Realms Of The Gods

by C. M. Kane

  Way to go Tae, just humiliate yourself in public like a total idiot - again, at least no-one else has noticed.

  It was her last thought before Hades spoke; he had noticed her avid interest in the new god and had misconstrued her look of shock.

  ‘Ah, young Tae, you’ve noticed our new arrival. I can see introductions are in order. This is Vulcan, our resident technological genius. He is here to dig out the Fenris and take her away to see if he can salvage her for Loki.’

  Vulcan turned surprisingly pale blue eyes to Tae and nodded in greeting. She found herself blushing beet red at her still rampant thoughts. She smiled and nodded before ducking her head again, grateful there were no mind readers in the room.

  ‘There’s no need to be frightened of him, Tae.’ Zeus laughed. ‘I know he’s an ugly big brute, but we promise he doesn’t bite. Well, not much anyway, and never in company.’

  Isis smiled at her knowingly. ‘Oh, I don’t think Tae’s frightened of Vulcan, Zeus. Not after the way she was just eyeing his body like it was a candy bar. And I do think I detected a hint of vampire pheromones in the air, if I’m not mistaken.’

  Tae thought she was now giving off enough heat from her face to generate power for the entire ship for the next month. At Isis’ statement Loki swung around on his seat and frowned at her, while Vulcan raised his eyebrows in surprise, before starting to look at her with renewed interest. Unfortunately, she now seemed to be the sole focus of everyone’s attention. She started to fervently wish for a ship wide emergency of some kind, an attack, a reactor meltdown, anything, as long as this public scrutiny of her would stop. To her extreme relief Tannan took pity on her and came to her rescue.

  ‘We also have the warrior, Brohan, and Miss Valaria who have both joined Lord Loki’s service; although as yet I have not been informed in what capacity any of them will serve. They retook the main communications facility on the Olympus.’ He turned to both and asked them to tell their stories. After they finished relaying what had happened they too came to stand behind Loki’s chair.

  Slowly they went around the table, each of the gods’ people telling their own versions of the events that happened onboard their respective ships, right down to when the thalien and humans responsible were hired. No piece of evidence, no matter how trivial, was to be omitted from consideration. Apart from their opponents being mainly thalien, with a couple of humans thrown into the mix, there didn’t seem to be anything to connect them.

  There’s got to be something, Tae thought as she stood puzzling everything out to herself. No-one could decide on which way to proceed. The gods seemed to forget what they were even discussing as they began talking over each other, arguing the merits of their own ideas. Meanwhile Tae stood quietly, going over what Jalek had said. Her head bowed, she frowned as she also went over everything that had been discussed, making sure her conclusions were sound.

  ‘I think you’re all missing the point here,’ she said once there was a break in the arguing. Shocked gasps issued from the followers around the table following her outburst.

  Zeus turned enraged eyes upon her. ‘Please enlighten us then, while I decide if I’m going to kill you for your interruption of your gods’ discussions.’

  Tae stepped forward still deep in thought, disregarding the threat as if Zeus hadn’t even spoken.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘Jalek muttered about some she keeping him safe, and the more I think about it the more I’m sure he was telling the truth.’ She looked to Isis. ‘At first I thought he had meant you.’

  Isis leapt to her feet in anger. ‘You dare accuse me of this treachery!’ Her second-in-command, a large blonde elven male drew his sword.

  Tae held up her palm, continuing on. ‘The reason I thought this is that there aren’t that many goddesses with not only the intelligence to organize such an intricate plan, but the power to back it up and, more importantly, the will to use all three if need be. But trust me when I say that Jalek was delighted at the thought of your death.’

  To everyone’s surprise Isis sat down back down, placated by Tae’s explanation.

  ‘Well, she is right you know. There aren’t many with my intellect or power,’ she narrowed her eyes at Tae. ‘I must say, you’re very perceptive. I’m beginning to think I should have put up a bit more of a fight for you. When Loki starts annoying you like he does everyone else, know that I have a position waiting for you on my personal staff.’

  Tae smiled. ‘Thank you, my lady, I am honored, but I think tall blonde and lethal doesn’t seem too keen on the idea, the way he’s got that big sword of his pointing in my direction.’

  Isis turned to the large, still angry looking elf standing behind her and chuckled. ‘Tall, blonde and lethal … you really are quite amusing, Tae. Malek put your sword away. It wasn’t an insult, she was simply being practical, and at this time we need the truth, not polite babble. Although,’ she said, looking at Tae again, ‘I wouldn’t make a habit of pushing your boundaries.’

  Tae bowed her head. ‘My apologies my lady, I meant no offence. I was simply trying to point out that if it wasn’t you then there can’t be many goddesses in your league and, as we have two powerful goddesses in the room already, then that should mean the list has shortened significantly.’ she said, not wanting to insult Baste by leaving her out. She knew she was walking a thin tightrope between massive egos and didn’t want to make another stupid error.

  Baste smiled knowingly. ‘She’s right, if this Jalek was telling the truth then our list of suspects has narrowed considerably.’

  ‘Don’t forget Ares,’ Loki chimed in. ‘If whoever started this has him trapped somewhere, then maybe we have a chance to catch a few of them at it.’

  Zeus frowned. ‘But what swamp? We have swamps on every planet, as well as several spatial anomalies we refer to as swamps.’

  Tae was used to saying what she wanted, when she wanted, especially if she thought it was important. She also knew that at the moment nothing should be let slip by because of silly protocol rules, so she decided to just speak up if she thought she had something important to add.

  ‘It might have a female’s name, because Jalek did say her swamp.’ Tae closed her mouth again at the looks she was getting from the people the gods had brought with them.

  Vulcan and Poseidon looked at one another. ‘Cassandra,’ Vulcan said in a soft, deep voice. ‘Surely Ares wouldn’t be so desperate.’

  ‘I think it depends on his situation,’ Poseidon said thoughtfully. ‘If it were a straightout fight we all know he’d go down pulse cannons blazing. But if he thinks he has information we should know about and is under attack from superior forces, he might be desperate enough to try her swamp.’

  Tae felt her body go rigid. Who was Cassandra, and why was she filled with a sudden urgency at the mere mention of her name? She felt her hands clench into fists, her nails lengthening and digging into her palms until blood began to drip from them. Her mind was suddenly adrift, unfocused, as if she was going to faint, she closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to regain some focus on what was occurring around her. But something was happening inside her, the mere mention of this Cassandra and her swamp had made Tae’s body desperate to move. She felt like she needed to get there as quickly as she could. Images of swirling plasma clouds and giant asteroids entered her head, a badly damaged battleship sat beside a slowly spinning rock. Somehow she knew it was Ares, and that his time was running out. She vaguely felt someone shaking her and she opened her eyes. The large, red eyed vampire was staring down at her with concern. Valaria shoved him out of the way and grabbed her shoulders.

  ‘Tae, are you alright?’ she asked, worry written all over her features.

  ‘Huh?’ Tae slowly came back to herself, gaining control again little by little. She looked around, everyone had stopped to stare at her.

  Loki stood up. ‘Radnor smelt your blood.’ He nodded at her hands which were still dripping blood onto the grass. Tae forced her fingers to relax as Loki continued
. ‘He thought something was wrong and tried to shake you, but you were like a statue.’

  She looked up at Loki, her green eyes widening in fear. ‘I think I was hallucinating,’ she said. ‘As soon as Lord Vulcan mentioned this Cassandra I was overcome by a sudden sense of urgency. I closed my eyes to regain my focus on the meeting and I started to see pictures of plasma clouds and asteroids.’

  ‘You saw Cassandra’s swamp?’ Persephone asked.

  ‘If that’s what it was, then yes,’ Tae said. ‘I also saw a badly damaged Orion class battleship orbiting a large, slow moving asteroid. I don’t know how I know, but I know it’s Ares, and he’s quickly running out of time.’ Silence descended over the room at her words.

  Zeus’ eyes narrowed. ‘You’re an oracle now?’ he asked Tae in a dangerous tone.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I don’t think so, this has never happened to me before.’

  She took a moment to organize her thoughts then looked at Zeus.

  ‘It’s more like I was watching it on a com-screen, like it was being sent to me, if that makes sense?’ she said.

  ‘Nanites’ said Tannan quietly into the ensuing silence that her words had caused, the whole room turned to him. ‘My Lord Zeus,’ he said, picking his words carefully, ‘this could explain the strange nanites Tae has. Perhaps it was Cassandra who implanted our young friend here with nanites of her own design. It could explain their ability to shield themselves from our scans.’

  Zeus frowned. ‘What would Cassandra want with a terran and, more importantly, since when did she have the technology, or even the knowledge to design nanites more sophisticated than our own?’

  Tannan shook his head, concern showing on his normally implacable features. ‘I don’t know, my lord, but once again I have the feeling there is far more at play here than we could ever have imagined. Perhaps, like with the Island, we should let events play out to see what happens.’

  ‘I agree,’ Poseidon and Vulcan said almost simultaneously. As the other gods nodded their heads Vulcan continued. ‘As it is the woman seems to have brought us valuable information, if Ares truly is running out of time then we now know where we can find him. He must be vastly outnumbered if he’s had to resort to hiding.’

  Tae had a nasty thought and raised her hand.

  Loki sat back down, grinning. ‘What now?’ The eyes around the table once more turned in her direction.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘I just had a thought … First you have this bubble thing trapping the thalien warriors, right?’

  Poseidon grunted as everyone nodded.

  ‘Then Loki gets trapped under a mountain and is effectively out of play. All your ships have been slowly infiltrated over the years and now someone has trapped Ares in a nebula or something, with intention of killing him the moment he comes out, all this as well as the attempt on your lives …’

  ‘We know this already,’ Isis said. ‘What’s your point?’

  ‘My point is the reasons behind each attack.’ Tae frowned. ‘You have been looking for links behind every one of the attackers. Perhaps the links aren’t behind the people who attacked you, but behind those who were attacked in the first place.’

  The gods leant forward in interest. ‘The bubble robbed Poseidon of his security forces, it also put him at odds with Odin and Thor because he thought Loki had done it. Then Loki is trapped under a volcano which I’m sure was meant to kill him, but trapped worked just as well, that left you all one ship short, as well as another security force decimated.’

  Loki’s eyes widened. ‘I see where you’re heading.’ He looked at Zeus. ‘That would have kept the friction going between my father, brother, Poseidon and Hades,’ he said.

  Tae nodded. ‘Exactly, then there was the attack on the pavilion, although I think that was a spur of the moment thing, but it follows the same pattern.’

  Hades spoke up, finally grasping what she was saying. ‘Everything that has happened has been about destabilizing you,’ he said, looking at Zeus. ‘Or killing you outright if given the opportunity, from what Tae has just said.’

  Zeus looked shocked, quickly followed by enraged as Tae continued her train of thought.

  ‘Not quite. Like Hades, I first thought that whoever is doing this might simply want to kill you all, but for some reason that just doesn’t sit right with me. There is too much planning and patience over too long a period of time for it to be only that. To me, it seems more likely that they are slowly and methodically trying to knock out your support system then, when you’re finally weakened enough, whoever it is could attempt to defeat you and take over as the new leader of the gods.’

  There was deathly silence for a moment as everyone stared at Tae in shock.

  ‘Hera!’ Zeus erupted. ‘It could only be that bitch! I’ve had enough of her and her scheme’s, I should have done something about her a long time ago, but I made the mistake of giving her the benefit of the doubt because of her help in the past. No More! I’ll kill her personally if she’s behind this.’

  Vulcan sighed. ‘This could mean much bigger trouble than we’re used to,’ he said in his soft voice. ‘Hera has a few of the lesser gods who follow her and, if she’s been quietly recruiting over the years that could mean a lot Khopesh class ships. They may not have the fire power of our bigger Orion class battle cruisers, but if you get a few of them together they are more than capable of taking one of us out.’

  Loki spoke as soon as Vulcan leant back. ‘Apollo will be following her, so that will make two Orion class cruisers.’

  Baste nodded in agreement. ‘So will Thalia.’ At Poseidon’s look she added, ‘I know you’d like to bed her again, Poseidon, but trust me when I say she will never go against Hera. Hera’s her mentor. It would also explain why so many thalien seem to be involved, because apart from her elven second, Thalia uses them exclusively on her own ship.’

  ‘And she confirmed all Pan’s reports on Loki’s supposed death,’ Odin added angrily.

  Zeus sat back. ‘Enough. We will make a list of those we suspect to be traitors.’ He turned to Vulcan. ‘You will begin repairs on the Fenris as soon as possible. Rid yourself of any thalien from your staff until we can sort this out.’ Vulcan stiffened noticeably and Zeus amended his words. ‘Worker and Religious Caste thalien, not true Warrior Caste, if you still have any.’

  Vulcan nodded reluctantly and Zeus continued. ‘We will proceed to Cassandra’s Nebula to rescue Ares, as soon as that’s accomplished we will send his ship to you for immediate repairs.’ He looked around the room staring at each of the gods in turn. Tae could almost see the fire in his eyes as he stated in a quiet, deadly voice.

  ‘Then we go hunting, we leave no survivors.’

  Gone was the funny, sexy, winking god. In his place sat a true warrior. It was then that Tae realized exactly why he was leader of the gods; he could be both scary and aweinspiring with one simple sentence.

  Zeus looked around to the people assembled behind the gods.

  ‘Leave us.’ As Tae walked out with the others, Zeus’ hand shot out and grabbed her. She stopped dead as he looked up at her, regarding her intently.

  ‘Cassandra,’ he began, ‘if you’re listening, I don’t know why you’re helping us, but thank you. We’re coming.’

  He let Tae go and she continued out the door.

  *****

  ‘I wonder where your wolf was?’ Valaria asked absently when Tae had caught up to her and Brohan.

  Tae blushed again. ‘He’s not, my wolf, and how should I know?’

  Valaria smiled knowingly. ‘Well, I dare say he’s got some competition now you’ve seen those muscles packed on Lord Vulcan.’ She whistled low in appreciation. ‘Boy is that god built.’ She absently ran her tongue over her small fangs as she muttered in a low voice, ‘I wonder what he tastes like?’

  She switched her attention back to Tae abruptly. ‘You know you really should do something about your pheromones soon, until you mate with someone, things will get progressively worse
for you. We’re part vampire, Tae.’

  She paused a moment frowning thoughtfully. ‘Take it from someone who knows, we both seem to have inherited their rather lusty natures, and until you start to indulge then you’re going to have more and more trouble controlling your libido, like you did back in the garden. I really think you need to do something about it, sooner rather than later at the rate your hormones are going.’

  The red eyed vampire that had been following spoke from behind them. ‘Please, excuse my interruption, I am Elite Commander Radnor, Lord Loki’s second-in-command, and I agree with what this woman … Valaria?’ Valaria nodded and he continued. ‘I agree with what Valaria has said. It is not in our nature or physiology to abstain once we have reached full maturity. If our bodies require sustenance of any kind, be it blood or sex, we must take it or suffer the consequences. Just like our distant cousins the Nymphs, as soon as we reach sexual maturity our bodies need to indulge. It is both a godsend and a bane to our kind. Do you have some kind of personal human type problem with having sex?’ He asked, frowning.

  Tae was once again scarlet. ‘No, I don’t have a problem, Elite Commander. I’ve just been a little busy lately, what with just turning seventeen, before which, let me point out, I had no real urges.’

  Radnor frowned, eyeing her obviously older body up and down.

  ‘Long story,’ she snapped. ‘After that I was training nonstop before I was sent to the Island; a place where I managed to save both yours and Loki’s butts, all of which, might I point out, was only a couple of days ago. Of course, I suppose I could have jumped someone while I was in there, unfortunately there seemed to be a distinct lack of available men. Unless of course you’re going to count the cannibals and lunatics who - were trying to kill me! And what happens when I finally do get onboard the Olympus safe and sound? The very first person that even tries to make a date with me is scared off by Brohan!’

  Brohan shuffled around, looking a little shamefaced at that statement.

  ‘After that I was kind of busy getting kidnapped and beaten to a pulp. When I finally had another spare moment between beatings, guess what? I was trying to save everyone’s collective arses, yet again. Not to mention running for my life, then stealing and learning to fly a jumper, all while trying to avoid being pulverized by a pulse cannon fired at me by the very people I had just saved.’