Chapter 44 Nyssa
Nyssa
It’s a pain in the fucking ass not being able to see things for myself, I griped to my dragon, who had sent me yet another update of the advancing tidal wave that was Kronos’ army. They were a third of the way across the open field, trampling Theris’ most disposable crops.
It was far better than the alternative of trampled people and eviscerated towns.
I tightened the leather strap around my left thigh as Vel made a third pass along the front line of our warriors. Their fear was ripe in the air, their shifting armour audible even over a dragon’s thunderous footsteps.
“I do not have a great rousing speech for you today, nor does your Blade — your Harrow. You may have noticed that he is missing from our ranks along with several other of our most capable fighters.”
Not an inspiring start, Vel warned.
Shh, I’m still speaking.
She huffed, releasing a hot, rolling breath out her nostrils — a breath that happened to smack me right in the face.
Ugh. I grimaced, ignoring her chortling.
“Fear not! They have not abandoned us, but will return with reinforcements of the godly variety.”
A chorus of cheers rent the air, though one voice rang out above the others. A mortal called out from somewhere in the middle of the Caldrian phalanx: “They won’t return today, though — will they?”
I straightened in the saddle; allowed my face to fall into solemnity. “No, they won’t.”
The words fell like daggers — their meaning, like icicles to the heart.
“The point of today is not to win, but to halt them. To stop them from murdering your families, our loved ones. To make them think twice about staking this claim on Ephemeron, because its people will not willingly lay down and submit.” I paused, as a lethal smirk twisted my lips.
“The point of today… is to steal something from them.”
Cheers and gasps echoed down the lines of armoured men and women.
“What are we stealing?” someone called out, swiftly followed by a grunt — as though someone else had elbowed them in the ribs.
“You fool. We’re not stealing anything. They are. She is.”
My smirk grew, now a full-fledged grin. “Time,” I answered.
Another image filtered in of his army, now midway across, almost in range of our traps and our arrows. The slithering black mass began to take shape — serpents and shadows, mutant creatures, and pure black nightmares — around the feet of slowly moving mountains and a column of pure white light.
The muscles around my eyes squeezed reflexively as if I were the one actively peering at that bastard Hyperion, lit up like a beacon in the middle of the trampled field.
At least he wouldn't be hard to find.
“Hold!” Athena bellowed. “Hold!”
“Archers, on Apollo’s count!” Haras shouted on behalf of the voiceless god. Three heartbeats passed before he cried, “LOOSE!” and the sound of twanging bowstrings followed.
A swarm of buzzing arrows filled the sky, so thick in number they blanketed every other sense left available to me, blocking even the warmth of the sun on my skin for several seconds, until at last, they found homes in the screeching bodies of monstrous creatures.
“Loose!” Haras roared again — and again the shrieks of beasts sounded as arrows met flesh, scales, and armoured hides in droves of sickening thuds.
As the two thunderous gigantes approached, Velira reared back, startling me.
She showed me their terrifying forms: skin as hard and grey as stone made flesh, hunched backs with small trees sprouting from the cracks and ridges along their spines, moss and lichen tracing the planes of their unimpressed faces, and eyes so telluric and vast it was like glimpsing into the soul of the earth itself.
How the fuck do we defeat living mountain ranges? I sputtered.
We don’t. We have something far worse to contend with.
A minute later, the gigantes reached the first line of traps set three hundred metres from our battalion. The second was placed a hundred metres closer to our ranks, and the third, another hundred again — each growing increasingly violent thanks to our clever friends from Caldris.
The air shattered as a line of explosives were detonated by the giants’ footsteps, igniting an unbroken boundary of fire separating us and them. The blows took out a solid chunk of Kronos’ infantry — beasts and halflings and men instantly silenced by Caldrian wrath.
An eerie laugh — deep and resonant — tore through the silence, carried on winds that smelled of ice and the promise of sorrow.
He’s here, Vel declared.
Whether it was the carrion winds chilling me, or the longing of vengeance lodged deep in my soul, I felt my heart harden with every passing beat.
Somewhere among their ranks was the god who murdered Charon, and a portion of my black soul along with him.
Somewhere within that writhing mass was the titan who saw fit to stake his claim on a land of innocents — murdering, pillaging, and destroying whole cities just to make a point: simply, that he could.
Good, I growled back.
One person stood just short of the line of fire and ash.
One person resolute enough to cause mayhem with their Fate-given powers.
One person with ladyballs the size of Theris.
Aphrodite — clad in a pristine, blush-coloured gown of silk, with spotless golden sandals upon her feet, and not one long, blonde curl askew — stood with perfect posture, waiting for the first brave or foolish souls to cross the line.
And it was not monsters, but men, who hazarded the crossing.
Men who saw a pretty girl ripe for the taking.
Men who would suffer the consequences of underestimating such a woman.
Through Velira’s eyes, I watched it all play out in shades of cobalt and viridian.
Through her gaze, I saw one fourth of Team Heroes raise her hands, clawing the air, and those brave, foolish men sank to their knees.
They cried out, their anguish tarnishing the air, even as their hearts raced, stuttered, fractured, then finally — broke.
Because the other side of desire was loathing.
The other side of beauty was monstrosity.
The other side of love was heartbreak.
And Aphrodite was waging war on every single one of them by wielding the seldom-used antithesis of her usual magic — the dark side of her light.
The hundred-odd men who crossed the line did not live to regret it. She made them claw their own hearts out before they could appreciate the statement they were making. The statement Aphrodite made.
Eventually, though, she was spent. Ichor dripped freely from her nose, cascaded down her lips, and stained the front of her gown. Aph, exhausted from the magnitude of power she’d just harnessed, didn’t even notice.
“Fall back!” I called to her. “Fall back, Aphrodite!”
She stumbled backwards as if dazed, and the monsters seized their chance.
Vel!
She leaped into the sky with several hard snaps of her wings, rocketing toward our friend, standing alone on a field of corpses she’d singlehandedly created, with gigantes and apmhisbaena and any number of wicked creatures advancing on her.
My vision brightened to that painful, crackling white as Vel’s concentration switched to the importance of the task before her.
She roared, whipping her long, scaled neck sharply to the right as her body tilted in the same direction, spewing a constant stream of fire at the monsters.
It was all I could do to hold on, to let muscle memory and all our many hours of training take the reins as she banked hard to the right then down, loosing another jet, another screech, then shot back up into the sky.
Did you get her? Vel! Did you get her?
Smug pride threaded through the tenor of her voice as she responded. I did.
I hurled up a whoop of joy, sending up a silent thanks to Tyche, goddess of luck, for aiding Vel in the rescue.
Tell lover boy to ready his damsel-catching arms, Vel advised, twisting hard to the left as a dainty squeal chirped from somewhere beneath us — from the goddess clutched preciously in the talons of a dragon.
Hey Golden — catch.
Vel coasted in a straight line, presumably somewhere above our marshalled forces, and then a voice-shredding scream assaulted my eardrums, cut off abruptly with an oof — audible even as the distance between us grew with every passing second.
Got her, Caelus declared, lingering against the edges of my mind with an almost palpable caress.
Kronos is here.
I heard. I’m assuming that means you’re airborne for the foreseeable future.?
Yes. If we can get the advantage over him from above, it could make all the difference.
He paused, torn between what he should say and what he wanted to. In the end, he settled on a simple: Be safe. I love you.
I love you, and I’ll try.
I guess that’ll have to do.
I grinned, flooding his psyche with all the love I could muster telepathically, then retreated.
I left the link between us cracked open, though — so we could communicate when necessary, but not to the point of overwhelming each other with a constant stream of thoughts, sensations, and emotions that could get us killed via distraction.
Have they reached the third line yet? I asked my dragon.
Almost. Demeter is ready for them, though.
I’d expect nothing less.
Vel retreated to the rear of our forces, hovering above them like Helios and Selene — content to watch over the world below from afar.
I enjoyed what was likely the last free moments of peace this day could give us.
I spread my arms out, enjoying the sun on my skin and the breeze on my face, tickling the loose strands of hair that framed my face.
We did not have to wait long for our peace to be usurped.
Raucous cries and ear-splitting shrieks wound their way up through the clouds and I knew that Demeter had begun.
Terrible sounds filtered in and I could only imagine the devastation she was wreaking.
Deep, writhing groans and the sharp crack of breaking stone wove the tale of the beginnings of Kronos’ demise.
Is it ghastly?
Vel rumbled, a baritone rasp of serpentine laughter. Yes. It is glorious.
Then, another noise overtook Demeter’s labours.
Thump.
I knew that sound.
Thump.
It was a sound more familiar to me than my own voice.
Thump.
It was the sound of metal striking wood.
Thump.
The sound of defiance.
Thump.
Dissent.
Thump.
A refusal to surrender.
Thump.
Velira lent me her eyes once more, and through them I saw Athena in all her spine-chilling regalia.
Upon her head, her gold helm perched; upon her body, her intricately wrought golden armour protected every vital organ; and upon her face, the promise of violence shone brightly through her piercing blue eyes as she struck her xiphos — her shortsword — against her shield named Aegis.
Thump.
The warriors behind her echoed her wordless war-cry, striking their own swords against their own shields, or their feet against the compact earth.
Thump.
It was the sound of rebellion. Of resistance. Of the absolute knowledge that we would never lie down and surrender to a mad king.
Thump.
It was the sound of our beating hearts.
Thump.
Hearts that beat for each other. Hearts that beat for Ephemeron. Hearts that beat for Olympus. And hearts the beat for the Underworld, too.
Thump.
Hearts that beat for good.
For the hope of a better future.
Not for that bastard Titan. He could never inspire such steadfast loyalty; such unwavering resolve.
I had done that.
Me. The daughter of Hades.
I had inspired whole nations — whole realms — to band together. Not even Zeus had managed that.
And so I joined them. I raised Nightbreaker once more and called upon my powers. Life and Death heeded my call. Both raced to the surface of my mind and my skin — eager for battle, willing to follow me into the din of war, to whatever lay beyond.
And upon Velira’s back, we led the charge — diving headfirst into their ranks, armed with teeth and flame, dark and light, a sword that represented everything, and sheer, gutwrenching purpose.
“Hēmin pantōn!” I roared, slashing through the first soul I encountered, a black stain upon my field of white.
The resistance was barely felt — a slight jolt in my arm — the momentum staying firmly with Vel.
She ducked, dove, and wove through their army, targeting mostly the airborne foes, leaving the flightless to our allies.
“Hēmin pantōn!” they bellowed below as their spears held firm, their shield walls steady, and their swords cleaved through flesh as weak as our enemy’s resolve.
Hēmin pantōn.
For us all.