The Children // ASSASSINS CREED ODYSSEY // DEIMOS

C30: The Conquest

His eyes widened,

"I...I have orders" his stutter was quick - both Eos and Laelaps were impressed, "stand guard and wait for reinforcements. They were due two nights ago" he gestured to the sea,

"You can stop waiting, we're here" Kassandra gestured to the three of them,

"You and your... dog..." Laelaps tilted his head, "won't talk so tough once you see them",

"All they shall see is the ferryman. Now, if you could" Kassandra gestured towards the red glow of death in front of them.

The Spartan nodded, a small smile on his lips, he gestured to his men to follow him.

He kept talking as the both of them joined him at the front, the lycaon a little bit ahead of them,

"Brasidas said that the... d-beast would...". Brasidas said that a creature devised by Zeus himself would accompany them in to battle, that they should try and stay out of his way and that, he thought the owner could be scarier than the pet did the beast come to any harm from a Spartan man. Not many of the men had believed him.

"He'll surround us, take out any stray Athenians" Kassandra said,

"Could he not just barrel through them" another Spartan asked,

"You have enough time to tell all your men not to run away from a lycaon" Eos asked, the man huffed,

"Spartans do not run",

Laelaps snorted. The small group of Spartans all looked over at him. Eos shook her head,

"No, you're not allowed to try" she said to the beast, "behave yourself" she looked back to the Spartan and smiled.

He looked away quickly.

"Did he actually-" Kassandra whispered as she leaned in a little close,

"No. He actually said something nice".

As they came upon the field of battle, the heat got even more unbearable,

"Barnabas might have ensured that a blade won't kill me but, this heat will" Eos said, she pulled at the collar of her chest plate,

"We've had warmers summers than this, come on" Kassandra said. She drew her sword. "Lets send these Athenians to Hades".

"Lets" Eos pulled out her own, a beautiful silver sword Kassandra had pulled from the hands of a dead cultist, they both felt it would be rather suiting.

Eos swung first, taking out an Athenian as Kassandra came up behind her, taking out another.

The Athenians were as strong as Brasidas had said they were, a dangerous drive pushing them through but, Eos had found her way around them in Boetia easily enough and, she cut through them almost as well as Kassandra did. Seems the misthios had been practicing.

"Eos, be careful" Kassandra had said as she watched an Athenian captain swing his sword and almost take Eos' head off her shoulders, which ended with Eos stabbing her dagger through his eye. Eos grinned and then dodged another, cutting at his legs and making him trip over.

As the battle wore on and the fire became an enemy to both Spartan and Athenian, Eos and Kassandra got separated, cutting down Athenians, cutting down their Captains and, getting further and further in, catching glimpses of Laelaps as he grabbed Athenians by the leg and dragged them away, which only made the men move further in, the field getting all the more crowded.

Eos, having stabbed a her sword through the heart of an Athenian had looked up, finding Brasidas. She was about to call out and tell him it wasn't all that bad but then, she spotted him.

Deimos.

He walked so steadily, cutting down Spartans as if they were toys. He was in his element.

Moments like these was what he was created for.

Brasidas ran towards him,

"Brasidas" Eos and Kassandra voice echoed at the same time but, Eos was closer as Deimos swung his sword at him and then tripped him over with it. Eos pushed past the Athenian she was fighting, stabbing him in the gut with her dagger quickly in a bid to get to Brasidas, to make sure he was alive but, as she swung her sword at an Athenian Captain who thought he could catch her off guard, she had turned her back to him.

Deimos hadn't seen her, he couldn't possibly know it was her but, she felt the bottom of a foot connect with her back and throw her forward, taking the Athenian with her.

Eos rolled over and jumped back up, the chest plate had taken most of the blow but, she jumped straight in to his hands. Deimos grabbed her by the throat and held her up,

"I told you to sta-"

Something cried out and Eos felt herself go cold, saw the hesitation in Deimos' eyes as he froze for a moment. They both looked, along with some of the other men. Eos spotted Laelaps quickly, he was surrounded by men, coloured in blue but, she could see the purple accents - the cult...

"Dei-" he threw her and she landed on a group of soldiers. Eos felt something break, could even feel the blood. She rolled over and felt a sheild from one of the men below her smack her in the head, making her go faint.

She heard Kassandra, heard the two siblings clash - she was sure everyone had. Eos closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then tried to push herself up but, another one of the men she was still atop of kicked her off and, as she rolled over again, on to the ground, she saw Laelaps in the distance, saw one of the men bludgeon him over the head, his eyes rolling back as he collapsed.

Eos blacked out with him.

It was only minutes, she was sure but, as she opened her eyes once more, she pushed herself up, to find the lycaon gone, his body moved - men dying around her. She heard something fall, heard Kassandra call out.

Pushing herself around, Eos felt the blood seeping over her skin, this pain she couldn't find, couldn't see. Her eyes were so shakey and dark, she only just saw a tree fall a top Kassandra as the misthios tried to grab at something in front of her.

Eos tried to get up but, the pain was too much. She felt herself black out again, only to open her eyes, to see the smoke starting to clear, hear the groans and grunts of dying and injured men surrounding her.

Eos looked to where the trees had fallen, watched as they dragged an unconscious Kassandra up, shackling her before they threw her on to a wagon. Deimos was there, his armour bloodied and tired, his back to her.

Eos let herself fall back.

Where would they take her.

Where had they taken Laelaps.

They couldn't have killed him.

Not yet. Not like that.

The pain she felt grew that little stronger and, whether it was from that, the shock, the sudden cold chill or the vomit that was swelling up in the back of her throat, she felt her eyes close and she blacked out again.

"She has to be here somewhere" someone said desperately as Eos woke once more, staring at the smoke that covered the blue sky of morning. She moved her head slightly, could feel the ache in her bones. "She can't have-there" she heard the rush of foot steps, grabbed at where she'd put her dagger only for it to fall out of her hand as she brought it to the man who knelt next to her, she tried to grab him instead.

She stopped,

"Eos, it's okay" - but it wasn't. Eos looked at her hand, at where the dagger should have been, t the twisted pieces of bones where her fingers should have been, at the bruises up her arm, at how the blood had seeped from under the greaves.

"Barnabas" Eos croaked.