a bitter taste in her mouth, nearly spitting it out. “Deposed you for being a boy. So she could institute a matriarchy in the name of their Goddess Prognita. To liberate the women, and their witches so they can live free lives. And be free from the reign and rules of men. Do I have it right so far?”

“Yes,” Serinina agreed.

“So then she has you forced to dress in corsets and very restrictive feminine garments that prevented you from moving around freely. You aren’t allowed to fight by her royal decree. You are sexually assaulted, and she casually brushed it off as if it was nothing. Then she tried to force you to carry the child, and then tried to force you into an unwanted marriage with a man? Is this also correct?” asked Lady Hippolyta with her face turning into an angry red hue.

“Yes, that's also all true,” Replied Serinina, and all of the women lords were extremely angry.

“No wonder that bitch calls herself King. You had an excuse for being the way you were, being a male, not her. It all gave the lie to her agenda all along. You are now free to choose your path here, Serinina, and we will be proud to follow you when the time comes. I’d love to land an army on that bitch’s kingdom. She betrayed the women, and I can't believe this is the will of a goddess that claims she is for women's empowerment. She clearly is not.”

“No she isn’t,” Said Athena beside Serinina. “She just says she is. She is a corrupt and deceitful goddess that just does whatever she wants. But all of Serinina's suffering taught her valuable lessons, and she has grown and learned from it. She will seriously free the women of her homeland. After liberating and insuring the survival of Troy and their women. But make no mistake. Serinina has a reckoning in her homeland, and when she does, we will support her. She will have the Spartans and Athenians behind her after they kneel to her. And I will bring the power of Olympus against their Goddess.

“Now, it’s time to go to sleep. Serinina, you have a long day tomorrow. You spent a month building up your body and rowing our trireme. Now it’s time to put it all together. You will begin training with the spear, shield, and join the hoplites. You will be a warrior. You will also train with the bow later and then the horse. Now go on.”

“Mother,” Serinina said. “First, I want to know if you really think I can make a good warrior. Look at my body. I am much smaller than the other girls. Look at Cassandra standing nearly a foot taller than me.”

“She’s also a year older.” Confirmed her mother.

“But you know what kind of woman I will be. Athena told you what they transformed me into and what I will be at sixteen. I won't grow much taller, and my chest will really grow out big time. How can I fight with this body? Do you really think I can make a great warrior?”

Athena said, “Absolutely. It will be more difficult for you, but since when did you let that stop you. You proved you were the greatest witch of them all against all of the odds against you. And we have large-busted women here that make awesome warriors. I will introduce you to some of them tomorrow. They will train you. One of them is the captain of the Phalanxes. She wears special chest armor to provide extra room upstairs, but she is a very fearsome warrior. Your lack of size can be overcome with your speed and determination. Serinina, you can be much greater than your sister, and you will prove you are the best, you are the strongest and smartest. That's why you are Penthesilea’s heir. That's why I recommended it and why you will win.”

This gave her much more confidence, and her sister Cassandra led her to her own bedroom right next to Cassandra’s. There wasn't much but a simple bed and some of her clothes were there, and her armor and weapons in another closet and some books to study. Serinina had learned Greek very well during her long voyage to this paradise and she settled in to sleep. Serinina guessed that she would begin her training before sunrise so she better gets some sleep.

Unluckily, she didn’t get that much sleep. She had some nightmares over about Patinea’s cruel treatment and her horrifying transformation. Her mind kept drifting to those dark times in her life when her sister stole everything from her and then loudly gloated, “There is no longer a male heir to the crown. I am the rightful heir.” She woke up swearing around four in the morning and said bitterly, “You will find you are the heir to death sister, and it will be me who delivers it to you.”

Serinina decided to get an early start to the day, so she bathed and dressed herself in a simple white flowing gown and exited her bedroom to have a very early morning run. There were girls already out and running the course and some other higher trained women on the field training in various weapons and even some women donning bronze armor and preparing for hoplite training. She guessed she would be with those women later, and she took off running with the other girls.

Cassandra joined her, and they were running the course around a section of the temple. The run wasn't quite as grueling as it was her first time she tried to run around the massive fortress in her homeland when she barely made it a fourth of the way around before she was ready to collapse in exhaustion. She ran the entire course without breaking a sweat. She started her second round when Cassandra and Julia caught up with her complimenting her on her progress, and she was ready for a third lap in no time. She ran a total of six laps around before her legs began burning and her chest giving in. She forced herself to finish the sixth lap and went for a seventh and eighth-lap before she finally stopped. Cassandra and Julia weren't ready to stop, and they ran a total of twelve laps around and told Serinina she had a way to go until she was ready.

By that time, the priestess’s of their temple were ready for the religious services, and the girls found a seat at the grand temple to Athena and their mother goddess Gaia.

Their priestesses led services to worship their Goddess. They told some of the stories of their Goddess’s exploits and how she was born inside of Zeus's head and that she restrains Zeus' anger at times. Athena is one of their wisest and most intelligent goddesses, and she is also a warrior in battle that even Aries fears to confront.

Then the girls were given some work to do on their own, and Serinina was told to remain there for another hour. She was given some specialized instruction by the priestesses. Penthesilea was there and told Serinina that she had instructed the priestesses to teach her about their religion. She was the daughter of the queen, and she had to know everything and be able to instruct others. Serinina was to become a priestess of Athena, just like Penthesilea was. Just like Cassandra. The princesses were required to become priestesses in their own right, so Serinina remained at the temple for another hour learning about Athena and reading some of her ancient stories about Olympus. It was odd, but Athena's brother was Aries, and they have a loving relationship. But her father is the typical arrogant male that throws his weight and power around without care.

Then she ate breakfast with the priestesses and was sent to the field to begin hoplite training. Her queen Penthesilea was not wrong about the girl that was in charge of the Hoplite training.

Serinina was standing there on the field with dozens of other girls waiting for the commander, and some of the girls had already begun the formations when the commander walked up to them all.

This girl seemed to be around twenty to twenty five, but she was petite compared to the other amazon women she had seen. This girl was built a lot like Serenina after they transformed Serin at sixteen. She was very small and petite, and very beautiful. Her face was flawless, and she had long golden hair hanging down her back. And her chest was enormous, much like Serinina's. Perhaps a little larger than her. And she didn’t seem like a warrior at all. At least if you only looked at her stunning body. But, Serinina saw the look in her eyes, and her body looked solid. Her arms were huge, and the muscles in her shoulders and arms were like steel. She had a hard-chiseled look on her face that spoke of her extreme confidence and her fierce nature if anyone dared to piss her off. Serinina was determined that wasn’t going to be her. She wanted to train to be a warrior. She could think of no one better than this woman to do it. She stood in front of them, and the warrior's eyes met Serinina's, and she gave a slight nod and shouted, “I am Alexina, for our new arrivals. I have trained in the infantry for most of my life. I began training at six years old and began the formal training at nine. This is my area, I train infantry for the Phalanx. That is what makes up the main force for our military. Many of the higher Amazons look down on the hoplites. Many of them want to be bowwomen or calvary. And they are necessary, but they can't do much without the Phalanx.”

Her eyes met Serinina's again and smiled. “I am pleased that some of the most recent noble women recognize that and volunteered for the Phalanx. Thank you, Serinina. Can you tell us why you wanted to be part of the Phalanx.”

Serinina wondered if she should tell Alexina her true reason for desiring this. And she figured the answer was yes. “I heard that the Phalanx was the best, and I heard of the Spartans at Thermopile, and the Marathon and how undefeatable they were, and I wanted to be part of it all.”

Alexina smiled again. “The Spartans are great warriors, and there's no doubting that. There's only one who is greater than they are, and that's us. But you should not desire to be part of them. They look down on women, and they have a ruthless society, and they rely much on slave labor.”

Serinina almost snorted. It was sort of hypocritical for such people as these to criticize anyone else of having a slave class. Considering they had a slave caste of castrated men working for them. But Serinina let it slide. However, the Amazons' society didn't seem all that different from the Spartan society here. They looked like two sides of the same idea here.

Much like the two competing stupid religions in her own homeland. They had the male dominant religion of Maxis and the priests that held power for over seven hundred years that believed women were inferior and too emotional to lead. The priests of Maxis had oppressed women for all of that time, and women lived powerless and voiceless under them. She saw the resentment and hate building in the women until they were finally free to unleash it all on Serin.

And then there was the religion of the Goddess Prognita, and their witches called the Hekatin. They believed men were too emotional and childlike to lead, and they wanted to make a strict women-controlled society, and men would live powerless and led by strong, powerful women. It was all so stupid. If the Hekatin succeeded in their goal. Men would only stand for it for perhaps a few hundred years if even that until there was another violent revolt like the last one. And then they would take revenge again. It was all so stupid there.

In the Spartan society, they did have a slave class. They brutally repressed what they called the Helots. But, men and women were largely equal in the society. They didn’t persecute the women. Female citizens got the same training as men and held equal power in society. Boys went through a brutal warrior training they called the Agorge.

Girls went through their own physical education to train them to fight and be warriors too. Spartan women could be as vicious as spartan men.

But the military education here put all of that to shame.

Since Serinina was the crown princess here and was going to be considered a military leader in any unit she is in now. She was put in the front ranks of the Phalanx with other women on either side of her. Alexina said to them, “Formations!”

All of the women went as one unit and assumed their position in formation. Then they rose their bronze shields and held their spear ready.

“This is our formation. Hold your shield high. It is your protection, and the protection of the woman on the left, lock your shields as one, you move as one formation. And you fight as one formation. Your formation protects the women behind you. You are all the key to our safety and victory in battle. Serinina, hold your shield higher. You are on the front lines, and you must protect yourself and the girl next to you. She also protects you with her shield. Hold them high. And notice your spear does not have a tip. There's a reason. Hold your line firm. And now.”

Alexina looked across the field and shouted, “They are ready, Attack!”

And thousands of women rushed in with their shields and short swords and rushed into the Phalanx line, shoving them back. Alexina said, “Hold firm, don't let yourself break. Hold your line.”

The Phalanx held firm, and Serinina did her best to hold her shield out, but she finally broke, and that allowed the line to be penetrated, and they all fell.

Serinina was strong, but she needed more training. Alexina narrowed her eyes at Serinina, and she looked down. That allowed Alexina to glare at her and shouted, “Serinina, you are their leader. Never look down in shame. They need to look at you for inspiration and leadership. And this is why you are here. We will train you, fail here so you can learn and not fail in battle. Get back into formation. Let's try again, hold your line firm Serinina. Don't fall back, don’t falter. You are Princess Serinina, and a warrior leader, and our crown princess. Hold your line and get into formation NOW!”

Serinina ran into formation and held her shield high and waited for the attack. She held longer this time, but she still eventually fell back from the pressure of the assault allowing the phalanx to fall.

She kept failing until about the fifth time, and she learned how to handle the pressure and not let herself fall back. And this time, they were finally able to begin Phalanx combat. They held their line and then waited for the command. Then they all shoved their shields into their enemy as one unit and then struck them down. Then they all locked their shields into formation again as one. And they kept repeating that over and over. Serinina got the hang of it, and they drilled long into the day. It would take many long months until she felt she may be ready to actually employ it. Serinina was aware that they were training her for combat very soon, and she would be doing this for real. She would probably be facing the Spartans at Troy.

Xxx

The road Patinea had was very rough. It was only her internal strength and the love of the Goddess Prognita that allowed her to prevail. And she was still the powerful vessel of the imprisoned Goddess. She was the bringer of the prophecy of the restoration of the Goddess.

It was her faith that allowed her to prevail against her horrible abusive family. She survived the repeated beatings from her brothers and finally destroyed them. She endured years of beatings but now they are gone, and she is still here. And it was her strength that allowed her to gain control over the duchy and claim leadership of the family and the loyalty of the army. And now she was about to fulfill the prophecy. The royal family claimed they were going to accept her and name her the heir. Her mother Anya was here and they were about to go to the capital and claim what was rightfully hers. Edwyn had told her that they would be happy. Even Princess Victoria said she would be honored to follow the vessel of the Goddess and they were just about to go. When she heard a voice from the back.

Patinea and Anya turned their head and saw an enormous, beautiful woman wearing shimmering bronze armor and a shield with the image of a head filled with snakes on it. She was holding an enormous bronze spear and glaring at her with eyes burning with pure hate.

Patinea didn’t really believe all she had heard about her sister Serinina. None of it made any sense to her. But there was this powerful warrior woman and she had no idea who this woman was. “Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Athena, I am the Goddess helping and leading your sister. All you have heard about her is the truth. She has left the Isles and she is training to be an elite woman warrior and the princess of them all. She is training with other women she respects and loves.”

Patinea couldn’t help but burst out laughing at it all. It was almost too funny. Her sexist brother Serin now a princess in a group of warrior women leading them. How was this possible for a boy who often said women can't fight? How could these women possibly accept, such an asshole?

“Her attitude is totally female now, and she is different than she was as a boy. She knows she was wrong. But you don’t know you were wrong Patinea. If you do what you are planning, then it will enrage Serin. She will return a hero, and a battle hardened seasoned veteran warrior and leader of tens of thousands of elite warriors from many nations, and they will come here and seize control. It will be a fight you won't win.”

“What do you mean I won't be able to defeat my sister's army if they dare land here? I defeated the Ansays.”

“They were easy and stupid and you didn’t really even face them. No, they abandoned the field. When Serinina comes, she will be the queen of Amazons, of Sparta, Thebes, and Athens. And you will never win against all of them. You have no clue how powerful a spartan army really is. And I won't even mention your sister's husband. If you piss him off then he will burn this entire nation down.”

This was even more unbelievable. Serin's husband?”

“My brother, Aries. He has a crush on Serinina and she will fall for him. She will even have his child.”

"What!" Patinea said sharply. "She refused to carry the goddess's child and even forced it to be terminated but she will carry Aries child?"

"Yes," Confirmed Athena. "Aries will love her and wait for her to be ready, unlike your goddess. And your goddess is the one who wrecked his life as a boy and stole everything from him. Why would Serinina do anything for that horrible bitch?”