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He grabbed Rhea, "What?" She hissed and spun around, her dark eyes narrowed.

"There are children here Rhea," Bastian gripped her tightly, "These young girls will be forced into slavery, your women must run."

"We are Amazons," Rhea snapped at Bastian, "We do not back down from a fight."

Bastian watched as Rhea and the other women ran into the forest, Bastian then turned to the little girls who were left. All the women—even the older ones—had gone to fight and girls as young as fifteen were off to fight. What was left was the young girls who did not know how to fight, who did not have any experience in battle – were only being trained. Bastian hurried toward them and there were only a few and they seemed to cringe away from him. Bastian bent down to make himself smaller, yet the girls were only children, he could not let them be sold into any sort of slavery.

"Do not be afraid," he held out his hands, "I will not harm you, I promise."

"But men are evil," a little girl who looked about eight spat at him, "Mother says so."

"Women can be evil," Bastian frowned, "The Gods made us and we must follow the Gods, you must not hate, Hades will have your head." He winced as he watched the little girls quiver; he had only been around boys before. "Forgive me, what I said was wrong, but you must follow me if you do not want to belong to men."

-

Rhea followed her sisters into battle; they charged and stopped as one lone man began to ride toward them. "You're a fool," Gaia spat at the man with golden hair, "You come battle with us, we will destroy you!" Her fellow sisters cried out in agreement as Gaia continued, "We do not think you men have brains, you will be destroyed and we will enjoy watching your blood fall down our swords as your bodies drop to the ground!" The women cheered and Rhea watched the tree line, waiting for any of the men to pop out and attack them.

"We have only come to retrieve our men!" The man yelled, "We do not wish to harm any of you, we can take you back to civilisation and help you!" Rhea narrowed her eyes as she noticed horses begin to move towards them, "We do not want to harm women, we were not born to hurt them!"

"Of course," Gaia snarled, "You were taught to throw them under you and make sure she has your child, even if she pleads with you to stop. You're monsters that use women and treat them like slaves, why should we follow anything that you untrustworthy men have to say?"

The man pursed his lips as his horse began to move, "We only want to help," he sounded as if he was begging – as if he truly did not want a fight.

"I am Deacon," they turned their heads as a large black stallion entered their line of vision, a man who looked like Bastian sat on top of the horse. "You took my brother, Bastian, and I wish to reclaim him, he is not meant to be appreciated by such fine women. I promise you that you will have jewels and any man you want if you release him."

Rhea did not trust the man, "Rhea," Gaia turned and Rhea moved forward as she glared at Deacon who was on the horse. "The man is yours, what do you think?"

"I will not let him go," Rhea sneered, "You give your word and men are not to be trusted, how do we know that you will not come back in the night and rape our women and steal our little girls to be sold as slaves?" Tension was thick in the air as Deacon's jaw clenched; he narrowed his eyes on Rhea.

"Because my men and I would never go back on our word," Deacon's horse moved forward,  "We would never harm a woman."

"Sure," Rhea snapped sarcastically, "You may believe that, but we do not trust you." The women screamed in agreement, "We would rather die than become slaves to your kind."

"Well," Deacon muttered darkly, "that could be arranged," it was silent as they watched men move out from behind the trees. "If you do not follow us and agree to our rules, we will kill you, is that what you want?" His eyes followed the line of women, none of them backing down, "Well then, attack!"

Rhea gripped her sword tightly as they went flying into battle; they all jumped off their horses as they rushed toward the men. Rhea could not believe how different to Bastian they were, Bastian thought things through and he did not try to kill her. Rhea shook her head, trying to rid the thoughts of Bastian, especially when a man swung a sword at her. She ducked and turned, countering his attack as she kicked him back. She fought like she had been taught – to know a man's weakness and use it against him.

Rhea pulled a dagger out and stabbed him below the belt, the man cried out and blood began to leave his mouth. Rhea glared down at him as he fell backwards, "do not underestimate us." She snapped and rammed her sword through his chest, she heard a cry and turned around to see another man running toward her to gain revenge for Rhea killing his comrade. Rhea grabbed her dagger out of the dead man and threw it at the man running towards her; he cried out and dropped as the dagger hit him between the eyes.

Feeling a sharp pain Rhea cried out and looked down, someone had cut her stomach. She touched the wound lightly as she looked down at the blood coating her hands. She looked up and glared at the brute of the man in front of her, she grabbed her sword tightly in her hand and moved to kill him. He jumped back and she ignored the pain in her stomach, she wanted to kill this man but he continued to dodge her swinging sword. She heard cries and noticed a dead woman beside her feet, Rhea scowled as she realised who the woman was – the woman who had taught her all her skills.

Rhea growled and moved toward the man, only he tripped her and she gasped. Her back hit the ground with a loud thump and the brute of the man had a deranged look in his eyes as he raised his sword above his head. "Rhea!" She heard someone scream and she turned her head to see Bastian holding a horse, he looked frantic and the sword nicked her arm. Rhea cried out and rolled, kicking the man down and rushing toward Bastian, not looking back at the women who had fallen behind her.

There was a duty and that duty was to fight until the end, not help each other. "What are you doing?" Rhea breathed heavily as Bastian stared at her wounds.

"Get on the horse," Bastian growled as he slipped on the back of the saddle, "We need to get out of here."

Rhea gasped as Bastian pulled her onto the back of the horse. Even though Rhea had a duty, she was a coward and the daughter of a male who was a coward, she turned her head as she saw the angry glare of Xanthe as a sword went through her back.

But Rhea knew the warning.

The others will come for you and they will want your cowardice head!