Amazons: the living embodiment of all of man’s fears.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH6rzDuh3XN
His fears of usurpation, of weakness, of cowardice - the Amazon’s exposed them all. Women, fierce warrior women, that ruled men instead of obeying them. Women that beat men in battles and won wars. Women that would stand and fight when all the men had run for cover. Women not bound by childbirth and the feminine stereotype; women that embraced Pandora instead of shunning her.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyq8eVmh2T2
The Amazons were the core of all of men’s insecurities - and Penthesilea was their Queen. She was borne of Ares and had fire and steel running through her veins in the place of blood. She was a huntress, with eyes like deep pools that seemed to promise devotion.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeN0XVJxxMM
Like a siren, she was beautiful. Through hooded eyes she stalked her prey, promising to satiate his every desire. But before he could get too close, his throat was cut and he was lying lifeless at her feet. She was an Amazon and love means little to an Amazon queen. Passion always comes second to Power, and Power comes second to none. Penthesilea lived by this, choosing always her people and her kingdom before her heart. Never would she allow a man to catch her off-guard.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWCGaVmQtUY
And then Troy happened.
By rights, she should not have been at Troy. By rights, she should have been by the side of her sister in their homeland. But the spear had slipped into Hippolyta’s side like a knife into melted butter. A hunting accident gone wrong, Penthesilea had returned home not bearing a mighty deer for feasting on, but bearing the limp body of her dead sister.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF8w3jBjuki
“Sister,” Hippolyta uttered. The very movement of her lips seemed to cost the girl a lifetime’s supply of energy. Her eyelids flickered and Penthesilea watched as her sister’s lifeline trembled. The fates pulled her string tightly and cut Hippolyta’s life short with one masterly snip of their scissors.
The grief overcame Penthesilea. Her shoulders hunched under the enormous weight that came with the death of a beloved sibling. She bore her burden like Atlas himself, although the weight of it almost broke her back in two.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHhLu1DyzN
She was strong, but longed for her own death; her guilt was too great a burden to bear. The grief whispered to her in the night, it’s sweet, seductive voice enticing her. But when she picked up her dagger with shaking fingers, she found she could not bend to the darkest desires of her conscience.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZM0Wfqpnqv
And so she threw her lot in with the Trojans. She joined the war that had already lasted a number of years, and vowed to fight with the men of Troy and spill Greek blood in order to absolve herself of her guilt. She gathered a small army of twelve Amazon women and left for the city.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaJbSVsl5h
And that is how, with the death of a sister and a parcel of guilt, the Amazon Queen, came to be at Troy.
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Penthesilea and her companions reached the city Troy and found that death surrounded them; everywhere they could see the workmanship of the Greeks and everywhere lay victims that were destined for Hades. Many lay where they had fallen; their eyes no longer seeing, staring motionlessly at the sky, looking towards the Gods that had abandoned them.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtAZ1QMpCSk
The Greeks had written their victory in fatality and death, yet the war remained unwon. As Penthesilea stood high on the walls of Troy, her eyes fixed upon the Greek encampment below, she contemplated her strategy for the battle that was sure to come the following day.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡetx9x4HxpC
“They say that it is Achilles who has killed all of these men.” Ainia, friend of Penthesilea, spoke by her side. Her eyes scanned the scene before them. “They think that because we are women we are weak. That because their women are weak, so too must we be.” She said fiercely. Penthesilea smiled to herself.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKk0nb6Uaq2
“They have underestimated us.” She turned to Ainia. “They say that this Achilles is the greatest fighter they have.”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq2R5ocAjaJ
“He is the son of Thetis, goddess of water.” Ainia replied.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqBCvEpenc
“Water shall not help him here.” Penthesilea quipped. “Achilles will be left to me.” She commanded. Ainia nodded, glancing at her Queen and seeing the fire within her eyes.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pGQAQszh2
“Tomorrow we shall fight?” She asked.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPYlE4TAoF
“Yes. Tomorrow we will fight.” Penthesilea replied, her fist tightening around the hilt of the sword that hung by her side.
~
As the day dawned, she pulled on her armour, heavy and gilded. She armed herself with her spear and a handful of small, concealable daggers. Her helmet guarded much of her face and cast a shadow over her eyes. All that those before her would see would be the shape of her lips, bent down into a fierce scowl as she stole the life from them.
She killed many men that day. They fell from the impact of her spear, and yet when she came to face Ajax, son of King Telemon, he merely laughed. Despite the Greek blood that coated her spear, despite the men lying dead at her feet, Ajax, in his arrogant nature, thought her powerless and weak.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhh7CsZd7v
“Come, woman. I should like to see you fight against me.” He said with a sadistic smile.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqV86bzsJXE
Penthesilea raised an eyebrow beneath her helmet and her lips curved into a vicious grin. She raised her spear, but before she had the chance to throw it at the presumptuous Greek prince before her, she found herself on her back, staring at the sky.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6kh1wbwSI5
With just one blow to her breastplate, Penthesilea had been disarmed. Her helmet may have protected her head and face, but it restricted her peripheral vision. 558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzwfiqmvql
She had not seen him coming. And now her spear lay out of arms reach, and above her towered a man of mighty stature.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1nVpsL82b
“You must be Achilles.” She said, attempting to get back on her feet.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7OMo7W9Hyb
“Of course.” He replied, an unbearable air of self-confidence seeping into his words.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCW3VRsbHz3
“I like to know the name of a man before I kill him.” She retorted.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYSM9s4AxC
“Ah, but you shall not kill me, barbarian.” He said smoothly.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbniZIQhFF3
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He stood above her with his legs apart, one foot on either side of her ribs. As she raised herself onto her elbows in an attempt to back away from the Herculean warrior, he bent at the knees until his face was level with hers, his legs still straddling her waist, keeping her captive.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE2T0RL2r2W
His very eyes disarmed Penthesilea. They were as deep as the sea, and just as blue. That his mother was goddess of water was clear; he seemed to hold entire oceans in his eyes.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9OTl84M7j
She had quite forgotten that there was a battle raging around her, and had quite uncharacteristically forgotten that he was the enemy. She found herself enamoured by him.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1Yqm5yB9P
“I am no barbarian.” She said resolutely. “I am a Queen.”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS48DjrHIN2
Achilles was silent. He looked at her deeply, trying to work her out in his mind. She was a woman, and yet she fought as well as any man. She was a barbarian, and yet she looked like nothing of the sort. Her legs were toned and slender and although bloody and bruised, her skin was soft. She was nothing like any woman he had ever known.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsY84MUIR3O
“Yes.” He said softly. “I imagine you are.”558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcFRkjZPDd
Disguising a small knife, Achilles leaned forward and reached one arm towards the helmet of this strange Amazon woman. She did not attempt to resist as his hand brushed the metal at the side of her cheek. He held his hand to her face for a moment, staring intently at the eyes that were half-hidden in shadow.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjBKafZoi0
Almost as if leaning in to kiss her, his left arm reached for the bottom of her helmet.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6qQbVThpLU
His right arm plunged the dagger into her ribs.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSI8v385ioZ
He removed the helmet as blood blossomed on her torso. She did not utter a sound. No cries of pain or shock, rather, she stayed silent. She felt no sense of betrayal, no anger or will to strike back. Rather, she silently thanked Achilles for freeing her from her guilt. Like a cage, it had imprisoned her ever since the death of her sister, and Achilles had become her saviour.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQl2kA86PX
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She watched Achilles as he looked at the wound he had dealt her. He met her eyes, and as he did so, felt an overwhelming need to stop the bleeding.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU7B7cPBHAC
Within her eyes he saw the stars and the sky. He saw in her face the answers to questions that he did not know to ask, and in that moment, he knew that he loved her.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1Ae3YbNEe
Shocked by what he had done, Achilles began to apply pressure to the wound on her ribs, knowing that it was in vain. He was a master warrior; he knew where to hit an opponent to wound and where to hit to kill. 558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1CBTHKo7pn
He had aimed to kill when he had injured her; he had hit her lungs.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5qmUFa0dj
Achilles moved to support her head. He kneeled beside her and looked towards the sky. He knew that it would be in vain to ask the gods to save her - it was too late, the life was already leaving her.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WmZ5QViOc
He pushed the hair back from her face and she stared up at him, either in anger or admiration. He could not tell which.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaJnJbJUlT
She breathed her last, and her body went limp in his arms. Achilles looked upon what he had done and felt a hollowness inside his soul. He had dispatched her to Hades when he should have spared her; he had thrust a knife between her ribs when instead he should have loved her.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTcLJ9TIz2v
He held her body whilst men died around him on all sides. Ajax looked on, unaware of what had passed between Achilles and the Amazon Queen.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZnZlFUe0d
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Never before had Achilles known love towards a woman. Never before had he longed to wake in the night and find a particular woman beside him. To Achilles, all women were the same. All women were there for one night only, no longer. And yet, as he looked at the dead eyes of Penthesilea and felt her skin grow cold, he held within him a deep regret and sadness for what he had lost. He had lost what could have been - a union between the Queen of the Amazons and the mighty Achilles! Together they could have moved mountains, they could have conquered lands and became masters of the sea. Nothing could have withstood the power they could have wielded.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1q9GaRvr1a
And yet happiness was lost the moment Achilles had sunk his dagger into her chest. Happiness was lost the moment Achilles had decided to be a Greek warrior rather than a man with no political alliance. 558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhAvZLzlcQk
Happiness was lost the moment Achilles had decided to be Achilles.
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Authors Note:558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡni3gy9VEDt
This could get quite lengthy so I apologise but I need to explain some things for those unfamiliar with Greek mythology.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv95qVb8EnJ
Firstly, the Amazons were a mythological race of warrior women that rejected utterly the normal roles meant for women in the time period. They refused to have children and went to war and ruled whilst their husbands stayed at home. They had usurped power from the males and so Greek men were, really, terrified by these women. Women in Greece (Athens especially) were not allowed out of the house, not allowed to speak to any man except their husband, not allowed to do anything really. The idea that women would one day rise up and take all the power that belonged to Men was something that genuinely scared the Greeks.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3dnUi0qVnS
Penthesilea was queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, the god of War. The story goes that to save herself from her guilt and redeem herself in the eyes of the gods, she joined the Trojan war. She was killed by Achilles who, when removing her helmet, fell utterly in love with her and mourned her death. Thersites mocked Achilles for mourning her, to which Achilles responded by dutifully killing his fellow Greek warrior without a second thought. The cousin of Thersites, in revenge, threw Penthesilea's body into the nearby Scamander river. Either Achilles or the Trojans retrieved her body and gave her a proper burial. I'd like to think it was Achilles.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTsC4OjVh5
The Trojan war lasted for 10 years, beginning when Helen ran away from her husband Menelaus and joined the prince of Troy, Paris, in his homeland. The Greeks eventually won the war after hiding inside a massive wooden horse, and Achilles died at the hands of Paris after receiving an arrow shot to his heel.558Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFWZtlcYXEG
