by S. E. Babin
Anyhow, if he showed up, he showed up. If he didn't, that was okay, too. Either way I knew I loved the crap out of him even if we never got married.
Hera gave the dryads a dubious glance and said something that sounded suspiciously like, "Cannon fodder."
It earned a wicked chuckle from Artie, but it was fortunate they didn't hear it. Otherwise there was a good possibility we'd have bark growing out of our ears. The dryads weren't as powerful as we were, but they could make our lives difficult if we angered them.
They were here because serving as a dryad in my temple was a great honor. Even if said temple had been abandoned for a good long while, it didn't matter. They kept it running with great efficiency and there was a very low staff turnover. I was one of the best goddesses to serve because I was never there. It was a win-win situation for everyone.
I gathered everyone around and whispered my plans to them. Basically the way it worked was opponents kept going up against each other until one of them fell. If the victor was my dryad, she'd stay in the ring and face the next opponent and the next, and the next until she finally fell. It wasn't exactly fair, but then again, neither were the gods.
The woman, aptly named Ivy, nodded when she was chosen first. The other, Poplar, looked a little more frightened, but she also nodded when she was chosen second. If they had any brains at all, they would understand exactly what we were trying to do. I wasn't technically trying to kill them, but we all knew that was where we were heading.
And when we walked outside and realized poor Ivy would be going up against a demigod, they knew it for sure.
"Crap," I whispered as I watched Ivy walk into the massive ring with a smile on her face. She looked way too serene to know exactly what she was up against.
The rest of us took our seat at the bottom of the ring. The “seats” were made out of wood and stone, hard on our asses, but that was how the Olympians did things. Who needed comfort when there was blood splatter to roar over? You’d forget all about your butt if there was enough death and mayhem going on.
The announcer, a man with a voice fit for radio, came onto the loudspeaker and started announcing the first round up. I took that moment to look around and I nearly lost it. I'd been so caught up in my own drama I hadn't noticed how full the stadium was. All of these people had come to witness my downfall. Instead of hurting my feelings, like it would have when I was younger, all it did was piss me off. I'd saved their asses multiple times and yet, here I was, fighting for my freedom. These people should have been on my side, but they weren't. They were on the side of the winner, no matter which one of us it ended up being. If I managed to take this today, which I thought I might, their allegiances would shift like water.
But I knew who my friends were, surprising as they may be.
And they weren't sitting above and around us. They were beside me and downstairs, ready to sacrifice their positions to avoid war. I hoped. I figured Hermes was still on my side, as long as Zeus hadn't been bugging him or something.
But Ares. That dude was always a wildcard. I never knew what to expect with him. As long as he didn't say a word, and I knew he couldn't, we would be fine.
I repeated it again to myself. We would be fine. We had to be. I couldn't come this far and throw it all away now on the scheming machinations of one person. Even if said person was the former and possibly the future King of the Gods. This would work.
Ivy made her way out into the ring with that weird smile still on her face. The demigod (I'd already forgotten his name) strode out with a bare chest, barely there shorts and gladiator sandals that roped all the way up his thighs. He looked powerful. Competent. Completely in control.
Until the siren sounded and Ivy sent tree roots blasting through his throat and kidneys.
Holy. Balls.
The poor bastard didn't even have time to make an urk noise before he collapsed to the ground, completely impaled with Ivy's roots.
The creepy ass smile never left her face.
I cleared my throat and stole a glance over at Hera. Her mouth hung slightly open before she stood up, stuck two fingers in her mouth and wolf whistled like a trucker. Artemis burst out laughing and the next thing I knew, we were all standing up and screaming like hyenas.
We were the only ones though. The entire stadium had fallen into a stunned silence.
Score one for Team Aphrodite.
Ivy turned to us and gave us a lusty wink before she faced her next opponent.
Who the hell was this bad ass dryad and why hadn't I ever met her before?
While Ivy was beating the hell out of challenger after challenger and making me glad I hadn't overlooked her, I was slowly scanning the crowds looking for my mother. I could tell Ivy was growing tired. It wouldn't be too long before she fell in battle. After the show she put on, I thought the poor woman should be escorted to Valhalla by hot naked men, but alas, we were Greek and none of the Norse folks were invited. I didn't want her to die, though. I wanted to get to know her and have her threaten me with violence whenever I asked if I could braid her hair.
My mother was nowhere to be found, but I knew she was here somewhere. A woman like Hecate didn't break a promise. I sank down into a light meditation and sent a tendril of magic out to search.
I opened my eyes and scanned the area the magic had touched. I saw no one who looked unusual. But...a grin broke out over my face. An ancient woman wearing a toga that was showing way too much skin sat next to several of the minor gods. She looked out of place yet not so out of place. Olympus was weird and even though we didn't age, there were still some people so ancient it looked like their skin was drooping off their faces. The woman watched the crowd like a hawk, but right now she was watching me. I sent her the best message I could. I wasn't sure if it would go through, but we'd see what happened when Ivy was about to lose.
My mother nodded once.
I trusted her to see this through. I inclined my head for a second then turned back to watch my new psychopathic friend. Currently she was battling some son of someone. I sighed. I could not keep up with all of these people. Even though we hadn't been able to have children for several generations, breeding was so prolific back in the day that some of these people's family trees would kill forests if all the names had to be written down.
Ivy was tired. I could tell by the sheen of sweat on her nut brown skin and the strain over her lips. But she took this guy out, too. As he lay dying on the ground, Ivy swayed.
She was almost done. Her gaze met mine. I mouthed the words, "We will save you."
Tears shone in her eyes, but I didn't know if it was due to her impending doom or if she actually understood me. We were far away and she was exhausted.
The next man stepped out. Again. It was someone I didn't know. Who the hell were these people and why did all of them want to marry me? Gross.
Ivy caught him around the ankles, snapped him forward, and instead of impaling him with another root, she head butted him hard enough to send him crashing like a stone. I burst into laughter. It was official. I had a Lady Boner for a dryad named Ivy. She was making all of these people look like fools.
And Hera, Artie, and I were enjoying every single second of it.
After three more people and way longer than I thought she would go for, Ivy fell on her side. No one had struck a blow. I suspected it was due to exertion. I stole a glance over to my mother and watched as her mouth moved and a thin silver strand of magic flowed from her to the dryad. It was almost unnoticeable, but I was attuned to her magic. The strand stole into Ivy's heart and I watched with bated breath as one of the referees came over, took her vitals and made the symbol of crossed arms - the symbol signifying her death.
I hoped whatever my mother had done worked. Ivy was special. She deserved to be rewarded. Not only had she kicked serious ass today, she'd saved me and my friends a lot of time and energy.
Poplar was next. She wasn't nearly as cool and collected as Ivy, but she held her own for two rounds. Way more
than I ever expected any dryad to go. Still, nowhere near as badass as Ivy. My mother gave me a questioning glance, and I gave my head a quick shake. I felt terrible, but I needed to make sure Hecate conserved her energy for the rest of my people. We still had a long ways to go. Once Poplar fell, Artie reached over, grasped my hand and gave it a quick squeeze. I breathed in deep and slow and tried not to have a panic attack. It was hard watching strangers go into battle for you, but it was devastating to watch your friends do it. Hera smiled up at my friend and wished her the blessing of the gods. Artie blinked at her, surprised, but murmured a quick thank you and headed into the ring.
Directly after she vacated her seat it was filled with an angry and not so benevolent God. He said nothing to me as he sat there. He merely stared into the ring and watched as Artie geared up for her first challenger. Ivy had taken out most of the lower rung people, but there were still quite a few to go through. Artemis shouldn't have any trouble with any of them, but you never knew when someone was going to get lucky.
"Hello," I said.
God grunted.
A smile played upon Hera's mouth. "It's an honor to meet you, sir," she said politely and held out a cool, thin hand. God, being somewhat of a gentleman, took it and placed a kiss upon her knuckles.
"Charmed," he responded, but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. He didn't want to be here, and I certainly didn't want to either.
Once Artie was geared up and ready to go, I tore my eyes away from her and produced the rule book from thin air. I hadn't had time to read the rest of them due to good ole busyness and procrastination. But Artie would be fine for at least the first several fights, so I should have been able to get through the rest of the reading.
Hera became quite the chatterbox with God sitting next to her. To give him some credit, he answered her questions politely and with more detail than he had to give her. I tuned them out and focused on the task at hand.
Ten minutes later my eyes were almost crossed with all the legalese. I understood protecting yourself in the event something went wrong, but this thing seemed like it was written by a human lawyer. "Ack," I murmured.
Hera's glance slid my way, but I waved off her concern. "Just reading." For the most part, the rules addressed the use of banned magic - necromancy, dark magic, blood magic - those sorts of things. Very few of us were dumb enough to dabble in any of those, but sometimes you had that one person who wanted to win so bad they just didn't care how they had to get there. Those always ended badly for everyone, but especially the one dumb enough to get caught up in that type of magic. Considering I didn't know any of it, I wasn't worried. Unless Hecate's magic was considered necromancy. She did just practically kill someone and planned to raise them back to life later.
I blinked a few times mulling that one over but decided it was a risk we had to take. It was stupid to sacrifice that many lives just for one. But perhaps when Zeus planned it that way, he only planned to take one life.
Mine.
Now, killing me probably wasn’t his end goal. That would defeat the whole purpose of the games, but who knew what Zeus was thinking half the time? Maybe he would settle for marriage or death. Both had the potential to solve his problems.
I shook my head to clear it. Just keep reading, I told myself and skimmed through several passages trying to find anything else that had the potential to help or hinder me.
One passage caught my eye that made me worry about Artie. The Challenger could switch up the competitors any time he wished. I looked up and watched as Artemis soundly thrashed a young man no older than eighteen. If she began to tire, it was possible Zeus was going to pull out the big guns and finish her off before she could take out a large chunk of his team. But the problem was, I had no idea who was on his team and who was just here because they really wanted to marry me. People had come from all over to compete. Zeus' influence was wide and large, but I knew he couldn't control everyone. There were some people out there on the fringe like I was. Those of us who only wanted to be left alone from all the chaos.
But who were they?
I flipped over to the roster of competitors, but my eyes began to swim. Even though Typhon had disqualified a large chunk of the list, there were still way too many to name. Ivy had also carved out a pretty large chunk of people, but I wouldn’t be able to decipher this before it was too late. With Artie cutting through people like a hot knife in butter, the list would dwindle soon enough. Hopefully there was no one powerful enough here who wasn't under Zeus' influence. The last thing I needed was to be dragged off to someone's lair like a prize for a caveman.
I continued to skim while Artie kicked ass and Hera amused God with her questions. His mood seemed to be improving. A pretty intelligent lady could put anyone in a good mood. Thank the gods it wasn't me having to converse. He'd either want to punch me or be asleep within 10 minutes. Hera was the person you put in charge of the PTA. That woman could get some things done, that was for sure.
I was down to the last two pages and my eyes caught something interesting. At the end of the challenge, if both people were still standing, they could call a truce and walk away with peace. The deal was forfeited and everyone went home.
But would Typhon do that? Could he do that? I didn't know. Maybe I could ask him if I could find him. I kept skimming trying to get to the end. I swear. I'd taken up reading recently, but this was like watching bread rise. Nothing ever happened unless you looked away.
At the very end of the last page, there was a note. "The winner will collect their prize at the end of a sixty-day period. If at any time, the winner decides not to collect, both must visit Themis to undo the binding contract. The parties must agree and the binding undoing the contract must be sealed with the blood of both parties.” That sounded...intense, but I'd bleed a little bit if it meant my freedom.
Not that I was going to lose.
I glanced up at Artemis and watched her pound on an older demigod. She was so bored she probably could have painted her nails while still kicking his ass. But she was a lady and a champion, so she didn't. She pretended to be concentrating, but she tossed me a wink when our gazes caught. I grinned at her.
All in, Artemis took out over half the list of participants. We'd been sitting there for hours watching her pound people into sand, but I knew Zeus wasn't going to let her keep going forever. After battling a minotaur, the announcer came over the loud speaker and stated there had been a participant change. I held my breath and wondered what the hell Zeus was going to do. Whatever it was, it wouldn't be kind.
The crowd roared when Triptolemus walked into the ring. I gasped in shock. Even Hera reared back and narrowed her eyes.
"Cruel, Zeus," I murmured. "Very cruel." But how had he known?
Triptolemus was incredibly handsome and worshipped the ground Artemis walked upon. We'd come across him in our last case. Not in a good way, but he'd only been doing his job. Artie and he had a history together, and I think they could have been something together if my friend hadn't gotten scared.
I cursed and flipped back through the rules trying to find something. Anything.
Hera put a hand on my own. "There is a conflict of interest." She spoke quickly and intensely. "Page 135."
I gaped at her but quickly flipped through the pages. Perhaps I should have read them more thoroughly. I never was one for intense attention to detail. "Where is it?" I hissed.
Hera snatched the papers from me. The battle siren hadn't gone off yet, so we still had time to call a challenge. She skimmed down the rules.
"There," she hissed as her finger stabbed into the paper. "When was the last time Artemis saw him?"
I counted back in my head. "A month or two ago?"
"Did they have sex?"
"Erm." I shrugged. "I didn't think so."
Hera narrowed her gaze at Triptolemus. "He's had sex with someone. I know it." She stood and waved one arm above her head. "CHALLENGE!" she roared.
And at that moment I noticed Zeus sitting o
n one of the lower rungs of the ring staring at his wife with intense dislike in his eyes.
A young page came rushing over to help Hera onto the field. She walked with assurance, and I felt a tingle of pride in my heart for her. Hera had the possibility of being likable.
She stepped up to the announcer, yet spoke to the crowd. "Rule number 486 - sexual contact with participants. Triptolemus is disqualified from battling Artemis due to a prior history."
Hera turned to him. "Do you deny?"
Artie's face turned scarlet red.
He grinned at Hera, his smile wide and happy. "I do not," he said.
The crowd roared with anger.
But I knew something they didn't.
Triptolemus hadn't slept with Artie. Not recently at least.
And from the sly wink Hera gave Triptolemus, she knew it, too. She'd just saved my friend's skin because Artie would never have raised her bow against him. At one time she'd really cared about him. While I suspected her loyalties were now divided between another, I knew it would be a relief for her not to have to battle him.
"TRIPTOLEMUS IS EXCUSED FROM THE RING," crowed the announcer.
But Hera wasn't finished. "Rule #689," she announced, "immortals under the influence of another's spell should also be excused from the ring."
Artie frowned.
What the hell was she up to?
Zeus stood and made his way over to where she stood. "You're forgetting part of the rule," he said, his voice dripping with anger. "For eight hours."
Why the hell were these so specific? I shook my head and watched with rapt attention.
Hera nodded. "That still excludes her."
Zeus gave her a wolf's smile. "For the next three hours it does."
Shit. He'd give Artie the required reprieve and then throw her back into the ring. But now he wanted Hera in. She knew it too and accepted it gracefully.
