Chapter 31
Hercules
Where the fuck has she gone? I’m lost in a maze of caves, her snarls and snorts in the dark now silent.
She is a fierce fighter, I grant her, but I am certain I am stronger than her. I need no weapon to pierce her hide and best her, but I do need to know where she is.
We tore through the living rooms of her caves, rolling and wrestling, snarling and slashing, and she was able to land some lucky swipes with her monstrous claws before she scurried away into the depths of this godforsaken, pitch-dark hellhole.
Blood drips down my chest from a wound in my shoulder, but I can barely feel it. It is her pain I wish to feel.
The end of the tunnel I’m padding silently down seems to lighten. I speed up, and as I reach the forked end, I can see clearly that one of the stone passageways is indeed lighter than the other.
I continue to follow the light until my path opens out into a larger cavern that slants upward. On the other side of the cavern is the lion, scratching ferociously at a blocked opening, large chunks of wood coming away from her claws.
There’s a gap at the top of the opening, and it’s getting slightly wider by the second.
I think fast. Someone else must have blocked that opening, as she clearly didn’t. That means there’s either friend or foe on the other side. I have to act quickly, or I risk losing my chance to kill the creature before someone else does.
As soon as I judge the opening wide enough, I run at the clawing beast. I throw myself at her as I reach her back, and our combined weight forces the heavy blockage back far enough for us both to roll out of the cave.
I hear a male-sounding roar but have no time to see who made it. The lion is trying to turn under me as we roll, so that I won’t end up on her back. I wrap my arms tightly around her, and she struggles harder. There’s shouting all around me and I risk glancing up.
Evadne is standing a few feet to my left, beside a black-haired giant who has been knocked to the ground. The idiot girl is firing lead from her slingshot uselessly at the beast.
“Stop!” I yell, sure the fool will hit me instead.
She looks shocked and pulls her weapon up immediately. The lion thrashes under me as we stop rolling.
I throw my weight forward to make sure I end up on top and squeeze my mighty arms around her as tightly as I can. Her snarls turn to whimpers. More lead shot begins zinging around me, and I hear another roar and pounding steps getting louder.
It’s now or never.
With lightning speed, I let go of the beast’s chest and throw myself up her back, wrapping my arms around her throat. I crush my arms together with all the strength I have and hear her neck snap.
Her thrashing and whimpering stops immediately, and I feel her go limp beneath me.
A blissful feeling of power pours through me in waves.
I’m mighty.
I’m unstoppable.
Invincible, even.
I loosen my arms, and the pounding footsteps come to a halt. As I stand slowly, naked and glistening with blood, I hold my arms out.
“I will be immortal!” I cry, adrenaline and pride coursing through me.
My leg buckles suddenly. I drop to one knee, still standing over the huge lion. Pain forces its way through my elation, and I bellow in anger.
“Enough.”
The voice is so commanding, even the forest itself seems to still. I grit my teeth through my pain and confusion, and look around.
Hera is standing in the clearing, no more than a few feet from the fallen lion.
I bow my head to her. When I look up, I see that three other giants are also in the clearing and bowing low to the god.
I turn as far as I can on one knee to look behind me.
Lyssa and two of her crew stand at the edge of the clearing, also bowed low.
Even from here I can see that my pathetic daughter is shaking.
Hera takes a step toward me. Pride swells in me again, and I try to stand back up. I stumble but manage.
“You have been wounded, victor,” says the unsmiling goddess. “By your own daughter, no less.”
“What?” Rage grips me. Now Hera smiles.
I struggle around to look at Lyssa.
She stands slowly from her bow, eyes locked on mine.
Defiance radiates from her, and for a moment I feel I’m staring into my wife’s green eyes.
An unexpected bolt of pain runs up my leg, causing my core to constrict, and I drop her triumphant gaze, my mind still filled with the image of Megara’s face.
I clench my teeth against the memory and the pain, briefly unable to differentiate between the two.
“Citizens of Olympus,” says Hera. I snap my 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 puts her arms down again and vanishes with a small fizzing sound.
When I turn again to my daughter, all I can see of her is her red hair disappearing into the forest. The giants, too, are lumbering out of the clearing into the foliage, the smallest one throwing back a dark look over his shoulder.
“Asterion!” I bark.
“Captain,” comes the Minotaur’s response.
I look around for him as Evadne approaches the dead lion cautiously. “Where are you, you damn fool?” I roar at my Minotaur. The pain in my leg is causing my temper to flare, and I try to cling to the glow of my victory.
“He’s up there, captain,” says Evadne, gesturing upward at a massive tree. Asterion is swinging by his heavy haunches from a branch more than ten feet off the ground.
I growl. “Go and get him down. I need him to help me get this”—I kick the lion as I step awkwardly over her body—“back to the Hybris.”
Evadne wrinkles her nose. “Back to the ship? Why?”
“I’m not wasting a trophy like this.” I stare down at the lifeless beast, remembering the beautiful young woman she used to be. “All will know I won the first task. And all will watch while I win the others.”