Pantheon (The Tamar Black Saga)

by Nicola Rhodes

  She rose up before him like an avenging angel and thrust the Athame into his heart.

  ‘You?’ Hades managed to gasp as his power was drained away. ‘Betrayer,’ he accused.

  Denny leapt to his feet, released suddenly from his prison of shame.

  ‘Hecate!’ he cried out in horror. She turned to him, withdrawing the Athame as she did so. Hades fell to the floor twitching. ‘He is still alive,’ she said in a voice tinged with disappointment. And then, to Denny’s immense relief she handed him the Athame. ‘Finish it,’ she said.

  He took it from her and walked slowly and hesitantly over to the prostrate body of the former Lord of The Dead.

  It was a bad moment to have to commit yet another murder, with the horrible memory of the guilt of the last time still lingering in his mind. Still, there really was nothing else for it. Denny bent down and quickly and painlessly snapped the neck of the man who looked for all the world exactly like his friend Jack Stiles.

  While Denny was still shaking, a strange transformation was taking place before the eyes of Tamar, Hephaestus and Aphrodite.

  Cerberus suddenly stopped struggling, snarling and growling and looked straight at Tamar (with all his heads) and said – actually spoke the words – ‘Hades is dead. You can let me down now.’

  Tamar’s eyes widened. ‘You can talk?’

  ‘Yes, I can talk, at least, I can now and I’m really not dangerous, not now that Hades is no more. Please let me down.’

  ‘You can see where I might have a problem with that idea,’ said Tamar. ‘You were trying to kill me a little while ago.’

  ‘But I didn’t want to,’ said Cerberus. ‘I had no choice in the matter. In actual fact, I find myself in your debt. I take it you had something to do with the current reversal of my fortunes. The death of Hades,’ he explained.

  ‘You seem quite intelligent enough to be laying a trap for me,’ Tamar noted. ‘So I think not, at least for now.’

  ‘Oh, dear,’ said Cerberus. ‘This is what happens when one gains a reputation for violence.’

  ‘You speak for yourself,’ he told himself (with another head of course) ‘I never hurt a fly,’ Tamar raised her eyebrows in amusement.

  ‘Only because you weren’t quick enough,’ said the middle head.

  ‘I take offence at that remark,’ was the reply.

  ‘Well, I think you are both wrong,’ he added. ‘This charming young lady is only being cautious in the face of danger. We all attacked her after all. How would you feel in her place?’

  Then the heads began to argue at such a pace that it was impossible to keep up. Tamar was laughing hysterically. Then Denny appeared with Hecate and Proteus in tow.

  ‘How did you do that?’ asked Tamar startled out of her amusement.

  ‘The power of Hades,’ he said holding up the Athame. ‘He was the only one who could use his power in the underworld. Well it’d be a bit pointless him being in charge down here if he couldn’t.’

  ‘Then you have done it?’ she said. ‘Good, perhaps you can tell me what to do about the Three Stooges over here.’

  Denny looked at Cerberus arguing vehemently with himself and laughed much as Tamar had done. ‘Let him down,’ he said. ‘It’ll be okay. I think he’s got enough on his mind at the moment, don’t you?’

  ‘He says he’s free now that Hades is dead,’ she said. ‘I was kind of hoping you’d be in charge of him instead.’

  ‘I didn’t know he could talk,’ said Denny.

  ‘It happened when Hades died … What’s up? You look all squinky. You did kill him didn’t you?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Denny suddenly sombre. ‘I certainly did.’

  ‘You want to talk about it?’

  ‘Not now,’ he said. ‘Maybe later. Hey Cerberus,’ he called.

  Three heads swivelled comically to look at him.

  ‘What?’ they said in unison.

  ‘Ever heard of the Terastu?’

  ‘No, I never heard of it, did you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, I suppose it was never going to be that easy,’ said Tamar. ‘All right, let’s cut him down.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Cerberus just a little snippily.

  ‘Oh, god,’ said Denny. ‘I’ve just realised. A bunch of meddling kids and a talking dog. We’re the Scooby gang.’

  ‘We aren’t meddling kids,’ said Tamar. ‘Although we do meddle I suppose. And you do look a bit like Shaggy. You eat like him too.’

  ‘Scooby Dooby doo-oo,’ said Denny.

  ‘What are you talking about now?’ said Hecate impatiently.

  ~ Chapter Eleven ~

  Cindy rose late off satin sheets and began the slow process of getting herself ready for … What? Yet another day of shopping and lunching and charity endeavours.

  She had never thought it could happen, hadn’t she got what she had always wanted, a rich, powerful, influential husband and more money than she could ever hope to spend in several lifetimes? But the truth was she was finally starting to wonder if this was all there was to life.

  She was actually bored.

  The other day she had seen a long legged scruffy man with hair that might once have been blonde but was now a sort of yellowish grey colour and not at all attractive. But he had been loping down the street with a sort of carefree stride whistling to himself and grinning happily and she had found herself wondering about him. Was he happier than her? Did he like his life? Did he do more exciting things, day by day, than she could even imagine?

  Was he in love? Was that the secret of his happy smile? What would that be like, to be in love? What would it be like to be in love with a man like that? Would he be more exciting to be with than Richard? Who was nice but extremely dull. Cindy had never kidded herself that she was in any way in love with Richard. She had married him for his money. Could she have married for love? Was that was she was craving, or was it something else?

  Some women in unhappy marriages have affairs (and Cindy was having some outrageous fantasies about the scruffy man it had to be said – she thought about dragging him off to her satin flounced bedroom and letting him make a terrible mess of the sheets)

  Some women shoplift – what Cindy did was unusual, to say the least.

  She began to save people.

  It began simply enough. A quick binding spell on a purse snatcher so that he fell over his own feet and was unable to get up again until the police arrived. But the sense of satisfaction that she got from this one simple act spurred her on to more and more acts of silent heroism.

  Pretty soon she was stalking the streets at night, looking for trouble to help people out of.

  And she was happy. This was right; this was what she should have been doing for years.

  But for some reason she could not forget the scruffy man she had seen on that day that had started it all.

  Eventually she decided that the only thing to do was to track him down.

  * * *

  It was nice to breathe the real air again. They had made camp again outside the village at the foot of Mount Olympus, there being nowhere in particular to go at the moment. They had managed to free Cerberus (who was promising to be an interesting companion when he was not arguing with himself) and Denny had killed another god, but they did not feel as if they were really much further forward.

  Cerberus had, as he had said, never heard of the Terastu. But he did add that if Arachne had said he was integral to the quest in some way then it was undoubtedly the truth. Arachne was unable to lie. ‘She is the very embodiment of fate,’ he said. ‘And fate does not lie.’

  ‘So we’re just going to have to wait and see?’ said Tamar. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’

  ‘Didn’t she tell you that you would find this object?’ he said.

  ‘Well, yes, she did,’ admitted Tamar. ‘But she never said it would be in time, or that it would be any use to us. I just wish she had given us a bit more to go on.’

  �
��Everybody has path that they must travel,’ said Cerberus sententiously.

  ‘Well we did the first task,’ said Tamar. ‘And usually in a quest that leads us to the second and so on, but it hasn’t. So what are we supposed to do now? We’re stuck.’

  ‘Unless anybody else has any bright ideas.’ She threw the floor open. No one had.

  ‘Typical,’ she snorted.

  Denny was standing a few feet away from the rest of them staring out at nothing with a blank look in his eyes.

  ‘I think this has been hard on him,’ Hecate said to Tamar following her gaze. ‘He does not like to kill, I think.’

  ‘No, you’re right there,’ said Tamar with a sigh. ‘And so far I haven’t really helped out much in that department.’

  ‘I do not think that he really wants you to,’ said Hecate shrewdly. ‘He would rather take it all upon himself, despite his distaste, if that were possible.’

  ‘Neither of us wants to do this, you know,’ said Tamar. ‘It isn’t like that.’

  ‘Of course not,’ said Hecate. ‘Great movers of destiny are always reluctant, always the victims of a fate that has been thrust upon them. It is the way of things. You do this thing, not because you desire it, but because you must.’

  ‘I doubt that putting it that way is going to make him feel any better about it,’ said Tamar. ‘It doesn’t make me feel any better.

  ‘Still it’s our own fault I suppose.’ she added morosely. ‘But, I have to admit, I’m not altogether sorry that the quest seems to have ground to a halt. And I don’t think Denny is either.’

  ‘Something will happen,’ said Hecate. ‘Something unexpected that will put you back on the path. You will see.’

  ‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ said Tamar.

  Suddenly Denny pitched forward with a movement that was almost balletic and landed with a thud on his face and never moved again. He had an arrow in his back. Tamar sped over to him and crashed to her knees beside him in horror. She knew before she even touched him – he was dead. Were he alive he would have bounced straight up again.

  She plucked out the arrow with shaking hands and turned him over and held him helplessly on her lap. Too stunned even to cry.

  It was Hecate who picked up arrow and she turned it over in her hands curiously. ‘This is an arrow of Nemesis,’ she said.

  ‘He’s dead,’ said Tamar in a horrible toneless voice. ‘How? He’s been shot a hundred times before. Burned, drowned … How can he be dead from one arrow?’

  ‘The arrows of Nemesis can kill gods,’ said Hecate.

  ‘We … we … didn’t know,’ said Tamar shakily and then she did begin to cry.

  ‘You can kill me now,’ came a voice from behind her. ‘I no longer care, I have had my revenge.’

  Tamar did not even look up at Nemesis. ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said in a hollow voice as if she really did not care. ‘It won’t bring him back, only the death of the all the gods will do that now. Once that is accomplished, all this will never have happened. I was so uncertain. I didn’t want to, it seemed so wrong. But now I have no choice. If I have to slaughter them all with my own hands one by one, I’ll do it.’

  She leaned down and whispered in Denny’s unhearing ear. ‘I will bring you back. Whatever it takes, I promise. I’ll bring you back. My love, my love. Oh god.’

  She stood up and pointed to Nemesis. ‘Hold her,’ she ordered. And Hecate and Hephaestus darted forward and took an unresisting Nemesis by the arms. ‘Take her arrows,’ said Tamar, ‘and let her go.’

  ‘Let her go?’ said Hephaestus. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Death is what she wants,’ said Tamar. ‘And I am in no mood to grant her any favours.’

  She bent down again and gently retrieved the Athame from Denny’s belt. She held it for a moment – all she had left of him now. ‘I’ll keep it safe for you,’ she said.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Denny’s voice from behind her.

  Tamar spun. ‘What?’

  Denny was standing before her; she turned again. And he was also lying on the grass with a hole in him.

  ‘What the …?’

  ‘I’m a spirit,’ he explained. He nodded to the Athame. ‘Power over the dead,’ he said. ‘Remember? From Hades. You called me here.’

  This, at least, made sense. Tamar nodded uncertainly. ‘So you’re … you really are …?

  ‘Dead?’ he said. ’Fraid so, but it’s not too bad. Didn’t even hurt. She’s a good shot. Aren’t you going to bury me then?’

  Tamar’s face crumpled, and she began to sob in earnest.

  ‘Oh god, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘What a stupid tactless thing to say.’ And he held his hands out helplessly – he could not even comfort her. He was dead.

  ‘I-I’m okay,’ she said contrary to all the evidence.

  ‘Who is she talking to?’ asked Proteus.

  ‘Him, I imagine,’ said Aphrodite, pointing at Denny’s body.

  ‘But he isn’t here,’ said Proteus obtusely. ‘I mean obviously he is, but I doubt he’s got a lot to say any more.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Hecate. ‘In my experience the dead can be quite talkative. She has the power of Hades, fool. In that dagger of his. I expect she summoned his spirit. It’s what I would have done in her place.’

  ‘So, why can’t we all see him?’ said Proteus.

  ‘Have you got the power of Hades?’ snapped Hecate. ‘No. I thought not. You will only be able to see him if he wills it so, and I cannot imagine for a second why he would. Now be silent, I want to hear what she is saying.’

  ‘Hey, Denny was saying, ‘it could be worse. At least, thanks to you, I’m not stuck in the underworld. I really hate it there, you know.’

  ‘I know.’ The others heard her say, apparently to thin air. She was still sniffing, but she did seem to be calming down.

  ‘I wonder what he’s saying to her,’ said Aphrodite. ‘I wish we could at least hear him.’

  ‘It’s my own fault really,’ he said. ‘If I hadn’t been so gutless and I’d killed Nemesis when I had the chance, this wouldn’t have happened. I really didn’t think it would matter, though. I figured as a mortal she’d have maybe fifty years tops – well within the time frame. I should have known better. That’s not what we’re here for.’

  ‘You weren’t being gutless,’ said Tamar vehemently. ‘Mercy is never gutless.’

  ‘It is when killing someone would be kinder in the long run,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to be a murderer. It was selfish.’

  Tamar was silent; this was pretty pointed. The others crowded round – but at a respectful distance – to see what would happen next.

  ‘Anyway, bright side,’ said Denny. I can see things from a different perspective now, you might say. Arachne was right, in a manner of speaking.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ asked Tamar.

  ‘That’s what I would like to know,’ said Aphrodite sotto voce.

  ‘The quest,’ said Denny. ‘I know what to do next. And if Arachne hadn’t sent us to tame Cerberus I never would have killed Hades and then, when I died, you wouldn’t have been able to summon me here with the power over the dead that I took from him and … Anyway, this was how it was supposed to go I think.’

  ‘You know what to do next?’ said Tamar flabbergasted. ‘How?’

  ‘It’s … it’s hard to explain,’ he said. ‘I just do.’

  ‘And you had to die to find this out?’ she wailed suddenly. ‘It’s not fair.’

  ‘It was the only way,’ he said.

  ‘But I need you.’

  ‘I’m still here,’ he said, ‘as long as you don’t let go of me.’

  ‘I’ll never, never …’

  ‘I know.’ he said, and he came forward again as if to put his arms around her, then he dropped them helplessly again. ‘This really blows,’ he said in chagrin.

  Tamar gave a weak smile. ‘Okay,’ she said briskly. ‘So what do we have to do next then? The quicker we get on
with this, the quicker it’ll all be over.’

  ‘You need to kill Nemesis,’ said Denny.

  ‘And what’s that going to prove? All right, all right, I was going to have to do it anyway, wasn’t I?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I wish now, that I had done it. But this was the way it was meant to happen. You were supposed to kill her in revenge for me, I think, but you always did defy destiny.’

  ‘What aren’t you telling me?’ she said suddenly. ‘Don’t go all “Clive” on me now.’

  ‘You know, I think I understand that guy a little better now,’ he said. ‘But you trust me, don’t you?’

  ‘All right,’ she said. ‘Keep your secrets.’ She turned to Hephaestus. ‘Where did Nemesis go?’ she asked. ‘I’ve decided to kill her after all.’

  ‘I am still here,’ said Nemesis, stepping forward from behind Prometheus. ‘I knew you would change your mind.’

  ‘Why do you want to die anyway?’ said Tamar curiously.

  ‘Why do you care?’ said Nemesis. ‘Just do it.’

  ‘You could kill yourself,’ said Tamar, ‘if you’re that keen to die. Why have me do it? I just want to understand,’ she said to the shade of Denny who was shaking his head at her.

  ‘It is justice that it be you,’ said Nemesis. ‘It cannot be any other way. It’s all that I understand. I killed him in revenge, now you must do the same.’

  ‘Destiny,’ said Tamar. ‘You really don’t have a choice do you? And neither do I,’ she added, finally understanding. ‘I’ll make it quick, like you did for him.’

  Nemesis nodded and closed her eyes. And Tamar twisted her neck as Denny had done to Hades. A quick and bloodless death. The only kind Tamar felt able to deal out even in her grief.

  Denny came up behind her and made her jump. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Are you all right?’ she was shaking all over. ‘It does take you that way for a bit,’ he sympathised. ‘Deep breaths,’ he added. ‘You’ll be okay in a minute.’

  ‘It’s different,’ she said. ‘Not like in a fight, when it’s you or them.’

  ‘I know,’ he said.