Chapter Fifty
It had been a fitful night for me—I hadn’t gotten much sleep. I was too worried about Xander and Haemon making it back safely to Troas and the approaching Carian army.
When I finally got out of my bedroll, I found Zalira watching the army from our vantage point. We had moved much farther west, beyond a choke point we hoped to utilize.
She had blanketed the valley with a dense layer of fog combined with a rain shower.
The army was lighting torches but the rain kept putting them out.
They couldn’t see and the ground turned to mud beneath their feet, which made it almost impossible for the dragons to move, and most of their carts and siege engines were stuck.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” I said to her.
She turned off her aspect and sat back on her heels with a smile. “Neither did I. But it took a lot out of me. I’m going to need a few hours before I can go again.”
The others woke up and we ate and observed. If this army hadn’t been so intent on our destruction, it might have been entertaining watching them trying to dig out of the mud.
While I didn’t have an aspect that I could use against the whole army, I wanted to keep my strength up in case something happened.
Like if we were ambushed or hunted down by a group of cavalry.
Because by now Artemisia had to know that we were responsible, and if I were her, I would have sent scouts out to locate us.
I needed to be ready.
Ahyana took a drink from her waterskin and then asked me, “Do you think there’s a way to manipulate the sword’s flame?”
“I don’t know. And I’m not sure I want to attempt it out here.” We were trying not to be spotted.
“I keep thinking about you having Dea’s sword,” Io said. “And how it means we’re one step closer in the prophecy.”
My sisters averted their faces at Io’s words. Like Xander, it seemed they preferred to pretend that my death wasn’t certain. I understood why they felt that way. I also wished that I could ignore what was coming.
But I didn’t want to dwell on it. “Then let’s be glad that there isn’t any water or aether out here.”
Although with my luck the earth would open and suck me down into a giant whirlpool while stars from the sky landed on top of me.
Eventually the sun overhead burned away the fog that Zalira had created and the army began to move west again.
The only way to continue was through a pass that had high, sheer walls on either side.
And it was right where Suri wanted them to go.
When the first line of dirt-spreaders entered the pass, she said, “Dea Chthonia.”
She created a massive hole at the far end of the pass. It stretched from one wall to the other and looked deep.
Then . . . she began to push the hole forward, toward the army.
If Suri kept going, she would turn the entire pass into one giant pit.
I looked at her and saw the way that she was shaking. Her face indicated how much she was suffering.
“It’s enough,” I told her.
“Not yet.” Her voice trembled.
“Aren’t you in pain?”
She tipped her face up toward me. “Lia, I’m always in pain.”
Suri went on, pushing the pit forward, her entire body racked with tremors.
Io came over and put her arm around her. “Let it go, Suri.”
With a groan, she finally did and collapsed into Io’s arms. Io stroked Suri’s hair away from her face.
Suri had always been able to go longer than any of us when wielding magic. She could endure unspeakable amounts of torment and it broke my heart.
Some of the army attempted to go around the pass. We saw them break off from the main group. But the high hills ran north and south for miles, and the pass was the most direct route to Troas. Going around would add time to their march.
We had discussed having Suri try to break apart the hills and fill the pass with rocks, but she said making the pit would be better because manipulating that kind of rock from this distance would be difficult.
Unfortunately, after several hours the Carians came up with a solution. They brought two of the earth dragons over and had them hit the walls with their tails. Giant chunks of rock began to fall and fill up the pit.
And somehow they managed to do it in a controlled way that prevented the entire hillside from collapsing in.
Again I wondered how they were directing the dragons.
It was nearly nightfall when they finally filled the pit. They had to send their supply train north, to go around the hills. They would never be able to get all those wheeled carts and siege engines over the jagged terrain in the pass or over the hills themselves. The cavalry went with them.
Not all the riders left, though. Some of them stayed and walked their horses across the pit.
They were again forced to make camp as it had grown too dark to continue.
We had bought Troas another day.
The following morning we continued to keep an eye on the Carian army. They had been left without tents, as they no longer had their supply train. Zalira had sent a miserable rainstorm down on them that lasted most of the night.
But we expected them to be up and moving by this point and they weren’t.
A lone figure walked out from the edge of the group.
“Lia of Locris!”
It was Artemisia, and she had some kind of metal cone in her hand that she was using to amplify her voice. In the other she held an olive branch with white linen attached to the top.
She wanted to arrange a conclave.
“I know you can hear me,” she said. “And I know you’ve been harassing my men. We need to talk.”
Io grabbed me by the arm. “You can’t be considering this. It’s a trap!”
Demaratus had taught me about the law of the conclave.
Daemonians despised it because they saw it as a sign of cowardice.
But the law was sacred—she would risk angering the gods if she broke it.
She had to guarantee me safe passage to and from the field so that we could speak.
“Not even Artemisia would break a conclave.”
“The same Artemisia who slaughtered an entire temple of priestesses?” Io sounded slightly hysterical, and I understood why.
“What if she’s willing to consider Xander’s terms?” I asked. “If I could end this war here and now, I should do it.”
“She’s not going to stop her war,” Zalira said.
“I still want to know what it is she wants. I’m going to go and find out.”
They seemed to realize that they wouldn’t be able to talk me out of it. And maybe this was a foolish decision. It could have been a trap that she knew would work because of who I was as a person. But Artemisia didn’t know me well enough to have figured out how intense my curiosity was.
I had a feeling inside me that said this was what I was meant to do. That I needed to go onto that field.
Like it was fated.
“If she does anything, I’m opening a hole in the ground and dropping her into it,” Suri said. “If she hadn’t raised that flag, I would have done it already.”
“Which I’m sure she’s realized,” I said. “She won’t harm me because she knows we can harm her.”
I walked over to my horse and climbed up onto it. Luna appeared on my right thigh. I picked her up.
“You can’t come. It isn’t safe. Stay here. I’ll be back.”
She made a disgruntled noise and then disappeared out of my hands, only to reappear next to Io.
I led my horse north from our position so that the angle from which I entered the field wouldn’t reveal where my adelphia hid. As I rode, I drank a fortification potion and turned on my fury aspect. If someone shot at me, I’d be fast enough to avoid it.
Artemisia waited for me, still holding her makeshift flag. I stopped far enough away to keep myself safe while still being able to speak to her.
I stayed on my horse, planning to make a quick exit if necessary.
“What is it you want?” I asked.
She stared at me for a few moments before saying, “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
“I have been thinking the same exact thing.”
“Really? I heard you were trying not to kill people now. Something about vengeance and anger.”
“I’m willing to make an exception for you,” I said. Dolion must have told her. “I don’t have much patience for people who kill children.”
“I killed Ilionians.”
“Your sisters in the temple, who you vowed to protect. Maia.” My voice caught, and I had to stop speaking. I didn’t want to show any weakness to her.
“They were not my sisters. And I do not honor vows to a goddess I do not follow.” She let out a short bark of laughter, and the sound was cold and empty. “I am not interested in rehashing the past. I invited you here to discuss you and I settling this the way the ancients did. In single combat.”
This was what Demaratus had spoken about in the dream I’d had of him recently. Was that a sign that I should accept? “You and I fight and the war is over?”
“Yes. If you win, my army will return to Caria. If I win, Troas opens their gates and lets us in.”
This didn’t feel like it was my decision to make. I didn’t have the authority to speak for Troas.
But maybe I didn’t need to have that. Because with my god-weapon and my aspect, there was no way that I would lose to Artemisia.
“A fight to the death?” I asked.
She nodded. “Your goddess versus my god. Then we will see who is right and who is dead.”
“I’ll need to talk it over with my sisters.”
“We’ll meet here in an hour. If you are woman enough to show up.”
I turned my horse around and rode hard, hoping that it would make me a more difficult target.
But no arrow or spear was launched at me. I again took a circuitous route to return to my sisters.
“What did she want?” Io asked as I dismounted.
“She wants to fight me one-on-one. To the death. When I win, the army will leave. And I will take the eye of the goddess from her weapon.”
Ahyana shifted her weight from one foot to the other, like she was anxious. “What if you don’t win?”
“Then she thinks we’re going to open the gates of Troas to her. But I don’t have the authority to make that decision, so I don’t think it will be a problem to make that vow.” I didn’t lead Ilion the way that Artemisia now led the Carians.
“This seems like a terrible idea to me,” Zalira said.
“If I fight her and defeat her, then the army will leave and I will have the eye.” Which was why I had come to Ilion in the first place.
Zalira didn’t seem to think that would be true. “What if the person who takes over after she’s dead doesn’t honor her deal?”
“Yes,” Ahyana said. “What if that person is Dolion?”
That would be awful. “If that happens, we’ll deal with it when we get there.”
Io had Luna in her lap and was petting her. Luna’s gaze followed me as Io asked, “I thought you were trying not to kill people. To honor life as the goddess would want.”
It was the same thing Artemisia had just thrown in my face. And it was a little ironic coming from Io, who had taken quite a bloodthirsty turn recently. “I think killing one person to save hundreds of thousands is an acceptable price to pay. Besides, I was trying not to kill out of vengeance.”
“Which this would absolutely be,” Zalira pointed out. “You’ve wanted to take out Artemisia since the first time you met her.”
That might have been a fair point, but I was still going to do it. And not because of my personal hatred for her. But to save Locris and Ilion. To get the eye. If I could get this army to turn around . . .
This was fated. I was supposed to fight her. I knew that as well as I knew anything else.
Artemisia had given me an hour, so I needed to head back. The route I had chosen was a long one.
I walked back to my horse and beckoned Suri over. She came with a disapproving look that I ignored. “If something goes wrong, you need to make them leave. Head straight back to Troas.”
She nodded. “I will.”
“Thank you.” She was the only one I could count on to do so. The others would try to save me, but if I died, they would have to flee as quickly as possible.
I climbed onto my horse and my sisters came over. Ahyana said, “Please don’t die. None of us wants to give that information to your husband.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said.
Io wiped tears from her cheeks. “I feel like someone should say something. Something important.”
Demaratus’s old phrase appeared in my mind. “Breakfast here, dinner in the underworld.”
That earned me a few smiles. I gave them one last, long look and then headed out. Once again I rode my horse farther north so as to not give away my adelphia’s location.
As I rode I sent up a quick prayer.
Be with me. Please don’t let me prove unworthy of my sisters.
Artemisia waited for me, surrounded by red dirt. She had her war hammer in her hands and looked eager to fight.
As eager as I was. I dismounted. “Swear it out loud. Swear on your god that if I kill you, your army leaves.”
“I swear on Arion that if you kill me, the Carian army will leave.”
“And I swear on Dea that if you kill me, Troas will open its gates to you.”
She hefted her hammer, pleased. “This is going to be a short fight.”
I planned to delay invoking my aspect until I was closer to her. I wanted to get as much use out of it as possible.
“It will be,” I agreed as I began to head toward her. “You’re not the only one with a god-weapon.”
I started to run, and she did the same. Exhilaration and anticipation flowed through me. She had no idea what was about to happen.
“Dea Erinys,” I said.
That was when everything went wrong.