Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ephiney, the Amazon Princess and 2nd in command of the Nation's army, galloped through the city gates of Themiskyra, her red hair flying, covered in chunks of dirt and dried blood. Right behind her were 10 warriors looking just at ragged, the remains of the patrol of 15 she had taken out. All the horses were lathered with white foaming sweat. Finally the group pulled up to a halt. Novices rushed up to cool out and take care of the exhausted mounts. The battle worn party disbanded at the signal of their commander to care for their wounds, eat and rest, and deal with the loss of their five sisters. Ephiney watched them walk away. No words needed to be spoken. Wiping mud mingled with a little blood from her face, which left her face streaked brown, she slowly made her way to Kahlan's hut to report on the patrol. The expression on her face was one of anger and frusteration, mixed with a little pain. No matter how many times she watched her comrades be killed, it was still hard to lose friends. The trek to Kahlan's was short from the stables, and she was there in a matter of minutes, in which time she had gone over the details of the patrol in her mind. Her sister would want to know everything that had transpired. With a quick rap on the door, Ephiney didn't even wait for a response before entering unceremoniously, tracking in mud and slumping into a chair with a huff, where she proceeded to spell out the obvious, as if it wasn't apparent in her appearance.

Our patrol was ambushed.

With that she tucked chunks of flaming red hair behind her ears before continuing, once again wiping mud from her face and now her arms.

We lost five. We weren't even six miles from the city. They're getting close, Kahlan. Dangerously close.

With that she fell silent, letting the news settle on Kahlan. Ephiney was thankful she wasn't the Queen. At time like these, making decisions about the future of the Nation seemed a heinous task.

What?! We can't abandon Themiskyra. We might as well just hand the throne over to that traitorous b***h! I will not leave our capitol to her whims.

Ephiney mulled over their situation quietly. Five hundred in the city. Antiope had a thousand dissidents. Well, there were more warriors in Themiskyra than she had thought. In the past couple weeks she had not kept track of those coming in. Her thoughts had been busy with those who had been killed. But the other cities had warriors as well. At the start of the war with Rome, each of the 13 cities had a thousand warriors fighting from it. After the Roman conflict, their numbers had been reduced by half, leaving five hundred warriors per city, give or take. Now, the number killed by Antiope's group was unknown, but surely they couldn't have gotten to too many. A couple hundred per city, perhaps. Less those that had travelled to Themiskyra and made up the current five hundred, or been killed on the way. Ephiney's face grimaced as she did these calculations in her head. Travel between cities was hard. One of Antiope's main tactics was beseiging their main and alternate routes to the others, which the dissident leader knew all too well. Finding completely new routes was hard. This meant that they were effectively once again cut off, as they been when fighting Rome. Everyone that came into Themiskyra now had been travelling slowly, and alone. But now... it seemed to Ephiney there was no choice.

Sister, let me ride to the other cities and gather what warriors they can spare to defend the capitol. This is Antiope's main target anyway, so they shouldn't need more than a hundred or so warriors in any other city. I will lead them back here along the fastest route, engaging Antiope's forces if we must. Her warriors are spread out as it is, so we won't have to fight the full force. There's no way I'll be able to get everyone I gather back, but with a litte luck I will be able to bring a large enough group back to defend the city. To make Themiskyra's forces at least equal to Antiope's.

Ephiney studied Kahlan for a reaction. The mission would be dangerous, certainly, but their options were limited... as far as Ephiney could see non-existant. And while it was true another warrior could go do this job, Ephiney did not trust anyone else with something this important. She could only hope Kahlan wouldn't either.

Ephiney, always the cold and distant warrior, simply nodded and left the hut. Making her way to her own abode, she went inside. Gathering clean clothes, she took them down to the river and stripped off her current filthy garments, entering the warm water. The only blessing in this dark time was that it was summer, and it was conducive to being outside. She quickly washed off the dirt and blood, inspecting several small wounds. None were large enough to need attention, and most of the blood that had covered her was not her own. She hoped the same went for the rest of the patrol that had returned with her. Once dressed again she returned to her hut, shoved a cloak, a couple spare daggers, a waterskin and some bread and cheese into a saddlebag, and headed for the stables. The mount she had ridden earlier in the day was one of the younger of her famous string. For this important ride she would take Lightfoot, her most experienced warhorse. Luckily the horse was fresh, despite the fact Ephiney was exhausted. Saddling the mare up quickly, the red head led her out of the barn and mounted. A final look around Themiskyra and she walked briskly toward the city gates, picking up a trot outside to cross the acres of fields that surrounded the capitol. The first city she would visit would be Chadesia, the closest. As she entered the wood, she adjusted the sword that sat between her shoulders and patted her mount on the neck. It would be bushwacking from here to Chadesia, as she wanted to avoid the road as much as possible. Slow going, but much safer, especially since she was alone. It would be bad... very bad... if she were detected. The fiery princess took one last look behind her and across the fields to the city, praying to Ares that it would not fall before she could return with forces to give it a fighting chance, and entered the wood.

Normally, the ride to Chadesia, Themiskyra's neighboring city, would only take a half a day. Because she was bushwacking and trying to be as quiet as possible, it took Ephiney a day and a half. She reached Chadesia in the evening, the day after she set out. Though the going was slow, it was almost without incident. Once she came across Antiope's patrols, but heard them before they heard her and managed to hid herself and her mount in some dense brush until the patrol had passed. Finally, she reached the city gates. The guards were a bit wary at letting anyone in, but her face was well known in the Nation due to her position as second in command, so after a few moments they allowed her to enter. Demanding to be brought to the High Priestess of the city, for it was they who ran the day to day politics, her mount was taken away to the stables to be cared for and she was led down the dirt roads to the High Priestess' hut. Cyane was well known to Ephiney, and at her entrance a smile crossed the woman's face, but it didn't mask the concern at having the second of command in the Nation show up in her city in a time of war.

Cyane, it is good to see you again. But unfortunately this visit must be plagued with talk of dark times. We have intelligence that leads us to believe Antiope's next target is Themiskyra itself. She is mere miles outside our city walls, and we have not the warriors to defend our capitol. I need to ask for all the warriors your city, as well as all the other cities in our Nation, can spare. I am hoping to gather a force of three or four hundred from each city and lead back to Themiskyra. We need the army at it's fullest strength now.

Cyane watched, a troubled look on her face, but nodded slowly as Ephiney finished. She summoned a novice to bring the Wing Commander of Chadesia to the hut, and the girl ran off as fast as she could. Few words were spoken while they waited for the commander of the cities forces to return. When the woman did come, Ephiney explained the situation once again, ordering the woman to gather all but a hundred warriors and prepare them to move out at dark on the following day. She wanted the advantage of darkness in moving the force. This was the risky part. Their number would be too large to move very covertly, but still small enough to be vulnerable to some of Antiope's larger patrols.

Ephiney stayed with Cyane and spoke to her for a while, appraising her on the situation in Themiskyra and finding out about Chadesia. Little was known about the other cities, as sending out messengers was dangerous and hard, most of them falling to Antiope's hostile forces before reaching their destination. Ephiney's mission would serve two purposes, both to bring the desperately needed warriors to the capitol and to learn the positions of the other cities. The princess stayed the night in Cyane's hut, getting up early in the morning to oversee drills and inspect the troops. She kept their exercises light that day, just enough to see that they were battle ready and what their strengths and weakness's were. The morning over, Amazons readied themselves and their mounts and rested so they would be fresh for the long ride ahead. The next city was a day's ride from Chadesia, and Ephiney doubted they would be able to be stealthy about it, so decided they would go at a good pace and on the main roads. The night would be on their side, but that would leave them exposed for about half a day. She could only hope they would not meet a force so large they could not overcome it. The other option was to take days longer and try to go undected. This seemed hugely unreasonable to the red headed warrior. Not only was it unlikely such a large group could slide under the radar, they didn't have the time to waste. Themiskyra needed warriors, and she needed them now. After saying final good-byes to Cyane just before dusk, for who knew when they'd see each other again, Ephiney headed to the city gates, where a force of three hundred battle ready Amazons and steeds waited for her command. Ephiney spoke to them confidently, telling them of the dire straights of the capitol, her plan to gather warriors from every city. She told them that while they had seen small battle's with the enemy forces, and on this mission skirmishes were inevitable, their goal was no to engage Antiope's troops, but simply to make it to Themiskyra, where the real war would begin. Satisfied that the women were confident and ready as well as she, Ephiney signaled for the gates to be open. Darkness had now swallowed the countryside, and the red head led her troops into the inky night.

Riding though the night and next day, Ephiney's group encountered several of Antiope's smaller units. For the most part, her troops decimated the fifty or so enemy Amazons they encountered at a time. The red head, however, also lost a number of troops, and when they finally arrived at the next city she only made it there with 150 warriors. Camp was set just outside the city walls, and once her troops were settled Ephiney entered the city, finding the high priestess and making the same speech as in Chadesia. Of course the woman didn't even think to refuse the princess, and sent the wing commander out to gather the appropriate force. Ephiney was led to the spare hut reserved for dignitaries from other cities. Dropping off her few belongings, she made her way to the cities bath house. Not all Amazon cities had this luxury, but this particular city was built on the site of several amazing hot springs. These naturally warm waters were piped into one large pool, enclosed in a hut to keep in the heat. The princess was dirty and exhausted from the long ride and fighting, and lowered herself into the pool, laying her head back and closing her eyes. She regretted the loss of so many warriors already, so early in the campaign. But there was little to be done, and those still alive suffered from only minor injuries. Again, her orders were to march at dusk, and it seemed their numbers would be increased by about three hundred this time. But now Antiope's forces would be on the lookout for them, for several of her warriors had escaped the day's carnage and Ephiney didn't want to expend the manpower to track them down and kill them. The enemy would most likely have found out of their presence that day anyway, so Ephiney had chosen to send no one out in small groups and just keep moving as quickly as possible. She hoped the Nation would make it through this. She hoped her friends and especially her sister would make it through this. The future was full of death as far ahead as she could see. Exhaustion finally overtook her as she pondered these dark thoughts, and she fell asleep in the warm water to visions of blood.