Outside Influences

Bel clenched her hand around the wooden haft of her newly procured spear and put her back to the gap she’d created in the spiral stairs.

I’ll be damned if I’ve come this far only for these losers take me down in an ambush.

Bel glanced to the side, wondering if she could simply jump. To her dismay she saw another cluster of giants waiting below her, clearly anticipating that approach. Or maybe they’d just gotten lucky – Bel couldn’t tell if their hiding places actually allowed for any movement.

Although, now that I think about it, a giant spiral staircase without any support or guardrails is pretty suspicious. How would they get those cages full of animals down the steps? Maybe the actual passage is inside the stone, and this was just a decoy.

The lead giant, the same one who had captured her in the first place, stepped to the front of the group nearest her. He looked a little more frazzled from the disastrous night, but that didn’t have any effect on his confident swagger. The giant looked at her through a mirror while he pointed one of his huge fingers in her direction and began barking orders that she didn’t understand.

Bel decided that she’d had enough of the casual disrespect. She took a deep breath and felt for the connection that she had with her mother, Lempo. Her mouth opened and words in the divine tongue built up in her throat, a revelation from her divine mother. At the last moment she felt Lempo’s presence step aside and Kjar’s fiery temperament took its place.

“Pathetic mortals! You dare interfere with this divine champion! Your bodies will burn and your souls will be cast into the darkness for an eternity!”

Bel cringed at the words leaving her own mouth. Kjar, why can’t you be more subtle? I wanted to buy time, but I think this will just rile them up.

The giants looked at her for a couple heartbeats and then burst into laughter. The leader patted the severed gorgon’s head swinging at his belt a few time before pointing at her and saying something threatening. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to guess what he was suggesting.

Okay, maybe I’ll just jump down the entire shaft. I wish I had my parachute though.

She glanced over the edge and was startled to see someone flying up the center of the shaft.

They don’t have people who can fly, do they?

The newcomer blurred past before snapping her wings wide to bring herself to a quick halt. She touched down a half turn higher than Bel and surveyed the scene below her. She was dressed for war, with well-worn leather armor with a metal breastplate and gorget protecting her heart and a neck and wielded a maul with a brutal-looking spike on one side. Bel’s eyes were drawn to her hands, which sported long, sharp nails made of reflective metal.

At first Bel had expected another garuda, but this woman had a human face – currently pulled down into a disapproving frown. Bel's pulse quickened when she saw the newcomer's braids twitch and come to life. It wasn’t human hair at all; instead it was a nest of snakes.

Another gorgon, Bel realized.

Bel’s eyes widened with delight as the newcomer’s snakes fanned out angrily around her head. Their tails shook, creating a threatening rattling sound that seemed impossibly loud. The lead giant turned to look at the newcomer and froze, a look of surprise and horror on his face.

Bel heard him grunt in effort, but it seemed like he was unable to turn away. One of his companions reached out to help him, so Bel threw her new spear as a distraction. She’d expected her throw to go wide, but the spear seemed to guide her arm as she threw it, turning a shaky toss into a lethal throw. It neatly pierced through the giant’s chest and burst from the other side.

Divine gifts are awesome, Bel thought. She could feel satisfaction and hunger from the weapon even after it left her hands. She pulled at it mentally and felt it pull back a chunk of her free essence before it dissolved into a red dust and returned to her.

Bel grinned and looked back to the giants’ boss. He was still frozen, but now something strange was happening with his skin. It had turned a sickly gray, radiating out from his dull-looking eyes. His lips twisted one last time before freezing in place, his arms and fingers twitched before growing unnaturally still, and the gray sheen spread to his extremities.

A statue, Bel realized. She turned him to stone, just like James said gorgons could.

Bel looked up at the new gorgon with admiration. So that’s why nobody wanted to look at me.

A few moments earlier, Crecerelle had been working her way up stairs.

She paused for just a moment, looking at the seemingly endless distance spiraling upwards. She wasn’t tired, but all the walking was getting tedious and her misgivings were only growing. She had been prepared for a quick fight, not an entire journey, and the scale of the operation behind the stairs was unsettling. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was also scared of what she would find up at the top of the illegal passage.

What if gorgons really were being exploited by this band of animal and ability traders? And what if the traders were too powerful for her to be able to help? Cress groaned as she thought about it.

I’ll probably have to go crawling to some local vigilante group and pay some exorbitant fee. Then they won’t even do anything about the giants – they’ll probably just buy any gorgons away, leaving the root of the problem behind.

Cress swung her maul at the stone wall, gouging out a small chunk and a spray of smaller pieces. Then she lifted a chip to her shoulder and let it go, carefully counting the time until it struck the ground near her feet. A bit of math derived the rate of acceleration and told her that she’d had gone through nearly two complete layers. She couldn’t help but whistle in admiration.

They must have payed a lot of bribes for the naga and asura to overlook this.

Cress’ snakes rattled with her displeasure.

The giants’ operation was well-funded and they had powerful allies. The hole and the stairs clinging to its outer edge were clear enough proof of that. The trade in rare beasts from a different layer also meant that Cress wouldn’t be receiving any support for a campaign of retribution.

Nothing ever changes, she thought angrily. The powerful crush the weak under their heel.

She grit her teeth and determined to take care of things, whatever that took. She had just set her foot on the next step when a flash of light from above made her pause again.

What was that?

She peered upwards, holding her hand in front of her face to form a lens from the air. It didn’t really help because there was nothing to see, save for some flickering lights. The burning red was probably fire and there was a blue glow that she thought came from some kind of insect.

There was a long pause without movement, and then something tumbled down the shaft. Cress watched in surprise as some of the stairs and a pair of giants plummeted past her.

Okay, no more time for dawdling. If the giants are having a problem, this is my chance to strike.

Cress spread her wings and filled them with air, burning away essence to speed her arrival. Tears fell from her eyes from the rush of wind against her face and she pushed out a bubble to push away the air resistance. There was a balance to strike between getting to the fight in time to capitalize upon whatever was happening and burning away so much essence that she wouldn’t be able to do anything when she got there. Unfortunately, she didn’t have enough information to make a good decision, so she was left with just her instincts guide her.

Crecerelle came upon the scene of the fight so abruptly that she nearly flew past it, but with a quick snap of her wings she brought herself down to a graceful landing directly above the belligerents. A quick glance showed a mass of giants surrounding a lone gorgon. A look at the best-armed giant – their leader she presumed – revealed the severed head of one of her sisters swinging from her belt.

A fiery rage suffused her body. Her snakes shook with fury and she amplified the sound, calling the giant’s attention to her. And then she glared with the intent to kill.

She didn’t get the attention of every giant – she saw one start to move before the other gorgon quickly dispatched him with her spear – but she’d locked eyes with the leader. She pushed her powers into him and quickly turned his body to stone. She sighed with satisfaction at the sight while her snakes hissed their approval.

Cress turned to a giant who’d been trying to sneak up behind her and opened her mouth. She unleashed a powerful shriek that tossed him to the ground, where she quickly tore out his throat with a swipe of her sharp claws. Then she leaped at the nearest giant. A flap of her wings accelerated her inside the thrust of his spear and she smashed his head in with her maul.

The giants weren’t weak, but whatever had happened to bring them to the stairs had left them disorganized. Many were already wounded and tired and now, with their leader turned to stone, they were disorganized and panicked.

There were only two gorgons, and plenty of giants, but the momentum was on her side. Cress quickly checked the progress of her sister gorgon and was pleased to the girl laying about her with a glowing spear.

At least I don’t have to baby-sit.

Cress frowned at her uncharitable thought as she smashed through a giant’s shield with the pick side of her weapon to impale his shield arm. Another swing collapsed his chest and a quick flick of the claws verified his death before she moved on to the next.

A buzzing sound alerted Cress to an incoming projectile, which she slowed down with a burst of the air around her. She spun and saw a giant on a higher level hastily looking away into a mirror. Cress scolded herself and flew to reach the relative genius who had found a bow and arrows.

Another glance showed the other gorgon still holding her own, although she wasn’t doing much more than that. She’s probably already been through seven hells tonight. I need to learn to be more charitable, Cress rebuked herself.

A solidified shield of air blocked two more arrows before she caved in the archer’s skull.

Cress turned to find her next enemy and watched with amusement as the other gorgon leaped onto the final giant’s back. Her eyebrows went up in surprise as the unknown gorgon snapped the giant’s neck with a powerful twist of her arms.

Wow, she’s strong.

Cress jumped over the edge and glided to meet her unknown sister. She kept her eyes open for any more surprises, but all she saw was dead giants. The statue of their leader stood in horror over the scene, a fitting warning for any who would cross her kind.

Good riddance, she cheered.

Cress put her maul down as she shifted her attention to the other gorgon, opening her arms wide for a traditional greeting. The other girl peered at her with open admiration and curiosity, but she left her arms hanging awkwardly. Crecerelle twitched her hands with agitation, but the other gorgon didn’t budge.

Is she really rude or something? Did someone hit her on the head?

Cress looked at the girl, inspecting her for the first time. She was odd.

Her head did, in fact, look injured. She was clearly missing a snake, and two of her snakes were… strange? They were either decorated with flowers and paint or something was seriously wrong with them. One glowed with a dull red and hung limply off to the side, like it was worn out just from being there. The flowery one lazed around her scalp like a circlet of flowers. Cress had met plenty of other gorgons with plenty of snakes, but she’d never seen any so unusual.

Cress had also never seen a gorgon who wore such garish tattoos on her arms. The names of their closest sisters, certainly, but of other powerful beings? Cress wondered if she was an indebted to some high-flying aspiring ascendants.

Wherever she’d come from, the other gorgon looked like she had some crazy stories to tell. The same injury that took her snake had also left a scar running down her face and through an eye, ruining it. Her legs and arms were streaked with small scars and she was naked save for a gleaming set of lamellar armor that covered her shoulders and torso and continued into a skirt of metal plates that hung close to her knees. She didn’t even have shoes, although she had a couple of earrings and a crude necklace.

Damn, this girl has seen some shit, Cress thought.

Cress finally lowered her arms, hug rejected, and coughed to clear her throat. “Hello sister, I am Crecerelle, currently of no den.”

The other gorgon nodded and pointed to herself before babbling in some unknown language.

Cress’s brow crinkled in consternation.

Why isn’t she using our native tongue?

Cress interrupted the stranger and repeated her greeting, wondering again if the other gorgon had received some head trauma.

The girl shrugged and rattled off greetings in a couple more languages, neither of which Cress understood. If she wasn’t just making up languages on the spot it was an impressive accomplishment considering that Cress spoke ten languages fluently and knew basic greetings in twenty more.

Olympos is vast and surprises abound. Maybe she’s from one of the floating isles? Or perhaps she survived a ship wrecked in the polar storms and was tossed to the other side of the world.

The stranger finally sighed and twisted her lips like she was about to do something unpleasant. Then she opened her mouth and spoke.

This time Cress understood her; not because she knew the language, but because the stranger spoke in the divine tongue. It was impossible to not understand words in the divine tongue, so plenty of traders learned abilities to do so. Gorgons didn’t – their grudge against the gods ran strong.

The girl wasn’t using an ability though. Crecerelle could tell. Her words didn’t sound like her own, taking on the distant haughty tone that Cress recognized from priests and zealots in towns across Olympos. Her message was also insane, another hallmark of the gods.

“Greetings,” the girl began in a smooth, dulcet voice. “I am the Beloved child of Lempo, goddess of change and upheaval, and Dutcha, the divine spirit of chaos.”

Cress was struck dumb at the proclamation, but the girl didn't stop there.

“I am on a mission to kill the false god, Technis. Divine providence commands your assistance.”

The girl immediately slapped her hands over her mouth before waving her limbs around and apologizing in her foreign words.

Cress stared, numbness nipping at the tips of her fingers.

Daughter of who? What? The gods haven’t used a gorgon as their divine instrument in thousands of years – they’ve never forgiven us for refusing to leave the Old World when commanded. What is going on?