Chapter 74: At Last

  “Now this is all well and good,” Odysseus said, “but how do we get past that?” He was pointing at the thing that had me concerned as well.

  Zeus' tholos was situated atop a stone pteau piercing out of the clouds, same as all the other tholoi we had been to before, although I was fairly certain this one was quite a bit taller. That wasn't an issue, really, seeing as we could simply activate a bridge of light to connect the pteau we were on with the one we were after, but the problem was what was around that pteau.

  Poseidon and Hades both had tholoi significantly rger than all of the others. Hades' had been rge enough to fit an entire army and Poseidon's had been a little slice of the ocean, transported wholesale to Olympus, complete with an abyssal horror lurking at the bottom. And it only made sense that their tholoi were bigger than the rest, given that both of them were more powerful than the other Olympians. But even their tholoi paled in comparison to the one Zeus apparently called home. His wasn't quite as enormous as the Temple of Zeus in the capital but it was still an enormous structure, easily bigger than the crater the Heroes of Elysium used as a coliseum.

  And the stone spire supporting this enormous structure was surrounded by a ring of bck goo. The goo looked as if someone had melted down dozens of Dark Young, tentacles and hooves and maws coming out of it.

  “I assume someone tried approaching it?”

  “I did,” Hermes said. “Let's just say that when you just killed me that wasn't the first time I died tonight.”

  “It shes out at anything that approaches it,” Atanta said. “Quick as a striking snake, too.”

  “That can't be entirely true,” I said. “Syr told me that Wilhelm got through it because he's back with the Holy Maiden.”

  And I almost wanted to bite my tongue off when Poseidon asked: “Syr? Wilhelm?”

  I winced but before I could say anything Athena took over the expnation for me.

  “So the person we are facing is a possessor entity, one who has taken over someone precious to you. And one of the followers of this possessor entity is Prince Wilhelm, who betrayed the crown,” Poseidon summarized. “I suppose that expins why you,” he was looking at Anna and me, “are here.”

  I braced myself. Poseidon seemed like exactly the kind of person who would be callous enough to kill Syr's body anyway, just in case that would solve the problem. But then he surprised me by saying: “That means we need to let you handle her. I'm incompetent when it comes to exorcisms.”

  My surprise must have shown on my face because a moment ter he added:

  “Don't mistake this for me being merciful, Tailor. But this is not the first time the Outsiders have sent a possessor entity to sow chaos.”

  “It's not?” Athena, Hephaestus, Artemis, Hermes and Melinoe all asked at once, which terrified me just a little.

  “It was before your time,” Hestia said, her voice tinged with regret. “We were fools back then. We thought all we needed to do was to kill the possessed. Thankfully Zeus wised up after the tenth time the possessor simply hopped to another body.”

  “How bad was it?” I asked.

  “Simply put,” Poseidon said, “our low fertility rate isn't the only reason us Olympians have so few children.”

  Melinoe sucked in a sharp breath at that and I couldn't bme her. Apparently whatever possessor entity Poseidon was talking about had possessed the demigod children of the Olympians and Zeus' solution to the problem had been to go on a killing spree. If she had been present back then she might very well have been one of the victims. I could feel her trembling though I couldn't tell if it was in horror, sympathy or anger. Either way, before I even realized what I was doing I had moved closer and wrapped an arm around her.

  She leaned into me, not caring about how awkward things were between us, and simply let me support her, just for a moment, her breathing gradually evening out. When she had calmed down again I looked up to see Alisha and Hestia giving me looks I had gotten used to seeing when it came to my handling of Melinoe. I wanted to be done with this already, to find out what exactly Alisha couldn't tell me about Melinoe. But right now I didn't care about that. I was just gd I was there for her.

  “So, what kind of possessor entity was it?” Selene asked.

  “A lich,” Poseidon said. “Horrid things. They keep part of their soul in an object called a phyctery and use the rest to take over a person. Ordinarily they have to keep their phyctery close to them, which means getting rid of them is as simple as breaking the item. But once they grow old and experienced enough they find ways around that limitation, like keeping their phyctery in a spatial bubble only accessible for their magical signature or using a sympathetic link that allows them to keep it far away without losing their connection to it.”

  “They're necromancers, aren't they?” I asked. I had read about liches before. They were some of those 'never fight' enemies, like greater elementals, the kind that you just didn't mess with unless you were in a party of Heroes. Though, come to think of it, me and my girls were a party of Heroes so I supposed we would have to start researching how do deal with those kinds of enemies.

  “They are,” Poseidon said. “Most necromancers are killed before they can get used to their powers, thankfully. But the ones that don't start getting creative. And it doesn't take long for them to realize that the main check on their vast powers is their frail mortal body. And after that it doesn't take long for them to decide to do something about it.”

  I winced. Necromancers were vile beings, people who committed some of the most grievous sins in order to tie their souls to the Outer Gods, turning themselves into a conduit for their power. However. “This possessor entity is capable of anointing people as Dark Lords. I'm pretty sure if necromancers could do that they would all surround themselves with a dozen Dark Lords.”

  “That worries me as well,” Poseidon said. “I have never even heard of a necromancer capable of anything like that. If this Holy Maiden is a lich then she has to be a bloody ancient one.”

  “Older than Koschei?” Hermes asked.

  “Who?” I asked.

  Poseidon's lips curled up in distaste. “Koschei the Deathless, an ancient lich who pgued the northern realm for centuries.” And then he nodded over at Albrecht.

  “When me and my girls rooted out that cult of the Yellow King in Hammer's Forge we learned that their leaders had been taught by Koschei himself. Nastiest cultists I ever dealt with.”

  Poseidon nodded. “The gods of the northern realm had to toss aside all their rules of non-interference with mortal affairs to get rid of Koschei. And even so, the whispers of his eventual return remain. And yet, for as horrible as Koschei was, this Holy Maiden has accomplished things that were beyond even him. I cannot even say that she is a lich at all, it is merely my best guess.” And then he added, in an ominous tone: “Because all alternatives would be far worse.”

  I was about to ask what else the Holy Maiden could be but before I could open my mouth we heard the ctter of boots and sabatons on marble. A moment ter Hephaestus said:

  “Someone activated the bridge.”

  I spun around to see what we had to deal with now when I saw the most welcome sight I'd seen for hours. Dozens upon dozens of Royal Guard knights came rushing towards us. Knights with swords and shields were in the front, behind them a group wielding spears and behind those a group of battle mages, each of them holding a staff and each of them wearing a sheathed sword at their hip.

  “Princess Annabel!” the one in front called out.

  “Commander Wolfgang,” Anna said as she stepped up to them. “I am gd to see you've arrived.”

  He saluted her and the other knights quickly followed. “We came here as fast as we could. We have liberated every building on our way.”

  “Any survivors?” Hestia asked.

  “Goddess Hestia!” the commander said, clearly awed but professional enough not to let it get to him. “We found dozens of survivors in varying conditions. Our group of medics has escorted them back to the capital for treatment.”

  “You have my gratitude,” Hestia said, “all of you.” The Royal Guard practically preened under Hestia's words and I couldn't bme them.

  When they had themselves under control again Commander Wolfgang said: “How can we help?”

  “Yes, well...” Hephaestus said. “Your assistance is appreciated but until we find a way to get past that,” he pointed at the bck blob of tentacles, “neither you nor us can do much.”

  “I can handle that,” Alisha said, to everyone's surprise. “I had wanted to save my miracles for the fight but after talking to my goddess I suppose I can do it on my own.”

  My eyes widened. She was right. She didn't need to hold back anymore and her Cleanse miracle would be perfect for this.

  “I doubt a single minor saint can root out this much corruption,” Poseidon said.

  Alisha shrank a bit under his words but I walked up behind her and pced my hands on her shoulders. “If anyone can do it, Alisha can.”

  Poseidon scowled at me but he was clearly unwilling to refute my absolute belief in the little elf's abilities.

  **

  Hephaestus activated the light bridge to Zeus' tholos for us and in an instant a bridge of solid light exploded out of the stone pteau we were on. It took the thing a single breath to make it all the way to the stone pteau Zeus' tholos was situated on and the moment it made contact the mass of tentacles sought to devour it, wrapping bck, oily tendrils around it and crawling along it.

  The tentacles did not corrupt the light, were in fact unable to interfere with the magic of the bridge in any way, but they did smother it. The image was foreboding in a way nothing we'd seen since coming here had been, the writhing mass of Outsider matter swallowing the light. Even the dawn slowly breaking all around us wasn't enough to shake the unease I felt at the image. But even so.

  Selene, Albrecht, Odysseus and I walked in front, ahead of Alisha, who muttered the lengthy incantation of the Cleanse miracle as she walked behind us, a nearly dreamlike fugue seeming to overcome her as she lost herself in the miracle. Her focus usually wasn't this deep but we already knew, not just suspected but knew, that she would have to cast the miracle multiple times to break through this vile defense system. But as deep as Alisha's concentration was, the rest of us could simply talk.

  “What happened to your girls?” I asked Albrecht.

  “Enya ran off like usual,” he said. “Don't worry, she'll show up when she is needed. The others... Bres killed them all with that fucking sword of his.”

  I winced. “They're fine, aren't they?”

  “We're all dead already,” he said. When he realized that that didn't assuage my worries he added: “The afterlife sustains us, just as Olympus sustains the Olympians. It doesn't happen quite as fast as it does with the gods, though. In short, they're fine, or they will be in a couple of hours. You don't need to worry about them. They just won't be joining us for this fight again.”

  I nodded, relieved. The mere fact that he hadn't seemed too torn up about it had already clued me in that they were fine but still.

  Finally we reached the part of the bridge swallowed by the inky bckness and the moment I took a step towards it a tentacle shot out of the goo. It didn't try to grab me, either. It just thrust upward and from the sound it made when it struck my shield I knew it had been sharp as a spear tip. Lovely.

  But just at that moment Alisha's clear voice rang out, tinged with power: “Cleanse!”

  A wave of warm light bsted out of the little elf, scouring the bridge and parts of the ring of goo clean. Not even ectopsm remained as the miracle burned away all traces of Outsider corruption.

  “Stars above,” Poseidon breathed from behind Alisha. “I have never seen a miracle like that.”

  “You should spend less time out at sea,” Hestia said. “Apollo and Freyr can both use miracles like this. It is super convenient to have here, though, I agree.”

  That shut him up. At the same time, it made me feel a bit of relief. The idea that Brigid was the only goddess to have a miracle like this had been somewhat disconcerting. The fact that other pantheons had miracles just like it was a bit of a relief. It wouldn't do for only a small part of the kingdom to be able to have clerics this effective against Outsiders. Although it did annoy me slightly that we could apparently have had someone with an even stronger version of Alisha's strongest miracle if we'd made a detour for Apollo's tholos.

  No matter, though. Alisha's first Cleanse had put a rge dent into the ring of goo. The stuff was slowly flowing back in to fill the hole she had carved but before it could fully recover Alisha's voice rang out again: “Cleanse!”

  Another sphere of warm light bsted out from her, this time carving deep into the Outsider matter. For just a moment I could see a glimpse of what was on the other side, of cultists in white robes and of a woman who looked far too much like Syr, before the goo flowed back and obscured the view once again.

  This was actually happening. Behind this wall was the Holy Maiden, the possessor who had stolen Syr's body. This would likely be our only chance. We needed to beat her and then use every method avaible to us to exorcise this horrid entity.

  “Cleanse!”

  Alisha's voice rang out a third time and this time she bsted a hole fifty feet in diameter into the wall of goo, wide enough for all of us to step through without having to worry about the tentacles skewering us.

  And it was then that I got my first proper look at the Holy Maiden.