by Eliza Raine
Everyone’s heads snapped round suddenly as a roar blared from the trees behind Lyssa and her crew. She and the two men spun quickly and began to back up, towards the giants. The sound of pounding hooves could be heard crashing through the forest, thundering across the woody ground. Albion and Bergion stamped their feet, bending their knees and shifting their weight like the trained boxers that they were. Antaeus gave the trunk one final push and stood straight, just as Asterion, the Minotaur, burst into the clearing. He gave a guttural howl and launched himself at the biggest threat there, Antaeus. The creature’s bull head struck Antaeus in the abdomen, and the giant went flying backwards. Albion and Bergion looked at each other, roared in unison, and swung towards the Minotaur.
‘He’s mine!’ bellowed Antaeus, already getting back to his feet. ‘Disarm the humans!’
The giant brothers halted mid-swing and turned back towards the human crew of the Alastor. Lyssa was holding her ground, her slingshot back in her hands. Eryx couldn’t help being impressed with her resolve against such a huge opponent. He had heard she was a fighter. He knew Antaeus could handle the Minotaur, and he knew he couldn’t disobey orders, but he itched to join the fight. He gripped the tree next to him, watching enviously.
Albion was squaring up to the black man with the knife. He must have only been about three feet shorter than the giant, a similar size to Eryx himself. He was managing to look both fierce and calm as he raised the big knife level with his head and spun it slowly. Albion laughed.
Lyssa and the other human man were backing away from Bergion, who was smiling as he advanced on them. Lyssa was still trying to talk to the giant, but Eryx couldn’t hear what she was saying over the grunts and yells of the Minotaur. He looked over just as Antaeus threw the bull into a vast tree at the edge of the clearing. Asterion hit it with a grunt and slid unceremoniously down the rough bark. The giant shouted with glee, and the Minotaur’s hooves scrabbled for purchase on the forest floor as he shook his dazed head.
Eryx was so focused on the fights in the clearing that he did not hear Evadne as she crept up to him. When she touched him on the shoulder, he whipped round, hands balled into fists and ready to attack.
‘Stars!’ she shouted, ducking under his punch. ‘It’s only me.’
‘Only you?’ His voice was furious. ‘I should kill you! You’re the reason I’m stood in this bloody forest instead of out there! You sly witch, you tricked me!’
‘Well, it is a competition. And besides, Hercules made me do it.’ She pouted a bit. He didn’t unclench his fists.
‘You’re in luck then. Your captain’s likely dead already, so you needn’t worry about him making you do anything else,’ he said maliciously. Pain flashed across her face, and he was annoyed at the guilt it made him feel. She’s a liar, he told himself.
‘Do you know where he is?’ she asked, her voice low.
‘In the lion’s lair, under that rock.’ He nodded at the clearing.
She pushed past him and looked towards the blocked cave. He followed her gaze and saw that Lyssa and the other human had gone. Bergion had joined Antaeus, and they had trapped the bull between them. He was pawing the ground and snorting hard. Albion and the black man were dancing around each other, the human jabbing with the knife and Albion throwing punches. He thought they both looked like they were having a good time, under the circumstances.
‘Under the rock?’ Evadne asked him. ‘How?’
‘There’s a passage down there in the boulder. I guess there are caves under us or something.’ He shrugged. ‘I shouldn’t be talking to you. Go and help your bull friend.’
She snorted. ‘Asterion is no friend of mine. I just share a ship with him. How do we get down there?’ She looked up at him, her face resolute.
‘We?’ He goggled at her. ‘Why would we go down there?’
‘To kill the lion. What else are you here for?’
‘To serve my captain,’ he snapped.
She wrinkled her nose and frowned. ‘Then what are you doing hiding in here?’ He shifted uncomfortably and looked away. ‘Is it because you’re not a proper giant like them? They don’t let you fight?’
He snapped out a hand and grabbed her arm. She barely flinched.
‘Don’t push it, girl,’ he threatened her.
She stared back at him. ‘Why are you hiding in the trees?’ she asked again.
He gave a bark of frustration and let her go, making her stumble. ‘Because of you! I’m being punished because I believed you, you snake!’ He thought she might look triumphant or mocking, but her face softened.
‘I’m punished for things all the time on the Hybris,’ she said quietly.
‘Then why do you stay?’ he snarled. He didn’t want to empathise with this girl. She had tricked him. But her eyes lit up when she answered him.
‘Immortality,’ she breathed. ‘What a prize! Just imagine, having forever to get whatever you wanted.’ He grunted. ‘And we’re going to win it, starting right now. Come on, we’ll prove to your captain that he needs you by slaying this lion.’ She said it so matter-of-factly that he almost followed her into the clearing.
‘Wait!’ he said, and grabbed her arm a second time. She turned to him. ‘Why would you want me to kill the lion?’
‘Because I can’t do it by myself, and you can take me with you on board the Orion when I help you win. Apparently, I’m looking for a new captain.’ She smiled at him and he hesitated. If her motivation was truly to win immortality, then she could be telling the truth. But the pain he had seen when he’d told her Hercules was dead was at odds with this indifference.
‘Fine,’ she said, pulling out of his grip. ‘You stay hidden in the forest. I’ll go and talk to Antaeus myself.’
‘He’ll kill you,’ Eryx said.
‘Then you’d better come and help me,’ she said, and strolled away from him.
‘What do you want me to do?’ he asked as he caught up with Evadne, halfway across the clearing to the tree. The black man had vanished now too, and Eryx found himself hoping Albion hadn’t killed him. He should like to fight him himself one day. All three of his crew mates were engaged in tying the Minotaur, by his ankles, to one of the highest branches they could reach on the massive tree. None of them noticed him and Evadne.
‘Just move this out the way first so we can get down into the caves.’ She gestured at the trunk Antaeus had laid across the cave entrance. If she was nervous about being spotted by the giants, she hid it well.
‘Fine,’ he grumbled, and fell in beside her.
They reached the trunk, and Eryx crouched in front of it, curling his arms as far underneath it as he could. When he tried to lift, it barely moved. Embarrassment washed over him. Only his mother was a giant, he was half human. Antaeus was much stronger than him, but he didn’t want Evadne to think that. Again he felt angry with himself for caring what she thought or felt. What was wrong with him? He stood up straight and wrapped his arms over the top of the fallen trunk instead.
‘It’ll be easier if we roll it away,’ he told her, as assertively as he could. She nodded and he heaved the huge trunk towards him. It creaked as it slowly yielded, revealing the darkness behind.
23
Hercules was lost in a maze of caves. For a while he had been following the lion’s snarls and snorts, but now she had fallen silent. Although her hide was impervious to weapons and his skin was not, he was stronger than she was. He was sure of it. She had landed some lucky swipes with her monstrous claws, and blood dripped down his chest from a wound in his shoulder, but he could barely feel it. They had torn through the living rooms of her caves, rolling and wrestling, snarling and slashing, but he had not been able to pin her down long enough to end her. Now he had lost her, in this godsforsaken, pitch-dark hellhole.
No sooner had he thought this than the end of the tunnel he was padding silently down seemed lighter. He sped up, and as he reached the forked end, he could see clearly that one of the stone passageways was lighter than
the other. He continued to follow the light until his path opened out into a larger cavern that slanted upwards. On the other side of the cavern was the lion, scratching ferociously at a blocked opening. He could make out large chunks of wood coming away from her claws. There was a gap at the top of the opening, and it was getting slightly wider by the second.
He thought fast. Someone else must have blocked that opening, as she clearly hadn’t. That meant there was either friend or foe on the other side. And now they were opening it again. They would only do that if they meant to harm the lion or help him. He had to act quickly, or he risked losing his chance to kill the creature before someone else did.
As soon as he judged the opening wide enough, he ran at the clawing beast. He threw himself at her as he reached her back, and their combined weight forced the heavy blockage back far enough for them both to roll out of the cave.
He heard a male-sounding roar but had no time to see what had caused it. The lion was trying to turn under him as they rolled, so that he would not end up on her back. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, and she struggled harder. There was shouting all around him and he risked a look up. Evadne was standing a few feet to his left, beside a black-haired giant who had been knocked to the ground. The idiot girl was firing lead from her slingshot uselessly at the beast.
‘Stop!’ he yelled, sure the fool would hit him instead.
She looked shocked and pulled her weapon up immediately. The lion thrashed under him as they stopped rolling. He threw his weight forward to make sure he ended up on top and squeezed his mighty arms around her tighter. Her snarls turned to whimpers. More lead shot began zinging around him, but he couldn’t risk looking behind him. He heard another roar and pounding steps getting louder. It was now or never.
With lightning speed, he let go of the beast’s chest and threw himself up her back, wrapping his arms around her throat. He crushed his arms together with all the strength he had and heard her neck snap. Her thrashing and whimpering stopped immediately, and he felt her go limp beneath him. A blissful feeling of power poured through him in waves. He was invincible. He loosened his arms, and the pounding footsteps came to a halt. As he stood slowly, naked and glistening with blood, he held his arms out.
‘I will be immortal!’ he cried, adrenaline and pride coursing through him. There was a scream behind him, and his leg buckled suddenly. He dropped to one knee, still stood over the huge lion. Pain forced its way through the elation, and he bellowed in anger.
‘Stop.’
The voice was so commanding, everything stilled. Even the breeze through the trees seemed to freeze. He gritted his teeth through the pain and confusion, and looked around him.
Hera was standing in the clearing, no more than a few feet from the fallen lion. He bowed his head to her. When he looked up, he saw that three giants, including Antaeus, were also in the clearing and were bowing low to the god. He turned as far as he could on one knee to look behind him. Lyssa and two of her crew stood at the edge of the clearing, also bowed low. Even from here he could see that his pathetic daughter was shaking.
Hera took a step towards him. Pride swelled in him again, and he tried to stand back up. He stumbled but managed.
‘You have been wounded, victor,’ said the unsmiling goddess. ‘By your own daughter, no less.’
‘What?’ Rage contorted his face. Now Hera smiled. He struggled around to look at Lyssa.
She stood slowly from her bow, eyes locked on his. Defiance radiated from her, and for a moment he felt he was staring into his wife’s green eyes. An unexpected bolt of pain ran up his leg, causing his core to constrict, and he dropped her triumphant gaze, his mind still filled with the image of Megara’s face. He clenched his teeth against the memory and the pain, briefly unable to differentiate between the two.
‘Citizens of Olympus,’ said Hera. He snapped his head back to her. ‘The first Trial is complete. Hercules of the Hybris is your champion. The next Trial will be announced tomorrow morning at sunrise.’ She put her arms down again and vanished with a small fizzing sound.
When Hercules turned again to his daughter, all he could see of her was her auburn hair disappearing into the forest. The giants, too, were lumbering out of the clearing into the foliage, the smallest one throwing back a dark look over his shoulder.
‘Asterion!’ he barked.
‘Captain,’ came the Minotaur’s response.
Hercules looked around for him as Evadne approached the dead lion cautiously. ‘Where are you, you damn fool?’ The pain in his leg was causing his temper to flare, and he tried to cling to the glow of his victory.
‘He’s up there, Captain,’ said Evadne, gesturing upwards towards a massive tree. Asterion was swinging by his heavy haunches from a branch more than ten feet off the ground.
Hercules growled. ‘Go and get him down,’ he barked at her. ‘I need him to help me get this –’ he kicked the lion as he stepped awkwardly over her body ‘– back to the Hybris.’
Evadne wrinkled her nose. ‘Back to the ship? Why?’
‘I’m not wasting a trophy like this.’ His eyes gleamed as he stared down at the lifeless beast, remembering the beautiful young girl she had been. ‘All will know I won the first task. And all will watch while I win the others.’
Athena
Skies of Olympus
Book Two
1
Epizon knocked on Lyssa’s door again. It was the third time he’d come below deck to try to talk to her. They had left Port Galatas straight after making it back on board and were now floating just east of Cancer.
She knew how petulant she looked, hiding in her quarters, but she couldn’t face the crew. Not only had Hercules won, but they hadn’t even got close to the lion. They’d never had a chance of winning. All the lies she’d told herself about the Alastor making a difference in the Trials, all the desperate fantasies of stopping or even killing Hercules before he became immortal… They were all crashing down around her and she felt like she was drowning in doubt and anger. Worst of all, though, was the fear that simmered under all the chaos, becoming harder and harder to contain, moving ever further out of her control. Images of the broken and twisted centaur on the white marble platform swam before her, his shrieks as Hercules tormented him battering at her ears. If Hercules had become this bold in his cruelty over the four years since he killed her mother and sister, what kind of monster would he become if he lived forever? She put her head in her hands and rocked backwards and forwards on the edge of her bunk, aware of how close she was to allowing the memories of that terrible day to overcome her.
‘You shot him, Lyssa.’ Epizon’s low voice carried though the wooden door. She lifted her head. ‘Nobody has ever shot Hercules before.’ She swallowed hard. That was true. ‘And Hera made sure the whole of Olympus knows.’ He paused. ‘They all know, Lyssa. You proved to everyone he can be harmed. That’s a win in my eyes.’
She tried to process his words through the grisly thoughts ricocheting around her head. Everyone knew. Everyone knew that she had shot him. Little Lyssa in her shoddy ship harmed the mighty Hercules. Epizon was right.
Lyssa looked at the locked door and realised she was sitting up straight. It was as though his words had formed a rod down her spine. Maybe the first Trial hadn’t been such a loss after all. She took a deep breath and blew it out hard, trying to dispel the shreds of doubt. She couldn’t be like this. She needed to be the girl Athena had seen, who was brave enough to face Hercules. She touched her cheeks. They were damp, so she wiped her sleeve across them fiercely. She was no longer the girl who ran. She was the captain of her own ship and crew, and they had another Trial to face tomorrow. She stood up and moved to the door, unlocking it slowly, gathering her confidence and trying to piece it back together into the protective barrier she relied on so heavily.
‘Epizon,’ she said as she swung her cabin door open.
‘Captain,’ he replied with a nod. His huge coat was gone and he had changed into clean bl
ack cargo trousers that were tight across his hips with a grey shirt tucked into them. His hands were clasped together behind his back and he stood straight, to attention.
‘I…’ She paused and looked at the scuffed wooden floor. ‘I’m sorry.’
His rigid stance melted and he stepped towards her.
‘Hey,’ he said. She looked up at him. ‘The crew are having a party up there. You’re their bloody hero right now! You made the mighty Hercules bleed, in front of the world.’ He lifted his hand and for a moment she thought he was going to touch her cheek but he clasped her shoulder instead.
‘I know,’ she said, drawing as much strength from him as she could. ‘That’s not what I’m sorry about. I’m sorry about taking so long to…’ She paused, trying to think of a good reason for being shut in her cabin for almost an hour.
‘Get changed?’ offered Epizon.
She looked down at her muddy clothes. ‘Yes. Exactly. Give me two minutes. Tell the crew I was having a long bath.’ Lyssa backed into the room.
‘Will do, Captain,’ he said and pulled her door shut. She hurried over to the large wood and iron chest at the foot of her bunk and pulled out clean brown trousers and a white shirt. She pulled off the filthy clothes she was wearing. There was no blood on them. That in itself was a good thing, she supposed. Nobody on her crew got hurt in the scrap with the giants. Just mucky. And if she wanted the crew to believe she really had been in the bath she would have to get some of the dirt off.
