Author's Notes:
Love the comments and e-mails. And I'm very surprised so many people remember the original Medusa series I put up on Literotica long ago!
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~~Darian~~
Darian growled, louder than he wanted to, and when he glanced at Medusa, she was looking at him with a confused expression. No luck there, she'd heard them, and she lowered her human half down next to him. She kept looking at him through the corner of her eye, but the monsters before them weren't the sort you took your eyes off of.
"It's Darian now. Fuck off," he said.
The three winged women glared at him, exposed their shark teeth, and scowled. But they said nothing; the masks that dangled from thread did all the talking.
"You try our patience, Bellerophontes. And we have been patient with you."
"Yeah, thanks for that." Worthless god-things. "So if it wasn't you or the gods trying to shit down my throat, who was it? Who attacked that ship?"
"That is what we wish for you to discover."
"... you don't know. The Fates don't know?" he said, and Medusa gasped behind him. Her whole body started to shake when she realized who they were. He gave Medusa's worried hand a small pat, stepped toward the three creatures, their masters, and glared at each mask in close proximity. He even snickered. "You're pathetic."
That was too much for the she-demons. One of the winged bitches reached out with their free hand, fast enough he couldn't react, and grabbed his shoulder. Their grip was absolute, like a titan with a hangover, and they scowled at him while they screeched and forced him to his knees.
"D-Darian!" Medusa slithered his way and readied to pounce, but Darian held up his hand.
"They won't kill me. They won't even injure me. Wouldn't want to hurt their precious merchandise."
The Erinyes growled inhuman noises and shoved him away, hard enough to knock him on his ass.
"Stubborn child. Our need is for both of our sake's, not ours alone," one of the masks said.
He got up, dusted off his naked butt, and folded his arms across his chest. "I can take care of myself. I don't need you."
"They will come for you again, once they learn you are still alive, child. And your new friend will suffer for your stubbornness."
He tightened his fists, but looked back at Medusa behind him. She looked worried, even petrified, but her worry was pointed at him. He really didn't want to drag her into this shit show.
"That... that will be up to her. I won't endanger her, but it's her choice. I'll leave if she asks it of me."
Medusa tilted her head to the side, maybe a little shocked at his words. Perhaps she thought he'd give some speech about how he wouldn't risk her life, and he'd run away at the first sign of danger so she'd come to no harm. He was far too selfish for that. He didn't want her out of his life, and he knew it.
"Bellerophontes, someone has stolen one of the Moirai masks."
Their blend of anger and frustration in their inhuman voices earned more laughter from Darian than he'd hoped for. If he kept pushing it though, one of those winged demons was liable to hurt him just for the sport of shutting him up, no matter what their masters said.
"And what does this have to do with me?" he said once the laughter had passed.
"Whoever this person is, they are using the mask to hunt down all the children, including you, Bellerophontes. It is they who attacked you."
"Of course they are." He gripped his head and ran his fingers through his hair, complete with groans of frustration. "And what—"
"Enough questions!" One of the masks said, and the creature holding it stepped closer to aim the speaking slab of metal and glowing white at his face. "As we said, this is for both our sake's, but if that is not enough to convince a stubborn fool like yourself, know that this enemy has captured your beloved Pegasus."
Darian froze. They had Pegasus? "How... how do you know that, if you don't know who stole the mask?"
"And we have not come to reveal all our secrets to you, fool."
The Erinyes started to circle him in a slow walk, each pointing their thread-bound masks at him. Medusa wanted to jump in, in fact his new friend seemed anxious to battle for him, but he shook his head when they made eye contact.
"... so... I help you, and I get to save Pegasus...." He watched the demons circle him in the corner of his eye, but he didn't turn with them. His exposed back was no worry; they needed him.
He gritted his teeth and took a moment to think. Pegasus was alive. That was good. Very good. Memories of his old friend carrying him through the sky earned a slow sigh from Darian. He could remember the cold rain, the blowing wind, the exhilaration as they flew skyward. He could remember the lightning that sent them both plummeting. Pegasus would never betray him.
A thought, like a spark in the dark, hit the back of his eyes when he glanced Medusa's way. And then a slight grin.
"Alright, on one condition."
The Erinyes stopped circling him, and glared with more rage on their face. He really did enjoy pissing them off.
"You have nerve, child," one of the masks said.
"Speak," said another.
"I... I help you, I kill whoever it is that stole one of your masks, return it to you, and in return, you help her." He motioned to Medusa with a nod of his head.
The gorgon blinked at him, shock blatant on her face, and she brought her hands up to her lips to bite on a nail. The Erinyes looked at her, and if Darian didn't know better, he'd think they were jealous.
"... Athena's curse is not ours to undo."
"You're not going to undo the curse, you're going to arrange a meeting. Myself and Athena. Medusa too if she wishes to be there."
The masks had no facial expressions, they were just solid slabs of metal with glowing white mist dripping from their eyes and mouths. But the silence carried more than enough weight to make up for their expressionless faces.
Medusa slithered a little closer, and the Erinyes did not stop her. "Darian, you...."
He cracked a smile her way, a quick one, and gave her a sneaky wink to go with it before he donned his stern glare again for the masks. They stared at him, still and lifeless, and he stared right back, arms across his chest and his bare foot tapping the stone beneath them.
"... we cannot guarantee your life, or hers, young Bellerophontes."
Ooh, so courteous now that he was willing to help them. Predictable.
"I know."
The winged demons looked at each other, and slurred more of their inhuman growls. The noises rose to a roar of anger, and they shoved at each other with their free hands, like squabbling birds.
"Enough!" one of the masks said. The winged creatures stopped bickering, and stood beside each other wing to wing, their harsh glares on Darian and their masters held out at arm's length in front of them. Apparently, even their attack dogs weren't always so perfectly obedient. "It is a deal, Bellerophontes. We have your aid then?"
"You do." He had to bite his tongue to keep the bile in his throat down.
"Excellent. We will send a ship for you in seven days time. You will know its approach by the death's hands and the step of hooves."
Death's hands, step of hooves? He squinted and tried to hide his confusion.
"It's a deal then. Now go away."
The monsters gritted their teeth the same way he did, and they growled at him between clenched jaws.
The masks weren't done though. "You will need help, Bellerophontes, to find this devious entity."
"And I suppose you have one lined up for me."
"In a manner of speaking. You know this person well, and you know where they have gone."
He raised a brow. "I do?"
"Indeed. You crushed their face with a rock."
He took a step back. "... he's alive?"
It was the Erinyes' turn to laugh. They flapped their wings, kicked up dirt and water with their huge wingspans, and lifted into the air, all the while cackling. The masks did not answer him. In fact, they went deathly silent, and the white mist that glowed in their orifices faded away. The skulls that the masks were strapped to fell to dust caught in the wind of wings, leaving the masks to dangle from thread with no voice.
And they left. As quickly as they came, the wicked monsters were gone, high into the sky and nothing but a blur against the sun.
The silence that followed was painful. He looked down at the stones beneath him for a while, and listened to the little stream that flowed from the mountain into the large rock basin beside him. He looked to the sky, to the water, to anywhere but Medusa.
The gorgon didn't move either, he'd have heard it. She stood there, still as a snake, and watched him. When he glanced her way in the corner of his eye, he could see she was still holding her hands up to her lips, and was biting a knuckle. Her eyes were wide, shocked.
And why wouldn't they be? Shit just showed up and dumped itself all over the two of them.
He might as well talk first. It was his fault. "I... I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" She took his voice as a queue, and slithered over to him. She'd even brought his loincloth, and he chuckled half-heartedly when she handed it to him.
"For this," he said, and gestured to the sky where the demons were dots on the blue. "For... not telling you my real name." He tied on the loincloth, and did his best to avoid eye contact as he did so. He didn't need her to see the guilt he was sure he was radiating. "For—"
She picked him up, and hugged him. He knew he was a light guy, but the gorgon literally picked him up and raised him several feet in the air, just so she could hug him while slithering about with her human half hovering high above the ground. Damn she was strong when she wanted to be.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," she said, and she slithered around in a circle like a dance. After a few minutes of holding him like a doll, she set him down, but she kept one of his hands in hers, and she squeezed it while smiling at him. It was one of those smiles, the confident and happy kind he was the one usually wielding.
