Timothy Boggs - Hercules Legendary Joureneys 03 (15 page)

"Your husband?" Flovi said.

"It's a long story," Hercules answered.

"It'd have to be." Salmoneus leaned closer. "Does he dance?"

Hercules slapped his shoulder hard, knocking him sideways.

"We danced at our wedding," Peyra wailed.

Salmoneus looked at Flovi. "I'd pay to see that."

Hercules raised his hand again, and Salmoneus ducked behind the musician, his expression bewildered. "What'd I say?"

Then Agatra gestured sharply, and Peyra, tears drenching her cheeks, returned the frog to her pouch.

"He'll be dead by tomorrow," the Harpy said. "If you won't do something before then, I will."

Salmoneus finally saw the light—and the way the Harpy looked at him—and nudged Hercules' arm.

"Are you saying this was . .. Dragar?"

"Of course, Dragar, you chubby little chit," Aga-tra snapped. "Who else do you think did this?"

Insulted, Salmoneus drew himself up. "Madam, or whatever, Dragar is a solid, upstanding member of my
esteemed ... He certainly hasn't the ..." He looked up at Hercules. "By the gods," he whispered. "Last night. All the other times. But he's—"

"I know, I know," Hercules said. "Just a magician." He shook his head. "No, he's not, Salmoneus. He's much more than that now."

"Then why didn't you do something?" Salmoneus demanded, outraged and righteous. "This poor woman is distraught beyond words!"

Oh, Hercules thought, you're good, boy, you're really good.

"An enchantment," he replied, more to Agatra than his friend. "It must have been on that first day, when we met. Whatever he did, it scattered my thinking, delayed me. I..." He frowned at the sky. The overcast had thickened in places, the bulges of growing clouds ominously dark amid the gray. "I didn't realize it until last night."

"Then why do you know it now?" Virgil asked innocently.

Agatra laughed, but the laugh held no humor. "Because he is who he is, that's why. It didn't last."

The young man and Aulma exchanged puzzled glances. "But who is he?'

"Oh," Salmoneus said with an offhanded gesture, "he's just Hercules. It must be a demigod thing."

Virgil gaped; Aulma gaped; they gaped at each other before gaping in tandem at him.

"In that case, sir," Virgil said at last, "I really think you'd better hear what Aulma has to say."

"Not if she's going to slug me," Hercules told him, and held up a hand to forestall any questions. By the faint blush on Aulma's cheeks, he didn't think this was the time to explain about swimming naked in the pool.

Flovi grinned then and pointed. "Company," he said.

Now what? Hercules wondered, and turned to see a large white duck waddle out of the north tunnel, the same duck that had fallen from Dragar's sleeve that first afternoon. It muttered to itself as it wandered across the floor, then froze when it spotted Agatra.

Agatra scowled.

The duck waddled over as fast as it could, looked up at the Harpy, uttered a long quacking sigh, rolled its eyes, and keeled over.

They stared at the unconscious bird for several seconds, until Flovi said, "I think it's in love."

Agatra transferred her glare from the duck to the musician, who shrugged, looked over his shoulder, pointed again, and said again, "Company."

This time, however, there was no amusement in his voice.

Growling out of the north tunnel was the shaggy, black-and-white dog Hercules had seen rooting around the streets, the one who wouldn't accept the offered food. At first, he didn't see what had caused Flovi's reaction, not until the dog stepped fully out of the tunnel's shadow.

It was half again as large as it had been, its fangs extending below its lower jaw. A pair of horns pointed forward from behind its pointed ears, and several spikes poked out of the thick fur along its spine.

Its eyes flared green.

As soon as the others realized it wasn't interested in them, they bolted for the nearest wall to scramble up, with help or alone, into the front row. Agatra grabbed Peyra and used her wings to lift them to safety. Flovi grabbed the duck.

Hercules didn't move.

He had seen monsters before, some hideous beyond description, but this ... this
thing
... was worse, because it had once been normal, nothing more than a scavenger that lived in an alley's shadows.

Magic had somehow given way to sorcery.

Gaze steady, a rasping growl in its throat, the dog lowered its head slightly and moved toward him, one slow step at a time, not once shifting its eyes from Hercules' throat.

Its tail didn't twitch.

When it was ten feet away, it stopped, and he could see the slanted eyes more clearly, the deadly glint of its fangs, and the bubbles of dark froth that began to drip from its mouth.

"A sword, a bow," he heard Salmoneus say. "Doesn't anyone carry a weapon around here?"

There was no answer.

The spellbound animal shifted its haunches, growling louder. Deeper.

Hercules braced himself, even as he felt twinges of stiffness in his left shoulder. A fitful breeze slipped out of the tunnel; the clear noxious scent of burning sulfur wrinkled his nose, and his eyes threatened to water.

The dog lifted its muzzle and sniffed the air, the froth now dripping heavily, in strands.

Hercules glanced at his arm. The wounds he'd received from Aeton and Clova had reopened. And the thing smelled his blood.

That split second was all the animal needed—it gathered its haunches and, as Salmoneus cried a warning, it leapt for Hercules' throat.

Instinctively Hercules threw up his right arm to block the charge. The dog's jaws clamped harmlessly around the arm guard, but its weight bore them both to the ground. Hercules landed on his back, grunting when his head struck the cobbles. As the animal's rear paws tried to claw a hole through his stomach, he snapped his arm out, slamming the dog sideways to the ground.

Still, it wouldn't let go. Its paws scrabbled frantically against the cobblestones, trying to find purchase so it could stand and charge again.

As it struggled, Hercules got to his knees, and before the creature could shift its grip from the guard to his flesh, he whirled and snapped the arm out again.

The jaws released their hold, and the dog flew howling across the arena and into the wall.

Where it exploded into blinding sparks that spiraled into the cloudy sky.

Salmoneus stood in front of him, hands shaking, his face mottled with indignation. "That. .. that thing! Do you realize it wasn't real?" As if the creature were a personal affront.

Hercules took several deep breaths to clear his nostrils of the stench of sulfur. "So I noticed."

"It could have killed us!"

"In the first place, it was after me, not you," Hercules reminded him as he rose unsteadily to his feet. "In the second place, I don't think it was a serious attack."

"You could have fooled me," Flovi said, coming up behind him with Virgil and Aulma.

"It was a warning, that's all. If I had died, that would have been a bonus."

Salmoneus looked up at them all, panicked. "A warning?" he squeaked. "Just a warning?" He grabbed Hercules' legs and used them to haul himself to his feet. "Just a warning? About what? Is he trying to stop my show?"

"I think," Hercules said, "he has more important things on his mind, Salmoneus. No offense."

Salmoneus sputtered his renewed indignation, raised a fist to make a point, and yanked it down when a shadow passed over them and a hard wind made them squint.

Agatra hovered overhead, wings flapping slowly. "If you don't take care of it," she said to Hercules, "I will." And she flew off toward the woods.

"Why is she so mad at you?" Flovi asked, keeping his voice down.

"She protects her own," Hercules explained. "Peyra's village is her family now. And trust me, Flovi, no one messes with a Harpy's family."

They saw Peyra, alone in the seats, huddled against herself, staring at her knees. Even at this distance he could see the glimmer of tears on her face.

Puzzled, the musician scratched through his hair. "But if Dragar can do ... you know ... she'll be killed."

"Yes. She will."

Flovi looked at him with a half smile. "You always get yourself into things like this?'

Hercules shrugged. "Only with Salmoneus."

"Hey," Salmoneus protested. "While you two are worried about a giant chicken—not to mention slandering my good name—you may have forgotten we were nearly dead here."

Hercules held up a hand for silence, then walked away slowly, glancing once at the sky, once at the spot where he had flung the unnatural dog. He put his hands on his hips and half-closed his eyes; he rolled a pebble absently beneath his boot; he sniffed, he wiped his face, he turned back to the others and wished they wouldn't look at him like that.

As if he knew all there was to know, and could solve all their problems with a snap of his fingers.

They were frightened. * They had a right to be.

He wasn't doing all that well himself, if he wanted to be honest; which he really didn't. The kind of power Dragar had shown them was nearly godlike in its scope. No man had a right to such knowledge, not to use it the way he feared Dragar would.

He gave them an
I'm on the job
smile.

They gave him grimaces that made him wince.

Suddenly he snapped his fingers, they jumped, and he beckoned to Aulma. She hesitated, grabbed Virgil's arm, and dragged him over with her.

"Dragar," he said, "still doesn't know who I am, does he?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he doesn't."

"So he probably thinks that spell is still working."

She poked a strand of hair from her eyes and allowed him a small smile. "I guess you're right. He ... he acts the way he does—like he's not paying attention all the time—so people won't know what he's really like." She hugged herself and stood closer to Virgil. "He's cold, Hercules. Like winter sometimes. And he refuses to admit when he makes a mistake. As far as he's concerned, he doesn't make them. Period."

And a more dangerous man for it, Hercules thought.

' 'All right, then. Now all I need is a reason. I need to know what he's up to."

"My dinars," Salmoneus gasped in alarm, clutching his purse tightly.

' 'I doubt it, my friend. With what he seems to be able to do, I don't think money is of much use to him at all."

Virgil cleared his throat. "I think that's why you should listen to Aulma, sir. I think she knows."

Just after Dragar took her on as an assistant, Aulma told them, he came back from a walk in the wood carrying a large scroll. He refused to allow her to see it, even though he knew she couldn't read. That didn't bother her, not really; she was used to people treating her that way, and he was, otherwise, very kind to her.

The next day he insisted they go to Sparta, where he spent the better part of a week visiting various silver- and goldsmiths. By the time he was done, the ram's head had been created. That, too, he refused to allow her to touch.

That night there was a fire in his room, and when she ran in to see what had happened, he was standing amid a pile of ashes. He claimed he had accidentally set the scroll afire while testing a new trick, but she didn't believe him. He might act strange, but he was never careless.

He was never the same again.

He grew more distant, more suspicious of other people, and more anxious about his act. As soon as he heard about Salmoneus, he rushed to join the troupe, even though he admitted they would probably make more money on their own.

The first night, in a place called Brethan, he passed out in the middle of the town square. She thought he had died. When he recovered an hour later, he was more excited than she'd ever seen him. It happened again in Immanus. And again in Hyanth.

He called it a "tingling."

She hadn't felt a thing.

But each time it happened, he had the ram's head with him; and after each incident, he would lock himself in his room for hours, refusing all food and water, all attempts at communication. She heard muttering and chanting, nothing more.

She saw an eerie green glow beneath the door.

And after each of these strange session, something strange would happen.

Each time more frightening than the last.

"He ..." Aulma clasped her hands at her mouth and shook her head. "After that first time in Brethan, he didn't talk to me for two days. Then he started saying weird things, like, would I like to have as many slaves as I want, and wouldn't it be fun to watch this village or that disappear into the ground.

"He scared me so much, I didn't dare run away. I wanted to, but I couldn't. Besides, in the beginning, 1

thought he was kidding.