“Zeus became the Ruling Judge of the Council of Olympus. Your world knows the council as the Olympian Household, which is only partially correct. A few of his children do sit at the heads of kingdoms, but the council is not a single family with Zeus as patriarch. Aphrodite, however, is his daughter. Eros is his grandson.”
“Eros is part of the Council?” I asked.
Titus shook his head. “Eros’s kingdom was made up of portions of two existing kingdoms. Plus, he was just a child. He was offered a place at the council as an advisory vote, but not a ruling vote. Everyone expected him to marry into a kingdom with a ruling vote. His mother encouraged this most of all.” He crumpled up the foil from his dinner and stowed it in the pouch were we kept our trash.
“And instead, he fell for a mortal.”
“Eros doesn’t care for power as long as the Council is ruling in fairness and doling out justice in equity.”
“If Hades is a place for criminals,” I asked, “why have you been there?”
He shrugged off his coat. “I know you don’t like me touching you, but would you mind?” He motioned me to sit between his legs. “I need to use my hands. It helps me relax.”
Reluctantly, I slipped off my coat and moved toward him.
He started rubbing knots out of my shoulders. “Five ages ago Aphrodite became enamored with a mortal named Thomas. She took him as a lover. She would steal away from the kingdom to visit him, and on one occasion Eros followed her. When he found them together, he demanded she give Thomas up, or Eros would tell her husband.”
“Hephaestus?” I asked, testing my knowledge of Greek mythology.
“Yes. Aphrodite agreed, but she had no intention of leaving Thomas alone for good. Knowing that his youth wouldn’t outlast Eros’s resolve to reform her, she opened a portal for Thomas so he could collect the sacred fruit.”
“She immortalized him?”
“But that wasn’t enough for Thomas. He traveled to her palace and sneaked in during the night with the intention of removing from her the obstacles that kept them apart—her husband, her son and her other lover.”
“He knew about Theron?”
“No, but he knew she had another. Theron and the palace guards realized there was an intruder. They searched everywhere for him. Thomas stole into the forge. My father was Hephaestus’s bodyguard. Thomas murdered my father and stabbed Hephaestus before Theron and the others caught him. Thomas was tried before the Council and sentenced to the Underworld. Because he tried to kill Hephaestus, a member of the Ruling Council, Zeus himself travelled with armed guards to deliver Thomas to Hades. I was nearly fifteen, and Zeus had me accompany the party as a witness to my family that justice had been served.”
“You made the journey, and you survived,” I said optimistically. “So, I should be able to do the same. There are lots of stories about mortals who travelled to Hades and returned. Odysseus and Aeneas…”
“They are all fiction. Aeneas never existed. Eros is Aphrodite’s only child. Only one mortal has been to Hades and lived to write about it. You might have read his work. He was Italian.”
“We don’t read Italian writers,” I replied, “except Dante.”
Titus squeezed my shoulder.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” I exclaimed.
“He embellished a great deal. Some of the other myths contain elements of truth also. You will descend far into the earth until you reach the river Styx. You have to pay a toll to get across. I will give you the Olympian coins that you need, one for the toll in and one for the toll out. Put the coin under your tongue, and Charon, the boatman, will take it from your lips.” Titus smoothed down the fabric of my sleeves. “It will be hot in Hades, but it’s best if you keep your skin covered. The inhabitants of Hades are immortal, but they’re cold. If they feel your warmth, they will assume you’re Olympian. Do not tell anyone you are mortal. I assume your guide will know what you are, and so will Persephone, but no one else. See that it stays that way. There is a hierarchy among us. We, Olympians, are above the demons, but any immortal considers himself above you. There are guardsmen and punishers in Hades. In their kingdom they are basically free men, and they dole out violence to others. If one of them figures out you are a red-blood, they will fight to claim you. Death is merciful compared to what they will do to you.” Titus shivered and wrapped his arms around me. “I’m afraid for you,” he whispered.
I was afraid for me, too. “Tell me more,” I prompted.
“You’ll have to pass Cerberus, the three-headed dog. He likes treats, so you feed him and slip by while he eats. Then you must walk all the way down to the palace. All around you will be scenes of torture and suffering. See as little as possible. Keep your focus on your guide. He will take you through the gates of the city to the palace. In the city, speak to no one. It will go against your nature, but do not be fooled into trying to help someone who seems to be hurt or starving. The demons can transform themselves. A frail old woman might actually be a guardsman, and your mercy would be punished. Once you reach the palace, don’t assume you are safe. The men at court are just as dangerous as any in the kingdom, and the palace guard more so.
“When you meet Persephone, you must remember two things. First, she is the queen of deception, so you cannot lie to her, and you cannot assume she tells the truth. Second, never anger her. In everything you say, be meek and polite. Be grateful if she’s generous and humble if she’s not. Remember that of everyone you meet in that forsaken place, Persephone is the most dangerous of all.” Titus moved to face me and took my face into his hands. “Of all the things I tell you, this is the most important. Do not eat anything or drink anything while you are in Hades. To partake of their feast is to become a part of the kingdom. No matter how hungry you get, no matter how thirsty, do not let one drop of wine touch your tongue, not a single crumb of food. Do you understand?”
“I understand. Don’t let them touch me. Don’t help anyone. Don’t eat or drink anything. Don’t believe their lies. Be polite. Feed the dog. Pay with a coin from my lips. Don’t let them know my blood is red. Anything else?”
“Just one more thing. Persephone is big on seduction. Life with Aphrodite is a cakewalk compared to Persephone’s household. Don’t have sex with a demon.”
“Not going to happen,” I said emphatically.
“Her attendants are well-schooled in their arts. Submit to one, and she will own your will and your body.” Sheepishly, Titus admitted, “She nearly caught me. One of her maids came to me in the night. I didn’t know why she was there, but I allowed her to tempt me. Luckily, the guard outside my room awakened, put a sword to my neck and commanded the girl to leave. Afterward he explained what I had almost done. It was perhaps the most terrifying moment of my life. Right up there with almost falling off a cliff.”
“I’m not going to let anyone to touch me, right?”
“Your guide—the one man who knows you’re mortal—he’ll be the one you need to watch. He’ll try to get you alone, and he’ll try to tempt you. Resist him no matter the cost. As long as you say no, you remain free.”
“You mean, even if he rapes me?”
“That’s what I mean.”
I tried to hide the shudder that shook me involuntarily, but I was sure Titus felt it. Every imaginable nightmare awaited me on the other side of that portal. “I doubt I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” I said.
Titus forced a smile. “I’ll put you to sleep, and I’ll watch over you in the night. Tonight, at least, you can rest knowing that you are perfectly safe.”
In the hours before dark, I took what comfort I could from a man who was not my beloved. I allowed Titus to massage my back, shoulders and feet. He offered lighthearted conversation, and he sang to me softly while I tried to sketch. When night came, he kept me warm and held me while I cried. Then he softly caressed my temples until, unwillingly, I slipped into deep sleep. Without being conscious of dreams, I startled myself awake to find Titus still holding me and awake
as he promised.
“Shhh,” he murmured. “I’m still here for you.” He stroked my face, and lulled me back to sleep.
Thanks to Titus, I slept long and deeply. When I finally woke it was after ten and he was gone. I thought for a moment he abandoned me, then I heard him talking softly outside the tent.
“I can hardly bear to let her go,” he said. After a pause, he asked, “What did Zeus say? Will he free her from the contract?”
I stopped moving so I could hear every word now.
“Then I guess we have no choice. I’ve told her everything I know. I’ve warned her of all the perils I could think of. I’ll wait for her here. The journey to the palace should only take a few hours. With any luck, she will be back by nightfall.” He listened awhile, then said, “Goodness, I hope you’re wrong. The longer she’s gone the hungrier she’s going to get.”
Realizing I might be facing hours without food and water, I dug through the pack and counted how many rations were left. If I ate two meals, it would leave Titus enough for three full days without me. Hopefully, if I didn’t come back by then, he would start climbing down before he ran out. We left some supplies at our base camp, and I was sure he could make that journey in a day, so he was supplied for at least a week. I was also pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to resist water for a week if Persephone kept me that long.
I found what ice we had left and warmed it. The pot was heating slower now than when we started. The battery cell was running low. We had a second battery, but we left it on the other side of the spine.
Because I feared thirst more than hunger, I drank as much as I could. If it was hot and I couldn’t drink, it wouldn’t take long for me to get dehydrated and weak.
All too soon I found myself climbing with Titus toward the cave. Aphrodite’s box was in the satchel slung over my shoulders. Titus had added my GPS watch to the satchel, too, so he would see my signal when I reappeared. The bag also contained food for Cerberus and an Olympian coin. Another coin was already under my tongue, so I wouldn’t have to dig for it when I reached the river Styx. Outwardly, it seemed that all possible preparations had been made. Titus had wisely kept my tennis shoes in his pack, so I didn’t have to wear heavy snow boots on the journey into Hades. All along he and Eros believed this was my destination, and they had planned for it while hoping they were wrong. I wore a long-sleeved undershirt beneath my T-shirt and my own comfortable jeans. Once Titus took my coat at the portal, I would look like I was heading off to school, ponytail and all.
School seemed like another lifetime now. I wondered how many units behind in Calculus I had fallen. This journey had probably doused all hopes I had of graduating in the spring. Failing my senior year of high school might have seemed monumental two months ago. Now it was the least of my concerns. Trying not to be made an immortal slave to some monstrous darkling was foremost in my mind.
Just as we reached the mouth of the cave, the wind whipped behind us. I ducked my face to keep from being sprayed with snow, but Titus smiled into the wind. “He came to see you off,” Titus murmured. “He won’t touch you. You’re to pretend you don’t know he’s here.”
Tears filled my eyes. “The next time you see Eros,” I said, “tell him that no matter what happens, I will always love him.”
Titus hugged me. “Be brave. You saved my life yesterday. You can save yourself today.” He helped me out of my coat and moved me toward the open portal, which I still could not see. “The portal is guarded by two sentries. They are enormous, disfigured, monsters of men. Just walk past them as if they are not there. Your guide is waiting beyond them and… Oh, Merciful Heaven.” He clutched my shoulders and wouldn’t let me go.
“Titus?”
He laid his forehead on my shoulder and whispered. “It’s Thomas. He’s your guide.”
I swallowed the terror that threatened to make me scream. “I’ll be all right.”
“No,” he said. “I can’t hand you off to that killer.” But an unseen hand tugged on Titus’s shoulder. He looked up, and beheld the face I couldn’t. Looking sick, Titus stepped away from me, knelt on one knee and kissed my hand. “Go safely,” he said. “I will be here when you return.”
I ruffled his hair. “Try not to freeze to death.” Then I turned, took a steadying breath and walked into Hades.
Chapter 27
The moment I passed through the wall of the cave, I felt warm air hit my face. I ignored the towering figures on either side of the portal and approached my guide. “You’re Thomas?”
“I am.” He was not a formidable person. I matched his height, and though his chest and arms were muscled, he was slightly built. His brown hair was short enough that it merely lay back. He had a nice chin, a narrow nose and beautiful brown eyes. The color was warm and flecked with gold, although the light had gone out of them. He inspired none of the fear I felt when I looked into Theron’s eyes. The eyes before me betrayed a soul given to deep sorrow. From under his arm, he unfurled a cloak very much like the one I’d worn in Eros’s kingdom. “You’re to wear this for protection. Your clothes will stand out here.”
Thomas wore a black waist-to-knee robe similar to the ones in Eros’s kingdom. Over his right shoulder he wore a scarlet sash, which was belted at the waist with a gold cord. Around his left bicep, he wore a thick gold band which bore a crest. Unlike the gold arm cuff Eros gave me, the band on Thomas was smaller than his bicep, and would not come off without being cut.
Without argument I donned the cloak and followed close behind him as he descended a staircase that led into the Underworld. The steps were driven into the walls of the hollow mountain, so that as we descended, we traveled the circumference of the circular chamber twice. Torches on the walls lit our way. We were in the belly of a huge volcano. The hot air stank of sulfur.
At the bottom of the staircase we met flat ground. The hard, barren earth formed a narrow shore for the river Styx. It was a river inasmuch as it was a body of moving water, but the water was thick and murky, the shores steep and covered with black slime. As we drew near, I realized there were bodies in the water. They looked like lifeless corpses floating down the river until they butted into one another. Then the bodies suddenly sprang to life and attacked each other. All of them had ghostly pale skin that was wrinkled and peeling. Sentries in black robes walked along the banks with whips in their hands. If some desperate soul climbed too far toward the shore, the sentries whipped him until he fell into the water.
As we stood at the dock, the people in the water called out to us. They wailed and pleaded with us. Some tried to grab our legs. Coming across the water was the boatman Charon. The bodies did not move for him, and his skiff plowed over them and pushed them under the filthy water.
I stayed very close to Thomas and pretended not to notice the scene. He seemed to be observing me as much as I was trying not to observe my surroundings. When Charon landed at the dock, Thomas said, “You’ll need to pay a toll to cross.” From his pocket, Thomas took a coin and offered it to the boatman. They exchanged it hand to hand, but I refused to be fooled. Titus had been specific about how I was to pay the toll. I moved the coin from under my tongue and slid it forward on my lips.
Charon plucked the coin from my lips without touching my skin. Then he allowed us aboard. While we crossed the river, I sat in the middle of the boat so no one in the water could grab me, and I kept my eyes on the coming shore. At the dock Thomas rose and offered me his hand. Since he already knew what I was, I allowed him to help me ashore, and this pleased him.
Immediately past the bank of the river Styx was a stone gateway announcing the entrance to the kingdom of Hades. There, just inside the gate, was the three-headed dog, Cerberus, who wore a metal collar with a monstrous chain staked into the middle of the roadway. When Titus said “dog,” he failed to mention that Cerberus was not only vicious and three-headed, but as big as an elephant. A single tooth in the hound’s mouth was as long as my forearm.
At the sight of the dog Thomas grumb
led, “Worthless mutt.” Just outside the gate was a pile of raw meat, which he divided into thirds. One third he offered to me. “Throw it hard, or the first head will eat everything, and the other two will try to take dinner out of our hides.”
We timed our throws together, and I threw the meat as hard as I could. It went all the way beyond the third head where Thomas’s throws landed. The dog moved to face the meat, the heads already fighting, and we slipped by its tail. As soon as we passed, Thomas threw me a glance. I wasn’t sure if it was approval or just plain curiosity, but a slight smile tugged at his lips.
From there we started downhill again, this time on a long dirt road. Though the path descended, it was always the high ground. On both sides were steep slopes that led into various pits and valleys. As we moved farther toward the city, the air became so foul, I had trouble breathing. It wasn’t sulfur. It was something else, but I didn’t recognize it. The pits beside the road were full of people receiving assorted brutal punishments. In one pit the captives were on their knees and chained by the wrists between two poles. They cried for mercy, while punishers in black robes walked among them with hot irons. Seeing my attention caught by the scene, Thomas murmured, “Traitors. They’re branded.”
A guardsman pressed the iron into a man’s chest. The stench of burning flesh made me gag. I turned to Thomas, whose handsome face was a welcome sight among so much brutality. “How many times?”
“As many as they can bear. Then they’re dumped into the Pool of Blood.” He pointed. The pool lay between several pits. It was just as filthy as the river Styx. “There’s ambrosia in the water. When their wounds heal, they’re taken back to the poles.”
“What’s the punishment for murder?” I asked.
His eyes grew colder. “Depends on the murder.” We continued on, and Thomas showed me the kingdom in all its gore. “Those are the abusers. Some of them killed their wives. They are flogged and beaten just as they beat those who loved them.” He directed my attention to another pit where the captives were brawling. Every person punched and kicked at every other person. “Cowards. They must fight for every morsel of food and drop of water they receive.” He eyed a trio of black-robed guards at the edge of the pit. “That’s guardsmen entertainment. Throw a steak into the cowards and watch them beat each other for it.”
Painted Blind Page 28
