Read Online Hippolyta and the Curse of the Amazons by Jane Yolen - Free Book Online

about nine years old, with russet hair and bright amber eyes. Eating a pomegranate and humming to himself, he was so lost in his own thoughts he almost collided with Hippolyta. She jerked aside to avoid the collision and almost lost her hold on the baby.
    “Curse you!” she cried.
    The boy pulled up short, swallowed a mouthful of fruit, and glared at her from heavy-lidded eyes. Then he noticed Dares.
    “You’re back!” he cried.
    Dares bowed, little more than a head bob really.
    “Did you fight any battles?”
    “No battles, Prince Tithonus,” Dares replied. “I think the Lydians are keeping to their side of the border after the ambush we caught them in last week.”
    “Like you,” Hippolyta said, still angry at the boy, “the Lydians need to watch where they’re going.”
    The boy turned to her, and this time he stared without any disguise. “Are you a barbarian?”
    “An Amazon, my prince,” Dares said quickly.
    The boy wrinkled his nose and announced loudly, “She’s dirty. Someone should give her a bath.”
    “And someone should teach you manners,” Hippolyta said.
    Dares gave her a warning frown, but the boy wasn’t at all put off.
    “Do your men let you talk like that?” he asked. “I thought barbarians beat their women and kept them in cages.”
    “We have no men,” Hippolyta answered, “and no need of them, either.”
    “You’re very savage for a girl.” He considered her carefully. “Better not talk to my father that way.”
    “I will if he talks to me the way you do,” Hippolyta declared. The baby in her arms began to fuss, for the sound of argument frightened him.
    “Calm yourself, girl,” Dares advised. “For the baby’s sake, if not your own.”
    Hippolyta shrugged him off and walked down the hall. Dares followed after her.
    “How can you bow and scrape to that spoiled brat?” Hippolyta asked.
    “He’s a prince,” said Dares. “You’d best remember that.”
    “Well, I’m a princess,” she replied. “You’d best remember that ?”
    “She’s going to get in trouble, isn’t she?” Tithonus called, running after them. “I’d like to see that.”
    Dares turned. “Prince Tithonus, please return to your quarters.” His voice was low and respectful, but there was no arguing with it. “Your father will want to see this girl alone.”
    The boy raised his eyebrows. “Will he? I wouldn’t. She smells.”
    “I don’t smell,” Hippolyta protested.
    “She smells no more than any of us who’ve been out for days sleeping rough,” Dares said, keeping himself between the two. “And less than most.” He gave the boy a gentle pat on the shoulder to speed him on his way.
    The prince kept glancing back as he walked away, but Dares let out a sigh of relief when the boy was finally out of sight.
    Around the next corner was a pair of great doors guarded by two men carrying long and cruel-looking spears. They glowered at Hippolyta but gave way at Dares’ command, turning to push open the heavy wooden doors.
    This room was even more elegant than the rest. The ceiling seemed supported by the slenderest of carved pillars. A series of mosaic tiles, arranged in patterns, made up the floor.
    In the center of the room was a pool of bright blue water. There two pretty young women in delicate silken robes were dabbling their feet.
    On the far side of the pool a man as golden and maned as a lion reclined on a couch. He looked up languidly, like a great beast roused from sleep, his gaze settling on Hippolyta.
    “Prisoner of war, Dares?” He sounded both self-assured and amused.
    “No, my king,” Dares answered, keeping his eyes firmly lowered.
    The king looked searchingly at Hippolyta and the baby. Then he said, “People usually bow when they come before me.” He said it softly, but even to Hippolyta it sounded like a threat.
    “I am a princess of the Amazons. I bow before no man,” she replied.
    The king’s head went back, and he roared with laughter. When he laughed, the