Hera, Queen of Gods (Goddess Unbound)
Page 31
“They’re through,” Artemis warned. “We don’t have much time.”
She and two witches took up positions on either side of the bottom of the stairs, shielded behind pieces of furniture. They began to pepper the stairwell with arrows. I heard pythons shriek in pain and surprise.
“Go,” I told the other witches.
They lost no time in heading out the window. Soon, it was just me, the witch I was leaning on, and Artemis and her team.
“You’re next, my queen,” the witch told me.
I started to argue, but she was right. I couldn’t stay without her, and I was in no condition to help Artemis.
In a surprising display of strength, the slight woman thrust me up into Justin’s arms. He pulled me through the window.
Hermes had chosen the perfect escape route. We were concealed behind several bushes that had probably just been shrubberies. But thanks to Demeter, they’d grown into a thick hedge that completely hid us. Even so, we wouldn’t go unnoticed for long. The monsters would figure out that the hedges hadn’t always been there.
“Demeter went around the house to build up hedges on all sides. Throw ‘em off a bit,” Justin whispered.
The sounds of fighting grew closer.
“Hermes,” I realized.
“He’s quite the assassin,” Justin said.
The screams all around us testified to that.
“Being invisible helps,” I replied.
I silently cursed the powers I’d chosen. I would’ve given anything to throw a good fireball or two at the moment. But back in the Heavens, I’d never guessed things would get this bad. No one had.
Around me, the witches crouched and chanted. They couldn’t have much power left, but with death all around us, they’d drain themselves dry if that’s what it took.
Justin pulled two more witches through the window. I heard a scream, and then Artemis leapt through the window, knocking Justin aside. Without pausing, she turned and her face transformed into the great maw of a dragon. She spewed flames through the window. When her face shifted back, her eyes were bloodshot and she was panting hard.
“The other witch is dead,” I concluded softly.
“They got her as we were pulling back,” Artemis replied.
In battle, there were casualties. She and I both knew that. No one went to war without losing soldiers. But I’d seen so much death already. Actually seen it with my own eyes. Maybe that was why I felt it so much more than in all my years of looking down from the Heavens. The bodies just kept piling up. Bodies of family. Bodies of friends. Bodies of people dying for me. Because of me. I was drowning in them.
“We need to move,” Justin said. “The pythons inside are going to let the others know where they saw Artemis go.”
“Where do we go?” I asked.
“The street,” Justin answered. “We can’t go through the backyard. They’d pick off us in a confined space like that. We’d never make it over the fence.”
“And then what?” I pressed. “We can’t outrun pythons or harpies on open ground.”
“We could split up,” Artemis said. “Divide their forces.”
“And divide ours,” I countered. “No. We’re strongest together. That’s our only chance. Besides, if only one group of us escapes, that won’t be enough to defeat the traitor.”
“We still have our hexes,” one of the witches reminded us.
“Then we run and hope for the best,” Artemis finished. She didn’t sound very satisfied with that plan. But it was all we had.
The hedge shifted away from the walls of the building. Demeter was back.
“Their numbers keep growing,” she informed us. “They’re getting reinforcements somehow. We need to go now.”
The hedges rustled again, and Hermes materialized. “We got a plan?”
“Run?” Justin answered.
Hermes paused. “That’s a bad plan.”
“You have another one?” I replied.
He cocked his head. “Not really. I’ll try to slow the faster pythons down.”
“If they get too close, I’m pulling us into the Dreamlands,” Justin said.
It was his risk to take. It was his sanity that could finally snap, not ours. At least the Dreamlands offered us a slim chance of surviving. Assuming Justin didn’t go insane and strand us there to die. Or worse.
One of the witches handed each of us a sachet.
“I just finished these,” she said. “They take a long time to make, but as long as you keep them on you, no arrow can hit you.”
I gave her a grateful smile.
“At your command,” Artemis told me.
Hermes was already gone.
There was a roar behind us. The fire that Artemis had started was raging now.
“You’ll have to carry me,” I said regretfully to Justin.
He gave me a half-smile. “Don’t sound so worried. You’ll hurt my pride.”
I took a deep breath.
“We go now,” I cried.
And with that, we burst from the hedge and sprinted for the road. A handful of pythons stood between us and the street. We had the element of surprise, but they had weapons and incredible strength.
One of the pythons screamed as it was struck again and again by a floating knife that appeared out of nowhere and then vanished again. Hermes was already at work. But three other pythons charged us, spears high.
One of the monsters slipped on a patch of ice that materialized beneath it, crashing down and then skidding on the hard concrete. Another began to choke. It collapsed, vomiting a strange, foul-smelling liquid.
Hexes.
I heard a rain of arrows whistling through the air behind us, but the witch was true to her word. Every single arrow fell wide of its target. Some simply missed. Others snapped in midair and fell harmlessly to the ground. A few simply stopped, as if they’d just run out of force.
But above us, I could hear the war cries of the harpies diving.
“Artemis, you have to try to change! The harpies can’t have poisoned their claws. Ekhidna’s venom would kill them, too. Just stay out of range of the pythons’ spears.”
At least with Justin carrying me, I could shout orders.
In midstride, Artemis flowed into dragon form. It was a gamble. She’d used her powers so much lately. But there was no choice. We’d never been more desperate.
Artemis leapt into the air, smashing aside two pythons with her massive wings as she shot into the sky. She headed straight for the harpies. They were so sure they’d catch us vulnerable, they were totally unprepared to face a counterattack. Especially from a dragon.
Artemis slammed into the harpies, sending handfuls spiraling from the sky. Some recovered, squawking furiously in shock; many plummeted to the ground, where they twitched and shrieked or simply lay still.
With a roar of flame, Artemis arced back. Battle fury was giving her a deeper well of strength to draw from. She wouldn’t rest until every single harpy was dead. She was a god enraged, and there was nothing more terrible in the world. We didn’t have to worry about the harpies anymore.
But there were still more pythons, and they were all streaming toward us. Fast.
Some of the witches tried to chant as they ran, but it was difficult for them to draw on their power when they were struggling to breathe. Still, one of the closest pythons erupted in blisters and boils, stopping in shock. Another let out a blood-curdling shriek and fled, its face wracked with fear. One even began to melt into the pavement.
A witch running alongside us tossed two things over her shoulder. I couldn’t catch sight of what they were, but I saw what they became. Thorny vines burst from the bundles, ensnaring two pythons that were closing in.
Demeter turned her head and smiled. She raised her arms as she ran, and the vines spread like wildfire. More and more pythons became tangled in the growing mass of plants.
We kept running.
An intersection. Just ahead. Cars. People. Safety.
I even thought about luring them across the boundary, but intervention was out of my control. It’d be automatic, thorough, and merciless. Everyone in the area would be eliminated to contain exposure. Us included. Justin had avoided intervention so far because of the vows we’d used to bind him and then by becoming a Dreamer; like witches, he was now outside the boundaries of this world and its Necessity. Beth had been trickier. Luckily, a single person could be written off as crazy. Intervention wasn’t necessary. But there’d be no escaping if we crossed into a crowded area with monsters in their true form. It was certain death.
Artemis landed beside us, shifting into mortal form. She couldn’t cross the boundary as a dragon. From the way she was shaking, she couldn’t have kept that form much longer anyway. Hermes materialized beside her.
We were almost there! Home free!
Then I spotted her, appearing out of nowhere. Ekhidna. Directly between us and the boundary.
So close. We were so close to freedom, to safety. A few yards away, people passed by, completely oblivious to our presence and the fact that their fate, and the fate of all they knew, was being decided so close by.
“It’sss over!” Ekhidna said.
“I don’t think so,” Justin snapped. He closed his eyes, and I felt his energy reaching out to each of us to pull us to the Dreamlands.
Ekhidna narrowed her eyes. “Fassssssinating. I’ve never met a Dreamer before. I thought you were a myth. Tell me. Are Dreamersss immune to poissson?”
She clenched her fist.
Justin dropped to his knees. I rolled out of his arms and onto the ground. He fell to his side, face contorted in agony.
“I’ve been told that my poissson isss quite painful,” Ekhidna purred. “Agonisssing, in fact. Essspesssially when I enflame it. What do you think, Dreamer?”
“Stop it, Ekhidna!” I shouted. “Leave him alone!”
Ekhidna blinked. To my surprise, she relaxed her hand, and Justin took a deep, shuddering breath. He tried to stand, but I put a restraining hand on him.
Ekhidna cocked her head. “You . . .” She began to laugh, a deep, hissing sound. “You care about thisss flessshbag?” She howled with laughter. “Mighty Hera, frigid asss the ssstarsss, on her kneesss, begging for the life of a . . . mortal?”
I clenched my jaw, fighting back tears of frustration and fury.
“Take them,” Ekhidna commanded her pythons.
By now, the pythons had caught up to us, and they grabbed us roughly. One of them hauled me to my feet, but there was no fooling Ekhidna. She grinned as she stalked toward me.
She caressed the side of my face with one of her poisoned claws. “I can feel it inssside you. Let her go.”
The python released me, and I collapsed to the ground. Ekhidna’s laughter rang in my ears. “How convenient. Sssince you’re poisssoned, it appearsss I have everything I need to motivate you. Which meansss that keeping the ressst of you alive isss unnesssessssssary. Kill them all.”
The nearest python raised his spear and plunged it toward Justin’s chest.
“No!” I screamed.
I didn’t know where it came from, and I couldn’t be completely certain what happened next. It felt like my head was exploding. A ring of light shot out around me. Pythons dropped their weapons, and clutched at their heads. They fell, flopping on the ground like fish, twisting back and forth, but they couldn’t escape whatever was tormenting them.
It was me. Somehow, it was me. My powers. I was bending the Rules. I was affecting monsters.
Ekhidna fell as well. But she recovered quickly. She shook herself and began to get to her feet.
“How’d you do that?” Justin demanded.
“I . . . I don’t know,” I admitted. “It doesn’t make sense. Our powers are limited when we come down from the Heavens.”
Justin swept me into his arms, even as I babbled. The others pulled back toward us. But we were still surrounded, and most of the pythons had already recovered.
I felt it then. A surge of power. Then another. And another. No, not another. The same one. Doubling. Tripling. Quadrupling. Quintupling. The witches. They were joining hands.
The nearest witch looked at me. I didn’t even know her name. She was crying, but her chin was lifted.
“This is where we part ways, Queen of Gods,” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “Save our world.”
“No . . .” I began.
But before I could stop them, they began to chant. The words were strange, but the intent, the power, that I understood. They were calling death.
“What . . .” Ekhidna could feel it, too. But she thought it was me.
Ekhidna stumbled toward me, her claws raised. I felt the poison start to move inside me, eating through what was left of Apollo’s carefully-constructed dams, desperate to answer Ekhidna’s call. But she was still weak from whatever I’d done.
And she was far too late.
The witches were finished. The spell was cast.
One by one, they fell around me. Witches. Dead. Unseeing eyes staring at nothing, eerily serene.
And then the pythons started to fall. Six. Twelve. Thirty. I lost count. As far as I could see, pythons were dying, until finally there were no pythons left to die.
Ekhidna shrieked in horror. Then terror. She turned, but she was trapped between the wrath of the Heavens and me.
Artemis and Hermes began to move in.
“Don’t come any clossser,” Ekhidna warned. She began to slither to one side.
“Oh, we won’t,” Hermes assured her.
He bent down and picked up a spear from a dead python. Artemis found a bow. She notched an arrow and aimed it right at Ekhidna’s heart.
“She never misses,” I reminded Ekhidna. “And even if she did, I don’t think Hermes will. So this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to let you live. Even though it disgusts me, and you don’t even remotely deserve it.”
“Why?” Demeter asked grimly.
“Because,” I answered, smiling coldly, “from now on, you work for me, Ekhidna. You’re going to help us stop the traitor.”
With a hiss of fury, Ekhidna bowed her head in defeat.
I smiled.
One down. Two to go.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Using Ekhidna was a risk. I knew that. We all did. It relied heavily on Ekhidna not completely screwing us over, which was not particularly comforting. But it was also too tempting an opportunity to pass up. If we were going to win, not just survive but actually win, then we needed to take big risks and for that, we needed all the help we could get. Ekhidna could get us the information we needed. She could sabotage the alliance from within. Best of all, no one, not even the traitor, would ever guess I’d try to use her.
“We need her to take a vow not to betray us. It’s the only way we can trust her,” Demeter said.
“What do expect us to do?” Hermes countered. “She refuses! We can’t force her. We’ve already threatened to kill her. What’s left? Torture?”
Artemis smiled. I shuddered.
“Wait. I think I know why she’s refusing,” Justin said suddenly.
He’d just finished learning the truth about Stygian vows, and he’d been silently processing that information until now, more information than any mortal had ever been trusted with.
“Because she’s a psycho monster bitch?” Hermes suggested.
“That,” Justin said. “And what if she actually can’t take the vow? What if she’d be betraying another vow if she did?”
“Of course!” I said. “The traitor must’ve bound her with his own vow to keep her from talking.”
“But we might be able to find a loophole,” Hermes pointed out.
I was pacing inside our new refuge: a closed Laundromat that Hermes had broken into.
With a few bed sheets from the lost and found tacked over the windows, it gave us a bit of cover. Without magick, the traitor and his mortal pet had to find us the hard way, and we planned on making that very hard.
“First things first,” Demeter said.
She faced Ekhidna, who’d shifted into her mortal form to leave the cloak with us. I envied that particular quirk of Chaos. Being able to simply look mortal rather than having to borrow a body. Not to mention being able to work magick. Chaos was fluidity--fluidity of purpose, fluidity of form, fluidity of everything.
“Heal Hera,” Demeter demanded. “And Justin too.”
“How do I know you won’t kill me if I do?” Ekhidna countered, shifting anxiously.
“You don’t,” I snapped. “But if you want to live, you better give us a reason to keep you alive. Fast.”
Ekhidna stared at me balefully. But she began to vibrate in her seat, and I felt a stirring inside me. Both Justin and I fell to our knees, gasping and coughing.
Artemis notched an arrow with impossible speed.
“Kill me . . . and they die . . . you fool,” Ekhidna hissed. Her eyes never moved from Justin and me. Whatever she was doing took a lot of focus.
Wave after wave of nausea pounded against me until finally I began to retch. Foul-smelling black ichor poured out of my mouth. Looking across from me, I saw the same thing happening to Justin. My body arced with pain, but eventually the convulsing slowed, and then stopped. Finally, I could breathe again. Shakily I got to my feet.
“Your legs!” Demeter exclaimed.
“I did what you asssked,” Ekhidna said. “Now keep your end of the bargain.”
Artemis lowered her bow, but she kept her arrow notched and ready. She made sure to shift ever so slightly so the metal gleamed in the light. Ekhidna’s eyes never left that gleam.
“We know about the vows you swore to the traitor,” Hermes said. “But there are ways around that. I’m betting you were smart enough to leave yourself a way out.”
“I can’t tell you anything,” Ekhidna said.
“But?” I pressed.
“But you’ve found ways to see things I didn’t want to tell you before,” she replied.
“We can go back inside her mind,” Justin realized.