"BEGIN," ALEKTOR SHOUTS, snapping a pliant twig against his thigh with a crack. Enyo stumbles on the loose gravel and falls to one knee, a mistake of her own doing. You fall, you die. Deimos' words echo in her mind. Syntyche sees it as an opening —she rears back and swinging her fist at the girl's temple. Enyo catches the punch midair, and Syntyche's eyes widen. Bones in her hand grind and creak as Enyo bends back her fist, rising from the ground.
Planting her feet firmly in the gravel, Enyo balls her hand into a fist and swings —her knuckles collide with her opponent's nose producing an audible crunch. Syntyche stumbles backward, blood running over her lips and chin from the broken nose and tears well up in her eyes —she'd been victorious so many times she'd forgotten what pain felt like. Using the distraction to her advantage, Enyo charges toward the other girl, head and shoulder lowered.
The impact forces Syntyche to her back and then Enyo is pummeling her face with no restraint. Deimos and Polyas share a look —months of helping and training the scrawny little girl had paid off. Elena charges into the chalked ring, leaping onto Enyo's back with a fierce yell. It gives the other girl a chance to stand and wipe the blood from her nose and mouth. Syntyche lands a blow to Enyo's ribs that once would have sent her to the ground, now it just makes her angry. She ducks beneath the second punch and kicks —her heel strikes something soft and is followed by a shrill cry.
Elena bends her arm beneath Enyo's chin —a desperate chokehold, but to no avail. She bends, reaching behind to grip onto Elena's shirt and sides. With a shout, Enyo pulls free of the chokehold and tosses the girl from her back outside of the chalked ring. Polyas holds fast to Elena's shoulder, preventing her from reentering the match —there would still be time for her to face Enyo.
Enyo throws up her arms, protecting her face from a series of quick jabs. Dropping down, she sweeps her leg around knocking Syntyche off her feet again and pounces —hands pinning her opponent down. There's a moment when Syntyche writhes, unwilling to accept defeat but when Alketor snaps the twig against her legs she knows the match is over. Enyo may have won her first victory, but the true competition had just begun.
ENYO LOSES TRACK of how long she has been in Phokis. Six, perhaps even seven, springs have passed since she'd been taken from Athens. The scared, scrawny little girl who disembarked from the Aerion is a distant memory. Enyo is tenacious and dauntless and strong.
With Deimos at her side, the two of them are unstoppable. They are undefeated against Polyas and Elena, Kyberniskos and Syntyche. It becomes clear who will be the Cult's champions when the final trial commenced, but until then Chrysis will act as though her children still have equal chances.
On a rare occasion, Alektor releases them all from the training grounds early —he has imperative business to tend to outside of Phokis. Despite his reigning cruelty, even he knows the strongest of warriors still need time to rest. Until he returns, training will be optional for the aspiring champions.
Deimos, Polyas, and Enyo huddle around a fire —frying rashers of salt-cured meat from a wild boar they'd killed two moons past for a morning meal. The others are strapping on greaves and bracers that are still too large. Chrysis reminds them they will grow into the armor one day. Rumors speak of a shipwreck on the coast —a merchant ship transporting lions and other beasts to the arena in Phepka, but was stranded during a storm before even making it out of the Gulf of Korinth. Syntyche and Kyberniskos want to see if the rumors are true and earn new pelts if they are.
"Deimos!" Elena calls.
He looks over his shoulder then silently returns to the slices of boar rendering in the iron pan. "I'll be there soon," Deimos responds. Polyas and Enyo glance at one another across the fire —they had always been gentler and weaker than the others. It's a mystery why Deimos prefers their company over the others. When the boar is finished, Deimos takes his slices then rises and motions for Polyas and Enyo to come along.
The others are waiting outside the villa. Both Elena and Syntyche's expressions fall when they see Enyo tottering alongside Deimos. "Don't let her come," Syntyche laments, but Deimos' harsh glare is enough to silence the girl. Enyo isn't sure what she'd done to earn Deimos' favor, but she had also earned bitter enemies in Syntyche and Elena.
Compared to Athens, Phokis is in a perpetual state of autumn. Leaves are always painted with warm hues of gold and red, flittering from half-bare branches to the ground. Blue sky peeks through the canopy of bright leaves, though grey clouds are gathering in the distance. A storm is coming —Enyo can feel it in the wind when it changes direction. Their group pushes through the forest to the south. On a ridge, they spot the shipwreck just offshore. Crates, barrels, and empty pots bob in the water —washing up on the pale sand beach.
Elena spots the trapped lion cub first as they descend the ridge toward the ship —its foot caught in a hunter's snare, the metal teeth digging into the cub's hindquarters. The others follow in Elena's steps, but Enyo stalls and grips onto the thin leather baldric strung across Deimos's shoulders before he can enter the clearing too. This just a cub, still too young to fend for itself and unless its mother was killed, then a lioness still lurks nearby.
"Stop," Enyo tells him voice low. He looks over his shoulder, frowning. "Listen." In the underbrush opposite of she and Deimos is a low growling —a lioness unwilling to abandon her cub. Even beasts knew to protect their young. Before either of them can call out to the others the lioness leaps from the underbrush, sharp teeth bared.
The lioness rears back on two legs and swipes a massive paw at Elena. It must have caught her arm because the girl yelps and drops her sword. Polyas and Kyberniskos push the beast back with their short spears, but it only serves to make the lioness angrier. Deimos shifts, hand moving to his sword but Enyo shakes her head —if the others are smart, they will run.
Kyberniskos' spear bites into the lioness' flank, drawing blood. He pulls the spear back and thrusts it forward again, missing. The lioness attacks again —claws sinking into the arrogant boy's calf. Polyas drops his spear and calls for a hasty retreat. Elena is already halfway up the embankment with the others trailing behind. Syntyche grasps onto a loose root and her footing slips. Unable to recover, she slides down the hillside back into the domain of the lioness. The beast pounces, teeth sinking into Syntyche's throat before she can even scream. There's a crack and then her body goes limp.
Deimos and Enyo watch in silence as the lioness tears Syntyche to bloody shreds. Despite better judgment after having seen what the lioness was capable of, Enyo darts into the clearing, sliding next to the cub. He wants to shout at her for being reckless, but doing so would end badly for both of them. She works quickly, pulling on the trap until there's a gap large enough for the cub's leg to slip free.
Taking the trap with her, she rolls back into the underbrush where Deimos waits. She'd been so quiet, the lioness had not even lifted her head from Syntyche's corpse. The cub limps to its mother and immediately takes to a teat. Deimos grips onto her arm and hauls her back to the main road. They take one last look down the gully where the lioness now cracks and chews on Syntyche's bones. Chrysis will not be happy.
"Where were you two?" Kyberniskos shouts. "Cowering in the bushes?" He sneers. Deimos steps in front of Enyo and rears back —fist connecting with the boy's nose. I'll swallow my blood before I swallow my pride Deimos had told her one night while strength training.
Enyo steps between the two boys. Deimos pauses his assault, and Polyas restrains Kyberniskos with Elena's help. "We freed the cub," she announces, throwing the trap down as proof.
POLYAS TRIES TO stop her from leaving the villa at such a late hour, but Enyo does not listen. She'd set off heading northwest. She visits Lalaia often during the hours not consumed by training or learning the ways of war. Today had been routine —like all the others— most was spent sparring and with a bow in hand. The roar of the water echoes through the woods and along the road. Kephisos Spring is always a welcome sight.
Shedding the bow and quiver on her back and the kopis on her hip, Enyo then slips from the sweat-stained chiton and into the cool water. She holds her breath and sinks below the surface. There are times when she has wondered what should happen if she stays in the water for eternity, but the burning in her lungs always brings her back to the surface. It's calm below the water —unlike life. When Enyo resurfaces, she's no longer alone.
Deimos is there. He'd followed her after hearing the commotion she and Polyas made in the villa courtyard. Enyo can't say she's surprised to see him —as of late it seems they are rarely separated from one another. She circles him. The muscles in his back are tense, and a dark dusting of hair covers his chest now. Chrysis had scolded them both the last time she caught them together like this. "We're not supposed to do this anymore," she reminds him.
"What?" Deimos challenges —pushing back his soaked dark brown hair. "Bathe?"
"Together," Enyo clarifies, rolling her eyes. "We're no longer children." By society's standards, she was a woman now —fit to marry and bear children. Should she have remained in Athens, that would have been her fate but now her body is a weapon. Deimos stares at her. Years have carved delicate features from a rounded face and turned the straight and harsh lines of her body into soft curves. No, he thinks we are not children anymore.
Enyo wades to waterfall feeding the upper spring and pulls herself onto a rock beneath the flowing water —rinsing the oil from her hair. There's fire in her hair, and it shines like a copper coin. Elpenor had told her it was the mark of the gods' favor —and the constellation Virgo made of freckles on her left thigh. Deimos leans against the same rock and unwittingly, Enyo throws one of her legs over his shoulder.
Carefree moments are hard to come by, especially since everyone had grown older. Deimos tugs on Enyo's ankle and leans his head back. "Chrysis has arranged the final trial," he announces. The final trial. Chrysis and Alektor had both talked about the last test —the most difficult. Only two would emerge and be able to call themselves champion.
"Not much of a trial for you is it?" She notes. He was the strongest in comparison to Polyas and Kyberniskos —Enyo cannot recall the last time he'd lost a match. The bruises and cuts he acquires are nothing in comparison to what the other boys look like at the end.
He turns his head into her thigh and spots the dark freckles that form Virgo. "Shouldn't be for you either," Deimos replies. Syntyche had been Enyo's only real competition, and the lioness had taken care of her. Elena was sloppy and predictable —two disadvantageous traits. Promise you'll win he wants to say but the words are stuck in his throat.