by Crymsyn Hart
When she opened her eyes, she was in back in Hephaestus’s great hall. She only had a little time left before Hephaestus sensed her. Flidais was right next to her when she felt the comforting presences. The hall was still slightly dark and illuminated by the flaming torches. She drew Excalibur. The sword knew they needed discretion so it did not glow. Kalliope started toward the first pillar that held the CEOs. They were all bound by the same chains that were used to hold Kalliope and Flidais. At least they were only bound one time around. Why would they need to be bound any tighter when they were only human and had no magick? Kalliope hoped that she had enough time. All the mortal fast food presidents were slumped over unconscious.
“Are you ready to do this?” whispered Flidais.
She looked over and saw that the goddess was also dressed in battle gear. “Thank you.” The goddess nodded and she brought down Excalibur. This time she did not hesitate on striking, knowing the sword would not miss and would slice through the otherworldly forged metal. With the first swing, the sword sang. She was amazed at how much power it contained. It surged up her arm, sending shivers through her very soul. It strengthened her. The sword also wanted to free the mortals. That was what the sword was supposed to be used for in the first place. It was a protector of mankind and defended people. It had been out of the mortal world for so long, that it had almost forgotten what it was made for. It had gotten lazy until she knocked it from above the mantle where it was a showpiece. It had longed for combat. Kalliope was right when she thought that it was made of some otherworld magickally artificial intelligence. It truly was otherworldly and made by the oldest gods that none of the new ones knew where it had come from and they were old. The sword had been forged in the fires of stars and given to humankind eons before Arthur had ever gotten to it. It was called upon by those that needed defending. It had wanted to protect her. Her mind fused with the blade on a deeper level than she knew. It was not telling her all of its secrets.
Kalliope moved to her third pillar slowly making her way to Lugh. She wanted to get to Lugh to free him and feel his warmth blending with hers. Her heart missed his touch. The sword came down on her sixth column. She was amazed that her arm was not getting tired. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe her magick was keeping her going. Whatever it was, she was going to feel it in the morning. She kept her eyes on the large fire in the background. It was staying steady. With each chain she got, her time was growing short. Silently she prayed that Hephaestus would not sense her, but she knew it was inevitable. Behind her Flidais was freeing the chains from the humans. Kalliope didn’t wait to see her wake them from their sleep and see her guide them to the back.
She was almost done. Only a dozen or so pillars left to go. Excalibur was cutting through the metal. Each time it came down separating the chains, the sword got happier. The song it sung got a little louder. To her ears it was the hum of hummingbird wings. To her mind, the sword’s voice was filled with emotions that flashed colors in her thoughts. Each time she was happy about freeing more people and getting closer to Lugh, the more that the sword remembered battles, war, and how Arthur tried to unite a kingdom ages ago. Flashes of old battles moved through her mind. The sound of horses’ thundering hooves and the smell of scorched earth where homes and woods were burnt. The sorrow that came along with death. She pushed all that aside and silently told the sword to worry about the task at hand and not the events of the past. She had to be thinking she would succeed. By her standards, the oath she had sworn was done and over with. Dagda could turn her into a platypus if he wanted to, but she was not doing any other favors for the gods no matter how much he threatened her. But she doubted that she would have to. Somehow she figured this was the last of her oath.
Kalliope stood before Nas. All of the fast food owners and presidents were free. She looked down the hall and saw the throngs of middle-aged men with bad comb overs staring at each other in a daze. She saw Flidais near the end gathering them into the shadows so they could escape before Hephaestus returned. The goddess caught her eye and nodded. She brought Excalibur down on the triple chains that bound Nas. It took a couple of swings before the sword melted the links. When the chains fell away, Nas opened her eyes. They were glazed, but cleared and a smile broke out on her face.
“You rescued me.”
“Oh course, I did. Did you really think I was going to let you rot in a place like this? Besides the heat in here is murder for your hair and your skin. You really have to do something about that.”
Nas gave her a quick hug. She was so surprised she didn’t know what to do, but after a moment she returned the gesture and then let her go. “What can I do to help?”
“Um…Can you help Flidais with the other prisoners? I need them to get back to their homes safely without any memory of what happened. Can you make something up to plant in their brain and those of their families?”
“That’s all? I mean it’s nothing, but yeah. Okay.” Nas walked off. Kalliope watched in astonishment while the goddess sweet talked the men who were ogling her chest more than anything else and got them to walk back to where the others where. She hoped that Nas would play nice with Flidais. Hopefully the two could bury the hatchet for a little while.
She went to Lugh. He stood patiently against the pillar, bound with chains. It appeared that Hephaestus hadn’t decided to torture him anymore because he was back to. When he came closer a smile spread on his face that made her melt. “It took you long enough to get back here. I was starting to get worried.”
Kalliope chuckled. He had a sense of humor even when they were facing danger. “Well I could have just left you, but I decided you were good for something so I had to come back and get you.” She stretched up on tip toe and pressed her lips to his.
She only meant to give him a quick kiss, but her body molded to his just the way it was supposed to. His hard member pressed against her thigh, having a mind of its own. Her body heat rose from the kiss. He slipped in a little tongue that traced her lips. Her free hand caressed the side of his cheek. Something felt a little different about it. There was more skin than there should have been and it was rough. The heat in her body cooled, but the heat around her did not dissipate. It only grew hotter. The dry heat of a fire rose, almost consuming her and making it so hard to breathe that she had to pull away. Before she could escape, arms grabbed hers causing her to open her eyes.
When she did, she realized that she wasn’t kissing Lugh. It was Hephaestus. Kalliope pulled away the best she could. The god chuckled to himself. She tried to free her arms, but his grip was viselike. This time he wasn’t burning her, but his hands were grinding the bones of her wrists together. Pain shot up her arm. She tried to fight his hold.
“It’s no use, little witch. I’m ten times stronger than you. Did you really think I didn’t know your plan about coming back here and freeing the mortals the Furies brought here? I’m not stupid. It was so easy to trick you. The look on your face when you thought I was your beloved Lugh. Now that was priceless. Be a dear and give me Excalibur. I don’t want to hurt you. Well, that’s not true. I really do want to hurt you.”
“Go to hell!” Kalliope cried.
The fire god smiled. In response he squeezed harder on her wrist. Hot, blinding pain raced up her arm. She screamed and dropped the sword. Hephaestus threw her away from him so that she landed on the floor cradling her broken wrist to her body. Hot tears moved down her cheek. Through blurred vision she watched Hephaestus bend down and lunge for the sword. He must not get it. In that second, she remembered what Morgaine had showed her. She pulled her power around her and stretched out her uninjured hand. She called it to her. Before Hephaestus could close his fingers on it, the sword skittered along the floor out of his reach, closer to her. The god looked up.
“Your silly tricks won’t work with me. I can do more things to you than break your wrist or leave my mark on your flesh. I can make it so your pretty face won’t be recognizable to the one that you love.”
Kalliope summoned the sword closer to her. The pain in her wrist throbbed. Using her magick was making the agony worse. Her magick was diverted so it couldn’t help her heal. Excalibur glowed violet. Even without the sword being in her hand, it was still connected to her mind. It was panicking. It did not want to be the instrument of death that Hephaestus wanted it to be. It understood that death was sometime unavoidable for peace, but what the god wanted was irrational. It wanted to be back in her hands again. She wanted that too, but her power was faltering. The pain was overwhelming her mind. Her magick wasn’t reaching the sword.
Hephaestus grinned. He took a few more strides and claimed the sword for his own. The blade went from purple, to red, to a black glow. The connection between the sword and Kalliope flared to life for a split second and then died. Through the bond she saw the blackness that was Hephaestus’s mind. He was mad.
“Tsk. Tsk. Poor little witch. The talk of the astral realm. Everyone had such high hopes for you. Even me. Beneath those taunting lashes of yours there is fire in your eyes. I hoped you would have gotten over Sun Boy. I could have waited for you, kept you around for a pet. Something to fuck when I was bored, but I see you’re too much of a trouble maker. It’s a shame really.”
Hephaestus raised Excalibur. Kalliope closed her eyes. Lugh, I’m sorry. I thought I could save you. But I don’t know where you are. I love you. Know that. She waited for the killing blow. Instead, a current of love bathed her. Lugh was nearby. It was the only reason she could have felt him. Their bond had not led her astray. Hephaestus had only moved him somewhere else.
“Hephaestus, leave her alone.” Kalliope opened her eyes. The sword was inches from her throat. Flidais was a few feet away.
“My, my. The witch actually found you. I’m impressed.” The sword stayed where it was.
“Hephaestus. I said let her go,” Flidais demanded.
Kalliope noticed movement behind Hephaestus.
“What are you going to do to me, Flidais? What can you do? With this sword, I can rule the world. I’ve given you that chance. Come and sit by my side. Be my queen and we can rule the Universe and all the worlds in it. All beings will know us to be their gods. What do you say?”
Flidais took a step closer. The metal of the blade dug into her skin. The goddess stopped. “I say you don’t know what you’re saying. All Hail won’t let you take over his throne. Do you really think you can take out all of us, all his guardian angels, and then him?”
Kalliope saw more movement. It was Nas. She was close.
“I’m not worried about those feathered freaks! And I don’t have to kill everyone. Once they know I have Excalibur, they will bow at my feet or I’ll take their heads. Sooner or later the other gods will value their existences and move aside. I—” Hephaestus twisted away from Kalliope quickly bringing Excalibur away from her neck and down by his right side under his arm, jabbing at what was behind him.
Kalliope screamed. “No!”
The blade impaled the goddess in the stomach in once slice. Hephaestus drew it out of her flesh. The goddess’s robes were stained red. Nas crumpled to the floor and lay there struggling for breath while her life leaked onto the floor. “You dare try and trick me! Flidais, you should know better. I thought you might understand how I feel, but I see you’re just like the rest of them.” The fire god sighed.
Kalliope sensed the goddess was trying to buy her some time. Think Kalli. You got out of a vine prison. You had an ass leave you for tits with legs. You can do this! Fear tried to rule her brain along with the pain in her wrist, but she found that was manageable. She had to get the sword away from Hephaestus and get Lugh out of his chains. But how? What would a fire god fear? Water. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? Because all you could think about was your hormones and having a long bout of great sex after this was all over.
She closed her eyes and focused. She had to pull whatever power she had left in her to get what she needed to done. Her inner vision came alive. She could see everything in the hall and sense the presences of all those that were there. The fast food owners weren’t all out of the place, and they were still too freaked and confused to know what was going on. They were all playing it safe and staying in the shadows. Kalliope let her thoughts brush over Flidais to Hephaestus. The heat blazing off him was amazing and radiated in her inner view like a mini sun. From the aura that he gave off, she saw something she had never seen before. It looked like a rope made of fire attached to his aura that led back to his forge. His forge was the source of his power. No wonder he keeps it so hot in here. If he lets it drop down then so does his power.
With all her strength she thought about water raining down over the fire. She wanted a torrential waterfall over the flames. Her body temperature dipped. Trying not to move, she ignored the conversation that was going on between Flidais and Hephaestus. Kalliope poured all of her strength into picturing the waterfall and barely felt the metal sting slice her flesh and wetness on her skin. She was the water dowsing the flames. She was the steam coming off the fire. It was almost orgasmic. Her breathing was shallow and came in pants. Her whole body tensed. Her nipples were hard and strained against her leather bodice. Everything in her ached for release. With one thought she let go.
In her mind, she saw the water pour onto the flames. Torrents of steam rose off the forge’s flames and plunged the room into darkness. Her eyes opened when Hephaestus screamed.
She was aware of herself. Her head swam. Her wrist throbbed again, but Hephaestus was hurt. Excalibur was on the floor next to her foot where he had dropped it. Its blade was dull. She grabbed a hold of it. The connection between her and the sword was restored. The water over the flames was dissipating because she had stopped concentrating on it. She had to hurry. She got to her feet, took a breath, and felt the link between her and Lugh. Kalliope swallowed. She was parched. The room was full of steam and she could barely see where she was going. A few pillars away, she found Lugh.
She brought Excalibur over her head with her unwounded left hand and came down on the chains. They sword did nothing, but bounced off them.
You’ve got to be kidding. Come on! She tried again, but still nothing. She cried out in frustration. The forge fire was starting to flare back to life. Hephaestus would soon be on her. She took a deep breath and had an idea. She lifted the sword and tried to slide it between the pillar and the chain. It took a moment, but the sword began to glow red again. The heavier chain links started to melt. The top link melted.
“I’m impressed.”
Kalliope spun around. There was Hephaestus. One side of his face and some of his body was badly burned. His flesh was raw and red. Some of it was already healing. She pulled the sword through the links and heard a snap. The rest of the chains fell to the floor.
“Give me the sword, witch! Or I promise whatever suffering I was going to inflict on you will be nothing when you have an eternity to suffer. You might be human, but there are ways to fix that. Now give me the sword!” Hephaestus demanded with an outstretched hand. Kalliope swung and brought the blade down on his hand. Hephaestus screamed. The blade severed his flesh. His hand dropped uselessly to the floor. He clutched his injured wrist to chest. It gave Kalliope enough time to pull the chains away from Lugh’s flesh with her foot. There was no way she was going to give up her hold on Excalibur again. When the chains were away from Lugh, his eyes snapped open.
“What did I miss?” he asked. He was about to smile when he saw Kalliope holding her wrist and the wound on her neck. “What happened?”
“I’ll get you, witch! No one hurts me and lives.” Hephaestus charged at them. On instinct Kalliope pushed out of the way. She stumbled into the path of Hephaestus. He impaled himself onto Excalibur. The force of him knocked her down and the sword came out of his back buried to the hilt. Kalliope fell hard onto the floor and hit her head the stone. The breath was knocked out of her and she blacked out.
Chapter Twenty
“Hey.”
Kalliope bl
inked when she came to. Lugh cradled her.
“Hi.” She tried to sit up. Everything in her hurt. She remembered what had happened. She thought for a wonderful second it was a bad dream. A very bad dream Lugh was going to be the one to wake her up. When her gaze swept the room she realized everything she had experienced was true. Hephaestus’s body was a few feet away, but there was no sword. “Where’s Excalibur?” panic shot through her.
“Calm down. The sword is fine. It’s right by your side.”
Thank God. “Oh no, Nas.” Kalliope tried to get up, but Lugh had to help her. She was a little dizzy. The arm she grabbed was not smooth, but scratchy. He was wearing clothes. Why didn’t she notice that before?
Because I wasn’t wearing any. He chuckled in her mind. She walked over to the fallen goddess. Her once tan skin was now pale and growing gray. Her black hair was bone white and brittle. Her veins were blackened from poisoning. A thin trickle of blood escaped the corner of her mouth. Kalliope knelt next to her. Lugh smiled at his ex-lover and he knelt down beside her as well. He brushed a stray hair away from her face. Kalliope noticed the light in her eyes fading.
“You did it, Kalli.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. Kalliope took Nas’s hand and squeezed it. “Yeah, we did.”
Nas didn’t return the gesture, but shifted her gaze to Lugh. “Take care of her. She is one of a kind. Don’t let anything tear you two apart. You were meant for one another. Don’t—” A spasm of pain rippled through her. Her eyes closed against the pain.
“Shh. Nass. I will.” Lugh kissed her cheek. Kalliope saw the tears glistening in his eyes too. She wondered if he had ever lost anyone that he cared about before. Gods were eternal.
Nas shouldn’t have to die. Yeah, she had been a bitch to me in the past. But all that is forgotten. She truly wanted to be my friend. I can’t let her fade away into nothingness. Kalliope felt a surge of power in her that didn’t feel like her own. A sense of intense warmth burned in her chest. She sensed that it was not from her. She remembered that Apollo had given her a parting gift when he had been hit with one of Cupid’s arrows. She had forgotten all about it. He had given her a piece of his power. It was stronger than her, and hopefully it would be enough. She closed her eyes and focused on that power. Suddenly, she felt like she was under the sun on a hot day in one hundred degree weather. Even that little power of the god was so intense she could barely hold onto it, let alone channel it. But she had to try. She let go of Nas’s hand and placed it over the wound from Excalibur. The intensity built inside of her. She even tried to call upon her own power to help, but it was impossible. The magnitude of the energy she had to focus even tingling in her broken wrist trying to mend her own bones. She felt the sun shine down on her and then enfold her in its light. Everything she saw was bright white and yellow. With the sheer force of her will, she funneled the energy down her arm and into the goddess. Once the energy left her, she opened her eyes. Nas was surrounded by a golden glow. Then the glow faded, leaving only the glow where her wound was. When it was completely gone, Kalliope sat back on her heels feeling drained. Nas was healed.