Chapter 5.
Ikelik grabbed the out crop of rock ahead of him and pulled himself up. He reached up for another hand hold sliping on some of the wet rocks. He grabbed a chunk of rock and pulled up, only for the rock to crumble under his hand. "Damn!" he said. "Jess watch it!" Jessica looked up and jumped to the side, dodging the rock and grabbing onto another out crop. Ikelik looked down to see Jessica give him a thumbs up. "Look, I'll use my blades to make hand holds. Use those to climb up." Jessica nodded. "Alright. When your ready." Ikelik took his blades out one at a time, jabbing them into the walls and climbing up. Jessica followed using the blade holes as hand and foot holds.
Ikelik pulled his blades out and jabbed them into the wall one at a time, making a slow climb towards a flat line on the mountain. After about a few minutes, he pulled himself over the edge and forced air into his lungs. He saw Jessica pulling herslef up, he helped her pull herself over the edge. "Why are giants so far up from the ground?" Jessica said, after taking a drag on her cantine. Ikelik stood up and put his blades on his back. "The Titan Gaia is the mother of the giants. It's said that she's taller than some of the worlds largest mountains when she's at her full power. My theory is that the giants live on the mountains to be closer to their mother." Jessica sat on her knees and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Like a babe clinging to their mother." she said. Ikelik looked up as a towering cry pierced the sky.
Jessica stood and listened to the scream. "Some one isn't happy." she said. ikelik looked up at a path towards the source of the sound. "That's good for us, let's go." The two half-bloods drew in a final calm breath and started off up the trail.
They had been jogging for a two hours when another roar peirced the sky, making whatever birds that had been nesting near them scramble off. "Must be getting closer, those giants don't seem to be getting things their way. Let's hurry." "Right." Ikelik led the way up to the top of the path and into a clearing. There seemed to be more than some minor troubles for the giants, unless having your half-blood slaves revolt is considered minor. The women who had been taken for slaves for the giants had started fighting back against there masters, using hand carved spears and staffs.
"Come on!" Ikelik said. "Let's help them out." "Right!" Ikelik took both his blades off his back and jumped at the nearest one, climbing up the leg armor on it and stabbing holes into the chinks as he climbed. "Aargh! First women attack, now gods send help!" Ikelik wove his way up to the giants face and looked him straight in the eye. "I'm not with the gods of Olympus, and I'm not with your motherly titan either." He jumped up in the air and brought both of his blades down the center of his skull Slicing the giant in half down to his torso. When he landed on his feet, the giant's body slowly dissapated into brown dust, the rest of the giants focussed on him.
"You half-blood! You smell different! You are demi god, but smell is different!" A giant said. Jessica jmped up from nearly being squashed by a giant's hands. "But you girly," it said again. "You smell of Olympian." Jessica jumped onto it's hand and stabbed a few holes into it's hand with her hunting knife. "Foolish mortal." her target said, knocking her off. Jessica grunted as she was shaken off and fell on her ankle wrong. "Damn!" she said, clutching her leg. The giant raised it's foot, ready to squash Jessica into oblivion. 'This is it,' she thought. 'I guess you win father. Bastard." A shadow darted in the corner of her eye, she turned to see a figure with dual chain blades leaping out at the giant. 'Lord Kratos?' she thought. The figure sliced off the foot of the giant and landed with his back to her. "Do not touch her giant!" Ikelik roared to the wounded giant.
Jessica looked at the blades in Ikelik's hands, they were the same blades but they were lined with gold and had grown out a bit more, about 3 inches. The giant fell onto it's back, clutching at the stump that had been it's leg. Ikelik looked back at Jessica. "Are you alright?" he asked. Jessica gasped, Ikelik's eyes had narrowed like a cat's and a firey aura was surronding him. "I'm fine, what about you?" she asked. Ikelik turned back to the giant. "A power the Sisters of Fate have given me, a way to unleash incredible power stored in my blades. My father was able to use this sort of power before."
Jessica got into a sitting position, the rest of the giants were being slaughtered by the half-blood women, the only ones were the giant that tried to kill her and one hiding behind him. "You said you would help me father Jessica. Do you wish to live by that oath?" Ikelik asked. Jessica took a swig of nectar and struggled to stand, using her bow as a crutch. "My father wouldn't wouldn't help, he wouldn't even send help. You have given me the chance to have my revenge, I'll help you untill my dying day!" An orange glow grew around Ikelik growing a foot over his head and causing a warm wind to grow around him.
"In the name Kratos, God of War and Slayer of Gods: I banish thee to the darkest pits of Tartarus!" He pushed both of his blades together, causing a blinding golden light. When the light faded, Ikelik was still bathed in orange light his eyes still cat like, but his blades had combined into a 7 ft. sword with both gems embedded into their respected sides. "Feel the power of the son of the God of War!" Ikelik swung his sword and a wave of orange energy shot from the blade, completly destroying the last two giants. Jessica shielded her eyes as the glare blinded her. When she looked back, Ikelik was holding both of the Blades of Fate and was in the middle of sheathing them.
Ikelik turned from the charred ground where the giants had been and turned to help Jessica. "Come one, lean on me." Ikelik wrapped her right arm around his shoulder and helped her walk back to the path. "Wait half-blood." Ikelik stopped and turned. Jessica let go of him and put all her wait on her bow. The women aproached and bowed their heads. "Thank you for helping us. We wish to help you for saving us from the giants. Is there anything we can do?" Ikelik approached and looked at them. There was about a hundred women who had survived their servitude to the giants. "How did you end up here on Nassu?" he asked. The leader of the women stepped up to him. "Punished by the gods, we were to dangerous to keep as soldiers of the gods."
"Forced into exhile because of being what you are." Ikelik said under his breath. The leader bowed her head. "Please son of Kratos, there must be something we can do." Ikelik nodded and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "Serve my father. Kratos is destined to destroy the gods and bring in a new era that the gods of Olympus have tried to stop for a thousand years. Join me, and you van have your revenge on the gods for punishing you." The women talked amongst themselves. From what he heard, most of the women approved but some were unsure.
"Why have we not heard of this Kratos?" one asked. Ikelik folded his arms. "Kratos succeded in killing all of the Olympian gods except for Aphrodite. He had brought what every man had feared, chaos. However Athena some how survived being killed and used the power of Hope from Pandora's Box to kill my father and recreate the Gods of Olympus, the world, and erase Kratos from mortal history. Only the gods know of him and what he did." More murmuring from the group. After a bit of discussing, the leader stepped up to Ikelik. "My name is Telootha. We will aide Lord Kratos in the process of destroying the Gods of Olympus."
Ikelik bowed his head. "I thank you and your people Telootha. Now I must ask something of you." Telootha nodded. "As you will Lord." Ikelik pulled the Nemian Lion's pelt out of his bag. "I need a loom for Lady Arachne to weave me armor out of the Nemian Lion's pelt." Telootha nodded and gestured from one of the women. "Sayla, find a loom and break it down for travel." Sayla nodded and ran off. Jessica sat down on a rock, rubbing her sore leg. "Do you need help m'lady?" a youg girl asked. Jessica turned to see a girl no older than 12 standing near her. "Uh, I'm fine, but I might need a splint for my ankle." The girl nodded. "Be right back m'lady."
The girl ran off, leaving her there. She took a swig from her water cantine and swished it around before spitting it on the ground, washing out a bit of blood. "Here you are m'lady." The girl was back and handed her some cloth and and a smooth peice of wood. Jessica took them. "Thank you, uh, what's your name?" she asked. The girl smiled up at her. "Tailos, m'lady." Jessica smiled. "Tailos, that's a nice name." The girl smiled and walked off back to the group.
"Are there any male half-bloods on the island?" Ikelik asked. Telootha shook her head. "No, something on this island drew them crazy and they all drowned themselves off about 2 years ago." The young half-blood nodded. "Once your girl comes back, we'll head back down to my ship. Once Arachne finished with the pelt, we're heading for the island forge of Hephaestus." Telootha nodded. "Here she comes now." Sayla ran up with a compacted loom. Ikelik took it and headed for where Jessica was talking to Tailos. "Let's go." he said to them. Telootha whistled and waved for her warriors to follow her.
Ikelik had Jessica lead the half-blood women to the Ghosts of Sparta while he took the loom to Arachne. He knocked on the door and watch as the door fell to the ground. "Yes we still haven't fixed the door since your last visit." Ikelik walcked in and placed the loom in front of him. "Lady Arachne, I have brought you the loom you have requested." Arachne walked out of the shadows and looked over the loom. "Excellent, Spartan. Now give me the pelt and I shall weave you an invunrable garment." Ikelik took the pelt from his bag and layed it next to the loom. "How long will this take Lady Arachne?" he asked. Arachne took the pelt into her human arms and rubbed it between her fingers. "About 12 hours. Come tommorrow afternoon, and the pelt will be ready for you Spartan."
Ikelik nodded and left the house, pulling the door up after him. He headed back to the shore where the ship was moored and waved to the crew. A boat was lowered into the water and was roared to shore by Jessica. "The women are all settled in, Ikelik. Did Arachne say how long the pelt would take?" she asked. Ikelik jumped into the boat and sat down. "She said to come back tommorrow, after that We'll set sea for the forges of Hephaestus to get a Hydra scale forged into armor."
The 2 rowed back to the ship, to be greated by Aphrodite's statue. "Kratos has nearly reached the edge of Tartarus, you may not be there to meet him. But you will be with him for your first major offensive." Ikelik nodded. "Thank you mother. Arachne is preparing the Nemian Lion's pelt. As soon as she's done, we'll head to the island forges of your husband." "Very well, I shall inform him of your arrival." The aura from Aphrodite's statue faded, leaving only the sound of the crew working. Ikelik went down to his cabin and sat down in a chair. The exhaustion from using his rage as a weapon had drained him, almost to the point of killing himself.
At least Jessica was alright, at the moment that was all that-. He stopped himself. What was he thinking? He barely knew this girl yet he felt drawn to her, was this because of Aphrodite's gift? He shook his head and picked up his journal, writing in detail about the new ability with the Blades of Fate. He made a note to talk to the Sisters about what other powers her could use. When he finished writing he picked up a book about Aphrodite's magic. he had to know about the feelings he had for his friend.