The Trials of Hercules (47 page)

My heart plunges to a depth greater than this gorge I find myself in. So it is true. Hera made me kill my family. The bitch. To think I protected her. To think I risked the lives of Iole and Iolalus for her. My body tenses with anger, frustration, hatred. I swear I will get out of the Chasm. I will come out alive and return to Atlas. Only this time he will bring me the entire tree and I will chop it to pieces that I will then scatter to every corner of Osteria. Then, I will grasp her neck and choke her until even her own immortality can't save her.

Immortality. Could I—

“If I'm the son of Zeus am I immortal?”

“It depends. Immortality typically comes from the mother's side, but in your case— Ah, here we are.”

I want to demand he finish his statement, but the sight before me amazes my tongue into silence. The tunnel has delivered us to a vast cavern. Stalagmites and stalactites grow from floor to ceiling to join at the center. The columns run in rows from the front of the space to the rear like a temple made by the cave itself. Crystals have been set into the stony walls and glow with an orange light that brightens the grotto like a thousand candles.

At the end of the cavern sits a man with a full beard of fiery red and his hair arranged in spikes. He lounges on a throne made of clear and amethyst crystals that jut from the floor. The effect is as if the crystals have grown and shaped themselves to form a regal seat for this god of the underworld. At Hades’s feet rests a dog the size of a grizzly bear. Each of its three heads sleeps, but the six ears twitch in unison at the sound of our footfalls. When it opens its eyes they glitter red. The monstrous beast utters a growl, a low rumbling like thunder that sends vibrations through the cavern floor.

“Uncle, I've brought you a guest,” Hermes calls cheerily. Hades touches the dog's middle neck. The grumbling ceases.

“Welcome, Hercules Dion.”

I bow before moving forward. It takes several paces before I realize Hermes is no longer by my side. I turn back.

“This is as far as I go,” he says.

“How do I get out?”

“That's up to him. If he allows it, you'll be able to cross the threshold as if this were any ordinary cave. If not, well, best not to be pessimistic. If he does grant Cerberus to you, the dog will lead you out if you let her. Now, it's time for me to teach some shepherds a trick or two.”

I don't have a chance to say goodbye before Hermes disappears into the darkness of the tunnel. I turn and continue my approach moving awkwardly on limbs that feel heavy and cumbersome. When I’m ten paces from the crystal throne I bow low and go to one knee. An overpowering scent of sulfur burns into my nostrils.

“Hades, I've come to ask a favor.” He only stares at me with black, angry eyes that reflect the crystals’ light like hot embers. I eye the dog. Hades holds it by a leash that glints with a high silver shine. All three of the animal’s mouths pull into a snarl. The canines are larger than my fingers. “I need your dog, Cerberus,” I state with confidence I no longer feel. Cerberus’s ears prick up at the sound of her name.

I wait. Hades stays silent. Eying me. Assessing me.

After a pause so long the dog’s middle head has fallen back to sleep, he says, “You can have her.” I rise, ready to take the creature and flee this place regardless of its wondrous interior, but Hades bends to the beast, places his hand on the collar, and gives a quick jerk. In a silvery flash, the collar and leash are off. The dog, accustomed to the pressure of the Chasm, leaps to its feet and pads toward me. “If you can subdue her.”

The tensing of her muscles gives me just enough warning of Cerberus’s attack. I duck down, hitting the stony floor as the dog, aiming for my chest, ends up flying over me. Hades claps. I scramble to my feet—the need to survive, to return to eliminate Eury and Hera from Portaceae takes some of the invisible weight off my limbs. Cerberus slides and spins to face me. We square off, but having no idea which pair of eyes to look into, she is an unnerving opponent. I try to determine which head holds the most control over the body. Impossible to decide as each one of them snarls, dripping drool as they bare their fangs.

Too late I settle on the middle head. The dog is already charging toward me, into me, knocking me to the ground. I tuck my legs up just as the left head makes a snapping bite at my calf. I push myself to all fours. In an instant, Cerberus lunges at me. I drop, roll to the side, and jump to my feet.

Again the beast is on me. Her heads working as one to anticipate my next move. I dart to the right and she instantly changes course back to the left to cut me off. Just as I think I've tricked her by moving to my own left, she swings around. The head nearest me sinks its teeth into my thigh. The other heads, jealous it seems of the treat the middle one has in its jaws, begin snapping at me as well, but their efforts are blocked by the size of their center companion.

“Cerby, play nice,” Hades says without conviction.

As if annoyed by the other heads, Cerby’s central head lets go of my leg and starts snapping at them instead. Taking the only chance I have, I slip to the great beast's side and leap onto her back.

The heads all begin barking at once. The noise of it fills the cavern. The two side heads twist around to bite me but they can’t reach—the thick, muscular neck not quite flexible enough. Cerberus shakes like a dog trying to dry itself, starting with her heads then jerking and twisting the length of her torso. I spread myself on her back, wrapping my arms around the massive neck to hold on. When the first shake passes over her, she begins another. I grip tighter and she gasps. In my effort to hold on, I’m unwittingly choking the beast.

Realizing what I’m doing, I cinch my arms tighter, pinching her tightest where I assume her carotid artery runs. It’s a wrestling move only allowed in the most unsavory fighting pits, not the arena, but it’s one every wrestler learns at some point in his training. A third shake, stronger than the first two, works over her body. She tries to bark but only a rasping hack comes out. Changing tactics she arcs her body around then drives her side into the nearest column, crushing my leg that now drips with blood from her earlier attack.

The pain from the forceful slam, the throbbing ache from the power of the bite, and the Chasm’s weight bearing down on my limbs proves too much. A scream erupts from my throat and my grasp slips. Cerby swings around again for another sideways charge. I reassert my hold, ready myself for the agony, and when the blow comes I hold tighter than before. One head whimpers as another growls. The center head starts to shake. Before the movement has passed her shoulders she slumps to the ground.

I pull out from under her sleeping body. My leg shrieking with agony, I limp over to Hades’s throne.

“Subdued, Your Highness.”

His brow furrows in anger at first, but slowly a smile creeps over his lips as he begins clapping.

“Good show. She's yours.”

I have no idea what to do. As soon as she wakes, she’ll be on me again. Possibly reading the quandary on my face, Hades holds up the silver leash and collar.

“When this is on, she's like a puppy. You can do anything with her and she won't turn on you. Without this and, well, you've seen what she'll do. She craves flesh, living flesh, which, as you may guess, is in short supply around here. And she won't stop until she's fed. Unless,” he shakes the leash, “this is on. Got it?”

I say I do and take the leash, then work the collar back around the stunned beast's neck. She wakes, looks about groggily, then focuses her glittering eyes on me as she climbs to her feet. The middle head opens its jaw wide and the huge teeth shine as Cerberus stalks toward me. I want to drop the leash but at the same time fear to let it go.

“What trickery is this Hades—?” My question is halted by a large saliva-dripping tongue dragging across my hand. The other heads pant with a happy-dog glint in their eyes.

“No trick. She's yours. If you're done here I'd suggest you go. Cerby isn't the only creature in these caverns that craves the flesh of the living. The dead are starving for life. They've surely caught wind of you by now with that leg wound. Best you be going. Even a leash made from a lightning bolt can't subdue what roams the underworld.”

I shudder to think what the dead might do to me and hastily make my farewell. Once out of the cavern and into the tunnel all is dark without Hermes’s glowing helmet to light the space. Although I try to imagine the size of the tunnel as being vast, the darkness reminds me of being trapped in the blood crime vault. Panic sets in. My legs tremble and a wave of disorientation washes over me. I turn left then right unsure where to go. I am blind in the darkness. My only sensations are the pain in my leg, the pressure on my frame, and the heat climbing up through my feet. In my confusion, even the light of the cavern seems to have disappeared.

Then I hear it. Heaving but rapid footfalls. It is the dead wakened by the scent of life. I freeze unable to do anything but clench the leash tighter. With the puncture wounds in my legs and the heft of the Chasm’s oppressive air, if anything comes for me I know I won't be able to run, let alone fight with any force. I follow the length of the leash, pulling it along like pulling in a boat. I brush my hand along the beast feeling for the heads and then the shoulder. The feel of Cerberus comforts me, but only slightly.

Grunting from what must be a hundred throats somewhere in the darkness kills the miniscule amount of calm I have found.

The sounds grow closer. Cerberus whines.

And then I remember Hermes's words.

Gripping Cerberus’s neck in a scruff, I haul myself onto her back. With the leash wrapped around my forearm, I hold onto her with my legs and hands.

Cold hands brush along my injured thigh.

“Get us out of here,” I yell. Something grasps at my ankle. “Now, Cerberus. Go.” I command and she takes off.

Creatures clutch at me. I can do nothing to fend them off without losing hold of Cerberus. Her heads snap as she runs, but still my flesh crawls with their frigid touches. One gets its fingers into the holes Cerby has made in my thigh and pulls, stripping off a piece of flesh. The pain burns through my thigh as if Prometheus himself has me between his hands, but at least the raw chunk of my leg distracts the dead. The clasping at my body ceases and is replaced by the guttural sounds of the dead fighting for the scrap.

Although it feels like my entire thigh has been ripped away, the chunk of flesh doesn’t occupy my pursuers for long. The shuffling sound of the dead and their chilling moans of hunger race up to me, closing the distance in a handful of heartbeats. Their fingers pick at my leg again stealing small chunks like someone picking at a roasted chicken. I fear they will leave nothing but bone.

Then I see it.

Light!

The opening is just ahead. Relief courses through me, until I remember the pool and its morbid water. At Cerberus’s pace, she will charge straight into the pool or stumble over the stones and send me hurtling into the deadly liquid. I don’t dare slide off. I won’t let myself be picked to pieces by cold fingers. But neither do I want to be taken by the water. I don't want that blackness touching my skin any more than I want the dead clambering over me like ants on a honey cake.

I yell for Cerberus to stop but she charges ahead. I can’t let go of her. I can’t release my grip on the leash or she will devour me. I realize now I will die in the water. With a stoic calm, I accept this. I can only hope it will be a faster death than being torn to pieces as the dead or the dog feed on me.

I close my eyes and prepare for the black water to choke me out as it has done to all the vegetation at its banks and all the creatures under its surface. Cerberus leaps. I think of Iole. I think of my children. I came so close. Who was I to think I could escape the realm of the dead? No mortal does. It’s why Eury sent me to this place.

When the hard thump jolts my body, my only thought is of sinking slowly into the depths of blackness. I open my eyes and there it is, blackness swirling around me. Engulfing me. I feel the sensation of being swung around, like a whirlpool is swallowing me. My body is stone heavy, but there is no pain. I let my eyes drift shut again.

As the swirling sensation ceases, all is peaceful.

39

E
URY

“When will my gift be ready?” Adneta asks as a servant places a portion of roast quail on her plate.

I fidget with my fork, pushing around a pile of creamy risotto made of rice imported at great expense from the Califf Lands. The dish is normally such a treat, but the smell of the garlic that has been liberally added to it makes my eyes water. I’ve avoided telling Adneta of Herc’s trick with the apples. If she knows I’ve let my one plan, my one grab for power slip through my fingers on a technicality, what will she think of me?

“Soon, my dear. I have it all planned.” The servant hovers over me and places a sliver of quail on my plate. I eye him, annoyed by his frugality. It’s no secret that any leftovers go straight into the bellies of the kitchen staff. I pay their wages, there is no reason I should give up my own meals to them. I grasp my fork and skewer the entire bird. The carcass drips brown juices onto the white tablecloth before I drop the bird onto my plate. At a flick of my hand, he steps back.

“Do you want to hear?” I ask my wife with a grin. I’m so sure she’ll love my idea, I’m giddy. The secret bubbles in me like a pot ready to boil over. Not wanting to talk across the table, I pick up my plate and move to the seat next to her. We never dine like this anymore. Side by side, able to whisper to each other, able to feel the warmth of one another, and able to feed one another tidbits of food. I pluck a piece of meat from the thigh and hold it up to her. She stares at it like I’ve just snatched the morsel off the stable floor.

“I’m not a bitch who eats out of her master’s hands.”

I sigh and pop the meat into my mouth but thanks to the scent wafting off the risotto, all I taste is garlic.