Thief of Olympus (Greek Myth Series Book 3) (23 page)
Read Thief of Olympus (Greek Myth Series Book 3) Online
Authors: Elizabeth Rose
I enjoyed writing
Thief of Olympus
. With two very alpha characters such as Lysandra and Zarek, one can’t help but be surprised by the circumstances as they both try to gain superiority.
The gods were known to be petty and cruel, and one did not think of ever defying them. But those in desperate need of saving their baby would, and that’s why I decided Zarek and Lysandra were perfect candidates to have to steal from the gods. And while Lysandra and Zarek went up to Mt. Olympus, home of the gods – it is the opposite in
Kyros’ Secret,
Thera and Kyros go down to Hades in the Underworld.
The Oracle of Delphi
finds my hero Perseus and heroine Andromeda fighting gorgons as well as a sea serpent. In
The Pandora Curse
,
Vara the Conqueror is plagued by the sins of her great-grandmother, Pandora, and now the Furies haunt her head. Nikolai, seer and demi-god is sent by Hera to collect her vices in secret.
You may also enjoy some of my other medieval series:
Elemental Series
:
The Dragon and the Dreamwalker
Book 1: Fire
The Duke and the Dryad
Book 2: Earth
The Sword and the Sylph
Book 3: Air
The Sheik and the Siren
Book 4: Water
Or you may want to try
Legacy of the Blade Series:
The books in the
Daughters of the Dagger Series
are:
Book Trailer
Ruby
– Book 1
Sapphire
– Book 2
Amber
– Book 3
Amethyst
– Book 4
This series is followed by my Scottish
Madman MacKeefe
series, with the first book being about the girls’ brother,
Onyx – Book 1
,
who they thought was dead.
Aidan – Book 2
is next,
followed by
Ian – Book 3.
Barons of the Cinque Ports Series
:
The Baron’s Quest
– Book 1
The Baron’s Bounty
– Book 2
The Baron’s Destiny
– Book 3
Tangled Tales Series:
Lady and the Wolf
(Riding Hood)
Just a Kiss
(Frog Prince)
Please be sure to visit my website at
Elizabethrosenovels.com
for more information on this series and to subscribe to my blog in order to receive updates about new releases. You can also read excerpts from any of my novels on my website as well as get sneak peeks at covers of upcoming books. And please remember that there are other authors by the same name, but my novels can be identified by the rose on every cover. Be sure to take a look at my new
book trailer videos
as well. And if you’d like to follow me on twitter, my handle is ElizRoseNovels, and my facebook is Elizabeth Rose – Author (don’t forget the dash.)
I have included some excerpts for your enjoyment. Thanks for your support!
Elizabeth Rose
Excerpt from
The Oracle of Delphi
(Greek Myth Fantasy Series)
Princess Andromeda approached the cave on horseback, able to see the huge stone statue of Apollo guarding the entrance to the cave even from the bottom of the mountain. She had come a long way from her father’s kingdom in Thessaly. She knew she should not be here alone, and especially not without requesting an audience, but her will and determination drove her forward, desperate to try to save her own life. Her villagers were being consumed in massive numbers at the jaws of the sea serpent sent upon them by Nereus, the sea god.
The proud boasting of her parents, Queen Cassiopeia and King Cepheus, saying her own beauty far surpassed that of the sea nymphs, is what brought the wrath of the god upon their heads. Nereus’s daughters numbered fifty, and to compare a human to fifty nymphs was indeed a hideous crime.
Thessaly in turmoil, her father had come to seek an answer from the Oracle of Delphi. But the answer he’d returned to Thessaly with, was one Andromeda did not want to hear. The oracle had suggested her life be sacrificed in order to sate the sea serpent and set their village free.
While her parents loved her dearly, they had never gone against the oracle’s words. She was indeed to be sacrificed to the sea serpent, and only because of the help of her father’s steward did she escape with her life. Klaus had seen to it she had secured a horse and ridden off without being detected. Had her father known, Klaus would have been sentenced to death for what he had done.
Andromeda needed to find a solution that would free Thessaly from the sea beast and at the same time spare her own life.
She dismounted lightly, pulling her cloak around herself to keep her identity hidden. One look over her shoulder led her to believe she had not been discovered. Tying her horse’s reins onto a limb of a tree, she scanned the entrance to the cave, expecting to see a warrior at the door. Luck was with her, as no one but the stone Apollo guarded the entrance.
The sky clouded over, and thunder split the air, forcing Andromeda to hurry. The waves crashed upon the cliffs in the distance, and she had no doubt Nereus had heard of her escape. She stopped just inside the cave while rain poured down. Steam came off the stones at the foot of the entrance. Lowering her hood, she shook the water from her soaked clothing and inched forward cautiously.
Her parents once told her she had spent time with the priestess of the oracle when she was nothing more than an infant. Her parents hoped she would be trained to someday take the oracle’s place. But her fate supposedly held a different route - a route not made known at the time by the oracle’s prophecies. Now she hoped her fate hadn’t been to die in the belly of a sea serpent. She had to know for sure. She had to hear it from the oracle herself or she would never believe it.
The smell of damp earth invaded her nostrils, mixed with the essence of burning herbs and rotting filth. It stirred a memory deep within her, a vague remembrance of sitting on the priestess’s lap as a baby while the woman contacted the oracle. Andromeda prayed not to remember more, as it frightened her so.
Torches lit the stone stairway, guiding the way to the pit. Flames leaped up to greet her from the platters of burning oil perched atop floor-stands lighting the space before her. She ran her hand along the stone cold wall, descending the stairs that would take her to the Oracle of Truth. Her breathing labored when she heard a hollow ringing sound, stirring memories of her infancy to life.
Then she saw it. A pit. A dark pit which she knew had no bottom. A tall golden chair with three legs stretched across the pit and traveled high into the air like a pyramid paying homage to the gods. Her eyes followed it upward, settling on the beautiful vision of a priestess - a queen atop her throne.
The woman wore a gown of pure white. Laurel and white wool, wrapped in a circlet around her golden hair. Andromeda felt a sense of kinship with this woman. Almost as if she had returned home. The eyes of the priestess were closed, and her head wobbled back and forth as if she were in a trance.
Five hooded priests walked out from behind a stone wall encircling the pit. Scrolls tucked under their arms, they also carried feather-tipped writing instruments in their hands. She stood silently in the shadows, watching.
They did not look at her, and she was not even aware her presence was evident until the priestess, eyes still closed, called out her name.
“Princess Andromeda. We’ve been expecting you.”
She felt a shiver run the course of her spine. Nobody knew her destination, yet the priestess spoke as if she’d requested an audience prior to her arrival. Truly, the oracle could foresee the future.
“I . . . come to ask a question.” She cleared her throat and waited for a response.
The priestess’s eyes opened and looked right through her.
“You want to know how to rid your village of the sea serpent.”
Andromeda nodded, the lump in her throat being in the way of her speech.
“I will consult the oracle,” she said, and closed her eyes again.
Andromeda waited, but nothing happened. The priests stood waiting also, anticipating an answer. She thought the priestess had fallen asleep and was about to ask a second time, when thunder boomed. It echoed off the cave walls, and caused the golden tripod fixture to vibrate and ring out once more.
A thick, putrid mist raised from the pit, surrounding the priestess to the point that Andromeda could barely see her. The woman atop the chair twisted and her head jerked. Her eyes remained closed, while the mist seemed to became one with her body.
Andromeda vibrated, closing her eyes, feeling the oracle’s presence strong and firm. It felt so familiar that she wondered if possibly she did have the gift of contacting the oracle also. Then the priestess spoke with quick, inaudible gibberish words. Andromeda watched as the priests scribbled fast across their scrolls. They may have understood, but she did not. Mayhap this was the reason she was not destined to follow in the oracle’s footsteps.
She stepped forward bravely, only inches from the stone circle around the pit.
“I do not understand,” she said, looking up at the priestess. “Can you please slow down your words?”
Through the priestess’s lips came a sibilant whisper, turning into an eerie, ugly voice that froze Andromeda to the spot.
“Only a demi-god such as Perseus can slay the sea serpent.” The voice was not of the priestess, but rather of the mist or whatever lived in the bottomless pit.
“But surely, there must be a way to stop it from consuming the people of my village.”
“Your parents have erred by angering the gods. Only a sacrifice will stop the serpent now.”
“A sacrifice,” she repeated. “Yes, that is a fine idea.” The oracle hadn’t mentioned Andromeda at all, and she felt a sense of relief wash over her. “A lamb or perhaps even a calf is good, I suppose. Or should it be a sacrifice of crops from the field, or mayhap some of the villagers’ possessions?”
She gave every suggestion she could think of, hoping the oracle liked her ideas of what to sacrifice to the sea serpent. But just as she thought she had swayed her decision, the oracle spoke again.
“You are that sacrifice, Andromeda,” said the voice. “If the serpent is to be stopped, you must give your life to sate its hunger.”
“No,” she cried. “Surely you are mistaken. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m the one who came here to save my people, but I will not give my life to do it.”
“Giving your life is suggested.”
“Suggested,” she repeated. “Now what does that mean? Are you saying my fate is already determined, or are you saying it can still be changed?”
The oracle hissed through the priestess, obviously challenged by Andromeda’s words. Andromeda was sure no one had ever spoken so boldly to the Oracle of Delphi.
The priestess jerked and twisted again, almost falling from the tall chair into the pit. Two of the priests tucked their scrolls into their robes quickly, scurrying up the gold ladder, taking the priestess into their arms and guiding her to the ground. The foul-smelling mist subsided, finally disappearing into the dark pit.
“The oracle has spoken,” was all she heard, no louder than a whisper.
She quickly followed the priests who were taking the weak priestess into a back room built into the cave.
“Wait!” she called, holding up a hand, but they did not pay her any attention. “You can’t leave yet. I need an answer.”
She found herself alone in the middle of the large, frightening cave. Fire still burned in the floor sconces and from the torches stuck into the cracks of the stone wall. She looked at the three entwined stone serpents carved into the short wall that circled the pit. Their gemstone eyes glowed with the reflection of the fire. She had heard that the mist from the pit was the spirit of the dead. The oracle spoke through this mist, entering the priestess’s body to give its answers. Mayhap she could do the same. She had felt its presence when the priestess joined with it just now. She decided to try to get a different answer from the oracle on her own.
The chair still vibrated, and she reached out her hand to touch it. It called to her, lured her closer, bringing back memories of her infancy sitting atop the priestess’s lap when the oracle was called forth. Before she knew it, she found herself climbing the gold steps that led up to the tripod chair.
Her body felt surprisingly calm, as if the chair itself caressed her. As she settled herself atop the high seat, she looked down into the deep, dark pit and felt it calling to her.
Was there really something down there that could see the future? The stench from the mist lingered and her head lightened. A chill ran up her spine causing her to shiver. Fear and anxiety consumed her and suddenly, she was not at all confident. She no longer knew if she could call forth the oracle - and survive. She had decided to crawl back down when a voice called to her from the place she had stood just moments before, waiting for her own answer from the Oracle of Delphi.
“Oh great priestess, I come unannounced, but I humbly seek your help. I need an answer from the oracle, please.”
She looked down at the man looking up at her. His tall, muscular frame stood rigid, like a warrior preparing for battle. Handsome was he, more handsome than any of the men in her own village. His hair had a slight curl to it, shining the color of acorns in the firelight. His regal face graced him as an Adonis in her eyes. His high cheekbones and long nose led to a thin mouth, accentuating the slight shadow of stubble on his jaw.
One hand rested on the sword at his waist. His feet were spread and planted in a warrior’s stance. His traveling clothes consisted of a long tunic with a bright red cape thrown carelessly over one shoulder. She wondered who he was, as she had never seen him before. Probably a traveler passing through on his way to sell his services to a king’s army.
“Who are you?” she found herself asking, mesmerized by the man’s hawk-like eyes. His brows dipped above his golden orbs as if he felt confusion.
“I am Perseus, dear priestess. I thought the oracle would know my identity without my confirmation.”
She suddenly realized he thought she was the Oracle of Delphi. She’d almost forgotten she’d climbed atop the priestess’s chair. She shifted and opened her mouth, meaning to correct him. But then his name, Perseus, resonated within her mind and she suddenly remembered the oracle saying he - a demi-god - would be the only one able to slay the sea serpent of Nereus.