Next to her, the catapult crew groaned again in fear and languish as another flight of the dreadful beasts came into sight.
"Do these things even die!" A young soldier exclaimed.
...
"Maybe you'd like to try, boy?!" Artemis yelled at him, quickly planting herself on the edge of the hastily built rampart. The expanse of the sea and the now very close city of Tyre was before her, bathed in a golden light. The image was marred by the torchlight that illuminated hundreds of soldiers, engaged in a skirmisher war as the siege tower pushed forwards on the mole.
Perseus was somewhere down there, as Artemis chanced a quick glance down towards the fortified sides of the mole. Dozens of Macedonian soldiers occupied the trenches there, their spears raised, and shields covering their heads.
Now, thoroughly awake, and mind fully concentrated, she nocked an arrow from her supply barrel, holding four more in her bow hand. The tall container was already half empty. Overhead, there was a wooden screen shield, blocking incoming fire from Tyre's walls. The planks were already full of arrows. 'Here we go again.'
There were dozens of them, in a seemingly never-ending supply. The flew low, like before, talons dragging through the choppy waters around the South wall of Tyre, the sea foam curling around their formation as the waves crashed against the weathered rock.
Artemis sighted one of the bigger beasts, lined up her shot, and loosed an arrow. Dozens of other projectiles were already on their way, zipping through the dusk air like fleeting shadows, slicing through the waning rays of light. Dozens of other archers, nestled like birds in the siege tower, fired their own volley as well. But Simurghs, as Artemis had come to understand, were not so easy to bring down. Artemis lost her arrow in the dozens of others. She paid it little mind. Now was not a time to rack up her killing count of Simurghs. The crack and roar of the catapult next to her brought her mission back into mind.
'Protect the catapult.'
That's what Perseus had told her that morning when the assault began. But throughout the day, the continued attacks of the Simurgh, and the slingers/bowmen of Tyre had worn down her strength. She released another arrow, which tore at her skin, and the bowstring slapped against her forearm, sending spasming pain through the leather guard there.
Arms numbing already, Artemis got one more shot off before the Simurgh descended on the mole ramparts. Artemis heard the shouts and screams below her as the allied Greek and Macedonian troops engaged in melee combat with the horrid bird-dog creatures. The Tyrian skirmishers renewed their volleys, and flaming arrows flashed down hitting the trenches and solid wood of the siege tower, forcing Artemis to turn away from the slaughter below her.
"PULL!"
The tower shuddered violently as the catapult launched its arm forwards, which sent a large chunk of stone flying towards the Tyrian ramparts. At such close range, the stone hit only moments later, and the projectile shattered a section of the Tyrian upper wall. Artemis watched in grim fascination as a half a dozen Tyrian defenders fall to the deadly rock fragments.
More fire turned towards the Tyrian walls, as the Pellian skirmishers grouped around the siege tower turned some bows and slings to surprising the wall defenders.
Artemis could sense the sizzling heat in the air, as if a thunderstorm was approaching at that very moment, with lightning only moments away. This was the final push to the walls. The intermittent skirmishing earlier in the day was nothing compared to this assault. She leaned back over the edge of the tower, with the incoming fire from the wall slacking somewhat. Below, she trained her gaze to find Perseus, only, a great looming shape spread across her vision.
'By the Gods!' Artemis reeled back as the enormous body of a flying Simurgh flashed by, screeching directly into her ears as its talons barely missed her chest. Her back slammed into the wooden limbs of the catapult, as her heart beat wildly. The graceful beast, flew up, and around the tower, displaying its full wingspan, and streamlined shape.
"Cover! Take Cover!" Artemis yelled, shouldering past a confused young man who caught the barest glimpse of the Simurgh. She raised her bow and tracked the flying creature and it turned in towards the tower once more. Its wings beat once, then twice, before she released the delicate grip on the bowstring.
Her arrow flew true, and buried itself in the left-wing joint, right above the bone and ball of muscles and tendons. The beast shrieked, as it immediately lost altitude and plummeted towards the sea. It gave one last scream before it plunged into the shallow waters with a massive slap, a plume of water blooming up from the impact.
'Is that the best you can do Anahita?' Artemis lowered her bow, and looked back towards Tyre. The fight was sill raging below the tower, and she still couldn't see Perseus in the chaos. But the combined Greek and Macedonian fighters seemed to be gaining an edge against the beasts.
"Cleoxene! Look! On the ramparts!"
Artemis swivelled at the voice of one of the Pellians, faintly heard from below her in the tower, at least a couple of stories down. She turned, walking briskly by the reloading catapult, and jumped up on the left bannister-rail of the tower, allowing her to see over the screening wooden shield.
Just visible across from the tower, at the forefront of the Tyrian walls, were two prominent figures. One was a Simurgh… but this one was bigger, with different coloring than the brown and muted yellow feathers of the other beasts. This one had a dazzling display of reds, greens, and blues that covered its wings, with a light golden colored chest. But its eyes, they stared directly at her, with dark red pupils that seared into her soul.
But it was the other figure that sent her stomach into spasms. She recognized the figure, the power. The shadowed figure raised a hand, and the air seemed to collapse in on itself around him, as a shimmering staff appeared in his hand.
A god.
This was the presence that she had felt, the air around her, the puppeteering of the hydra attack. And this unknown entity's presence alongside this Alpha-Simurgh could only mean one thing.
"You dare to interfere?!" Artemis yelled across the distance, "I know you are working with Anahita! Your meddling here will not go unpunished!"
'Your pantheon has no power here.' A booming voice reverberated in her mind, 'I will interfere when an Olympian goddess attempts to take my city.' Try as she might, she couldn't push out the intruding voice, and was left with her mind feeling scrambled.
The Simurgh besides the god flared its wings, the menagerie of colors catching the very last rays of Apollo's chariot. She wouldn't have any help from her brother. To her right, she heard the distinctive clicking of the catapult's torsion crank. It was primed and ready.
A plan formulated in her mind, while her mental barriers still reeled from the piercing voice of the Phoenician god.
"Who are you to proclaim such things!?" Artemis demanded, seeing the distorted shapes of the Macedonian men scrambling over the catapult in the peripheries of her vision.
"You shall soon see." Before Artemis could question, or even think further into the Shadowed person's identity, the colorful Simurgh besides the god let out a ferocious howling-screech. IT opened its wings once again, and hurled itself off of Tyre's walls, taking to the air in a blur of dazzling colors. The Simurgh, which still battled below on the mole, heeded its call, and one by one, the beasts slipped away. Artemis counted a dozen, at least, all scarred and dripping with blood.
Some even seemed to falter midair, clearly being injured to such severity that Artemis judged they could not survive their wounds. A ragged cheer rose up from the mole, as its bedraggled defenders finally caught some respite. However, the cheers quickly were drowned in a scream.