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Melinöe’s entire body hurt.
She had pushed herself past her limit but there was no quick solution this time, no return to the shadows to make it out because now she wasn’t alone. Now she was half dragging, half carrying her big brother as Kronos’ forces advanced on her. Her mouth tasted like blood and she was sure that multiple of her ribs must be broken.
She found him. She finally found him, and there was no escape.
Zagreus was in no state to fight. He was barely conscious and it took all of Melinöe’s willpower not to get distracted by all their similarities and differences—his black, tousled hair that was so unlike hers, his stature that was so much broader than hers, the smile lines around his mouth and eyes that Melinöe was lacking. But the flames licking at his feet and his eyes that were only half-open… those looked exactly the same.
Melinöe wished she could revel in the delight and terror of having found Zagreus after all this time. She prayed for and dreaded this day for so long, because what was she going to say? What if Zagreus didn’t want to know her, thought she took too long to save him, what if he didn’t like her? All the people she met who loved him always seemed to think she was boring, so what if he thought the same?
But there was no time for that.
Her eyes scanned the perimeter, her Mistress’ voice in her head: “Be smart, Melinöe. Always cover your exits. A witch does not blunder blindly; she always has a strategy.”
Melinöe had no strategy. She had no exit.
There was no escape.
This was the realm of her Lord Father, and yet Melinöe could do nothing. Think of nothing. What would her Mistress think of her if she saw her like this? What would her father say? It felt as if Zagreus’ weight had doubled over the past few seconds. She felt a desperate and hopeless kinship with the Titan Atlas who was forced to hold up the weight of the sky.
She could smell the rancid breath of the satyrs advancing. Dear Gods, there was half an army of them.
“Zagreus”, she whispered, her voice brittle and much too small for her own liking. “Zagreus, can you stand?”
Zagreus made a sound that encapsulated how Melinöe felt at this very moment.
The satyrs lurched forward to attack. Melinöe turned herself and Zagreus around as much as she could to shield their bodies from the incoming blows with her staff, but the blows she expected never came. Instead a loud crashing noise ripped through the air and a disgusting squelching sound followed as six or seven of the advancing satyrs were crushed by an enormous boulder that seemed to be attached to a chain.
“Apologies, Princess. I didn’t mean to frighten you”, said a stranger’s voice and Melinöe turned around to face a huge man with a round, friendly face and an apologetic expression. Then she stared at the boulder and at the chain that was not only attached to it, but also to the man.
“You’re Sisyphus”, she breathed. “King of Ephyra.”
Sisyphus seemed embarrassed as he turned around and hefted the enormous boulder up as if it weighed nothing. Melinöe suspected that after rolling it up a hill for centuries one might develop muscles formerly unheard of.
“I am not a king anymore, Princess, and I prefer it that way. Please stand back. I have brought friends.”
“Friends?”
“Oh hon, you look awful! Why don’t you take one of these snacks and I’ll fix you right up, huh?”, said a woman’s voice to her right and a delicious smell hit her that almost seemed to erase a portion of her exhaustion.
“We come to pay our debts to the short one”, said another voice.
“The Prince has given us all a great kindness.”
Melinöe barely had time to look at the strangers who had appeared before her because three of them charged into action at once. A dark-skinned man who whirled a spear like Melinöe had never seen before, a Minotaur with an enormous axe and Sisyphus with his giant boulder. The woman who had spoken remained standing next to her and handed her what looked like a delicious pastry.
“Didn’t know your Highness had a sister”, said the nymph with a lopsided smile and before Melinöe could answer she stuffed a piece of pastry into Zagreus’ mouth. “I’m Eurydice.”
Melinöe opened her mouth to speak but Eurydice didn’t let her—instead she stuffed some of the pastry into Melinöe’s mouth as well, almost causing her to choke. Eurydice grinned.
“I’m not much of a fighter, but your brother always enjoyed my cooking whenever he passed through Asphodel.”
“Still do”, came a weak whisper and Melinöe almost dropped her brother while she tried to chew through her pastry as quickly as possible. Eurydice laughed.
“That’s more like it, hon.”
The taste in her mouth was incredible. Melinöe could feel strength returning to her body and before she was able to say anything else, the dark-skinned man threw something at them that Zagreus caught out of the air with a grin.
“For old time’s sake”, the man shouted. Zagreus handed a vial filled with dark red liquid to Melinöe.
“Drink up”, he said, still grinning, before he turned towards the enemies, uncorked his own vial and drank it. Melinöe would usually never just imbibe something that was handed to her by strangers, but these were dire times and this was her brother, after all. She lifted her staff.
And when she spoke, Zagreus did so at the same time.
“In the name of Hades!”