MYRINE

Spring was early in the year 3195 BCE. High in the Atlas Mountains, winter had again been unseasonably dry. It was March, a time when, in the past, patches of snow still clung in crevasses and in the shade of tall cedars, wide-leaved oaks and wind-swept Mediterranean black pines. Now, mountain lilies bloomed everywhere. They shook their little heads in the wind and turned the meadows purple.

The air was warm and Myrine was comfortable in her chamois pants and short-sleeved vest. She slouched in her cushioned high chair and reached down to stroke Astra’s short spotted black and tan mane, as she had done thousands of times in the life of the young leopard. A friendly growl greeted her hand.

It’s a big decision, she thought. Our lives will change forever. She was nervous, and her hand found comfort in the predator’s fur.

The folds at the entrance of her tent parted widely and a wiry silhouette let in a blade of dazzling light. She stepped forward, her face hidden under a thick black leather hood. A buffalo hide bag slouched on her shoulder.

The hood dropped back as she kneeled in front of Myrine, revealing corvine straight hair and olive eyes.

“She wants to meet you, mistress” the young woman’s soft voice sounded mature. Well beyond her age, Myrine thought. She must be…what? Thirteen? Fourteen at the most.

“Why?” Myrine’s sparkling green eyes, set apart in her smooth oval, brown face, darkened. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m honored. But beautiful Queen Metis is a brilliant strategist. I cannot see what she could want of me. After all, Panthera, Astra’s grandmother, is the only mother I’ve ever known. She could have killed me when I was left to die in this forest. Instead, she raised me with her cubs and I’ve learned to hunt-and fight-from her. I know nothing about organized military strategy.”

“Queen Metis knows that you’re an experienced leader, Myrine. You have accomplished great things,” the messenger remarked with a sweeping motion of her hand. “In the few years since these women took you in, your camp has grown. Your strategies are successful. The queen wants to meet you in person.”

“All right, I’ll come.” Myrine said, and stood up. The messenger took it to mean that their conversation was over and set out to leave.

“Wait. What is your name?”

“I am Priene.”

“Priene, give Queen Metis this,” Myrine reached for her neck and removed a nodule of amber. A solid gold string sprang from it, forming a necklace. “It has been on my chest since I was a baby, abandoned by Panthera’s lair. This necklace has a special meaning for me. It means resilience. Be sure to tell her that,” she handed the necklace.

The messenger took it in her hand and admired the fire in the stone for a moment, then without a word she secured it in her traveling bag, strode out the tent, leaped on her horse and galloped away. Myrine leaned on her chair and laid her chin on the palm of her hand, in silence.

“We’re going to travel for a bit, Astra. A fabulous queen wants to meet us,” Myrine said, kneeling next to the feline and holding her snout with both hands. “Are you up for it?” The leopard fixed her magnetic, yellow slit eyes into Myrine’s and purred, then yawned, exposing a set of formidable fangs.

Myrine smiled. “I take it to mean that you want to come. Let’s get ready, then. We leave in the morning. Hey girls!” she yelled, striding through the exit.

“Are we going somewhere?” Pitane, her lieutenant, asked.

“Astra and I are. You find me more girls while you’re waiting for my return.”

“Oh, goody! She gets to have fun with new people, while we carry on as usual. How many more girls do you want, Myrine? We have lots of goats and plenty of milk.”

“As many as you can save from exposure and hungry lions, but don’t stop at the very young. We will need a big army and need to train adolescents. And one more thing.” Myrine grinned at Pitane, who returned the grin.

“No thoughts of finding yourself another ‘friend’ while I’m gone,” Myrine’s voice lowered to a guttural whisper, as she pretended to fix the collar of Pitane’ tunic.

Pitane’ face flushed to a delightful pink, forcing Myrine to resist her wild desire to strip her of her clothes right there, in front of her whole army.

But her face said plenty and Pitane understood. Her expression turned hard, she turned to her fellow soldiers, raised her axe and declared, “You heard Myrine, girls! Queen Metis wants to expand her land…and ours. There will be war soon. Get ready. Many of us were abandoned by Gorgonians, and this may be our chance for revenge.” At that, the group dispersed.

That night, Myrine couldn’t sleep. Her furs felt rough as sand and she couldn’t find a comfortable position. In the cold night, she was drenched in sweat. Finally, she gave up and kicked her furs away. The bright full moon cast a blade of light over her raised bed, beckoning.

She threw on a short tunic and walked outside.

Her tent overlooked a steep valley, dense with evergreen, which projected shadows on the grassy landscape.

“It’s chilly still, at night. You need a warm body next to you. May I keep you company?” Pitane’ voice reached from behind. She appeared, like the shadow of one of those firs, without making a sound.

“Your step is light, Pitane, like a jaguar. But hey, you’re…you’re…” Myrine could not make herself spit out the word.

“Naked? Yes, I’m just coming back from a swim. I swim naked, don’t you?” the grin her returned on her face and this time there was no one to stop her.

“Come,” Myrine whispered. “You’re the one that needs warming.” She grabbed her lieutenant’s gelid hand and led her back to bed.

“I may be cold in the outside, but inside…I’m nothing but fire,” Pitane kissed the hollow at the base of her neck, then her tongue slid to her breasts. Moaning with pleasure, she pulled her breasts together and licked her nipples, squeezing a breast in each hand. “You’re sooo hot! You light the fire into me, I want you!”

Myrine pulled her down by her arms. Her worries relented, her body responded with passion and she lost herself in the bliss.

She woke up before dawn and remembered. A smile crossed her face.

The girl is wild. I love her so, she thought, admiring Pitane’ young, athletic figure stretched out next to hers. She wanted to enjoy her some more, but stopped herself. Instead, with a long sigh, she got up, grabbed the pack she had filled the night before with the clothes she had planned to take with her, some dried food and a jug of water, put on her leggings and a short tunic tied at the waist, and blowing a kiss in sleeping Pitane’s direction, left.

A few steps down the trail leading to the valley, she whistled. Astra leapt from the shadows and bounced with grace from stone to stone, until she reached her mistress.

“Just you and me for a few days, Astra,” she said running down the steep path by the creek that sped to the bottom of the valley. “Metis lives on an island on Lake Triton, by the mouth of the river. Be careful there. People aren’t used to leopards, and you aren’t used to horses. Metis’s Amazons have lots of horses, and I don’t want to see any of them tramp you.” The leopard showed her enormous canines and let out a short shrill as to say, ‘Hey, I’m a leopard. I fear nobody. Let’s play now. We’ll worry about those things later.’

“All right, we can play on our way down the valley while we’re still safe. Run. See if I can catch you!” Myrine enticed her pet. Astra took off at full blast and the young woman chased her, but the animal soon disappeared from sight.

“It’s not fair, Myrine yelled after her. “You’ve got four legs, and I only two!” Within seconds, Astra was back at her side.

“You’ve grown into a beautiful animal, Astra, and a fearless hunter. Who on earth would bother me when I’m with you?” Myrine kept making small talk while Astra walked beside her with elegant strides.

The sight of a dark-skinned, tall and fit woman with a spotted cat at her side was intriguing, but the shadow who traced them made sure to stay clear of Astra’s sensitive earshot.

At night they camped by the creek and woke up early before sunset. They ate dry meat and bread, not wanting to start a fire, and drank the water in the creek.

Until the mountains parted to show an endless sea of grass. The horizon was far away and puffy white clouds raced in the tall sky. Metis wants me by her side, Myrine thought, but I don’t belong in this flat, grassy land. I’m not used to open sky.

A Mediterranean breeze swept the savannah, making the grass sway like waves of an ocean. Trees were scarce here, gathered along the stream. Large herds of animals moved in the distance.

“We can be easily seen now. We must be careful. We’ll follow the river for a couple of days, Astra…Astra!” she yelled as the leopard leapt to a fast chase. She set a herd on a mad gallop.

When the dust cleared, Myrine saw that she had caught a young animal and pinned it to the ground. With a swift strangle of her powerful jaws, the gazelle was dead. Astra dragged it back to Myrine and dropped it to her feet as if saying, ‘I’m tired of cold, dry meat.’

Myrine praised her, bled the dead animal, gutted it with her knife, and swiftly skinned it. She rinsed it in the river and cut it in large pieces, gave some to Astra and placed the rest in her pouch.

In the distance, a lion roared. Astra turned her head and let go of a soft cry, then stared at Myrine.

“You’re right; we’re no match for a pride of those. They know we’ve got their breakfast. Let’s get out of here.”

They walked toward sunrise until they reached a marshy land mixed with dry sand dunes.

There, the river broke into a myriad of smaller channels swollen by the thaw. Between, water seeped in the low laying land and formed a series of swamps before the water could drain back into the river, to the northwest. Water birds enjoyed the rich, shallow waters, where fish abounded. They took off in large flocks of cranes, ducks, or herrings, honking warning signals at each other. Myrine followed the easternmost edge where the channel abutted a steep ridge and the land was high, until she reached the lake.

She had grown up used to vertical spaces and marveled at the expansive, limitless sight of the body of water. The lake that owed its existence to the snow packs of the high mountains of the west shimmered like a sheet of gold in the late morning sun. Myrine knew that many miles away, the other end of the lake had broken away from the sea and only a narrow bank separated the two bodies of water.

Small waves crested along the shallow waters long before reaching shore. Astra ran along the beach, chasing gulls and sniffing crabs. Myrine stood still and inhaled deeply. It was warmer here, and the sun shone brighter. The breeze that came from north, across the sea, brought the scent of algae and fish. Myrine whistled for Astra to join her and headed for the last leg of their journey.

Walking on sand, enjoying the warmth of the sun, brought a feeling of freedom she had not experienced for a long time. There was always someone with her, waiting for orders. Now, she and Astra were alone and they both enjoyed it.

They camped by the beach, Myrine lit a fire and they ate some of the meat. The next morning, Myrine ran into the water. Warm puddles were trapped by dunes, but Astra watched from shore, smelling timidly the water, not daring to touch it.

Myrine speared a carp and cooked it by her tent, enjoying the rich taste of the large fish. The next morning, they spotted Menes, Metis’ city.