‘I always assumed you would climb the mountain,’ said Arpagius unhelpfully.
‘And then what?’ said Tamar acerbically. ‘You do realise that no mortal has ever been able to enter the home of the gods. I don’t think climbing the ruddy mountain is going to prove very much.’
‘I don’t know what you expect us to do,’ said Denny.
‘Ah,’ said Arpagius confidently. ‘But you will find a way. You are the ones from the prophecy. If you were not, then why do you stay eh? Why do you look for ways to confront the gods? You know as well as I, that you cannot escape this destiny. A way will be found. Perhaps you should climb the mountain and see what happens. You are not ordinary mortals after all, are you?’
‘He’s got us there,’ said Tamar with a laugh.
Having two Tamars around was giving Denny a headache. They both seemed to have a proprietary feeling about him for one thing, and, for another, they bickered constantly.
It was best when night came, and Djinn Tamar disappeared into her bottle, and he was left with just his own Tamar – as he thought of her.
He was sat in front of a meagre fire looking at the Athame and pondering on its possible uses in the killing of gods. Was it still a power stealer? If it was, then the only problem – ha! the only problem – was getting close enough to use it.
‘Thinking murderous thoughts?’ said Tamar, putting her arms around him from behind.
‘Pretty much,’ he admitted.
‘Well, at least this whole fiasco has proved one thing,’ she said, indicating the Athame. ‘I was right about that thing. It’s definitely not the reason that magical women like you.’
‘What?’
‘Remember, you thought it was the power of the Athame that attracted all those magical crazies, and I said it wasn’t. It was just you. But you wouldn’t have it. Well, I was right.’
‘How are you right?’ he asked her.
Tamar indicated the bottle. ‘Her,’ she said. ‘She’s obviously got a crush on you.’
Denny laughed. ‘She’s you,’ he said. ‘So that doesn’t really prove anything does it?’
‘Oh … shut up,’ said Tamar aware that he was right, and she had been outwitted.
But as it turned out, Denny’s fatal attraction for magically gifted women was about to be put to the test.
There was a sudden commotion outside – screaming and so on. Denny and Tamar ran outside without considering what they were doing.
By the light of a dying fire, shadowy figures could be seen running to and fro, but most were heading for the shelter of their homes.
Denny caught the arm of one man who almost ran into him. ‘What is it?’ he demanded.
‘Nemesis,’ gasped the man. ‘The gods have sent her to wipe us out for daring to challenge them.’
‘She delivers divine justice.’ said Arpagius calmly from behind them, and Denny let the terrified man go. ‘Or rather she kills whoever the gods tell her to.’
‘Then she’s probably here for us, don’t you think?’ said Denny.
‘They say that you don’t see her until she is ready to kill you,’ Arpagius told him. ‘And we have all seen her here tonight. So, you work it out.’
‘I’m afraid that’s true,’ said Tamar.
‘Can she be reasoned with?’ said Denny.
‘Of course not,’ scoffed Tamar. ‘She’s a god!’
‘Well, I’m going to try,’ said Denny. And he stalked determinedly towards the shadowy figure near the fire.
‘Is he mad?’ asked Arpagius.
‘Furious I should say,’ said Tamar absently. ‘But he’s not insane if that’s what you mean. You were right about him, you know. He’s a bona fide hero.’
The bona fide hero was actually shaking like a leaf by the time he reached the fire. A tiny part of his brain kept saying. ‘What are you doing? She’ll kill you, and you know what, after she’s killed you – you’ll be dead.’ But another part of his brain kept insisting. ‘What are you afraid of? It’s only a god!’
The figure threw back her hood and raised her bow, the arrow was pointing straight at him.
‘I was sent to kill you,’ she told him.
Denny nodded. ‘I thought as much.’ He was feeling a little calmer now. He had a funny feeling that something unexpected was happening here. Assassins did not usually make small talk – or did they?
Nemesis lowered the bow. ‘I can’t do it,’ she said.
Denny slouched back into a relaxed pose and went as if to brush his hair out of his eyes, forgetting for the moment that he had not got any hair in his eyes anymore. ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he said.
‘I have been watching you for some time,’ she said. ‘I knew someone was watching us,’ thought Denny in a detached part of his brain.
‘When you returned to my domain,’ she continued. ‘I had no more excuses for allowing you to live. But I know now, from my observations of you, that you do not deserve to die.’
She stepped over the fire and took Denny’s chin in her free hand and tilted his face up toward her own. ‘But to tell you the truth,’ she said. ‘I do not think I would be able to kill you, even if you did,’ she said.
Tamar slapped her fist into her palm. ‘Every time!’ she said. ‘I knew it. I only wish I’d bet him real money on this. I’d have cleaned up.’
‘She isn’t going to kill him?’ asked a perplexed Arpagius.
‘Looks that way,’ said Tamar happily.
‘And the village?’
‘Oh, I reckon he’ll have her eating out of his hand pretty soon. I don’t think you have anything to fear from Nemesis anymore. And the funny thing is – he doesn’t even try.’
‘I don’t understand it,’ admitted Arpagius.
‘No, neither does he,’ she said. ‘But it works anyway. That’s the main thing.’
Denny and Nemesis came over now. She was, of course, as a goddess, an exceptionally beautiful looking woman, but Denny was treating her as if she were his younger sister. It was an attitude that was likely to disappoint, but could hardly offend her. And Denny was anxious to achieve both of these effects at the moment.
‘Nemesis told me that it was Poseidon who sent her,’ he told Tamar and Arpagius. ‘He didn’t bother to tell her why, but the rumour on Olympus – and you’ll laugh when you hear this –’ He mugged a huge grin. ‘The rumour is, that Poseidon has got it into his head that we – you and me,’ he pointed to Tamar and himself, ‘have been sent here to kill the gods. Can you believe it?’
‘But that’s …’ began Arpagius.
‘Ridiculous,’ interrupted Denny. ‘I know. I mean … we’re mortal, what are we going to do? Petition them to death?
‘Have you met my wife?’ he asked Nemesis, bringing Tamar forward.
‘Not as such,’ said Nemesis with a gracious smile. ‘You rival the gods my dear,’ she said, to Tamar’s considerable confusion. ‘Of course the last mortal to do that drew considerable wrath from Aphrodite,’ she continued sweetly.
‘But Aphrodite forgave Psyche in the end didn’t she?’ countered Tamar.
I don’t know that she actually forgave her,’ said Nemesis, as if she were trying to remember.
But Tamar was ready for this one. ‘Well,’ she said. ‘At least, she had to accept the situation in the end, didn’t she?’ she finished pointedly.
‘I really can’t remember the details,’ said Nemesis airily, aware that she had been checkmated.
‘All right,’ thought Denny. ‘That’s enough.’
‘Anyway,’ he said. ‘Nemesis has kindly agreed to help us to take our problem to Zeus himself. Because, obviously the contract on our heads is still active and if she doesn’t kill us Poseidon will only send someone else after us. There are, apparently, other goddesses of justice.’
‘Furies,’ muttered Tamar, under her breath.
‘Only Zeus himself can help us now,’ finished Denny
‘You would do that?’ asked Tamar narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
‘Why?’
‘It’s as much for my sake as yours,’ said Nemesis. ‘If I fail in my duty to the gods I will be punished for it. The only way around it is to get the contract cancelled.’
‘Or you could just kill us anyway,’ pointed out Tamar.
‘Any more helpful suggestions like that,’ put in Denny. ‘I think it might be better if you just kept them to yourself.’
‘No,’ said Nemesis. ‘She makes a valid point. But …’ She turned to Tamar. ‘Could you do it?’ she asked. ‘Could you kill him? Besides, I am sick of doing the dirty work of the gods. They are so arbitrary in their judgements. I never found that easy to accept. Justice is what I am for.’
‘Okay then,’ said Denny. ‘Take us to Zeus.’
‘It’s not that simple,’ said Nemesis.
‘It never is,’ said Tamar.
~ Chapter Six ~
Denny woke up to his usual hacking cough and, when that was over, he scuttled barefoot to the bathroom cursing the cold on his bare feet and wishing for at least the millionth time that the landlord would get the heating fixed. Then it was downstairs for the first cigarette of the day and the non-delivery of his newspaper before he decided whether or not to go into work today.
He thanked the gods for his job. In no other employment in the world, could he possibly have hoped to have such freedom. The money was crap of course but enough to get by on – supplemented by the sale of all the extraneous crap dropped off by Barry’s lads along with his “purchases”.
Barry’s deliveries had, over the years, become more generous – well he could afford to be generous Denny thought. He had done well for himself over the years – his “redistribution of goods” had taken on the patina of a legitimate business by now – the man had employees for gods’ sake.
As he wandered back into the bedroom to get dressed, he found himself wondering, not for the first time, who had ended up with that mint condition Millennium Falcon that Barry’s lads had delivered to the wrong place so many years ago.
* * *
‘Maybe it’s just as well,’ said Denny. ‘I mean it’s not as if we have a plan or anything.’
‘Maybe you can just make eyes at all the goddesses,’ said Tamar. ‘I told you so,’ she added.
‘You’ve just been dying to say that haven’t you?’ he said. ‘Feel better?’
‘Yes, actually.But what about it?’
‘What about what?’
‘My plan, of course?’
‘That’s not a plan,’ said Denny. ‘It’s a … a … I don’t know what you would call that. A disaster in the making probably.’
‘I don’t see why?’ she said pettishly. ‘I think it could work. Maybe they’ll kill each other if you get them riled up enough.’
Okay, stop it!’ yelled Denny furiously. ‘I am not the Casanova of the supernatural world okay? And I’ve had just about enough of this.’
‘I was only teasing,’ said Tamar meekly. ‘I’m sorry.’
Denny subsided.
‘But then’ she added risking the resurfacing of his wrath. ‘How do you explain Nemesis?’
‘I don’t,’ he said shortly. ‘Maybe she’s lonely.’
Tamar raised a sceptical eyebrow.
‘Okay so it looks like … whatever. But there has to be some other reason,’ Denny insisted. He knew in his soul that he was not irresistible to women, magical or otherwise, and what was more, he did not want to be. At best it was embarrassing and at worst it could be extremely dangerous.
‘I don’t know what you’re getting all bent out of shape for,’ she said suddenly. ‘It doesn’t bother me.’
‘Don’t you think it’s a bit weird though?’ he said. ‘Suspiciously weird even?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I can understand it perfectly.’
‘Well I can’t. Anyway you act as if it happens all the time, and it doesn’t. Nemesis was just … a coincidence.’
‘Well, there was Cindy…’
‘Now she was lonely,’ said Denny.
‘The Faerie Queen …’
‘A raving maniac who thought I was the key to her taking over the world.’
‘The Succubus …’
‘The Succubus was Cindy.’
‘Oh … right. Yeah … I forgot.’
‘And now Nemesis,’ she added.
‘Three in total,’ said Denny. That’s a pretty low number compared to say … your score.’
‘It’s been more than that,’ said Tamar. She hesitated. ‘Hasn’t it?’
‘Can we please stop talking about this now,’ said Denny wearily. ‘It’s not as if we don’t have more important things on hand at the moment.’
‘Yeah, how are you at climbing mountains?’
‘I can’t believe we have to climb the damned thing after all,’ said Denny.
Tamar shrugged. ‘It’s always something,’ she said.
‘Yeah and that something is nearly always some stupid rule based in the concept of “free will”. Why is it, that every time some bloody bureaucratic mind cites “free will” as the reason for something, I always end up feeling more than ever like a puppet on a string?’
‘I know.’ she said. ‘It drives me crazy too. Do you think that the other me could handle the actual transportation to the summit? I mean that’s technically still in this world.’
‘Cheat, you mean?’
‘We would still have made our own way up there, in a manner of speaking. All the rules say, is that no god can bring us there. Well I’m not a god, and I never was so it doesn’t count.’
‘Hmm, crafty,’ said Denny. ‘I like it. Why don’t we put it to her – you?’
‘I can take you,’ agreed Djinn Tamar. ‘But what are you going to do when you get there?’
‘Nemesis will petition Zeus to see us,’ said Denny. ‘If he agrees, there’ll be a doorway that opens or something.’
‘Yes, I understand that bit,’ she said. ‘I meant after that? – You still don’t have a plan do you?’
‘We don’t do plans,’ said Tamar. ‘We never have.’
‘Well, that may have worked when you had super powers,’ said Djinn Tamar, ‘but what about now?’
‘She’s got a point,’ said Denny. ‘So we bust into the home of the gods. Then what? We don’t have the power to do anything about it when we get there.’
‘One thing at a time,’ said Tamar testily. ‘We need to make our minds up now. Are we going or not? Nemesis is returning in the morning for our decision.’
‘I think we have to go,’ said Denny. ‘We may never get another chance like this after all.’
‘Agreed,’ said Tamar. ‘But maybe … we could stall a little. Climb the mountain, but with a little magical help. That way, we’ll have a little more time to … think of something.’
‘That isn’t a bad idea,’ said Denny. ‘Can you do something like that?’ he asked Djinn Tamar.
‘What do you want from me now?’ sniped Djinn Tamar. ‘Magic beans?’
Denny choked back a laugh. ‘Now that was very Tamar,’ he thought. Funny how she didn’t seem very amused.
‘It could be a trap you know?’ said Djinn Tamar suddenly.
‘Funny,’ said Tamar sarcastically. ‘We never thought of that.’
‘Well, we hadn’t thought of it,’ said Denny later.
‘I know, but you could have backed me up anyway.’
‘Sorry.’
‘I don’t think Nemesis is trying to lead us into a trap,’ said Tamar. ‘If she wanted us dead, she would have just killed us there and then. It’s not as if we could have stopped her.’
‘But maybe she didn’t know that,’ said Denny. ‘Or maybe old Zeus wants a word with us for some reason before he crushes us like ants. And it was her job to lure us to him.’
‘You’d like that wouldn’t you?’ said Tamar unreasonably. ‘That way our charming Nemesis doesn’t have a crush on you at all. She was just the honey trap.’
‘Makes a lot more sense that way,’ he s
aid defensively. ‘But if you really think I’d prefer that to the other option, where we don’t get lured into a trap and killed. You don’t know me as well as you think you do,’
‘I know,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what’s the matter with me lately.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m a Djinn in the body of a mortal and the truth is, it’s driving me crazy. I hate being hungry and tired all the time. I never knew a person needed so much sleep just to keep alive. It’s terribly inefficient you know. And if I don’t get enough sleep I start talking crap all the time because I can’t think straight. So I’m going to apologise in advance right now for any more stupid comments that I might come out with over the next few weeks or however long this goes on for. Okay?’
‘Okay!’ said Denny saluting her.
‘Just don’t run off with Nemesis and start a little family of demi-vengeance gods,’ she said. ‘That was a joke, by the way.’
‘What would a demi-vengeance god be?’ mused Denny ‘A sort of lawyer I suppose. You know, they only believe in justice half the time.’
‘The half that suits them, you mean?’
‘I think I’ll stick with you,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t want to be responsible.’
‘Is that the only reason?’ she asked flirtatiously.
‘What do you think?’ he asked.
‘I think it’s a shame these huts don’t have locking doors,’ she said.
‘Don’t think that’s going to save you,’ he said, his eyes suddenly gleaming. And he pounced.
* * *
They did not use magic beans of course, but Tamar’s plan was followed inasmuch as they climbed the mountain or rather they were teleported up the mountain in very short stages and with long and boring periods of inactivity in-between. By nightfall, they were only about half way up and then Tamar suggested they stop for the night. No one wanted to, but it seemed the sensible thing to do. A cautious plan was forming in Denny’s mind, well, he had had nothing much to do all day but think. But he did not want to say anything as yet. It was risky – very risky indeed if it did not work. But he figured that, at this point, they really had nothing to lose. The other problem, as he saw it, was that it involved the basest treachery. He was not too happy about that aspect of it. But, after all, considering what they were here for …
Pantheon (The Tamar Black Saga) Page 6
