The Immortal Game (book 1) (34 page)

A memory flashed into her mind at the sound, random and important at the same time. Ares telling her about gods, and immortality, and strong chemical bonds:
It’s how I can heal from a mortal wound in a one night. It’s why immortals never get sick, or cough, or even sneeze.

The only being in the Underworld who would cough was a human.

Her eyes went wide. She heard the pounding boots of Aegaeon coming their way. Ares shoved Hades’s helmet on her head.

He drew his sword and ran up the passageway. “I’ll find you,” he yelled as the giant sped past her, close on Ares’s heels. Her heart almost burst with fear and love at the same time.

Ruby sat in the quiet they left behind, still stunned. Then her wits came back to her.
Persephone!
She was no longer guarded.

Ruby ran into the cavern. The goddess stood near the bars of her cell. She stared at where the Hecatonchire had run out. Ruby remembered that she was invisible and removed the Helm of Darkness.

Persephone’s hazel eyes bulged, then darkened with fear. “Are you Ares’s human? You have to get out of here. The Hecatonchires are after you. Everyone is. Hades has …”

“I know. We have to hurry. Where’s the key?” She scanned the door for a keyhole but she didn’t see one.

“The key?”

“Yes. The key. To open the door.”

“There’s no key. Ask to free me.”

“Ask who?” Ruby said. Why was Persephone being vague? She thought of those old movies where the big metal key hung on a hook right next to the cell door. Why couldn’t it be like that?

“Just ask,” Persephone insisted.

“Release Persephone,” Ruby said, absently, as she continued to scan the grey walls for some help.

“You have to mean it.”

Ruby couldn’t squelch her irritation any longer. “Open the damn door!” she yelled.

A creature appeared between her and the cell. Another Chimera. Ruby stepped back in surprise. The creature had a woman’s face, a lion’s body, and the wings of a bird. She sat with a serene expression as a scorpion’s stinger waved behind her at the end of her tail.

“Don’t worry. She’s a Sphinx,” Persephone said. “Solve her riddle and the door will open.”

“The riddle of the Sphinx?” Ruby knew that one. Everyone did.

“One of them,” Persephone said. “It changes every time. You only get one chance to answer.”

“What if I get it wrong?”

Persephone didn’t hesitate. “She’ll eat you.”

“Great.” Ruby let out a pent up breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Can I worry now?”

“What?” Persephone cocked her head at Ruby.

“Never mind.”

The Sphinx had long black hair. Her black eyes shone like marbles. Her skin was a rich dark brown that became covered with fine golden fur just past her collarbones. Her lion body was sleek and powerful looking with huge golden wings that attached near her ribs. Even the scorpion tail moved gracefully. Ruby didn’t doubt that it would find its mark if the time came. She swallowed the thought and remembered Ares running away, drawing the danger toward himself to save her.

She had to be brave.

“What’s your riddle?” she asked. Her voice sounded far away, like her ears had already distanced themselves from all of this.

To Ruby’s shock, a chess board appeared in front of her. It hovered in the air about four feet off the floor. It was made of light grey and brown stone. It was obviously old, much older that Ares’s marble set. The chessmen were only vague forms of modern chess pieces. The stone wasn’t polished except in the spots where fingers had held the pieces over the millennia and had worn the rough stone smooth.

The board was not set up for a new game. It was already in play. Grey only had five pieces left: a couple of pawns, a bishop, the queen, and the king. Brown was only slightly better off with seven, less valuable, pieces: five pawns, a rook, and the king.

This was the riddle? It was the Sphynx chess problem? It was known as one of the most difficult endgames in the world.

“Grey plays first,” the Sphinx said. “Mate in eleven or less.”

Ruby breathed in a shuddering breath and slowly exhaled.
Checkmate in eleven moves or less? The Sphynx? The hardest chess problem in the world? “Trust your instincts
,”
she heard Ares’s voice in her mind.

She looked at the board and tried to see what her best move was in this endgame of life and death. She had fewer pieces than the Sphinx. Her first instinct was to protect her material and see if she could wait the Sphinx out. Maybe the Sphinx would sense Ruby’s fear and make bold, stupid moves. Ruby could take advantage of her confidence. But the Sphinx would only see Ruby’s fear if she allowed her to see it. Yes, Ruby had fewer pieces, but they were more valuable. They could move more freely. Ruby could be offensive.

Ruby moved her grey queen to the left side of the board and immediately put the Sphinx’s king in check.

The Chimera’s face remained serene. The Sphinx had lion paws, not hands. Ruby wondered how the Sphinx would move her piece when she saw the brown rook, the only valuable piece the Sphinx had besides her king, move of its own accord to block the check.

Ruby swallowed. It seemed the Sphinx wouldn’t be intimidated.

Ruby could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. If she ever needed Ares, it was now. Not for his strength, or his sword, or his thousands of years of experience on the battlefield. His formidable knowledge of chess would have been nice, but what she really needed was his unwavering belief in her.

Ruby licked her dry lips and tried not to think of the scorpion tail that waved lazily in the air behind the Sphinx. She moved her bishop close to the Sphinx’s king, but out of reach of being taken.

The brown lump that served as the Sphinx’s pawn moved into position to take Ruby’s rook. Ruby couldn’t afford to lose the rook, but she couldn’t let the Sphinx bully her either. She ignored the threat and moved her bishop again.

Instead of taking the rook the Sphinx moved her pawn to put Ruby’s king in check.

Ruby inhaled sharply. She had been worrying about the rook and hadn’t seen the threat coming. She wasn’t in any real danger, she simply took the pawn with her king, but it was a stupid oversight that could have cost her everything.

The Sphinx moved a different pawn that was outside of the main action of the game. It was a throwaway move. A move made to get a sense of your opponent’s strategy.

Ruby scanned the board and wondered if she had missed something else. Her eyes stopped short on the Sphinx’s brown rook. Ruby had been trying to win in eleven moves or less, now she could see a way to win in the next two. She didn’t want to be overconfident. She couldn’t afford to be wrong.

Ruby moved her queen to the eighth rank, the last row, and put the Sphinx in check again.

The Sphinx’s rook began to move to protect the king. Ruby’s heart leapt in her chest. She might have made a sound; blood was rushing in her ears and she couldn’t tell, but something had caused the Sphinx to look up at her suddenly.

The rook stopped halfway to the eighth rank.

Was the Sphinx trying to change her move? Once a chess piece was touched the player had to move it. Did that extend to telepathic chess too?

The stalled rook moved toward the last row again.

Ruby moved her queen to take the rook. A small dry sob of relief escaped her.

“Checkmate.”

TWENTY SIX

The Sphinx vanished like vapor. The cell door swung opened and Persephone rushed out.

Ruby’s sense of relief at freeing Persephone vanished as she looked around them. The cavern was a dead end. The only way to go was the way Ruby and Ares had come. But what lay back that way? Ares, yes, but also the Hecatonchires and whatever else Hades may have sent down here to find them.

“I’m Ruby. Take my hand,” she said to Persephone. “The Helm of Darkness will work for both of us if we’re touching.” Ruby held out her free hand, but Persephone just looked at her with her deep amber eyes.

“Where did you get Hades’s helmet?” the goddess asked, a touch of possessiveness in her voice.

“Uh …” Ruby hesitated. “We had to borrow it.”

“I see,” Persephone said with a scowl. She looked away, down the tunnel. “It was Ares that Aegaeon chased?”

“Yes.”

“Where are we going? Where are you to meet him?”

“There was no time to decide on a place,” Ruby’s hand was still outstretched to the goddess. “He said he’d find me.”

Persephone nodded and put her hand in Ruby’s at last.

They had to work harder at walking together in the passageways. She and Persephone weren’t as in sync as she and Ares had been. And Persephone didn’t seem to be concerned with being quiet either.

“Why did you come?” the goddess asked.

“Why?” Ruby was surprised. There was no thank you, no relief in her voice. “To save you. And … Demeter won’t let spring come without you.”

“Your wedding to Ares. It’s in the spring?”

Ruby was surprised Persephone knew anything about it. She didn’t have a sense of what news from Olympus reached the Underworld.

“Zeus tricked us,” Ruby said. “He tricked everyone. He’s the one who told Hades to keep you in the Underworld. He did it so that spring, and the wedding, would never come.”

“Zeus.” Persephone
tsk
ed. “He does hold a lot of sway over Hades. Hades told me of Zeus’s new plan, for me to stay in the Underworld all year. But what about Mother? At first Hades seemed to understand my other obligations, but I wasn’t surprised when he asked Aegaeon to accompany me to the Styx and we ended up at the gate to Tartarus instead. Hades had never let me go that easily before.” Persephone sounded like she was retelling a story that was stressful in the moment but had become funny over a length of time.

“Aren’t you mad?” Ruby asked.

“At Hades?” Persephone laughed. “No. Not really. He means well. And there’s no point in being mad at Zeus. He’s just—Zeus.”

Ruby looked at Persephone’s invisible form, as one would in any conversation with a person who isn’t making any sense. “Weren’t you afraid down here?” she asked.

“No,” Persephone said, like it was a ridiculous idea. “Aegaeon is kind enough. Every creature in the Underworld, and below, knows they would face Hades’s wrath if they were to hurt me. And I know Hades wouldn’t be without me, not for long. He would have come to get me sooner rather than later. Everything will get back to normal now. Mother will be so glad to see me. And you’ll be dancing at your wedding.”

Ruby tried to imagine her and Ares surviving this, facing down Zeus, and enjoying their wedding, but the gloom of the Underworld had a dampening effect.

They walked on in silence. Ruby tried to wrap her head around Persephone’s apathy. The goddess stopped and pulled her hand free of Ruby’s. She became visible again.

“This way.” Persephone motioned to what appeared to be a dark line in the rock, but as Ruby got closer she saw a crack large enough for a person to fit into. She took off the helmet and turned sideways to enter.

The passage was tight; big enough for a person, but not a fifty headed giant. “I can’t,” she said. “Ares won’t know if I’ve rescued you or if we’re still down here somewhere.”

“We have to go on,” Persephone said with little patience in her voice. “Ares will meet us. He’s a warrior, Ruby. He may be full of passion and lover’s whispers in the bedroom. But right now he’ll be practical.”

Ruby felt her face get warm at the implication, but she knew Persephone was right. She had seen it in Ares’s eyes.

Persephone led the way through the dark passage. This was less like walking and more like climbing. They scrambled over large boulders that filled the space. It was so narrow in spots Ruby had to turn sideways. Her jeans and shirt scraped against the rock as she went.

The helmet, which had saved her life in Tartarus, now became her main hindrance. She passed it from one hand to the other as she climbed. She put it on her head when she needed both hands free, and took it off if she needed to fit through a tight space. If Persephone looked back Ruby would appear as badly timed animation, first here on this rock, then ten feet farther up on that one.

Persephone made it look easy as she scrambled over rocks and slipped through tight spots in her pink silk peplos, with no helmet in her hands or bow and quiver on her back to slow her down.

Ruby saw a diffuse light up ahead. They must be getting close. She had been feeling hopeful about reaching Hades, but now doubts crowded in. She was with Persephone, but would that make her any safer?

She looked up to see the goddess standing erect, shafts of light all around her. Ruby concentrated on getting past the boulder before her and then she too was standing in the ubiquitous light of Hades. She blinked. Her eyes watered from such a long stretch in the dark.

They had come out on the edge of the Fields of Asphodel. Not many souls were here in the forested part. Persephone reached for Ruby’s hand and nodded at the Helm of Darkness. Ruby put Hades’s helmet on and the two disappeared.

They walked to the edge of the crowd where there was a loud commotion. Ruby stood on her invisible tiptoes, straining to see over the heads of the shades that milled around. She glimpsed the three Hecatonchire brothers running through the crowd of shades. They lumbered on ungracefully with a fair amount of speed. They were in hot pursuit of something.

Joy and terror leaped into her heart at the same moment.
Ares!
She started to run, pulling Persephone behind her, but the goddess was slower.

Ruby tried to wrench her hand free. Persephone held tight. “I have to help him,” she cried and with a jerk she did pull free. She reached behind her for Artemis’s bow.

The queen of Hades, no longer under the power of the Helm of Darkness, appeared among a group of souls engaged in a round of bocce. The players dropped their colored globes and bowed, welcoming her as she stumbled into their midst.

Ruby ran on, toward where she thought Ares would be in the next few seconds, which was several feet in front of the giant’s many heads bobbing above the crowd. She wanted to scream out and let Ares know she was there, but she held back in a lucid moment of self-preservation.