“Then let’s go out and meet him,” said Henry. He stood and hefted the shield. Another spear launched through the air and he jumped toward it and leaned in. It bounced off harmlessly, and he laughed out of sheer surprise.
“This shield you left me isn’t half-bad,” he shouted, and in the next second Achilles was there, running up on them, faster than Athena remembered even in paranoid nightmares.
She braced, ready to help, maybe to toss him like she’d tossed him in Australia. She might have done it, despite the damage he’d have done to her, if it hadn’t been for Thanatos’ shout.
“Cassandra! Don’t!”
When Athena turned the girl was running off into the trees, east and down the mountain.
“Cassandra!” Athena shouted, and glanced between Cassandra and Achilles. He’d be on Henry in a blink.
“Go,” Odysseus said, and his sword was beside her cheek. “Just don’t go far.”
Athena turned and ran.
* * *
Henry didn’t breathe. There simply wasn’t time. The first blow that Achilles landed rang the shield like a cathedral bell and sent Henry wheeling backward. Panic fluttered through his limbs. The impact told his legs to buckle, but that wasn’t an option. If he lost his feet, it was all over.
He stepped back, and his ankle turned on a root. He went down and landed hard on his hip.
This is it.
Achilles’ sword would slice through his exposed neck, right above the protection of the shield. It would shear his head clean off, foolishly as a turtle caught out of its shell. Henry wondered if he’d feel it.
“Just like back in Troy.” Achilles laughed. “You stumble and fall.”
“Back in Troy I was tricked,” Henry said. He got his legs under him and stood, stifling the urge to use the shield to help. The damned thing was so heavy. It pulled his shoulder down despite the adrenaline. “Back in Troy I was alone.”
Odysseus and Andie closed in cautiously on both sides. Achilles kept his eyes on Henry, as though he was trying to decide whether Henry’s accepting help was practical, or cowardly.
The sword in Henry’s hand was slick with sweat. Even if he could swing it, it might fly from his grip like a wriggling fish.
Achilles didn’t look the least bit concerned that Odysseus and Andie had him cornered. He looked every bit the warrior, right down to the blond hair ruffling in the wind. He didn’t carry a shield of his own. Probably because he intended to strip his old one off of Henry’s dead body.
“What happened to you, Achilles?” Henry asked. “They called you a hero. You used to be a hero.”
“I still am a hero,” Achilles said. “Avenging my friend’s murder for the second time. It’s all a matter of perspective.”
“And what about what you did to me?” Odysseus asked. “Putting a sword through my chest. You avenge one friend and fuck all to the rest?”
“I didn’t enjoy doing that,” Achilles said.
“And I won’t enjoy doing this,” said Odysseus.
* * *
Cassandra ran between trees, skirting and ducking branches, moving closer and closer to the Moirae, as though she was attached to the end of a string.
“Cassandra!”
“Cassandra, stop!”
Athena and Thanatos were close, too. Cassandra didn’t turn when they called, but it was good. She might need Athena, at least, to do what needed doing. She didn’t know how strong Clotho and Lachesis could be. They were so shriveled. So deflated.
A branch caught Cassandra in the eye and she blinked away pain and water. It didn’t matter. A few more strides. Maybe just over the next rise, or past the next tree trunk.
It’s almost over. I’m almost done. The gods will leave, and my family will be safe. The Moirae will be whole. We’ll be whole.
She ran faster until it felt like flying. When her foot came down on a pile of brush and she fell right through, straight into the heart of the cave, she was only slightly surprised.
* * *
Athena saw Cassandra disappear. One second she was there, and the next gone, as if the earth itself had swallowed her up. Between herself and Thanatos, she didn’t know who yelled louder, but she reached the hole first.
“Cassandra!”
She didn’t answer, but Athena saw her down there, in the circle of light let in by the cave opening, paddling and sputtering in the middle of a blue-green cave lake with bits of leaves and sticks floating around her.
“Are you hurt?” Athena shouted, but Cassandra had already started swimming for the rock ledge.