Chapter 27: Safe

Adriana watched as the flying woman did another pass. The behemoth shook its head wildly, but she zipped around and brought her aura of fire to its mossy back. She stabbed it once more with her spear, but there was no penetrating the thick hide. Not by her.

“The Children of Stephanos?” She whispered.

If anyone in the world could be considered truly good, they were some of the few. Followers of the very first sun God hundreds of years ago, he’d been a favorite of the people and blessed many women with his children, all of whom shared his Divinity. Their numbers ran the gamut between natural descendants and people who wanted to make a difference, and bring light to a dark world.

“I could be wrong,” said Davos. He wobbled in place, but Adriana caught and steadied him. “Fuck, Synto hits hard.”

The docks were in complete chaos. People continued on away from the monster, and some ran for their ships, knowing that something of that size couldn’t possibly swim. The few people standing around were either gawkers, beggars, or potential combatants. At least, Adriana hoped there were. The Children of Stephanos could probably handle this, but it didn’t mean she wanted to sit around and watch.

“Are you okay on your own?” she asked.

“You can’t be serious,” Davos groaned. “Neither of us are fit for a fight, and they’ve got it in hand. Look!”

The archer drew back his drawstring once more, but this time an arrow of fire appeared. He loosed the firebolt and struck the beast in its mossy beard. It stuck and caught, but didn’t spread. The monster reared up on its back legs and slammed down hard. The ground chipped and cratered, and the shockwave almost knocked them off their feet. The archer jumped ten feet into the air at the moment of impact and hung there a second before loosing another arrow.

The behemoth bellowed, turning Adriana’s guts to jelly. She couldn’t move for a second, and neither could the archer now that he landed. It ignored the small woman burning its back and charged the stunned young man. She tried to scream out a warning, but her breath caught in her throat. The archer looked on as the creature barreled towards him, tusks lined up to gore him.

At the last second, a shining, red and gold figure in scale armor blazed across the docks and hurled himself at the beast. He flew through the air before colliding into the side of the behemoth. He didn’t stop it, but it went off course and past the archer. The tusks missed him by inches, and he took his opportunity to get the hell away from it.

The new man held out his hand and an obsidian spear seven feet long appeared. He planted himself in the ground and thrust his weapon where the creature’s legs met the body. Unlike his teammate up above, he was strong enough to pierce through its thick hide. The behemoth cried out in pain again and swung his head around.

“Stay here if you want, but I’m going to help!” Adriana said. She burst forward, ignoring the lingering effects of the venom.

The armor-clad man dismissed his Spirit Spear and caught the tusks by the sides. He held on and managed to hold his ground against the beast. How powerful could he be? She ignored him and jumped onto the creature’s trunk, straddling the spiked ball. It hurt, but it would hurt more if it managed to slam it with her there. She grabbed hold of the trunk with both hands and dug deep for power.

Flashfire answered her call, gathering in her hands and immediately discharging into the creature’s skin. In one huge, scalding flash, Adriana fell, the trunk coming with her. She landed awkwardly on the spiked ball and cried out in pain. Even after she rolled off, she couldn’t quite move right.

The behemoth reared up again. Adriana looked up and realized it was going to slam down on top of her in seconds. Then a gust of wind sent her rolling across the ground, just in time. She picked herself back up in time to see Davos join -- and then exit -- the fray.

The stomp kept her from getting back on her feet, but it didn’t seem to matter to the armored man. He summoned his spirit spear once more and thrust it straight up into the stump where its trunk had been. It sank into the charred flesh easily and forced it back a few steps. If nothing else, he got its attention.

With another roar, the creature threw its head about and sent the man flying towards the water. He rolled to his feet and called out, “Iris, now!” before beating on his armor to make noise and draw attention.

The behemoth may have been focused on Adriana at first, but in its pain it frenzied and charged at its foe. Slowly first, then picking up speed as it went to gore the warrior. The moment it would’ve connected, the man disappeared and the behemoth stepped off dry land and fell into water deep enough to cover three quarters of it. It kept moving forward, but at a snail’s pace. It was too dense to swim, and could hardly move. Before long, it stopped moving entirely.

The sun warrior and his friends gathered together. There were the four of them there, and a fifth apart from the group who spoke to Davos. They didn’t wear a uniform, but their clothes were all red and gold. Now that they’d succeeded in fighting off the monster, they turned their attention to Adriana, who was too excited to be worried.

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“That was incredible!” she shouted, walking right up to them. “Was that an illusion you used?”

The leader took off his helmet, revealing short, cropped, auburn hair, a handsome face with a strong jaw, startlingly blue eyes, and just a hint of stubble. “What’s your name?”

“Adriana,” she answered as she stopped just a couple feet away. “And yours?”

The team considered her for a second, before the short, blond, flying woman rolled her eyes. “Judging from the flaming hair, you must be the one we’re looking for,” she said in a tone Adriana didn’t care for.

“Nope,” she answered. “And I’m still waiting for names. Who the hell are you?”

The leader sighed and said, “My name is Lucas, and this is Evangelina -- “

“Eva!” the blond snapped.

“Eva. To my left are Tobias and Iris, and over there talking to your friend is Cora. And I’m pretty sure you are the one we’re looking for. You saw Hessius fall, and took something from him.”

Adriana’s blood ran cold. Apollo’s warning whispered into her ear, telling her they’d kill her and take her power if they had to. She drew herself up and set her jaw. “I didn’t take anything. He gave me the last of his power, and told me to fight the Maw.”

A ripple passed through the group, full of shock, grief, and disbelief. “You were really there?” The young woman named Iris asked in a voice just barely above a whisper. She was in her teens, slender and pretty, with dark hair and features. She looked too soft to be among a group of warriors.

“I was,” said Adriana, keeping herself sounding strong. “He fell to the Maw, and he told me to go to his temple and tell them…you, what happened.” There was no way she’d ever forget that night, and how it had felt to watch a God die. The responsibility fell to her, and she shuddered all over again.

“Well, damn,” said the archer, Tobias. He rubbed his eyes with a low groan. “Then it looks like it was a trap after all.”

“A trap?” asked Adriana.

Lucas’ expression darkened. “An assault on Dahkres Island, where the Maw gathered with her followers, to meet and discuss how to better kill us all. And you were there, and saw it happen? What happened after he fell?”

“I don’t know,” Adriana answered honestly. “The mountain fell on top of us, and I had to fight to get out of the cave system there. Davos would know better.” She pointed over to him, still talking to a round-faced woman about his age, with a wicked grin on her face as he said something for her ears only.

“Cora!” Lucas called out. “Bring your new friend over. We’ve much to discuss.”

They came together, walking hand in hand. Adriana raised an eyebrow, but Davos shrugged and broke apart to stand by her side. “Just getting to know our new friend Cora,” he said. “She fixed my head pretty quick.”

“You owe me for that,” said Cora, in a lower, huskier voice than Adriana would’ve expected. “If I spend the rest of the day nursing a headache the size of that fucking beast, I’m taking it out on you.”

Davos grinned and bowed. “I’ll make up for it any way I can, naturally. But before you do, could you check out my friend here? She’s getting over a bad venom, and I did what I could, but…”

Cora came up and took Adriana’s hand without waiting for permission. Her eyes went unfocused as she ran through the myriad aches and pains built up over the past couple of weeks. She clucked her tongue and said, “You have been in some trouble, haven’t you? Hold still, this might tickle.”

Tickle was, oddly enough, an appropriate way to describe the sensation of her insides being gently scraped clean by an outside presence. Cora flinched and broke apart with a pained smile. “Good as new, right?”

“Did you take it into yourself?” Adriana blurted out.

“Don’t worry, I have accelerated healing of my own,” Cora waved her off. “But if you get a mortal wound, you’re on your own.”

“Honestly, fair,” said Davos.

Lucas cleared his throat. “Now that we have all the introductions out of the way and we know who you are, we’re going to have to ask you to come with us.”

Immediately, Adriana’s hackles raised. “We’re prisoners now?”

“No,” said Lucas, “we just -- “

Adriana jabbed a finger into his intricate, gorgeous armor. “I got this Divinity fair and square, and I’m not giving it up for anyone, not you, not Apollo, and not Synto, and -- “

“Hold it, hold it,” Lucas tried again with a grimace. “It’s not like that.”

“ -- and if you try, you’re in for a fight,” Adriana finished. Now that Cora had taken her injuries, she felt like she could take on the world. Maybe even a team of Heroes and Demigods, if she could surprise them.

“Could someone else handle this?” Lucas asked, annoyed.

“Look, you fiery-headed bitch,” Eva started.

“Someone else?” Lucas groaned.

Tobias stepped up. “You want Divinity right? Power?”

“Obviously,” said Adriana, but her attention was his.

Tobias smiled and held his hands up to show he wasn’t armed. The effect suffered, knowing he could summon his Spirit Bow whenever, but he was closer to Adriana’s age and had a friendly, guileless face. “Then how about you come with us, be our guest at the local outpost for a night or two, and tell us your story. You give us a chance to convince you to come with us to Hessiopolis and I’ll give you some spare Divinity I was saving. Yeah?”

It sounded like a trap. Logically, she knew they were just playing her to get her to come along. But much like her ruse with Synto and Apollo, it worked. “What kind of Divinity?” she asked.

Tobias beamed. “Huntsman’s divinity, at least seven percent, upon last appraisal.”

She looked to Davos, who shrugged. It was on her to decide. “And if I want to leave?”

Lucas answered. “Then we won’t stop you. We just want…need to know everything that happened. Will you come with us?”

On the one hand, they could be lying. On the other, she’d wanted Huntsman Divinity for a while now. In some ways, it would be like getting what Mykos had stolen from her.

“Fine,” she said. “Two days tops. If you make me regret it, I’ll make you regret it.”