Chapter 59 Lyssa
Lyssa
“Are you ready for this?” Epizon asks quietly. We’re standing together on the deck, watching the purple twilight sky slowly getting darker.
I have done everything in my power to make sure Alexios and I haven’t been alone since I touched the longboat back down on the deck.
But my body is still alight with whatever this new energy is.
It can’t just be desire. I’ve felt arousal before, and this isn’t that.
It’s like it’s mixed with my Rage power and made something…
new. Something only that fucking fool could create, by being so utterly repulsive, and so utterly beautiful at the same time.
I throw a glare at him, but he’s staring out over the railings at the Hybris, Bassari swishing his tail next to him.
“Lyssa?”
I look back at Epizon. “Of course I am.”
He looks between me and Alexios. “Something happen with you two?” There’s a dangerous, protective tone to his voice, and I lay my hand on his shoulder.
“No.”
“Good. Who do you want with you in the longboat for the race?”
“Nobody,” I say, then sigh and jerk my head backward at the peacock. “Except him, obviously. The lighter the boat, the better.”
Epizon nods. “If you’re channeling Rage and steering at the same time, then you’ll need somebody who’s a good shot.
You can guarantee the others will have both a navigator and a gunner.
” The big man shrugs. “I’m too heavy, as is Nestor, Len is a terrible shot, and I have no idea if Lucas can shoot.
So, it would probably have been him anyway.
” I scowl, and Epizon bumps my shoulder with his. “He’ll help the Rage.”
“Hmm.”
A horn sounds in the distance, and I start to turn.
Epizon reaches out, and I stop. “Lyssa, be careful,” he says quietly. “Don’t lose control.”
Lose control. That’s almost exactly what I did with Alexios on his knees before me, until Epizon’s voice broke the spell. It’s what I often do, without him to ground me.
“You know, Ep, it wouldn’t slow us down that much if you were on board. My Rage can make up for it,” I say quickly.
“No. We need to win this, and I’m too heavy.” He lays his hand on my shoulder, and I straighten. “Concentrate on the race, and on Hercules. Stay focused. This one is ours, captain.”
The sound of hooves makes me turn, and I see Len and Lucas moving across the planks toward us. Alexios saunters to my side, Bassari vanishing.
“So, sun’s down. Horns are blaring. What happens now?” asks Len.
I open my mouth to reply, and the world fills with white light.
I blink, then crippling pain engulfs my body. I gasp for breath, the now-familiar feeling taking over every cell of consciousness.
Alexios isn’t with me.
Agony. It’s simple, raw, unfettered pain, and it’s everywhere.
I can hear sound around me, my blurred vision taking in the presence of people. I’m in my longboat, I think. But just stringing two cohesive thoughts together is enough to send me to my knees.
A voice cuts through the pain, words distorted. “Choose you crew for the race.”
“Alexios,” I choke, and with another flash, the pain is gone.
Alexios is beside me, wrapping his huge arms around my much smaller frame and dragging me quickly to my feet.
I want to hit him. I want to scream at him. But all I can do is sag in relief against his chest.
“Shit. You okay?” I hear his voice, quiet, and then register that the rest of the sound is folk cheering.
I shove him away in answer and blink around myself, my vision clearing slowly.
To my left and right are the other crews’ boats, lined up and facing the same way.
On either side, in tall stalls, are hundreds of creatures.
Many centaurs line the front rows, stamping their feet and beating their armored chests, whilst dryads and nymphs call and cheer.
Beings from races made up of animals I can’t even name stare back at me, clapping their limbs and shouting.
Beyond them, the hills are gone. We’re on a different plain, long, yellowing grasses stretching in all directions.
My eyes find Alexios, his expression tight, not as easy and open as usual. He speaks, barely moving his mouth. “Everyone is watching, Lyssa.”
I take a deep breath, then hold out my hand and smile at him. In case the flame dishes are listening, I make my voice calm and clear. “I’m okay. Just a dizzy spell,” I say.
He smiles back at me and squeezes my outstretched hand. “Good. Are you ready?”
“Yes. Are you? I need you to act as gunner. And… let me know if…” I trail off. I don’t know how to tell him to stop me if I go too far. I don’t want to ask him to do that. But I think of Epizon, and know I have to. “If I get carried away.”
“Carried away?” he repeats, then unhooks a slingshot from his hip. I see a bulging bag of shot also strapped to the belt. At least he’s prepared.
“Yes. Carried away.”
The crowd roars suddenly, and we both look for the source of the noise.
Hercules has climbed his mast, and is waving to the onlookers. His lion-skin cloak is draped across his shoulders, and Evadne, her blue hair shining, is standing below him with a small smile on her lips. I make a low growling noise and turn the other way.
Antaeus and the gold-skinned half giant Busiris are in a longboat twice the size of mine, with two small masts.
I wonder if that will make it move faster, or if their weight will still hinder them.
Past them I can see the slender longboat from the Virtus.
Theseus, Psyche, and Hedone are all in the boat, and to my surprise, Hedone is armed with a long spear identical to Psyche’s.
“Heroes of Olympus.” Artemis’s young voice is amplified across the plain, and the crowd falls silent immediately. “Meet my prize stag, Cerynea.”
The air ahead of us shimmers with glowing gold, and slowly the light solidifies, an animal taking form.
He truly is a beautiful creature. Taller than me at his shoulder, and so pale he’s almost white, the stag has the most magnificent antlers I’ve ever seen. They’re shining gold, the light reflecting from them every time he dips his head.
“You must follow him back to me, on the other side of Sagittarius. You must not harm him, and you will not overtake him. You must take the route he does. You will start when he does. If you believe your life is in mortal danger, tell me that you give up and I will decide if you deserve to live.”
I swallow and try to avoid eye contact with Alexios.
“Good luck, heroes.”
I lay my hand on the mast. “I need you to keep the others away from us. I’ll handle the speed and the route. We’re the fastest here.”
He loads the slingshot and nods at me. “I know.”
The stag paws at the ground, and I realize his hooves are shining too, gold glinting in the dusky light. He snorts, loudly, and raises his magnificent head.
Another horn sounds, and in a flash of gold the stag is moving, not just forward but up. His golden hooves flash as he gallops through the air, gaining speed and height simultaneously. There’s a burst of noise from the crowd, and I will my boat forward, after the shining beacon ahead of me.
We’re barely off the ground when Hercules’s boat smashes into the side of us. Evadne aims her slingshot with a smile, and I duck as the lead flies toward me.
“Alexios!” I yell, turning to him. He’s firing at Busiris on the other side, who’s launching arrows from a bow in a high arc above us.
One lands with a loud thud in the bottom of the boat.
I look down at the metal arrowhead embedded in the wood and will more of myself into the little boat.
The thrum of power builds in my veins, the wooden mast seeming to heat beneath my hands as we surge forward, out of reach of Hercules.
I look ahead to the flash of gold, now too small to make out as any specific form.
The plains still roll ahead of us, no mountains or hills in sight.
The grass is changing color, though, turning greener and longer as we speed over it.
I look back toward Hercules, not far behind me.
Evadne is yanking at a series of arrows that are sticking out of the mast of their boat, the only part not covered in shiny metal plating.
I scan the shimmering triangular sail for signs of damage but can’t see any.
White flashes past on my other side. It’s Theseus, overtaking me.
Hedone and Psyche are holding their long spears out on either side of the boat, ensuring nobody can get close enough to ram them.
Smart move, I think, but they have no ranged weapons.
Theseus salutes as he makes eye contact with me, and I scowl back.
“Can you hear buzzing?” Alexios calls.
“Buzzing?” I listen over the sound of the wind in my ears.
There’s… something. I will more of my power into the boat, wanting to keep up with Theseus but reluctant to build up my energy too early.
I don’t know how long this race will last, and it gets harder to concentrate the more power I’m channeling.
Something tiny and black flies past me, close to my face.
I swat at it. Alexios is right—whatever it is, it’s buzzing.
“Some sort of bug,” he calls. As he says it, the grasses below us begin to move, rippling like an ocean. My stomach lurches as a black swarm rises from the ripples, engulfing Theseus’s boat.
“Shit,” I curse, and pour power into the mast. We shoot up, over Theseus’s halting boat, the buzzing suddenly bordering on deafening. I fix my eyes on the golden glint ahead and try to ignore the writhing black in my peripheral vision. “Are we above them?” I yell to Alexios.
“I can’t hear you!” I barely catch his reply.
I jump as I feel a hand on my shoulder, causing the boat to swerve as I turn.
Alexios has climbed over the bench to the mast. He leans over the side of the boat, gripping the edge hard enough that his knuckles are white.
“I can’t see the others,” he says, scanning the sky.
“I can.” I point. Not far below us, but a long way in front, is a whirling red light, surrounded by the black swarm. Hercules is swinging his sword in wide circles, fast, keeping the throng of insects at bay. I swat angrily at my hair again and push the boat faster.
“As long as we stay above the bulk of them, we’ll be okay,” Alexios says, still shouting over the roar of the wind and the drone of the bugs.
I fix my eyes ahead and nod. I force myself to ignore the urge to keep looking down at the red glow of Hercules’s boat and concentrate on powering on, over the writhing grasslands.
I don’t know how long we’ve been flying when Alexios says, “It’s stopping.
” The fact that he doesn’t need to shout the words means he’s right.
I blink my stinging eyes and look as far down as I can without letting go of the mast. The undulating black mass is thinning.
I can still see the red glow of Hercules’s sword, but he isn’t so far ahead anymore.
“Where are the other two boats?” Alexios moves from my side, I presume to the back of the boat. I don’t turn to look, not wanting to risk losing track of the stag. He may have kept a steady pace in a straight line so far, but I know enough not to take anything for granted.
“They both made it. The giants are at the back,” he reports.
“The grass is changing,” I say. “I think… I think there’s water ahead.” I lower the boat a little without slowing, ignoring the lingering few insects that buzz around me and see that we’re approaching a huge, boggy marsh.