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Arista remains silent. The guards split up. Half staying with Artemis and me. The others exit the room with Apollo and Athena.
Standing, I approach the guard curled against the ground, “Want me to take a look? I'm no Chiron but perhaps I can stabilize it for when he can look after you.”
Checking his waist, I checked for a belt.
Nothing.
Turning to another guard, I extend my hand, I ask, “May I use your belt?” My neck craned to see his face. He was not as tall as Apollo, but he was much taller than me.
The guard paled. Uncomfortably, he brushes his fingers through his hair. “What’re you going to do with it? Don’t you think he has been through enough?”
I roll my eyes. “It's for a tourniquet. Unless you prefer him to bleed out on the floor,” I explain. Still waiting on the belt.
Skeptically he stares down at me and then over to the Moon Goddess who states, “Listen to her orders.”
Nodding, He removes his belt, handing it over to me. “Thank you.”
The guard remains silent, now holding his pants up with one hand and wielding a weapon in another.
Turning to the wounded guard, “Ready?”
The man sits prone. Not moving.
“Artemis, help me lay him on his back,” I ask, and she jumps up. Reaching for his shoulders we pull.
Jolting backwards, Artemis and I share a look. Where there once was a man is now an empty set of armor. Shadows spread through the room as the armor plates clatter to the floor.
The inky black blood disappeared. I finger the dagger holstered in my leg chains, my hand reaching under the slit of my dress. Artemis thought this would be a great method of hiding a weapon. With a pinch of magic, I now have a concealed weapon.
“What in Hades,” I whisper breathlessly as the darkness dissipates.
She pulls her bow out, surveying the area.
Where the guard stood, now only inky black blood and his uniform lays on the ground. His body is gone.
Tossing the belt on to the guard I took it from, I murmur a thanks to him.
The belt falls to his feet as he watches his fallen comrade in horror.
“What kind of magic was that?” I ask.
“Shadow magic,” she whispers. “One of the darkest kinds in all of the courts.”
“Great, and the source of what happened to him, is what they’re trying to track?” Following up her answer with yet another question.
She nods solemnly, “Time to get comfy. We will be here for a while.”
Artemis was right. For hours we sat in the private dining room waiting for the threat to be apprehended. Idly waiting for them to return.
To pass the time, Artemis and I sit telling stories of our family. Peering out the windows and listening at the doors. To which the guards would request that we sit down for our safety, but none pushed Artemis. She was not one to cross and they knew it.
Apollo returns hours later covered in sweat and full of frustration.
“How did it go?” asked Artemis with a wicked grin. “Regretting not taking the best archer of the court?”
“I had the best archer in the court with,” he scoffs as he bows before giving her his cocky smile. “Yours truly were present after all. I doubt having the number two would have done much to help our case. He slipped into the shadows. The town's guards are searching for him as we speak.”
Arista laughs, “Cocky little…” Her voice trails off.
