Page 90 of Hades

Hades launched to his feet and ran at full speed down into the valley basin. Persephone kept pace beside him, the black horned helmet bouncing against her back as she sprinted and her sword flashing in her hand, reflecting the amber glow of the rivers of lava that snaked across the plain.

Keras and Enyo broke away from him, one of the commanders following them as planned, and Ares went with them. Valen and Calindria and the other legion followed Hades and Persephone as they moved to flank the gathered warriors. At the sound of their approach, those warriors began to turn and ready their weapons.

Hades unleashed a wave of shadows into them at the same time as Keras did, and screams rang out as the black tendrils tore into several men. Hades motioned with his bident to his right, indicating the direction they would take.

Distant shrieks rose above the din of battle as the men of his legion clashed with the warriors, the blood-curdling sound causing a few of them to pause and look skyward.

“Do not bleed,” Hades growled to Persephone, the thought of one of the foul Keres targeting her chilling his blood.

She nodded and glanced at the sky, a flicker of fear emerging in her eyes that had him closing ranks with her.

“Focus,” he snapped as a warrior came at her and he thrust his bident over her back to impale the male before he could land a blow on her.

Persephone ducked beneath his arm and swept her blade out, cutting down a male he hadn’t noticed. “I could tell you the same thing. You need not worry about me, Hades. Do not let me be a distraction.”

Easier said than done.

She pirouetted around him and long black brambles burst from the ground to shoot towards three more males, puncturing them in the thigh, stomach and side, holding them in place for one of the legion’s soldiers to kill.

He wasn’t only distracted by his need to protect her. He was distracted by her appearance and the way she moved too. The supple leather she wore hugged her curves as she gracefully moved through the throng, using her powers to snare the males who dared to attack her and finishing some off with them too. She cut others down with her sword, her kill tally far outnumbering his own.

Which wouldn’t do.

He pushed aside thoughts of peeling the leather armour from her after the battle and focused on getting them to that point so he could make her keep her promise. He launched his bident forwards and the shadows caused by the glow of the lava rivers began to writhe and bend towards him, and then rise against the ones casting them. Agonised bellows rolled through the warriors as his shadows pierced their legs, holding them in place and making it harder for them to fight.

Ahead of them, on a raised section of rock, Mnemosyne turned her mirror-like gaze away from Cerberus. Her eyes unerringly locked on Hades despite the hundreds of males between them and she dropped off the rock, disappearing into the crowd.

Coming for him.

He glanced at Persephone to check on her again and found her glaring at someone. Hades followed the path of her gaze. Two females were working together, commanding the men who were pulling Cerberus towards the gate as a glow lit their palms. Bright, colourful swirling orbs of light formed in front of their hands and then drifted towards Cerberus. The great three-headed black beast snarled and writhed as they approached him, struggling against his bonds. Hades growled and pushed forwards, cutting a path through the men between him and his pet.

Persephone kept pace with him, using her brambles to hurl men out of their way and her sword to cut down any who strayed too close to her, her eyes never leaving the third female who stood on the higher area of rock.

That one wore modern mortal clothing like Megan preferred and wore her lilac hair in a bob that barely reached her jaw.

Hades didn’t recognise her, but apparently his wife did, because her expression was pure darkness, tight in lines of anger as she stormed towards the young female. From beneath Persephone’s feet, great thorns burst from the earth in a wave, some of them punching through the jagged lava flow that separated her from the female. Molten rock rolled down their sharp tips, hissing as it fell back into the river. The thorns almost pierced the female, but she leaped aside the moment she noticed them.

And turned dark eyes on Persephone.

Lightning split the sky, ripping shrieks from several Keres who were caught in the web of deadly electricity. They juddered, their malformed white bodies and bloodied wings twitching. Several other Keres saw what had happened to their sisters and unleashed keening cries as they dive-bombed the warriors below them. Their razor-sharp talons sank deep into the males, some of which were Hades’s men, and they beat their crimson wings, hauling them up into the air, where they fought over the screaming men and tore them apart, showering those below with their blood and entrails.

A huge fireball engulfed them, burning them to ashes, and Ares grunted as he hurled another, sending this one into the enemy. The smell of burning flesh swept around them, the harrowing screams of the men echoing over the battle. Valen teamed up with his brother, orchestrating a series of ground-shaking lightning strikes across the area. Keras’s shadows raced to finish off any who were injured and not killed, and Enyo watched his back, cutting down two males at once with her sword.

Hades’s crimson gaze scanned the battlefield and he swiftly calculated their odds of winning. It was rising. Mnemosyne had lost more than half her men. They could do this.

He fought harder as victory appeared within his grasp at last, relying more on his shadows despite the fact using them drained his strength. They tore through a section of enemies ahead of him, causing several of them to run away while the less fortunate were ripped apart.

A wide divide opened between him and Cerberus and he growled as he sprinted down the corridor, his focus locked on his pet and his mind fixed on saving him. They were hauling him up the slope and were dangerously close to getting him to the gate. Hades wasn’t sure whether just Cerberus being near it would be enough to open it, and he wasn’t going to wait to find out.

Brambles and thorns rose up on either side of him, creating walls that kept the warriors at bay, allowing him to focus on reaching Cerberus.

He was close to the beast when Mnemosyne stepped into his path.

Warm light reflected off her gold-edged dark crimson breastplate and the slats of her skirt, and the greaves that protected her shins. She shifted her right hand, bringing her sword up in front of her, causing light to strike the plain gold cuffs that encircled her forearms, and her ruby lips tilted in a smile when he bared fangs at her.

Her silver eyes reflected the lava, shining like fire as they narrowed on him and she adopted a warrior’s stance, shifting her feet apart on the loose black ground.

Hades gathered his shadows to him and launched them forwards.

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