The morning started bright and cold. After ablutions and breakfast, I went into the room I claimed as my office. It had an antique writing desk with delicate curved legs and carvings of leaves and flowers. My desk chair was equally as delicate with a straight back and a petit point seat cover. Books lined one wall; many first editions I captured from my bookstore. A pink and white Persian rug covered the floor and two floral upholstered wingback chairs rested in front of my desk. The office was cozy and very feminine with wallpaper covered in pink and lavender flowers and birds.
Titan returned to Olympia after following Circe for two days. Nike announced his arrival and I told her to immediately send him in. He took one step inside my office door, bowed from the neck and I motioned for him to enter.
“I have found her lair,” he announced. “She is in the Andes Mountains in a valley as secluded as your valley in the Caucasus mountains. She led me all over the globe trying to cover her trail, but ultimately, Circe is limited in her abilities. Her strength lies in her numbers, many of whom are humans. The dark creatures who have joined her ranks are primarily with her for what they can gain and not out of love or devotion. I suspect many will bolt as soon as the going gets tough.”
“Thank you, Titan. Give information as to her location to Eli. And you look exhausted. Get some food and rest.”
“Eli already has the information. And yes, I will rest now. My Lady.” He gave me another courtly bow from the neck and then exited my office. Bill and Eli, ever close to me, entered together a few moments later.
“What is the word?” Eli asked me.
“We have her location, so no more lingering. Call Ares and Zeus for a strategy meeting. Also, Eli, call Hermes back to us. I want my eleven to meet with me in one hour. Zeus, Ares, and Hermes need to meet with me as soon as you contact them.”
“I’ll handle it,” Eli said and he exited my office.
Bill put his tall frame into one of the chairs in front of my desk. “Bill, when the fighting starts, I want you to stay here with Themis, Metis, and Mnemosyne, I told him.
“Why?” he asked.
“This is a battle that you will not be able to participate in.”
“And where will you be? At the front lines? My job is to protect you.”
“I will not be permitted at the front lines, either.”
“So you will be safe in the rear. So will I. By your own instructions, I will stand by your side, always. If you want me to be non-combatant, then okay. But you will not go to the field of battle alone.”
The forcefulness of his declaration took me by surprise. I nodded my acquiescence. “Okay, then. Welcome to the fight.”
Eli, Ares, Hermes, and Zeus entered as one. “I have an idea,” Ares said as soon as he stepped inside.
“I was rather hoping you did,” I told him.
“Eli can give us the precise location and we can all transport in covering all sides at the same time. Also, you, Athena, can erect a ward to keep her and her followers from escaping.”
Eli said, “Titan got a really good look at her fortification. She is relying on deceit to keep others out, thinking she has hidden her camp from all prying eyes. Breaching her perimeter will be a simple task.”
I nodded and then asked, “Ares, won’t splitting your troops into four groups make them less effective? Remember General Custer and Thermopylae.”
He shook his head negatively and said, “We only need to split them in half. Retreat to the east and west is impossible in her valley. Also, we will have the advantage of high ground.”
“Circe’s witches will use metaphysics to fight your troops,” I said.
Ares nodded and then said, “That is the one thing I have trained your warriors to defend themselves against. Most will be able to withstand her onslaughts,” Ares said. “I concentrated less on the use of weaponry and took a page from your book, Athena. Fight defensively.”
I was flattered that the greatest strategist of all time planned to copy my maneuvers from ages past.
I said, “I want as few of my people as possible to be killed. It hurts too much when they die. Also, I don’t want Circe’s gang to die needlessly.”
“Understood.”
The time passed quickly and soon my counselors waited in my conference slash throne room. My eleven--Helios, Bill, Ares, Hermes, Titan, Metis, Mnemosyne,
Themis, Dionysus, Apollo, and Artemis--plus Zeus waited for me to be seated before they all sat in their respective seats. Only Zeus remained standing as he didn’t have an official chair at my conference table.
I began. “We are ready for battle with Circe and her company. Themis and Metis, you will stay here at Olympus with a small contingency to hold this ground for us. Bia and Boreas will remain here with you. I will establish strong wards and no one but my followers will be able to enter. Any wounded will be sent here immediately. Hermes, you will stay here as our physician and our messenger.” He nodded. “Ares...” I said to encourage him to lay out his plan.
He produced a large map and hung it on the wall of the conference room. “This is the valley where we will meet Circe and her army. The east side and the west side of the valley are too steep and rocky to afford an escape on foot but that also means, we cannot approach from either side. We will have to come in from the north and the south. We just need to make sure not to attack our own people. As corny as it sounds, all our troops are going to dress in Athenian yellow and gold so we can be distinguished from Circe’s witches.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Athena, you and Bill will wait behind the lines on the south side. Apollo will lead his half of the army from the north and I will advance from the south.”
I nodded and then said, “I will need to go in first to set up the wards. I will have to disable her wards, first.”
“You can go in invisibly like you did in Phobos’s house in Eastover,” Ares said. “Circe will be alerted as soon as her wards start to tumble, so we will have to be ready to move quickly.” Because he was in charge of the army, I deferred to Ares instead of trying to be a warrior queen.
“A thought, Ares,” Zeus said. “We need to put our wards in place as Circe's are coming down. Athena, you can begin by placing your wards over hers, then you dismantle hers, and then you reinforce your wards.”
“Will you be available to assist me?” I asked Zeus.
“Of course. Also, I suggest we keep Eli with us so he can watch the battle and let us know of any weaknesses. That information can be immediately passed on to Ares.”
“Good idea,” I said to Zeus. Then I looked at Ares and asked, “Are you agreeable?”
“Yes. I like it,” my general reported. Then, “One more thing. Hades’s army is on standby if we need them. However, after I looked over Circe’s army through Titan’s eyes, I don't think we will need them. I’m not bragging. Just stating a fact.”
“Sounds good. Releasing so many of his spirit creatures from the Underworld is not something to be done frivolously,” I said. I also had another concern. “Ares, Circe saw me when I walked through Phobos’s house invisibly.”
“Because you walked right into the room where she was standing. She won’t be looking up at rocks near the top of the peaks surrounding her valley,” Ares replied.
Zeus said, “We can make sure of that by creating a distraction, like a rockslide on the opposite side of the valley.”
Ares smiled in his father’s direction. I sensed they began to understand each other for the first time in their long lives. Or at least, Ares started to understand his father for the first time.
Ares said, “Because of the time difference, we need to confront Circe in at least ten hours.”
“What time will that be in the Andes?” I asked.
“Just after dawn,” Helios replied.
“She is weakest in the middle of the day,” I said. “Perhaps we should delay until around noon.”
Ares nodded his agreement. “That will work for me. That means we will go from here at 2 am,” Helios said.
I nodded and then said, “Ares, get your army ready to go. Everyone, get some rest today and eat plenty of food. We will all meet here at midnight.”
I was sound asleep when the ground on the island heaved upwards. The jolt of the earthquake shook me awake and I held onto the bed for support as the earth continued to tremble.
I heard a deep roar in my ears and Eli shouted to me, “Athena, get outside, now. The house is cracking.” I grabbed a blanket from the bed and my long duster that was casually draped over a chair beside the French door. I ran onto the patio and fell to the ground as the earthquake persisted I struggled to my feet. My power partners and my Dad appeared close to me and we all ran towards the bay to get away from the house that buckled and broke. I heard metal shriek, people scream, and wooden beam snap like kindling.
My head pounded with agony as people who were in my care died. I felt my partners bolstering my flagging energy. With their help, the pain was lessened but in no way, did it go away.
The house by the bay listed to one side. Themis, Titan, Metis, and Mnemosyne appeared beside me followed closely by Dionysus, Apollo, and Artemis. Dionysus held Ariadne by the hand.
I fell again and stayed on the ground as I watched the earth across the island ripple like waves on a pound.
I heard Titan’s shout deep inside the house that sagged and crumbled. “Get out, now! I can’t hold this up forever.”
“No! He is supporting the structure while people escape.” I tried to stand up on the unstable ground beneath my feet but only made it to my knees. Eli grabbed me from behind.
He yelled in my ear above the roaring sound that enveloped us. “He will transport out of there once everyone is safe. He doesn’t need your help. You can’t even stand up.” As if to prove his point, we both fell back to the ground.
One by one, my followers streamed out of the house and finally, Titan appeared beside me.
“I think everyone is out,” he said to me, breathlessly.
“Four are dead,” I told him. “I don't know who.”
“We’ll find out in a few minutes,” Hermes told me.
Suddenly, all was still. No sea birds called, no insects chirped, no wind blew. Dust and evergreen needles settled slowly to the ground. Nature took a deep breath. The growling of the earth stopped as suddenly as it began.
We all rose to our feet and looked around at the destruction wrought by the earthquake. Several deep cracks in the native rock remained as evidence. Trees were uprooted and the water in the bay sloshed back and forth. A flock of seagulls rose into the sky and flew away to the east and mainland Japan. My house was a pile of rubble and the barn leaned to one side.
Before I could fully assess the extent of the damage, I watched as the water in the bay retreated. “We have to get to high ground,” I said and then I transported everyone I could see to the highest peak in the center of the island. I hoped it was high enough to protect us. This new danger was real and menacing, and as destructive as the earthquake had been.
The water flooded back into the bay and rapidly filled it to capacity. It spilled over onto the yellow sand and buried the small evergreens under foaming water. Still, it kept coming and the water surged toward the house, ripping it from its foundations, the barn, the bonsai garden, and most of the yurts vanished under the swirling water. A second wave followed the first, and then a third, fourth and fifth.
The highest tsumani wave was probably less than 30 feet high, but it was enough to wipe much of my island clean.
Worse than the tsunami’s destructive power, many of my followers died in the conflagration. I was weak from the metaphysical onslaught and fought to breathe in the aftermath. Strong hands held me and Apollo’s grip forced me to focus on my life instead of theirs. They didn’t all die at the same moment, but one after the other fell as if they were dominos. I felt my partners swirling in my head in an effort to protect me from the deaths of so many.
I vomited blood and held my head tightly together with trembling hands. Before I could fully assess the damage or count the dead, I fainted. Apollo’s failsafe acted in my favor, again.
When I opened my eyes, I was still on the top of the hill surrounded by several worried faces. I took a deep shuddering breath and wiped the tears from my face. Helios and Zeus helped me to stand.
“How many are dead?” Zeus asked me.
“Over a hundred,” I told him in a sob. “Can she do that? Can Circe cause an earthquake?”
“I can and so can Poseidon,” Zeus said, “So it seems reasonable to think she can, too.”
“Damn witch,” I said, softly. “Let’s go see who needs help,” I said.
“Are you sure she did it?” Bill asked me.
Ares replied, “I felt her. She disrupted the sea floor just outside of the wards. She caused an upthrust in the crust. The epicenter of the quake was very close to this island and that is why the tsunami came in so quickly after the quake.”
Carefully, we walked down the slope to where my house used to stand. Any person who didn’t transport out of the house or away from the yurts was swept out to sea when the tsunami waters receded.
Boreas ran up to us and told Eli, “The horses were in the barn when the wave hit. I can’t find any of them. Not yours or the soldier’s mounts.”
I felt the stab of pain lance Eli’s heart. After so many years of carefully protecting his horses, they were lost. He stood beside the waters of the bay that were still much higher than normal and whistled loudly with his fingers in his mouth. I felt the earth tremble and thought for a moment it was an aftershock, but the four horses thundered toward their master. Somehow, they escaped the destruction. They could all fly independently without Eli’s help, so maybe, they simply flew to safety away from the water. Helios hugged each horse and petted them, and kissed them. He, too, had tears streaming down his cheeks, but his were tears of happiness.