Chapter 50
Lyssa
Hope skitters in my belly, making it impossible for me to concentrate on anything else as I stare out at Libra. Hercules was completely buried under those metal crabs. I know he has the impervious lion skin and Zeus’s sword, but… It really was a lot of pincers.
I want to wash the grime off myself, remove the stink of sulfur. But I need to wait for the announcement.
I need to hear if Hercules lived.
“I’m back on board, cap,” Len’s voice sounds in my head.
“Good,” I tell my medic. “And Eryx?”
“He’ll make it.”
I don’t reply. I’m not sure how I feel toward the giant who dropped me by the ankle over a pit of flames.
More annoyingly, I don’t know why Athena told me to save him, or told Len how to.
It’s not that I’m against saving folks’ lives. But why did Athena proclaim me a hero, force me into the Trials, then insist we save our rivals? She could have just backed them and left me the fuck out of all this if it’s the giants she needs to win.
Stop being stupid, I tell myself. If an omnipotent goddess wants to keep things from me, that’s up to her. I’ve been chosen for a reason. And that reason is to help stop Hercules. It doesn’t matter if the Orion wins.
A flash of something bursts into my mind, unbidden. Epizon. But as a child, tiny in a space absolutely packed with creatures. The image is gone again so quickly I barely get any details.
“Epizon? Are you all right?”
His mental reply isn’t instant, and it’s a little slurred. “Yes, captain. Just checking in on our guest.”
“Shit,” I mutter, and start to move toward the hauler.
“Where we going?” asks Alexios. He’s been restless since we returned, rolling on the balls of his feet and summoning, then dismissing, Bassari repeatedly.
“Cargo deck.”
We find Epizon sitting on a crate, watching Tenebrae. She’s staring back at him, her purple scales shimmering in the dim light from the sparse portholes, her eyes bright and unblinking.
“Hey, you sure it’s a good idea for you to be alone with her down here?” I ask him.
Epizon looks at me, his eyes slightly unfocused.
My brow creases in concern. “Ep?”
He blinks. “Yeah, it’s fine,” he mumbles. “Len said there’s not enough light down here for her to do anything serious.”
“Len is guessing,” I reply. “I…” I glance at Alexios, then switch to silent mental communication. “I just saw you in my head. As a child.”
He frowns at me, then looks at Tenebrae again. “Oh,” is all he says.
“Hey, I’m pretty tired,” Alexios says. “How about I go over there and have a sleep.”
I cock my head suspiciously. “You can sleep on a pile of rope?”
“I can sleep anywhere. And it’ll give you two some privacy.”
Now I’m even more suspicious. “You have so far made a sport of annoying me. Why are you trying to be helpful now?”
“It’s not for you. It’s for him.” He points at Epizon, who’s staring at the tank creature again. “I like him, and I can sense you two need some alone time.” He shrugs, then turns and settles himself into the pile of rope, closing his eyes.
I watch him a moment, until his chest is moving slowly and his breathing is deep. I don’t know if he’s really asleep or not.
“Want some?” Epizon asks, and I turn to him. He’s holding out his hip flask.
Relieved he’s not transfixed on Tenebrae, I move to sit beside him.
“Yeah. I’m worried about you, and this thing.” I take a swig of the strong alcohol and hiss.
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I do, though. And I shouldn’t be seeing images from your childhood. Ep, please don’t come down here alone again.”
He opens his mouth, then pauses and sighs. “You’re right. I’m”—he looks for the right word—“drawn to her. That’s probably a little suspicious.”
“Yeah. I think so.” I pause, not wanting to ask the next question, but forcing myself to. In case the peacock asshole is awake, I switch to mental communication.
“Do you… Do you want to talk about what happened? What you saw when you collapsed?”
“Not today,” he answers, softly, aloud.
“Okay,” I say, relieved. I would do anything, anything at all, for Epizon, and I can’t stand to see him in pain.
I’ve avoided asking him how he ended up on Libra for years, because I don’t want to know what horrors the strong, kind man before me had to face.
I know it’s selfish, that he may want somebody to tell.
If and when he does, I’ll be there, but I’m sagging slightly in relief that it’s not now.
“How are you doing?” he asks me.
“Desperate to hear that the crabs killed Hercules,” I say, and take another swig before handing the flask back.
“I don’t know why Athena wanted us to save the half giant,” I say silently.
“Because it was the right thing to do? And he could have dropped you into the flames but he dropped you safely into a longboat?”
I snort. “Not everybody is as virtuous as you, Ep. There’ll be more motive than that. We should keep an eye on the giants. I wonder if they’re supposed to win.”
“Nobody is supposed to win, Lyssa. It’s a competition between mortals. The gods can’t decide who’ll win—it’s up to us. The heroes.”
A second snort escapes. “So you’re saying the gods aren’t getting involved? Why was Len transported back to the Orion to help then? If Athena is breaking the rules, you can bet Zeus, Poseidon, and Aphrodite are too.”
“Hmmm. Hercules did pull that glowing sword out of nowhere,” Epizon concedes.
We lapse into silence again.
“Do you want to win?” I ask eventually.
Epizon sounds surprised. “Well, yeah. Don’t you?”
“Honestly, I hadn’t gotten past the thought of facing Hercules. Now we’re here, doing this, risking our lives… It’s hard not to think about it.”
“Imagine what you could achieve with eternity,” says Epizon out loud.
“What? What would you achieve? It would just be us and the gods. Forever. Might be kind of lonely.”
Epizon pauses before answering. “You’ll never be alone again, Lyssa. We win this together, or not at all.”
“Hmm. My money is on not at all,” I say, forcing lightness into my tone.
“The next one. The next one will be ours.”
“Captain!” Len’s voice interrupts our conversation. “It’s Hercules.”
“He’s alive,” Len says when we reach him at the now-quiet flame dish.
My stomach twists, disappointment flowing through every part of me.
It was stupid to hope. But really, that’s all it was. Slim hope.
“He just sent a flame message out to all the ships. He said that he wanted everyone to know that he was saved by his almighty lion skin and that he was fighting fit for the next Trial.”
“No gods involved, my ass,” I growl. “There’s no way he survived all those metal pincers on his own.”
“Didn’t Athena just save the half giant?” Alexios shrugs. “He’s not the only one getting help.”
Lucas starts and jumps back as I round on Alexios.
“Poseidon should be helping the giants, not Athena! She should be helping us!” I hiss. I realize as I say the words that they sound petty and jealous, but the part of me that is worried that even the goddess who chose me doesn’t think I can win is apparently too loud to suppress.
“Athena is the goddess of strategy. I’m quite sure she has a clever plan.” We all turn and look at Lucas.
“Then I wish she’d share it with us,” I grit out. “But yes, you’re right, Lucas. We must keep faith in her.” Like we have a choice.
I turn to Len. “What happened on the Orion?” I ask the satyr.
“I really thought I’d lost Eryx for a while—he was completely blue. But the concoction Athena told me to make worked. As long as he drinks it all, I think he’ll be all right.”
“Did you learn anything useful about the Orion while you were there?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I only really saw the captain’s chambers, then he took me up to the top deck in a hauler and we rode back in their longboat.
It’s massive. Reinforced handrails and haulers, and the sails were in really good condition, but I can’t tell you anything we couldn’t see from getting up close. ”
“They put Eryx in the captain’s chambers?” I don’t know why I’m surprised. I would do the same for any of my own crew.
Len nods enthusiastically. “Captain Antaeus was very worried. It was quite touching, really.”
“Huh,” I say softly. At least it sounds like Athena is helping the good guys.
“I would so love to have seen a Zephyr kitted out for giants,” Lucas breathes, a dreamy look in his eyes.
“Ask me what you like, and I’ll try to remember,” the satyr tells him.
Lucas’s face lights up, but mercifully for the rest of us, the gentle orange flames roar white in the flame dish before he can speak. The blond man materializes as they die down, smiling his fake-looking smile.
“Good evening, Olympus! Well, that last one was exciting, wasn’t it? Are you ready to find out what’s coming next?” He beams and spreads his arms out. “Trial three, everybody!”
He fades from sight and is replaced by a slight, tanned figure with blonde hair in long braids and a bow as tall as she is slung over one shoulder.
“Artemis,” breathes Epizon.
“Good evening, heroes. As the goddess of the hunt, I want to pose a different kind of challenge to you than your last two.” Her voice sounds young and innocent, compounding her childlike looks.
“Make your way to Sagittarius. Your Trial will be revealed there at sunrise tomorrow morning.” She fades from the dish and the flames flicker gently again, orange seeping back into them.
“Sagittarius!” Len squeaks.
“Captain, do you know how few people see Sagittarius?” The excitement in Epizon’s voice is infectious, and I can’t help smiling. He’s long spoken of wanting to see how the centaurs live. Now he may get a chance.
“I didn’t think we would go somewhere forbidden so soon!” Len says.
“Do you think we’ll be hunting something?” asks Alexios.
“I suppose you’re good at hunting?” I say, sitting down in the captain’s chair. He shrugs. “Have you been to Sagittarius before?” I know the answer is almost certainly no.
Alexios shakes his head. “No. I’ve only been to two forbidden realms.” Everyone looks at him, interest piqued.
“Which ones?” asks Lucas.
Alexios grins at him. “That would be telling.”
“One of them is obviously Pisces,” I say. “Invited to exclusive parties, I imagine.”
Alexios turns to me. “I would ask if you’re jealous, but your obvious contempt for rich folk who like parties would suggest not.”
“Well, when those same folk clamor to lick the ass of the person who murdered your whole family, we’ll talk about that.”
“You tar everyone with the same brush.”
“Because experience has taught me to.”
“Then you’ve not experienced enough.” I glare at him. He raises one eyebrow. “Do you think you and your crew can be categorized so easily, along with all the other smugglers and miscreants in Olympus?”
“Miscreants?” splutters Len. “I’ll have you know that we are very selective in our illegal activities.”
“My point exactly,” Alexios says.
He’s fucking infuriating, and I’m too angry about Hercules surviving to listen to his shit. I stand up.
“Money and power make people greedy and selfish,” I say. “I’ve seen it too conclusively to believe otherwise. Now, this conversation is over. Leave me alone while I plot a course to Sagittarius.”