Furious

Chapter Forty-One

"My Lords," came the grinding noise that was the voice of the Fates. They bowed in tandem among the dead of the field as if they'd been there the whole time, showing subservience to both gods. Clotho almost smiled in the face of victory.

The victory that I wasn't about to let them have.

Because of them and their scheme, whatever it was, so many lives had been lost. So many lives had been ruined for their pleasure.

The Sister Fates stood from their bow, all three with carefully placid faces. If they could smile and celebrate their triumph over all of us pawns, I imagined that their mouths would split their faces in half, they'd be so large.

Atropos, whose hands disappeared into her raggedy dress, pursed her lips in a short whistle signaling to someone unseen.

From behind them, Tantalus thundered into view. His skin, once pale and dirty from his time in the cell, shone with a golden glow as he vaulted over the Sisters, clearing their treacherous heads by a foot or more.

Tantalus was neither dead nor stupid. The man who rushed at us was a far cry from the simple-minded old man who had hidden safely in a hole for decades. And he was very much alive.

I guess the lid on the urn hadn't been too tight after all.

With renewed strength—or perhaps just well-hidden strength—Tantalus lunged at Zeus. The god of the skies countered but his lightning bolt fell useless in the dirt. Tantalus dodged every attack with preternatural speed. Zeus continued to underestimate the hatred that fueled Tantalus to fight as if his whole life had been spent waiting for this moment. Frustration tore a yell from Zeus as he missed yet again, wasting another lightning bolt on the ground.

Tired of waiting for someone to break, Hades, who had donned his helm of invisibility again, launched himself at Tantalus. At least that what it looked like; one minute Tantalus was bearing down on Zeus in his weakened state and then next he was plowed to the ground. Pinned in the dirt by an unseen force, Tantalus couldn't help but watch as Zeus raised his fist to deliver the final killing blow.

But at that angle, and without being able to see him, Zeus would surely strike Hades as well. He was going to kill two birds with one lightning bolt.

Still on the ground and no longer strong enough to pull myself up again, I threw a clump of dirt and rocks at Zeus.

"Autumn, don't!" Gregory and Lindsay ran at us, further distraction for Zeus. Hades continued to struggle invisibly with Tantalus as Zeus turned his bolt on me. Lindsay swooped in from above, kicking him in the head hard enough to knock him off balance just long enough to Gregory to yank on my outstretched arms. I'd be damned if I allowed Zeus to smite me sitting down.

If this was it I wanted to face him on my feet.

Of all the people who could have my back Lindsay was the one who surprised me most—though she was protecting Hades rather than me. I leaned against Gregory as he allowed me to lean on him with my full weight; he was a trooper, that old dragon. For so long as I lived, even if that timeframe was coming to a swift end, I would never forget his loyalty. Or his friendship, weird as it was.

We watched Lindsay as Zeus grabbed hold of one wing and flung her to the ground with earth-shattering force. Hades stopped struggling with Tantalus long enough to watch, long enough for the traitor to blindly grapple for the helm. Hades, once again focused on the task at hand, did us all a favor by removing the helmet but as we were distracted by his reappearance Zeus struck.

And so did I. Alecto may not have been in control any more but the muscle memory in my hands and arms and wings fought just like she would. Zeus advanced—I swiped Gregory's sword from the ground where he'd dropped it to help me. At the same time that Zeus loosed his bolt I ran with strength I did not possess to knock it off of its trajectory: Hades and Tantalus.

The momentum of my swing brought the end of the blade full circle and they continued to travel towards Zeus.

Who hadn't had time to drink the Nectar and regain his strength.

Who could be killed.

Before I had the sense to stop it, the blade slid easily into his chest. As if he wasn't even there at all—just a figment of my imagination. But his shock was real. The squelch of the sword biting into his flesh was real.

The world stopped. Silence reigned for a blissful moment before I heard the screams. Hades. Tantalus.

Poseidon, from the opposite side of the River.

The three Fates, from somewhere to my left.

Zeus, from above me.

My own voice, screaming.

The cacophony died down as Zeus's body collapsed on top of my all-too-human one; I hadn't realized when my wings had vanished and I'd become Autumn again.

Hades quickly hoisted the dead form off of me, his hands skimming down my body to check for broken bones. I winced at every contact. Each burst of pain sapping my consciousness.

I think I heard the Fates sputter, "How did you even have the strength?"

And Tantalus shouting, "You promised him to ME!"

But my field of vision was cloudy at best and slowly darkening around the edges, so I might finally have been dreaming. I dreamed that Hades stayed by my side despite Lindsay's vocal instances that I was dead, I wasn't even breathing.

In my dreams the Fates professed to have saved us all from ourselves; they reminded me that in order to continue existing, in order to regain a stake in the world of man, all of the old gods had to be reborn. They sounded proud, their egotism so thick in the air that I could feel it in my lungs—which worked just fine, thank you Lindsay.

Poseidon, I dreamed, was conveniently absent. Both of his brothers and most of his friends were forever changed and so far as I knew, he was the only original god left in existence. That tidbit felt like a secret best kept from the Fates. For now.

"And now with the most coveted mantle to be retrieved, the only matter left is who will take up the throne of Olympus." All of their voices started to sound the same. Were they speaking in tandem again?

Tantalus's over-eager reply came. "If she is too weak to assume the mantle of Zeus, I'll gladly carry that burden."

"I think not," Gregory's sturdy, loyal, reliable voice boomed from somewhere nearby. Someone oomphed, flesh sizzled and the smell made me wish I can enough energy to vomit, three gasps were uttered simultaneously.

After that my dreams showed me only darkness. Sweet, painless oblivion.