Volume 1 Chapter 12
Rhesus learned quickly to ignore the pull he was feeling on his body. It seemed to want to pull him in two separate directions. He knew the only chance for him to break the spell that Manius cast on him was to find a powerful witch.
He managed to pull himself to his feet, and forced through the feeling of being tethered and pulled to have normal functional control of his body. It was not a crippling feeling, more like carrying a heavy weight around his neck or walking against a strong wind, but it never eased its grip.
Jove looked at him, concerned "Are you going to be alright?" Jove himself was still quite terrified of Rhesus after seeing him transform into … something, although he was not quite sure what.
"I am fine," Rhesus said, not offering any explanation of what happened.
Other than being cut by the dagger Manius wielded during the revolt, he didn't have an explanation for it himself. He didn't know what was happening to him.
He knew Jove was probably unhappy with taking him to Sete. He was even more sure that Jove was afraid of taking a dangerous creature back to his home.
"We can look for a witch." Jove offered.
"I am still going with you to see Sete." Rhesus replied, raising an eyebrow. Jove looked overwhelmed with disappointment and uncertainty.
Jove knew he would not win this argument, so defeated, he sighed "Very well."
Rhesus mounted his horse, and Jove climbed onto his cart and they headed south on the main road. They couldn't ride very fast because of the cart, and Rhesus was happy taking a slower pace because the strain on his body was making him a bit tired.
They stopped in several villages on their journey, inquiring about witches, but had no success. Either because there were none, or because they were afraid to say so. Either way, they were not able to find one, so they pushed on.
It was now afternoon, and the sun hung slightly past the center of the sky. They were on the main road and came to a mountain pass. The road through the pass had a steep incline and was cut into the inside edge of the mountain. The road was narrow, and the drop off the edge would be a certain death sentence. The road was not wide enough to allow traffic in both directions.
The men discussed going around the pass but decided not to lose a whole day by doing so.
Up the steep road they went. The horses were already tired and they were not even halfway up the path, now even narrower, when they heard a shriek in the sky. It echoed with a chill through both men. They decided to look for a place to hide and take cover from whatever it was that made the terrible noise.
As they tried to find cover, a creature swooped down at them from the sky. It had the body of a bird, but the haggard face of an old woman with a large beak-like nose and black greasy lackluster hair that frizzed all over her head. The human vulture had the look of insatiable hunger on her gaunt face. Its human arms, with talons for hands, reached out to grab at them thankfully missing their mark. A strong raging wind followed behind her wings, as well as the winged daemon's rank and odious stench. The creature swooped up into the sky for a second pass at them. Their horses were apprehensive and unsteady on the narrow cliff pass.
"It's a harpy!" Jove roared, now off his cart, leading the horse up the scant, almost absent road. Rhesus was ahead of him also on foot and leading his horse.
"A what?" Rhesus said, confusion broadcast across his face.
"A harpy!" Jove repeated, moving his hands in a shooing motion to get Rhesus to move. "We need to find a cave so she can not attack us."
The men were not able to move very fast on the miserable path.
"It seems we are in a precarious situation," Rhesus said.
"This is ill the time for humor,' Jove returned.
The harpy was diving at them a second time now. She put her taloned tipped arms straight out in front of her ready to grab whatever flesh she could manage to seize. Again she missed her mark. It was as if she were toying with them, like a cat playing with a mouse before eventually devouring it.
She swept upward in the sky once more, letting out another ear-shattering shriek. She reached her peak point and hesitated in the sky as if embracing the moment while looking down at them.
This time planning out her execution, she dove at them again. She didn't go after the men, but the cart attached to Jove's horse. Even though Rhesus stood poised with a sword, he could not get around his horse to help Jove. The creature grabbed the side of the cart with her sharp talons and began flapping her powerful wings backward to pull the cart off the road and over the cliff. Jove tried in vain to detach his horse from the cart while the horse desperately tried to pull the weight of the cart back onto the road. They struggled for several minutes, but the harpy was too strong and the cart, still attached to the horse fell into the fog-filled abyss below.
"Nooooooooooo!" Jove desperately cried.
The creature seemed pleased with herself, a large smile turned upwards on her blackened, scabbed lips as she returned to her perched position in the sky, readying herself for another charge at them. Rhesus and Jove could hear the immature calls of more harpies coming from the misty depths below.
"Oh Gods, she has babies down there." Jove gasped. "We need to find a place to hide, now!"
The men hurried along the road which now plateaued. Just ahead, there was a tunnel carved through the rock on the side of the mountain. The harpy now was swooping in for another attack on the men. Jove following Rhesus, they made it inside the tunnel with no time to spare. Jove could feel the blast of wind that followed her wings and the creature's eternally putrid bouquet that followed it enter the tunnel as she swooped back up into the sky, narrowly missing the side of the tunnel. She let out an angry shriek as she realized she lost her advantage and then dove down into the mist below to enjoy the fresh meal with her hatchlings.
In the dark, Rhesus now felt a huge relief. The tether pulling on him was now released. Oh, sweet relief.