Pantheon (The Tamar Black Saga)

by Nicola Rhodes

  ‘You!’ snapped Arachne, pointing at Denny. ‘I will talk to you. The others must leave.’

  ‘I told you it was working,’ said Tamar. ‘It just took a bit longer this time.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ said Denny, looking at Arachne’s face. ‘This is something else.’

  ‘You cannot leave him alone with her,’ said Hecate. ‘He will die.’

  Tamar tossed her head impatiently. ‘Rubbish,’ she said. ‘This sort of thing happens all the time, she’s just …’

  ‘No,’ said Hecate. ‘Look at her face.’

  Tamar looked. ‘Oh!’ she said. The expression was one of pure malice.

  ‘But … he’ll be all right,’ she faltered. ‘If anyone can take care of himself …’

  ‘Even the gods fear Arachne,’ said Hecate and she indicated Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Proteus huddled together and shuddering. ‘In her domain, only she has power. His will be useless to him – we should leave now, before it is too late.’

  ‘Er, I think she’s right Denny,’ said Tamar. ‘C’mon let’s go.’ she tugged at his arm. But he refused to move, it was like trying to tug a mountain.

  ‘I’m going to stay,’ he said in a curious monotone. ‘You leave, I’ll join you soon.’ He was gazing into Arachne’s hypnotic stare like a man bewitched.

  ‘Oh, no,’ said Tamar. ‘I’m not leaving you here – no way.’ And she tugged futilely on his arm again. ‘Come on!’ she shrieked as panic descended on her. She reached around and slapped his face. ‘Snap out of it.’ and she pulled so hard on his arm that she was sure it loosened in the socket. But still he could not be moved.

  Tamar turned to the others. ‘Help me!’ she ordered.

  But they hung back. Proteus was actually already half way out of the cave and backing up fast.

  ‘He’s already gone,’ said Hephaestus. ‘There’s nothing we can do for him now.’ He too was backing out of the cave taking a reluctant Aphrodite with him.

  ‘No!’ snapped Tamar, and with one last momentous effort, she managed to turn him round to face her. ‘Look at me,’ she ordered.

  He did so, but he was like a man in a trance. ‘Leave,’ he said to her in the horrible robotic voice and then, just for a second, barely long enough for it to register, his face relaxed and he gave her a conspiratorial wink, before resuming the mask and sending her flying out of the cave. The cave mouth sealed up behind him immediately with a dense spider web material.

  ‘Oh shit!’ wailed Tamar. ‘Denny! Denny!’ She hammered on the springy doorway without making either a sound or a dent.

  ‘We should go now,’ said Hecate gently. ‘It is over.’ she shook her head sadly.

  ‘It’s not over,’ said Tamar fiercely. ‘He winked at me, I’m sure he did.’

  ‘He could not have done,’ said Hecate. ‘I have seen this before. He no longer has a will of his own.’

  There was a terrible shrieking from within the cave. Aphrodite went white, and even Hecate looked concerned, but Tamar just smiled. ‘That’s not him,’ she said confidently. ‘I’ve heard him yelling, that’s too high pitched for him.’

  ‘Depends on what he’s yelling about,’ said Hephaestus grimly.

  ‘Don’t be so gruesome,’ said Aphrodite sharply.

  ‘Aieeee… ugh.’ then a silence fell broken suddenly by a tearing sound as a blade appeared through the web across the cave mouth and sliced through to reveal a grinning Denny. ‘I think she’s ready to talk now,’ he said.

  ‘I told you he winked at me,’ said Tamar triumphantly. ‘I’m always right,’ she added.

  They re-entered the cave in some trepidation wondering what they were going to see. Well, Tamar had a good idea already, she had seen Denny’s handiwork before; it was similar to her own. But the others had not and so seeing Arachne tied up in a corner with her own legs was something of a surprise to them, not an unpleasant surprise though. In fact, the only person who seemed a little chagrined, apart from Arachne herself of course, was Tamar. ‘Oh well, that’s just great,’ she said. ‘She’s going to be delighted to see us in the future now, isn’t she? Oh well, I suppose it couldn’t be helped.’

  ‘I’m fine, by the way,’ said Denny a little testily.

  ‘Well, of course you are,’ she said in surprise. ‘I never doubted it.’

  ‘How did you do it?’ asked Hecate. ‘I have never seen anyone escape the clutches of Arachne.’

  Denny nodded at Tamar. ‘We make a pretty good team,’ he said, as if this was an explanation, which it was not really but Hecate accepted it as such for the time being. They had other business to deal with at the moment.

  Arachne was glaring at them with such a look of fury on her face that it was a wonder that they did not all turn to stone. But it seemed that she knew when she was beaten.

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘You want to know your future I take it. You are looking for the Terastu. Well, I suppose I don’t have a problem with that in principle. But I can’t help you to find it. However,’ she continued hurriedly. ‘I will tell you this. You are not all here yet. There is one more you need. Find him and have him join your cause and the quest for the Terastu can begin. When you find him, it will all become clear to you. But I warn you, you will not find him easy to handle. He will need … taming.’

  ‘Taming?’ said Denny. ‘Oh gods, it’s going to be the three headed dog, isn’t it?’ he added with a flash of insight. ‘It’s always something like that,’ he added in explanation to the assembled gods.

  ‘Why would we need a three headed dog?’ said Tamar. ‘That’s ridiculous. What possible use …? You know, you’re probably right.’

  ‘Is he right?’ demanded Hecate emboldened by Arachne’s current condition.

  Arachne just hissed viciously at her.

  ‘I used to pull the legs off spiders when I was a child,’ said Denny inconsequentially.

  There was an awkward silence; even Tamar was a little taken aback. But surely he did not mean it.

  Arachne seemed to think he did, which, given her particular arena of expertise, could only mean that … he did.

  ‘Cerberus is the one,’ she muttered.

  ‘What was that?’ said Tamar cruelly. I didn’t quite hear …’

  ‘I said Cerberus is the one. Not that it matters. You would have found out sooner or later anyway. That’s fate for you – it happens anyway, whether you know about it or not.’

  ‘And just exactly how is that going to help us?’ said Tamar.

  ‘All will be revealed,’ said Arachne mysteriously.

  ‘Bollocks,’ said Tamar to assorted gasps of shock from her deific audience.

  Denny laughed. ‘It’s always the same,’ he said shaking his head. He brought his face close to that of the spider demon. ‘I know you’re not telling us everything,’ he said. ‘But as that’s pretty much par for the course I’m going to give you one more chance …’ He stopped while he tried to decide how to frame the question. How would Jack have put it? Ah yes, of course … ‘Tell us everything we need to know about the quest for the Terastu, or I’ll pull all your legs off and make you eat them.’

  ‘Nice,’ said Tamar. ‘Subtle.’

  ‘All I can tell you is that the dog is with you when you begin your quest. This much I can see clearly,’ said Arachne.

  ‘That’s not the same as saying it’s all you know is, is it?’ said Denny.

  ‘Are we going to find the damn thing or not?’ snapped Tamar losing patience.

  ‘Oh, yes, you will find it.’ said Arachne.

  ‘Oh, right then …’ Tamar faltered. ‘Good, then …’

  ‘Where?’ asked Denny. ‘When? How? Come on, give us something.’

  Arachne did. She gave them a warning. ‘You search for the Terastu to kill the gods,’ she told Denny. ‘And what do you think you are now? Are you sure this is what you want to do? But then, fate is fate and cannot be avoided.’

  ‘You’re telling me, I’m going to die?’ asked Denny.

&nb
sp; ‘Everyone dies,’ said Arachne. ‘It is only a question of when and how.’

  ‘You know,’ said Denny. ‘You are a monster. But you’ll change. I know you will.’

  ‘Despite everything,’ she said. ‘I like you. You are brave, and you are no hypocrite. Beware the treachery of the gods. They are hypocrites. I should know. A monster I may be, but I am not a liar.’

  ‘Then tell us the truth,’ challenged Denny.

  ‘I have,’ she said. ‘Tame Cerberus, it is the first challenge. The others will be harder.’

  * * *

  ‘Well that was a complete waste of time,’ said Tamar.

  ‘Not entirely,’ said Denny.

  ‘Oh, you don’t think so?’ she said tartly. ‘She told we had to tame a great smelly three headed dog, that we will find the Terastu but that when we do, it’ll probably kill you, and she kept it all vague enough that it’s entirely possible that that’s not what she meant at all. Big help!’

  ‘She said that taming Cerberus was the first challenge,’ he said. ‘And we know from experience that one clue leads to another. So when she said that it would become clear after that, that’s probably what she meant.’

  ‘But that’s not how a quest works,’ argued Tamar. ‘We should never have gone to her. Now we’re all muddled up. Were we supposed to go to her first? Has she given us the first clue, is that what that was? Or …’

  ‘From what I can tell,’ he said. ‘We were destined to run into Cerberus anyway, and then … well, we’ll see won’t we?’

  ‘See, a waste of time,’ she said. ‘She only told us what’s going to happen anyway.’

  ‘Well, when you put it that way … Still at least we’ll be ready for him now – Cerberus I mean.’

  ‘I hate quests,’ she said mutinously.

  ‘Damn straight!’ agreed Denny. ‘They never make any sense.’

  ‘So where is he anyway?’ asked Tamar. ‘We might as well get it over with, and, by the way, you’re doing it. You have a way with vicious animals.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘You tamed Fulk didn’t you?’

  ‘Fulk? He was just a big softie.’

  ‘Not until you got your hands on him, he wasn’t. Anyway, I’m just not a dog person.’

  ‘I think you will find that the only way to tame Cerberus to your will is to kill Hades,’ said Hecate. ‘Hades is his master. He answers only to his commands. Only death can break that tie.’

  ‘Where do we find Hades?’ said Tamar.

  ‘He has a palace down here,’ she said. But it is guarded.’

  ‘Let me guess,’ said Tamar. ‘Harpies.’

  Hecate inclined her head.

  ‘I’m not facing any Harpies,’ said Aphrodite resolutely. ‘I don’t care what you say, any of you.’

  ‘Coward!’ sneered Hecate.

  ‘You go then,’ said Aphrodite. ‘And I hope they rip you apart.’

  ‘We’ll split up,’ said Tamar, coming to a decision. ‘And you,’ she pointed at Aphrodite, ‘will either come with me to face Cerberus. I mean someone’s got to,’ she addressed Denny for a moment, ‘or else the moment the tie with Hades is broken, he’ll be off, and we’ll never catch him.’ She returned to Aphrodite. ‘Or you can … no, on second thoughts. You come with me. Hecate can go with Denny to face Hades. There’s a few unresolved issues there I think. Proteus, you go with them too. I hardly think your shape shifting talents will be useful against a big dog. That just leaves you.’ She turned to Hephaestus. ‘What do you want to do?’

  ‘Er, whatever you say I want to do?’ he said to general laughter.

  ‘Fine,’ said Tamar, looking thoroughly unamused. ‘You probably want to come with us and keep an eye on your wife, don’t you?’

  ‘If you say so,’ he said.

  ‘I thought you wanted me to face the big ugly dog,’ said Denny.

  ‘I’m going to have to do it now though,’ she said. ‘Unless you want to give me the Athame and I’ll go after Hades.’

  Denny drew her aside. ‘What are you doing?’ he hissed in her ear. ‘You can’t tame Cerberus until Hades is already dead, so what’s the point in splitting up? We should stick together.’

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘You talk Aphrodite into facing the Harpies and waste even more time. She won’t come, not even for you. Remember the shaft in the cliff? And one of us has got to keep an eye on her. We can’t just leave her behind on her own. And I’d, quite frankly, rather it was me.’

  ‘And …?’ asked Denny who knew damn well that this was not the real reason.

  ‘And, I told you, I think it’s more than likely that when Hades dies Cerberus will become his own boss, so to speak. And if that is the case, then I’m probably the only one who’ll be able to handle him. We don’t want him running off before we can stop him. And wreaking all sorts of havoc too I’ll bet. So I think I should be on the spot when it happens to try to contain him.’

  ‘You make a good point,’ Denny conceded.

  ‘Of course, there really isn’t any easy way to tell the difference between a large vicious dog attacking you because it’s under a command to do so and a large vicious dog attacking you because it just wants to,’ she said, ‘so I suppose I’m just going to have to get it under control until you come back and tell me we’re all clear.’

  Denny saluted. ‘Sir, yes Sir,’ he barked.

  ‘Oh … shut up,’ she said. ‘I’m not that bad.’

  ‘If you say so,’ said Denny with a grin.

  * * *

  Hecate led the way. They threaded their way through the shades of men, milling around the underworld like so many waifs and strays down at the unemployment offices. Denny shuddered. How horrible to be dead in this place. An eternity of unending and absolute boredom seemed to be the basic package. Denny rather thought he would prefer the punishments of Hell than this. Or maybe this was Hell, or rather Tartarus.

  The palace of Hades was not exactly hard to find. Hades evidently believed in advertising, and it loomed over the underworld like a … great big looming thing, Denny thought. (Denny had many excellent qualities but a strong imagination was not one of them.) ‘I can see you,’ it seemed to be saying. But Denny rather doubted that they were actually being watched as they approached.

  ‘No sign of the Harpies yet,’ he commented.

  No,’ said Hecate. ‘We will not see them coming. Be ready.’

  Denny patted the Athame in his belt and tensed up, looking around him for signs of attack.

  Hecate seemed relaxed though; she might have been on an evening stroll. And Denny realised, with a start, that she was on her own ground here. It was funny; he had known, in an abstract way, for as long as he had known her, that she had once lived down here, but he had never really realised it before. The Hecate that he knew did not belong in this miserable place. But this was not the Hecate that he knew. The Hecate he knew wore more clothes for one thing.

  Proteus was neither relaxed nor tensed for battle; he was poised to run, and he skulked rather than walked along the path that led to the palace. Denny was not sure that he was going to be a lot of use to him. He felt he could rely on Hecate, even this unknown Hecate, but Proteus seemed likely to run at the first sign of trouble. Even Cindy… Aphrodite would have been more use. But if he could not have Tamar at his back, he wished he could at least have Stiles. Good old Jack who could always be relied on to back him up no matter how crazy the undertaking. Who would, no doubt, had he been here, have been tunelessly singing some silly song about the impending danger before them and somehow making it all seem like a funny adventure rather than the life and death mission that it was.

  He was musing on this and not paying attention when the Harpies swooped. Before he could react, a claw raked across his head drawing a deep gash and making him stagger dizzily.

  ‘You were not paying attention,’ admonished Hecate sharply as she drew back from a similar attack.

  ‘Run!’ shouted Proteus.

&nbs
p; ‘Fight!’ countermanded Denny, drawing the Athame. ‘There’s no way we can outrun them.’ He suspected that trying to run was the mistake most people would make in this situation. But running away from an enemy that could fly was a pointless exercise. The key was to stand still and make them come at you. Then you would have them exactly where they wanted you – or something like that.

  The Harpy that had gouged open his head had circled round and was making its second attack, this time head on. Well he was ready for it this time. Nothing – but nothing survived the Athame. It flew at his face screaming like a banshee and beating its wings like a butterfly caught in a net. But these were enormous and heavy wings; one blow could cause a serious concussion. However, it was the claws that were the main problem. Not fast enough again, Denny was caught across the face, and as he staggered backwards, he was vaguely aware of Hecate going down under a storm of beating wings. He wiped the blood from his face and snarled. He slashed at the relentless wings and managed, by sheer luck probably, to shear one wing right off. The Harpy wheeled haphazardly, completely off balance, and crashed inelegantly to the ground where Denny fell on it and sliced the head off. So much for that one, he turned his attention to Hecate’s problem.

  This one was easier in that the Harpy was already on the ground and fully occupied. Unfortunately, what it was occupied in doing was trying to turn Hecate into kibble.

  ‘Get the hell off my friend, you bitch,’ yelled Denny furiously and grabbed at the neck, dragging the Harpy away. One sharp twist and the neck was broken.

  More were coming, but at a distance.

  ‘Okay, said Denny, ‘Now we run.’ He looked around. ‘Where the hell is Proteus?’ he said.

  ‘Hiding,’ gasped Hecate. ‘Forget him, he takes care of himself.’

  Denny gave up; grabbing Hecate by the hand he took off towards the entrance.

  The Athame made short work of the lock; he simply sliced it off and threw his weight against the heavy door. It opened but painfully slowly, and two Harpies were now bearing down on them. But, as it is written in the laws of narrative, the door swung open just, as they say, in the nick of time, and they tumbled inside and fought against the counterweight of the Harpies on the other side of the door for a few moments before managing to shut them out. Then they slid down the door together with a sigh of relief.