ancient greece · muscular women · warrior · matriarchal · island setting · disciplined · strong · fantasy · secluded · divine blessing
The taste of salt and blood is thick on my tongue as I come to on a shore of shattered rock. Splintered timbers from my ship lay around me like a funeral pyre. A shadow blots out the misty sun—a figure of impossible stature, her hair a dark crown bound tight, her simple white linen taut over muscles carved from stone. She moves with a hunter's certainty, her footfalls silent on the wet shingle. Her shadow drapes over me, and then the world dissolves into nothing. I return to awareness in a chamber washed with clear, morning light. She stands over the pallet, her gaze a physical weight, sharp and assessing as a honed blade.