Bjerner and the Beast

Prologue

The Birth of a Beast
753, Jabal Tariq (Gibraltar)



"It’s not safe here.”

“We don’t have a choice,” Euryale pressed. “She’s –”

“Ahhhhhh!”

As Medusa’s nails dug into her shoulder, Euryale tried not to wince.

Shuddering against her, Medusa’s lower half, a great scaly tail, writhed on the ground while the snakes making up her hair hissed in agony. “We have…to keep…go–”

“We can’t,” Euryale said firmly. She looked up at their eldest sister, Stheno, deploring that they stop. Medusa would not make it much further. Her labour pains were too great.

Looking around them, Stheno cursed. There was no shelter out here. The sky was bright and sound travelled easily. Perseus would find them without challenge.

“Cut…them out.”

Euryale sucked in a harsh breath as her gaze flicked back to Medusa. Her sister’s mien was one of firmness and finality. But surely, she couldn’t be se–

“Lay her down.”

“Stheno!”

Ignoring her, their eldest sister dug into the leather pouch tied around her waist. She pulled out a vial filled with blue liquid. “Drink all of it.”

Medusa grabbed the potion without pause. Euryale’s heart clenched. If her sister drank that, Perseus would have no trouble cutting off her head.

“Don’t –”

“Ahhhhhh!”

As another contraction caused her sister to double over, Euryale tried her best to keep her upright. She wanted to knock the vial to the ground, but she knew she couldn’t. Medusa had made her choice. Her eyes watered.

“How could you?” she hissed, the pain and helpless frustration in her heart making her sound angry. “You knew better than to sleep with him. How could you think that he would protect you?”

“He promised –” Medusa gritted her teeth, her face contorting in pain. The vial shook in her hand.
Euryale’s eyes narrowed. “He’s promised many a girl, you dolt. Women throw themselves at him all the time.”

“Enough,” Stheno ordered as she slithered forwards and wrapped a hand around the vial. “It matters no more. The deed is done.” She helped Medusa raise the potion to her lips. “Now drink.”

Euryale looked away. She could not watch the act that would seal her sister’s fate.

As the wind changed direction, blowing towards them with a mocking gentleness, the three of them froze. The snakes on their heads all rose together, their long forked tongues licking out to taste the breeze.

Perseus.

“Stheno, we must –”

“Cut…them…”

“Don’t drop the vial!” Stheno snapped as she tightened her grip on her sister’s hand. She popped the cap back on, then ducked under Medusa’s arm. “We have to get to the top of the hill.”

“We’ll never…”

“Shut up, Medusa, and just reserve your strength. Now let’s move!”

They half-dragged, half-carried their youngest sister between them. Euryale’s shoulders ached from the weight of her, but she refused to slow down. They did not have any time to waste. Perseus’ scent was growing stronger. He was gaining on them. Any second and –

“Ahhhhhhh!”

Medusa slumped forwards, her pain too great to resist. Her two sisters staggered beneath her.

A shout of excitement sounded behind them.

Twisting around, Stheno pulled out her sword. “I’ll buy us some time,” she said. “You just get her to the top. There’s a cave hidden behind some vines. Follow the scent of guano.”

“Wait! I can’t –”

Her heart dropped as her sister disappeared into the trees. Stheno might be a great warrior, but Perseus had the favour of the gods behind him. Athena herself had gifted him with a shield to protect him from their stone-turning gazes.

Euryale’s fists clenched at the thought of the goddess. Athena had once been Medusa’s patron, her friend even. But instead of being understanding when Poseidon had seduced their sister (and what mortal could resist his charms?), Athena had cursed her with this monstrous form. And when Euryale and Stheno had stood beside her, outraged at the unfairness of it all, the goddess had cursed them too.

“Come on,” she urged as she pulled her sister’s torso back off the ground. Their tails and bellies slid across the forest floor, crackling the many dried leaves and twigs that sat in their way.

“We won’t…make…it.” Medusa gritted her teeth as she groaned.

“We will,” Euryale assured her despite not believing it herself. We have to. Medusa wouldn’t survive otherwise. Her sister had fallen in love with a mortal twenty years ago and had given up her mortality so she could age and die alongside him. The foolish girl.
Euryale’s snakes hissed, signalling her annoyance.
“Cut them…”

“Hush,” she snapped. “We’re almost there.”

But as the smell of guano filled their senses, a high-pitched, feminine scream sounded behind them. Crows cawed as they took to the air. Trees rustled loudly. The two sisters froze, their eyes wide.

“Stheno…”

“You have to –” Medusa groaned, pressing a hand to her stomach. “Go back.”

Euryale wanted more than anything to check on their sister, but instead, she shook her head. “No.” Dragging Medusa through the trees, she added, “Stheno is strong. He cannot kill her.”

Unless he has Gaia’s harpe.

Forcing such thoughts aside, Euryale sniffed out the hidden cave. It was behind a curtain of magical vines. They would be safe here; no one could enter without the blood of a gorgon.

After lowering Medusa to the ground, Euryale slid around to face her. “Do you still have the vial?”

She nodded jerkily.

“Drink it.”

Digging around in her pouch, Euryale pulled out a small blade. She gripped it tightly, her hand shaking. Forcing herself to calm, she took a deep breath. The knife stilled.

Looking Medusa in the eye, she waited for the potion to kick in. Her sister’s eyes slowly started to lose focus.

“Chrysaor…”

“What?” She was certain Medusa didn’t know anyone named Chrysaor. The man she’d loved all those years ago, his name started with an A…or was it an E?

“The name…of my baby…if I don’t…”

“Shhh,” Euryale soothed, her throat tightening at the idea of losing both sisters today. “Everything will be okay.”

“Pegasus…”

Euryale shook her head. “You will name your twins yourself.” Gently removing the vial from Medusa’s hand, she put it in her pouch. Another deep breath filled her lungs. The blade rested against Medusa’s stomach.

Gods, she wished Stheno was here to do this, but since she wasn’t, the duty was hers and it was one she could not shirk.

Snakes gave birth through the opening near the end of their tails, but Medusa had fallen pregnant before she’d been turned. Her children had developed in her original womb, making it impossible for her to give a natural birth. If Euryale didn’t cut them free, they would either suffocate or rip a way out themselves.

“Do…it.”

Euryale nodded. With one quick motion, she cut her sister’s skin. She concentrated on what she was doing rather than who she was doing it to. She peeled away the layers, reached in and felt around. A child’s crown met her fingertips. Rounded and smooth. No baby snakes made up its hair.

Pulling its head free, she then cleaned its mouth and nose, allowing it to breathe. On the first wail, Medusa began to cry. “My baby… My baby.”

Ignoring the emotions clogging her throat, Euryale focused on her task. It – he came out easily. A strong healthy boy that looked uncannily like his father. After placing the child in her sister’s arms, Euryale reached back inside for the second babe.

Medusa shrieked with a terrible, her scream ripping through the cave. Bats took flight in a flurry of wings. Panic grabbed Euryale’s heart and squeezed. Jerking upright, she looked at her sister. Her mouth dropped open in horror.

Medusa cradled her baby to her chest, rocking and screaming in agony. Hot tears ran down her face, mixing with the snot pooling out of her nose.

“Nooo! Nooooooooo!”

Euryale couldn’t believe it. The baby had turned to stone.