“Isn’t this a bit overkill for five demigods just wanting to speak with Hephaestus?” I roll, just barely dodging a sword to my throat.
These guys are fighting to kill while we’re worried about damaging them. Isn’t that just the hardest part of fighting a fucking robot.
“Watch out, B,” Raven shouts.
I flip backward just in time for the sword to swing over me instead of through me the way the automaton surely intended.
“I don’t know how long we can fight these things with a fear of damaging them, Kira. They are going for kill shots.”
“Can you use your magic to stun them the way you did before?” Draven asks.
“There are too many of them. The sandwich helped but it wasn’t even a top up on my magic levels.” I sweep my leg out in a circle, taking two different sentries out at the ankles.
“Do you need another?” Greyson calls out.
“A little busy trying not to die, snack mom,” I shout back.
It’s a second before Draven and Greyson are standing around me, swords raised, defending me against the sentinels. Greyson tosses me a sandwich he pulled from his pack and even in this bad situation, I can’t help but laugh. Greyson takes his snack mom duty seriously.
“Thank you,” I mumble around the big bite of sandwich, already feeling my magic building back up to normal levels.
“I’m not always able to help much with the Greek monsters and stuff, but I can help with this.” He swings his blade, blocking two that arc toward him.
“It’s appreciated and I’m already feeling almost to full strength.” I jump from the floor and call my whip and sword that I dropped.
“Maybe if we can get around them while fighting. Like herd them to the center of the hall with us by the doors to the workshop? We might be able to end this,” Draven whispers.
“That might work but we may have to take some of them out first. We can’t possibly herd them all to the middle.” I scan the room.
Kira and Raven are fighting back-to-back, inching their way toward the door, but a wall of automatons forms along the back wall, blocking any path we may be able to take through to the workshop.
The ground rumbles harder than it has before and a chunk of rock falls from the ceiling. I shove Greyson out of the way, rolling with him as the rock shatters on the ground where we were just standing.
“Get up, Beth. There’s a crack forming under you.” Greyson tugs my arm.
The heat sears my skin as the crack widens. A scream bubbles up my throat as bubbling lava pops at my side. I roll away from the fiery inferno that just opened up beneath me, but my shirt is burned along with my skin that’s charred and black.
“Fuck, we have to get out of here. The place is gonna blow,” I shout, holding on to my charred side with one hand while brandishing my sword with the other.
“There’s no way out,” Draven hisses. “They’ve blocked all exits.”
“Hephaestus,” I scream. “Get out of that tunnel vision and call off your pets. We’re going to die in here.”
Nothing changes. The automatons attack even more viciously. The blows almost come too fast for me to dodge.
“What did you think that would accomplish? We’re in a literal war zone of his making right now and he hasn’t stopped what he’s doing yet.” Draven dodges a club and slices the center of an automaton. “We can’t hold back anymore. We need to end this.”
“I know, but look how vicious they are. I would hate to lose allies for the war once Hephaestus gets his head out of his ass.” My shoulders slump.
“I don’t believe my head is or ever has been in my ass, daughter of Zeus.” Hephaestus’ voice booms through the hall.
I spin to the voice and wince but there is a grin on his face. “We’re fighting for our lives here. Can you call them off?”
Hephaestus waves a hand, and every automaton freezes in place. I glance around at my friends, but they all appear unharmed. Except for the burn on my side, we made it through the battle with Hephaestus’ minions in one piece. Thank the fates.
“My little star bound wolf. It appears you have found a few things since coming on this journey to assist me.” Hephaestus smiles at Kira.
“What do you mean?” she asks, handing him the hammer. “I only retrieved the hammer.”
