Chapter 5
“Andromeda.” He rolled out her name on his tongue, slowly, carefully. “So, where is it exactly you are trapped?”
She gave a wicked grin and gestured to the darkness around her, as if the answer was obvious. To him, with his non-existent memories, he had no clue. Perhaps his host body did. Hopefully. After a beat he drew back from the pool.
“You mean to say this pool peers into the void of chaos?”
A frown furrowed deeply on her dark eyebrows. She glanced behind herself, then back at him, eyes searching. It was dizzying how piercing her gaze was, how it bore through him. The raw, ancient power in her gaze took his breath away.
“You see only darkness behind me?” She seemed confused.
“Is that not the case?” He asked coyly.
She held out her hand to the surface of the water, as it were a wall dividing them, then looked at his hand, then his face, pointedly. He studied her warily.
“What is it?”
“I wish to show you something. I hope, perhaps, this may reveal my world to you – as I see it,” she said calmly.
“Why?”
She drew back her hand for a moment, startled at the question. The ancient power yielded to another look – one of hurt, a kind of childish pain, borne of misunderstanding, confusion.
“From what little I have been able to see when people meet and become allies it is because they share things. I cannot give you anything but I can show you something,” she explained, the piercing stare returned.
He held out his hand to the pool and, very gently, touched the surface of the pool. Excitement lit her eyes as she held out her hand. He didn’t feel her hand as it touched the surface, only the cold water. Darkness still surrounded her. Just as it seemed as though he were about to remove his hand the darkness behind her melted. Colours burst around her and sprawling mountains, full of glittering pools surrounded by lush weeping willows. Flowers brightened fields with bursts of colour and a bright sun lit the heavenly sight in resplendent gold. He gasped but held his hand there.
“That is your home?”
She shrugged. “It is what we make it. Right now, it is according to the whim of my sister, Lida, Goddess of Day”
“There are more of you?”
“Twelve,” she answered. “Including myself.”
He fell silent again. Whatever this Cerberus person was thinking, he didn’t know. It seemed like an eternity before he finally spoke.
“If she’s a Goddess – does that mean you are too?”
“My whole family is. Io, Goddess of Fate and Time; Titus, God of Spirit and Mind; Lidus, God of Night; Lida, Goddess of Day; Victus, God of War and Order; Eona, Goddess of Oceans and Storms; Crassus, God of Knowledge and Language; Ophelia, Goddess of Oaths; Castella, Goddess of Monsters; Orion, God of Life and Rebirth; Helios, God of Trickery and Vengeance.” She paused for a moment, then smiled as her eyes bled to black, all white erased. “I am Andromeda, Goddess of Death.”
He yanked his hand back and the world behind her dissolved into darkness. The smile fell from her mouth and something in her chest gave a painful squeeze. She said nothing but her eyes grew guarded, hurt. It seemed she even moved back a little, the darkness dulling the edges of her face.
“You fear me?” Her voice was the soft sound, like first wind of an oncoming storm. “Everyone is afraid of me.”
It seemed, even as her voice filled with power, there was a profound sadness to her eyes – loneliness darkened her gaze. He stood and as he rose, she drew further away until the features of her face were dim, unfocused.
“I have to go,” he announced.
Inside, he was screaming. Something told him not to walk away. Cerberus did, anyway. He kept walking until he reached the edge of the clearing, paused for a moment…then he kept on walking.
The war camp was quiet. Fires burned across the camp; soldiers gathered around. Armour that was once polished to a bright gold was muddied and dulled with dried blood. Haunted eyes reflected horrors untold from battles that had raged across the lands just beyond the camp. Then, every so often, a shout punctured the presumed peace and heads snapped up – half in fear, half in anticipation. Then the silence would follow and the soldiers resumed their vigil over the fires.
He passed them and every so often eyes flickered to him, searching, as if Cerberus was their hope. Then he continued on, without so much as a look their way, and something in their eyes died. It seemed like he walked by hundreds of them, each more dispirited than the last, until he finally veered into a small campsite. He stopped before the largest tent in the circle, seemingly hesitating for a moment before he thrust his hands between the cotton folds and stepped inside.
The warmth of a fire washed over him, infused with fragrant smoke that came from the bowels of burning spices arranged about the tent. Dozens of plush pillows in a myriad of colours were sprawled out around a low burning hearth. Stretched out across several of the cushions was Calypso herself. Her ancient eyes lifted and met his, searching.
From behind her, a figure emerged from behind a stretch of cloth. Remus, naked from the waist up. His pants were bloodied and stained. He held a cloth to his cheek, wiping it clean and stopped as he saw Cerberus.
“You’re alive,” he announced. He sounded vaguely disappointed and turned to Calypso. “Damn you.”
Calypso held up her hand with a wicked grin. “Pay up.”
With a scowl Remus walked over and dropped a pearl into her hand. She snatched it up, holding it to the glow of the fire.
“Persephone guards these so jealously. I won’t ask how you got them,” she said with a smile, throwing a grin over her shoulder. “You shouldn’t go sniffing around. Hades has his eye on her. I imagine once this whole mess is done that he’ll steal her away.”
“Demeter might have something to say about that,” he said dismissively.
“Oh, you think Zeus will let Demeter lash out? He has her on a leash right now. The same leash we’re all on right now – allies in this big mess of a war,” she retorted. “Cerberus fights for Hades, you for Zeus and myself for my Poseidon. What a trio we make!”
Cerberus laughed and slumped down on the pillows across from Calypso. “How did the sword go?”
The smile fell from her rouged mouth, twisting into a scowl. “I gave it to a demon, whom delivered it upon your orders. The demon was incinerated. I suspect that being the point. Can’t have Hades knowing about our little trip.”
Cerberus looked to Remus. “You got your eye on anything?”
Remus pressed his lips to a thin line. “You should focus on aiding Hades. If he suspects-“
Cerberus wave a hand. “Let me worry about him. Currently, he has a swath of demons scouring the bad lands and I’ve got my spies with their ears pricked. I can’t do anything until they report something. Also, if you happen to report anything and I venture out, it appears as if I’m acting the dutiful soldier.”
With a shrug, he joined them amongst the pillows. He reclined out next to Calypso and there was no missing the way his gaze darted to her. The quiet interest in his eyes. As if sensing he was being watched he looked to the fire, looking troubled.
“The thin barrier keeping Kronos back isn’t going to last forever. Thank Rhea we have the time we have but without a viable way to help Zeus we will be dead soon. A few weeks, if we’re lucky,” said Remus quietly. “I sorely wish that Rhea wasn’t our only Titan ally right now.”
Calypso stiffened. “Well, don’t look at me. Atlas hasn’t spoken to me since the day I was born and he’s a little busy holding up the damn sky.”
Remus sat up. “That wasn’t what I-“
Calypso got to her feet, shooting him a cool look. “I am going for a walk.”
Once she swept from the tent Cerberus let out a low whistle, followed by a soft laugh.
“You, my old friend, are a fool.”
Remus scowled. “Oh, bugger off.” He slumped further into the cushions, staring up at the roof with his hands folded behind is head. “Epirus has been gone for quite some time – do you think he will succeed?”
“Hard to say. His weapons are legendary but without his forge, I do not see how he could craft a sword strong enough to bring down Kronos,” said Cerberus. “Oh, I forgot to ask, have you heard from Lupus?”
At the mention of his brother Remus sat up. “Not since he left the camp a week ago.”
“You don’t think-“
“Think what?”
Cerberus shifted on his pillows, as if uneasy. “He and Epirus-“
Remus scowled. “I am aware of my brother’s affections. Hardly matters, does it? Epirus ran off without a word and shortly after my brother follows. You know our luck we survive this because those two return, claim victory and we’re left to pick up the pieces.”
The mood in the tent darkened. Remus’s darkened expression seemed to swallow the light from the room. Cerberus stood, perhaps sensing that his friend needed space, and went to leave. At the threshold he stopped and turned, looking down at his brooding friend.
“You and I both know why Lupus’s love for Epirus bothers you so much – because out of you and your brother, only one of you was brave enough to chase what you wanted,” said Cerberus, then stalked out of the tent.
Out in the camp a warm breeze stirred through, whipping up flurries of dust that danced about the tents. Fires flickered. Murmurs snaked past him as Cerberus strode through the camp, a destination in mind. He paid no attention to the eyes that tracked his movement, nor the whispers that followed behind him.
Watching it all happen from within Cerberus he wondered if anyone suspected Cerberus’s treachery. Did Hades have any idea? He let his mind wonder on the matter and, without realising, he saw Andromeda. He wanted to see her again. Leaving her the way they did seemed cruel. She’d been honest about who and what she was, as if she was simply reaching out for a friend, desperate to make a connection – any connection – to the world she spied through her window. Forever cursed to see but never touch it. When he thought of her world, the one her sister made, he realised that, for all its wonder, it looked empty. Soulless. Pretty to look at, to walk amongst but nothing to feel. A cheap replication of something he realised he dimly remembered.
A vague image stirred in his mind. Him on a beach, looking out across a vast ocean, glittering beneath a bright sun and clear blue sky. The ocean roared before him, alive in every way. He turned his eye from the water…and Andromeda stood beside him. Not flesh and blood but semi-transparent, like a spectre. Yet for all her translucent glory, her eyes froze him. They shone with pure wonder, full of life, bright and clear. Then she turned to him and the image in his mind faded.
He was back in Cerberus, striding up the steps to a temple atop a hill. Torches hung by the entrance, bathing the polished stone in a buttery light. Two immortals stood guard, their armour gleaming, the swords held in hand, pointed at the ground. They watched him approach and remained still as he passed.
Inside, he passed through a labyrinth of halls with a confidence that showed he knew where he was going. Torches guided the way, crackling softly, whilst his shoes beat soft beat against the stone. Steady until he reached the end of the hall. He stopped and waited a moment. The door opened before him and he entered, dropping immediately into a bow once inside.
“Rise,” commanded a deep voice, soft as velvet.
He rose, lifting his head. “My lord Hades. You call.”
Hades sat by a roaring fire, framed by its golden glow and clad in thin black robes. His arms were exposed, wreathed by black tattoos. With a wave of his hand he gestured for Cerberus to sit in the seat opposite him. With slow, almost wary steps, he did so. He may not have felt Cerberus’s heart beat but, somehow, he knew it was racing. Though, perhaps it was simply his own unease sitting before the god.
“I have received word from one of my spies. Epirus may have something for us,” he declared, watching Cerberus with dark, piercing eyes.
It seemed as though Hades knew all about Cerberus’s divided loyalties…but was permitting it, for some reason. A test, he realised. Cerberus’s grip tightened on the arm of the chair fractionally. Something Hades keen gaze didn’t miss, flickering briefly over his hand.
“I shall leave at once – where is he?”
“Across the sea, on the island of Tinos. He’s forged a weapon with the God of the North Wind,” said Hades. “Bring Epirus here with his weapon.”
Curious, it seemed, there was no mention of Epirus’s lover, Lupus. He wondered if Hades knew that Lupus had followed after Epirus…or if something had happened.
“His fealty is to Zeus,” said Cerberus. “He may not come to you willingly.”
Hades smiled in the dark glow of the fire, cold as death. “Lie. It is what you are good at, after all.”
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