The Oracle of Delphi (Greek Myth Fantasy Series) (14 page)

“Can you tell me the way to the sea nymphs?” he asked politely, only roiling the old women further. They reached out their long nailed fingers toward him, but he stepped out of the way just as their hands came lashing down at him. “Guess not,” he said while flying from the cave. He could hear the clank of the eye hitting the ground as someone dropped it, and then the scurrying of the three old Graiae women searching for it.

He breathed deeply in the fresh air, surveying the magic bag. It was made from red velvet and swung from a golden cord. The bag itself was tiny, and Perseus sincerely doubted he would be able to use it. He opened it and held his helmet up to the bag. Instantly, the velvet stretched and pulled the helmet inside it, the strings pulling tight on their own to seal it within. “Amazing!” he marveled, wondering what else it could do.

“Not as amazing as this,” came Andromeda’s voice from somewhere above him. She stood upon the top of a large rock, his own dagger in her hand as she approached him. He noticed the rope in her other hand, and chuckled lowly. The little chit meant to tie him up just as he did to her.

“I am impressed, Princess. You managed to get loose, though I don’t know how.”

“Never trust anyone,” she told him. “After you tricked me at the lake, I decided to keep the dagger strapped to my leg.”

“I did not see it,” he told her.

“Of course not,” she said, coming down the rocks closer to him. “I had it under my robe.”

“Ah, no wonder. That would have been the last place I’d look, huh?”

“No, but it would be the last place I’d let you look.”

“You really don’t think you’re going to capture me and tie me up, do you?” He laughed, making her more furious.

“I most certainly am. And then I’m going to take you directly to Thessaly where you will slay the sea serpent before you do anything else.”

He reached out, and in one movement had disarmed her and thrown her body over his shoulder.

“When will you learn, Princess? I’m a demi-god. But even a child could have kept you from your ill attempt. Next time you’d better make sure you have a better plan to trap me.”

She kicked her heels into him, her hands slapping his back in protest as he walked toward the horses. “Put me down,” she said. “I demand you put me down at once.”

He untied the horses’ reins, placing her atop a saddle, and hoisted himself up after her. He led the other horse behind them. He would just make sure his feisty princess behaved from now on.

“We are supposed to find the sea nymphs next so I can get the shield of Athena,” he told her. “I don’t suppose you have had another snatch of memory and can tell me where to find them?”

She stiffened in his arms when he said sea nymphs. She stopped squirming and actually got quiet.

“No,” came her small voice from in front of him. “But even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

Andromeda’s heart leapt into her throat when Perseus announced they were off to visit the sea nymphs next. She knew exactly where to find them, and it had nothing to do with the knowledge of the oracle.

She wanted nothing to do with this mission of Perseus’s. The sea nymphs were part of her problem to begin with. Her parents had compared their daughter’s beauty to that of the sea nymphs, saying she was more beautiful. That is when Nereus sent the sea serpent to Thessaly to devour them. No god liked mortals comparing themselves to gods or children of the gods. And while the daughters of Nereus were not immortal, they would always be favored by their father.

To say the least, she did not want to seek the sea nymphs out purposely. Her name was known upon their lips, and the things they said about her were not good. She did not want to go up against one sea nymph, let alone the fifty daughters of the sea god Nereus.

“Well, I would guess we head to the sea, since they are sea nymphs,” commented Perseus from the saddle, right behind her. “What do you think, Princess?” His breath bathed her ear in a hot whisper, sending a shiver through her. She wanted to tell him his guess was incorrect and send him in the opposite direction, but she knew he wouldn’t believe it.

“Why do you ask me when you know very well that you will do what you want anyway?”

His hands rested on her thighs as they rode. “Mayhap we will find this sea monster of yours while we’re at it. Didn’t you say the thing is the pet of some sea god?”

“First,” she told him, “it’s not a sea monster. It is a sea serpent. There is a difference.”

“Can’t say I knew that. But then again, can’t say I care. Either way it is bound to be ugly.”

She ignored the fact he continued to jest about something that terrified her. She shook her head and continued. “And yes, it is the pet of Nereus, but you won’t find it by the sea nymphs in the cove because it is in Thessaly terrorizing my village.”

“Ah, hah! You do know where they are. I thought so. So I find these sea nymphs in the cove, do I?”

Andromeda bit the side of her cheek, furious with herself for divulging the information. Perseus had a way of making her do and say things that definitely marked him the son of a god.

“I didn’t say that,” she retorted.

“Oh, yes you did,” he chuckled. “You said it, and don’t try to deny it. I guess your memory from your experience at the pit is coming back to you after all.”

“I don’t think so,” she said dryly, knowing it had nothing to do with the oracle. She couldn’t remember a thing the oracle had showed her and severely doubted she ever would. An experience such as hers usually faded from one’s mortal mind. The gods saw to that so a mortal would never be more powerful than a god. “If you want to go visit the sea nymphs, I can’t stop you. But I refuse to go anywhere near the place, and there’s nothing you can do to make me change my mind.”

Perseus thought Andromeda had been acting strangely ever since he had mentioned the sea nymphs. He didn’t understand it, but figured mayhap she felt apprehensive to let her husband be in the midst of so many lusty women. He’d heard stories of sea nymphs with bodies like a goddess, hair of every color down to their waist, and a craving for coupling that would make any male eternally happy.

“Princess, you don’t need to worry. My fidelity lies with you as you are my wife.”

“What!” She turned in surprise, almost falling off the horse in the process. “It’s always about you, Perseus, isn’t it?”

The edge to her voice let him know her disappointment - or was it disgust?

“Well, isn’t that what takes your concern? That I will not be able to ward off the sea nymphs’ lust? I assure you, I can handle a few randy women.”

She pushed his hands from her thighs and rested her grip on the pommel. “A few? I can see you really know nothing of what happens on the mainland since you live such a sheltered life. Nereus has more than a few daughters. Try fifty!”

“Fifty?” He couldn’t help but smile. The thought of fifty lusty wenches surrounding him was not unpleasant. Not unpleasant at all.

“All naked,” she added.

He couldn’t help but shift positions with that information. Fifty naked women all after him would be a bit challenging, even for a demi-god.

“Well, as I said, you have no need for worry.” He tried to reassure her, but yet it did nothing to ease her tension. “Yours is the only naked body I want pressed against mine, though I can’t say it won’t be tempting just to look.”

“Stop with the fantasies, Perseus. If you must know, I have no desire to go near them because I’m not well liked by either the sea nymphs or their father Nereus.”

“Ah, that’s right. He’s the one that sent the sea serpent to Thessaly. I don’t suppose you would want to be near him. But mayhap while you’re there, you can ask him to call home his pet.”

“Perseus.” She turned partially to look at him while they rode. “It’s because of me the sea serpent was sent in the first place. My parents compared my beauty to that of the sea nymphs, which only angered their father.”

“Aye,” he said. “Well, if you are that adamant about it, you just stay hidden and I’ll approach the sea nymphs in the cove by myself. Here we are now.”

Perseus slipped from the horse, spying the cove in the distance. He listened to the female giggles coming from the other side of a small cliff, and heard the playful splashing of bodies slapping against the water.

“Sure you don’t want to come?” he asked one final time. “A naked swim in the water might be fun.”

He helped her from the horse, letting his hands slip over her hips in the process. How he longed to feel her naked hips between his hands once more and rock in the warmth of her sheathing body.

“I’ll wait here,” she said, looking anxiously toward the cove, though they could not see the sea nymphs. “Just be careful. They’re known to have been the ones to teach the sirens how to call a man to their side and mesmerize him into losing his ability to make a proper judgment.”

“I am not worried, Princess.” He kissed her atop the head. “No one but you can make me lose my ability to make a proper judgment.”

“I hope that is true,” she said, as he hurried around the cliff toward the cove.

Perseus saw them as soon as he rounded the edge of the cliff. Fifty sea nymphs in all their naked glory played in the water and dove from the rocks. Girls of all sizes and shapes, long hair, short hair, blondes, brunettes, redheads, and even a few with green hair like seaweed played before him. Every one of them a beauty, breasts and rumps in all shapes and sizes. This was the true fantasy of any man. Now he understood why a man could so easily lose his will.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he knew he must concentrate on his mission. He climbed to the top of a rock, announcing his presence.

“I am Perseus, son of Zeus,” he called out, gaining their attention. “I have come for the shield of Athena, which I am told is in your protection.”

The sea nymphs stopped playing and gave him their attention. Then the giggles started amongst them.

“A man!” cried a redhead, pointing at him for her sisters to see.

“A handsome man,” smiled another with long green hair. “Just the kind I like.” She jutted her bare breasts out of the water and walked toward him.

“I saw him first,” cried the redhead, pushing her sister under the water and swimming toward him.

Before he knew it, a wave of excited girls swam or ran toward him, all with the intent of coupling in their eyes. Perseus swallowed deeply, seeing this wasn’t going to go at all as planned. He jumped down from the rock, intending to go back to Andromeda, but he never made it.

A wave washed up from the sea so strong and clutching that it had to be the doing of the sea nymphs. It washed over him and knocked him to the ground. When he pushed up to his knees, a vine of seaweed wound its way from the water, grabbing his leg and pulling him out to sea. His hands stretched out in front of him and he grabbed at the wet sand trying to pull himself back, but to no avail. The sea nymphs surrounded him as he reached for his sword, never giving him a chance to sever the vine, as a pair of hands pulled the sword from his grip and another six sets of hands pulled at his clothing. Before he knew it, they had unstrapped his belt and stripped him of every piece of his clothing.

“Stop!” he called, but the water washed over him, the seaweed still dragging him outward. Female hands rubbed and pinched his flesh, touching his hair, and feeling the length of him, which only added to his own undeniable arousal. His head broke the water and he grabbed onto two nymphs in order not to be dragged under again.

“He chose me!” screamed the blond one in delight, pressing her mouth against his in very forceful kisses.

“He also chose me,” added the brunette in his other hand, rubbing her naked body against him.

Perseus knew now he should have heeded Andromeda’s warning. While he wanted only Andromeda, the sea nymphs seemed to hold a power over him, and he struggled in his mind with the idea of taking them one at a time until he had tasted every one of the fifty daughters of Nereus.

“I think he wants me,” yelled another from farther away.

“Mayhap he wants us all,” said one more, her voice breathy and excited.

Before he knew it, he had one sea nymph riding on his back and another clutching him from beneath the water, wrapping her long legs around his waist. They fought with each other, pulling him to and fro in the process, trying to decide which of them he really wanted.

“Andromeda!” he called in desperation, just as he was dragged once more beneath the water.

With the vine still wrapped around his leg, he struggled beneath the water, eyes open, watching the beauties flaunting their naked bodies before him in a grand show. His lungs burned from lack of air, but the girls showed no signs of ever needing to replenish their air. They were one with the water, breathing the liquid as well as air. They held him so tightly that he had no chance of escaping. He looked up to the top, sunlight filtering in, but all he could see were the sea nymphs everywhere, fighting with each other to get to him.

Just when he thought he had no hope of breathing again, the vine around his leg jerked him upward, sending him shooting out of the water and landing on a small isle.

He spit the salty seawater from his mouth and coughed until his lungs could cough no more. That is when he realized the nymphs were suddenly quiet. His body prone on the ground, he looked up to see two very large feet. Following them upward, he surveyed that they were attached to two very hairy legs and the body of the fiercest-looking man he had ever seen.

“I am Nereus, father of the sea nymphs,” the man told him.

Perseus stood, observing the man who was as naked as him. His long green hair flowed down around his shoulders, not hair at all, but seaweed. A circle of shells made up a crown on his head with starfish and sea horses wound into the design. His wide chest had more hair than his legs, and Perseus didn’t dare look below his waist. His eyes, aqua like the sea, held the same vibrancy as the water around him. His gaze was scrutinizing, and not at all welcoming.

“So you are the king of the sea,” Perseus remarked.

“Nay, Poseidon holds the title of king. But I am a god of the seas,” he boomed, “and have fathered fifty of the most beautiful nymphs ever to be seen.”

Perseus remained quiet, his silence only angering the god.

“Don’t you agree?” he bellowed.

Perseus remembered Andromeda’s story and realized he needed to be careful not to say anything negative towards his daughters.

“Oh, yes,” he said, looking around at the girls who encircled him on land and in the water. “Your daughters are very beautiful indeed.”

“More beautiful than any woman you have ever seen.”

“Of course,” he said, not able to keep the beautiful image of Andromeda from his mind.

“You come for the shield of Athena.”

“Yes, I do,” said Perseus with a smile.

“Zeus sent his messenger Hermes to tell me I am to give it to you.”

Thank goodness his father watched out for him. He had wondered how he was going to convince the sea god to let him have the shield.

“Why do you want this shield?” he asked, arms crossed over his chest, angrily staring down from his intense height.

“I am to have it to protect myself from Medusa.”

With Medusa’s name mentioned, the sea nymphs talked among themselves, their voices growing in volume so Perseus could barely hear the god’s next question.

“Why do you plan on confronting Medusa?”

He strained his ears to listen through the noise, looking at the sea nymphs in the process. With a wave of the sea god’s hand, Nereus sent a huge wave crashing over everything. Perseus grabbed on to a rock so as not to be washed back into the sea.

“Quiet!” Nereus yelled to his daughters. One by one their heads emerged from the water, now quiet, but still looking at Perseus with wanton eyes.

He couldn’t help but be enraptured by the essence of their eyes. Their beauty drew him in, and he found himself unable to look away.