Artemis could only stare into the flames, as their warmth transformed into the harsh scorching heat of war. A war over pride.
Artemis sat on the sand, brooding.
...
The ashen flakes nestled themselves into her hair, carried on the same wind that brought the stench of smoke, and tar. Men and their pride. She had now at last seen Alexander's true colors. The boyish King was a conqueror, nothing more.
The night after her duel with Perseus, the Tyrians had answered Alexander's requests to pray at the Temple of Hercules.
They lopped the head off the Macedonian messenger's neck and dumped his body into the sea from their high walls. In the resulting outrage amongst the Macedonian troops, Alexander had ordered that Old Tyre, the coastal city that sat opposite from New Tyre, be burned.
The screams from the townsfolk echoed into the night. And Artemis could only watch from the sand dunes, as the flames consumed the town. The only retribution that Artemis saw was the execution of a dozen Theban foot soldiers. Perseus had caught and executed the lot for raping two town girls in their burning home. Both were dead in the rubble. She and Perseus had buried the two girls in the sand dunes, overlooking the sea. It was better treatment than the other dead townsfolk had received, in a large burial conducted by Alexander, after his rage had subsided.
During the digging of the two graves, Artemis felt the cold hatred of men seep into her bones, which she turned into a fervor of strong strokes with the shovel, that bit deep into the sand. Perseus hadn't tried to speak, and only followed her actions with a silence that stretched until morning, when he slipped away towards the Macedonian camp, already awakening for the coming siege of Tyre.
And here she sat, staring at the two graves. Such needless loss.
Yet, it was loss that was avenged, thanks to Perseus. She briefly remembered the torch lit proceedings where Perseus read the sentence amidst the blithering Theban soldiers, before personally cleaving off the head of the closest Theban. The rest were similarly beheaded in turn, but the cold lifeless face that Perseus wore never changed.
Artemis looked up to the shining towers of Tyre, seemingly unaffected by the burning of their coastal city. A similar fate awaited them, when the Macedonian war machine knocked down their proud walls. The history of the city was well known, as the unbreakable city. But if Alexander and Perseus were to try, Artemis knew it would fall, in time.
Artemis scowled at the thought. Her grudging admiration for Perseus had to end. It was an apparition, a ruse, thrown at her by Aphrodite. Aphrodite could never make her love, but she could implant feelings that were not her own.
An image of Perseus staring at the scene of the two battered bodies of the girls flashed into her mind. Perseus had always stood with her… hadn't he? Even when she had treated him unjustly those months ago, at the forest meadow…
Artemis inwardly reeled, as she suddenly sensed the subtle magic at work. She was on her feet in an instance, mental wards already shoving out the unwanted intruder.
"Aphrodite, you come into my head again, and I will kill you." Artemis spat, drawing her hunting knives. The sands around her were empty, and the reeds only blew with the light ocean breeze. But she was here.
Aphrodite appeared from the reeds, as gentle songbird morphing into the beautiful goddess herself, clad in a flowing light blue dress that hugged Aphrodite's slim feminine figure.
"Kill me? I'd like to see you try, Godspawn." Aphrodite sneered, "Especially in your… limited form."
"Maybe not now, but one day, you will regret this Aphrodite." Artemis snapped, her hunting knives at the ready.
"How curious, I recall saying the exact same thing centuries ago… your vote for banishment was as convenient as any opportunity!" Aphrodite trilled, "Your bloodlust against men killed some of my finest attendants in Corinth. Consider this banishment as your favor owed to me."
"That was not my fault. They knew that the hunt was as dangerous as I proscribed it to be." Artemis gestured to the two graves, "The same fate could have befallen them here, at the monsters that dwell in civilization." However, as Artemis knew she was safe behind her mental barriers, the thought of the death of Aphrodite's children haunted her once again. They were bright young girls from Corinth, dedicated to their mother in every way. However, they had elected to join her, and the Hunt. A rogue pack of Hellhounds had startled the girls a week later, and they bolted into the forest. Artemis hadn't seen what had befallen them, but she felt the sickening blows to her core as both lost their lives.
Aphrodite shook her head, her eyes blazing, "You promised me that you would keep them safe!"
"I said I would do my best!" Artemis retorted, clenching her fists. 'Hadn't she done her best? What else could she have done?'
"Your argument matters not. You are stuck with these so called 'monsters'… although… maybe not all are monsters in your eyes."
The rapid change in demeanor was the only warning Artemis had, before Aphrodite narrowed her eyes, as if to peer into Artemis's soul.
A searing bolt of pain erupted in Artemis's head, and she quickly recognized it as a mental assault. Artemis clutched her temples as she stumbled back, holding up her mental walls with resolute determination. After a couple of seconds, the pain ebbed away, and Artemis gasped, falling to her knees.
"I'm impressed, even as a mortal, you protected your memories of him. How noble of you."
"I assure you, it wasn't for him."
Artemis got back onto her shaky feet, glaring at the goddess that stood before her. Aphrodite was absentmindedly looking at her nails, hips cocked in a contra posture pose. The Goddess was barely batting an eye, and Artemis found it hard to stand without watching the world spin around her.
"Of course, "Aphrodite conceded, her lips curled in a sneer, "I obtained some of his memories much easier. He is a loyal man, Perseus. For helping you and protecting your identity. A loyal man indeed! What a foreign concept?! A loyal man… to his wife."
"What of it?" Artemis gritted her teeth, trying to get the world into focus. 'How had she fallen so far!' It took all the strength she had to hold up the daggers, let alone trying to maim the vengeful Goddess before her.
"You'll see the humor in a couple of centuries. A loyal man, that you'd wish was not. Love is a fickle thing after all."
"Look into my head again. The only thing you'll see was put there yourself."
Aphrodite laughed, her smile never reaching her eyes. "I do not implant thoughts of love, silly mortal. In the little I saw, is your own doing."
'Wait… her own doing?'
Aphrodite hadn't broken into her mind after all. And that meant…
"It is my own doing." Artemis declared, with the world shifting slowly into focus around her. "I walk my own path on this expedition, and you cannot influence my part in it." She didn't love Perseus. She respected him. And that terrified her.
The admission blew away all the piercing needles that threatened to impale her mind, with their sharp, incessant probing. How freeing it felt! She could challenge her own fears, challenge monsters, across the world! But she couldn't challenge a Goddess. Not now.
"Oh, believe me, I can."
"Then by all means, throw what you want at me. Simurghs, Harpies, Sirens, do your worst. I'd like a challenge from you, Gigante."
Aphrodite took a step towards her, nostrils flared, with her lips curled in a sneer. Another bout of mental jabs pounded into her skull, but Artemis shook them off, finding her mental footing against the blows. She had a purpose now. How hadn't she seen it before? Perseus wasn't someone to be feared… he was a friend. But all she had done was alienate him whenever he was reaching a barrier within herself.
"I told you Aphrodite, stay out of my head."
...
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