<"Hermes, Lord of thieves grant me stealth,"> Mhyrra murmured. She pushed the window open even further. The recovery of her amulet was her own duty, not that of her comrades. It was a task she would have to undertake by herself, without Anaya's technology or Aella's telepathy. Her bare feet didn't touch Ororo's carpet as she floated carefully towards the pendant.

"Stop where you are!" Lightning sizzled through the air, a jagged bolt of searing electricity that surged through Mhyrra's body, stunning the priestess of Hermesia. Ororo leapt from her bed, the covers flying backward with a blast of wind. The elemental power that suffused her eyes and sparked at her fingertips cast the mutant goddess in an eerie light. Ororo pressed her attack, illuminating her entire room with rapid bursts of lightning. Mhyrra, prepared for the assault, caught each blast on her bracelets, showers of sparks raining across the room.

"Ororo!" the door was nearly knocked from its hinges as Diana burst in clad in a short tunic. Her bracelets glittered at her wrists, and her lasso was gripped tightly in her fists.

"Princess Diana!" Mhyrra cried. Ororo leapt from the bed, attempting to catch the distracted warrior. Mhyrra moved swiftly, slim index finger tracing an arcane symbol in the air, followed by an electric blue line that expertly wove the rune, copying the Amazon's movements. She pressed the rune to Ororo's face, and she collapsed, asleep.

"The Rune of Slumber," Diana noted. The battle with the dark-skinned warrior was swift; a devastating punch connected with Mhyrra's jaw, and, as she fell, the lasso wrapped around her struggling body like a shimmering golden serpent, unbreakable ethereal coils withstanding her godlike strength.

"Now, sister, tell me why the Cult of Hermesia stole Lord Hermes's Sandals," Diana commanded, gently nursing her side, where a powerful roundhouse kick had slipped through her guard. She held the other end of the lasso in her hand, its formerly softly glowing length now brilliantly ablaze with the fires of truth.

Mhyrra knew that struggle was futile, but she fought against the ancient lariat's beguiling powers anyway. As always, it was in vain.

"L-lady Hermesia commanded us! We did not question her will, we simply complied."

"Why does Hermesia want the Sandals?" Diana asked.

"I do not know."

Diana gave a frustrated sigh. "Can you tell us where you are staying tonight?"

"A-aye. We are camped in the center of a swamp, a few miles to the south of the city."

"I command you to wait here and make no disturbance until I return," Diana murmured to Mhyrra. The priestess of Hermesia knew that the lasso's influence would not fade even as its coils were removed from around her, and the mist of the lariat's power could not prevent her keen mind from seeking a way out of her predicament.

Callista walked into the room, having hidden outside until she knew the fighting to be over. "I'll tell Ororo where to find you when she wakes up."

Diana nodded. In a blur of motion she was out of the room, in her Wonder Woman armor, and flying southward in her Transparent Craft. Mhyrra turned towards Callista.

"I have no quarrel with you, sister. I seek only to obey my goddess," Mhyrra replied. Callista shrugged.

"Religion's a real wet blanket sometimes," Callista asked. "Which is why I'm really not into it."

Mhyrra nodded. "'Tis easy for those in Man's World to refute the concept of Gods and Goddesses . . . but it is harder for one who has met those that she worships! But, Callista isn't it? To pass the time, do you wish to see a magic trick?"

Callista shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

Smiling, Mhyrra wove her slender index finger through an intricate pattern in the air, an electric blue line trailing its motions . . .

The Transparent Craft rushed through the skies, the winds buffeting its sleek, invisible shape. Its pilot held a small device, similar to an old-fashioned radio, except that screens, screens that showed a quartet of muscular women gathered around a campfire, replaced its speakers. Diana recognized all four Amazons as members of the Cult of Hermesia. The blonde was Penelope, a jail keeper; the one with Hispanic features was one of the foremost Amazon scientists, Anaya; the redheaded warrior was Orana, Captain of the Amazon Navy; and the beautiful Indian Amazon was Aella, a sorceress. All four were accomplished warriors, nearly as powerful and skilled as Diana herself. Thanks to pacts with Hermesia, they could all fly and move with incredible speed. Not at the level of the Sandals of Hermes, but it was still an advantage.

Penelope and Orana were definitely the most dangerous. Diana contemplated initiating her attack using a weapon on her plane, but suddenly the screens on her mental radio went blank, before being replaced by Anaya's smirking countenance.

"Greetings, Princess!" the scientist chirped. "It seems you have captured Mhyrra . . . that is of no consequence; we know you won't hurt her. Why do you look so surprised? You're using an Atlantean antique, Princess. In the months you've been away, we've come up with some new technology!"

Suddenly, Diana felt her plane jerk to a halt. She saw a lariat looped around its nose, and followed the long rope to the hands of Penelope. Mhyrra and Orana floated nearby.

"Thanks to my own technology and Aella's magic, we've managed to hide them from your senses and allow them to see your precious Transparent Craft. By the way, this is nothing personal. Actually, you might want to visit Paradise Island. We have a new sort of air vessel that might just interest you . . . "

"Enough babble!" Orana thrust her sword into the surface of the Transparent Craft. The ancient blade sunk deep into the material

"Aye, that's always been a flaw of this model. No durability!"

"But plenty of versatility!" Diana replied. The craft contorted, exploding outward in a fountain of malleable gel that knocked the stunned naval officer from the air. She recovered halfway and zipped upward. Not stopping its transformation, the craft turned into a floating disc; an airborne battlefield.

Penelope, lariat stuck within the now solidified craft, landed first, prepared to fight. Diana was reminded that the Cultists of Hermesia were still Amazons; they wouldn't gang up on a single foe. They would face Princess Diana with honor. Penelope didn't last long; a quick grappling maneuver knocked her from the platform.

"Let's see how you handle me without your little device!" Orana challenged.

She swooped like a hawk upon a hare. Unfortunately for this beautiful bird of prey, her hare turned out to be a bobcat, as the Amazon Princess caught her subject's silvery blade, deflecting each lightning-swift cut with her own indestructible bracelets. The heady night air was filled with the cacophonous symphony of metal on metal as the two ancient warriors engaged in a death-dance, moving with the fluidity and grace of warriors born. Like tigers they circled one another, breath coming quickly, chests heaving, sinews rippling beneath soft skin; olive in Diana's case, and creamy white in Orana's.

Gritting her teeth, Orana swung with all her might. The maiden's short sword shattered on Wonder Woman's bracelets, but the force was enough to send Diana sailing, arching across the night sky and dipping swiftly towards the bog below.

Artemis help me! It's been so long since I last battled another Amazon! Diana thought to herself as she twisted and turned, reaching within herself, within the indomitable spirit that inhabited the bodies of all Amazons. She summoned the power of her soul to make herself light as the air around her. Normally she would have found an air current and rode upon it like a kite. Instead, she shot upward, a blur as she was propelled like a rocket past her sisters.

"Gaea!"

Diana reached outward, and she paused, hovering in midair. She tested herself, floating in a circle.

"I'm flying!" she cried, astonished. The Amazon technique of riding on wind currents was just a step beneath flight; perhaps actually feeling the sensation of flight had allowed Diana to take that last step.

Swifter than any creature of the air, be it bird or manmade plane, Diana dove at her sisters, lariat wrapping itself soundly around Mhyrra and Orana. Penelope attacked her, but swift pressure points disabled the golden-haired warrior. Laying her defeated foes onto the floating platform, Diana prepared to question them.

"Now . . . where are the Sandals of Hermes?" Diana asked.

"What are my right shall soon be in my possession, Amazon!" an ethereal voice cried, echoing like thunder across the clear night sky. "And no one, especially an upstart princess, shall dispute that!"

The pearly light that was the aura of the divine drowned out the stars, as a glowing figure stepped from thin air. She was tall and robust, with tumbling curls every color of the rainbow that danced haphazardly in the self-created wind. She held a caduceus, heart-shaped like the one upon her followers' amulets, the long ribbons seemingly sentient, writhing and dancing like maddened serpents. Her voluptuous body was clad in a short, white tunic, revealing long, athletic legs.

"Lady Hermesia!" Diana cried. The goddess waved her wand, and the Amazons within the lasso's coils fell into a deep slumber. Diana remembered that Hermes's caduceus possessed the same abilities.

"You shall get no assistance from them! I come for what is mine, and you shall not stand in my way!"

"W-what . . . ?"

Mhyrra glanced upward from her inspection of a tribal spear. Callista was sprawled out on the carpet, snoring lightly, put to sleep by the same spell that had knocked out Ororo earlier.

"Hola, sister," Mhyrra murmured. "Do not try to rise; the Rune of Slumber is a very powerful spell. It'll still take some time to fully fade away."

Ororo glared at the Amazon, pulling herself into a sitting position. Her eyes wandered downward to Mhyrra's neck. A thin string was slung there, an intricate, twisting rune carved from purest silver hanging from said string, glinting in the moonlight.

"That rune . . . "

"A protective rune to symbolize an everlasting love," Mhyrra explained. As with Callista, she felt no ill will towards Ororo. "When two people wear it 'round their necks, it becomes a good luck charm."

"M-my Matriarch . . . wore one exactly like it," Ororo replied, eyes welling up with tears at the still poignant memories of the kindly ruler of the tribe that had cared for her since childhood, before the tribe had been swallowed in blossoming flames.

"She did?" Mhyrra glanced upward.

"Yes. Matriarch Akilah; she had lived for untold years, and was the most accomplished sorceress in all of Africa."

Mhyrra clutched at her heart. "Does she live?"

A glistening tear sliding down Ororo's ebon cheek answered the beautiful Amazon's question. "No." Mhyrra looked downward, overcome by sadness.

"May Persephone watch over her soul," she murmured. "I knew her . . . before the Amazons moved to Paradise Island. We were . . . in love."

<"Lady Hermesia, I implore you . . . tell me why you are so adamant upon stealing Lord Hermes' gift to my mother?">* Diana pleaded.

*(Translated from Classic Greek, the original language of the Amazons and the language they use when conversing with their gods)

<"You Amazons are more than mortal, but less than goddesses! You are not fit to handle mine father's Sandals!">

Hermesia clouted the Amazon with her caduceus. Diana was sent careening into the trees, falling to the swampy waters amidst a whirling cloud of wood slivers. A foul stench permeated her senses, and she felt an unpleasant coolness across her back. Diana raised her bracelets to catch another swing with the caduceus, before kicking Hermesia solidly in the stomach. The goddess smashed through several trees, propelled by Diana's kick.

Her jaw was numb from Hermesia's strike with the caduceus, but Wonder Woman pressed her attack diligently. She uprooted a massive tree; powerful arms wrapped around its thick trunk, and swung it like a baseball bat, sending her opponent sailing into the sky. Carrying the tree like a toothpick, Diana pursued Hermesia. Suddenly, the ribbons trailing from Hermesia's caduceus came alive, slashing and whirling. The night air was filled with stinging chips of wood as the sentient strips of silk shredded the tree, wrapping around Wonder Woman like hungry pythons. They restrained her arms and her legs, and she felt the very breath choked from her as they enveloped her neck and chest in their crushing embrace.

<"Even bound . . . an Amazon never gives in!"> Diana pulled back with all her strength, yanking Hermesia off balance, and kicked the ancient goddess in the jaw.

<"Wretched . . . presumptuous . . . wench!"> Hermesia snarled. Olympian energy coursed like electricity through the ribbons, surging through Wonder Woman's body. She had been struck by Ororo's lightning before, but this was far worse. Her body writhed and twisted in midair, and it took all her strength not to scream!

Suddenly, a beam of purest golden light lanced from the night sky, slicing through the ribbons like a shining blade. Pushing back her pain, Diana shook the now limp ribbons from her body and charged Hermesia, unloading her Amazon rage upon the daughter of Hermes. In seconds, Hermesia found her broken and battered body wound tightly in the golden lasso.

<"H-how . . . ?"> she murmured, ichor, the blood of the divine, running in a dark, crimson river from her split lip.

<"'Twas I, mad daughter,"> a voice rumbled from the stars. Appearing in a glory even greater than Hermesia, a man stepped from the dark night sky, illuminating the air over the swamps with his godlike splendor.

He was handsome, with a jovial, laughing face. His body was lean and muscular, like Hermesia's, and he had the wild appearance of a carefree adolescent. He wore a short golden tunic and a shining cap, winged sandals at his feet.

<"Lord Hermes!"> Diana cried, bowing to the god. Hermes laughed. He and Diana had always enjoyed the other's company.

<"Greetings, mine daughters! I see you have a dispute that you need me to settle,"> Hermes noted, idly twirling his caduceus.

<"Father! This harridan covets that which is rightfully mine! Your second pair of sandals, allowing me to fly as swiftly as you doth!">

Hermes nodded his golden head. <"Aye, daughter. But I did give them to Hippolyta, Noble Queen of Paradise, and thus her daughter, Princess Diana, hath right to them! Yet . . . it seems Diana hath overcome gravity's rough embrace by herself. Amazon Training unveils yet another wonder. With this new ability, she hath no need of the Sandals, for she is already as swift as any god. With the Fair Princess's consent, I would bequeath them unto you,"> Hermes said.

Diana nodded. <"'Tis no bother to me. My sisters on Paradise Island hath no need for them. They belong to you, now, my Lady.">

<"See, Hermesia? We hath no need for violence. Come now . . . we hath bothered Princess Diana for too long. Let us return to the hallowed halls of Olympus! Farewell, Diana!">

Hermesia retrieved the Sandals, before following her father into the heavens, shame clouding her features. Diana waved.

And reason once more proves itself to be as effective as violence. The gods are exaggerations of the mortals they rule . . . Both in emotions as well as might. If proud Olympians can see the light of reason and Gaea's way . . . I know humanity can as well.