Zona: Princess of Medea Read online

  ZONA

  PRINCESS OF MEDEA

  by

  Nick Berry

  Also By Nick Berry:

  A Bit of a Shake-Up

  Diadem Books 2009

  ISBN 978-1907294266

  Zona: Princess of Troy

  Diadem Books 2011

  ISBN 978-1908026057

  Hunting God

  Diadem Books 2012

  ISBN 978-1908026378

  Pardon: Pirate Ben Long and crew face trouble

  Memoirs Publishing 2013

  ISBN 978-19099544284

  Zona: Princess of Latium

  Diadem Books 2014

  ISBN 978-1-909874-43-5

  Zona: Princess of Heliopolis

  Diadem Books, 2015

  ISBN 978-1-326145-12-5

  Zona: Princess of Babylon

  Diadem Books 2015

  ISBN 978-1-326501-99-0

  ZONA: PRINCESS OF MEDEA

  All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2016 Nick Berry

  KINDLE Edition

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the copyright holder.

  The right of Nick Berry to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 sections 77 and 78.

  Published by Diadem Books

  For information, please contact:

  Diadem Books

  8 South Green Drive

  Airth

  Falkirk

  FK2 8JP

  Scotland UK

  www.diadembooks.com

  Cover artwork by Michelle Dickson

  The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  ‘…Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

  Disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage;

  Then lend the eye a terrible aspect… ’

  William Shakespeare

  King Henry V

  Act III, Scene I

  Contents

  Acknowledgements

  Foreword

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Acknowledgements

  My thanks to Charles Muller at Diadem Books and everyone else involved with this tale. Without you and your patient work, this wouldn’t have happened. Let’s keep them coming!

  My thanks to you, Michelle, for yet more great art. I hope we’ve a few more in us yet.

  As always, a special thank you to my brother Tim Berry and his lady Shirley. Let’s keep the good times flowing, and Happy 70th, Tim! Also, to my sister Vicky and the inestimable Pete.

  My parents Meg and Victor Berry for the many wonderful gifts they showered out, not least the reading and writing to a dyslexic kid.

  My cats Pentha, Elektra and Winston as always deserve special thanks. This would be so much harder without you, guys.

  I cannot say enough thanks to Sheila Miller without whom this book would never have happened. You rock, and ‘Every little thing’s gonna be all right!’ ‘You’re the real deal, girl.’ (will.i.am.)

  Foreword

  THIS NEW NOVEL about Zona, the indefatigable and charming, robust Princess of Martial Arts, with her strapless breast band, adds to the glowing reputation that has now been firmly established by the series of books that have preceded this new adventure. As a soldier says, in awe, when she is introduced by the King of Medea: “Not the Zona? Of Troy, Princess of Latium – you killed Aeneas, Princess of Heliopolis. The battle on the Nile that broke the Sea Peoples; you took down their leaders – Extranbo, Wenamun and Beder! Folk say you were at Babylon, survived the dogmen. That Zona!” Yes, that Zona! And in truth I opened the pages eagerly to read of her new adventure as Princess of Medea, and was not disappointed!

  Perhaps, to date, this is the best of the series, for it adds a whole new dimension to this fascinating heroine – a metaphysical dimension, for she is not just brawn and witty rejoinders: she has a soul that transcends the material as we see when we, the readers, are swept up into a transcended world beyond the earth plane and chronological time, a bewildering and yet fascinating revelation of her character that we share through her thoughts and feelings, her interior monologue and sensations. We are in effect given an apocalyptic vision of an avoidable future of a barren and desiccated world. Zona is driven not just by her character – in the sense that ‘character is fate’, like the characters that people the novels of Thomas Hardy – but by a destiny that informs all those born with a mission. But to go into that more fully here would give away the plot, and part of the fun of this book is being swept up into the unknown by the story that will drive the reader forward, and make him (and her!) turn the pages eagerly to find out what happens next – it’s an eagerness, a curiosity, a breathless interest that impels the reader like an addiction!

  As in the previous novels about Zona and her brunette companion Camilla, the realism of the bizarre settings and the weird events make everything so vivid and believable. Right from the start you’re in the moment with the heroine, identifying with the protagonist as she feels and experiences the intense heat and sense of exhaustion in an unending desert:

  “The sun beat on the warrior’s head; she’d a sick ache throbbing and her mouth was drier than the scene. Shimmering over the plain, the air was heavy. It makes it look like pools of water are lying there but she reminded herself of crossing deserts, how that was just imagining things... She could pretty near smell the sun-baked stone. Perspiration itched in her hair; more trickled cool tracks down her torso.”

  The author is a wizard at drawing the reader into the scene! The physical sensations are there that enable us to share and feel the heat and dryness of the scene: the senses of smell and touch are all there, and evocative of what it’s like to be there with her. The verbs have additional impact in the use of condensed metaphors (“Perspiration itched in her hair… more trickled cool tracks down her torso…”) instead of belaboured similes – and then the easy transition (in italics) into the character’s mind through the implanted interior monologue (stream of consciousness) gives us an immediate glimpse into her mind, which conveys a vivid simile to describe how she sees the mirages: “…It makes it look like pools of water are lying there…”)

  The flies, the hornets, the comical descriptions of the camels that have minds of their own, add to the reality of the journey, conveyed through an almost cinematic technique with the lens zooming in and out – seeing afar and then close up, the prose intermingling the descriptive details with the heroine’s stream of consciousness:

  “Still high over them in the blue-black fire of the sky, the sun was just past the top of its daily climb. Their shadows were small, black puddles at their feet and the camels were quiet, listless, the lethargy a rare thing for them. We’ve an afternoon’s travel in this day to go; there may yet be soldiers on our trail...”

  The blend of the real, the imaginary and mythical is entirely natural and conjures up the ethos of the imaginative world the characters inhabit: “The thing – whatever we got up there, a griffin? – yowled above, so close it seemed to vibrate in her head. So this is what I could feel coming… Tiredness, heat, the sweat which ran on her limbs, down her back and chest, it was all far-off.” Again we note verbs – transitive sentences, the swift action – the dynamic, breathless style. And again there’s the characters’ thinking – their thoughts – interwoven seamlessly with the author’s narrative.

  “The monster was swooping at her and Both. The vast wings were thin because sunlight blurred through them as they folded close to a skinny body which looked all dark scales and fur. Short legs tucked under the thing were scaly, pale, and ended in viciously talonned feet. They’re like a giant rooster’s!”

  The visual effects are dramatic and immediate, all senses alert including smell! And as chapters end, again the author shows himself to be a master of tension, of curiosity and mystery – which impels the reader forward to see what’s afoot – what’s round the corner – why are there other sounds as well as the monster lizard’s howls? The reader is in the place of the two warriors, sharing their curiosity and apprehension.

  There are the inevitable baddies of course, for without them there would
be no drama – no foe for our intrepid heroine to defeat! Mutakil Nusku, the banished Prince of Babylon, a megalomaniac, power-hungry for restored fame and position, might be the ultimate baddie, self-seeking in his bloodlust and anticipation of how he will rape and vanquish Zona – and here there’s an unexpected surprise for the reader, for the resultant gore and treachery that takes place will turn the stomach! The sanguinary, horrific detail, not just here but in the fights with the imagined creatures that inhabit this semi-mythical world, will add so much verisimilitude to the scenes that they may well return to haunt one in subsequent nightmares! Later the volcano-like mound with tunnels of stygian darkness is reminiscent of the subterranean world of the ant-like Selenites in H.G. Well’s The First Men in the Moon – there’s the same fertile imagination in the creation of mysterious creatures living underground and one has the sense of the author exploring the dark mysteries or recesses of the mind!

  What is so memorable about this novel is the creation of an altogether new creature that becomes a part of the team led by Zona – a leathery, talonned green man who emerges from an egg, who has to fight his inherited instinct to “unite” sexually with a flying lizard and be eaten by her – a natural process which happens in the actual insect world, like the praying mantis where the male is eaten by the female after copulation! Zona helps him fight and overcome this instinct, and the team benefit from his “egg knowledge” that helps them avoid and survive the dangers that beset them.

  But enough said – before I give away too much of this fascinating adventure! Read it – and once again be fascinated by the irresistible charm and impetuous energy of Zona who, refusing to comply with protocol and abjectly bow and prostrate herself before the gasbag King of Medea, is true to her independent and wayward nature – she is real and believable and behaves consistently with her stubborn and wilful, but endearing character!

  Charles Muller

  MA (Wales), PhD (London), DEd (SA), DLitt (UOFS)

  Chapter One

  ZONA tried to sit her camel easily. Maybe it would go better that way. This one wasn’t as bad as Bozo, the animal she’d ridden with her companions across the Arabian Desert guided by a Bedouin lad named Ibidden – something or other – but it was close. Nothing’s anywhere near Bozo, she thought wryly. It was a fact that though she’d met camels before they just didn’t get on with her. The warrior’s lips were quirking as her tawny eyes shone. I don’t know what’s wrong with them; I’m just me.

  Perhaps it was something to do with the fact like her other ‘ships of the desert’ this camel had never seen anyone quite like her. Zona pushed a scraggle of short black hair from her brow and drummed booted heels, trying to make her ride trot even a bit. What’s with this thing? I mean, if they catch up to us they’ll likely blame my camel along with everything else. Nebbs is not exactly a reasonable kind of guy. Her mind added: Even if he has got the hots for me. They’ll tear you apart, camel, an’ serves you right, you ornery - ! Once more she tried to kick the beast on with the same result – which was none at all.

  It was a still night, the scrub country through which they travelled flooded with the silver light of a full moon which rode a star-crammed sky. She had an idea, more knowledge, that the peacefulness might not last much longer. Her little party needed a lot of space between it and Babylon fast. She bounced up and down in her saddle with frustration – So why doesn’t this flea-ridden, moth-eaten, mangy son of a Harpy shift itself?

  The night was growing chill as it wore on but it didn’t bother her in her black strapless vest and matching short kilt. In fact she was glad of her brief warrior garments which were old friends. It was hot, frustrating work getting her camel to move at all, and the sense of urgency which burned her was simmering harder. Mom always said I was contrary because in spite of her difficulties her mood, like that of her comrades, was mainly one of relief. They’d been lucky to get out of Babylon so easily.

  “Having trouble, Zone?” smirked Camilla.

  She pushed easily at her own short, dark hair. In her black leathers, a sleeveless top and leggings, she was dusky in the pale light from the sky. Unless Zona was imagining it, the Autumn moon was fuller than it was in Winter – another thing which drove her. There was little to no chance of hiding from pursuers in this open land which felt almost as bright as day. When they’d taken the camels from one of Nebudchanezzar I’s stables they struck lucky; their weapons were there, hanging from pegs in the wall. The Volscian warrior’s axe bobbed on her back, as Zona’s sword did hers.

  “I just don’t know what your problem is,” the warrior’s aggravating comrade went on. “My camel’s acting all right.”

  “Well, aren’t you the lucky one,” Zona observed drily.

  “Bothrono’s camel is behaving itself too,” rumbled the black mountain that was their Nubian wrestler friend, referring to his own creature. “This man cannot see your trouble, Fair Zona.”

  The warrior shot him an irritated look. Seeing as how the animal he rode looked bowed in the middle, she felt her lips curve up some more. Dear ol’ Both an’ Cam. I still can’t believe they’re here, or me. I should never have been able to pull off that rescue. Maybe she and they had just been lucky. Leaving the palace of ol’ Nebbs, they’d met no-one who tried to stop them. She shut her mind to the idea that possibly the one god Marduk had helped out. She’d gone through enough weirdness with the wraiths of Aeneas, Deiphobos and their buddies. If nothing which wasn’t everyday and normal ever happened again, it would be too soon.

  “Your camel wouldn’t dare act up, Both,” she laughed, before coming over more serious. “Seeing how mine is, if Babylonian troops show up, you two go on. No reason for ’em to get us all. So leave me behind, and it’s probably me they want.”

  “You know we’d never do that,” Camilla said.

  “This man grows frisky.” Bothrono’s face split in a grin. At the dark spot where one of his teeth had been till she wrestled with him in the Kush village of Pepana, the warrior found herself wincing. It was she who’d knocked the tooth out, and ever since he’s called me ‘Fair.’ Crazy! “A good bit of exercise will stretch every muscle. The palace jail made Bothrono grow lazy.”

  Zona shook her head, before she grinned back at him. She still didn’t get it, why these two had her back like they did.

  The three rode on silently, listening for sounds of riders behind them. Apart from a breeze, then a rising wind hissing through dry grass, bushes and trees, the call of a night bird, there was no sound. The warrior hardly dared to think this could have been so easy but she was starting to hope the fugitives might have got clear away.

  She pulled a face. It could have been made simpler by the fact everyone the trio met knew she was the king’s latest woman – As if! Maybe it helped as well that stories were being told of her fight in the Arena against the dxerxeshom, and later dancing. After it she’d been part of taking down Prince Mutakil Nusku... Zona had heard the truth spoken in lowered voices. If only he didn’t recover from what most surely were fatal wounds... She thought it pretty cold-blooded of people but understood their feelings. Who can guess what Muty did to folk like them? He sure was a piece of work. It looked like she and his father might have done the world a favour.

  As Zona had led her rescued companions stealing through the Babylonian palace it went on being like that. They’d kept overhearing conversations between servants or slaves; in the fortress outside it was a few night guards. The gist of it all was that it was such a good thing Prince Mutakil was gone. In the stable, she and her companions stumbled over and woke up grooms who willingly helped the escape. They gave these camels, provisions, and returned the comrades’ weapons.

  A few days later, evading numerous groups of cavalry from King Nebuchadnezzar I along the way, the friends made it to the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. From there they found a pass along which they climbed into the mountains. The route which had been suggested by the two slave grooms took them first through half desert and scrub, avoiding villages and cultivated land. From there they went up through increasingly lush forests with magnificent twisty oaks and full of wildlife. Still unmolested, in the fertile country, everyone’s spirits rose.