Warrior Rising

by P. C. Cast

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  The arrow hit Achilles in the middle of his chest, impaling itself to the flaming quill, spilling molten tar down his body like overflowing lava. Through the agony, Achilles heard Katrina scream and saw her rushing to him as the Myrmidons converged on Paris, burying him under an avalanche of swords and blood.

  The berserker, so newly banished, slammed back into his body. Achilles fought the possession, but as his body began to burn, the pain overwhelmed him. Then Katrina’s face swam before him, and through the red haze he watched her snap the golden chain from around her neck and wrench open the locket.

  “Venus! Hera! Athena! I call the three of you to me to claim the boon you swore you would owe me!”

  The air shimmered, like mist rising from a morning field, and the three goddesses appeared as Achilles was driven to his knees. Body and mind afire, he still struggled against being lost to the berserker.

  “I fulfilled my part of the deal,” Kat said. “The boon I want is Achilles. I claim the man and ask that you save him from the monster. ”

  Achilles began to lose hope when the goddesses exchanged surprised looks. It was too much. Katrina had tried. He had tried. His fate was unavoidable—what had been purposed by the gods could not be changed, not even by the gods themselves. He closed his eyes, concentrating on maintaining his humanity. He wanted to die a man, not a monster.

  "Please. ” Kat looked pleadingly at each of the goddesses.

  “Darling, if you choose this you cannot return to your old life,” Venus said.

  “You will live and die in this ancient world,” Athena said.

  “Be very sure this is your wish,” Hera said.

  “I’ve never been surer about anything in my life,” Kat said. “Please save him. ”

  Venus smiled. “You have already saved him. Take his hand and call him to you. ”

  Venus blew a kiss at her, and Kat felt the shock of divine power fill her body. She hurried to Achilles. His body was completely engulfed in fire, but she didn’t hesitate. She reached through the flames and grasped his hand. She felt no heat, no pain, only the surety of her love for him.

  “Come to me, Achilles. ” Her voice reverberated across the Trojan plain, magnified by the magic of the goddesses.

  Kat felt Achilles shudder. Something gave under her hand. Automatically she pulled, and from the burning, ruined body of the berserker-ravaged warrior stepped a golden man. He was smaller in stature than Achilles, and he looked years younger. His body was free of scars. His eyes were a brilliant, clear blue. Gone were the pain and despair, regret and guilt that had been his companions for more than a decade. He gazed at Kat with an expression of happiness so complete that her heart felt as if it would burst with joy. Achilles pulled her into his arms and kissed her tenderly. Then, still holding her hand, he faced the three goddesses. Achilles dropped to one knee. The men around him followed suit. The fighting stopped and all eyes turned to the goddesses.

  “My name will not be remembered for thousands of years, but I pledge that my children will honor goddesses for as long as my blood runs through their veins. ”

  “Actually, darling, your name will be remembered forever,” Venus said.

  “No, Goddess. ” He pointed back at the burning body that had been reduced to smoldering ash. “That is Achilles. I am only a man, not a legend, not a myth and definitely not a god. ”

  “I have discovered that being a man means being more than any of those things,” Athena said, her gray eyes finding Odysseus.

  “Go with our blessings, mortal man. And know that when love is strong enough it can even cause Fate to change her course,” Hera said.

  Still clasping hands, Achilles and Katrina walked from the battlefield with the Myrmidons silently following them. The armies, Trojan and Greek, parted to let them pass. The fighting, after almost a decade, was finally over.

  So it was with no little sense of shock that Kat heard an ear-piercing scream. They were in the middle of the dunes between the Greek and Myrmidon camps when a small party of soldiers stumbled into view. There were two women with them. One was being led by a rope around her slender, white neck. She held her head high and ignored everyone and everything around her. The other woman was hurling herself against the man leading the others—it was she who was shrieking and crying.

  Kat recognized the hysterical woman instantly. “Holy crap, it’s Briseis. ”

  “After all I’ve done for you, you dare cast me aside for Cassandra! A witch!” Briseis railed at Agamemnon.

  The king called the line of warriors to a halt. “Briseis, I have already assured you that I will arrange for your return to your father and will send with you a handsome bride price. Your father will be able to make an excellent match for you. ”

  “My father is a reprobate! The reason that I’m here is that I fled his house. ”

  “And again I say that is not my concern. ” Agamemnon motioned to his personal guard. “Escort my lady to the ship I have provided, and see her safely off with the next tide. ”

  The warriors saluted him. With utterly blank expressions, they began to drag Briseis away.

  “I curse you, Agamemnon! You reject love, so love will be your downfall!”

  Agamemnon yawned. “I’m afraid you’re too late. I’ve already been cursed by love once. ”

  “Fucking asshole,” Kat murmured.

  As if he heard her, Agamemnon’s gaze turned her way. Kat watched his eyes glance past Achilles, discount him and then widen in disbelief and return to him. She looked up at her lover. His lips were curved up in his little half smile as he met the king’s shocked gaze.

  “Make that three times you’ve been cursed by love,” Achilles said. He didn’t shout, but his voice carried easily over the dune. “You deserve no less than to be destroyed by that which you thought to use against others. ”

  Agamemnon paled, called an order to his men and the group hurried away toward the Greek camp.

  Achilles glanced at Kat as they continued walking. “Was it you who cursed him the first time?”

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  “I’m glad of it,” Achilles said with a chuckle.

  “I wish I could remember what happens to Agamemnon,” Kat said softly to Achilles as they came to the Myrmidon beach where the black-sailed ships were docked just offshore. “Well, I suppose I mean what happened to him according to Greek mythology. You know, Jacky is just as bad at mythology as I was, which is…” Kat ran out of words as the heartsick truth hit her. Jacky was still in the modern world.

  “Remind them,” Achilles said.

  “Huh?” Kat said.

  “Didn’t the goddesses grant Jacqueline a boon, too? Remind them, and if it is her wish, they will return her. ”

  Kat grinned. “And Patroklos. ”

  He mirrored her smile. “And Patroklos. ”

  She opened the locket that she still gripped in her fist. “Uh, Venus. Sorry to bug you again, but I think the three of you forgot that Jacky gets a boon, too. And I know for a fact that she would like to come back here with Patroklos. So, if it’s not too much trouble I’d really appreciate it if—”

  With an abrupt pop Jacky and Patroklos materialized on the beach in front of them. Jacky was wearing an exceedingly short, tight, nurse’s “uniform. ” The kind that can be found in smut shops, especially around Halloween, complete with white thigh highs, garters and red come-fuck-me pumps. She was obviously in the middle of a very nasty bump and grind and was caught midfling of her long, waving, blond tresses. Patroklos, who materialized sitting on his butt in the sand, was wearing an open-backed hospital robe. He was sporting several different sizes and shapes of bandages, the most evident of which was wrapped around his neck. Patroklos was very obviously alive and very, very obviously firmly in the middle of a recovery stage.

  Jacky blinked and looked around, eyes widening. “Oh, Jesus wept! Could you not have waited a few minute
s or so?”

  “Jacky!” Kat cried, hurling herself into her friend’s arms while Achilles and the Myrmidons descended upon Patroklos, thumping him not so gently on the back and commenting on his strange manner of dress.

  Kat was happily telling Jacky how utterly stank she was when the sea began to boil. Achilles moved swiftly to her side, pushing the complaining, mostly naked Patroklos behind him with Kat and Jacky and shouting for the Myrmidons to form ranks as the god arose from the cove.

  Kat had never seen, never even imagined anything like the being who towered out of the sea over them. He was huge. Instead of skin he had scales that were shaded all the colors of the oceans. His white beard curled down to his massive chest, matching his thick hair that fell in ringlets around his shoulders. Barnacles made of diamonds and sapphires and aquamarines decorated his body. He was carrying a trident carved from red coral, which he lifted and then thudded against the sea floor, causing waves to froth in the normally placid cove, and making the Myrmidon fleet bob precariously like a petulant child’s bathtub toys.

  “The walls of Troy have been breeched!” His voice boomed across the water. “They no longer keep out the Greeks, so they will also no longer keep out the sea. This is one oath old Priam cannot ignore. ” The god lifted his trident again, as if he was getting ready to lead a charge, but the clearing of a lovely voice from behind him had him hesitating and looking around.

  The beautiful Thetis of the Silver Feet stepped delicately forward, gliding over the top of the waves as if she was strolling on dry land. “Poseidon, wouldn’t you like to reward the mortal who has finally given you Troy?” she said.

  Poseidon lifted his bushy white brows. “I would, indeed, lovely Thetis. ”

  Thetis glanced in their direction. Achilles gave his mother a respectful nod and then took Kat’s hand and moved up to the shoreline. He bowed deeply to Poseidon.

  Poseidon inclined his head familiarly. “Achilles, it is with glad eyes that I see you have shaken off my brother’s curse. For your mother’s sake I am pleased that the berserker is no more. So what reward do I owe you for breeching the walls of Troy?”

  “Great God of the Seas, I thank you for your kind offer, but it is not me to whom you owe a reward. ” Achilles took Kat’s arm and presented her to Poseidon. “This mortal woman is responsible for delivering to you the walls of Troy. ”

  Poseidon stared down at her. Kat wasn’t sure of correct protocol, but she bobbed a nervous curtsey.

  “This small mortal woman did what an entire army of Greeks could not?”

  “I did,” Kat said.

  Poseidon bent so he could get a better look at her, then his eyes widened. “You! But you are the Trojan princess, Polyxena. ”

  “It would appear I am,” Kat said calmly.

  “Then it also appears I owe you a double boon—one for bringing me the walls of Troy and another for a slight, ur, misunderstanding earlier that could have ended very badly without divine intervention. ” The god actually seemed chagrined, giving Thetis an apologetic look. Then he turned his attention back to Kat. “So, Princess, what reward do you choose? I offer you anything within the wide seas of the world as yours. ”

  Kat’s gaze met Achilles’. “Choose for us, my princess,” he said. She looked over her shoulder at Jacky and Patroklos, who nodded and smiled at her.

  She drew a deep breath. “I know exactly what I want. I want you to give me an island that can be hidden from the world—a separate place of unimaginable beauty dedicated to healing and peace and the goddesses. ”

  Poseidon stroked his beard while he considered. “I believe I do have such an island, but it is far from here. In another time—another place. ”

  Kat squeezed Achilles’ hand. “The farther away, the better. ”

  “Then come!” Poseidon waved a hand over the cove. The black-sailed Myrmidon ships scattered like autumn leaves as a shining ship made of pearl surged to the surface from beneath the ocean depths. The waters of the cove parted, leaving a sidewalk of dry land leading to the glistening iridescent ship.

  Achilles faced his men. “I can no longer lead you. That Achilles died in flames on the Trojan battlefield. I want no more battles—no more glory. I want only the magic of peace. If that is what you want for your lives, you are free to join me. ” His half smile flickered. “But only if you are willing to bow to the goddesses. ” Then he took Kat’s hand, and they started down the god-made path, with Jacky and Patroklos following immediately behind them.

  Kat glanced back and was pleased to see that almost every Myrmidon and several of their war-prize brides, Aetnia included, were choosing to take the path to the pearl boat, too.

  “Um, Poseidon?” Jacky called as the last of the Myrmidons boarded and she and Kat, Patroklos and Achilles had moved to the bow of the ship.

  The God of the Seas peered down at Jacky, his bushy brows lifting when he saw what she was wearing. “Yes, mortal woman with the unusual costume, you have a question for Poseidon?”

  “Yeah. I was wondering, does this island you’re giving the, uh, princess have a name?”

  “It does, indeed. The mortals call it Avalon. ”

  Kat and Jacky exchanged stunned looks.

  “Jesus wept,” Jacky whispered, fanning herself and leaning weakly back against Patroklos. “My heart! I feel my heart going again. ”

  “Holy fucking shit,” Kat said, shaking her head numbly.

  “My god, Kat! I can’t wait to meet the locals,” Jacky said, laughing softly.

  Achilles’ arms went around Kat. “Is all well? Do you know this island called Avalon?”

  Feeling dazed, Kat looked into his beautiful eyes. “I do. And it is utterly, completely, perfect. ”

  She pulled Achilles down to her and kissed him while Poseidon waved his hand over the cove and the waters returned to normal as the pearl ship began to glide seaward into a bank of fog that shimmered and rippled magically. “I wish you a good voyage and a blessed future!” the God of the Seas called.

  “Kat, stop making out and look at this. I do believe we’re sailing into something that is less than normal,” Jacky said, thumping Kat on her back.

  Kat turned, but stayed within Achilles’ arms, and looked out at the rippling magic of their future. “I think we’d better just forget about what we used to think of as normal,” she said.

  Jacky snuggled against Patroklos’s side. Kat was glad to see that the warriors had pieced together something for him to wear—although the hospital gown had revealed a nice view of his firm backside.

  “Fine with me. I’ve never liked normal,” Jacky said.

  “You mean you’ve never been normal,” Kat teased.

  “You’re going to have to rename me,” Achilles said abruptly. “I don’t want anything to taint our new life, so Achilles is a name that must forever die at Troy. ”

  “I have an idea,” Jacky said. Three sets of eyes turned to her. “I think you should name him Angel. ”

  “You know, you are a very troubled woman. Get over your Buffy addiction—it’s just not right,” Kat said while the two men looked confused.

  “I did not mean Angel as in Buffy. I meant Angel as in fallen. Please! He doesn’t even have dark hair,” Jacky grumbled.

  Kat shook her head in disgust. “I seriously do not think so. Anyway, I have a better idea. ”

  “What will you call me?” Achilles asked.

  Kat turned in his arms. “What do you think of Kirk?”

  “Kirk…” Achilles tested the name. “I think I like it. ”

  “Sounds like the name of a leader,” Patroklos said.

  “Well?” Kat asked Jacky.

  “I cannot believe you give me a hard time about my Buffy issue, Ms. Star Trek,” Jacky said.

  “But you think it’s a good choice, don’t you?” Kat grinned mischievously at her best friend.

  Jacky laughed. “What I think is that our future is
going to be anything but boring. ”

  And the magical fog closed around the pearl ship, carrying them away to a new time… and new place… and a future that was definitely not boring.