The Sagittarius: Book 3 in the Arrow of Artemis Series Read online

  The Sagittarius

  Book Three in the Arrow of Artemis series

  By:

  K. Aten

  Yellow Rose Books

  by Regal Crest

  Copyright © 2018 by K. Aten

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The characters, incidents and dialogue herein are fictional and any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-1-61929-386-1

  eISBN 978-1-61929-387-8

  First Edition 2018

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Cover design by AcornGraphics

  Published by:

  Regal Crest Enterprises

  Find us on the World Wide Web at http://www.regalcrest.biz

  Published in the United States of America

  Acknowledgments

  Unlike a few other publishers, Regal Crest Enterprises took a chance on me and wanted to publish this series. My publisher, Cathy, and Author Liaison, Patty, have taught me so much about the entire crazy process of seeing a work in print from start to finish. Besides those two, Micheala has done a phenomenal job editing through all three books and is a master at cutting the fat and streamlining my prose. To all three of you I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Kyri has always been alive to me, but with your help she has come alive for others as well.

  Dedication

  Oh, what do I even say about this book? First and foremost it is the completion of Kyri’s tale and emotional to me for that alone. So much of my heart and soul went into this particular series and I received the most love and support in regards to my fans. It started on a fiction site and the more emails I received from people telling me how much they loved the tale, the more impetus I had to find a publisher. And while people think that I purposely ended the second book on a cliff-hanger, I can assure you that I was just as unhappy with it as you were. As a matter of fact, the very afternoon that I finished The Archer, I began writing the third book. I couldn’t leave it like that. I simply HAD to know what was to happen to her. And as you can see from this book, the last part of the saga is big. There was a lot to cover and it took many words to do it. I’m afraid there was just no way that I could’ve compiled books 2 and 3 together, hence the sad and anxiety-inducing ending in the second. With this completion though, I sincerely hope you’ll forgive me.

  As for publishing, the greatest push to see my novels in print came from one person. My beta reader, Ted, is a wonderful soul with thousands of lesbian fiction books and reviews under his belt. I’ve learned that he knows quality when he sees it and I’ve come to trust his opinion. He came into my life after I’d already begun writing The Sagittarius and I warned him ahead of time about the ending of book 2. He was the one who really convinced me that Kyri’s story was good enough to share with everyone, and that I shouldn’t give up on finding a publisher. Of course he was extremely unhappy with me when he reached the end of The Archer but quickly forgave when a week later The Sagittarius was complete. So thank you Ted, and thank you everyone for sticking with me through the end of this series. This one is for all of you.

  The Sagittarius (Arrow of Artemis book 3) Cast

  Telequire Tribe

  Kyri/Kyrius - Fourth Scout Leader/ Gladiatrix/Consort

  Orianna - Queen

  Iva Biros - Second to Queen's Left Hand

  Basha - Regent

  Margoli - Queen’s Right Hand

  Steffi - Queen’s Left Hand

  Glyphera - Priestess

  Kylani - Training Master

  Shana - Ambassador

  Coryn - First Scout Leader

  Thera - First Level Healer

  Certig - Fourth Scout Leader

  Pocori Zevasdater - Junior Scout (Deceased)

  Theodosia - Mother to Pocori

  Panphilla Zevasdater - Sister to Pocori

  Saba - Scout

  Trina - Scout

  Maeza - Fourth Scout

  Geeta - Fourth Scout

  Shelti - Fourth Scout

  Malva - Fourth Scout Veteran

  Milani - Second to Queen's Right Hand

  Cyerma - Second to the Training Master

  Deima - Second to Fourth Scout Leader

  Semina - Second Level Healer

  Degali - Fourth Scout

  Taren - Scout

  Kerdina - Master Carver

  Filipina - Hostler

  Gata Anatoli - Leopard raised by Kyri

  Romans

  Caius Caecilius Claudius Isidorus – Freedman and Slave Owner

  Allectus (Allecte) – Son of Isidorus

  Aureolus (Aureole) – Captain/ Doctore/ Slave Trainer

  Gaius Claudius Marcellus – Slave Owner

  Calcineus - Slave Overseer

  Aelia – Slave Gladiator Attendant

  Cassia – Slave Gladiator Attendant

  Drusus – Whip man on the slave ship

  Aethon - Sagittarius Mount

  Achillia - Gladiatrix

  Gaius Octavius/ Caesar Augustus - First Emperor of Rome or Princeps Civitatis

  Centaurs

  Risiki - Queen Orianna's sister

  Gostig Stonehoof - Risiki’s husband

  Ujanik Tribe

  Bikala - Northern War Amazon Slave

  Deesha - Dohre’s sister, Scout leader

  Dohre - Northern War Amazon Slave

  Bagheela - Queen

  Kombetar Tribe

  Agafya - Queen

  Kynthia - Priestess

  Ritsa - Queen’s Right Hand

  Tanta Tribe

  Myra - Queen

  Deata - Training Master

  Baeza - Scout Leader

  Shimax Tribe

  Alala - Queen

  Alcina - Princess

  Megara - First Royal Guard of Princess Alcina

  Map

  Chapter One

  Spoils of War

  THE LEAVES WERE a blur of green as they passed quickly by my head. For the first time in what felt like ages, I was free. Great gasping breaths brought clean air in and out of my lungs. Missing was the stench of steel and boiled leather. Gone was the ring of swords and the rippling muscles of Aethon between my legs. I felt my black oak bow against my back and reveled in its comfort and familiarity.

  As I approached the village, I grabbed a nearby rope and swung down from the high canopy. The feel of soft loam beneath my feet made me smile. I was home. A sound startled me out of my introspection and I looked up into the eyes that had haunted my dreams for more than six moons. The queen was resplendent in ceremonial leathers and her Monarch Mask. In my excitement I rushed to her, giving no real thought to the fact that she took a step back. In the face of her beauty and my remembered love, I dropped to a knee at Ori’s feet. “My queen, I have returned just as I promised.” My voice was sore from disuse. Her mood finally registered to me when she took another step back.

  “Who are you and how did you make it past the scouts? We do not allow strangers into the village.”

  Fear clawed at my throat as I looked up to see a Roman’s eyes, and I knew him from the slave ship. Green irises turned dark brown as Drusus started laughing. “Hello little slave, so good to see you again. Would you like another taste of my whip, or would you prefer something a little thicker?” He grabbed his crotch and licked thick chapped lips. Rather than answer I launched myself at him and my hands closed tightly around his neck.

  “I will kill you, Roman pig!”

  I choked him with all my strength and would have continued until he lay dead at my feet save for one small thing. “Kyri.” Faint as the wind through the trees, my name shifted by me. White-knuckled hands loosened as I heard it again. “Ky—Kyri!” Dismayed at the familiarity of the voice I looked down. My hands were circled firmly around Ori’s neck. Her eyes were open and lips turned blue.

  “Goddess!” I released her then and threw myself backward, striking the wall behind me. It was dark save for the moon shining between the slats of the shuttered window. Iva lay on the floor gasping for breath as my heart pounded staccato in my chest. My voice was rough when I could finally manage words that had been spoken too many times before. “Are you okay?”

  Iva sat upright rubbing her bruised throat. “Yes.” I pulled my legs up trying to be as small as possible on the pallet we shared. She sat next to me and put a tentative hand on my knee. “You were having another nightmare. They’re getting more frequent, Kyri.”

  I closed my eyes to the name and anger took me back to the place of blood and chanting. “Do not call me that.”

  Risking my volatile wrath, Iva’s hand squeezed tighter. “I will call you by your true name, the name of the woman who became a Telequire Amazon and fights daily for our freedom! I will never call you that which the Roman pigs chant after you’ve danced to their pleasure!”

  Sorrow burrowed into the hole created by her words. My eyes shut tighter to the memories of who I once was, and to the deeper thoughts of all I had lost. The barest of whispers passed through my lips as I shook my head in denial. “No, that woman is dead. There is only Kyrius the gladiatrix now. Kyrius the sagittarius. Until we have our freedom, it is who I must be.” When I opened my eyes again, Iva’s grief was laid bare. br />
  “He promised that you’d be made stipator. He said that he’d only fight you occasionally. You’ve nearly made us enough silver to buy our way back home. How do you know he’s not going to change his mind about our freedom when the time comes? Romans are greedy and he makes more money with you here than with you gone!”

  I shook my head. “I do not know anything but what our master tells me.” A glimmering of insight took me then. “Is that why you pray to Artemis every night?”

  She looked at me brokenly and my already fractured soul lost another piece. “Is that why you don’t?” I sighed but did not answer her question of a question. Few knew of my lack of faith and I preferred to keep it that way. I crawled around her and walked over to the other pallet in the room. We started sharing pallet and blankets when it turned cold since even my status as gladiatrix did not allow me any more for warmth. They wanted us healthy and tough, not coddled.

  I sat on the rough-made bed near the window. “You can stay there with the blankets. It is not long to sunrise. I will rest over here until then.”

  “Kyri.”

  I shook my head at her, knowing she would protest my sacrifice. “It is fine. You are safer over there without me.” I rolled away from her then and curled into a ball to stay warm. The sun would shine soon enough.

  IVA AND I had grown very close in the moons after we became slaves. We rarely saw each other except in the evenings. While she was better off than the slaves working in Isidorus’s fields, she still suffered more than I did from the daily degradations of slavery. As a sagittarius, I received plenty of fruit and vegetables because that was necessary for my health. Because I took it as my duty to make sure my sister was just as healthy, I brought extra food back for Iva whenever I was able to hide it away. My trainer knew but never once reprimanded me.

  The days blurred together in an endless stream of training and the only pleasure left to me was in the late evening when we would talk. Iva told me of her life as Steffi’s second and about her friends and family. I told her about my mam and da, and about the things I missed. Though as time went on I spoke less and less about the loss I felt and more about the rage that grew inside each day. Sometimes I would cry. I would breakdown into what felt like a lifetime’s worth of tears and she would hold me close, whispering words of reassurance and hope. Unfortunately hope was a commodity I could ill afford when every day was a battle for survival.

  The other light I found in my monotonous gladiatorial existence was actually the son of the dominus himself. Allectus was a smart young man and he would ask endless questions as I did my physical conditioning. Whenever I would be forced to eat my noon meal, he would sit with me and ask to hear tales of my life with the Amazons. He would tell me about his mother and the subjects he learned from his teachers. He seemed the sensitive sort and I felt protective of him, but I also thought he needed more friends than just me. It was still nice talking to someone who did not share in my misery or did not have expectations beyond the bounds of friendship. I knew I would miss him once we had gone and I often wondered if he would miss me if I died.

  AETHON’S MUSCLES BUNCHED beneath me as we rode around the temporary arena. Six men lay dead, scattered from one end of competition space to the other. Each time I fought they sent more than the previous time. There was a horse cantering around, set free when I shot the sagittarius from his back. Another sagittarius remained under cover behind some trees. All who fought me were afraid of my bow. All were afraid of my reputation. The crowd chanted around me and my blood pumped steady with the familiar rhythm. “Ky-ri-us, Ky-ri-us!” They never seemed to tire, even when my body shook with exhaustion and blood ran freely over the whorls and callouses of my hands.

  Two more men approached warily. One was a dimachaerus with a curved sword in each hand. He wore light armor and a visored helmet so I was unable to see what thoughts or fears might reflect in his eyes. He was exceptionally fast and had knocked half a dozen of my arrows away since we entered the arena. His speed and style reminded me of my past and I swallowed down the bile that rose on the back of such painful memories. The other man was an eques. He was on horseback and carried both a gladius and a verutum. The sword and short spear were being held in check by my two remaining arrows and his mount looked to be just as tired as my own. The entire time I watched the two approaching men, I remained cognizant of the other sagittarius. Two arrows for three men. Two horses to my one.

  Green eyes and sweet laughter echoed through the back of my mind. How could I possibly win? If I did not win, who would see Iva home? I pushed down the thoughts of loss and self-doubt because neither would serve me in my bid for the gold laurel. Instead I let the chants fill me, bloat me with anger and bravado. The spectators’ voices were like fire and fueled me into a barely banked rage. The men of Rome stank of latrine and watered wine and I hated every one of them. The citizens and senators, patricians and plebs, all came to watch the Amazonae. All came to bathe their souls in the sweat and stink of death.

  I raised my bow and for the first time my arms shook. Exhaustion had near done me in. The gladiators were far enough away that my compromised bow skills gave them the courage to approach closer yet. With a deep breath in and another out, I raised my bow before they could react. The eques fell to the ground below and another horse was set free. I was left with one arrow and two men. The other sagittarius was now out from behind his tree and the dimachaerus grinned at my dilemma. I tried to think, tried to plan for the situation. Who should I save my arrow for? Of the two, the man with the swords was the more dangerous. But he was also the one most likely to avoid my last arrow. The other horseman cantered closer, knowing I was torn.

  Another memory surfaced, one from my early training with the Tanta weapons master. I smiled and surprised both men by putting my arrow back into the quiver. Both men reacted immediately. The sagittarius shot at me first. I caught and fired his arrow back at him right before my saddle girth was sliced through by one of the dimachaerus’s swords. I threw myself away from Aethon as I felt the saddle go and ended up in a roll. The horse took off and I was left to stare at the madly grinning swordsman. My bow had tangled with the pommel and was ripped from my hand as I jumped free. Despite the fact that I still wore a pugio on each hip, to the gladiator I was unarmed. After all, I was a sagittarius and everyone knew that a sagittarius was a good as dead on the ground. I was not just a sagittarius though, I was first and foremost an Amazon.

  His voice sounded rough as he struggled to be heard over the screaming crowd. “What’s the matter, Amazonae? Perhaps you are not so tough without your bow and mount, hmm?”

  I took in the condition of my own body, crouched low in the dirt. I drew my pugiones and stared through the gladiator. With eight men dead and stinking under the hot sun, I was still fairly well off. I had a bruised shoulder, a puncture wound in my left calf, and a sluggishly bleeding slice on my right side. I sized him up and knew he could take my life. What would the man do to finish me? Would he come at me with flashing, spinning blades? Would he drag out my death for the sake of glory and notoriety? I had made a name for myself in the gladiator community of our region, and as a woman, the gladiators did not like it.

  I did not answer his taunting questions nor did I acknowledge the pains and worries that coursed through my body. I let the crowd wash over me. “Ky-ri-us, Ky-ri-us!” What would he expect me to do? I spared a glance for the man who watched me intently from the stands, Caius Caecilius Claudius Isidorus. My dominus was resplendent in a formal toga and his son, Allectus, sat to his right. I could not see the boy’s face but I knew it would be awash with worry and fear. The dominus was waiting for a show and I knew that failure was not an option. Decision made, I startled the swordsman when I turned and sprinted toward the wall directly below Isidorus.