With My Last Breath, Book Three

by Cori Chaffee

  Before I could think another thought, the ground in front of me opened, a yawning, black hole and haunting screams emitted from it. Full of fear and pain, the howls reached our ears, filling our hearts with dread. It was the sound of the underworld.

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  The warriors in the front automatically backed away from the sound and I couldn’t blame them. I wanted to do the same, but I stood fast, gripping Lucan’s fingers tightly.

  A horrific thunder shook the land around us as a metallic rattle echoed from the hole. The heavy sounds grew nearer and within seconds, a team of massive metal horses screamed from the tunnel, screeching to a stop in front of Hecate.

  Their bronze sides heaved as their nostrils flared with flame, their front hooves slamming against the ground in agitation. They were ferocious and strong and I knew them. My step-father, Hephaestus had created them, breathing fire into their throats himself. These were the Horses of the Cabiri. Crafted from bronze, they had crimson red eyes and could breathe fire and withstand any injury. Their hearts were as black as night. They tossed their heads impatiently as they stood.

  ‚Uther!' Hecate called. ‚You may drive this team of demons.'

  Uther stepped forward without hesitation to claim their reigns, stepping onto the empty golden chariot that they pulled. He raced with them to the back of the crowd where he turned them and fell into place within the ranks.

  A coldness descended upon us and I glanced furtively around. Black mist seeped from the tunnel and I leaned into Lucan. It was apparent that whatever was coming next was evil. Lonely howls came first, blood-curling and loud, before a massive wall of black, ragged fur stepped into view.

  Cerberus. I knew it before I even saw it. The three-headed demon dog that guarded the gates of hell. The smell of sulfur and rotted flesh filled the air around us and I fought an overwhelming urge to cover my nose with my hand.

  One of the three heads turned slowly and met my gaze. I tried not to blink, to not be the first to look away, but it was difficult. There was ugliness in its eyes. Cold and flat, I knew those eyes had seen evil that I couldn’t even imagine. Every horrendous thing that had ever crossed the gates of hell had passed this guardian first. Its large wild eye rolled and then the head swiveled to look again at the crowd. I felt a sense of relief that I was no longer in its line of vision. The beast was unnerving.

  Lucan caught my eye, his eyebrow raised as if to ask if I was okay. I nodded, squeezing his hand. He pulled me closer and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders. His warmth was reassuring and I melted into it as we watched the parade of evil pour from the underworld.

  More and more beasts emerged from the open gateway. With each one, the air around us grew colder and colder. The evil in the air was palpable. I only hoped that the chieftains and Hecate could control these creatures as well as they thought they could.

  Finally, as far as my eyes could see, there was an ocean of armed warriors, beasts from hell and gods and goddesses from my homeland. United with a common cause, Courtney Cole 127

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  everyone stood together. It was humbling and breathtaking at once. Good and evil would battle together to face an adversary that was the most evil of all.

  ‚We should hear from the Chosen One!' someone screamed and I startled. I had never been one for the limelight. I always traveled safely behind the scenes, guiding those around me. I had never grown accustomed to walking in the spotlight.

  I swallowed hard.

  ‚They wish to hear from you, love,' Lucan prompted. ‚Do you feel up to it?' He searched my face quickly, his chocolate eyes concerned. ‚You do not have to.'

  ‚Of course I do,' I replied. ‚They are willing to die today. The least I can do is speak to them.'

  He grinned, a beautiful smile of reassurances and encouragement and I drew comfort from it. In it, I found a reminder that this was a man that loved me so much that he would protect me with his life. I brushed a soft kiss on his cheek as I passed him, walking to the front. As I stepped forward, the crowd cheered.

  ‚I am Harmonia,' I called. At my voice, everyone stilled. It became so quiet that I could hear the breaths from the horses. ‚I am the goddess of peace and contentment.

  And I have been told that I am the Chosen One, that I am meant to bring peace to us all.' There were nods and shouts and I paused to scan the crowd.

  ‚I must tell you that I do not feel like a Chosen One,' I continued.

  Murmurings. Restlessness. Soft gasps.

  I raised my arm and held my birthmark in the air for all to see.

  ‚I have been marked for so long that I do not remember a time when I was not. I was misled to believe that I was something that I was not and have inadvertently done heinous things. All because of the whims of three ancient women. Their desire for power and recognition has tumbled a great city, Olympus, to rubble. The powerful gods and goddesses within have been taken. The machinations of these women have turned the mortal world into something ugly and evil…something that it is not. We are the only ones left to set everything right and restore everything to that which it should be.

  ‚I might not feel like the Chosen One, but apparently that is exactly what I am. I died earlier today. Then I returned to this life, gasping for air like a fish on the edge of a pond, my wounds miraculously healed. For whatever reason, I am meant to be here right now and you were meant to be here right now. I am grateful to you for riding with me this day. Together, we will change the world and we will emerge victorious.'

  Utter silence.

  Then everyone erupted into shouts and yells. Horses reared and stomped, people called my name. Never, for the rest of my immortal life, would I forget the feelings from this day. Hope, fear, pride and trepidation swirled together in my chest and the emotions threatened to overwhelm me as my eyes welled up with tears.

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  Lucan grabbed me from behind and clasped me to him, circled by his strong arms.

  ‚You are the most beautiful, amazing creature ever to walk the earth,' he told me softly. ‚I have never been so proud to be your husband and there is no place I would rather be than with you. I have been a warrior for centuries. But today, I feel at home with you by my side. We will fight together, my love, and we will win together. And then we will return together for our daughter.'

  I nodded as he kissed my lips, his mouth soft and gentle. I felt a tear streak down my cheek and he wiped it away.

  ‚Do not cry,' he whispered, leaning his forehead against mine. ‚We will be victorious and all will be well.' I nodded, sniffling as he took a finger and wiped my tears.

  ‚I love you, wife.'

  ‚And I love you,' I replied.

  Turning, we once again faced our army as we prepared to ride into battle.

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  Chapter Twenty One

  The palace grounds were quiet and dark as we approached, our horses’ hooves clacking against the packed dirt road beneath us. Above us, Ortrera and her Amazon warriors circled, their muscled legs guiding their Pegasus’ while they kept their eyes trained on the ground below them. I glanced up and Ortrera shook her head.

  Apparently, she saw nothing.

  Not a sound, not a movement came from within the compound. The silence was deafening. Even though it was only late afternoon, the dark clouds that swirled around us gave the appearance of the dead of night. The darkened palace loomed in front of us, ominous and stark behind the stone walls.

  Ares rode in front, with my mother, Lucan, Hecate and me at his flanks. The legions of undead warriors fell in behind us, while gods and goddesses from the Spiritlands brought up the tail. The beasts from hell were situated throughout. They carried with them their acidic, sulfurous smell.

  ‚Where is everyone?' I murmured to Lucan. ‚This place seems deserted.'
>
  ‚Trust me, it is not,' he replied, looking around cautiously. ‚They only want to appear that way. It’s a brilliant tactic.'

  If by brilliant, he meant unsettling, then I agreed. The hair rose on the hackles of my neck as I glanced around us. Shadows drifted around every corner as we moved stealthily toward the compound, the eerie silence roaring in my ears.

  And then all hell broke loose.

  Alarms sounded, the bugles screeching into the countryside and Arthur’s men were suddenly everywhere. Our horses’ hindquarters ground into the dirt to find traction as we pivoted and spun, trying to keep our backs safe from attack.

  ‚Stay with me!'Lucan shouted to me, brandishing a gleaming sword as he whirled in his saddle. The broadside of his weapon came into contact with Sir Gareth’s young chest. Gareth’s face, which was normally so boyish and handsome, was twisted into an ugly sneer as he tumbled from his horse and then leaped back to his feet.

  ‚Worry about yourself!' I called, as I spun Celine in a circle.

  Hefting a lance from the rings attached to my saddle, I used goddess strength to hurl it toward Sir Gareth. Flying with such velocity, it easily sliced through the armor protecting his arm and embedded into the earth. The tip buried at least three feet into the ground, effectively pinning the angry knight. He was uninjured, but there was no way he would be getting up any time soon.

  ‚Well done,' Lucan grinned.

  ‚Let us try not to injure them,' I suggested. ‚They are not themselves.'

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  ‚Agreed,' Lucan replied. ‚They have been my brothers for a long while. I do not wish to harm them.'

  Ahead of me, I watched my mother pin a young knight and his squire to the wall of the castle with her silvery goddess gaze. Another squire, attempting to grab her from behind was thwarted by my father.

  With a deafening roar, Ares grabbed the teenaged boy, squeezing him tightly around the ribs. I heard a loud crack before he tossed the boy limply aside. The boy didn’t move. He wasn’t dead, but broken ribs would keep him immobile and would prevent him from rejoining the battle. It seemed that we were all of the same mind--- to avoid killing these soldiers.

  In front of me, Cerebrus sat calmly, while Bedivere and Lamarak charged toward him. Their faces glistened with hate, their armor clattered as they launched themselves at him. Cerebrus reared his head back and breathed a mouthful of horrendous gas toward the knights.

  It knocked them over and Bedivere retched into the dirt.

  ‚By God, that is vile!' he shouted. ‚It smells like death.'

  ‚He eats death for dinner, my brother,' Lucan replied from behind them.

  With that, he drew a short sword, approaching the two knights in the dirt. Both of them lunged to their feet, drawing their weapons to fight. While they parried to and fro, the Cerebrus watched with glistening black eyes, its mane of snakes writhing along its great neck. It caused me to shudder before I turned my attention back to the battle raging around me.

  Just as I was deciding where to intercede, the sky around me turned a deep, bloody red. Gasping in surprise, I turned my face to the sun and found that it had turned black. Gray, thunderous clouds rolled through the crimson sky and a hideous wailing filled the land.

  I covered my ears with my hands, unable to stand the horrifying shrieks.

  ‚What is it?' I screamed to Aphrodite. She whirled in a circle and then lunged to the top of the palace wall, crouching as she searched the horizon. But then I saw them myself and my blood turned to ice.

  The Fates were descending from the sky, each of them coming upon us as demons.

  They flew with massive black wings, the skin stretched taut over pointy bone. Their naked bodies were covered in black scales, their eyes as black as pitch. They possessed tails and fangs and claws and they were without a doubt the most terrifying creatures I had ever seen. They were evil personified.

  My mother leapt from the wall to stand with me and we circled, keeping our backs together in order to protect ourselves. As the Fates landed on the ground, they walked on all fours, their curled claws scraping the earth loudly as they moved.

  I gulped.

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  ‚This isn’t good, mother,' I observed.

  ‚Whatever gave you that idea?' she asked lightly. ‚They are nothing, daughter.

  Do not be intimidated.'

  I looked around and found that the knights did not appear surprised at anything on this battlefield… not the hounds from hell, not the bronzed fire-breathing horses, not the Fates themselves. The mortal world had certainly changed. They were simply accustomed now to expecting the worst at all times. I shook my head at the misery of that existence.

  Lachesis caught my eye and stepped from the middle of her sisters, her black eyes snapping and gleaming as she approached. I swallowed hard and gripped my dagger tightly.

  ‚What will you do with that, keeper?' she hissed as she drew up in front of me to her full height. In this new demon form, she was seven feet tall. Her fangs glistened in the eerie red light and I felt chills run down the length of my legs.

  ‚Perhaps I will drive it into your black heart,' I suggested as I turned it over and over in my hands.

  My mother stood rigidly against my back, protecting me from any unexpected attack as I faced the middle Moirae sister. Ares was engaged with the other two, his muscles straining as they fought. I blocked it out. My thoughts had to focus on this one sister. This was my fight.

  ‚Why you?' I asked her seriously. ‚Why has it always been you that tormented me? It has always been you that visited me in so many lives, it has been you that thought of ways to torture me. I am betting it was you who chose to take my child from me and hide her away with Calypso. Why?'

  She threw her frightening head back and laughed, but her laugh now sounded like a hissing shriek. My heart stilled at the sound, but I showed no outward sign of fear.

  ‚Of course it was me!' she exclaimed proudly. ‚It has always been me that understood what a threat you would eventually become. My sisters didn’t believe it,'

  she sneered. ‚Even though the prophecy was clear, they couldn’t fathom that the weak girl that we had thrust into mortal form so many times could actually challenge us.'

  She appraised me, her onyx gaze glittering. ‚But I knew.'

  ‚I’m not weak,' I replied. ‚I’ve never been weak.'

  ‚No,' she answered thoughtfully, her voice frighteningly calm. ‚You haven’t. But you are weaker than me. I dine on little goddesses like you.'

  Anger surged within me, fury at everything she had done to me over the millennia combining to fuel my rage.

  ‚Try it,' I snarled, leaping toward her.'I dare you.'

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  She lunged and met me mid-air, her wings closing in to clasp me to her within the diaphanous folds. Her skin was slippery and sticky at once and I struggled against her.

  Her fetid breath was moist on my neck, the tip of one fang scratching my skin.

  ‚I’m going to drink every drop of your blood,' she breathed into my ear. ‚And then I will have your daughter’s for an evening cocktail.'

  She shouldn’t have threatened Raquel.

  My rage filled my fingertips and exploded, throwing Lachesis off of me. She flew into the palace wall and rolled to the ground, but quickly leaped back to her feet. Out of my periphery, I found that Lucan had joined Ares now and they were engaged with the other two Moirae sisters.

  ‚Harmonia, are you alright?' Lucan called, not taking his eyes from Atropos. He held Zeus’ sword in his hand, raising it parallel with her face. She hissed at him in response, lifting one clawed hand to scratch at the ground in front of her.

  ‚I’m fine,' I answered, keeping my gaze locked with Lachesis. She grinned, a horrifying, grotesque sight.

  ‚Are you?' she as
ked. ‚I don’t think you are.'

  She advanced on me once again, taking slow steps. I didn’t move back, choosing instead to stand my ground. This was going to end here, today. There was no point in retreating.

  To my right, Hecate screamed as Kay thrust his sword deep into her shoulder. I gasped as blood gushed from the wound. He stared into her face as she slid from his sword to the ground.

  ‚What think you now, witch?' he snarled and I gasped again. Kay had always been my favorite because of his kind spirit. There was no trace of kindness in him now.

  Any gentleness in his spirit had been sucked away by this strange new world.

  Around me, screams and vicious shouts prevailed and as I watched the vicious fighting, I realized that neither side would prevail here. Arthur’s soldiers would fight to the death, the Fates would ensure that.

  ‚Hecate, can you stand?' I called.

  ‚Of course,' she muttered, climbing slowly to her feet. Kay’s sword could not kill her, but the wound was clearly painful. Blood drenched the entire left side of her body and her face was ghostly pale.

  ‚You need to retreat to the Spiritlands,' I called, trying to circle nearer to her, as my mother intercepted to distract Kay. Lachesis followed me, stepping around the fallen soldiers with no regard to their moans.

  ‚Take the sword with you,' I continued, finally reaching her side. ‚And keep watch. At my signal, plunge it into the sheath next to Zeus’ throne. I think that’s the only way. It’s the only way we’ll fix all of these atrocities. But first, we must defeat the Fates.'

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  ‚Good luck with that, Keeper,' Lachesis hissed. Ignoring her, I called to my husband.

  ‚Lucan?'

  From a few yards away, Lucan lifted his head and his chocolaty gaze met mine. He had blood smeared on his cheek.

  ‚Lucan, Hecate needs the sword.'

  He nodded curtly and began to fight his way toward us, holding Percivale and Gareth at bay while he moved. His skill was unmistakable and I couldn’t help but admire it, even in the midst of our current danger. I had seen him fight many times, but never while I was at his side. It was a heady thing to behold.