Page 243 of Bonds of Hercules
Augustus stared down at me—midnight eyes intense as he cradled me.
I blinked.
The present came back into focus.
I was standing in the middle of the Dolomites Coliseum with a spear clutched in my fist. The gate was rising again, and Sparta was screaming for blood.
Out of the dark, multiple shadows moved.
One, two, three, four, five …
“Oh, come on.”
Eight oversized Nemean lions prowled out onto the hot sands—an entire pride.
The first round was only supposed to befour.
The Chthonic section erupted with outrage, but their shouts were drowned out by the growing stomps and chants. “ANGELUS ROMAE!”
Zeus stood at the edge of the podium, watching calmly.
I made the sign of the cross.
A hair-raising growl echoed and my gaze snapped back to the sand.
The Nemean lions were creeping closer, fanning out on both sides in a big circle as they got ready to attack me from all sides.
I gripped my spear with both hands and pointed it forward.
So this is how it ends.
Nyx slithered around my shoulders. “You stab them,” she hissed. “I’ll bite.”
Fluffy Jr. growled back at the beasts, the sound as deep and terrifying as theirs. He stood about a head taller than them.
A Nemean lion tipped back its maw and roared.
Two charged forward; one at my back, and one at my front.
Fluffy Jr. sprinted to meet the one at my back.
Squatting, I raised my weapon.
I fought the urge to run for my life as a lion headed straight toward me—it leapt, flying through the air.
“NOW,” Nyx screamed.
Crouching low, I raised the point of my long spear straight up into the air, arms shaking as I held it steady against the resistance.
Blood and guts rained down.
The lion’s momentum carried it over my head and the spear split it from neck to navel.
It slumped onto the sand, twitching, gore everywhere. Nyx leapt off my neck—and the lion fell still. It was dead. “Sorry,” I whispered down as I clutched my spear until my fingers cramped.
The crowd went wild.
I hope it doesn’t have a family who are going to be sad—
