Warrior Rising

by P. C. Cast

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The beach was gorgeous if, sadly, empty of Achilles, or any of the Myrmidons for that matter.

  “Where the hell did all of those half naked men get to?” Kat muttered.

  She probably should have double-checked about where he was and then gone to meet him. Kat shielded her eyes against the sun’s glare off the water. It had to be at least lunch time. Why hadn’t she brought something like a picnic lunch? And a blanket, for that matter. Maybe they could practice some daytime hypnotism.

  Of course that was difficult to do without the patient—or the victim (she could almost hear Jacky adding).

  Kat sighed. Aetnia had obviously heard wrong. Maybe they were practicing in the area of the beach between the two camps. Feeling hot and annoyed, Kat headed back, walking close enough to the waves that she had to take off her slippers and hold her robes out of the way. But the water felt good against her feet and calves and she was kicking at the spray when a movement not far offshore caught her attention. Kat stopped and peered out into the crystal water, blinking to clear her eyes. There seemed to be something just under the water. She thought she saw flashes of silver and white and red. Hiking up her dress even farther, Kat took a step out imagining the brightly colored salt-water fish in the tanks at the Jenks Aquarium.

  Shapes undulated just below the surface. Lots and lots of shapes. At first Kat was struck by their odd beauty. They were gelatinous and glowed a blue-white light that reminded her of frozen meat lockers and the storage units sci-fi movies used for cryogenic holding. Weird… she could swear the water lapping around her calves had cooled by several degrees. When she saw the eerie, milky eyes she changed her mind about aquarium viewing and began to step back. Then Kat felt something clammy and cold slither around her ankle. She lifted her foot, meaning to brush off what was probably just a piece of seaweed and the sharp pain of a sting jolted her, followed almost instantly by a dreadful numbing sensation in her ankle and foot. Kat looked down.

  It wasn’t seaweed. What was wrapped around her totally dead-feeling foot was a long, thin tentacle that looked like a rat’s tail covered in a clear membrane.

  With a shriek, Kat tried to finish stepping back, but her leg had become completely useless and she fell to her knees.

  The deeper water in front of her writhed with tentacles and glowing, sightless bodies as they closed on her.

  Another tentacle snaked out. Kat ducked and tried to lurch back, but the thing was still gripping her ankle, and it was pulling her slowly into deeper water toward the swarm.

  “Oh, god! Help!” Kat screamed. “Achilles!” Where was her fucking knight in shining armor? Where was her hero? She managed to drag herself back a few inches and another membrane-wrapped tentacle snagged her other ankle, zapping her with a painful sting that faded even faster than the first bite as the numbness took hold.

  Holy shit! These disgusting things were going to drag her under the water and kill her! She was going to die in this ancient world just as surely as she’d died in the car accident when Venus had—

  Venus! Sobbing in relief Kat grabbed the locket and wrenched it open. “Venus! They’re killing me! Help!”

  Then a tentacle wrapped around her wrist. Kat screamed in pain. Numbness blossomed throughout her hand and up her arm. Kat dropped the still-open locket, dug her other hand into the sand behind her like a claw and tried to hold on. Please Venus, please hurry…

  Achilles was, indeed, drilling with his men—on the opposite end of the beach from where Aetnia had sent Kat. He had just stopped to wipe the sweat from his brow when the goddess materialized from a glittering cloud of smoke. One of the youngest Myrmidons instantly fell to his knees in supplication.

  “Venus! Great Goddess! You have heard my prayers. ”

  “Of course, darling. Try telling her how you feel instead of moping,” she said quickly, barley glancing at him. Instead she motioned to Achilles, opening her cloak. “You must come with me. ”

  Achilles blinked in surprise. He’d had nothing to do with the Goddess of Love for his entire life. What could she possibly want with him?

  “The princess is in danger. Hurry!” Venus snapped.

  With no hesitation Achilles grabbed his sword and stepped over to the goddess. Venus wrapped her cloak around him and they disappeared.

  They were pulling her under. There was nothing Kat could do. She couldn’t feel her legs. Her whole left side was numb. And she was having trouble breathing. The things had quit stinging her, and now their cold tentacles were slithering all over her body, almost caressingly. They moved languorously with the waves in a horrible parody of beauty and grace, and all Kat could do was gasp for breath and keep struggling back toward the safety of the beach.

  Her mind was working clearly—her panic had subsided. Kat understood that had something to do with the poison that was filling her system. Just the same, she was grateful for it. It had only been moments since she had screamed into the locket, but already it was probably too late. Even if Venus showed up the poison would more than likely kill her. Kat was just deciding to close her eyes and give in to the inevitable when the world exploded.

  Achilles materialized from a cloud of diamond smoke. Utterly detached, she watched him leap into the water beside her and slice through the tentacles binding her numbed body.

  “Ah, Goddess! Please no. Polyxena! Listen to me. Do not close your eyes!” Achilles seemed to be shouting at her from very far away, even though logically she knew he was touching her—pulling her from the water.

  The lazy tempo of the creatures instantly changed. Five membranes snaked out and wrapped around Achilles’ sword arm. She knew the moment they stung him. She saw the jolt of white hot pain enter his body. As his eyes began to glow he literally tossed her onto the beach and then, with a feral snarl, he waded back into the deadly water.

  Achilles changed. She watched the whole thing, crumpled on the beach, gasping for breath. Unbelievably his body actually got bigger. When his face turned so she could glimpse it, Kat saw a stranger—and one who looked more demon than human. His eyes blazed red. His lips were pulled back, baring his teeth. The sounds he made were terrible, more like a furious animal than a man. Kat thought he looked like a surreal photograph in which one person’s body had been superimposed over another.

  He was inhumanly fast, slicing through the undulating mass of creatures that had swarmed him. Obviously he was immune to their poison. Kat managed a small scream when the hundreds of little tentacles were replaced by one huge, snaking arm, thick as Achilles’ waist. The panic fluttered alive inside her as she realized that must have been what they had been trying to pull her out to. Achilles sliced through it as if it were made of jelly. There was an earsplitting, hissing scream and then all the tentacles withdrew in a seething mass of blood and foam.

  Achilles lunged out after them, roaring a challenge, but they disappeared quickly into the depths. Then he turned toward her. His eyes were still glowing red—a red that was reflected in the blood and gore that covered his body.

  “Princess…” His voice was utterly changed—lower, guttural and completely not Achilles. He started to walk from the water toward her, his lips twisted in a dangerous smile.

  Kat wanted to talk to him—to try to reach her lover, who she knew was still inside the monster. But she couldn’t speak—she couldn’t move. All she could do was watch as the monster who had been a man approached her, engorged, enraged and deadly.

  There was a flash of silver from the sea behind him, and then a sweet, calm voice drifted across the waves.

  “Achilles, son, you need to come to me. ”

  The monster paused, breathing hard. He turned around slowly, as if fighting against himself. Kat could see that a lovely woman with silver-blond hair had risen from the waves.

  “Thetis. ” He growled the word.

  The sea goddess’s voice hardened. “Be gone berserker! My son has no more need of you today. ”
She flipped her fingers at him and a crystal wave crashed up over Achilles, covering his entire body. When it receded, it had taken with it the blood and gore that had spattered the warrior, as well as the monster who had possessed him.

  Instantly Achilles rushed out of the water to her. Kat was glad his eyes weren’t glowing red anymore, and he definitely looked like himself again—scarred and imperfect, but hers. She tried to smile at him. She tried to lift her hand to touch him. But everything was very far away and gray around the edges, and her body wouldn’t obey her.

  “Mother!” she heard him call. “Please help her!”

  Then the silver goddess was kneeling beside her son. Kat thought her smile was the most tender, loving expression she’d ever seen. “Of course I’ll help her, my golden one. ” The goddess touched Kat’s forehead and she felt a rush of warmth and love, and then everything went black.