Free Amazon Moon by James A. Haught

should call a male slave to escort me home. Something changed inside me, and I blurted that I never would go home. It was an angry impulse, irrational, because I knew that females cannot survive alone, apart from men's shelters. But my feeling was intense.
    "The women looked at each other. They hid me in a shed and brought vegetables for me. At night they returned and told me a deep secret: Across the river, a widow lives in a cottage at the edge of a swamp. Among her flowers, two pots of hanging vines adorn her wall, a covert signal to runaway women. She would hide and feed me a few days, then direct me to another such home, and thence to another, until I finally reached those mysterious rebels, the Amazons.
    "The following night, hidden by darkness, I waded the shallow river at a shoal and went to the sanctuary house. Thus I came to the clan of the Amazons. It was many years ago, but I never have regretted my choice."
    I hugged Hella tightly. We lay in silence. Within me, I detested the Greek system whereby men decide, almost by whim, whether girls live or die.
    * * *
    Despite my small frame, the Amazons seemed pleased by me as a bedmate. On the day before the full moon, Eila the priestess came to my workplace in the bean patch and told me that I would play Eros in the ritual before the Aphrodite statue.
    "As dusk approaches," she instructed, "you must bathe carefully, then pray to all the gods to purify yourself. Thus you will be prepared and worthy."
    I didn't tell her that I ceased praying years ago. But I followed the rest of her orders. Next evening, I limped to the goddess shrine as dusk darkened the valley and the gleaming moon rose like a beacon. Torches flamed beside the wooden platform, splashing golden flickers upon the painted face of Aphrodite and upon the healthy human faces of the women standing in a circle around the sacred tableau.
    I was apprehensive that I would be embarrassed to be naked before observers. But when the Eros mask was lowered over my head, a change came over me. I felt anonymous, as if I were invisible, not really present as Melos the scribe. I was Eros, all male, the spirit of masculine lust.
    Through the eyeholes, I saw Eila remove her tall headdress and her robe. Glimmering torchlight rippled over her exquisite body. As other Amazons removed my clothing, I felt no embarrassment, only desire.
    The nude priestess raised her arms to the Aphrodite statue and chanted: "Queen of love, queen of passion, queen of rapture, queen of ecstasy, queen of the eternal craving of man for woman and woman for man, you are the flame of life."
    She donned her Aphrodite mask and reclined on the pallet. I followed, and mounted her. We were violent. She moaned and clawed me. It was over swiftly. Approving murmurs came from the watching Amazons.
    Later, as I donned my clothes, I felt lingering ecstasy that made me wonder whether it truly had been a religious experience, despite my uncertainty about gods.
    * * *
    Soon, it became clear that I was called to women's beds more often than Dalien. As I headed to the bathing pool after dinner to prepare for night duty, he sat before the slave quarters, watching me resentfully.
    "Go ahead, traitor," he said with a twisted grin. "You have sold your soul to the enemy."
    That night, as I rested again between the large breasts of the Home Queen, I asked:
    "My lady, why do the women rarely summon my friend Dalien?"
    She eyed me carefully. "We don't feel good with him. You are smaller, and caring, but he is large and strong and full of hate. We can sense it. We don't feel safe with him."
    She was completely correct. A few nights later, as Dalien and I lay on our pallets in the slave quarters, he confided to me:
    "My leg has healed greatly. I pretend to limp badly, to fool the enemy, so they will not suspect my intent. I have a plan: The next time I am called to a woman's bed, I will wait until she is naked and defenseless, then strangle her silently with my strong hands. I will