11
Pulling hard on the reins, I stop the stallions and step down onto the bridge with the help of the spear I claimed. I use it to spur my horses on, crouching to make myself small beside the bridge’s ledge as the equines run to their deaths.
Ares’s soldier closes in. I think about letting him surge on ahead. He would be one less opponent, and a formidable one, at that. Wouldn’t it make the gods happy if I sacrificed another mortal and lost a bit more of my humanity? They want us to view each other as enemies.
The Greek certainly considers me his. He wants me dead; he’s made that clear.
Morrigan would tell me not to stop him. To be ruthless without hesitation.
But if these are my last days, I’ll choose how they’re spent. If this is my war, I’ll decide how I fight it. On this battlefield we’ve been called to, all the mortals are siblings in arms, not adversaries, and the gods are our nemeses.
Just before he reaches me, I stand and wave the spear for him to stop.
As he urges his horses sideways to trample me, I start pointing and yelling, “Troll!” If he won’t listen, maybe I can warn August, who’s charging right behind him.
Niall is next, his dark suit highly visible through the downpour.
“Stop!” I scream as loud as I can. My voice shreds. “Gods damn it, stop!”
The Greek finally hears me. At first, he hesitates, but then he pulls hard on the reins. I see his confusion and fear even through the rivulets carving paths over his skin. August and Niall stop, and then Niall waves down the chariots coming behind him.
“There’s a troll!” I shout as the Greek raises a claimed sword to ward off the blow he expects from my spear. “There’s a mountain troll! Just ahead. And he’s hungry. The two contestants who crossed before me are dead. He ate their horses.”
“Only one?” August shouts over the raging wind.
“I don’t know,” I pant. “I only saw one.”
There could be more. The weather might be hiding them.
Lightning strikes the bridge’s edge in the place I was crouched moments before, making Niall shout, fists clenched. “We have to get off this feckin’ bridge!”
I toss out the only idea I’ve been able to come up with. “If we send our horses to it, maybe we can sneak past on foot in small groups.”
The Greek surveys the scene, then points the tip of his sword at me. “Is this a trap?”
Idiot. I roll my eyes. “Yes. Clearly, I brought the troll here to eat you so I can win today.”
Just then, the mountainous monster shifts and takes a step. We watch the behemoth catch and consume my warhorses.
The Greek curses at the sight, then turns to me with wild eyes. That could’ve easily been him, but it wasn’t. “Why did you help me?”
I stab the spear toward the sky. “Because we’re not enemies here.
We’re fighting on the same side now.” Against the gods who dragged us here.
The ones who built the chariots, gave only some of us weapons, and brought the insatiable trolls.
The same ones who hurl the thunderbolts and sow fear and want us all dead.
His shoulders relax and he lowers his sword, his chest still heaving. “I still don’t trust you.”
“I don’t trust you, either.” I shrug and wipe rain from my eyes. “But I don’t want anyone else to die in the mouth or fist of that rocky beast today.”
He leaps from the back of his chariot. “Fair enough.”
With a sharp smack from the flat of his blade, the Greek warrior sends Ares’s warhorses thundering down the bridge. Several moments later, the troll snatches them off it and bites off one of the stallion’s heads before doing the same to the other.
Chariots stack up behind us. Eventually, the congestion will draw the beast’s attention. We need to move. Contenders who are too far away to realize the threat shout for us to get out of their way. But as they watch the beast swallow the Greek’s stallions, they quit their bellowing.
As torrents of rain fall and lightning forks all around us, we convene as a group. The strikes come closer the longer we linger. The gods want us to act. To race.
We decide to go in pairs and threes beside the warhorses and chariots, keeping the stallions and metal between us and the troll’s greedy, stony fists until we close the distance.
Then we’ll cross to the side of the bridge nearest the monster and crouch along the bridge’s stone walls to move past the beast.
At some point, his appetite will be satiated. We just need to use the horses to our advantage and hope this troll is solitary. Once the horses are gone, we’ll have nothing to offer another one.
The Greek volunteers to go first. The championed female in soaked lavender will cross with him. They run alongside the trotting horses. The rain falls in sheets, blurring their forms for several seconds.
This forsaken torrent just might save our skins, concealing us and dampening our scent.
Koda stands alone, separate from those gathered, hugging himself and shivering from the cold.
“Will you walk with me, Koda?” I ask.
He shakes his head. “I won’t be able to keep up. I’ll take my time and be careful when I pass.”
I know he won’t make it without help. I grip my spear. “Please. I can get you through this.”
August and Niall encourage him to go with me, but Koda is torn.
Water slides off my chin and drips down my throat. “Please?”
He finally relents and walks forward.
I guide the horse’s pace. The troll took the Greek’s offering, allowing him and the championed girl to slink past the creature with ease. “See? We’ve got this,” I tell Koda.
He doesn’t seem as sure. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to promise to go on without me.”
“I won’t do that. And we won’t need to worry about it. We’ll just slip by. The finish line must be just beyond him.”
I pray it is.
August and a middle-aged woman trail us once we’re halfway to the threat. Niall and a girl a few years older than us are poised to go after them.
Lightning strikes the side of the bridge between us and August, breaking off a piece of the wall. More bolts come. More chunks of the wall we’re using as cover are being cut away by the gods’ precise bolts.
We keep walking. I hold the spear close to my body, away from the troll in case the gold draws its eye.
A loud whinny comes from behind, along with the sound of storming hooves. A blur of equine and woman rushes past us on the right, startling our stallions. The contender has unbridled one of the warhorses and is making a run for it.
It’s a bold move and in the rain, the stallion’s carrying her so fast they’re barely visible. The mount isn’t burdened by the weight of a cart, but their approach isn’t silent, and trolls have excellent hearing.
A craggy hand grabs the horse and rider. The woman’s scream is abruptly cut short as she’s ground in the troll’s maw.
While he’s otherwise occupied, we slink against the wall.
I go first and Koda follows, bending as we hurry past the damaged sections of bridge when we reach them.
The horses we’ve been walking beside since I released their reins trot freely ahead.
Their hooves draw the behemoth’s attention and the creature’s hand sweeps overhead.
I fight the urge to bring up my spear.
The warhorses’ cries are horrific. Blood splatters the ground beside us, then in front of us as the giant eats.
Though he tries to move fast, Koda is struggling. Before we make it past the danger, the blood stops splashing and the sounds of the horses’ pain cease. All goes still except the angry roar of rain, and Koda and I are left without anything to distract the creature. We keep moving, creeping forward.
My heart thunders in time with the sky.
Through the torrent, it’s hard to see all the broken bits of stone from where the lightning has struck the bridge and I trip on one, pushing it a few feet.
The rock grates across the bridge and I fall onto my prosthetic knee.
Koda ducks and we hold still, hoping the sound went unnoticed.
The troll turns toward us for a breath. It doesn’t come closer, but now I have a terrible new problem. A greater one.
My prosthesis is bent at the joint. At home, I’d take it off and work the hinge until it righted itself, but I can’t remove my leg here, in this rain, while being hunted by a troll.
I twist to better inspect the metal and am relieved to see it’s not too bad.
At least it’s not broken. I should be able to work it back into place.
I have no choice but to force it to flex and pray it doesn’t break. I use my hands to help it extend and a loud screech tears from the limb as the bent piece grates against the metal.
My stomach drops, my heart quaking in time with the bridge that trembles with the giant’s every step.
The troll is coming.
I motion for Koda to move on without me before my rusted joint gets us both killed.
He shakes his head and points to his ears. I don’t hear anything at first, and then… It’s faint, but the sounds of hooves striking stone are unmistakable.
Several unbridled horses thunder down the bridge. Confused, the troll doesn’t know which of us to target first.
Right behind the desperate stallions sneaks a tight cluster of chariots, their cabs full of contestants squeezed in tight.
Forgetting the sound I made, the troll focuses on catching the distraction.
The behemoth plucks a stallion in one hand, holding the screaming horse as it grabs another with its free hand. One, two, three groups race past in quick succession.
August’s chariot slows. Niall waits inside, swiftly pulling Koda and me into the cart. Balancing as best I can with my damaged prosthesis, I turn and point my spear at the rocky beast in case it takes a swipe at us.
Aymes snaps the reins, driving the warhorses between the frantic, unbridled stallions still trotting this way and that.
One of the equines gets too close to the side wall and topples over it.
A few more chariots close the gap behind us.
We’re going to make it!
Bolts of lightning strike on all sides, as if the gods are angry we found a way through their well-laid trap.