Light and shadows crept up the forbidding walls that stretched taller with each step. The echoes of our feet on the hard slab crowded around us until we reached the queen’s royal room. Over the doorway, an archer on her horse raced along with the words: Hunt well or die. Mercy breeds weakness. We live on through wretched flesh. Immortality shall be ours again!
The soldiers shoved us into a brightly lit room. A tiered chandelier dripped with wax from dozens of lit candles. More candles lined steps, a yawning fireplace, and windowsills. I squinted from the light that burned in blazing streaks and wondered how the heck we were going to get out of this mess.
Chapter Ten
Queen Artemis sat at the end of the room on a massive bronze throne that shimmered in the fire’s flickering flames. Colorful tapestries filled with bloody scenes of hunters riding horses through a forest hung from the walls. They chased monstrous beasts—and those beasts chased kids as bait. Sheer terror was painted on the kids’ faces as curved teeth snapped at their feet.
I shivered even as sweat broke across my upper lip. Artemis tapped her fingers on the throne and waved us forward. Flames burst across her black sunglasses, her eyes spears of fire. Charlie and I were shoved toward her. Hypnos hung back on the arm of his soldier, humming to himself.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” She pointed at me. A whack from behind forced me on my knees. Charlie fell beside me, breathing heavily.
“Why?” I asked.
A boot to my back knocked my face onto the floor. “For the love of Olympus, don’t question the queen, Reeker fool,” a rough voice snarled.
Charlie reached for me, but a swift kick sent him sprawling too. I rubbed my face and sat back on my knees again. The fire’s flames crackled and spit at me.
Artemis laughed along with it. “You’re going to give me the world, that’s why, Oracle.”
I kept my mouth shut, not wanting another boot to my back. Hypnos hummed louder. It filled my head with an aching buzz.
Charlie and I found ourselves hauled up, our sleeves pushed aside, and our forearms stamped with the mark of the Arrow Realm slave brand. I tried to wrench away, but the soldier gripped me harder, pressing the stamp deeper into my arm and hissed in my ear. “Do you want a fire brand instead, Reeker?”
I shook my head and let him do his dirty work, becoming a slave on Nostos for the second time. I traced my new mark. A black arrow. It flared across my skin, encircled by a ring of fire. Around the ring read the words: No escape. Your armor of flesh and bone fuels us on!
Artemis stood, turning her bracelet back and forth. The light glimmered across her purple velvet tunic and sparkled in her gnarly crown. Her face looked young, but up close, she could be old enough to be my mother. It struck me that her mother had been queen when my mother was imprisoned here, and now I was this queen’s prisoner.
“That Wild Child betrayed me like Leandro.” She pointed at me. “What do you think should happen to her?”
“Leave her alone,” I said.
Artemis smiled with her thin lips. “Don’t worry; I swear by the gods she won’t be harmed. I have a special place in my heart for the Wild Childs, like Leandro. You see, the dead father of my daughter was one. Leandro, on the other hand …” She spread her hands out and cocked her head.
“Don’t hurt him! He’s my … my—” I squeezed my hands to my thighs.
“He’s what? Your friend? Your leader?” Her eyes blazed. Charlie glanced at me, chewing on a finger. “Or something else.”
“He’s my friend. He wants to help your world—my world. Can’t you see that?”
Artemis motioned to a soldier, who dragged me and Charlie closer to her.
“I see many things, Joshua.” My name on her lips sent a quiver across my chest as she circled me. “Now Hypnos will see into you and you shall give me the world. Come, Hypnos! It’s time to do your duty or your people will pay.”
Hypnos stopped humming and edged along the wall toward us, pulling on his tufts of hair as his nails click-clicked across the rough stone. Charlie pushed up against me as the soldiers crowded us in, their breaths hot on my neck with vapes poised to zap us into ash. The fire’s smoke stung my eyes. I grew woozy as the shadows crept taller around me, wanting to suck me up in darkness.
“I don’t have anything to give you,” I mumbled, trying not to faint. Charlie clamped a hand on my arm as I swayed. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, Hypnos stood before me with his head bowed and his hands clasped over his big belly.
“You have it all, Reeker boy,” Artemis said. Her purple outfit floated before me between the flames. I tried to focus but her fire eyes burned into mine, erasing everything around me. I shut my eyes again to make her go away. Charlie shook me, but it made the dizziness worse.
“What are you doing to him?” Charlie’s fingers pressed tight around my arm, then he was pulled away and rough hands held my arms at my side. “Leave him alone. He’s been through enough!”
Charlie’s shouts faded as words flew like arrows through my head. Release your powers to the queen. Give them to her or die. Your companions die. Your grandfather dies. Your father dies. Artemis sees all. Now so do I. This will come to pass. Command your powers!
My father? How could he know my father and grandfather? Uncertainty swam through me in my frozen state. Hands gripped my shoulders, and I opened my eyes to the chubby face of Hypnos. His musty breath curled up my nose.
“You are the Oracle,” Artemis said, her voice rising. “The Black Hearted one has prophesied it.”
Leandro! Apollo! Where are you? I needed friends who understood this Oracle business.
“Listen to my slave here, Oracle.” Her voice flowed over me like warm honey, soft and soothing. I stopped shivering and the hands on me relaxed. “Obey his request. Show your powers and release them to me. You can go back to your little life on Earth with your friends and family. Don’t you want that, boy?”
Yes. So tired of fighting these prophecies. So easy to give in.
“No, don’t do it, Joshua!” Charlie’s words jerked me up. “She’ll kill you when she’s done. We stick together, mon ami!”
“Quiet, Reeker fool,” Artemis said and joined Hypnos’s side, her sunglasses sucking me in to their black holes. “Only you carry the powers of the ancient Olympians inside you. Only you can relinquish them to their heirs. Except you’ll be handing them over to one heir: me.”
Hypnos touched his forehead to mine, once again speaking the queen’s ordered words: You possess the ancient powers. Turn away from them. They are not for you to keep. You are but a vessel. Be honorable. Be wise in your sacrifice. Artemis can rule her people, our world. And you shall have all you desire.
But I don’t know what I want—or who I am.
Give up your free will, and all you care for shall live.
The eyes of Hypnos drilled into mine as his nails dug into me tighter.
What would Bo Chez do? Not give up. Not give in. Nor would Charlie.
Neither would I.
My head cleared. The words faded away. My toes crunched together tight, and my body tensed with new energy.
“No,” I said.
The fire’s spewing flames died down, and the breath of everyone around me beat like a slow drum roll. Wax from the chandelier dripped onto the flagstones in a steady tap-tap-tap. Metal clashed somewhere in the castle as if battling swords cheered me to victory.
Hypnos released my shoulders and smiled before shuffling back to the wall. “He cannot be taken by my powers, m’lady. He is immune.”
Charlie moaned, and the soldier behind me snorted. Artemis moved toward me with her hands behind her back and pleated brows.
“Fine. We’ll find another way,” she said with a smile that filled me with more dread than any frown.
Chapter Eleven
“Come eat, both of you.” Artemis gestured to a table along the wall. Servants brought in platters of steaming meat and fresh baked bread. Charlie and I looked at each other.
“It’s not poisonous, see?” She sat down at the table, filled a plate with food, and began to eat.
Eat. You want to eat, my friends. So tasty and good for you.
The words filled my head as Hypnos stared at me.
You need to eat to stay alive.
Those final words were a whisper in my head. Imagined? Hypnos shook his head, his eyes piercing mine.
Stay alive.
My eyes were pulled toward the table mounded with food. Charlie lunged forward and fell into the dishes, slopping it up with two hands. I remained still, but my stomach hurt so badly with hunger, it didn’t take much for me to give in.
“Sit!” With the queen’s command, I sat and stuffed my face. Enemy food or not, it might be the only meal we’d get for a long time. The bread was crusty and buttery. The cheese, rich and salty. I’d tasted the delicious agrius beast before in the Lost Realm. I filled my stomach until it ached, washing it all down with cool water from a jug. So did Charlie.
Artemis smiled. In my delirious state, I found myself smiling back until Charlie and I were pulled up and led over to a bed in the shadows.
“Rest here, my young tasties.”
I fell on plump pillows next to Charlie, thinking how strange her name for us was before sleep whisked me away on my first full night in the Arrow Realm.
We feasted again our second day. Charlie and I stumbled from the bed to the table and back to doze after we filled ourselves with delicious treats. Sweet apple pies with flaky crusts. Biscuits dripping with butter. Mashed potatoes and rich gravy. And my favorite, oh-so-good agrius beast.
At each meal, Artemis nibbled and smiled at us while Hypnos twitched along the wall, watching us with hungry eyes. Grease dripped down Charlie’s chin, his eyes wild like a mad man’s. I wondered why Artemis hardly touched anything on her plate and why she never invited Hypnos to eat with us. A creepy feeling filled me.
Artemis watched us.
Hmm … so delicious. Fill your youthful bellies. Young boys need their energy, and you’ll be running around again soon. Trust me. So eat. Eat!
“You like agrius beast?” Artemis asked, leaning in with a smile, her sunglasses like hovering black orbs. I nodded, my stomach full, bursting at my pants. “Good. I think they’ll like you too.”
I pushed my chair back and stood up, shaking off my food coma and the soothing words inside my head. “What’s that mean?” I pulled Charlie off his chair as he continued to gnaw on a meaty bone.
“I hope you enjoyed your last meal, Reekers.”
Hypnos shrank back against the wall, easing toward the door, but squealed when a guard blocked his path. Artemis kept smiling as Charlie and I fumbled backward. I ripped the bone he still ate from his hand and threw it on the table.
“Attendez! Why’d you do that?” he cried, reaching for more food but I shoved him back.
“Hypnos, take them to the pit.” Artemis stood and swept her hand at us. The fire shrieked. A cinder shot out. Hypnos beat his fists on the wall, shaking his head. “Now, Hypnos! You need reminding of how your people will suffer if you do not obey me.”
I clung to Charlie in my wooziness as Artemis tilted in my vision. The guards pulled us out the door, led by a whimpering Hypnos. My vision cleared, and I struggled but was no match for the stocky soldiers. Charlie kept begging for food.
“Your soul may not be taken here, but there is no immunity in the Wild Lands even if you survive. You are no match now for the beasts and Black Hearted one,” Artemis said.
“Why?” I rasped out, scraping my feet on the floor as the soldiers pulled us away.
“Because you’ve been fattened up for the hunt.”
Her words and smile froze my gut as we left behind the throne room.
There’d be more than death handed to us—there’d also be pain.
We were pushed and shoved down winding hallways. The digging grip of my captor tightened as I fought against him, the forbidding thunk of his boots leading me toward my end. Monster shadows from the quaking torches clawed at us from glistening rock walls. Disoriented by the dark and unsure of my footing, I staggered along
“Let us go!” I yelled in a hoarse voice but the soldiers merely grunted as Hypnos led the way. He turned back once to eye me, then hunched over and shuffled faster. Charlie lurched along beside me spitting out French curses in between sniffs.
Sobs and cries for help jolted me as eyes popped out from behind barred cell windows. Dirty fingers clutched at us as we passed. “I want my mom!” “Let me out, please!” “I wanna go home.” Others spoke in strange languages but their fear was the same.
I wanted to wrench open each door and set them free, but I was a prisoner like them. The cries haunted me as we were pushed farther along after Hypnos.
Down another hallway, we were jerked to a stop and tossed onto chipped stone. A creak. A clang. The door to our new cell bolted us in. One torch lit our prison. My eyes adjusted to the gloom and rough rock that made up our tiny room.
“Charlie, you okay?”
He rubbed his leg where he’d slammed into the stone floor and wiped his face. “Oui,” he mumbled, picking up a chipped piece of stone. He fingered it, then used it to scratch Charlie was here on the wall. He handed the rock to me and without hesitating, I scratched Joshua was here under it. His nostrils flared as we probably shared the same thought: no one would find our message this time. No one would find us.
“Thanks for not letting me give in to Artemis,” I said. “Thank me later when we’re back in your kitchen eating pancakes—real pancakes.”
“I wouldn’t have given her my powers … even if I had them … or if I knew how.”
“I knew that. But I also think … you’re this Oracle they keep calling you.”
I touched the words on the wall, my fingers smudging the dust. “The only thing I know right now is that I’m full.”
“Mon Dieu! Me too.” Charlie pulled on his bangs. “Some spell drove me to eat and eat. At least I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Neither will the beasts be when they’re done with the food of ye.” A window to our door slid open and Hypnos peered in.
I ran over. “Are they auctioning us off?”
“You are to enter the Wild Lands zone. Make haste with your heart and bone,” Hypnos said, his eyes growing bigger. “The great beasts will chase you to the Black Heart Tree ground.”
“What happens there?” I said.
“You will be bewitched, and your powers got. I hopefully pray not. You resisted my mind meld. Great strength you carry and wield.”
“Zut!” Charlie put his hands to his head. “Stop talking like that!”
“Why are you trying to hurt us?” I clenched the bars on the window, staring into the chubby man’s face.
Hypnos shook his head and pulled on his bits of hair. “Not me. If I obey not. She kill my family. Shot. Shot. Shot! Like you killed hers.”
“I never killed her family!”
He opened the door and threw Leandro’s bow and a sheath of arrows at me. Charlie rushed the door but it slammed shut.
The whimpers of the other prisoners faded, their hope of rescue gone. Hope and loss tugged at me in a painful mix as I held the one thing of Leandro’s that renewed my faith in getting out of here and getting home. “How did you—”
“Mindbend a guard. Not so hard.” Hypnos grinned, his cheeks bursting like a chipmunk’s stuffed with nuts. “He hid them for me here, oh great seer.”
I had no idea what a seer was, but it was soon forgotten when he pushed his fat face up against the window’s bars, reached in his arms, and pinched my hands in a knotted hold, his moldy breath heavy on my face. I tried to pull away but he grasped me tight and whispered, “To the Wild Childs you must get. And you’ll be set. Past the Grand Tree they’re found. First, you must pass through terrifying ground. Watch out for the Black Hearted one. If not, you’ll be done.”
Metal jarred against our rock cage and wind rushed in the room, driv
ing the smell of wet earth with it. Hypnos pushed me away and stepped back.
“Joshua, there’s a new doorway!” Charlie tugged at my sleeve. I jerked around. An opening in the rock now faced us. In the dim light, a tunnel stretched beyond it.
I twisted back to the cell bars. “Help us, Hypnos!”
“So sorry am I. Goodbye!” His face disappeared.
“Wait! Tell us what to do!” I begged him to come back.
His terror-stricken face popped into view again. He pulled on his cheeks with fat fingers, sucking them in with great gasps. “Dang and blast! Run. Run very fast!”
Then he disappeared. And I knew.
This pit was no auction to be sold as bait. This was the food pit and Charlie and I were dinner.
Chapter Twelve
The opening led out of our room. A way out and a trap at the same time.
A howl zipped through the tunnel on the wind, mournful and needy. A beastly rumble answered back. We had no choice but to face our stalkers.
“Come on!” I ran into the ragged hole as I swung the bow over my shoulders and snapped the quiver onto my belt loop. Charlie didn’t follow. He stood in our cell, the torchlight blowing smoke across his thin face. He stared at me with wide eyes. “Charlie!”
“Non. If we don’t go out there, they can’t get us.”
“They’ll come in here and get us. There’s nowhere to go in here!”
He shook his head. “Men with swords are bad enough but to get eaten? Ugh.”
“Out there we can fight,” I pleaded with him, drawing an arrow out. “We can figure a way out, for Apollo and us. Climb trees to safety. Something! Don’t you get it?”
“And Leandro?”
“Yeah.” I hadn’t wanted to think about him being imprisoned too. I wanted to think of him busting his way out and finding us.
Charlie still didn’t move.
“Artemis tried to hypnotize me and get whatever powers I have, but she couldn’t! That’s a good sign, right?”
“But she took your orb.”
Joshua and the Arrow Realm Page 5
