*I'll thank you in the future to tell me that you're going hunting. And what took you so long? I had to go to bed with the back door open. Anyone could have walked in.*
*Here? Nonsense. And I had to go out past the tilled lands to find game. That's what took me so long. I heard Artemis. Do you know where to go?*
*For a wonder, I do. Artemis pointed out a number of the `god's' dwellings and I remembered.*
* * *
Hermes' house was larger than Gration's, all of the ubiquitous white marble. The servant who opened the door to her was plump and bright-eyed. He was polite, but Hekate kept her eyes on him. There was something about him that promised mischief. He did nothing; however, that might have been because Hermes was waiting at the entrance to the reception room and could see them.
Although his coloring was similar to that of Artemis, Hermes could not have been more different. He, like Artemis, had golden-brown hair and a handsome nose with clean-cut nostrils. His eyes were also large and almond-shaped of the same light brown, but with enough green to let them be called hazel. The major difference was in the mouth. Artemis had hers too firmly under control, the lips tucked back so hard that the lovely curve was spoiled. Hermes' mouth was made for laughter.
He was laughing when Hekate was shown into his reception chamber. This might have been a small square in a prosperous city. An elaborate fountain played in the center of an area of marvelous tiles. At a safe distance from water droplets but close enough for the sound of falling water to be soothing were several small tables with chairs around them. Behind was the facade of an elegant drinking house, and the surrounding walls showed stalls full of merchandise with alleys and streets stretching away into the distance.
"So you are Lady Hekate the fearsome spell-caster," he said. "I don't believe I've ever seen Artemis so awestruck. An altogether rewarding experience."
"Yes, I'm Hekate, and this is Kabeiros. I thought Lady Artemis would meet us here."
Hermes chuckled. "She said she had other business, and I couldn't tell whether she was afraid of you or didn't want to see me make a better bargain than she did. I understand you traded her a single spell for Gration's house. That does seem a rich reward for one spell."
"Only for the right to live in Gration's house; I don't own it. And Lady Artemis will never need to barter for another spell for that purpose. She can use the spell as often as she has power enough."
"I see. She didn't mention that. So what spell did Artemis find so valuable that she would want to use it over and over?"
Hekate smiled. "You will have to ask her that, Lord Hermes."
"Well, will you trade that spell to me for a leaping spell?"
"Not that one. That's my agreement with Lady Artemis. I will not offer the spell I bartered to her for the use of Gration's house to any other person in Olympus. Nor will I myself use the spell in Olympus, except in a great extremity of need. But I have spells enough." She grinned. "How would you like to walk unseen through the city streets you seem to love so much?"
"You have a spell of invisibility?" The jocularity was gone from Hermes' voice; he sounded a little breathless.
"Invisibility is greatly overrated and, because of the amount of power needed to keep the spell active, often useless. I have a simple spell that hardly draws power, which I call the look-by-me spell."
On the words, she murmured the key and took two steps sideways. Kabeiros remained where he was. Hermes gasped.
"Where are you?" he cried, then laughed in amazement. "If that's not true invisibility, I don't know what is."
Hekate walked quietly to the place she had been standing beside Kabeiros. Hermes' glance skittered this way and that avoiding her. She whispered, "Eimi oraton." Hermes gasped again as his gaze became able to fix on her.
"You were invisible," he said.
"No. I merely made you—and everyone else, although no one else was here—unwilling to look at me. I can put the spell on you and you can test it—"
"I am sure Artemis tested the spell you gave her, so I won't bother. What do you want for it?"
He was very eager. Hekate smiled. "For that spell, because it is small and nothing, I would like the ability to leap from wherever I am to Gration's house."
"I can give you a home point at Gration's house, but whether you would be able to leap there from `wherever' you were I don't know. That, too, is a matter of power. If you have enough, you go; if you don't have enough, you will be drained to no purpose."
"Ah, I understand. The power is related to the distance. For example, if I wanted to go from the market to Gration's house, that would take little power. To get to the house from outside Olympus would take much more power."
Hekate didn't mention that she thought there was enough power in Olympus to carry her to the moon. Hermes seemed no more aware of the flood of earth-blood, so rich she could see it right through the paved floor of his house, than Artemis had been, and she had no intention of telling him or any of the others about it. They were powerful enough. She wondered briefly from where the Olympians' power came. Did they absorb it unaware from the earth?
"Exactly," Hermes said.
Hekate brought her attention back to the immediate situation. "Now," she said, "what we have been talking about is a one-time use of a spell, to you the look-by-me and to me one leap from anywhere I have power enough to Gration's house. Before we go ahead, I must tell you that I have a spell of renewal that I can attach to the look-by-me so that you can use it, as Lady Artemis can use her spell, whenever and as often as you desire and have power."
Hermes' beautiful eyes narrowed and Hekate was amazed at how shrewd they now looked. "And you would add the same renewability to my spell so you could use it over and over." He smiled. "But you could have done that without telling me."
Hekate's lips thinned with distaste. "No. In trading, I am honest. When I sell a spell, you get exactly what I describe, nor do I take more than I bargained for in payment."
Hermes looked down, and to Hekate's surprise a faint color rose in his cheeks. Then he asked rather defiantly, "Would it be possible for me to attach that renewal spell to spells I received from other people?"
"You would first have to separate it from the look-by-me spell." Hekate grinned at him. "If you think you can do that, then it should be possible to bud it and attach it to any other spell. However, I work with magic, with spells that are created not with an extract or a distillation of a Gift. I would be glad to teach you—"
"How many years would that take?" Hermes laughed. "Could I buy the renewal spell separately?"
"Certainly, but I would not agree to keep that spell for you alone." Then Hekate laughed also. "Let me discover first whether my renewal spell will bond with the essence you provide me for leaping. If it will, then we can talk about whether you would be able to do the bonding yourself for any spell you received."
She gave him the look-by-me spell and taught him the key words to invoke it and to dispell it. Then he called for servants to bring refreshments to her while he tried out his new toy and disappeared. She ate and drank, fed Kabeiros. Hermes reappeared suddenly before her, laughing with delight, his hazel eyes sparkling with pleasure and mischief.
"I must see Gration's house, see the place where you want my spell to bring you," he said, then looked at her sidelong. "But I must warn you that I am a thief. If you show me your house, I could leap there wearing my look-by-me spell, and steal—"
"If you can steal anything from Gration's house, I will stand by and cheer you on. There is nothing left in it except the heavy furniture. Artemis went through and removed whatever she and her maidservants could carry. And I have nothing, except some worn travel clothing."
"Ah, but you won't be poor for long. For the spells you sell, the other Olympians will shower you with gold and jewels and every kind of adornment for your person and your house."
"I had rather they showered me with food and drink. And speaking of food and drink, do you have any extra servants?"
He shook his head. "My people are all family to me and are trained in ways that would not be suitable for your household. You might ask Aphrodite if any of her children are ready to go into service with another household, or Hestia will know. And your spell has given me so much pleasure already and will provide so much in the future, that I'll give you two for one, a spell for the market as well as one for Gration's house."
The essence that Hermes drew from himself appeared very much like any of Hekate's spells, formed into a silvery ball between the young "god's" lips. Mischief gleamed in his eyes as he leaned forward to put his mouth to Hekate's, but she didn't respond, stepping back, all her senses fixed on the spell—only it wasn't a spell. To her, a spell was made of strands and knots, the strands twisted and curled around each other, the knots catch-points that fixed the shape. Patient teasing could find a loose end and then open the mass so that Hekate could sense each individual word that made up a strand and see the symbols that formed the knots.
Hermes' ball of light was just that, a ball of light. All Hekate could sense within it was a twisting swirl of energy. Ignoring the young "god's" mischievous invitation, she reached toward him and pinched the spell from between his lips. To her relief, it held together. She cast the renewal spell and bade it spread itself over what she held; obediently one silvery ball spread flat and slid over the other, but Hekate sensed that the moment she relaxed her will they would slip apart. She reabsorbed the renewal spell and cast the binding spell. That did cling to Hermes' ball of light, and then she added the renewal spell outermost.
Now the whole spell felt solid and Hekate drew it within her, fixing it in the outermost layer of her crowded repository. She had a feeling that, if it worked at all, it was a spell she would use frequently. When she looked outward again, Hermes was staring at her, wide-eyed.
"I should not have laughed so much at Artemis," he murmured. "I never believed you could change my spell. How did you do that?"
Hekate smiled at him and said, "If you want to learn, I'll teach you—for a price. Now, how do I invoke the spell?"
"You say `Dei me exelthein agora' and . . . No!" He grabbed for her arm as she repeated the words, crying, "Wait!" but it was too late. He was caught up in what felt like a blast of lightning and dropped, rocking off balance with the force of arrival, in front of his favorite drinking house. He breathed out, a whoosh of relief and exasperation. "Well," he said, as Hekate looked around in a dazed sort of way at the people calmly giving their orders and drinking what the servers brought to them, "you certainly have enough power."
"I never lack for power," Hekate said absently, and asked, "How is it that no one is surprised to see two people appear out of nothing?"
Hermes laughed. "I often come here. They are accustomed."
"Oh." Hekate grinned and looked down to where Kabeiros usually sat to see if he were equally amused. He wasn't there! Her eyes went wide and wild and she grabbed for Hermes, her nails digging into his arm in her anxiety. "Where is Kabeiros?" she cried. "Is he lost otherwhere?"
"He's back in the house," Hermes said, frowning and prying at her fingers. "Unless you gave him the spell and he didn't know where we were going."
Hekate was white with shock. "Sorry," she murmured, smoothing Hermes' arm where spots of red showed how deeply her nails had dug into the flesh. Then she sighed. "How stupid of me. I can't give Kabeiros the spell—I can't give him any spell. He's totally resistant to magic."
"Well, then, leave him at home or put him in a kennel if he's destructive."
"Put him in a kennel!" Hekate echoed in horror. "He is a man!"
As she spoke she realized that, unlike Artemis, Hermes hadn't sensed that Kabeiros was more than a dog. So not all the Gifted had that ability. Likely that meant Hermes would not be able to help cure Kabeiros' condition; on the other hand, by his indifference to her statement she understood that shape-shifting must be a common enough thing in Olympus.
"Hmmm." Hermes had been following his own thoughts about bringing Kabeiros along. He shrugged. "Just grip him firmly by the neck and he should be transported with you. He's heavy, but you brought me along without any difficulty. And you don't have to use that much power to leap a short distance. I'll take you back now." He took her hand. "Watch what I do. Then we can all go to Gration's house so you can pick out where you want to arrive."
An instant later, at Hermes' house, they could hear Kabeiros' frantic barking. Hekate ran from the hall into the reception room, hoping Kabeiros hadn't savaged any of the servants in his frustration over being unable to find out where Hekate had gone. He hadn't yet, merely menacing them with exposed fangs, trying to frighten them into telling him what had happened. She called to him to stop, and he whirled around, so angry he didn't speak. In fact, like a dog, he snapped at her. Then he backed off, snarling.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I thought there'd be more to it than just the words."
Kabeiros still didn't speak, just turned again and sat with his back to her. Hekate had wanted to throw her arms around him and apologize for leaving him unable to communicate and frightening him, but his snarl reminded her of his fit of temper the previous night and the horrible time she had spent wondering to where he had disappeared and whether he would come back at all.
"Didn't like it, did you?" she snapped at his unresponsive back. "Well, I didn't like it when you took off last night without a word to me. When you turn civil, so will I!"
Hermes raised his brows and glanced from one to the other with a knowing smile; then, however, he frowned and asked, "Why didn't he just shift back to a man and ask my servants where you and I had gone instead of barking at them and threatening to bite them?"
"Because he can't," Hekate said, sighing heavily. "He's trapped in the form of the dog. That's really why we've come to Olympus. My magic won't touch him, but a strongly Gifted woman was able to reach the spell. It's—" she hesitated, afraid to mention that the spell causing the disruption of Kabeiros' power was a draining spell, and went on "—it's tangled up in his organ of power so he can't use the power and the power feeds the spell so it won't die . . ."
"I'm very sorry," Hermes said to Kabeiros, who had turned to look at him. "I didn't know." And then to Hekate, "So why didn't this Gifted woman remove the spell?"
"Because it would have been easier to kill Kabeiros than to take the time to disentangle the spell from his power. I could stop her from killing us, but I had no way to control her."
"You have nice friends."
"Medea was no friend."
Hermes took in her expression, shuddered slightly, and held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I have to be in Egypt this afternoon," he said. "Let's get over to Gration's house so I can give you the second spell."
The now-bland voice and expression confirmed that he would ask no more questions about Medea or the spell holding Kabeiros to the dog form—at least, Hekate thought, he would ask her no more questions. His inquisitive nature wouldn't allow the subject to die.
As they walked, Hekate asked how to find Leto, saying she hoped that Artemis would have remembered to tell her mother that Hekate needed introductions to other Olympians. Hermes grinned and said he thought she would, adding he thought Artemis believed Hekate would turn her into a statue if she didn't. Hekate was too clever to respond to that provocative statement, and asked about Leto again.
"Oh, sorry. You leap to the market and go up the right-hand path toward Zeus' palace. There is a cross path leading to the palace doors, which will be open—Zeus' doors are always open, but I don't think you want to draw his attention yet. The lord of all gods isn't too enthusiastic about his subjects learning magic. He's aware of our Gifts nearly from birth and thinks he can control them, but created magic is too unpredictable. Likely that's why Kronos drove out the Titans." He cocked his head on the side. "Are you a Titan, Hekate?"
"Artemis asked me the same question," she said. "I don't believe so. In the land I came from, use of magic is far more common than bei
ng Gifted—in fact, being Gifted, as Kabeiros was, is a quick way to die. However, I know my mother was no Titan. She was a woman native to Ka'anan. I know nothing about my father."
"You don't know him?"
Hekate shuddered visibly. "I know him all too well, but he never spoke of his past. Are Titans forbidden to come to Olympus?"
"No, not at all." Hermes laughed. "Maybe in Kronos' time, but not now. Zeus' mother Rhea was a Titan, and Leto is a Titan, the daughter of Koios, who was their leader." He sighed. "I was told that Kronos mutilated Koios horribly, and kept him prisoner for a long time. Finally when he saw that his own people were disgusted, he sent Koios into the Underworld, but that was all long before I was born."
Hekate recalled the paintings on her antechamber walls. If she was interpreting them aright, the "gods" and the Titans had been allies, had been defeated together, and had found Olympus together. She also recalled Koios' outstretched hand, as if he was pleading with or welcoming a friend.
"But the gods and the Titans came together from . . . from wherever and found Olympus together. What was the war about? Why did Kronos want to be rid of them?"
"I don't know. I told you all that was long before I was born, but if you want my opinion it was because the Titans' magic was growing stronger and stronger. The Gifts of Kronos and his party had always been more powerful than the magic of the Titans, and Kronos dominated the entire group. When the Titans found this valley, however, they insisted on staying here. Kronos wanted to settle among the natives so he and his people would have their choice of slaves. Instead, they captured a large group of natives and brought them back to Olympus. Then they found that the Titans' magic was increasing in strength. If you really want to know, though, ask Eros. He actually came with Kronos."
They had reached Gration's house by then, and Hekate took Hermes to the reception room. He laughed when he saw the pictures and said he had been thinking Hekate omniscient as well as a master sorceress, but now he knew where she had her information about the start of the Titans and Olympians.
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