The Hermaphrodite's Curse Ch. 32

PART FIVE - MOUNT IDA

- 3 -

Gabe felt his knees go weak. He felt as if he was about to faint as Phobus, or possibly Deimus, the twin assassins remaining indistinguishable, raised his bloody dagger to strike. The Grand Prior of Villeneuve, Dr. Raymond Gerard, lay dead at their feet, and Gabe was about to join him.

As the assassin brought down the knife, Gabe flashed back to the events of the past week, witnessing the horrific murder at the National Gallery, meeting with the confrontational and aggressive Saphy, his dreams of fountains and goddesses, the help Jane Cavendish had given and her brutal death, fleeing the police to Paris and then following the clues to Turkey, capture and escape from the Hospitallers, and, more than anything else, the way that Saphy had gradually opened up to him, revealed her scarred and damaged heart and let him in.

He looked across at her, struggling defiantly in the face of death, and all he could think, as the knife slashed down, was about the feel of her soft lips on his, how right and good it had felt kissing her.

The knife, however, never reached its destination. Just as it swung towards Gabe, an arrow whistled through the air, passing smoothly straight through the assassin's hand and sticking squarely in the eye of the hooded guard holding Gabe. Another moment and another arrow struck the second assassin square in his shoulder blade just as he too was about to swing his dagger. And then everything was chaos.

As the arrow struck his hand, the assassin standing over Gabe dropped his dagger, while the guard holding Gabe slumped to the ground, clutching at his face where the arrow had embedded itself. The other assassin swung at Saphy as the arrow hit his shoulder, causing him to swing wide of his mark. The white feathered arrow still protruding from his shoulder, he swung around to see Atalanta at the head of around thirty naiads, all with arrows drawn on their bows.

As soon as they saw this, the group of hooded Hospitallers gathered around their fallen leaders and pulled guns from their robes. The air was filled with the sounds and flashes of gunfire. A naiad and then another dropped to the floor. More of them swung and spun agilely away from the Hospitallers' fire and unleashed a volley of their own arrows, sticking the hooded guards like pin cushions.

Meanwhile, the two bald assassins turned their attention from Gabe and Saphy to the rest of the crowd, obviously perceiving them as more of a threat. Even though one had an injured hand, the other a shoulder, and they were only armed with daggers where the others had guns and bows, they still managed to glide through the crowd, slicing and cutting with their daggers in just the right place to incapacitate both naiads and Hospitallers.

A naiad leapt toward Saphy, but the guard that had been holding her until a moment earlier hit the naiad square in the chest with a gunshot at point blank range, dropping her instantly to the floor. Saphy wasted no time in wriggling free of her captors and grabbing the bow and a handful of arrows from the naiad's quiver.

The guard was back on her in a moment, but in that time Saphy had put an arrow to her bowstring and drawn it back. As the guard made to grab her once more, Saphy released the arrow. She may have not known much of what she was doing, but at that close range there was nowhere the shaft could go but right into her attacker's chest.

The other guard made a lunge for Gabe but Saphy, growing in confidence, had another arrow on her string. This time, at a slightly greater range, the shot flew just off her target, but did enough to pierce the flesh of the warrior monk's arm, causing him to drop his handgun, which Gabe gingerly picked up.

Unable in that instant of panic to figure out how to take the safety catch from the gun, Gabe swung the weight of it into the guard's face, pistol whipping him until he fell into the grass.

Gabe and Saphy now stood back to back on the edge of the clearing, him with a gun, her with a bow with one final arrow drawn on the string, ready to take on anyone just like the rest of the people in that clearing, ready to defend themselves together, to fight for each other's lives not just their own.

Across the clearing, the Hospitallers' superior weaponry was making little difference against the naiad's speed and skill as more and more black robed monks found their bodies ripped open by the arrows of the women in white. While some naiads had fallen, in a few minutes the battle was over and there remained nothing but a heap of black robed fanatics, dead just like their leader, never to discover the secret they had fought for.

Phobus and Deimus now turned back to Gabe and Saphy. Bloodied and full of wounds from gunshots and arrows, they staggered forward, daggers dripping with the deaths of both sides. Gabe and Saphy were ready for them now, however, pointing both bow and gun right at them.

"You want us?" said Saphy.

"Then come and get us," Gabe finished her thought.

The two angry assassins looked around, seeing their victims' armed defiance did not stop them, but the fact that they were now surrounded by killers every bit as capable as them, the beautiful archers with arrows trained right at them, their determination wavered.

"This is not the last time you will feel fear," said one.

"Nor the last sense of dread," said the other.

"We will always be with you," hissed the first.

"You will never sleep easy while we watch," concluded the second as they staggered from the clearing.

The naiads did not follow them. Instead they turned their attention to removing the bodies from the clearing, both their own fallen and their enemies, covering their tracks so nobody could come this far after them.

Atalanta, tall, beautiful, elegant, the dark curls of her hair hardly dislodged by the frenetic battle in which Gabe had seen her personally skewer at least four Hospitallers with volleys of arrows, turned to the only two other survivors, Saphy and Gabe.

"You're not scared of them?" Gabe asked, referring to the assassins that the naiads had been happy to turn their backs on.

"Naiads are pure, we live by our own strict moral code, those two have no power over us," Atalanta explained.

"And that moral code is what brought you to kill Robert White in London," Gabe went on, "I get it now. And why you had to kill Gerard and his secret society now."

"Indeed," Atalanta concurred, "Keeping the secret of Salmacis' shame has always been more important to us than all else."

"So, then it follows that you haven't been rescuing us here, you've been building up to killing us too, just as you threatened in Paris," Gabe said, "Because you must know that we will not stop until we too find the Fountain and know its secret. I understand that now, and I'm ready for it."

He had never realised he could be so defiant and, as he looked over at Saphy for support, he almost thought he could see a look of pride on her face beneath the piercings and flame red hair.

"Perhaps," if possible, Atalanta had begun to look almost wistful, "And then again, perhaps not. We have never allowed anybody who came seeking the Fountain to find it or to return to the world with their knowledge. Never. And yet you two are different from all those who came before you. We have been watching you throughout your journey and your behaviour is not like the other seekers. You do not seek fame, fortune, death or power, you seek love and new life. You are compassionate. Your attempts to save our sister in Bodrum, while misguided, have taught us that you both have good hearts. Thus, we are prepared to make you a deal that we have never done before and may never again."

"Don't say that you'll spare us if we turn away and leave now," Saphy said, "We've come this far and we'll never leave without finding what we came for."

"No, I can see that you won't," Atalanta agreed, "Our offer is, in fact, just the opposite. We will allow you passage to the Fountain, indeed I myself will even lead you there, reveal the location to you, but there is a condition. You must never return home, never return to your old lives, never speak of what you have seen or done here. The rest of the world must assume you dead or disappeared or we have no agreement. The naiads will find a place for you and will watch and protect you, but if you ever leave do not think that we will hesitate to kill you."

"And if we refuse this deal?" Saphy asked.

"Then we will kill you right here and now instead," was Atalanta's firm response.

They turned to each other, both hoping the other's thoughts were in tune with theirs. They had known each other for barely a few days, albeit some very intense days, and here they were being asked to give up everything back home, to never go back there, and pass the rest of their days with each other. That was a pretty big step to take, especially given a lot of those days that they had known each other had been spent bickering.

"It's not like I've got a lot to go back to," Saphy admitted, "A broken hearted university drop-out. Jane was one of the few people I had a connection to back in Britain, but she's gone too."

"And I'm still wanted for her murder," Gabe added, "That could prove pretty sticky if we ever made it back."

"Yeah, if..." Saphy agreed, thinking, "You know, we've been threatened with death so many times in the last few days, I'm kind of inclined to go with the choice where we don't die!"

"Does that mean...?" Gabe trailed off, excited by the possibilities.

"Yes," Saphy said, decisively, turning to Atalanta, "We accept. Show us the way to the Fountain and we'll happily stay in the sunny Mediterranean and never go back to bloody cold wet Britain!"

And, just like that, in a conversation in which, Gabe felt, more was communicated without words and lasted barely a few seconds, Gabe and Saphy severed all ties with their past lives and took a step forward into a new future together.

They dropped their gun and bow, feeling no more need to be armed. Atalanta, for her part, strapped her bow to her back and returned the arrows to the quiver. Dismissing her companions, she led the two of them on alone.

Quietly contemplating the outcomes of their decision, both now walked behind Atalanta, not really bothering to take in the route that she was showing them. Now that the choice had been made, the quest nearly over, neither quite knew how to put into words exactly what they were feeling and so both remained silent, their eyes on the ground.

Gabe was a little surprised therefore, to find Saphy's hand seek out his, she squeezed his hand and held onto it in a manner that was completely uncharacteristic but proved deeply comforting to him.

The harsh stony ground beneath Gabe's feet began to give way to a softer grass as they pushed through the tree line and out into the baking sun. Gabe felt a weight seem to lift from his shoulders as his sore, aching feet walked on the soft surface. The sound of running, tumbling water had grown louder and louder. Something felt just right, somehow familiar.

He looked up and around him and, sure enough, it was just as it had been in his recurring dreams. Sure, some of the details were not precisely the same, but then the dream had always changed with new details anyway. Never the less, it was hard to say that this clearing with its soft green grass, white flowers and bright, hot sunshine, was not what he had dreamed of.

Just like in the dream, he felt himself powerfully drawn to the running water, the sound of a fountain cascading and splashing. He longed to feel the waters against his skin just like he had imagined so many times in his deepest sleep.

His pace quickened, overtaking Atalanta, as he hurried forward toward the sound of the Fountain, walking now alongside the flowing waters of the crystal clear brook. He had no more need of the supposed water spirit now he knew just where he was going. Even Saphy could no longer keep up as his hand slipped from hers.

And then there it was, looking not so much like his dreams, but in his heart he knew it anyway; the Fountain of Salmacis. It was not the walled stone construction he had pictured, rather a part of the natural flow of the river. It was a waterfall that tumbled over the stones from above, splashing down into the clear waters below, creating an inviting deep pool.

Gabe looked into the pool's water and, sure enough, it was so bright and clear that his reflection shone back at him, just like the Mirror of Venus. It was not a very pretty sight, he was scarred and bloody from the fight, dressed in just a shapeless white smock, the same kind Robert White was wearing when he died. Still, Gabe smiled at last to see that reflection for real in these real blessed waters.

Another reflection appeared behind him, a beautiful face with golden hair. Just like in his dream, Gabe felt the presence of the immortal love goddess.

"Now, your time has come," she said in her soft voice that caused Gabe's body to tingle, "We have arrived."

Shaking his head to rid his mind of the dream state, Gabe saw that the second reflection, the beautiful face beside his, was really that of the dark haired Atalanta, the light of the sun glinting on the water making her hair appear to shine blonde.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"We have arrived," Atalanta said again, "I have brought you here as promised and I will leave you here, but know that we will be here to watch and protect you and your knowledge."

As Atalanta disappeared, Gabe could hold himself back no longer. Not even bothering to strip from his dirty white single garment of clothing, just watching his own reflection, he dived head first into the pool, heading straight for the waterfall's raining fountain.

The moment he hit the water, he was struck by the cold of it compared with the heat of the sun above. Yet this was nothing like the slimy sludge of the water in the pool beneath Bodrum Castle. Every moment in this pool made Gabe feel more refreshed and relaxed, he let the water wash over every fibre of his being, cleansing him of all the horrible things he had seen and all the pains of his body over the past few days.

Finally, he broke the surface, letting the water drip off him. It felt good to be so cool, wet and clean. He basked in the joy of it for a moment, but there was something missing. Just as in his dreams, there was something not quite there, something unsatisfying, leaving a bitter edge to the cooling pleasure of the Fountain.

He looked into his reflection, down at his body. Sure enough, there was no change. Whatever magic could be in the Fountain, it had done nothing for him. He was still looking at the same old awkward, introverted Gabriel Herrison. He had not been touched by the beauty of Venus at all.

Gabe had never known that he would be so upset to find, at the end of everything, that nothing had changed and nothing would, that this whole adventure would leave him the same Gabe as had begun it.

There was a splash and Gabe's reflection shattered in concentric ripples. Moments later, the flame red hair of Saphy broke the surface. Gabe looked around to see her massive biker boots kicked off on the river's grassy shore. Otherwise, like Gabe, she appeared to have dived in fully clothed, her torn and pinned t-shirt was becoming wet and see through, her mini skirt fluttering in the river's current.

She swam the few languid strokes over to him and smiled, a warm, reassuring smile that stopped the tears that had begun to well in Gabe's eyes.

"Didn't work then?" she said, "I was so sure it would, so sure at last that I could believe in it."

"Serves us right, I suppose," Gabe replied, "For getting caught up in such a fantastical story. I guess it really was a wasted journey."

"Not wasted," Saphy said, "This journey hasn't ever been just about the damn Fountain, it's meant more than that. More to me, anyway."

And then, as the waters of the falling Fountain cascaded around them, Saphy put her arms around Gabe, pressing his body into hers. Her lips sought his and they began to kiss, a long, lingering kiss that went on and on as the river's current swirled around them.