Etsuyo trotted back to Perseus’s body and shape-shifted to take his form. She donned his armor and used his shield as a looking glass to locate Medusa’s head on the ground. In the reflection, Medusa’s eyes were a piercing, pure white gold.
“Huh,” Etsuyo said before mounting Medusa’s head of wriggling snakes to the blunt end of a spear.
Still in Perseus’s form, she gazed at his face in the shield.
“What do you think?” she asked her new companion.
Medusa hissed. “I can still see your tails,” she mocked from the far end of the spear.
Etsuyo rested the spear on her shoulder with Medusa at the end, staring at the ground, her snakes slithering like some eldritch flag.
“What are we doing?” Medusa demanded.
Etsuyo walked a path through the statues back towards the dunes.
“I’m going to my village.” Etsuyo’s eight tails flicked with excitement. “You will live out your days on the beach with a nice view of the sea.”
Etsuyo ran back up the dune just as Pegasus flew overhead carrying Bellerophon, the Grecian spear-hurling slayer of beasts. They silently glided towards Tiamat, as the dragon feasted on the beach.
“Ha! What now?” Medusa taunted.
Etsuyo shrugged. “As I’ve said, I’m leaving you here and I’m taking Perseus’s shield to my village.”
“Fool! You will have no village to return to. Unless wondrous Pegasus can stomp a dragon into the sand, your trick has all but assured that Tiamat will win this battle and shape this failed world again.”
Etsuyo felt a tingle in her fur.
“You are wrong, Medusa. A fox’s luck always comes through.” Etsuyo looked up.
Twelve opalescent faeries pursued Pegasus and Bellerophon as they dove for Tiamat.
“Faeries!” Bellerophon shouted. “You promised me magic! The time is come!”
“A faerie’s promise,” Medusa sneered. “Pegasus! Do you hear me? Fly to victory!”
The faeries cast a burst of spitfires and Pegasus whinnied with glee as a unicorn horn grew from his head.
Then he fell.
Though endowed with astounding magic, the Pegasus’s wings scraped wildly at the sky, for unicorns don’t know how to fly and Pegasus knew no spells.
Winged unicorn and rider crashed into Tiamat and fell to the beach unmoving.
“I can’t see,” Medusa said. “What happened?”
“The faeries kept their word,” Etsuyo offered.
“So much for your fox’s luck! They've taken beloved Pegasus from this world.”
Interrupted from her cosmic lunch, Tiamat torched the faeries with her breath. Then ancient eyes and embers turned to Etsuyo who was still in Perseus’s form.
Tiamat approached them.
Medusa screamed from over Etsuyo’s shoulder, “I hear footsteps! Turn me around!”
Etsuyo felt a tingle through her fur and she grinned.
“Ha!” Etsuyo cried. “I told you: a fox’s luck is—”
Something stung her leg.
“Yip!” Etsuyo cried in pain.
She dropped to her knees and released the spear.
Medusa’s fell face-down. She puffed sand from her mouth and attempted to raise her head with her snakes.
A silver arrow protruded from Etsuyo’s thigh. She looked down the dune to see Diana nocking another arrow.
“Some luck!” Etsuyo protested.
Tiamat grinned. “Ahhh. Little fox dressed like a man.”
“What’s happening?” Medusa implored.
Tiamat raised her head and took in a great breath.
“We’re to be skewered by Diana and roasted by Tiamat,” Etsuyo said.
Continue Reading: Etsuyo’s Sunrise Part 4
Tiamat image by pixelgiant.co
All other images by Ben Bittner