Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(94)

Kat stepped out to the edge of the balcony. Following the clicking noise, she looked down and to her immediate left. Built inside the thick walls was an indention, a niche large enough for a man to stand comfortably within, a single arrow-slitted window gave an abbreviated view of the battlefield. Beside the man was an enormous chain, the links of which were half the size of his body. Kat watched the links slither down in a hole at the man’s feet like a waterfall of iron. There was a system of large iron levers in front of the man. His hands were on the levers, which were all pushed in a downward direction.

“Close the gates!” On the platform outside the niche a warrior suddenly called an abrupt command and lowered a scarlet flag he had been holding over his head. The man in the niche immediately tripped all of the levers, pushing each of them up. The chain stopped its slithering motion.

Leaning farther out over her balcony Kat peered down at the front gates of Troy as more than two dozen warriors rushed to close the gates while archers held off the bedraggled looking Greek army. The gates had been opened far enough for all of the Trojan warriors to retreat within the city, so it took a considerable amount of time to get them closed, but finally, with another eerie groan, the city was sealed.

Kat’s gaze went back to the man in the niche. He and the soldier holding the flag saluted each other and then relaxed into a stance that resembled parade rest.

So it took a couple dozen men or so to close the gates of the city, but only one to pull down some levers and open them?

Kat’s body flushed hot and then utterly cold. Everything fell suddenly into place. She and Jacky had missed the entire point—in the myth it wasn’t about fitting the whole Greek army into a ridiculous, hollow horse, out of which they emerged and kicked Trojan ass. It was about getting inside the impenetrable, god-fashioned walls of Troy and opening the gates.

Kat stared at the levers and at the two men who guarded them. No way would they allow anyone to get close enough to them to trip the chain and open the gates. But a princess of Troy was not just anyone.

“I am the Trojan horse,” she whispered, and the words sent a terrible shiver through her body.

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Kat lifted her hand to grasp the heart-shaped pendant that still hung from around her neck, but a movement just outside the city walls caught at the edge of her vision. Gold and scarlet flashed, drawing her eyes. The Greek army had already pulled back and was disappearing into the olive grove. Only one warrior remained.

“Achilles! Oh, god, no.” Horrified, Kat shook her head back and forth, back and forth. He was driving a chariot, lashing the horses into a frenzy as he drove past the city gates again and again, dragging the bloody, brutalized body of Hector behind him.

That terrible scene decided her. Kat was going to do whatever it took to end this. Resolutely she went back into her chamber, opened the locket and called to Venus.

“Venus, come to me.”

This time the glittering of the goddess’s divine cloud was markedly subdued as she materialized.

“I know,” Venus said. “Hector is dead. I heard Andromache’s cries of grief. They were very much in love.”

“Do you know about this?” Kat gestured to the balcony. The goddess walked close enough to gaze out. Kat saw the jolt of shock that went through her body as she realized what she was witnessing.

“Achilles is desecrating Hector’s body.”

“It’s not Achilles.”

“It’s unthinkable.”

“It’s not Achilles!” Kat drew a deep, steadying breath. “I need you to get Hera and Athena here. Oh, and Thetis, too. I know how to end this, but you’ll all have to play a part.”

“I don’t know if it’s possible for Hera to come. She’s keeping Zeus busy.” Venus’s gaze briefly went back to the balcony before she continued. “And she needs to keep him busy. If he knew what was going on out there you would never have a chance at saving your Achilles.”

“But it’s Zeus’s fault that the berserker is here at all! He cursed Achilles with him,” Kat said angrily.

“Darling,” Venus said gently, “it was Achilles’ choice—Achilles’ responsibility. That’s why this is so terrible for him. He picked this fate.”

“I’m changing it. Love is changing it.”

“Me?”

“Us. And by changing Achilles’ fate I’m ending the war.”

“You figured out a way,” Venus said.

“I’m the Trojan horse,” Kat said.

“Darling?”

“Just trust me.”

“Implicitly. What do you need?”

“I’m assuming that Thetis, being a sea goddess, can conjure up some fog?”

“Naturally, darling.”

“Good. In the hour before dawn have Thetis make fog roll in from the sea. I need a lot of it—enough to hide the Myrmidons. Tell Athena to have Odysseus lead Achilles’ men to the city gates. And I mean right up to them. I’ll have them open.”

“You?”

“Trojan horse, remember?”

Venus nodded slowly. “You truly are.”

“I am.” Or maybe a better analogy is that I’m Judas, Kat thought, then shook herself mentally. That line of reasoning wouldn’t help her or Achilles. “Be sure Athena tells Odysseus to have the Greek army waiting just out of sight—the entire Greek army. This is their only chance.”