The Forest Gods' Fight

by Alexandria Hook

  “Pull yourself together, Alec. Now, where the hell have you been?” I demanded worriedly as the young hero whirled around to block with his shield the stab of yet another undead.

  Alec smirked. “Well, Lady Athena,” he began much more formally, almost mockingly, turning back around to whisper in my ear, “in case you didn’t see, Nicholas just fell from the sky over there and has at least one broken leg. I hid him in the undergrowth because there was no one but the tree nymph Ella to help him get back to camp safely. Medusa provided a bit of a delay too.”

  “Thank the Fates you survived,” I replied over my shoulder as Alec rested his back lightly against mine, slicing and stabbing at about seven undead warriors. Of course, Alec and I knew each other’s fighting style so well by then that working together and covering each other’s blind spots felt natural and somewhat refreshing, even under such great stress. Undead warriors fell with each blink of our eyes as we relentlessly sliced or stabbed their torsos and blocked or occasionally flipped out of the way of their blind jabs and thrusts, still keeping time to the steady rhythm of our heartbeats. Every once in a while, I would catch sight of a distracted Knowing Warrior gaping at Alec and me in amazement, only solidifying my guess as to the speedy rate at which we were killing Hades’s servants. It was the kind of challenging fight that made the rest of the gods and I feel really powerful, the kind of fight worth reliving over and over again just to feel that compelling connection of instincts working together like magic. Frankly, anything that could kill us only made us feel more alive, not afraid.

  Our long streak of kills was cruelly interrupted when our ears were filled with a loud thud, which was immediately followed by a man’s scream of pure pain coming from right next to us. As soon as we spun around on our heels, I knew it was too late to save the poor Knowing Warrior. He was dead, obviously crushed by a gigantic rock that one of the Erinyes had dropped. His well-muscled arms and legs were splayed out at awkward angles, and half of his skull was smashed, caving inward toward his brain, which was luckily covered by the grass and his mop of long hair. The better half of the small boulder sat unmoving upon the man’s torso, still squishing his dead body (his armor couldn’t help much in this situation) and causing his lifeless brown eyes to bulge out of their sockets. I did not know who this particular Knowing Warrior was, but that fact didn’t make the sight any less disturbing.

  “I guess we’d better be watching the skies, too,” Alec said with a gulp, raising his shiny bronze shield just in time to keep the burning tip of another undead’s sword from scraping his shoulder. I simply nodded and glanced toward the flashing sky to look for any more of the dangerous flying women. There was no time to mourn deaths or pay attention to how well the other soldiers were doing; we had to keep moving forward.

  With each passing minute, the rain fell harder, decreasing the visibility even further. I used my ears to pinpoint the exact place that each undead warrior was and listened carefully for the whoosh of each undead’s sizzling iron blade cutting through the frigid air and pouring rain. I knew that the clouds were completely covering the sun so it should have been nearly pitch black, but Zeus, still riding Pegasus, was throwing bright, almost blinding bolts of lightning every couple of seconds, some through the sky toward the Erinyes and some down to the dozens of undead warriors. I just prayed that Zeus wouldn’t accidentally hit one of our own soldiers since we were already badly outnumbered.

  Eventually, Alec and I managed to kill all of the undead warriors that had been surrounding us and were able to rest for a brief moment. I thought it was past lunchtime, but I couldn’t be sure because I had lost my appetite long ago, after seeing the first few soldiers fall, and the comforting light of day was nonexistent. We were in the dark both literally and figuratively.

  “This is crazy,” I shouted at Alec over the thunder, rain, and screams. “I can barely even see you. I know this is a war, but Zeus is out of control.”

  “Did somebody call my name?” I heard the overconfident, booming sound of our king’s voice come from behind me and turned around to see him sitting atop Pegasus, a bright white spot in a field of darkness. Zeus was panting like a dog and his dark golden hair was so wet that it now looked brown, but for some reason he still had a playful smirk written across his handsome face. Like I said, crazy.

  The resounding thunder quieted for a moment, so I knew the lord of the skies was about to speak again. His voice was the thunder this time. “Would you like to join me, Athena?” he asked politely, holding out his rough hand for me to take.

  I raised my eyebrows in question and glanced at Alec to make sure he was going to be okay on his own. “I’ll be fine,” he confirmed, though I thought I saw a flicker of worry pass through his eyes, which had abruptly turned as deep and murky as the churning sea. With a short nod, he added, “Good luck. And please don’t die up there.”

  “I’ll try not to,” I mimicked Alec as I gave him a soft punch on his arm and received a small but wary smile in return.

  “Ready?” Zeus said eagerly. With an indifferent shrug, I grabbed my godly father’s hand, and he used his superhuman strength to pull me up behind him on Pegasus. When we took off at a gallop, I knew my extra weight would not bother the strongest horse in the world.

  Muttering to myself, I gripped the wet, heaving barrel of Pegasus with my legs as he launched himself up into the stormy sky and spread out his enormous wings. My breath caught in my throat as I started to slip a few inches down Pegasus’s smooth back. To save myself from plummeting to earth, I quickly slid my arms around Zeus’s armored midsection, feeling the ridges of the six-pack abs that were carefully chiseled into his chestplate. Even though all of the gods and most of the male soldiers had real six-pack abs, it was traditional to wear muscle armor to try to intimidate enemies in battle. I wasn’t sure the undead warriors cared one bit, however.

  As soon as Zeus and I flew up into the thick, moist clouds, my jaw dropped. The Erinyes had now been joined by a few Stymphalian birds and their three screeching harpy friends who, like the Erinyes, were also half-bird, half-women, though the harpies were mostly made of bird parts. Four monsters circled around Pegasus, who laid his ears back and let out a piercing whinny, while the other two Erinyes kept dropping giant stones on the soldiers on the ground. I realized that Zeus needed Apollo or Artemis with him, an archer who could shoot down these beasts, not me with my short spear, but maybe the twins were still more valuable on the ground.

  “I know you’re not an archer, but see if you can use your spear to redirect the lightning toward the other harpies and I’ll try not to electrocute you,” Zeus yelled over his shoulder, sensing my doubts. “I swear I’ve been killing these stupid things, but Hades releases them from the Underworld again just as fast.”

  I simply nodded in understanding, keeping a tight hold on Zeus with one arm as I readjusted the spear in my right hand. When Pegasus suddenly banked to the left, I recognized just how difficult staying on during the fight was going to be. Before I could even prepare myself to redirect the lightning, Zeus had extricated one of his hands from Pegasus’s mane, and it crackled with hot, blinding electricity that jumped from finger to finger before it was released, stretching out to our left toward the familiar harpy with wild black hair and pale skin. But, unfortunately, the harpy just rolled over in midair to avoid the blow, though one side of her feathered bird body did look a bit charred.

  Refocusing, I took a deep breath and waited for Zeus to throw the next lightning bolt. The second I saw Zeus’s hand light up again, I held out my spear, pointing it at the same black-haired harpy. The deafening thunder that followed the first bolt of lightning had just faded away when Zeus threw out his second fistful of electricity. This time, however, the blazing hot bolt split into two jagged branches, one heading toward an Erinye and one zapping the harpy’s left wing. I smirked victoriously as my nose filled with the smell of smoke and gravity pulled the harpy’s ashes down to the meadow like black snow. The Erinye had also disappear
ed for the time being, hopefully making her own way to the Underworld. Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly), another harpy flew into my view almost immediately.

  This one was a brunette, and her long hair whipped around her face as she rapidly flapped her dark wings, trying not to be pushed by the strong winds into one of her monster allies. Aiming my spear at the second harpy, I waited for Zeus’s hand to light up again and when it did, the static immediately skipped to the pointed tip of my spear then shot the harpy square in the chest. I just hoped she wouldn’t return from the dead as fast as she had the last time.

  But while I watched her ashes fade into the dark clouds below me, an Erinye suddenly flew up from under the neighing Pegasus. I gasped as her giant, black wings beat in my face and when she turned to face me, I could see that her narrow eyes were dripping with blood. As her thin arms entwined with shimmering green snakes reached out to pull me off of Pegasus, I whipped my spear over my head, careful not to hit Zeus, and jabbed the spear into her stomach with a solid thunk before she could touch me with her bony hands and long, claw-like fingernails. Golden-green monster blood slowly trickled down the smooth shaft of my spear and onto my hand as the Erinye let out one last, low moan and tumbled away, slowly disintegrating.

  I let out a quick sigh of relief before tightening my hold on the spear and electrocuting a humungous Stymphalian bird, but that was when our walkie-talkies burst to life with Hermes’s voice. Anxious to hear the full report, Zeus urged Pegasus to fly farther up and away from the monsters for the time being. Honestly, I was just glad to have a short break; my hands were burning and my skin was boiling thanks to Zeus’s energy.

  “This is Hermes calling to inform you all that Hades has both Cole and Persephone locked up. Repeat: Hades has Cole tied up and unconscious, and Persephone is locked in her room,” Hermes muttered breathlessly, and I heard Zeus curse under his breath in front of me. “I’m sorry, guys, I—I couldn’t free them—Hades wouldn’t even say a word to me—but it’s lucky I got out alive because, well, there’s a large hole in my arm . . . .”

  Wishing someone could have been down in the Underworld with Hermes for support, I shut my eyes and let out a long, tired sigh. Zeus only stiffened at the feeling of my warm breath rolling down his neck and ordered, “Alec, head back to the army camp and meet Hermes there. Hermes, when you’re all patched up, you and Alec are going down to the Underworld again to get them back, no excuses.”

  “Okay, I’m headed back to camp now,” Alec answered uncertainly but obediently. I could tell by his voice that he, like me, had a very bad feeling about this plan.

  Chapter 10

  A BIT OF DUMB LUCK

  As soon as Alec let everyone know that he was heading back to the army camp to meet Hermes, Zeus peeked over his shoulder, his stormy eyes meeting mine. “I want to drop you off by Main Street with Hestia and Hephaestus,” he said, practically shouting over the thunder while trying to steer Pegasus through the pounding rain.

  “Affirmative,” I replied loudly, slipping my black walkie-talkie off my belt loop, one arm still locked around his armored torso. Then, speaking into the device, I asked, “This is Athena calling Hestia and Hephaestus. What is your position?”

  I strained my ears as I waited for the response, thinking that the heavy-duty, waterproof walkie-talkies had proved to be a good investment when Hestia’s calm voice came on the line. She was speaking Greek, but her voice was low so I knew she was with some Sightless humans. “Hephaestus and I are sort of trapped in the Fire Pit along with the rest of the town. Thanks to the storm, the power’s out, and this is the only place with a generator. Just say the word and we’ll be in the forest right away.” Hestia paused for a second before continuing, “But

  Hephaestus just told me that he made a bunch of new weapons, so we’ll have to drop by his house first to pick them up.”

  “All right, meet me at the east edge of the woods where we keep our armor in precisely ten minutes,” I ordered. “Zeus wants me to help you two bring the weapons in safely. With any luck, we won’t run into too many monsters.”

  After Hestia agreed to the plan, the walkie-talkies went quiet once again until Zeus asked for everyone to check in. Since Alec, Zeus, and I had all left the small meadow, our troops there were struggling again, but at least they had the archers for help. At the same time, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Pan were defending the army camp against a kraken residing in the deepest part of the river. A tree nymph then added that a troop of undead warriors was supposedly on its way to the camp. On the bright side, Pan had received word from another satyr that the centaurs were winning a battle in their territory on the west side of the river. To the north, Ares, Aphrodite, and Dionysus seemed to be in control of their battle too.

  When everyone with a walkie-talkie had given an update, Zeus gave Pegasus a kick in the sides and we flew even higher into the black clouds, away from the flying monsters. Grasping Pegasus with only his strong legs, Zeus twisted around and started to fling lightning bolts in the general direction of where he thought the Erinyes and harpies were, just in case they had foolishly decided to follow us. I cringed as my ears were filled with the extremely loud sound of rolling thunder, and I felt the heat of the electricity when the bolts whizzed by me, mere inches away from my arms. Slowly, Pegasus leveled off and made a wide turn to our left somewhere above the meadow, heading us toward Main Street, and Zeus turned back around, his hands no longer crackling with electricity.

  Meanwhile, I blinked my eyes rapidly, attempting to clear my vision of the large raindrops, which were falling nonstop. I had to squint my eyes in order to see ahead and look for the tiny town standing tall and nearly silent below us. The temperature had dropped quite a bit since the rain had started so I decided that I wouldn’t be surprised if any gods or soldiers ended up with a cold or even pneumonia by the end of the war. If any of them survived, of course.

  A few minutes later, Zeus claimed that he could see the town ahead. I didn’t see it myself, but I obviously trusted Zeus with my life so that was that. Without another word, Zeus calmly urged Pegasus to fly lower, and the horse’s powerful hooves lightly skimmed the treetops, like a bird flying over a lake. However, mere seconds had passed when Zeus suddenly stopped in midair.

  “Jump off here,” Zeus ordered firmly as we hovered a few feet above the pine trees that were rooted about fifty yards from the edge of the forest. “I don’t want anyone in town to see us or Pegasus. They’ll just make us go inside to explain ourselves, and if we don’t, they’ll get themselves killed trying to come after us.”

  I nodded, frowning down at the trees through which I was about to reluctantly crash. I was almost certain that a regular human would have been seriously injured after a fall from that great height, if not killed. At least I was going to be slowed down by the branches, though they would also scratch me like thousands of cat claws.

  “I guess I’ll see you later,” I muttered under my breath, disgruntled. I didn’t even glance back at Zeus as I tightened my grip on the cold spear in my right hand and forcefully pushed off Pegasus with my shield, which was still strapped onto my left arm.

  I couldn’t help but hold my breath as I felt myself slip, feet first, off of Pegasus’s smooth, slippery back then plummeted through the rain, the rushing wind filling my ears. Shutting my eyes, I winced as I suddenly slammed into the first bushy treetop and was knocked sideways, losing my helmet almost immediately. Even though the wind had just been slapped out of me, I curled up instinctively, bringing my knees to my chest, and covered my vulnerable skull with my shield as I crashed through more branches encrusted in prickly pine needles. I blinked rapidly, trying to ignore the stinging sensation that seared through my whole body and to keep my head clear at the same time. After all, I still needed to land somehow.

  Realizing that I could hit the ground at any second, I took my spear and pushed it out to the side of me as hard as I could. My efforts were rewarded when the sharp tip of the spear conveniently stuck in a
tree branch that seemed to support my weight, although my arm had been violently jerked in the process and the branch was creaking a little bit. Wasting no time at all, I heaved myself up onto the thick branch, straddling it like a horse, and yanked out my short spear from the rough bark. I then swiftly proceeded to clamber down the rest of the tall tree, which was only a couple of yards to the forest floor.

  Relieved to be standing on solid ground, I subconsciously readjusted my armor and simultaneously glanced around for my fallen helmet. My eyes lit up when I saw the familiar blue plume sticking out from a bush, and I raced over and placed the helmet back on my head. I then grabbed the walkie-talkie off my belt loop, amazed that it hadn’t fallen from my hip during the fall, and called into it, “Hestia and Hephaestus, what’s taking you so long?”

  I was just beginning to worry because they hadn’t answered me yet, but then I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me and turned around to see the two drenched, humbled gods. I immediately hurried over to help them, seeing that they were both weighed down with large trash bags full of new armor and more weapons. Hephaestus in particular was struggling to remain upright, and his dark hair with gray flecks was already covered in sweat, not just rainwater. His trusty wooden cane was doing almost nothing to help him walk since his already mangled leg was still broken and in a cast, though it wasn’t bothering him quite as much as the days before.

  “Sorry for the wait,” Hephaestus began breathlessly as I took the heavy trash bag from him and flung it over my own shoulder. “We were held up by the Minotaur and a few Stymphalian birds near my house, but, luckily, Zeus managed to electrocute them before they did any damage.”