by Steve McHugh
Zamek looked down at the black stillness of the waters all around us. “Don’t drink the water. Got it.”
“If you go for a swim in there, you’re probably not coming out,” Sky said.
“Water bad, boat good,” Zamek said, eyeing the water with mistrust. “Poisonous water . . . This place isn’t exactly the beautiful realm Sky said it would be.”
“We’re getting there,” Sky assured him.
We climbed into one of several moored boats, which were easily big enough to seat us all comfortably. Selene took up the oars and began rowing. It didn’t take long for the pier to become a distant blob on the horizon, and for the mists to begin to thin out, revealing the land.
“I don’t see Charon,” I said. I’d been quiet for most of the journey, as Tartarus takes some getting used to. The entire realm is a natural dampener, meaning that whatever my level of power back on the Earth realm, it was maybe a tenth of that here. On top of that, the longer you stayed, the longer it took for your power level to return to normal. So for those who have lived here thousands of years, it could be months or even years before they’d be back to normal. Even after a visit lasting only a day, it could be a few hours before you were back to full strength. Hopefully we wouldn’t need to be in Tartarus for that long.
We soon reached the pier on the opposite side of the lake, where Selene secured the boat.
I walked toward Charon’s two-story home. “Charon!” I shouted. “You about?” When there was no reply, I knocked on the door. Still no reply. I tried the door but found it locked.
“Maybe he’s gone into town?” Sky suggested.
“Maybe,” I said, not really sure I was convinced by that particular suggestion. I walked around the house and, after opening the wooden gate, found a sizeable garden at the rear of the property. Someone certainly loved their gardening, and it was full of flowers and vegetables, but no Charon.
“Nate!” Selene shouted, and I rushed back to the front of the house. “I smell blood inside.”
Zamek unbuckled one of the battle-axes strapped to his back and prepared himself.
“Does he go everywhere with that axe?” Sky asked me.
“To the best of my knowledge, yes. I’m beginning to wish I’d brought something myself.”
“We made an exception for Zamek, but I’m not sure the Titans would have been happy to see Hellequin turn up brandishing weapons.”
The use of my old name stung. I’d pushed the terrorist out of my head for the last few hours, and now all those thoughts and anger rushed back in.
“Shit, Nate, I’m sorry,” Sky said, placing her hand on my forearm. “You okay? I heard about the broadcast. I forgot.”
“It’s okay,” I told her. “It’s just one more thing I’m going to hurt the people behind this for.”
“If you need to talk, you know I’m here.”
I turned to look at Sky. There had been a point, over a century ago, where we might have been more than just friends, but that time had long since passed. “Thank you.”
“You should talk to my dad, too. If there’s anyone who knows about the power of people using your name for evil means, it’s Hades.”
Selene kicked the door to Charon’s house, and it disintegrated from the impact. Dragon-kin were strong enough that even werecreatures thought twice about fighting one hand to hand. The fact that she’d managed to turn a door into a million pieces while the realm limited her power showed just how strong she really was.
She stepped inside the house, with Zamek close by. Sky and I followed soon after and stared at the chaos we found inside.
“Fucking hell,” Sky whispered.
“How many bodies?” Zamek asked.
“Six,” Selene said. “I can smell the blood.”
“There looks like more,” I said.
“It’s the pieces,” Selene said. “They were cut into pieces.”
Immediately inside the front door was a set of stairs leading up to a landing above. Two figures lay on the stairs, their heads no longer attached to their bodies. The remaining four corpses were scattered over the living area in front of us. A couch was now so covered in blood that its original color was a mystery. All the corpses wore black leather armor, making it hard to identify much about them without getting closer.
“This was less of a fight, and more of a lesson in butchery,” Zamek said, replacing his battle-axe on his back before moving from place to place, using his hands as if he were holding a sword. “It’s artistry. Whoever did this moved like water.”
“One person did this?” Sky asked.
Zamek nodded. “One exceptional warrior.”
I walked closer to the bodies in the living area and picked up an evil-looking sword, all black metal and jagged edges. “This is a blood-elf sword.” I tossed the sword aside and picked up one of the corpses, removing the helm to reveal a blood elf beneath it.
“How?” Selene asked. “This is impossible. How did blood elves get here?”
I looked over at Sky. “Any ideas?” I asked.
“I have no idea. Aren’t the blood elves those things you fought in the dwarven realm?”
“You look here. I’ll go check some of the other rooms on the left of the building,” Selene said. “Just in case more of these bastards are hiding.” She walked off without another word.
“They used to be shadow elves,” Zamek said, removing the helm off a decapitated head before tossing both aside. “Then the magic twisted them into these monsters you see before you. They’re made for murder and fighting, and that’s it. They care for nothing else. And thankfully they’re trapped back on my realm.”
“So how the hell did they get here?” Sky asked.
“I’ve seen a few blood elves outside of your realm,” I said. “Tommy had a run-in with some of them a while back. Something to do with Nergal. You’d have to ask him more about it. It didn’t seem like Nergal had an infinite resource, though. Maybe they figured out a way to get some of them into our realm.”
“Doesn’t explain how they got into this realm,” Sky said.
“There’s only one realm gate,” I said.
“That’s true. After you found a second gate in Avalon, and in Shadow Falls, my father spent a long time trying to find one here, too. Nothing.”
Zamek and I shared a horrified gaze. “The tablet,” we said in unison.
“The tablet that lets you go between realms without a gate?” Sky asked. “I thought there was only one of them, and you have it. And doesn’t it only go from the Earth realm to one very specific place in the dwarven realm? A place in the middle of the blood elves?”
“Maybe they made a second,” Sky suggested.
“Let’s find Charon,” I said, looking around the room for signs of where he might have gone. “And get out of here. We need to talk to the Titans and let them know there could be more of these bastards running around.”
“I’ll go join Selene,” Sky said, walking off in the direction Selene had gone a few moments earlier.
“Could Charon have done this?” Zamek asked when we were alone.
“He’s an old man, albeit only outwardly.” I saw the confusion on Zamek’s face. “He drank the lake water a few thousand years ago. He’s aged on the outside, but a young man still on the inside. Actually he’s an old man on the inside, too, but he’s not human, so it’s hard to tell what is and isn’t old for someone who’s about five thousand at last count.”
I turned toward a sound that came from the front door, igniting a blade of flame and waiting for more attackers as the door slowly moved open to reveal Grayson.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked.
“I arrived at the compound about a half hour after you. I had to row all the way here.” He looked around the room. “What happened in here?”
“We don’t know, but you’re welcome to come help find Charon,” Zamek said.
Grayson nodded, and joined Zamek and me as we searched the right side of the house, an
d it didn’t take long before I found Charon in a bathroom at the far end of the house. He sat on the gray-and-white-tiled floor in a large pool of blood. A bloody dagger lay beside him. He looked pale and gave a weak smile when he saw me.
“In here!” I bellowed, and dropped to my knees beside him. “Hey.”
“Nathan Garrett. It’s good to see you, my friend.” Charon’s voice was weak, although he spoke with confidence and no hint of the danger his life was in. “Dagger is silver. Venom coated. Gorgon, I think. It’s been a while. Thought they were all dead.”
“Don’t talk. You’re pushing yourself too far,” I told him, and moved his hands and tunic to look at the wound, which still trickled blood. “How long have you been here?”
“Hour or so. I killed them all. Still a young man at heart.”
I smiled. “Yes, you are.”
“One got me.”
“I know. We’ll get you patched up.”
Charon coughed and winced as the pain of it wracked his body. “No. You’ll go save the Titans. There will be more elves. Or whatever they are.”
“Blood elves, long story.” Zamek said as he entered the room with Grayson, who immediately went to Charon’s side, moving me out of the way.
“I’m going to need to stitch this up and stop the bleeding,” Grayson said, removing a small packet from his jacket. “I’ve got what I need to stitch, but it still has to be cauterized.”
I ignited some fire magic on one of my fingers and poured power into it until the orange flame turned white hot. “This is going to hurt,” I told Charon, and passed him a shoe to put in his mouth. “One, two . . .” I pushed my finger against the wound, and Charon screamed into the shoe and promptly passed out.
“I can smell the Gorgon venom,” Selene said. “I’ve smelled it before.”
“I can take it from here,” Grayson said. “Go to the town; help these people. We won’t be able to get anything from anyone if they’re all dead. I can defend myself if I need to.”
“Are you sure?” Zamek asked. “You’re a doctor, not a warrior.”
Grayson’s expression hardened. “Go.”
“I’ll see you soon,” I told both Charon and Grayson. Selene and I left the room, almost bumping into Sky.
“Will Charon be okay?” Sky asked.
“I hope so,” I said. “Grayson is with him. I’ll explain on the way. You coming to the town? I think there are going to be more of these things.”
Sky and Selene nodded and walked with me and Zamek through the house. I picked up one of the blood elves’ swords on the way. I was certain it was going to come in handy.
The second I stepped outside again I saw the thick black smoke in the distance. The run to the main town took only a few minutes, and even less until the view of large Roman-villa-like houses ablaze became all I could see in the distance.
The nearby beach was awash with people fighting, bodies littering the golden sands, staining it a mixture of black and red depending on the species.
The four of us ran under the archway leading into the town, and Zamek roared in anger as he saw several blood elves coming our way. He ran toward them, his battle-axe cleaving one in half before slicing the throat of a second. He spun, avoiding a spear jab from a third elf, before burying a dagger he’d removed from his belt into its heart. Three dead in less than ten seconds.
Zamek looked back at Selene, Sky, and me. “I’m going this way. I see more elves.”
“I’ll go with,” Sky said, her soul weapons manifesting as a long dagger and a tomahawk. She ran off with Zamek to join the fray I could see further in the town.
“Selene, can you get some of those griffins free?” I pointed toward the fighting on the beach. “If you can get them to go back to the realm gate, one of them will hopefully know where the guardian is and should be able to open it.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Cronus and Rhea live up there. If there are Titans up there, we should be able to get their help. We don’t have the numbers for an effective defense. And as much as I hate to admit it, the Titans are a lot more likely to listen to Cronus and Rhea than to me. With them on board, hopefully we can organize an effective counterattack against the blood elves.”
“Stay safe,” Selene said, and ran off toward the battle on the beach.
I watched her go for a few seconds before turning to find two blood elves stalking toward me, evidently hoping my attention had been elsewhere long enough for one of them to drive its sword into my back. There was no point in trying to convince them to put down their weapons; it would have done no good, and I didn’t have the time to waste.
A jet of flame tore through the ground beside me, forcing me to throw myself aside and put up a shield of air. I looked up at Helios in full dragon-kin form, his massive red and orange wings casting a shadow over part of the stone street. I watched as he floated softly to the ground, his golden-scaled skin gleaming in the sunlight, his reptilian eye full of nothing but hate for me. I’d taken the other one during one of his several attempts on my life. A metal bracelet hung about one wrist, and I wondered what it did.
“No one can save you now,” Helios said, unhinging his jaw and unleashing a torrent of superheated flame at me.
I kept my shield up and dodged aside, trying to gain ground between the two of us while also trying not to get myself barbecued. When I got too close for comfort, he backed off, moving up the hill toward Cronus and Rhea’s villa.
I managed to get within striking distance, but he swiped at me with deadly speed, his sharp claws forcing me back.
I wrapped air magic around his hand, pulling him toward me and smashing an air-wrapped elbow into his face, knocking him aside, but he caught me with a kick, sending me reeling.
“I was never sure if you were working with Hera, or if your goals just coincided,” I said. “I assume she sprang you out of prison.”
“She made me a good offer. I help her, and I get to kill you, my father, sisters, and anyone else I feel wronged me.”
I threw a ball of fire at him, which he batted aside, laughing until I wrapped shadows around him, dragging him down to his knees.
“I learned a few things,” I told him as he struggled.
He unleashed a torrent of flame, burning the shadows away and causing me to cry out in pain, but I threw a bolt of lightning at him, and he took off up the hill toward the villa as two blood elves sprang toward me. I darted forward, parrying the closest blood elf’s attack, and knocked him off-balance. I spun around him, avoiding a slash from his friend before slicing his forearm. The blood elf screamed, losing his grip on his sword, which I caught and drove into his chest, then sliced the exposed throat of his friend. Two dead elves. I got the feeling there would be a lot more before we were done.
I ran up the hill toward the enormous villa at the far edge of town, fighting off several more blood elves who hoped to stop my advance. By the time I reached the outskirts of the villa, I was covered in elf blood.
Helios hovered just above the perfectly manicured lawn that made up a large part of the expansive gardens at the front of the villa. He roared fire at me, setting the ground aflame, and charged me. I created a blade of lightning and swiped up at him, but he dodged me, caught sight of his father, Hyperion, and flew up out of reach.
“See you again, sometime,” he said, and took off toward the ocean, leaving me with the unpleasant thought of having to let him go so I could help stop the rest of the attackers.
I ran through the burning garden to the courtyard beyond, where pale stone bricks were now covered in elf blood as Hyperion fought off four elves with a sword and long spear. They were all dead before I could offer assistance. He spun his spear toward me before realizing who I was and lowering it.
“Cronus and Rhea,” I said.
“In the villa,” he told me, clearly surprised to see me. “I’m glad for the assistance. I don’t know why Rhea and Cronus aren’t out here fighting.”
He pointe
d to the huge building behind him. Most of the horseshoe-shaped villa was one story in height and made of white brick, with a red-tiled roof. It reminded me a lot of the old pictures of Roman villas, complete with pillars and large windows all looking down on the courtyard.
The sounds of blood elves rose from behind me, and I turned to see a dozen sprint toward us. “You go,” Hyperion said. “I’ll hold off the horde.”
I didn’t need to be told twice, and considering how much blood covered his golden armor, I was sure that Hyperion didn’t need my assistance in fighting.
I ran up the steps to the front door, only to be greeted by a blood elf barreling out of it. The blood elf swung an axe at me, but I wrapped air around his wrist, pulling him off-balance, and drove my sword into his skull before he’d hit the floor. My magic was getting weaker the longer I stayed here, but it still had enough power if I really needed it. Hopefully I wouldn’t really need it.
I walked through the villa without incident, although the further I went, the more damage there was to the structure, and the more bodies lay all around. Mostly blood elves, but more than a few were human in appearance. I recognized several of the bodies as being people who lived and worked in Tartarus, and at one point I even saw a griffin, his wings cut free and tossed aside. Several curse marks sat on the dead human attackers, and I recognized one of them from the last time I’d been in The Hole. The question of how everyone had gotten here could be answered later.
I continued on, and the second I stepped into the enormous open living area, I knew I was going to need every bit of magic I had. Cronus was pinned to the far wall in a crucifix pose. As I got closer, I saw that he’d been beaten and stabbed repeatedly before someone had slit his throat.
“And you are?” a woman asked as she entered the room through one of the two doors to the right of where I’d been standing.
She was of average height, with brown skin and long brown plaited hair that touched her waist. She wore dark leather armor, part of which had been cut through, revealing a deep wound that had bled profusely. She carried a gleaming gladius in one hand and Rhea’s head in the other. Blood dropped slowly onto the ground beside her. She placed Rhea’s head on the floor by her foot and removed a small metal bracelet from her wrist that resembled the one Helios had worn, tossing it over her shoulder back into the room she’d just left.