“Catapults are in position,” one of his men called back. Lycus nodded and gave the order to light the firestarters.

“Fire number one!”

The first catapult shot a ball of fire through the air and toward the Amazon forests. However it never reached it’s target, as it was hit by another ball of fire halfway to the trees. It exploded uselessly in midair, it‘s flaming remains falling harmlessly into the waters of the river.

“What the…?”

The men looked around in confusion, but the confusion didn’t last long as ball after ball of fiery death rained from the sky. The Amazon’s had their own artillery and warriors with deadly accurate aim. Somehow they had anticipated this attack! Lycus could only watch helplessly as the ships were hit with one bomb after another.

“Abandon ship! Abandon ship!”

Lycus and his surviving men, approximately fifteen hundred jumped overboard and swam for shore. However half way there a swarm of Amazon soldiers, a couple of thousand from Lycus’ estimation, began lining the shore. They shot arrows at the defenseless men, killing them until the water was full of floating Roman corpses.

Only about eight hundred men made it to shore. They were hopelessly outnumbered and the Amazon’s were showing no mercy. As Lycus went into his last battle, he wondered how long he would be in the underworld before Livia came to join him.

Lycus and his men fell under the blade of the Amazon warriors, never having known such utter defeat before in their short careers.

***

Vashana didn’t share her sisters enthusiasm for the victories her sisters had earned. Both Linara and Hanai had returned with light casualties, reporting that they’d killed every soldier in the two groups that had attacked the east and west, but they still had the six thousand remaining soldiers that were preparing to march on them at this very moment.

“Hanai, how many have we lost.”

Hanai grinned from ear to ear. “We’ve lost four hundred my Queen, between Linara and I. Can you believe that? We’ve killed over four thousand of their men and only lost four hundred of ours. We’ve never done so well in battle before!”

Vashana was glad morale was up, but the battle wasn’t over yet. “We haven’t won yet. Spread our sisters out. When every one of the Roman’s has entered the trees they’ll be surrounded. Show no mercy do you understand me? They are all to die. Hopefully this will send a message back to Augustus Caesar that we are a force to be reckoned with!”

Her sisters cheered and as her orders spread throughout their number, they jumped into the trees to wait for Livia to foolishly allow her arrogant pride to lead her soldiers into the trees where they will find nothing but blood and death.

***

It was almost embarrassing the way Livia allowed the Amazon’s to play her so easily, but her belief in her own importance and her Roman superiority wouldn’t allow her to retreat. She truly believed she was superior to the people she was attacking, as did her men, and it was that arrogance that sent them into the Amazon forests. Only this time, instead of finding victory, the Alpha Legion would find total destruction.

***

Hanai had never seen her sisters fight so well, or cause so much death and destruction on their enemies. The Roman soldiers blindly followed their arrogant commander into their forests on a mission they couldn’t hope to win. The Amazon’s were not only on home soil, they now outnumbered their enemies by about thirty six hundred warriors.

Each woman knew these trees as well as they knew their own huts. Arrow after arrow rained down upon the men, if not killing them then wounding them and making them easier for each sister to defeat.

Hanai followed her sister Vashana to head of the line where the commander of the legion was cutting down woman after woman, left and right. The princess thought the woman’s abilities as a leader left something to be desired when she rushed the trees in a head on assault without waiting for back up, or to see if the men she’d sent out to set the forest on fire would return. She did have to give the girl credit for one thing: She was clearly the best fighter in the entire legion. No sister who attacked her could stand up to her for long before being brutally cut down. Hanai couldn’t wait to get a look at the girls face. It was rare to see such boldness in a non-Amazon woman.

Vashana charged the fierce warrior but before they could so much as clash swords the Roman commander ran her through. Hanai could only stare on in shock as she watched her sister and her Queen fall to the ground in a shivering heap. She rushed to Vashana’s side and picked her up. There was a wagon for the wounded near by, and if Vashana could be taken to safety quickly enough then perhaps she could pull through.

“Linara!” Linara heard Hanai call for her and she ran over. The Roman commander continued to fight, not even sparing them a glance. Well, that would change soon enough.

“Take the Queen to the hospice. Now! She must not die.”

“I understand.” Linara took Vashana’s unconscious form from Hanai and ran off into the trees as the newly acting Queen of the Amazon’s readied her sword and called out to the commander.

“You!”

Livia stopped, instinctively knowing someone was calling to her. She turned to find a masked Amazon with auburn hair falling to her curvy waist pointing a sword to her. The only Amazon warriors to wear a mask in battle were the higher up officers. Judging from the peacock plumes coming from the top of the warriors mask, this one was very high up indeed.

“You may have just killed my sister,” the Amazon said. She was tall, standing at least four inches over Livia’s 5’7” inch height, and her body was corded with strong muscle, and Livia knew this one would be hard to take down. As the battle raged around them, Livia and this new warrior began to circle one another.

“That tends to happen in battle. You look important. The Queen perhaps?”

“I am Princess Hanai of the First Tribe. The woman you wounded is the Queen. You will pay for that.”

“You’ve got guts. I may spare you and take you back to Rome as a trophy.”

“I doubt that.”

Hanai attacked with a ferocity that Livia wasn’t prepared for, and it took her awhile to get a feel for her opponent. She could only hope Hanai’s somewhat fluffy mask would serve as a hindrance instead of a help.

They fought fast and hard, but neither woman was able to defeat the other. They remained at a standstill as the Amazon’s continued to cut down one Roman soldier after another. Finally some of Livia’s men began to mount up and ride from the forest with Amazon warriors swinging behind them or chasing them on foot. Unfortunately for the Amazon’s, some got away. They would no doubt take word back to Rome of how badly the battle was going. If only they knew this was exactly what Ghita had planned.

Hanai stopped for a breather and pulled her mask completely off. When she did, a finger of recognition suddenly began to tickle Livia’s gut. There was something about the woman’s eyes…No. It couldn’t be. Livia stood staring at Hanai as her men were either cut down or tried to desert.

“What are you looking at?”

Now that the mask was no longer distorting the sound of Hanai’s voice, the feeling of familiarity grew even stronger. No, Livia thought. It can’t be. She’s not…