The Queen's Gambit

Double Attack (Carmen Grey)

Double attack: a move made by player that can attack two places, even if only one piece is played by the player in question. With that being fufilled, only one threat can be warded off by the opponent.

---------------------------------------------

A sudden impact forced the air out of my lungs. I lay there heaving uselessly, dust particles invading my lungs. I was coughing loudly, just a heap on the stone ground. Tears pooled in my eyes and poured down my face, the painful fall triggering the waterworks.. Speaking of my face, it felt pretty beat up. I brought my hand up to wipe the grime off my face, wincing when my fingers came back into view, covered in crimson.

Evelyn was maybe twenty feet away from me, also crumpled on the ground helplessly. She had had the fortune of landing on grass, so her fall wasn't as painful. I was decidedly salty about it. I really didn't want to get up, but it would have to happen sometime.

I pushed my upper torso off the ground, exerting my sore muscles. My palms burnt from the scrapes and the harshly beating heat. Gravel and shards of glass were embedded in the soft flesh of my wrists. Brilliant landing, Fay. I thought to myself sarcastically. Barely thirty minutes into the quest, and I was already hurt. Must have been a record.

The ex-goddess groaned in pain, and she shifted her position on the ground. She, too, sat up, wincing at the pain. "I thought you knew what you were doing."

"I did know, but it's not my fault that I fell onto a stone dais!" I said defensively. I reached into my satchel, my eyebrows knitting together. Multiple glass jars were broken, but all of them were empty. Thank the gods.

I stumbled to my feet, simultaneously shifting broken glass around to find a bandaid. Evelyn followed suit, letting out a small cry of pain. I looked over at her, trying to deduce the reason. Her ankle was slightly swollen. Probably twisted it. I may not really haved liked Evelyn, but it was practically suicide to fight the Nemean Lion with a potentially fractured foot.

Wordlessly, I took the healing elixir from my bag. The crystal vial wasn't even scratched, let alone chipped. That's good, it's dangerous to administer potions with vial fragments. Even if it was just dropped onto the affected area, it could still meddle with the potion.

I scraped the wax seal off with my thumbnail, and uncorked it swiftly. This was a potion I was extremely familiar with. I dripped a bit on my bleeding cut, handling the light lavender fluid carefully. I also squeezed some onto Evelyn's ankle, relieving some of her pain.

No words were really exchanged, though she mumbled a small 'thank you'. I set to picking the gravel from the bleeding scrapes on my hands, silent tears streaming down my face. It hurt to dig into the flesh to remove it, but I persisted.

The thing that broke the silence wasn't a very welcome icebreaker. It was the heavy padding of paws on the ground; much like those of a house cat, if their walking was amplified by tenfold. An aggressive snarl ripped through the air, it's golden brown fur glinting in the sunlight. I sucked a breath of air in anxiously. I was so not ready for this.

I clutched my sword tightly in my hands. My palms were sweaty. The the corner of my eye, I could see Evelyn reaching for her spear.

In the myths, Athena always held a spear. It was her godly weapon. Much like how Artemis and Apollo, accurately named 'the Archer Twins', had claimed the bow and arrows. I prayed to the almighty gods that Evelyn would still know how to wield her spear, or at least recieve the blessing from one of the twins to use the arrows in her quiver. The gods knew that Evelyn had angered enough of them.

The lion was five feet away. I couldn't move. I felt paralyzed in fear, my breath coming in ragged bursts. It's yellow cat-like eyes glinted menecingly in the broad sunlight. So beautiful in a such a deadly way.

Just as it pounced, Evelyn shoved me out of the way. I fell on my butt painfully, but on the bright side, I wasn't ripped to shreds by an oversized cat. I regained my breath, though my eyes were still as big as saucers.

The lion wasn't targeting me though. It was now stalking Evelyn, her face pale as a sheet of paper. She brandished her spear in front of her, almost like a shield of false security. The lion advanced, almost like a predator stalking its prey. No, scratch that. Exactly like a predator stalking its prey.

There was no earthly way for Evelyn and me to strangle it. It was about four times the size of two sixteen year old girls, much much bigger than your average lion. "I'll lead it into the forest-" I whispered quickly, backing away in terror. Seems like I was doing everything while very scared. The enormous lion's head swiveled to focus on me. Looks like Evelyn isn't the one targeted right now....

I took off running. My heart pounded, my feet hitting the rubble. I dodged last minute, narrowly missing a pillar. The lion was right at my heels, but he crashed into the stone. Evelyn was sprinting in a differant direction, fumbling with the bow slung across her shoulder. Please let her be able to shoot. Please.

After what seemed like forever, Evelyn finally got hold of the arrows and fitted them into the bow. And then she shot it. It glowed slightly, while racing through the air, but I didn't have any time to admire it. It touched the Lion. Oh, of course... Impenatrable fur. What the heck to I do???

The greeks should have either made their pillars stronger, to prevent rubble, or just cleaned up the mess. I've always been one for interesting greek myths and history, with a bit of roman mixed in, but I wasn't feeling the spirit, if I was to judge by what happened next. Because I tripped.

And lo, and behold, I was sprawled out on the ground once again, but this time, I was under a solitary oak tree. Just had to happen, right? The falling wasn't even the worst part, no, not even close. The worst part was that there was an evil lion ready to pounce on me. Can't have a better day, huh....? Look on the bright side, you'll die under a tree. That'll be cool... NOT!

"Hey.... kitty, kitty... Um, don't eat me please? It's all good, um, you're a good kitty-cat... I probably taste disgusting, anyway!" I said tentatively.

It regarded me with disdain, prowling closer. I don't know why I had hoped for differant results.

I closed my eyes, preparing for my inevitable fate. There was a freaking lion, so I didn't expect to have much luck in the 'staying alive' department. I tried uselessly to protect my face by holding out my hands. I also added a bunch of panicked prayers to all the gods I could think of. All in all, I was screwed. Big time.

But the dying part never came. An audible gasp could be heard, but it wasn't from me or the lion. It was from Evelyn. I opened my eyes carefully, expecting to see a, y'know, LION killing me, but there wasn't any pain.

There also wasn't any lion. As if answering my question, Evelyn's eyes were round at she stared at the oak. Because, right there, hanging on a tree and wrapped in vines, was a dead Nemean Lion.