Chapter 36 - The Edge
The Champion had woken up to men pulling him on to a wagon, had felt someone yank the arrow out of his back and apply pressure, felt as they'd douced it in alcohol and brought a hot knife to his skin, searing the wound shut.
The pain from that may have killed a man but, not him, it was like a scratch, an irritable one - one he didn't need to be dealing with right now.
A piece of decoration, nothing more...
Deimos had grabbed on to the Athenian, the want to smash his head in to the man vials and potions next to him almost over taking his want to find Kleon - to make sure the bastard was dead.
Before the Champion had fell, more from shock than anything, he was sure, he'd seen the man run, saw his sister on his tail.
The bastard had shot him in the back like the coward he was.
Deimos hoped his sister had caught up with him, that his death had been slow, painful - hoped the life had been choked out of him, that he'd suffered, that he'd drowned in his own blood.
Letting the Athenian doctor go, Deimos stood up, ignoring the words of the tired and terrified men around him and, found his way back to the battlefield, to where Kleon had been chased away...
His sister, she was nowhere to be seen; the man he'd killed, the general, Brasidas, his body had gone too.
His sister had been so angry about that. Deimos had seen it, the hate, the sadness in her eyes, that want to kill him for it - it wasn't personal. War was war. People died. Men like Brasidas died. Men who went up against him died.
That was how it was, that was how it would always be. There couldn't be any other way.
Deimos followed the path up, finding himself on the beach. At first, he hadn't seen anything, no sign of a fight, no blood but, it was as he looked, towards the setting sun, that he saw someone at the edge, the water lapping over them as the tide came in.
Kleon.
His neck had been broken.
Quick and swift. A death he didn't deserve but, dead none the less..
Deimos left him to the waves, sure they'd find his body eventually, blast him as a coward whod' ran away. Which, it seemed (in his absence anyway0 they'd lost the battle. The Athenians grab for the northern territory had been lost in one full swoop.
But, Deimos did not care for that. He did not care what colour owned what. Deimos had, had his sights on the whole of the Greek world. This war, it was a war for control, nothing else.
A war that would end one day...
There was no place for men like him in the peaceful world so many of them wanted.
So, in that moment, he decided the only way to hold on to himself, was to take what was his, to deal with a past that was trying to destroy everything he was.
Then. Then he could go towards that order he was destined to bring - the Order he'd bring in anyway he could.
What did he have left otherwise...
Eos... Eos...
He had her but, for how long, how long could she live in a world she'd never wanted... How long until she chose a different path that didn't involve him. When would his temper finally snap and Eos lost her life because of it...
He'd find out soon.
He'd take her with him.
He had something he had to do. A place he needed to see for himself.
Not through the small eyes of a crying babe but, the eyes of a grown man.
Leaving what was left of the Athenian scum, telling the cultists guards within, that if they followed him, he would kill them, Deimos took a horse and started riding back towards Athens.
Passing through Malis, Phokis, he'd stopped momentarily so he wouldn't kill his horse and then, as he'd passed through Lokris, he'd taken a small moment to look at the leaders house in which he'd found Melaina in.
Part of him wished he'd left her there, to lie in the gutter with the rats and filth of this world. It would have made everything so much easier, so much less painful. But then, part of him knew it would only be time until he found out the truth about Eos.
The cult had lied to him for years... he wondered if anything they'd said to him was true...
Perhaps his destiny was - no. No.
The artefact had shown him once, the order he could bring, the destiny he was meant to fulfil.
It couldn't have lied to him too - could it...
The artefact from a world lost, from a civilisation his bloodline descended from... a civilisation he'd spent his whole life trying to find, for the cult... every man he'd killed was supposed to lead them that much closer... or maybe it'd just led them further away... the myths he'd heard to open the gates to it... great men had run away from those...
Because that's what it was, that was why they did what they did. To find a power so great, they could control, not just the Greek world but, the whole of it...
Or, it was...
The civil war between the two nations had grown more powerful, the war inside of the cult worse and... the cult had lost their way... No wonder his sister had made them their prey, like a wolf attacking a motherless lamb...
They'd stood no chance - not with her around - but, Deimos wasn't a lamb.
It was just turning morning as the back of Fort Phyle came in to view, and, Deimos already knew something was wrong.
He stopped on the cliff edge, overlooking it, glancing at the carcass of a man on the cliff below, his head torn from his rotten body.
Something feral, something pissed and something only out for blood could have done that.
Then, it had also taken to the Athenian guards who inhabited the fort too.
Their bodies had been torn up, their throats ripped out and their guts dived in to - if only for good measure - all of them surrounding the small building he'd left Eos in...
But, worst of all, was the open door, to the side of that building. The door he'd locked himself - the key of which he had in his robes right now. He'd even wedged it awkwardly so she'd never be able to push or pull her way out - not by herself.
Someone had let her out - and then, a lycaon had torn threw. There was no denying that only Laelaps could have done this. Eos and Laelaps were silent in their killings, but the aftermaths were always so different... Laelaps didn't have the advantage of a quick stab in the back. He left the marks of a beast - especially when he didn't clean up after himself.
If Deimos could be certain of anything though... It was that Eos was not there, not anymore...
Either she'd escaped or been taken - by the looks of the mens bodies, left to face the elements and the scorching Greek sun - she'd escaped but, not even a lycaon could have opened that door. Eos couldn't have - Deimos was sure of it.
And, the lycaon wouldn't have killed all those men without a reason. The one on the cliff, yes, obviously they'd been a spy but, not the ones in the Fort - they were there to keep her in, to protect her, not hurt her - unless their allegiance had changed - and the lycaon knew that.
Deimos turned his horse around.
The letter had said that the lycaon had been seen near Elis but, it had been terribly wrong - perhaps it had only been part of a trap. Perhaps the rotten body on the cliff top had watched his every move - perhaps he'd led the Order straight to her...
But, if the lycaon was alive, if they were together, he'd find them. Sooner or later. Eos was safe with Laelaps - she'd always be safe when he was around.
Deimos had followed what he thought was a trail, a trail left by some sort of beast but, in the end, as he came upon Korinthia - he wasn't sure if he'd been following an old bear or a lycaon...
And, even if there had been small signs of someone else with them, they were light on their feet - just like Eos tried to be.
If there was one thing he knew, it was that there was an outpost that the cult held in the Valley of Judgement and, having lost the trail already, Deimos headed over to it.
Except, it was empty, abandoned -recently by the looks of things - and quickly.
Deimos wandered through; at first, he found nothing but then, he found a trail that led around a corner, to an open grave yard of sorts...
Kneeling down, Deimos looked at the line of men laid out. One of them wore a cultists mask, but the others wore a mask he did not recognise. Their bodies - some had been killed with blades, other with teeth.
Laelaps teeth. Seems he was on the right track - if anything.
But, he didn't understand where the other cultists would have gone. Unless they'd all run away but, then, he was sure they'd been moved. Like he'd said, Laelaps was not one for pretty lines. Which meant that someone had been back.
If he could find where it had happened, it may have gave him more clues but, as he stood up, about ready to do that, when he saw something crumpled on the floor, a letter.
Greetings my friend,
The beast was lost to us near Arkadia, his trail has gone cold but, we will find him and take him from this world. He is far too chaotic, far too unreliable. The girl will be made too choose; let's hope she chooses wisely.
It was Melaina that found him in the empty ruins, stood staring at the letter.
"She didn't choose wisely" Melaina said softly.
Deimos scrunched up the letter and turned, his sword in his hand so quick, it would have sliced her throat open had she been there.
But she wasn't. It was as if she'd never been there at all. Deimos took a step back, scanning the ruins, the fields, the trees. He was sure it had been Melaina.
Deimos followed in the way of her voice but, she was nowhere to be seen. Just gone. Gone like Eos was.
He couldn't believe her though. Not yet. Melaina was with them. He was sure of it. Her. Pyros.
They didn't have her, they couldn't - Laelaps wouldn't let them.
It took two weeks for Deimos to find evidence that Eos had been taken, trails of dead Spartans, Athenians and, cultist guards in his wake... Evidence that only told him that. That she was taken... But, there was never anything on the lycaon... It was almost as if he'd been erased...
Deimos had wiped the blood off his face and started walking.
He didn't know what they wanted with her - he didn't understand how they'd have claims to anything of the cults - not if what he knew about them was true. The Order, the Cult, they were old friends, branched from the same tree - the cult had just found a God to serve instead.
But God, or man. Eos was of no use to them, she wouldn't choose to side with them.
Would she.
Where was Laelaps?
Had he...
No, the damn thing was too stubborn to die...
But, if he had, Eos... it would have broke her heart... maybe more than he had...
And, it was because of all that, Deimos finally found himself atop Mount Taygheto... alone...
He'd searched for Eos and found nothing more. The Order had gone quiet. He'd left men and women, in his wake, to find her and... he'd failed...
And now, now he was stood here; looking over Sparta, looking towards the bone pit at the bottom - where he'd fell to as a baby... where his mater had found him, had tried to save him...
But, it hadn't been enough.
Nothing was ever enough...
It was the eagle that Deimos saw first, circling over his head.
Ikaros, that's what his sister called it... Not as ferocious as a lycaon but... just as annoying - he was sure of it.
Which also, only meant one thing.
He looked up, towards the sky, to the sea beyond... Funny how they'd both end up here.
"Alexios" a woman cried out from behind him, his mater...
"On the edge of the world, a mother calls out to her child. Touching" Deimos tilted his head. This was it.
"Alexios, please" he turned around, Kassandra pulling their mother back as she tried to reach out for him,
"You use that name as if it means something to me" Deimos said, he shrugged, a small smile on his lips. Kassandra had used it too. It meant nothing. It couldn't.
"It's the name your father and I gave you" Myrine said - she sounded so strong, so sure, so certain but, Deimos was just as certain about something as well.
"Was that before or after you brought me to this mountain to die" Deimos asked, he waved his hands at the ruins, at this place - it was pretty, he'd give them that.
"It was the cult" she cried, "I tried to save you. I did everything. The priest told me you were dead" Myrine swallowed back the lump in her throat,
"And they told me you abandoned your son!" Deimos took a step back, shaking his head.
"Alexios, come to me" Myrine took a step forward, her hand out, "we are your family. We can go home" - he didn't think he wanted that anymore - he didn't know what he wanted.
Deimos snorted, "Family? Home?" he laughed, "My sword is my family. The battlefield is my home".
Myrine almost rolled her eyes then, putting her hand on her head as if she was dealing with an impetuant child - maybe she was he'd thought, which only made him smile more.
Although, he had glanced at his sister, who, so far, had said nothing.
Kassandra had caught his eye for just a moment.
Like her brother, she'd never found out where Eos had gone. She'd just vanished completely - the one thing Kassandra had heard of though was her brothers trail of destruction.
Kassandra looked to Myrine, she sighed, "I promised to bring him back mater but, the cult, they've poisoned his mind" she said,
"Promised to bring me back to mater did you. You didn't bring me here" Deimos took another step back, he'd brought himself here, "why don't you tell our mater the truth" Deimos suggested - because it was, it had to be. His life couldn't have been a lie.
"And what truth is that" Kassandra asked,
"That... That I'm the chosen one" Deimos said desperately, pointing at himself, "I'm the one with the destiny. I will bring order to this world". He pointed at Kassandra, "You're nothing, but a mercenary, with a... broken spear",
Kassandra sighed and shook her head, "The cult controls your destiny but, you don't need them. You never did. Together, we can destroy them, people like them and bring peace back to this world",
"Peace?" Deimos shook his head, "and what under Helios would you do with peace. Milk the goats" Deimos laughed, he shook his head, "look at you - oh mighty misthios. You profit from this war just as much as I do" he took a step forward from the edge, his mother visibly relaxing, "you don't want peace. You just don't want to have to deal with me".
Kassandra took a few steps towards him, "What I want - what I've always wanted - is my family",
"Alexios" Myrine said quietly. Deimos looked away for a moment, to the ruins, to the marbled stone, he looked back.
He sighed.
"When I was little, I found a lion cub trapped in a snare. My friend tried to free it...",
Kassandra had heard this story before. Eos had told it to her. Deimos had never forgot it.
"That's when I heard the deadly growl of its mother" Deimos sighed, "I watched as the lioness tore my friend to bloody shreds" he tilted his head, gritting his teeth, his heart starting to race, "Even in the world of beasts, a family. Protects. Its. Young" - the hurt, it was so real, so harsh and, Kassandra could see it, that piece of him inside that Eos had once - the vulnerable one.
Deimos had failed his own son, he'd not been there to protect him, he knew how much it hurt, knew that pain - and, Kassandra had wondered if that was one of the reasons why he hated her so much - because, from what she knew, he'd left Eos that night to run after her instead.
And, having said the words out loud, Deimos was now considering whether he deserved it... Deserved all of it... A man had said that children often follow in their parents foot steps.
"I loved you. I still. Love. You" Myrine cried.
"The one you love is dead. My destiny is clear and", he drew the gleaming golden sword from its sheath, pointing it towards them, "I won't let you get in my way".
Kassandra put her hands out.
"Alexi..." she sighed, Eos had been right, using that name, it was useless, "listen to me. You are my brother. I tried to protect you once and I failed. I will not fail again" Kassandra took a couple tender steps forward.
Deimos turned around and squeezed his eyes shut as Kassandra pulled the spear from her back, holding it out to him.
"Deimos' path ended where it began" the bald man said as he looked in at Eos, "the prices we pay for the greater good are always the hardest ones. You'll understand that soon enough young one. You won't fight it any longer" the man left, putting his hand tenderly on the red haired woman's shoulder before closing over the door.
"He can't be..." Eos sat back, her hands closing tight around the letter, around the words.
"He is" Melaina said, she tilted her head, "he lost sight of you and... he couldn't deal with that...",
"If I'd...",
"Deimos has no place in the world we are going to build" Melaina said, "his path, the Champions path... It would always end where it began... given as a child-",
"He was not given" Eos cried at her, "they took him. They said he was dead Melaina... His family-",
"We were his family. Not them. They could never love a monster like that Eos. I don't think many could - except another monster",
"Kassandra-",
"Kassandra made the last move. She decided Deimos' fait" Melaina said.
"Go away Melaina" the hairy, bearded man said, "you have said enough for the day",
"I've told the truth Glaukos. I should think you should start telling it soon".
Glaukos stood up and came to the bars of his cell,
"Let me out and I'll show you it".
The Order had taken one of the last remaining children of the cult but, it had been ever so unwillingly.
"How long do I need to stay here" Eos asked, "I made my choice. I'm not going to unmake it. They said-",
"Eos. Your choices was never yours to make and... well, things are now a little... difficult". Glaukos wrapped his hands around the bars, if he could reach her, he would have slammed her head against them - there was a reason she stood so far away - she was terrified, terrified of what he would try to do to her - what Eos would do.
Eos glared up at her, her voice quiet as she said.
"I would not let the Cult have him, what makes you think I'll let the Order have this one".
AN: Thank you very much for reading and, as always, I hope you enjoyed! This is only a little one today but, I really enjoy these sorts of chapters where I get to incorporate the main game and then try to interpret what the characters may have been thinking - or my version of the characters anyway! See you next time!