Fleeting Love: Chapter 9
Aphrodite floated above the water just off the Isle of Amazons. She was certain Jon was somewhere on the island, but she couldn't set foot on it. When she had learned of Jon's mysterious disappearance her first guess as to who took him was Athena. The two had never gotten along in there long lives. Aphrodite loved to mess with her, which drove her mad.
As to why Athena took him, she still didn't know. Sending an army onto the island would be so simple. Those thuggish amazons could fight well, but even they couldn't handle a few thousand soldiers. Sadly, that wasn't a possibility. Zeus wouldn't have gods fighting against each other. The punishment for starting a war would be severe. No, Jon was stuck for the time being. Hopefully, he'd find a way to escape on his own. Jon was smart for a mortal. If anyone could do it, he could.
" You will regret this Athena. " she said shimmering away.
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Jon followed the soldier, staying close behind her. The meeting with Athena had ended the previous day. Thermodosa had not been pleased with Athena's orders. The whole descent back to the temple, she walked with barely controlled anger. It was pretty frightening.
She ordered her soldiers to bring him to the city barracks. Two soldiers lead him on a long walk that spanned most of the city. The city mainly consisted of two to three story buildings. The buildings had open windows and either wooden or no doors. Every building was a different shade of brown stone. Hundreds of amazons walked the dirt streets. They all wore a wide variety of clothes.
Some wore leather armor, others wore fine robes and animal pelts. The rest were guards in bronze armor. Almost everyone carried some kind of weapon. Swords and knifes were predominant. During the walk, Jon saw for the first time the size these women could grow to. Looking around, he guessed the average height for amazons was about 8 to 9 feet tall. Some were even larger than that. Among the " normal sized " amazons on the street, Jon saw one that must've at least been 12 feet tall.
Multiple street vendors were set up in front of the buildings selling everything from fruit to swords. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the barracks. The barracks was a low and long building made out of gray stone. The soldiers opened the door to a wide open dining hall with long tables and benches. A few random soldiers walked around or sat at the tables.
" There are always some soldiers staying here. Find a room that's unoccupied. A soldier will come in the morning to take you to your trainer. Other than training, you are free to come and go as you please. Don't try anything funny. "
With that, the soldiers left him. As he walked towards a doorway, the amazons in the hall gave him strange looks. He went down a hallway with doors on each side. Each room appeared to be a bedroom. Jon found one that looked open and closed the door behind him.
The small room only had a bed on a frame, a flat topped chest next to it, and a oil lantern on the chest. He was very grateful to see an actual bed. He took his boots off and hoisted himself onto the bed. The rough sheets were actually quite comfortable. Jon laid in silence thinking about the days events for awhile.
Four months ago, he never believed in Greek gods. He had met two now and was part of a plan to stop ones twisted games. Jon's life had become much more exciting then he ever would have thought possible. The next morning, a soldier woke him up. She told him to eat something and they'd be on their way.
Jon went out to the dining hall and ate some bread, a banana, then washed it all down with cool water. Now, he followed the soldier on another walk through the city. Today, he noticed some amazons had men trailing behind them. All the men he saw wore raggedy clothes, but looked in good health. Seeing other normal humans still much bigger than him was unsettling. Being two feet tall was getting old.
One of the men made direct eye contact and gave Jon a solemn nod. The best he could think to do in response was nod back with an awkward smile. The soldier took him to a two story brown building. There were narrow open windows on the second floor. Other than that, the building was average and nondescript compared to the other buildings. With a lot of effort, the soldier pushed open the door.
" Your trainers in there. She doesn't like men very much, but she's the best available. Try not to get killed. "
" Gee, thanks. " he said as she left him.
Jon entered the building slowly. The entrance of the building had a large wooden table in the center of the room. The ceiling covered the first and second floor of the entry. A staircase with a metal bannister led up to the second floor which had large balcony looking out to the entry. The walls and floor were same brown color. Sunlight flooded in through the high open windows.
Suddenly, an amazon walked through an archway in the far wall. The amazon was about the same height as Phoebe, if not slightly taller. She had straight, brown hair that went all the way down to the small of her back. A brown cloth garment covered only her breast, revealing her muscular abdomen. She wore a ragged cloth skirt and was barefoot. The amazon scowled when she saw him.
" You must be Jonathan. " she said approaching him.
Jon watched her feet as she stepped in front of him. " Um, yes. You can just call me Jon though. You must be my trainer. What's your name? " he said snapping out of his reverie.
He held up his hand for a handshake. The amazon just starred at his outstretched hand.
" I am Evandre. Come. We will start immediately. "
Evandre turned away and walked back through the archway. Jon had to jog to keep up with her long strides. His first impressions of Evandre were she was very intimidating and seemed like a no bullshit type of person. The amazon led him down a long hallway to another archway that went out to a courtyard. There were rafters high above without any roofing, so sunlight streamed down.
In the center of the courtyard was a large walled in area. The wall was wooden and stood about 5 feet tall. A man was leaning against the wall next to a built-in gate. The ground of the courtyard was dirt. Evandre walked to the gate with Jon trailing behind her.
" This is Nathan, my servant. He is going to help me assess your skill level. Have you had any previous training? "
" I took karate lessons when I was younger. "
" Hmmm, let's begin. " Evandre undid the bolt on the gate. " Take off your boots, Jon. You aren't trying to seriously hurt each other. "
Jon tugged off his boots and entered what he could only assume was a fighting ring. Nathan went to the center of the ring and turned to face him. Nathan was of average height, but even then he was considerably taller than Jon. He looked to be in his late thirties- early forties and was bald headed. He was very muscular as well. An ugly scar slashed across his left cheek.
Fear started to creep into Jon's stomach. He wasn't sure he'd even be able to beat Nathan in a fight at his normal size.
" Take it easy on him, Nathan. We're just seeing what he can do. " Evandre called leaning with her elbows on the wall surrounding them.
Nathan nodded. " You're move. " he said watching Jon carefully.
Jon put his fists up. He had only been in two fights in his life. Once in elementary school and another his freshman year of high school. He wasn't a super experienced fighter, but he could hold his own. Except now he was facing a seemingly experienced fighter and was only two feet tall.
" Here goes nothing. "
Jon ran at Nathan and punched upwards, hoping to hit him in the stomach. Nathan easily sidestepped out of the way. Jon's forward momentum made him go sprawling onto the ground.
" You're going to have to do better than that. That was far too slow. " Evandre called.
Jon jumped up and began throwing a barrage of punches. Nathan swatted each of them away like they were annoying flies. Realizing he was getting nowhere, Jon faked a punch and kicked out at Nathan's knee. The kick connected, but Nathan didn't flinch. Instead, he caught Jon's heel and kicked his other leg out from under him.
Jon landed in the dirt on his back. Nathan offered him a hand up, which Jon accepted grudgingly.
" This is getting nowhere. Let's see how you are at defending. Don't give him any debilitating injuries, Nathan. I still need to train him. " Evandre called.
" Get ready. " Nathan said.
Jon put up his fists again. Nathan suddenly rushed forward and kicked right through Jon's guard. Jon took the full force of the kick right in his stomach, knocking the air out of him. He landed on his back, gasping for breath. Nathan raised his foot over Jon's chest.
Realizing what was coming, Jon rolled out of the way just as his foot stomped down where he'd been. As Jon started to get up, Nathan's fist slammed into his face. Jon went down on his hands and knees.
" You can give up whenever you want. " Nathan said standing over him.
" Fuck you. " Jon replied getting up shakily.
" So be it. " Nathan sighed.
Nathan grabbed a handful of Jon's shirt and started to punch him repeatedly across the face. Jon grabbed the hand that was holding him, trying to stay up and conscious. After a few more vicious punches, however, he fell limp to the ground. All he could see as his vision swam was Nathan's stoic face looking down at him. The world went black...
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Jon woke up in great pain. His whole body was sore in multiple places. When he tried to open his eyes, the left one protested in pain. Refusing to open. The left side of his face throbbed in pain at the slightest movement. The events leading up to him passing out flooded back into his mind. He sat up quickly and immediately regretted it.
" Ahhhhh... " he groaned laying back down.
" Take it easy. You took quite the beating. " a female voice said to his right.
Sitting on a large wooden stool beside him was Evandre. Looking around him, Jon realized he was laying on a bed in an unfamiliar room.
" What happened? " Jon said.
" Nathan beat you bloody. You passed out. Most people would have been knocked out by Nathan's punches. You must have a high threshold for pain. "
" Did you see what you wanted? "
" Yes, you are not a good fighter. You are not the worst I have seen either. You are quick thinking and fast to react. I can work with that. Although, your size does you no favors. "
" Was having Nathan beat the shit of me really a good way to start my training? " he said angrily.
" I needed to see what you could do. It will help me decide on how to train you. And it was a good way to toughen you up. You need to learn to take a hit. "
" Couldn't you have eased me into it? "
" The queen orders were to train you as quickly as possible. That's what I intend to do. We're done for the day. Nathan can take you home whenever you're ready. " Evandre stood up and went to the door. " Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow. " With that, she left.
Jon laid in the bed for a few more minutes, letting his anger settle down. Despite the obvious disadvantage he had against Nathan, he was still mad at himself for getting beaten so easily. He was also mad that his first lesson with Evandre was getting his ass kicked. Jon slowly leaned up out of the bed. His boots had been left next to the bed. He pulled them on and went out into the hall.
Following the hall, Jon walked into the entry. Nathan was standing by the front door.
" Are you ready to go? " Nathan asked.
" Yeah. " Jon said sullenly.
Nathan pushed open the front door and Jon followed him out. In front of the building was a wagon with two horses hitched to it. Nathan climbed into the front seat and took the reins. Painfully, Jon climbed into the back of the wagon with a lot of effort. The wagon started to move shakily.
" You're staying at the barracks, right? " Nathan asked.
" Yeah. " Jon replied.
" Listen, I'm sorry for earlier. Disobeying Lady Evandre's orders doesn't end well for any of her servants. "
" Did ya have to beat me this badly? "
" I admit I got carried away. "
" You can say that again. " Jon said touching his swollen face.
" I hope you didn't get the wrong idea about Lady Evandre. It takes her awhile to warm up to people, especially men. She is taking the task the queen gave her very seriously. She's going to be hard on you. As long as you give your training all that you have, she will give you the respect you deserve. "
Jon remained silent for the rest of the ride. When he returned to the barracks, he stopped in the main hall and ate roasted chicken with carrots. He drank som sort of berry juice with his meal. The soldiers looked at his swollen face with mixed expressions. Jon didn't care what the amazons thought tonight. He walked back to his room and laid in his bed for the rest of the night.
" It's gonna be a long few months. " he thought finally falling asleep.
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
Happy to be getting back to this story. Not a lot of foot action in this chapter, mainly introducing a couple new characters. I thought this would be an alright chapter to start the story back up. So, hope you enjoy!