The Immortal Game (book 1) (35 page)

The crowd got thicker. People pushed in toward her to make room for Ares and the giants. Her bow and arrows were useless pinned against her sides. She knocked into shades who looked around for someone to blame, but found no one.

She sidled through one group of shades and pushed through another until, at last, she was near where the giants were running. She scanned over heads, desperate to see Ares, desperate to see that he was all right. She had no way of knowing what other creatures he had faced on his way out of Tartarus.

The hugeness of the Hecatonchires, the stench of them, and the gasps of the crowd all pulled at her mind. Then her eye caught him. He was taller than most of the shades and she saw his dark curly head moving above theirs. Relief flooded her, but it was fleeting. The giants were too close. Much too close. Almost on top of him.

She saw Ares go down, but it was the sound of clashing metal weapons and armor followed by the dull wet sound of breaking bones that tightened a vice around her chest. She heard an undertone too, maybe only audible to her, of the air being forced out of Ares’s lungs as one of the brothers fell on him, so much larger and heavier than he was.

The two other giants were running fast. Their mass was too great to stop in time. They buckled in quick succession, increasing the pile of oversized bodies, too many heads, and too many limbs that lay on top of Ares.

Ruby stifled a scream. She listened for any sign of life but heard nothing over the din of the excited crowd. She couldn’t tell if they were rooting for Ares or the monsters, but the break in the garden party seemed a welcome change of pace to the onlookers.

She saw other creatures of Hades coming onto the scene. There were more Chimeras, different mixtures of human, animal, and bird. Had they been chasing Ares too? Ruby shrank from them despite her invisibility.

The Hecatonchires tripped and lurched as they pulled themselves off of one another. Ruby’s hands clenched and unclenched as she peered through the crowd and waited to see what remained of Ares lying at the bottom of all that flesh. One of the giants pulled him up by the arm.

He stood loosely, like his joints had been unhinged. His head lolled on an unsupportive neck. A trickle of blood came from the corner of his mouth. She let out a small squeak that went unnoticed by the crowd. But he’s alive, she thought. A light of relief swept across her mind.

The vice that squeezed her ribs loosened enough so that she could breathe again. She laughed with that breath, almost hysterically. Of course he was alive. He
couldn’t
die. They could just hurt him, over and over.

Two giants supported Ares, one on each side. The third Hecatonchire brought up the rear. They walked back through the opening in the crowd to where the other creatures of Hades waited. They would have to pass right by where she stood. She willed Ares to see her. She wanted to look into his eyes.

He lifted his head and scanned the edge of the crowd. One of his eyes was already black and blue. Her mind shouted for him and he jerked his eyes toward her.

Her heart jumped into her throat at the fierce god who looked back at her through swollen lids. She saw the bloodied corner of his mouth move. He was saying something, talking to her. She tore her eyes away from his and looked to his battered lips.

“Go,” he mouthed.

She searched his face; sure she had gotten it wrong.

The giants turned him away from her as they headed toward the palace. Before she lost eye contact with him he said it again, as clear as if he had whispered it in her ear, “Go.”

No. She shook her head. She couldn’t go. She wouldn’t. Not without him
.

The horde was breaking up. Persephone was somewhere behind her in the massive crowd of twittering, wandering souls. Ruby looked in every direction, turning this way and that, hoping for a glimpse of the brown-haired goddess.

The shades around Ruby seemed happy for the brief distraction of Ares’s capture but they were equally happy to get back to their dull afterlives. She pushed through them, making herself go away from Hades’s palace, tearing herself from her need to find him. To help him.

She needed Persephone.

…

A shade backed up into Ruby, accidentally knocking Hades’s helmet off her head. The man turned and started to apologize, but his mouth froze midsentence. He looked her up and down.

She looked down too and saw how out of place she was with her filthy clothes and her silver bow and arrows. Many souls carried souvenirs from their former lives, and some were ragged and dirty, but none were both. She would draw attention. Would she draw Persephone? Or would she draw the guards?

A small boy hit a croquet ball with a mallet much too big for him and looked up at Ruby. “Why is she so dirty, Mama?” he said.

His mother, a woman who looked to be eighty, might have hushed him, but all Ruby heard was silence as every soul within earshot turned to look at her. She wanted to jam Hades’s helmet back on her head and forget Persephone. But she knew if anyone could help her, it was the queen of the Underworld.

She looked among the shades staring at her. One held a huge plate of food. Her stomach growled loud enough for anyone to hear. Did shades’ stomachs growl? Would someone call her out as being alive? She tried to swallow, but there was nothing.

With that she realized that Ares had their water, Pan’s pipes, the winged sandals, everything. All she had was Artemis’s bow. Panic threatened. It was a desperate feeling in her chest. Dizziness washed over her and she worried she might faint. She was pretty sure souls did not faint.

She forced a smile and willed her muscles to keep her standing. She gave the boy a gentle look that said
Aw, isn’t he cute
, even though she wanted to clamp her hand over his mouth.

Whispers spread through the crowd around them. “Is it? It can’t be,” she heard someone say near her.

“If Ares is here …” Her ears pricked up at his name.

“Are there more Olympians?” She heard from another quarter and saw an old stooped woman looking at her.

Ruby realized that though the boy had seen her as dirty and ragged, the crowd saw her as something else. She held Hades’s helmet and Artemis’s silver bow rested on her back. John Wright had thought she was Aphrodite.

“Persephone?” Ruby called, in her most regal, most goddess-like voice.

She heard more whispers. “Is the queen here?”

“Yes, the queen is here, I saw her,” a tall shade said. “Over there, by the shuttlecock courts.” Ruby strolled as casually as she thought an Olympian might, in that direction. Groups of shades stopped their conversations as she passed.

She finally saw Persephone. The goddess had a large crowd of children sitting in a semicircle around her. “Narcissus would not move from the small pond, for he had fallen in love with his own reflection,” Persephone said to the slack-jawed youth.

Ruby cleared her throat.

The goddess looked up at her. “I’ll have to finish the tale another time, children. Hades will be looking for me and I must go to him.” The children recoiled at the sound of Hades’s name. It seemed they feared him as much as they loved his sweet and beautiful wife. Ruby realized that Hades was
smart to bring Persephone here. He needed better PR and she was it.

“Where have you been?” Ruby asked Persephone when they were again side by side.

“Where have I been? You’re the one who ran and left me to appear in a crowd of shades.”

“But, telling stories?”

“Ruby, this is what I do when I’m among my subjects. I tell them about who they used to be. I compliment them on their children, even though two are infants, one is a teenager, and the rest are older than their parents. I soothe them. That is what a queen does.”

“They took Ares away,” Ruby said, her voice insistent. “Where would Hades keep him? Where would he hold a prisoner? Does he have a place other than just throwing people into Tartarus?” She really hoped that Persephone would have a better option than going back there.

An image came to her then: Kronos’s blue eyes, inches from her own, his corrupt breath, and his curse. She pushed it aside.

Focus.

“We don’t get a lot of prisoners here.” Persephone said. “Souls come, they’re judged, and that’s it. It’s been that way for thousands of years.”

“No accidents for a million days?” Ruby said, but the bitter joke was lost on Persephone. “Where can we go?” Ruby tried again. “Hades gave Ares and me one hour to leave the Underworld and that was …” She shook her head. “I have no idea when that was. Are you in danger? Do you think Hades will send you back to Tartarus?”

“No.” Persephone shook her head. “I’m sure that’s over.”

Ruby thought of Hades, slumped in his black throne and picking at the loose threads of his robes. He was clearly miserable without her.

A crowd gathered near the palace again. Ruby looked up to see a detail of eight guards questioning souls who were pointing in their direction.

Such an exciting day in Hades.

“I guess we’re about to find out what Hades’s plans are,” Ruby said, trembling when she saw the lion-men coming closer. She thought to reach for her bow but the math was easy: six arrows, eight guards; and plenty more where they came from.

Ruby turned her head to look for an escape but the souls behind them were gathering at this new excitement. The group was too thick to run through. She felt like a trapped rabbit. Her only comfort was knowing that anywhere the guards took her would be closer to Ares.

The guards stood before Persephone, so close Ruby could see their whiskers twitch. They did not seize her and Persephone; instead, the guards kneeled down before the goddess.

“Your Majesty,” one said, his voice a near growl. “Hades has sent us to check on your welfare and escort you back to the palace. Are you well?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Thank you, Jemet. I’m ready to go home.”

With that the guards stood and readied themselves to follow their queen to her palace. Ruby followed too, but a guard stopped her with his long iron-tipped spear. Persephone intervened. “She’s with me.”

The lion-headed guard let her pass. Ruby looked for some sign from the beast—embarrassment, hate, confusion even—but she could read nothing in his animal features. She only saw the slightest flare of his nostrils. He was sniffing her. Restraining himself.
They’re more beast than man,
she thought
.
They don’t need a command to attack. They need to be told to hold back.

Persephone’s subjects made an easy path before her, bowing and speaking soft words of love and adoration. It wasn’t until they saw Ruby coming up behind, carrying her pack, her weapon, and Hades’s helmet that the whispers spread like a wave across water.

Yes. It was a very exciting day in Hades.

…

The palace, big even from a distance, loomed over them as they approached. Souls were newer here, still finding their way, still marveling at the full schedule of daily activities, the sunny forecast, and the mountains of calorie-free food.

Oh, food!

The entrance of the courtyard was as busy as always with the kings pronouncing their judgments and St. Peter with the last word.

Ruby’s head ached from stress, hunger, and thirst. What judgments lay within the palace for her? What eternal punishments were in store for Ares?

Persephone greeted souls as they walked. Everyone—frail grannies, beefy middle-aged men, and children—received her with wide dewy eyes and open arms.

They reached the first courtyard of the palace, with the golden gate to the Elysian Plains on one side and the black gate to Tartarus on the other. Ruby’s feet stopped even though her mind willed her to be strong, to move forward, to help Ares. A guard pushed her from behind and she staggered on.

They walked into the second courtyard and up the obsidian steps to the first level. Hades stood in the main hall waiting for them. He had deep dark circles under his eyes. Ruby took a breath, ready to face whatever he planned to do to her.

But Hades only had eyes for Persephone. Deep lines in his forehead relaxed. His smile became wide. It made him look like a different person, not the god of the dead, but a god in love. Ruby wondered if he remembered that he was the one who imprisoned her in the first place.

“Hades,” Persephone seemed to caress his name as she said it and walked into his open arms.

“Forgive me, my love,” Hades spoke into her lustrous brown hair.

She pulled away and looked into his pale face. “Don’t think of it. I’m well. It’s behind us.”

Ruby wanted to scream. How could she forgive him?

Hades put his arm around Persephone’s shoulders and led her up the staircase. His hand stroked her back and settled on her behind.

The guards, still standing on either side of Ruby, said, “Your Majesty. What should we do with her?”

“Who?” Hades half turned but kept his bright black eyes on his wife.

“The girl.”

Hades turned toward Ruby, as if just now realizing she was standing there. “I should send every beast of the Underworld after you. That was my promise.” He looked back to Persephone. His pale pink tongue darted out between his partially opened lips. “But seeing as how you were helpful to me, I can show you mercy.” He looked to the guards. “To the Fields of Asphodel,” he said, mimicking St. Peter passing his final judgment on her.

He turned Persephone back toward the steps and they began their ascent again. Ruby tried to make eye contact with Persephone, but the goddess didn’t look back. She was climbing the stairs, abandoning Ruby.

Hate bloomed in Ruby’s chest like a poison flower. So kind and mild, so willing to put up with anything. All of Ruby’s compassion left her.

The guards took Ruby by the arms and escorted her out of the palace and shoved her into the courtyard with the three kings. As a last thought one of the guards plucked Hades’s helmet from her arms. She had forgotten about it until that moment. Now another loss struck her.

She stood alone as new souls fidgeted in line. She wandered out of the courtyard and into the Field of Asphodel proper. More new shades were here, reuniting with family and friends.