The sixth day of each month is sacred to the goddess Artemis. Ten facts about her:
She is the Greek goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation, chastity and childbirth.
She is said to embody wild nature, and would dance in the forests with her entourage of nymphs.
Her Roman equivalent is Diana.
Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo, who was born the day after her.
She is usually pictured wearing a knee length tunic and accompanied by various animals such as stags, bears or hunting dogs. As she is the goddess of fishing as well as hunting, she’s sometimes shown holding a fishing spear.
Artemis was a virgin who resisted the attentions of many men, and it was only Orion, a fellow hunter, who stole her heart. His mistake was boasting that he could kill every animal on Earth which mightily peed off Gaia, goddess of the Earth, who sent a Scorpion to kill him. It was Artemis who turned him into a constellation after his death.
Adonis’s boasts that he was a better hunter than Artemis didn’t go down so well with her, though. She sent a wild boar to kill him for that, although according to some myths, he was killed as revenge for the killing of Hippolytus.
Another man who peed her off was Agamemnon, because he killed a Deer in her sacred grove. One punishment was that Artemis halted the ocean winds so Agamemnon’s fleet was becalmed. It’s also said that Artemis demanded the sacrifice of his young daughter, Iphigenia. Which seems at odds with her role as protector of children and young things. However, the story goes that when Iphigenia was brought to the altar to be sacrificed, Artemis stepped in and took her, replacing her with a deer. It’s not known what happened to Iphigenia after that, but some myths claim she became a companion of Artemis.
She was a very popular goddess, especially in rural areas, where she was especially venerated in the spring.
The ancient Spartans used to sacrifice to her as one of their patron goddesses before starting a new military campaign.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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