Chapter 14
Sleep eluded Fay, forcing her out of her cot and out into the quiet camp. She walked amongst the tents, listening to the soft snores that murmured through the thick canvas, with no destination in mind. One step after another, muted against the soft earth, aimless. She stopped briefly at the camp centre, a sprawling clearing and she sat by a cold fire pit. The smell of ash and mud hung in the air, damp, lingering. It was an oddly comforting smell, whispering of quiet, content things, of peace. She closed her eyes and held it, stealing the memory away into the depths of her mind because she knew it wouldn’t last. Andromeda would rise and whatever tenuous peace the hounds had established would be shattered. War was coming and her tongue was bound.
In her mind she saw her squad mates, her family, hate her. She wanted to tell them not to do the Tartarus mission, protect them from Andromeda. Yet the second she dared to speak, to act in any way to warn them, Andromeda would stop her. Even her own thoughts weren’t safe. No one was. Andromeda was the on coming storm that would set the world on fire…and no one knew why.
She opened her eyes and exhaled deeply, then stood. A soft breeze stirred, snaking through the tents, a soft whistle. She turned to head back to the camp, somehow force herself back to sleep, when a figure stepped out from the shadows. Marcus. Only, not as she had last seen him. There were dark shadows under his eyes, a paleness to his skin, like he’d been held in the dark somewhere. She watched him warily, defensively, and he too, watched her, with cold, angry eyes.
“Hello Marcus,” she said quietly.
“Fay, enjoying the squad?” He asked with forced levity.
“It’s fine,” she replied slowly.
His lip curled into a soundless snarl, to which an anger kindled in his eyes. “Fine?” He spun half from her, staring at the ground, as though trying to rein in some of that anger, focus it elsewhere. “They kicked me out, banished me to Tartarus. Didn’t matter that I swore I had nothing to do with it.”
Tartarus? Then how are you here? Her mind whirled with questions.
“How couldn’t you know?” She argued. “Were you so blind you couldn’t see what she was doing? How were her sick games some sort of secret when I saw so many hounds?”
He opened his mouth, then shut it again, opened and shut until he finally surrendered to a loss of words. It was, it seemed, a question he’d had himself so many times and no answer. The anger in his eyes fell away, exposing the shame beneath.
“I didn’t know. She was this exciting, beautiful light, and she loved me. Being around her was a rush, it was freeing. You don’t know what this place is like, what it does to you, what you lose to be here. My brother and I had the world at our feet alive and we stupidly thought immortality would help. Hell, Motep agreed, if only to save his wife, whom ended up being made a servant in the gardens of Elysium. He barely even gets to see her. Did you know that?” He looked at her accusingly, like she should’ve peeled back the layers of her new family and seen the ugly past beneath, all the broken promises and heart break. “She just told me she wanted to meet the hound everyone was talking about, the one whom dared to fight Hades! She talked like you were some sort of Goddess incarnate!”
Just like how the world saw Andromeda; a lonely human girl, set apart from the world, in her own war against the Gods. The Gods saw a human as their greatest threat, spun her legend for her. The hounds had done the same, it seemed, for Fay. A few little acts and she was growing a dangerous reputation.
“I’m not a Goddess, Marcus and I’m sorry she tricked you. I can talk to-“
“No, no, it doesn’t matter. Not anymore,” he said fiercely. “I’m innocent and they didn’t care. Does my brother even give a damn?”
“Of course, he does,” she assured him but the lie felt heavy on her tongue. Alexander had seemed troubled but, at the same time, it felt like he was trying to forget it, to forget his brother, cold as that might be.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “I know my brother but now I have noticed something.”
“What’s that?”
In the space of their conversation Marcus had drawn closer; not too close but if she stepped forward and reached out she’d touch him. She grew aware of a distinct gleam in his eyes, a smug victory, though of what she didn’t know; that is, he somehow saw inside her, saw the beast she kept so tightly leashed.
“Eris was right. Andromeda has gotten her claws into you…and that I have to protect the hounds, even if they don’t see it.”
She never saw the sword until it was buried in her chest, the pain flaring out in an eruption, tearing a soundless cry from her mouth. Darkness swam across her vision as she fell to her knees and looked down, watching in horror as the sword dissolved into her chest; that she also saw the design on the sword…and knew without a doubt that they’d found the mirror copy of the Sword of Hades. The very same blade that had nearly killed her before – only, now it succeeded, as she felt the cold draw of oblivion draw her under.
The warm lull of a vision swept Fay into a place she knew well; the throne room in palace of the Underworld. Torches suspended in wrought iron cages hung from pillars that flanked the long room, bathing the room in a rich, amber glow. The air was heavy, warm. She felt it keenly on her skin, smelt the myriad of oils, the feint tang of spices being burnt somewhere else, of ash and something faintly cold, festering. The smell of death.
She stood with the throne at her back, giving her a sweeping view of the room, plus the golden doors at the far end. As she turned to examine elsewhere in the room the doors cracked open, footsteps mute against the floor. A pair. She looked up.
Andromeda and Amon, the latter shadowing perfectly. She stopped and looked about the room. For a second, she felt like Andromeda was staring straight at her, then she realised it was the throne. A determined, fiery expression took hold of her face.
“We should hurry, Andromeda – he won’t be away long,” said Amon softly, his voice a low hiss.
She tore her gaze away from the throne in a firm nod, then she set off on a brisk walk, right past Fay and through a side door. Fay followed the pair into a smaller room, one just as resplendent, full of treasures and chests, statues and jewels mounted in golden frames. Andromeda didn’t even slow as she continued on to the back of the room where a black door stood out from the finery. She stood before it, then glanced at Amon, her expression guarded. Sensing her thoughts Amon reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing softly. It seemed to assure her because she leant in and kissed his cheek, softly but intimately, then drew a deep breath, exhaling softly. Fay saw her reach into her satchel again and she pulled out a key, simple and black. It just seemed like a normal key but as it neared the lock on the door it started to glow.
Andromeda’s hand remained steadfast though as she pushed the key in and turned, the door clicking audibly in response. She left the key in and pushed the door open, stepping inside swiftly, with Amon close on her heels. Fay followed inside.
It was a small room and was lined with racks of weapons, each ornately carved, or painted in gold. Weapons of power, Fay realised. The kind made for Gods. She swept her gaze over the daggers, swords, a couple of bows, quivers full of arrows, even several spears and staffs, before she locked on a lone table at the back. On it, a sword mounted in a cradle. Fay paled at the sight of the sword. She knew it well, had felt herself first hand what a ghost copy of it could do.
The sword of Hades.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yes, it is.”
Andromeda’s hand dropped to the sword but just as her fingers nearly curled around the hilt a resounding crash boomed behind them, followed by a rush of cold air. The smell of death rushed in. Fay felt the chill crawl over her skin as she turned slowly, lifting her gaze to see the God of the Underworld stand there, clad in his dark robes. A look of surprise etched his face. Fay filed that away. It seemed whatever Andromeda had done she’d found a way to sneak into the Underworld without being detected.
In the corner of Fay’s eyes, she saw Amon freeze at the sight of Hades. To his credit he didn’t run, didn’t scream or cry or beg. In fact, his eyes flickered to Andromeda, wondering what she might do. Was this the moment he believed she might kill Hades? Given his current status Fay knew any attempt must’ve failed. Yet, she knew it was Zeus whom killed Andromeda, not Hades.
With an eerily calm expression Andromeda turned to Hades. She raised her hand above her head and snapped her fingers.
The room exploded into light with a crack of thunder, blinding Fay. Her ears ran with the explosion and still rang as the world finally dimmed, revealing Andromeda once more, her hand held high.
In her hand, a lightning bolt.
Shock flickered for a second in Hades dark eyes. Then he smiled and threw his head back with a roar of thunderous laughter that shook the room. No one else was laughing. When he sobered that smile was still there, a twisted kind of admiration in his eyes, grudging respect. Andromeda only stared at him with her cold, calm eyes, with no concern for his roaring laughter or his smile. She lowered her hand with the bolt so that it crackled at her side. How it held its form, that spear of crackling energy, of light and pure power, Fay didn’t know but it was certainly terrifyingly impressive.
“So, the rumours are true. You have been getting up to all sorts of trouble, little mortal. Even stealing down into the Underworld! You have been everywhere, haven’t you?”
Andromeda cocked her head to the side as the sword materialised in his hand, watching it with interest, like she was filing something important away.
He followed her gaze to the sword. “Oh, you want my sword?”
She slowly met his gaze, like she wasn’t in any rush at all. In the presence of the God of the Underworld she was calm. It was as though she knew by coming here that Hades would come.
“No. I want you to deliver a message else I blow this bolt right now.” She spoke with such a low, chilling voice that a shiver ran down Fay’s spine.
He glanced at the thunderbolt that crackled in her hand. Everyone in the room knew what that bolt was capable of. Hades knew if she was serious, and there was nothing to suggest she wasn’t, that the damage that bolt would do to him would be immense. Crippling. After a beat he looked back at her.
“You’d kill yourself? Your pet? No, no, I don’t think so.”
Her eyes flashed dangerously. “No? I’m not playing a game here Hades. This isn’t some childish whim I’ve conjured or some angry act. I’m not just some human, no little pawn in this world.” Her eyes bled to black, erasing all white, and the energy dancing on her skin turned black, bleeding down into the bolt. The thunderbolt in her hand began to glow an ominous cobalt blue.
It was then that fear – and awareness – dawned on his face, like he was seeing her properly for the first time.
Fay didn’t understand what it all meant but she watched on, aware that a pivotal moment in Andromeda’s life had come.
“You-“
“You won’t remember this, not properly. I have things in place to ensure that but what you will remember is my message; tell Zeus I am coming for him. Tell him that I want what he stole from me and that I will burn his world to the ground, tear it apart until I have what he took.” In a blur she was right in front of him, leaning in close with her chilling eyes. “He started this war with me but I will finish it.”
She reached out with her other hand and cupped his face, almost tenderly. He stiffened beneath her touch and when she moved back, her eyes bleeding back to normal, he seemed frozen to the spot. Fay was shocked. How had a mere mortal frozen Hades? And if she possessed that power, why had she schemed to be sent to Tartarus? It was like she had the power to defeat Zeus but chose not to. Fay frowned. It was like all of the pieces of the puzzle were in front of her but she wasn’t sure how to assemble them, how they connected together.
Andromeda turned to Amon. “Are you ready?”
He smiled at her wickedly. “I am. Is it time to begin?”
She nodded and together they walked out into the throne room. There, she stopped him and grabbed Amon suddenly. “I have faith in your magic, in you, but be careful – promise me you will come back to me.”
He grabbed her suddenly and kissed her hard, clutching at her like she was the very air he breathed. When he pulled back, they were both breathless, their foreheads still close, their breath mingling.
“I swear I will always find my way back to you.”
She tilted her head to the side and there was a flash of sadness in her eyes, which seemed to Fay in that moment, as ancient as the universe itself. “You always do, don’t you?”
ns 15.158.61.54da2
