The harpy's crow

“Yaaaaaah!” Swiping her talon against the wide face of the tree trunk before her, Ocypete was pleased with herself at how sharp her new claws were, leaving deep gouges in the wood with a single strike, as if she had cut it with the same ease as with an axe blade. It was the only choice now, her hands, such as they had become were now no longer dexterous enough to grasp a pen let alone the hilt of a sword. They were oversized, crude, simple… And lethal. Like the claws of an owl. What other reason should she not have them? THIS, this was what she and her sisters were meant for. Agents of justice, agents of punishment.

“Exquisite!” She hissed between chipped and uneven teeth, shambling over to her sisters in arms who waited for their spies to return. Out of all of their forces who had only grown worse cooped up in the forests, the three generals were a plateau all to themselves. Hunched, misshapen, and gangly, the three could no longer be described as human anymore. Their legs had become digigraded, their boots ruined and discarded after their feet had taken the same fate as their hands. Clawed and splayed out like crow’s feet as they sat on their haunches in front of a fire. Their hair had completely fallen out, yet they were not completely bald. Their scalps had some thin strands of their former hair dangling down to their withered and elderly faces, their skin so sunken and shallow that to determine their true age was now impossible. Monsters. They had been turned into monsters, and they were not getting any better than what they’ve turned into.

“Ah, our spies have returned.” Smiled Aello, wiping her thin lip of drool as she and the others sat up to find their amazons returning to them on horseback. Once they had dismounted, the duo knelt to one knee and bowed to the three generals. “Tell us what you have found.”

“My general, the men are with our Queen as we speak.” Answered elderly looking amazon. Dalma, once stunning with golden blond hair looked like some withered crone as she raised her head to stare up at her general’s eyes.

“Yes, but that is not all.” Warned Clyemne, skulking even on one knee as she warned them. “They… They have become stunning again, WHOLE again.”

Their eyes widening, the three generals stepped close to the grey eyed crone to hear more. “What?!”

Our queen Hippolyta and Phillipus have been remade whole again, they had brought the elder of the three to the purple ray to heal his injuries and…” Sputtering into a cough, Clyemne gasped when Ocypete grabbed her by the throat and pulled her back up to her feet.

“SHE LET ONE OF THOSE ANIMALS INTO OUR MOST PRIZED HALLS?!” Roared Ocypete, her eye twitching as her flesh rippled again, feathered ruptured out of her scalp and down her neck as her bones cricked and twisted audibly. Her talon still around the woman’s neck when the changes stopped. “A gift from our princess, to heal our most grievous wounds, and her highness uses it on one of those filthy pigs!”

“This CANNOT stand!” Alkyone cried out, the rest of the amazons with them sharing in her outcry as they raised their fists in the air, shouting and cursing out loud.

Dropping Clyemne to the ground to cough and sputter short breaths, Ocypete was beside herself in rage, her face a mask of malice and fury as her thin lips pulled back to reveal uneven fangs and broken teeth that nearly drew blood from her mouth. It wasn’t until she heard another horse gallop towards their encampment that the woman’s rage calmed somewhat. The envoy she sent to speak with the oracles had returned, and hopefully insight on how to deal with these invaders.

“So… The last of my scouts return. Tell me Derinoe, what news from the oracles?”

Dismounting the horse and looking around the encampment in the woods outside the city, Boston tried to hide how creeped out he was to find where all the amazons who had not taken his wish very well had been hiding. Several campfires had women who looked like they were from a leper colony snap at each other, their appearances worsening before his eyes. Others… Were far worse than that. Each and everyone of them were deformed, grotesque and a pale shadow from the beautiful warrior women they used to be, and their demeanor was just as ugly to match. Many giving him the evil eye as he slowly approached the general waiting on the report the woman he possessed to give.

“Damn. I’ve heard of being hit by the ugly stick, but these ladies fell down every branch of the ugly tree in the fucking ugly forest!” He whispered, hoping no one heard him.

“What was that?”

“Uphhhhh… Nothing boss lady ma’am.” Boston fidgeted, quickly regaining his bearings to keep up the illusion. “I just came back from the oracles.”

“Yes, YES! What did they tell you?”

Seeing the three gather around him, Boston shifted his eyes from one general to the other, each bearing their gaze down at the possessed woman as Boston explained himself.

“The Oracles said… It’s all good. You know? The three men on our island, well… Two and a half if you count the size of the kid, its all GOOD. Heck them being here everyone’s being going back to normal, some BETTER than normal. I mean have you seen that Episteme girl?”

Narrowing her eyes and nearly falling to all fours to look closer, Alkyone hissed between her teeth studying the other woman.

“You act strange Derinoe… What ails you?”

“N-nothin, nothin at all! Just… You know them oracles are a strange bunch.” Boston defended, waving his hands in front of him. All the while Alkyone read her fellow sister in arm’s body language.

“Indeed… They see things we cannot.” Standing to her full height, the general nodded to Aello and Ocypete, the trio having a silent agreement as they stepped away from Derinoe. Raising a clawed fist over her head, Aello called out to the rest of her sisters.

“LOYAL Amazons! You have suffered greatly at the hands of the spirit, the DEMON who cursed us!” She yelled out for all of them to hear, looking over to her forces who shouted and jeered, raising their own fists in the air to match. “But the time will soon be over. The men who inhabit our island paradise will soon be removed, and PEACE shall take their place on our island. And WE shall be the ones to usher in that peace.”

“Right… And I’m a Japanese fighter pilot.” Whispered Boston, watching the speech, just as he was caught off guard when Aello opened her lowered claw and turned around to face Derinoe. The crunch of bone could be heard by everyone when the Amazonian general drove her razor sharp talons into the woman’s stomach, causing Boston to gasp and clutch at his wounds as blood oozed out the woman’s mouth and nose.

“Did you think we could be fooled by you demon?” Aello snarled, her eyes turning inhumanly yellow. “Did you THINK you could deceive us a second time?! Your tricks come to an end! The men you brought to our island will receive a far, FAR harsher sentence than WE ever brought to you! They will serve as both a punishment and warning to the rest of our sisterhood that the root of ALL evil comes from men and men alone!”

A second searing intrusion of claws from behind **** Boston to look over his shoulder to find Alkyone had done the same, gorging the body he possessed with raking claws.

“And when we have scoured our paradise of their filth. We shall show the rest of the Amazon tribes the truth. THIS is our future; agents of our goddess’s might and wrath, mankind has shown us that it does not deserve her compassion or mercy, nor OURS!”

Pulling their claws free, Boston stumbled back a bloody heap trying to hold his vital organs in place as a pool of blood formed between his knees. Looking up, a clawed foot grasped at his head, the **** of strength it possessed crushing the amazon’s skull as Ocypete pried him up and slammed him down with a crunch of bone and gore.

“**** to Man’s world! **** to Man’s World! **** to… AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

Hobbling back and frozen in a state of pain fueled rigor, Ocypete and the other two generals cried out as their bodies changed further. Greasy black feathers spread down their scalps and necks, covering their oversized forearms and their exposed legs. The crunching of bones hunched their shoulders further as they fell to all fours, screaming in pain as the final stage of their transformation was completed with the eruption of a pair of black buzzard wings from their backs. Panting and slowing their breaths, the three harpies looked to their new forms and smiled in manic glee.

Looking over to their horrified sisterhood, the three bird women laughed as they flaunted their new wings and flexed their talons. Their fists raised high into the air as they cawed out a screech that scared away the wildlife all around them.

“****! ****! **** to ALL men!”

“**** TO ALL MEN!” Chanted the rest of the amazons, following the three as they climbed up the trees with the same ease and spread their wings to take flight. Heading towards the city with their small army following them on foot. Leaving behind a blood heap of a corpse behind. Getting up off the ground and no longer possessing the woman, Boston pulled himself free and watched on as the harpies left the camp.

“Ah geez! I wasn’t expectin that, how am I going to fix this?”

“They killed me…”

“Yeah… I wasn’t plannin on that, I was hoping they’d at least wait a day or two before… Wait.” Looking behind him to the mangled body he exited, Boston’s guilt grew worse when he spotted the disembodied soul of the Amazon he possessed looking down at her ruined body. Free of the curse that warped her physical appearance, the woman was tall, beautiful and wrought with anguish. Her skin chalk white and her eyes blank as she wept and turned her gaze to see him face to face.

“They KILLED me… Because of YOU.”

He was about to counter her, but slowly nodded, looking away. “I’m sorry kid, I didn’t think they’d go that far.”

“THEY KILLED ME… BECAUSE OF YOU!”

A light appeared above them both, the amazon too consumed in her grief to see it as she began to levitate and be pulled towards its bright glow.

“THEY KILLED ME BECAUSE OF YOU! THEY KILLED ME BECAUSE OF YOU! OUR QUEEN WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU! THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL STEMS FROM MAN AND MAN ALONE! WAS THIS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG?! TO DRIVE US TO KILL EACH OTHER? I CURSE YOU! I CURSE THE DAY YOU EVER CAME TO OUR ISLAND!!!”

Watching as she crossed over, Boston slowly floated down to the ground, his hands covering his face as he broke down.