by Keller, Tom
"Agreed," he replied. "I would like to see the place where you found Hades' armor as well. Perhaps there is something else there that will be of use to us."
With that said, we headed upstairs to Hades' bedchamber and the hidden room we had found there earlier.
"Are you looking for anything in particular?" I asked as Bernd looked through the hidden closet.
"No," he replied as he put a helmet down. "Hades had many weapons and articles of magic, but I doubt he would have left anything useful behind when left to fight in the wars."
"There was a scythe," I said. "Made of adamantine, or some other hard substance. But I gave it to Gaea."
"You gave it to her?"
"Yeah," I replied. "I figure that's the real purpose she had me come here. It was a set up from the start. Probably figured I'd do it; if for no other reason than to rescue you. But I think that's what she really wanted. Whatever she's up to, she acted like she didn't care about the problems the Demons were creating on the human plane."
"She would not want you to know if she did," he said.
"Figured that. What I don't understand is why she couldn’t just come here and get it herself."
"Ouranos would have noticed her presence," he replied with a frown. "We are but pawns in the games the Gods play." Then he looked up at me and the frown became a smile. "In your case, perhaps a knight. Ouranos has underestimated you. Sword of Cronus, or not, he still favors the dark Fae. That, at least, is good to know."
"Nothing like being underappreciated."
"Perhaps," he agreed. "But I doubt Gaea would agree."
"Yeah," I said with a chuckle. "She called me her hero."
"More than a knight then," he said with a laugh as he turned for the doorway. "Come. There is nothing more for us here. Let us plan our next move."
The Shades that had packed the rear of Hades' palace were gone. A few Harpies and Chimera still roamed the area as we made ready to leave.
"You ready?" I asked Charlie as we stood at the front door. He was going out the window again. Since it was on the far side of the palace, I figured that it would give us the best shot at drawing any stragglers from the front. Lucius stood behind us, sword in hand.
"Do you have an extra sword?" Bernd asked as Charlie headed up the stairway.
"You want a sword? Never thought I'd hear that from you."
"It is true I was once bound to my oath as to dealings with other races," he said. "But death has freed me from that pledge. Give me a sword. I am reborn a Dwarf of old."
"You got it," I said as I pulled one of the swords off my back and handed it to him.
He pulled it from its sheath and tested the edge before swinging it a few times, then he balanced it on his palm. "One of yours," he remarked as he looked at the sheaf of wheat symbol on the pommel.
"Took it from Demeter's armory myself," I replied as he sheathed it and placed it on his belt. It was almost as tall as he was, but it seemed right on him. "How does it feel?"
"It has been many an age since I carried a weapon," he replied, patting the hilt. "But I find the weight... comforting, you might say."
I chuckled a bit before nodding to Charlie at the top of the stairs. He disappeared before I could turn back and grasp the door's handle.
There was a loud series of barks that faded quickly. I waited a moment before flinging the door open, and then we were off, heading for the hills, as it were. We almost made it halfway. They were waiting for us. The group of Harpies that assaulted us came in from the side and all hell broke loose.
Having a magic sword has its benefits, even if it isn’t as powerful here as outside the Underworld. But even that doesn't help when ten five-foot tall, Dodo birds with screaming human heads tackle you. Sure, I could kill them, but more just kept coming. Bernd was holding his own and as soon as I cut a few more in two, the tide turned. Between the three of us, even the few dozen Harpies didn’t stand a chance. But it was the Chimeras I was worried about.
As soon as I had pulled the sword of Cronus, the damn goat's heads started bleating out a chorus. Not willing to wait for reinforcements, I yelled at Bernd and grabbed Lucius. We sprinted the rest of the way and didn’t stop until we were a few miles in. We'd lost them for the moment. Charlie joined us a few minutes later, panting from the long run.
"They knew we were coming," he said.
"How many chased you?" I asked.
"Too many to count," he replied. "Not as many as last time. Although it was almost enough."
"So it was an ambush?" Lucius remarked.
"Yeah," I replied. "But where are the rest?"
"They knew you would return to Hades," Bernd answered. "But they could not know where you would appear."
"Well, they know now," I said, willing my blade away and grabbing the bident off my back. "I think I'd better not use it again until I have to. I probably just sent out a beacon pointing the way here."
"Do not let it concern you," he replied. "The Chimera alerted the others as soon as we left the palace. Your sword's flame merely confirmed it. Better to have such a blade than to want it when it is needed."
"I can’t believe she has allies here," I said, shaking my head.
"There has always been contact between the Underworld and the human plane. Through the Gates of Horn and Ivory, if not elsewhere. Not all who are sentenced here drink from the river of forgetfulness. With Hades gone, who can say what type of communication between the lands exists."
The Gates of Horn and Ivory where a mystical place in Hades where dreams passed between the Underworld and the land of the living above. It was said that false dreams, those of fantasy and without true meaning passed through the Gate of Ivory on their journey's between the worlds. Those of truth passed through the Gate of Horn.
"So what now?" Lucius asked.
"We go on," I replied, pulling out the orb. I placed it into my palm and thought of the Faerie with the jewel. It began to spin but did not stop. That was something, anyway. "Well, if this thing is accurate, she's not here yet. Trap or not, we have to at least try to stop the Faerie from getting into Tartarus. Charlie, take point. Let's go north a bit, and then cut across toward the river of fire."
He didn’t reply, but took off through the woods as we followed.
"How did you acquire such a device?" Bernd asked as we trudged through the mist and brush.
"Took it off a Mage that attacked me," I replied. "But personally, I think it was a gift from Gaea. He was way too much of an amateur to be carrying such a thing, and it does other stuff as well."
"What other properties does it possess?"
"Demon killing net thingy, for one. Not sure if there's anything else, but that one is pretty effective. I didn’t think I'd need that feature while I was in Hades. I'm not hunting Demons. But it does a pretty good job of slicing and dicing them topside. I guess it might slow them down a bit here, if nothing else. That's assuming they can regenerate? Honestly, I'm not even sure I want to know. Anyway, it only works on one Demon at a time, so testing it on Harpies or Chimeras that I already know I can kill just didn’t make sense."
"An interesting device," he said. "It may still prove useful."
I could just see Charlie ahead through the mist. Suddenly, he stopped and dropped to the ground; so we went down on one knee and waited for him to slink back.
"Chimera," he said as he came up to me. "Only one. It is in the trees to the right, moving away from us. We must wait for it to pass through the area."
"It seems we are being hunted," Bernd said, raising his sword. "Where there is one, there will be more."
"It will not be the first time," Lucius whispered to me. "If he turns, spear the goat head and I'll use my sword on the lion."
I nodded, and we waited. It was as good a plan as any. Fortunately, it didn’t turn back. We gave it another five minutes, then Charlie took off in the lead again. We encountered several more Chimera as we made our way toward the river. They were tough bastards and we'd had to take out a
few. But other than Charlie's fur been singed, when one surprised us we made it through. As we got closer, it got warmer. Then the stunted trees thinned out. We stopped at the top of a tall hill and looked out toward Tartarus.
The river was narrower here; maybe 150 yards across. Flames and dark smoke blocked most of the view, but the large walls and tall mountains clearly showed that we were in the right place. The remnants of a bridge stood crumbling on this side of the bank and what was left of the gate became visible now and then between the plumes. There was a pass between the tall peaks where the gate once stood, but between the river and the flames, I doubted there was any way through. Even flying over would be risky, as flames would shoot up into the air hundreds of feet every few seconds.
The valley below us was desolate. But now and then, Harpies could be seen, as the dark mists moved across the ground. Chimeras appeared here and there, the heat keeping them from venturing to close to the bank. I had just turned to Bernd, when a blinding red flash dimmed my sight. I looked up to see roiling clouds and lightning, the thunder shaking me as a vortex appeared in the sky between us and the river.
Without thinking, I jumped up and ran. The others followed as I tried to reach the center before she could appear and cross the river. Within seconds, the Faerie was there, her features hidden by the great whirlwind that began trailing out of the vortex toward us. A blast of wind threw us to the ground and the clouds and mist spun in circles around us. Bits of long dead trees and Harpies were sucked in and I grabbed what was left of a stump and held on. The others were not so lucky.
Bernd and Lucius flew into the air, flying toward the vortex as I watched. Charlie flew circles behind me and I reached out just in time for him to clamp his jaws onto my armor. I pulled him closer as the sucking vortex raised us into the air. Just when I thought I couldn't hold on any longer, we fell to the ground, the vortex collapsing into itself as the winds died down. I was back on my feet in an instant. I looked all around but the two of them were gone.
Knowing there was nothing I could do for them, I took back off toward the Faerie, Charlie at my heels. She was just floating there. Wisps of smoke encircled her as the winds died down and she settled to the ground. I had been right; she was an Aurae. She looked up at me as I ran toward her, the pain and suffering she'd been through evident on her face.
"Do not come any closer," she croaked, lifting into the air again as I approached.
"Wait!" I yelled, stopping in my tracks. "You don’t have to do this."
"But I must," she replied. She reached up to her neck as the smoke cleared and grasped the chain that encircled it.
A slave collar. Those bastards!
"Maia," I yelled, taking a step toward her. This had to be Sendy's sister. She was the only Aurae unaccounted for after the raid on the dark Fae's compound, where we'd found what was left of the rest. "I can get it off!"
"It is too late," she cried, the red stone pulsing. What had once been a necklace was now strapped onto her arm; the silver links cutting into her skin as her blood swelled around it, feeding the dark magic that was in the jewel. She grimaced as the power coursed through her, the slave collar now vibrating as it tightened around her neck.
I knew what I had to do, but it wasn't an easy decision. That hesitation was my undoing, as a red pulse shot out from the jewel and she rose further into the air; moving toward the fiery river.
I began to chase her as she flew toward the flames. Flying higher as I eyed her between the mists, her wings beating faster and faster. As she got closer she began to smoke; the heat from the fiery river already having its effect.
Charlie and I almost reached her at the bank when suddenly the river flared and the heat became intense. I looked back up but I could barely see her now, flying toward the middle of the river as flames trailed behind her.
I would have given up, but a last thought gave me hope. I pulled out the Queller and drew back, throwing it as hard as I could, just as she burst into flames. She was swallowed up by the roiling dark clouds and then there was an explosion of clouds and lightning that surged outward. I tried to gauge how far across the river she'd gone, but there was just no way to tell. I didn’t even know if the orb had connected with her, since it never came back. One way or another, it was over.
"Did you stop her?" Charlie asked. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back from the heat.
"I don’t know."
We were far enough away now, and the temperature became bearable. With the Faerie gone, the winds died down and the clouds and mists began to settle. There was no sign of her body on the other bank, but between the flames and smoke of the river, it was hard to be sure. There was nothing to indicate the stone had made it to the other side. Whatever spell had been cast to make the denizens of Hades try and stop us seemed gone as well. That or the fireworks show scared them off. The Harpies and Chimeras had disappeared, at least for now. The ground for miles around was empty.
"Damn it!" I said aloud as I turned to face the big dog. " Nothing! I can't tell if it survived the blast or not. I should have done something sooner." There was no way to know what had happened to the necklace. No way to know if it had reached the other side. What had I done? Had I just given Marissa the key to escaping Tartarus, or worse, freed others from that horrible realm?
"You did what you could," he replied. " At least the portals will be closed."
"Yeah," I looked back in the direction that we'd taken. There was no sign of the Roman or the Dwarf. "But I should have stopped her when I had the chance. I just hope that Lucius and Bernd made it home in one piece."
He swept his head back and forth then lifted his nose before turning back to me and shaking it. "What next?"
"Let's find a freaking way out of this shit hole," I said, and began walking away from the river. The peaks of mountains and the ruined gate of Tartarus obscured by smoke and fire were still heavy on my mind. There was nothing else I could do now but try and make it to somewhere that I could contact Kyras. It was either that, or find another way out through one of the other Hells of the Underworld. There was no way I was going back to the Tower of Cronus. As for Lucius and Bernd, I could only hope they made it back safely and that whatever else the portals had sent there had been contained.
Chapter 23
It's not hard to be melancholy when you're walking through Hell. Even Charlie was quiet as we passed through miles and miles of dimly lit caricatures of the real world. The souls of those sentenced here were mere representations of what they had once been. Unlike Elysium, here the souls seemed truly dead; lost and without purpose. Had it just been them, it would have been a quiet march. But occasionally, Harpies or Chimeras would appear. Then we had to fight to avoid becoming lunch. They didn’t seem to be hunting us like before, but that didn’t stop them from attacking when we ran across them.
We'd travelled for what felt like days. It was hard to tell how long it actually was, especially in the perpetual twilight. We'd had to take the long way around to avoid as many creatures as possible. There had been too many between the river and the palace, so we'd chosen an alternate route. It's not that I was worried about being eaten; but I'd had enough of killing on this journey.
We'd spent a day resting, just shy of what I thought was probably Persephone's groves, before doubling back. It was the first place I'd seen where the remains of fields that had once been tilled stood. There were also the remnants of orchards with real trees. Nothing had been tended, so things were a bit overgrown, but it was better than some of the places we'd passed.
I wasn't sure which was best way out, but I figured we could try and contact the Keres by finding our way to the Gate of Ivory. Like the Roman poet, Virgil, had written in his poem, The Aeneid, I was going to try and get us out the same way his Trojan hero had done, using the Gate of Ivory. If that didn't work, I'd try the Gate of Horn. I was hoping to get a message to Kyras through one of them. If I was successful, she would be able to find us and take us home. There was also the ch
ance that Bernd and Lucius had made it back alive. They'd be trying to find a way to get to us as well.
I'd also thought about summoning the fire Demon whose ring I wore; but that too, was a last resort. His home was still in the Underworld, but at the time he'd given it to me, he was going to try and prevent any future travel between his world and ours. It was probably better saved for another time. It was a long story, but suffice it say that summoning Demons was a favorite pastime of dark Mages, as Ordunez had mentioned in his briefing.
After skirting the path that led back to Elysium, we turned down a road that lead to what was once some kind of palace or temple. On one side, two tusk shaped spires, the ivory yellowed and now broken, once stood. The fallen ivory still lay on the ground near a pool. On the other, two twisted spires of some kind of translucent horn had stood. They too, had fallen. They must have been majestic in their day; but now, they just looked sad. At both, steaming pools lay between the stumps that remained. The mist-like dreams passing in and out like vapor; bubbling up from vents under the water. We took the path that led to the stumps of ivory and walked up to the water.
"Any idea how it works?" I asked Charlie, watching the mists as they rose and fell.
"Magic," he replied, and then stuck his nose into the swirling fog. He jumped back as if bitten.
"What happened?"
"It is too much," he said, his ears flapping as he shook his head.
"Information overload," I said with a laugh. It was the first one I'd had in while. Then I stepped forward and placed my hand into the mists. Unlike Charlie, I held my breath, and summoning every bit of magic within me, called out to her. When I could hold it no longer, I stepped back.
"Did it work?"
"I don't know buddy," I replied, walking over and grabbing his big head before sitting down against one of the fallen tusks. "Nothing is quite the same here, especially when it comes to magic. But I think I felt something when I reached out. I chanted her name and our location at least 100 times before I ran out of breath. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."
