Threaded Secrets by K. Malady

Author:K. Malady [Malady, K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: K. Malady Books
Published: 2024-05-20T23:00:00+00:00

Once I place my illusion to appear invisible, I chase after the man holding my club. The earth rumbles again, another earthquake, perhaps a message from Poseidon this time. I’ve no idea whether he supports the brash plan Zeus inspired. But it knocks the man off balance, and he loosens his grip on the club. I shuffle up behind him to yank it from his fingers. The surprise I hoped for lasts long enough for me to get my hands around the handle, but then he turns and tries to wrench it back. His brows furrow but he doesn’t otherwise react to grappling with a club that looks to be moving on its own due to my magicked invisibility.

During my brief period outside the protection of the tree, two birds left the flock and now glide towards me. They must still sense me somehow. I hiss under my breath. I’ve never had to create an illusion for a sense other than sight, I don’t even know how. But the birds’ spiky beaks distract the man and his howl of fear overwhelms my shriek of frustration until I can hug the club and race for the tree’s canopy.

The sky opens, the dark clouds making good on their threats, first raining quietly then thundering against my skin, each drop splattering hard enough to cause a prick of pain. Through the haze, I can just see the birds attacking the girls, but they falter from the storm’s assault, arcing and falling at an angle, instead of keeping their aim on their prey. The heavy rain showers their metal bodies, creating a symphony of clangs. Their squawks don’t lessen but change, no longer the cry of the hunt but the screech of irritation. Noise is their weakness. Thank Zeus for the knowledge.

The ground rumbles again, another good sign as the bird targeting me only slices off a lock of my waterlogged curls instead of carving into my neck. I scramble under the overhang of the olive tree. Two birds dash after me, but fear hoists the bronze club above my head and swings it against the metal wings of the beasts before they can do any damage. The swipe doesn’t do more than daze them, but the clash of metal-on-metal rings through the space and both birds squawk and flee.

Faster than I thought I could move, I snag a branch disturbed by the birds’ flight, folding it and the club into my illusion. Though the beasts can see me, Athena’s studies taught me that even one extra second hiding from their sight can be valuable. My chiton tears, exposing slick skin to the sharp raindrops, but at least now I can breathe.

The ground shakes anew and I stumble, slipping in the rain slicked dirt. Poseidon must be on our side, as my near fall stops one of the searching birds from impaling my shoulders. Twice is coincidence, three times intentional. I finally make it to the girls, who stand back-to-back in a circle. Elara has bludgeoned one and impaled another, though not without getting a wing-tip slice to the cheek.

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