Hunted (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Six)

not shown any more concern before now.
    “She’s wounded but stable until we finish here.”
    “Are we not finished?”
    “Not quite. Will you follow me to the edge of the clearing? You too, Herne?”
    “Certainly,” Flidais replied, and Herne said aye.
    “We mislike riding in the sun,” he said, “but will endure for the sake of our guests.”
    The sun had a proper start on the morning now, and the cloud of debris from Windsor Castle was clearly visible once we reached the edge of the pasture. Helicopters were still circling around the Home Park but had yet to stray this far.
    “Shouldn’t be much longer,” I said. “If Odin was watching that all unfold, then I’m sure the Olympians had some eyes on us as well.”
    The ankle-winged boys didn’t keep us waiting. Less than a minute later, they zipped in from the south and hovered at twelve feet to deliver their decree from on high.
    “We bring an urgent message from Jupiter and Zeus,” Mercury boomed.
    I squinted and held a hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun. “You guys want to talk to me, get down here. I’m getting a crick in my neck looking up at you.”
    They floated down but kept themselves a foot off the ground so that they were still looking down at me.
    “Zeus and Jupiter demand the release of the huntresses.”
    “No,” I said. “We’re not doing this again. I’m not going to do a long-distance negotiation with the gods of the sky. I want a face-to-face.” I purposely turned away from Mercury and locked eyes with Hermes. “I want you to bring Zeus and Jupiter here to negotiate in good faith, safe conduct guaranteed on both sides, or so help me we will set the earth against all Olympians and none of you will ever be able to set foot on this plane again. Is that understood, Hermes?”
    The Greek god nodded but said nothing. Mercurycouldn’t stand the lack of attention and said, “I, not Hermes, deliver messages to Jupiter, Druid.”
    Oberon. Take a risk for me? Pee on the Roman’s leg and then run
.
    
    You’re a guest here too, see
.
    
    “I know that, Mercury,” I replied, “but I respect Hermes. He’s not a jumbo ox box, for one thing.”
    Mercury blanched, and then his complexion colored to a dyspeptic ochre. “What was that?” he said betwixt ground teeth. He didn’t know what a jumbo ox box was, but he was certain he didn’t like being called one. While he worked himself up to a rage, Oberon trotted up behind him and lifted a leg. A yellow stream of urine splashed against Mercury’s right leg near the back of the knee and trickled down his calf, wetting one of his wings. “What?” he said, flinching away and twisting to see what had happened.
    Run now!
     Oberon said, as he bunched his legs and leapt away from the swing of Mercury’s caduceus. It grazed his ribs but did no damage.
    “Cur!” Mercury shouted, and gave chase, cruising above Oberon’s back. He swung and whiffed again as Oberon juked to the right.
    
    “Herne?” I said. “He’s attacked a guest.” I waved at Mercury, and before the god could process that he’d overstepped his bounds, he had three ghosts on top of him, preventing further flight, and that was just for starters. The hounds leapt at his ankles and tore off his wings with their teeth. They shook the feathers like bird dogs as he fell screaming to the ground. Hermes tensed, ready to fly to Mercury’s aid, but I advised him to stay out of it. “You have a message to deliver, remember?”
    That gave him pause and he wafted higher, out of reach. He snarled as he watched Herne and the hunters dismember Mercury into god cutlets. At my signal, Albion did his part and began to coat the various parts into the crust of the earth.
    The bags around Hermes’s eyes glowed red, and his musical voice said, “There will be a reckoning, Druid.”
    “What do you
reckon
this is, Hermes?” I pointed to Mercury, who was now being covered in clay and hollering about it. “This is what will become of all Olympians who seek to put me in my place. I will place them underground in pieces for eternity, unable to heal and unable to die. I don’t wish that, however, and I’m sure the Olympians don’t wish it either. Nothing has been done that cannot be undone. So, please, get you to Zeus and Jupiter too, and ask them to come speak in peace so that we can live in harmony