Twice Loved by the War God

5 - Known

 "What - ouf!"

Before I could finish my running leap and dash over to where Hermes slumped against one of the open doors, Ares's arm came around to snatch me by the waist. He restrained me with nothing more than a stationary forearm against my abdomen, effortlessly holding me back.

"Ares!" I hissed, but the full volume of my indignation fell flat since I didn't dare raise my voice above a sharp whisper for fear of waking Hestia. "Let me -"

"Stay here," he rasped, speaking just as low, and if it weren't for the dire situation that had just cropped up before us, the rumble of his voice from deep in his chest would have sent a strange shiver through me. "It's not safe."

"Nothing's ever safe," Aphrodite interrupted. "But you and I both know that it's Astraea's duty to see to these things. Whatever it is, take her with you so that after everything is settled, the villagers see her. Astraea, how are you feeling?"

"I feel - " I broke off, hesitating before I could announce that I was in perfect health. I couldn't, because that was utterly untrue. "I...feel better than before."

She gave me a scrutinizing stare. "How much better?"

"Enough that I know I need to find out what's happening! Hermes, what did you mean - are they really killing each other? What for? We have to stop it." I tried to push Ares's arm away, but all he did was pull me closer against his side. "Ares!"

"I'll go. You need to stay here."

I protested with another frustrated, futile shove, then swiveled my head with a sharp turn to appeal to Aphrodite instead. She had been on my side just a second ago. Surely she could persuade Ares to stop being unreasonable. I wasn't going to throw myself into danger - all I wanted was to go and see for myself what was going on. This was - what I had to do. I could feel it like a burning streak inside me from head to toe, and I instinctively realized this compulsion was more than just the urge to help. I had to go. I had to answer -

"Ares, stop that." The goddess's voice was as scolding as it was resigned, and I suddenly felt embarrassed that I'd silently begged her help instead of asserting myself. "Astraea can't hide out here for much longer. She needs to make her presence known. The sooner the better, you know that. And if there's someone there who's able to make a sacred offering after you resolve things, even better. The Cornucopia is doing nothing for Astraea, we need to find other ways to help her."

I stopped struggling against Ares for a moment. That...was right. I couldn't remember craving the nectar and ambrosia for a while now. Not just from when I woke up, but even before that. After we had escaped from Charybdis and I ended up captured by Athena, that was when I had stopped feeling even the slightest hunger or thirst for godly sustenance.

What bad timing for me to realize that now when there was something so much more important to handle. Later, I would ask about that, but right now there were people dying for reasons that Hermes had not had a chance to explain yet.

Fine, I could compromise. I wrapped my hands around Ares's bulky forearm, determined that should he go trundling off to handle the problem on his own, he was going to have to peel me off of himself if he wanted me to stay behind. Good luck with that. I would cling to him like a barnacle.

"Hermes, what's going on? Say something," I demanded. "How many people have been hurt?"

"And how far is it," Aphrodite added. "You're already this tired, how are you supposed to take them there? They'll have to run, then -"

The trickster god braced himself with one hand against the gnarled wood of the door and raised the other, wordlessly begging for some silence. Instantly, we all acquiesced: Ares who had just stood up relaxed as well, although he tightened his arm around my front as if to prevent me from making a surprise escape.

That was alright. This way, it would be harder for him to get away from me, too. And - the reassuring heat of his body sank into mine, soothing the racing panic that scorched my nerves. There were people hurting, dying, people who needed help, but somehow, the wall of warmth that he exuded made everything feel slightly more bearable. I even forgot for a second the dull, aching pain that radiated from every inch of my body as I settled in against him.

"It's the closest one at the foot of the mountain," Hermes wheezed at long last. "And I'm fine, just....catching my breath."

"Come here and refresh yourself, then." Aphrodite reached over to take the Horn, which Ares was already holding out with his other hand. She then waved it for Hermes to see, but he shook his head and waved again.

"That won't help," he coughed. "I just did before we left earlier. It's this body."

"Well, nothing you can do about that, then. And don't you dare complain. It's better than being dead, which you might have been if Astraea hadn't -"

My head shot up just as she hastily broke off, and I knew by the dodgy look in her eyes that there was yet another thing she was concealing from me. But...as much as I wanted to know about that too, I couldn't let myself become distracted.

"Let's go!" I said. "Ares, we can go ahead while Hermes rests." I tugged on his arm and made sure I was digging in as deep as I could with my fingers so that he would have to work at least marginally harder to shake me off. Maybe I was but a gnat to his fearsome strength, but I could at least be an annoying one.

Before he could reply, Hermes interrupted us with another wheeze, this time with the addition of an angry snort. "Who do you think I am? Rest? Get off it. Come on, I can't run from inside the House. It's too rickety, and I don't want to break anything."

A reminder of the dilapidated state of the temple, a direct result of my Ascendance. It was yet another thing for me to ponder later, too - because something told me that it was important, more important than I realized right now. A swirl of adrenaline rippled through me when I suddenly understood that something fundamental had changed inside me as I had slept. I was aware of things that I shouldn't know, in possession of knowledge that no one else had given to me.

Just like how I knew I had to be down there in the village where the danger was, even though common sense told me that with my weakened body, I might be worse than useless. Even at my best, I had no power to subdue men, no strength nor speed nor even a fearsome visage to intimidate them to peace. And yet I couldn't deny the power that drew me nonetheless. It wasn't just my conscience that told me to go - it was something else. Something calling to me, commanding me.

"I'll stay here with Hestia," Aphrodite announced. "Obviously. So no need to worry about that. You two can handle the issue while keeping Astraea safe. If you can't manage that, then we all have more problems than we know...So go, handle it. Astraea, you're sure you can walk?"

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Normally, I'd say you should still take something to defend yourself with in case there are more Giants popping up here and there. But I think you're more likely to fall on it than anything else, judging by how shaky your elbows are. No worries, I never took to weapons much either. Just stay close to Hermes far from the fighting while Ares does all the hard work."

"Hey now -!"

"Shh," she chided the younger god, who frowned across the short distance from the doors at her. She ignored it. "If you've gotten the breath back to complain, then you have the breath to take them down the mountain. Quickly, quickly. And Ares. It's better now than later. Imagine what might happen later - what if the first time she has to step out into the world, you can't go with her? What if the first time she has to show herself to the people, you aren't there to protect her?"

I couldn't have said why - didn't dare - but when I heard her cajoling pleas, I felt my face light up like a flame. I sneaked a glance up at the war god, whose face had hardened into a thoughtful expression.

Was I an i***t, I wondered, for blushing in his arms at the thought that he wanted to protect me? After all we had been through...after all we done. Of course I knew that we had something different between us, something special. But it still made my face heat up like a bonfire to hear Aphrodite speak of it so plainly.

"Oh, look, she's positively pink. She likes that."

I thought I could feel my face on the verge of melting off. Hephaestus's volcano forge couldn't have been this hot.

"Well," Hermes said in a loud voice that made all of us glance back at Hestia then shoot him with frowning glares. "Maybe if everyone can stop flirting and making this really uncomfortable for the one person not involved in this orgy, we can go and save some people."

"This is not an orgy, dear. Trust me, I would know."

No. No, I didn't want to hear about flirting, much less orgies. This was supposed to be serious. People were dying. Dying!

"Let's just go," I said, forcing myself to speak over what had become an awkward (to me) squabble between Aphrodite and Hermes. "We can't waste time like this."

"You heard the Master." She pointed at the trickster god with a slender finger. "Now be careful, all of you."

* * * * *

Ares had insisted on carrying me when it became clear that my legs were still too weak to make the run, and I compromised by letting him put me on his back while Hermes towed him along. It was still mortifying to be babied this way when I had been so spirited and fierce just moments ago about making my stand, but there was nothing else I could do: it was either this or not be able to make it down the mountain at all.

From this vantage point, though, it didn't take long for me to realize that Hermes was nowhere near his normal condition. The first time I had ever met him, back when we had gone to rescue Ares from the Aloadae, he had moved with such blinding speed that I couldn't have ever hoped to identify the scenery of the passing landscape. But now, while he still retained some superhuman speed, he was far slower than he used to be.

I didn't know how much of that was due to the time he had spent trapped in Charybdis - even gods needed time to heal, right? - and how much was due to other reasons, but it made me wonder how much Ares had weakened as well. Surely he would be even worse off. After all, he was still connected to his father through the god pact that I had been unable to save him from, and hadn't Aphrodite said something about that? That Hermes had been spared the 'worst' of it because he had been adopted into my House?

I still didn't have a clear understanding of what that meant, but what I did know was that I was still too weak to claim Ares the same way and remove him from Zeus's power. And, a knowing voice whispered inside me, it would be a long time yet before I could. There was nothing I could do but wait for my time...

I squinted and rubbed at my eyes, trying to focus on the fluttering awareness inside me that felt so foreign. It was like trying to catch the shape of a dust mote in the dark as it floated around me, escaping my grasp and lingering just at the corner of my vision where I could only barely see it. Even now, it hummed and whispered, saying things I couldn't quite hear, couldn't quite understand except for the sparing moments when it gave me a flicker of unexpected insight.

I felt Ares turn his head to look at me, and I hurriedly buried my face in his shoulder again. I didn't want him to worry right now, not about me. One problem at a time, and in order of urgency. Lives were in the balance, and the answers to my questions could come later no matter how confused and impatient I was.

One at a time.

I bounced along Ares's back with each powerful stride as he and Hermes raced down the mountain, the ledges and crags streaming past me in a panoramic streak. Colors blended together, the beautiful orange and yellow of the sunset melding with the faint green patches of vegetation that were increasing in intensity the further down we traveled. Until at last the colors began to separate, bleeding out of each other bit by bit until they separated into their distinct selves: a skinny grove of pine trees, a broken cobblestone path, wide swaths of short grass gleaming with the barest hints of evening dew.

And not too far ahead, the sight of a village - in blazing flames.