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- - -
Lord Poseidon kept his word.
The dromon cut through the sea like a blade, barrelling through the rolling waves one after another and somehow never losing speed. Diana almost could have sworn they were flying. Yet that brought her no comfort.
There was a tightness in her belly that grew sharper with each passing moment. With her home now in sight, the feeling had become a torment.
The island of her birth was a red glow on the horizon. The unmistakable fires of war gave rise to dark clouds of ash and smoke, all threatening to devour the paradise of Themiscyra.
Her mother, her sisters… Diana could only pray that they still breathed. That they were still fighting.
The princess was not alone in this terrible dread. Gasps and anxious whispers spread amongst the crew of Nubia's ship. And Nubia herself…
"By the Gods!" The captain hissed. She stood at the helm, her mane of dark curls flowing in the wind. Her golden armor glittered from the spray of the sea as her ship broke over another wave. Resolute even in the face of such desolation. Indomitable she was, even among Amazons. So to see worry gleaming in those sharp eyes…
A deep, powerful rumble rocked through the sky. It was not thunder. This rumbling was stronger, sending tremors through Diana's flesh and bones. Even her teeth were rattling. This quake was through the earth and air both. And just then, a flash of fiery red through the dark, ashen clouds - like a volcano unleashing its fury.
Tension shot through the deck, as if the air was ripped from their lungs all at once. Dozens of Amazons all stricken with shock. The glow of the blaze had given sight to a monstrous hulk upon the Themysciran shores. Diana's blood ran cold.
Ares, the whole party knew. His titanic size was cast in silhouette. A shadow laying waste to their home. Him and his flaming sword gouging wounds into their towers, their temples, their very soil. Just like he had done to Delos.
"How in the name of Hera are we going to fight that?" One of the Amazons shouted. Many murmured in agreement along with her. Yet Nubia, for all the worry Diana saw in her eyes, entertained this fear for not a single moment.
"We will fight him with our spears, with our arrows, and with our courage!" Nubia's iron voice carried out over the deck, rising over the crashing of the waves against the hull. "We are Amazons. And this is our home that Ares burns. Will you flee, sisters?"
"NO!" The crew cried back as one. Diana found her voice rising higher and stronger than any of them.
"Remember Lord Poseidon's words! Olympus is with us! Not with this petulant beast of war!" Nubia raised her spear high, pointing the blade towards the looming shadow of Ares. Yet another quake rocked through the earth and sea - the God of War had plunged his sword into soil and stone again. The ship was close enough now that his deep, sadistic laughter could be heard. It curdled the blood in Diana's veins.
Diana felt rage and fear rolling together in her gut. Her innards were knots, so tight and heavy that it felt like they were rooting her to the deck.
A calming hand set upon her shoulder. Thor, she could tell from touch alone. As if he could sense her turmoil. His touch was welcome, firm yet gentle and warm.
"He's only a god." Her lover reminded her. "And I've made gods bleed before."
"We barely survived the first fight." Diana replied quietly. The rest of her sisters readied themselves across the dromon's deck. She would rather they not hear their princess voicing such doubts.
"Yet we did survive." Thor pressed back. He looked so calm. How could he be so calm? "Ares got lucky. We were not expecting him. We are ready for him now."
"Will that be enough?"
"It will. It must."
Diana met Thor's eyes. They were hard, striking blue and solid with conviction. Then they softened as the taller man offered her a small, comforting smile. The tightness in her gut loosened, if only a tiny bit.
"It is like your Nubia said: your gods are on our side. How could Ares stand against us?"
Diana didn't answer. She turned her focus forward. White, foaming water crashed over the bow as the dromon cut through another wave. They were close to the shore now. Closing in on the burning Themysciran docks.
Diana breathed in. Her heart pumped hard in her chest. So hard it was ringing in her ears.
A battle cry split the air. One of the Amazons, not Nubia or Aella. Another joined her, louder and fiercer. More cries rose up with them, spears and swords lifted high in defiance.
Diana's heart was pounding now, but no longer from fear. Her blood ran hot with anger, frothing and righteous.
She drew her sword and lifted it high. Hers was the steel that would deliver justice to Ares.
- - -
"Where has the Amazon queen gone?" Ares' words shook the very air, so deep and harsh was his voice. Like the cracking of stone as they tumbled down the mountainside. "Has the noble Hippolyta fled?"
A curse waited upon Hippolyta's tongue but the queen remained silent. Her pace never slowed as she ran down the palace hallway. What was once beauty was now tarnished, braziers toppled, the stonework marred with cracks, and the floor matted with dust and rubble. Hippolyta could not stop, not even to mourn. At her back were dozens of her Amazons. Survivors of the God of War's surprise attack, all armed with whatever weapons they could find.
Hippolyta didn't need to look back to know their anger. She could feel them bristling, fuming at Ares' taunts.
"Was the legend of Amazon bravery a lie? Face me, wench!"
"Vile brute." One of her Amazons hissed. Hippolyta recognized the voice. A lieutenant, tall and slender with long, tawny hair. Menalippe was her name. "An animal who calls himself a god."
"Why attack us now?" Another voice rose from the party. Phillipus, a younger warrior, dark-skinned and lean with muscle. Hippolyta was glad she still lived, though she had no answer for her. "Have the gods turned on us?"
The thought was enough to bring Hippolyta down to a lagging pace. Behind, her people slowed with her, stewing just as she over that worrisome prospect.
Hippolyta turned to them and saw just how daunted her Amazons were. Brave and fierce, every single one of them, yet in the face of Ares' carnage and brutality… How could anyone be fearless?
"No. This is the work of Ares and Ares alone." The Queen told them. Her people, her loyal subjects, looked upon her, looking for solace. Hippolyta's conviction was absolute. It had to be. For their sake. "We are oathbound to Olympus… just as Olympus is to us."
"Then why does the God of War bring this fury upon us?" Menalippe pressed. The lapse in discipline could be forgiven. The lieutenant's frustration burned hot… though it did not burn for her queen.
A deep, violent quake rocked through the hall. The floor trembled beneath their feet and dust poured down from overhead, spilling from newly split cracks. Together, almost as one, the party glanced upward. Though no one spoke, Hippolyta could see their fears clear as day. Which blow would be the last? When would Ares' sword come crashing down on them?
"I don't know." The Queen answered truthfully. It did not bring her followers comfort, that much was plain to see. Hippolyta endured the sting. "It is as you said, Menalippe. He is a vile brute."
There was one spot that brought the Queen relief. At least her daughter was not here.
- - -
The destruction was splendid. And all too effortless.
His footfalls crushed statues into dust, his stride wiping meager homes from the face of the earth. Amazon dwellings better served as compost anyway.
Ares brought his smoking blade down like a hammer, caving in the roof of yet another temple. The sound of crumbling marble was sweet and the scent of flame and billowing dust made the air rich with victory.
Yet there was a part of him that still raged. He craved death. Royal death. Queen Hippolyta continued to defy him.
"The queen of the Amazons flees! She flees!" The God of War bellowed to the darkened sky. He knew she could hear him. They all could. "All the brave, wise daughters of Themyscira, cowering like rats!"
The crack of thunder punctuated his roar. As if the heavens themselves shared his wrath. He wrenched his blade from the earth and swung it through another row of pillars. The smoking blade ran through the white stone like it was made of sand. As they crumbled into ruin, Ares howled with laughter.
"You call yourselves warriors yet you won't dare face the God of War? A true warrior would relish the challenge!"
He hoped the taunts would cut deep, stir up that delicious rage in their hearts. He stood amidst the flames and smoke and waited. No answer came.
Ares stood over the ruins, ignored. He scowled and spat - he hoped it landed on an Amazon corpse.
"It matters not. Your death is here, whore-queen. I will bury you under this damned island!"
Through the thick smoke, he spotted the royal palace. The immaculate white towers yet untouched by his wrath. A mistake he intended to rectify. Ares marched forth, clutching his sword in both hands, readying himself to flatten the queen's royal seat in a single blow.
The heavens once more cracked with the bellow of thunder. Heralding the righteous fury of Ares.
The God of War stood over the palace now, casting the whole of it in his shadow. He raised his sword high above his head, the blade pointed down…
Only to feel a tickle at the back of his neck. Faint little proddings, one after another. A few at first, then more and more. Too many to ignore.
Ares turned. He was greeted by even more tickles, dozens prickling across his face and neck. Even more tappings upon his armor and helm.
Arrows, he quickly realized. All breaking harmlessly against him. Then he heard the shouting. Many voices, women's voices, high and shrill and noxious to his ears. Battle cries, rising through the smoke and drawing closer.
Amazons, Ares knew. The Olympian let out a snarl.
Amazons come to die.
He looked down and saw their party. New arrivals - Ares could see their dromon at the docks, untouched among the sunken wrecks he'd made of their fleet. Recognition struck him then. He remembered the color of those sails. It was one of the ships he had neglected to destroy back on the Island of Delos.
A grin cracked under his helm. Ares understood now. These were not reinforcements. It was the Princess and her band, come back to defend their home. The Princess and her Asgardian mongrel. Ares caught that vulgar scent even through the smoke.
Sure enough, he caught sight of them both. Princess and Exile leading this last desperate charge. The vision disgusted him. Though there was one benefit of their arrival - it saved him the trouble of hunting them down.
How satisfying it would be, Ares imagined eagerly, to kill them all in one go.
More arrows flew to meet him. Spears as well. Many hit their mark. None so much as scratched him.
"Princess. Odinson." He greeted them coldly, watching as the Amazons poured through the ruins of their city to gather at his feet. "One defeat was not enough for you?"
"You have defeated no one!" The Princess rebuked sharply.
"So long as I draw breath, Olympian, our fight is not over." Her Asgardian joined in her fury. The foreign god was without his axe and the Amazonian blade he took to replace it looked laughably undersized for his larger hands. Not that the Odinson ever looked formidable to begin with.
So amusing was this martial display that Ares had to chuckle. The pups of Cerberus were more intimidating.
"Best we end it here then." Ares kicked his foot out, sending a half-ruined wall tumbling over. A simple show of strength to show these wretched women how overmatched they were. "A fitting grave for a foreign god and his traitor whore."
"The only traitor I see here is you, Ares." An Amazon called out. A dark-skinned warrior in a golden breastplate. He vaguely remembered the woman's face from Delos. Contempt dripped from her words. Her condemnation meant nothing… yet Ares felt irritation bristling as she continued. "Lord Poseidon told us the truth."
"And what truth is that? What tale did my uncle spin?"
"That you do not act on Zeus' word." The Princess answered. She lifted her sword, pointing the blade at him accusingly. "This judgement you pass is your will, not his!"
"You betrayed your father and king!" The Amazon captain cried again. "Attacked the people of his realm! Dealt death to innocents! All to sate your own petty rage!"
Ares let out a disgusted snort. So odious was this incessant whining. How dare these vermin question the will of a god?
"You Amazons have plagued my father's domain for too long. Every breath you take is an insult. In time, Zeus will thank me!"
The fury of a thousand wars ran hot in Ares' blood. There was no force on Earth that could withstand his power. These Amazons would die just as untold numbers of foolish mortals had before them.
Ares raised his smoking sword, ready to strike down these defiant women once and for all.. Only to be struck suddenly by a new sensation. A weight, a heaviness about his arms and legs and chest. It was alien to him, this strain that was now seeping into his muscles and bones. Even stranger was the Amazons gathered around his feet now growing larger, slowly, slowly rising in height and mass and… No. They were not getting bigger, Ares realized. He was becoming smaller!
It was slow at first, his wilting, but soon the God of War was no longer the towering giant. Now he stood among the mortals, but seven feet tall in his dark, heavy armor. His strength and power, so much of it had vanished from his body. Stripped from him by an unseen hand. Even the fire and smoke had gone from his blade.
Ares could only stare, baffled. He did not understand.
"What…" He snarled… only to recoil at his own voice. Crisp and clear, but no longer booming with power. His rage, though… that yet flared hot. "What is this!?"
"The gods do not make war upon the gods." The bitch Amazon captain reminded him with a satisfied grin. Ares wanted to choke the life from her.
"But it seems they lend their aid all the same." The Asgardian exile added. Ares wanted to gut the foreign mongrel.
"Olympus does not stand with you. Traitor." The Princess spat. Ares would save the worst punishment for her.
The God of War stood, surrounded. His rage was wordless, silent. What could he say to this absurdity? Abandoned by his own father, stripped of so much of his godly power for the crime of answering betrayal with deserved punishment.
He didn't want to believe it. Yet the faint ache running through his body… A true god felt no fatigue. So why did he?
The Amazons started to close in. He could see their faces more clearly now, standing at their level. The judgement in their eyes, condemning him - how dare they? How dare they challenge him?
Ares brought his sword up. Even without the flame of Olympus, its edge was still sharp and deadly. The anger that frothed within Ares' soul still burned hotter than the sun. Godhood remained in his blood, no matter what Zeus stripped from him. And he still possessed his skill, the combined prowess of a hundred thousand great warriors. Even a weakened God of War was more than a match for this motley band of Amazon whores.
"I… I tire of this talk." Ares spoke flatly. He pointed his blade at the Princess, his voice dropping low and menacing. "Maybe I should take your tongue."
"If I don't take your balls first."
The Princess readied her own sword, glowering back with venom on her lips.
There was fire in his heart, burning through flesh and bone and sense. Ares grit his teeth.
"Insolent-"
A chunk of marble cracked apart upon his chestplate. Ares staggered back a step, his chest aching under the armor. The dust cloud swirled about his face, carrying into his nose, stinging the nostrils. His eyes shot towards the culprit, seeing a long blond hair, mocking blue eyes. The bloody Odinson.
"Shut up and fight." The Asgardian dog barked at him.
Ares fell into his rage. With a wild, beastly howl, the God of War charged. The world around him turned to fury.
- - -
The draining of Ares' godly power had sparked hope. Diana thought that her party might have had the advantage then.
How wrong she was.
Every swipe and stab and swing was checked and returned in kind, delivered with unchained ferocity that only a beast of war could wield. This was the domain of Ares, the clashing of steel, the dance of death. The Amazons would need more than the favor of the gods to win this day.
They had him surrounded… yet that only seemed to make him fight even more savagely. Zeus had weakened him, yes… but Ares had not been made powerless.
"You have the numbers and still you struggle." Ares taunted them, checking another flurry of blows with ease. Half a dozen attacks from all sides and none came close to touching him. "Pathetic."
Diana gripped her sword, her body tense as she circled the brute in dark, spiked armor.
"Are you the god of war or the god of talking?"
That earned her a bout of mocking laughter. She could feel his eyes cutting into her from under his horned helm. Tiny pits of light shining with hatred through the shadow.
"Such fire!" Ares derided. "Such confidence! You thought this would be as easy as spreading your legs for the Asgardian?"
Smoldering embers danced across her cheeks then but Diana did not rise to the bait. She kept her blade at the ready, kept Ares' focus on her… allowing Thor and Nubia to close in on his open flanks.
But Ares was prepared. A downward stab from Thor checked and deflected, Ares using the Odinson's own weight and momentum to send the brawny blond stumbling into a half-ruined pillar. Nubia had no opening and no chance. She made a go for the kill, to send her blade through the opening of Ares' helm, but Ares turned quickly, leaving Nubia to stab straight into nothing. With lightning speed he took the captain by the arm and hurled her across the yard, sending her crashing into a toppled market stall. The wooden cart collapsed into a heap. Nubia groaned atop it, barely moving.
Ares spat on the ground. He turned his sights back on Diana. Somehow, the Princess knew there was a vicious smile under that helm.
"Stupid girl. That's all you'll be remembered as. The whore princess who thought she could defeat a god."
Then Ares was upon her, raining blows with his blackened sword, swinging and hammering at her with such intensity that Diana feared her own blade might shatter.
Her foe was relentless in his attack, a lunge, a stab, a heavy swing, all deadly if they had hit their mark. Years of diligent training and all Diana could do was survive. There was no fight - she was just trying not to fall.
Though it could not be said her efforts weren't valiant. Surely she had endured the wrath of Ares far longer than any mortal. But in the end, the God of War was simply too strong.
A savage blow struck the sword from her hand. As it clattered to the ground, Diana lost her footing and tumbled. The Princess fell onto her back, disarmed and vulnerable.
As Ares came to loom over her, the cold ache of defeat gripped her heart.
She had failed. The despair cut deep. At least she died fighting. Like an Amazon.
Ares' mocking laughter rumbled from the darkness of his horned helm. He readied his cursed blade, the dark steel glinting red from the surrounding fires.
Death raised high and ready to fall. Diana hoped it would come quickly.
Then…
A rush of wind. The sound of steel biting through flesh. A grunt of pain. But not from Diana's lips.
The Princess gasped. Despair shattered… giving way to horror.
Thor had dove back into the fray. He put himself between them and Ares had ran him through. Diana could see the dark blade stabbing out from her lover's back. A spike smeared red.
Diana felt her lips parting and closing. Words were stuck in her throat. She wanted to… she wanted to scream.
"No." A small word. A tinier voice. Then it all came spilling out. "NO!"
Thor said nothing, even as he went to his knees. He only snarled in Ares' face, throwing punches now that he had the God of War up close. Valiant defiance against the pain of a mortal wound, his eyes still held that spark. Bright with love. A small trickle of blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. He grunted again, weaker now. His punches were coming slower now, until all Thor could do was grasp at one of the horns of Ares' helm.
The God of War let out a disgusted snarl.
"You should have stayed in Asgard." He hissed in Thor's face. Then he wrenched his sword free.
Thor fell to the ground and did not move.
Ares was all but forgotten. All Diana could see was Thor. She flung herself over him. She did not know why. To heal him? To stop the blood from spilling from his body?
At the edge of her hearing, Diana caught a cry of fury. Nubia's. The Captain had recovered and set upon Ares with renewed spirit. Diana did not care. As the ringing of steel carried on, the Princess closed off from the carnage around her.
Her home in flames. Her lover dying. Anguish was her company. Anguish and the man who took the blade meant for her.
Thor still lived, though just barely. Diana could see the light in his eyes as she cradled his head in her lap. Gently, she stroked his hair, stroked his cheek. It was all she could do.
"Why?" She asked in a broken voice. Though she already knew the answer.
Through watery eyes, she saw that Thor had managed a weak smile.
"It is… a good way to die." He said.
Then the light was gone. And so was Thor.
- - -
From the world of mortal men,
A call rang out across the stars.
Divine blood spilled in righteous cause,
Rousing ageless, living steel.
Deep in the heart of an ancient realm,
Power was given purpose again.
Waking the mighty Mjolnir from its slumber,
The toll of a single word.
Worthy.