by Simon Archer
This elicited a gasp from my lips so loud that I had to cover my own mouth. I couldn’t imagine the embarrassment of having something I created break so openly like that.
“They railed in on Hephaestus, threatening to kick him out of the Olympic Twelve, but I couldn’t let them attack him like that, so I admitted to what I had done,” Arges said as he rapped his knuckles against the tile. “They let Hephaestus fix the altar and proceeded on with the ceremony. Afterward,” Arges closed his eye and squeezed it shut, “Brontes and Steropes left the mountains. Hephaestus soon followed, leaving me with the important lesson that I should have let others help me. If I had, none of that would have happened.” I heard the cyclops swallow and then cough slightly, as though he was holding back tears. “Now I stay here, alone, forging on my own, and I haven’t spoken to my brothers since. I lost their trust, and I don’t believe there is anything I can do to earn it back.”
The cyclops pulled himself fully out of the pool and took a towel off a lawn chair. He slowly dried his body off, taking his time while the rest of us watched in silence.
My mind turned the story over in my mind. I wanted to help, to say something encouraging, but it felt useless. This had happened thousands of years ago. There was nothing I could say, nothing I could do that Arges hasn’t thought of doing himself. I was sure of that much. He had just let the guilt and separation fester until he created a wound that would never heal.
I watched the cyclops open the sliding glass door that led into his home when I found myself standing up and shouting at him. “I need your help.”
Arges paused in the doorway, his meaty hand wrapping around the frame. Even though he didn’t turn around, I could tell he was listening to me.
Katlynn waved her hands at me and hissed at me, a warning. But I brushed off my half-sister and took a step forward.
“I know I have been learning a lot from you, and we’ve been going through the basics, but I don’t think we have that luxury anymore,” I said, the words tumbling out of my mouth in a rush. “I think I still have a lot to learn from you, including how to make the helm. I don’t think it’s an accident that I’m here. We need to remake this weapon so that the gods can defend themselves against Kari. I can’t do it by myself.”
I closed my hands into fists at my sides and swallowed my pride even further down. “I have some of the best skills this world has ever seen, but for the life of me, I don’t know how to make a helmet or a shield or any defensive weapons or armor. I need you to show me how.”
Crickets chirped in the distance, the final stages of night settling in. Phae and Katlynn looked between me and the cyclops as though they were watching a tennis match. I kept my breathing even and slow as I awaited his answer.
Then Arges walked into the house, shutting the door behind him.
20
My heart sank down to my toes. I couldn’t believe it. After he had given that whole speech about asking for help and how that was the one thing I needed to take away from my lessons with him. I knew this couldn’t fix the brokenness between him and his brothers, but I thought he would at least find some new purpose in helping me, some sense of worthiness and glory that he sought in the past.
Phae rose to her feet and gave me a sympathetic look. “You only see a grain of sand in a desert of guilt. It’s been a long time since he told that story to anyone other than me, so be grateful for that.”
“Grateful?” I balked, my mouth hanging open. “You want me to be grateful for a story? I don’t need a story. I need his expertise and his skill. And when I put myself on the line like that, all vulnerable and shit, he just shoots me down!”
I scoffed and buried my sadness and disappointment beneath a wall of anger. I put my hands on my hips and turned away from the villa, unable to even look at it just then.
I found myself doubting why I had even come to Sicily in the first place. If I had known the cyclops was going to be a cowardly, curmudgeonly old fart, then I wouldn’t have made the trip. I should have invested the time and effort into figuring out how to make the helm myself.
Once the idea lodged itself into my brain, I couldn’t shake it. Maybe I didn’t need the cyclops. I really was one of the best blacksmiths in this generation. If anyone could figure out a piece of armor like the helm of invisibility, then I could do it.
With a new sense of determination, I left the pool area while Katlynn called after me. I ignored my half-sister, even though I could see her flickering blue light following behind me. Good, I would need her to flame up again, so I let her follow without complaint.
I stomped down the dimly lit stone stairs. It was much easier to descend them when it was too dark for me to see the drop below. Plus, I was too angry at that moment to be afraid, anyway.
I made my way into the caves, which I now knew once belonged to my father. But I didn’t take a moment to mark the occasion. Instead, I let the notion fuel me forward, knowing that I was working in the same space as greatness. I, too, would be great and make the helm as needed. Then not only would I save Sarah, but I would help save the gods by replacing the weapons Kari continued to steal.
Katlynn rushed in behind me and finally caught up enough to float in front of me and bring me to a halt.
“Holy Hermes, Cameron, slow down!” Katlynn held out her glowing blue hands. I decided to listen to her and stopped moving around the forge, but I did cross my arms and widen my stance defensively. “Can you please just think about what you’re doing?”
“I have thought about it,” I snapped. “I need to make the helm. If Arges wants to be a baby and wallow in his mistake from thousands of years ago, then fine. I’ll make it without him.”
“So, what’s the plan here?” Katlynn asked me. I hated her for asking me sensible questions because the truth was I didn’t have a plan. I was going to throw some metal on the fire and guess and check until I got it right.
“I’ll figure it out as I go,” I answered honestly. “Now, I need you to get your flame on and get into the fire.”
“I think you should think this through, Cameron,” Katlynn warned. “Get some rest, and approach Arges in the morning.”
“He had his chance, and he missed it,” I said definitively.
“You don’t have to--” Katlynn started, but her words made something in me snap. I lashed out, my tongue like a sword.
“I do have to!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the cave. “I don’t have a choice. I don’t have the luxury of moping around and wallowing in the past. There are people counting on me. Now there might even be gods counting on me. So yeah, Katlynn, I have to make this helm and whatever the hell else Kari decides to steal. But right now, I want to make this helm and get it to Hades so I can save my real mentor. And I don’t need this fake ass one to do it!”
Katlynn shook her head slowly at me. “I don’t think it should be like this.”
“Well, like it or not, that’s the way that it is,” I said as I sidestepped around Katlynn and began pulling out my tools. “Are you here to help me or not?”
“I don’t know if I should,” Katlynn said, her voice a mere whisper. “Not when you’re like this.”
“Then fine! Get back in the locket. I don’t need you either,” I shouted as I slammed my hammer against the workbench with a thunderous clatter.
There was a crack in the table from where the hammer pierced it. It rippled across the wood like a spiderweb, and something about that shape gave me pause. The mark looked like the one that Arges had imprinted on the tile by the pool. I blinked at the broken table and ran a fingertip over the new indents.
As if I’d just been dunked in a vat of cold water, my head cleared. The last several minutes came back to me in a rush. I realized what I had just said to Katlynn, and I closed my eyes, my own wave of regret washing over me.
“Katlynn, I--” I choked out the words. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“I know you didn’t,” she replied softly.
I turned to lo
ok at my ghostly half-sister. “I want your help, but I’m not going to force you to give it. I can make it with regular fire if needed. It’s been a tense night, and if you need a break, I totally get it just--”
Katlynn stopped me by putting a glowing blue hand on my shoulder. A warmth spread through me, and I put my hand atop hers in solidarity.
“I’ll help you,” Katlynn said with a small smile. “I just don’t want you doing this out of anger. You need to make this right, and any decision made out of anger is a wrong one.”
I eyed Katlynn suspiciously. “That sounds like it’s coming from personal experience.”
Katlynn shrugged. “I had a whole life before this one, you know.”
“And how was that life?” I asked, my words tender and inviting. Unfortunately, I saw I struck a chord when Katlynn slid her hand off my shoulder and let it fall limply to her side.
“I think there have been enough confessions for the evening,” Katlynn said as she backed towards the fireplace. “We should get moving, don’t you think? After all, we have a helm to make.”
With that, my half-sister began the process by shifting into her blue flame form and illuminating the room with a soft blue glow. I picked up my hammer and removed a piece of steel from the shelf. With a single throw, I tossed the steel into the flame, which Katlynn caught gleefully as she transformed into the green color.
Our experimentation lasted through the night. I played with all different types of structures, trying to mimic the design off the helmet Phae first wore when we fought initially. I wrapped loose strands of steel around my head, bent them against the rounded sections of the anvil, and thinned them out as much as possible, so they were wearable. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t seem to manufacture a wearable garment.
At one point, around three in the morning, Katlynn popped out of flame form to ask me a rather irritating question.
“So, what are you going to do to make it turn things invisible?” Katlynn wondered as I slouched against the workbench, a pencil in my hand doodling out a design.
“I have no idea,” I answered plainly.
“Don’t you think you should figure that out at some point?” the ghost said with a frown.
“Well, Katlynn,” I said as I swiveled in my seat to face her. “I originally thought that I would ask Arges to do that, but since he’s completely given up on me and this whole thing, I honestly couldn’t tell you.”
“Just wanted to make sure you were thinking about it,” Katlynn said with a cheeky smile before she turned back into a flame.
“One problem at a time,” I called into the fireplace even though I knew she could hear me well enough.
We ventured on into the unknown through the night and into the morning. I didn’t know how much time had passed until a ray of sunlight blasted in through the cave entrance. It pierced through my eyelids, and I found myself waking up from a stiff position on the workbench.
I straightened up and felt my vertebrae pop. I raised my arms and spread them out.
“Whoa!” Katlynn called out. “Watch where you wave those things.”
“Oh, sorry,” I said through a yawn as I put my arms back down. “What time is it?”
“Sun just came up,” Katlynn announced. “You’ve been at it for a while. I’m glad you finally got some sleep.”
I looked around at the smithy and saw the remnants of my work. Experimental pieces scattered about the floor. Some were broken in half, others thirds. There were at least a dozen failed designs represented on the ground. One of them, an egg-shaped helmet with a cracked left plate, was near my foot, so I kicked it lazily. It shook and rolled over but didn’t travel very far.
“Do you want to try again?” Katlynn offered gently.
“I think I need food first,” I admitted, as my growling stomach gave me away.
“Oh, thank the gods!” Katlynn said as she threw her arms up in the air. “I needed a break.”
I yawned again and shot Katlynn a glare, but as I did so, I looked near the entrance of the cave. The sun wasn’t blaring in my eyes this time, however. A seven-foot muscle toned figure stood in the entrance, blocking the light.
I tapped Katlynn, who whirled around too and suddenly fell silent as we looked at Arges, who entered the forge without looking at the pair of us. His eye scoured the ground at our wreckage, roaming over every design. It took him mere seconds before he moved on to the next one, scrutinizing each one individually. Finally, the cyclops shifted his gaze to the pair of us.
I sucked in a breath and opened my mouth to offer an explanation, but Arges held up a single hand, shoving my words to the back of my throat.
“You tried to make all of these with the Eternal Flame,” Arges said. It wasn’t a question.
“Was that wrong?” Katlynn asked, stealing the words from me, but I elbowed her in the gut. She rubbed her side, even though I knew the action didn’t hurt her.
“It obviously wasn’t right,” Arges said as he gestured to the ground.
Katlynn and I looked at each other. I hadn’t considered using anything other than the Eternal Flame to heat up the metal. It was the strongest fire out there, and for one of the strongest weapons, I figured that would be the best choice.
“I have a question for you, Cameron,” Arges stated as he bent down to pick up one of my failures.
“Okay,” I croaked. Now it was Katlynn’s turn to elbow me. I straightened up and tried again. “What is it, Arges?”
“In your vast knowledge of the Greek myths,” Arges said, turning the misshapen helmet over and over in his hands, “tell me this. Who came first? The cyclops or mortals?”
I opened my mouth to answer, the word coming to mind right away. But I managed to stop myself. I cocked my head at Arges, as the pieces slowly came together so that I could understand what he was getting at.
“The cyclops,” I said, the answer coming out as a whisper. “Which would mean that the Eternal Flame wasn’t even invented when you made the helm of invisibility.” I threw my hands up in the air and then banged my fist in the same spot I had the night before, just not as hard. “Oh shit, I’m an idiot.”
“Explain it for the layman,” Katlynn demanded with a curious expression.
“When the Hesidoic cyclops made the Original Weapons, Prometheus hadn’t yet given man the Eternal Flame,” I told Katlynn, my voice rising with excitement at each word. “So they couldn’t have used it to make the Original Weapons. I can’t recreate the helm of invisibility using the Eternal Flame because that’s not how Arges made it.”
“So, I don’t have to help anymore?” Katlynn said, unable to contain her own excitement.
My face fell, and I shot my half-sister an exasperated look. “Yes, that means you don’t have to help any more.”
“Yes!” Katlynn released a cry of happiness. Suddenly she corrected herself, “I mean, I’ll still be here for moral support and all of that, but I’m so glad I don’t have to go back into flame form for a while.”
Arges offered the ghost a small smile before turning to me. “There is still another part you’re missing.”
“Why don’t you just tell me?” I said with my hands on my hips, entirely fed up with his annoying questions.
“Now, then you wouldn’t be learning anything now, would you?” Arges countered.
“Oh, are you teaching me now?” I volleyed right back at him. “Because last night, when I asked for your help, you literally turned your back on me.”
Katlynn’s eyebrows shot up into the air at my audacity for calling out the cyclops. But I didn’t care. At the very least, Arges owed me an apology, especially if he was going to come back in here and claim to be my instructor again.
“I had a moment of weakness,” Arges said. “The evening brought up some old memories, and while you are your father’s son, that does not mean you are your father. I did not betray you, and I do not intend to.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, and Arges pursed his lips in response. He clea
red his throat before speaking again. “I’m sorry if I ever made you think I was abandoning you. I won’t do it again.”
“Good,” I said by way of accepting his apology. “Now, tell me what I’m missing.”
“Where did fire come from before the Eternal Flame was given to man?” Arges quizzed me.
Prompted by his question, my mind raced through the stories, histories, and facts. It felt like speed reading as thoughts zipped past me. I scoured my knowledge and searched for his answer.
“Do you know that your eyes twitch if it takes you more than a second to remember some Grecian fact?” Katlynn added unhelpfully.
I ignored my half-sister and continued to pull the necessary pieces to answer Arges’s question.
“Are you telling me…” I released a groan. “Well, where the hell are we going to get that all the way out here?”
“Get what?” Katlynn demanded. “Again, not all of us have an encyclopedic brain over here.”
“I thought you weren’t helping,” I shot back at my sister.
Katlynn glared at me with a flat mouth. “Fine. I want to know. I’ll help, just tell me what he means.”
“He and his brothers made the Original Weapons using sun fire,” I said with my hands on my hips and a knowing smile spreading across my face. “You knew I was going to fail this whole time. When did you plan on telling me?”
“Making the helmet is going to be easy as pie for you,” Arges waved me off. “I had a lot of other things to teach you before then.”
I scoffed and shook my head, not knowing whether to be grateful or annoyed.
“So, how are we going to get this sun fire?” Katlynn asked the obvious question as she held out her hands. “Can Phae help? I mean, she is Helios’s daughter, and she did that whole bright, skin glow thing.”
“That’s radiance, it’s a whole different kind of thing,” I shrugged off Katlynn’s suggestion.
“Well, it looks the same to me,” she muttered in defeat.