Page 202 of Hekate: The Witch
the closest pile of debris
and as he reached for me
I burned his fingers,
and while he snatched them back,
I set his loincloth aflame.
Shrieking, the great being
tumbled backwards
all the way off the edge.
I heard his roar as he plummeted
to the ground, a distant cry of dismay.
I felt a cry of triumph
bursting within my blood.
All around me the giants were falling.
My army of dead had turned this battle,
there was a chance we may win!
When I turned back I saw
Thanatos upon the back of
one of the giants,
about to shove the torch
into his face.
But before he could do it
the creature grabbed Thanatos
off his back, as though he were
one of Pallas’ carved toys,
and threw him across Olympus
till his back met a pillar and he slid
to the ground.
‘THANATOS!’
I screamed, a white-hot fear bursting through my chest. I raced across the mountaintop. When I reached him, Thanatos looked up at me, eyes wide in confusion and pain. I tried to help him stand up but he shook his head slightly and winced. I moved my hand to the back of his head, and my fingers came away with ichor. This is when the fear inside me changed to red-raw rage. I knew Thanatos would heal eventually, as all Gods do. But that creature had the gall to make him bleed. The idea of more Titan blood spilling on this unholy mountain made me pick up my torches and turn. My eyes met with the giant who had done this and with a cry of fury, I raced towards him. In my peripheral vision I saw Hermes battling two giants alongside my undead army. He turned just in time to watch me as once again I split into my timeless three. All three of us with our six torches leapt upon the giant, knocking him to the ground and shoving our flames into his eyes. The creature screamed in agony and struggled, trying to throw us off, but my rage had given us the strength of a thousand lions each. When the giant was finally dead, I looked at the two other versions of me that had come from my bones and sinew, before turning back to Thanatos, who was walking towards us. My heart lightened with relief as I realized he was recovered. He picked up a torch. Wordlessly, we all headed into the heart of Olympus where the Olympians had been cornered into their very last stand.
The Last Stand of the Olympian Gods
