Going Deep

by L. J. Vickery

  “Dagon!” She spied him across the room and launched herself in his direction, stopping short only inches away to make sure he was well enough for her embrace. Her worries were swept aside as he grabbed her and held her as if he never wanted to let go.

  “Holly, I couldn’t have survived in a world without you.” He kissed her hair, her eyes, her lips, then shook her gently. “Don’t ever think to be so brave and self-sacrificing again.” He looked at Nergal and Ershkigal. “These gods are very powerful and can take care of themselves. You have no need to throw your life away on their behalf.”

  “It was on your behalf, you idiot.” She kissed him lovingly on the chin.

  “Good to know you both think so highly of us,” the king uttered. “But from what did you think we needed to be saved?”

  “Not from what,” Holly replied. “For what.” She disentangled herself from Dagon with difficulty and went to stand in front of Nergal and Ereshkigal. “As much as you’re the king,” Holly looked up at the hulking male, “I was told to give this only to Ereshkigal to use as a bargaining chip to get us all out of Hell if you went back on your promise.”

  Holly fumbled with her zippered pants’ pocket, noting that Nergal looked offended.

  “Have I the reputation of a scoundrel?” he lamented, then drew himself up to an impossibly tall height. “I am a man of my word,” he announced. “I said if you made it to my throne room, you would all be free.” Which clearly brought something else to mind. “I also remember the promise I made to Ereshkigal.”

  Holly noted that the king licked his lips, and the queen stared at his tongue in fascination.

  “What my king says is true.” Eresh’s voice had gone shaky. “He may be ruthless at times, but he’s never been a liar.”

  “If that’s the case…” Holly raised her eyebrows, wanting some answers before she forked over the idol. “…then your evil ghost-guys took things a little overboard, didn’t they? I mean, battle is battle, but they didn’t even give us a chance to fight. They were just going to kill us.”

  “Those demons were not under my command,” Nergal replied harshly, which confirmed what she and Dagon had surmised. “I’ve left one alive, hoping to torture him into telling me why they had you, and at whose behest.”

  “Well, I can tell you why they had us.” Holly reached into her now open pocket and withdrew the bulky necklace. “They wanted this.”

  She had the satisfaction of seeing both Nergal and Ereshkigal stunned into speechlessness.

  “Where did you get that?” Ereshkigal spoke first. Nergal, apparently shocked, sank down onto his throne.

  “An antiquities collector the gods know had it among his prized artifacts. The witches who live at the compound told us we needed to bring it here. They weren’t sure why, but they knew it was important.”

  Ereshkigal reached out a hand and shakily took the item from Holly. She turned haunted eyes to Nergal, passing it to him as if it were on fire. “How long has it been?”

  “You know as well as I,” he said cryptically. “I took this off when…” his voice broke and everyone in the room except the queen looked amazed to see the powerful god reduced to tears. His emotional response lasted only briefly before he raised himself up. “It was supposed to be securely in the vaults, along with…” Magmanna, the old storyteller interrupted him this time. “…along with the rest of the rare mined ore,” she finished. Nergal’s face clouded over.

  “What do you know of it?” his voice was imperious. Holly could see suspicion written all over his countenance. He must wonder if the glowies had something to do with the idol’s theft.

  The old lore keeper reached a hand out to the necklace, not in the least bit cowed by Nergal’s anger. “May I?” she asked.

  The king, clearly astounded by her boldness, relinquished his prize. Once in her hand, she rubbed it, and the power that suffused the room could be felt by all. “It’s been many years.”

  “Explain.” Nergal barked impatiently, and Holly was curious.

  “We are all that are left of those brought here to rend this substance from the rocks below. Our ancestors gave up all they had for what they thought would be a better life. Yet, when the last bit of this stone was extracted from the earth—and I was a very small child at the time—we were not given what we’d been promised. Instead, we became an abandoned species, forgotten.”

  “You have to be mistaken.” The king looked thoughtfully at Magmanna, still turning over his and Ereshkigal’s likenesses in her hand. Glowies must continue to age if this woman had been a little girl then. Nergal leaned back on his seat of power and threw his mind back in time…

  He had just been coming into his power, Ereshkigal, the beautiful daughter of the previous Underworld king being revealed as his Chosen.

  “I remember the celebration when the search for the ore was complete. It was held in combination with our amulet ceremony.” Nergal let his mind conjure pictures from the past.

  “Your people looked bluer then,” he remembered. “And one of your kind presented the last ounces of ore to my father-in-law, along with this newly carved necklace. He and Eresh’s mother already had theirs. Your people―all present at the time―witnessed the ascension of the old king and queen to the heavens, while my queen and I became instated. We had weeks of festivities, and in my newfound role as king and husband, I was so busy that I…I’m sorry…I must have lost track of a number of things, but I don’t ever recall King Shulmanu telling me that I had charge of your fate.” He shook his head. “I do seem to remember someone else mentioning your group. I can’t remember who…or what you were called then.” Try as he might, the king couldn’t dredge up the right memories.

  “Could it be the Lonely?” Magmanna asked in a way that everyone knew she stored all this away to add to the glowies history. “That is, as far as we know, a close approximation to what might have been our name.”

  “It doesn’t seem quite right,” the king mused. “But, from what I recall, whoever was in charge of your fate was supposed to ensure that you were lauded with handsome rewards and returned to your place of birth. Do you recall where that is?” he questioned.

  “Someplace across the sea is all that I remember.” Magmanna looked hopefully at the king for details. He wracked his memory, but nothing emerged.

  The one named Slaggat stepped forward. “Your worship,” he bowed, “until such time as we can find out who we are, it would be our pleasure to serve you here in your level of the Underworld.”

  Nergal was overwhelmed by the sheer number of glowies, or Lonely’s, or whatever they would call themselves, but he was just as overwhelmed by the good feelings they brought with them. Damn, he felt comforted when they were around, almost in the same way Lenore’s singing made him calmer.

  “I would be pleased to have you as my closest subjects.” He inclined his head toward the collective stretched out as far as he could see. A massive sigh of gratitude filled his head. Well damn, the collective had just let him in.

  “Now, back to the issue of this idol,” Nergal said, not one to let emotion cloud his initial concerns. He cleared his throat. “I made the mistake of taking this off once.” He gave a grand gesture, and looped the thong over his head. “I won’t be making the same error again.” His wife’s eyes glowed warm as the idol nestled between his massive pecs. “However…” He looked around at faces that reminded him of the days when he’d been beloved by all. “We need to find out why it wasn’t where it should be, and who is responsible. We also need to know why communications were out.”

  He called to his long-time secretary. With her help, surely they would find the culprit. “Beletseri!” he bellowed.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Dagon would not be swayed. “No! I will not wait several more days.” His arm around Holly’s waist tightened. “We must perform the ceremony this afternoon. She will be my Chosen before this day is through.” They’d been back for seven hours, and Dagon was adamant.

 
Everyone had been called to the meeting room, even the visiting goddess Ishtar who hadn’t yet departed, and Kulla’s brother Kabta. They had to understand how Dagon felt, having been pulled from his woman, her life nearly forfeit. But Tess—of all people—was the one pouting the most. Dagon contemplated her concerns. Her own joining with Marduk had been very secretive because it had been the first amongst the gods in thousands of years, and had been performed to save her life. Lenore’s had been done with neither her nor Anshar’s consent. Tess needed her sister’s joining to be planned and special.

  “You can’t do this without all of us together. Kulla is still stuck in the Underworld for a few more days, and no one knows where Absu is.” Tess pulled this ace from her sleeve, and Dagon nearly groaned.

  “Well, Absu hates my guts,” Dagon frowned.

  “Absu hates everyone’s guts,” Enten stated coldly.

  “Be that as it may,” Dagon continued. “I don’t think Absu would mind missing anything to do with me, and Nergal has agreed to suspend Kulla’s time in Hell. The king and queen, with Kulla in tow, can be here this afternoon if you agree.”

  “I can get on the GTS and try to raise Absu.” Shamash looked from Tess to Holly, Tess being the sole dissenter, and Holly the Chosen-to-be.

  “I’d just as soon get it done,” Holly answered his unasked question.

  She wasn’t going to take sides, but Dagon knew she felt just as he did. The thought of another minute not joined was abhorrent. Thank the gods; murmurs of agreement came from around the room.

  Tess sought Doctor Dani’s face at the back of the crowd, and brought the human up to date, since she couldn’t hear anything said by the non-corporeal.

  “It seems I’ve been overruled. There’s a chorus of agreement from everyone that the ceremony should be today.” She sighed, looking pointedly at Dagon. “Shamash is going to try to reach Absu. So what do you say? Is everything ready?”

  All eyes turned to Dani, who obviously didn’t like being the center of attention—even if most of those eyes remained invisible. “It’s all set up,” she said. “But you still have to clear it with your husband.”

  What the hell was the pair up to? Dagon wondered.

  “What am I missing, my Chosen?” Marduk inquired, also suspicious.

  Tess squared her shoulders. “Well, up until this point, the amulet ceremony has been a big male-only thing. But since you allowed Dani into the inner sanctum last time to help with the honors, at least on your part, we…I…thought that it was rather cold to have the female recipient be out of the picture.” She didn’t seem as sure of herself, now that she was face to face with the scowling countenance of her husband. “I convinced Dani to take me down to your special room, and it seemed plenty big, so we cleared a spot on the other side of your uh…altar, and set up a place where the female half of the ceremony could be performed.”

  Marduk didn’t look pleased. “You are meddling with things that have been done in a specific way for millennium.” His voice rose in volume. “There’s no need to…”

  “Wait a minute, Marduk,” Enlil spoke up from beside Dagon and Holly. “I agree with Tess.” The thunder god turned his head, looking incredulous.

  “You do?”

  “I second that,” piped up Ishtar, her lovely violet eyes flashing with humor. “I’ve always thought it archaic that the women are sequestered while the males go to a secret place and beat their chests. Besides…” She looked to Dani for confirmation. “…isn’t it safer to do the transfer of the amulet in closer proximity?”

  “It is.” Dani no longer sounded neutral. Clearly her feet resided firmly on the side of modern medicine. “From a blood loss standpoint and a timing issue, not to mention the need for sterility, it only makes sense that the operations take place as close together as possible.”

  “I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing Dagon get sliced open.” Lenore gave him a wicked grin, thinking—no doubt—about what he’d done to her and Anshar. “Payback’s a bitch.”

  Dagon laughed. “Lenore, I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather have witness my joining to Holly.” He bowed earnestly in her direction.

  She looked momentarily nonplussed, then recovered enough to confront Marduk. “So what do you say?” Lenore demanded. “Will it be a coed event?”

  Marduk looked around. Dagon tried to hide his grin. What had always been a quasi-monarchy with the thunder god in charge was suddenly in danger of becoming a democracy. Dagon sensed the anticipation in the other gods.

  “Fine. Let’s take a vote.” Marduk sighed.

  Yes! With his acquiescence, Marduk made it official. One sovereignty down, one democracy firmly in place.

  Minutes later, with Absu having finally been contacted, and with Eresh, Nergal, and Kulla on their way from the Underworld, everyone scrambled in different directions to locate their finery. Dagon stood at a loss for a moment before the guys collared him and dragged him away. He hoped it was to set him up with some decent clothes.

  ****

  Holly sat quietly on her bed with Tess by her side.

  “You really want this?” Tess asked. “You’re sure?”

  Holly hugged her twin fiercely, trying to make up for years of being apart. “I’ve never wanted anything more.” She breathed. “I don’t know how it could have happened so quickly, but Dagon is everything to me, Tess. I know he hasn’t exactly been a good friend to all of the gods here, but I’m hoping you can accept him.”

  “I already have.” Tess returned her embrace. “Anshar loves him like family, and Marduk and Enlil are coming around. It should only be a matter of time until all the gods trust him again.” She laughed. “The witches have treated him like one of their own since they met him…even after they became his unwilling guests in Plymouth.”

  “About Plymouth.” Holly didn’t know how Tess would feel about this. “Dagon and I haven’t had much opportunity to discuss where we’ll live, but he doesn’t think he’ll be welcomed here by everyone, so Angie and Addie May offered their empty house in Plymouth to us.”

  Tess’s face puckered. “It might be too dangerous with Matthew lurking about, not to mention Erra, whose allegiances are still unknown. Let’s talk after the ceremony.”

  Holly was okay with that.

  ****

  Nergal and his queen arrived from hell, depositing Kulla in his room to freshen up. While he got ready, the king and queen held conference with Marduk and Enlil in Marduk’s private office.

  “So you weren’t able to uncover anything.” It was a statement by Marduk, rather than a question.

  “No. The demon we kept alive refused to talk, and just as we started to get some answers, he turned his own poison gas inward and killed himself.” Nergal shook his head. The king had clearly been looking forward to a good interrogation.

  “I think you should call Erra forth,” Ereshkigal said imperiously. “We’ve found from Huxley and Lady Tess that he was inordinately interested in the idol, even though you hadn’t bid him to do so.”

  “You’re correct.” Nergal probably hadn’t wanted to think about the war god’s perfidy today, but it couldn’t be helped.

  Erra! The king blasted outward for all to hear. Join us at the compound for Dagon’s mating ceremony. I request your presence immediately. It was a summons the war god couldn’t ignore.

  On my way, King Nergal. The reply was instantaneous. I’ve just finished up a sparring lesson with Matthew. I’m washing the blood off my hands and…

  With a snap of Nergal’s fingers, Erra appeared.

  “My king.” The war god bowed low, hands dripping, and if he was surprised at his abrupt transplantation, he didn’t show it. “If I am to attend Dagon’s amulet ceremony, I must apologize. I haven’t been given adequate time to procure ceremonial clothing…”

  Without warning, Nergal threw Erra up against the wall of Marduk’s office, and held him a foot off the ground, his hand at the war god’s throat. Green eyes bored into him, and even Marduk took a step ba
ck in surprise.

  “Who are you working for?” Nergal didn’t beat around the bush, nor did he show mercy.

  “Y…you, my liege,” Erra strangled out, but he didn’t attempt to fight Nergal. The king had four inches and twenty pounds on the war god, and Nergal was his ultimate boss.

  “It was not me.” The king railed. “You knew about the idol and wanted to get your hands on it.” Nergal shook Erra like a ragdoll. “You are taking orders from someone. Who is it?”

  “O…only y…you,” Erra pulled at Nergal’s hand. The war god had to be seeing stars by this time. Marduk’s throat ached just watching. He wondered how much longer Erra could hold out.

  “I swear it.” Erra gasped sincerely.

  Enlil had been regarding the action thoughtfully, and must have felt compelled to speak. “King Nergal, if I may interject?” He got a terse nod. “I heard you mention to some of the gods that it was never your intention to kill us in hell, yet many of the demons we encountered had that in mind. They taunted us with talk of our gruesome ends and tried to make good on their threats. If you didn’t order our deaths, who did?”

  Nergal’s blank face showed that he clearly had no clue, but given that his attention once again centered on Erra, he must have felt that the answer had to lie with the war god. He shook Erra again. “Tell me who you were listening to? Who was behind your actions, and that of the demons?”

  Whoa. The sharp edge of Nergal’s long dagger suddenly lay up against Erra’s left shoulder. Marduk wanted to intervene, but Nergal played for keeps now. The war god’s nostrils flared, the only sign of his fear.

  “The voice I heard giving me orders was yours,” Erra said stoically. “If you must kill me, then do it, but I have been ever loyal to you.”

  The door suddenly burst open. “What’s going on in here?” Ishtar Dinitu stood, aghast in the entryway. “Eresh?” she questioned her sister, who seemed resolute with her arms crossed beneath her chest. Nergal looked over at the goddess of the dawn.