His eyes met with hers, and in that moment, Artemis felt a little sympathy for him. Hatred pooled in her gut for his actions at Old Tyre, but he also seemed to care for his old friend.
...
Artemis turned around, and looked for Perseus, who by all rights, should have been stepping onto the mole behind her, but he wasn't there. She stared at the submerged wooden beams for a second, before turning back to Alexander.
"Cleoxene! Where is Perseus?" Alexander stepped forwards. An increasing number of Macedonians had joined their young king. There were at least a hundred now in view, and only more were moving in. The veteran survivors had a lot of wounds between them from the fight, and some staggered forwards, and even dropped to the dirt in shock.
"He was right behind me…" Artemis paused, looking at Alexander. Hephestion had joined him, and Artemis recognized at least three other Companions, including Kleitos, alongside Alexander. "He is fine—"
"I got it!" a muddled voice called from the water, and Artemis turned, along with a substantial number of the gathering crowd to see Perseus stepping out of the water, with his sword in hand.
Artemis scowled. Of course, the stubborn man had gone back for his sword.
Perseus easily stepped onto the mole, and sheathed the gleaming bronze blade into his scabbard, somehow being unscathed. Alexander stepped forward, and grasped Perseus's forearm, while slapping him on the shoulder.
"Aren't you a welcome sight Perseus! I come out from inspecting the horses when I hear that there is a Hydra loose on the mole, and there you are, leading a charge onto the mole already!"
Perseus smiled ruefully, and nodded to his King, "I was close Alexander, I know you would have done that same if you were there." Some of the new coming men had stepped forwards and were giving water to the beleaguered men who had survived the whipping tails and snapping heads of the Hydra. Artemis watched them closely, looking to her own hands. The plunge into the water had washed away much of the blood and gore, but red stains splattered up her arms like faded scars. Needless deaths, she had remembered saying at the Battle of the Issus. When had she seen the deaths of mortals to be needless? Was Perseus… right?
Suddenly, Perseus's voice drifted back into her ears.
"—the praise shouldn't go to me for this victory Alexander, Cleoxene deserves it!" Perseus exclaimed, pointing to her. Artemis felt her eyes widen, as she looked at Perseus, and quickly looked away from the warm expression she saw there.
She looked to Alexander instead, "I didn't do much—"
"Cleoxene led the attack when the Hydra broke free, and climbed onto the beast! Then she saved my life when that catapult shot crashed in." Perseus continued, and around him, the other Macedonians voiced their approval, especially the surviving skirmishers. More had appeared, clamoring through the smoke, and Artemis was slightly relieved to see that not as many had died as she had feared.
"It seems out resident Amazonian deserves just reward then! Cleoxene?"
Artemis thought it over, before shrugging lightly, cooling her features down, "Some new hunting knives. I lost both fighting the Hydra." She checked her bow and quiver quickly. Her bow was still intact, but she had lost all her arrows… somewhere. However, it was easy enough to replace the arrows. The bow, a gift from Apollo, was another matter. The peeking sun, having been hide for awhile behind a cloud, suddenly shown down in full force, and Artemis felt the watchful presence of her twin above her.
"Hunting knives? Consider them a gift then." Alexander nodded to her, before turning to the larger crowd.
The young King stepped forward onto the smoking corpse of the Hydra, and addressed the army surrounding him. "Macedonians, fellow Greeks! This Hydra was sent by none other than the Tyrians, who have mocked us so. First, they butcher our messenger. Now, they send monsters to strike us instead of meeting us in fair combat? Such cowardice cannot be tolerated. We will burn our dead tonight. We will burn the valiant who did not hesitate to step forward, whom did not hesitate to lay down their lives for this noble cause. For this, there can be no quarter, no forgiveness: Tyre must be taken! And it will be done!" A rousing cheer thundered off the mole, and continued through the Macedonian camp. It was so clear and loud that Artemis had no doubt that the Tyrians in their high walls could hear the battering cries of war.
The Tyrians had made a mistake in summoning a Hydra to strike the Macedonian Expedition. Artemis had made the agreement months before that she would combat any monster that threatened the Expedition. Now, Artemis had aided in bringing about the end of Tyre, even if by one small measure.
Artemis looked briefly for Perseus, but she did not see him in the crowds. She debated on looking for him, but then she remembered his warm tone in praising her, and his wide eyes as he had realized that she saved him. It might be best for her to avoid him for a bit. Her prior guilt reared up again, and she internally flinched. Hadn't she said that the Gods were selfish? And now, she had risked herself to save Perseus. She wondered briefly what he thought of her now.
Artemis paused once more, looking back to Tyre. Alexander and his companions, after briefly discussing things, had walked back to the Macedonian camp.
Only the men who tended to the wounded and the dead remained on the mole for now, along with the Hydra's carcass. She didn't spare it another glance, and began walking back to her tent. She had a hunch that she would find Perseus there. Perhaps, if she was lucky, he wouldn't be in a talking mood.
...
Artemis gingerly stretched her legs, watching the ever-sinking sun fall towards the horizon. They had been outside the Parthenon for a couple of hours now, but it still wasn't dark enough to go fight the beast that lurked within. Dusk joggers and delinquents alike still stumbled through the trees and footpaths.
Now, the hunt was hidden, in the shade of moonlight. It wouldn't do to have a dozen girl scouts and their dogs out this late at night. Therefore, she had hidden them with a small amount of concealing magic.
It made her uneasy, to relax, watching mortals depart in increasingly numbers as the day wound to a close. The time to act would come soon, and Artemis was reminded by the ever-shortening amount of time she had to work with: To travel to St. Louis would take only hours, but ever hour gone was allowing more chance of a negative outcome.
But she couldn't leave the Lernean hydra behind. Maybe she could have at a time that was scantly even recallable, but now, she could never do so. He had called her a Shepard, after all, and no matter how much time had passed, Artemis tried to live up to that ideal.
"My Lady, how long did the siege of Tyre last, after you and the Macedonians killed the Lernean Hydra?" Elizabeth asked, and Artemis turned to see the hunt nodding in approval of the story of Tyre so far.
"Many months. Tyre would not fall at one minor setback. The Tyrians' resolve was solid rock, after the burning of Old Tyre. Even still, Tyre was supported by some gods, who would not sit back while the Macedonian war machine struck down Tyre's golden walls."
Zoe cut into the conversation.
"My Lady- did you and Perseus's relationship improve over the siege? The Lernean Hydra interrupted thy's talk."
"It did improve. I had been terrified." Artemis admitted after a small hesitation. "Terrified of Aphrodite following through on her promise to hurt me through you. Terrified of my own feelings towards… him."
His name still stuck in her throat like the many things she had wished she had told him, while he lay dying in her arms… Familiar despair bubbled inside her, but she shook it off, "We discussed it, him and I, during the long siege. Often, we would talk for hours…"
"My Lady, not to be rude, but you usually aren't much of a talker." Angelina cut in, looking somewhat recovered from her earlier mishap.
Artemis was somewhat glad that her resting face didn't crack a smile at Angelina's comment, and she looked over to the young hunter with an eyebrow raised, amidst a couple of covered snorts and sly grins.
"Yes, how astute of you to notice Angelina." Artemis found herself smiling despite her best efforts. For centuries, she had regained her temperament from her trying times in the East… but it was all coming undone. All her walls and mental shields lay around her like the rumble of Tyre's walls.
"What would you talk about? Besides the deep philosophical conversations on the purpose of godhood, that is." Phoebe leaned back on the marble stairs, stretching her powerful shoulders.
To her horror, Artemis felt her face heat up.
...
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