Bound With Only You

Her tail wrapped the nearest pillar with the harsh snap of a whip. The pillar shook from the impact, body parts from the destroyed human statues scattered across the temple floor, and Medusa clenched down on the massive muscles that filled her tail. Shed caught one of the intruders in her grip. The warrior on the other side of the pillar struggled for a mere few seconds before his crushed insides ruptured, and vomited blood spilled over her scales.

”Die, monster! ”

She made a mistake. Her tail unwrapped from the pillar, and she tried to get away as fast as she could, but another Athenian hidden behind a statue of Athena capitalized and jumped toward her tail. His spear skewered through her scales, worked into the muscle past the ribs of her snake body, before her pained thrashing snapped the spears wooden shaft and knocked the warrior backward away from her.

”Please! Let me be, ” she said, and started to drag herself away from the two remaining hunters. Don look at the spear sticking out of you. Ignore the stab wounds. Ignore the blood. Get away.

But she only managed to reach the pulpit of the temple before she collapsed. Her blood was leaking out of her, stars filled her vision, and her breath came out as nothing but pants. When she looked up, all she saw was the crying face of the temples largest statue of Athena. Medusa too started to cry.

”You defiled this temple, whore. A hundred years is too long for a monster such as you to live. ”

The one who stabbed her, this time he had a sword and shield, and his face was crazed with rage and bloodlust; his Corinthian helmet could not hide them. He stepped closer and closer to her, up to her tail, past it to walk toward her human half, and he left sandal-prints of her blood behind him. The olive tree carved into the bastards armor, gentle and proud, stood in sickening contrast to Medusa. The sword gleamed against the last traces of light that broke into the tainted temple, and his shield glared at him with Athenas face.

She spit on the shield, directly onto Athenas cheek, and the warrior glowered in disgust. He raised his sword.

The crunch of twisted bone and flesh caught both Medusa and her would-be killer by surprise. She raised her downcast head to look toward the sea of statues, and the Athenian turned to do the same. They both gasped.

The twilight hour buried everything in massive, blurry shadows that twisted in torchlight, and the temples array of dead only added to the confusion, but both of them saw the other warrior collapse forward onto his knees. His head was facing the wrong direction.

Someone in the shadow took a step forward, someone with white, glowing eyes.

~~Darian~~

Not once in his life could Darian remember ever being this dirty.

He was trapped in a cage like a filthy mutt, complete with shit-covered feet, and dirt in every crevice and orifice. Fitting, he supposed. There were wood planks beneath him and ocean air misting through creaking wood, so that the cage had that pleasant odor of rot and fish. Each and every moment, he grew more and more unclean; a never ending journey of increasing foulness.

Darian put his back to the bars and turned to look at his guests. They were all much larger than he, either in height or gut, and hunched over with sleep or boredom. All of them – Darian too – wore the same rags for leggings and shirts of stained brown. No sandals to speak of. Sandals were too good for them. Splinters were apparently an intended form of punishment by their captors.

”Hey kid. ”

Darian raised his head. He did look like a kid, or at least a young man. Unlike the fat, lumbering oaf calling for his attention, Darian was a fit and lean little thing. His brown hair was a mess of dirt and oil in his eyes, and his beard had grown scraggly from an obviously unkempt life. With his brown eyes and tanned skin, he must have looked like a farmers boy, all ready for the harvest.

”Yes? ”

”What marked you? ” The fat one approached him. His skin hung off his face with age, but his arms were massive and his scars spoke much. He came closer and reached out; Darian tensed, but the fat one simply put an arm to the bars behind Darian, well over his shoulder.

”Back off. ” Darian put his hand against the fat bastards chest, and pushed against his rags and carpet of chest chair to get him away. Disgusting.

”Awh, the little boy has bite. ” This time, the fat man put his calloused hand against Darians chest and pushed him back. The returned favor easily put the smaller man against the jail bars with enough force to rattle them. Darian was only a small thing after all, and this tall, thick trunk of a fat man was likely nearly three times his weight.