Medusa: Fate's Game Ch. 06

And when he got a little closer, she snapped her tail. A monster twice, she was, and a monster's strength she had. Her massive tail was heavier than Perseus and his ridiculous shield combined; it crashed into him hard enough to slam him back against the rock wall despite him blocking it. Like a bag of sand.

She forced herself up, took the opportunity of the opening, and reached up to her face. Blood dripped down over her claws, and something felt chipped or broken. Pain throbbed through her skull, through her face, under her scales, and into her massive jaw. Hopefully, the bastard felt the same way.

"Is this all a game to you?" she said, and started to slither along the walls of the room. Her voice was a layered mixture of horrible monstrous sounds, and her usual voice with all its tone gone, replaced with rasp and hiss. The deeper layer, the monstrous one, vibrated in her chest with its depth, and her neck scales flared outward like a cobra's hood with it. The pythons on her skull awoke from their concussions, and each started to dance, twist, and brace against the wall. She was dizzy, and everything shifted around when she was sure it should be holding still.

Perseus got up. He shifted his weight onto his opposite leg of the shield to deal with its mass, and raised his sword hand to rub a finger down his forehead. Blood. He looked at his red fingers, smiled, and licked a single time.

"No. A game, it is definitely not. But that doesn't mean a duel to death has to be cold and lifeless. This is where joy comes from, monster. This is fun."

Before she could insult the man for his ridiculous, cruel views, he lunged. She backed away, and his shield collided with the wall. A crack ran up the side of the rock, and all the various old, dusty things sitting on the carved shelves fell to the floor. Perseus stepped through them, and swung with his sword. Another back pull of her body managed to avoid the blade, and it crashed into the wall same as the shield. When it bounced off, she lunged in.

But Perseus saw it coming, and brought his shield up within the same spinning momentum the bounced sword caused. The heavy slab collided with her shoulder, and sent her down into the center of the room. Perseus was on her in an instant, sword raised as the man jumped into the air and sliced down.

Her snake body lifted and yanked her top half out of the way, but not fast enough. Several of the snakes of her hair felt Perseus's blade, and fell to the floor, hissing, writhing, and gushing blood. She only had a second to look at the three snakes before the pain hit her.

She screeched, loud, hard, hard enough to hurt her lungs and twist sound until it sounded like strained strings and grinding rocks. Perseus winced and fell to a knee; blinded by pain and a familiar monster's rage, she took advantage. She launched her top half at him, as any snake striking prey would. Her claws found the flesh of his arms, and she lifted the killer into the air before she struck with her jaws.

But Perseus, despite her iron grip and monstrous claws tearing into his arms, brought his heavy shield up between him and her. She tried to bite it, to get her fangs around its edges, but each attempt was met with a hard shove forward from Perseus, each colliding with her teeth. But her snake hair was another matter. They struck out, finding chunks of armor and flesh and sinking their fangs into him.

His sword was not bound. Perseus only needed his wrist, and he swung the sword fast enough to catch her forearm. Scales and the odd angle prevented her losing her hand, but she had to let go of him and slither back. Blood flowed down her neck and over her scaled body, and the new wound on her forearm did the same for her claws.

But it was a familiar pain. She hated it, she loathed it, but the pain of someone coming to kill her, followed by the pain of their spears and swords, was normal. Enough was enough.

She snarled at the killer, and tried to put some distance between them. He dived at her, but instead of pulling further back, she took Darian's advice, and lunged in. Under his swinging arm, she slammed her arm into his body, and again sent the man spiraling through the air. The sound of his shield, no longer securely attached to his arm, cracking against the rock was deafening, but Medusa ignored it. She followed her lunge with another, and threw the whole of her huge weight toward the killer.

But Perseus did the same. Without shield, she thought he'd scamper for it, but instead the tall man charged at her with an upward thrust to guard against his rise. It caught her across the stomach, cut through her scales, and split the snakeskin until more blood squirted down the mess of her belly scales.

Snarling and hissing sounds that twisted and distorted her hearing, she held her cut belly and put some distance between her and Perseus. He walked after her, a smile on his lips despite the blood that soaked his arms.

If she didn't do something, he was going to kill her. She could still hear the sounds of battle echoing from below, of Chimera growling and what must have been Otrera's swords raining havoc on her Darian. She had no choice but to deal with the brute coming for her, and she was too exhausted to use her stone gaze again.

She feinted another lunge, but brought her body back as she snapped out with her tail.

Perseus smirked, did not flinch with her feint, and brought his sword up to catch her oncoming tail. With both hands on the grip, he kept the sword braced against her weight and her scales, so it cut through her snakeskin and halfway into the girth of her body.

She shrieked all the more, and convulsed in pain. Muscles refused to respond, blood gushed over the floor, and she fell to it as her body betrayed her. Everything became so heavy. Her hands pressed to the ground, claws scraped at the rock, and her snake hair writhed in agony. Get up. Get up!

Laughing, Perseus retrieved his shield, and walked over to her. He stood over her, sword in one hand, pointed at her monstrous face. His beautiful smile, his heroic pose, it all made her furious. How dare he treat this like a game. How dare he treat her like a quest! It wasn't fair.

"I think I'll take your head, monster. Perhaps I can use it to turn Andromeda's enemies to stone? Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

He raised his sword.

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~~Otrera~~

She was winning!

Her swords came down one after the other. The power of the Fates flowed through her veins, colored her vision wide, blurred the edges and focused her on her target: Bellerophontes. Stamina was endless! Fury and rage and mystical power combined into a tornado of energy, and she slammed her swords down onto her enemy the same as he'd done to her to defeat her in Tiryns. There would be no mistakes this time. She would dance in his blood before the day was done.

She dared not look back at the giant on the floor. If he got involved, she'd be lucky to survive a single punch, let alone take on the Chimera and Bellerophontes at the same time. His screams of pain and rage were enough signal that he was preoccupied with Andromeda's summoned minions. To bring the ancient bones of giants to life, to do her bidding, that was a scary amount of power. The colossal, primal remains of the giants did not fight like warriors, they fought like beasts. They pounced onto the giant and tore into him with fangs and claws, ripped flesh from his body and tossed it aside before digging into him again.

She did not envy Chimera his position.

"Otrera, stop this! We don't have to do this."

"How dare you!" She raised both swords this time, and swung them down with all of her strength. The impact raised her into the air; for all her strength, she was still a tiny person, and swinging a sword with the strength of a demigod meant every impact moved her small body in the opposite direction. But Bellerophontes was small as well, and every time he blocked with his shield, he slid back a few inches. "How dare you mock me!"

"I'm not mocking you! I'm trying to-"

She came at him again. One sword, then the other. The swords were regular metal, and the magical material his shield was made of could not be broken by her weapons. Her arrows still stuck out of the shield; those were magical. If she saw the opportunity, she'd try and grab one, maybe jam it through his helmet into his skull. See him heal from that!

"My tribe is gone, my family! Because what, because a pretty warrior boy had to play hero for a king? Make a name for himself? Get women into his bed, and gold, and have the crowd cheer his name?" She struck low, and he blocked. She struck high, and he blocked. Whenever she forced him to raise his shield far to block a wide strike, she caught a glimpse of his face through the slits of his helmet. He was sweating, grimacing, and if she dared admit it, looked sad.

Fuck him. She swung with both swords to the side, hard enough that when he blocked, he reeled with the impact. Running with the opening, she kicked at his chest, and caught him dead center. He fell back onto his ass, and she pounced, both swords pointed down. The slippery bastard rolled backward and hopped onto his feet, but she didn't give him the chance to recover. Swords came back at him, one to the side, the other following behind in a more downward angle. He blocked each one again, shield to each, with never an opportunity to counter attack. If things went according to plan, she'd have Perseus backing her up momentarily.

"I'm sorry about your tribe!" He pushed his shield back against her so the impact of her swords was enough to make her step back a few paces to keep balance. "You were attacking Iobates's land. I defended it. You can't blame me for that."

"Oh yes I can." Back on the attack and swords swinging, but Bellerophontes did the same, and got one sword with his shield, the other sword with his own. He knocked them aside away from her center, and he stepped quick to slice inward. She hopped back again, dodging the tip of his sword by only hair's breadth. "He was encroaching on our land!"

"You goaded him! Insulted him, in public, knowing how it'd go. You stirred a war, Amazon. You wanted a war."

"He insulted our people! Called us weak!"

A part of her knew she was being blinded by her rage. Somewhere, a part of her knew she wasn't looking at the situation objectively. But she didn't care. She wanted him dead, gods she wanted him dead. Amandal, Lysia, Vella, dead. Nallia, Aeryn, Jonnah, dead. Her sisters, her mother, blood and tribe, all dead! Only death, only blood would avenge them. Ares would understand revenge, demand it!

"Then you're just as much to blame for falling prey to his words, Queen!" Bellerophontes came at her, and jumped. High above her, he brought his legs up and sword pointed at her, body hidden behind his shield. She had to sidestep to get around it, and she landed on his sword side as he came back down. Her swords were up a moment later, and she caught the swing of his blade as he sliced at her while stepping past her.

"I am a queen of nothing, and no one! My land gone, my tribe wiped out, and our children have fled." Tears blurred her vision, but the white glow of her eyes only increased. She pushed the bastard's sword away with hers, and came at him again, this time from below. She crouched, sprang upward, and sliced up with one sword. Strength, powerful and inhuman, filled her and sent her flying; she came down after with the other sword swinging with her.

But the fox stepped aside for the first swipe, and stepped back again for the other. She landed in front of him, and managed to catch a glimpse of his pained expression yet again. He was too close to use his sword, but the moment she realized it, he brought his knee up with a jump similar to her own. The knee guard of his armor crashed into her chest, and sent her flying back. There was a cracking sound, and a flood of pain hit her once she landed. Cracked ribs. Wonderful.

She coughed on her pain, only to make it worse, but it wasn't enough to stop her. Hands against the floor, she pushed up and rolled out of the way in time to see Bellerophontes crashing down. With his shield. Why his shield?

"I can only say I'm sorry that things happened the way they did, Otrera. I regret my decision to help Iobates, but you're at fault just as much as I am." The small warrior rose from his knee in a slow, calculated fashion. His fingers squeezed on his sword grip hard enough to crack his knuckles, and a bead of sweat dripped off his chin.

"Like you know anything about regret." She came at him again, one swing, then another. Bellerophontes moved into her attacks though, and with a sword to block one attack, shield the other, his feet were more secure. She was getting tired, swinging two swords into his shield over and over and over, and she knew it.

"I know everything about regret." He came at her again, but sword first. She swiped it away with one of her own, and blade hit blade hard enough to ring loud through the massive cavern. Bellerophontes stepped in with his shield in front of him, and the proximity meant she had to step to the side, away from the earlier sword swipe, around his shield side. The bastard swung his shield out though, drove it into her other sword arm, and sent her flying back a few feet to land on her ass.

"Fuck you! You know-"

"Everything! Everything I did for Proetus and Iobates. I wish I could take it all back!" He ran at her again, glowing white eyes like rays of death through the slits of his helmet. In his ebony and silver armor, he looked like a wraith, and for a split moment, she caught her breath. He used the moment to feint a sword slash, but instead spun with a kick. The hard metal of his greaves slammed into her thigh, and she half turned as she fell onto a knee from the impact. And again, he did not waste the opportunity. He drove his shield down toward her head, and while she did her best to block it with her wrist, the one armored with a metal forearm guard, it wasn't enough to stop the impact from driving her into the ground.

Her head hit rock. Everything went black.

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~~Darian~~

Finally.

He took a breath. How the crazy woman had managed to stay on the assault for so long, swing after sword swing, he could not fathom. She must have really hated him, more than he could comprehend. And he could comprehend a lot of hate.

Shit, Medusa. He spun around, but found neither the woman or Perseus. They must have moved up the stairway. Darian made a run for the stairs, but stopped after twenty feet. Chimera was on the ground only a leap away, and the giant was bleeding everywhere. Two of the skeletons remained intact, and they were on the giant's chest with their claws. It was like watching wolves tear into a deer, complete with their fanged, exposed jaw bones biting into his muscle and ripping out chunks of meat.

Forget him. Get Medusa. Let the giant die, get to Medusa!

Gods damn it.

He leaped toward the skeletons. In all the chaos and scrambling of giant limbs, it was hard to aim his sword, and if he missed he was going to skewer Chimera's neck. But sure enough, his sword cut down straight through the skeleton's skull. A short sword and a big skull was enough to keep the blade from cutting into his companion, and as Darian fell onto the rock floor next to Chimera, the skull broke apart with the impact.

He rolled with the landing as best he could, anything to get away from the giants. Bones of humans were light, but the bones of the giants were thick as clubs, and if it wasn't for the jumping plunge, he doubted his sword would have pierced the skull of one at all. It felt like stabbing a tree trunk. His arms vibrated from the contact, and he wobbled as he rolled away from the mess and got back up.

The headless skeleton reached for him, and grabbed his shield arm.

He did not see that coming. Looking around, he noticed the two skeletons Chimera had defeated were crushed into dust in many places; no use in just breaking the skull then. Shit.

"Bellerophontes." The voice wasn't coming from any mouth, it was coming from the skeleton's whole body. It boomed, like thunder, and layers of screeching death underlined the morbid tone. "Defeated Otrera again? Poor girl."

"You... you fucking twisted her! Made her-"

The skeleton threw him, hard. He flew through the air like a pebble, and crashed into the floor as a rolling mess before colliding with the far wall. Things inside him snapped, and the familiar pain of a concussion and broken bones flooded him. His shield was gone, but at least he managed to keep hold of his sword this time. He pushed with hands to get up, and breathed a sigh of relief when it worked.

But screamed when he put weight on his leg. Something inside bent, twisted, and tore against the muscle within his thigh. Broken leg. Wonderful.

"I am not Perseus, Bellerophontes." The headless, colossal skeleton of fangs and claws marched toward him, each step heavy and loud with bone on rock. "I do not play with my food. You escaped my sea creature. You survived Otrera's wrath, twice now. You are the most stubborn of the Fate's Children to die."

Well, that was something, he guessed.

"You're killing all the Fate's Children?"

"Of course," the headless skeleton said, "or you'd be at my door, serving your masters. I struck first." It reached down for him. He tried to hop away, but a broken leg meant he wasn't going anywhere. Hard bone wrapped around one of his arms and pulled him up. The other hand reached for his other arm, and held him apart like a cross. "Now die."

He was going to lose an arm. Even he couldn't survive losing a limb, he'd bleed out in moments.

Pegasus! He looked over and down the cavern wall to where the horse was still standing. Pegasus probably couldn't move, by whatever magic was cast on the gold thorns wrapping his muzzle. His head was down, and he cast glanced Darian's ways, but the poor creature couldn't hold his eyes for long. Probably didn't want to see his old friend die. Understandable.

But just as the skeleton started to pull, Darian fell to the floor. He screamed when another crunch shattered his mind and replaced it with black pain. He'd landed on his broken leg, and the pain returned a thousand fold. But it was better than losing his arm.

Somewhere, in the chaos of being thrown across the room, the Chimera had come over to join him. Darian managed to look past him and fight through the blur of his vision to see the dusty remains of the other skeletons. Chimera himself was covered, head to toe, in bite marks, claw marks, and even giant-bite-sized chunks were missing from his body. The huge wounds were healing before Darian's eyes, slowly, but healing nonetheless. And the blood-covered giant had his claws on the skeleton's forearms.

And he crushed them into powder.

The skeleton tried to turn around, but Chimera got his hands onto the thing's rib cage, and tore it apart. The legs fell over, and Chimera stomped them into the rock until they too were nothing but dust.

The giant had saved his life. He almost said thanks, but looking up at Chimera, and with the beast looking down at him, it wasn't needed. Comradery born of the battlefield? He laughed.

"Die!"

The Amazon. Up above, both swords pointing down like daggers, she soared through the air and came down on Darian. He froze, eyes wide, staring up at the screaming woman.

Until Chimera snatched her out of the air like a troublesome fly. He held her small body by the waist in one hand, other hand holding one of her legs like a twig, and shook her. Her swords fell away, clinking along the rock, followed by the screams of the queen in his hands.

"Let go! Let go! I need to kill him! I have to kill him!"