The God of Olympus (18 page)

             
“Not your own strength!” declared Meg.  “It was I…I saw and heard you speak with Hades and I made a deal with him.  I gave him my soul so that he might take upon himself your sin and guilt.  Don’t you see? It was because of me and my great love for you that you feel so good!”

             
But this is where the tale went sour.  His response was not as Meg expected.  “You woman?  You now claim that you are responsible for how I feel?  I am in charge of myself.  I can lead the greatest armies of Greece against great and fierce foes.  I do not need a woman to be with me.  Go, now, you woman and none of your jokes!  You should not claim credit for that which is not yours!”

             
“But I really did do it?  All because of my love for you!”  Tears streamed down her cheeks.  “Do you not love me?”

             
“No Meg, I never have loved you,” said Leocrates.  And this was the last that he spoke with Meg.

             
It seemed that in this moment, as she left his tent, that she realized what grave mistake she had a made.  Now, in her great and indeed nearly unbearable shame and sadness she retreated, away from the battlefield and went to the only person who would understand her and her situation—Hades.  It was here that Hades took her in, spoke soothing words to her, and led her back to his dark abode.  It was here that Meg found relief to be away from such a seemingly evil world.

             
After this occurred, of course, you may be wondering what happened to Meg’s love.  Well, not shortly after this, Hades worried that there was perhaps a chance that Meg’s love might, even after all this, be reciprocated (that he might in fact go to find her and free her).  So he went, in secret, to the captain of the Achaean’s army and said, “Now, tomorrow you go to battle against a great and fierce warrior, a man by the name of Leocrates.  I am willing to make a great deal with you.”  Hades smiled.  This was always his favorite part.  “As you must know your armies are vastly outnumbered against his armies and you will surely die if you fight them tomorrow.  But if you do something for me I can provide enough of my power to allow you and many of your friends to live and defeat your enemies tomorrow on the battlefield.”

             
The man looked surprised and said, “What is wanted?”

             
“All that I require,” said Hades, “is that you kill Leocrates. Do not be merciful to this man…but kill him in cold blood on the battlefield.”

             
And so the Achaean leader made this deal and he killed Leocrates on the battlefield.  Thus Meg lost any hope that her love would return to her in order to save her.

             
In the end Meg spent the rest of her years, before this time, in Hades’ abode slowly and gradually mourning and fading away.  Hades rejoiced in possessing such a virtuous soul, and laughed to himself, “You may yet be of great use to me!”

             
And so this was how the once virtuous and lovely Meg had become a mere tool of Hades, a tool bent on revenge against the world of men, a world that had always disappointed her.  She became a dark wraith, a wraith that would not die, but was preserved by Hades’ power over death for a purpose he had yet to fully envision.  But she lived in that dark world in misery for a long time.

             
And it was at this time, as Meg looked out over the quiet garden that all of Meg’s old memories, many of which she had forgotten in the dark abyss of Hades’ underworld, returned to her with unrelenting force.  She did not sleep, for although she could perhaps sleep now, she did not sleep as a wraith and thus was not accustomed to sleep.  She drank some water from her fountain, and then wandered through her palace and garden until, what would be the beginning the second day on the island.

******

              Light seemed to come quickly on the island, and with it Hercules woke up.  When he woke up he looked over and found that Pegasus was still asleep so he did not wake him.  There, in the garden, he wandered around the island and ate some of the fruit from off the trees for breakfast.  The weather was cool, and the water of the surrounding sea sent moist air into her beautiful garden. He was feeling very good now.  Not only was he on a wonderful island, but he had met a wonderful woman—a woman who, from what he knew about her, seemed very fair and kind.

             
After he had breakfast he went back and found Pegasus was awake.  He then decided to give Pegasus his breakfast.

             
Hercules handed Pegasus a large apple and Pegasus ate it up whole.  He jumped and cheered with glee at the taste of it.  He begged Hercules for another.  Hercules laughed.  He walked over to another tree, this time a cherry trees and tossed several cherries into his mouth.  He leapt up and ate each and every one.

             
Meanwhile Meg looked down at the two of them from the top balcony of her palace.  There she secretly watched as the two wandered around the garden.  She seemed calm and confident, for she felt confident in her dealings with men.  She knew that there was little that she had to do to win most men’s hearts. She possessed beauty so grand that most men would give them to her without even thinking.  And most men did.  Throughout her life all she had to do was walk down the street and she would garnish the attention of all the men present.  Apart from one exception, she had always gotten every man to love and adore her.

             
But it seemed as if she had to work to lure Hercules into her grasp, for he would not fall in love with her outward appearance alone.

             
Her mind was then brought to Hercules’ words, “Are you a God?”  She knew she was no God, but it seemed she possessed a divine gift nevertheless, a gift to give joy to everyone but herself.

             
“They do enjoy my garden,” she thought to herself.  “He does seem to enjoy me as well.”  Then Meg realized that it was time to finally work to get what she wanted—freedom and form.  She then thought to herself, “Let me go now to Hercules and gain his trust!  Let me show him my great power and beauty so that he will truly desire it!  Then he will love and trust me enough to disclose to me his true weakness!”

             
And so Meg moved down from her palace and there found Hercules in the garden playfully wrestling Pegasus.  For a moment it seemed Hercules had forgotten all about his heroic duties.  “Hello my wonderful Hercules!” declared Meg, as she walked gracefully down the steps of her palace.

             
Hercules turned around and there, in front of him, was Meg.  She looked exactly as she did the day before.  She wore what appeared to be the same clothes and emanated the same bright light.

             
“You are awake!” exclaimed Meg joyfully.  “I am pleased.  Did you sleep well?”

             
“Longer than I have in a long time I must admit,” replied Hercules.

             
“And is the fruit from the garden not delightful?” asked Meg.

             
Hercules nodded.  “It is.”

             
She looked up at Hercules, smiled, and then said, “Hercules, come and let’s explore this island together.”

             
He looked back and Pegasus and nodded.  “Very well.  Pegasus, remain here.”  Pegasus didn’t look happy about having to stay there, but agreed nonetheless.  Then Hercules turned back to Meg and said, “What else do you want to show me?”

             
“Nothing,” replied Meg.  “I just thought that we could talk, that we could get know each other more.”  Meg said this because she wanted Hercules to divulge more about himself so that she might discover a weakness.  If he wouldn’t disclose such things, then in the least she might be able to gain a little more of his trust.

             
After Hercules heard these words he didn’t know what to say so he was silent.  He did look upon the woman and find all the beauty in the world, but he was afraid of finding more in her—both more goodness and more evil.  He was afraid of what Philoctetes warned him about—falling in love with this woman.  Of course he also suspected that there was some evil in this woman, or else why would Hades send him here?  Many things weighed upon his mind as he walked alongside Meg through the garden landscape.

             
There, while they strolled through the garden Hercules told Meg much about himself.  He told her about his life, about everything that happened to this point in his life.  He told her about his true parents and about how he was taken from them.  He told her about his mortal guardians.  He told her about his journey to find out more about himself, when he met many of the Gods of this world, such as Poseidon, Athena, and Apollo.  Then he told her about his encounter of Zeus.  He told me of how he might return to the heavens by being a true hero.

             
He then told Meg of his journey to the cursed island where he met Philoctetes, who would be his great trainer and train him in how to become a great hero.  He told her of how he received his great sword from the hands of Philoctetes.  He told her of his journey to Sparta where he, in secret, did many small deeds of kindness.  He then told her of his participation and victory in the Olympic Games.

             
He told her of his journey to Athens, where he was called into Pericles’ house.  He told her of Pericles’ evil and how he cast Hercules into a dark prison because he would not support his own purposes.  He told her of how he was visited by Hades, who told him to go to his underworld.  He told her of his escape from the prison and of the death of his mortal guardians.  He told Meg of his visit to Hades’ underworld and what evil he saw there.  Then his mind was drawn to the reason why he was here.

             
“You seem troubled,” said Meg, as if she could sense Hercules’ troubled mind.  “The day is young.  Please tell me what now bothers you.”

             
“I feel that I must be honest with you, for you appear to me as an angel of light, an angel that I would not like to deceive.  You see, before I came here I met with Hades, the evil God of the Underworld.  He showed me what grand armies he had in his underworld and I was able to envision, at least in part, what devastation he would unleash upon all of Greece.  But he gave me a way to at least delay the war, long enough perhaps to give Greece enough time to stop it—to find a way to defeat Hades.”

             
“What ‘way’ was that?”

             
“The way was to come here to you,” said Hercules.  “Hades said that you were a soul that he so desperately wanted to have.  So I agreed to come, to come here to delay the war and figure out some way to defeat Hades.  I am sorry, I truly am, but Hades gave me no other choice and I didn’t see any other option.  Are you angry?”

             
Meg took a few moments to respond, but then said simply, “No.”  Thoughts leapt into her mind to reveal her true identity to him, but she could not because she remembered the oath she had made to Hades.  “But what makes you think that you can defeat Hades?  I know of Hades and his power and it is far beyond that of any mortal.  He was even able to, for the last many years, keep Zeus and Hera prisoner on Mount Olympus or face the penalty of death.  For a long time he has kept his flying servants abroad to keep watch on Greece; of course he doesn’t really need them.  Within his underground throne he keeps watch on the world from his own artificial world.  And, of course, he has enough armies to destroy all of Greece with one swift stroke.”

             
“Then why does he delay?”

             
Meg paused for a moment.  She knew the real answer.  The real answer was because Hercules was to be lured into her hands to fall to her love.  But she said something quite different.  “He delays because he fears to fight as long as Zeus and Hera are alive.  As long as they live he fears that they might lead the Gods in a war against him.  And that is what he truly fears—a war like the one long ago in the heavens when God fought against God, for when one God fights against another God there can be no victory, but only desolation.  Your parents knew this.”

             
“You know many things about Hades,” said Hercules, sounding surprised.

             
“Far more than you know,” replied Meg.  “This is one of the reasons why I am here on this island.  I want to be away from Hades and his evil.”

             
“Well, you seem quite safe and away from evil here,” replied Hercules, as he strolled through the garden.  “Look at the beauty that lingers here.”  Hercules looked all around at the garden and then down at Meg.  “What I don’t understand is how you can bear to live here alone.  Do you not need someone to be here with you?”

             
Meg shook her head.  “No,” she replied.  “I have no need for company.”

             
“What about the great Gods?  Do they ever visit?”

             
Meg shook her head.  “No.  None of the Gods have visited this island, at least since I have been here.”

             
Meg smiled, but when Hercules approached her, to hold her hand, she moved away.  “Well Hercules, you should return to Pegasus.  He is probably missing you.”