Pegasus and the Flame (13 page)

‘Hurry,’ Emily cried as two of the helicopters started to veer away from the others and move towards them. ‘They’re coming this way!’

They were moving faster than expected. There was no way Joel and Pegasus would have time to get out of the water before the helicopters were upon them.

‘Get down!’ Joel cried as he and the stallion ducked beneath the surface.

Emily barely had time to dash into the trees before the bright searchlight shone on the spot where she’d just been standing. With the blood pounding in her veins and wounded leg, she followed the progress of the helicopters as they continued north over the park.

‘All clear!’ she called as she limped back to the water’s edge.

Joel and Pegasus both raised their heads above the surface cautiously. With renewed urgency, Joel finished rinsing off the stallion.

Pegasus emerged from the water looking as dark as the night, though his wings were still brilliant white. As Emily covered the wings with a blanket, a new voice startled them.

‘What have you done to him?’

A tall woman stormed forward. She was dressed in filthy rags, but had an elegance and authority when she walked. She carried a long spear that had a sharp point that glowed bright gold. Her eyes were electric blue and blazed in the dark.

‘How dare you touch him!’ she challenged, shoving Emily aside and going straight up to Pegasus. ‘And what is this horror you have done to him?’

She turned her attention to Pegasus. ‘How could you let these foolish children touch you like this?’

‘Excuse me,’ Joel said. ‘But he belongs to us.’

‘Pegasus belongs to no one,’ the woman spat furiously. She turned back to the stallion and her voice softened. ‘Look at you, my old friend. You look like a plough horse.’

As the woman continued to inspect Pegasus, the stallion nickered with excitement. She laid her forehead against him and dropped her voice. ‘Pegasus, we have fallen,’ she said sadly. ‘Father is in chains. Apollo is dead and Olympus lies in ruins. The Nirads have defeated us.’

‘Nirads?’ Emily asked cautiously.

The woman looked down to Emily’s wounded leg. ‘I can smell them on you too,’ she said. ‘You have fought the Nirads? You are lucky to be alive.’

‘Is that what those four-armed creatures are called?’ Joel asked. ‘Nirads?’

The woman nodded. ‘They murdered my brother. Killed countless others and conquered Olympus.’

‘You said they killed Apollo. Was he your brother?’ Joel asked breathlessly. ‘Are … are you
Diana
?’

‘That is one of my names,’ the tall woman answered. She studied Joel for a moment. ‘And you are a Roman.’

The sound of the helicopters cut short further conversation.

‘Please, Diana,’ Joel entreated. ‘I know you are a great warrior, but trust us – you can’t stay here. Those flying machines up there will capture you. We have to hide.’

‘Hide?’ Diana repeated in confusion. ‘I do not hide from a battle.’

‘You do now,’ Emily said as she moved closer to Pegasus. ‘Come on, Pegs. We’ve got to go before they see you.’

Pegasus let out a soft neigh to Diana but followed Emily away from the pond.

‘Pegs?’ Diana repeated as she trailed behind them. ‘Did I just hear you call him Pegs?’

When they were safely hidden in the trees, Emily turned to her. ‘He doesn’t seem to mind. I think it’s a cute name for him.’

Diana was incredulous. ‘Cute? Child, do you have any idea of whom you are speaking? This is Pegasus, the great stallion of Olympus. To make him suffer such indignities is beyond tolerance.’

‘Of course I know who Pegasus is,’ Emily shot back as reached out and stroked the stallion’s dark muzzle. ‘But he’s also a friend of mine.’

‘Emily, stop,’ Joel warned fearfully. ‘You don’t understand who you’re talking to. Please, show some respect!’

‘Respect?’ Emily repeated. ‘Where’s her respect for me?’ She turned back to Diana. ‘If Pegs doesn’t mind me calling him that, then why should you?’

‘You insolent little nothing!’ Diana cried. She stepped forward and raised her hand to strike Emily. ‘You have yet to learn your place—’

Pegasus quickly placed himself between Diana and Emily. He looked at Diana and let out a series of strange sounds. The expression on her face softened. The tall woman looked at Emily several times before dropping her head.

‘I am sorry. My behaviour is unforgivable. Pegasus has just explained to me what you have done for him and how you have helped him. Please forgive me. I have witnessed my father’s defeat, my brother’s murder and my home destroyed. I am not myself.’

Emily frowned. Diana could understand Pegasus? She looked at the woman with envy and more than a touch of jealousy. She secretly wished she were an Olympian too. Then she and Pegasus could actually communicate.

‘I understand,’ Emily finally said. ‘I’m so sorry for your losses.’

‘Is Olympus really destroyed?’ Joel asked, timidly coming forward. ‘How? You’re Gods. Who could defeat you?’

‘The Nirads,’ said Diana sadly. ‘Soon they will destroy your world too, unless we stop them.’

‘Destroy our world?’ Emily said in shock. ‘Why? What do they want?’

‘We do not know,’ Diana said. ‘Until now, we had never encountered the Nirads before. We know nothing about them or where they come from. They have made no demands on us and taken nothing from our ruins. All they desire is destruction. And unless we find a way to stop them, all will be lost.’

‘How can we stop them?’ Emily asked. ‘Nothing seems to hurt them. Even falling twenty storeys doesn’t slow them down.’

‘There is one thing we have discovered,’ Diana said. ‘In the course of battle, right before Pegasus fled to this world, I bested a Nirad. But it was only after the creature had touched Pegasus’s golden bridle. He was poisoned by it. We believe he died as a result of touching the bridle and not my spear.’

‘You need his bridle?’ Emily asked, trying to make sense of everything she was hearing.

Diana nodded. ‘This is why I have come here. I need it to forge new weapons to use against the Nirads. I see you have taken it off Pegasus to colour him. May I have it?’

‘It’s not here,’ Emily said. ‘Another Olympian called Paelen stole it from Pegasus right before they were both hit by lightning. He’s got the bridle. But now the CRU have taken him.’

‘Paelen?’ Diana’s face darkened. ‘That foul little thief! Even he would not keep the bridle if he knew what it could do for our people.’ She looked back to Emily. ‘What are the CRU who have captured him? Where do I find them?’

‘You can’t,’ Joel warned. ‘They are too dangerous.’

‘I have fought the best armies of Greece and the Romans. I do not fear these people.’

‘You should,’ Emily advised. ‘They’re really dangerous.’

Joel looked at Diana. ‘How long has it been since you were last here?’

Diana paused and considered. ‘Many ages. Your people did not have devices like those in the sky. You travelled on horseback and fought with swords.’

‘Then this isn’t the same world you knew,’ said Joel. ‘We’ve changed.’

‘Yes,’ Emily agreed. ‘These days, people don’t even believe in you.’

‘That’s right,’ Joel said. ‘And we have new weapons that can hurt you. Look at Pegasus. He broke his wing, and even though it’s healing, he needs time. If he can be hurt, so can you.’

‘It is not your world or those noisy flying vehicles that can wound us,’ Diana said, suddenly sounding very defeated. ‘The death of the Flame of Olympus has weakened us.’

‘What’s the Flame of Olympus?’ Emily asked curiously.

Diana looked over at Emily and sighed heavily. ‘The Flame is the source of all our power and strength. It has burned in Olympus since the beginning. But recently, its strength has diminished. As it became weaker, we did also. The Nirads used this weakness to launch an attack on us. If the Flame had been at its full strength, we would have fought them off easily. As it is, the Nirads reached the Temple of the Flame and extinguished it completely. We all believed we would perish without it. But we haven’t.’

‘But you’ve lost your powers?’ Joel guessed.

Diana nodded. ‘My father hoped to use the gold from the bridle to defeat the Nirads and relight the Flame,’ she said. ‘Moments before he was captured, he used the last of his powers to send me here to collect the bridle and help Pegasus on his quest.’

‘What
is
his quest?’ Emily asked. ‘He can’t tell us.’

Diana looked at Pegasus. ‘Why did Father send you here?’

Both Emily and Joel stood in silence as Pegasus started to nicker softly. It continued for several minutes.

‘I never knew any of this,’ Diana said in a whisper. ‘None of us did. Only my Father, Vesta and Pegasus knew.’

‘Knew what?’ Emily asked impatiently.

‘Please get off your wounded leg and sit down,’ Diana said as she helped Emily settle under a tree. Joel, still a little starstruck, sat beside her.

‘Pegasus is on a precious quest,’ she started. ‘He says it is doomed to failure without your help. That the survival of Olympus and your world rests entirely with you.’

Emily was suddenly unsure she wanted to hear this.

‘Long before I was born, at the end of the Great War between the Olympians and the Titans, a Flame emerged in the heart of Olympus,’ Diana continued. ‘It was Vesta’s duty to ensure the new Flame was kept alive and strong. For its power was our power. Its life was our life. A wondrous temple was built around the Flame and it has burned brightly in Olympus ever since.’

‘Vesta?’ Joel said suddenly. ‘The Goddess of the Hearth? She used Vestal Virgins to keep the flame alive at a temple in ancient Rome.’

Diana nodded. ‘That was the symbolic Flame of Olympus. Those virgins were the servants of Vesta. The real Flame has always been in Olympus. But right from the beginning, my father worried that if this Flame were ever extinguished, we would lose our powers. So he sent Vesta to Earth with the heart of the Flame and commanded her to hide it in a human child. A girl child. This secret Daughter of Vesta would carry the heart of the Flame within her, without ever knowing it.’

‘But that was long ago,’ Emily said, frowning. ‘She’s got to be dead by now.’

‘She is,’ said Diana. ‘But Vesta made certain that upon her death, the heart of the Flame would pass to another baby girl being born. It would go from generation to generation, across all the waters of the Earth.’

‘So out there right now,’ Joel said, working it out, ‘there is another Daughter of Vesta carrying the heart of the Flame of Olympus.’

‘That’s crazy,’ Emily said. ‘How can a flame have a heart?’

‘Emily—’ Joel warned.

‘No Joel, this is getting too much,’ said Emily, cutting him off. ‘First Pegasus is real and crashes on my roof. Now Diana, also an Olympian, is here and telling us that a flame has a heart and that it goes from girl to girl. I can believe a lot of stuff, but this is just too crazy. How can you accept it so easily?’

‘Because I’ve read the books!’ Joel shot back. ‘I do more than fight, you know. I read.
The Iliad
and
The Odyssey
are my favourites. They tell some of the stories of the Gods!’

‘Stories, that’s right,’ Emily challenged. ‘This is real life and a flame can’t have a heart!’

‘Emily, I know these books,’ said Diana. ‘My father had them in his palace before the Nirads attacked. They are not lies, just retelling of certain events. Believe me. The Flame of Olympus has a living heart. And my father sent Pegasus here to find the girl who possesses it. He is charged with bringing her back to Olympus to reignite our Flame.’

‘Wow,’ Emily said softly, struggling to take it all in. ‘But after so many generations, how will he know who she is if she doesn’t even know about herself?’

Diana smiled. ‘Pegasus alone can see the flame burning within her. She will draw him to her. He won’t be able to resist her, for she is the source of his strength.’

Joel nodded his head in understanding. ‘So, Pegasus came to Earth to get this girl. But he got hurt and crashed on Emily’s roof instead.’

‘That is correct,’ Diana said. ‘With his wing broken, he has been unable to fly to her.’

‘Where is she?’ Emily asked. ‘Is she even in America?’

Pegasus neighed softly.

‘Pegasus says the daughter of this generation is here in this country,’ Diana translated. ‘That she is not far away. But he says something is very wrong with her because the flame has grown weak within her. This is why it became so weak in Olympus, and enabled the Nirads to attack and defeat us.’

‘Maybe she’s sick,’ Emily suggested.

‘Perhaps,’ Diana agreed. ‘But whoever she is, she has a great destiny to fulfil. But a tragic one. For hers must be the greatest sacrifice of all.’

‘What do you mean?’ Joel asked.

‘When the Daughter of Vesta is taken back to Olympus, she must willingly sacrifice herself to the Flame,’ she said. ‘It will consume her. But in offering herself, Olympus will be reborn and all our powers restored.’

‘She’s got to die?’ Emily asked in a whisper.

Diana nodded. ‘She must be willing to sacrifice herself in order for the Flame to be reborn,’ she said. ‘She cannot be forced.’

‘But what can we do?’ Joel asked.

Diana dropped her head. ‘Pegasus needs you to talk to the girl when we find her. You are from this world. You can better explain it than I. You must make this child understand that her sacrifice will not only save Olympus, but this world too.’

‘The Daughter of Vesta is a child?’ Emily asked. ‘And you want us to tell her she’s got to die to save everyone?’

‘No way,’ Joel said, shaking his head. ‘I know you guys have your own special Olympian ways. But this is too much. You can’t expect us to tell a kid she’s got to kill herself.’

‘I do not know how old she is. Nor does Pegasus,’ Diana explained. ‘He only knows that she is near. She may be an old woman nearing her natural death or a young child just starting her life. But whoever, or whatever she is, ultimately, it must be her decision. None of us can force her to sacrifice herself.’

‘So,’ Emily said slowly, ‘we’re going to knock on someone’s door and ask them to commit suicide in order to save the world.’ She felt light-headed with shock. ‘What would you do if it were you, Joel?’