by Eliza Raine
11
‘Have you seen a manticore before, Captain?’ asked Evadne nervously as they approached the inner stable door. The wooden surface of the door seemed to ripple, and Hercules shook his head, trying to clear his wobbly vision.
‘Where’s my lion skin?’ he asked her, ignoring her question.
‘Dionysus changed our clothes. I don’t know,’ she said. He looked at her, startled by her blood-red dress. Concern was clear on her face.
‘Captain, do you remember what you have to do when you get in there?’ she said slowly.
He snarled. Of course he did. He had to… kill the beast.
‘Kill the manticore,’ he barked, and laid his hand on the rope handle of the door.
‘No! You need to pull the cord at the back of the stall.’
He took a long breath, the floor tilting beneath him. ‘Which will be easy, once we have killed the beast,’ he growled, and pulled the door open.
The manticore sprang at him before he had time to register its presence. He dropped to the ground but he wasn’t fast enough rolling away and the creature’s claw sliced through the skin of his shoulder. Pounding energy flooded his body and he leaped to his feet, swinging his arm in a punch as the thing sprang for him again. His fist connected and the manticore yelped as it flew backwards and bounced off the stable wall.
Hercules squinted, trying to focus his swimming vision. The manticore looked like a horned lion, save for the lethal scorpion tail curled up over its back. The stinger was glowing red.
‘If the stinger touches you, you’ll die,’ he heard Evadne say. He glanced at her. Red. She was covered in red. It was a dress, he told himself, but images flashed before him. Another woman, with red hair, covered in red. Not a dress, but blood. And suddenly he was there again, strength unrivalled by anything he had ever felt burning through his body as he dropped the poker on the floor and stared down at Megara. His wife.
He was invincible. He had the power to take life. How had he never known what this could feel like? A wave of revulsion crashed over the elation. His wife… The blood… What had he done? He took a halting step forward and then remembered. She was going to leave him. She was going to take their children and leave him. This wasn’t his fault. He heard a sob and looked up. A flash of red hair disappeared from the parlour doorway. His daughter. As he took a step towards the door, convulsions ripped through his body. He roared as he dropped to his hands and knees, forcing his eyes shut against the pain.
‘All power has a cost, Hercules,’ said Hera’s voice in his mind. ‘And you will pay the price.’
Forcing his eyes open again, he recoiled when he realised he was kneeling in Megara’s blood. He held his hands up in front of him, and watched the red liquid drip down his skin.
His control over his anger, so carefully balanced on a knife edge for so long, broke completely.
12
Evadne cowered in the doorway as Hercules roared so loudly that the manticore froze. He had started screaming and convulsing and the beast had been confused enough to stay back, stalking slowly around its thrashing prey, until the man had suddenly launched himself to his feet and made that awful inhuman sound.
The look on his face was nothing short of terrifying. His eyes were wild, filled with fire and hatred, and her mouth fell open in fear. The manticore hissed and leaped for him but he kicked out, catching it squarely in the chest. The scorpion tail flicked around as it spun away on the ground but Hercules ducked and reached for the beast’s back leg. He dragged the manticore back to him, easily dodging the shining stinger, a disturbing laugh bubbling out of his mouth.
Evadne sank to the floor, gripping the lintel, nausea rolling through her at the twisted look on his face. Hercules had scared her before, but she had never seen him like this. The manticore snarled and snapped as one of Hercules’s huge arms wrapped around its middle and the other gripped its tail. The snarl turned to a roar as he began to twist his hand, the tail bending at an unnatural angle. Evadne wanted to look away but she couldn’t. Hercules’s laugh got louder as he twisted further, the manticore’s roars morphing into howls.
‘Stop,’ Evadne whispered, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks as her stomach roiled. A sickening crack accompanied a screech of pain and the manticore thrashed in Hercules’s iron grip. But he didn’t stop. He pulled, and Evadne forced her eyes closed. Why wouldn’t he just kill it? Why was he torturing it? She’d been wrong. She’d been so, so wrong to believe that he wasn’t dangerous.
Something wet and hot sprayed her and she kept her eyes squeezed shut as she retched, knowing it was the creature’s blood.
The howls and screeches stopped and Hercules’s maniacal laugh died to a frightening chuckle. Evadne opened her eyes, forcing herself to survey the stall. Hercules was covered in blood and gore, rocking on his heels, his eyes unfocused and vacant. Around him lay the manticore, in several pieces. He had ripped the creature apart.
She turned away, horror overwhelming her as she retched again.
13
Hedone tried to steady her shaking hands as she picked up the shovel from against the pen wall.
‘Hedone?’ Theseus said her name as a question.
‘Yes, Captain?’
‘I… I can’t see very well. You’re going to have to open this door.’ He came to a stumbling halt in front of her as he said it.
‘What’s wrong? Why can’t you see?’ She hurried to his side. His dark skin was pale, his eyes unfocused.
‘There are stars. Stars everywhere. They’re blocking everything out.’ He reached a hand towards her with a marvelling expression. ‘You’re so… so…’ he trailed off, staring at her chest.
‘Theseus, you need to get it together,’ she said, grabbing his cheek and giving his head a small shake. ‘I can’t face a sphinx alone. What is a sphinx anyway?’
As she hoped it would, the question refocused him. His gaze moved to her eyes and he pushed his braids back from his face and blinked fast.
‘It’s like a lion, but it has wings and a woman’s face.’ Hedone frowned. ‘It eats people.’ Hedone stiffened. ‘And asks riddles.’
‘Riddles?’ she repeated.
He nodded.
‘That’s why you got the sphinx,’ she realised. ‘Clever Theseus, and all that.’
‘I am clever,’ he said indignantly, then tipped his head back. ‘So’s she,’ he said, pointing up to the leafy canopy above them.
‘Who?’ Hedone followed his pointing finger.
‘Her. Look at her tail! It’s beautiful.’
Hedone could see nothing. She blew out a long breath, gripped the shovel and pulled on the rope door-handle.
The sphinx was sitting on her haunches in the middle of the stall, her wings spread wide and her stunning face serene and calm. She didn’t blink her orange eyes as Hedone and Theseus stepped into the stall, but spoke in a deep, soothing voice.
‘What has an eye but cannot see?’
Theseus barked a laugh and clawed at the air in front of him.
‘I have fifty eyes,’ he murmured, ‘but all I can see is birds…’ His voice was filled with wonder and he waved his arms in front of him again, as though trying to catch something. Hedone grabbed him as he stumbled forward, her heart missing a beat as the sphinx flicked her eyes towards him.
‘Incorrect,’ she said. ‘You may try twice more.’
‘What happens if we get it wrong?’ asked Hedone, her voice coming out as little more than a whisper.
The sphinx’s wings quivered as she said, ‘You die.’
A piercing scream filled the stables and Hedone and Theseus’s heads snapped towards the sound. It turned into a long, loud moan and Hedone’s skin began to crawl. Was that Hercules? It was definitely a man. She hated herself for the thought that immediately filled her mind: Please let it be one of the giants. The howls began to die down, then a roar filled her ears, so full of anger and pain that her knees went weak. It was Hercules. She needed to help him.
‘Do you know the answer? Theseus? What has an eye but cannot see?’
He looked at her vaguely. ‘Eyes everywhere. But they can all see.’
Exasperation filled her and she tried to block out the animalistic howls coming from the other stall. Theseus gripped her arm hard, making her cry out. ‘Needles!’ he exclaimed urgently, then his face relaxed again and he looked up, entranced by something only he could see.
Needles. He was right. A needle had an eye but could not see.
‘A needle,’ Hedone said to the sphinx. She bowed her head.
‘Correct. I’m tall when I’m young and short when I’m old. What am I?’
Another howl ripped through the air and tears filled her eyes.
‘Not another one,’ she moaned. The sphinx’s face didn’t move. ‘Theseus? Did you hear that?’
Theseus looked at her. ‘Eyes everywhere,’ he murmured again and reached out to touch her face. She pulled back and the vacant expression on his face changed. Panic filled his eyes and he wrenched his arm out of her grip. ‘They’re coming,’ he whispered, looking over her shoulder. Hedone spun around in alarm but there was nothing behind her, only the featureless stable wall.
‘There’s nothing coming, Theseus,’ she said, as calmly as she could manage. He shook his head hard, his braids swinging, then sank to the floor, covering his face with his hands.
‘No, no, no, Theseus, I need you!’ Hedone dropped into a crouch beside him and tried to pull his hands down, but he cried out and turned away from her. What was she going to do? She could hear nothing from the other stall now. Was that good or bad? What if Hercules had been injured or worse? She stood up, trying to swallow her rising panic. She would just have to get past the sphinx herself. What was tall when it was young and short when it was old? She took a deep breath, sorting through her whirling thoughts. What got shorter over time? Nothing living, she thought. All living things grew. So it had to be something you use up. The sphinx had said tall and short, so it was something that lost height. The answer hit her in a rush and she blurted it out before she could stop herself.
‘A candle!’
The sphinx nodded her head again.
‘Correct. The last riddle. What is as light as a feather but cannot be held by the world’s strongest man for more than a few minutes?’
Dismay rolled over Hedone. Another one? She glanced down at Theseus, who had drawn his knees up and was rocking backwards and forwards, his face still covered.
She would just have to work this one out by herself too.
14
Antaeus was panting in the corner of the reeking stall, crouched low to the ground, wild eyes darting around the small room. In the opposite corner a huge sleek black cat paced back and forth, guarding a long pull cord. Eryx wanted desperately to try to get to it himself but Dionysus had said that only the captains could pull the rope and flood the stall. Instead, he darted out from the doorway again, waving a rake at the lethally fanged creature. It paused for a second, flicking its tail and giving a languid hiss, then resumed its pacing.
Eryx had been repeatedly trying to distract the panther to no avail. It was smart. It knew Antaeus was trying to get past and it wasn’t going to move. Antaeus shouted from his corner and frustration welled in Eryx. He was impotent to help, both with the panther and with whatever his captain was seeing that he couldn’t. He hated it. He hated not being able to do anything. He skipped backwards, not taking his eyes off the cat, until he reached his captain. He hooked his arm under Antaeus’s and pulled him awkwardly to his feet.
‘Come on, Captain. Let’s try again,’ he said lightly.
Antaeus bared his teeth. ‘They’re everywhere,’ he hissed.
‘Well, let’s concentrate on this one for now,’ Eryx said, pointing his rake at the panther. ‘If you pull that cord, they’ll all go away.’ Eryx had no idea what Antaeus thought was everywhere, or if they would go away if he pulled the cord, but he didn’t know what else to say. Antaeus gripped his arm.
‘The cord,’ he repeated.
‘Exactly, Captain. The cord. Just don’t let the cat get you.’
‘Cat?’ Panic filled Antaeus’s voice.
‘Yes. That cat,’ Eryx pointed again at the panther. Antaeus looked along the rake and growled when his eyes settled on the big cat. It looked straight back at him, tail swishing, its gleaming yellow eyes unblinking, challenging. ‘I’ll go—’ Eryx started to speak but Antaeus ripped his arm free and launched himself at the cord. The panther jumped at the same time and they collided mid-air, crashing to the ground in a flurry of claws and snarls. Eryx swore and threw himself into the fight.
15
Something hard hit Lyssa and she tumbled sideways. Everything around her was hot and her face was near something that smelled bad.
‘Lyssa, listen to me!’ The voice was too loud and she didn’t have time to listen. She needed to find her legs.
All of a sudden she was hauled upright and the shock stilled her mad scrabbling. She looked down at herself, panting, and lifted her golden skirts. She could see her leather boots. And in them, her ankles. Relief flooded her and she laughed out loud.
‘My legs!’ She looked around happily for somebody to tell and stepped back in surprise at what she saw. Half the stall she was standing in was on fire, and a three-headed monster was pawing the ground through the flames, red wings beating slowly.
‘What…?’
‘Lyssa.’ Phyleus appeared in front of her. A wave of clarity washed over her as she looked into his eyes. ‘Lyssa, you have to pull that cord. Behind the chimera. Do you see it?’ He was gripping her shoulders. She looked past him, past the lion head baring its massive teeth, past the flickering flames. She nodded.
‘I see it,’ she whispered.
‘Concentrate on that and nothing else,’ he said clearly. She nodded again. ‘Go,’ he said and released her, running towards the side of the stall that wasn’t crackling with fire.
As soon as his hands left her body her vision swam again, as if he had removed her anchor to reality. She swallowed the sick feeling rising in her and focused on the rope hanging down in the far corner of the room. Concentrate.
‘Come and get me!’ Phyleus bellowed suddenly and all three of the chimera’s heads swung towards him. Lyssa didn’t wait to think through what she was doing. She ran. The ground shifted and tilted under her feet and for a brief second everything around her seemed to be covered in vines. Even the chimera was covered, its beautiful red wings wrapped in the dark green plants. She slowed and heard Phyleus yell, ‘Concentrate!’
She fixed her eyes on the cord again and the vines receded. Red and orange light filled her vision and she realised hazily that it had come from the chimera. From the dragon head. Fire. It was fire. The beast wasn’t going to move towards Phyleus, it was going to try to burn him from where it was standing, guarding the rope. She felt her power fizzing under her skin and she flexed her fists, pulling on the familiar feeling. As the Rage built she felt it course through her body, forcing out the haziness, sharpening the world around her.
The goat head saw her first and bleated loudly, causing the other two to snap towards her. She dropped into a skid, pulling her satin skirts up and lying almost flat along the ground as she threw her power into the movement. She moved fast, wincing as the dragon head ducked down towards her. It missed by inches and she sailed straight under the belly of the great creature. It jumped and stamped as she spun out on the other side and tripped over the dress as she scrambled to her feet.
The creature’s massive scaled tail smashed into her stomach as it turned and she was knocked high into the air. It was as though she was falling in slow motion. The stall was burning and she could see Phyleus through the flames, yelling and pointing behind her. She threw her arms out to her sides, feeling like she was moving through mud.
Something scratched against her w
rist, then her back hit the wall hard and she bounced off it, landing on her backside. The chimera’s lion head roared as the dragon head reared back, orange embers filling its open maw. This was it.
‘It’s right next to you!’ Phyleus screamed. She turned her head. The rope cord was swinging gently next to her. She blinked and pulled it.
The back panel of the stall, to her left, began lifting with a loud clanking sound. The chimera swung all three of its heads that way and pawed the ground excitedly, then bounded towards the widening opening. As soon as the wall had lifted far enough it ducked down and squeezed under, disappearing into the foliage beyond.
Lyssa let out a long breath and Phyleus ran to her, jumping over the burning lumps of hay. He grabbed both of her hands and pulled but she stayed where she was, leaning against the wall.
‘I need to rest,’ she told him. And she did. She was so, so tired.
‘We can’t yet. We need to get back to the throne room. Then you can rest.’ He pulled again and she sighed. The ground beneath her was wet and she looked down. Water was rushing into the room from the forest.
‘Do you promise?’ she asked Phyleus.
He stopped pulling and crouched down beside her. He put his hand out and gently pushed away the loose curls that had been sticking to her face.
‘I promise.’ She watched his lips move as he said it. They were nice lips. ‘Lyssa, we need to go, now.’ She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet.
Together they followed the chimera out into the forest.
16
Theseus leaped up suddenly, startling Hedone out of her thoughts.
‘They’re here!’ he hissed, spinning and ducking, his eyes wild.