‘Stop! Stop!’ Medusa cried to the air and to her sisters, neither of whom paid her any heed. Then she spoke to the sky. ‘Please, why? Why must you do this to them? Punish me. Punish me!’
Stheno continued to writhe in the sea. Medusa looked to the cliff. There was no way she could get to Euryale. Her body, barely visible through the sheets of heavy mist that shrouded the island, was now on its knees.
‘What do you want of me?’ Medusa called to the Goddess. ‘What is it you want of me?’ Yet again, she received no answer. ‘If you want their deaths, then just let them die. Please,’ she begged, her weeping muted by the discord around her. ‘Please end this.’ Her mind was still swimming with the sorrows of the years past when she felt a change in the wind. A chill prickled the hairs on the back of her neck.
‘Stheno, be quiet.’ The urgency in her voice brought her own serpents to silence, although it did little to diminish either of her sisters’ wails. ‘Please. I can hear something.’
She swallowed. Her heart raced as she strained to make sense of the sounds that drifted beneath the cries from the other side of the island. Footsteps. That was what it sounded like. Footsteps on the sand. A dozen? Two dozen? Melodies of whispering tongues, the swish of amour, and a clang of metal. The sounds echoed off the cliff face.
Why would they come here? For the goats, perhaps? But then why the armour? And why come at night? No, there was only one reason men with swords would set foot on this island. To hunt a monster.
Steadying her breath, Medusa moved back from the breaking waves. If only Euryale and Stheno would calm, if only for a second, and allow her to hear more clearly. They would have to be on the east beach; it was the only place they could have dropped anchor without risking their vessels. It was a long trek over the mountainside to reach her and Stheno. But Euryale? Euryale would be right in their path. Trembling, Medusa shifted Stheno’s still-burning body out of the sea and laid her under the cover of the cliff. The rain still struck and dripped down from the cliff face, and it was barely better than leaving her out in the open.
‘I will come back. I will come back. Please, hold on a little longer.’ Medusa leaned down and kissed her sister. From the bare trees above, she snapped some branches and laid them across her sister’s body in the hope of concealing it. If anyone were to find her in her current condition, they would have her head from her shoulders in a matter of seconds. She needed to make sure they never got that far.
Fear and fury powered her up the rock face. A hundred meters from where she stood, Euryale was curled up in the same position as Stheno, clutching her body and writhing in pain. Medusa rushed to her side.
‘Can you stand?’ She hooked her arms under her sister’s shoulders. ‘Please, Euryale. We must get you out of the open. They have seen you. They are coming for you.’
It was true. From her new height, she could hear the men coming, see the fingers pointing in their direction. Half a dozen were already on the sand. Another two dozen were battling the undercurrent as they waded through the swirling water of the shallows. One marched forwards on the beach in front of the rest. He had a heavy shield in front of him, a sword in his hand, and an armour over his chest that would have dragged any normal man to the ground. But he was not a normal man. He was a warrior. A hero. Even in the dark, his skin glistened, the salt from the ocean crystallising into specks of light.
‘Please, Euryale.’ Medusa felt the prickling dampness of her sister’s skin beside her. Euryale did not move except to spasm in pain. Her serpents’ tongues flicked out from beneath their fangs. ‘Please, we can hide. We can hide from them.’
Although, even as she spoke, the words weakened in their conviction. The men had heard the screaming. They would not leave the island until they had scoured every last inch of it. There was only one way. One way to ensure her sisters’ safety. An image of her parents frozen in time formed in her mind. The captain on the ship. The amorous drunk. It was supposed to have ended, the death. Yet it was either these men or her family. The men had made their choice when they set foot on the island. Now it was time for Medusa to make hers.
‘I will take him first,’ Medusa spoke to the wind. ‘Only the one at the front. If he falls, the others will surely retreat. There is no need to hurt more.’ She swallowed back the fear that had crept its way up her throat, and as silently as one of her serpents, she slid down to the east beach.
Chapter 14
‘Why are you here?’ Medusa stood in the shadow of the rocks, her eyes and snakes covered by a heavy hood. ‘You are trespassing on my island. Leave now.’
The screams of Stheno and Euryale continued to eddy in the storm around her. Lightning bolts flashed, illuminating the whole island. A few men flinched at the brightness, shuddering at the thunder that followed. Men or boys? The line was so close, and Medusa had never learned when the change occurred. She would think of them as men, though. She could only think of them as men. The scent of weeks at sea was strong on their skin, and even from a distance, she could see the calloused hands of those burned by ropes and wood. She herself
