As soon as the leader of the ragtag group got close enough to strike Hecate, he leapt up in the air, kopi gleaming in the sunlight as he brought it down towards the goddess. Hecate let out a massive shout and threw her arms up in the air, clapping them together around the blade as it made to strike her. There was a sudden, bright burst of light and a shockwave that rippled through all of Heraklion out towards the sea. It nearly blinded Aeëtes as he fell down to the ground, shaking his head and knocking his horns against the wall. He could hear Hecate’s voice for only a brief second, clear as crystal and shouting out something in a dialect that he didn’t understand, words with power.
He blinked his eyes open as quickly as he could, jumping to his feet…and everything was as it had been before.
The streets were not bathed in red.
There were no merchants.
Hecate’s power had sunk beneath the surface of her calm, cool exterior.
Her skin no longer glittered with written spells. Her eyes had lost their glow. Even her dress had returned to its original color, and her dogs had gone. The heads of the maiden and the crone were not visible, and there wasn’t a single scratch on her hands where she had caught the blade.
Aeëtes stared up at her for a few more seconds before Hecate looked down at him with a pleased grin.
“What…what in the name of the gods was that?”
“You saw me battle Hera.”Hecate shrugged as if nothing of consequence had happened, beckoning for Aeëtes to follow her as they slipped away from the street.
“It certainly didn’t look like that.”
“Ah,”Hecate’s eyes were no longer alight with her power, but they sparkled with a mischief of something else entirely.“What you saw then was the power of the gods, simple tricks. Things that most immortals can do.”
“Whatjusthappened?”Aeëtes made another frustrated bleating sound, trotting to keep up with her long strides as they slipped out of the city walls.
“That…that was witchcraft.”
11
The pair didn’t speak as they moved away from the center of the town. Hecate was desperate to get them away from any crowds as long as Aeëtes was in his ram form. Hera had proved there was no boundary she was unwilling to cross. It put Hecate even more on edge than usual. She was worried that every person they passed was about to fall victim to Hera’s possession. There was a bit of a walk down from the market towards the docks, where Hecate hoped that they would be able to find passage to Colchis. She assumed that Aeëtes would have some knowledge of where they could get a crew or a ship, but they hadn’t even had enough time to discuss how they were getting to Colchis.
Hecate let her gaze drift over to Aeëtes every few seconds, checking that he was still walking alongside her. She wasn’t overly nervous about him, not at all. It was simply a matter of honor and responsibility.
That’s all it is.Hecate repeated to herself, careful to make sure that she wasn’t projecting her thoughts to Aeëtes.It’s about honor and making sure that Hera doesn’t cause any more havoc, not only to one man, but to all mortals in whatever self-appointed quest she’s on.She stamped down whatever else was lurking in her mind and in her chest and doubled her pace without thinking.
The road down to the water was well-traveled and busy; there was no way around that. Heraklion was a port, and it was popular. Everything in the market likely touched the sea in some way. Every person that they passed made Hecate anxious, and whenever she found a quiet moment in her thoughts, she found that her brain betrayed her, and she would immediately begin assessing for threats once more. Her eyes were sharp, and every time someone walked a little too close, her power flared up around the hem of her skirts.
Aeëtes was trotting alongside her, finding himself somewhat rather content in the body of a ram. It wasn’t a permanent decision that he would make for himself, and he prayed that whatever attempt at a spell that they were going to try in Colchis would work. But it wasn’t half bad. No one recognized him. He wasn’t worried about a messenger or a sailor running up to him, demanding something or needing him to respond to a summons from his parents…and there was alwaysa summons. The sun was bright, and the weather was warm. Aeëtes was, dare he say it, enjoying the walk. He glanced up at Hecate when he realized that they had gone several minutes without speaking, and felt his good mood dampen slightly.
She was watching. She was watchingeverything.
It immediately made Aeëtes’s stomach go sour when he saw the tight expression on her face. He was relatively carefree by nature, especially now, but seeing the anxiety written across her brow felt like a punch to the gut. He had been so concerned minutes ago about her joy, finding happiness in her life, something for her to smile about, and here he was, shamelessly enjoying a walk to the piers without any consideration for what that meant for her.
The gods have cursed me indeed,Aeëtes shook his head a little bit in a display of a ram’s indignation.I’m not sure how much help I’d be at anything, anyway… but she’s on the lookout, and I’m thinking about lunch.
“Hecate.”Aeëtes wasn’t entirely sure how he could get his thoughts to her, but he tried sending them to her with intention, and that seemed to work. She turned to look at him, nodding once to acknowledge that she had heard him, and immediately began to scan the road ahead of them. It was getting closer to noon. Everyone was either in the market or at the docks, likely eating or taking a break. The traffic wouldn’t pick up again until mid-afternoon.
“It’s going to be fine,”Aeëtes repeated to her, nudging at her leg with his head until she stopped. Hecate whipped her head around and stared down at Aeëtes.
“How can you say that? You saw what Hera did back there. Don’t be so foolish.”
“Don’t look for trouble!”Aeëtes countered, feeling a little smug when he saw Hecate’s surprised face.“How many times have you beaten Hera in the past…what, twelve hours?”
Hecate didn’t respond, her lips growing into a thin line as she looked away from him. Aeëtes could’ve sworn he saw her fight the temptation to cross her arms over her chest, and he couldn’t help but shake his head in satisfaction. His expressive abilities were rather limited as a ram.
“How many?”Aeëtes asked again, and Hecate sighed, making a bit of a grunt as she refused to look down at him.
“Twice.”
“Twice! You’re magnificent.”If a ram could have been beaming up at the goddess, Aeëtes would have been. Hecate could feel it in his tone of voice, and it made something in her melt. Something that she didn’t want to acknowledge as she mentally brushed off the praise and stiffened her spine. Aeëtes continued.
