by Joe Corcoran
juddering stop sent Hercules toppling forward, and woke him with a start.
“What, what, what’s going on?” he asked, opening his eyes and starting to look around.
Iolaus quickly grabbed him by the beard, and stopped him from turning his head.
“Ouch, why … oh yes, only to the front,” Hercules said, as he remembered where he was.
Satisfied that his friend was fully awake, Iolaus hopped down from the chariot and quickly dusted off the wheels, making sure that they would not take anything, even by accident, out of the Underworld and into the light. Then he stopped.
“Hercules,” Iolaus said, “look down at the ground.”
Hercules looked, and now that they were in better light, he could see that the floor of the tunnel was covered with gemstones. Rubies, emeralds, diamonds lay scattered everywhere.
“With just a handful of these we could be rich,” Iolaus whispered.
“I’ve been rich,” Hercules said, “believe me, it’s not everything that people say.”
“But think of the good we could do,” continued Iolaus, “think of all the people we could help,” then, with a strange and cunning look in his eye, “we could build a new a bath house in the city, dedicated to you Hercules. You could go there every day.”
“Think what you are saying,” growled Hercules, “Hades has many ways of tricking good men into doing bad things. If you knew him like I do, you would not talk this way.”
Iolaus looked up at his friend and it was as if he had woken from a deep sleep. He shook his head to clear his mind and finished brushing down the wheels, then he brushed off his sandals and jumped back onto the chariot. Without a word he flicked the reins, and they drove out into the sunshine, where Hercules at once received a nasty shock.
“I asked the shadow compass to take us to Erytheia,” he moaned.
They were stood by the shore of a sea, which must have been the Mediterranean. There, across the water, they could easily see the coast of Africa - from the position of the sun Hercules guessed that they were stood in Europe - and right in the middle of the sea, between the two continents, stood the island of Erytheia.
“How are we meant to get there?”
Hercules pulled out the shadow compass and once again whispered the island’s name, but the compass simply spun slowly round in his hand. Then he had an idea. “Africa,” he whispered to the compass and it quickly settled to point back into the Underworld.
“Did you bring any rope?” he asked Iolaus.
The young man nodded, looking slightly confused. He rummaged in the bottom of the chariot and produced a huge coil of fine rope.
“Why did you bring so much,” said Hercules, astounded, “did you think we’d have to tie up a Titan … on second thoughts, don’t answer that question. Whatever the reason, we’ll need it now. You should stay here, I’ll be back soon.”
With no more explanation than that, Hercules got back on the chariot and disappeared back down into the Underworld. Iolaus waited for an hour, then another, then he got tired of waiting and got up to go and explore. A second later there was a great crash, and Iolaus whirled round to see a boulder, half buried in the ground, in exactly the spot he had been sitting. The boulder had one end of his rope tied around it, the rest of the rope could be seen trailing back across the straits - all the way to Africa. Iolaus now guessed what his friend had planned, and sure enough, not long after, the chariot came thundering back out into the sunlight.
“You missed,” said Iolaus angrily.
“No I didn’t,” said Hercules, “there’s the boulder, right there right -”
“- right where I was sitting until a moment earlier,” finished Iolaus.
Hercules went as pale as Iolaus had ever seen a living man go before, then he rushed over to inspect his friend and to make sure no harm had been done.
“Stop, there’s no need, I’m fine … that tickles,” said Iolaus, and when finally Hercules stopped, he continued in gentler tones, “It’s a good plan, it just would have been better if you’d have given me some warning. Now, what’s stage two?”
Hercules constructed a huge stone pillar, and attached the rope to the top. He said that he’d made a similar pillar on the African side, so that now the rope hung suspended above the ocean, passing directly over Erytheia. Using the rope, he was able to swing himself, hand over hand, along the rope and across to the island. Unfortunately it was too far for Iolaus to follow, he wasn’t strong enough, so he had to stay back on the mainland.
After what seemed like a long while, Hercules reached Erytheia, and dropped down onto the slopes of the rocky mountain that stood at the centre of the island. As soon as his feet touched the ground, out jumped a huge dog, its jaws flashing towards his face. By instinct Hercules turned, and he felt the jaws close harmlessly on the shoulder of his cloak, the lion skin protecting him from the sharp fangs. Then he felt another set of teeth close on his arm, and realised that this must be the fearsome, two headed dog, Orthro. Enraged by the pain in his arm, Hercules began to spin himself round and round, faster and faster. The dog was lifted into the air, and spun so fast that it could no longer hold on. Orthro’s grip on the cloak slipped first, and in desperation the dog bit down on the club that was slung over Hercules’ back. The club was solid enough and gave a good grip, but the strap could not take the strain, it snapped sending the dog flying back through the air, over a cliff and into the sea.
“Now you are dizzy and have no weapon,” said a voice behind Hercules, “you shall meet no mercy from me, thief. I am Geryon’s Herdsman, a son of Ares, and you shall feel the bite of iron at my hands.”
Hercules turned, stumbling, as his head was still spinning from his fight with Orthro. He saw a man in full armour with his sword raised - ready to run him through. There was no time to react, there was nothing to do, Hercules was doomed …
“Hey!” came a shout from above.
Iolaus had not been idle once Hercules had left. He had thought hard, and had built an ingenious device - made from the wheels of their chariot. This rolled along the rope at great speed, with Iolaus suspended beneath. Now he had undone the straps that held him in place, and was hurtling towards the herdsman.
“Hey!” Iolaus called again, and as the son of Ares looked up, he raised his feet, delivering a huge blow to the man’s armoured breastplate. Now the heavy armour became the man’s downfall. He could not steady himself, and stumbled down the mountainside until he followed his dog over the cliff and into the water.
“That’s an impressive contraption,” said Hercules, still out of breath from the sudden battle, “do you think it could get us and the cattle off the island?”
He looked down to the fields below the mountain where a herd of cattle, all looking impressively large, stood grazing in an idyllic green pasture.
“Alas, no,” replied Iolaus, “the device works because it is pulled by the earth to the lowest point on the rope, which is at the middle. So you can travel from either end to the middle, but never from the middle to the end. Besides, it wouldn’t be strong enough to carry even one of those cows.”
“You use lots of words and tell me nothing of use,” said Hercules grumpily, “we might swim off this island, or build a raft, but there is no way to get these cattle back to Troezen. The challenge is lost.”
“Not at all,” said Iolaus, “have you not thought why we couldn’t travel directly to Erytheia through the Underworld?”
“Because it would have been too easy, and Zeus takes pleasure in seeing me suffer?” guessed Hercules.
“Possibly,” replied Iolaus, “but there’s another reason. The Underworld only allows travel to places that are part of the earth.”
Hercules looked blank, so Iolaus continued.
“There is a gap between the bottom of this island and the main body of the earth. Poseidon’s realm lies between Erytheia and the realm of Hades.”
There was still not glimmer of understanding in Hercules’ eyes, so Iolaus tried one last time.
“This is a floating island!”
“You mean,” said Hercules slowly, “that we could sail this whole island back to the shore.”
“Not sail exactly,” said Iolaus, picking up the herdsman’s sword and walking towards the far side of the mountain, “Pull down on that rope and follow me.”
Iolaus explained his plan as follows. Even Hercules’ great strength would not be enough to move the whole island, but if they could harness Geryon’s enormous cattle to one end of the rope, and then drive them round the mountain, they would slowly wind the island towards the shore. The first step was to cut the rope, so that they would have a loose end to harness to the cattle. Iolaus got Hercules to trap the rope under a huge boulder, then cut it at the African side. The loose end of the rope immediately disappeared into the distance, making a singing sound as it whipped through the air. Next, Hercules pulled the other end of the rope out from underneath the boulder and dragged it round the mountain. Iolaus drove the cattle up the mountain in twos and threes so that they could be harnessed to the rope. Finally, when enough cattle were harnessed, and Hercules lent his strength to the task, they felt the island start to move, and the sea frothed up around it as it was forced aside by the passage of the land. Slowly, slowly, they pulled the island closer and closer to the mainland, until with a crash and a huge spout of water, it came to rest alongside Europe - where it has been
