The Oracle of Delphi (Greek Myth Fantasy Series) (15 page)

“I … I need to behead Medusa and bring it back to King Polydectes of Seriphus.”

“What!” His voice boomed thunder, dragging Perseus’s gaze from the nymphs back to the god of the sea.

Suddenly he wondered if he’d said the right thing. Mayhap his words had angered Nereus. For all he knew, Medusa could be his daughter also, and Nereus could send another sea serpent, but this time to swallow him.

“I’m sorry, Nereus, if it upsets you. But if I do not accomplish this task, my mother, Danaë, will be killed.”

“Danaë is favored by the gods,” he told him. “I myself used my powers of the sea to wash your coffin onto the shores of Seriphus years ago, as Zeus wanted his son protected.”

“Then you are not angry I plan to behead Medusa?”

He caught the wink of a very buxom nymph with long green hair from behind her father. She stepped out in order for Perseus to see her, rubbing her hands over her thighs, licking her lips and closing her eyes, face thrown skyward as her fingers caressed her own body.

He felt himself harden and heard the pleased cries of the sea nymphs as they also noticed.

“Medusa is a foe of my daughters,” he said. “We would all be happy to see you behead her.”

The nymph’s eyes drew him in, and he found himself moving forward towards her.

“Stop it,” shouted Nereus over his shoulder. The sea nymph looked toward her father with a scowl. Her power over Perseus snapped, and he shook his head, trying to keep it from happening again. Surely, he should have listened to Andromeda. These nymphs had powers over men that he had never witnessed before. Even with his being a demi-god, they still controlled him. They were the most powerful seductresses ever known.

“If you will show me to the shield, I’ll be on my way.”

“Yes, of course,” said Nereus. “The shield lies just around the cove, guarded by my favorite daughter, the goddess, Nerina.”

“Thank you,” he said, turning to go.

“My daughter has been born of Peitho, the goddess of persuasion. If you manage to take the shield and leave before Nerina persuades you to stay, you may have it.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you will be Nerina’s lover and will never be able to set foot off the cove again.”

Perseus didn’t like the sound of that at all. These sea nymphs alone were very enticing. If their sister Nerina was considered the daughter of persuasion, how could he ever break her spell over his desires?
Please forgive me, Andromeda,
he thought.
But I’ve got to try - for the sake of my
mother
.

“Show me the way to the shield,” he said. “I’m ready.”

Nereus raised a conch shell to his lips, gaining his daughters’ attention with the musical note. “Show Perseus to the shield,” he commanded. “He’s about to become Nerina’s mate.”

“Now wait,” Perseus called as the giddy sea nymphs dragged him into the water. “You said I am free to go if I can withstand her seduction.”

“Of course,” agreed the sea god. “But you won’t be able to. No one has yet been able to turn away from any of my daughters.”

“But I am a demi-god,” he said, lowering himself into the water with the assistance of the girls. “Surely I have the power to deny her pleasures.”

“Nerina is different from the rest. She is a goddess. Not even a demi-god can withstand her powers.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” he gasped, being pulled through the water and back to the shore by the nymphs.

“You have the stubbornness of your father within you,” said Nereus. “You would have insisted on trying anyway.”

Female hands caressed his body again as the sea nymphs played with him on his way to the shield. Perseus couldn’t help but like the way their naked bodies felt against his. His urge to lie with them was strong, but his thoughts of Andromeda kept him from touching their bodies in return.

He knew he had agreed to forget all about the marriage when this was all over, but he couldn’t. He felt something for Andromeda that he had never felt before. He really wanted her as his wife - forever. He had to somehow make the fact known to her. Mayhap by not falling under Nerina’s spell he’d prove to Andromeda as well as himself that the relationship between them was stronger than even the seductive forces of the goddess of persuasion. If only he could get the shield and break away from Nerina and the other nymphs. He prayed to the gods that he would be strong enough to go up against powers that would challenge even the strongest demi-god.

Andromeda inched forward toward the cove, trying to remain hidden behind the rocks. She could have sworn she heard Perseus calling her name. He sounded as if he needed her help. She peeked out from behind the rock into the cove where the sea nymphs lived. It was vacant. She intended to go back to the horses to wait, but the shining of Perseus’s sword glittering from the sand caught her attention. She looked closer and saw his belt and scabbard not far from the sword. When she moved out to retrieve them, she saw his tunic wrap, braies, and winged shoes perched at the edge of the water.

She ran over to his clothes and shoes, picking them up and holding them to her chest. The sea nymphs had persuaded him to join them in a swim, just as she suspected they would try to do. If he had been unable to deny them a swim, then he would never be able to retreat from their seductive advances.

Her eyes hurriedly scanned the water, eyeing the laughing, singing sea nymphs far in the distance. They pulled something along with them, but she wasn’t sure what. Then when they stepped from the water onto the beach, she saw their catch. Perseus stood between them, naked as the rest of them.

Her first instinct was to throw his clothes into the sea and let him stay and couple with the sea nymphs. But she knew he must not be acting of his own accord. Perseus would never waste time even with his strong lust evident. His mother’s life was in danger and he had already fallen so far behind schedule that he wouldn’t succumb to such meaningless fun.

“They have him under their spell,” she said aloud, watching as one nymph jumped onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist as they continued toward a small cove in the distance. The rest rushed from the water and surrounded him, touching him, running their hands through his hair. One even went as far as to lick his chest.

Andromeda clenched her fists and refused to watch. She had to do something to stop them and to loosen Perseus from their seductive hold. She snatched up the belt, scabbard, and his heavy sword, and made her way back to the horses. Somehow, some way, she would stop Perseus from being unfaithful to her, even if his actions were beyond his own control. Even if their marriage were a farce, she wouldn’t stand by and watch her husband couple with anyone but her. The sea nymphs would not have him!

Perseus stumbled forward, dragged into the cove by ten lusty nymphs. The other forty followed close behind, waiting for their turn to grope his body. While he found the women to be alluring, he no longer had lust on his mind. Their hunger for a man became unappealing to him with so many so desperate to use him for their own enjoyment.

But his lust couldn’t help but return when they threw him forward toward the sister called Nerina. He stumbled to the ground, once again seeing two feet. But this time, when his eyes wandered upward, he was greeted by two very curvy thighs. His eyes traveled on, past the thin waist, past the full, heaving breasts tanned from the sun, up to her face, which had to be the most beautiful he had ever gazed upon.

This Nerina was indeed a goddess. Her aqua, almond-shaped eyes graced a heart-shaped face and small perky nose. Her lips full like cherries, her hair dark like a midnight sky, he felt the presence of her beauty within him. She swept one long lock from her eye, playing with the hair that reached nearly down to her ankles.

“You must be Nerina, Goddess of Persuasion,” he said.

She smiled and a pink tongue shot out to lick her lips.

“You are a demi-god, are you not?”

“Aye,” he admitted. “I am the son of Zeus.”

“Then you shall have me as your wife. You shall mate with me in the sea and stay with me forever.”

Her eyes locked onto his and he felt his resolve crumbling. His body vibrated, and when her eyes settled on his groin, he felt himself grow even larger under her perusal.

“Yes, you are a demi-god, and well able to please me.”

He pulled his gaze away from hers, trying not to look at any of the other sea nymphs. “I came for the shield,” he said. “Please give it to me and I’ll be on my way.”

She smiled sweetly and pointed to the top of a very steep cliff nearby. “There it is. Take it if you think you can.”

The large golden shield of Athena glittered from atop the rocks. The image of the goddess of wisdom’s owl graced the front of the shield. It was so shiny he could see the reflection of light glaring down at him like a beacon of the gods. The cliff was too steep to be climbed by man. Only a bird could get to the shield’s resting position.

“Release him,” Nerina told her sisters, and instantly the sea nymphs let go of his body. He eyed the shield once again, taking a step forward when Nerina’s entrancing voice lulled him back in song.

He knew he shouldn’t have stopped and turned around to look from where the beautiful singing came. A siren’s voice called to him, and he found his will weakening, the shield forgotten. Her rounded hips swiveled in a dancing motion, and her breasts bounced with their tips turned upwards to the sky. She ran her hands over her own body just as her sister nymph had done earlier, and once again Perseus could not look away.

The sister nymphs moved in to watch the mating they expected, and Perseus found himself strangely excited at the thought.

Nerina dropped to the ground, her body glistening in the sun from the waves that washed over her. She used her long fingers to caress herself, arching her back and moaning with passion. Perseus tried to turn back, tried to think of Andromeda, but the sea goddess’s powers were too strong for even a demi-god to resist.

He ran to her, dropping atop her, wanting nothing more than to couple with this beautiful goddess right on the shore in front of fifty of her sisters. The waves washed over him, the motion of her body beneath him making it harder to pull away.

“Come to me. Take me,” she moaned, and Perseus found himself leaning forward to kiss her. Lost to the powers of the sea goddess Nerina, he could think of nothing more than the lust that consumed him.

Andromeda remained hidden under the helmet of invisibility, landing atop the steep rock where the shield was displayed. She had used Perseus’s winged shoes to get to the top, knowing he’d never be able to make it there himself. The shield’s blinding light caused her to squint, and she could see it was a very powerful tool. Perseus might have a chance against a Gorgon with this shield. She could see now why he was so intent on finding it. She reached out her hand to snatch it away when she heard a sea nymph’s moans and persuasive voice begging someone to take her from below.

She looked down to the beach and saw her husband, Perseus, running to the sea nymph and lowering himself over her body. Andromeda’s mouth hung open, the sight stabbing into her heart more sharply than his sword held at her side. Perseus lowered his mouth to the sea nymph’s and kissed her, the sight almost causing Andromeda to slip from the rock in surprise.

“No,” she said softly, and then, “no,” a bit louder. She would not stand by and watch as her husband coupled lustfully with the daughter of Nereus upon the shore. Anger flared, and she wanted to take the shield and slam it over his head. But then remembering that Perseus acted not of his own will, she knew she needed to help him. No thought for her own safety, she removed the helmet making her presence known.

“Leave him alone,” she shouted from atop the rock. The sea nymphs looked upward, shading their eyes.

“There’s someone stealing the shield,” said one.

“It’s a girl,” said the other.

She saw Perseus lift his head, but Nerina only pulled him back into her heaving bosom. Andromeda picked up the heavy shield with a newfound strength and placed the helmet upon her head. With shield in one hand and sword at her waist, she directed the winged shoes downward toward the beach to take back from the sea nymphs the man who was hers and hers alone.

Perseus’s head snapped up at the sound of Andromeda’s voice, pulling him out of this madness. He found himself atop the beautiful sea nymph Nerina, and vaguely remembered how he had gotten there. Then it all became clear; he had been under the sea nymph’s spell since he’d entered the cove, and hadn’t even been aware of it. He had to secure the shield and get away from here before it was too late.

He tried to turn his head toward Andromeda’s voice, but Nerina kept him from doing so. She grasped his chin and forced him to look at her, but when Perseus felt her spell weaving around him again he closed his eyes to keep from surrendering to the sea goddess’s wishes.

“I’ll not fall under your spell again,” he told her.

“You will, because you love me. You want to marry me and stay with me forever.”

He found himself nodding, as was she, but then took hold of himself and pushed away.

“No!” he denied her. “I am already married. And I’ve heard my wife’s voice calling to me.”

“The shield is gone!” shouted the sea maiden with green hair.

Perseus pushed upward off Nerina, but ten pair of hands pushed him back atop her.

He looked up to the cliff and could see the accusation was true. The shield of Athena was nowhere in sight.

“The girl must have taken it,” called one.

“We have to find her,” said another.

The nymphs rushed to and fro, searching for Andromeda. Nerina’s arms continued to hold strong around him, and she wrapped her legs up and around his hips.

“Take me,” said Nerina. “Quickly.”

Perseus couldn’t get his mind off Andromeda, but every time he thought of her, the sea goddess did something else to distract him.

“Don’t you find me enticing?” she asked.

Perseus didn’t need to take another look to know that this was true.

“Yes,” he said, “you are very enticing, and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. And as much as I would like to couple with you in this … interesting position, I must leave you now and go back to my wife.”

Then he saw Andromeda’s footprints in the sand. With the removal of the helmet, she made her presence at his side known.

“Don’t make it sound so unappealing to come back to me,” Andromeda said with a sarcastic smile. “I hate to break up this little gathering, but I think it’s time to go, dear husband.”

“You are his wife?” asked Nerina.

“Yes, this is Andromeda,” Perseus supplied the information.

“Andromeda?”

Perseus heard the sea nymphs from behind him. But that is all he heard, as Nerina’s eyes pulled him inward again. His weight suspended by his arms, her legs wrapped around him, he found himself dipping closer for another kiss. That’s all he remembered before something came crashing down upon his skull and the world darkened around him.