She rubbed her face on her shoulder to wipe away the dirt then listened hard. Nothing. With a few more steps, she blinked into the darkness, making out the shape of rocks along the cave wall. She saw no shadow flicker by, heard no footsteps, and she thought, perhaps, she was alone. That would have been somewhat fortunate, if there actually were no monster, except without a way to escape she may have been better off being eaten.
There was no going up, so Korinna began forward, hugging the wall with her side as she went, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. It wasn’t like Hades, but it was close enough to be less frightening than it probably should have been. She thought about coming upon one of Ares’s hounds down here, or even Cerberus, and how she might actually be thankful for the companionship as she went.
Then there was a sound, and her guts flipped. She would have panicked, but she was all out of urgency, and instead stood perfectly still and listened to the darkness. It was a bit like something being dragged on the ground. A step, and then another, and the soft, wet, sliding of something over something else.
She saw its fur first, in a halo around where the face was obstructed in shadow. Indeed, it wore a mane like a lion, unkempt and wild, and it stalked out from the darkness on front paws with long talons and shoulders that were wide and skulking like a cat. It had seen her, and she was frozen to the spot.
“Welcome,” came a voice like rock crumbling down a slope, “Is it really that time of year again?”
Korinna balked. It spoke? She felt her shoulders relax and craned her neck to see it better.
“Time, it goes by so quickly and yet drags on down here.” The creature pulled itself out from behind the boulder and raised to its full height, pulling its front paws off the ground. It stood up on a long, scaly body, the fur of its upper half so thick around its shoulders only to become patchy and breaking into scales midway down its torso until the rest of it was revealed to be completely serpentine. Its scales caught what little light was in the cave and glimmered wet and slick. Somewhere in the shadows its tail was still hidden.
On its serpentine body, it moved closer to her with shocking speed, and she pressed back against the stone wall with a gasp. Its face was now in hers and she wanted to cry out in fear, but her voice was caught in her throat. It was like a man’s, with human eyes, a nose, a pointed chin, but the fangs that hung down over the lower jaw screamed monster.
“Tell me, what are you called?”
She had seen more grotesque things, and she had led others into more horrifying situations, but now she was alone. “K-Korinna,” she managed with shaking breath.
He made a small sound in the back of his throat, then repeated her name, holding out the syllables as if he tasted each one. He tilted his head. “I suppose it will do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she blurted out in spite of herself.
The creature rose up to its full height above her, crossing sinewy, fur-covered arms. “If you’re to be my bride it will be helpful that I like your name.”
“Your bride?” Korinna coughed, her mouth hanging open. She would have laughed if it weren’t so ridiculous. “That’s what I’m here for?”
“Of course. Why are you mortals always so confused about that?”
She opened her mouth to tell him, then thought better of it. Explaining that there was a whole village of people walking around topside that thought they were sending virgins down here to die at the hands of a vicious beast wouldn’t likely please him. Then she had another thought. “Where are the rest of…your brides then?”
He stroked his chin with a taloned paw and licked a long fang. “They didn’t exactly work out. You may not either from the looks of you.” He slammed a paw against the wall beside her head.
With wide eyes, Korinna ducked under his arm and slid out from between him and wall. She was both offended and not, but scoffed at him regardless, “Okay, now what’s that supposed to mean?”
He glanced at her over his shoulder. “Well, you’re a bit skinny.” Before she could growl at him, her body was suddenly compressed, and she was lifted into the air and pulled up to his face, the scales of his tail digging into her stomach as it squeezed. “And you don’t have nearly enough eyes, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”
“Lucky me,” she gasped out as she tried to wriggle out of his too-tight grip. Of course this was how it went, she thought, taking a shallow breath, the only guy remotely interested in her without being struck by an arrow, and he was a total monster. And, frankly, he wasn’t even very cute either.
Then the air over the creature’s shoulder was pierced, the wind whipping just past Korinna’s face. It caught them both by surprise, and his tail’s grip loosened enough for her to take a deep breath. The monster snarled, twisting about and searching the cave. He spun, shaking Korinna in his grasp. There was another whir through the air, and this time she saw it: an arrow, though it missed its target completely.
The beast was enraged and roared into the cave, “What in Tartarus is this?”
Nikeros alighted a rock, folding his wings behind him and brandishing his bow. Korinna felt her face break into a wide smile in spite of herself.
“I’m the one who shot Phille,” he called down to her, leveling another arrow at the monster.
She screwed up her face, and not just because she was struggling to breathe. “What?”
The monster turned fully toward Nikeros and dropped his animalistic paws to the ground, taking large and shaking steps toward the rock the Erote stood atop.
Nikeros tracked him with the tip of the arrow. “I shot her because I thought you were starting to fall for one of the suitors, and I…guess I didn’t want that.”
Korinna bobbed around in the grasp of the beast’s tail. “But that was your job.”
“I know! It was really, really confusing.” He let the arrow loose, and it sailed just past the beast again. As it passed closely to Korinna she noticed the arrow didn’t have any sort of glimmer or color to it, just hard flint and wood. “Also, to be fair, I was pretty drunk.”
“Why Phille though?”
The beast roared again, and Nikeros nearly lost his footing when a rock dislodged itself behind him. “That was a mistake. I meant to hit Leon.”
“That doesn’t make much more sense.”
“I said I was drunk; it was not a well-thought-out plan!” Nikeros loaded up another arrow and tracked the beast as it zigzagged toward him. “I guess I was just jealous, and I did something selfish, and I screwed everything up!” Nikeros let the last arrow fly and pegged the monster in its shoulder. Korinna was trying to consider his words—specifically that jealous one—when she slammed into the ground as the beast dropped her.
Korinna saw one of the arrows planted in the ground and crawled to it. The point was sharp and metal, and when she rubbed the bindings around her wrists on it, they quickly snapped off. After examining the arrow for another second, she realized it was most definitely not one of his enchanted ones.
“Are these normal arrows? Like for killing stuff?” She held it above her head.
“Yeah!” He jumped away from the beast as it swung a set of claws at the man’s face. “A lot harder to shoot than the magic ones, turns out.”
With a huff, Korinna went to tell him to be more bloody careful, he’d nearly shot her at least three times, and she wasn’t going to shake it off like the monster apparently had, but the moment was ruined when said monster did, indeed, shake off the arrow and threw himself at the Erote.
“Niko!”
The monster grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “What is the meaning of this?”
Unable to answer, Nikeros kicked against the wall and grabbed the monster’s paw to rip it off of him, but with no luck. Panicked, Korinna looked down at the arrow in her hand, shrugged, and charged at the monster’s back. Jumping from the ground, she sunk the arrow in as high up as she could manage, just below his shoulder blades. Hot blood spurted out on her, but she ju
st twisted it deeper into the beast’s sinewy flesh.
Releasing Nikeros, he swung around and slammed an arm into her, sending her flying back against the rocks. “Now I know it definitely won’t work out,” he growled, turning on her and tramping after where she landed.
Niko ran ahead of the beast, sliding between him and her, and shot another arrow. Perhaps it was the range, perhaps he’d gotten a bit better, or perhaps Tyche finally decided to help them out, but this arrow sunk right into the beast’s eye. As it recoiled, Niko turned, grabbing Korinna and pulling her to safety between two massive boulders against the cave wall.
The monster’s screams were echoing out into the caverns, calling out to primordial gods so zealously that Korinna thought for a moment they might actually come. Of course, the blow she’d taken to the head wasn’t helping her fear. She blinked around dizzily, and Nikeros helped her to her feet.
“Are you all right?”
“Not really.” She rubbed her temple as her vision came back along with her other senses.
They fit into the outcropping only just. He was looking on her with bright, concerned eyes and an anxious frown, his arms wrapped around her, though the rocks were doing quite a good job of pressing them right up against one another. “Actually, no, I’m fine,” she managed, feeling heat rise in her face.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Nikeros said quickly, “I didn’t mean it, the things I said, I just didn’t want, well,”—he nodded toward the cave where the beast was squalling—“this.”
She sighed, “It’s my fault. I lied to you about how I felt.”
“So you did feel love for one of them?” He looked at her expectantly, then his face fell. “I was right?”
“No.” She set her eyes on him determinedly. “But also yes.”
Nikeros looked like he was thinking very hard, and it was hurting his brain. The howling of the beast was likely not helping. “So am I the worst Erote ever or what?”
She snorted, “No, you’re not a bad Erote, and your Erotey senses are not wrong. But you are an idiot.”
“So you’re in love?” She knew he was a little daft, but this was really impressive.
Korinna nodded, wrapping a hand around the shoulder of his tunic and pulling him that much closer. “Yes, dummy, I am.”
“Then why didn’t you just pick that one? We still could have helped your friend.”
“I just couldn’t bring myself to choose any of them when I—”
“I’ve been blinded!” the monster roared even louder than before, shaking the cave.
“Oh, shut it!” Korinna shouted from their hiding spot, “By Zeus, you’ve got another fucking eye!”
Nikeros cringed at her words, and they stared at each other, realization crawling over Korinna’s face. The monster fell silent.
CHAPTER XLII
The Erote narrowed his eyes at her. “Now who’s the idiot?”
“I’ll kill you both!” the beast roared, thundering toward the spot they barely fit into. He was too wide to enter himself, his arm just barely swinging inside, tearing at the edge of Korinna’s chiton. This seemed to be it, and she swallowed hard.
“It’s you, Niko!” she shouted at him, squeezing away from the beast’s talons and shutting her eyes, “But I know that being an Erote means too much to you, so even if you wanted to, which you probably don’t, you won’t be with me. I didn’t want to say anything and look like a total fool, but I also couldn’t pick any of those suitors. I could never have tried loving someone else when the person I actually love is you.”
Korinna held tight to Nikeros’s tunic, her eyes squeezed shut, waiting for the monster to claw them to bits. It was a long, excruciating moment that dragged on (Time does that on occasion), but in Korinna’s case it was actually passing quite normally, it just took her a while to catch up. There was no wind off the beast’s talons, no sounds of him wailing for their heads, and even her own breathing had steadied. Carefully, she peeked up at Nikeros who was looking down at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw. She felt her heartbeat quicken and her face flush. This was awful, she thought, worse than seeing any shade, facing any monster, or fearing any god’s wrath. She waited.
“So,” he began quietly, “that glow you’re giving off isn’t for Erepho or Calix or Andreas?
She shook her head.
“It’s for me?”
Korinna nodded.
“Well, I guess I am the worst Erote ever.” He grinned and tightened his grip on her waist. “Because I love you too.”
The beast howled, and the two plastered themselves against the back wall. Through the space between the boulders, they could see the form of the monster, sobs wracking his body as fat, wet tears fell from his one good eye.
“You two,”—he wiped his face, smearing blood and snot across it—“That is so sweet. True love! Here, down in my cave! Love never blossoms down here.”
Korinna groaned, “Well, if you keep eating all the virgins they throw down here…”
“Huh?” The beast blinked, the arrow bobbing from his eye socket. “Who said anything about eating them?”
“Well, you—” She stopped to think. No one actually had said anything about eating them. Not down here anyway. “I mean, you said it didn’t work out with the others.”
“I let them go,” he sniffled.
Korinna screwed up her face. “They never come back to the village.”
“Would you go back to a town of people who threw you in a pit?”
He was, of course, very right.
Korinna took a few careful steps out of the crevasse they’d wedged themselves into, Nikeros following. The monster watched her but didn’t lunge or growl. He just sat back with his serpent tail wrapped around him and his paws folded on the ground. He looked sort of pathetic, she thought, a few arrows sticking out here and there and a bubble of snot popping on his nose.
“Sorry I shot you,” Nikeros said.
“It’s okay,” the monster sighed, “Used to happen all the time.” He ran a talon through the dirt, tracing a heart and then swiping it away. “You guys can go.” He gestured to the far side of the cave. “That tunnel leads out to the ocean. I’ve got some drachma, doesn’t do me any good down here, so you can use it to charter a boat like the others.”
Korinna’s heart felt heavy. The monster wasn’t really a monster, he just looked like one. And all he wanted was love. “Ares.”
Nikeros squinted at her. “What?”
“Ares!” she shouted, then tipped her head up to the ceiling of the cave, “Ares! Hey, I need you!”
The Erote groaned, “Look, I know we’ve seen a lot of the gods, but they typically don’t just come when you—”
“What?” The god appeared behind them with an angry heat, his arms crossed and a deep frown creasing his goatee.
Korinna smirked at Nikeros. “What don’t they do now?”
Ares took inventory of the cave then gestured to the monster. “Who’s ugly?”
“His name is, uh, what’s your name?”
The monster hesitated then mumbled, “Chad.”
“Chad?” It felt odd on her tongue, but she turned back to Ares and told him sharply, “His name is Chad, and you’ll only call him that.”
“Whatever,”—the god rolled his eyes—“You in service to anybody, chief? I can offer you some better digs than this musty old place if you’ll willing to slit a hero or two’s throats.”
“You’re not here for that!” She held up a hand to him. “You’re here because we need a little favor.”
“Favor?” the god grunted, “What makes you think I owe you a favor?”
Korinna thrust her fists onto her hips. “Well, you don’t exactly, but I just thought maybe I could owe you one in return.”
“I—” His eyes grew wide when they passed over Nikeros. “What do you want, kid?”
She clapped. “Bring The Thing here.”
“The Thing?” Nikeros gasped, “Here?”
“Yes!
” She pointed at the god. “You said you can’t really control The Thing, but it comes when you call it.”
He grimaced. “I did say that.”
“Well?”
Ares sighed, “I’m not making you any promises here. The Thing’s been super down since those arrows wore off and Maximus won’t even look at it anymore.” He brought two fingers up to his mouth and, while staring daggers at the girl, whistled sharply into the echoing cave. They stood in silence together, waiting, until there was a rumbling that grew with a quickness, shaking the walls, a splash, a bellow, and then The Thing emerged from the tunnel, or at least its head did.
Twisting around, The Thing looked for its master, calling out, but then froze, its many eyes falling on the monster who was called Chad and blinking its countless eyes across its face like a long wave. Chad’s muzzle fell open, and in silence they stared at one another until he slithered across the cave to The Thing’s head. He reached up and yanked the arrow from his eye, the tip covered in a thick, red blood and some kind of yellowing pus. He held it out as if in offering.
The Thing looked the arrow up and down then bowed its head, and Korinna swore she saw it blush. Biting her lip, she reached out and smacked both Ares and Nikeros on their arms. “I can’t believe that worked!”
Ares stepped away from her, wiping at the spot she’d hit. “What, losing my monster for me?” He watched as Chad followed The Thing back out through the tunnel.
Nikeros grinned. “No. That they found their adelphi psychi.” He glanced over at Korinna. “I mean, if you believe in that sort of thing.”
“I do.” She sidled up to him and threw her arms around his neck. With a newfound courage, she pulled him down to her and planted her lips firmly on his. He flailed for a moment, keeping balance, then wrapped his arms around her waist. As nice as the kiss with Phille had been, this, she thought, felt exactly right.
The Korinniad Page 23