She kept her heart steady as she went downhill, desperately trying to relax her mind, but she could not seem to recapture her earlier tranquil state. Her hands shook as she brushed her hair back from her face, and the pain in her arm jolted her with each step she took. Why could she not heal it, she wondered? Was there some type of poison in the lion’s paw? But she did not pause to allow herself to examine her wound. She did not have the luxury of time. How soon before Hades discovered she was gone? Perhaps he already had. She did not have nearly enough of a head start. She pressed on, firm in her resolve. Not even when she passed several unfamiliar landmarks did she allow herself to panic. But when the ground began to rise again beneath her feet and there was no sight or sound of the river, she had to admit the truth to herself. She was hopelessly and irrevocably lost in the caverns of the Underworld.
Persephone licked her dry, cracked lips as she paused to lean against a nearby rock. Though this new area was dreadfully cold, her hair was matted to her head with sweat. She cradled her injured arm to her chest and considered her options. No matter how she looked at it, she had never been worse off. She had tried to retrace her steps back but had somehow only ended up more lost. But all was not hopeless, she considered with a grim smile, she had succeeded in one thing -- even Hades would not find her here. She had finally bested her husband. Now she was wandering along a musty corridor and, likely as not, this place would be her tomb. Pushing against the rock, she brought herself back to her feet and found she had to blink rapidly several times to bring the path back into focus. It seemed highly probable now that the beast’s claws did indeed have some type of poison in their tips. Could it kill a God? In these caverns, she suddenly felt that anything grotesque or gruesome was likely possible. Keeping a hand along the wall to steady herself, she continued her slow trek to who knows where. She may have walked for minutes or possibly for hours when she suddenly felt a gentle breeze from a tunnel further ahead. She gave a sigh of pleasure as it brushed the damp hair from her face. Perhaps wind meant a way out! She stumbled towards the entrance and paused as she saw it was covered in misty webs that frayed two and fro in the gentle puffs of air. What could spin webs this large? Her mind conjured a man-sized spider and she shuddered at the image. She put a hand to her hot head trying to gather her scattered thoughts and then made up her mind. There was no way back, she had already tried that. She had no choice but to go forward. Was there some type of sleeping monster beyond the web, more than likely, but the fearsomest monster of all was probably stalking her right now. Her husband’s handsome face rose into her mind and it was the driving force her feet needed to start moving forward. Besides, she considered ruefully, perhaps the spider would not want poisoned meat. She pulled the finely spun threads down and proceeded into the darkened tunnel. She was blind in the inky blackness, but she stepped as softly as she could. If she was lucky, she could pass through without alerting her presence to whatever creature lived here. The snapping of what sounded like a tree branch startled her, and out of the darkness a head appeared two globelike eyes. A red ring seemed to encircle the pupils, but then they blinked and she saw that they were a guileless blue. She should have known she would have no luck in this cursed place. For a moment they merely watched one another, each waiting for the other to make the first move.
Finally Persephone spoke. Though her voice was quiet, it sounded like a shot in the dark. “Who are you?”
The creature’s eyes rolled in ecstasy and as though granted permission to speak, a sweet melodic voice filled the tunnel. “I am Eurynomos.” The streak of red flickered once more, and the eyes disappeared momentarily behind a large rock. She heard a wet smacking noise and then the protuberant eyes appeared again. “Oh, dear girl, I can see that you are hurt. Why not … let me help you? Let me take the pain from your sweet flesh. Come. Oh, commmmmeee closer.”
Her tired mind felt compelled to trust the beautiful voice of the creature. She watched him, and as she watched, his flickering gaze danced in the darkness, never seeming to stay in one place. Her eyes grew heavier and she took a step closer to the creature, missing the flare of triumph in its calculating eyes. Suddenly, a voice echoed firmly in her mind, Stop! She hesitated, and when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see she was now only a few feet away from the creature. A flash of annoyance flared in the deceitful blue gaze.
She shook her head, trying to clear her feverish thoughts. “Do you wish to help me Eurynomos? I am looking for a way out.”
“Oh yessss. Yes, I do. But you will not make it far with the scent of blood trailing behind you. Come over here... and let me...Fix. Your. Arm.”
A drop of blood dripped to the ground and she saw its eyes follow it hungrily to the floor. She took a step back. Oh no, not again she thought desperately. How many times would something try to eat her today?
“I think-- I think I will go now. I do not wish to trouble you.” She backed away slowly, hearing the crunch of branches beneath her feet. The eyes seemed to move with her.
“You do not trouble me; I only wish to help you.” Were the eyes closer now? Her own eyes burned with fever and she longed to close them for a moment. But she dare not look away. This creature, her mind warned her, was more deadly than the fire breathing lion.
“But my husband will be looking for me. I have been away too long; Hades will expect me soon.”
The eyes bulged even more and then closed as a nauseating groan filled the cave. “Hades! Hades has taken a wife? Oh how... delicious. Mmmmm, it makes me ache with pleasure.” They flashed open suddenly and the red had entirely replaced the blue. “Did you stray from the fold, little lamb?”
“Wha-what do you mean? I only wished to explore my husband’s kingdom. After all, he rules the entire Underworld, does he not?”
Each step she took, the eyes followed, like a macabre dance.
“Oh, not the whole Underworld. There are some places that even he cannot drive the evil from. Oh ho, oh no, oh how naughty to run away from the King. I am afraid you have traveled too far from his domain now, Goddess. There are such wicked things that lurk in the darkness here.”
The eyes were less than an arm's length away from her now, and she imagined a hand reaching toward her in the blackness, grasping for a piece of her flesh. She gave a cry of fear and turned to run when her foot caught in the bramble beneath her. Her leg ripped open against the sharp stone below her and she felt tears fill her eyes as hot blood poured from her calf. She pulled the rock from her leg and gave a gasping shriek as she saw it was the ragged edge of a femur. She ran her hands swiftly over the ground and felt them then: skulls, ribs, fingers… the entire floor was a graveyard of bones. When she raised her eyes again, she looked directly into the round eyes of the beast and with a sickening, brittle sound he stood and finally revealed himself. A large heavy thud hit the floor. It was no boulder Eurynomos had been hiding behind. It was a body, hunched, contorted and lifeless. Hot, putrid breath hit her cheek and she turned her head choking at the foul smell. Those large goblin orbs stared back at her and its features were horrid; large blood red eyes, needle-like teeth, and a beak that had been partially ripped off. Its bluish black skin was that of a vulture; naked and pimpled, as if each feather had been plucked out. Enormous bird-like wings spread up and over its bony spine. She screamed in horror as a long string of drool dripped onto her calf and black smoke burned from her wound as the creature bent down and licked the blood from her leg with its long sticky tongue. It looked back up at her, with those horrid round eyes and three voices of different octaves escaped its mouth, “We are tired of rotten corpses and would love to keep a tasty little living goddess we could feast on for eternity. Eyes, heart, pancreas; we can eat off you forever and you’ll regenerate for us to continue feasting. We just have to make sure we eat your legs off every day so you cannot run away like the last one did.”
Persephone sat up suddenly and blasted the horrible creature with a burst of wind and it flew against the wall with a sickening but
satisfying thud. She rose to her feet, but her vision was blurred and she was disoriented in the darkness. Her feet were wet with blood and sweat, and she felt herself slipping again to the floor. She heard the flapping of enormous wings close behind her and she gave a shriek when its claw like hands wrapped around her leg. She screamed in agony as its sharp teeth dug into her flesh. Over her already bleeding wound, the saliva burning her like acid. It moaned in delight, its mouth filled with her blood and flesh and Persephone vomited on the floor. The eyes rose over her, gleaming with gluttonous lust, and she felt around the ground desperately until she found the edge of a bone. Using all the strength she had left, she stabbed the bone deep into that round, horrible eye and it shrieked in rage. She began to crawl against the floor. “Please,” She muttered into the darkness, “please help me.” Her heart contracted painfully against her chest and she seemed to float weightlessly in a white light. One heartbeat. Two. “Hades,” she whispered.
“Nobody can hear you down here,” the demon snarled as its ruined eye dripped black blood. It flew up next to her and dug its claws into her thigh, and the blood splattered from her leg. She clawed at the beast with her hands. “Oh, it fights us, oh it hates us. We do like it when the food fights back.” It took her leg in its mouth dragging her further into the darkness. “We will eat your liver first.”
Persephone lay limply as the creature drug her roughly through the graveyard of bones. She opened her swollen eyes and saw something on the horizon. She tried to focus. Had she imagined that distant spark in the darkness? Raising a hand, she opened her mouth, but she could not seem to make a sound, the poison had taken root and she was so tired. Her gown was sticky on her skin and she knew it was clotted with her blood, her life force pooling to join the other corpses that littered the ground. She felt the cold darkness pulling at her and her lashes fluttered over her eyes. And then she saw it again. The small light. It was growing stronger until a purple aura appeared high on the rocks and she wondered if it was the dawn. The light began to travel towards them, hurtling at a great speed, and she risked a glance at the demon, but its ruined eye was facing the beacon. She felt it whoosh, the light rushing over her to hit the demon, throwing him far from his prey. But the demon could not keep her feverish attention. Persephone watched with astonished interest as her husband jumped off the highest peak and began to prance down the rocks like a stag. He lifted a staff in his hand and blasted Eurynomos with another bolt of light.
The creature howled its rage as it stood on powerful hind legs and Persephone cowered back pressing herself into a small ball, but it seemed to have temporarily forgotten its dinner. It began its undulating motion again, the one good eye bulging madly at Hades and a guttural laugh exuded from deep within its throat. The smell of sulfur became overpowering as black, putrid smoke billowed from its mouth, clogging her throat. She wanted to dry heave at the sickening smell, but she pushed the nausea down, afraid to draw attention to herself. The smoke seemed to surround Eurynomos, wrapping around its pimpled, rotting flesh like a lover’s embrace while Hades watched with a vague expression, seemingly unbothered by the smoke that reached out tiny fingers towards him. When the fumes finally settled, Eurynomos had transformed into an enormous decaying vulture. How horrifying, Persephone thought weakly, eyeing her husband to see his reaction. He looked entirely unimpressed. Jumping as lithely as a nymph, Hades inserted himself between her and the giant bird, and even in her weakened state, she felt annoyed that he had not yet acknowledged her. But perhaps he thought she was dead, she reasoned, feeling her limp hand dip into the pooled blood at her waist. It was a fair assumption.
“Are you finished with your theatrics, Eurynomos?” Hades voice rang out coldly in the tomb.
The demon spread its wings and rose high in the air screeching at him, “Your wife is delicious, Hades. She has filled my belly this night. I thank you for sharing her. She is almost as tasty as her husband.”
Persephone furrowed her brow at the demon’s words, but she could not make out the logic. She watched as Hades’ eyes grew blacker, but his voice was serene. “Oh, I never share what is mine, Eurynomos. You made a grave error in touching my wife.” He lifted his staff into the air and blasted the beast with a hot flame. “Let’s see how she tastes coming up your throat.” He twisted his opposite hand and the animal began gagging, vomiting up the flesh it had just devoured. The beast tried to gobble up the black bloody vomit, but Hades twisted his opposite hand and a sudden snap caused the demon to writhe in pain, its left wing dangling loosely from its flesh. A sickening cry rang out and it half flew, half crawled towards Hades, raking deep furrows into his arm and chest. Hades shrugged off the demon, blasting it against the wall.
The flap of the devil’s wings tossed the king’s black hair across his face. “I should have fed you to Cerberus years ago! I warned you then to stay hidden in the shadows.” He blasted the beast again, burning it with his hands. The smell was revolting; like burnt hair, flesh and defecation. The demon cried, shrinking back to it’s pathetic shriveled form, like a baby bird newly hatched.
Its sickening screams tore at Persephone’s ears and she shook her head, the movement drawing Hades’ gaze. He would kill this vile beast, this hellish demon, he would do it for her gladly. But, his wife seemed unhappy with his decision to use deadly force on the beast.
“You wish me to stop wife? This creature would have eaten you, torn your flesh from you each night, over and over again until you went mad. And still he would not stop. You would beg for mercy and he would return your pleas with a knife to your heart. You wish me to spare him?” She saw the anger burning in his eyes, and she should have been afraid. But she was not.
She licked her dry lips, staring at him from the floor, her eyes blurring as she looked at him. “Not for him,” she whispered. “Do not give up a piece of yourself for him.”
He lowered his hand and stared at her. Hades knew it was foolish to let the demon go, knew its evil would come back to haunt him. The beast, sensing his weakness, began to slither further into the darkness, its ruined flesh charred and smoking. Hades turned his head and seemed to hesitate, and she breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped towards her, towering over her prostate form. As he bent to pick her up, she closed her eyes, relishing the strength of his arms. “Foolish Persephone. ‘Give up a piece of myself’ -- You cannot give up what you have already lost.” And as she stared into his beautiful face, she did the one thing she had felt like doing since she had first come into the Underworld -- she promptly passed out.
Chapter 8 - Healing Touch
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When Persephone awoke, she was in her room. She was back in her prison. How much time had passed was hard to say, as the continual darkness offered her no clue. But as she lay in her bed, in the room she once despised, she could only feel one emotion: elation. Gods! She was happy to be back, and she could almost kiss the floor in relief. She was safe from those murderous, nightmarish creatures that lurked within the depths of this world. Oh, it was so horrible, and they had hurt her so badly. The wounds, she remembered suddenly, had her body flinching at the memory. She struggled to sit up when large hands pushed her gently back down. “Shh, lie still Persephone.”
She looked up and Hades was staring down at her. He held a bloodied rag in one strong hand, and she watched as he wrung it out into fresh hot water. Looking up into his stony face, she felt guilt prick at her conscience as her eyes followed the deep bloody furrows that peeked up at the corner of his collar.
“Are you angry?” she asked in a small voice.
“Angry?” he repeated. “Oh, angry does not begin to explain the emotion I am feeling at the moment! That my wife willingly put her life in the hands of depraved, flesh eating monsters rather than finish dinner with her husband is beyond my comprehension. That she ignored my warnings concerning the dangers of other monsters, besides me, is also, beyond my comprehension. But, I think we can table that discussion for another day.”
“At lea
st you have never tried to eat me,” she said helpfully.
“I would not count on that,” he replied darkly.
She regarded him warily, confused by his words. She ought to continue their argument, just for the principle, but she was too tired, the fight had been drained out of her, quite literally.
“It seems you found your powers useful after all,” he murmured as he poured several drops of oil into the steaming bowl.
“Perhaps you should not have underestimated the power of a Goddess,” she replied sweetly.
“Do not worry wife, next time I will not.”
She opened her mouth to deliver a fitting reply when he laid the soaked cloth tightly against the wound on her arm. She shot up again gasping in pain, causing the blanket to pool at her waist. Cool air pricked her skin and she let out a strangled cry as she realized her breasts were exposed, her nipples tight in the cold. She saw his gaze lower while she yanked the blanket back up again and he gave her a serene smile.
“Wh-where are my clothes?”
His eyes stared innocently back into her own. “We had to remove them, I am afraid, to see the damage that was done to you. Believe me, it was purely for holistic purposes.”
She snorted. “We?” she asked giving him an angry glare.
“Jocasta and me. If it makes you feel any better, she attended to the bottom while I did the top.”
“It does not make me feel better!” she cried.
“Regardless,” he replied, his large hands on her shoulders again, her naked shoulders, right above her naked breasts. She felt a tingle that shot through her core and her nipples tightened for a reason completely unrelated to temperature. “We are not finished yet. You woke, unfortunately, before the healing was finished.”
Hades And Persephone: Curse Of The Golden Arrow Page 11
