A Storm of Blood and Stone (Myths of Stone Book 3)

by Galen Surlak-Ramsey

  “Would you like me to get you two a room?” Euryale teased.

  Stheno tilted her head. “A room? What for?”

  “Nothing,” Euryale said, stifling a laugh. “It’s a modern expression for being overly lustful for someone, or in this case, something.”

  “Overly lustful? My dear, sweet sister. I could never be lustful enough when it comes to this,” she replied. Stheno dropped the spear point low so she could inspect the head properly. She ran a finger lightly along the edge, drawing blood, much to her pleasure. “Adamantine head sharpened to perfection,” she said with a blissful sigh. “You and I are going to have a wonderful life together.”

  Euryale cleared her throat. “If you’re done admiring your new toy, we still have a map to find.”

  Stheno whipped the dory through the air, made a few quick thrusts at imaginary targets to her front and on her sides, and spun it over her head a few times in a blur of motion. “Now I’m done,” she said, driving its sauroter into the ground. “For now.”

  “Good, then you can help me search this place,” Euryale said as she began rifling through the shelves at her side. “It shouldn’t be too hard, I don’t think. Jessica said Hera was meticulously organized. All that we need to do is find wherever—”

  Euryale cut herself off as a new scent drifted into the room. Strong. Feral. Close. When the light clacking of hoof on stone hit their ears, they both flattened themselves the wall, each flanking the door on opposite sides.

  There they waited, Euryale holding her breath and hoping whoever it was would pass by like the others, while Stheno crouched, her spear ready and her body swaying like a cobra ready to strike.

  The door opened lazily, and in stepped a satyr, carrying a duster in his hands and fatigue on his shoulders. Before the poor creature had a chance to even blink, Stheno drove forward, using the shaft of her spear to pin him against the wall by the throat.

  “Don’t kill him!” Euryale hissed.

  “That all depends on how willing he is to help us,” Stheno replied, bringing her smiling face an inch away from her prey’s.

  “I would if I could,” the satyr squeaked. “But I can’t! Oh, gods, believe me, I honestly can’t!”

  “Oh, I think you can,” Stheno said, patting the top of his head. “All we need to do is find the right motivation for you. Have you ever eaten hot coals?”

  “You don’t understand. Zeus is going to know you’ve been here if he doesn’t already,” he whimpered. “Anything you do to me, he’ll make a hundred times worse if he even thinks for one second I’ve helped you.”

  “He’s useless,” Stheno grunted, throwing a glance over her shoulder at Euryale. “Let’s eat him. Or better yet, let's test my new spear on him.”

  Euryale held up her hand, bidding her sister to wait. Though she stayed what would’ve undoubtedly been a painful execution, Euryale wasn’t sure how long it would last. “Satyr,” she said, drawing close. “Do you know who I am?”

  “Of course. Euryale, Goddess of Stone. Everyone knows you. I helped your friend, Jessica, when Zeus needed waking, for what that’s worth.” When both gorgons narrowed their eyes, and Euryale rattled her tail at the god’s name, the satyr’s eyes bulged. “I didn’t mean anything by that!”

  Euryale raised a claw and pressed it against the satyr’s lips. “Shhh,” she said. “Do you know who my children are?”

  The satyr nodded as sweat dripped from his forehead. “I do.”

  “Do you know what I’d do to protect them?”

  “I can only imagine.”

  Euryale slipped her claw underneath his chin and pierced his skin. “You have no idea,” she said. “Now then, I’m going to ask something one time and one time only, and if you don’t answer, I’m going to let my sister have her way with you.”

  What little color remained in the satyr’s face drained completely. “You don’t understand. Zeus! He’s worse than Hera!”

  Euryale flicked her claw, slicing his chin open. “Yes or no only from here on out,” she said. “My child’s life is at stake, do you understand?”

  The satyr nodded.

  “If you aren’t helping me, you’re killing my one and only daughter. Do you understand?”

  The satyr hesitated but managed to nod again before the gorgon’s patience ran out.

  “Good,” Euryale said. “I need a map to Achlys. A map Hera has somewhere. Do you know where it is?”

  Unlike the previous times, this time the terrified servant froze. The muscles in Stheno’s arm tensed as her spear pushed heavily against his airway. She was probably only a hair away from crushing his windpipe, dying for permission to finish him off.

  “Take me to this map, and I promise I’ll let you go,” Euryale said. “You can run off to Zeus and tell him you found us wherever it is. That way, you can play the good, obedient servant, and I get what I need to save my sweet Cassandra.”

  The satyr didn’t waste a single moment taking her up on the offer. He pointed a shaky finger toward the western side of Hera’s estate. “She keeps her maps in a depository above her bedroom. If she has a map to Achlys, that’s where it’ll be.”

  Stheno cocked her head. “If?”

  “I don’t know if she has one. By the Fates, I swear I’m not lying!”

  Euryale leaned in even closer than she was already. Her eyes turned black, and the tone in her voice darkened even more so. “For your sake, I hope you’re telling the truth.”

  “I am! I am!”

  “Good. Now take us there, and let’s avoid meeting anyone along the way.”

  Chapter Maps

  “You should let me take Aison.”

  Alex, standing on a plateau, turned his attention from the mountain that loomed above to face the goddess. “Say again?”

  “Your son,” Artemis said. “I fear he won’t be safe in Olympus for much longer. I can hide him in the wilds where no one will find him.”

  “No one? Not even me?”

  “Yes, even you. Because if you can find him, so can Zeus, and I promise, his restraint will not last forever,” she explained.

  Alex made a face, one that wallowed in unease. “I don’t know. I feel like Euryale should know about this.”

  “She will, when we can see her again,” Artemis said. “But we tempt disaster the longer we wait to protect your son.”

  Alex spent several moments deep in thought, turning her suggestion over from every angle he could think of. In the end, he came down to the simple notion of better safe than sorry. “Okay,” he said. “Take him. But grab Tickles, too, if you can. Aison will want him around, and it’ll make him feel better about it all. Oh, and maybe not tell the little guy it’s because Zeus wants to kill us all? That’s probably not something a kid needs to deal with.”

  Artemis smiled and gave a reassuring nod. “He’ll think it’s nothing more than a game, I promise.”

  “Perfect.”

  The goddess directed Alex’s attention to the peak of the mountain. “Up there is where you’ll find Hera.”

  Alex squinted. “Are you sure? Looks pretty desolate.”

  “I’m sure,” the goddess nodded and pointed to a couple of places on a rocky wall nearby. “You can see where Dad’s sandals left scuff marks recently there and there. The other day, he also came back with a bit of Hera’s hair on his shoulder—hair that had been recently thawed. And of course, the wildlife below has thinned, no doubt thanks to the eagles’ bellies needing to be filled.”

  “Eagles? What eagles?”

  “Polyxeinus and Tecton. Two of his favorite birds he’s placed as sentries near the top.”

  “I get the feeling they don’t eat carrots,” Alex said.

  “Cattle is more to their liking,” she said. “By the dozen, in fact.”

  Alex grimaced, suddenly having flashbacks to Mister Lion eating him over and over and over again. “Don’t suppose you have any suggestions on how to get by those two?”

  “I do, in fact,” Artemis said, unf
astening her cloak and handing it to him. “Wear this. It should keep you hidden from their eyes.”

  “Should?”

  “I haven’t tested it when it comes to those two,” she admitted. “And though Dad thinks their eyesight is infallible, he’s wrong. For a long time, I’ve had the feeling I might one day need to slip by his watchful eyes, as well as his eagles’. This cloak was fashioned to do precisely that.”

  “What about when I talk to Hera?” he asked. “Won’t they know I’m there then?”

  The goddess shook her head as she handed him a small leather pouch. “You’ll find sleeping dust inside,” she explained. “Blow a pinch on each, and they’ll nod off for a short while.”

  “How long is a while?”

  “Long enough that you ought to be able to get the answers you seek,” she replied. “But I wouldn’t tarry while there. I may have command of the wilds and all its creatures, but Zeus’s birds are notoriously resilient.”

  Alex glanced in the bag after he took it and noted there was about a tablespoon’s worth of glittering gold powder inside. He quickly closed it up and stuffed it in the pocket of his pants, and as he did, an unsettling feeling churned in his gut.

  “Is something the matter?” she asked.

  “No, well, yeah, well. Maybe. It just feels like there’s a lot that’s been going on behind the scenes lately. You know, trouble in paradise and all.”

  “You wouldn’t be wrong in those feelings,” she said with a nod. “Be careful who you share those with and any favors you chase. With Zeus’s rule challenged, every last Olympian will vie for the throne at some point or another.”

  “Including you.”

  “I would take it if I had a shot that was clear and true,” Artemis said. “But I am no queen. I’d rather explore the wilds and hunt through all the night, neither of which one can do well while sitting on a throne.”

  “I see,” Alex replied as he threw the cloak over his shoulders and clasped the bronze pin to fasten it together. “You have my undying thanks, regardless, for your aid, and despite your warnings, I feel indebted to you.”

  The glint of a hunter’s moon shined in her eyes, and the corners of her thin lips drew back. “My sweet Alex,” she said. “You are most certainly indebted to me. You and your wife.”

  Alex chuckled nervously. “I thought you pledged yourself to her side? To seek justice and what not?”

  “I did, but I never stipulated that aid would come free,” she replied. When Alex shifted on his feet a few times, she put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Easy, Alex. I have nothing sinister in mind.” She paused to laugh brightly, throwing back her head and letting her hair toss in the icy wind. “In fact, I’ve got nothing in mind. Only that one day, Alex, one day I will call on the both of you, and I expect my generosity here not to be forgotten.”

  * * *

  Stheno kept a tight grip on the back of the satyr’s neck as he pushed a nondescript stone on a wall, two rooms over from where they’d run into him. While there was no need to literally keep him at arm’s reach due to both his utter fear and Stheno’s unmatched speed should he run, the gorgon simply loved toying with prey. Euryale would’ve wished differently, but some things, she knew, never changed.

  “There’d best not be a cyclops on the other side of this,” Stheno said. “It’ll be the last thing you ever see.”

  “They’re all patrolling the grounds and the gates.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “Very,” he replied. “The cyclopes aren’t interested in snooping around, anyway. Hera might be gone, but there are still plenty of traps she’s left behind—traps even Zeus is wary of.”

  With a light scraping sound, a portion of the wall sank back a couple of feet before sliding to the side, revealing a hidden passage lit by oil lamps. They followed the passage for a few dozen yards before running down a flight of stairs, which led to an underground network of tunnels. This network didn’t seem as complex as the maze Euryale had chased Alex and Jessica through the prior year, but not by much. As they pressed on with the satyr as a guide, Euryale guessed half of Olympus could fit down there.

  “Why such an elaborate system?” she finally asked.

  “Lets her keep an eye on her guests unseen and without having to resort to spells and scrying,” he explained. “I’ve heard she also keeps those who displease her the most down here as well, but that’s only a rumor.”

  “You’ve never looked around?”

  The satyr laughed nervously. “Fates, no. I stick to the tunnels I’m allowed, and that’s it. I’m no fool.”

  Euryale conceded the point without further comment. After pressing on through the tunnels for several more minutes, they reached a narrow spiral staircase which they took. At the top, the satyr pulled on a bronze lever, which opened up the wall and allowed them access to the depository.

  The room itself was circular with a high domed ceiling and shelves crammed together. On those shelves, tightly packed, sat scrolls, trinkets, fine jewelry, weapons, artifacts, and elaborate mechanical contraptions, the likes of which Euryale had never seen. Incense burned from small iron pots which hung from columns, filling the air with aromas of frankincense, myrrh, and one other burning resin she couldn’t quite place. That third incense, whatever it was, drove her vipers into a tasting frenzy that quickly irritated the gorgon.

  Light for the room was provided by twelve windows—large but barred—which had been placed at regular intervals around the entire room. The view from each one provided a fantastic way to keep an eye on what was happening on the estate grounds, and Euryale wondered if the thin film she noticed that covered the glass meant those on the outside couldn’t see in.

  Probably, if not definitely.

  “I wonder how often she’d stand here and watch over everyone,” Stheno said, leaning against one of the windows and cupping her hands over her eyes so she could look out.

  “Enough to drive her mad,” Euryale said as she slowly made her way through the shelves, looking at the contents of each one. After passing a few and not seeing what she needed, she turned to the satyr. “Where are the maps?”

  The satyr froze, and his eyes bulged. For a few seconds, it looked like he had forgotten how to breathe. Euryale was about to say something when he broke into a full run and raced to the window a couple of yards away from her.

  “Oh, no…Oh no, oh no, oh no,” he said over and over.

  “What?”

  “Memneus is here,” he said, pointing a shaky finger out at the sky.

  Euryale’s brow furrowed, and Stheno could only offer a shrug when she looked to her for clarification. “Who?” Euryale asked.

  “Memneus!” the satyr repeated, voice cracking. “Zeus’s favorite eagle!” He then dropped his gaze, rocked on his hooves, and began clapping his hands together. “Okay, okay. Okay,” he said. “He knows you’re here, but we can still make this work.” The satyr’s eyes snapped up and found Euryale’s. “You’ve got to let me go.”

  “We need that map,” she countered.

  “I told you where it is!” he shouted back. “You promised! You promised you’d let me go!”

  “Quiet!” Stheno hissed.

  The satyr did, but only for a moment. He retreated, rubbing his temples a few times before muttering to himself. Then his back found one of the shelves, and he jumped like a bull getting hit with a branding iron. He yelped and bolted forward, smashing into more shelves and driving himself into a further state of panic as he drove for the exit with reckless abandon.

  Stheno growled and ran after him, hunched like a tigress about to make a kill. Euryale sprang into action as well, racing through the depository on her elongated tail. Right before she got to the satyr, Stheno pounced. The gorgon struck the satyr across the side of the chest, her claws sinking into his shoulder and face. A moment later, Euryale tackled her sister and coiled around her legs and waist. Stheno roared and lashed out, striking Euryale in the cheek and spraying her blood across
a shelf full of trinkets.

  “Run!” Euryale barked as she fought to hold her sister back. “Now!”

  The satyr snapped out of his momentary daze before fleeing through a large oak door.

  “Why did you let him go?” Stheno groaned, throwing her hands up in frustration.

  “Because I said I would,” she replied, uncoiling.

  A scowl formed on her sister’s face, one that seemed genuinely spiteful. “I’m getting a little sick of you trying to play nice,” she spat. “He was only a satyr.”

  “One that was helping us,” Euryale pointed.

  “One who’s about to bring Zeus’s wrath upon us!” Stheno shot back. “You can’t make nice with everyone, Euryale. Even Medusa understood that.” Stheno paused, took a deep breath, and held up a finger. “I shouldn’t have said that,” she said. “But Euryale, you’ve got to realize, these gods don’t care about us at all, and every chance you take with them or their servants is a chance we fall back into ruin. I don’t want that for me, you, or your children.”

  “I know,” Euryale replied. “But I refuse to be like them, thinking anyone beneath me is something to be used and discarded on a whim.”

  A heavy sigh was the prelude to Stheno shaking her head. “Let’s find that map and get out of here.”

  Euryale nodded and raced to the section of the depository the satyr had pointed out before. There she found hundreds of tightly bound scrolls stacked upon each other and quickly began sifting through them all and reading the hand-scrawled notes that labeled each one. Many were of places she knew, even more were of places she’d never heard of. Not a one, however, pointed out where Achlys lived, or even mentioned the goddess or her realm of death and decay.

  “Any luck?” she asked Stheno, tossing yet another scroll.

  “No,” she replied with a grunt. “It doesn’t help that there’s no rhyme or reason to how she has these arranged, either. She’s got plans of her skyscraper mixed with maps of China and water parks in Inland.”

  “I think that’s England,” Euryale replied.

  “And then I found one about her wedding temple tucked in a pile of zoos,” Stheno went on, rolling her eyes. “What sense does that make?”