Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus

  ‘For Olympus!’ he shouted as he wrapped his arms around the gorgon’s head and slapped both his hands over her deadly eyes. Paelen ignored the countless snakes biting painfully into his face and arms as he clung to the enraged gorgon. Stheno screeched and howled. She spun around madly, trying to dislodge him.

  ‘Shoot them!’ Paelen called to Emily. ‘Do it now, stop the gorgons!’

  Paelen clung to Stheno and felt his hands grow cold. They were becoming stiff and difficult to move. His feet and legs were frozen and unresponsive as he tried to jump away from the enraged gorgon. Finally his vision started to fade as his muscles seized up.

  ‘No!’ he howled.

  The gorgon beneath him screeched and screamed in fury. ‘You will die in agony, boy!’

  Paelen suddenly realized his terrible mistake. The gorgon’s eyes did not need to be open to be deadly. The freezing in his hands had spread throughout his whole body. Already he could feel his blood slowing as each cell in his body turned to stone. Paelen experienced pain he’d never known before. It was like he was freezing and burning at the same time. He could no longer move. All he knew was pain and then finally – black nothingness.

  30

  Emily screamed as Paelen turned to stone. He was curled around Stheno’s head like a grotesque hat. On his marble face was the pain of transformation. Stheno lifted him and screeched in rage as she tossed him aside.

  Just before her best friend hit the ground and shattered into a thousand pieces, Tange released Emily and dived to catch Paelen. He lowered the coiled Paelen statue safely to the floor. When he rose, Tange threw back his head and roared loud enough to shake the whole palace.

  At Tange’s command, the throne room erupted in fighting as the large Nirads attacked the gorgons. But the gorgon’s deadly eyes were faster and much more powerful. No Nirad could get close without being turned to stone instantly. The throne room quickly filled with marble Nirads.

  ‘Jupiter!’ Emily cried. She hopped over to the kneeling Olympian and tried to undo the heavy chains binding him. ‘Please help us.’

  ‘Not yet,’ Jupiter replied as his wild eyes scanned the room but he remained motionless before the thrones. ‘This is not the time.’

  ‘The time for what?’ Emily demanded. ‘All of us to be killed?

  ‘Emily!’ Joel cried as he ran out of the cage.

  ‘Go to him, child,’ Jupiter warned. ‘Leave me here and do what you must. Remember, you are the Flame of Olympus!’

  Emily saw Chrysaor running into the throne room and towards Joel. The pink prince darted around the Nirad statues to join them. More warriors flooded into the throne room and joined the fight. The sound of their furious roaring was deafening; but not nearly as bad as the howls of pain that filled the room as the warriors were turned to stone by the two enraged gorgons.

  Emily reluctantly left Jupiter and joined the others as they crouched down behind a wall of stone Nirads.

  ‘Why don’t you use your powers?’ Joel demanded. ‘You’re the only one who can stop them.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Emily cried. ‘Joel, you know I don’t have any control. I could kill everyone in here, including Jupiter!’

  Toban started to growl and pointed up to his sister locked in her cage. He caught Joel by the arm and tried to lead him up to it.

  ‘We must save the queen!’ Joel insisted. He turned frightened eyes to Emily. ‘It doesn’t matter how much control you’ve got. It’s the only way.’

  ‘But what if I can’t? What if I kill you?’

  ‘We’re as good as dead anyway. You know we can’t let them leave here to destroy other worlds!’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Em, look around you,’ he shouted. ‘The Nirads can’t stop the gorgons. You’re the only one who can! Look, just stay here, take a few deep breaths and calm down. Concentrate on what you need to do. You can do it, Emily, I know you can. I’ll see if we can get the queen’s cage open. But be prepared to use your powers.’

  Emily watched Joel, the prince and Chrysaor darting between the large stone Nirads. The room was growing crowded with statues as every Nirad that tried, failed to get close enough to attack the gorgons.

  In the centre of the room, Jupiter remained still. Nirad statues were falling all round him, but he refused to move. What are you waiting for? Emily thought. Please, Jupiter, help us!

  Joel and the prince reached the thrones. They jumped on to the dais and moved to climb the stairs up to the queen’s cage. In their determination, they did not see Stheno turn her deadly golden gaze in their direction.

  But Emily did. ‘Joel, look out, she’s right behind you! Get down!’

  Joel and the prince cried out in agony as they turned instantly to stone. Halfway up the stairs to the cage, Joel was caught off balance with one foot still raised in the air.

  ‘Joel! No!’ Emily howled as her friend teetered on the edge of the steps. Then as if in slow motion, he fell forward and smashed into the fine braided gold bars of the queen’s cage.

  Beneath his heavy stone weight, the gold bars bent and crumpled. Joel tumbled, rolling down the stairs until he finally slipped off the dais and crashed to the marble floor below. On impact, his right arm exploded into hundreds of tiny stone pieces.

  Emily dashed forward. But moments before she reached Joel, all the surviving Nirads in the room roared and turned towards their queen. Segan was looking up at the roof in terror as the gold bars to her cage trembled. Unable to withstand the roof’s weight after the impact of the stone Joel, the top of the cage started to come down.

  ‘No!’ Emily screamed.

  Jupiter moved.

  He rose from the floor and easily tore away all the chains wrapped around him. In three short strides, the leader of Olympus reached Segan’s cage. He pushed inside and lifted the small queen from her prison chair. Jupiter wrapped his arms and powerful body around her just as the heavy gold roof collapsed down upon the two.

  ‘Jupiter!’ Emily cried.

  Tange howled mournfully as he and the three other large, orange, throne room Nirads charged forward. They leaped up to the dais and, each taking a corner, started to lift the heavy gold roof off Jupiter and their queen. Beneath the roof, Jupiter rose, with the queen still alive and safe within his arms.

  Tange and the others howled in agony and strained to use their four arms to lift and support the gold roof. Down on the floor, Stheno raced forward. ‘You will all die!’ she screeched.

  The gorgon directed her deadly gaze on the four Nirads and Jupiter. Tange’s cries grew unbearably loud as he and the others continued to support the roof while their bodies turned to stone.

  Inside the cage, Jupiter remained unaffected by the gorgon’s deadly stare. With the pink queen still wrapped in his protective embrace, he glanced over his shoulder at Stheno. ‘You and your sister have failed, gorgon. You should have surrendered when you had the chance. There will be no mercy for you now.’

  Beside Emily, Chrysaor squealed in pain as he was turned to stone for the second time in as many days.

  ‘You should have joined us, child,’ Euryale screeched as she stalked towards Emily with murder in her eyes. ‘We would have embraced you as our daughter.’

  ‘I had a mother,’ Emily cried defiantly, ‘and I loved her. She was enough. I would never join you.’

  ‘Then you are a fool,’ Euryale shouted. ‘You could have ruled with us. All the worlds of the Solar Stream could have been your playground. You would have been an empress! But you made your choice. It was the wrong one!’

  Euryale raised her hands as her terrible eyes blazed the brightest gold Emily had ever seen. ‘It is over, Flame of Olympus. You … are … extinguished!’

  Emily felt searing pain in every part of her body as she started to stiffen. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream and couldn’t breathe. Her eyes faded as the room around her blurred and turned to black. An instant later, she was solid stone.

  31

  Emily was aware. She could not
hear, she could not see and she could not feel. But she remained completely aware.

  Was this what it was like for everyone else? Was her father conscious, but trapped in a casing of stone? Was she alive or dead? Did her heart still pump blood through her marble body? Was this it? Was she facing an eternity as an unmoving statue while remaining fully conscious? Panic settled in as Emily struggled to move her fingers. But nothing happened. She was frozen stone.

  No! Her mind raged. Emily thought of all the others she loved who were suffering the same fate around her. Was her father calling silently to be freed? But there was no one left alive to hear him. Was Pegasus suffering? Was he still feeling the pain of his burns, while on the outside being unable to move? Emily was the only one who could heal them all. But how could she, when she too was stone?

  As Emily thought and worried for the others, her concern fed the Flame. It began to bubble within her. But trapped inside the stone casing, unable to move her arms, it had nowhere to go. For an instant, Emily feared the Flame would turn in on itself, consuming her body like a Phoenix that died in the ashes of its own fire. But she had already been burned up once. Could it happen again?

  Don’t think about it, Em, she ordered. Think only of Dad. Think of beautiful Pegasus and the pain on his face when he was turned to marble. Think of sweet Paelen, brave Joel and handsome Cupid. Think of how they had fought and suffered beside her.

  Emily felt her panic subside as she thought of those she loved. Fear for her own life faded and anger at Stheno and Euryale grew. The thought of those two vile creatures being responsible for so much pain and suffering was unbearable.

  As more faces of the dead flashed in her mind, Emily’s anger boiled. No way would she let them get away with it. They could not be allowed to rule Olympus and all the other worlds along the Solar Stream. She would fight them. If it took every last bit of energy, if she had to burn herself out to stop them, Emily would not let the gorgons succeed!

  She concentrated on the Flame. Already boiling with her fear, she let her anger stoke the fires. If she was the Flame, so be it. Emily would finally become – THE FLAME OF OLYMPUS!

  A silent roar of rage started deep within in her core as Emily summoned all the powers she had been fighting so long to suppress. She fed them, called them forth and commanded them to melt the stone shell keeping her imprisoned.

  She could feel the heat rising. It was just as Vesta had told her it would be. The full power of the sun! But Emily felt no pain, only growing strength and control. As the Flame rose from her centre, she was able to move again. At first just a finger – but soon more.

  Her hearing returned. Emily heard the sound of the two gorgons cackling and shouting at Jupiter. They were taunting him and celebrating his defeat. Euryale’s voice was closest. The gorgon was standing directly beside her.

  ‘It is over, Jupiter. See how your great Flame is nothing now but dead, cold stone. When our Nirads return to Olympus and extinguish what is left of the Flame at the Temple, you will truly know defeat. Medusa is finally avenged!’

  Emily felt the pressure of Euryale’s bronze hand resting on her stone arm. The gorgon was unaware of the changes raging deep inside her, oblivious to the danger standing at her side. Emily summoned up the Flame and her hand burst free of its marble prison. Before the gorgon could utter a word, she caught hold of her bronze hand and held it in a fierce grip.

  ‘What … ?’ Euryale cried. ‘Let me go!’

  Emily unleashed her powers. She was a living volcano about to erupt. The stone encasing her seemed to melt and flow away from her like lava. Her temperature climbed impossibly high, yet she did not feel the heat.

  Euryale, however, did. The gorgon started to screech and scream as the bronze of her hand melted and dripped to the floor. The snakes on her foul head hissed and spat as they slowly roasted and shrivelled in the intense heat.

  Emily turned her head slowly and saw the gorgon’s face start to smoke and then burst into flame. Euryale’s eyes went brilliant gold as she tried to fight back. But Emily did not return to stone. She was a raging inferno, untouched by the gorgon’s lethal power.

  Stheno screamed in fury when she saw her sister burning. She directed her deadly golden eyes at Emily, but they had no effect. When Euryale collapsed to the floor in a melted, smouldering heap, Stheno ran over to Steve. She put her hands on his shoulders and threatened to topple him over.

  ‘Stop now, Flame, or I will destroy your father!’ she wailed.

  Emily’s fury renewed. She raised her hands, summoned all the power she possessed and fired at Stheno. Unlike Euryale, who had burned, Stheno simply disappeared in a soft, soundless puff. Black ash filled the air and rained down where the gorgon had been standing.

  The gorgons were gone.

  ‘Emily,’ Jupiter called softly. ‘It is over, child, call it back.’

  Through flaming eyes, Emily looked up to Jupiter. He was still in the cage with the queen. He lifted her lightly in the air and carried her between the bent gold bars, careful not to let the gold graze her delicate, pink skin. He lowered her on to the dais and walked closer to Emily.

  Jupiter raised his hands against her blazing heat. His whole body was starting to smoulder. ‘Pull it back, Emily,’ he said, sounding strangely calm. ‘You can do it now. The powers are yours to command. Pull the Flame back.’

  Emily closed her eyes and concentrated on pulling the Flame back into herself. She imagined she was a giant vacuum cleaner sucking up a pile of flour on the floor. Only this wasn’t flour she was collecting, but the raging power of the sun. As she concentrated harder, she felt the flames obeying her commands. Her core temperature was dropping. The Flame was growing smaller and easier to contain. Finally it stopped completely and Emily was herself again.

  She looked around at the devastation of the room; not a living soul moved except for Jupiter and the Nirad queen. Everyone else was stone. ‘Jupiter?’ she called softly.

  Jupiter swooped in and closed his strong arms around her. He lifted her off the floor and gave Emily the biggest, most powerful hug she had ever had in her life.

  ‘I am so very proud of you!’ he cried as he kissed her cheeks. ‘You were magnificent!’

  ‘I don’t, don’t understand,’ she stuttered. ‘Jupiter, what happened?’ Then she remembered how he had done nothing when the gorgons started to attack. ‘Why wouldn’t you help us?’ she demanded. ‘You just knelt there while the gorgons turned everyone to stone. They turned me to stone! Why didn’t you stop them?’

  Jupiter put her down and knelt on one knee before her. He took both her hands in his. ‘Forgive me, but I could not. When I came in here, my only concern was for the Nirad queen. I knew you would be safe. And anyone who was turned to stone could be healed by you. But if the queen had died in her cage, this entire Nirad society would have been destroyed.’

  ‘But, but—’

  ‘Child, listen to me,’ Jupiter said softly. ‘This is the price I must pay as leader. Making these difficult decisions is never easy. But I could not help you no matter how much I wanted to. You had to learn to help yourself. Until this moment, you have feared and dreaded your powers. Because of that, you could not control them. It made you a danger to yourself and everyone in Olympus. But here, today, you finally embraced them. You have faced your destiny and become the Flame’s master. Emily, you saved everyone and defeated the gorgons because you are finally the Flame of Olympus. It was more than I could have ever achieved.’

  Emily sucked in her breath. ‘But-but-you’re Jupiter,’ she protested. ‘There’s nothing you can’t do.’

  Jupiter chuckled and rose. He kissed her on the forehead. ‘I appreciate your faith in me, child. But I am nothing without the power of the Flame of Olympus behind me.’ He reached out his hand. ‘May I see the handkerchief Neptune gave to you? I need to check something.’

  Emily handed over the green fabric with the white Pegasus embroidered on it. She watched him open the hidden pocket and peer inside.
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  ‘It worked perfectly,’ he muttered. ‘I must tell my brother.’

  ‘Tell him what?’

  Jupiter handed back the handkerchief. ‘Look inside, your tears are gone.’

  Emily saw he was right. The small pocket was empty. ‘Where did they go?’

  ‘Back into you; they added fuel to your fire. When Neptune had his sirens weave this for you, he made certain when you needed your tears back, the fabric would return them. It appears it did.’ Jupiter wrapped his arm around her to support her on her leg. ‘Now, Emily, I would like to properly introduce you to Segan, the Queen of the Nirads.’

  Emily put the handkerchief back in her pocket and looked at the young queen she had spent so much time with. She bowed her head. ‘Your Majesty.’

  The queen smiled. She wrapped her four arms around her and embraced Emily tightly. She growled softly in her ear.

  ‘Segan says thank you for your bravery and for freeing her people from the terror of the gorgons,’ Jupiter explained.

  Emily smiled back. ‘You’re welcome.’ She looked around the room at the countless stone statues. ‘But you’re not really free yet. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us to free everyone.’

  Segan stepped over to the stone statue of her brother and grunted a few soft words to Jupiter. ‘She has asked a favour. Would you be kind enough to free her brother first?’

  Emily nodded and was helped over to the pink Nirad. ‘I really hope this works,’ she said nervously as she reached out her hand and touched the prince’s stone arm.

  The change started immediately. Where her hand grasped the Nirad’s arm, pink returned to the surface. It spread along his whole body until he took in a deep unsteady breath and staggered on his feet. Segan reached out to support him. Recovered, he looked at his sister and howled in joy.

  Emily felt her throat constrict as she watched their noisy reunion. The queen turned to her and spoke softly.

  ‘Segan would like you to meet her brother, Toban,’ Jupiter explained.