Age of Heroes

3| Sadie

Lily had fainted. Literally, the second Reggie had found us, her legs gave in and she face-planted into the dirt. Another blow to the pride for Reggie, I assumed. He hadn't said much else, merely whistled for his white pegasus (named Ginger, ironically) and tossed Lily over it like a tablecloth before climbing on himself. Then they were gone (taking my new sword with them). That left me with Gio, somebody I still considered the scariest of the three.

I was stiffly seated on a tree stump, wincing as Gio wrapped my bleeding thigh with the black bandanna he'd worn. The adrenaline was slowly dissipating, leaving behind every foul sensation you could think of. Gio's thumb pressed at the cut and I yelped, immediately placing my hands over his to stop any movement. He froze at my touch, refusing to even look at me. Embarrassed, I lifted my hands and allowed him to continue whilst I internally berated myself.

"You can relax, you know," he muttered after a while, taking more care now as he wrapped my wound. "I'm not going to kill you. Reggie may already be planning your execution but I prefer to question my hostages before beheading them." He shook his head as if he couldn't comprehend why I wasn't sobbing in relief. "You're very fortunate Reggie's not the one in charge."

I was finding it difficult to be grateful for anything when he basically admitted that they carried out Middle Age forms of execution on this island. "Will I be freed if proven innocent of whatever Reggie believes I've done?"

"That depends on whether your arrival and everything else is purely coincidental."

"It is coincidental. This island is clearly bad luck," I mumbled grumpily, withholding another whimper at the now bubbling gash in my thigh. The sight of it made me gag.

Gio finally glanced up at me from where he was crouched, dried blood caking his face. His dark eyes twinkled with laughter and I could tell he fought hard to keep his face neutral to not provoke the cut running across it. "If it makes you feel better, I promise it's not usually this bad. Monsters never make it through the barricade." He paused, folding the black cloth around my wound. "Neither do unconscious mortal girls who know how to wield a sword."

My lips pursed, hoping that he wouldn't take Reggie's route and accuse me of working with Cronus. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to decide that I'd intentionally uttered Oceanus' name to bring the monsters. As if. Oceanus barely tolerated Cronus and wouldn't dare free him from Tartarus.

"You say that as if you're not mortal." Remembering how he'd literally turned invisible; I knew I wasn't too far off.

This time he smirked, giving no hint of the pain it quite obviously brought. "Being mortal implies that one has an expiration date." He knotted the cloth and stood up. "And as far as I'm concerned, I'm not expiring anytime soon." What a lovely analogy.

I pulled a face and awkwardly stumbled to my feet, wincing at the cuts beneath them. "I swear to all the gods if you say you're 500 years old, I'm leaving."

Man-eating birds I could deal with. Raging tourists? No problem. But ancient men who story upon stories have cautioned young mortals about? No. No way. I'd learnt enough from Zeus to know old men were a huge no. Ignoring his quiet amused smile, I moved around him and hobbled away, glancing from tree to tree because every bloody pathway looked the same. Two conflicting ideas were battling inside me. I could take my chances and be questioned regarding my supposed crimes, or I could run away. The latter idea immediately made me frown. There was no way I'd be able to escape. They'd be searching the waters for me, believing that I'd managed to even step foot off the island when in reality; I'd probably be lost in the forest.

Gio whistled suddenly and I hardly made it a few feet away from him when a majestic black pegasus landed in front of me. Its wings flared wide as its hooves grazed the ground, creating an image of transcendental beauty. Although I was reluctant to be around other magical creatures after the Stymphalian birds incident, part of me craved to run my fingers across its lustrous coat. Merely staring at it told me exactly why Belleraphron, the hero that tamed the first pegasus, had been so bewitched by the creature. I'd heard of men using cute dogs to pick up women, but I'd never heard of 500-year-old men using a magnificent pegasus to lure them in.