Medusa: Fate's Game Ch. 13

And there were no more. She squinted, aimed another arrow around, and looked for the light of red eyes, for torchlight, for anything. But the only torchlight came from the center of the palace.

She stepped forward, but she wasn't focusing, and she knew it. Her eyes kept flittering around, and each time she glanced from left to right, the split moment of blur let the memories hit her. Memories of Chimera pushing her down, insulting her for her juvenile desire for revenge, memories of him insulting Ares. Memories of what it was like to kiss him.

The center of the palace was open to the sky, and at each corner a brazier sat upon gold decorated pillars. Pegasus stood beside one of the pillars, ring of gold thorns around his snout, and one of his wings partly unfolded and dangling from his side. The hole through it was big enough for Otrera to put her fist through, big enough to prevent a heavy creature like the horse from flying. Hopefully he'd heal; he was a magical creature, after all.

She stood in front of him, and met the creature's gaze. The poor thing, covered in his own blood, and letting out the occasional, quiet neigh of pain. His dark eyes grabbed hers, and he leaned forward a little, toward her.

"I'm... so sorry... about everything," she said. "Gods, I'm — here." She took a moment to slide the thorns from his snout. Simple as that, simple as a single moment's effort was all it took to free the winged horse. No one was willing, capable to do that for him until now. Fuck that made her feel like even worse shit. She could have freed him earlier, so many times.

"Darian — um, Bellerophontes, he's down the road. Go. He... he recruited a few monsters, myself included, to come rescue you, you know?"

Pegasus raised his head, tapped one of his hooves against the stone floor, and neighed once again, louder. He got in closer, nudged his head into hers, and rubbed his neck against her arm.

"Don't. Don't do... just go. I have something I need to do." She pushed him away, hand against his huge neck, toward the main gate.

Pegasus blinked a few times at her. He was a huge horse, a proper war horse, but every time the creature met her eyes, she could feel the penetrating gaze. It made her want to crumble, to break down and cry, and she couldn't do that yet. She pushed him harder, and after a few more neighs of what must have been frustration, Pegasus trotted away.

She took a deep breath. It wasn't steady. She took a few more until the catch in her throat was gone, and the breathing was solid. Focus.

Ahead, the doorway they'd scouted before was glowing from within, and the bones that lined the frame were far more visible. She kept her bow up, arrow nocked, and stepped down into the ritual chamber.

Memories blurred. Her, sitting in a room of skulls, and the skull in the center fresh. Back then, she told herself it wasn't fresh, that they were just skulls, tools for rituals. And the mask with the glowing white eyes, the skull wearing it, it was all just Andromeda's tools.

Chimera would have forced her to see the truth. Swallow her bullshit and face reality.

She grit her teeth and aimed her arrow at Andromeda. The sorceress stood beside the mask, the skull, the altar, and a woman was on her knees at her feet. Alive.

The room was different than the time they'd scouted it, more like it was the first time Otrera had ever seen it. There were more skulls, extra candles were placed about on stands, and atop some of the skulls that sat about the large area. Candles were placed along the bone-covered floor in a pathway that lead from the room entrance to the altar, where candles circled it. Quite the show, quite the ritual.

The memories of walking down the same path, a lifetime ago, made her sick.

"... then Perseus is dead," the sorceress said.

"Yeap."

"And Cetus? ... the sea creature."

"Yeap."

Andromeda sighed, and looked down at her sacrifice. At least Rhea was unconscious. The sorceress wasn't so cruel to sacrifice her while awake.

"I don't suppose you wonder how I did it? How I wiped people's minds of the memories, kept my curse here secret, why people here don't know who I am?" The sorceress had her staff in her left hand, and a knife held to the unconscious woman's throat, propped up against her leg. A slip, a step back, and Rhea would slide off of Andromeda's leg, and probably slit her throat on the knife.

Otrera couldn't bring herself to care. If Rhea died so she could kill Andromeda, so be it.

"Not really."

"You don't care why I aim to kill the Fates? Why I killed my parents? Why I sacrificed Cassiopeia and Cepheus? Why I have this mask?"

Otrera snarled and aimed the arrow a little higher, for Andromeda's face.

"No."

"... and yet you do not fire."

"Hoping you'll let the girl go before I put a hole through you."

"Such anger, Otrera. I gave you life, gave you the power of a Fate's Child using this mask. I gave you the power to get revenge, and this is how you repay me?" Andromeda looked past her, and sighed. "... Perseus is truly dead then."

"Yeap."

Andromeda looked down, and took a deep, wavering breath. "I... I did not want him to die."

Her breath turned from wavering sigh to loud shriek when her leg exploded. The arrow tore through the shin below her right knee, and the sudden lack of leg forced Andromeda to collapse to the side.

The sorceress's knife cut into Rhea's throat, but the angle wasn't deep. Rhea fell forward and slumped to the side, and only a few drops of blood dripped from her neck. Lucky her.

Andromeda wasn't so lucky. The sorceress dropped everything and clutched her leg, the bleeding stump of exposed bone, and cried openly. The woman didn't seem so good with pain, not of that magnitude. Good.

Otrera walked up to the sorceress, nice and slow. The room was big, lit by many candles, and now the myriad of skulls and other bones were all quite visible. Must have been terrifying for Rhea, for anyone about to be sacrificed.

But none of that mattered right now. All that mattered was Otrera's loss. And as she stood beside the bleeding Andromeda, all she could see was everything she lost. She knew it wasn't Andromeda's fault — not all of it at least — but her hand drew her sword anyway, and she threw aside her bow into the bones around her.

Poor Andromeda. Her white robe was covered in blood. Otrera chuckled, kicked the curled up woman onto her back, and planted her foot down onto her chest. With the woman pinned, Otrera pointed her sword down at the sorceress's throat, and grinned down at her.

"You don't get to whine about Perseus. How many lives have you stolen from people? How many lives ruined? If you had told me you were this heartless, this cruel, this vile a person, I would have never accepted your proposal. I would have cut you open and left you to die the moment I had the chance, instead of having to wait for — hey!" She stabbed the sword down against Andromeda's shoulder, enough to pierce skin, enough to make the fading sorceress open her eyes again and scream. "You deserve to die. Get that? You're no better than the gods and Fates you despise."

Through what was probably enough pain for many people to black out, Andromeda managed to grin up at her.

"Hate me... all you want. But if you think... I am as bad as them... you know nothing."

Otrera sank the blade deeper. Andromeda cried out again, and reached up with one of her hands to grab where the tip of the sword was pushing into her shoulder. But fingers did little, and Otrera pushed down until the blade hit the floor.

Andromeda glared up at the Amazon through her tears. "Go on then! I die trying to save this world! Better that... than a sheep."

Bile rose in Otrera's throat, and she grit her teeth to keep herself from vomiting. Don't let the sorceress change your mind now.

She wanted to torture her, make her suffer for Chimera's death. But as she took longer than she should have to act, Andromeda stared back up at her, and tears Otrera was sure were from pain, changed. She knew the sight of sadness, the ache of morose, mourning. The damn sorceress was heartbroken.

Otrera thought back to the secret valley high in the mountains, the nymphs, the way Perseus and Andromeda were so comfortable with each other. Was her mind drifting through memories of Perseus, as hers did Chimera?

The Amazon choked back a sob. There'd no satisfaction in torturing her, not now.

Sighing, Otrera withdrew the blade, and stabbed it into the woman's skull. Hard, fast, no time for the sorceress to react, or even fear the act. Her body went rigid only for a moment before she died. Andromeda stared up at Otrera, the rage and sadness in her eyes cutting into her as the Amazon did not break her gaze with the sorceress. The death stare. That single moment when a person's life vanishes, and you can see the afterlife through the dying glimmer of their eyes.

She should have looked away, shouldn't have kept her gaze as the sorceress died. But for some reason, she had to gaze into the woman's ice and fury for her last moment.

Felt like killing a part of herself.

She stood up, withdrew her sword once again, and wiped the blood off before sheathing it. Deep breaths, deep breaths. Don't think about Chimera, don't think about him. Don't think about his big arms holding you, don't think about what it was like to feel safe in the scary beast's arms. Focus.

She looked down at Rhea, and tapped her hip with one of her feet a few times. Rhea started to groan, stir, but she didn't wake up. Drugged, probably, or under some spell. Otrera reached down, scooped the taller woman up, and took a moment to examine her neck. The wound was still bleeding, but shallow and light, nothing to worry about yet. Otrera held her in both hands in front of her, and started to walk out of the room.

The mask. The ritual room was dead silent, but she turned around to look at the mask. They came for the mask, not the sorceress, not even for Rhea truly, but the mask.

The fucking mask.

She turned around, and walked over to the altar and the skull that sat upon it. Silent. No creepy voice, no strange aura, nothing, just silence. Even as she slid in closer, reached out for it — with Rhea's upper half sitting across her arm — and grabbed the mask, still it made no noise, said no words. She half expected it to taunt her.

With a deep breath, she walked out of the room of death, and out into the sunrise.

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~~Darian~~

"Chimera's... dead..." Medusa slithered — dragged — herself over to him, and lay her human half upon his lap. "He... he was on the bridge! The creature... attacked, and he...saved usss."

Darian winced, and gulped; half for Chimera, half for Medusa putting some weight on him despite the wounds of his waist. He'd been cut a few times, shallow but enough to get some muscle, and it was leaking red on the ground around him.

But he didn't say it. He reached out, put his hand on her shoulder, and stroked her arm. Bloody. His own blood once he touched her, but some of her own, and a lot of Perseus's. Blood everywhere.

So Chimera was dead? He'd dropped a boulder on that creature's head, and hadn't killed him. Seen the giant recover from wounds in a matter of minutes. Invincible.

Darian looked out to the new mountain, the stone sea creature. If there was anything... He sighed, and slid his fingers into Medusa's hair.

"I owe him... a lot," he said.

Medusa nodded, and reached out for his other hand to pull it to her chest and hold it. She was crying, tears running down her cheeks and cutting through the dirt and blood.

"We... we need to... go help Otrera." Medusa tried to roll off of his lap, but even that proved too exhausting for the heavy gorgon. She sighed, collapsed back against his lap, and held his hand tighter. "She could be dead! She—"

Galloping drew their eyes. Darian looked up the road, and caught his breath. White wings against the horizon came down along the road where the curve came around the mountainside. The familiar trot of heavy hooves, the bounce of white mane, it all seemed like a painting against the rising sun.

But as he caught his breath, the painting came closer. Pegasus trotted over to them, flicked his tail, and lowered his head to nudge it against Darian's.

Contact. Glass shattering. Darian coughed, and a sob came out. He reached up with both hands, touched Pegasus's snout, and choked on another sob. He could feel a part of him wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come, they never did. It was alright though, his old friend already knew they wouldn't. Pegasus lowered his head, rubbed his forehead against Darian's, and tapped his hoof against the ground a few times.

"Sorry... gods, I'm... you got dragged into this because of Perseus. Because of me. And I had Medusa shoot you! I couldn't let them escape. I'm so sorry, I—"

Pegasus hit him with his head, hard enough to knock him around a little.

"Alright alright! I get it, I — and you know Medusa. She..."

The gorgon had already slipped off his lap when Pegasus came near. Neither of them were in a condition to be going anywhere, but Medusa forced herself off and coiled up beside Darian. Her eyes were wide, mouth open slightly, and she was staring at the winged horse blatantly.

"Pegasssussss," she said, struggling with the name. And she stared a little more, like seeing an old friend, and yet, struck with awe. She put a knuckle to her lip, and looked at the horse's bleeding wing. "Will... will it heal?"

Pegasus nodded, took a few steps back, and turned around once.

Medusa smiled, and forced herself to sit up, hands on her coil and pressing her torso upright. "Um... Otrera... is she sssafe?"

Pegasus nodded again, and came closer to nuzzle against Darian's head and neck some more. His old friend wasn't panicking, demanding his attention, stomping his hooves, doing any of the things he would if he had to take Darian anywhere

So he could breathe, relax. Darian took another breath, and reached out to hold onto Pegasus's neck while forcing himself up. More blood stained the horse's beautiful white coat, and he noticed Medusa frown as it did. But she didn't understand, she didn't know how much Pegasus would hate being coddled and pampered so.

He managed to get to his feet, weight leaning on Pegasus's neck and shoulder, and he pet his old friend's mane as he did. The gold ring of thorns was gone from his snout; Otrera's doing, most likely.

"She have anything to worry about from Andromeda, one on one?"

Pegasus shook his head.

"Good, good." He squeezed his hand a few times, and winced each time. Cut muscle didn't like moving that way, and blood dripped from his fingers. Worse was the blood dripping from his waist and down his legs. "We have to get up there." He wouldn't be able to mount Pegasus. He'd have to walk.

But Pegasus pulled away, and that was enough for Darian to fall to his knees, complete with a loud yelp of pain as the impact of ground to his bones sent him onto his side. Apparently his old friend didn't think he was up to the task.

"Darian!"

"Gods damn it Pegasus. We need to—"

"Don't think you'll be going anywhere."

Medusa, Darian, and Pegasus all looked down the road to the new voice.

"Patrius!" Medusa said. She even made the attempt to slither to him, but the multitude of cuts and gashes on her snake body put a halt to that, same as Darian.

The old soldier grinned at them as he came closer. He wasn't holding any weapons anymore, and his hoplite armor was a mess of dents, dings. Water dripped from his fingers and soaked the steps behind him.

Medusa, panting and struggling to stay upright, eventually collapsed and lay her human half along her coils. "How!?"

"Destroyed bridge has a lot of climbable parts dangling in the water. Swam over."

Darian laughed, and with shaking arms, forced himself back to lean against the cliff. "Tough bastard. Don't know how to die." He winced when he said it, and took a peek at Medusa. She winced too.

"Learned from the best." Patrius came up to them, and reached down to grab Darian's sword from the road as he walked near. "... guessing those legs belong to Perseus. And that there is Pegasus, half the reason we're here."

Medusa nodded.

"And... well, I guess only you could be responsible for this, Medusa." The old soldier raised Darian's sword and pointed it the colossal stone entity. "Damn."

Again she nodded. "I... I have Chimera to thank. He saved me, saved Otrera. He... sacrificed himself."

Patrius raised a brow, walked over to the street edge where it dropped as a steep cliff down over the mountain. He pointed his sword down to the broken bridge.

"Lot of people died from the sea creature's attack. But a lot lived. Took care of the undead, and started treating the wounded."

Medusa blinked at him, and slithered over. Dragged herself over, really, complete with a blood trail that had Darian gritting his teeth to watch. But once she got to the edge, she squealed.

"Chimera!"

Patrius laughed, and stood beside Medusa at the road edge. "Bastard just refuses to die. No wonder Bellerophontes couldn't kill him, long ago. Bunch of us found him struggling to keep moving from under water; seemed like all his limbs were broken. We dragged him up the shore, ten of us, got his head above water, and from there he passed out. But," he laughed again as he turned around, "guessing from what you told me, the giant can heal from basically anything that doesn't kill him?"

Pegasus came up to Darian again, and got to a knee. Chuckling, Darian reached up to his old friend again, and got himself to standing so he could waddle over to join the others. Soon, the four of them were standing on the road edge, and Darian looked down at the destruction before them.

A lot of timber and bones, broken bridge, broken undead, and many bodies. A hundred people at least were running around, pulling people out of the water, tending the wounded. Others stared up at the new statue in the water. And at least a dozen of them were standing around Chimera with bandages, wrapping his humongous limbs as best they could. The brute was lying on the sand, unconscious, and several of his bones were poking out through the flesh of his legs and arms. If the giant had been awake, he'd probably have been screaming as four men worked together to set his bones.

"... is he... seriously alive?" Darian said.

"Indeed."

Gods damn, he could feel a smile creeping up his lips. Pegasus didn't seem so happy though, and the horse stomped his hooves and shook his head.

"Yeah Pegasus, I know. But he's been helping us, helping Otrera. Wouldn't have found you if it wasn't for that miserable bastard." Not that he was in any position to call the giant that. But, unless he was going crazy, there was a small tinge of joy dancing up his body.

He looked over at Medusa. Smiling. He looked to Patrius. Smiling. He looked at Pegasus, and the beautiful horse nudged him back until Darian was smiling too.

"The fuck?"

Everyone turned to look back up the road.

"Otrera!" Medusa slithered toward her, managed two feet, and fell onto her hands again. But Patrius reached down to help her up, pulling her arm up over his shoulder with his free hand, until she was leaning on him. "Chimera! Chim — oh! Is that Rhea?"

Otrera frowned at the gorgon, and walked over to the cliff wall. There was a woman in her arms too, and it wasn't Andromeda. Darian snapped his fingers, and looked to the horse he was leaning on, much like Medusa to Patrius.

"Rhea. Damn, I forgot."

"Don't let Tritus hear you say that," Patrius said, glancing over his shoulder at him. He was grinning, just like the old days.

The whole situation was so disgustingly perfect, it was going to make Darian vomit; he wasn't used to things going well. But he could see on Medusa's face, her body language, that it was doing the opposite for her. If anything, she was going to explode into a rainbow.