The wind rushed all around Bellerophon as he and Pegasus soared over the rivers and mountains of Lykia. It was as if he were caught in some unbelievable dream, but not one of the nightmares that had so frequently haunted the lonely nights the whole of his life. He was flying unlike any mortal man before him, seeing the world from such a perspective as to change him for all time.
As he and his new-found ally left Xanthos behind, he finally felt, without any doubt, that the Gods were truly with him. He shared the Gods’ view of the world below then, and he knew that it was something he would never be able to forget.
Riding Pegasus, however, required more attention that he was giving it, and he nearly plummeted to his death several times but for the stallion’s skill in managing his rider.
Pegasus’ wings were strong and broad, the wondrous feather-like span filled with air as they soared and circled in the blue skies.
“The princess said that it was to the northeast, high in the treeless mountains where there are fires constantly burning.” Bellerophon was not sure if Pegasus understood him, but when the stallion adjusted his course, he felt certain he did. He smiled. “By the Gods!” he said as they flew higher and higher, his stomach tightening as he held on tightly with his legs, his fists white about the golden reins. “Look!”
Bellerophon peered along Pegasus’ strong neck and mane to see pillars of smoke rising up from the valley below, one after another, more fires than he had seen on his previous journeys through that land. “The beast must be down there somewhere!” Bellerophon said over the sound of the wind, but as they circled lower and lower to get a better view, they found the creature gone, the only sign that it had been there the destruction it had wrought, and the cries of the people far below.
Bellerophon spotted children wailing over the bodies of their slain parents, and the sight fired his determination to slay the creature. It was no longer about proving himself or his innocence. He knew he was innocent. It was about stopping the suffering of Lykia’s people, and helping Philonoe. “Keep going, Pegasus!” he said, squeezing with his legs and turning the stallion’s head to the northeast and the distant mountains.
As they flew farther, the land grew bleaker, the air more choked with fume and smoke. There were no more crops to speak of, for they had long ago been turned to cinder. Only the hardiest of scrub grew, but after a while, even that disappeared.
Bellerophon felt fear creeping in upon him, subtle and menacing, for he remembered Athena’s words, her warning…
Pain, and fire, and venom are her allies. She sees all, hears all. She crawls into you and will maul your soul if you let her. The world is aflame when she is near. She is merciless…she is death.
“How can such a creature exist?” Bellerophon wondered aloud, unable to comprehend what it might look like. Of course, he knew of the dreaded Hydra at Lerna, but had never ventured there. And Cerberos…well…if things went badly, he would meet Hades’ hound soon enough. But a sibling of both? “I’ve hunted lions before,” he said to himself.
The sun’s chariot was moving quickly overhead and as Bellerophon looked up at it, he spied Helios himself leaning over in the cab to look at him and Pegasus just before they sped away into the grey and choking clouds of the Chimera’s domain.
Suddenly, Pegasus swerved and neighed loudly as rocky peeks swept dangerously close to his underbelly.
Bellerophon fell forward, his arms around the stallion’s neck, his shield and quiver of spears falling forward.
Pegasus began to shake his head wildly, trying to regain his equilibrium.
“Are you trying to kill me?” Bellerophon yelled at the stallion when they regained control.
Pegasus glanced back and bucked at that.
“Whoa! Easy!” Bellerophon yelled, unable to see anything but Pegasus’ swirling white mane and violently flapping wings. “I’m sorry!” he shouted, clinging to Pegasus with all of his might.
Pegasus softened his airborne stride, and in that moment, the mountain over which they had passed fell away to reveal a long desolate valley of jagged rock.
Bellerophon began to think of how he would be able to fight the beast, for he had never done battle from horseback, let alone from atop a horse whose wings he could injure by swinging a sword or casting a spear. Panic began to take hold of him, and in his mind he could hear the roar and hiss that had taken root in his dreams of late.
Then, Pegasus stumbled slightly, regaining his flight.
Bellerophon looked up to see the stallion’s ears pitched forward, listening to something. The roar and hiss came again, and Bellerophon knew then that it was no dream.
Far below, as they dropped from the ceiling of grey cloud and smoke, the rocky ground was lit up by scattered fires that spewed and flickered out of the earth.
“What is all that?” Bellerophon wondered aloud. “How-“
The words stopped in his throat, for as his eyes followed the fires - spread out like rocks thrown from a Titan’s fist upon the lifeless valley floor - he spotted the enormous, gaping maw of a cave directly ahead.
Bellerophon felt his heart pound, and doubt arise full force in his mind to prod his deepest fears.
There were fires everywhere, and the rock faces about the cave, radiating from it, appeared to be scratched and scorched in places.
This is my end, Bellerophon could not help but thinking as they flew lower. He could even feel Pegasus skittish beneath him. I can’t fight like this, he suddenly realized, and when they were low enough, Bellerophon set down the reins and leapt off of Pegasus’ back.
He fell hard upon the ground but rolled awkwardly to his feet, crouching as he observed the distant cave rising so high above him that he had to squint to peer through the surrounding flames into the darkness within.
Pegasus pulled up suddenly when his rider jumped and circled back to land beside Bellerophon. He stomped his mighty hooves, his head bobbing up and down, wild and panicked as he urged the mortal to get back on.
“I can’t fight from your back, Pegasus!” Bellerophon said, trying not to yell. Nevertheless, his voice echoed off of the surrounding rock. “Take to the air! You’ll be safer!” he said, waving the stallion away. “Go, you stubborn beast!” Bellerophon said.
Pegasus continued in his attempts to urge Bellerophon onto his back again, but the mortal refused.
“Go! You’ve brought me here. You’ve done your part. Now, it’s for me to finish.”
You will die!
Pegasus’ thoughts suddenly burst in upon Bellerophon’s own, but it made no difference.
Bellerophon stepped closer and placed his hand upon the stallion’s forehead. “Go, my friend. If I am to die, I will die.”
Pegasus reared angrily, his forelegs kicking out in frustration, and then he took to the air, the wind flattening the fires all about Bellerophon for a few seconds.
Bellerophon watched the stallion take flight, and soar higher and higher into the sky before he disappeared into the grey, overcast that bore down on that desolate place.
Suddenly, it was quiet and very lonely as Bellerophon looked about him. The fires spewing out of the ground all around him seemed silent and menacing, like fiery pillars in an unseen hall of Hades’ making. Except, this was not the Underworld. It was the lair of a beast born of hatred and greed, a devourer of men, women, and children, the tormentor of Lykia.
“Athena…I am here… Guide my sword and spears in this fight that I may take this beast as it takes me.” Bellerophon crouched then to look around at the terrain, the places where there was no fire, the spots of higher ground from which he might be able to attack and defend. In his mind he traced a path around the mouth of the cave. When he had surveyed the battlefield, he reached beneath the collar of his breastplate and pulled out the golden battle-axe to kiss it before tucking it back. “Be safe, Philonoe… Thank you…”
He stood then, and looked up to see no sign of Pegasus. Then, he drew his sword and raised his shield before him as he walked slowly forward toward the cave. His heavily-filled quiver of throwing spears pulled at his shoulder and neck, and his cloak billowed in the suddenly growing wind that swept about him and jostled the surrounding fires.
“Where are you?” he said to himself, as he approached the cave, closer and closer, step by hesitant step.
The gorgon head upon his shield and armour peered directly ahead too, urging the foe to emerge, challenging it.
But there was only the whistling of the wind upon the surrounding rocks, and the flickering of the fires out of the ground.
Bellerophon now stood before the cave entrance, dwarfed by its magnitude. He looked around the entrance to see the titanic claw marks in the rockface, and the places where fire had melted that rock.
“Gods…let us finish this,” he said, bending over to pick up a rock. He pulled it back and heaved it into the cave as far as he could throw it into the darkness.
Nothing happened.
Perhaps the beast is still ravaging the countryside? Bellerophon thought. I will stay here, and wait for it.
Only, in that moment, as Bellerophon turned and stared down the long, fiery path along which he had come, the ground began to shake, and a deep growl seemed to rise up out of the shuddering earth at his feet. A great hissing joined with the growl, and the sound of it chilled Bellerophon’s blood, made his limbs shake. He breathed slowly, and turned back toward the cave then.
“Gods,” he whispered, his eyes wide beneath his crested helmet as he backed away, staring up as if to the sky.
It was the Chimera.
In all of the darkest, most terror-stricken thoughts he had ever had, Bellerophon could never have imagined such a creature as the one that now rose up before him, approaching slowly, hungrily.
The monster’s head and powerful legs were those of a tawny lion, only larger than any beast that roamed the plains of the earth. Its mane was bristling and angry, shifting about the massive jaws and brow like a wreath of bronze rather than of hair. But it was those frowning eyes of fiery amber that struck deep, as if it knew it looked upon easy prey.
As it stepped forward, after the slowly retreating Bellerophon, there appeared more, for out of the Chimera’s back bent the grey and black head of a horned goat with dead-looking eyes larger than a man’s fist. It weaved and bobbed unnaturally upon the lion’s back, shifting to get a glimpse of the man before it.
Bellerophon noticed something strange within the goat’s head. Its throat glowed, as if it were on fire, and as a result, the goat constantly worked its crooked jaws, yawning and snorting through its nostrils.
They continued to size each other up, the lion walking slowly, crouching, its deep growl utterly disconcerting.
Another sound joined, and as Bellerophon shifted to try and move around the back of the beast, his shield before him, the hissing started.
The beast’s tail rose up from the back, swaying and darting, and Bellerophon noticed that it was a fanged serpent, black as adamant with eyes like emeralds at the bottom of a bog.
Bellerophon felt his heart racing faster and faster, for the sounds of his nightmares, the doom of the world, had been made flesh. And with his fear, the Chimera paused to sniff at the air, as if to savour the moment to come. It was a beast of pure violence, and more terrifying than any Titan or giant.
We shall bite you, and burn you, and feast upon your flesh… The time of your death has come…
How the voice reached into Bellerophon’s mind, he did not know, but somehow the beast spoke to him, taunted his soul as if to petrify his body with the deep fear that attacked all of its victims.
Bellerophon crouched, his shield up, his sword out, his eyes searching desperately for a weakness.
Suddenly, a ball of flame shot from the goat’s head, to engulf him, and the lion’s jaws closed in amid Bellerophon’s screams.
The sky was blue, beautiful, and vast as the laneways to Olympus stretched out before Pegasus. The stallion’s wings swept the air and shuddered the trees over which he soared.
But he was skittish, and uncertain, his flight interrupted as the sound of screaming rent the air. Pegasus’ ears bent back and he thought of the mortal who had befriended him, despite his deep fear. He circled in the sky, his large eyes searching the eastern peaks from which he had just come. His muzzle sniffed at the air and snorted.
Pegasus smelled the impending death upon the wind and it saddened his mighty heart no end to think of what would happen. Though he too feared death, he found that he feared the suffering of the mortal even more. He remembered the man’s soft but wary voice, the hesitant but gentle touch of Bellerophon’s hands upon his neck, and the beating of his strong heart.
Return to him! The voice of Horse-Taming Poseidon commanded. Fight!
But Pegasus was already flying as quickly as he could in the direction of the sounds of terrible battle and the Chimera’s fires.
Bellerophon found himself, flying, tumbling through the air, his body still aching from the strike upon his shield and the fireball that followed his arcing flesh.
“Ahh!” he cried as he slammed into the rock wall of the valley and fell in a heap of jagged slate. He rolled immediately, slashing his sword out blindly, even as he untangled himself from his quiver of spears.
He tried to reach for a spear but the Chimera rushed at him before he had the chance, and he was running again, circling the monster, trying desperately to penetrate its defences. But he could not from any side, for everywhere he sought to attack, he was met by sweeping claws, fire and, perhaps most terrifyingly, the dripping fangs of the long, darting serpent.
My time has come, Bellerophon thought, his breathing ragged as he crouched behind his shield to meet another fireball. I’m sorry, Philonoe… I tried.
When the fire around Bellerophon petered out, his cloak and helmet’s crest singed and smoking, he straightened and pointed his sword at the Chimera’s black heart. He began to run, lunging over the serpent’s head as it struck at his feet, and readied to plunge his sword into the lion’s chest.
The great claws raked out again and sent him flying to land with a crack upon the rocky, flame-drenched ground.
Bellerophon groaned as he lay there, his sword knocked from his grasp, the earth shaking as the Chimera ran at him, and his thoughts were not of the painful death that lay moments away, but of blue seas and mountains, of soaring through the skies…of the only joy and kindness which Philonoe had given him. Athena, make it quick! He prayed as the Chimera’s roaring jaws opened above him like a chasm.
Then, there was a loud, booming neigh from out of the heavens, a battle cry, and the Chimera’s head shot sideways from a great impact.
Wind was everywhere, rushing, cooling, driving the shooting flames in the other direction.
Pegasus! Bellerophon’s heart cried out, renewed and emboldened.
The stallion reared bravely before the Chimera, is hooves striking out at the jaws as if the Gods’ own spears were levelled at the monster.
The Chimera retreated a few steps to prepare for a brutal attack, and it was then that Bellerophon rushed and leapt upon Pegasus’ back! They set off at a gallop and took flight, just as the lion’s jaws slammed into the rocky ground where they had been.
Fire followed them, but they flew high, out of reach and circled the valley as if watching a deadly insect in the bottom of a bowl.
The Chimera roared and shook the mountains, charging this way and that as all of its eyes sought out the soaring pair.
Bellerophon gripped the golden reins tightly, trying to control Pegasus, but the equine god pulled at the reins and shook his great mane.
He is your ally! Athena’s voice sped toward him. Fight together!
It was then that Bellerophon released the reins and gave Pegasus his head.
“Fly close to it for me, Pegasus! And beware of fire and fangs!”
Pegasus circled in the air, his head and neck strong, proud, and a moment later, they were flying at the Chimera from above.
Bellerophon felt the wind in his face as he pulled one of his spears from his quiver and poised himself to launch.
The fire rushed at them, but Pegasus swerved and dodged, and as he began to pull up from the fast-approaching earth, Bellerophon released a spear!
The leaf-shaped blade cut through the air to graze the serpent’s neck as it struck out, and the lion roared in dismay as the goat breathed fire in the wake of the flying man and horse who took to the sky once more.
“Again!” Bellerophon yelled as Pegasus peaked, and turned back to earth for another attack. He could see the serpent’s head bobbing strangely, wounded as it was, and took aim.
Pegasus fell at an unnatural angle, but Bellerophon gripped tightly with his legs, holding on with force and faith in his mount, another spear poised, and when he threw, it struck home, pinning the serpent’s head to the rocky earth where the flames spewed out.
The Chimera roared, and when the goat head bobbed to shoot its deadly flames at them, it was taken in one eye by another of Bellerophon’s spears. The Chimera launched itself skyward after the pair, but was pulled back down as its hideous serpent-headed tail was severed clean by the mortal’s spear.
Blood seeped over the rocks, cooking in the Chimera’s surrounding fires, and somewhere in the depths of the Underworld, and the swamps of Lerna, the monster’s siblings cried out in anger.
The goat head flailed wildly from the Chimera’s back, fire shooting everywhere, fanning out into the sky as it sought to engulf the horse and rider.
Pegasus was faster than flame however, and dodged and weaved in and out of the fiery tunnels in the sky, as if all of the winds conspired to help him and Bellerophon move where they would.
Bellerophon looked down as Pegasus circled, preparing for another attack. He grasped two spears now, his shield slung over his back once more.
They attacked again.
The Chimera circled wildly, its two remaining heads turned up, the one full of rage, the other pained and bloody and seeking vengeance.
The fire rushed toward Pegasus and Bellerophon, and the beast and the earth disappeared from view for a moment. When their sight was renewed, the Chimera’s jaws were open to snatch them, but Pegasus swerved quickly and Bellerophon’s spears planted themselves in the goat’s throat so that they punctured its fiery innards, causing it to implode.
Pegasus crashed onto the ground at a run, and they continued up into the sky, just as one of the Chimera’s claws raked his hind quarter. The stallion screamed in pain as it tried to climb higher, this time with unimaginable effort as blood streamed behind him, staining his brilliant white coat.
Bellerophon leaned forward to pat the stallion’s neck. “We’ve almost got him, Pegasus! One more attack! This time, head-on!”
Pegasus circled, his great neck straining toward the Chimera, and then he shot down toward the valley floor, swerving in among the fires reaching for them out of the earth.
The Chimera charged, its great claws tearing the rock beneath its feet, its roar echoing off of the surrounding mountains, such that Bellerophon thought that his ears would burst.
With his spears poised, Bellerophon launched the first only to have it bounce off of the beast’s bristling mane. But his second plunged deep into one of those death-seeking eyes.
There was a moment’s rush of excitement, but then everything was a blur as the Chimera’s claw struck Pegasus’ chest.
Poseidon’s son screamed and the air was filled with pain and blood, and Bellerophon tumbled over the Chimera’s back, slamming into the lifeless goat head and down the bloody, split length of the serpent.
“AHHH!” he screamed as fire shot out of the rocky ground, singeing his skin before he could roll away, dizzy from his fall. “Pegasus!” he yelled, but he could not even hear himself above the stallion’s pained cries and the earth-shaking roars of the Chimera as it crept toward Pegasus, jaws open, claws extended to tear him to pieces.
“NO!” Bellerophon yelled as he rushed forward.
Pegasus backed against the rocky wall of the valley, his wings flapping wildly, sprayed with his own blood, his hooves slipping on the ground of crushed shale.
The Chimera’s claws struck out, but Pegasus darted and struck back, only to stumble again, as if he were a mouse being taunted and played with by a stable cat.
It was then that the son of Poseidon sent up a prayer to the Gods that they remember his deeds, and thanked them for the life they had given him. His great eyes closed, exhausted and resigned to the death that lunged toward him without mercy.
“NO!” Bellerophon suddenly cried.
When Pegasus looked, it was to see three spears planted in the side of the Chimera’s lion head, and Bellerophon holding his last one poised as the Chimera turned toward him.
“Fight me!” Bellerophon roared back at the monster. “FIGHT ME!”
The Chimera’s jaws gaped open to take the mortal man in one violent, crushing bite, but Bellerophon moved to one side with the speed of a god.
Pegasus then rushed and kicked at the Chimera’s ribs with all of his remaining might.
The beast reared upon its hind legs and it was then that Bellerophon’s spear cut through the air, planted in the flesh, and punctured its wicked heart.
The Chimera crashed to the earth and before it could breathe its last, Bellerophon leaped upon its back, grasping the sword he had picked up again, and planted it into the monster’s skull with a sickening crack.
The air was silent then, as if a great storm had just ended.
The world spun as Bellerophon stood upon his fallen foe and looked to where Pegasus limped, bloody and exhausted toward him.
Philonoe, he thought, we did it… even as he fell to the hard ground and into darkness.
The night was strange and silent, and the stars overhead spun and sparkled in the blackness of the heavens.
The Gods had seen the battle, admired the courage of both man and beast who lay prostrate upon the ground beside their defeated foe.
They must be healed, for it is not over, Athena said to Poseidon as she passed her glowing hands over Bellerophon.
No, it is not, Horse-Taming Poseidon said as he poured life-giving water over his beloved son to wash and seal his grievous wounds. I shall have him set among the stars for his courage, Poseidon said as he stroked Pegasus’ soft jaw and looked into the stallion’s dazed and exhausted, glossy eyes.
Such courage… Athena said, stroking Bellerophon’s hair. Your trials are nearly at an end, Bellerophon, but not yet…not yet…
When morning came, it was with a new hope and brilliant light.
Bellerophon’s mind and body were silent and still, but his breath was strong and the rise and fall of his chest beneath his armour was a relief to the godlike stallion that stood over him.
Pegasus bent down to him, his hot breath upon his cheek to rouse the mortal man, his friend, his ally.
Bellerophon’s breathing became more rapid and regular and when he opened his eyes, it was to see the winged stallion standing over him. “I dreamed that the Gods were here with us.”
Pegasus’ great head bobbed up and down and he stomped the rocky ground. Victory, friend… Victory!
“Yes,” Bellerophon groaned and stood to look at the monstrous body of the Chimera beside them. “Victory.” He walked to Pegasus and wrapped his arms about the stallion’s neck. “Thank you for coming back.”
In that moment, the two of them felt great appreciation and gratitude for each other, and the world about them was a different one than what had gone before.
Bellerophon remembered the goddess’ words from the night before however, and knew that he was not quite finished. He remembered the Amazon queen’s warning of King Iobates too, and knew that his own return to Xanthos would be most unwelcome.
“Can you fly?” Bellerophon asked Pegasus.
The stallion reared and flapped his wings.
Bellerophon smiled. “Good.” He then pulled his sword from the Chimera’s lifeless head and gazed upon the entirety of that fallen beast. In that moment, he felt the last vestiges of fear, of resentment, and of anger fade to nothing, and he let out a great cry that echoed over the mountains of Lykia to the sky above.