[Medusa]

Medusa stood in shock for a good few minutes as the tiny figure of the intruder slumped unconscious in her grip. The girl was painfully small, clad in a dirty and blood-stained white dress of common make. Was she some pessent girl? Some distraction was sent to keep her busy while an actual foe sought to lop her head from her shoulders?

She sighed. One of these days, she might even welcome that swift release from the curse that had distorted her body. She shook her head and returned her gaze to her intruder, gently placing her on the ground while Medusa dug within a satchel she had on her waist. With a few moments of tinkering, she assembled and lit a small torch by which she'd be able to fully observe her guest. Her little nest of serpents on that took the place of her hair hissed, seeking her attention like a jealous cat. She gave one of them loving scratches under its chin.

Medusas eyes widened slightly as she saw the sight before her. The girls fiery red hair was caked with mud and dried blood that made it look of rust, her delicate skin covered in a fine layer of dust. Her face reminded Medusa of a porcelain doll that she had seen once in her youth, thin and soft, with two lines of red leading from her covered eyes. An uncomfortable idea started to form in the gorgons mind. She filed that thought away for now and sighed.

She should dump the girl far away in the forest and let the creatures feast upon the girl. Or maybe she should put the girl out of her own misery. She looked over the girl once more and felt a tinge of pity as she saw what was obviously a broken ankle as well. What it the courts of Olympus had befallen the poor blind girl.

The pity grew steadily, each now scratch and bruise sending a fresh pang into her heart.

"Damnit..... gods damn this all!" Medusa snuffed out her torch and, tossing it to the side. With the utmost gentleness, she slipped her arms beneath the girl and lifted. She was as light as a dove and looked just as innocent. Slithering slowly, she moved further into the cave where she made her home. The soft light of candles illuminating her rather cozy abode. She had heard the legends of her lair, full of the statues of her victims, dark and dismal. This couldn't be further from the truth. Medusa hated the statues, often moving them into an outdoor garden she enjoyed. She kept it delightfully lit at all times, using the pilfered lamps and candles from those who came to end her.

She also kept small trinkets, jewelry, or other shiny objects that caught her interest. It was an odd little obsession that had accompanied her curse. Her walls were decorated by the sheilds of past heros, their weapons hidden away in a nook for safe keeping. She moved to a different area where she stored the supplies she took from travelers. She snatched one of the rolled sleeping bags, setting out out near her hearth. She smiled a little at the small symbol of Hestia she had carved into it, one of the only gods she didn't actively hate.

With a gentleness that opposed her massive frame, Medusa tucked the blind girl into the sleeping bag, closing it tight just in case the girl moved in her sleep.

"Sleep..... but you will be out of here by tomorrow," Medusa murmured her heart, hardening once again as she forced the pitty from her mind. This weak girl could still be some sort of scheme, a distraction? Or maybe the gods just wanted to throw this girl to the wolves.

[Cassia]

If the painful murder of her only sister affected Cassia in any way, it must have been a positive one as she beamed with happiness. She would finally get what she had earned, the power that should have been hers by birthright. She would deliver the tragic news of Thera's demise and swoop in to become the savior, marry Caelus, and cement her place as a future queen.

"I've earned this!" She said to herself as her personal carriage pulled infant of the grand gates of her home, the royal palace. Taking a deep breath, Cassia forced a fake torent of tears to fall from her eyes. She had rehearsed this part a million times.

Exiting her carriage with the utmost drama, she flung herself into a crying mass on the floor in front of the small group that waited.

"I-i tried to follow her," she sniffled, looking up in mock despair at her parents and Caelus, "she was aided by a servant, escaping into the dark woods that ......" she let her silence hang for dramatic effect.

"She went towards the vally of Typhon! The damned servant must have robbed her and sent her to her death!" She was guessing that had been where Thera would have ended up, but it was more likely the blind fool had died before even getting close.

Her parents hardly looked saddened, more so angry at the loss of their bargaining chip with Caelus. What else had Thera been good for anyway? Caelus, however, was thunder incarnate.

"This is unacceptable! The girl will be found! I will not accept this until she is back at my feet, in chains if need be! This insult to my honor will not go unanswered," his usually smoothe voice caried the growl of rage that struck a bit of fear into Cassia.

"If my lord would permit me..... allow me the honor that Thera rejects, let us be wed and forge a stronger kingdom," she bowed her head to the warlord, feeling his hazel eyes appraise her.

"Hmm, I would like to speak to you, Cassia... alone," Caelus flashed a glance at Cassia's parents and turned on his heal to return to his quarters. Cassia followed his, doing her best to hide her grin. She was finally getting what she deserved, the fate that she was meant for.

As soon as she entered Caelus' quarters, the sting of a slap collided with her face, earning a yelp from the princess.

"Do you think me a fool?! Think that I wouldn't notice the wine you kept giving me?" His eyes flashed with a visible yellow energy that seemed to spread from his iris and through the vains below his skin.

"I... I don't...." Cassia stammered but was cut off as Caelus grabbed her by the throat.

"You don't understand? Of course you don't. My goals are beyond you senseless wretch. Do you think I truly wanted your sister as a wife?! She is a tool and nothing more! A tool you took from me!" He threw Cassia across the room with almost casual ease.

"That girl isn't just important to me. She is pivotal to my father's plans!" He looked away from her, biting his tongue as if he'd said something he hadn't meant.

"What c-can she do for you that I cannot?" She attempted, slowly rising from the ground.

"You are worthless to me. Your kingdom is worthless to me. I am going to get Thera back, and if I dont..... I will lay this kingdom to waste at the behest of Zeus himself!" His quite growl rose quickly into a fearsome roar, "you had better hope that the girl is found, if she isn't, then I will flay you with the strike of lightning and cast your writhing body to the sirens that haunt the seas depths!"

Cassia felt a coldness enter her heart. A coldness beyond simple fear, this was abject horror. She stood and moved backward, rushing towards the door to escape the presence of this monster.

"Consider this a chance to prove your loyalty..... return your sister to me, and I will indeed take you as my wife, Thera would have never been enough to satisfy me. If you fail me.... if you run and hide, you will know the full warth that I can bring to bare. Now leave."

Cassia escaped the room as quickly as she could, running to her personal quarters where her handmaidens and bodyguard awaited, "Send word to the entire kingdom.... I require a warrior to undertake a quest....Now!"

[Medusa]

Medusa continued to watch the sleeping girl, hardly moving outside of her own bodily functions. The girl was so small. despite Medusa's own larger frame, she could still tell that the girl was abnormally small, looking malnourished and almost sickly.

She had been watching for three hours now, the pessent girl slept fretfully but did not wake. Her hand unconsciously reached up to stroke one of the smaller snakes that framed her face, feeling its joy through her connected mind.

"She's no warrior, probably couldn't even lift a sword, let alone swing it," she mused to herself as she thought on her intruder, "but why would she come here? How had she made it this far all by herself?

Medusa finally looked away from the girl and slithered her serpentine tail, moving rhythmically across the floor, extending back for a good fifteen feet behind her. She had long since grown used to what had replaced her legs. Her skin a modeled green mosaic of connected scales. Their were subtle patterns of darker scales, like a python's that stretched down her back and tail, hidden only by the simple leather armor that adorned her torso.

She moved to one of the small alcoves that she used as storage, fishing around for some of the provisions that the last so-called hero had been carrying. She bit into the tough dried meat and let out a content sigh. She had been enjoying a glass of wine and a book before the blind girls' commotion. She very much wanted to return to it.

This was usually the way Medusa spent her time reading from the texts that she could get off of her attackers and hopefully enjoying some wine. She retrieved the book from near the hearth and poured herself a new glass of her dwindling wine supply. She slithered towards the middle of the room, where she had built a sort of nest for herself. A large circular indent in the floor, lined with the stitched together remains of a hundred different banners, cloaks, capes, and sleeping bags. With a sigh or relief, Medusa curled her tail around herself, tightening into a cozy ball, and opened her book.

This was a poem book, one she had only just opened. The author was a woman by the name of Sappho of lesbos. She had taken it from one of the men she had petrified. He had been reading it when he believed himself safe.

She read, but couldn't help her eyes drifting back over to look at the girl in her sleeping cocoon. Her delicate features twisted into a mask of pain and fear as she whimpered in her sleep. A nightmare Medusa guessed, as she watched for a few seconds.

She shook her head and tried to return to her reading. her eyebrow raised of its on volition as she read one of the lines of poem that stopped her in her tracks. She reread the line a little confused, wondering if she had misinterpreted it. Upon a third read she felt her cheeks warm at the implications of the poem and the poets beautiful portail of something she had always been told was reserved for men. She took a sip from her wine and let a rare grin cross her face. Now this was a good read, although she enjoyed the other books and scrolls she had access to through the spoiles of fighting, this simply touched her heart in a different way. She loved when she found poetry, found stories of heros..... even stories of monsters. She had once oven found a story about herself. It hadn't painted a very flattering picture, describing her with a beard, tusks and an ugly face. What she couldn't stand was the way her story was told, especially Poseidons part in it. They had wrote that she had fallen in love and given herself to the sea God, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

She forced the memory away from her mind. She would not relive that night! Never again! She quickly drank the remainder of her wine glass and shook her head, her mind returning to the comfort of her poem. Her reading was only once more interrupted by the small sound of a yawn escaping the blind girl as she stirred from her slumber.

[I absolutely adore writing this story, it's a great time to write and it let's me do a copious about of fun research. I've been reading Sapphos poetry this week to research and it has that perfect bittersweet love that hits so good. And nobody can convince me that she wasn't a lesbian or Bi. Also I think she was a bit of a cougar, so good for her. Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter as it really helps me out, thank you!]