The Mythniks Saga

by Paul Neuhaus

  I didn’t know how to do any of those things, and he knew it. He was telling me all hope was lost for him. I welled up again and he gripped my hand tighter.

  “Listen very closely. Behind you is a winding stone path leading away from the portico. Take it and you’ll enter a grand courtyard with a view of the whole city. It’s a sight not many mortal eyes have seen, and you will be—if you’ll pardon the phrase—thunderstruck. You mustn’t tarry. Take in the sight and go to your right. You’ll be near the stables. You will see them. Go into the stables—they’ll be empty—and search for a golden bridle. Take it. It’s the bridle Perseus used to tame the winged horse. You’ll need it.”

  “Yes,” I replied. “Pegasus is skittish around me.”

  “He won’t be after you’ve obtained the bridle. There will also be a gilt box between two of the stalls. Open it and take what you find inside then, as fast as you can, return to me.” I shook my head. I didn’t want to leave him. He squeezed my hand harder and began to squirm again. “Go,” he said. “Please.”

  I let go of his hand and turned to find the winding path he described. I was halfway down it before I realized I still had the pithos under my right arm. “Hurry,” Hope said. “Hermes does us a great honor.”

  I picked up the pace and the path went under an arch. Beyond the arch was the courtyard the messenger god had mentioned. He was right: I was thunderstruck. Rising up and around me was Olympus, burnished by a persistent Golden Hour. Birds—great cranes—flew in a line in front of the vista. The top of the mountain spire was crowned with Zeus’ palace, a Grecian masterwork with a touch of art nouveau. I was flabbergasted. The city was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  Fortunately, Hope was there to break the spell. “Dora...”

  I didn’t even answer. I turned to my right and saw the stables—so rich and ornate. With my goal in sight, I picked up my pace and dashed toward the quiet structure. Like the rest of the city, the stables were abandoned; preternaturally quiet. I ran through one of many entrances and drank it all in. The space was both enormous and rectangular. I’d entered in the middle and stalls went on as far as the eye could see in both directions. I didn’t see either of the things I was looking for and I panicked. “I need a bridle and a... gilt box. I don’t know where to look.”

  “Calm down. Take a deep breath. If Hermes says they’re here, they’re here. We need to do this as efficiently as possible.”

  “I wish you’d stayed a little girl. You could’ve helped me look.”

  “Settle down. It’s going to be fine.”

  Her tone was soothing. And she was right. Nothing else mattered. I would look until I found what the god had asked for and then I would run back to him. I turned to the left and walked a steady pace between the stalls, scanning for any signs of what I was looking for. The stalls were both immaculate and completely uniform. Their sameness helped me focus. Amongst all that consistency, any variation would stand out. That was my theory anyway. When I finally reached a gap between the stalls on the left side, I almost walked past it since I’d trained myself to look without seeing. In the gap, there was a box affixed to the floor. It was gilt and had a latch but no lock. I ran to it and stooped down, laying the pithos on the ground. I raised the latch and lifted the lid. Inside the box, on a velvet pillow, was a head. The mummified head of a siren. It was the head Perseus had used in his confrontation with the Kraken thousands and thousands of years before. I looked around in the immediate vicinity and saw a bag hanging from a nail. I grabbed the bag, picked the head up by its long hair and dropped it in. “Okay, okay,” I said. “One down.”

  With the siren’s head claimed, I went back into search mode. Calmly and methodically, I finished the left side of the stables, turned and ran back to the middle. Taking a deep breath, I settled down again and settled in for what could be a lengthy look.

  I saw the bridle and the man in front and off to one side of it almost at the same time. The bridle was hanging from a nail next to the most elaborate stall by far. It was Pegasus’ stall of old. The stall of a sacred animal.

  The man, on the other hand, didn’t look particularly sacred. In fact, he looked like he’d been to hell and back. Twice.

  “Uh oh,” Hope muttered.

  I squinted at the man. His toga was in tatters and he wore no sandals. His face was practically covered by his unkempt mane of hair and his bushy mustache and beard. He was covered by black dirt from head to foot. None of that stopped me from recognizing him.

  “Calesius?” I said, leaning in.

  He didn’t react. He looked at the bridle on the nail to his left and then back at me. He spread his feet and balled his fists at his sides. He gritted his teeth and they were black and atrophied. The stable boy—the object of Adrestia’s long-ago desire—had been abandoned somehow and left to turn feral in Olympus’ empty environs. I put down the bag with the siren’s head and raised my free hand. I took two steps forward and the wasted man issued a low growl. I stopped.

  “Calesius?” I said again. “It’s me. Pandora. Do you remember me from the birthday party? All those years ago... We spoke. You joked about Adrestia’s bratty behavior. Do you remember?”

  He cocked his head twice during my questioning—once after I said my name and once after I said, “Adrestia”. His movements were quick. Dog-like. It looked as though years of solitude and a hardscrabble existence had dulled his humanity.

  I kept my left hand high and my tone as soothing as I could. “Calesius... Let me help you. There’s no reason you should stay here. I can help you... get back to the world.”

  That finally got him to talking. “The world?” he said, his voice harsh, and his lips dry and chapped. “There is no world. This is the world. There is nothing but this place and the charge I’ve been given.”

  That stopped me again. “The charge? Look around you, Cal. Your job is over. The gods have gone; the stables are empty. Come with me. Let me bring you back. Among people. Let me help you.”

  He looked over at the bridle again then back up at me. “This is my domain. I can’t violate the trust placed in me. Have you come for the bridle?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I need it, Cal. There’s been... Something terrible is happening. Many lives are at risk. I need the bridle to... to do right.”

  He shook his head like a petulant child. Tears welled up and ran down his cheeks. “Zeus himself told me to protect the stables and everything inside. I can’t let you have the bridle.”

  “Zeus is gone, Cal. He left you here without releasing you from your duties. It’s time to move on. It’s time to return to the land of the living.”

  The stable boy of the gods was fully crying by then. A lost and wounded animal. He said, “I’ve done terrible things. Terrible things to survive. I shouldn’t have— I shouldn’t have.”

  I pushed closer to him. “That doesn’t matter now, Cal. What matters is—” He rushed at me, trailing spittle, his dirty, jagged nails raised. I panicked and did something I immediately regretted. I unstoppered the pithos and sucked in the poor man’s essence. He screamed as his core being was ripped from his body and into the jug. Hope and I stood in silence for a moment, both of us startled by what I’d done. When my voice came out of my body, it surprised even me. “I didn’t mean to...”

  Hope’s tone was one of authority. “Dora. Stop. It doesn’t matter. Take the bridle back to Hermes. Do it quickly.”

  I needed her to speak to me that way. I needed her to pick up the slack. I put the lid back on the pithos and grabbed the golden bridle off its nail. I picked up the bag from the stable floor.

  Tracing our path back to the portico was easy since I kept my eyes down the whole time. I refused to drink in the vision of Olympus a second time. I refused to fixate on the murder I’d just done.

  Hermes was where we’d left him, but he looked drastically different. From several feet away, I could see he was holding onto life solely, so he’d be there for my return. He was as white as alabaster. I kn
elt down beside his settee and said, “Hermes, I’m back. I’ve got the bridle and the siren’s head. Tell me what to do next.”

  His eyes opened slowly. He smiled, and it radiated kindness. “What to do next? Dora, you know what to do next. Go back and do what you always do.”

  “Okay, okay. You’re coming with me?”

  He shook his head gently. “No, I’m not coming with you. My time is done, and you have all you need.”

  I started bawling again. I couldn’t help it. “I’ll look after Keri,” I said to him.

  His smile grew wider. “I know you will. It was never in question. You’ve faltered in your resolve many times over the centuries, but your heart has always been true. Give me your hand...”

  I took his hand. It was cold to the touch and sticky with his blood.

  “Return and make things right, daughter.”

  Light flared up around me.

  I expected to reappear in Pegasus’ paddock, but that didn’t happen right away. Instead, I hovered in a foggy vacuum with balls of illumination all around me.

  From the balls of light, I heard snatches of conversation. I saw fragmentary images inside of them. Somehow, I knew they were little nodes of memory and I was inside Hermes’ library of experiences. One node approached me, the voices within it becoming louder and the images more distinct. When it enveloped me, and I ingested its contents into myself, I was struck by how unlike a movie it was. It wasn’t a linear a to z of happenings, it was more like being in a bath of commingled thoughts and emotions. I absorbed it rather than witnessed it.

  But I can’t relate it to you in the same way I took it in, so here’s the gist...

  Nursing a deep grudge against Zeus for her banishment, Adrestia hatched a plan to release the Titans and form a new pantheon with herself as Queen. I wasn’t the least bit surprised by her sense of entitlement or her delusions of grandeur. I was, however, surprised at her coconspirators—Hermes and Medea. The three of them worked on the plan for decades, gathering the resources they would need. Thanks to it being Hermes’ memory, I immediately understood his motivations, and they were complex. At the forefront was his melancholy at having a daughter he could never satisfy. She was like a ravenous baby bird and, no matter how much he fed her, she always wanted more. Underneath that layer was a side the messenger god never showed. It was sadness at the eclipsing of Olympus. He felt abandoned by his friends and was nostalgic for the glory days. He was also damaged. His leg had been crushed and had never properly healed. Hermes longed to be made whole again. He saw the rise of a new pantheon of deities as a solution to his problems—although he gave little thought to how such a rise would affect mankind, the pantheon’s likely none-too-willing subjects. No thought was given to the Titans’ far-reaching reputation for cruelty and ruthlessness. I guess Hermes was more focused on the ends than he was the means.

  Having been involved in the most recent events, I knew what had happened. Medea had betrayed Hermes and Adrestia and stole the plan for herself. Why the Olympian and his daughter had trusted Medea in the first place was beyond me. Medea’s defining characteristic was treachery so, of course, she went rogue. But desperation makes strange bedfellows. Hermes and Adrestia knew that Medea had the power to forge a key to the gate of Tartarus, so they allied with her. Medea, acting without her two partners, forged the key and made it all the way to the gate before she was murdered by her own children—which was only fair since she’d murdered them first. Now, with Medea gone, Adrestia was trying to pick up the pieces—and she was so single-minded she’d sacrificed the one person who’d stood by her through the centuries. I knew she’d stop at nothing to get the key and open the gate to release the Titans. Her appetite for justification was never-ending.

  Despite a feeling of weary deja vu, I knew I couldn’t sit this one out. I couldn’t let the Titans run rampant over the earth since I lived on the earth and was reasonably fond of both it and some of the people on it.

  Once I’d taken the memories in, they dissolved around me and my vision un-blurred into the corral at Acadine.

  I was still kneeling, and I still had my hand out as if Hermes was still with me.

  I stood and looked around me. Everyone was inside the broken corral. The bronies stood together in a loose clump while Squire and his people formed another group. I spoke, addressing all of them at once. “How long was I gone?” I said, worried about what kind of lead Addie might’ve built up.

  Elijah spoke up. “About a minute and a half. Look,” he said, pointing.

  I turned. Behind me were Keri and Pegasus. The horse’s bum wing was fixed. Keri, her hands still glowing with healing energies, stood back, a huge grin on her face. “That is fucking awesome,” I said. “Here, give me a hand...”

  I dropped the bridle, so its entire length hung loose in my grip. Meanwhile Keri stepped in again and took the animal’s neck and flank in her gentle hands. “This is Auntie Dora,” she said. “You don’t need to be afraid. Auntie Dora’s good people. She won’t hurt you.”

  The horse snorted, but he didn’t back away. He heeded whatever power the bridle had over him and allowed me to slip it over his head. With the gear in place, he was as calm as I’d ever seen him.

  “Can I have a turn after you?” Petey said, awestruck.

  I shook my head. “We’ll see. This ain’t the Dumbo ride at Disneyland.”

  I started to throw my leg up over Pegasus’ side, but Keri stopped me with a cough.

  “What?” I said.

  “Are you, um, wearing anything under that robe?”

  “No.”

  “You’re gonna go bareback on a flying horse with your coochie out?”

  I grinned at her as I mounted the horse. “It’ll be the most action I’ve had in years.” I wasn’t worried about the robe, but I didn’t have a saddle or any harnesses to put my props in. I looked around for a moment, afraid I was going to have to dismount and get better prepared. Two of Squire’s men ran around him. One had saddlebags which he threw over Pegasus’ back. Into the bags, I put my pithos and my severed head. “You’re a lifesaver,” I said to Sebastian.

  “The gladius is optional,” he replied.

  I looked at the second helper and, sure enough, he was carrying a golden sword. I took it eagerly. “No, it isn’t,” I replied gratefully. With that, I gave Pegasus a gentle nudge with my bare heels and we were airborne.

  Before the horse’s back hooves left the ground, Keri did a superhuman vault and landed just behind me. Without saying a word, she clamped her hands around my waist and buried her face in my back.

  Right off the bat, Pegasus angled himself along the cliff face which meant we were in a near-ninety degree drop. I almost lost my cookies, but the horse was right to do it. He was taking us along Adrestia and the Kraken’s path. That path was well-marked with broken boulders and enormous claw marks. I wasn’t sure what my mount was going to do once we reached the Pacific. Tracking people over a body of water is notoriously problematic.

  It didn’t really matter, though, since I knew exactly where Addie was headed.

  When we were right above the water, Pegasus pulled another ninety-degree turn to flatten out our trajectory. Again, I nearly ralphed. It was a good thing I hadn’t had anything to eat beforehand.

  I noticed the tightness of Keri's grip and the strength with which she burrowed her head in my back. “Why did you come with me?” I said to her. “Are you scared of heights?”

  I couldn’t see the girl, but I’m sure her eyes were shut tight. “I am terrified of heights, but I would’ve kicked myself if you needed help and I wasn’t there.”

  I smiled slightly. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’ll be fine. All I’ve gotta do is lure the Kraken away from civilization and get him into the pithos.”

  Keri had to shout over the whipping wind. “We’ll see,” she said. “I’m still expecting a dose of Murphy’s Law.”

  “I can’t argue,” I conceded.

  Like I say, I’ve never bee
n much for horses. I rode them, of course, when they were the only game in town, but I was far from an expert. I could steer, I could go, and I could stop. I knew the basics, but I was never particularly simpatico with them. They always seemed flighty and inscrutable to me. The funny thing was, even though I’d gone to the trouble of getting the fancy bridle, I wasn’t doing a whole lot. More than once, I saw Pegasus’ nostrils flare and then he’d change course. Between me knowing where to go and his having caught our quarry’s scent, things were looking good.

  I decided to throw Keri a bone. I looked over my shoulder and said, “You were right about my outfit. My ass and coochie are getting rubbed raw.”

  All the girl could manage was, “That’s super-gross.”

  Despite my sore nether regions, the ride was absolutely amazing. Pegasus flew above the ocean’s surface and I could feel the spray on my legs and face. For you daredevils out there, I can’t recommend riding a winged horse at breakneck speeds over a calm Pacific highly enough. “This is stunning,” I said to my passenger. “I know you’ve probably got your eyes closed, but you should open them.”

  “I’m good,” was all she would say.

  To our right was both the coastline and the rising sun. I looked over my shoulder and I could see the lights of Santa Monica winking off behind us. We were headed north. I decided to break the ice between Pegasus and myself. “Can you smell him, boy? Are you tracking the Kraken?”

  Pegasus did one of those snorts that’s also a nod, so I took that as a good sign.

  “We’re headed up the coast,” Hope said from inside her saddlebag. There’re no major cities between Los Angeles and San Francisco. For the time being at least, Adrestia isn’t looking to pull an Argos.”

  Hope didn’t yet know where we were headed, but her observation was reassuring nonetheless. We wouldn’t have to watch the Kraken turn any coastal towns into wreckage and froth. Then again, we might get to see him turn some non-coastal cities into wreckage and dirt clods. I decided to let Hope in on what I’d learned. “Addie was part of the plot to release the Titans. Along with her dad and Medea. Medea highjacked the plan and now Addie’s trying to salvage it.”