Pantheon (The Tamar Black Saga)

by Nicola Rhodes

  ‘That’s what I mean,’ she said. ‘When you’re dealing with a god, you never know what to think.’

  ‘Hmm,’ said Denny. ‘Know what I think? Power good – not dying good. Take chance – take power. Kill Zeus – go home – see friends – see daughter – have a rest – maybe have a curry – and a beer – two beers – a case of beer.’

  ‘And if it backfires?’ she said.

  ‘When doesn’t it?’ he said in his normal voice.

  ‘That’s true.’

  Denny took Artemis aside. ‘You don’t want anyone to see this,’ he told her. ‘You’re quite likely to scream – everyone does.’

  ‘I am not afraid,’ she said stoutly.

  ‘You will be,’ he said. And before she could change her mind he plunged the Athame into her chest.

  He had been right. She screamed a lot.

  After it was over and she was on her knees and shaking, Denny looked curiously at the Athame. ‘Very clever,’ he said. ‘I guess Tamar was right after all. You lied to us.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ she said.

  ‘I don’t know how you did it,’ he said. ‘You can get up now, by the way, stop pretending. I know you see. The Athame talks to me. It’s telling me that this isn’t your power at all. What power is it? I don’t recognise it?’ He kept his voice light and conversational, but he was tensed and ready for the spring when it came. Artemis was getting slowly to her feet.

  ‘Whatever it is,’ he continued. ‘I guess it was supposed to hurt me in some way. It won’t. It doesn’t work that way with the Athame. But you didn’t know that, did you? You were expecting a direct power transfer of some kind, weren’t you? but the power is in the Athame, not me.’

  ‘How did you do it?’ he asked. ‘I really want to know, it was very clever. I honestly didn’t see it coming.

  ‘I suppose you carried another power within you, like a virus,’ he answered his own question. ‘But how could you be sure I would get that power and not your own – or even both?’ Artemis was glaring furiously at him.

  ‘You won’t tell me,’ he said.

  ‘It’s not a terribly strong power,’ he said. ‘Was it just supposed to replace the power of Nemesis instead of yours? And then, when I was weak and vulnerable because I believed that you were powerless and that I had your power, were you going to kill me? I hate to tell you this, but it doesn’t work like that either. Both powers are in the Athame now. It stores them all … like, like … oh you’d never understand anyway. Never mind.

  ‘I suppose it was Zeus that sent you. You were to be his Trojan horse.’ He shook his head sadly. ‘He should do his own dirty work. But never mind, he’ll pay for this sooner or later. He’ll run out of lieutenants eventually. I wouldn’t want to be him when Tamar gets her hands on him, not after this. For some unfathomable reason, you see, she takes it badly when people try to hurt me. No, I don’t understand it either.’

  ‘She loves you,’ said Artemis with a slight smile. She was calming down now – accepting the inevitable, ‘and I am beginning to see why. All right,’ she shrugged her shoulders. ‘You win – this time. It was worth trying. You understand we do not intend to just lie down and take it.’

  ‘I wouldn’t either,’ he said.

  She bowed her head. They were dancing now; she wanting to slip away and he desperate to stop her. ‘We will not meet again,’ she said, backing slowly away from him, ‘until the end.’

  She walked backwards straight into Tamar’s waiting arms.

  Denny gave her a rueful smile. He had seen Tamar waiting in the shadows, and he had just hoped that she would catch Artemis before she teleported away. Only a Djinn had the power to hold a god.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘But a promise is a promise. I promised to make you mortal …’

  He walked forward and plunged the Athame into a furiously struggling Artemis for the second time. ‘And I intend to keep my word,’ he finished.

  ~ Chapter Nine ~

  Prometheus stroked his beard thoughtfully. ‘A war?’ he said. ‘I don’t know about any war as such. There will be fighting I dare say of course. But really all I ever knew was the name of the one who would come and bring the doom of the gods upon them. You are that one,’ he said to Tamar. ‘But I suppose a war is as good a way as any to get the job done. I was expecting more of a quest, though.’

  Both Tamar and Denny groaned at this. They knew about quests and it never went well. They had got up at dawn for this? The gods were all still asleep though, so it had seemed an opportune time to talk in private. Well, Tamar had. Denny had not actually been invited to this little party, but he had got up earlier than expected and joined them without being asked. Prometheus made no objections and Tamar had been planning on telling him all about it anyway.

  ‘Why a quest?’ asked Tamar. ‘A quest for what?’

  ‘Well, legend has it that if you wanted to kill all the gods off in one go, which I had assumed you would, you need to find the Terastu.’

  ‘Sounds like a Mexican dish,’ said Denny.

  ‘Wouldn’t this Terastu kill you too?’ asked Tamar. ‘If it does what it’s supposed to do.’

  ‘I have no idea,’ said Prometheus. ‘I have no idea what it is, let alone how it works.’

  ‘So, why would you be willing to help us then?’ she said. ‘It’s a bit of a risk, isn’t it?’

  ‘I know,’ said Denny. ‘Let’s just stay here and wait for them to come after us. We can pick them off one by one, like Artemis.’

  ‘They won’t risk that again,’ said Tamar.

  ‘You are wrong,’ said Prometheus. ‘Zeus will send more gods after you, but in unexpected ways. You may not always know them when you see them.’ And he glanced over, his eyes twinkling, at a large pig taking a rest in the shade under a lime tree.

  As they both turned to look, Prometheus picked Denny up between his finger and thumb.

  ‘Hey,’ Denny objected, struggling indignantly. ‘Let me down you big ape. What do you think you are doing?’

  This was pretty clear diction for Denny – there was a reason for this.

  ‘What’s going on then?’ said Denny walking upon the scene. ‘Why’s he dangling that – hey that’s me! What the …’

  ‘This is Proteus,’ said Prometheus. ‘He arrived this morning, as a chicken, but I knew him all right. Say hello Proteus.’

  Proteus growled at him.

  ‘But he sounded just like Denny,’ said Tamar. I mean he even groaned about the quest and that remark about the Mexican food …’

  ‘Mexican food?’ said Denny puzzled.

  ‘Prometheus was telling us about the Terastu and you – I mean he said it sounded like Mexican food,’ Tamar explained.

  ‘It does,’ said Denny. ‘So what? What’s a Terastu?’

  ‘How does he even know about Mexican food? Did you understand what he meant?’ Tamar demanded of Prometheus.

  ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘But I have been chained to a rock for a thousand years. You miss things.’

  ‘Put me down and I will explain everything,’ said Proteus. ‘I was not sent by Zeus. I came on my own.’

  ‘Actually, I believe him,’ said Prometheus, nevertheless holding on firmly. ‘He hates Zeus even more than I do, and that’s saying something. In fact, Proteus hates all the gods.’

  ‘That’s right, that’s right,’ said Proteus. ‘I do, I’m on your side.’

  ‘So why disguise yourself as me?’ asked Denny. ‘Why not be straight up about it?’

  A sly look came over the face of Proteus – which was currently also the face of Denny – but he shook his head.

  ‘You have a lovely wife,’ said Prometheus. ‘He wanted to be you for that reason I imagine. It’s an old trick of the gods.’

  ‘Ugh,’ said Tamar, ‘as if I wouldn’t have known.’

  ‘You didn’t know,’ pointed out Prometheus.

  ‘No, but that was just talking, I mean if he’d tried anything …’

  ‘You
would not have known the difference I assure you,’ said Proteus. ‘I become the person whose face I take – I even find myself saying things I do not know the meaning of. It is a gift, really. Other gods can take a form other than their own, but only I can take on the form of their mind also.’

  ‘Hard to see why we shouldn’t just kill you now then really, isn’t it?’ said Denny, who, for obvious reasons, was not happy with this idea at all.

  ‘It sounds like a handy power to me too,’ he added.

  ‘You would not be able to handle it,’ asserted Proteus. ‘It takes a lot of practice and even then it can be very confusing. You wouldn’t like it at all.’

  ‘Well, you would say that now, wouldn’t you?’ said Tamar. ‘All right, you can let him down now,’ she added to Prometheus. Who dropped him on his head making Tamar wince involuntarily. ‘He’s not Denny, he’s not Denny,’ she repeated in her head like a mantra.

  ‘Can’t you wear your own face?’ she pleaded. ‘You’re freaking me out.’

  ‘How do you think I feel?’ said Denny.

  ‘Trust me, it’s worse from where I’m standing,’ she said. ‘You’re used to seeing someone else wearing your face, but it’s usually me. From where I’m standing, there are two of you.’

  ‘And one is bad enough,’ he said with a laugh.

  ‘One is just enough,’ she corrected him. ‘Unless the other one is me.’

  ‘I cannot remember my own face,’ said Proteus. It has been a long, long time since I wore it. But I will change it to someone else if you prefer.’

  ‘Cannot remember your own face?’ said Prometheus. ‘How is that possible when your reflection in a pool or a mirror is always that of your own face, no matter what face you appear to wear?’

  ‘Know it all,’ muttered Proteus.

  ‘He does not wish to wear his own face because he does not want you to see how ugly he really is,’ said Prometheus.

  ‘That’s enough Prometheus!’ said Denny sharply. ‘Leave him alone now. He can wear any face he likes, as long as it’s not mine.’

  Proteus gave him a look of wonder at this unexpected support followed by a tremulous nod, by which his face transformed into that of a young man who looked faintly familiar.

  ‘This is my all-purpose face,’ said Proteus. ‘I always look like someone you think you might have known with this face. Very useful for building trust. But you see I’m being completely honest with you. I did not wear your face in order to seduce your wife,’ he said, giving Prometheus a dirty look. ‘I merely wanted to observe you all in the character of one of you, so that you would talk freely before me. I wanted to know what manner of people you were and if it would be wise to reveal myself and my purpose.’

  ‘And what purpose would that be?’ asked Tamar.

  ‘I wish to join you,’ he said simply. ‘I do not wish to die. I make no excuses. I am afraid. And I do not owe the other gods any loyalty. I can be useful,’ he added.

  ‘If you are afraid of my playing tricks on you,’ he said, seeing that they were uncertain, ‘I will not give you empty guarantees. You would not know that they were worth anything anyway. But Prometheus told the truth. A mirror will always reveal my real face to you if you are ever uncertain.’

  ‘Useful how?’ said Tamar bluntly.

  ‘Well, I am a god,’ he said. ‘Aren’t you collecting gods?’

  ‘You could put it that way,’ said Denny, amused. ‘All right, you make yourself useful, and we won’t hurt you. Now clear off, we need to talk about you.’

  They did not, however, talk about Proteus after he had gone away; they talked about the legend of the Terastu and speculated on what it might be and whether it was worth looking for.

  ‘Sounds like some kind of weapon,’ said Denny. ‘Maybe it releases something fatal to gods (like the blood of the Golden Hind) but which is harmless to humans.’

  ‘Biological warfare?’ said Tamar. ‘Sounds good to me, but if that’s what it is … what about Hecate, how do we protect her?’

  ‘She’d probably be safe in the underworld,’ said Denny.

  ‘“Probably” isn’t good enough,’ said Tamar. ‘But then again it might not be anything like that.’

  ‘It couldn’t be the Golden Hind could it?’ said Denny. ‘Isn’t that supposed to be …?’

  ‘There was more than just one of them, said Tamar. ‘But they’re all gone now anyway. Ares finished them off. Anyway, we already kicked that idea to the curb right at the start, when you brought up the Purple Hart it would be as hard as trying to get them all one by one with the Athame. Not to mention that to try and kill all the gods would take every drop of blood in one animal, if not more than that. It can’t be that. Prometheus said, whatever it is, it would kill them all at once.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, right. He did say that, didn’t he? Are you sure he isn’t just making it all up?’

  ‘No, I’m not sure at all. But we have to consider the possibility at least.’

  ‘It just sounds a bit too good to be true,’ he said. ‘It’s just what we happen to need, you know.’

  ‘That’s mythology for you.’

  ‘I suppose.’

  ‘But you don’t believe it?’ she said.

  ‘I just don’t know,’ he said. ‘I think maybe I have a problem with the whole thing really.’

  ‘Explain.’

  ‘Well, we are here to commit genocide, I mean, let’s not sugar-coat it. For some strange reason, that just doesn’t sit well with me. And you can’t tell me that you’re happy about it either, I just won’t believe it.’

  ‘I try not to think about it,’ she said, which was as good as an admission that he was right.

  ‘So, we have to be sure,’ he said. ‘If we go on this damn quest, is it because we truly believe in it, or is it just to waste some time, to put off the inevitable? Because, let’s face it, we know what we have to do, we just don’t want to do it. If we believe Prometheus, is it because we want to, because believing in his story helps us to put off our decision? If we decide to go, it has to be because we are bound and determined to fulfil our mission here. So which is it?’

  ‘Oh, hell,’ she said. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Or maybe we’re just second guessing ourselves because we don’t want to go on another dammed quest. I mean we hate quests.’

  ‘You speak for yourself,’ she said. ‘I love a good quest. So many exciting things can go wrong.’

  ‘And we never did get an answer from Prometheus about why he would be willing to help us find it,’ said Denny choosing to ignore this piece of sarcasm.

  ‘There is one thing we haven’t considered,’ she said. ‘For now anyway, plan A is a bust. The plain fact is, we don’t have nearly enough gods on our side to start anything like an actual war.’

  Denny thought about this.

  ‘The quest it is,’ he said resignedly. ‘I hope we don’t regret this.’

  ‘Quests are our lot in life,’ she said. ‘We might as well just get on with it.’

  ‘It doesn’t mean I have to like it.’

  * * *

  Artemis was running from him through the dense forest, but she had no chance of escape – she was mortal now. Denny felt like a serial killer; he hated feeling like this, but it had to be done. Even as a mortal she was a threat to their plans, she would go back to Zeus, maybe he would give her the ambrosia, and she would become a god again. But there was just something about this that felt terribly, terribly wrong. Killing a god was one thing, a bad thing but not as heinous as killing a helpless mortal. If Tamar had not let go of her before it was over … but there was no use blaming her. She would be all too easy to catch up to now, and the end result would be the same. It was his fault too; he had hesitated, hung back from crossing that line from warrior into murderer. A fine line, but one that he had never crossed – yet.

  As he had predicted, he had run her to earth – like a frightened animal – the comparison disturbed him. She was terrified but proud, too proud to s
how her fear. Somehow this made it worse.

  He had her trapped and still he hesitated. He didn’t want to be this person. But this was not about what he wanted. And putting it off was only making it harder for both of them. She was tensed and waiting, knowing there was no escape unless he let her go. But he couldn’t let her go. He closed his eyes and struck. Brave and proud to the end she died without a sound. And Denny felt like killing himself too.

  He woke up, as he had too many times in his life, sweating and shaking.

  Ever since he had taken her power from her, this nightmare about that night had haunted even his waking hours, but it was worse when he slept. In the night, the nightmare became real and even more vivid than it had been in reality. His conscience was torturing him.

  He was not fooling himself this time about Tamar’s awareness of his feelings. Although he was certain that he had not given the slightest indication of his feelings, he knew that she knew. She always knew. She was probably just waiting for him to say something and if he did not, she would – eventually.

  In the meantime, he was just going to have to get over it. There was a whole Pantheon to deal with and a quest (bloody quests!) to go on.

  The only problem with that was they had no idea where to start. (Well, there was that, and then there was the fact that they had no idea what they were looking for either – but one problem at a time as Tamar would say.) Prometheus had been vague at best about the meaning of his premonition.

  ‘It is in a hidden place,’ he said, which surprised no one. ‘Defended by a hideous guardian.’ Again, not exactly a shock. ‘Oh, and it would only exist for a limited time.’

  ‘What the hell does that mean?’ asked Tamar.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Prometheus. ‘That’s just what I know about it.’

  ‘Do you actually know anything useful?’ she said. ‘Like where to start looking for it.’

  ‘You’ll just have to work that out for yourselves,’ he said.

  ‘It’s like talking to Clive,’ groaned Denny. ‘If you dare to mention “free will” I will start exercising my own free will to pummel you into a giant pile of mush.’