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.
...
Artemis looked to the source, and saw a lumbering Simurgh take to the air late, a soldier grasped in its front talons. The man who was caught yelled again, his sword flailing, but unable to strike at the beast.
The Simurgh paid him no heed, and beat its bloodied wings, gaining altitude as it flew past the siege tower, in between the siege engine and Tyre. She pivoted around to her arrow barrel, and swiftly grabbed three shafts. The only option was to take the beast down over the water, then the man might live. Artemis spun back around, already drawing an arrow back when she saw the flash of a spear.
The projectile sailed straight and true, catching the Simurgh in the left ribcage. The heavy iron tip punched through the beast's torso, and Artemis watched the point puncture out the back of the Simurgh, impaling its wing in the process. In an instant, the talons holding the man aloft spasmed, sending the young solider just yards away from the mole, into the murky waters. The Simurgh followed shortly, plunging into the sea soundless in death, the spear having dealt an instant killing blow.
'What!?'
Artemis looked down back on the mole, and there he was: Perseus stood at the edge of the left trench, having just stepped out from under the cover of the wooden shields, directing the survivors, his freshly thrown spear having brought down the Simurgh. The cheers resumed amongst the men, from their covered positions in the trenches. She sighed in relief, and was happy to see him unharmed.
Dum.
Artemis paused, hearing a dulling booming noise sound over the water. A sudden dread crept into her heart. 'Why had the Simurgh left? And what did the shadowed god mean by soon?
Dum Dum Dun.
Artemis peered over the dark water, cursing her vision. She could still remember the times where the night was little more than a filter of light, easily seen through. Now, the shadows were more barriers that mortality had to cope with.
DUM DUM DUM.
A sudden blaze erupted from over the water, a bonfire of a tremendous size, quickly engulfing all it touched… Artemis froze, as the light from the fire revealed the source of the drumming. There were two triremes, packed full of silent men, their arms and armor catching the flickering light of the flames. A third ship was being towed between them, its decks empty, save for the piles of firewood, and the searing blaze that was quickly consuming the ship.
A foreign cry roared over the water from the lead ship, and the cry was quickly echoed by the many dozens of men on the warships. The long paddles of the ships dipped into the water, and the ships lumbered forward. Straight towards the tower.
Artemis felt her mouth go dry. 'They are going to ram the mole, the tower!'
"Archers!" Artemis yelled, gesturing wildly to the approaching ships, "Fire at will! Fire at wi- "She jerked back as a flash of red danced across her vision. A series of thuds besides her sent shocks running up her spine. The Tyrians on the wall had resumed their fire, and this time, their arrows were all carrying fire.
The Macedonians answered them, but there was too little time. She glanced to the catapult crew, and thumbed over to the wall. "Take out that man on the wall!"
"Cleoxene, he's gone!" The young loader responded, having climbed the limb of the siege weapon.
'Gods damn it all.' The approaching ships were gaining incredible speed, and even with the movement of troops below, along with the odd arrow fired over to the ships, it wouldn't be enough.
"Abandon the tower," Artemis ordered quietly. She was met with the blank stares of the five crew members of the weapon.
"ABANDON THE TOWER!" Artemis yelled, gesturing to the ships, "We are about to be rammed, get down and get the Pellians out of here! There is no time to waste!" The men scrambled away from their posts, and went down the hatches in the wooden floorboards.
"Cleoxene! Let's go!" The young loader was already halfway through the hatch, but she shook her head at him.
"In a moment. Go, now!" The young man nodded once, before diving below into the other levels of the tower.
The yells and clangs of weapons were in full swing, and Artemis watched the two lead ships veer off slightly, burying their prows into the mole at slightly odd angles. Their marines immediately jumped ship, and were met by the ragged allied forces in their covered trenches. The fire ship careened behind the ships in the water. The cables were cut, and it surged forwards, the flames having engulfed every inch of the ship. But that wouldn't daunt her. The shadowed god was already burned into her mind.
She could feel his presence, his slippery power somewhere nearby. Then, she caught the eye of Perseus.
He was right below the tower, standing on the opposite side of the mole where fighting was quickly breaking out. He stood, with his sword drawn, warily facing the hooded figure from the wall: Perseus faced a god.
"Perseus! No!" Artemis yelled, trying to raise her voice over the tremendous sounds of battle. It was no use though, and her voice was lost in the din of the fighting.
Suddenly, the shadowed god unfurled his cloak, and the gleaming armor of an immortal shown outwards, a mix of blues greens and purples that cut through the darkness. Perseus seemed undeterred, as he readied his stance, his sword lurking behind his raised shield. The god summoned a spear of ice out of thin air, and strode towards Perseus, almost gliding across the uneven ground.
"Run you idiot! Don't challenge him!" Artemis yelled again in vain, as she nocked one of her arrows to her bowstring, raising it to shoot the god. Dread filled her core, along with rage at Perseus for not once thinking about saving himself. 'Almost…' She had to track the God, and was just about to loose her shaft…
THUNK.
A shuddering crash followed the initial noise from below, which knocked her off her feet. She stumbled, falling to the roof of the siege tower, as the groaning sounds of split timber reverberated up the tower. There was another large crack, likely one of the main support beams, followed by another, and another. The ground under her shifted and creaked, beginning to lean towards the bright blazing burning ship.
Only, as Artemis could now see, it was mostly imbedded in the side of the tower, and now, she was about to drop onto the ship with the disintegrating structure around her. Plumes of black smoke rose from underneath the floorboards, and already flames licked up the sides of the wooden siege tower. There was another snap, and the tower suddenly dropped, crashing through a floor before it steadied itself, and Artemis felt herself being thrown against the deck with significant force.
The impact drove through her core, and left a ringing noise bouncing around her head. Her vision swam, unable to focus from the tumbling fall. The smoke, the heat, the fall- it was everywhere. A sudden instinct kicked in- flight. She had to jump, get off the tower. Her limbs flailed, trying to stand, as the billowing smoke surrounded her. She made a grab for the nearest thing she could see, and felt the base of the catapult next to her right shoulder.
The ringing in her ears slowly faded away, and the sounds of renewed battle flowed back into her mind. Right.
She used the Catapult as a clutch, and lurched to her feet. The red-orange glow from the fires all around her illuminated the surroundings. Somehow, the tower stood, perched precariously on a steep angle against the merrily burning ship. Even from the top, she leaned over and felt the withering heat that forced her away. In the glance she took, she realized she couldn't jump.
The tower hung over the ship- death by fall, then her body would be burned. Or, she could jump on the other side, slide down the tower, and then die from the fall. Or… her eyes drifted to the catapult.
It was primed and unloaded. The fall had mess with the aim of the catapult arm, which now faced North, over the black waters away from the battle… No… she would find another way down. It was mad to even think of, she would just have climb down the back, and then… a sudden flash of orange caught her attention in the corner of her vision.
There! The first flames flickered over the sides of the railings, advancing steadily towards her. In a manner of seconds, they would consume the whole tower. Instinctively, she stepped back from the dancing flames, only to stumble again as the tower shuddered in response, with the sound of another bean from below cracking under the searing heat.
'This has to be the most hare-brained thing I have ever done.' But she dared not hesitate, as a foreign dry fear parched her mouth alongside the scorching air around her. She quickly shouldered her bow, coughing as the action led her into a waft of smoke.
She didn't want to die. She had to live. Perseus's face flashed before her eyes, and she shook it away. 'No. I have to survive for my promise, not for him.' She would make sure that the gods stopped interfering, and she couldn't let Perseus face a god alone.
In a swift jump, she landed on the taut arm of the catapult, almost humming with a need for release. The movement caused the ground from under her to begin to collapse, with wooden boards feeding the fires below. Before the catapult could join the burning wreckage, Artemis tensed herself, and then drew her hunting knife. 'Here goes nothing!'
She slashed at the lever mechanism that held the tension of the machine in place.
THWACK. Her body snapped into a direction instantaneously, turning her reasoning abilities into a puddle of mud.