Hurriedly she looked forward and dug deep, crawling as fast as she could as they exited from under that table. She was about to duck under the tablecloth of the next one when suddenly that option was swept away as a wave of fire hit it. Now what? The space before her rapidly filling with manic fighting Gods and Goddesses. Screaming. Hurling fireballs and bolts of power. There was hair pulling. Clothes ripping. And a surprising amount of open handed bitch slapping.
Suddenly Gigi was on her feet, thanks to Nico. Who grabbed her hand. “This way.” Pulling her into the fray. Anyone getting too close he shoved aside with brute strength. She’d forgotten that he was super strong. Enough so to make them a pathway through the melee. Even so she heard him grunt as he took a fist to the side of the head. Whilst Gigi’s eyes watered as someone managed to elbow her in the lower back.
Still, they shouldered their way onwards, past three more buffet tables that had taken significant damage before coming to the final one, nothing but a smoking splintered ruin.
They’d Transportalled to Olympus via what Gigi presumed was the tradesman’s entrance, given the disdainful attitude of the guard who manned it. But she was pretty sure that gate was somewhere off to their left. No way could they make it through the crowd. Perhaps they could take shelter behind a couple of columns and wait out the fight. The deities would all get tired and thirsty eventually, wouldn’t they?
They ducked as a stray lightning bolt sizzled their way. Hmmm, perhaps there was no such thing as a safe place. Glancing at a golden archway about ten feet away. Cloud billowing out of it, so dense you couldn’t see what was on the other side. The guard who’d logged them in had been very clearthat bad things would happen to them if they wandered away from the designated party space.
Worse than being incinerated by a fireball?
She could sense Nico beside her weighing up the same thoughts, his hand still clasping hers, warm, reassuring. Together they glanced back at the fighting mass. Fireballs. Power bolts. Or some unknown danger lurking on the other side of that cloud filled archway?
Mierda. How had things gone so badly so quickly? Nico glanced down at Gigi, dishevelled, breathless, but not panicking. If anything she looked kind of pissed off, like she wanted to wade into the melee and start banging some heads together.
He was tempted to edge them around the space, head for their designated exit, but the fight was becoming more and more physical as time went on. Gods trading blows as the ground beneath everyone shook with every impact. A crack or two beginning to form in nearby columns.
All the while the two dozen glittering cherubs buzzed the crowd, strafing them gleefully time and again with streams of glittering shit. How did the little bastards contain so much excrement, given they were no bigger than a human one year old?
And just when he presumed their situation couldn’t get worse, the flock of cherubs froze in the air, golden wings still thrumming to keep them aloft, as one their tiny heads all turned, gazes locking simultaneously upon Nico and Gigi. Which sure, could have been a cosmic coincidence, except they all blinked at exactly the same time. Fucking hell, that was eerie.
Someone was controlling these little bastards.
And as one the cherubs notched an arrow in place, taken from the quivers strapped to their backs. And like a swarm of disturbed hornets they all commenced flying towards Nico and Gigi, bows extended, targeting them.
Fuck. Tightening his hold on Gigi’s hand Nico turned and yanked her through the nearby cloud filled archway. Forbidden areas be damned. They were under attack, rules were made to be broken. “Run.”
They cleared the stifling billowing dense cloud in a heartbeat, ejected out into a long corridor, almost silvery perfect marble gleaming underfoot, balls of white light hanging overhead spotlighting rows upon rows of statues all depicting Zeus dressed up as different characters from throughout the ages.
Shoes pounding, sounding loud against the marble, Nico caught a glimpse of Zeus depicted as a 1940’s mobster. Fedora on his head, marble spats on his feet and a tommy gun in the statue’s hand. Zeus dressed as Superman. A Viking. A circus showman. Zeus. Zeus, and more Zeus. Statue after statue.
And nothing but a long, seemingly endless corridor before them. Crap. Chancing a glance back. The cherubs still on their tail. Luckily the swarm were grouped so tightly together they were struggling not to knock into one another. And none, given the distance that still separated them, had room to aim and release any arrows.
Abruptly the rows of statues ended. To be replaced by humongous gilded lush paintings depicting Zeus doing… Saint Medard, those poor swans. Yikes, different time, different era. Nico tried not to look too closely at way too many sexually explicit paintings.
Hell, why weren’t there any exits? A broom closet they could take refuge in? And how long was this bloody corridor? Of course this was Mount Olympus, theoretically it could be an endless ode to Zeus’s vanity.
“How… much… further… do you think?”
Yeah, he wished he knew the answer. “If we faced off with them, could you do something with your magic?” Nico had aknife in his ankle holster, but would have given a testicle for a nice long sword or pike right about now.
“No. They’re too far up on the deity scale for… me.”
Damn. Okay, at least one bit of good news. They were now past the paintings, but from the sound of Gigi’s heavy breathing and the slight drag on his hand, she was beginning to flag. It would be optimal to stop on their own terms rather than when she reached the end of her stamina.
Dioramas? Too tiny to be of any help.
And then they passed a doorway. Nico chanced a glance inside, it was full of mannequins being smited by a lightning bolt, presumably sent by Zeus. They passed another doorway and then another. Question was, did those doorways have actual doors? No point in ducking into one if they only succeeded in cornering themselves. Yes, it appeared they did. Good.
“This one.”
Nico’s arm was practically yanked out of its socket as Gigi pulled him sideways into a room.
“Belt.”
“What?”
“Your belt. Hand it over.”
