“As the Fates decree,” Hylla said without enthusiasm.
“You see, Hazel, Otrera has challenged me to a duel. Every Amazon has that right. Tonight at midnight, we’ll battle for the throne. ”
“But…you’re good, right?” Hazel asked.
Hylla managed a dry smile. “Good, yes, but Otrera is the founder of the Amazons. ”
“She’s a lot older. Maybe she’s out of practice, having been dead for so long. ”
“I hope you’re right, Hazel. You see, it’s a battle to the death. . . . ”
She waited for that to sink in. Hazel remembered what Phineas had said in Portland—how he had had a shortcut back from death, thanks to Gaea. She remembered how the gorgons had tried to re-form in the Tiber.
“Even if you kill her,” Hazel said, “she’ll just come back. As long as Thanatos is chained, she won’t stay dead. ”
“Exactly,” Hylla said. “Otrera has already told us that she can’t die. So even if I manage to defeat her tonight, she’ll simply return and challenge me again tomorrow. There is no law against challenging the queen multiple times. She can insist on fighting me every night, until she finally wears me down. I can’t win. ”
Hazel gazed at the throne. She imagined Otrera sitting there with her fine robes and her silver hair, ordering herwarriors to attack Rome. She imagined the voice of Gaeafilling this cavern.
“There has to be a way,” she said. “Don’t Amazons have…special powers or something?”
“No more than other demigods,” Hylla said. “We can die, just like any mortal. There is a group of archers who follow the goddess Artemis. They are often mistaken for Amazons, but the Hunters forsake the company of men in exchange for almost endless life. We Amazons—we would prefer to live life to the fullest. We love, we fight, we die. ”
“I thought you hated men. ”
Hylla and Kinzie both laughed.
“Hate men?” said the queen. “No, no, we like men. We just like to show them who’s in charge. But that’s beside the point. If I could, I would rally our troops and ride to my sister’s aid. Unfortunately, my power is tenuous. When I am killed in combat—and it’s only a matter of time—Otrera will be queen. She will march to Camp Jupiter with our forces, but she will not go to help my sister. She’ll go to join the giant’s army. ”
“We’ve got to stop her,” Hazel said. “My friends and I killed Phineas, one of Gaea’s other servants in Portland. Maybe we can help!”
The queen shook her head. “You can’t interfere. As queen, I must fight my own battles. Besides, your friends are imprisoned. If I let them go, I’ll look weak. Either I execute you three as trespassers, or Otrera will do so when she becomes queen. ”
Hazel’s heart sank. “So I guess we’re both dead. Me for the second time. ”
In the corner cage, the stallion Arion whinnied angrily. He reared and slammed his hooves against the bars.
“The horse seems to feel your despair,” the queen said. “Interesting. He’s immortal, you know—the son of Neptune and Ceres. ”
Hazel blinked. “Two gods had a horse for a kid?”
“Long story. ”
“Oh. ” Hazel’s face felt hot with embarrassment.
“He’s the fastest horse in the world,” Hylla said. “Pegasus is more famous, with his wings, but Arion runs like the wind over land and sea. No creature is faster. It took us years to capture him—one of our greatest prizes. But it did us no good. The horse will not allow anyone to ride him. I think he hates Amazons. And he is expensive to keep. He will eat anything, but he prefers gold. ”
The back of Hazel’s neck tingled. “He eats gold?”
She remembered the horse following her in Alaska so many years ago. She had thought he was eating nuggets of gold that appeared in her footsteps.
She knelt and pressed her hand against the floor. Immediately, the stone cracked. A chunk of gold ore the size of a plum was pushed out of the earth. Hazel stood, examining her prize.
Hylla and Kinzie stared at her.
“How did you…?” The queen gasped. “Hazel, be careful!”
Hazel approached the stallion’s cage. She put her hand between the bars, and Arion gingerly ate the chunk of gold from her palm.
“Unbelievable,” Kinzie said. “The last girl who tried that—”
“Now has a metal arm,” the queen finished. She studied Hazel with new interest, as if deciding whether or not to say more. “Hazel…we spent years hunting for this horse. It was foretold that the most courageous female warrior would someday master Arion and ride him to victory, ushering in a new era of prosperity for the Amazons. Yet no Amazon can touch him, much less control him. Even Otrera tried and failed. Two others died attempting to ride him. ”
That probably should’ve worried Hazel, but she couldn’t imagine this beautiful horse hurting her. She put her hand through the bars again and stroked Arion’s nose. He nuzzled her arm, murmuring contentedly, as if asking, More gold? Yum.
“I would feed you more, Arion. ” Hazel glanced pointedly at the queen. “But I think I’m scheduled for an execution. ”
Queen Hylla looked from Hazel to the horse and back again. “Unbelievable. ”
“The prophecy,” Kinzie said. “Is it possible…?”
Hazel could almost see the gears turning inside the queen’s head, formulating a plan. “You have courage, Hazel Levesque. And it seems Arion has chosen you. Kinzie?”
“Yes, my queen?”