Chapter 13
Diana's heart raced as she approached the estate where the Kasnian royal family - all two members of it - had resided since the destruction of the castle. Usually they went various places together, but occasionally Audrey asked her to visit her in her rooms. By now it was an absurdly easy thing to avoid the security patrols.
Her heart raced because this was the first time they would be alone in Audrey's bedroom since the Christmas they'd spent together. The Christmas where Diana given Audrey the most priceless gift she had - her virginity. It had been a hard thing to get out of bed later that night and assume monitor duty. She had preferred to remain entwined with Audrey and the sheets, but Audrey had actually encouraged her. She knew Audrey had been just as reluctant as she was, but Audrey also took Diana's duties with the League extremely seriously and would never consider the concept that she come before them.
It was a concept Diana certainly hoped never to have to consider, because her heart would compel her to choose Audrey.
As she quietly entered through the French doors on Audrey's balcony, however, the lights were dark and there was no sound. "Audrey?" she whispered after a moment. "Is this one of your games?" By Aphrodite, she hoped so!
The voice that replied was not Audrey's elegant accented English, however. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my daughter's bedroom?" the voice asked sternly.
Dismay ran through Diana's veins like ice water. Audrey's father! Diana knew Audrey had wanted to tell him about their relationship at a time and place of her choosing, and now she'd perhaps completely ruined that plan. Slowly she reached to her right and flipped the switch that she knew was there.
King Gustav was sitting in a chair in the corner, and his eyes widened after a momentary adjustment to the sudden light. "Wonder Woman?" he asked, astonished. "What are you doing here?"
Because of who she was, she felt compelled to tell him the truth. But since he evidently suspected little, Diana also felt she didn't have to tell him the _whole_ truth. "Hello, King Gustav," she said politely.
"Gustav will do," he replied impatiently. "What is it? Is something wrong with my daughter?" he asked, now anxious.
"She's fine, Gustav," Diana said. "You see, she and I are friends. We've been friends since the Savage incident."
He looked at her curiously. "She never mentioned seeing you after the destruction of the palace."
She sighed. "We agreed to keep it that way, Gustav."
"But why?"
"You have to understand that when you were poisoned and Savage was captured, Audrey was forced to rule Kasnia as regent by herself," Diana reminded him. "You were unavailable, and the army had chosen to follow Savage's orders over her own. She told me I was the only person she felt she could trust. So, over the following weeks, I tried to provide her with some guidance and advice."
He considered this for a moment. "I see," he finally said. "You didn't want to make it seem like she couldn't rule on her own." Gustav seemed to grow more somber.
"Yes," she said quickly, "but I don't want to create the impression that I was putting words in your daughter's mouth, Gustav. She may come off as shallow in the society pages, but Audrey is very intelligent, and I provided her with moral support more than anything else. She generally has very good judgment - although not with Savage, perhaps."
"She should not be blamed for him," Gustav said. "After all, it was not like she chose him. Which, I might add, is a mistake I will not make again. Let Audrey marry who she chooses, if only it is a proper match."
Diana was relieved internally. Gustav didn't seem to suspect anything else going on. "She's also a good friend, Gustav. Perhaps the closest one I have."
His head rose. "Then maybe you can tell me something else, Wonder Woman. I spoke just now of proper matches. I came here tonight to talk to Audrey about her recent disappearances. Her bodyguards are of the opinion that she has been rushing off to some sort of secret rendezvous."
Her relief dwindled.
"I realize you cannot violate her confidences," he continued, "but can you tell me anything of where she is going? Is it a man? Is it worse, like drugs or some such thing?"
"I can't say much, your Majesty," Diana replied cautiously, "but I can say with absolute certainty that she is in no danger from men, or drugs, or anything else. You don't have to worry about her. Besides, I'm sure she'll tell you herself sooner or later."
He harumphed. "It is a hard thing, being a father to that girl."
"She told me she would be here," Diana said, remembering why she'd come. "But she isn't. Where is she?"
Gustav shrugged. "Who can say? You may have noticed my daughter can be a flighty young woman. She says she will be here, but she is there instead."
"Diana?"
Diana put two fingers to her ear as Hawkgirl's voice suddenly crackled on the communicator in her ear. "What is it?"
"It's pretty serious," Hawkgirl said grimly.
"Would you excuse me?" Diana asked Gustav. "I'm going to take this on the balcony."
"Please," Gustav said, waving. "It gladdens me to see my daughter having someone of your character in her life."
Diana almost laughed at his blissful ignorance as she nodded and went outside. "What's the problem?" she asked when she was outside.
"Where are you?"
"At Audrey's. I just spoke to her father, actually."
"Diana, I just received a transmission at the Watchtower," Hawkgirl said, "and I'm relaying it. It's for you, you see."
Diana was puzzled until she heard the first words and gasped in shock.
"Hello, Diana. I'm sure you never expected to hear my voice again."
"Aresia," Diana whispered, putting her hand to her mouth. Surely she had died last year!
"You thought I was dead, no doubt," Aresia's voice continued, eerily echoing her thoughts. "But I survived. Not only did I survive, but eventually I made it back to Themiscyra, where I took refuge, having avoided detection by your mother or the other Amazons."
Diana waited, wondering what she was up to now. Last time she came very close to scouring the Earth of every last male human.
"I'm back in man's world, though," Aresia said. "Not that it will be man's world for much longer. And I have someone with me."
There was a pause, and then a subdued voice spoke. "Diana?"
Diana's heart lurched in her chest and her knees buckled. "No, no," she said, her voice choking.
"I have your fellow princess, Diana," Aresia said now. "I wasn't the only woman on Themiscyra who thought that men are a plague needing to be obliterated. I had friends there who protected me. And when Hippolyta spread the news that her daughter was in love with some fair-haired princess from Kasnia, I felt like I had to meet her. Now that I have, you will do exactly as I say, or I will break her body in two and she will wash up on the shores of Tartarus."
Diana's earlier amazement at hearing Aresia's voice had by now become a horror that drained all life from her body, and she leaned on the railing of the balcony to stop from falling over.
"I'm sending you coordinates of a barren little rock I've managed to turn into a paradise," Aresia said casually. "I expect you to be here by midnight, Kasnian time, since I know you and your would-be bride were going to spend the night together. She was very easy to gull, Diana. I told her I was from Themiscyra and that I had a message for you. Well, it wasn't a lie, really."
"At any rate, you will come here, or she will die. If you are late, she will die. If you bring any men with you, the island's defenses will react. And she will die. Even that Martian of yours can't hide himself, just like he couldn't escape my plague last year. You may, if you wish, bring that Hawkgirl with you, though. My home is open to any women who are worthy."
"And I am serious, Diana. If you try anything, you will live out the rest of your days as lonely as your mother has."
There was a pause, and then Hawkgirl's voice returned. "Where can I meet you?"
Diana had wanted to save Aresia once from her mad folly, but now the faux Amazon had crossed a line that she could never return from, and her body sprang to life with the raging hatred of the yellow Sun. Her mind, however, coolly and implacably calculated her next move. "We're stopping somewhere first," she said. "When Audrey is safe, I want to guarantee that Aresia _pays_."
________________________________
"Let me go through this again," Audrey said calmly. She was very calm for someone whose romantic evening had been interrupted by an abduction, and who now was tied up in a room with her kidnapper. "Because I'm trying to understand."
"By all means," Aresia replied, making an inviting gesture as she sat near the door. "I have time yet."
"You blame men for everything that's wrong with the world," Audrey said. She didn't bother to struggle. For one thing, she wasn't dressed for going out, and the ropes chafed her skin.
"The world is what man created it to be," Aresia told her, "and it is a nightmare. Man needs to be stopped before he destroys our planet completely."
Audrey smiled cheerfully. "Well, it's too bad you weren't around ten million years ago, or civilization would be so much better. Of course, you or I wouldn't exist . . ."
"Men have their purpose," Aresia allowed. "For breeding."
"So you created that virus last year that only affected men."
"Men are the virus. What I released was an antidote. Society would be beginning its recovery by now if it wasn't for your girlfriend," Aresia pointed out.
"Of course. Diana. In order to further your war against men," Audrey said, "you've kidnapped a woman and you're using her against another woman. Your logic is unshakable."
"Your world's terrorists need to sacrifice a few innocents to save the majority," Aresia said.
"Ah," Audrey realized. "I understand now. You're out of your mind."
Aresia scowled at her. "You don't seem to be appropriately afraid of me right now."
"You obviously want something from Diana," Audrey said. "If you kill me, you're not going to get it."
"But if Diana won't bend that stiff neck of hers, you'll die anyway."
"You've mentioned more than once how Diana defeated you the last time. So I don't have a lot of confidence in a failure such as yourself."
Aresia narrowed her eyes. "You're a very arrogant young woman. I can see why Diana likes you."
"And you are supremely deluded," Audrey responded. "I can see why Diana stopped you. That 'stiff neck' remark of yours was out of line, by the way. Are there any other issues between the two of you that I should know about? Did you resent her because she was the princess and you were just some outsider who could never be a true Amazon?"
"I am truer to the Amazonian creed than Diana, or even Hippolyta!" Aresia said hotly. "They lack the courage of their convictions."
"I can see why you compared yourself to a terrorist," Audrey observed. "You're an utter fanatic. I take back what I said earlier. It's too bad the male species wasn't erased forty years ago. That way you would never have been born, and the world would have been safe from someone like you."
Aresia stood up. "You evidently don't understand anything. You're just a silly girl trying to be vile."
"And you're a poseur, a pretender!" Audrey retorted. "You think you'll be a real Amazon if you defeat Diana? You're a monster, someone who consorts with murderers like those women waiting for you. You're an embarrassment to our gender, Aresia." She sneered at her. "At least Vandal Savage could be understood. He wanted power. You don't even know what you want."
"I know what Diana wants," Aresia said coldly. "She wants you. And I have you." She turned and walked out, slamming the door.
"What is this, some silly game of one-upsmanship?" Audrey shouted at the locked door, but there was no answer. Perhaps she hadn't heard.
Audrey exhaled sadly and looked around. Without the deranged venting of Aresia to focus on, all she could think about was the precariousness of her position, as well as the pain Diana must be going through while she was a prisoner. "I'm on an island with a group of madwomen," she said to herself. "But I've always trusted you to be there for me, Diana. Be there for me one more time, please."
__________________________
"I do not understand," Raven said quietly as she sat on the bed. "Where are the rest of the Justice League?"
"It's kind of an Amazon matter," Diana replied, sounding calm despite the turmoil of the fear and rage she felt inside. From the way Raven pulled back from her, she suspected her tone of voice didn't matter. The empath could probably tell how she felt. "If I involve any of the men, Audrey would be in even greater danger. So I've come to you."
"I wouldn't wish any harm to your friend, Diana," Raven said, "but what do you want from me?"
"You're a healer," Diana said. "The League referred you to this hospital, and the doctors tell me you've worked such wonders on broken bones, stabbings, even gunshot wounds in their emergency room. There could be a lot of fighting, and Audrey could get hurt. She could be hurt right now. I want you there to heal her if anything happens to her." Her tone of voice didn't quite convey the sense of urgency she felt, but she didn't doubt that Raven understood.
"We need to leave as soon as possible," Hawkgirl said from behind Diana, "so I realize you're tired from the work you've performed today, but if you can hurry and come with us . . ."
"You said there will be fighting?" Raven asked.
"Yes," Diana said. "I promise you won't be in any danger if I can help it."
"No, it's just Koriand'r should be here any moment to pick me up," Raven explained. "She can fight."
Diana and Hawkgirl looked at each other doubtfully. "We can wait another five minutes, tops," Hawkgirl warned her.
"What kind of fighter is she?" Diana asked.
"I was trained by the Warlords of Okaaran on my home world."
The two League members turned and saw Koriand'r's golden frame in the doorway. "Hello, Koriand'r," Diana said.
"What's going on, Raven? Are you feeling all right?" Koriand'r asked worriedly.
"Koriand'r, the woman Diana loves has been taken away, and she needs my help," Raven told her.
Koriand'r looked outraged. "How cowardly!" she said, shocked. "I'll come with you, especially if you're bringing Raven."
"I realize you have training and that you can fly," Diana said, "but the woman who kidnapped Audrey is very strong, and she probably isn't alone."
"There are parts of the sad story that is my life which I didn't want to burden you with," Koriand'r replied, smiling strangely. "Trust me, I can take care of myself."
"We have to go, Diana," Shayera reminded her. "Either they come or they don't, but we don't have time to talk."
Diana shrugged helplessly. "Then we all go, I guess."
____________________
"Do you suppose this is new?" Hawkgirl asked.
"This jungle could hardly be described as 'barren', whatever Aresia thinks of it, but if she could build something like that," Diana replied, "then she must have plenty of help."
The four women were approaching what appeared to me a miniature version of her mother's palace on Themiscyra. What it lacked in size, it made up for in sparkle. It looked less than a month old.
"Why do the trees part for us?" Koriand'r asked, eyeing the vegetation warily. "I wasn't aware the plants on Earth behaved in such a way."
"Aresia mentioned defenses that would react to the approach of men," Hawkgirl said. "It stands to reason that the natural order here has been altered to admit women and bar men."
"Aresia obviously doesn't have a problem altering nature to suit her needs," Diana muttered. Her palms itched - to hold Audrey, to crush Aresia.
As they mounted the white marble steps, Diana paused. "That's odd."
"What is?" Hawkgirl asked, hefting her mace.
"These steps, they feel almost rough under my soles." She bent down and touched the smooth steps. "They are rough," she said, surprised. "It feels almost like rock."
"An illusion," Raven said quietly.
"I guess she didn't have time to erect the real thing," Shayera said.
"As long as she gives me the real Audrey," Diana added angrily.
They stopped as they crossed the threshold of the palace. Inside were white arches and columns, and floors that showed their reflections. At the other end of what was obviously a throne room was, in fact, a throne. And Aresia was perched on it lazily.
Diana noticed none of this. She saw only the bound form of Audrey kneeling next to the throne. "Audrey!" she called out.
Audrey raised her head, and the ensuing smile gave Diana new life.
"Diana," Aresia said. "And you've brought new friends. How nice for you. If you don't do what I want, they'll be all you have left."
"Let's skip the empty threats and posturing, Aresia," Diana growled. "Give her back."
"I think it's rather appropriate that I took your girlfriend," Aresia told her. "After all, it's your fault that I'm here instead of Themiscyra."
"_My_ fault?"
"Well, technically," Aresia mused. "You see, I'd gained a dozen or so converts among the Amazons. Women who saw as I do that men are not to be hidden from. Rather, they are meant to be destroyed. And they understood that your mother lacked my ideological purity."
"The only thing pure about you is the white clothing you wear," Hawkgirl told her.
"That's your opinion. I thought it would be yours, Diana. Or rather, the other you. When I heard about your darker twin coming to Themiscyra, I thought she would be a likely ally. I even risked leaving my hiding place to talk to her directly."
"I guess she wasn't buying," Diana said, folding her arms.
Aresia sniffed. "Currying favor with the 'great Queen Hippolyta'," she said sardonically.
"Or even she's not as insane as you," Audrey said quietly. Her words echoed across the hall.
Aresia grabbed her by the neck with one hand. Diana almost flew at her, but Aresia held up a warning finger with her other hand. "I wouldn't do that, Diana. I can snap her neck too easily. Anyway, I was forced to flee the island, along with my friends."
Apparently on cue, twelve women in Amazonian garb appeared below Aresia's throne on either side. Diana was dismayed to recognize most of them. They were all younger Amazons. The older ones remained loyal to their queen.
"I did escape with one other bit of useful information," Aresia added. "Your mother had the highest praise for your new lover. I was surprised, I admit. You always did seem like the kind of girl who was too pure to stop being the virgin queen. But I knew she would bring you to me."
"What do you want, Aresia?" Diana asked.
"I have the beginnings of a new Amazonian kingdom here, Diana," she replied, gesturing to the women below her. "I have a new Themiscyra. You're right, these walls are illusory, but I will find men to be my slaves, and they will erect a true palace. And then I have other uses for them."
"Procreation, perhaps?" Hawkgirl asked.
Aresia smiled. Her eyes twinkled with amusement. "Actually, I've been exploring the wonders of artificial insemination. No, I was thinking of repopulating other areas."
Another woman appeared behind her. Other than her beauty, her striking feature was her long purple hair.
"Circe tells me you've never met," Aresia said, "but I'm sure you've heard of her."
"I've heard of her," Diana replied grimly. "She uses magic to turn men into beasts."
"Men are beasts," Circe said. "I just give them a new look. Although evidently someone failed to finish the job on her." She pointed to Hawkgirl, who glared back.
"She's mine," Hawkgirl muttered under her breath, and Diana felt she was welcome to her.
"I don't necessarily have to kill the men," Aresia explained. "At least not at first. Circe and I are so alike, and we know just the kinds of animals men would be good as - cows, pigs, chickens, that sort of thing." She grinned. "Some will be hunted for sport, but most will be for the table."
All four women stared at her. "Athena has frowned on you," Diana said icily. "You've taken permanent leave of your senses."
"Women have been victimized by men for too long," Aresia reminded her. "So too have the lower animals. And so too have plants."
A very familiar redhead appeared on Aresia's other side. "No need for introductions," Poison Ivy said. "We've already met."
That explained where she'd disappeared to, Diana thought. The three of them were perfect for each other.
"I've offered Circe and Poison Ivy what they want most," Aresia said. "Power over all men."
"We won't let you," Raven said calmly.
"Oh, the new faces speak!" Aresia said, laughing. "It's not up to you, dark one. If Diana swears an unbreakable Amazonian oath, an oath on the River Styx and all the goddesses above, that she will join my crusade and follow my leadership, then I will release Audrey and allow them to be together. The rest of you can leave or stay, although I doubt you'd be trustworthy allies. If not, I'll kill Audrey right now."
"Even if Diana would agree to such a thing, I would stop you myself," Hawkgirl swore.
"I think we can handle the rest of you," Aresia sneered.
Diana looked at Audrey. When she'd told her father earlier that night that Audrey wasn't in any danger from her secret encounters, she hadn't lied. But she hadn't been right either. She'd exposed Audrey to such dangers that she would never forgive herself.
But she wouldn't let Audrey be endangered any more.
She turned to look at Raven. "Remember what we said before we landed?" she asked quietly.
Raven nodded. Then she disappeared.
Before anyone could react, she had materialized right beside Audrey, gathered her into her arms, and vanished again.
When she reappeared behind Diana, only a second had passed, but there was one major difference. Audrey was with her. "Save Audrey. Don't let anything hurt her," Raven said, repeating what Diana had told her.
Aresia looked down, then back at them with shock and rage. "What?!"
"Teleportation," Circe murmured. "Nice trick."
Diana paid her no mind. She reached over and caressed Audrey's cheek. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Don't be," Audrey said. "And I love you."
"I know," Diana answered. "But I'm still sorry." She turned and faced Aresia, loathing in her eyes. "You're the beast, Aresia, but this isn't for sport or sustenance. This is personal."
Aresia swept a hand toward them. "Kill them all!"
Koriand'r smiled. She hadn't said a word during this exchange, but now light coalesced around her fists. She pistoned her left arm out toward one group of charging Amazons, and a blast of energy scorched the ground before them, making them tumble and scatter.
Diana and Hawkgirl looked at her, startled.
"My body can absorb sunlight and channel it outward as beams of energy," Koriand'r said. "Like I said, a long story. But it was a very sunny day today."
"Works for me," Hawkgirl replied. "As long as plenty are left for me."
"I wouldn't worry," Diana said. "Raven?"
"She will be safe with me."
"Then let's tear this place down," Wonder Woman said.
To be continued . . .
Deviant Hearts Archive | Back to main index