“No,” she growled. “I am Artemis. A man will not break me.”
Another flock of birds took flight in erratic unison. Was it her presence causing them to fear? Or was it something more sinister? She startled as their movement made streams of sunshine filter through the moving leaves, each band of light resembling Zeus' golden glow. Would he come for her in this place, when she was weak and alone? She couldn't defend herself against a human right now, let alone another powerful immortal.
To think, the original Zeus and Artemis were considered family. The thought turned her stomach and she spit into the dirt. Blood ties wouldn't have kept her from shoving her blade deep into his gut, just to hear it rip through his skin. The desire to see him split open and bleeding pushed her forward a few more steps.
Her sword. She had to find her sword. She turned in a careful circle and scanned her surroundings. Even a small spin made her stomach leap and her head ache anew. But the pain was worth it when she spotted her weapon glittering in the nearby grass. The steel hilt glinted with unnatural power and she sighed in relief. At least something had come out of the fight unscathed.
Artemis grit her teeth and took a step toward her sword. Each movement created fresh agony in a new area of her broken body. Close, she stopped inches from the hilt. All she had to do was bend down and grab it. Simple enough. She'd done it so many times it was pure muscle memory.
Her brain gave the instruction, but her body didn't follow. Her entire frame wobbled like a colt discovering his new legs. She shook and trembled with exertion. Such defiance, from her own bones, was nothing short of unacceptable. It was especially intolerable in the heat of battle. She stood alone, injured, and weakened. Terror and fury warred for attention inside her core stronger than she'd ever felt before.
“Bend down,” she barked at herself. But instead of the powerful boom she'd become accustomed to, what was left of her voice came out in a hoarse whisper and fueled her anger. He may have taken her wings but she'd be damned if he took her voice as well.
She leaned forward, hand outstretched, teeth clenched so tightly she faintly heard her jaw crack in protest. Her precarious grasp on balance betrayed her and she slammed into the rocky ground. The skin on her knees split open from the impact but she barely noticed over the excruciating pain in her back. She reached for the hilt with shaky hands she couldn't seem to control completely. Every inch of her body screamed at her to stop and give in to the urge to rest.
If Hades had indeed told her to hide, the idea went against everything she'd ever known. She didn't run. She didn't hide. She fought and defended to the death.
Her hands wrapped around the cool metal, the familiarity calming her a bit. She tugged to free it from the heavy sheath, but it barely moved. She groaned in exhaustion and kept pulling in small increments until it slid free. The sword became a temporary staff as she used it to maintain balance and climb to her feet once again.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. Whatever was coming was too large to be an animal.
Zeus. It had to be. He was coming to claim his prize and finish her off. She swung the hefty blade around to point in the direction of her attacker.
“Hey! Whoa!” came, without warning, from her left. The figure moved lithely through the trees and she blinked hard against the golden light surrounding him.
She tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword and stood up to her full height. “Stay back,” she shouted. Her voice held no rush of power, no strength. Instead, it was soft and full of fear.
Another reason to kill the bastard!
The world tilted sideways and a roaring filled her ears. She thought it sounded like the surf, but she wasn't anywhere near the ocean. Odd. She shook her head to try to clear it, but the action made spots appear in her vision. Her fingertips tingled as she tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword.
“I'm not going to harm you.” Said the liar, she thought.
Footsteps closed in, kicking her survival instinct into overdrive, and she lifted her weapon as her feet pivoted to meet her attacker. The tingling sensation trailed from her hands down her arms and into her chest. Her heart stuttered, and her lungs felt too small for her ribcage. She only saw the approaching figure of a man before her vision tunneled.
Everything swayed around her. She was like a ship in churning waters, desperately fighting to stay afloat. Or was she the one rocking back and forth?
She slumped like a felled tree as darkness overtook her.
Chapter 2
Jace rushed forward and caught Artemis seconds before she collided with the rocky ground. He looked around in confusion and horror for her attacker. Her once-white dress was soaked with her blood. It sickened him. He'd never seen so much blood from a single being without their death following soon after. The sight quickened his breath as he looked the injuries over again. Something else wasn't quite right, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Her appearance had been altered—not enough to disguise her identity, but he'd watched over her long enough to sense something had changed.
What was she doing out here, alone and injured? Whoever had done this might still be nearby.
Just moments earlier, Jace had been checking on his fellow dryads as they prepared for the next season. The women had almost convinced him to join them in a naked romp when he heard it. A disembodied voice whispered right next to his ear, “Artemis needs you.” His head had jerked around in surprise and he’d found no one close enough to have spoken.
Jace had barely enough time to blink before he’d found himself standing in the clearing near his home. If he were being honest, he couldn't remember how he’d gotten from one place to the other so quickly. Among the trees, Jace was always aware of his location. As a dryad, he had a nearly perfect sense of direction.
At first, he’d assumed the dryads were playing some sort of joke on him. They had teased and transported him on more than one occasion before. It wasn't until Artemis had screamed that he’d even keyed in to her presence. In her weakened state, she wasn't putting off as much god-power as usual. He'd sprinted to her side just in time to see her pick up her sword. He had no doubt that if she hadn't passed out, he'd be sporting a blade injury. He'd seen her before in battle.
Now, he held the unconscious goddess in his arms, unsure of what to do or expect. If it came to a fight... His first instinct was to drop her, since he hadn't been given permission to be so near to her, let alone touch her bare skin. Panic tangoed with indecision as he stared at Artemis bleeding all over him.
Shadows swirled at his feet, wrapping around his ankle like an eel. The dark smoke lay waste to the grass, sucking green life from it as cold air brushed his ankles and calves in an icy caress. A tendril climbed up his inner thigh and he glared in response. “Show yourself,” Jace growled at the shadows. “I don't have time for games.”
The darkness coalesced from the ground up until a woman's form appeared. Skin the color of a corpse was contrasted by night-black hair and eyes as dark as obsidian. Crimson-stained cloth wrapped around her breasts and pelvis, barely covering her body. Her blood-soaked lips parted in a smile, revealing sharpened teeth. “That's mine,” she hissed.
Jace's upper lip curled in disgust as he glared at the Battlefield Buzzard, a creature whose only purpose was to take lives from the trenches of war, standing before him. The ground around her smelled of rot as the surrounding plants and insects died in her presence. “There is no battle here. Why are the Keres concerned with a single woman?”
Jace would conceal who Artemis really was as long as he could.
Like magic, a knife appeared in her hand. Her long fingers wrapped around the bone handle with a tight grip. “This is not your fight, dryad.” She held the blade aloft, the discolored metal catching light in what few clean spots remained. “Just give me what I want and I may let you live.”
Jace lowered Artemis back down. He cringed as he was forced to place her back on the rocky ground. The dirt was no place for a goddess. It inte
nsified his ire to have to disrespect his goddess in such a manner.
“My name is Jace,” he said conversationally, trying to think of a way to distract the buzzard..
“Madora,” the Keres said with a smirk. “Do you intend to challenge me? Dryads are not our usual fair. You nature spirits rarely engage in physical altercations. You hate it when mortals destroy your precious lands with war. She has led many Amazons into battle, causing some of the very carnage you seek to avoid.”
So she recognized the goddess, same as he. That would make things… difficult.
Jace stepped between Artemis’ prone form and Madora. His thoughts raced as he tried to remember everything he knew about the Keres. The female death-spirits were most commonly found feasting on the bodies of soldiers killed in the battlefield. “There has been no battle here,” he repeated. “You are outside of your turf.”
Madora's tongue licked out to catch some of the blood still drying on her mouth. “It doesn't matter to me. I am here to collect the body and soul of a fallen warrior. Her injuries were sustained as the result of violence. My duty is clear. The goddess belongs to me.”
Jace bared his teeth in challenge. “She isn't dead yet, scavenger. Therefore, she’s not your responsibility.”
Madora's eyes narrowed. “I have orders.”
Jace raised an eyebrow. “From whom? Is Hades sending vultures on collection runs now? I doubt it. He has much more class than that.”
Madora glared in silence. Even the mention of Hades was enough to still the greediest of beings.
Jace's grinned, finding her lie. “Be honest, Madora. Hades didn't send you, did he? Who then would call upon the Keres to perform an errand? Was it Thanatos?”
Madora didn't answer as she shifted ever so slightly from one foot to the other.
Shock dawned through Jace. “You’re performing errands for someone else then? The abduction of a goddess no less. I wonder what your overseers would think of such an utter betrayal. Maybe we should ask the Underworlders since you are so far off your mark?”
“I could end you,” Madora snarled.
“You won't because you know I would be given the chance to speak to the very people you don't wish to be informed. Besides, word of your disloyalty is already spreading.” He raised a hand to a nearby branch. “The trees will have spread the word before my heart stops in your hands.”
Madora's breathing increased. She glanced around wildly. The forest seemed to loom in closer, obeying his command efficiently. Most didn’t know what gossipers the trees could be. Leaves shook on their branches, filling the air with their angry rustling in reaction to the threat.
“Hear that? You should leave,” Jace continued. “Go back to whomever sent you and admit your failure.”
“He will kill me,” Madora breathed, eyes wide in terror.
Jace narrowed his eyes. “Who will? Who are you working for here, if not the gods of the underworld?” He took in the naked fear in Madora's face. A chill seeped into his bones. He barely spoke the word in case it called to him. “Zeus?”
Jace glanced back at Artemis, a new horror sinking into his thoughts. If Zeus did this to Artemis, he had little chance of protecting her. Fury coiled within at the very thought.
Madora tried, and failed, to hide her flinch behind a snarl. “Do not speak his name. He is King of Above. He knows everything here and will not accept failure.”
Jace nodded, still reeling. “Then you are correct, he will kill you. But you sealed your fate when you took on the role of mercenary. The god who shall remain nameless knew you wouldn't make it out of your agreement alive when he hired you. Witnesses are not recommended when you go behind the backs of the gods themselves.”
Madora tightened her hand around the hilt of her knife as wings exploded from her back. The white feathers were stained red and brown from the blood of the men taken during her battlefield collections. “I will have what I came for, forest nymph.”
With his eyes closed, Jace reached his mind to the trees surrounding them. A loud crack split through the glen, a meager warning before a large branch slammed into the space between them. Madora barely had time to move in order to avoid being crushed by the weight of the wood. Jace took advantage of her distraction and snatched up the sword Artemis had dropped. He held it high, blade flashing.
Madora snapped her teeth at Jace. “This isn't over. You can still walk away, dryad. I will not be the last to come to claim her. If you want to live, you'll give the Almighty God of the Sky what he wants, and what he wants is her.” She leaped into the air, beat her wings, and took off without another word.
With Madora out of sight, Jace willed his racing heart to return to normal. He was glad she'd believed his bravado. If she had wanted him dead, he wouldn't have been able to stop her.
“That's where you're wrong,” he whispered, looking at the body of the once-powerful goddess still oozing blood into the dirt. “I would never leave her.”
Chapter 3
The goddess was gathered carefully into his arms, and Jace hurried home. There would be no place safe while holding such important cargo but home was as close as he could get. Once inside, he laid her on his bed with care.
His tunic stuck to his skin, soaked with Artemis' lifeblood. He stripped the ruined material from his body and used it to apply pressure to the worst of her wounds. While he’d faced down the buzzard, she’d lost so much blood that he feared even a goddess could perish.
She had never looked so frail before. Even when he'd caught glimpses of her in a state of relaxation, Artemis held an air of power. It was the attentive look in her eye and slight tense of muscles always prepared for a fight.
But now… she was fading… fast.
This Artemis on his bed held no strength, no will to fight, or even to live. If he hadn't been there, nothing would have stopped the Keres from taking her from this world and to the god who’d end her this time, no doubt.
He eased the cloth from her back, and she cried out in pain, but didn't wake. What had she been through? Who had done this to her? He was still unsure. Jace shuddered to think of a god on their way this very moment to end her life with only him to stand between.
Her once white dress was in tatters. The purity of the material was now marred by blood and dirt. Carefully, Jace tipped her onto her side where he could inspect burns along the edges where her wings had once manifested. His veins ran cold to see the holes where they’d been ripped free, but somehow, the scabs seemed cauterized over the wounds already. Only one thing could injure a goddess in such a manner.
Artemis had been attacked by someone using god-lightning. The pieces clinked together in his mind only solidifying his greatest fear. Madora had been working for Zeus, indeed. As far as Jace knew, Zeus was the only god with an ability, and temper, of this magnitude. Had he attacked her? Why? What would cause one god to turn on the other with violence as intense as this?
He shook the unanswerable questions from his head. The bleeding slowed enough for the moment, and Jace needed to focus on protection. Whether or not her injuries healed didn't matter if another scout were to find them. The Keres had said Zeus would send more.
He rushed outside and knelt a few feet away from the entrance to his home. Jace’s hands slammed onto the hard ground with a resounding thud. “Angelica to protect the goddess!” he commanded.
The flora heeded his call immediately. Dark green sprouts grew into leaves and puffy, white flower bunches. The Angel's Herb encircled his home, filling the air with its sweet scent. He closed his eyes and focused what little magic he could imbue into the plants. The roots glowed as they wove together in an unyielding mystical wall.
It wouldn't last long against a god, but they would be somewhat protected for the time being. Angelica, also called Archangel Root, would provide minor protection against those with evil intentions.
He hurried back to Artemis' side. He needn’t have, she hadn't moved. She barely even breathed. At first glance, she looked as if l
ife had left her already. What if she died? He had to face the fact that it could happen and he’d be the one responsible for her burial. If she perished he’d have to figure out a way to make sure the ceremony was befitting. The thought alone made him morose enough to nearly mourn.
“Enough of that,” he told himself. “Tend her wounds. Start with a problem you can solve.”
He had to hurry before she succumbed to her blood loss.
Part of being a forest guardian meant he had quite a collection of medicinal herbs at hand, and his personality meant the dried plants were meticulously organized as well.
To begin, he set a pot of water on to boil while categorizing what he already had within reach. She would need tea for the pain when she woke up. In her damaged state, he couldn't begin to predict how much she would feel while healing.
Next, he gathered a handful of jars filled with various styptic herbs. Normally, cayenne was the best choice to stop bleeding but the wounds were too large. She also had extensive burns he had to consider when deciding on a treatment. Jace had seconds to make a decision.
Honey and yarrow went into the bowl, but nothing else he had on hand seemed appropriate. He could call to the ground and grow whatever he needed but he wanted to get something put on her injuries before she woke.
He dipped his fingers in the sticky substance and applied a thin layer to the gaping holes. Every now and then, Artemis would twitch or hiss in pain but she stayed blissfully unconscious as he packed them full of what was needed.
Jace wiped his hands clean and set his attention on his next task: getting her out of the destroyed dress.
If she woke while he was actively touching her, he was as good as dead. His only hope was to act quickly and pray she would forgive his indiscretion.
In the Veil of Vengeance Page 2
