Medusa Fate s GameChapter 17
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~~Otrera~~
They weren’t stupid. Well, not completely. Under the guise of night and the magical mist of Charon’s ship — one of Charon’s own fucking ships — they sailed to the coast many miles from the city. They needed the cloak of night, but also the protection of the forest and mountains, to scout the area with any degree of safety. Andromeda was a sorceress, a mighty one; they weren’t going to underestimate her just because Otrera and Perseus’s trap had failed.
It had been a bad trap, Otrera thought to herself as she jumped from the smaller vessel onto the beach. Perseus had probably expected her to die in the fight, and for him to emerge victorious, alone, covered in the blood of his enemies. Not for any dislike of her, but just for the fun of the violence and the glory of the story it’d create.
Psychopath.
Not that Darian was much better. Better, sure, but not much. Every so often, she found herself glancing at the man, and when they made eye contact, she caught the flicker of hesitation there. A moment’s worry. He knew he was different, and he wasn’t happy about it. That was a step up from Perseus at least.
Nighttime in a foreign land. It was the typical karst landscape but more extreme: cliffs, flat rock, forests, bush, and tiny rivers. But, with only stars and moonlight to see by, the unknown land, vast as it was, made her nervous. She shivered, rubbed her arms where her armor left them exposed at the bicep, and stepped further out from the group.
Chimera was right behind her. “I do not smell much in this land. There should be ... more. I can smell birds, and deer, snakes, other creatures, but not in the quantity I should.”
In the past several weeks of fucking the giant every night, she’d forgotten he was a beast. A real, live animal, with a nose for hunting things that he’d kill with his bare hands, and eat raw, bloody. Kind of like a hunting dog, but she didn’t say it.
“So something’s scaring the nearby animals away?” she said.
“Yes.” He squatted down next to her, and she leaned against his arm when he did. Too much? He quirked a brow at her, and she quirked one right back.
“What?”
He shrugged, smiled, and looked back over his shoulder.
Gallea finished playing his tune, and as quietly as they’d came, the massive, mist-hidden ship melted away into the sea. Not a sound, not even the creek of deck and wood. Good chance Andromeda didn’t know they were coming with that ship taking them places. Hopefully.
Medusa was dressed in nothing but her wrappings, but considering what the creature could transform into, that was probably for the best. And besides, the serpent had her bow, and she had the makings of a great archer. Darian was beside her, dressed in the black and silver hoplite armor that reeked of mission-from-Olympus design. But, she’d have worn something like that too, if someone had given it to her.
If Ares had given it to her.
She gritted her teeth until it hurt, and pushed off Chimera to start walking again. Get out of your head, Otrera. Stop thinking about all the stupid shit, before you brood yourself into the ground. Start doing.
“Alright, so, plan?” she said.
Darian came up to her, stabbed his spear’s grip into the ground, and pointed his free hand toward the road. The road was old, thin, and along its sides the mountains curved and the forests broke with enormous boulders. It was a rough landscape, and to get to Aethiopia would require either walking the road, scaling the horrible cliffs and tight forests, or finding a path through the mess of rock that went on and on.
“I didn’t expect this landscape. Good hiding, but a pain in the ass. We should see about finding a place we can hide that’s closer to the city, while also scouting the area for unknowns.” He pointed to one of the cliffs, and the flat face of rock it carried. “Let’s meet at this cliff’s base when the sun is over our heads. Chimera, you’re with me.”
Otrera tilted her head to the side. “I’m going with Medusa?”
“Course. This way I don’t get distracted by her lovely breasts, and you don’t get distracted by the eleven feet of man meat with the nice chest.”
Everyone jaw dropped.
“What, I can’t make jokes?”
Otrera snorted on a laugh, even as Chimera and Medusa looked at each other with what must have been some weird twist of appreciation and offense.
“Makes sense,” Otrera said. “What about those two.” She gestured to the two satyrs.
“If it gets dangerous out here, we’ll come find your hidey hole.” Gallea hopped over to them, but with a bit of caution for the bandage on his waist. “Course we’d prefer to stay out of the fight. Easy for the two of us to live out here in the woods; satyrs and all that.”
Otrera grunted, and pointed a finger Pinna. “And you?”
“I’ll be watching.”
“You have any idea how fucked up that is?”
“It ... it’s not ... we—”
Darian waved a hand and nudged Otrera back, away from Pinna. For a moment Otrera considered putting Darian’s head into the ground for touching her, but the man shook his head and sighed.
“It’s ok Pinna,” he said. “I get it. Gallea’s earned enough credit for the both of you. Stay out of the way best you can, but if things get bad and you need us to help you, you’ll need to become visible again.”
Pinna’s smile grew until she was beaming. “Hopefully that won’t happen. But ... thank you.”
Otrera rolled her eyes. But, she understood. Gallea saved the man’s lover; Otrera would have felt the same if someone had saved hers.
Lover. She took a glance at Chimera, and ran her eyes up and down his body. Scars, muscle, rugged beard, long hair, dark eyes. You couldn’t ask for a more definitive example of pure brutal, primal power in the shape of a human. And he was human ... ish. Was he her lover? A couple weeks of constant sex — amazing sex — and they’d never brought up the sensitive topics again. Ares, Darian, her dead tribe, Iobates, none of it. All they did was fuck, fuck, and fuck some more. It was probably a good idea Darian split them up.
“Alright,” she said. “Come on then snake girl.” Without bothering to look behind, she started walking. A sword in its scabbard on each hip, shield on her back, and dressed in her Amazon armor. Leather and metal guards and no helmet, but she felt infinitely more comfortable and ready for battle than she would be wearing something like Darian’s.
Medusa slithered up to Darian, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sun over ours heads, base of the cliff.”
“Yeap.”
“Ok. Be careful! Don’t fall or anything.”
“You too. It’s rough out here. Be careful where you slither.”
“I will!”
Oh gods. Otrera looked at Chimera, and the two of them rolled their eyes upward in sync. That earned a chuckle from her, and she winked at the tall bastard before she started walking.
“Come on! Damn snake.”
“Coming!” Medusa slithered after her, but they only managed thirty feet before the serpent raised herself higher and started waving back at the group. “I love you!”
“Love you too,” her man said. And, against her better judgment, Otrera looked over to see Medusa blow Darian a kiss.
“You two are you going to make me puke,” she said, eyes on the ground beneath them. The night sky was bright, but not so bright that she was comfortable. Dark patches of wood were about, and crevices and small canyons intermixed with cracked cliffs. It meant their chances of finding anyone or anything troublesome was nil, but it also meant traveling would be horrible.
“I can’t help it! He loves me.” Medusa blushed bright enough Otrera could see it in the dark. “He loves me he loves me.”
“Yeah, I get it. Shut up about it.” Twigs and branches snapped at Otrera’s arms, and she guarded against them as she pushed through the trees. A night fog was growing, making it difficult to see much below the knee.
“Come on Otrera. Have you ever been in love?”
No, she hadn’t. What sort of queen had time for love? She turned, and put a finger to her lips. Shhh.
Medusa nodded, and lowered herself until she was shorter than Otrera.
“ ... never?” she said, voice just a quiet hiss on the air.
Well, it was probably too much to expect silence from an airhead.
“Never.”
“That’ss sssad. It’s my first, and ... and it’s so amazing! You should—”
“Good gods, what did a social addict like you do for a hundred years alone on an island?”
“I ... it...”
Ugh, the woman was so sensitive. Whenever Medusa was angry, or feeling aggressive, Otrera could see she was more than capable of confronting things head on. But when she was docile and calm, she was a complete pushover. That was no reason for Otrera to be a bitch though.
“Sorry. It must have been rough, being alone for so long, and having to do the things you did.”
“It ... it was.”
The damn snake was smiling at her again, and as they moved further through the wood, Medusa grew closer and closer. Soon the serpent was almost shoulder-to-shoulder with her, and smiling at her between waves of trees they had to weave around.
“What are you smiling at?”
“You.”
“ ... why?”
Medusa shrugged, and lowered herself close enough to the ground she was practically lying on it. “I’m glad I didn’t shoot you.”
“What?”
“When you were chasing Darian, outside Tiryns.”
“Oh, right ... thanks.” Damn, she’d forgotten. Medusa had had the opportunity to kill her then and there. If things had—
A twig snapped. Otrera turned around with a jump backward and away from the sound. At the same time, she drew a sword and readied it, blade pointed forward horizontal.
Medusa squeaked at Otrera, and unslung her bow before nocking an arrow. “What is it?”
“Shh.”
Talking, always with the talking. She really should have shut the woman up, and now they were going to pay for it. Nothing came out of the wood yet though. Otrera took the opportunity to get her shield onto her other arm, and got low to the dirt as she sneaked forward.
In the forest, with cliffs and rocks everywhere, night time, and fog; wonderful. The element of surprise wasn’t much use if they got caught the day they arrived!
But nothing was there. She poked her head around a tree at where she’d heard the breaking wood, and found only brush.
Too good to be true. Frowning, she kept her shield in front of her and started to walk the area in a slow circle. Medusa had her bow up and was doing the same, though she raised herself higher and higher until she was over ten feet into the air and scanning the woodland.
Otrera looked up at Medusa, only to hear Medusa’s harsh hiss, and the crack of arrow cutting into wood and bark.
The Amazon ran up to where Medusa had shot the arrow. Nothing. Nothing? She quirked a brow at the serpent, but Medusa hissed again and turned her torso about on a swivel, only to fire another arrow into the dark. But from the sound it made, Otrera guessed it found only rock.
“Shooting at shadows?” she said.
Medusa shook her head. “Something ... sssomething’s hunting us.”
Spotted. Great. But if—
A lion’s roar drew her eyes, and she brought her shield up again, only to get knocked down under the immense weight of the attacker. Or at least, she thought she’d been knocked down, but the skidding ground underneath her and the spinning of the world suggested otherwise. She’d been tackled and sent flying.
Her back crashed against a tree, and the familiar pain of impact greeted her. Lightning cracked across her vision when her head did the same, and her body went limp against the dirt. Get up. Get up.
She looked across the small opening in the wood to Medusa. The serpent was spinning around again and firing at the moving shadows, and again the arrow cracked against nothing. Nothing that roared like that moved that fast.
Medusa’s hisses turned into a loud screech when she too went underneath an enormous blur of shadow. But Medusa was large, heavy, and the creature didn’t manage to bowl her over.
Otrera jammed a knee into the ground and forced herself up. Still breathing, no broken bones, no excuses. Get up. She chanted her own drills into her head until her body was moving on its own, and she ran at the enormous creature wrestling with the toppled gorgon.
It was some sort of cat with dark fur, somewhere between black and gold. A large lion, leaner, and where a lion’s head would have been, its snout was shorter and jaw larger, with fangs that raised upward like small tusks. Its claws dug into Medusa’s shoulders where the serpent fought it off; her bow was gone and lost to the brush and shadows.
As Otrera ran at it, the giant cat raised its head to look at her, drool on its growling chops. It raised its tail, and struck. She lifted her shield to block it, but it did not come. Instead, the cat’s tail crashed against her shield with enough force to drive her back a foot.
“What in Tartarus.”
Again its tail snapped out against her shield. In the dark, blocking a fast-moving object wasn’t the easiest, and she had to keep her shield up as she tried to get closer. But the monster struck again and again, like some sort of scorpion trying to sting prey.
But it was distracted, and Medusa took advantage. There were too many trees nearby for the gorgon to throw her snake body around, but she could still maneuver a little. She got underneath the chest of the predator, and after wrapping her tail around a nearby tree, she pushed against it while pushing herself away from her rooted body. The cat toppled over onto its back, and scrambled its paws against the air in panic.
Otrera jumped at it, sword raised. Fate’s Child legs sent her ten feet into the air before she came down with a hard slash, but the monster got back onto its paws quickly. It tore through the ground with claws and weight, and got out from underneath Otrera before she could land. So damn fast. Without room to run around, the cat jumped at a large tree, and bounced off of it to come at Otrera again.
Jumping at it was a bad idea. The thing was too fast for her to try aerial maneuvers. She crouched down, raised her shield up at an angle, and caught the beast’s weight against it. The angle let the beast’s claws slip right over it, and once she was under the colossal creature, she pushed up hard as she could. Fate’s Children were strong, but the lion weighed a ton. She had to drive her whole body upward, shield against her shoulder, feet hard against the ground, every muscle in her legs trembling with the burst of strength.
The creature flipped over her. Favor repaid in kind, the creature slammed back against a tree and crumbled onto the dirt and grass. One of its legs twitched and scratched, while its raised tail stabbed at everything nearby. The tail’s tip was barbed, and it had a long spike on it.
What the fuck kind of cat had a scorpion tail?
Bad time to be surprised. The creature got back to its paws and dove at her, but she didn’t have enough time to get her shield up. Screaming and hissing, the creature slammed her down onto the ground, and the ground greeted her with a solid punch to her lungs. Sword went flying. The ugly, oddly flat face of the lion crashed down upon her, and slammed her shield down against her chest when she managed to get it under the beast.
“Get off!” At least the monster was big enough she had the room to pull her knees up to her chest, and kick the beast in the ribs with both feet. Sandals pushed hard enough to send the creature back, but it didn’t phase it. Otrera scampered for her sword, but again the beast struck out at her. Every time she moved, it leapt for her, and she was forced to dive out of the way and in the wrong direction, away from her sword.
Back to a tree, she started looking around, eyes snapping from tree to branch to rock. Think of something think of something think of something.
Where in Tartarus was the damn snake woman?
Right on queue, Medusa came rolling out of the dark. Coiled around something, she was hissing and screeching and trying to grab its tail.
Great, another one. But at least the distraction worked. As Medusa came between them, the other cat changed targets and dived for the gorgon. Claws met scales, and Medusa’s scream rose when her blood gushed from the deep cuts. Her snake body was too busy crushing the other creature to deal with her new attacker.
Otrera wasn’t. She dashed for the sword, and rammed it into the side of the other cat still biting and clawing at Medusa. Its screech was louder, and more monstrous than the gorgon’s, and Otrera’s eyes went wide when it raised its weird face up to roar at her with enough volume she could feel it. She stabbed again.
The third stab through a wall of meat and muscle was enough to get the creature to fall over, wailing in agony, but as she jumped over it to try and get the sword into its head, it turned toward her and struck with its tail. Otrera only had enough time to see her eyes go wide before Medusa unwrapped much of her own tail from her opponent, and snapped it against the creature’s body. It flew over onto the grass and cracked against hard layers of rock before stopping against a tree once more.
The one in Medusa’s coils broke free. In the chaos, the gorgon got her hands onto its tail at the same time the creature tried to stab her, but the proximity and mess of limbs caused her to fall over the creature. A strong snap of her tail between her and the beast sent it through the air to land on its companion.
Otrera thought she was strong, but the gorgon was proving strong enough to beat Chimera in a fight.
Both monsters got up in seconds. They turned to face the two women, snarling, growling, claws digging into the dirt and tails raised like dancing scorpions.
“Otrera, step back.”
“What?”
And then there were three monsters.
Medusa’s human body grew. Face spread out over a growing snout. The snake fangs of her mouth, usually hidden, grew to enormous proportions. Human skin turned to scales. The snakes of her hair evolved into gigantic pythons. And claws, massive, ridiculous claws.
But it was the glowing eyes that made Otrera gasp.
For just a moment, she knew she was dead. She could see the glow, the reflection of yellow light blasting against the leaves and cool night moisture. She could even hear it. Like a surge of fire caught in a wind blast, the yellow light spread outward from Medusa and filled the darkness of the forest clearing.
Otrera threw herself backward, and scampered. Hiding behind a tree, she held her knees up to her chest, and stared out into the shadows casted by the yellow light behind her. The sound of flesh turning to stone was one she’d never heard before, of bones crunching, cracking, and freezing petrified. The screeches of pain of monsters as they died.
It only took a few seconds, thank the gods. Once the gold light was gone, Otrera stuck her head out from around the tree. Medusa, panting and struggling to stay up, had her huge claws against a tree trunk and her python hair dangling.
“You ... you ok?” Otrera said.
“I will recover.”
That voice, rasps and hisses layered over something deep and menacing. Like out of a nightmare. Medusa looked to her, and caught her in one of her eyes; they were pulled to the side of her face somewhat, somewhere between a snake and a monster. But, they held no venom or malice. Medusa smiled — if you could call it that — and nodded to her before she started to undo the transformation. Her scales returned to human skin, her snake hair shrank, and her warped face returned to the beautiful woman. The eyes though, yellow snake eyes with black slits, they remained unchanged.
Fate’s Children were basically demi-gods, with eyes that glowed white with mystical power when their strength emerged. Medusa was something else entirely.
Otrera shivered, gulped, forced herself to walk up to the gorgon, and looked to the two cats. Statues, with mouths open wide and their bodies toppled over onto the grass.
~~Darian~~
He waved after Medusa, and once she’d disappeared into the dark wood, he looked up at Chimera, and started walking.
“Feel like having a bonding moment?” he said.
Chimera grunted, and crouched low. For a moment Darian thought he would say something, but the beast returned only silence once he started prowling.
Darian shrugged, and started to walk down one of the cliffs. Steep and sharp rocks meant using his spear as a staff. “I’m surprised you didn’t say anything, when Otrera and I had that fist fight.”
Again Chimera said nothing. Damn he was quiet too, but when Darian looked back, the giant was indeed walking behind him, claws on the rocks bracing himself. Quiet as a stalking lion.
“I figured you wouldn’t care about Philonoe. But about my brother, I ... I thought you’d say something.” Because even an animal understands family. Chimera had said as much.
“We are scouting.”
At last, dialog.
“I’m being quiet. Besides, you know no one’s around. You’d smell it.”
Chimera sniffed the air, and frowned at him with an exposed fang. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. The fog grows, and blocks my senses.” He raised the arm with the snake tattoo on it and showed it to him; where its eyes once glowed red, they no longer did. “And now I have only my senses to follow.”
“Right ... right.” At least Chimera was proving dependable. Darian, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his damn mind off of the fight with Otrera.
During the fight, when the need for violence and some aggression started, the white glow was as comforting as a sword in his hand. A weapon, protecting him, arming him. But when the fire in his skull exploded and buried his thoughts in red, it wasn’t the same. He looked down at the shield, remembered how he had buried it in a tree when he was yelling at Medusa about Proetus. A reflex, an impulse? He hadn’t told his body to do it, it just did it.
He looked at his free hand and squeezed the air a few times. When the only person in his life was a warhorse content to go to battle with him, it was never a concern. But now with Medusa, it was fucking terrifying him.
Pain. A root caught his toe; Greek greaves were woefully inadequate at protecting the feet. Wincing, he stabbed his spear shaft down into the dirt and blinked a few times to try and focus on his toes in the dark.
He only had enough time to take a breath before Chimera put his fingers around Darian’s neck, and threw him backward. Pain, again. Back and arms collided with a tree, and the small warrior spun around before planting into the dirt on his side.
“What in the—”
Roars. Screeches of fury, animal fear, and a loud, crashing thud of weight on the ground. Darian forced himself up, drew his sword, and ran over to find Chimera wrestling with a giant cat. A giant cat? Darian did a double take to make sure the horned one on Chimera’s back was still there; it was. The new cat lacked horns, but made up for it with a scorpion tail that it stabbed into the ground by Chimera’s neck.
Darian readied a dive jump, but stopped himself short. Ignoring how the cat was biting into him, Chimera grabbed the creature by the tail, and yanked on it hard. Very, very hard. The tearing of muscle and skin earned a wince, but it was the splatter of blood over Darian’s chest that made him step back when Chimera ripped its tail off.
The cat jumped off the beast and started rolling on its back. It couldn’t understand what’d happened to it, only the overwhelming pain of having a limb ripped off. Blood poured over the grass as it screeched and rolled in a lost frenzy, and Darian again took a step back to avoid the chaos of its massive talons and claws shredding everything around it.
Chimera got up, walked over to the huge beast, and slammed his foot down against its skull. Bone gave way and brains exploded outward from the imploding mess, and the creature’s death throes lasted a few more seconds than they should have before they stopped.
The giant panted a couple of times before his breath steadied once again, and he looked at the tail in his hand. A giant scorpion tail.
“Manticore,” the beast said, and he dropped the huge tail to the ground. “The sting is paralyzing to giants. Deadly to humans.”
“Manticore?”
“An older creature. Not of the old ones, but old still. I did not realize they would have survived here, this far South.” Chimera nodded toward Darian, and continued their walk. “Where there was one, there will be more. We should be cautious.”
“I expected scouts,” Darian said. “Not beasts.”
“Perhaps they are both?”
He nodded, sheathed his sword, picked up his spear, and got down to a knee to inspect the dead animal. Not much left to inspect with its head missing.
~~Medusa~~
“I think there’s something on its head.” The Amazon walked up to the statues. “Wow.”
“Wow?” Medusa said. Exhaustion took her, and she held onto the tree while she panted. It was tough, recovering from the gaze; it made every use a gamble. And the result was not one she wanted to repeat, with more dead growing in numbers around her, and the petrified, horrified faces she was forced to stare into when she turned them.
“Stone. Actual, real, solid stone.” Squatting, Otrera sheathed her sword, poked one of the giant cats in the forehead, and flicked her fingernail on its exposed fangs from its open mouth. “Hey, there’s some kind of symbol on the forehead. Can’t see it well in the dark, but it looks like a brand of some kind.”
“A brand, why would ... perhaps they are Andromeda’s creatures?” Deep breathes. Her vision cleared and energy returned. But with awareness and the calming of adrenaline came the flood of pain of torn open scales, deep gashes, and bruised flesh. It’d take longer than a couple days to fully heal, and Darian was going to see and fret about it. Damn.
“Maybe?”
“Did she not tell you much about her army or forces?” Wincing, she slithered over to the Amazon, and lowered herself down to her so she too could examine the monsters. Giant cats with scorpion tails, flat faces with large under jaws. Disturbing faces.
“She has lots of secrets. Perseus and I kept to her secret nymph island for the most part. The ritual room though, where she used the mask to change me, that wasn’t on the island. It was probably here, but I was blindfolded for the trip.” With a groan, Otrera stood up and started walking again. Limping, but walking.
“You ok?” Medusa said.
“ ... what?”
“Are you ok?”
Otrera turned to face her, rolled her eyes, and pointed at the scales on Medusa’s side. “Shouldn’t I be asking that?”
“I ... I um—”
“Like a typical mom, can’t think about herself for one second. Yes, I’m fine you stupid woman. Take care of yourself first, then you can worry about me. So you ask about me, I assume it’s because you’re fine, because you’d have to be really, really stupid to ask me if I’m fine when you’re injured. I must have made a mistake and exaggerated your injuries. Did I?”
Medusa raised a hand up to her lip, and looked down. So cold. With a pained whimper, she shifted her scales about to show Otrera where the giant cat had cut into her.
“I am injured,” Medusa said, “but I’ll heal.” And she would of course. What would have killed someone, she could heal in a matter of days. Poor Gallea.
“Less concerned with whether you’ll heal, more concerned with whether you’ll be a liability. But...” Otrera gestured to the the statues. “I should learn to trust you. Hundred years you said?”
Finally, progress. Medusa nodded and slithered closer. “Yes, but nothing like this. I fought men, not monsters.”
“Well, considering this”—Otrera pointed at the symbol on the creature’s head—”I worry that no one’s fought anything like this. I’m guessing this is Andromeda’s doing, putting these creatures out there. But what, how, why, I don’t know.”
The symbol was nothing much, she’d seen cattle brands just like it. A circle with a cross through it. Hard to tell from the stone remains, but it didn’t seem like it’d been done with hot iron.
Humans did love to brand things. Poor Darian.
“What do we do?” she said.
Otrera shrugged, got up, and started walking. “Let’s find your bow. You good to keep going?”
“I ... I am. A bit slower though, but yesss, I can keep going.”
“Good.” With that, the Amazon queen resumed their patrol.
Medusa took a deep breath and slithered after her. Darian would have been in a panic about her wounds, but Otrera only gave her as much concern as necessary. If she said she couldn’t keep going, Medusa was sure Otrera would have helped her to their rendezvous early. Would Otrera become the leader of their little group given time? It was possible, and it sort of fit, but then, how much longer would their journey last?
Mind wandering and unfocused, Medusa winced when rock and twig scrapped against her rapidly closing wounds. “Do you think Andromeda will notice two of her creatures are missing?”
“Maybe. She plants a lot of seeds, that sorceress, but she’s not omnipotent. I’m thinking if she’s getting sacrifices from this city, she doesn’t want people to leave. She really, really hates this place.”
~~Darian~~ The journey was not as easy as he’d been hoping. It was a fool’s hope to think it’d be a casual stroll down in the country, but still, he had pictured himself in a simple tunic with Medusa beside him, walking at leisure wherever they desired. Instead, he was weighed down in armor with provisions and a bedroll strapped to his back, not to mention a shield, a sword, and a spear. He looked at the beautiful creature next to him, his one saving grace on this fool’s quest. Medusa kept...
~~Darian~~ Darian took a small step back, and kept his sword up and ready. “Patrius.” “Patrius ... the guard from Tiryns?” Otrera came up beside Darian, sword as ready as his own, and scanned over the group of villagers. They were just people, armor as old and untended as a farmer’s sword, and untrained hands fumbling with their equipment with just as much clumsiness. Their fingers floundered over the weapons, and their eyes glazed over their work, half open, with heavy shoulders and...
~~Otrera~~ Otrera looked down at herself, and sighed. She was naked, laying down in the grass, and staring up at the moonlit sky. Her head rested upon the lap of a nymph that was combing her long black hair. Another nymph was massaging her legs and working her fingers into the tight muscles. They never said anything, the beautiful women touching her, but they smiled, and giggled — so they had voices at least — and traced her many scars with their fingertips. She had much darker skin than...
~~Darian~~ Darian growled, louder than he wanted to, and when he glanced at Medusa, she was looking at him with a confused expression. No luck there, she’d heard them, and she lowered her human half down next to him. She kept looking at him through the corner of her eye, but the monsters before them weren’t the sort you took your eyes off of. “It’s Darian now. Fuck off,” he said. The three winged women glared at him, exposed their shark teeth, and scowled. But they said nothing; the masks...
~~Darian~~ Discovering that the red-eyed guards on the bridge were actually undead was an unwelcome surprise. He should have guessed it; not the first time he’d fought Andromeda’s summoned skeletons. Skeletons shouldn’t have been able to scream, though. They didn’t have any flesh or throat or muscle. They shouldn’t have been able to do anything but lay on the ground, like dead should. But his eyes and sword told him differently as his blade hacked through bone, bone, and more bone. Their...
~~Chimera~~ “We are in luck,” he said. “Gaia has provided.” Pinna and Medusa were up the moment the words were out his mouth. He waved them to sit back down, and he walked over to join them next to the satyr. “Did you run into anyone?” Bellerophontes said. “Anyone out there that might be trouble?” “It is as you said. The villages are far from here, but I did see other ships approach nearby waters. It would seem other cities are using Paros as a bay for trade. We should be cautious if we...
“Damn, damn, damn. Computer give me results of damage on the ‘squirt drive’.” ‘Squirt drive locked in drive mode and at full power. Attempting to cut power to drive to release controls and return to normal space.’ I had just hit execute on a jump when a ship coming out of jump slams into me and throws everything upside down. Now here I am travelling at 10 times light and can’t get the drive to shutdown. I don’t even know in which direction I’m going as the impact tumbled the navigation gyros....
Fantasy & Sci-Fi~~Medusa~~ “So, what do you think?” Darian said. He posed for them, a brown cloak wrapped over his body, dirty edges and blotches of stains on it. Chimera grunted, but Medusa smiled and slithered around him. “You look charming.” “I’m not supposed to look charming! I’m supposed to look forgettable.” He adjusted the horrible garb, but no matter how he wore it, his great smile and young face showed through. “You’ll have to hide your face then.” She reached for his shoulders, and pulled the...
~~Darian~~ “ ... Bellerophontes.” The world stopped. The air petrified, the breeze ceased, and the crickets and birds faded away. The world died around him until it was as if sitting atop a stage, lifeless. Cold crept along his skin until he thought his tears might have frozen on his cheeks. They weren’t, but every sense in his body told him they should have been The mask was alive. Or at least something was talking through it. “Bell ... phontes...” The voice sounded buried, like...
~~Otrera~~ Well, shit. “Darian, wait!” she said. Damn man was going to wreck the world if she wasn’t careful. “Why should I?” “You don’t know what’ll happen if you kill them. You could start what Charon was talking about, or who knows what.” Darian snarled, and a rasp that sounded less like him, more like the first time she’d heard the mask came through. The tall, robed entities stood before their brother’s vessel, and they cowered with a multitude of shadowy limbs raised, flailing like...
~~Otrera~~ Patrius showed up come dawn, as promised, as did the three men. No bandages on his skin this time, not after Chimera explained it didn’t help much. Once Otrera and her companions had taken a whiff of Athena’s gift, they set out into the night. Sneaking around at night was much easier with Athena’s special jar of whatever to wash away the curse. She didn’t like it, smelling something odorless to free her mind of some sorceress’s curse. It was a lot of talk, conjecture, a lot of...
Hey, hey, hey!Still here? To be honest, I wasn't sure you would be. People probably think I'm a bit much to take all in one go. It's true. I can be a total motormouth most of the time but that's just my way of hiding how nervous I get around others. The same goes for the cussing. I swear for a reason. Men are always coming on to me and I've discovered the best way to put them off is to use the language as a kind of weapon. Works every time. But it's not really who I am inside so don't...
Love Stories~~Chimera~~ “The sun will be rising very soon,” he said. “Fuck. Fuck fuck. We can’t sneak into the city come sunrise. Fuck.” The little queen stomped around, and punched him in the leg. She was only a little thing, and her punches were powerful enough to send her back a foot or two across the grass from its own force. Fate’s Children punched hard, and he winced as her knuckles hit muscle. “Your fault.” “I am sorry.” The adorable bundle of fury rolled her eyes, and looked around at the...
"It was midnight. On the water..."*In the dim dark recesses of the mind where dreams are born, my imagination created a world for me to live and play in without fear of consequence. And in that place, I could do and say the things I wanted to say to the one person I wanted to say them to the most.In this dreamworld, from out of the blue swirling void, the man took form and came to me with a smile. He was the light upon my dark and he took my hand in his as we walked along the moonlit shore of...
Love StoriesThis is set in the world of the TV show Flashforward. When everyone on the planet blacked out for two minutes and seventeen seconds they got to see a glimpse of their lives six months from then. The visions of the Samms family were different than most. In the future not all of them would be the same person, or even the same gender.... (NOTE: This picks up where 'Altered Fates: Flashforward' left off but it can be read on its own.) ALTERED FATES: FLASHFORWARD...
ALTERED FATES: RETURN TO KENNET COVE by BobH (c) 2004 (Author's note: This tale is a sequel to, and contains *major* spoilers for, ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE. It also features appearances by several characters who have encountered the Medallion of Zulo in other stories of mine.) ****************** Having driven down the hill and into the town proper, Julia Tamm parked her car next to the harbor wall. Smiling lovingly at her infant daughter asleep in the child seat...
(Author's Note: This story takes place after Altered Fates: Return to Kennet Cove, and contains spoilers for that tale.) ALTERED FATES: THE CULT By BobH (c) 2004 June 7th, 1968. Barry Hudson, gunned the motor on his ancient VW Beetle, urging it on through the choking dust thrown up by its passage over the bumpy dirt track leading to his destination. "C'mon, you Nazi piece of crap," he said through gritted teeth, "just get us over this rise and we're there, I promise." When...
ALTERED FATES: FLASHFORWARD by BobH (c) 2009 *** (This story is set in the world of the TV show Flashforward.) *** For 17 year-old Lacey Mikulski this was a hard time. She was trying her best to keep her mother's sprits up but her mother wasn't the only one hurting. "I miss her too, you know," she said softly. If her mother heard her she...
ALTERED FATES: AGENT ZULO by BobH (c) 2011 "Yes, baby, oh yes!!" I moaned, bending over the motel room desk as my partner took me from behind, grasping my hips and snorting as he rammed himself into me. Red-faced and breathing heavily, the effort seemed to be taking a lot out of him. Giving one last thrust that almost pushed me into the wall, he came with a final labored grunt. Having shot his load he pulled out of me and sat down heavily on the bed, sweating...
Altered Fates: Triptych By BobH (c) 2003 Lucius Duvall checked his reflection and nodded his approval at what he saw. His hair and beard might have long since turned silver grey, giving him an illusion of age and wisdom that, in terms of age at least, was beyond his years, but both were immaculately trimmed, their edges razor-sharp. His suit was tailored to perfection, the trouser creases sharp and straight; his shoes polished to an almost mirror-finish; the carnation in...
ALTERED FATES/X-FILES: THE SCAM By Bob H. (c) 2003 FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, DC. FBI agent Fox Mulder was starting to hate working alone. Hidden away as he was in the windowless room of a back basement accessible only via a corridor lined with dusty storage racks, he often felt both unappreciated and as forgotten as many in the bureau would like the X-files themselves to be. He sometimes went days without seeing another living soul between the time he entered the J. Edgar...
In the year 2065 the United States is a theocracy in all but name, and at the center of the system sits the Medallion of Zulo.... ALTERED FATES: 2065 A.D. by BobH (C) 2013. (Note: While not essential to your understanding and enjoyment, you will get more out of this story if you first read my tales 'Altered Fates: The Cult', 'The Chapford Wives', and 'Amazons', on which it draws quite considerably. All are available here on FM.) 1: Ray Standing at the altar before...
The Fates by Janet Stickney [email protected] The only way to overturn cruel Fates is to use the truth Destiny is fate aggravated by chance. That's what dad always said. As I dressed I knew that it was true. Why else would I be pulling on a skirt? I finished dressing, joined my mother for breakfast, and thought about how the fates had been so kind to me. My name was Jeff Grant. I'm 16 now, yet this all started when I was 15, just out of school for the summer. I...
The Fates by: Janet Stickney [email protected] The only way to overturn cruel Fates is to use the truth Destiny is fate aggravated by chance. That's what dad always said. As I dressed I knew that it was true. Why else would I be pulling on a skirt? I finished dressing, joined my mother for breakfast, and thought about how the fates had been so kind to me. My name was Jeff. I'm 16 now, yet this all started when I was 15, just out of school for the summer. I had no plans...
Altered Fates: The Things We Do For Friends part 1 of 5 By Morpheus I stood in the school bathroom with my half soapy hands underneath the water faucet, grimacing as I rinsed them off. Then pausing for a second, I looked up and into the mirror that was hung on the wall in front of me. The same familiar 14 year old boy that I always saw looked back at me with a sour expression. His messy brown hair was in need of a cut and his nose still had blood dripping from it. "Shit."...
ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE REOPENED by BobH. (c) 2003 For those of you interested in continuity, this story takes place during the first half of the final season of The X- Files. It's a sequel to my story ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE in the sense of being set after that tale and making reference back to it, but you don't need to have read that one to follow this one. MARRIOTT HOTEL, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND It was her walk as she strode into the main bar that had first...
As always, any comments or criticism is welcome. Feel free to email me at [email protected]. This story is dedicated to the creator of the Altered Fates Universe, Jennifer Adams and to the cast and crew of the 60's television series The Fugitive, still perhaps the finest drama series made for television. I also want to thank Steve Zink for his editing and general story help. Author's Note: Thank you to the original creators of the Fugitive TV series. Below is the cast, mostly...
The great bear savaged as it ate the young king tearing his stomach up and clawed him ripping him to bloody shreds. Later when he had calmed down the bear took human form again the rage had subsided and he looked at his prize as had been promised by his new goddess the dark goddess of love and lust Laure standing there smiling in that strange but rousingly tight and shining attire, Barak walked quickly over to where Ce’Nedra stood screaming and crying at what had just happened and grabbed...
Please send or leave comments so I know whether my time writing this was well spent! Thanks for all comments. _______________________________________________ A Tale Of Hollywood Mystery And Magic, And An Unusual Medallion! An Altered Fates short story by Caleb Jones (Inspired by the Oscar winning actress, Hilary Swank.) Hilary Swank read the headline one more time, still unable to believe last night's events were true. "Swank Wins Oscar" Sun, Mar 26, 2000 05:54 PM PST LOS...
(Author's Note: This story provides a finale to all the Altered Fates tales I've posted here to date. It contains spoilers for, and resolves dangling threads from, most of those eleven stories. I wrote them out of sequence, but I always knew where each of them fitted in the overall scheme. Read in order, the larger story should all fall into place with what might have seemed stray characters and random bits of business all connecting up. Even if you read the individual stories as they...
ALTERED FATES: A CHRISTMAS TALE by BobH (c) 2012 Ed Geraghty sat down heavily on the changing room bench and sighed. He felt every minute of his fifty-six years, and then some. Any positive effect on his health of thirty five years pounding the streets delivering mail had been more than offset by the same number of years spent drinking hard liquor to excess. Not that this was an option open to him any more, given the precarious state of his liver. He was not a bad man, and had...
Altered Fates Story This story is copyright 1998 by the author. It may be posted and archived on any free site. If you wish to post on a for-pay site, contact the author. Altered Fates: The Hit Man By Ran Dandel I couldn't believe my good fortune. After countless hours following-up various leads, rumors, and downright lies, I reached my goal. I had located the fabled Medallion of Zulo. This prize would ensure my reputation, and insure that I would reach the pinnacle of my...
Altered Fates: Milkshakes at Midnight by Bashful [email protected] This is the tale of a young married couple, the husband's brother, and how the Medallion of Zulo altered their fates. Frank and Debra Walker had been married for close to three years when Frank's brother Ed moved in. Ed had lived with his parents until they retired and moved to Florida. Ed was frequently out of work and living with his parents had taken the stress out of finding a permanent job. Now Ed was...
I originally had no intention of making this an Altered Fates story. However, after my first two drafts turned out horrible, I decided to try a different angle with it. This is what resulted. Altered Fates: Auntie Em By Morpheus Corey winced as his foot went into the puddle of water, muttering "Damn" to himself. He was already completely soaked through from the heavy rain, which gave no sign of letting up. Shivering in his wet clothes, Corey really wished that he hadn't ...
I've had this story in mind for quite awhile, but the first time I started writing it, Eric came out with a very similar Altered Fates story called The Baby-sitter Caper first. Because of that I put this one on hold for awhile. Well here it finally is. I know that the ending leaves a lot that could be done afterwards, but I left off where I was on purpose. Perhaps I'll do a sequel, or perhaps I'll just leave the rest to the readers imagination. Altered Fates: Babysitting By...
Hello I've submitted stories before as Lisa, Alyssa's Magic, Strings, and the Gift of Dreams here is a story that has been on Jennifer's site for a long time and I'm finally submitting it here, It is an Altered Fates Story. Altered Fates: Chris and Marissa By Rena Marissa Moore was having a bad week. She had just been laid off from her job as a receptionist for a small software company. It wasn't a great job, but it paid the bills. The company had been purchased by a slightly...
Altered Fates: A Complicated Affair By Theunknownauthor Everything you are about to read is true! Every person, place or thing that is mentioned in this account is real, although I am changing the names and not giving any exact locations. I am doing this so that readers won't try to verify the validity of this story on their own. This isn't an easy story for me to tell, but I feel that I need to get it off my chest. For almost a year now I have been reading various accounts...
Altered Fates - Lost and Found by cj Permissions: Archival and/or sharing of this story, along with derivitive works - WITHOUT profit from reselling/repackaging, are permitted as long as the story remains complete, unchanged, and correctly attributed to its original author "cj". These permissions are to be included with shared or archived story, and extended to any derivative works. Written permission from the author is required for any "for profit" use. Special Thanks: Thank you,...
“Damn, damn, damn. Computer give me results of damage on the ‘squirt drive’.” ‘Squirt drive locked in drive mode and at full power. Attempting to cut power to drive to release controls and return to normal space.’ I had just hit execute on a jump when a ship coming out of jump slams into me and throws everything upside down. Now here I am travelling at 10 times light and can’t get the drive to shutdown. I don’t even know in which direction I’m going as the impact tumbled the navigation...
“Gods I need to get laid,” the Amazon said. Chimera rumbled something like a chuckle, took a deep breath, and sat down next to her. She was leaning against a rock, standing, and him sitting down next to her put him at eye level with her. It let him look out over the grass and sea the same way she saw them, as a tiny, short thing unable to see everything. The thought made him chuckle again. “The fuck you laughing at?” she said. “Nothing.” A shrug and another chuckle later, he motioned to...
This story is intended for the entertainment of adults only. Copyright (C) 1999 by Maryann. All rights reserved. Permission Is hereby granted for non-commercial use of this complete and unaltered text. Electronic storage of unaltered copies for personal use is also permitted. Any other use of this text is a violation of copyright. No hardcopies may be made without written permission from the author. Altered Fates- The girl with the Rose Colored Tattoo. By: Maryann ...
Altered Fates: A Study In Childhood - By Innocent Guilt Hi, my name is Jeffery Smith. If you stumbled onto this little story of my life then I hope it helps save you from the fate I am in now. Well, lets go back to where it all started. It was my first days of college. I was a freshman at Undeclared Medical College. I was head strong, naive, stupid, and thought I could take on the world. I had just finished high school as top of my class with some off the wall theories in the...
Following my debut story last week (Lord's Prayer), along with the feedback I've received (thanks Eric Bloodstone, Jennifer Adams, Mindy Rich and all the others) I have gotten the bug ! This is a spin-off story from Lord's Prayer which, I hope, wraps up this episode. If found that, although this started out at an even pace, it turned fairly dark about half way through as the story took on a life of it's own and reflected the mood I was in at the time. Hope that some still enjoy this...
As always excessive praise is always welcome No copyright infringement intended. The rights belong to CBS and Childhood Sweethearts. CJ and I are just having fun not meaning any harm. Altered Fates: Domestic Tranquility with The Nanny By Eric and Caleb Jones Fran Fine's annoyingly nasal voice hammered at Maxwell's ears like a sledgehammer. She was sexy and lovable but oh, that voice of hers. Perhaps he should insist she go to a voice training class, but every time he hinted at...
ALTERED FATES Sisters Revenge by Kathryn Nelson Copyright - Kathryn Nelson, 2001 Kyle Emerson was 18 and had just graduated from high school. Finally, he was free from those teachers he thought were weird and all the studying his mother made him do. He was registered to go to a local community college in the fall but he now had the summer off to enjoy himself. His mother had saved up the money for him to go to college but he needed to pay for his own car and all other...
(Author's Note: For anyone concerned with continuity, I figure this story occurs somewhere around the middle of the run of the X-FILES.) ALTERED FATES: THE X-FILE By BobH (c) 2002 FBI TRAINING FACILITY, QUANTICO, VIRGINIA. With her usual methodical efficiency, FBI agent Dr. Dana Scully had carried out a full post mortem examination of the two bodies that had been shipped to the morgue here at Quantico. Her partner, FBI agent Fox Mulder, had asked her to do the autopsies so he...
CARNIVAL OF MIRRORS: FOUR FATES By BobH (c) 2004 Cedar Junction, MA, May 16th, 1987, 2:40 pm: Hot dog franks sizzled on griddles, sugar was spun into floss and onto sticks, vendors hawked their wares. The crowds swirled around happily, shouting and laughing, unaware of the danger that lurked among them. Reed Carter rubbed his stubbled chin thoughtfully and took in the scene before him with the experienced eyes of a predator. The fair had come to town two days earlier, the rides...
Altered Fates - The Book Dealer by KathyB Paul Mortonson was from Palo Alto. He was born there. He was raised there. He went to school there, college too. He met a girl from there, got married there and settled there. He even worked there. Paul owned and operated a small, independent book store. His specialty, and his passion, was rare and collectable books. Palo Alto, for those who do not know, is a community of some 60,000 people. It sits in the northwest corner of...
Altered Fates - The Mistakes of Others By KathyB Learn from the mistakes of others; life is too short to make them all yourself. Chapter #1 Jim Collins was nothing if not methodical. An engineer by trade and obsessive compulsive by habit, he carefully planned his day's activities so as to minimize wasted effort. He rose routinely at 5:00 am, tended to personal hygiene as the situation warranted, poured a cup of hot black coffee from his...
Altered Fates - The Medallion comes to Fairview Part III. Hide and Seek Previously: In Part I - Justin Donovan and his Dad moved back to Fairview after Justin's Dad (Sean) retired from the United States Marine Corps. Justin began his senior year at Fairview and quickly fell for Laura. Laura's friend Becky in an attempt to make her boyfriend jealous went out with Todd, the school drug dealer, and was raped. Knowing Justin's ability as a fighter Becky got Laura to help her in a...
The Medallion of Zulo was a powerful instrument of fate, but sometimes the fate it brought was death. ALTERED FATES: THE DAUGHTER by BobH (c) 2014 I woke screaming, lurching upright in bed as that scream subsided into great, wrenching sobs. It was the sounds again, those terrible cracking and snapping sounds I couldn't escape. The bedroom door burst open then Carol was there, taking my tiny body in her arms, rocking me back and forth, my head on her breasts,...
"Altered Fates: What are friends for?" - By Flyover State. Synopsis: Tiffany and Ryan are best friends. As young kids, the two girls meet Tyler, a kid new to the neighborhood. Now in high school, Tiffany and Tyler are dating. Ryan's love for Tiffany has grown more than sisterly, and she knows it won't be reciprocated. Follow Tyler, as Ryan brings her plan to fruition, and the aftermath of his choices thereafter. Multiple changes occur (other characters) age regression,...
Altered Fates: Dennis (I know, its not the greatest name, but it works) By Morpheus ([email protected]) Walking home from work, I happened to look down, and saw a small brass colored medallion sitting in the gutter. Curiously, I pulled it out and held it up examining it. When I'd seen it, I'd hoped that it might be worth something, but as I looked at it, I realized that it was only a cheap piece of costume jewelry. Probably for kids or something. I noticed that there was a...
Altered Fates : What Friends Are For! By Paul1954 Clare looked across at her children, Ginny aged 7 and Jack aged 10, and sighed. She returned her attentions to the mirror in the hallway and finished touching up her lipstick. It was a typical Saturday morning at the Walter's home with Clare's husband Des sleeping off the results of a Friday night drinking spree spent with his co-workers and her children glued to the television watching the trash that passes for children's TV...
AF: A Double Dose of the Medallion By Julie Jeff was on his way home from another typical day at the office. He wasn?t in a big hurry. It wasn?t that he didn?t want to go home, but there was no big rush. As he pulled up in front of the house he noticed his wife Beverly wasn?t home yet. That was no surprise. She had been working longer and longer hours and now it seemed they rarely saw each other anymore. Beverly was a computer programmer and even when she was home, she...
When I wrote Auntie Em, I had no intention of writing a sequel to it. However, after I finished it I started thinking about a few other ideas I had for the main characters and decided to use them as well. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, this one turned out quite a bit longer than I'd anticipated. For those of you who haven't read Auntie Em first, I suggest that you do before reading this. Altered Fates: Auntie Em II By Morpheus Emily felt bored....
Altered Fates: A Promise Kept By Jennifer Adams "Mike! Where have you been?" Connie asked. It was more of a demand rather than a question. She had been waiting and wondering where her husband had been for several hours. He wasn't normally a man who left and didn't come home. At least not until SHE came back to town. SHE was Mike's childhood friend. They had been neighbors growing up and played together all the time. Her name was Dana. "I'm sorry dear. I was over at Dana's...
Lyle's Story by Grendel There are two sides to every story. Most of us would prefer to see the world in black and white, but the decisions we make are never as clear- cut as that. I know that I've made some enemies in my life, and perhaps with hindsight some of the pain that I've caused could have been avoided, but I've never deliberately acted with malice. I've just made some bad choices. I grew up in the shadow of my elder brother, Ken. He was the Golden Child, the...