by P M Cole
“What is this trial?” said Daniel just as lost as I was.
I looked at the trees swaying in the wind and the equally serene lapping of waves a hundred yards or so away. “I think we have to—”
Auto started chirping above us, louder than I had ever heard before.
‘B…y…r…’
“Byron?”
‘C…o…m…i…n…g.’
I guess he survived his metal cage then.
Daniel whirled around.
“Which direction?” I shouted up to the hovering bird.
He spun around. ‘O…t…h…e…r…S…i…d…e.’
“Other side of what?” said Daniel.
“I think the island we’re on, but he can move—” I felt the pressure change before the impact and maybe that was what saved me, but I still sailed through the air, clipping the edge of one of the stones, then spun and landed hard on my stomach, rolling at least twice.
I looked up, trying to shake the dizziness from my head. Daniel was still in the centre of the stones, his eyes ablaze. A blur moved around him, which he was talking to? As I pulled myself to my feet with the help of a fallen trunk, I began to hear the sound of the medical student's words wafting towards me on the light breeze.
“Why are you doing thi—” Daniel bent over as the wind left his lungs. Byron had hit him in the stomach, but it happened so quickly I missed it. The taller man righted himself, his eyes still aflame despite the grimace on his face. “He’s using y—” This time the hit was on his face, and he staggered backwards against one of the stones, but there was no respite for another blow tilted his head back, spraying blood through the air. I wondered why his power was not working against his foster brother. Maybe he needed to be able to see his target and Byron was moving too quick.
I needed metal, but I was on an island of trees, rocks and grass, everything natural! Then I remembered an item I pushed into my side pocket before we left, a silver shilling. It wasn’t much, but it was going to have to do. I rummaged around the pockets in my coat, finding the coin. Now what?
Daniel fell from stone to stone, still pleading for Byron to see sense, if I didn’t act quickly, he was going to die. I ran through a hundred different ways I could use an inch-wide coin, each insufficient, until…
I ran forward a few steps. “Hey!” I shouted at the blur in the stone circle.
This will never work…
I focused all my effort into the tiny coin which had already left my hand and was setting about its work nearby.
Another punch hit Daniel, sending him to the ground.
He hasn’t got long.
I felt the weight the coin was lifting; it was a lot, but I could handle it. I just needed that bastard to take the bait.
“You’re such a coward! You can’t even beat—”
The air around me changed. He was on his way and I only had a second to implement my plan. I threw myself to the ground, for I knew he would come straight at me, and the trunk, which had laid on the ground, stretching at least fifteen feet burst from the grass and dirt, into the air, sweeping forward in the direction I hoped he was coming from.
There was a crunch, and a ‘oomph’ sound, and the blur became a man, a man that was now lying on the ground, with blood dripping from the side of his mouth.
I looked across to Daniel who was no longer moving. I ran past Byron who lunged at me, but such was his state that he just fell back to the grass, and quickly knelt next to Daniel. I felt his pulse.
Alive.
I heard the pounding of boots on earth just in time to roll to one side, around one of the stones. The white sword of Grace gorged out a hole in the dirt.
Ah, I hate that bone sword!
She was dressed from head to toe in leather armour, which I could find no metal within. Another slash came at me, but it missed, and I staggered to my feet and ran.
“You have to… kill…” shouted Byron, still prone on the ground, his head then dropping into the mud.
I was heading towards the cove and the beach below. I had no idea why, but try as I might, as I pumped my legs and arms, I couldn’t retrieve my coin from the trunk. It was lost somewhere deep within. I was defenceless against the warrior sprinting towards me, who had the power of a god.
Angry words came from Grace some tens of yards behind me, but I cared not, I just needed to put distance between us. As I careered over the edge of the cliff, trying to keep my footing as I descended the steep embankment I wondered if the other gods were watching, like the Romans of old. I almost laughed at the thought of being a gladiator, and staggered downwards, trying to get to the sand below, and I would have done so if her skill at throwing wasn’t as good as it was. A thump hit the back of my head and I fell, then started to tumble, the sky changing place with the earth, over and over, each time getting a glimpse of Grace’s manic face getting closer.
I rolled onto the sand, small sparkles of light before my eyes. For some reason I felt I needed to move forward, always forward towards the surf, the water. So, I summoned all the strength I had, pushing it into my legs and staggered forward, each sandy step feeling as if it needed two just to gain any ground.
She landed on the beach behind me, the ground almost shaking. This was it. I just had seconds before that sword made from an unknown creature would plunge into my back, and Hades would have won.
The waves sloshed around my ankles and with my energy leaving my body, I fell forward, headfirst into the water.
A shadow loomed around me.
“He doesn’t need any more daughters Cog, he has me and my sisters,” said Grace, standing over me. The shape of her shadow changed, and I could tell her weapon was held high above. No more time. Almost over.
Then I saw the nuggets glinting beneath the waves, and with a moment's thought the glittering metal rose and formed a shield across my back.
Grace's sword slammed into it and shattered.
I turned around, my hair stuck to my face, my clothes soaked through and looked into the face of a woman, who for the first time since I had seen her, looked scared.
The few pounds of gold covering me warped and melded into a spear which flew forwards a foot or two, piercing her armour, through to the other side. She looked down, shocked as blood spluttered from her mouth, then fell backwards onto the sand.
A scream of anguish came from the top of the cliff. As the waves still splashed around me, I looked up at Byron, his body becoming a blur, then back to his usual self, each time moving a few feet down the cliff.
My head was throbbing.
“Have I won…” I said under my breath, as I got to my knees, then stood as best I could.
“You have.”
I looked to my left, the radiant form of Athena stood, the wind buffeting her robe, a smile on her face.
I went to take a step forward, but my legs felt like lead. “Daniel?”
“He’s alive.” She looked down at Grace, as did I. Ripples of guilt started to flood through me.
“I… she was going to kill me.”
Athena walked forward, kneeling next to the fallen warrior's body, and on touching it, it disappeared. “She chose to fight, but this is on Hades. You and the young man fought fair.”
Tears started to run down my face. “I didn’t want to kill her… I didn’t want to do any of this!” I looked at the cliff, Byron was no longer there as well.
“They have returned from where they came.”
I pushed my feet forward, back onto the sand. “I have to get to Daniel, and we need to get back.”
She placed her hand on my shoulder. I wavered slightly. “There is no need for you to rush. This is a celestial realm, young Hephaestus, time here moves far slower than your own realm. Mere seconds have passed back there. Take your time, rest with your friend. While you are here, Hades cannot harm you. But when you return…”
“How can I ever defeat him? He can’t stay in my realm; he will destroy everything! We tried to send him back to the underwor
ld, but he was too powerful!”
“That was because you were too few in number. But word of you defeating his champions will spread far and wide. If you look, you will now find others to join your cause.”
“But… I no longer have his blood, to undo the spell which binds him to my realm…”
She smiled. “Cog… his blood is your blood.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gloria ran forward. “Good lord, what happened?”
Daniel and I staggered out of the portal onto the weathered stone steps; he looked like he had been run over by a carriage. When he came back around, we waited for an hour without much of a word passing between us. He did his best to heal himself, but his ability for some reason was not working as it should and only some of his numerous wounds would heal. When he was able to walk, we decided the sooner we returned the better.
Hands belonging to the three sisters, Lucas, and Colin, helped us down the small staircase and onto the chamber floor.
“Grace is dead. I killed her.” The words came out colder than I would have wished, and I could tell they hit somewhere deep within Daniel, but he remained silent.
They all looked shocked.
“What happened?” said Lucas.
“We met with the council. We had to fight in a trial against two chosen by Hades. He chose Byron and Grace. We won, they lost.”
The chamber was silent.
Daniel’s eyes became aflame and slowly the lacerations started to disappear across his face.
“It must have been the time difference,” I said to him.
He stood upright, stretching his arms, and looking healthier.
“Are you okay to keep going?”
He nodded.
“We need to get back into the dirigible and into the air,” I said.
I went to take another step when a thought hit me. I pulled the map from my coat, quickly unfolding it.
“It’s changed…” I said, looking at the new channel of lines.
Everyone huddled over the parchment being lit by their lamps. A dark line now ran from our current location to somewhere in the west of the country.
“Wales…” said Lucas.
“What’s there?” I said, looking around the faces near me.
Katerina leaned in closer. “I believe that is Dragon mountain. There are caves there it is said even the gods would not tread within.”
“That looks like where we need to go next,” I said, then looked at the sisters. “Are you willing to continue on this journey with us? I can return you to Edinburgh if you wish.”
“We have come this far, might as well see this thing through to the end,” said Gloria. Katerina smiled, but her eyes told a different story while Melanie just looked away.
“Let’s head back, it will take a while to get the furnace to temperature.”
With Katerina’s help we were able to find the right exit to the frozen hillside, and after a short delay we were back up in the air, floating across the sea to the mainland.
The shock on Grace's face kept pushing its way into my mind. Another memory which wanted to be heard above all the others. I remembered Athena’s words, but they were of little solace. As whispers of white cloud floated past the window, I argued with myself back and forth, trying to justify what I did, but eventually it was a stalemate. I was just going to have to live with it like so many other things, but for now I needed to prepare for what may lay ahead. I thought about Daniel. He had been mostly silent on returning to this realm. He was not prepared for his foster siblings being willing to fight against him, and even less so for me killing one of them. I wondered if his loyalties were still with me. There was also the issue of Hades' reaction. What will he do now? He could no longer use the council against me, and if what the Goddess had said was true, then maybe we could convince others to stand up against him… Despite the heinous deed I had committed, I felt a spark of hope about our chances of ending this nightmare.
Once we hit the coast of north-western Scotland we headed south.
Some hours had passed with mostly silence in the cabin, and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. Below us was a blanket of thick cloud, lit by the moon and above, stars, so many that I was becoming lost in their sparkles.
“Something's coming!” shouted Melanie, sitting upright and making the rest of us skip a heartbeat or two.
“What do you mean something’s coming?” I said over my shoulder, trying to wake my brain. We were above the clouds, free from any danger.
“I…” She turned around in her seat, looking through her window, while the others copied her action with theirs.
“What are we looking for?” said Daniel.
Then I saw them. At first, I thought they were birds, large, but just feathered animals breaking through the cloud cover and moving in our direction, but their form and size made it obvious they were much more than that. “Not a something, someone…” I recognised the bat like wings that were rapidly closing in on us. More sisters, but these went by the name of the Furies.
“Stand back!” shouted Lucas, opening the cabin door, one of his hands already covered in flame. He leaned out and let go a bolt of blue that streamed out into the night towards our would-be attackers, but they neatly beat their wings harder and the magical projectile missed.
“They’re going to be on us soon, I’m trying to descend!” I shouted, rotating the fans, so the thrust was to the heavens.
We plunged through the clouds as if moving through a bank of rolling white fog.
“I think we have lost—”
The whole cabin shook then jolted, screeches coming from all sides.
“They’re above us!” shouted Melanie.
“They’re going to burst the envelope!” I shouted.
I went to move out of my seat when the front window shattered, and a clawed hand surged for my throat.
As I struggled to keep the Fury from tearing at my arteries, I heard whispers from behind, and a surge of yellow flame burst past me, singeing my hair, but engulfing the monster clinging to the front of the cabin.
For a moment I had the terrifying thought that we were going to crash into the sea, but then I realised there were some lights below, and the dark forms of trees and hills. Even so, at the speed we were descending we weren’t going to survive the landing anyway.
A gale came through the gaping hole where the front window used to be and swirled around us.
I had no idea where the other Furies were, maybe they felt their work was done. If I didn’t do something, we were all going to die.
“This is the last time I’m flying!” shouted Colin.
We were low enough now to see the lights belonged to a building, a large one, and we were about to hit the ground hard a few hundred yards in front of it.
I looked at the scared faces behind me, trying to think of a solution… One came to me, but I had no idea if it would work, but what choice did I have.
“Everyone hold on! I’m going to try something!” I shouted.
I stilled my thoughts, blocking out the wind and the panic and felt the iron, copper and the other metals which made up the dirigible’s super structure. I had controlled similar weights before, but never while I was in one, plummeting to my death.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, then another on my arm. I opened my eyes to the others, all smiling, willing me on.
“You can do this,” said Lucas.
I nodded and forced my will into the struts and beams around us. A purple light emanated from them.
“I think it’s—”
Before Melanie could finish, we slammed into the top of a tree. Branches pushed through every available window, and the world tilted, throwing all of us to one side then another.
“We’re not on the—” Before I forced the words from my lips, we were falling again, snaps and creaks filling the air until, with a heavy thump, we hit the snow-covered ground, the envelope falling over us, extinguishing what little light from the outside there had be
en.
I sat up, not being sure it was actually ‘up’ for the cabin appeared to be upside down, and I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. It was also bitingly cold. I heard noises around me, someone else was still breathing at least. “Is anyone hurt!” I shouted.
“I… I think I’m OK, said Gloria. Katerina? Melanie?”
A groan came from somewhere.
“I think something is broken,” said Melanie.
I stretched out with my fingers, quickly coming into contact with a person. “Who’s this!”
“It’s me,” said Daniel. “Hold on…” Two eye-shaped flames appeared close by, lighting our confined space, and I could see one of the branches was sticking into his leg.
“You're hurt!” shouted Melanie.
He smiled. “Don’t worry about me.” He turned slightly towards her. “Your arm is broken?”
She grimaced. “I think so…”
His eyes burned bright and suddenly her expression turned to one of relief.
Lucas groaned again, immediately feeling his forehead that had a large gash across it, covering one half of his face in blood. “Did we make it…” he said.
Daniel winced as he turned to Lucas, and again the other man’s injury disappeared.
“Where’s Colin and Katerina?” I said.
Lucas lit up one of the oil lanterns, then looked at Daniel's leg. “We need to get that branch out of you.” The blond-haired man nodded.
As Lucas and he did what they needed too, to get Daniel’s leg clear, I crawled forward, quickly pushing up against the fabric of the envelope, but it was too heavy to move. I also heard something rattling in my coat pocket and knew my pocket watch was no longer of any use. I needed to climb out, see if there was any more danger, but as I went to pull some of the metal struts around me free with my mind, the intention being to use them to cut my way out, a cackling sound rang out, which I had heard too many times before.
I looked back at the others.
“The Furies…” said Lucas.
Daniel flexed his leg, now being healed.
“Come out little Cog, we want to play!” came the demonic voice from outside.