Medusa: Fate's Game Ch. 07

"I uh... it's a deer," Bellerophon said. "You—"

"I'll be fine. I'm not a deer." Rolling her eyes up, she hopped over to them, reached down, and lifted the buck. The satyr was a strong woman, and her furry legs and deer hooves made Otrera smirk.

She'd had sex with a satyr once. A man, a singer, who liked to hang out near the Amazons due to some kink for strong women. He'd gotten in trouble with them more than once, and nearly lost a limb on several occasions for spying. But he had a quick tongue, witty, and a good voice. A very quick tongue at that. Otrera chuckled. His leg fur had felt nice on her thighs.

Her chuckle faded into a sigh. Thinking about sex all the damn time, despite her current predicament. How long had it been since anyone touched her? Those nymphs had been perfect, and that opportunity was ripped away, leaving her with an ache. Always thinking with your thighs, Otrera.

Pinna quirked a brow at her, but shrugged, and carried the deer away from the camp, knife in hand. Satyrs ate only plants and similar, but Pinna showed no trouble cutting the deer open and removing the insides. Soon, its innards were buried away from the camp site, and the woman came back over to hang the deer by the horns from a nearby branch, and start cutting skin from the meat.

"That doesn't bother you?" Otrera said.

"Why would preparing meat bother me?"

"... because satyrs don't eat meat. I assumed your kind preferred to avoid cutting into flesh?"

Pinna shrugged again, and made a point of twisting the deer a little so Otrera could see the white tissue split apart by the knife, cleaving fur from muscle.

"We don't eat meat, true. But what satyr doesn't live for the company of others? Most learn to prepare meals for humans and centaurs." Cut cut cut. Skin and fur peeled away, and Pinna was unfazed. "Gallea and I started as wandering musicians and storytellers. We weren't born into the Fates' service."

"How did you come into their service?" Bellerophon said. If he was trying to hide the venom in his voice, he didn't do a very good job. He must have really hated the sisters.

Pinna frowned at him, and resumed cutting. "If you must know, we were at an inn when a raiding group of barbarian centaurs started a fight. We were caught in the middle, and the Fates offered us a way out. It was either that or risk getting killed, so we made the obvious choice."

Bellerophon nodded. Chimera said nothing. In fact, when Otrera looked to him and caught his gaze, the tall beast looked away, like he didn't want to make eye contact. Considering how much the giant seemed to love staring people down, that was surprising.

"You sure you don't want any?" Pinna said, looking at Chimera. "I can roast a—"

"I am full." The giant looked into the fire, body still as stone, and breath as slow as the tide. Otrera tried to imagine the beast digging his mouth into a deer, raw, tearing through the hide and getting at the flesh underneath. It wasn't hard to picture.

"I know, it's just... I owe you. You didn't have to..."

Chimera frowned at the woman, but Bellerophon held up a hand and dismissed the big guard dog.

"Gallea has proven himself," the small warrior said. "I feel like an ass for being such an ass to him. And Chimera does too, I imagine."

Rumbling, Chimera nodded.

"You had reason to suspect us," Pinna said. "So... bygones?"

The satyr had bounce in her step, life to her voice, and a smile she couldn't quite shake. Otrera looked her up and down from horn to hoof, and back to the two men. So they hadn't been on good terms before.

"Not quite," Bellerophon said. "Gallea's proven himself, you haven't. I saw you appear out of thin air Pinna."

The satyr grunted and turned back to the deer. "You did."

"And I'm sure the Fates control however you do that, or something. But my question is: would you have stepped in to save Medusa?"

Otrera winced and looked between Pinna and Bellerophon. Way to ruin an olive branch.

"... no."

Bellerophon nodded. "And would you for Chimera? After today?"

"... yes."

He nodded. "Good enough. Not looking for any heroism from you or Gallea, Pinna. Just looking for a little trust. In all honesty, thankful as I am for Gallea stepping in, it shouldn't have had to happen, and I don't expect it in the future. Shit is... shit is—"

"Dangerous." She sighed, and started cutting into the meat. "And it's not our fight. Gallea is just an old fool caught up in his old stories." She laughed, and started removing one of the deer's legs. "I guess after telling them for so long, he wanted to be part of one."

Otrera groaned. "You all should have a club. Some place you can sit around, eat breakfast, and bitch and whine and make social connections and evolve as people." The three of them turned to her, each with a single brow raised, and she chuckled at them. "Listen to yourselves. Where's the discipline here? You're not warriors, you're just a bunch of whiny teenagers and their dog."

Maybe if she pissed them off enough, they'd put her out of her misery. It was true though; five minutes of this garbage in an Amazon tribe would have lead to a firm beating and a dozen drills.

Bellerophon picked up a twig and threw it at her. "Hey, I—"

A massive hand wrapped itself around her throat, and picked her up. She hadn't seen it coming, eyes locked on Bellerophon and ready to throw curses at him, but before she knew it Chimera had her up in the air in front of him. He didn't get up from the ground, still sitting on his ass, but even on his ass her toes only barely reached the ground as he held her up by her neck and jaw alone. Gods damn he was fucking massive.

He leaned in, brought his face in close until she could feel the heat of his colossal body, and rumbled deep in his chest until she could feel the vibration.

"You try my patience," he said. The depth of the sound made her shiver. She could actually feel the vibrations of his voice through his arm.

"Don't eat her, Chimera. We need her."

"You don't need all of her." His other hand reached out for her leg, and she froze as his iron grip and gargantuan fingers wrapped the muscles of her calf. Memories of the man he'd torn in half ran through her mind, and the chunk of leg he'd taken a bite of.

She didn't want to put out of her misery like that!

"Chimera, put her down!"

Ah thank the gods, the snake woman. Medusa came back from the dark — without the tongue clucks of course, no discipline — and slithered over to the giant. The big guy frowned at Otrera, then at Medusa, but did as asked. He set her down again, closer to him this time; probably so he could eat her if he saw the opening.

"Otrera, I'm gone for a few hours and you're already tearing my family apart." The serpent frowned at her too, then coiled by the fire closer to 'Darian,' the sleeping Gallea, and the carving Pinna.

"You expect your prisoner to stay quiet and just accept capture?" she said.

"No, I... I mean, after what Darian said happened to you, and now, I... We are going to let her go, right?" Medusa said. She looked at Darian, head tilting, and a couple dozen snakes on her head tilting as well. "We're not going to kill her or anything, right? After she tellsss usss what we need to know."

Bellerophon shook his head. "I didn't plan on it."

What?

"... what? I've tried to kill you, twice."

"And if I was me, back from before I met Medusa, I'd kill you for it. But I'm trying to not be that guy anymore." The small warrior sighed, reached over to his pack, and grabbed his helmet. The obsidian and silver piece was beautiful, the white crest of hair more so, and he ran his fingers along its edges with heavy fingers. "I had a choice. Revenge, or let it go. I'm giving 'let it go' a try." With that, he tossed the helmet back, with no care or concern for its condition.

"Easy for you to say," she said. "Not so easy for everyone."

"That includes my plans for Zeus." He threw a frown her way, but it melted away the moment Medusa slithered over to him, and coiled up closer. Green snake scales shimmered in the firelight, and 'Darian' leaned against them as comfortably as leaning back against his favorite chair.

"We all have reasons for revenge," the serpent said. "But... that's not what thisss is about, and revenge doesn't work."

Revenge doesn't work. Otrera frowned, hard enough she could feel her nose scrunch up, but said no more about it. If her hands and legs weren't tied — gods damn the bindings were strong — she'd have smacked the serpent. Revenge wasn't about working or not working. Revenge was about... something deeper. Wasn't it?

The giant rumbled, but said nothing either. He glanced Otrera's way though, and when she raised her eyes to look at the wall of muscle and scars, he looked away again, back to the fire. Something was on his mind.

None of them had a retort. Medusa's words hung in the air and silenced them, and Otrera couldn't help but smirk. The serpent spoke like a naive mom, insistent that everyone could get along. It was refreshing.

A strange family of misfits. Maybe she wouldn't hate it so much after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few days went by quietly.

Everyone sat around, chatted, and ate. Otrera tried her best to find things to hate about the dysfunctional band of idiocy, but every time she got close, something happened to wipe it away.

Pinna and Darian — oh gods she was using his new name — would nearly get into an argument, and Medusa would settle them with a kind word. Chimera would get surly about something, and Darian would chat with him about something like fighting techniques, and it'd cheer him right up. Gallea looked a lot better, still bed ridden but able to talk; his wounds were healing so damn fast, for a regular mortal, thanks to Chimera's medicine.

And they treated her with kindness too, for the most part. Darian did everything in his power to avoid talking with her directly, like a guilty child, but at least that meant all was quiet on that front. Pinna and Gallea were indifferent to her, and Medusa kept trying to be her new friend, desperate to calm the waters. Chimera was a different matter.

"Undo my leg bindings."

"No."

"Undo my leg bindings."

"No."

"I swear to the gods I will cut out your tongue and eat it you miserable pile of shit. I'm not going anywhere. Where would I even go? At least let me walk around!"

The sun was high, the heat was too, and everyone was cranky. Except for Medusa of course, who lay out in the sun and its blistering waves on purpose with her snake half, while she kept her human half to the shade. Other than her, everyone else hid in the shadow of the cliff face, and fanned themselves with bits of brush.

"You are a pest," Chimera said. The giant didn't seem bothered by the heat, which made sense considering the sort of locale his kin considered home.

But she was, and she wiggled herself across the grass to kick her bound feet at his side. It didn't work, bound as they were, and all her small weight managed to do was push herself away from the sitting giant anyway.

"Hey, I made a deal with Da — Bellerophon. You have my word I won't try and kill him, until at least after we settle the deal."

Chimera frowned down at her, but looked to Medusa. Such a guard dog.

"It's just her legs. I think it'll be fine," the serpent said.

"Yeah well," Darian said, "it's not your neck she's after, it's mine." The small warrior looked her way, scratched his short beard with his fingers, and shrugged. "But I believe her."

Finally, progress.

Chimera rumbled a groan, reached out for her legs, and lifted her up to drop her between his knees; just one of his legs was bigger than all of her. He was not gentle, and she groaned too when her back hit the dirt. But the giant did as she requested, and undid the bindings on her ankles.

She got up, stretched one leg away from the other, then vice versa, and moaned. Tight muscles, sitting on her ass for days, it was all horrible. She kicked out at the air a few times to make sure her legs still worked, and hopped back as her balance wavered. Hands tied behind her back were still a problem, but at least she could move around.

"Thanks."

They all blinked at her.

"What, I can't say thank you?"

"You could say we're a little surprised," Darian said.

"You said you're not going to kill me. And I can walk again. Fuck me, it's almost as if this isn't going to end horribly." She laughed when she said it of course. There was no way it wouldn't end horribly. But it was nice to entertain the delusion. "I'm going for a walk. I imagine someone will want to guard me."

Medusa looked to Chimera, and the giant rumbled. Every time, his voice vibrated the earth at their feet, deep enough to shake the ground. Like chunks of the Earth talking with each other. He got up, and followed her.

Now he was her guard dog. She smirked at him, a telling smirk, a smirk so blatant she might as well have been holding up a sign: I'm going to make you regret capturing me. And if her only way of doing that was being snide and juvenile, she was ok with that. It was their job to be the heroes, to be disciplined, save the world and all that, not hers.

Not hers? Her powers were given to her by the sacrifice of innocent people. Maybe innocent, maybe not, considering Andromeda's hate. So many unanswered questions. How could she have blindly followed Andromeda's orders? Owing your life to someone doesn't mean owing your soul.

She drifted between trees, bushes, and various rocks until the two of them were out in the open. Paros was a beautiful island, and the forest and cliffs opened up into a nice grassland with some wide births of smooth ground. She fell into step with the land, picked a random direction, and started walking.

"Where do you walk to?" the beast said. He followed behind her, one eye on her, one eye on the path ahead. Made sense; he'd have to be careful of being spotted, tall as he was.

"Just want to get away from the group. And I knew you'd be the one they sent to watch me."

"... did you wish to speak to me?"

"Yes." She shook her head a bit to get the sweaty strands of hair off of her face. Too damn hot. "I wanted to ask about you."

"Me? Why?"

"Because you're the last of your kind. Andromeda told me about the giants, after my run in with you outside Tiryns. How they warred against the gods for a long time. How they were wiped out, over a thousand years ago. How you're the last of your kind." She kicked at a nearby rock, and sent it soaring. Fate's Child strength was still new to her, and while she couldn't break her bonds with it, she could kick a pebble into the sky. "Sounds a little familiar."

"You dare compare your situation to mine, Amazon?"

When she looked back over her shoulder, Chimera made eye contact with her only for a second before looking away. The length of his rugged beard and hair, and his hard edges made all his expressions harsh, and serious, but every so often she caught a glimpse of distracted eyes.

"I do. And... and I wanted to ask you something. About Ares."

The beast grumbled, but kept walking behind her. "Ask."

"Have you met him?"

"I have."

She stopped, turned around, and looked up at the colossal man. This was going to be a painful conversation, but she needed to hear it. The giant was the only person she could get a real answer from; all the Greeks would only repeat the mantra: believe in the gods. Mindless peons.

"... what was he like?"

The giant scoffed, folded his arms across his bare chest, and looked to the sea.

"The same as the other gods, concerned only with the prosperity of their chosen interest. Like insects, they chase it with mindlessness. You humans consider the gods intelligent, wise, debating views and pulling the levers of the world from Olympus. But they are mindless things that do all in their power to further their beliefs. And Ares wants war. He cares not for anything but war. The slaughter of the battlefield, the clash of sword and shield between cities and countries is all he cares for." He shrugged, and stepped a little closer to her. "You dedicated your life to a vile, putrid mound of filth, incapable of anything other than the pursuit of his delights."

Ouch.

She lowered her head, weight around her throat heavy enough to choke her, and she turned around. Start walking, and don't let it break you.

"And I won't appease him on a vengeance quest. I... I shouldn't want to appease him, should I?"

She'd had her suspicions. A life time of war, and Ares had never blessed the Amazons, visited them, sent them a sign, anything. But then, when she'd dug into what history she could in a visit to Athens, she'd found that Ares had done little for anyone.

And why would he? If the god of war showed favoritism, it could end further wars from even happening. And if Ares wanted war for war's sake, slaughter and battle, it was in his interest to have all the states and countries fighting for his eye, without him ever giving it.

Bellerophontes was right to forsake the gods.

She looked back over her shoulder. Chimera was looking at her again, but he didn't break eye contact. His eyes looked as heavy as her own, and his frown had faded away into the long curls of his beard. The weird animal pelt he wore, with its lion arms tied tight around his neck, hung at his back and not over his head, so she could see his dark hair reaching his shoulders. Everything seemed heavier. It was the same look she had, after the war.

"Even without Ares's favor, becoming a petty assassin is... pretty low of me." She dragged herself up a steep hill of grass. Not easy with her arms tied behind her, but doable, and with careful footing, she brought herself up over the top of the grassy mound. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Then what am I supposed to do now, hmm guard dog? Nothing left for—"

Chimera came up beside her, and pushed her. It only took a single finger, and a tiny shove from the colossal man to send her over, and she fell down onto her side, shoulder into the grass.

"What the fuck!"

"You are supposed to do whatever you wish. You are no more bound to a ridiculous notion of honor or revenge or god-fearing servitude as anyone else. What do you want to do?" He stepped over to her, and put his foot down on her body. She was only wearing a tunic and sandals, there was nothing to keep the insane weight of the giant from pressing down against her skin. His foot was almost as long and wide as her torso.

"And what the fuck do I want to do? Guard dog duty like you? I—" Her voice cut off hard as the giant pressed down.

"I do not know! I am seeking meaning in a world that has nothing left for me, Amazon. You think your situation horrible? Comparable? I should crush you." And he did, a little. More of his weight pushed down against her, hard enough to make her tremble, and unable to breathe. "I am more alone than you can fathom. So I made a choice, and I embarked on this journey, both for a distant, slim chance at revenge, but also for something, someone to exist for. You may—"

He raised his eyes, looked down the way they had been walking, and froze. At least he lifted enough of his weight so she could breath again. But when she turned her head, she froze too.

Not far out, a path swerved through the rolling, gentle hills of grass. She hadn't noticed them when coming up the hill, and especially not after Chimera had knocked her over. But sure enough, there was a path through the grass of flattened dirt that disappeared and reappeared with each hill crest. And over the nearest crest, a cart had appeared. A man was pulling the cart, its contents covered in blankets, and his eyes on the road.

Or were on the road. He looked up, and froze right along with the two of them. No one moved or said a thing. At least for a few seconds.