Chosen (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-five

A
res led them around the back of the temple toward a small army of sentinels guarding the path to the Oracles' caves. Kyana noticed his fingers tap, tap, tapping the hilt of his sword as though he was eager to get the fight started, eager to kill those threatening his world.

She knew exactly how he felt.

She was looking forward to driving her dagger through as many Novi as possible. Never in her life had she been afraid of a fight, but if she was honest with herself, she'd have to admit that the thought of coming face-to-face with Cronos today had put her stomach in knots. With any luck, none of the major deities would ever step foot on the main battlefield today. Hopefully, Henry's front line would keep the bastards back.

But she couldn't count on that. She was going to get her hands dirty today, just like everyone else, and as she took in the faces around her—Geoffrey, Ryker, Henry, Haven, Silas, Artemis, Ares—she wondered what the night would bring. How many of them would be injured, or worse?

Would Kyana even be alive to find out?

She shuddered, jolting out of her thoughts as Henry's voice broke through her suddenly fogged head.

“We have to prepare a strategy now,” he was saying.

“We need to gather everyone here and shut down the portals,” Kyana insisted. “If there's no portal, there can't be an attack.”

Ares cast her a scathing look that suggested he thought she might be a little stupid. “We gather all the Order here and shut down the portal . . . that's your solution? And when are we to leave Olympus again? Never? The moment that portal works again, the threat returns as well.”

“I don't hear any of you coming up with anything better,” she replied, fighting the urge to poke out his eyes just to squash the glare aimed at her.

“We don't have time for this,” Geoffrey said, stepping between them. “We don't know how long we have—”

“Less than an hour,” Henry interrupted, his gaze fixated on the moon. “They plan to attack well before sunrise so the Dark Breeds who are vulnerable needn't fear sunlight.”

A pity. If the bastards waited just a few more hours, they could just wait and let the sun do all the dirty work.

Taking a deep breath, Kyana exhaled all her doubts and insecurities. “Have we left enough Order members Above to protect the humans from those not planning to attack Olympus?”

“Our priorities must be
here
, Kyana,” Henry said, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. “Humans have become accustomed to boarding up tightly until sunrise. We'll have to trust the majority will remain safe.”

A quick, burning wash of regret rocketed through her blood. She'd spent the last eighty years protecting humans from her own kind, without caring about their fate one way or another. Now, however, she'd seen the humans' ability to rebuild a world devastated by monsters, and she admired their resolve. It bothered her to no end that, should the gods fail here today, all their efforts would be for nothing.

But this was war. People were going to die.
Gods
were going to die. She just had to hope the numbers wouldn't be as staggering as when Tartarus had opened.

“Where do we even begin?” she whispered.

“All the gods are to stay inside Zeus's temple,” Ares said.

“Yeah, that's not going to happen,” Kyana mumbled. She glanced up, certain she'd see the same “yeah right” feeling in her gut expressed on Geoff and Ryker's faces.

It wasn't there.

In fact, both gods seemed to be in complete agreement with Ares's command.

“You can't be serious,” she said. “You expect to go to war and keep me locked inside the temple unable to do anything to help?”

“It is not your job to dictate policy on strategies,” Ares said. “Let me do my duties without interference.”

She held his stare, refusing to back down. “Fine, then. What about logic? If every god, goddess, and Chosen is in one place, it's like mass suicide. If the temple is breached, everyone will die.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Geoffrey asked.

“Separate everyone by their status. Those who have their Chosen already. Those who've completed their siphoning. Those who are most vulnerable because they have neither.” She looked at Ryker. “Those are the ones who need to be as far away from your temple as possible, as well as the Chosen who've been found in the last couple of days. Without proper training, they're sitting ducks.”

“She's right.” Ryker pointed to the Oracle caves above the temple. “The same goes for the Oracles. Cronos can't get his hands on them. If we don't win this, they must be as far away from him as possible.”

Henry waved his hand as though swatting a gnat. “It will be taken care of.”

Somewhat relieved that the weakest would be taken to safety, Kyana turned her gaze toward the distant, unseen portal at the foot of the mountain. Something in the air changed. The very wind hummed with an electrical charge.

“Take your place atop the turrets, Kyana,” Ryker said, moving to follow Geoff and the others inside. He'd felt it too. The worried gleam in his eyes said as much.

Kyana trailed behind, knowing it was going to eat at Ryker and Geoffrey to stay out of the fray. But as much as it pained her to admit it, Ares was right. It would take the force of the gods to bring down Cronos, and they couldn't risk losing any of their number on the buffoons who'd come through first.

“How will they get through the portal?” she asked, the loud bang of the temple doors shutting and being magically sealed making her jump.

“The only way they can pass through is if Cronos gave each of them some of his own blood.” Ryker turned and pulled her into his arms, placing a kiss on the crown of her head. “When you get up there, Ky, stay the hell down. Do you hear me?”

She nodded, wishing he could go with her so she could keep an eye on him. But his place was here, and hers was with the tracers and Artemis, who were already in position to fire.

She watched him move through the crowd, awed by how confident and strong he seemed. His broad shoulders held no slouch, his lean, solid physique a totem for the weight they'd all placed on him. She wanted to go to him, to slide her arms around his waist and make him hold her. She wanted to crawl into bed with him and stay there forever.

Forever?

Gods save her,
yes
.
Forever.

If there was ever a time to tell Ryker she loved him, it was now.

But she couldn't do it. If she said the words, it would be like admitting they were going to die.

And that was one fear Kyana would never allow herself to voice. Not when it was too easy for it to come true.

Chapter Twenty-six

F
rom Kyana's position atop the turrets of Ryker's temple, the shimmering portal at the foot of the mountain was no more than a glowy, white-hot speck in the predusk gray. A bright, shimmering light, much like a halo, fell from the darkening skies as the constellations, led by Kheiron, Orion, and Leo, were led out onto the battlefield. Tracers and sentinels who'd been trained with bows and arrows filled each marble slit on the tower, poised and ready to fire on Kyana's command the moment the sun set and the portal was breached.

In the center of the turret, the Nymphs encircled Artemis, each so skilled with a bow they didn't need the raised aid of the ledge. Four cauldron-sized bowls of ambrosia lay spread at their feet, dangerously close to both Artie and Kyana, ready to be used the moment Cronos showed his evil face.

She squinted trying to see through the growing shadows, waiting, hoping, fearing Cronos. The last remnants of pinks and yellows lowered over the horizon. Down. Down. Down. “Focus on the portal! We need to prevent as many as we can from gaining ground.”

The glowy white hot speck of a portal shattered like a thousand shards of glass. The sun vanished and the gray dusk cloaked the grounds as a dozen black shadows stepped through the shimmering gates.

She clenched her conduit in one hand, took the bow Artemis handed her in the other, and whispered, “
Separo
.”

Three arrows appeared in her hand, and as Artemis shoved the quiver onto Kyana's back, they disappeared and filled it. She was ready.

The slow swoosh of stretched bowstrings were the only sounds Kyana allowed herself to hear as archers all around her took their positions. She removed the conduit from her neck. Wrapping the chain around her wrist three times, she struggled with the closure.

“Here, let me.” Artemis stepped back out of her circle of Nymphs and secured the clasp. She turned the chain so the tiny arrow rested against the inside of Kyana's wrist, falling into her palm when she lowered her arm.

Artemis's stare was penetrating, and the slight glimmer of fear Kyana glimpsed within her amber eyes increased her own growing anxiety. “Lead us with courage, but don't be stupid. Our duty is to protect you. We're prepared to lay down our lives so that you may live on.”

Kyana resisted the urge to hug her, though at the moment, it was all she wanted to do. “Stay at my side. If the temple is breached, I'll get us out of here.”

“There's nowhere to run, Kyana.” Artemis turned to watch the portal.

Unease boiled Kyana's stomach. “Don't
you
do anything stupid. My siphoning is done. Your life is just as important— What the hell is that?”

A blinding white light coming from the direction of the portal lit up the night. She eased the bow off her shoulder and slotted three arrows, her gaze fixated on the pulsating light.

A heartbeat later, the light was shattered as dozens of bodies rushed through the portal and onto the temple grounds. More followed, and more, making the gardens and pathways move with enough shadows that they appeared to be alive.

“Fire!” she screamed, terrified now that there were far too many of them getting through for her archers to handle. She aimed, letting loose her arrows directly at the portal's heart. Hundreds of arrows shot off around her and over her head, filling the night with the chilling sound of high-pitched whistles.

Kyana took aim, targeting a Hatchling that broke through the crowd to soar toward the towers. She fired, her arrow striking the beast between the eyes, sending it tumbling back to earth with a ground-trembling thud, and the arrow reappeared in her quiver. She fired again, this time striking the heart of a Leech, mindlessly wandering away from the crowd to feed on the fallen. It fell beside its dinner, its skull crushed by the weight of her blow.

They managed to clear a five-foot radius in front of the portal, but the front lines had no time to drop their guard as another wave of Cronos's army surged through. Screams sliced through the darkness, both, Kyana knew, from the invaders as well as from members of the Order.

From this distance, it was hard to make out which of the fallen bodies belonged to which side. The faint sound of metal cutting against metal as sentinels wielded their swords clashed with the sporadic orchestra of magic sparking and hissing.

It was a horrific sound track playing for them tonight.

T
he tables in the throne room sat empty of bodies. Every soul in the room stood pressed to the windows, watching the fight outside. Ryker watched as the night lit up with fiery arrows. His gaze kept sweeping from the rush of horrors penetrating the portal and to the turrets in hopes of glimpsing Kyana.

She never appeared.

He'd have to trust that she was all right, otherwise, he was going to go out of his ever-loving mind.

He turned from the window, sick of watching one body after the other fall . . . Dark Breed, sentinel, Witch, tracer. It was growing harder and harder to distinguish the bad from the good. All he knew was that the beings in this room needed to be guarded with every arm they had. They were putting their trust in a front line they couldn't even see anymore, and most of them were silent with worry.

Geoffrey, Silas, Zeus, and Hades huddled in the corner in whispered conversation. A trio of Witches in charge of keeping the throne room sealed sat in silence by the door as they waited for their skills to be called upon again.

And from there, his gaze traveled to the chair by the window where Haven had been curled up. His chest tightened.

She was gone.

His gaze swept the sea of faces around him. She was nowhere to be found.

Though he feared what he might find, he turned back to the window and saw the wisp of blond hair disappear around the corner. She must have slipped out before the Witches had resealed the room.

He was going to have to order the barrier broken again and hope he could bring her back.

Chapter Twenty-seven

T
he whistle of arrows continued to fly, but Kyana could no longer tell if they were making a difference. Below them, the battlefield had become so chaotic that they might have slaughtered their own people if not for the magic placed upon their weapons.

Kneeling behind the wall, she removed the whistle from around her neck and gave it a quick blow. As the dogs bounded from their tiny home, she pulled the small pouch that contained vials of ambrosia-laced lemonade from the small slit in her chiton and dug around for the few leaves of eyebright she'd placed inside after she'd returned from Cronos's camp.

“Scout,” she commanded, and slipped a leaf onto her tongue.

With three soft barks, the dogs turned and leaped from the roof. Kyana reached out her hands to grab at them, her heart pounding at their suicidal jump, but when she reached the turret and peered over the edge, she saw them dashing gracefully between warring bodies, alive and unscathed.

“Artemis,” she whispered, sliding to the cool floor as the eyebright began to work, “Take over.”

She heard Artemis say something, but her words were already muffled and distant as Kyana's mind split into the three visions of the dogs separating, moving closer to the front lines as Kyana silently instructed them to. The bitch, healthy again from Haven's ministrations, kept low to the ground, lifting her head only when she was required to bound over a fallen body.

But the two boys weren't so cautious. As one pressed his hind legs to the ground and shot upward toward a Novus struggling with a Witch, Kyana watched the foulness of the Novus's throat being ripped from its body.

The pup's brother was just as brutal, taking out three Novi, Lychen by the looks of them, as he sped toward the back of the portal to the few sentinels who'd managed to push a wave of intruders off the temple grounds.

Kyana's stomach twisted as her vision switched to focus on what the bitch showed her. It was like watching a horror movie. Thousands of bodies beating against one another in a struggle for survival. Skilled members of the Order holding their own, and fresher ones being torn apart by their unforgiving enemies.

She caught a glimpse of a familiar head of blond hair about two feet away from where the bitch lay pressed to the ground.

Haven.

What the hell was she doing out there? She was supposed to be glued to Geoffrey's side. Gods, he'd better not have left the temple too.

Her heart racing, Kyana's mind searched for potential ways to get to Haven—to watch her back. But there was nowhere to go from here except down, and she was pretty sure her landing wouldn't be as painless as the dogs' had been. Instead, she was forced to watch in helpless horror through the dog's eyes as Haven emitted a bright light from her body, sending four Novi back through the portal before spinning to take on three more.

She truly was good, kicking one, punching another, that aura around her keeping the beasts from piling on top of her.

But then the aura splintered, keeping her left side protected and her right vulnerable. Kyana opened her mouth to scream a warning, but knew Haven would never hear her. As a Dark Mage approached Haven's weak side, Kyana willed the bitch to come out of hiding and attack. The dog wasted no time. She soared into the air, knocking the Mage to the ground as Haven turned to face her attacker.

Haven raised her arms, her mouth moving in an incantation Kyana couldn't hear over the bitch's growls. Before she could finish the spell she was weaving, another Mage appeared behind her, lifted his wand, and shot a bolt directly at Haven's back. She went down hard, the remaining aura shattering as she hit the dirt path beneath her.

Kyana watched in horror as the bolt that had struck Haven seeped back out of her body and slithered to the feet of its owner. With a flick of his wrist, the Mage jerked the wand toward the ground, and the light vanished into its tip.

Kyana gagged on fear. Haven wasn't moving. The Mage stepped over her prone body toward the bitch, ripped her from her foe, and tossed her beautiful golden body into a nearby tree. The loud yelp pierced Kyana's heart.

“Return,” she whispered, both aloud and with her mind. “Come back!”

But at the same time, she feared their return, knowing it meant she'd no longer be able to watch Haven—to make certain she was alive.

“Bring her,” she whispered. “Retrieve!”

She had no idea if either command would work, but when the dog clenched Haven's robe in her teeth and began to drag her back toward the temple steps and away from the screaming portal, Kyana allowed herself to exhale. Haven was still helpless, lying several dozen feet away from the temple, but surely someone could get to her now, could make sure she was all right—

A bright light filled the grounds below, just beyond the temple steps. Kyana's chest clenched again as the dogs showed her the image of Ryker marching down the steps, his staff lifted over his head as he shot off bolts of crisp energy, temporarily clearing the field around him. With each step he took, another bolt flew from the conduit, keeping him in its protective circle.

Closer to Haven.

He was going to save her!

She watched, her body filling with renewed hope as Ryker scooped Haven into his arms and disappeared back inside the temple.

If she hadn't loved him before, she certainly did now.

The effects of the eyebright began to fade, filling Kyana once again with a searing heat and a wave of nausea. As her eyesight became her own, she blinked to clear her vision and found the two boy pups panting at her feet.

The wounded bitch, however, took a few moments longer, appearing on the turret and collapsing in a heap just out of reach.

“Put them away and the magic of their containment will heal her,” Artemis said. “It'll be slow, but it's all we can do right now.”

Kyana obeyed, wishing she could do the same for Haven. Her throat raw with the need to scream, she blew into the whistle and set it on the ground. The dogs vanished within, and Kyana fumbled to her feet.

“Haven was hit by a spell,” she said. “Ryker got her but I don't know if she's all right! I need to go see—”

“You won't!” Artemis's hand reached out to grab Kyana by the arm. “Could you see anyone else?”

Kyana closed her eyes and shook her head. “No one I recognized. The other gods are still inside the temple—I didn't see any out there.”

“Thank Zeus.”

The look of worry etched on Artemis's face did nothing to ease Kyana's fears. Artie was worried about her family—her father, Zeus; her twin, Apollo. Everything and everyone she loved was right here on this mountain so close to the horrors coming at them.

Kyana knew how the older goddess felt. Everything
she
loved was here as well, and one of them was already injured or possibly worse.

Silas, Henry, Haven, Geoff, Ryker . . . all of them could die here today.

But not without a fight. Ryker's show of heroism with Haven reminded Kyana of a spell of her own. One she'd cast only once before, when she'd first fully turned into a goddess. If there was ever a time to try it again, it was now.

“Stay down,” she said, regaining the ability to work her legs. She climbed the nearest turret to stand atop it. She might be a goddess, but that didn't mean she was invincible. If the fall didn't kill her, the Dark Breeds below would.

She closed her eyes, both to stop from looking down at the ant-sized people fighting below her, as well as to focus. She raised her arms to find her balance and dug so deeply within herself that she became dizzy. Not good so high up. But there it was. That lovely little tingling she'd experienced once before.

It wouldn't last long, but perhaps long enough to prevent any more enemies from crippling the Order until the current ones were dealt with. At least it was something.

Blocking out Artemis's screams for Kyana to get down, she lifted her arms until they burned with the heat trying to escape them, then thrust them before her, covering the night with a light layer of gold. The bubble crept from the front to the back of the battle, covering them all in a domelike sphere of protection that no new enemies would be able to penetrate.

If she could hold them off for just a little while, the Order might be able to regain some ground before Cronos decided to show up—
if
he decided to show up.

Order members paused only a second to glance at the bubble encasing them, but they found their advantage when the Novi took a bit longer to drink it in. The sphere acted almost like a magnifying glass for Kyana, allowing her to see in more vivid detail as one Novus after another was downed by the men and women who were proving to be a source of pride for Olympus.

So much blood muddied the pristine grasses of the grounds that Novi and Order members alike slipped and slid their way toward one another. So many on both sides were now dead that half the battlefield lay empty of any moving bodies at all, and the few Novi still slipping through the portal desperately sought to find a way to penetrate the bubble.

Kyana could feel her strength weakening. Could feel the power slipping away from her as the protective barrier began to fade.

“Finish them!” she screamed, tense with trepidation.

Something in the air was changing, thickening. It was as though she could feel Cronos's approach with each passing moment.

The barrier shattered, raining golden dust upon the heads of the living, and the battle commenced with fervor.

Shaking, Kyana reached into her pouch and opened a vial of her lemonade ambrosia, downing it as she tried to catch her breath.

“Do you feel that?” she asked Artemis when she was finally able to work her tongue again.

“He's coming.”

Kyana nodded, relieved she wasn't the only one feeling as though Cronos's approach was a tangible shroud.

She turned to the hooded archer posted behind her. “The moment you see anything change, you yell for me, understand?”

The archer nodded, keeping his gaze on the grounds below. Kyana handed her vial to Artemis, letting her finish what little remained. The old goddess didn't have a real need for the magic anymore, but it certainly couldn't hurt.

Pressing her back to the wall, Artemis squeezed her eyes shut. “I can't watch anymore. I want this to be over before the people I love are harmed. Just . . . make it all stop.”

“As you wish,
Goddess
.” The archer turned, and before Kyana realized what was happening, he thrust his arm around Artemis's neck, kicked over the silver tub of ambrosia, soaking Artemis in the deadly pink liquid. In one swift motion, he lifted her off the ground and threw her over the side of the turret.

Kyana's ribs slammed into the rough ledge, her arm flung out in a fruitless effort to save Artemis. But it was too late. The soft crash of Artemis's body on the grounds below was followed by a chorus of hungry wails from the Dark Breeds who discovered her.

Blinded by rage, Kyana threw herself toward the archer as he moved to grab her foot, likely wanting to deliver to her the same fate he'd delivered to her predecessor. She caught him around the middle, slamming him to the ground, but as her body fell toward him, he rolled out of range and was on his feet again. She swayed off balance as she attempted to steer her body away from the flowing ambrosia, giving the bastard the advantage.

He grabbed her by her hair and swung her around, dragging her toward the stairs. Kyana screamed for the guards, who all appeared too stunned by Artemis's death to remember that they were fighters assigned to the job of keeping Kyana alive. But at her scream, the dozens of men and women atop the turrets snapped out of their momentary paralysis and broke into action at once, lunging at Kyana's attacker—Artemis's murderer.

Keeping his hand tightly wound around Kyana's hair, he thrust his free arm upward, releasing a ray of electrified energy that lifted Kyana's saviors up and over the side of the turret. So many screams tore through the wind, and the next thing Kyana knew, she was alone with a madman.

It had all been so swift, so damned fast, that Kyana couldn't catch a coherent thought that might save her sorry ass.

Kyana kicked out but the hands holding her were too strong. Even with the ambrosia coursing through her veins, she couldn't break his hold around her neck. She twisted her wrist, desperately trying to swing her conduit back toward her fist where she could grip it for power, but the stubborn jewelry just flopped against her arm, useless.

She clawed at his face, and as he threw her onto her back, her spine colliding with the sharp edge of a step, she took his protective hood off with her scrambling hands and found herself once again looking into the face of Mehmet.