Aphrodite's Daughter

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

            I spotted a soldier behind Zeus who flinched when he caught me looking at him, and I knew he would be the perfect person to cause my distraction. His fear was plain as day. Obviously Zeus hadn’t taught warned them about their walls.

            “If you’re trying to influence me it won’t work.” The side of my mouth came up just at the soldier unsheathed his sword.

His hands were shaking, not with fear, but anger. The fury in his body kept building as I pushed him further towards the edge. A loud animalistic scream came from the man as I pushed him over the edge. Zeus turned just in time to dodge the sword aimed at his heart. An incredulous expression crossed his face and I took off while he was distracted.

A loud growl erupted from Vulcan’s now beastly form, and a loud war cry followed as I ran off the side and my team followed shocked at what had just happened. The others charged Zeus’ army, quickly killing those who were trying to follow us. Zeus killed the soldier instantly, but had no time to follow as the army surrounded him.

Swords clashed loudly as cries where cut short as the killing began. Instead of turning to make sure those dead were none of our, I pushed myself forward; running hard and fast for the valley that lay across the city. Travis pulled out in front. He was taking the obvious route straight through the middle of the city since being sneaky was no longer necessary. Penelope and Fiona ran beside me, while Octavian held up the back forming a protective wall around me.

The screams of the battle at the gate died as we got further and further away. I followed Travis instinctively and let my mind wander briefly to those we left behind. Hephaestus and Andreas were in the first wave to attack; my heart clench at the thought of them dead.  Vulcan stayed behind to help the others and even though he was probably ferociously tearing the enemy limb from limb, all I saw was my precious angle caught in the bear trap. I choked back a sob and returned my focus to the task at hand. The faster we got to the valley, the faster this war would be over and I could return to Andreas.

I could see the edge of the city and statue of Cronos on the opposite site of the valley. My heart raced in anticipation. I unsheathed my sword and overtook Travis. Echidna was circling the statue like she had been in my dream. Her presence no longer scared me. She saw us coming and a loud hiss came from her mouth. We were still a good hundred feet away, but I heard it loud and clear. When we reached the edge of the valley her snake like form began to slither towards us slowly and we slowed to a walk.

“Stay back child, I will kill you, if I have to. This is your only warning.” Her voice was surprisingly normal, coming from her scaly face.

“I have to release Cronos. Don’t try to stop me.” My voice oozed danger and a spark of something primal lit deep in my stomach.

“Wrong choice.” She let out a loud demonic scream and slithered forward at a remarkable speed.

I dodge quickly rolling to the side, Fiona shot and arrow at Echidna, but she ducked low sliding on her belly. She held the same spear from my dreams with the long mace on the end. Swing it above her head, she let the chain out and hit Travis, who was not anticipation it’s length, in the breastplate. He went flying backwards and hit the ground hard. Octavian pulled out his sword and swung low at the monster.

A long, deep cut formed on her lower half and she let out an enraged scream. Echidna stabbed the spear end of her weapon towards Octavian who dodged quickly. I stood and started to charge Echidna, but was stopped when Penelope grabbed my arm.

“No, we got her. You go release Cronos.” I nodded and turned back to the statue that was now only a few feet away.

I reached the statue and dropped my sword. No one but Zeus knew how to open the statue. Not even Hephaestus was allowed to build anything to help keep Cronos contained. So what do people usually do when they can’t unlock something? We’ll they break it of course. I braced myself against the statue and pushed.