Page 200 of The Mortal Trials

He turns towards me.

11

Pulling hard on the reins, I stop the stallions and step down onto the bridge with the help of the spear I claimed. I use it to spur my horses on, crouching to make myself small beside the bridge’s ledge as the equines run to their deaths.

Ares’s soldier closes in. I think about letting him surge on ahead. He would be one less opponent, and a formidable one, at that. Wouldn’t it make the gods happy if I sacrificed another mortal and lost a bit more of my humanity? They want us to view each other as enemies.

The Greek certainly considers me his. He wants me dead; he’s made that clear.

Morrigan would tell me not to stop him. To be ruthless without hesitation.

But if these are my last days, I’ll choose how they’re spent. If this is my war, I’ll decide how I fight it. On this battlefield we’ve been called to, all the mortals are siblings in arms, not adversaries, and the gods are our nemeses.

Just before he reaches me, I stand and wave the spear for him to stop.

As he urges his horses sideways to trample me, I start pointing and yelling, “Troll!” If he won’t listen, maybe I can warn August, who’s charging right behind him.

Niall is next, his dark suit highly visible through the downpour.

“Stop!” I scream as loud as I can. My voice shreds. “Gods damn it, stop!”

The Greek finally hears me. At first, he hesitates, but then he pulls hard on the reins. I see his confusion and fear even through the rivulets carving paths over his skin. August and Niall stop, and then Niall waves down the chariots coming behind him.

“There’s a troll!” I shout as the Greek raises a claimed sword to ward off the blow he expects from my spear. “There’s a mountain troll! Just ahead. And he’s hungry. The two contestants who crossed before me are dead. He ate their horses.”

“Only one?” August shouts over the raging wind.

“I don’t know,” I pant. “I only saw one.”

There could be more. The weather might be hiding them.

Lightning strikes the bridge’s edge in the place I was crouched moments before, making Niall shout, fists clenched. “We have to get off this feckin’ bridge!”

I toss out the only idea I’ve been able to come up with. “If we send our horses to it, maybe we can sneak past on foot in small groups.”

The Greek surveys the scene, then points the tip of his sword at me. “Is this a trap?”

Idiot. I roll my eyes. “Yes. Clearly, I brought the troll here to eat you so I can win today.”

Just then, the mountainous monster shifts and takes a step. We watch the behemoth catch and consume my warhorses.

The Greek curses at the sight, then turns to me with wild eyes. That could’ve easily been him, but it wasn’t. “Why did you help me?”

I stab the spear toward the sky. “Because we’re not enemies here. We’re fighting on the same side now.” Against the gods who dragged us here. The ones who built the chariots, gave only some of us weapons, and brought the insatiable trolls. The same ones who hurl the thunderbolts and sow fear and want us all dead.

His shoulders relax and he lowers his sword, his chest still heaving. “I still don’t trust you.”

“I don’t trust you, either.” I shrug and wipe rain from my eyes. “But I don’t want anyone else to die in the mouth or fist of that rocky beast today.”

He leaps from the back of his chariot. “Fair enough.”

With a sharp smack from the flat of his blade, the Greek warrior sends Ares’s warhorses thundering down the bridge. Several moments later, the troll snatches them off it and bites off one of the stallion’s heads before doing the same to the other.

Chariots stack up behind us. Eventually, the congestion will draw the beast’s attention. We need to move. Contenders who are too far away to realize the threat shout for us to get out of their way. But as they watch the beast swallow the Greek’s stallions, they quit their bellowing.

As torrents of rain fall and lightning forks all around us, we convene as a group. The strikes come closer the longer we linger. The gods want us to act. To race.

We decide to go in pairs and threes beside the warhorses and chariots, keeping the stallions and metal between us and the troll’s greedy, stony fists until we close the distance. Then we’ll cross to the side of the bridge nearest the monster and crouch along the bridge’s stone walls to move past the beast.