Pegasus and the Origins of Olympus (18 page)

There was no time to pull the jewel from her pocket. Instead Emily closed her eyes and created a protection shield around her and Agent B. Concentrating as hard as she could, she cried, ‘Olympus!’

The journey lasted the quickest blink of an eye. They were now in Olympus. But this was not the Olympus that she knew. Emily looked around at the devastation and was reminded of her first visit there after the Nirads had attacked and conquered it.

Somehow, this was much worse.

Fires burned and choking smoke filled the air. What few structures there were lay in ruins as marble pillars and collapsed walls littered the ground. There were no statues, no gardens and no art. This was truly a war zone.

Emily knelt down beside Agent B. He was groaning in pain. His arms, twisted at odd angles, looked badly dislocated and broken. She reached out to heal him, but her powers didn’t work.

‘While you were on Xanadu, did you eat any ambrosia?’ she asked urgently.

The agent’s eyes were clenched shut with the pain. ‘No!’

‘Why not?’

‘Ambrosia makes humans immortal. I don’t want to live for ever!’ he cried through gritted teeth.

Emily reached into her pocket and pulled out her food pouch. She quickly ordered ambrosia cakes soaked in nectar. ‘Here, eat this!’

‘No!’

Emily looked around at the devastated landscape. A battle had recently been fought here which meant the fighters could still be in the area. ‘I can’t heal you if you haven’t eaten ambrosia. Now you will open your mouth and eat this or I will force it into you. You know I can do it.’

‘I don’t want to live for ever!’ he cried in agony.

‘You won’t. When you want to die, I’ll kill you. But right now, you are going to eat!’

With her powers, Emily pulled the wounded CRU agent up to a sitting position. ‘Open your mouth, Agent B,’ she ordered. ‘Don’t make me do it for you.’

Emily force-fed the CRU agent the whole ambrosia cake. ‘Chew and swallow!’

He collapsed back on to the ground and Emily held his hand while the ambrosia coursed through his system. After a few minutes, she could feel her powers starting to heal his broken arms.

Agent B moaned as he healed. Before long, he could move his arms. He sat up and looked at Emily with fury in his eyes.

‘That was wrong, Emily, and you know it! You forced me to eat it against my will.’

‘Just like the CRU is planning to force me to become their ultimate weapon?’

‘That’s different!’

‘No it’s not!’ Emily fired back. ‘You don’t want to live for ever, fine. But do you want to die right now? You talk about Pegasus being a distraction. You with two broken arms are a bigger distraction. I did what I had to do. We can fight about it later. Right now, we’re exposed. I think we should find somewhere to hide.’

Emily helped him up as they made their way to a collapsed building. Safely inside the broken structure, Agent B sat down for the last bit of his recovery. ‘Any ideas where we are?’ he asked.

Emily gazed around. ‘Usually the Solar Stream delivers us near Jupiter’s palace, but this doesn’t look anything like the palace area.’

‘This is a war, Emily. Nothing looks like it should on a battlefield.’

The sound of roaring filled the air. Flames shot across the darkened landscape. Emily and Agent B peered through the debris and saw three huge dragons tearing across the area, setting fire to anything that moved.

‘Dragons?’ Emily cried. ‘The myths didn’t mention anything about dragons, or those things attacking us at the village!’

‘What myths have you been reading?’ Agent B said, now fully recovered. ‘Of course there were dragons! Did you expect Jupiter and Saturn to be throwing snowballs at each other? This is a war of epic proportions. It covered the cosmos and destroyed worlds!’

‘How am I supposed to help with that?’ Emily suddenly realized the depth of trouble they were in. Everything they had faced until now, from the Nirads to the Gorgons, and even the CRU, had been child’s play compared to this.

‘I don’t know,’ Agent B said. ‘Our first job is to find Jupiter and see what he has to say.’

In the distance the three rampaging dragons stopped. They lifted their heads and seemed to be sniffing the air. Suddenly their heads snapped in the direction of where they were hiding. Smoke seeped from the dragons’ nostrils as their eyes sought their location.

‘Uh-oh,’ Agent B said. ‘I think we’re in big trouble.’

As if called by a silent whistle, the dragons started charging. The closer they got, the bigger they seemed to grow. Before long, Emily felt like she was facing down three very large and very angry ten-storey buildings.

‘Why are all the monsters here so big?’ Emily cried.

‘I really don’t know,’ Agent B answered. ‘I just hope you’re feeling strong!’

Standing behind her, Pegasus nickered and nudged her gently in the back. He was telling her she could do it. She just hoped his faith in her was justified.

‘Stay here with Pegs,’ Emily ordered as she crawled out of the debris. ‘If this fails, find Jupiter and tell him to hide the Titan weapon somewhere else.’

Mike started to snarl and bark. He darted out of their hiding place and charged the tall, scaly foot of the nearest dragon.

‘That is either the bravest dog I’ve ever seen,’ Agent B called, ‘or the dumbest!’

‘Mike!’ Emily shouted, running after the dog. ‘Get back here!’

Now that she was out in the open, the three dragons focused on Emily. She could feel their swelling hatred. Roars shook the area as they inhaled deeply and shot burning plumes of fire directly at her.

Emily crouched and felt the flames lick her. On the ground around her the rocks melted and turned to pools of molten glass. Broken marble pillars were charred black and crumbled under the intense heat. But for Emily there were no burning sensations. In fact, she felt nothing at all.

Bathed in the dragons’ flames, Emily rose slowly to her feet. The more they spat at her, the stronger she felt. ‘Do you want to play with fire?’ she shouted. ‘Try this!’

Emily raised both her hands. A single brilliant blaze of laser-light filled the night sky as she shot all she had at the dragons. There was no time for the monsters to react or even scream. In an instant, they were turned to ash.

‘Emily!’ Agent B ran out from their cover. ‘Are you all right?’ He caught hold of her and checked her all over. ‘Their flames didn’t even singe your tunic! How is this possible?’

Emily shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter right now. Where’s Mike?’

The sound of barking broke the silence. They heard Mike yelp and squeal before turning silent. ‘Mike!’ Emily cried. ‘Mike, where are you?’

The sound of many feet walking on rubble filled the air. Several giants led by a centaur emerged from under cover. Emily spotted Mike in the arms of one of the giants – his mouth was being muffled by the enormous hand.

Emily immediately recognized the centaur. ‘Chiron!’

The centaur was younger than when Emily had known him. His man’s upper torso was strong and muscular, while his horse’s body was lean and steamlined. The centaur’s chestnut-coloured hair was long and wavy.

Emily tried to embrace him, but Chiron reared on his horse legs and pointed his loaded bow at her.

‘Chiron, it’s me! Emily!’

Chiron’s face and upper body were bathed in dirt and sweat and he had deep weeping burns on his rear flanks. His expression was dark and threatening as he spoke unfamiliar words. He flicked his bow, ordering them to raise their hands.

Doing as ordered, Emily saw that most of the giants were covered in burn marks. She didn’t recognize any of them, but it was evident they had all been fighting the dragons.

Pegasus stepped forward and made a long series of sounds. Chiron spoke back to the stallion and lowered his bow, but his suspicious eyes never left Emily.

‘Pegs, please tell him who we are!’

‘No, Pegasus, don’t!’ Agent B ordered. ‘They can’t know who we really are or where we’re from. If we don’t tread very carefully, we could change history and alter the future as we know it. We should have as little exposure to the Olympians as possible.’

‘But he’s hurt. They all are.’ Emily took a cautious step towards the centaur. ‘Will you at least tell him that I can heal him? He’s covered in burns. Please tell him to take my hand.’

Pegasus nickered and nodded towards Emily.

Chiron frowned, but moved closer. He held out his left hand, while still clutching his loaded bow with the other.

‘It’s all right,’ Emily said softly, ‘we’re friends. You just don’t know it yet.’

Emily took the centaur’s hand. Chiron bucked at her touch and turned to look back at the wounds on his flanks. In moments, the deep burns faded and healed completely. The centaur lifted a rear hoof and flexed his leg. There was no pain.

Chiron nodded at Emily and Pegasus and turned to speak to his giants. The tall men responded by surrounding the group and raising their clubs and weapons. Chiron turned and started to lead them forward.

‘What’s happening?’ Emily asked.

Agent B looked around. ‘I think we’ve just been captured by the Olympians.’

For half the night, Chiron led them over rough terrain and rubble. Emily was careful to keep her hand on Pegasus as they moved. The stallion was growing increasingly fatigued and was starting to stumble over the debris. When that happened Emily used her powers to lift him off the ground and carry him.

As a dull and moody dawn arrived, they encountered more tired Olympians. Most Emily had never seen or met before. There were winged Olympians, snake-like Olympians and many other war-weary and defeated creatures. Yet as she passed, they all stood and looked at her curiously. Those who could move started to follow.

‘Pegs, look,’ Emily said. ‘They don’t know me, but they must feel that I’m the Flame. They are drawn to me.’

‘That could be a good thing, or a bad thing,’ Agent B said tightly.

A giant shoved the CRU agent in the back and grunted a few harsh words. ‘More likely a bad thing,’ he finished.

Chiron held up his hand and they stopped. They were standing before the ruins of a building. Emily thought it could have been Jupiter’s palace, but it seemed to be in the wrong area.

Standing high above the entrance were three winged women. There were living snakes woven in their hair and their faces had a pale green pallor. They snarled and threatened anyone who came near the ruins.

Emily gazed up at the angry women and was reminded of the Gorgons. ‘Who are they?’

Agent B shrugged. ‘I’d say by the looks of them, they’re the Furies.’

‘The what?’

‘The three Furies,’ Agent B explained. ‘They were known as the avengers of crime and levied cruel punishments on those who broke the law.’

‘I’ve never heard of them.’

Agent B shook his head. ‘Honestly, Emily. If we somehow survive this, I am going to get you some books on mythology. For all your time with the Olympians, you know almost nothing of them!’

‘How do you know so much?’

‘Once the Olympians became known to the CRU, we were all ordered to study the mythology to familiarize ourselves with what we were up against.’

The first Fury flew down to the group and challenged Chiron.

While they argued, Emily lowered Pegasus to the ground. ‘How are you doing, Pegs?’ she asked softly as she stroked his muzzle. ‘Are you OK?’

Pegasus neighed softly.

‘He’s exhausted,’ Agent B said, ‘and he hasn’t eaten in hours. None of us have.’

Emily pulled out her food pouch and waved her hand over the top to produce a large supply of ambrosia cakes for the stallion. ‘Go on and eat, Pegs.’ She handed an ambrosia cake to Agent B. ‘You might as well also. Since you’ve already been exposed to it, there’s no point going hungry.’

A familiar voice called strange words from behind the giants. When they parted, Emily was stunned to see a young man walking between their legs. He was no more than eighteen or nineteen with dark, wavy hair, smooth clear skin and bright eyes. He was well-built, with a strong, muscled chest. In his hand he carried a tall trident. But it was his eyes that Emily recognized first – they were as sparkly grey-blue as a stormy ocean.

‘Neptune,’ Emily called, ‘is that you?’

Pegasus nickered excitedly as recognition struck him. Painfully, he climbed to his feet as his old wings fluttered and shed feathers on the ground. There was no mistaking his joy at seeing his father alive again.

But the feelings were not returned. Neptune wore a dark, threatening expression. He pointed his trident at Emily and spoke the language of the Olympians. Though Emily couldn’t understand his words, the message was clear. He had no clue who they were.

Pegasus whinnied and stepped forward, but Neptune wouldn’t listen. He flicked the end of his trident. Pegasus was lifted off the ground and tossed several metres away. The ageing stallion crashed down into a broken pile of marble pillars, landing on his wings. He cried out in deep pain.

‘Pegasus!’ Emily turned on Neptune. ‘He is your son, you idiot!’ She shouted in a tone that she would never have dared use with the Neptune from her time. Emily fired a quick blast of power that tossed Neptune backwards violently. He struck a giant and knocked the legs out from under him. They both fell to the ground in a confused heap.

‘Emily, no!’ Agent B cried. ‘Don’t kill him or Pegasus will never exist!’

‘I’m not going to kill him,’ Emily shouted, ‘but no one hurts Pegasus, not even his father!’

Neptune rose and pointed his trident at Emily. It was well known that the weapon could shoot a lethal blast of water that was powerful enough to cut an opponent in half. Emily realized Neptune wasn’t playing or waiting for explanations.

As the first blast of water shot towards her, Emily raised her hands and easily deflected the water away. It struck the giants around her and knocked them to the ground.

Emily reached forward with her powers and hoisted Neptune off the ground. ‘Stop it!’ she shouted at him. ‘We’re here to help you!’

But Neptune wasn’t giving up. Once again, he turned his trident on Emily. But Emily was faster. Her powers wrenched the trident from his hands. The weapon shot down to Agent B.