Disclaimer: I know my story is not accurate according the Greek myths but I wanted to make my own retelling of Hercules labour regarding Hippolyta's girdle. I have more parts to come and will fix up this story later on. It is my first attempt at a short story.
As Hercules stormed out of King Euripides court, annoyed with the never ending tasks the King is giving to him through his step mother Hera, he reminded himself that with the completion of his tasks he would be redeemed for the crimes of his past. One day he was fighting the Nemean Lion, next he was cleaning out the massive stables. Now he had to bring back the girdle of the renowned Amazon queen Hippolyta. The 20 year old stalwart man of 6’4 and thick bushy beard which would immediately remind you of a lion’s mane was confident that he would be able to finish this task quickly and finally earn the redemption he has fought so hard for. It soon might turn out to be his youthful naivety and might get more than he bargained for.
The men in this land have various rumours about the Amazon queen. Some rumours appeared to be slanderous that she was obese and some said that she was a very muscular man in drags. The others say that her beauty matched that of the goddess Aphrodite and never trained a day in her life and has her amazons do all her dirty work. No matter what rumours maybe true or not, he has a task to complete and bring back the girdle of Hippolyta. He had to spend a week travelling up north to the kingdom of Hippolyta.
As Hercules reached the border of the kingdom surrounded by dense forest, a middle aged forester approached our hero. He warned Hercules not to enter since that is the kingdom of Hippolyte and that she along with her amazons are very unpredictable and were known for their bloodlust. Hercules determined to finish his tasks ignored the forester’s warnings and continued on with his journey.
A few hours after the encounter with the forester, he finally found a lake in which he could finally cleanse himself and drink out of after many hours without water. He was finally nourished and when he was in the middle of his shower, the bushes started to rustle. Out came 2 armed amazons, one who was 8 foot tall with a muscular frame that surpassed that of Hercules himself. Next to her, the other amazon was shorter at 7’4 but was thicker in muscle than her partner. “Halt! You are trespassing on the sacred fountain of Hera! You are coming with us!” yelled the taller Artemisia. As they approached the young man, he lunged at them from naked from his interrupted shower to subdue them. Despite his efforts, Saphora the thicker one grabbed Hercules in midair and flung him over her shoulders. “Nice try but you are still coming with us to answer for your crimes” spoke Saphora. Both Artemisia and Saphora walked deeper into the kingdom of the amazons with a still naked Hercules flung over Saphora’s right shoulder, struggling to break free.
After half an hour of walking, Artemisia and Saphora have arrived at a building which greatly resembles the palaces of Greece, with mighty columns holding up the structure. In the courtyard, Hercules witnessed other amazon warriors, who were as big as his captors, many a bit taller sparring with each other viciously, always keeping up with their drills. “Here you will meet our Queen and she can decide how to punish you for your trespass.” spoke Artemisia before they opened the steel door in front of them. They entered a major pool, the whole room made out of expensive marble. In the centre of the pool, the head of a woman with long black hair rose out of the water to neck length. Water still dripping from her face and hair, she yells “why have you brought this man into my pool!” Saphora comes forward and drops Hercules near the edge of the pool facing the head in the water.
“This man has trespassed and defiled the sacred fountain of Hera! We brought him to you to decide the fitting punishment for his transgression!” Hippolyta looks towards Hercules and asks “What do you have to say for yourself and what is your reason of trespassing in my kingdom!” Hercules looks towards the amazon queen and replies “I am Hercules, son of Zeus and I was sent to bring your girdle to King Euripides so I can redeem my crime”. With an intrigued look on her face, most of Hippolyta’s body rises out of the water. She stood at least 10 feet tall with muscles that put the other amazons Hercules has seen to shame while still remaining her femininity. Her whole body is naked except for the mentioned girdle, with a intricate carving of a lion’s head on the buckle. “So you have come here for my girdle? How about you come and try to take it” says the amazon as she climbs out of the pool towering over the 20 year old. Backing away, Hercules thinks to himself “by Zeus! I have fought almost all manner of beasts but I have never fought anything like her, and she greatly outmuscles me!”
In Hercules’s confusion of his situation, Hippolyta grabbed him over her head and tossed him against the wall. With the power of her throw, Hercules left a major crack on the marble wall. After a few seconds of disorientation, he recovered and jumped back on his feet. He made a counter-attack and charged Hippolyta head. He was able to push the towering amazon queen a few inches back until she smashed the top of his with her to hands clenched together as if a blacksmith was pounding on steel with his hammer. Hercules fell to the ground and as Hippolyta was stomping on his lying body, he rolled last minute away. The stomping power of Hippolyta’s bare feet cracked the marble floor in which Hercules was lying down on, had he been a second late his body would have shared the same fate as the cracked floor.
In Hippolyta’s confusion, she felt a force on her back. It was Hercules who jumped on her back and wrapped his arms around her neck and bulging deltoids so he could keep his balance while riding the mighty amazon. Hippolyta was lumbering back and forth with him on his back, ramming Hercules and herself into random columns in the pool. Feeling the upper body muscles of the amazon bulging even more, Hercules tries his best to hold on even harder while trying to grab the girdle that he came for. Hippolyta then continues to try and shake Hercules off her back until she decides to do a backwards head-butt into his face, causing him to let go and fall to the ground. As Hippolyta walks towards him, she says as she is pounding her right fist into her left palm with a grin “Hmm, you have more fight in you than any other man I crushed and lasted much longer than any of them. This shall be an interesting battle.” She then throws a few punches at Hercules, who evades every one of them. He realizes that he cannot rely on just his strength for this fight and must change his strategy, to use Hippolyta’s size against her. As she throw hers final punch from her barrage, Hercules dodged and countered with a head butt, which knocked her back a few inches but still did no damage to her.
While she was knocked back, she fell backwards into the pool, grabbing Hercules’s arm dragging him into the pool as well. Since the pool was about 12 feet deep, Hercules could not get any solid ground, thus making him as defenseless against the mighty amazon in the water as a minnow facing a great white shark. He realizes that he must change this situation or else he is not going to last much longer against the towering amazon in the water, thus he won’t be able to receive the redemption he has searched for. As Hippolyta was walking towards him to grab him, he decided in a desperate effort to swim underneath the gap in between her legs and go behind her. As she failed to grab Hercules in time when underneath her legs, he climbed onto her back again and using the strength of his upper body to grab onto her back and catapult himself upwards onto her shoulders. Is it not more advantageous to fight a larger being from above? He wrapped his legs underneath the amazon’s armpits. As he locks himself onto the amazon, she rises out of the water with Hercules is sitting on her mighty shoulders. Within a few seconds, Hercules is feeling a mighty sensation on his loins. Is he enjoying this desperate tactic too much? It seems like he is.
Despite this awkward position she is in with Hercules, she had a huge grin on her face that Hercules could not see from above. “I thought a tactic like this would be so unmanly of you? You are the first man to climb the mighty Hippolyta. Let us see if you can survive this.” She starts shaking Hercules around on her shoulders, her muscles bulging even more to throw Hercules off balance on his seat. He is having much trouble just to stay on the shoulders of the mighty amazon but still finds the strength to hold. To Hercules, this is as exhilarating as riding a raging bull. Grabbing on the long black hair of the mighty woman, he is able to hold on easier.
As he grabbed her long black hair from above, she eased up on shaking up off and said “I can go on like this for hours but I doubt you can”. Walking from one end of the pool to another, she continues “You have impressed me today mighty Hercules. No other warrior could have lasted as long against me. Even though my strength and fighting skills are far superior to yours, I will concede defeat only for today.” Climbing out of the water and onto the marble floor with Hercules still riding her mighty shoulders, she yet again continues “I will still not surrender my girdle but I can think of a compromise for your situation against Euripides.” As Hercules slides off of Hippolyta’s shoulders, she yells out “Saphora! Artemisia! Bring Hercules back his clothes he came with!”
To be continued……..