Chapter 21
Lyssa
When I feel the Alastor move beneath me, powering through the sky on my orders, I try to instill a tiny glimmer of hope.
Cancer is a good place for the first trial, for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Hera is a merciful god to those who have never crossed her. With any luck, the event will be exactly as she described, with no hidden surprises.
Secondly, Cancer isn’t far from the Void. It won’t take the Alastor more than a few hours to get there.
“If she wants the lion gone, she could just remove it herself, right?” Lucas asks.
“Of course she could. But what fun would that be?” answers Epizon. He’s leaning against the back of the quarterdeck, watching the orange clouds swirl past the ship. The flickering edges of the clouds shimmer, greens and purples glimmering through the bright umber.
“Any ideas for a plan yet?” I ask him.
“Not yet, captain. If its skin is impervious, then we can’t use traditional weapons, like slingshots or arrows.”
“Poison?” Alexios suggests. He’s staring out at the clouds too, Bassari next to him, paws on the lower railings.
Epizon and I both scowl at him. “Poison is the coward’s way,” Epizon snarls.
Alexios shrugs, looking over his shoulder at Epizon’s unimpressed face. “That’s how you usually get rid of pests,” he says. “And I find it quite effective.”
“Who’s a pest?” says Len, his hooves clicking on the planks as he steps out of the hauler and onto the quarterdeck.
“That depends,” I say. “Has anyone ever tried to poison you?”
Len grunts. “Never accept berries from angry wood nymphs, that’s all I’m saying,” he mutters as he pulls himself up onto one of the benches that line the right side of the deck. He turns to face me. “So.” He claps his small, hairy hands together, looking hopeful. “What’s the plan?”
“Poison it,” Alexios says.
Len guffaws as he looks at him. “You volunteering as bait? Or have you forgotten that it only eats living things?”
“Much as I would love to feed Alexios to a man-eating lion, we have to keep him alive,” I say.
Alexios smiles at me and turns around, mimicking Epizon’s stance. “You never know when we’re being broadcast, my love,” he says.
My mouth falls open. “Did you… Did you just call me my love?”
“Yes, I did. And not for the last time. We need to be convincing.”
Fury morphs my face. “I swear to Hades, if you—”
“Captain, he’s right,” says Epizon tightly. “We don’t know what and when the gods will choose to show the rest of Olympus, and if anyone suspects you two of anything other than romance…”
Alexios pushes himself off the railing and saunters over to me.
I plaster a smile on my face. “Touch me, and I will break your face,” I say through my grimace.
“I believe you, beautiful.” He smiles back.
My smile slips. “Beautiful? Seriously?”
“Fine. You choose a pet name.”
“No!”
“Then I’ll keep testing them until one fits.”
I turn to Epizon. “I can’t do it. I’m going to kill him.”
“Then you die too,” Alexios says.
“Back to the lion,” Epizon says, glaring at Alexios. “If we can’t kill it from a distance then we’re going to need to get close to it. Which means being strong and fast enough to fight it and win.” He looks pointedly at me.
“And people will believe that this fuckwit is going to follow me to within twenty feet of a monster just because he loves me?” I say incredulously, jabbing my thumb at Alexios.
“Well, yeah. That’s what folk in love do,” he says.
I pause. He may have a point.
“Do we know how big the lion is?” asks Lucas.
“No,” replies Len. “I have no prior knowledge of this creature from my books.”
“But we know where it is, right?”
“Lucas, you watched the same message we all did. We have no idea where it is, other than on Cancer.” The patience in Epizon’s voice is strained.
“But someone on Cancer must know where we can find it,” I say. It’s easier to think about the less fatal parts of the plan, like finding the creature, than what I’m expected to do with it after that.
“Where are we landing then, cap?” asks Len.
“I don’t know. The largest settlement on Cancer is Corinthia. All the towns there have docks big enough for the Alastor, so I guess we’ll pick a port and start there. We moor up and start asking questions.” I shrug.
“Can I suggest Port Galatas?” Alexios says.
“No, you can’t,” I snap.
“Port Galatas is the largest port in Corinthia, which means it will likely be where the others head to first, and when they see the Alastor already there, they’ll be disheartened,” he says, brown eyes shining.
“Shouldn’t we be going in stealthily?” Lucas asks.
“No,” says Epizon. “Stealth is pointless. We’ll give ourselves away as soon as we start talking to people to find out where the lion is.”
“Added to which, we were on every flame dish in Olympus yesterday,” I say.
Len grins. “I’m finally famous!”
I roll my eyes. “You won’t be leaving the ship this time,” I tell him.
“You’re damn right I won’t,” he shoots back, suppressing a small shudder. “The place is littered with peacocks. I don’t get on with peacocks.”
The corner of Alexios’s mouth quirks up in a smile and he darts me a look. “Why don’t you like peacocks?” he asks.
Len turns and looks up at him. “The same reason I imagine you don’t like harpies. Enormous, pecking, stupid animals larger than yourself are unnerving. At least you can try to reason with a harpy. Peacocks are dead inside.”
Alexios raises an eyebrow, still smiling. “Fair enough,” he says.
“Lucas, I want you to stay on the ship for this one too,” I say.
I expect him to argue, and am relieved when he offers no resistance. “No problem, captain. I’ll work on some more clothes.”
“Good. Maybe some shoes?”
Alexios looks down at Lucas’s feet. “I have boots you can have,” he says.
Lucas’s eyes light up. “You do?” Then he darts a guilty look at me and says, “No. Thank you, but I’ll keep working to stretch—”
“Take them, Lucas,” I cut him off. “Now that he’s here, you all have permission to take advantage of Alexios as much as you can.”
“Do we have permission to hurt him?” growls Epizon.
Alexios looks at the huge man. There’s no fear in his eyes. In fact, there might be respect.
“You’re grown men. Do what you like.” I shrug. “But not if it hinders any progress in the Trials.”
Epizon nods, still glaring at Alexios. “Hercules must die, captain. That, above all else.”
“Almost all else,” I say quietly, and they both look at me. “Nobody is to put their own life in danger for this, okay? And you should know that I will prioritize saving any of you over killing him.”
Epizon opens his mouth to protest, then closes it. Alexios folds his arms.
“I thought you said we were grown men? Is that not a decision to be made by your crew members?” he says.
“Loath as I am to agree with him, captain, he’s right. I’m entitled to give up my own life to end that of a monster if I choose to,” Epizon says quietly.
“I’m not a grown man, and would one hundred percent rather you saved me than killed Hercules,” announces Len.
“Erm, I haven’t decided yet,” Lucas adds awkwardly.
I look around at them all. “Fine. Whatever. Go and make yourselves useful for a few hours,” I say eventually.
“Your first mate is fiercely loyal to you,” Alexios says when the others have dispersed.
“I imagine you aren’t used to seeing loyalty?” I snap back.
“You two never… you know?”
“Fuck off, Alexios.”
“They might be watching now, you know. We should cuddle.”
I stare at him. “Say another word between here and Cancer, and I will…” I trail off. Will what? I have no threat. I have no power over him.
He grins at me. “Let’s go find Lucas some boots, shall we?”
“I hate you.”
“I know.” He heads toward the hauler, and I have no choice but to follow him.