The Legend of Perseus: The Labors

Ch. 12

To her utter surprise, the boy stepped forward and dropped to his knees at her feet. She lowered her bow and it vanished from her grip.

"It was I!" Perseus cried out. Though she couldn't see his face, she could tell from his voice he was crying. "It was an accident! I tried to scare it but it was so fast, it ran right into my arrow!" He never looked up at her, just graveled at the goddess' feet.

With a moment to collect her thoughts, Artemis recognized the child. He was Heracles' constant companion. She only knew of him because of the many sacrifices he made to her whenever he had a successful hunt. She had long ago noticed the child's remarkable skill with a bow, at least for someone of such a young age.

It took a minute, but she slowly started to register his words. It had been he who injured her beautiful stag. She was genuinely surprised. He was a very devout worshiper of the gods and if she recalled, a son of her uncle Poseidon. Though she felt no affection for the child, she was shocked that he would injure a creature known to be sacred to her.

"You did this?" Her intention was to be threatening but her tone lacked the coldness it'd had when addressing Heracles.

"He's lying," Heracles said from his spot on the ground. He'd apparently been just as stunned as she had and had yet to climb back to his feet.

The goddess held up her hand and Heracles' voice literally disappeared.

"Be silent, boy. I am not speaking to you." She continued to stare at the younger boy at her feet.

Perseus wiped his face to remove his tears and looked up at Artemis.

"Yes, my lady. Heracles told me not to hurt it under any circumstances. It was my fault, I didn't mean to but it was I who fired the arrow."

Apollo stepped closer to his sibling and said something softly in her ear. She bristled a little, annoyed at how close he was to her but listened to his words nonetheless.

"How old are you, boy?"

Perseus was surprised by the question.

"Eleven, my lady."

Artemis moved her eyes to the forest behind them. She waved a hand and the growing fires from their hunt were quickly extinguished.

Artemis appraised the boy before her. He was strong and from what she could sense, pretty powerful for such a young demigod. She glanced at his arm covered in the leather vambrace. She saw the condition of the skin underneath and immediately searched his memories for the cause. When she did, she mentally cursed Hera and her vindictive actions. She of all immortals on Olympus knew of the goddess' penchant for violence. She'd been on the receiving end of Hera's wrath as well, long ago when she was a young goddess. The thought of Hera doing this to a mere mortal child made her ichor boil, even if Perseus was a boy.

"Stand up," she ordered.

Perseus did as he was told and mentally prepared himself to be killed.

A small part of Artemis wanted to smite the boy just on principle. The boy had injured something sacred to her. But a larger part of her sympathized with his plight. This had been Hera's plan from the start. She wanted Artemis to destroy the two heroes for their actions. And if there was one thing Artemis had developed a taste for over the centuries of her life, it was finding ways to screw with Hera.

She also sensed something else in this young child of the sea.

A destiny.

It wasn't clear to her and it likely wasn't a certainty but she could sense the boy had a larger role to play than to just be Heracles' companion in his trials. She was not gifted with prophecy like Apollo but she was able to divine some things due to her status as an immortal goddess.