My recovery was going very well, and my wounds were healing nicely. Now, in addition to treating my wounds, Cyme and an armed Amazon would escort me out of my hut for exercise. As painful as it was at first, it felt wonderful to walk about again. Day by day the walks grew longer, and I was even allowed to jog along the beach. I could bathe in the river and the lagoon, and by swimming I was able to rehabilitate the strength in my arm as well as my leg. It felt so wonderful to be able to swim again.
The time in my hut was growing tedious in the extreme. I would exercise on my own whenever I had the strength, but I was quite bored and lonely now. Cyme was my only companion, and she was not even supposed to talk to me. I was still required to perform my essential function for my tribe of captors, something that was becoming the true highlight of my days. I was not allowed to demonstrate pleasure or enjoyment as part of my duties however, and much to my disappointment I was being asked to perform them less and less as the weeks dragged on. It appeared that I was ultimately successful in performing my duty, as evidenced by many members of the tribe showing a healthy change of complexion, others experiencing a sickness in the morning hours, and a few possibly growing the tiniest bit around their bellies.
At least once a week I would be asked to speak with Aegea and the other leaders of the Amazons. Always I was asked to repeat my story, always there were several questions about the Neriedes, always I begged them to distinguish between the relative merits of the men who built and ran the warlike galea, and the slaves that were kidnapped and forced to row it. Little by little Aegea and the other Amazons came to accept my story. The original Lesbians seemed to believe me entirely as they had memories of trading with my people. I was able to mention names of my family members and elders that a few of them had met personally in years past. They also seemed entirely convinced of my status as a slave, as their own men had been taken in just such a manner. What everyone seemed skeptical about and also most keenly interested in were the Neriedes. Constantly I was being asked to provide every single detail, repeating myself time after time after time.
There was also a growing rift between the Amazons and the Lesbians, about what I could not entirely discern. Part of it involved me of course; the Lesbians took me as an honest man and felt I should be allowed to join the tribe with full rights and privileges. The Amazons seemed to have the opinion that no man could be trusted, and that only a very foolish tribe would treat men as anything better than slaves. By eavesdropping very carefully I was also able to learn that the Amazons wanted to take the galea and go somewhere, whereas the Lesbians were strongly inclined to stay in their village. Another issue that I could not understand was some kind of argument about the Neriedes. For my part, I tried to be as respectful and deferential as possible to Aegea and the Amazons. I constantly advocated for more rights for myself, and tried to impress upon them that I had absolutely no reason to be anything but an ally to them. With Cyme, I listened and learned as much as I could about the two groups of women. I encouraged her to speak as much as possible, something she seemed naturally inclined to do. I also implored her to speak to the more sympathetic Lesbians on my behalf.
The Lesbians were a society that had long been dominated by females. In Lesbian society status meant everything, and every single female was ranked in order from top to bottom. With the onset of adulthood, and according to traditional customs and availability, men and women paired up in a ceremony similar to those on my island. The goal was that a woman and a man would pair and mate for life. The men and children were given a status based on the rank of the female to which they belonged. Women would groom their daughters through to adulthood in an effort to achieve a higher status for their daughter. When a female died there was often a power struggle, the duration and severity of which were largely proportional to the status of the female that had died. The daughter would often struggle to maintain her tribal status, while other women would politic to overtake her on the chain of rank. Sisters and cousins would make and break coalitions to try to cement status within the tribe. The men and the children belonging to the deceased female were either adopted by an adult daughter or perhaps a close female family member, otherwise they dropped to the lowest status in the tribe. At the best of times, this system seemed to work well enough, but life could be tough for those of the lowest rank, male and female.
The Amazons were also female dominated; simple enough considering there were almost never any adult males in the tribe. The hierarchical social structure was similar to that of the Lesbians. A key difference was that Lesbian status evolved almost exclusively by peaceful political and social means, whereas Amazon status seemed to be more of a result of physical or martial prowess. The Amazons came from a much larger land to the North. There were many independent tribes within the larger Amazon confederacy. Each tribe had its own rules with regards to males. Some never co-existed with any adult males at all, whereas others kept a small number. Some Amazons roved as hunting and fighting parties, never having children, whereas other tribes were more domesticated. When procreation was called for, one of the fighting parties would simply attack a village from outside the Amazon confederacy. Once the village was defeated, the men would be used on the spot for their essential procreative function, or perhaps a few men would be brought back to repeat the duty until they were no longer needed. In either case, men rarely were allowed to live longer than they were absolutely required. When one or at most a few men did exist in an Amazonian tribe, they had no status, and existed entirely to perform the single essential function.
The freedom I sought above all others was to visit my uncle in the neighboring hut. Every time Cyme came to see me I would ask her to beg on my behalf with the more sympathetic Lesbians. From Cymes reports my uncle was not doing well. He had survived a long state of unconsciousness and fever, but his strength simply was not returning to him. His guts had not healed correctly, and it was difficult and becoming impossible to force him to accept any nourishment. He asked to see me every time Cyme visited him; that is, when he was conscious and even had the strength to speak. Please Cyme, I begged of her, I must see my Uncle before he gets worse. He is my only family in the world. After several pleas of this nature she finally promised to raise the issue on my behalf, and I thanked her with all my heart. It was the next day after this conversation that things in the village seemed to reach a crisis point.
You. Manscum. Get up, and come with us. Though heavily accented, the Amazon speech was becoming easier and easier for me to comprehend. I had been napping all afternoon, when the pair of Amazon hunters came into my tent, looking armed and menacing. Normally I would be happy to perform my essential function, or for any excuse to get out and about, as I was literally dying of boredom. Today however, there was a strong tension evident in the behavior of the Amazons that was making me nervous. As I emerged out of the hut into the late afternoon light, the village seemed deserted through my squinting eyes. Where is everybody? I asked. One of the guards responded by poking me in the back with her doru. At this I promptly stared and walked forward, probing my back to see whether the jab had drawn blood. Clearly something was amiss. After all I have been through, is this finally the end for me? Am I no longer of any use to the Amazons?
Another surprise greeted me at the edge of the village. I was being led towards the side of the village where the small river met with the lagoon. At the precise point where the fresh water met with salt there were little spits and islands of sand and stone of various sizes, separated by little tongues and streams of water. At high tide many of these spits and islands were submerged, and the water flowed around them in different directions as the tide was coming in or going out, constantly making and destroying, reshaping the land with an ancient beauty and rhythm. At this moment the tide was coming in, and much of the land was disappearing. Near the center of this boundary between river and sea was a large island of volcanic rock that was never submerged at any time. It was upon this largest of the islands that the entire village was gathering. A great collection of firewood was being shaped for some purpose: A bonfire, an altar, what? The women of the village were organizing in a circle around the wood pile; the Lesbians clearly on one side of the circle, the Amazons on the other. As I approached the water under armed escort, all eyes were upon me and the conversation nearly reached an uproar.
I stepped into the shallow stream that separated me from the island. I felt the sand beneath my feet, the pull of the making tide against my legs. The water of the lagoon was warmer than that of the river, and tiny eddies of varied temperature wrapped around my legs like soft and tiny tentacles. I wondered whether this would be the last time I would ever experience the liquid embrace of the water, or the grains of sand slipping between my toes. Time began to slow down and I could sense the world around me as never before. It almost seemed as if I could stop time altogether, as if I were connected to the entire world through my feet, as if there were no boundary between my body and that of the water, or the sand beneath. I felt as one with all of creation. I also began to feel an old familiar presence around me; a presence I had felt once when I was alone on my little skiff, and once when I awoke on the galea bound for this island. From far far away now, I could hear the voice of the guard behind me telling me to move, but it felt as though I had all the time in the world to comply. Now I felt the jab of the doru, an inconsequential poke like the landing of a fly.
After what seemed an eternity, I placed one foot in front of the other and began moving again towards the village assembly ahead. With each step I gained in speed and confidence. As I rose out of the water I felt an overwhelming sense that all was right with the world, and that no fate could befall me that I would require fear. The conversation grew quieter and finally died away altogether as I stepped onto the island, all eyes firmly upon me. The setting sun rapidly approaching the hills beyond, already casting the island in an evening shadow; the last of the warm orange rays still shining upon my face and torso, I stood dripping before them. Be seated one and all, came the authoritative order of Aegea. You, Aaronius, approach. I walked slowly but confidently up the aisle of pebbles and sand, towards Aegea and the woodpile. On one side the Lesbians looked up at me with a mixture of looks: some sympathy, some concern, some support, and perhaps even a little bit of yearning? On the other side the looks of the Amazons was of a different mix. I saw some lust in the Amazonian eyes, and even a small but significant amount of concern and support, but also some looks of amusement, scorn, disdain, and in a few faces, outright hostility.
As I reached Aegea I stopped. I stood perfectly still and mute with my arms relaxed at my side, and for the first time ever I took a long long look into her eyes. They were hazel eyes of immense complexity, with radial flecks of brown and green and blue and tan. For a moment I saw nothing but my own reflection in her eyes. Eventually I noticed something deeper; a glimpse into her spirit, the birth of an awareness in her, a surprise followed by the dawn of an understanding. As quickly as the connection was forged, Aegea broke it. Now her mind and heart were closed and her mouth was opening. Tie him to the stake!