by JJ King
She was running headlong into a gun fight with only a knife, after all.
Without thinking, she reached up and plucked the contacts from her eyes, tossing them and whatever protection they held away into the gloom. Not that it would make a difference against the goddess of war, but Athena wouldn’t hesitate to use tricks, so why hold back? If there was the slightest chance that part of what Athena had turned her into could work against the goddess, she’d use it and enjoy the irony.
After all, all was fair in love and war.
The arrogant idiocy of the saying struck her and the anger it birthed washed away the lingering confusion and anxiety that had been like a wall holding her back. The moment it disappeared, she felt it, the power that had always come with the darkness. It lingered, just out of reach, floating in the void, calling to her. All she had to do was reach out and grab it.
Em ground her teeth together painfully and balled her hands into tight fists. No, she couldn’t do it, wouldn’t do it. Her family deserved more than that, more than her excuses. They deserved her, not the monster. She pushed herself back from the edge of temptation and raced around the final curve leading to the forum, finally registering the sounds of battle.
And stopped dead.
Panic and primal terror exploded from her lungs in a violent whoosh of air. She’d expected god versus goddess, the ultimate showdown of Olympian power and whatever that meant. But what she saw was a thousand men or more, she couldn’t tell in the chaos, surrounding Poseidon, battling him into exhaustion with Athena at the center.
Her heart stopped, sending a spasm of pain through her so violently that she clutched at her chest and gasped. It thundered to life again, sending her staggering forward. Her gaze zeroed in on Poseidon. His face was bloody and battered, his clothes ripped where swords and powerful bursts of power had singed his flesh. Em felt the thunder of her heart beneath her hand as she saw him deflect another barrage of swords and send five men flying back, only to be set upon by another group. A knife slipped through his defences and slid into the muscles of his broad back, eliciting a roar of pain that pierced her soul.
Then Athena laughed, and the sound of the goddess she’d once pledged to worship and follow laughing at the pain of the man she loved shifted something inside her.
She loved him. Oh, Gods, she loved him with everything she was and everything she had. There was no part of her that didn’t love him and the last words she’d spit at him were that she never wanted to see him again. She threw back her head and screamed, then opened herself up and embraced the darkness.
The sound of her fury filled the forum like thunder, echoing back a hundred times until it pounded around her. Every eye turned to watch as she gathered herself, stepped forward, and leapt into the fray.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The attack was all-consuming. Soldiers swarmed her with swords and knives, and shields emblazoned with a distorted caricature of her face.
It was meant to terrify. Her face, twisted and deformed, topped with a mass of writhing snakes, was meant as a symbol of vanquished evil, a tribute to the gods and heroes that had defeated the monster. But, it didn't terrify her.
It enraged her.
Em crashed her fist into one soldier’s jaw, shattering it in an instant, then plunged her sword into the chest of another. Bloodlust and mania, or what the Vikings used to call berserker rage, filled her. She was invincible, she was powerful, and she would destroy any who thought to harm her or her love.
The men fought at a disadvantage. The shields meant to guard their bodies from her attack were held up over their eyes to save them from her terrible power. It made them weak, that fear, and the monster inside her glorified in that. She cleaved her way through the throng, leaving bodies in her wake as she made her way closer and closer to Poseidon. The horror beat against her mind, trying to pierce the shield she'd thrown up. But, she couldn't look, couldn’t let herself see. Not yet, not until she reached Poseidon and knew he would be safe. She'd sacrifice every man in the forum for that purpose and the knowledge of that terrified her.
They were Athena's men, she reasoned as the flimsy barrier between sanity and chaos deteriorated. They were soldiers, they knew what they'd signed on for.
But hadn't she been one of Athena's soldiers? Hadn't she been willing to lay down her life for her goddess? Hadn't her sisters done the same?
She felt the slice of blade through her flesh and whirled, all rage and instinct, to face her attacker. For an instant, only a split second, his shield shifted and she saw his face. It twisted like a knife in her chest, the look of terror that crossed his features before they were frozen in place for eternity, commemorated in stone. The finality of it, the loss of one more innocent life, struck her with a terrible blow. Em closed her eyes and blocked out the carnage she’d created.
Behind closed lids, she saw his face again, followed by hundreds, thousands of others. They played like a movie, set on double speed, the faces of the men and women she’d turned to stone. They’d fallen to ash after, disintegrated and gone back to the earth just like humans were meant to, after long and fruitful lives. She’d cut so many lives short and for what? Survival? Revenge? Humanity had done nothing to harm her, except believe the lies history or mythology had spread about her. She didn’t want to kill anymore, didn’t want to punish those who were acting out of faith and fate.
She saw the glare of the unnatural blue flames through her closed lids a split second before the blistering heat exploded at her feet. A roar of triumph filled the air around her as the holy fire, thrown by a now-celebrated soldier, found the oil that still clung to her skin and roared to life.
The pain was exquisite and tore at her thoughts, taking them from rationality to insanity in an instant. Em threw back her head and screamed in agony as the goddess’s fire ate her clothes and skin, uninhibited by her frantic attempts to douse its fury.
It moved like a thing alive, consuming her, pulling her down into its heart. She crumbled, throwing herself to the ground in a mad effort to stop the agony but there was no point. The flames were blessed, made to devour those who would attack Athena or her soldiers. It melted the last of her clothes into her skin as she succumbed to the agony and collapsed just as Poseidon’s horrible roar echoed through the forum.
Poseidon.
It was the first lucid thought that filled Em’s head as she swam back into consciousness and, immediately, wished she were dead.
Em lay on the stone floor completely doused in frigid sea water that both cooled her burns and filled her with new agony as the salt settled over her raw skin. The pain was all consuming, surrounding her inside and out, so that she could do nothing more than lie there and try to breathe.
Her first clear thought was to question why she wasn’t dead. The soldiers had incapacitated her, this was their chance. Em pried her eyelids open slowly, just an inch, and saw the wall of water separating her from the army she knew waited for her. Poseidon, she thought, and let her eyes close again.
There was no telling how long he’d be able to maintain the wall, she realized a moment later. The brutal sounds of battle filtered through the pain to her ears. Poseidon was fighting back, but he couldn’t last forever, not alone. Em forced herself to feel the extent of the damage to her body.
She was alive, that wouldn’t change unless one of these soldiers managed to saw her head from her shoulders but, even then, they’d need a very special blade to do so. A blessed blade. Em’s stomach clenched as she remembered the holy fire they’d had. Perhaps they could kill her.
She needed to move. Em twitched a finger and the scream she couldn’t form sounded like alarms in her head, adding to the agony. Each breath felt like blades cutting her over and over but she refused to stop. Her awareness spread slowly, recognizing first the soldiers standing outside the wall of water, then the hundreds more beyond them, fanning out around her like a legion of death-defying sycophants, all willing to perish for the glory of Athena.
; Time ticked by as she lay, unable to conjure the will to rise. She knew the soldiers waited for the moment Poseidon let his guard slip, each of them eager to defeat the monstrous Medusa once and for all.
She heard him through it all. He sounded frantic, furious, and almost out of his mind. The sound of him, so familiar yet so raw with grief, broke her more than the raw flesh that was her body, which, even now, was knitting itself back together. She needed to get up, to let him know she was going to be alright. That single, undivided, thought filled her with enough courage to move.
She shifted like one long dead, dragging her arms up from the floor to hold her charred flesh. Slowly, deliberately, spitefully encouraged by the gasps of horror she heard from beyond the water with each movement she made, she climbed to her feet and stood there, burned black and naked. Her nerves screamed in places and, in others, they were silent. That would change, she knew. Thanks to the bitch that had made her, she was a fast healer. Em inhaled a shaky breath then gritted her teeth and let lose a scream.
The water collapsed around her, sending a wave against the soldiers strong enough to knock them back. All around her soldiers jumped to their feet and crouched in preparation for her attack, their eyes wide with terror. Em peeked through her lashes but kept her gaze lowered, unwilling to use her most powerful weapon against them even though they shuffled forward, ready and willing to attack her at her weakest.
Em lifted her head and opened her eyes towards the one who’d cursed her.
Across the forum, Athena’s head swiveled toward her in mid-attack, throwing off her form long enough for Poseidon’s shield to crash into her face. Em watched it happen as if through a haze and knew it had been her prayer, sent out of some long-lost knee-jerk reaction, that had pierced Athena’s cool façade. Em smiled slowly and closed her eyes again, but not before she saw Poseidon’s look of soul-shattering relief.
They would attack now, she knew. They would crash down on her in numbers too great for her to defend and they would stop her from helping Poseidon. She wouldn’t die, they didn’t have the power to do so unless she allowed them, but they’d hold her back, injure her further and force her into becoming what they already thought her to be.
Still, she couldn’t kill them, wouldn’t kill them. The darkness had taken her under one too many times and the void had scarred her soul too often. If she wasn’t careful, if she disappeared one more time, she wasn’t sure she’d ever come back. Em reached into herself to do what she’d done a thousand times before, to push the monster back into its cage.
It had never worked, not really. The darkness has always remained, her constant familiar picking away at her sanity. She’d ignored it, taunted it, accepted it, hated it. And still it remained.
The familiar taste of it filled her mouth. She rolled it around her tongue, deciphering the individual notes that threatened to overwhelm her. It was death and fear, rage and hate, it was everything inside her that shied away from the light of day and the strength of love.
She had so much love now. It filled her like the hate never had. It spilled into the tiniest cracks, lighting her from within. The strength of it surprised her, confused her, and lit the tiniest ember of hope. Shaking from the pain of her wounds, Em stopped shoving at the darkness and hesitantly reached for the light instead.
Calm washed over her, like the cool water of a fresh stream, starting at her heart and pouring outward until she seemed to vibrate with wonder. The power of it flowed like liquid magma, unstoppable and utterly wondrous, until she was consumed with heat and light.
Why hadn’t she seen it before? How could she have been so blind? It had been there, waiting for her, hiding behind the hate and pain for her to unlock, like a treasure trove of strength. She wondered if Athena even had an inkling of what she’d given her. A tinkle of laughter escaped her, causing the men surrounding her to shift uncomfortably. Her heart filled even for them, for their honor and trust in their goddess. They were good men and didn’t deserve to die. She knew what to do. Em threw back her head and opened her eyes, then lunged for the floor, crashing her charred hand against the hewed stone.
The stones splintered under her palm. A hot blast of power emanated from her like a tidal wave of pure light, crashing into everyone that stood in its path. The impact ripped through the stones, tearing them up, sending men flying through the air to land, unconscious, on the floor surrounding her. Unconscious, but not dead. They spread out like a spiral, filling the space between her and the two gods who stared at her now in shock.
Em lifted a hand as if moving it through a dream. It radiated with the sweetest light. It filled her and couldn’t be contained. She smiled and rose to her feet, not surprised that there was no pain, then started toward Poseidon, picking her way among the unconscious figures in her path.
The cool air of the underground forum skimmed over her naked flesh but it couldn’t pierce the heat of the power flowing over her, through her, becoming her. Absently, she noticed her skin healing, faster than it ever had. With each step, she grew stronger until she was whole and completely revitalized by the pulsing light that enveloped her.
Athena crouched, her eyes flicking back and forth between Em and Poseidon, two threats coming at her from two directions. She was nervous, Em realized, and the thought brought her pleasure. Swooping down as she walked, Em grabbed weapons from the fallen soldiers, first a sword, then a knife, then a shield bearing her own terrible face. That last one elicited a shit-kicking grin from her. She began to run.
Poseidon shifted, moving his stance from defense to offence, and brought his sword down just a split second after Athena pivoted and brought her shield up to block her chest. The clash of metal on metal rang out through the cavern and energized Em’s blood. She sprinted as fast as she could, vaulting over piles of unconscious soldiers, and screamed like a bloody harpy as she raced toward the battle she’d spent lifetimes preparing for.
The first taste of blood in her mouth as Athena dodged her blow and threw an elbow into her face, set Em’s head ringing and blood on fire. She darted up and behind the Goddess, who was fending off a quick series of furious thrusts from Poseidon whose eyes practically glowed with the lust of battle. Em grinned and danced back, avoiding Athena’s spear, then lunged and swiveled on her toes, slicing her knife across Athena’s calves.
Athena screamed, a blood curdling sound that any sane human man or woman would have run from, but she was neither sane nor human. Not now. Em threw herself into a forward roll to move out of striking distance and came up next to Poseidon.
“You’re alive,” he grunted, throwing up his shield as Athena advanced with lips snarled. With a great heave, he pushed the Goddess of War ten feet back, long enough to glance down and grin. His teeth were bloody. “You’re naked… and glowing.”
Em laughed, even as Athena regrouped and surged forward, hefting her blade high to slash at Poseidon. As she brought her blade down, Em saw the subtle shift of her gaze, and reacted out of instinct and training, still there after thousands of years. Her shield came up just in time to stop Athena’s blade from slicing through her shoulder. The impact resonated through her bones, pushing her down until her knee hit the floor.
Athena’s sword lifted from the shield, releasing the pressure, allowing Em to shift it to the side. She watched as Athena twisted her body, throwing weight into her other arm, and drove her spear down towards the piece of bronze protecting Em.
A split second before it could reach her shield, Poseidon slammed his shoulder into Athena’s side, pushing her out of strike distance. Em whooshed out a breath of relief and regained her feet just as Athena rushed them again.
They worked together, countering Athena’s thrusts, covering each other with well-placed shields, and slowly getting the upper hand on the Goddess of War. Soon, sweat ran down Em’s forehead into her eyes, stinging them while her snakes hissed and struck out in frustration. They wanted to get close, she could feel it through their connection. But close meant certain death
and she didn’t think they’d appreciate that.
The battle raged on for what felt like hours, until the muscles in Em’s body felt like rubber, but she still forced herself to fight. The stakes were too high, it was them or her and there was no fucking way she was going to let the bitch goddess win again. She’d gotten away with winning for too long already.
But she wasn’t like them. Her body wasn’t as strong or divine as theirs, despite her origins and her curse. Her mind began to fog as exhaustion beat at her, wearing her down bit by bit, until her focus strained and she took a blow to the chest that sent her crashing to the stones.
She tried to stand, to push up like she’d done a hundred times over already, but her limbs refused to work anymore. Em gritted her teeth and pounded a fist against her chest. She fought to think straight, to see things from Athena’s point of view.
If she couldn’t fight anymore, she had to get free of the immediate area. Athena would use her defenselessness as a way to strike at Poseidon. She needed to move.