Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus (27 page)

The task of restoring the stone Nirads in the throne room seemed to take for ever.

‘Come on, Pegs,’ Emily said softly. ‘Let’s go get Tange and the others back.’ She went to move towards Tange and the three others supporting the top of the gold cage. Segan and Toban were standing beside Tange, their heads lowered. The queen was lightly stroking Tange’s back.

‘Emily, stop,’ Jupiter called. He was standing with Diana, Apollo and several large Nirads.

‘I’m just going up to help Tange.’

‘You cannot help him,’ Jupiter said. ‘Leave him be, as he is.’

Emily frowned and slid off Pegasus’s back. She clung to his wing as she hopped over to Jupiter. ‘But I can bring him back. If you and a few Nirads support the cage, no one should get hurt.’

Jupiter sadly shook his head. ‘You must not do it.’

Emily’s heart started to race. ‘Why? Tange was the first Nirad to be kind to me! He showed me there was more to them than the monsters I thought they were. Please, Jupiter, I’ve got to help him!’

Diana stepped closer and put her arm around Emily. ‘Listen to Father, Emily. He knows what he is talking about.’

Emily shook her head and pulled away. ‘No, he doesn’t.’ She looked at Jupiter. ‘Tange is good, he really helped us. Why won’t you let me help him?’

‘I am not forbidding you to help him,’ Jupiter said kindly. ‘I am asking you not to. Let me explain, I think you will agree with me.’

Jupiter moved closer to Emily and started to support her. With Pegasus on one side and her father on the other, he led her up to the dais. ‘Take a good look up there and tell me what you see?’

‘I see Tange,’ Emily said, looking up to the stone statue of the Nirad.

‘Yes, and what is Tange holding?’

‘The top of the cage.’

‘That is correct,’ Jupiter said patiently. ‘What is the cage made of?’

‘Gold.’

‘Not just any gold,’ Diana added. ‘That is the same gold as your leg brace and our weapons.’

‘Olympian gold!’ Paelen cried, suddenly understanding. He climbed up to the cage and pointed at the roof. ‘Emily, look, Tange and the others are holding the gold roof with their four bare hands. It is poisoning them.’

‘That is correct,’ Jupiter said sadly. ‘If you were to touch Tange or any of the others, you will certainly bring them back to life. But even your powers can not stop the gold’s poison from coursing through their systems. They will die in agony. Believe me, child, the kindest thing you could do for them now would be to leave them as they are.’

Emily was too stunned to speak. She looked up at Tange and saw that the marble of his four hands was black with the poison from the gold. Pain was etched on his orange marble face. That expression was there long before the gorgons turned him to stone. Tange knew he was dying.

‘They knew it would kill them, but they lifted the roof anyway,’ she said.

‘What father would not do the same for his daughter?’ Jupiter asked.

‘Daughter?’

Jupiter nodded. ‘Tange was Segan’s father. He sacrificed himself for her. The three other Nirads with him are his brothers. They were devoted to their niece. They refused to leave the throne room after Tange was ordered to come to your world to get you.’

Emily felt her throat constrict as she looked up at the four stone guardians. ‘Tange is really … dead?’ she whispered. She looked at her own father. ‘Dad?’

Her father pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her on the top of her head. ‘I’d do the same for you, Em, any day.’

Segan and Toban left their father and came off the dais. Emily saw dark trails of tears flowing down the queen’s young face. She approached Emily and uttered a few soft words.

Diana stroked Emily’s hair. ‘Tange told her how much you reminded him of her. You share the same spirit and bravery. She says he would have died to protect you too.’

Emily felt her heart breaking. As deep sobs wracked her, the pink Nirad queen put her arms around her and held her tight. Standing together, the two shared the one grief.

It took several long and exhausting days to restore the lives of several thousand stone Nirads throughout the land. The gorgons attack had been brutal and extended far beyond the palace limits.

Though still very quiet, Joel was slowly getting used to life with one arm. As Emily rode on the back of Pegasus, she watched him, her father, Paelen and Chrysaor playing a form of football with a group of Nirad children and Prince Toban. On opposite sides, Chrysaor sneaked up behind Joel and tackled him down to the ground. The winged boar invited all the Nirad children on his team to join in the pile-on. Emily smiled as she heard Joel’s shouts and, finally, laughter coming from the bottom of the pile.

‘He’ll be fine, Pegs,’ Emily said softly as she patted his neck and got back to work restoring more Nirads to life.

Jupiter, Diana, Apollo and Cupid entered the Solar Stream to gather the other Olympians home. With so many worlds to search, they knew it would take some time to get everyone back to Olympus.

At the end of yet another seemingly endless day, Emily was relieved to restore the final Nirad victim of the gorgons. She slipped off Pegasus’s back and hopped up to the lilac Nirad. With the queen at her side, she reached out and touched his arm.

With the knowledge that this was the last statue, exhaustion pressed down on her. She had lost track of just how many there were, but it was more than she imagined possible. She was grateful that her power to heal had been enough. As the last statue started to warm, she knew that every Nirad that could be saved, had been. A sharp stab of pain pierced through her when she thought of Tange. Like the loss of her mother, his death was a pain she knew she would carry with her for the rest of her life.

The final Nirad came back to life, screaming. After Segan spoke reassuringly to him, he bowed his head and knelt before his queen. Emily shared the Nirad’s joy when his young children came rushing up to him and threw their four tiny arms around him.

Queen Segan looked at Emily and nodded. They didn’t need to speak the same language to understand. It was done. Emily smiled back. She hopped up to Pegasus’s head and kissed him on the muzzle.

‘We did it, Pegs,’ she said softly.

Emily stroked the stallion’s face and looked at the strange land around her. The Nirad world was slowly coming back to life. The skies were still as dark and cloudy as ever, with the strange bat-like creatures circling high overhead. There were still no trees or plant life in sight. The earth was as black and dusty as the day she arrived. And yet, to Emily, it was beautiful.

‘Em!’ Joel called.

Emily looked up and saw Joel and Toban riding Chrysaor. Joel was holding on to the boar’s ear with his left hand and he was smiling. Paelen was flying beside them, using his winged sandals. They touched down beside her.

‘Emily, you and the queen must come back to the palace immediately,’ Paelen said.

‘What’s happening?’ Emily asked.

Joel’s smile grew. That alone was enough to make the day perfect for Emily. Her friend was going to be all right. ‘Come back and see for yourselves,’ he laughed.

Emily looked over to Segan. ‘There’s room on Pegasus for the both of us.’

When Pegasus took off into the sky, the queen cried out in fear mixed with roaring excitement. Her four arms nearly squeezed the breath out of Emily as she clung on to her for dear life. They flew over the bustling village and heard the calls and saw the waving of the Nirads on the ground. Finally they touched down outside the palace.

‘In the throne room,’ Paelen said excitedly as he dashed up the steps into the palace. ‘Hurry up!’

‘What is?’ Emily asked.

‘C’mon,’ Joel cried anxiously as he and Toban climbed off Chrysaor and they followed Paelen in.

Emily looked back at the queen and shrugged. ‘Let’s go see.’

Pegasus carried Emily and Segan up the steps of the palace. She hadn’t been back here since the horrific battle. The scene of so much suffering and loss still disturbed her and she couldn’t return. As Pegasus’s golden hooves clopped on the marble floor, Emily heard voices. Lots and lots of voices.

‘Hurry up, you slow-coaches,’ her father called, as he appeared at the entrance to the throne room. He was clean-shaven again and his hair had been neatly trimmed. But best of all, a broad smile spread across his face.

Emily’s eyes flew wide as Pegasus trotted into the throne room. The room was filled with Olympians and Nirads gathered around long banquet tables. Ambrosia and the black Nirad food sat side by side on them. Laughter rang out as the great celebration started.

The gorgon thrones had gone and there was no dais. Emily looked back at Segan. They both noticed the same thing. The golden cage with Tange and his three brothers was also missing.

At the huge head table sat Jupiter, his wife, Juno, and brothers, Neptune and Pluto. Diana and Apollo sat at their mother’s side while several chairs remained empty between Jupiter and Pluto.

When Jupiter saw Emily, Segan and Pegasus standing at the entrance, he stood and called the room to order. Everyone turned to face the leader of Olympus.

‘Olympians and Nirads, we have gathered together to celebrate the peace between our two worlds,’ Jupiter held up his goblet of nectar, ‘and together we mourn the loss of family and friends. We all honour our dead!’

Cheers rang out around the room as everyone raised their goblets in salute to the fallen.

Jupiter raised his cup a second time and called the room back to silence. ‘We are also here to thank someone very special …’ As he spoke, Jupiter was looking directly at Emily.

She felt her face flushing and her heart started to pound. Pegasus turned his head back to her. He nodded and nickered loudly in agreement while Segan, with her arms still around Emily’s waist, gave her a light embrace and spoke softly. Paelen approached on one side of her and rested his hand on her leg, while Joel and Chrysaor approached from the other. Her father reached up and took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

‘None of us would be here today,’ Jupiter continued, ‘were it not for the bravery and strength of Emily Jacobs and Pegasus. My family, Olympians and Nirads, I give you, the Flame of Olympus!’

Emily and Pegasus couldn’t have been any happier.

Since their return to Olympus, trade between Olympians and the Nirads had started. Nirads could often be seen walking the Olympian streets.

It wasn’t long after their return that Joel had a new arm fashioned by Vulcan and his best armourers. He was proud to show it off to anyone who cared to look at it. It gave him remarkable strength and for the first time since they met, he was able to beat Paelen at arm wrestling. Like Emily’s new leg brace, it was made entirely of Olympian silver. Vulcan abandoned the use of gold because of the danger it posed to all the Nirads.

But what made Emily’s life complete was having her father here with her and her friends in Olympus. She now had everything she could have dreamed of.

‘Hi, Dad.’ A beaming smile rose to her lips as she greeted him along the river’s edge.

‘What are you smiling at?’ he laughed, his dimples pinching in his cheeks.

‘Nothing,’ Emily said. He was a sight to see in his white tunic and sandals – a far cry from his New York City police uniform. He had settled in easily here. ‘I’m just so glad to see you again.’

‘Me too,’ he said as he reached up to take her hand. ‘It’s been a very long road for both of us, kiddo. But we’ve made it. Your mother would be so proud of you.’ His bright smile returned. ‘I need you and Pegasus to come with me for a moment – we have something to show you, the Nirads just delivered it.’

‘What is it?’

‘A monument,’ he said. ‘It represents the union between the two worlds. But Jupiter says he won’t have it in his garden without your approval.’

‘Why does Jupiter need my approval?’

‘Come along and I think you’ll understand.’

They moved through the beautiful, fragrant gardens at Jupiter’s palace. Paelen and Joel came running up to her. ‘They have just finished setting it up.’

Ahead of them, Emily saw a newly constructed rock garden. Huge black stones were set up to form a large, tall circle, and the ground was covered with black Nirad soil. As Pegasus approached, the crowds of Olympians and Nirads parted to let them through. Emily sucked in her breath when she saw what was at the centre of the circle.

‘Tange,’ she hushed.

Ahead of her stood the stone Tange and his three brothers. There were chains of the most beautiful Olympian flowers woven around their necks. Although pain was still etched on their faces, they no longer supported the gold roof of the queen’s cage. They now held a black marble slab that supported a throne. Seated on the throne was the statue of an older pink female Nirad also surrounded by fragrant flowers.

‘She was the original queen,’ Paelen explained softly. ‘When the gorgons arrived on the Nirad world, the first thing they did was turn her to stone and smash her to bits. That was how Segan came to power. Since the Nirads do not grieve their dead the same way we do, they put the broken pieces of their queen back together and offered this to us as a way to remember the struggle that brought our two worlds together.’

Beside the statue, Jupiter and Juno stood with Queen Segan and Prince Toban. They acknowledged Emily with a wave and friendly nod. Jupiter stepped forward and reached up to help her climb off the stallion. Together they walked up to the monument.

‘Emily, the queen and prince have given us their parents to safeguard. They want to show us their gratitude for what you did for their people. However, I explained that seeing Tange every day may cause you pain, knowing that you must never touch him or his brothers.’

Emily looked at the statue of Tange, then over to Segan. She could see the anxious expression on her face. She felt her own father’s reassuring presence behind her and was grateful to have everyone she ever cared about here – including Tange.

She walked up to the queen. ‘Thank you so much for trusting us. I promise you, we will take great care of your family. You and all your people are welcome to come to visit them any time.’ She looked over to Jupiter. ‘Right?’