The Losing Game

By Nicki Chapelway

I bury my fingers in the crumbling dirt. The world around me is a dry, desolate place with the broken earth burning into my bare legs where my pleated skirt does not reach. The sun beats down upon my breastplate. Even my own tears have dried out.

The only liquid in sight is Jayson’s blood.

Already so much of it has disappeared, absorbed into the ground.

I silently curse Gaia.

Still, too much bright red stains the dirt below my wounded compatriot; my- my- Jayson…

A few yards away, the Chimera’s blood has crystallized into a black sheen that suffocates the ground. Gaia deserves it.

I don’t know how long I’ve knelt like this.

Time no longer has any relevance to me. I refuse to pray to Cronus, the fallen Titan. Best not to make an enemy of the gods now by praying to the forbidden one. Not when I so desperately seek their aid.

The only sound beside my own ragged breathing is the steady crunch of that dry, dry earth under heavy approaching footfalls.

I raise my head and narrow my eyes against the harsh glare of Helios. A breeze picks up, blowing lightly across my cheeks and lifting long strands of my hair that have escaped from their braid. An instant later, the breeze turns bitter and cold.

I clench my hand into a fist, imprisoning crumbled chunks of dirt in my grasp. I have been waiting for this man to arrive; and yet dreading his approach.

He draws to a halt only a few feet away.

And harsh cruel sound interrupts the silence— his laughter.

I wonder what he finds so amusing. Perhaps it is the dried tears on my dirty face. Perhaps it is my sorry attempt to hold Jayson’s lifeblood in his body with my warrior’s hands.

“Tell me, why it is that all you mortal fools fall in love?” Hades shakes his head, his grin stretching wider. “It seems to me that it only causes you pain.”

“Then leave me to my pain.” I bare my teeth, preparing for another battle.

“I shall.” His cloak hisses, and smoke leaks out from the edges as he steps toward me. “I will gather his soul and be on my way.”

I groan and shove to my feet, my entire body screaming in protest. My hands shake as my bloodstained fingers pull the xiphos from its sheath. I step over my broken spear, and then over my broken lover, toward the dark figure. “Nay, you will be on your way now.”

Hades’ eyes widen. “Surely you jest. You would challenge the god of death in combat?”

I fear his power, but not in the way that he thinks I should. Not because he could snatch my soul away, but because he could snatch Jayson’s. “If you want to take his soul, then you shall have to take mine as well.”

Hades stares at me, most likely unaccustomed to such a fearless attitude from mortals.

He shakes his head and holds up his hand in an almost pacifying gesture. “You’re an Amazonian. You shouldn’t even care about men.”

I thrust my chin out. “And you’re a god. You shouldn’t care about Amazonians or what we care about.”

Why is he hesitating? Why am I still breathing?

Why is he glancing at the sky as if frightened of it?

“I’ll tell you why,” a new voice chimes in.

I whirl around, exposing my back to Hades as I take in the newcomer.

Dressed in flowing white robes with hair like gold, she almost puts the sun’s beams to shame, and her eyes are as blue as the sea.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, the person I have to blame for the pain in my chest right now.

I had not expected her although I had been praying to her and every god who could aid me.

“He’s worried about what I will have to say of this matter,” Aphrodite says.

“All of the curses of the Field of Punishment fall upon your head, woman,” Hades bellows, waving his arm upward. “I do not care what you have to say on the matter, for it does not concern you.”

“This girl is willing to die rather than lose the man she loves. This matter is exactly my concern.”

Hades sighs heavily. “You must not presume that you have the power to stop me from reaping souls simply because they loved someone.”

“What would Persephone think of this heartless behavior?” Aphrodite crosses her arms and stares Hades down.

Hades glares back for a long moment before finally spitting and turning away with a swish of his dark cloak. His words echo back to me, stinging my ears.

“Love is for fools.”

Aphrodite’s laugh sets the birds singing, both of which are too rare a sound in this world. “Spoken with great gusto for a man who is in love himself.”

I stare after his retreating figure, my heart hammering against the bronze plating of my armor. Can it truly be this easy?

“Come,” she says, holding out her hand to me. “Apollo owes me a favor. He should have your Jayson patched up easily enough.”

“Why?” I rasp. “Why are you helping me like this?”

“To the other gods, I am a joke,” Aphrodite says with a smile. “But love is not a losing game. And mortals are not the only fools to fall in love. It’s conveniently up to me to either make their life a paradise or… well, a Hades.”

Can you guess which song from the 1950's inspired this story? Share in the comments!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicki Chapelway has been writing since she was eleven years old. She published her first book A Week of Werewolves, Faeries, and Fancy Dresses at the age of fifteen, one year after she finished writing it. She’s a fangirl who loves obsessing over her favorite stories, and characters, and her myriad of fictional boyfriends. Her hobbies include reading, writing, and coloring.

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