The Haunting of Guaritori Diolco, Part 23
Battle and Betrayal
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Several of the Olympians and Titans tried to invoke protective magic, but Typhoeus’s attack was so massive that I doubted last-minute protections would have been sufficient.
However, Typhoeus hadn’t counted on Gaia intervening. From what I could gather from Hermes’s memories, her interventions, aside from breeding occasional monsters or giants to oppose Zeus, were normally subtle. At most, she would send power to Olympians like Demeter and Persephone. But this plane of existence was unsettled, and Gaia had fought Tartarus only a short time ago. Was it really a surprise that she would defend so many of her children against Typhoeus?
A massive shield of solid rock so big that it completely blotted out the sky rose between us and Typhoeus. The lava struck hard enough and was hot enough to melt any normal stone, but the barrier that Gaia had created resisted the attack. However, the stone gradually reddened from the heat, and cracks began to form.
“Great Mother, your defense is welcome, but Typhoeus will break through it soon. Will you support us if we counterattack?” asked Zeus.
“Restrain him, but do not kill him,” replied Gaia, her gentle voice sounding much sterner than before.
Zeus, who might not have been able to kill Typhoeus, anyway, looked as if he had mixed feelings about getting only carefully qualified support, but he had a much bigger problem.
“How can we attack when Gaia’s shield blocks our power as much as that of Typhoeus?” asked Poseidon.
As if in answer, a small gap between the shield and the surface of Olympus opened just to our left. Another opened far to our right.
“Titans, distract Typhoeus from one side. Olympians, we will attack from the other.”
Cronus scowled at being ordered around by Zeus, but the stone above us was now red hot, and trickles of lava dribbled through the cracks. The dethroned king gestured to his fellow Titans, who scrambled out from under the shield on the other side.
While the Titans positioned themselves, Hades summoned his chariot, which stretched out to accommodate all of us.
“Garth, maximum concealment!” commanded Zeus as we boarded the chariot.
I hadn’t used the leftover magic of Hermes in some time, but I had no choice now. I wrapped us in enough concealment to give myself an immediate migraine. It might still not be enough to keep Typhoeus from seeing us, but it should buy us a few seconds to get into position.
“Truce!” yelled Cronus from somewhere above us.
“There will be no truce!” roared Typhoeus. “Surrender or die!”
Hades’s chariot moved quickly through the gap and out into the open air—which was several times hotter and filled with enough ash to choke us. Hecate used air magic to keep the air around us breathable and to reduce the heat, though the magnitude of Typhoeus’s attack was so great that even she could only partially protect us.
Typhoeus had started flinging lava at the Titans, but the attack was smaller scale, and they managed to dodge. Hyperion, father of the sun, moon, and dawn, countered the monster’s attack with blinding light. Typhoeus wasn’t as vulnerable to that approach as most beings, considering that his hundred heads looked in a wide variety of different directions. But at least, Hyperion blinded those heads facing him and kept the others from turning in his direction, meaning that the monster could no longer aim attacks at the Titans.
I worried that the heads looking in our direction might spot us, but so far, the concealment had held. I wished I could say the same for my head, which throbbed more and more painfully. But I might only need to maintain the Hermetic magic for just a little longer.
The Titans spread out to divide Typhoeus’s attention. Hyperion remained east of the monster. Coeus shifted to the north. As the Titan of the heavenly axis around which the constellations revolved, he invoked various astral powers, creating a variety of distracting lights that seemed to dizzy the heads facing his way. Crius took the south and gave himself a ram’s head as he radiated red, warlike energies at Typhoeus to cause the heads facing him to lose their power to reason. Iapetus took the west and radiated his deathlike energy, striking fear into the heads that faced his way.
The younger Titans moved into supporting positions. Atlas stood behind his father, lending his strength to heighten the terror Iapetus invoked. From behind Crius, Pallas, Titan of Warcraft, cast spears at the nearby heads. From behind Coeus, Astraeus, Titan of stars and planets, hurled meteors at Typhoeus. From behind Hyperion, Pallas, Titan of destruction, blasted the monster with his corrosive power.
Many of the heads screamed in response to these assaults. Some lapsed into unconsciousness. Others bled from their wounds. But some of them retained enough sense to fling lava at their foes, forcing them to dodge and limiting their attack.
From above, Cronus descended on the monster, his deadly sickle flashing erratically from the many light sources. He had gone undetected so far, but surely, at least one head would see him coming.
“Now!” commanded Zeus.
Hades’s chariot had reached a point close to where Cronus was descending. The three Hecatoncheires threw themselves from the chariot and started slicing with the swords in their hundred hands as soon as they hit Typhoeus. Hades moved the chariot close enough to stab with his own bident, shooting death energy directly into the heads he touched. Poseidon lashed out with his trident, striking with earthquake-producing force. Hecate used her magic to add to the confusion among Typhoeus’s heads. The other Olympian women shielded us as best they could. Had Typhoeus been able to mount a full-scale lava attack, they would have failed. But Typhoeus, most of whose heads were now injured, was no longer firing at anything like his full potential. What had been a flood of lava was now more like a dribble.
As for Zeus, he chose this moment to launch his signature lightning attack at close range, burning Typhoeus and throwing the few remaining functional heads into turmoil.
Finally able to let go of the concealment, I felt only a little better. A bit of hope slipped in around the edges of my migraine. As far as I could tell, Typhoeus was losing badly. How much longer could he resist the combined attacks of so many powerful foes?
I had only a couple of seconds to savor the impending victory. Cronus must have shifted his flight to come down near Zeus instead of on top of Typhoeus. By the time I noticed how close the Titan was, I had no way to stop him as he used the sickle to slash open Zeus’s throat.
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