Ares let go of the sword with a snarl, his chest heaving even harder than before. “I will get the sword, pain or none!” he roared.
“Pig-headed fucking moron,” I snapped, not quite loud enough for him to hear, and turned back to the nearest enemy. I would bet all the drachma in the world that I could disable all these one-eyed bastards before he could get that stupid sword out of the rock.
Challenge set for myself, I ran at the first cyclops.
It was like hitting a brick fucking wall. I smashed my fist into its chest as I launched myself at him, but instead of him reacting, or my fist sinking into flesh, I bounced backward five feet. The damned thing didn’t even look at me. I staggered backward, stumbling as I tried to stop myself falling, and my bruised pride caused more anger and strength to surge through me.
“You’re getting it this time, asswipe,” I hissed through clenched teeth. Taking a bigger run up, I tried again, but instead of going for the cyclops, I made a grab for the staff as I reached him.
This time he did react. Fast. His single blue eye locked on me, and he moved, swinging the staff out of my reach and bringing it swiping toward my legs. But my focus, or war-sight, had kicked in, and I saw his muscles move, his body shift, the momentum of his actions, all before the actual event. I knew exactly what was coming. I jumped early, clearing the staff and coming back down just in time to land on the metal, bringing the thing crashing to the ground. The cyclops let out a hiss as instead of letting go of the staff, his body followed. He tumbled onto the sand, and I moved fast. With as much strength as I could muster, I brought my boot down on the glowing end of the staff.
I heard the scream rip from my mouth, but it didn’t sound like me. Agony was tearing through my body, every nerve ending on fire, every sense totally overloaded, as electricity coursed through me. With a mammoth effort, I threw myself back, breaking the contact, and the pain abated instantly. Sweat rolled down my back and my forehead, as I panted for breath. The cyclops was struggling back to its feet, lifting the staff high, as Ares shouted again. I looked dizzily at him as he gripped the sword up on the rock. Now that I knew how fucking awful the shocks were, I couldn’t believe that he was still up there. The sword had only moved another inch or so.
I looked back at the cyclops, trying to think of another way to rid him of his staff, and paused. He was staring in dismay at the end of his staff, which was no longer glowing. It was no longer doing anything at all.
I’d broken it. My big fucking boots had broken it! Giving myself a mental high-five and the cyclops a sarcastic grin, I raced towards the next one. He didn’t follow me, just dropped the useless staff to the sandy floor and folded his arms. Weird. But definitely not a bad thing.
To my relief it looked like only three of the creatures had come out of the six gates. I wasn’t sure I couldn’t handle another one of those shocks, let alone six of the fuckers.
“Why aren’t you guys fighting us?” I asked the second cyclops loudly, as I neared him. His eye stayed trained on Ares, on top of the rock, just like the last one had. “I mean, you’re helping me out with this whole statue thing you’ve got going on, but I’m a little suspicious,” I said. The cyclops didn’t react. “OK,” I shrugged. “Your job is to guard the electricity staff thingy and nothing else. Fair enough.”
With a lurch, I darted under the arm that was holding the staff, kicking out at the bottom of the long pole. He moved it out of my way in time, but in doing so leveled it out, so that it was parallel to the ground. After a split-second of apprehension about how much it was going to hurt, I grabbed at the glowing end, and yanked it with all my strength to the ground, forcing it hard onto the sand-covered stone. I faintly heard a smashing sound as pain engulfed me, then it was drowned out by the sound of my own blood pounding in my ears. I was on fire. I couldn’t breathe. With a scream, I wrenched my arm away, moving my legs too, instinctively carrying myself farther from the vile staff. Thankfully the cyclops did exactly as the first had, dropping the other end of the now broken staff with a scowl and folding his muscled arms in front of him.
I swiped at the fresh wave of sweat rolling down the back of my neck, my ears ringing. The only positive I could draw as I stumbled toward the last cyclops was that at least the shocks left no residual pain. They left me dazed and sweating and breathless, but once I broke contact, the agony stopped immediately.
“Are you ready to get your shitty staff smashed too?” I panted as I reached the third creature. I glanced back at Ares, as the cyclops ignored me. The sword was half way out now, and I was sure there was much less electricity sparking over him. Certainly he had stopped yelling. He must have been taking the shock powered by all three staffs, until I started destroying them.
I had just felt the shock from one each time, and that was bad enough. All three in one hit? I couldn’t help the teensy bit of admiration that welled inside me. He’s an idiot for not just helping you, I told myself. If he had, I wouldn’t be about to get another one of these hurt-like-hell shocks.
But he hadn’t helped me, so I was.
Dredging up more energy, I leaped high, kicking at the cyclops’ hand that was holding the staff. He turned, moving it out of the way, but I saw the adjustment coming, and twisted in the air. A small shock gripped me as I made contact, and the cyclops actually made a grunting noise as the staff slid from his grip. I landed awkwardly, but rolled to the staff before the cyclops could scoop it up again, bringing the back of my heel slamming down on the glowing end.
Instead of the final shock I was expecting, I heard a roar of triumph from Ares, and no pain wracked my body at all.
“I told you I would get the sword!” the warrior God bellowed from behind me. But I didn’t look at him. My gaze was fixed on the cyclops, just as his huge eye was on me. He was only a couple of feet away from where I was sitting on the ground, the smashed staff beneath my boot. He hadn’t straightened and folded his arms like the others.
“Well done, little girl,” the creature said, baring sharp teeth as he grinned at me. “Now those staffs are out of the way, we can play.”
I barely rolled out of the way fast enough, his own massive boots crashing down where I had been sitting. I scrambled to my feet whilst still moving, seeing the other two creatures charging towards me on both sides. I darted for two lumps of rock, and heard a loud thud behind me. Pulling my knife from my pocket and flicking it open, I whirled.
Ares, gleaming and gold and magnificent, was wielding a fine silver sword and landing blow upon blow on the three cyclopes surrounding him. Indignation that the idiot man only had the damned sword because of me, but was now getting all the glory, swamped me, and I cried out as I charged into the melee.
But before I even got close, I felt a huge wrench in my stomach, and Ares glowed gold, his movements speeding up so much I could barely see him. Fatigue and dizziness washed over me and I staggered, my charge broken like I’d hit a wall.
The golden blur in front of me wobbled, my eyelids suddenly heavy, and it took everything I had not to fall to my knees.
“Fucking... asshole...” I tried to say, but the words came out as a whisper.
I felt as though I’d been hit by a truck, and to my dismay, I couldn’t stop my knees from buckling. The blur of gold that was Ares faded from my vision as the red mist leaked away, everything replaced by a pale haze.