Vandal
turned the briefcase in his hands making sure not to knock over his
glass of wine on the table he placed it in front of him. Diana off to
the side could only make out the side of the case as he touched a few
things on the front that looked like a numbered lock. With a pop the
lock sprang open and he opened the briefcase. Again from her vantage
point she could not see much but she did notice the briefcase was
pretty much all cushion except for an object in the middle. From the
looks of it, it appeared to be metal, old and crude. Savage reached
in and grabbed the item and pulled it out.
It
was a collar. He placed it in the space between the two of them.
Diana examined it closely with her eyes. This was no ordinary collar.
She had seen the like before.
“Where
did you get this?” Diana demanded.
“I
found it on my travels hundreds of years ago and have kept it safe.
Originally I loved the workmanship and the tiny etchings on the side
were so very….. interesting” Savage smiled.
Diana
didn’t have to look at the collar to know there were etchings on
it. On each of these types of collars were usually very different
etching done by the same person thousands of years ago now. There
were a couple home on paradise island and she had spent years since
her arrival in man’s world buying up and destroying any that had
survived from antiquity. The collar in front of her was what her
people referred to as the Hercules collar. Though he had never used
one on an Amazon or anyone that she was aware of. It was a collar
that was forged in the very flames of the underworld itself by the
master forger Hephaestus. They had been made by him on a whim.
Spurned by an Amazon, who was rumored to have been Diana’s own
mother Hippolyta. In a rage he made thousands of these collars that
when placed around an Amazon’s throat would deprive them of their
enhanced speed and strength. He had meant to deliver them to a
warlord with instructions on how to invade paradise island but the
Goddess Athena had stopped him. In the battle many of the collars
fell to earth. Some were discovered while others remained hidden.
When Hercules came to the island and briefly enslaved her people the
Amazon’s began to call these collars of ancient times the Hercules
collar. Diana had seen close to fifty of them in the world. Most
often they were in a museum or someone’s private collection. She
had found them all. Being forged by a god they were almost
unbreakable and extremely hard to destroy but Diana was not without
resources and had destroyed many. The one currently in front of her
seemed to have originally been black in color but a form of rust had
taken root in many places. Even over the beautifully carved etchings.
She had seen many different depictions within the etchings. Some were
stories of beautiful woman presumably Amazon’s in the throws of
passion with males, others had ancient Greek words that loosely
translated into such things as slave, whore, slut, toy and the like.
In her travels and her prior experiences with the collars she knew
that as soon as she touched it. She would get a jolt of sexual energy
and if there was any imperfect features about the collar brought on
by wear or age it would instantly heal itself back to the time it had
just come out of the forge. Knowing this she kept her hands away from
the collar. She knew Savage eyed her closely. He obviously knew or
suspected what it was. Her eyes drifted to the etchings and found
there were some words that had been rusted out but she could make out
the beginnings of her mothers name. There were intricately carved
pictures as well that showed an Amazon in chains being brought to
kneel before someone, probably meant to depict Hephaestus Diana
thought. Her interest peeked she looked up into the smiling and very
interested King.
“Do
you know what it is?” Diana asked.
“I
know the myth of Greek God collar as it was known. I would suspect
you Amazon’s have a different name”
“We
call it the Hercules collar” Diana confirmed.
“Interesting,
was it he who crafted them?”
“No,
far from it. His name in our legend has just become apart of the
collar….. for obvious reasons” Diana stated. Knowing full well
that Vandal Savage would know the story of how Hercules had enslaved
the Amazons.
“I
could see that. My ancient Greek is a little rusty and there is quite
a lot of rust on it but I could swear I see your mothers name there”
Savage offered as he leaned in closer and ran his fingers around the
sides of the collar.
“Yes
I noticed that as well” Diana confirmed.
“Was
it hers I wonder?” Savage mused.
“I
don’t believe so. There is no recorded event of her ever being
collared by one…… but history has been omitted from our lore
before” Diana conceded.
“Judging
by the pictures I would say it is meant as a story. Perhaps it was
meant for her but never reached her. Suggested by the fact I found it
on a mountain top in India hundreds of years ago. I would say this
collar never left man’s world as you put it”
“I
would agree” Diana was intrigued and more then happy to talk
history and artifacts with the man.
“Only
a few of them ever made it to Themyscira and even then it was more of
an oddity then them being used. I can’t think of a recorded time of
one of these ever actually being put on an Amazon” Diana thought
aloud.
“Again
your history could have simply omitted the fact…. I would trust
your people would not want such a history to be widely known”
Savage offered as way of explanation.
“I
would agree but we are generally very open and honest…. At least
about our servile past” Diana stated.
Savage
accepted this reasoning with a nod and sat back in his chair.
“Why
show this to me Vandal?”
“Mainly
to confirm my suspicions of it’s past and nature. Also to see the
look on your face….. which was truly amazing. A mixture of fear,
interest, strength and calm”
“Glad
I could put a show on for you” Diana stated dryly.
“A
better show would be if you put it on” Savage smiled in a joking
matter but Diana knew of course there was a genuine wish for him to
see that.
Diana
looked at it again and she had to admit her curiosity about what the
writing said in full and the full depiction of the images was eating
at her. Loath to give him any more of a show in her mind but her
heart wanted to see the piece as it was meant to be seen. She reached
out towards it. Aware it was not her artifact.
“May
I?” Diana asked.
“By
all means” Savage gestured with both hands in front of him. He
picked up his glass of wine as he watched.
Diana
reached down and took a hold of the collar. Immediately there was a
slight flash of white light. Savage saw it and became instantly far
more interested then he already was. Diana felt the rush of
adrenaline and sexual energy go through her. Hephaestus was truly a
mad genius and had designed a perfect trap for an Amazon ensnared in
one of these. They would continually keep the wearer on edge and
aroused. In her many battles and trips she had met Hephaestus many
times, even called him friend. He was much more calmer now a days and
repentant for these very devices. It was he that she would bring them
to and watch as he would melt them away in the same fires that had
given birth to them. The white light reseeded around the collar.
Diana saw that it had transformed into it’s whole state. It shined
a deep black. The etchings and the words were in a thin gold. Made it
perfectly easy for her to read. Diana eyed the words and a shock went
through her system. The words translated would have been ‘Queen
Hippolyta no more. Princess Diana enslaved toy’ Diana’s mind
reeled. She was not even alive when the collars were made. This was
either prophetic or new. She needed a moment. In that moment Savage
read the words and chuckled.
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