Paelen dropped his head. ‘No, Pegasus, please. You must be mistaken.’
‘What is it?’ Emily asked.
‘Pegasus says we must remain here. He believes it is our destiny to stay and fight. The pottery from the museum proves it. Today’s battle was depicted on the amphora you saw.’
Emily recalled the pot. A girl dressed as an Olympian was firing flames at monsters. Then she looked over at Joel’s torn-open arm, and Agent B, and finally to Mike lying beside her. His face was covered in blood from the monsters he’d fought. They were all depicted on the amphora.
‘I know what we saw at the museum, Pegs. But it’s too dangerous for us to stay. We’re not prepared to take on the Titans. That was never the plan.’
‘Pegasus is a very old Olympian,’ Paelen said. ‘He existed long before many of us. He knows a lot of the history of the Titanomachy.’
‘The what?’ Emily asked.
‘The war with the Titans,’ Agent B explained.
‘Yes,’ Paelen agreed. ‘Pegasus says his father spoke very little of the war. None of the Olympians who lived through it liked to talk about it. It was a dark time for us. But Neptune did once tell him of a power, more ancient than the Titans, who joined the battle at a critical moment. It tipped the balance of power and helped the Olympians defeat the Titans.’
Emily looked at the stallion. ‘Pegs, what are you saying? That it was us?’
The stallion nodded and neighed.
Paelen continued. ‘He says when you first mentioned travelling back in time, he considered the possibility that it was you. But then we planned to arrive after the war and he reconsidered. Now that we are here and have just defeated the Titan’s serpents, Pegasus believes it is our destiny to stay. You, Emily, the last Xan, are the ancient power that helps the Olympians defeat the Titans.’
24
After the battle, the villagers invited them to join in a feast of celebration. Emily tried to turn down the offer, but the locals insisted. This was the first battle they had witnessed where the Titans had lost and it was a joyous occasion.
A large banquet was prepared with an endless supply of luxurious delicacies. Loud, cheerful music was played by local musicians and everyone danced. Emily sat beside Pegasus, eating olives and watching Stella chat with a boy from the village. She was showing him how her wheelchair worked. The boy didn’t seem to understand much of what she was saying, but he smiled anyway.
Out on the dance floor Joel looked as if he was having a brilliant time. He’d covered his silver arm to hide the damage, but as he danced, the cover came free. But his pretty dance partner didn’t react with shock or fear. Stella was right. These ancient people accepted their differences and welcomed them into their village much quicker than the people of their own time would have.
During the course of the evening, Emily had been invited to dance by several boys, but she wasn’t in the mood. Her eyes kept darting around, waiting for the next attack. Agent B was doing the same. He was attempting to chat with the locals, but Emily could see that his wary eyes never stopped moving.
At the end of the celebrations they were invited to stay at the houses of the village leaders. As they walked back together, loud warning cries filled the air.
‘What’s all the shouting about?’ Joel asked.
‘I think the Titans have found us!’ Emily cried. ‘Look!’
The stars had been blotted out by a dark, moving cloud. As it got closer, they could see it wasn’t a cloud at all. The sky was filled with flying warriors. They made no sound, but the sheer number of them was overwhelming.
Screaming filled the air as frightened villagers took up whatever weapons they had. The sound of clashing metal mixed with their cries as sword met sword.
‘They’re attacking the village!’ Stella cried.
As more winged fighters arrived, Brue reverted back to her vicious self.
‘Not again!’ Paelen cried as Brue dropped him to the ground. Sharp, deadly teeth filled her two mouths and long sharp claws extended on her many feet. Her lips pulled back as both heads snarled in rage.
The ferocious Mother of the Jungle knocked Stella from her wheelchair and rose protectively above her and Paelen, roaring with deafening sounds they had never heard her make before.
‘Emily look, Ninja Turtles!’ Joel yelled.
Behind them, the narrow village streets were filled with monstrous-looking warriors. They weren’t overly tall, but they were stocky and wore dark green helmets and armour. Joel was right. They did look like Ninja Turtles. But these were no pizza-loving movie heroes. They carried swords and were attacking anyone in their way.
‘We’ve led them here,’ Agent B said. ‘Emily, get your Flame ready, this is going to be nasty.’
‘We’re surrounded!’ Stella cried.
Pegasus shrieked and pawed the ground.
‘We cannot fight them all. We must flee!’ Paelen shouted.
Emily called fire from her hands and shot her laser- flame at the nearest attacking ninjas. As the laser touched their green armour, pieces fell away and they collapsed to the ground.
‘Turn around, Emily,’ Agent B cried.
Just ahead, the winged warriors were landing and they were able to get a closer look. These were blackbird-like things. They were tall, with leathery black armour and dark wings on their backs. Their heads were covered in helmets with beaks and black feathers.
‘Joel,’ Agent B called, ‘get Stella, Paelen and Brue out of here. Emily and I will try to hold them back. Use that jewel of yours. Find Jupiter. Tell him what’s happening.’
‘I’m not leaving you!’ Joel cried.
‘Joel, go!’ Emily shouted. ‘You don’t have any weapons. Tell Jupiter about the Titan weapon. Go now, while I try to stop them!’
The turtle warriors were now charging their way.
‘Go!’ Emily ordered.
Joel pulled the jewel from his tunic and commanded it to take them to Olympus. ‘Follow behind us!’ he cried.
Pausing only to get Stella back in her chair, Joel ran into the Solar Stream followed closely by the roaring Brue, who was carrying Paelen in one of her large mouths.
Agent B stood behind Emily. ‘Just keep firing,’ he yelled. ‘No matter what, don’t stop. We can’t let them get hold of you.’
As Emily cut down fighters, it seemed that more and more were appearing from nowhere. ‘There are too many,’ she cried. ‘I can’t stop them all.’
Agent B screamed. Emily turned and saw that two turtles had caught hold of the CRU agent and were pulling his arms in opposite directions.
‘Agent B!’ she cried.
‘Go!’ the CRU agent howled. ‘Forget me, just go!’
Pegasus reared and kicked one of the warriors attacking Agent B. The creature’s helmet was knocked off – but Emily was shocked to see that there was no head inside. The turtle was hollow. But even without its head, it was still holding on to Agent B and pulling his arm in a gruesome tug-of-war with the other turtle.
Mike was at the warrior’s feet, biting into the thick leather armour and growling viciously as he tore pieces away from it. Emily fired at the headless turtle and cut off the arms holding Agent B. Then she burned the arms off the second turtle. Agent B collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain.
Emily looked around desperately. They were surrounded. It was only a matter of moments before the winged warriors reached them. Even with all her powers, she didn’t think she could get them all before she was cut down.
There was no time to pull the jewel from her pocket. Instead Emily closed her eyes and created a protection shield around her and Agent B. Concentrating as hard as she could, she cried, ‘Olympus!’
The journey lasted the quickest blink of an eye. They were now in Olympus. But this was not the Olympus that she knew. Emily looked around at the devastation and was reminded of her first visit there after the Nirads had attacked and conquered it.
Somehow, this was much worse.
Fi
res burned and choking smoke filled the air. What few structures there were lay in ruins as marble pillars and collapsed walls littered the ground. There were no statues, no gardens and no art. This was truly a war zone.
Emily knelt down beside Agent B. He was groaning in pain. His arms, twisted at odd angles, looked badly dislocated and broken. She reached out to heal him, but her powers didn’t work.
‘While you were on Xanadu, did you eat any ambrosia?’ she asked urgently.
The agent’s eyes were clenched shut with the pain. ‘No!’
‘Why not?’
‘Ambrosia makes humans immortal. I don’t want to live for ever!’ he cried through gritted teeth.
Emily reached into her pocket and pulled out her food pouch. She quickly ordered ambrosia cakes soaked in nectar. ‘Here, eat this!’
‘No!’
Emily looked around at the devastated landscape. A battle had recently been fought here which meant the fighters could still be in the area. ‘I can’t heal you if you haven’t eaten ambrosia. Now you will open your mouth and eat this or I will force it into you. You know I can do it.’
‘I don’t want to live for ever!’ he cried in agony.
‘You won’t. When you want to die, I’ll kill you. But right now, you are going to eat!’
With her powers, Emily pulled the wounded CRU agent up to a sitting position. ‘Open your mouth, Agent B,’ she ordered. ‘Don’t make me do it for you.’
Emily force-fed the CRU agent the whole ambrosia cake. ‘Chew and swallow!’
He collapsed back on to the ground and Emily held his hand while the ambrosia coursed through his system. After a few minutes, she could feel her powers starting to heal his broken arms.
Agent B moaned as he healed. Before long, he could move his arms. He sat up and looked at Emily with fury in his eyes.
‘That was wrong, Emily, and you know it! You forced me to eat it against my will.’
‘Just like the CRU is planning to force me to become their ultimate weapon?’
‘That’s different!’
‘No it’s not!’ Emily fired back. ‘You don’t want to live for ever, fine. But do you want to die right now? You talk about Pegasus being a distraction. You with two broken arms are a bigger distraction. I did what I had to do. We can fight about it later. Right now, we’re exposed. I think we should find somewhere to hide.’
Emily helped him up as they made their way to a collapsed building. Safely inside the broken structure, Agent B sat down for the last bit of his recovery. ‘Any ideas where we are?’ he asked.
Emily gazed around. ‘Usually the Solar Stream delivers us near Jupiter’s palace, but this doesn’t look anything like the palace area.’
‘This is a war, Emily. Nothing looks like it should on a battlefield.’
The sound of roaring filled the air. Flames shot across the darkened landscape. Emily and Agent B peered through the debris and saw three huge dragons tearing across the area, setting fire to anything that moved.
‘Dragons?’ Emily cried. ‘The myths didn’t mention anything about dragons, or those things attacking us at the village!’
‘What myths have you been reading?’ Agent B said, now fully recovered. ‘Of course there were dragons! Did you expect Jupiter and Saturn to be throwing snowballs at each other? This is a war of epic proportions. It covered the cosmos and destroyed worlds!’
‘How am I supposed to help with that?’ Emily suddenly realized the depth of trouble they were in. Everything they had faced until now, from the Nirads to the Gorgons, and even the CRU, had been child’s play compared to this.
‘I don’t know,’ Agent B said. ‘Our first job is to find Jupiter and see what he has to say.’
In the distance the three rampaging dragons stopped. They lifted their heads and seemed to be sniffing the air. Suddenly their heads snapped in the direction of where they were hiding. Smoke seeped from the dragons’ nostrils as their eyes sought their location.
‘Uh-oh,’ Agent B said. ‘I think we’re in big trouble.’
As if called by a silent whistle, the dragons started charging. The closer they got, the bigger they seemed to grow. Before long, Emily felt like she was facing down three very large and very angry ten-storey buildings.
‘Why are all the monsters here so big?’ Emily cried.
‘I really don’t know,’ Agent B answered. ‘I just hope you’re feeling strong!’
Standing behind her, Pegasus nickered and nudged her gently in the back. He was telling her she could do it. She just hoped his faith in her was justified.
‘Stay here with Pegs,’ Emily ordered as she crawled out of the debris. ‘If this fails, find Jupiter and tell him to hide the Titan weapon somewhere else.’
Mike started to snarl and bark. He darted out of their hiding place and charged the tall, scaly foot of the nearest dragon.
‘That is either the bravest dog I’ve ever seen,’ Agent B called, ‘or the dumbest!’
‘Mike!’ Emily shouted, running after the dog. ‘Get back here!’
Now that she was out in the open, the three dragons focused on Emily. She could feel their swelling hatred. Roars shook the area as they inhaled deeply and shot burning plumes of fire directly at her.
Emily crouched and felt the flames lick her. On the ground around her the rocks melted and turned to pools of molten glass. Broken marble pillars were charred black and crumbled under the intense heat. But for Emily there were no burning sensations. In fact, she felt nothing at all.
Bathed in the dragons’ flames, Emily rose slowly to her feet. The more they spat at her, the stronger she felt. ‘Do you want to play with fire?’ she shouted. ‘Try this!’
Emily raised both her hands. A single brilliant blaze of laser-light filled the night sky as she shot all she had at the dragons. There was no time for the monsters to react or even scream. In an instant, they were turned to ash.
‘Emily!’ Agent B ran out from their cover. ‘Are you all right?’ He caught hold of her and checked her all over. ‘Their flames didn’t even singe your tunic! How is this possible?’
Emily shrugged. ‘I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter right now. Where’s Mike?’
The sound of barking broke the silence. They heard Mike yelp and squeal before turning silent. ‘Mike!’ Emily cried. ‘Mike, where are you?’
The sound of many feet walking on rubble filled the air. Several giants led by a centaur emerged from under cover. Emily spotted Mike in the arms of one of the giants – his mouth was being muffled by the enormous hand.
Emily immediately recognized the centaur. ‘Chiron!’
The centaur was younger than when Emily had known him. His man’s upper torso was strong and muscular, while his horse’s body was lean and steamlined. The centaur’s chestnut-coloured hair was long and wavy.
Emily tried to embrace him, but Chiron reared on his horse legs and pointed his loaded bow at her.
‘Chiron, it’s me! Emily!’
Chiron’s face and upper body were bathed in dirt and sweat and he had deep weeping burns on his rear flanks. His expression was dark and threatening as he spoke unfamiliar words. He flicked his bow, ordering them to raise their hands.
Doing as ordered, Emily saw that most of the giants were covered in burn marks. She didn’t recognize any of them, but it was evident they had all been fighting the dragons.
Pegasus stepped forward and made a long series of sounds. Chiron spoke back to the stallion and lowered his bow, but his suspicious eyes never left Emily.
‘Pegs, please tell him who we are!’
‘No, Pegasus, don’t!’ Agent B ordered. ‘They can’t know who we really are or where we’re from. If we don’t tread very carefully, we could change history and alter the future as we know it. We should have as little exposure to the Olympians as possible.’
‘But he’s hurt. They all are.’ Emily took a cautious step towards the centaur. ‘Will you at least tell him that I can heal him? He’s covered in burns. P
lease tell him to take my hand.’
Pegasus nickered and nodded towards Emily.
Chiron frowned, but moved closer. He held out his left hand, while still clutching his loaded bow with the other.
‘It’s all right,’ Emily said softly, ‘we’re friends. You just don’t know it yet.’
Emily took the centaur’s hand. Chiron bucked at her touch and turned to look back at the wounds on his flanks. In moments, the deep burns faded and healed completely. The centaur lifted a rear hoof and flexed his leg. There was no pain.
Chiron nodded at Emily and Pegasus and turned to speak to his giants. The tall men responded by surrounding the group and raising their clubs and weapons. Chiron turned and started to lead them forward.
‘What’s happening?’ Emily asked.
Agent B looked around. ‘I think we’ve just been captured by the Olympians.’
25
For half the night, Chiron led them over rough terrain and rubble. Emily was careful to keep her hand on Pegasus as they moved. The stallion was growing increasingly fatigued and was starting to stumble over the debris. When that happened Emily used her powers to lift him off the ground and carry him.
As a dull and moody dawn arrived, they encountered more tired Olympians. Most Emily had never seen or met before. There were winged Olympians, snake-like Olympians and many other war-weary and defeated creatures. Yet as she passed, they all stood and looked at her curiously. Those who could move started to follow.
‘Pegs, look,’ Emily said. ‘They don’t know me, but they must feel that I’m the Flame. They are drawn to me.’
‘That could be a good thing, or a bad thing,’ Agent B said tightly.
A giant shoved the CRU agent in the back and grunted a few harsh words. ‘More likely a bad thing,’ he finished.
Chiron held up his hand and they stopped. They were standing before the ruins of a building. Emily thought it could have been Jupiter’s palace, but it seemed to be in the wrong area.
Standing high above the entrance were three winged women. There were living snakes woven in their hair and their faces had a pale green pallor. They snarled and threatened anyone who came near the ruins.