War God's Mantle- Underworld

by James Hunter

  I swept the War Mammoth Cloak around me tighter.

  I shivered, though it only had a little to do with the actual temperature. I’d seen a forest like this once before—down in the prehistoric world of Nyx. That had been just before we’d clashed with the monster Titan Entomo. Half centipede, half M1A1, all nightmare.

  Loxo emerged from the air behind me. Her face was gray, and she was shaking.

  “Is it Entomo?” I asked.

  She closed her eyes, swallowing hard. I took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Then she did something that surprised the hell out of me. She pulled in close, clinging to me. I could really feel her trembling now, shaking like a leaf in a stiff breeze. “No, no sign of giant insects,” she sputtered. “Sophia and I checked. Just the forest. Just the mushrooms. The cold.”

  I wrapped us both in the cloak. “What’s going on with you? How can I help?”

  Myrina yanked her away from me. “Report, Loxo. Tell us what you saw. Now!”

  The Huntress pulled herself together. Kind of. Her jaw tightened, lips pressed into a hard, thin line, but her eyes were still wild. “I apologize, General,” she finally said. “The way is clear. Sophia and I were not ambushed like before.” Still, it was clear she was struggling. And I knew why. She’d very nearly died the last time we had to wade through a mushroom forest.

  “Then there is no issue.” Myrina’s voice was hard. Unforgiving. “You and Sophia will continue to scout ahead. And you will be less emotional during your next report, understood? It is unbecoming of an Amazon to react in such a manner.”

  “Yes, General.” Loxo slid back into the mushroom forest and disappeared.

  Sophia had witnessed the whole scene.

  “Is she okay?” I asked my Teleporter.

  Sophia shook her head, worry burning in her eyes. “No, she is not okay. Such a word, I find strange. O. K. Regardless, this place has brought back memories for Loxo. But we will serve you, War God. We will not be weak.” With that, she teleported away, leaving behind the smell of slightly rotten eggs. I was left alone with Myrina in the antechamber.

  “Sophia, she at least understands the need for strength,” my general said. “She understands that weakness must be punished. There is no other way. If Loxo lets her fear take her, we can pull her from reconnaissance duties. We also have Bambi. She is not as skilled, but she can scout ahead. Losing Loxo wouldn’t hurt us too badly in the end.”

  I turned on Myrina, giving her a long look. “First of all, I’d forgotten we have a Huntress named Bambi. Feels too on the nose, but I bet Phoebe liked the irony. Secondly, Loxo is obviously pretty messed up being in a place like this. Not sure if you’ve ever heard of PTSD, but it’s a thing. So maybe you could be a little nicer to her, huh?”

  “We do not have the luxury of nice,” Myrina snapped. “We need iron wills. Always.” Her eyes bore into me.

  I didn’t look away. Didn’t flinch for a second.

  After an uncomfortably long beat, she averted her gaze, backing down. “This is useless. We only have five hours. If not less. These caves must be safe enough. Persephone was able to walk through them unmolested. We will be fine, I am sure of it.”

  “Did someone say my name?” the goddess of spring walked into the antechamber on bare feet. She went to the entrance to observe the fire of the wicked red star currently moving through the Stair. She reached out a hand. “Oh my, it’s hot. But the stones will not burn. Acmon’s craft was better than that.” She turned to address us. “The army is drinking water and resting. The animals are eating from the feed we brought in the trailers. But we must not tarry here. We must keep moving.”

  “Because of what’s on the Stair?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Because of what is in the Submerged Labyrinth, the Ghosts of Minos Omega, and the Olympian Library.”

  “Out of curiosity, do we need to actually pass through the labyrinth itself?” I wasn’t sure how that was going to work.

  “Thankfully, no,” Persephone replied, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “On an unrelated note, I heard your general say five hours, if not less. When I sneaked through the Temple of Hades, however, I heard the demigod of rot say it took eight hours to grow and train his new armies when they came out of their birthing chambers. He was angry. He wanted to attack more often. But it was the woman with him that said it was impossible. So you do have five hours. Probably not less.”

  “Regardless,” the Battle Warden spat, “I will not drag our feet, and I will not be nice.” She lasered me with her gaze. Then her eyes fell to the necklace around my neck, the clockwork cogs spinning in the locket. She sighed heavily, turned on a heel, and walked out of the room, muttering under her breath the whole while.

  The godstone glimmered, like it was laughing at me. She is regretting your wish to remain a weakling.

  I didn’t respond. I was going to break the habit. No more talking to my jewelry.

  Persephone watched her go. “Is this about me?” she asked.

  “If only,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “Come on. Let’s go hike through the enchanted mushroom forest.”

  A smile quirked across the goddess’ face. “This is going to be the easy part. Wait until you see what’s next.”

  Well, that wasn’t ominous or anything.

  When I brushed past her, she grabbed me by a strap on my armor. “But perhaps you and I can continue our little discussion as we walk. I was about to feel your ...” she faltered, a wicked grin ghosting across her lips as one of her hands darted toward my groin. I cleared my throat as her fingers caressed the bare inside of my thigh.

  “I think we need to concentrate on the mission, Persephone. Not that I don’t think you’re beautiful.” I didn’t add that she was both pretty and a huge distraction. Then I wondered if she hadn’t been sent by Hades all along as a distraction. Was she helping us? Or was she just a sexy honeypot leading us into a trap? The Mirror of True Reflection had shown us she had a good heart. But Antiope knew about the mirror, which meant Hades knew about the mirror ... And since Persephone was ever-changing, it might’ve prevented us from seeing her true nature.

  She could appear sweet and heroic and then turn vile on us. We had to watch her, I decided.

  If she was cheese in the trap, however, I was going to enjoy the Brie for a second. I pulled her to me. I loved how she tasted, how she smelled, and how she kissed. Her body was soft and perfect against me. Then, sadly, I eased away, and her hand fell from my leg. I was certainly interested, but now just wasn’t the time or place for it.

  She threw me a pout before sashaying away, giving me a great view of her swinging hips and bouncing ass. The godstone wasn’t saying anything. Too disgusted with me, probably. I sorta agreed.

  I left the antechamber behind and moved through the troops in the mushroom cave. Eyes brightened when they saw me. I said hello to my main Elementalists: Aella the Air-Witch, Otrere the Water-Witch, Calla the Flame-Witch, and Sabra, sweet Sabra. Her sister Forest-Witches had stayed behind to continue to brew potions, and if needed, they would fight to protect the sigils. They were still Amazons, after all. A bit like Marines in that way—every Marine a riflemen, first and foremost.

  My Beastiamancers had just finished feeding and watering their mounts. Toxaris saluted me with her bow, Ariadne grinned at me while leaning on her ax with Thunderfoot behind her. Euryleia and Buttercup—a giant Kodiak damn near as big as an elephant—were both chomping down honey-covered ground nuts. They nodded their heads at me in unison. Aww, a girl and her grizzly. They were the cutest.

  Doris and Ianthe were less subtle. They both stormed over and grabbed my arms. Before I knew it, their breasts were pressed up against me. Apparently, holding the western walls of Lycastia City had bonded us like nothing else.

  “Thank you for allowing us to come,” Doris purred into my ear. “While we honored our duty to guard the ocean gate, we would’ve been very disappointed if we had stayed behind.”

  “Hippolyta is a goo
d commanding officer,” Ianthe added, “but we would rather serve you directly.” And by the look in her eyes, that service seemed to include kissing and exchanging body fluids.

  I extricated myself from the Battle Wardens. Since they were so strong, it took a minute. “Yes, we are glad to have you,” I said. “At some point, Hippolyta will have to join us on an away mission too. Keep up the good work.” They looked more than a little crestfallen but said nothing. When I got a chance, though, I planned to fully rectify their disappointment. Business first, I reminded myself.

  Once I was at the head of the army, we moved off at a brisk pace.

  The mushroom forest was a nice break, but we had to get going. The ground was flat, so our wheels rolled over it without a problem. Bats fluttered above, but they weren’t monsters, just normal winged mammals. A few big centipedes squirmed around the mushrooms, but nothing that seemed interested in attacking us. Spiders the size of my head hung from webs, but there was nothing piggish about them. Fat flies buzzed past us but didn’t attack. Yes, they were large and disgusting, but not aggressive. And they gave the spiders something to do.

  At any moment, I thought some creature would come swimming out of the swirling mist covering the mushroom forest. I kept expecting to smell some undead thing, but the air didn’t smell like anything, just wet rock and the light, earthy aroma of mushrooms.

  Asteria morphed into a giant blue bat and went winging through the cave, squeaking up a storm.

  After about twenty minutes of walking, Persephone found me at the front. “War God, I hoped you have enjoyed this peaceful stroll through the mushrooms. It’s about to end. In my race to find you, I was relieved at this point in my journey. From here on out, the way will be far more difficult. You must prepare yourself for what is to come. If you wish to spend any alone time with me this may well be our last chan—”

  She was cut off as Asteria swooped in low with Loxo clutched firmly in her bat claws. Loxo dropped, flipped, and landed like a cat while Asteria shifted into a giant centipede. She climbed around me, all those hooked feet tickling any exposed skin. I wasn’t that creeped out, since it was only Asteria and I was used to her shenanigans. But why wasn’t she turning human? And Loxo still wasn’t herself. She didn’t fall apart, but she was pale, her eyes furtive. The real kicker? No sex jokes. Something was up with her. Definitely. I just didn’t know what it was.

  “Jacob,” the Huntress said. “We might have a problem.”

  She pulled me over to show me that the mushroom cave dipped sharply downward. All the dripping water formed into rivulets that swept down an incline covered in slick moss.

  Loxo stepped away. “You know how nimble I am, but watch.” She then addressed the centipede that had me clutched to her in a hundred legs. “Asteria, are you ready?”

  Asteria clacked her mandibles together. I guess in bug that meant, “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  Loxo took three steps down the perilously steep decline. A second later, she was sliding uncontrollably into darkness. Asteria shot forward, transforming into a bat. She dove, wings folded against her sides, grabbed Loxo with skeletal feet, then circled back toward us. Asteria dropped Loxo once more and then went soaring down into the consuming black below.

  My Huntress frowned. “See? We cannot walk it. The winged horses might be able to fly down, but the darkness and mist make it difficult to see.”

  By that time, Myrina and Phoebe had joined us. The Rune-Caster bled a bit of the pressure out of her steampunk mech in a hiss of steam.

  Phoebe gazed down at the slippery slope. Holy Slip ’N Slide, Batman. No way are we going to be able to take hooved animals down there. We have bulls, not mountain goats. And I left the suction cups for my mech at home.

  Myrina was quiet, pondering.

  “How did you make it up the passage?” I asked Persephone.

  She squeezed her eyes shut, brow furrowed in concentration. “It’s hard to remember.” She rubbed absently at one temple. “I know I should know, since this was after I swam across the Lethe, but my mind feels compromised.”

  Now that’s a flashing red light, Phoebe sent. We’ve dealt with compromised minds before. There was lots of screaming and bleeding, if I’m remembering right.

  Like always, Phoebe and I were on the same page. I agree. But we can’t turn back. There’s a giant red sun blocking the way. Besides, this might be our only shot to get the drop on Earl and Antiope. We just need to stay alert. Sharp. Remember, she did pass the mirror test. And in the myths about Persephone, she was the victim. She has every reason to hate Hades as much as we do.

  “You should use your magic, spring goddess,” Myrina said quietly, giving me a dirty look. She knew Phoebe and I had been having another conversation.

  The spring goddess snapped her fingers. “Yes, OMZ, how silly of me!” She waved her hands down and plant life sprang from the very dirt. Vines erupted, making a kind of ladder over the running water and the slick, slimy floor.

  Persephone walked elegantly onto the greenery. She turned and smiled. “Of course! It’s simple when you are the goddess of everything green! I can stay up here and use my vines to ease the vehicles down.” She put a finger to her lips. “Hmm, I should’ve done that on the Stair. Going down the steps would’ve been far easier!” She fell into red-faced giggling.

  Behold! The wife of Hades. Phoebe rolled her eyes. If she’s hiding anything, she’s doing a great job of it.

  Or was that what she wanted us to think? Had she purposefully forgotten her green powers to slow us down?

  I wasn’t sure, but we’d committed ourselves. We’d have to deal with things as they came.

  While Persephone spun more plants into life on the slope, I sent a message to Hippolyta back in Lycastia City and got no response.

  I wasn’t surprised. Chances were, we weren’t even on Lycastia anymore. We were stuck in a cave in some other reality. The sigil might even now be destroyed, all the Amazons I’d left behind dead, and the city in ruins.

  I shook away my doubts. The clockwork Amazons would fool Necro Earl and Antiope. This would work. It had to.

  The bears went down first, easily climbing the unnaturally thick foliage to the bottom of the slope, which was about three hundred yards straight down. Once we could see the bottom, Asteria turned herself into a blue grizzly and went sliding down on her back, grunting with very bear laughter. The rest of us followed suit, carefully clambering down the vines. Phoebe spidered out her mech’s legs and worked the feet down over the plants to reach the bottom. As for our Harvesters, trailers, and ballistae, Persephone stood at the top. Alone, she spun thick support beams out of wood and winched them down over the path she’d created.

  I made a mental note to use Persephone’s powers more—seriously, she was like Sabra, if Sabra had the raw strength of a dozen Forest-Witches.

  In a surprisingly short amount of time, my army was assembled once more at the bottom of the slick cliff face. The water had collected and pooled, becoming an underground river about a foot deep. Stones cluttered the impromptu riverbed, which made walking treacherous. It would slow us all to a crawl, but we would still be moving along at a better clip than we had on the Stair.

  Persephone, however, offered me a grin and a wink. She flicked out her fingers and uttered a muffled prayer. More vines, leaves, and flowers bloomed from the stone walls, draping down to create a living carpet along the riverbed, which would make things much easier going. Not easy, of course, but easier. An Amazon in soaked leather armor came creeping out from the darkness ahead. It was a Huntress with curly red hair, a curved short sword at her side, and a bow slung across her back. My nieces had loved the movie Brave, and damn, the Huntress looked just like Merida, the main character.

  “Greetings, War God!” she said, a flush edging her cheeks.

  “Hey, you,” I replied, struggling to recall her name. With a thought, I pulled up the gaming display and went through the various soldiers around me. I clicked on the icon of the woman in fr
ont of me. Her character sheet popped up.

  “Bambi!” I said a bit too loudly and with a bit too much enthusiasm. “Yes, greetings and salutations to you.”

  Behind me, Myrina groaned. We were just not getting along. Dumb sexual tension.

  “Loxo sent me to report to you, War God,” the red-haired woman said. “Up ahead, is ... You should come see. We’ve arrived at a library, a strange place.”

  I thought about our Dora the Explorer list of places to visit. I looked for Persephone to ask her, but she was nowhere to be found.

  Books and Waterfalls Don’t Mix

  I PUSHED FORWARD, AN uneasy feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. Where in the hell was Persephone? I let out a ragged sigh of relief as I finally spotted the goddess in front of us. She swayed as she walked—head fixed forward as though she were in some strange trance. Ahead was the dim glow of natural light.

  I hurried up to her. “Persephone, my scouts say there’s some kind of library up ahead. Is it the Olympian Library you mentioned?”

  She turned, her eyes hazy and unfocused. “What? Library? No, silly, that’s at the top of Minos Omega.” She shook her head. “This is the Bibliokryptikon.” My enhanced Intelligence clicked into gear. Bibliokryptikon could roughly be translated as hidden library. “It lies near one of the entrances to the Grand Labyrinth,” she continued. “And, as you’ll soon see, it is submerged. There are monsters on the other side. In the water.” A shudder ran through her, doing some very interesting things to her body. “So, so many monsters.”

  Well, shit. That didn’t sound good.