Thief of Olympus (Greek Myth Series Book 3) (21 page)

“What?” asked Dionysus. “That is impossible.” He handed the chalice to a servant girl, who after one sip was clinging to him, begging for anything and everything he could give her.

“Who are you?” Dionysus asked Lysandra with narrowed eyes. “Who are you that you can withstand the wine of the gods?”

“I am the Amazon queen, Lysandra. And I will keep your secret that your wine does not affect me, if you’ll give me my baby which Artemis has stolen from me.”

Zarek listened in horror as Lysandra played games with the gods. He knew just how affected she could become by Dionysus’s wine, and he also knew her tricks were going to get her killed.

He rushed out in the open, sweeping past her, and in the process pulling her along with him by her arm. Dionysus just stared, bewildered, and two more followers beseeched him to taste his wine.

“What in the name of Hades do you think you’re doing?” he asked, pulling her into an abandoned alcove.

“Zarek!” she said, sounding happy to see him. “I am here to help you rescue Sander.”

“I do not need help, Lysandra. You have been injured and should be resting back at the castle.”

“I’m here because I love Sander. And I don’t want you thinking I abandoned him.”

“You should have thought of that before you made your wish.”

He reached behind her ear, pulling out a long pliable tube connected to a pouch hidden beneath her robe. He dumped the pouch over and wine spilled to the floor.

“I’d venture to say Daedalus is helping you?”

“Nay,” she said raising her chin in the air proudly. “I did this on my own.” Then she lowered her head and mumbled, “With his devices of course.”

“You stole from my best friend.”

“I’d like to think of it as borrowing. After all, I do plan on returning it later.”

“Lysandra, you are weak and need to rest. You need to go home.”

“Home?” Sadness overtook her, and Zarek felt a stab to his own heart. “Where is home, Zarek? Are you saying I should go back with the Amazons and be their queen?”

“I thought that’s what you were now that your mother is gone.”

“So you want me to be their queen?”

Zarek didn’t know what to say. He knew how important her tribe was to her, just as his people were to him He loved her and wanted her to stay with him now, but that was not a decision for him to make.

“I can’t make that decision for you, Lysandra. But if you continue to serve as their queen, I assure you, I will never tell my son his mother abandoned him.”

“Is that what you think?” she said louder than she should, and Zarek held a hand over her mouth to silence her. She bit him, and he pulled away.

“Ow!” he said, rubbing his hand against his tunic.

“I wasn’t finished,” she snapped. The Amazon warrior was back - the same qualities he’d seen in Artemis. They were so alike at times it scared him. He didn’t want his son to ever be exposed to this. “I did not abandon my baby, Zarek. That’s why I’m here now to retrieve him. Don’t you understand?”

“No, Lysandra, I guess I don’t. You had the power to bring him back. You had the wish, yet you didn’t use it to save our baby.”

“I love you, Zarek,” she blurted out before she could think about it and lose her confidence. “I wished for your safety and the lives of your people, because I selfishly didn’t want to lose you. I knew you’d devise a plan to save Sander, so therefore I took the chance. But now I see that I might have made a mistake. Love is an emotion I am not used to, and if I’ve failed you or our son in any way, I can only ask for your forgiveness.”

“No, Lysandra, you didn’t fail either of us,” he told her with a quick kiss to the cheek. “Now work with me, instead of against me, and help me save our son.”

Apollo walked by with the key to the room jangling from his neck.

“I need to get the key,” he told her. He took a step forward, but then turned back. “Give me my cloak.” He slipped it from her shoulders before she’d had the chance, throwing it around his own. Then without another word, he took off after Apollo.

“Work together?” she asked aloud, shaking her head at the way he’d not even told her his plan. She watched him brush past Apollo, accidentally knocking in to him, his fingers expertly pilfering the key from under his tunic without the god even knowing it.

She was impressed by his skill. But when Apollo recognized him, things were not so good indeed.

“You!” shouted Apollo, calling out to Zarek who was already halfway up the stairs. “You are the thief who took my lyre.” His hand reached inside his tunic, and when he discovered the key missing, his face grew red with anger. He reached out toward Zarek, and with an unseen force, Zarek flew backwards through the air, hanging suspended for a moment and then dropping to a heap at the foot of the stairs.

Zarek moaned and got up quickly, but Apollo used his powers to slam him into the wall. Lysandra couldn’t bare to see him hurt any more. She pulled the lyre from her bag and rushed out, dropping prostrate at the god’s feet.

“Oh, good god Apollo, I beseech thee to let me return your lyre which that man had so wrongfully taken.”

“What?” she heard Zarek grumble. “I wasn’t the one who stole it.”

“Working together,” she whispered to Zarek, and laid the lyre at Apollo’s feet.

“My lyre,” he said with admiration. His eyes had dark circles underneath, and his tired disposition told her it wouldn’t take much to lull him to sleep.

She picked up the lyre and then the device Zarek had so slyly used, and put it to the strings, holding her breath, hoping it would work.

The harp-like instrument’s strings plucked beautifully, and glorious, relaxing music spilled forth in the hall. Apollo’s frown turned to a grin, and he leaned against the wall to listen. Lysandra looked over to Zarek whose brows were furrowed, listening to her play. She shrugged her shoulders and let him see her means of playing the instrument. She’d have to thank Daedalus personally when she returned, right after she apologized for taking his things without asking.

“Oh, Apollo,” she said, watching his eyes flicker open then shut. “I have but a favor to ask for the return of your lyre.” His body went limp, his head dropped. “I would like you to promise me the safe return of my baby which Artemis has taken from me.”

His body slid down the wall, and his head fell forward between his knees, as he fell into a deep slumber.

She stopped playing and tucked the lyre under Apollo’s arm. When she turned around to talk to Zarek, he was gone. She looked up the stairs and saw two guards lying spread on the floor. The door to the room was open, and she could hear her son crying very loudly.

She grabbed the bag she’d brought with, picked up the hem of her tunic, and bolted up the stairs. Her binding gave loose and the pain from her wound shot through her. She doubled over in discomfort and looked upward.

“Zarek,” she called softly, and then louder. The baby still cried and she was sure he could not hear her. She climbed two more steps, holding on to the wall for support, and called once more. “Zarek, I need you.”

He did not come, and this disappointed her severely. Little Sander still cried very loudly from within the room and she couldn’t understand why Zarek hadn’t managed to calm him by now. The baby loved Zarek and quieted immediately for him ever since they’d spent time together. Something was not right, and she had to find out what.

She made her way to the top of the stairs and all but dragged herself within the room. She gripped the doorframe, barely able to stand, and took a step forward. “Zarek, I - ”

“Surprise, surprise,” said Artemis, standing between Zarek and the baby who was lying on a huge bed with many pillows. She had her bow raised and an arrow aimed right toward little Sander. “I thought you would both like to be present as I give myself the sacrifice Lysandra was to give me at the birth of this child.”

“No. Don’t do it.” Lysandra took two steps into the room, but Zarek stopped her with his raised palm.

“Stay there, Lysandra. If you come closer, she will kill our baby.”

“Don’t let her do it,” Lysandra cried out. “Zarek, you’ve got to stop her.”

He looked at her with saddened eyes, then back to little Sander. “It’s no use, Lysandra. We just have to face the fact this baby was not meant for us in this life.”

Shocked by his words, Lysandra almost cried. Could he truly mean what he said? Was he giving up after having come so far? Was he going to let Sander die? No, she decided, this must be part of a plan. She felt it in her heart that Zarek would never let anyone hurt their son.

“Let me hold him one last time, Artemis,” said Zarek. “Let me calm my son once more before you take his life, I beg you.” He looked back to Lysandra and repeated his last words. “I beg you.”

The words didn’t ring true for Zarek. He wasn’t the type to beg. But even if he were, why wouldn’t he be begging for Artemis to spare the baby’s life instead? It didn’t make sense. He was up to something, but she didn’t know what. She nodded slightly to him to go ahead with his plan, hoping she had not misinterpreted his intent.

“All right,” Artemis finally agreed. “I will let you hold the child, but only to stop the wailing which is driving me mad. Say your good-byes to your son, but Lysandra will not be given the same privilege.”

She watched Zarek, hands in the air, walk slowly toward the bed. All the while, Artemis kept her arrow aimed.

Please, Zarek, save our child
. Her heart beat rapidly as she watched him turn his back to Artemis and lower his body, taking his time to scoop up the baby which was wrapped tightly in blankets.

“Hurry up,” threatened Artemis, “or I’ll shoot my arrow right through him while he’s still in your arms.”

The baby stilled and quieted his crying, just like Lysandra knew he would. Zarek said his good-byes aloud to little Sander as he picked up the little bundle and held him to his chest. He kept his back toward them all the while.

“That’s enough,” said Artemis. “Now hold the baby above your head, right where you stand.”

Zarek did so, his back still toward them. He held the little bundle containing her baby above his head, and before Lysandra’s very eyes, Artemis shot her arrow into the little child.

“No!” screamed Lysandra, falling to her knees. Tears blurred her eyes and she screamed again. “No! My baby! What have you done?” She had trusted Zarek to save him and he’d let her down. He had done naught to stop Artemis from killing their son, and now there was no one who could change the outcome.

“How could you?” she screamed, but it wasn’t to Artemis. “Zarek, how could you let her kill him? I trusted you.”

He turned then, lowering the baby, the arrow still sticking out from the little bundle. His golden eyes met hers, and there was no remorse in them. Then they flashed toward Artemis.

“There must be a god who favors this baby enough to save its life.” With one shake of his hands, the bundle came open showing the arrow embedded into a pillow before it fell from his hands and hit the ground.

Artemis’s eyes opened wide. Her gaze scanned the bed and then the floor.

“You tricked me,” she said, running to the bed and tossing the pillows every direction, looking for the baby. When she could not find it, she got to her knees and looked around the floor.

“You won’t find the baby here, Artemis. But is there a god who mayhap cared enough to save the child’s life?”

“My father!” she exclaimed with a straight lip. “Zeus has taken the baby.” In a flash and puff of smoke, Artemis was off to find him.

“Zarek?” Lysandra got to her feet, holding on to the furniture for support. “Where is Sander?”

“You should have trusted me, Princess,” he said, pulling back his cloak to expose the baby tucked snugly into the harness on his chest, sleeping peacefully.

“Oh, Zarek!” she cried, running to him and collapsing in his arms. She hugged him and their sleeping baby, so relieved to know Sander was safe.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” she told him, “before Artemis discovers what you’ve done.”

“The window,” he said, rushing to the sill. Lysandra followed, looking out and dizzying by the far distance below. There were vines climbing the walls, and she was sure Zarek could make it to safety, even with the baby, but her stomach rolled and her knees quaked and she knew she would never be able to follow.

“Go without me,” she said, pushing away from the window and going back to the bed. “Save our baby, Zarek. I cannot make it.”

He almost looked as if he considered it for a moment. But then he shook his head.

“No, Lysandra. I cannot leave you behind. We will escape Olympus together.” He took her by the hand and hurried her to the door, all the while Lysandra feeling weak and nauseous.

“I can’t,” she told him, holding on to the door.

“You must,” he said. “For the sake of our child.”

She did as instructed, following him down the stairs. They could hear Artemis accusing Zeus of taking the child, and Zeus’s roar as he defended himself. Apollo lay fast asleep against the wall, and Dionysus could be seen through the kitchen door drinking wine and enjoying pleasures with the women.

They made it down the stairs without being seen and headed toward the exit. They probably would have been able to escape, had not Lysandra’s vision blurred, and she bumped into a large vase. It tilted and wobbled, and she tried to right it, but only made things worse. The vase crashed to the floor, waking Apollo and claiming the attention of Dionysus who came running from the kitchen.