The Gift From Poseidon: When Gods Walked Among Us (Volume 2) (42 page)

The ground shook.  The stadium shook.  Even Diedrika shook.  The single ray of sunshine that had shone down on the other competitors starting with Orion suddenly became many as Zacharias – with their Gift from Poseidon atop him – stepped up to the starting line.  Evagoria’s stare at the first target fierce, Zacharias appeared just as locked in.  The roars of the crowd now near deafening, Diedrika turned to Marseea and winked.  Next, she leaned into Judiascar.

“Here we go, my friend –
winning time!
”

With a blare of the horn Diedrika could barely hear, Zacharias exploded forward.  The first five targets a blur of galloping gold and raised red, they made their way for the southern half of the field.  Two more targets down, two more red flags raised, Zacharias peeled straight toward them before tilting east for the last three targets of this first lap.

One continuous, unending cheer, three more perfect shots ––

Did this Gryphon stumble on the sloppy path to that tenth target as so many others had done?  OF COURSE NOT!

Both of Diedrika’s hands now wrapped around Theodoric’s arm, she pressed her nails into him more and more with each raised red flag.  Back to the northern side of the arena….

BULLSEYE!

BULLSEYE!

BULLSEYE!

BULLSEYE!

BULLSEYE!

“Those judging fools don’t even need the other flag!” Diedrika crowed as Zacharias and Evagoria turned around the dark marble column and headed south a second time.

Fifteen down, five to go!

Evagoria appeared even grander than the heroes and heroines of the past carved into the many fountains scattered about Atagartis.  She did not so much shoot an arrow as command it to embed itself in the exact middle of each target.  Zacharias did not simply run atop the pitch, he glided over it as if leading a chariot ridden by gods.  No Gryphon owned a smoother, more effortless motion.

RED FLAG!

RED FLAG!

RED FLAG!

“Go, Evagoria, go!” Theodoric cheered as their daughter and Zacharias dashed past them.

RED FLAG!

Nineteen out of nineteen – just one more!

As Evagoria pulled her bow back to launch her final shot, Diedrika raised her chin impossibly high.  “As my historian lounges the day away in the infirmary, tell yours this, Marseea: ‘Every pair of disbelieving eyes now watching will long remember that it was
this
day’ ––”

Diedrika’s chin crashed into her chest, both eyes turned blurry, her ears deafened, a tongue sharper than all suddenly became mute, and every nail dug into Theodoric’s arm as Zacharias tumbled rear paws over front talons and smashed beak first into the muddy pitch.  Thrown wildly from her saddle, Evagoria landed a good three pike lengths away from him.

Cries of terror rang out from every direction as the daughter every Mermaid saw as their own lay motionless on the field.  Zacharias stumbled toward Evagoria, lay down at her side, and nudged his beak against her head.

“Get me out there, Judiascar!” Diedrika screamed.  “GET ME OUT THERE!”

She leapt atop him and Theodoric did the same to Hezekiah.  Marseea with a head start, they stampeded past her and reached Evagoria and Zacharias first.  Diedrika slid off and glided toward her daughter in an eerily slow manner.  Almost afraid to kneel down and touch Evagoria, she finally did so and laid a shaking palm atop her daughter’s badly scraped forehead.

“M-Mother … is that … is that you?” Evagoria groaned without opening her eyes.  Tears flowed down Diedrika’s face and Theodoric now knelt next to her too.

“Yes, Evagoria,” she choked, “I am here.”

“Come here, my son!” Judiascar called.  Diedrika watched out of the corner of her left eye as Zacharias sat up slowly and somberly made his way toward Judiascar.

Medics and a whole host of others gathered around them and whispers whipped around the circle of concerned creatures.  Penthesilea knelt down and inspected Evagoria as Marseea stood behind her.  Not just a talented sorceress, the younger twin knew as much about healing as any medic.  As Diedrika keenly watched, Penthesilea pulled out a white pouch with red glyphs on it.

“Stay still, Princess.”  She then looked at Diedrika for a moment, received the nod she sought, and began to sprinkle handfuls of enchanted dust atop Evagoria.  “I should be able to get a good idea of how bad things are before we move her.”

Evagoria writhed in pain as the silver specks landed on her body.  Penthesilea then spread some on her forehead – a little too roughly for Diedrika’s taste, but she said nothing.  After a few moments, the glittering specks atop Evagoria’s right arm and on her forehead turned from a shiny silver to dreary grey.  Penthesilea then rose and whispered something to Marseea that Diedrika could not hear.  She rose as did Theodoric, and both approached the mystics.

“Aside for her head,” Marseea said softly, “we are quite lucky.  Her arm broken – you can easily tell because she has yet to move it – that she does not have any injuries inside her torso is a good sign.  A very good sign.”

“‘
Aside for her head
’,” Theodoric gasped.  “What does this mean?  We all kind of need that, don’t you think?”

“It only means,” Penthesilea broke in, “that she may not remember everything that has happened, that she will need a good bit of rest to let her mind heal itself over the next few days.  That is all.  Worry not, Mermaids, your Gift from Poseidon is not suddenly some invalid nor will she soon become crazed.  All that is broken or bruised will heal.”  The young witch took in a deep breath.  “Quite a tumble taken while riding a Gryphon many times heavier than her,” Penthesilea’s tone turned curt, “as my queen said, we are
very
lucky her injuries are not worse.”

Diedrika nodded and returned to Evagoria’s side.  Mermaid medics moved in and wrapped a splint around her right arm.  Although Arachna medics still supervised their Mermaid counterparts, this arrangement would soon be of the past.  Next, a Gryphon rolled out a small cart, Evagoria was lifted and set atop it, and Diedrika and Theodoric joined her alongside it.  She still winced in pain with each breath, but at least her eyes were now open.

“Your father will take you to the infirmary, my dear daughter, and I will join you soon after.”  Diedrika looked up and saw three very concerned friends stare back.  “And Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis will go with you.”

She kissed Evagoria’s left hand, released it, and Adamarcus immediately took it.  Judiascar now next to Diedrika, they watched as the long procession of family, friends, and concerned others escorted Evagoria to the infirmary inside the Sapien palace.

Eyes for slits that would make any serpent cower now set themselves upon Zacharias.  Diedrika could feel the overpowering will to dominate another swell inside her, but to be this queen, meant to be in total control of such power.  If Terra Australis ever saw such a day when she was not, no amount of silk could be weaved thick enough to conceal the collateral damage inflicted on those horrified souls who still dared live.

“Leave us, Judiascar.”  Diedrika’s palms glowed just enough to emit a dull hum, but there would be no scraping.  At least not yet.  “It is time your son receives a valuable lesson on what it means to be king.”

Although Diedrika burned holes glowing green inside the son and not the father, she could feel Judiascar gawk at her.  After more hesitation than she would have liked, he finally did as commanded.  Only after he flew over to and lay down atop the centerpiece platform to watch them from afar did Diedrika make her move.

Zacharias only a pike length away from her, she moved toward him as slowly without stopping as her tail allowed.  His ears pinned back; he appeared as if struggling to keep his head held high as Judiascar had preached, but the weight of shame he fought against seemed dangerously close to winning.

“I am so sorry, my queen,” Zacharias mumbled with equal parts hurt and disbelief in his voice.  “The rain, the mud, I slipped ––”

“
Silence
.”  Zacharias did as told and she knelt down by his side.

There was no need to break this Gryphon’s spirit to make him Evagoria’s – just to be in the presence of the Gift from Poseidon had already done this.

And no Gryphon’s spirit should EVER be crushed!

Only the idiot Sapiens of old believed in such a thing.  But Zacharias had failed his future queen, the one he would soon swear to protect, and the current queen now needed to do something about it.  In short, Diedrika had to strike a perfect balance between crushing his spirit and putting it on notice.

With her left hand, she gripped Zacharias’ reddish-brown mane tight.  This pushed his head down and his right ear close to her mouth.

“To rule alongside our Gift from Poseidon is to straddle a fine line every day of your reign.  On one side is glory greater than all and on the other … trust your queen, Zacharias,” with a flick of the wrist of her free hand, she bronze-made a thin sword and laid it at his talons, “you
do not
want to find out.”  Her point made, she let a ray of light brighten her black as pitch voice.  “But we have no reason to worry about this now, do we?”

“No, my queen,” Zacharias answered breathlessly.  “Never!”

His eyes pointed downward as he watched the thin sword turn to dust, he then raised his head and looked straight into her eyes.  That he did this on his own and she did not force him to do so was a good sign.

“That’s right, my future king.  Because when that day comes when life or death hangs in the balance of keeping yours,” she pulled the gripped hairs as if her nails were talons themselves, “I
know
you will not fail.”

That he had not whimpered as most Gryphons would have when she harshly tugged on his mane pleased her.  Diedrika rose and left him with the look on his face she had hoped to see – half believing beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was right, the other half stricken with the terror of what might come if she wasn’t.

The intimate alliance between the two nations appeared to some as if Gryphons served Mermaids.  Those who thought such things but pathetic fools, this was wholly untrue.  As the most elegant beings in Terra Australis, Mermaids had always mesmerized their loyal Gryphon allies, but each still saw the other as equals.  A Gryphon king yielded to a Mermaid queen because he chose to, and at any time, he and his subjects were free to choose differently.  ‘Productive infatuation’, not threats or force, had led to this great alliance, but there was also something more.  One last reason why the West was so much stronger than the East: These noble Gryphons with their perfect blend of brains and brawn fascinated Mermaids just as much.

*****

Comfortable in bed, Diedrika looked proudly upon her daughter.  Zacharias now cowered by Evagoria’s side as Queen Marseea and Penthesilea finished their healing spells.

“Her arm should be fully healed in a few weeks,” Penthesilea announced cheerfully.  Melanippe dotingly adjusted the wrap around Evagoria’s hurt arm and then stepped away.  “There are two fractures, but luckily neither pokes through the skin.”

Thanks given, the three Sapiens exited.  Kisses atop her still badly scraped, now bruised forehead delivered, Perseos, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia departed as well.

A little bit afterward, Evagoria opened her eyes and smiled.  Zacharias immediately buried his head under her arm and she kindly stroked his mane; Diedrika noticed a great look of relief sweep over his face as she did so.  After many moments of silence, Evagoria’s eyes settled on Penelope who sat atop Hezekiah.

“Sweet Penelope, did I tell you the victorious details?” Evagoria asked weakly.  She looked at the still recovering historian with glassy eyes and spoke with a bit of a slur.

“No, Princess, no you didn’t.”

“Of course, I did.”  Evagoria nodded her head in confused protest.  “Don’t you remember?”  Penelope shook her head as the princess let out a dreamy giggle.  “It’s okay that you don’t Penelope, really, it’s okay.  You didn’t miss anything anyway because, well, now that I think of it, there really aren’t any victorious details to tell you of.”

Theodoric and the trio of Gryphons chuckled at this.

Penelope leaned into Diedrika, “I think she bumped her head even harder than I did.”

“The witches said such things will soon pass,” Diedrika whispered in all seriousness, “but I think it wise to make an offering to Poseidon tonight just to make sure.”

Penelope nodded and turned to her left; Diedrika’s eyes followed.  As if spying younglings, Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis now stood in the doorway.

“As there are others who wish to spend time with Evagoria,” Diedrika announced, “I think it wise we let them.”

Once Theodoric had led everyone else out, she knelt down and kissed Evagoria on the cheek.  This not enough for the most precious of princesses, she wrapped her left arm around Diedrika and pulled her close.  After a long hug, Evagoria released her mother and she made her way toward the three friends.

“As she is still a bit bewildered from both the fall and the spells, try to keep any conversation as brief and lighthearted as possible.”

With these words, Diedrika watched Adamarcus, Taharqa, and Persepolis gather around Evagoria’s bed and she too departed.