The Twelve Labours of Hercules

by Joe Corcoran

even he had nothing to gain from the release of Alcyoneus.

  “Come!” said Hades, suddenly leading the way out of the throne room and up to the palace battlements, from where they could look down over the plain that surrounded the city. Once or twice a palace guard went to block his path, but the captain shook his head and the guards let them pass.

  “You have a chariot?” asked Hades. Hercules nodded.

  “And a charioteer?” Hercules nodded again, noticing for the first time that Iolaus had not followed them out of the throne room.

  Having got the answers he wanted, Hades began to wave his hands in mysterious patterns in the air, while continuing to talk.

  “You surface dwellers see only part of the world. You look at the ocean and think it can only be crossed in ships, but below the water is rock and below the rock is my realm. There are no seas there to slow you down, or mountains, or forests where you might get lost. There are only the secret ways of Hades, which run straight and true and link all the parts of the known world.”

  As Hades moved his hands, Hercules noticed that he was concentrating hard on one particular spot in the fields outside the city. The ground there seemed to be moving, like it was made of snakes that were slithering over and between one another. Slowly the earth moved upwards, forming a small hillock in the middle of the fields, and in one side was a dark and cavernous entrance.

  “Behold,” said Hades, “the entrance to the Underworld. My paths will take you quickly to where you need to go, but there are rules …”

  Hercules noticed that Hades was again moving his hands. He had scooped up some of the shadow from behind the palace walls, and now he was moulding it into something. Something that looked like a little arrow.

  “… always keep this with you,” he said, placing the arrow in a pouch, which he handed to Hercules, “it is easy to get lost in my realm, and this compass will show you the way. Hold it in your hand and whisper to it where you want to go. It will point in the right direction.”

  Hercules hung the pouch carefully round his neck as Hades continued.

  “As you travel, you must look straight ahead - glance neither to the left nor to the right,” warned Hades, “and, most importantly of all, you must take nothing from my realm.”

  With these last words, Hades put on his helmet, and it was as if the sun dimmed. The god of the Underworld faded into a black mist, which thinned and disappeared. Now the sun shone brightly again, Hercules was suddenly aware that birds were singing and that people in the city below were going about their normal daily business, and he shivered at the thought of a world ruled by Hades.

  After Hades had gone, Hercules took his leave of Pittheus, and ran down to the plain where the entrance to the Underworld now stood. By the time he arrived, Iolaus was already waiting. He had the chariot ready, and harnessed between the shafts was the Ceryneian Hind.

  “Where did you go? How did you know I’d be here?” asked Hercules.

  “Well,” said Iolaus, “when you left the throne room, I decided I had better make haste to prepare for our journey. I was in the marketplace when I saw Hades on the battlements of the palace and then this gateway to the Underworld erupted from the ground. I guessed it had to be something to do with you.”

  Hercules just grunted. He had half hoped that Iolaus wouldn’t be here so he could spare his friend the danger, but then he wouldn’t have had the chariot, or the company.

  “We’d better get going,” was all he said.

  “But where to?” asked Iolaus.

  “To Erytheia, of course. To get there and back quickly, Hades has granted us safe passage through his kingdom. You must remember to look only to the front - not left or right - and we must not take anything from his realm back into the surface world. Got it?”

  “Yes, Hercules,” said Iolaus. Then, “but Hercules, how will we find our way about underground without the sun or moon or stars to guide us?”

  Hercules did not answer directly, he simply took the shadow compass from the pouch around his neck, held it in his palm and whispered to it ‘Erytheia’. At once the arrow swung round to point at the entrance to the Underworld. Hercules felt just the slightest tickle as it moved, but otherwise the thing seemed to have no substance. Satisfied by this, Iolaus made a last check of the chariot, then climbed aboard and indicated for Hercules to do the same. As soon as his friend had a hold of the chariot, Iolaus flicked the reigns, and the hind broke into a gallop, carrying them at a frightening speed down under the ground.

  “Hercules,” said Iolaus, as the last glimmers of daylight disappeared behind them, “isn’t it wrong to steal?”

  The Underworld was a strange place. It was not completely dark, as Iolaus had expected. Instead, everything seemed to be illuminated by a dull red light. Iolaus could not tell where this light was coming from, although of course he only looked straight ahead, as he had been instructed. The air was warm, and when he took in a lung full, Iolaus found it strangely unsatisfying, like it had been half used up already. But it was the sounds that were the worst. There were mutters and screams, and sometimes whole words or phrases spoken in voices Iolaus thought he recognised. The voices seemed to be trying to tempt him to look left or right, and once or twice, when he moved his head slightly to the side, Iolaus thought he saw figures moving in the walls of the tunnel.

  Most of the time they seemed to be in a tunnel, and the way was very straight and easy to follow. Only occasionally would the tunnel open into a cavern, or they would arrive at a crossroads, and then Hercules would have to use the shadow compass to show the right way. Otherwise the journey soon grew monotonous, despite the strange sights and sounds. At first they spent the time discussing the challenge ahead. Iolaus thought that maybe Geryon was a bad man and a poor ruler who needed to be taught a lesson. Hercules thought that he was the one being taught a lesson, that it didn’t matter how strong or fearsome you seemed to be, at any moment someone or something could turn up that would humble you completely. That was what Geryon was about to find out, and Hercules could not help but put himself in the place of his adversary.

  “We are being asked to do some very bad things,” he concluded, “we know they are bad, and yet we still do them. I’m afraid that there will be consequences.”

  As the miles went by, their conversation faltered, then stopped altogether. They decided to take turns in sleeping, so as to be fresher when they arrived. Iolaus slept first, and because the chariot was so small, he tied himself to the rail so that he could sleep standing up. Although it felt strange, he was so tired that he soon fell into a heavy and dreamless sleep.

  He was so fast asleep that when he awoke he didn’t remember where he was, and before Hercules could stop him, he started looking around. As his gaze fell on the wall of the tunnel his eyes widened with surprise and recognition.

  “Grandfather,” he shouted, and would have jumped off the chariot there and then if he hadn’t been tied on. Instead, he seemed gripped by madness, and started clawing at the rope that bound him, desperate to get free. He babbled incoherently, while never once taking his eyes away from the tunnel wall. Tying the reins to the rail, and urging the hind to continue onwards, Hercules reached out and covered Iolaus’ eyes with his hands. Iolaus struggled at first, but Hercules held firm, and after a short while, he felt his friend relax. Slowly he turned Iolaus to face forwards and spoke gently to him as follows.

  “Do you remember where you are?”

  “In the Underworld, the realm of Hades,” replied Iolaus.

  “Do you remember where to look?”

  “Only to the front, not to the left and not to the right,” the young man said.

  “Very well. I’m going to take my hands away. Try to remain calm.”

  Hercules removed his hands, and was surprised to find that they were wet with Iolaus’ tears. His friend beside him stayed very still, staring straight ahead.

  “What did you see?” Hercules asked with some concern.

  Iolaus answered only haltin
gly, clearly controlling his emotions with a great effort.

  “I saw my grandfather in the wall of the tunnel. He seemed to be in trouble, and was calling for help. I haven’t seen him since I left home four years ago. If his spirit is here, in the Underworld, then he must be dead.”

  Iolaus hung his head, and his shoulders shook as he fought to control his sobs.

  “Maybe,” said Hercules, “but maybe not. There are creatures in the Underworld that seek for the living like flowers seek the sun. Maybe they were trying to draw you away so that you would lose yourself in these tunnels.”

  “Maybe,” echoed Iolaus, and then he was silent and still for a long while.

  It was some hours later, and Hercules was taking his turn to sleep, when the chariot approached the end of the final tunnel. Iolaus felt his heart leap when he saw the first glimmer of sunlight ahead, and soon he felt a breath of clean, fresh air against his cheek. Desperate to be out in the open again, he spurred the hind on to run even faster, until the tunnel walls were flashing past. They were so close to the entrance now that Iolaus could see the sunbeams streaming in from outside and lighting up the dusty floor. The hind was racing forward, tossing her head with excitement, when Iolaus suddenly pulled back on the reins, bringing the hind to a skidding halt - her nose just a fraction away from entering the sunlight. The