Page 45 of Eris

Enesidaon, the Earth Shaker, was unleashing his anger and had ignored their offering of the holy bulls. Only their powerful goddess would be able to help them now.

"Atana Potinija, help us. Atana Potinija, shine on us once more."He chanted and danced and danced, until he no longer felt his body, until he was nothing at all. The earth shook as he neared the center, and it all came crashing down on top of him.

Enzo's feet stumbled in his dance, and he fell to his knees in the center of the labyrinth. He placed the palladium on the earth, and he was in the ashy landscape once more.

The seven hemsof her skirts were smeared with ash and mud as she knelt in the ruins of her labyrinth. The golden tattoos of snakes going up each of her strong brown arms shone brightly as lightning split the sky. In the gloom, she spotted a man walking up the trails of the mountain toward her. He had come with the invaders on their ships. Her people hadn't fought them, only accepted the grain and wine the strangers had brought with them.

This one coming to her was no man. He was a god.The Thunder Bringer. She didn't have the strength to hate him, not as she wished to, because her people were eating now because of him.

The god's long hair was tied back with a leather thong, and his beard dripped with the misting rain that was now falling on them. Eyes as golden as the lightning splitting the sky looked down on her.

"You are the one the people call Atana Potinija," he said, voice deep as the thunder.

Atana only nodded and rose to her feet. "I was her. The Sun Goddess. They called me until the island to the north erupted under Enesidaon's wrath and covered my sun with his infernal ash."

Her hand gripped the leather handle of herlabrys, the bronze ax begging to split this interloper's skull. What would be the point? His death wouldn't make the ash clouds go away, but maybe his powerful storm winds could.

"My brother has gone too far in his anger, and we all now bear the consequences of it."

"And are you here to finish me off, Thunder Bringer? I may seem weak, but I have enough in me to make you work for your victory," Atana declared, her pride and boldness still alive even if her lands were dying.

The god only shook his head. "No. There has been enough death. I offer you another life. I'm building a family of those like us. Join me."

"I am not suited to be a wife," Atana said, her grip on the ax tightening.

The god chuckled deeply. "Your ferocity and gray eyes are lovely enough that I would want you, but no. Matrimony does not suit someone as powerful and as old as you. You can become my daughter. Your people, my children."

Atana stared up at the sky and shut her eyes against the rain. She could still hear their screaming and taste their blood and sorrow soaking the earth. "Two things I shall ask of you, and then I will bind my power in service of your own."

"Name them," he said gently.

"Blow the ash from the skies so my people can grow their food once more," Atana said and opened her eyes again. "And take my memories of their pain and this place from me. I will never be able to become something new otherwise. It would be a kindness, and I know one such as you is too brutal to be called kind. But I ask it all the same. Do it for me, and I will bind my power to you."

The god smiled, and he was handsome. And for once, he did choose to be kind. "Take my hands, Atana, and I will do these favors for you."

Atana let go of her ax and rested her hands on his. "Thank you…Father."

"Welcome to the family, daughter. I have a feeling you are going to be my favorite, if for no other reason than the fact that you thought about killing me. That was wise of you. Just like it was wise for you to stay your hand. You chose strategy over might. I admire that."

"I may kill you yet, Father," she replied, and that made him laugh loudly.

"Consider me warned, daughter."

The god was still smiling, and his golden power rolled over her, taking parts of her that she would no longer need. He didn't need them either, so he forced them into the only tree left standing in her sacred place.

By the time he was done, the tree was gone, and a likeness of her remained in the truck. He picked it up and hefted it over one shoulder before offering the new goddess his hand.

"Come, Athena. I know the perfect place to put this," he said.

She took his hand, and they walked back down the mountain together.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Enzo came back to himself with the rocking of the car. He was lying in the back seat, still clinging to the palladium.

"Eris? Where are we? What happened?" he murmured.

His head was still full of visions of ashen skies. He could feel the weight of the stones of the labyrinth as they came down on top of him.

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