Page 68 of Harbinger

“Wait!” Atropos warned.

A golden arrow hissed through the air and skewered Ladon’s tail as he raced across the verdant ground. The dragon screeched and fell over.

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Cassius and Atroposmoved as one.

The Moira blocked the second arrow that would have pierced Ladon’s head, the shaft clinking harmlessly off the armor now covering her from the neck down. Her eyes narrowed behind the winged helmet framing her face and covering her flowing, silver hair.

Cassius blasted away the hail of golden shafts raining down upon them with a powerful swing of his light-wreathed sword. His gaze found their attackers as the arrows stabbed the ground and shrubs around them.

Floating high above them, their wings blazing with the same dazzling light emanating from the Sacred Tree on the ridge to the west, were two armored Goddesses with golden bows and quivers loaded with arrows. They glared at Cassius and Atropos, their animosity palpable.

Dread sent a chill down his spine. “Are they under Elios’s control?!”

Atropos shook her head, her expression growing perturbed. “No. Now that we are inside the barrier, I can sense their soul cores. They are full of hatred and anger. That’s what was obscuring our bond with them. They have,”she paused and fisted her hands on her blades,“—I’m afraid Hesperia and Arethusa have lost their minds to grief and rage!” She turned, dropped to one knee, and gently removed the arrow from Ladon’s tail, remorse tightening her face. “Do not move from here, child. We shall handle this.”

She hovered a hand above him. A translucent shield formed around the dragon.

Ladon lifted his head and peered forlornly at the angry deities above them. “What is wrong with my mothersss? Why do they not recognize me?!”

A wretched look darkened Atropos’s eyes. “They are not of sound reason, child. Hush now. We—”

The hairs rose on Cassius’s nape. A grunt left him as something powerful smashed into him.

“Icarus!” Atropos barked.

Arethusa plowed into the Moira and sent her flying into the barrier.

Wood and foliage exploded around Cassius. Hesperia was carving a path through the garden with his body as she carried him farther inside the dome, her fingers squeezing his throat and her golden eyes full of madness. Her bow shifted into a broadsword.

He cursed and blocked her strike with his gauntlet when she swung the blade.

We don’t have time for this!

Cassius blinded the enraged Goddess with a burst of Heaven’s Light, peeled her hand from his neck, and shot away from her.

“Come to your senses!” he shouted, Icarus’s presence rising inside him. “It is I, Icarus, grandson of Nephele! I am not your enemy!”

Hesperia roared and charged him. Cassius gasped as she locked her arms around his chest and plummeted toward the chasm that split the island at inhuman speed.

The wind whistled coldly in his ears as gloom engulfed them. Cassius tried to free himself of the Goddess’s tenacious hold as the walls of the gully soared around them at a vertiginous rate. The sound of crashing waves grew below. Then, he was in the water.

Hesperia rose and vanished swiftly as he sank beneath the cold surface of the lake.

An avalanche of boulders dropped toward him in the next instant. Hesperia had smashed the walls of the ravine to bury him in a tomb of water and stone.

Cassius swore, unleashed Heaven’s Light, and ascended inside a dazzling sphere of power, debris bouncing harmlessly off his shield.

Surprise rounded Hesperia’s eyes when he emerged from the lake. Her sword shifted back into a bow where she hovered above the gorge. She reached for a dozen arrows and aimed them squarely at him with a focused frown.

Her fingers froze on the string when the air suddenly shimmered gold.

Atropos had unleashed her full powers.

Cassius soared out of the chasm and spotted her where she clashed swords with Arethusa.

“Snap out of it, Are!”Atropos snarled at the Hesperis.“We mean you no harm!”

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