With My Last Breath

by Courtney Cole

  Her back was hunched grotesquely, her hair white and stringy. Her face, however, was the worst. It looked like cracked gray porcelain. A thousand tiny web-like wrinkles began at her forehead and radiated to her chin, making her look like a corpse. I gasped, more out of surprise than actual fear and she smiled, stepping toward me, with eyes so faded that they looked like clouds.

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  ‚Do I frighten you, Heleyne?' she asked throatily, reaching out to run one twisted finger down my cheek, trailing onto my neck. I steeled myself and remained still, enduring her frigid touch. She was as cold as a corpse, just as Alexi and Cadmus were.

  Horror squeezed my heart. Was she soulless as well?

  She felt my sudden apprehension and cocked her head, her wrinkled hand frozen on my shoulder. I felt a chill, but against all odds, managed to not move and kept my feet planted on the floor. She was the epitome of unnerving.

  ‚You’re such a proud one, little keeper,' she murmured into my ear. Her frosty breath hissed against my skin as her voice chilled my heart. Everything about her screamed danger. It raised the hair on my neck and she smiled.

  ‚There will not be a next time because you will not be here to make another mistake,' she announced coldly. Alarm caused my heart to pound wildly against my ribcage. The Fates had never done this before.

  ‚What do you mean?' I asked shakily. ‚I must be here. I know my Daedal better than anyone. No one can handle her like I can.'

  She nodded thoughtfully. ‚Yes, in the past that has been the case,' she agreed. ‚But you have shown that you are losing your edge. Ahmose will handle her. You will come with me. The people here will simply fear that you have been taken by intruders and they will search for you for awhile, but in the end, it will be as though you never existed here at all.'

  My heart thudded so loudly that I could hear it in the still night and I knew she could too. I had to think quickly, to get her to change her mind, but I couldn’t come up with a feasible retort. After a moment, I managed to think of something to stall.

  ‚What will you do with me?'

  With nimble quickness that I would never have thought that she possessed, she bounded back to my side, throwing me against the wall with supernatural strength.

  With my head shoved against the hard stone, she sniffed at my face, my neck, my arms, my legs. All the while, her white hair straggled down her back over her arms and I could feel the evil emanating from her.

  How I had never felt it when I had been in mortal form? It was thick in the air around her. Even a mortal should recognize her for the threat that she was, yet I never did. I had always wanted to believe her. As she pushed her face into mine, I ached to throw her off, to use my goddess strength to defend myself, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t reveal myself in such a way and so instead, I gritted my teeth as she continued to sniff at me.

  Shoving my nightgown up, she licked my inner thigh, dragging her rough, cold tongue along the skin of my knee to the juncture of my thighs. She paused there, with her face buried in my nether region, keeping me pressed to her with one cold arm.

  With her other hand, she used her long thumb nail to rip the bodice of my nightgown Courtney Cole 82

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  and push it away, leaving me exposed and naked as the light cotton material fell to the ground.

  Goosebumps formed on every surface of my body in the night breeze, but I stood still, trying to force my face to remain expressionless as I willed my heart to calm.

  Glancing up at me, Lachesis lingered over my belly before moving to my heart, pressing her ear to my ribcage and listening, holding her icy hands against my shoulder blades, before she licked the skin between my breasts.

  Burying her face between them, she inhaled. I held my breath, willing my heart, which was so close to her ear, to slow down. I didn’t want to tip my hand, because she would expect me to be frightened in this mortal body, but she didn’t need to know how much she truly unnerved me, either.

  ‚So proud,' she murmured, leaving my breasts to pay close attention to my arm.

  Lifting it, first she examined it and then she sniffed at it, following an invisible trail from my shoulder to my wrist. When she finally reached my pulse point, she froze with her nose against my skin. I felt my blood pulsing hard as my heart beat against her mouth.

  ‚You’re lying about something, Keeper,' she observed. ‚I can smell it. Along with your fear, I sense deceit. What are you hiding?'

  Her cloudy eyes pierced mine as she stayed poised above my wrist. I fought to remain calm. This was the most unsettling situation I had ever been in. She was violating my personal dignity and there wasn’t a thing that I could do about it. Or that I should do about it, anyway.

  ‚Nothing, Lachesis,' I whispered. ‚I am lying about nothing. I am hiding nothing.'

  ‚You lie,' she snarled and plunged her yellowed teeth into my wrist. I gasped and cried out, but rigidly kept my feet planted and forced myself to remain calm and frozen in place as the ancient witch drank my blood.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off of her face. Her eyes were closed in pleasure as my blood streaked from the corners of her mouth. I could see the pulse beating in my arm, the vital blood pumping faster into her mouth with every second that I became more frightened. With every second, I felt weaker as she took more and more of my blood into her mouth.

  ‚Stop,' I murmured calmly. ‚Lachesis, stop. What are you doing?'

  I had never been more proud of myself for exhibiting restraint. I wanted nothing more than to throw this old woman across the room. Yet I stood limply and allowed her to suck my very life away. There wasn’t anything else I could without tipping my hand.

  Seconds turned into minutes and my body had begun to feel cold from blood loss before Lachesis finally complied with my request and dropped my arm, taking one step back.

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  I gripped my wrist with my other hand tightly as I stared at her.

  My blood streaked down her chin and her eyes were no longer cloudy. They were shiny and black and had a slightly crazed look in them as she studied me.

  ‚You are lying, Harmonia. I tasted it.' Harmonia.

  Once again, my heart stilled with fear. Her eyes were shiny and glazed with pleasure, but in them was knowledge. She knew everything. She had drunk my blood to taste for lies. And I couldn’t control that. My own blood had given me away. She knew the truth.

  I returned her stare coldly as she continued to study me.

  ‚How can this be?' she asked. ‚What is the meaning of this?'

  ‚Do you think that you are the only ones who control Fate?' I asked humorlessly.

  ‚You are not. We have simply allowed you to hold that role … and for far too long.

  That will end soon.'

  ‚Will it?' she replied with icy, eerie calm.

  I took a step toward her, intent on restraining her, on holding her down until I could decide what to do, but she took a long step back.

  With a strange and horrible screech, she thrust her head and shoulders back and her clothing fell to shreds and dropped to the ground around her ankles. As she stood naked, her wrinkled skin turned ebony black and hideous bony wings ripped from her body, fanning to fill that entire side of the room. She opened her eyes and they were blood red.

  ‚Will it?' she asked again, her voice hoarse and dripping with the evil that I knew she was. The temperature in the room plummeted, the cold radiating from Lachesis herself. I shivered, as the hair raised at the nape of my neck. I could see every quick pant of breath that I took hanging in the air.

  Glancing down, I saw that her toes had turned into razor sharp talons, scratching the floor as she took a few more steps. Then suddenly, she took flight through the room, shooting over my head and out my open windows.

  Rushing to my balcony, I watched as she flew quickly from the palace and i
nto the night. In horror, I realized that a long, scaly tail hung behind her. And then she was gone and I was alone, breathing hard as I leaned against the balcony railing.

  What did this mean? Where was she going? What the hell was she?

  I desperately tried to calm myself but dizziness from fear, from the blood loss, from the shock of what had just happened overtook me and I crumpled to the ground in a heap.

  My tattered clothes lay in a pile in front of me and I concentrated on them as I sent out a silent plea for help.

  Mother, I need you.

  And then I closed my eyes.

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  Chapter Fourteen

  ‚Help her! Help her, Hecate,' a voice pleaded anxiously.

  My mother. I tried to open my eyes but my eyelids were too heavy. It felt as though a brick lay on each one. I struggled with it for a moment and then gave up. I didn’t have the strength to move or to speak. All I could do was listen.

  ‚Hecate, what has happened?' Ares muttered hurriedly. He was anxious as well. I could hear it in his voice. ‚What is wrong with her?'

  Where was I? Was I still in my bedchambers? I inhaled a breath and in it, I could taste the roses that drifted in on the breeze from the gardens. I was still in Camelot, that was certain. The night air was thick with dew, roses and brambles. I could smell the damp earth from outside and the moss that covered the palace walls and I could feel the salt from the sea on my lips.

  What was wrong with me? I was physically drained, my energy gone. I couldn’t lift my hands or move my legs. I could hear Hecate rustling beside me, moving, perhaps mixing something. Glass and metal scraped against each other and then a pungent odor filled the room, clinging to the inside of my nostrils.

  ‚What the hell is that?' Ares boomed.

  ‚Hush, Ares,' my mother cautioned.

  ‚I care not who hears me,' Ares thundered. ‚I wish to know what the witch is going to feed my daughter. It smells like death.'

  ‚Perhaps that is exactly what it is, war god,' Hecate muttered. ‚You do not need to know what my magic contains, only that it is very powerful. Lachesis drank from your daughter’s blood. You can see the wound in her arm for yourself. Your daughter’s pure blood has now fueled the Moirae. But because of that, it has left Harmonia impotent and spent.

  ‚I shall have to use strong magic to revive her. Do not worry yourself, Ares. I’ve used this very potion on others, including your other daughter, Ortrera. She came through just fine and so will Harmonia...and her baby.'

  Something cool forced my lips open and the most vile liquid I had ever tasted dripped down my throat, sliding into my belly like fire. The repugnant potion churned within my stomach, rapidly spreading through my blood with every beat of my heart. I felt it return my strength and as it did, it forced a shrill scream from my lungs, jerking my body into a sitting position as I shrieked.

  Guinevere clapped her hands over her ears as she stared at me in panic.

  ‚Harmonia, stop!' she murmured. ‚Are you alright?'

  I quieted the unconscious scream and assessed myself. Was I?

  ‚I don’t know,' I answered. ‚I think so.'

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  Hecate patted my arm. ‚You’ll be fine now. Our concerns should not be with your well being, but with Lachesis… and what she has done with her new knowledge.'

  ‚What do you mean?' I asked anxiously.

  Hecate stared at me patiently. The sympathy that I found in her gaze was startling and I inhaled.

  ‚What is it?' I asked quickly. ‚What has happened?'

  She sighed and my parents drew closer, making me instantly nervous. I wasn’t sure if they meant to restrain me or comfort me.

  ‚As you know,' she began, ‚Whenever someone travels time, there is a risk… a risk that something will be altered. Any change, no matter how small, can cause massive ripple effects, effects that start small, but gradually widen until they create devastatingly large changes.'

  I kept my eyes trained on Hecate’s solemn face.

  ‚What has happened?' I repeated in a whisper.

  ‚Close your eyes and hold hands,' she instructed quietly. We quickly did as she asked and our minds were instantly filled with visions.

  The world had turned black.

  Everything was just like the Wastelands where Cadmus was being held… void and cold. I shivered as I watched the images unfold in my mind.

  Mortals were heartless, war raged everywhere. Thunderous dark clouds encapsulated every city as far as my mind could see. It was a bleak place and it was because of the Fates. I knew that without doubt. Because they did not have to continue their charade in order to keep me contained, they had turned the world into what they wanted it to be. Their only purpose now was to find the sword. They did not care what happened to the mortals. And the mortals were killing themselves.

  Even the Spiritlands was dark and Olympus was ravaged and war torn. Houses were demolished, the land was quiet and black, the people were miserable.

  I gasped and yanked my hands away, ending the visions. I jumped from my bed and rushed to the windows. The lush rolling mountainside below me had turned brown and dead. Black clouds swirled overhead, while dry leaves and withered rose petals blew across the countryside.

  ‚What will happen?' I cried. ‚What can we do?'

  Hecate studied me sadly. ‚I know not,' she admitted softly. ‚This is like nothing that I’ve ever seen. They have changed everything. But we must repair it. If we do not, I fear that everything will be lost.'

  ‚That is not an answer, witch,' I glared at her. ‚I only need to know what to do.

  Point me in the right direction and I will gladly do what I need to do.' As I glanced around at my mother, father and Hecate, I realized something. Lucan was not here.

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  ‚Where’s Lucan?' I asked hesitantly. ‚Ares, you are back from the skirmish.

  Where is Lucan?'

  Ares shifted his weight and glanced at my mother. She looked pained as she studied me.

  ‚Harmonia….' her voice trailed off.

  ‚What?' I asked in alarm. ‚Just tell me. What has happened?'

  Guinevere pushed her shoulders back and cleared her throat. ‚He’s in the dungeons.'

  ‚The dungeons?' I cried. ‚Why? What the hell is going on?'

  Ares stepped forward. ‚Your parlor trick,' he explained quietly. ‚You saved the young squire in front of an entire group of soldiers and then Lucan carried you away.

  They’re crying witchcraft and claiming that Lucan was involved.'

  ‚Lucan… but that’s insane,' I stuttered. ‚But what about me? I’m the one who did it- why am I still here and Lucan is confined to the dungeon?'

  ‚Well, that’s a little tricky,' Ares shook his head. ‚Hecate froze time.'

  I stared at him blankly. ‚Hecate did what?'

  Hecate interjected. ‚I froze time. We needed to meet to decide what to do.

  Everything can still be salvaged, but we will need Zeus’ sword to do it. We cannot rectify anything at all if they burn you for a witch, Harmonia.'

  The mental image of being tied to a stake and burned alive caused me to shudder.

  How did I get myself into such messes?

  ‚I see,' I replied. ‚So then, witch, what do you propose that we do? My mother believes that the sword might be hidden at the king’s parents’ property somewhere, but we know not exactly where. How do we find it? And what about me? They want me dead. Surely, though, Arthur will listen to reason. He knows me. He knows that I am not a witch.'

  Again, they stared at each other uncertainly.

  ‚Harmonia, everything has drastically changed. Not only has the world itself changed, but the people here have changed as well, produc
ts of that environment.

  Arthur is… not the same,' Ares explained.

  I raised an eyebrow, trying desperately to conceal my alarm. ‚Meaning?'

  ‚Meaning that Arthur is not currently the warm, good-hearted person that you know him to be. He has grown cold much like everyone else here. He’s as ruthless as anyone I’ve ever seen,' Ares admitted.

  ‚No,' I shook my head. ‚I don’t believe that from him. He’s the most compassionate man I’ve ever known.'