The Golden Bridle (Open novella contest)

Chapter 11

Louise's POV

We wake up and even though there is no zing of battle in our veins like there was the other day, we all feel uneasy. We've slept on the boat as this is more comfortable than camping in tents.

"Why don't you guys wonder around the island?" suggests Artemis, who has kind of become the captain of our team even though she says in battle "I will take orders from you two" and not the other way round.

We agree that this is the way it has to be done as this is our challenge and not Artemis' and our special abilities as part of Bellerophon's line will be needed, we just don't know how. I'm really grateful for my sister's talents as a storyteller. She somehow makes this whole thing appear magical instead of simply terrifying and so it's to her I turn to as we walk in to town again "Shall we get a map and see what the tourist attraction are around here? If I know anything about our friend David Ridley and actually Bellerophon, it's that they like to put on a show and the best places to do that are densely populated areas."

"The main tourist attraction here seems to be Osbourne House which is basically Prince Albert and Queen Victoria's holiday home. They loved hanging out there when the stress of being royals got too much and it's probably a pretty cool building." my sister says after perusing the leaflet.

"Let's go check it out. We're no use to anybody brooding like this."

Once we get to the house, I'm actually quite excited. I have no idea if David Ridley will give a day just to enjoy ourselves like this, but he does we are going to grab it with both hands. We walk around the house for a while. Ella is in to all the history but I just want to soak up the atmosphere of a place that doesn't know it is under attack, even though it is. "Apparently, you can go bathing off the bay here"

"Why on earth would you want to do that, it's freezing and the bay is full of boats." I say as we stand on the beach. "Give me a public swimming pool instead, any day."

Ella looks at me seriously and says "if David Ridley has a see monster on his team, we might have to. Or we'll probably be on Pegasus, I'm sure Artemis' attendants can swim."

"That is pure arrogance and you know it" Ella reprimands me "she's a goddess and one of the huge differences between people like us and people like David Ridley is that we respect her. We are supposed to protect her bloodline not the other way round and I'm still amazed that she is helping us."

"I know, I'm just a bit stressed right now. That all." I admit "I mean, what if we fail? Then a perfectly good thriving island gets destroyed because of one man's ego. I mean there's a high chance we will fail. Were just two 16-year-old girls!?"

"Because we are in the right and he is in the wrong. I mean, can you imagine him on mount Olympus?"

"Oh no, definitely not. And the gods weren't kidding when they said they'll make sure that never happened. I'm just scared about who and what will get caught in the crossfire. We can't have a Trojan war, particularly not with today's weapons."

"Alright, we should probably get back to the ship and see how Artemis is getting on. We're not holiday makers after all."