by Jory Smith
“I have my own reasons, just like you and Terry. It is my business, and it doesn’t require you to know. And where is Terry anyway? He said he had an idea to defeat those ublyudki. We are taking too long to get past those giants and we need to do it now,” Nicolai said, getting angry.
“I don’t know. He is still with his woman. You can go out and search for him. The gods are gone, so you will be safe from them,” Amadi said mockingly.
Nicolai stood up aggressively. Amadi reacted by reaching for his pistol in his right hand and a fireball in the other. But he was too slow, as Nicolai already had his shotgun shoved in Amadi’s face.
“Your too slow, old man,” Nicolai sneered at Amadi. “Give me one good reason.”
Amadi let the fireball disappear as he let go of the pistol that didn’t even leave its holster.
“You know what will happen if one of us dies,” Amadi said cautiously.
“That is the problem. I don’t tend to think that far ahead. Besides, what I am doing this for doesn’t depend on us winning the war. Think on that when you try to boss me around,” Nicolai replied stroking the shotgun’s trigger. “We are not teammates, nor are we friends. Stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours.”
Both men heard something hit the floor and looked to see what it was. In the doorway stood Jessica, she had dropped a piece of fruit on the ground, with a look of concern on her face.
“Terry said he is ready to show you what he has planned.”
Nicolai lowered his shotgun and looked at Amadi. “Right after you, General”
The three of them walked out of the cabin to where Terry awaited.
Terry looked up at the three dummies. They were larger than the normal ones, but not as big as the giants that impeded their progress. They will do though.
Terry wanted to use the training compound’s resources and they never taught them how to use it. So Terry had asked Hermes to run the training field. Hermes was hesitant to accept Terry’s favor, Zeus had to command it. Terry didn’t think anything about it. He still had that gut wrenching feeling like they were up to something, nothing to worry him about the new way the gods have been acting. At the moment, none of that mattered to Terry. His mind was on something more important. Looking back towards the cabin, he wondered what was keeping Jessica.
Jessica exited the cabin and began running to Terry. When she finally reached him, she started to speak, “We have to talk after this. I walked in on something bad. Nicolai, he…,” She cut herself off as the two men got within hearing distance. Terry nodded to acknowledge Jessica’s request and greeted the men.
“Thank you for coming. I had Hermes help me with creating some new dummies. Like I said earlier, I have an idea of how we can defeat the giants.”
Terry turned to Hermes and watched as the dummies separated at equal distances.
“Every time we go in the giants’ den they are set up like this. If we try to take them one-on-one, one of us gets overwhelmed and gets taken out fast. That leaves the rest of us out numbered. We know they can cover distance quickly.”
“Yes we know that. How are you planning to fix that problem?” Amadi sneered at Terry.
Man he is mad, Terry thought. Something bad must have happened.
“We are going to separate and conquer. Here is how we are going to do it.”
Terry went on to explain his battle plan. After giving every detail of his plan, the other two men nodded in approval of the plan. Jessica was the only one who hated the idea.
“You are going to get yourself killed, especially if you do that crap in real life,” Jessica yelled.
“I will be alright,” Terry said trying to soothe Jessica’s fears. “Even ask Hermes. He will say it’s a good idea.”
Hermes looked up from his drink he conjured up and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’m not a warrior. In reality, I am just the gofer. I deliver messages for Zeus. I fought in a few battles, but nothing like you three are going up against.” He went back to his drink.
Terry swore under his breathe. “Believe me it will be ok.”
“This is why you never bring a woman to fight.” Nicolai muttered under his breathe. Turning to Jessica he said. ”Don’t worry; we will take care of your pretty boy. We’ll make sure he doesn’t get a scar davalka.”
Terry found out what that word meant the first time he heard Nicolai call her that. He asked Aphrodite what the word meant and she told him. Nicolai was calling her a slut.
Terry lunged at Nicolai tackling him to the ground, and then started hitting him with his full strength. Realizing he was getting clobbered, Nicolai grabbed Terry’s face and used his killing touch on him. Terry jumped off to fight the effects of Nicolai’s death-touch. Nicolai stood up and threw a death ball at Terry. Still dazed from Terry’s massive punches, Nicolai toppled over and hit Amadi instead.
With both Terry and Amadi in pain, Nicolai got up to attack. Instead he was met with one of Amadi’s fireballs and flew backwards. Amadi produced another one and hit Terry across the back, knocking him into the dummies. Turning back to Nicolai, Amadi turned his back on Terry and went to finish Nicolai.
Terry, trying to fight the pain from both Amadi’s fireball and Nicolai’s death ball, looked up and saw he was near two of the dummies. Damn that hurts. Lifting himself up, Terry pulled one of the dummies out of the ground and tossed it at Amadi and Nicolai. Picking up the other one, he ran towards the other two.
Amadi looked up and saw the dummy coming from the sky and dodged out of the way. Nicolai had no such luck. As he turned around to see what was coming, the dummy landed right on him. As soon as Amadi recovered, Terry was already there with the other dummy smacking him with all the full force he could muster knocking him into the cabin. Terry used the same dummy and started smacking Nicolai until it broke.
Terry then mounted the dummy on top of Nicolai and started punching him again. Too tired to summon a death ball, Nicolai just started throwing punches with his one free hand. Amadi had finally recovered and jumped in to the fight. Now all three men started wrestling each other and throwing punches, not caring where they landed, just as long as they connected with someone.
“Enough,” someone screamed as all three men were lifted off the ground and slammed against a cabins wall where they were pinned.
Terry looked to see what had happened. The first thing that popped in his mind was oh shit. What came towards them was 109 lbs. of Irish ginger furry. As Jessica lowered her hands, they were dropped hard to the ground.
Jessica needs to control her powers Terry thought. Especially since this is the second time she has done this to me.
“You three are supposed to be working together, yet you are fighting for no reason. Why is that? You!” She said pointing to Terry. “I thought you would know better than to act stupid. Now, I want all three of you to get up, shake hands and go and see the healers.”
“What are you going to do if we…”Nicolai said before he was knocked up against the wall again with more force.
She must be getting her powers under control after all, Terry thought. It must be that Irish blood that makes her able to control her powers better when she’s angry. Thank god she is not drunk or she wouldn’t have been gentle.
“Well guys, the lady does make sense.” Terry then looked at Jessica holding his ribs. “Is it alright if we shake hands later? I think I may have cracked a rib.” He waited for her approval and hobbled over to the healers with Amadi straggling behind him.
Terry looked back and saw Jessica walk over to Nicolai. She bent down and started whispering in his ear. Nicolai must have agreed with what she said because he was nodding his head profoundly. Nicolai was then gently let down and started limping over.
By the time Nicolai finally managed to limp over Amadi was already done being healed. Before he could leave, Nicolai spoke. “That woman of yours. She has a temper on her.”
He looked at the ground for a bit and then continued. “I am sorry for what happened. I don�
��t know what came over me. It felt like something was prodding me and prodding me until I snapped.” He held out his hand to shake both Amadi’s and Terry’s hand. “Let’s show these lyubiteli how we do it.”
Being the first one healed, Amadi stood up and took his hand. “I am sorry as well. I had that same feeling. I have never lost my temper like that.” Looking towards the compound with determination in his eyes, “We will defeat the compound tomorrow, and then we will send Ares and his men to Tartarus.” Grabbing the elixir the healers gave him for his injuries, he walked towards the cabin drinking.
Nicolai waited for Amadi to enter the cabin before continuing. “We still have to watch him. You were right, there is something going on. If I didn’t know any better, I swear one of those gods did that to us. I would have said something in front of him, but he probably would think I am accusing him. Calling hell ‘Tartarus’, he has definitely turned into one of them. ” Sitting next to Terry as he watched the healers leave to get more supplies, he spoke softly so only Terry could hear. “The gods are planning something big. I believe we are going to be betrayed.”
“I know but there is nothing we can do right now. When the time comes, we will do what we have to,” Terry replied. Seeing the healers come back from their supply run, Terry changed the subject. “Why are you doing this? Why are you taking part in this mission? You don’t seem the kind of person who would risk his life for the world.”
Terry watched Nicolai’s reaction, to see any sign of lies. This was the one thing that has been bugging Terry and he had to find out. Neither of the men seemed to give a damn about anything. He didn’t at times, but these men took it to a whole new world.
Nicolai looked at Terry and took in a deep breath. “I am doing this because I have a chance to be with my woman again. She was taken from me. Five years ago she died in my arms. Zeus promised me that I would be the new lord of the underworld. That means I will be able to bring her back to me.”
Terry looked over at Jessica. Watching her pace back and forth, looking at them. Finally understanding the Russian, Terry looked at him with a new level of respect.
Chapter 11
Zeus walked into his antechamber and saw Aphrodite, Hermes and Athena already sitting down looking at a projection that showed the demi-gods checking each other’s armor.
“Are they ready to enter the compound?” Zeus inquired with a hint of anger in his voice. He has been in a bad mood from recent events; from Hephaestus building new god killers to Aphrodite cursing the demi-gods. Then there was Jessica. Instinct told the king of the gods to kill her, but the facts showed she was harmless.
The other gods stood up and waited for Zeus to sit before retaking their seats.
“Yes, they are ready. They are just doing their last gear check, and then they will enter the compound. They look confident. I believe they will pass this time,” Athena believed.
“We do have one problem though,” Hermes pronounced. “We can’t find Hephaestus. It seems he has vanished. No one has seen him since the day he finished the weapons for Assaraeus’ army.”
“We need him found.” Zeus exploded. “He is the one that created their weapons. He is the only one that can tell us what they can do,” Zeus screamed. “We all felt the power that came from those weapons. We have possible new god killers in the hands of demi-gods. Do I have to tell you how troublesome that is? This is worse than Agathon and Niebe combined.”
The other gods nodded.
“We have had control of all the items that can kill gods,” Zeus continued. “We don’t need these four ending up in Ares’ hands.”
“And you,” Zeus said turning to Aphrodite. “What did you do that made so much hate in them to grow so fast? I want them to distrust each other, not kill each other.”
“I did what you asked. I just took away the trust and love they had. It’s not my fault they have so much hate for each other,” Aphrodite said innocently.
“Well, we were lucky Jessica was here.” Zeus said. “I still don’t know anything about her and I don’t trust what the Graeae said.”
“Why don’t you go to the fates?” Athena asked.
“They have banned me from their presence,” Zeus said disgustingly. “She is no threat. I don’t need to worry about her just yet.”
“She may be no threat, but she sure has some power. Enough to boss Hermes around, the weakling he is,” Aphrodite snickered.
“What she was saying made sense. I wasn’t going to get the healers just because she thought of it. I am not that stupid,” Hermes said, defending himself.
Athena interrupted everyone. “Quiet, they are entering the compound.”
The rest of the gods hurried and sat around the projection of the men who were about to be tested in the compound.
In the dark, Ares stood over a table that held a replication of earth. Admiring the changes his gods were making, his eyes lingered on one area. Somehow Zeus was able to prevent any god loyal to Ares from entering this area. Ares sent two legions into that area to wait for whatever came. Their reports stated that nothing was happening, but he kept them there. Soon the Kraken would go there and destroy the land in Zeus’ area. Let’s see if they can walk on water.
Ares’ mind quickly went to the figurines in his hand. Three demi-gods the shade wanted killed. I bet it was them that caused the explosion. The shade knows how powerful they are and what they can do. Ares just needed a way to get his hands on those weapons.
Ares slammed his fists against the table. Zeus was weakening, the shade hasn’t been around and he has narrowed the source of the explosion. Everything was going his way except for the few islands Zeus managed to grab ahold of. So why am I not enjoying this?
“Wow, they actually flew past those rooms fast,” Athena said. “They went through faster than some gods have done.”
“Yes, but our group didn’t consist of the most battle-efficient gods” Hermes piped in. “Our group consisted of Hephaestus, who is crippled. Then there was Prometheus who is not that great at fighting even when he was a Titan. Then there was me, who is about as useless as a mermaid on land when it comes to fighting.”
“Quiet, they are about to enter the giants den” Zeus commanded. “I want to hear what they say.” And hopefully they won’t screw this up like they have done so many times in the past.
From the projection the gods heard Terry speak “Okay, you two know what to do, right?” He said pointing to Nicolai and Amadi.
“Don’t worry; we will take care of it,” Nicolai said reassuring.
“I will separate our giant from the rest, just like we planned,” Amadi assured. “You are sure you want that done?”
“Yes, I do. I want to make sure because it’s going to be my skin in harm’s way. I am going to be up against two while you guys take care of one. They will try and save their companion. That is why you have to seal them off with me” Terry said.
“Yes, we know,” Amadi stated. “You came up with the idea, but we helped with the details.”
“Let’s go in.” Nicolai said finishing the conversation.
Terry took the lead and entered in the room.
As Terry looked in the room, he found a few changes were made. The room was gigantic in nature. This time there were toppled statues scattered around the room. The balcony to the left that overlooked the whole room was half destroyed. This time the room was engulfed in darkness and the only light came from the giant’s camp. More importantly, instead of three giants there were five. They towered over the giants they previously encountered
Something is not right, those are big for giants. Something is wrong here. Zeus thought watching them in the projection.
The giants were huddled around the camp fire as they drank, laughed, and ate. Terry motioned his companions to follow and take their positions. Zeus could tell the latter two were hesitant, but they followed Terry’s lead. The group had been only expecting three.
When they got to their positions, Terry pulled a rope out
of his pack and yelled out “Now!”
When the giants heard the yell, they jumped up and went to their defensive positions. Two giants went to the sides while one stood in the middle blocking the exit. At the same time, Terry tossed his rope around the arm of one of the giants to the far left. He pulled as hard as he could and dragged the giant near him, pulling its arm out of its socket. The beast let out a terrible howl of pain.
Nicolai ran towards the lone giant as fast as he could. There was no way he was going to make it before the middle giant came to its comrade’s aide. Amadi, performing his task, started throwing fireballs until a circle of fire draped around the four remaining giants and Terry. Using that much power drained Amadi nearly to unconsciousness, forcing him to recover before he could be any help.
Nicolai reached the lone giant, slid between its legs, turned his body around, and shot the back of its knee with his shotgun. The giant fell to one knee as he swung his arm blindly behind him. Nicolai tried to dodge out of the way, but it barely hit him enough to stun him. The giant, aiming perfectly now, raised his club to smash Nicolai.
As the giant was ready to bring down the club, Amadi had finally recovered and quickly shot the giant. The bullets hit the giant squarely on the back of the hand causing it to drop it club. The club fell down and landed inches away from Nicolai’s head.
Meanwhile, automatic gunfire was sounding off on the other side of the firewall. Terry was firing in bursts so he wouldn’t overheat his weapon. He knew he was going to have to keep this up for a while, even though his strength was wearing out fast.
Terry jumped on one of the giants, causing it to fall down and quickly ran up its back coming eye to eye with two other giants. Jumping off of the giant he started opening fire to blind them. Terry hit the one on his right, and in midair twisted his body to hit the other giant on his left. He felt like he was on a roll, but his luck ran out as the fourth giant, caught him in midair with its one good arm and started to squeeze.