· Web viewPerhaps Hades too. In the deepest part of the Aegean Sea, something grows and Hermes has been unable to tell us what it is. ... Butterfly wings.

Allingham/Patroness/1

Please Note: I have made some edits to the manuscript that changes a few things in the story. Early on, Ares rallies local tribes to attack Athens and after a year of warring, Athena’s warrior girls assassinate the army generals in the night, effectively ending the war. Ares and Athena fight, and Athena wins by executing some of the moves she’s seen in Amazon. Ares runs away in shame, leaving Aphrodite behind. I haven’t adjusted this in the synopsis yet.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

Hera had not visited since Athena had run her out of her temple. From the little bit of talk Athena

gathered from other gods, the arrangement suited both of them so she was surprised to find the

goddess at the foot of her temple when she emerged one morning.

“Stepmother,” she greeted her.

“Pallas Athena. Do you have any snakes for me, today?”

“I supposed it depends on why you are here. I appreciate that you did not barge into my

temple, uninvited this time.”

“I have gleaned that perhaps it was not me you were angry at,” Hera said.

“No, I am sure I was quite irate over the disrespect. I don’t suppose you are here to offer

an apology after two hundred years?”

“I am here about the boy. Perseus.”

“You will not hurt him!” Athena pulled her sword from its scabbard.

“If I had intentions, it would already be done, Athena. Calm down.”

“Your reputation does not calm me, Hera. Be assured if you try to hurt him or his mother,

you will find me standing in your way.”

“I have known of the boy since he was born. It would seem that the king of Argos had

punishments in mind that far surpassed any nasty revenge I could have concocted. I saw you


there, that day they were thrown into the ocean. I thought for sure you would run to your father,

demanding his interference.”

“My father forgot about them the moment he ejaculated.”

“Indeed. It seems to be his way. But I am surprised he has not yet noticed the boy. He is

strong and handsome. The two things your father admires most in his sons.”

“He is not a warrior,” Athena said. “Father cares for beautiful bodies and glory in his

name. The boy cannot fight. He bring Zeus little glory.”

“Will you teach him?”

“What is your concern for the boy, if you do not mean to hurt him?”

“Zeus fathers many mortals. If you had been around the last hundred years you would see

that I have rarely bothered with any of them. Few of them amount to much, but this boy is

different. He could bring glory to Olympus. Unite the Pantheon after all these centuries of

discord.”

“Ah.” Athena narrowed her eyes. “You wish to draw Ares back.”

“It was you who shamed him so badly that he ran off for centuries. Centuries without my

son, Athena. Last I heard, he wasn’t even riding battles anymore. Just hiding somewhere, licking

his wounds.

“The King in Serifos has plans for Danaë, and he will not let the boy stand in his way. He

will need to be a hero, or he and his mother will suffer. A mortal hero will draw my Ares back.”

“The king cannot hurt the boy. He’s protected by me.”

“King Polydectes is the master of manipulation,” Hera said.

“Perseus brags, but he’s only held a sword to cut the heads off snakes in his garden. He is

no hero.”


“Then you must teach him. Zeus had fathered many mortal children, and their fates are

never to live simple lives.”

“What sort of quest would father send him on, if I train him? What sort of hardship

should this boy endure?”

“It is the Fates who have plans for him, Athena. Can’t you feel it? Zeus is too busy to

give the boy a quest. Poseidon has been plotting. Perhaps Hades too. In the deepest part of the

Aegean Sea, something grows and Hermes has been unable to tell us what it is. But it is not good

and surely it is meant to tip the balance of power toward Poseidon.

Athena bristled, that old ember of fury catching fire within her. A storm cloud darkened

the temple and Hera flinched 20from her.

“Do not try to interfere on your father’s behalf, Athena. Let him and my brother work this

out between them.”

“My uncle would serve us best under the same mountain as the titans.”

“Hush now. You may be your father’s favorite, but your uncle is older and more

powerful than you.”

“Not here. Not in my city that I won over him.”

Hera stood, reaching out tentatively to Athena’s arm. “Teach the boy, Athena. Teach him

well. He is special, I can tell, and his mother… she was once my most faithful. She never asked

for any of this.”

“Perhaps you have changed, Hera,” Athena said. “But I will not let my guard down. Not

again. I have learned that I cannot trust the Olympians, and that lesson is unlikely to fade.”


Hera squeezed her arm before stepping back. “You are a different girl, Athena. But I have

always liked you. I wonder what could have happened if you had allowed me to be your

mother.”

“I was never a girl,” Athena said. “And I never needed a mother.”

#

“We will begin with the basics,” Athena said, handing the boy an ash staff.

“Where are we?” Perseus looked around at the flat dry land they stood upon. There was

nothing to be seen for miles but the odd gray sky.

“This is where I will be training you. You will go to sleep at sunset and we will work

here until sunrise. Now hold out your staff like this.” She held her own polished staff out in front

of her.

“Who are you?” Perseus tilted his head to the side as he ran his slender fingers through

his mop of curls.

“I am Pallas Athena. Hold out your staff.”

“Am I dreaming?”

Athena huffed and then spun her staff toward him, knocking him in the face. Perseus

cried out and rubbed the stinging welt.

“You have been awarded my attention, boy. Do not waste my time. Hold out your staff

like this.”

Perseus complied and Athena showed him the elementary positions for defense. For a

while he followed her instructions. Then his mouth started again.

“You’re the owl, aren’t you? The one my mother says protects us.”

“I am Pallas Athena. Right hand of Olympus. Keep your back straight.”


“Why don’t you teach me how to use a sword? I have a sword and I’m really good with

it.”

“You are barely sufficient with it. Straighten your back and center your weight between

your feet. Keeping your weight centered is the most fundamental part of combat.”

“I’m stronger than any man in Serifos. I don’t need to worry about balance when I can

dismember with a single blow.”

Athena struck him behind the knees and he fell hard on his hind.

“Don’t be stupid. You are not the strongest. Balance is fundamental to all combat. Stand

up and center your weight between your legs. Then when you need to shift your weight, it is as

easy as when you are on your fishing boat.”

Perseus’s face flared red but he climbed to his feet and centered his weight, holding his

staff out in front of him to protect him from another blow.

In his dream, Athena worked him for days, and Perseus marveled out loud at his inability

to tire, even as he suffered blow after blow from the goddess.

“That is because there is no time here. You will train as long as I can tolerate you with no

need to rest or eat or relieve yourself.”

“I am a god!” Perseus declared.

“You are not a god,” Athena told him. “I am a god. And if you do not stop chattering and

started following directions, I will leave you to teach yourself how to fight.”

When, at last, she was satisfied with his skills for the staff, she sat him down and a cool,

clear stream tumbled down past them.

“Drink of the waters. They will keep you alert when you awake,” she commanded and he

leaned forward and cupped it into his hands and drank.


“I have protected you for a long time, Perseus, but now you are a man and you will need

to protect yourself and your mother. Letting Polydectes’s envoy provoke you on the docks was

foolish and if you want to keep your mother out of the king’s bed, you will not let your mouth

run away with you again. Better to be underestimated so that when the king makes his move,

your strength is not something that he has considered.”

“I am strong! I can handle anything he throws my way. My mother said that I am favored

by the gods.”

“She is wrong. Most of the gods care nothing for you at all. That oyster was not a gift

from Poseidon Your fortune has not been a blessing from Zeus. You have me, and I am offering

you wisdom and training. If you insist on testing me, you will find how quickly my favor is lost.”

“I am honored by your favor, Pallas Athena.” Perseus’s gaze dropped to the ground and

his face flushed. “I will do as you tell me and you have my gratitude for your gifts.”

“Do not train in the open,” Athena said. “Remember, it is better for the king to think you

an unskilled fool and underestimate you, then to decide you are a dangerous obstruction to his

plans.”

“I don’t want people to think I am weak.”

“Better they think nothing of you at all, Perseus, until you know what the threat is.”

“But what if—” He awoke in his bed, the overcast morning glaring into his room. It felt

as if he had been gone for a long time, the dream still teasing at his thoughts, but fading into

vague images and words. He felt the sting of Athena’s blows lingering in his face, but when he

reached up, there was no injury.


He dressed and went out to his boat, loading his nets and casting off. As the wind caught

his sail, the boat lurched forward and something rattled over the deck. He turned to find an ash

staff, polished and straight, beneath his fishing nets.

“So I will practice here,” he said, “Away from prying eyes.”

The owl landed on the mast of his boat.

#

Polydectes gauged the boy and the situation for almost a year before making his move.

Perseus had followed Athena’s instructions, sometimes grudgingly hiding his rapidly developing

skills on his fishing boat and in his dreams. But Athena sensed the boy was restless and when the

invitation came from the king, she met him in his dreams with no weapons.

“Now is the time for caution,” she warned as soon as he appeared

He had grown in the last year, his slender knobby joints padded with lean muscle, his

narrow jaw widened and shaded with the beard he kept shaved. It was hard for him to go

unnoticed in Serifos, if only because of the crowd of fishermen’s daughters, gathered at the

docks to watch him haul in his catch each day.

“Now? I have been cautious! For-ever!”

“You know nothing of eternity, Perseus. Don’t be stupid.”

“He’s just a greedy old king,” Perseus said. “My mother wants nothing to do with him

and I am now well suited to defend her against any of his advances.”

“Your mother would warn you not to underestimate greedy old kings, for one very much

like Polydectes threw you and your mother into the ocean. He is cunning in how he gets what he

wants, Perseus. I would advise you to turn down the invitation to his banquet, but that might

draw more attention.”


“So I will go and I will meet a few of his court slaves and stay quiet with them.”

“It is no joke, Perseus.”

“I am not joking.”

“Of all the houses invited, yours possesses the least wealth. There is a reason for this.”

“We have never needed wealth. You and the sea have always provided for us.”

“I cannot help you if you refuse caution,” Athena said.

“Worry not, Athena. I suspect the time has come for me to prove my words to his agent.

They think to make a fool of me and have me fight to defend my mother’s hand.”

“Do not be so sure. That is a very direct plan for such a cunning man.”

“Am I not ready to fight, Athena? Have you not trained me well?”

“You are well trained, Perseus. The most skilled warrior in Serifos. But there are other

lands and other warriors.”

“I am ready, Athena. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Your belief that you have the situation handled is exactly why I am concerned.”

He grinned and shrugged, looking so much like Hermes that she elbowed him in

response.

#

It was announced that the King was collecting gifts for his celebration, to the purpose of gaining

the hand of Hippodamea, princess of Pisa. The princess was well known to be a gifted rider and

tamer of horses. Perseus laughed at Athena when she came to him again in his dreams.

“He has found his bride. All your fuss was for nothing,” he said, snickering.

“You would do well not to speak to me in such a way,” Athena said.


“I am sorry, goddess, but I am relieved. He is merely an amorous old man, seeking to win

over his future wife.”

“King Oenomaus is no more anxious to marry his daughter to Polytechles than you are to

marry your mother to him. And he is not old. The King is not yet forty.”

“May as well be eighty,” Perseus laughed. “Go back to your mountain, Athena. I have

this well in hand.”

“What are you going to offer as your gift? Horses will be expected to win Hippodamea’s

hand and you have none. There are very few horses in Serifos to be had.”

“I have many gifts to offer the king,” Perseus said.

“You are a fool,” Athena said.

“You may be divine, but you are an anxious old maid,” Perseus said. “I am a man. I know

how business amongst men works. I have this handled. You will see your concerns for the

silliness they are.”

Athena hands crackled lightning and her eyes flared with fury. She pulled her adamant

sword and cut Perseus down amidst fire and storm clouds.

“You are only alive because of me, mortal!” she thundered as he screamed in agony,

sucked down into a black pit that opened in the earth beneath him. “You think you are better than

my wisdom? We shall see how you fare!”

Perseus awoke in a cold sweat in bed, cognizant of every aspect of the dream. He leaned

over and vomited and then climbed under his covers, shaking as the phantom of her blow

shivered over his body.

Athena watched him for a moment and then took to the air, back to Athens.


CHAPTER THIRTYLeigh

Di joined Leigh and General Alea for their morning run. Leigh’s head felt as fresh and clear as

the ocean breeze at their backs. Around the rocky beach that their boat had landed on, Di started

to catch up to the general. The general picked up speed to keep ahead of her.

Leigh tried to keep up with them, but once they started to race they were like two

cheetahs, speeding down the shore neck and neck. She reached the lagoon beach to find it empty,

only their foot prints to indicate they had gone for another lap. She laughed and sat down,

catching her breath. Having the two of them get along would make things even more pleasant

around here.

Butterfly wings

The phrase flickered through Leigh’s brain and she winced, trying to grab onto it. It felt

important. Something she needed to remember.

There were so many things like that these days. Her dreams were so vivid, so real, they’d

come to her in snatches and she’d have a hard time discerning them from real memories.

Nothing else came to her and she dove into the warm lagoon water before Di and General

Alea came racing up, still neck and neck. Di looked young and lithe, like she couldn’t be a day

over twenty. General Alea never changed. Leigh was sure now that she was in her forties,

although no lines yet laced her face.

They skidded to a halt as Leigh waded out of the water.

“Training first,” General Alea said.

“You were busy,” Leigh replied and Di laughed, nudging Alea with her shoulder. The

general almost cracked a smile in response.


“Okay, show me your stance.” The general folded her arms and Leigh took the balanced

stance she’d approved the day before.

“Good, now let’s review the defensive moves you learned yesterday.”

#

After lunch Di lined up tin cans on a rock ledge and started teaching Leigh how to shoot with her

hunting rifle. After Leigh had given herself her first recoil bruise, General Alea marched up and

looked over the set up.

“Don’t you have any game to hunt?” she asked.

Di’s smile faded from her face and she looked down to the ground.

“There’s no more game here. No game anywhere these days.”

“There’s plenty of game,” the general said. “I went hunting in the Pocono mountains just

last winter and—”

“There’s not enough game,” Di said. “It’s no longer a sport I am interested in. It’s no

longer a true sport.”

The general sniffed and kicked her boot into the dusty ground, and then marched off,

apparently with nothing to say. Di returned to helping Leigh line up the rifle.

#

After dinner General Alea joined them again as Leigh and Di settled out on the hill to look at the

stars. Di had brought up a flask of some sweet drink she favored at night and gave Leigh just a

tiny bit in a crude clay mug. It was light and sweet and seemed to burst in Leigh’s mouth like

champagne, but with none of the bite of alcohol. Leigh drank it too fast and wished she could

have more. Alea brought her own thin stemmed wine glass up from the kitchen and Di filled it


for her. Di drank hers straight from the bottle. Alea settled on a warm, flat rock beside Leigh’s

lawn chair.

“Has Di told you about all the stars yet?” she asked.

“Not all of them. Orion, Ursa Major and Minor, Leo—”

“What about Cassiopeia?” Alea asked.

“I saved that one for you,” Di said, tossing back another swig from her flask.

The general took a sip from her glass and Leigh knocked the last drips from her cup into

mouth. It tasted a bit like honeysuckle nectar.

“She was a queen, right?” Leigh said.

“She was a queen, of course, and very beautiful. But more important, she was clever and

she ruled Carthage alongside her husband, his equal. Even he knew, without her, there would be

no empire. She enraged the gods, but when her children died, they insisted she take a place in the

stars with them. Usually the gods wouldn’t give into such a demand, but…”

“But not all the gods disliked her,” Di said. Leigh glanced over to see she was grinning at

Alea, like she knew something about it.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONEAthena

Athena stalked into the courtyard of Zeus’s temple in Olympus and found her brother, Dionysus,

there.

“Sister, it’s been ages.” He laughed. “Come have a drink with me.”

“I am sorry, brother. I am not here on a social call.”


“But I believe I have finally found the vintage that will please you and I have waited over

a hundred years to present it to you. Hebe! Bring the Athena blend!”

Hebe rushed forth with a chalice full of deep red wine.

“Please, sister,” Dionysus said as Hebe presented the cup. “So that my talents may move

you as yours move me.”

Athena rolled her eyes as she took the cup and sipped. It was a lovely wine, tasting of

earth and sky and olive groves with a hint of copper.

“Yes. I like this very much. Send it down to my temple in Athens.”

“Rejoice! My favorite sister has chosen her wine!”

“Brother, if you are to order Hebe around like your servant, perhaps you ought to name

her your favorite sister. She is certainly more patient and better tempered than I,” Athena said

and marched into Zeus’s temple.

Zeus lounged on a chaise eating grapes from the slender fingers of a nude water nymph.

When he saw Athena enter, he sat up abruptly, knocking the grapes from her hands.

“My daughter,” Zeus said. “I did not expect you.”

“That is because I rarely visit, Father. You will be please to know that the favor I asked

of you will not be collected.”

Zeus sighed. “That is good to hear, Athena. Trying to make such a thing happen for you

would have been near impossible.”

“So I still have a favor to ask,” Athena said and Zeus frowned. The nymph settled into a

fountain in the corner and started to melt away.

“I’m not done with you yet!” Zeus said and she reformed, pouting.

“I want the Argos,” Athena said


“What?”

“The Argos. Named for the land where it was forged. I do believe you are familiar with

it. The shield you claimed you were going to throw me during my fight with Pallas.”

“Pallas?” Zeus asked.

“My foster sister, daughter of Triton. Your grandniece!”

“Oh, yes. That one.”

“I want the Argos. You were going to give it to me anyway, so it should be easy to part

with now.”

“Well, you already did ask me for a favor. And I would have given it to you.”

“But I didn’t collect. Now I want something different.”

“That is not how the deal works, Athena.”

Athena felt her anger bubbling and she took a deep breath, reining it in. He was her

father, the supreme ruler of all of them. The strongest, the wisest. She may be angry, but she

must not forget who begot her.

“Hera seems quite happy with her temples in Athens. In fact it seems to consume her

time. My city is doing very well. It bring you many followers. In fact, of all the people allegiant

to Olympus, Athens brings the most in tribute and worship.”

“Indeed. You do a great job there.”

“It is my city, and I choose which gods keep their temples. If Hera’s temple should fall,

where would she go? Where did she spend most of her time before I offered her Athens?”

Zeus glanced at his nymph before standing up, looming over Athena, the sharp smell of

ozone filling the air. “Are you threatening me, Athena?”


“No. I would never threaten my powerful father. I only serve him. But a favor was asked

of me, to appease my stepmother so that she would not bother you any more about Dionysus and

I not only took care of Dionysus but also all the affairs you have carried on ever since. Hera is

happy in Athens. She in happy in her Earthen temples, away from you and out of your business.

You, on the other hand promised me anything I wanted in return. And when I asked about what I

wanted, you balked. For good reason. It was a bad choice. But if that is the one you wish to hold

to, I certainly could go find myself a wife.”

“It would never be accepted!” His skin crackled with electricity. Athena had never made

her father angry before. Did she go too far?

“Not even if the commander of the heavens decreed it to be so?” Athena asked.

“It is not so easy for me, Athena! Do you know what these mortals ask of me? And the

gods as well! I am constantly moving heaven and earth to accommodate their needs!”

“There was an agreement, father. I am always your loyal servant, but I want the Argos. I

need it.”

“You have changed, Athena. You used to be my favorite daughter.”

The words burned her, as if she’d been singed by his lightning. After all she had done for

him? She pulled her shoulders back. She had changed. Her heart had hardened to endure her

uncle’s affront. Her father would grant her no justice for it.

She’s just a little primordial, Athena. Not even deathless. Your heart is too soft for these

stray women. Those had been his words.

Well her heart was soft no longer. She would protect her family. She would serve her

father. She had earned her seat at the table and she would call in her rewards as any of her uncles

or brothers would.


“So who is your favorite now? Hebe? Do you even remember the names of the others? I

serve you faithfully, father. I always have. You are a god of honor and you stand by your word.

Give me the Argos and let it be done.”

“You won’t know what to do with it.”

Athena grinned. “I will use it to bring you glory like you cannot imagine.”

#

“Athena.” A hand shook her. Athena rarely slept but when she did, disruption was intolerable.

She rolled away and yet the hand came again. “Athena.”

She opened her eyes to the glaring golden light of Olympus. Her brother Hermes knelt

beside her bed of furs, with the open wall behind him, overlooking Athens cast in glorious

moonlight.

“Why do you wake me?” She grumbled.

“It is Perseus,” he said and she sat upright.

“I do not wish to know.”

“He offered the Serifos king any gift he should want, in lieu of a horse.” Hermes ignored

her request.

“He did not.”

“He did. His mother has been praying to you for a week as he set his sail for Africa.”

“Why Africa?”

“You must go to him, Athena. You must go now.”

Athena rose and donned her armor. Hephaestus had just forged her a new set, plated in

fine silver to match the gleaming Argos she wore on her back.

“It will take me time to find him if I fly. Will you take me, brother?”


He took her hand.

They landed on Perseus’s boat, rocking it like a large swell. The boy was sleeping and

stirred. Athena turned to Hermes.

“Thank you for waking me.”

“Do not waste time. Speak with him now. Learn what he has agreed to. If you wish to kill

him, we support you.”

“Kill him?”

“All of us support you, Athena. All of your siblings. And Father will not interfere. Not

yet. He doesn’t know.”

Athena could not conceive of what he meant but he kissed her cheeks and jumped off.

She gazed down at her sleeping mortal brother. He was a fool, but he was her own blood. He,

like she, only had one parent. He was beautiful and strong and while he infuriated her, such

affection took her heart at the sight of him that she could not help but to tuck the cloak he had

kicked off, back up around his shoulders.

Then she took hold of his dream and brought him to her.

“Pallas Athena, I am sorry.” He fell to his knees when he beheld her. “You were right. I

am a fool. Now my mother is in danger and I have no choice but to slay the monster Polytechles

sent me after.”

“He tricked you?”

“He is as foul and cunning as you claimed. I walked into his banquette sure he was

seeking wedding presents. I offered him whatever he desired, believing it would be a year of fish

or a black pearl or a wedding spar with his best warrior. He never even proposed to King

Oenomaus for his daughter’s hand. It was only my mother he wanted. And now I have been sent


away from her on this impossible quest. Sent to my death so that he may take her against her will

when I do not return.”

“Tell me, Perseus. What is it he asked of you? What is this monster you are to slay?”

“He asked for the head of Medusa, the snake witch, who turns all men she looks upon

into stone.”

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

“You are a tasty child,” Enyo hissed, her boney joints cracking and she strained her skinny arm

toward Perseus, to see him better in the dank cave. “We haven’t smelled a tasty child for a long

time.”

“Tasty and strong.” Deino grinned a drooling toothless grin.

“Tasty and strong and very very stupid.” Pemphredo cackled.

“I demand you tell me where I can find the Gorgon, Medusa, you old hags!” Perseus

brandished his dented sword and the three of them howled with laughter, passing their single eye

between the three of them. Slimy algea hung from the stalactites overhead, dripping into the

wisps of their remaining white hair. The stench of decay hung in the still air.

Athena had directed Perseus to the three Graeae sisters out of desperation. If they could

be compelled to give a clue on Medi’s location, Athena could find her before this went too far.

The ancient goddesses would never give the information to Athena, and Athena could not

interfere, but Perseus might be able to persuade them with his good looks, or at least his sword.

“The Gorgon Medusa, our dear sister,” Enyo said.

“Our dearest sweet sister. So cruelly cursed. So cruelly condemned,” said Deino.


“So beautiful and kind. The best of us all. We shall tell you nothing, tasty, stupid child,”

Pemphredo said.

Athena hung back, hoping they would not detect her. The Graeae were so old, not just in

age but in facilities that most of their senses had decomposed completely. They shared a single

eye and a single tooth and they spent most of their time sleeping in their dark Libyan cave,

sucking on bones, and arguing with each other.

Perseus had managed to find a merchant who roughly spoke the tongue of Serifos and

learned that the ancient sisters were quite infamous. Every so many years they would stumble

from their cavern, demanding a child to eat. They were so feeble they had little power to take

what they wanted, but their appearance was so horrible that whatever village they came upon

usually gave them the bones of dead toddlers to appease them.

Watching them now, Athena felt a wash of gratitude that she did not physically age. Long

ago these women had been Ceto’s beautiful triplets.

“You will tell me where Medusa dwells, or I shall strike each of you down!” Perseus

declared, drawing more howling cackles.

“The stupid tasty thinks his pretty sword frightens us,” Enyo said.

“He is not a god. Just the god blood. Stupid like his father.”

Pemphredo hissed. “His wicked father! Wicked stupid brute! Both of them!”

Perseus swung at them and they laughed as his sword passed right through them. Athena

sighed. He would get no information here. She would have to find her friend some other way.

Her breath turned to mist and swirled through the air, toward the Graeae. Deino stopped,

mid-cackle and sniffed the air.

“Someone else is here!” she barked and her sisters stopped laughing and sniffed the air.


“Who’s with you there, stupid tasty?” Pemphredo asked.

“Another one of his,” Enyo said. “But not so stupid. Not so stupid, this one.”

Athena drew back, holding her breath, hoping to give them nothing else to identify her.

They crawled over one another, their knobby joints popping and cracking as they sniffed high

and low. Perseus stood, amongst them, visibly revolted as they passed their eye between them,

glaring about the dim cave.

“She smells like olives and copper!” Enyo declared.

“Laurels and Lightning!”

“Earth and Maidenhood!”

They all stopped and hissed in Athena’s direction, the milky eye they held glaring right at

her. So all their facilities had not left them after all.

“You cursed our sister!”

“You brought the snakes!”

“Your kin condemned our father!”

“You are the snake!”

“You are the viper!”

“You are the greatest fool of them all!”

They were distracted and Perseus lunged, snatching the eye from Enyo’s hand. He closed

his fist around it, blinding them.

“He’s got it!”

“Don’t hurt it!”

“Give it back!”

They screamed as he tightened his fist.


“Tell me what I need to know!” Perseus demanded.

“Don’t hurt it!”

“Give it back! Give it back!”

“Give it back pretty child!”

“Tell me what I want to know or I will destroy it,” he said.

“He can’t! He can’t!”

“It hurts!”

“He can’t!”

“If I can’t destroy it, than I will take it! I will bury it in the ground and you will never

find it!” Perseus said.

Athena clasped her hands over her mouth. This had gotten out of control too quickly. For

a mortal to hurt gods in such a way, even grotesque primordial gods, was a most wicked sin. Yet

she did not intervene.

“Our sisters still live in Amazon!” Pemphredo whined.

“In the caverns beneath the city!”

“She is not there! Not any longer!”

“Where is she?” Perseus asked.

“She has gone east!”

“Past Egypt!”

“Where the Nile forks, in the great caverns by the river!”

“You must get the tools or you will not be able to keep her!”

“He must see our sister nymphs!”

“The Hesperides at the mountain!”


“What mountain?” Perseus squeezed the eye tighter and the sisters writhed with agony,

their skinny bodies shuddering as they groaned.

“The Atlas Mountain. They are at the western base of the mountain, during the sunset!”

Enyo screamed. “It hurts! It hurts!”

Athena cringed at the sound of their pain. She stepped forward. She would put a stop to

this now.

Perseus released the eye and it landed on the ground with a wet plop. The sisters

scrambled over each other for it and Perseus stalking out of the cavern with his shoulders back.

Athena followed behind him, invisible, dread spreading from her gut to her chest, like ice

across a lake.

#

Athena sat under a massive quiver tree, watching Perseus sleep. She remembered when she

adored watching him sleep. Now it felt a like a burden she could not escape. She wanted to hate

him and yet she could not bear to see him hurt. She made no attempts to enter his dream. She had

no idea what to say to him.

The land was dry and hard and Perseus slept fitfully on his cloak. Once there had been

tall grasses here. Villages, hunts, people. Now there was just dust and a few ancient trees.

The Western side of the Atlas Mountains were on the Atlantic Coast, weeks or even

months for a mortal to travel from their location. There was time to come up with a plan before

then. They still didn’t know for sure where Medusa was. A fork in the Nile beyond Egypt was

not a specific point, but it would narrow down her search, when she could part with Perseus.

Athena had searched for her for centuries. Perseus had little time given before Polydectes

assumed him dead and married his mother. Athena could go on ahead of him, find his monster


and send her to safety, but then her brother would fail. His mother would be forced into a

marriage with a man she hated. Her son’s potential would die and he would live his life in

shame, a poor boy on a fishing boat.

He could not succeed though. That was unthinkable.

A viper slithered past her, toward Perseus. She cut off its head, watching its body twitch

for a few moments after it died.

“Do you remember such snakes, when you grew up here?” A voice startled her and she

turned to see Hermes leaning up against the tree.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to see if you had killed our little brother yet. It is a shame that you haven’t as it

seems our father has finally noticed him. Do you remember these snakes? The deadly ones?”

“No. Pallas and I would play with the snakes. I liked them. They were gentle and timid,

but efficient.”

“I never paid much attention to such things, but I heard a story a while back, that there

were no venomous snakes until a fair maid was turned into a monster, and in her despair she ran,

bleeding across the sea, across the land. Bleeding. Everywhere her blood dropped, it seeded Gaia

and she bore snakes full of fury, coiling up from the earth, deadly things that sought revenge on

the world for what was done to their mother.”

Athena looked away, over at Perseus’s fire, crackling in the quiet night.

“I have suffered my own sorrows in the last years, but I have not been ignorant to your

suffering. I thought I was giving you time, respecting your wishes, but I abandoned you, Athena.

You, the sibling who has always cared for me.”


Athena’s vision blurred and she wiped her eyes and sniffed back her tears. “You had no

responsibility to me. I have been fine. I have always been fine. I just choose to no longer waste

my energy with the frivolities of Olympus.”

“What happened to Medi?” Hermes asked.

“She was turned into a monster. She is hidden away where no one can find her.”

“Euryale came for you.”

“How do you know?” Athena turned back to him, wrapping her arms around her armored

chest.

“I visited Amazon. The Gorgons can no longer be found there, but the people tell stories

about them. They wear masks with snake hair. They converted your temple to a temple for

Medusa.”

“Did you know her name was Medusa?” Athena asked. “I had never realized it was

shortened. A pet name from her sisters, I suppose.”

“Tell me, Athena, please? So that you will not be alone in this.”

Athena turned back to the fire. The words wanted to come up, she felt them bubbling in

her chest, but she was unsure she could speak them aloud until they emerged. “I did it. I turned

her hair to snakes and joined her legs into a tail, the way I knew her sisters had been born. I made

her so awful no man can look into her eyes or he will turn to stone.”

Hermes said nothing and Athena took a deep breath.

“She— she defiled my temple! She tried to seduce away my virtue! She was wicked and

cruel and—”


The lies crushed her and instead of completing them she gasped and sobbed, burying her

face into her skirt as Hermes knelt down beside her and put a gentle arm around her. She had

thought she’d turned her heart to stone, but she had only buried her shame.

“I know you, Athena. Whatever the stories may be, I know you would not have done

such a thing to her without a cause you believed in, and the sanctity of your temple was not

enough for you to turn on such a friend.”

“I loved her!” Athena gasped. “Poseidon ravaged her, tore her apart and promised to

come back and take her as a wife. She and I were going to be together. I even talked to father and

Poseidon destroyed her. I did what I thought I had to, to save her, to protect her! To keep her safe

if he came back! But she fled and I— I have been unable to find her.”

“Could you change her back?” Hermes asked.

“I don’t know. It was power I didn’t know I had until it came out. But I would try. At

very least I can explain myself to her, explain why I did what I did. Her sisters would not listen,

but if I could find her she would. I know she would.”

Hermes pulled her to him in embrace and kissed her forehead. It was such a natural

gesture of comfort, but Athena was struck with the strangeness of it. She was sure no one had

ever embraced her in such a way. And yet it felt familiar.

She pulled away. “I cannot abandon the boy. His mother is a good woman, who has

remained strong in spite of dire circumstances. And he is our brother, abandoned by our father.

But he must return with a Gorgon’s head or Polydectes will claim Danaë as a wife and Perseus

will lose any chance of happiness.”

“What is happiness? Why does he deserve it when we, who are gods, find it so elusive?”


“He should be a king, himself. And in spite his rashness, he would be a good one. He is

faithful. He is strong. I love him, Hermes. I watched him grow from a tiny squirming infant. I

saw the love his mother held for him and I fell in love for him too. I cannot fail him.”

“So we need a Gorgon’s head. Do you know where Medusa’s sisters are?”

“The Graeae said they were still in Amazon, living in caverns beneath the city. They will

be easier to find than Medi,” Athena said.

“Harder to kill, too.”

“They cannot be killed. But we can take a head, and after he presents it to Polydectes, we

can reunite it with its body.”

“It will not win you any favors with the Gorgons.”

“I do it to save their sister and save my brother. They already hate me. What do I care of

their feelings about it?”

“I will help you.”

“There is no need.”

“I needed to protect my mother too, when I was young. And he’s my brother too. And I

cared for Medi, Medusa, you know.”

A breeze blew up a swirl of dust that settled over Perseus.

“All right. Thank you,” Athena said.

“Wake him up. We will meet him together, in his world.”

“I have never done that before.”

“Zeus has sent me with gifts. I must present them to him in person, to be sure he can

handle them,” Hermes said.


Athena took a deep breath. It was a good thing she hadn’t settled on a course of action.

Gifts from Zeus meant this was the real thing. A hero’s quest. Every step had to be handled

carefully. She walked to Perseus, shaking his muscular shoulder. “Awaken, brother.”

He sat up and gazed upon her. “What sort of dream is this?” he asked. “You are cloaked

in light!”

“It is no dream, Perseus. I am here, as is Hermes. Stand up and behold us, for we are your

siblings and we bring you gifts from our father.”

Perseus stumbled to his feet, rubbing his eyes as he looked upon Athena and Hermes. He

was mortal, but he was not a regular human. A son of Zeus, he could see them both as they truly

were, without the distortion that left most mortals feeling as if they were dreaming.

“You are more lovely than I dreamed you, Athena.”

“I am more fierce as well,” Athena replied sharply.

“And Hermes, what have I done to receive such an honor?”

“You were born.” Hermes rolled his eyes. “Perhaps your mother told you, or maybe she

did not, of the god who fathered you, when she was locked away in a copper tower.”

“I know only that my grandfather cast us into the sea when I was a baby,” Perseus said.

“Your grandfather is king of Argos, named after our father’s mighty shield that was

forged there. The country of Argos is your birthright and your grandfather hid your mother away

so that she would never marry or bear children. But her tower was open to the sky and Zeus, the

ruler of all, saw her and lay with her, impregnating her with you. It was for this reason she and

you were cast into the sea.”

“But if I am a prince, than that I can contest the claim of Polydectes! I have my own land

and my mother and I will return there!”


“Your grandfather still rules there, and would kill you if you appeared on his shores

without an army,” Athena told him.

“But I have you!”

“We cannot help you in such a way,” Athena said.

“Then you shall kill Polydectes. Strike him down so that he cannot take my mother.”

“We cannot do that either,” Hermes said.

“Why not? What good are gods if they cannot smite your enemies?”

“Watch your tongue, Perseus,” Athena warned and Perseus shrunk back a bit, recalling

the pain she had inflicted in his dreams.

“Gods do not meddle in the business of mortals, unless their business affects our

business,” Hermes explained. “We will grant favor. We may move the elements. We may

provide inspiration, luck, health, wealth. But we do not kill kings or slaves or any other mortals,

unless there is a celestial need for it and you, son a Zeus, have been fated to be a hero. We must

help you fulfill this destiny, not do it for you.”

“Our father has taken notice of you, at last, Perseus. He is pleased you have taken it upon

yourself to become a hero. To make him proud,” Athena said.

“I knew nothing of him. I didn’t choose this quest at all. I was tricked.”

“He doesn’t care,” Athena told him. “He wants your glory, and for that, we have been

expelled from interfering. We can give you the tools and guidance you need. But you will need

to do this on your own.”

“Alone?” Perseus asked, his voice sounding like that of the young man he once was.


“Certainly not.” Athena shook her head. “I will take you to each place you need to be and

tell you what it is you need to do there. Tomorrow we set out for the Atlas Mountains. Then we

will go to Amazon and collect the head of a Gorgon.”

“And we have gifts for you,” Hermes said. “From our father and from us.”

He laid out a bundle, unrolling it to reveal a glimmering sword, a dark cloak and sandals

with wings on the back.

“That is an adamant sword,” Hermes said, “From Zeus. It cannot be broken. The cloak is

Hades helm of darkness, so that you can go unseen, and the shoes are from me. They will allow

you to run the winds, to get to your destination faster.”

“And I am presenting you with this shield, made from a sliver of my Argos, built in the

lands of your birthright. It is impenetrable.” Athena handed him the large shield, polished to a

mirror shine. She’d had Hephaestus make it before they went to see the Graeae. It was a fitting

gift, considering the lands she hoped he would take back someday, yet she held it for a moment

when he tried to take it, suddenly worried about giving it to him.

She released it at last and Perseus smiled, admiring the glow of the moon in its perfect

polish. He hefted the sword and swung it, as he practiced balancing the shield through his arm.

“We should go now to Atlas. There is not a moment to waste,” he said.

“You are still mortal, Perseus,” Athena took his shoulder. “And this is no dream. You

must sleep so that tomorrow you are ready to face the Hesperides.”

“I can handle a couple of gardening nymphs,” Perseus said.

“But can you handle Ladon, the dragon with one hundred heads? He guards the garden

and the nymphs on Hera’s bidding, to ensure no one steals the fruit.”

“A dragon with one hundred heads?”


“Each of them is hungry,” Hermes said.

“I would do well to gather my strength then,” Perseus said.

“Indeed,” Athena replied.

· Web viewPerhaps Hades too. In the deepest part of the Aegean Sea, something grows and Hermes has been unable to tell us what it is. ... Butterfly wings.

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