𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

⁰⁷the traitor's gambit

At Orion's funeral rites upon Olympus, a deathly hush fell over even the rowdiest gods who now sensed Artemis' wrath like an impending storm. Her countenance was colder than the deepest winter as she gazed down upon her fallen friend's perfect marble likeness, beautiful yet painfully empty of the life and spirit stolen from her sacred woods.

She had put Orion in the night sky amongst the other constellation. Orion's star would shine eternal sympathy for hunters through night skies, keeping faith with the one mortal who had ever truly understood.

In the depths of her grieving mourning for Orion, Artemis wandered the forest aimlessly. Her divine duties lay abandoned as she reeled with inconsolable loss. All she could see was Orion's smiling face, hear his voice whispering in the rustling leaves.

Her hunter maidens kept a respectful distance, unsure how to comfort their patron goddess in such raw agony. One evening as dusk fell, Artemis paused by a clearing where several gathered by the fireside.

Through the haze of her anguish, snippets of their hushed conversation drifted to her sharp ears. "... no way that creature found them by chance," one maiden said grimly.

Another responded. "Remember what Atalanta said earlier? About ensuring that Orion pays for what he deserves, for disturbing the peace of Lady Artemis' realm?"

"You don't think... Atalanta would dare orchestrate such treachery, do you?" a young huntress asked fearfully.

Artemis stirred at these murmurings, suspicion sinking icy talons into her grieving heart. Could Atalanta truly have been behind Orion's brutal slaying? But how? Atalanta could never have summoned those demons from Tartarus, unless a deity far more powerful than her is assisting.

It does make sense however, how else had such vile forces found their way into her most sacred sanctuary, on the new moon when her divine protections lay strongest? Suspicion pierced Artemis' mourning like an arrow, fueling her wrath.

She crept closer, demanding answers in a tone like the crack of breaking ice. The maidens fell silent, realizing too late their goddess had overheard. When none could provide proof, Artemis knew she must find it herself.

She summoned her most elite Huntresses, speaking but one command: "Find Atalanta, and bring her to me alive or dead—by moon's end she will answer for the betrayal."

Unwilling accomplices the Huntresses may have been in Orion's downfall, but none dared defy their Lady's will unleashed in this primordial fury. They scattered through the woods hunting their former sister with a vengeance to match the goddess's own. 

In her rage Artemis did not rest, she tracked the panicked huntress' trail with preternatural senses, coming upon signs of a hurried, sloppily-covered path. Broken branches and scuffed earth told of a mind consumed wholly with escape, no longer caring about stealth or the balance. It stoked the goddess's fury further.

At last as the moon waned towards its dark slumber, Artemis glimpsed a trembling figure crouched against a jagged precipice outcropping. There was nowhere left to flee—Atalanta was cornered, a fox brought finally to ground.

As the huntress turned with a sob, Artemis saw in her eyes was no trace of the valiant maiden who had once pledged sacred service to the wilds. Only a crazed, cornered animal remained. Yet no mercy could be found in an avenging goddess's hardened heart.

"Explain your treason, worm," Artemis hissed softly, arrows singing their deadly song as fingers caressed fletching. 

"Mercy, my lady!" Atalanta whimpered, snatching in vain for her fallen bow just out of reach. "I meant only concern for your wellbeing—"

"Lies!" Artemis spat, loosing a shaft that severed the bowstring and pinned the huntress's trembling hand. Atalanta screamed, eyes wild with pain and madness.

"Confess your conspiracy with the witch before you join her in the depths of Tartarus!" Artemis closed in like the coming of night, death emanating off her in icy waves.

"H-Hecate! It was Hecate," Atalanta confessed with tears sraining her eyes.

Sobbing, broken fingers clutched uselessly, Atalanta spilled everything in a garbled rush—her jealousy, her encounter with Hecate and how she was manipulating her over seasons to learn Artemis' patterns and movements. How they hatched the plan to destroy the mortal who disrupted "order."

Hearing the last echoes of her trust so cruelly betrayed, Artemis notched a single luminescent arrow. As Atalanta slid lifeless into the dirt, Artemis left her carcass to scavengers and the crows' derisive mocking. Justice was rendered—now the Olympians would answer for orchestrating such perfidy against her beloved woods and the guardian who protected them since Time's dawn.

Her hunt was far from sated however—vengeance demanded an Olympian reckoning against those who aided the mortal betrayal. On flickering wings of night she returned to the gleaming mount, an ebon thunderhead of malice with destruction on its swirling mists.

Word had spread of Artemis' bloody hunt, and the assembled pantheon watched uneasily from their thrones as she materialized before the towering halls, eyes colder than any northern waste. There could be no mistaking the unbridled wrath coiled and ready to strike.