The Fall of Athenapolis

Author's note: Hello to all and thank-you for reading this story. I have spent the past few weeks inserting a picture for many of the hundreds of chapters in this collection of stories. I hope to continue this for every published chapter. Please let me know what you think of the pictures and more importantly if there is a story line that you would like to see me work on. Thank-you again for reading and feel free to try your hand at adding to this expansive world.

The great city is on its last legs. The massive bronze gates have been breached and several sections of her gleaming white walls have crumbled into mounds of rubble. It will just be a matter of time before the Drake-wires that are strung above the city from the Massive Citadel that rises in the center of the city to high towers all around will be cut and then the city will be open to attack from the Riders circling above like hawks waiting for a chance to strike at the riches of the city beneath them.

And the city is rich. For the past 100 years the powerful merchant guilds of Athenapolis have taxed the traders that passed through the city. The trade in spices, gems and slaves from all over the continent has brought in vast wealth and the people of the city have grown arrogant in their power. From the esteemed members of its High Council, led by the Regent all the way down to the lowliest of sewer workers, there is still an irrational belief that somehow the city will not fall. Indeed, that it cannot fall for the grace of Athena will right the odds in favor of her blessed city.

This arrogance has condemned the city to its fate. Raiders from the city under the protection of the corrupt city council have attacked neighboring cities and towns, stealing valuables, capturing women and driving home livestock. For a generation the city has relied on highly paid mercenaries to defend the walls, while its own men have become soft with easy living. Few people understood the danger until it is too late to do anything about the impending doom, and even those who warned against the excesses of the inhabitants were shouted down by others eager to share in the plunder.

Finally last year when Amara, youngest of the daughters of the High Priestess of Helios was from her house and sold naked from an auction block in the center of the city, the rest of the world turned against Athenapolis. From all over the continent, city-states have joined this coalition of United Armies; some like Helios are at the walls of Athenapolis looking for vengeance, others have joined the cause for less noble reasons hoping to gain from the fall of their rival, and as always when the drums of war beat, the warriors of Polares have come seeking to honor their patron god with glorious battle. Even the isle of Accor has sent a fleet of swift galleys to blockade the river; Amazon warriors as skilled as any man and with more reason than most to despise the fabled city and its slavers.

No bribes were big enough to quell the anger of the besieging forces, and many of the same mercenaries that had taken the city’s money for years cancelled their contracts and joined the opposing army.

The city is doomed, and it is every man and woman for themselves. Who do you want to be?