Forge of the Gods 4

by Simon Archer

“I’m still fighting to get back those years of my life that were taken from me,” Kari said, clearly speaking from the heart as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “I think having some sense of normalcy, being back in a world that is familiar to me, would help tremendously. I want to come back to the Military and serve. It’s what I’m supposed to do.”

  It was an empowering speech, with passion behind her words. However, there was one error to it. Kari let a single tear drop. She managed to swipe away at it quickly, but it was a sign of weakness. Or that’s at least how the Stratego interpreted it.

  The Stratego’s head slowly shook back and forth. “My dear Kari,” he said tenderly, his whole demeanor shifting to that of a caring grandfather.

  I almost threw up in my mouth at the sight. There was no way that was genuine. I didn’t believe the gentile act for a second.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to give yourself a break?” the Stratego said with a lowered voice. “You wouldn’t have to live with any of this regret or pain.”

  I sounded as though he was trying to convince her to give up. I didn’t like the tone of his voice or the words coming out of his mouth. This had to stop.

  “I’m sorry Stratego, but isn’t this meeting about presenting our argument?” I interjected, not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice. “We’re allowed to give our case and then the Officials vote. There is no counter-argument needed here.”

  “He’s right, Stratego,” Alya said to her colleague gently.

  The Stratego nodded his agreement and returned to his seat. “Forgive me. I just wanted to make sure that Kari knew all of the options available to her.”

  Oh yeah, she knew it, I growled in my head. Her and the rest of the Officials you were trying to manipulate with that little speech.

  But I held my tongue and kept my face stoney. I didn’t need to give the Stratego or the Officials any additional information that might turn them against us.

  “Do you have anything else you would like to present before we vote?” Alya asked the group of us. “Please speak now or forever hold your peace.”

  I looked at my allies and gathered confidence from their presence and their determined expressions. Then I looked at Kari, shaken but still standing. Our eyes met, and I knew that we had nothing more to say. I turned back to the Officials and answered, “We’re good. Please proceed with the vote.”

  “Well then,” the Stratego stepped in. He spread his fingers out on the table and took in a big breath. “We will go around the room and each Official will cast their vote. Effie, you’re first.”

  The daughter of Hades stayed in her laid back position. She lifted her hand to her chin and considered the lot of us. For a brief moment, I saw the resemblance between her and her father. While Effie was much shaggier than her well-groomed godly parent, they had the same nose and their widow’s peak was in the same place.

  “I vote to reinstate Kari back to the Military,” Effie said calmly, as though she were ordering a sandwich rather than casting a vote for Kari’s fate.

  I felt like I could swallow properly for the first time in hours. The vote continued around the room. Makayla and Genesis, predictably, sided with us. Hailey had already secured her half sister’s, Jasmine’s, vote. But the other two yeses surprised me.

  Athena’s daughter, Brea, was a huge win. She was a quiet woman who I had hardly any interaction with, but that vote was based on our argument and not previous alliances. The second one was Officer Ashley, who I was sure had been a no, considering how much she disliked me.

  “She dislikes everyone,” Jade argued when we were debating who would vote what. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  Apparently, my girlfriend had been right. Whether or not Ashley liked me had nothing to do with her vote. I was pleased that we had the majority early on.

  But that soon changed when there were five no’s in a row. Some of them looked sorry as they said it, but others, like Emma, made the statement simple and official. I wanted more of a reason as to why they were voting the way they were. But that wasn’t part of the process. The Officials didn’t have to explain their choice which was incredibly frustrating.

  Finally, it was six to five in our favor. While we were winning, it was just one vote away from a tie. Unlike in the American justice system that I was used to, a tie didn’t indicate a stalemate or a recount. In the Military, a tie went in the favor of the opposition, meaning that if it ended in six to six, we lost.

  And the last Official to vote, unfortunately, was the Stratego.

  He took his time. Even though I could have predicted his answer weeks ago, the son of Zeus made me wait for it. This time, he didn’t avoid my eyes. He made eye contact with me, to ensure that I heard him loud and clear. I stared right into the eye of the storm, defiant and unafraid.

  There was a small piece of hope that made me believe that he might surprise me, change his mind, and vote in our favor. It was a dim light, but I refused to let it go out as the Stratego opened his mouth to deliver the verdict.

  “I vote to uphold the current ruling, and banish Kari from the Military,” the Stratego announced. “Effective immediately.”

  At those last two words, Cyrene and Noel, children of Artemis and Poseidon, got to their feet and detained Kari. She jerked away from them but the pair of them held on firmly.

  “Wait what?” I balked at the sudden shift in the room, from diplomatic to hostile. “What do you mean effective immediately? She doesn’t even get to say goodbye?”

  “We have held off on this long enough,” the Stratego declared. He got to his feet and leaned against his hands braced on the table. “We have allowed enough license for this traitor.”

  A burst of noise erupted from behind me as my friends, Phae included, protested the ruling. They blocked the exit from the Officials and Kari and yelled in their face. The Officials wouldn’t back down and retaliated with their own arguments. They yelled at my friends and at each other, opposites scolding the other one.

  The whole time, the Stratego and I stared one another down as chaos reigned down around us. A smirk played on his lips, and I wanted nothing more than to cross the room and smack it right off his face.

  He thought he had beaten me, again. I couldn’t believe what he had done to rig this. I knew it had nothing to do with Kari. He couldn’t care less about her. This had everything to do with the rivalry he and I had since the minute I’d stepped on campus.

  I actually thought we had a chance. I should have known better than to think that I could play against the Stratego when I was in his home court. Anger burned in my chest, furious at myself for not doing more. But was there anything else I could have done?

  It was sitting right there, in the corner of my eye. A black, empty chair with my name written on it. Well, almost.

  Once, I hesitated to take the seat that had been offered to me, that was my birthright. Now, there wasn’t any hesitation as I leaped onto the table and stomped across it.

  The room descended into silence as I stood above them all, commanding the attention of the room. It took me three steps to get to the empty seat. I jumped off and plopped down into it, claiming my spot as an Elemental Official, representing Hephaestus.

  There wasn’t a flash of light or any magical ceremony. It was a simply wheeled office chair. But everyone knew what I had just done. A series of gasps went up in the room, but I ignored them. My attention was solely focused on the Stratego.

  His skin blazed bright red as though Helios himself burned the demigod. He hadn’t ever expected me to pick up the mantle. To his credit, I hadn’t planned to. But now the smirk was on my face. I gripped the arms of the chair tightly, in anticipation of what I was going to do next.

  “I’m Cameron Alpin, child of Hephaestus, and I vote to reinstate Kari into the Military,” I proclaimed, my words crisp and clear so that there was no mistaking me.

  The Elemental Officials looked at each other. Some, like Effie, had smiles on their faces while others loo
ked grim and grave, as though someone had just died. Nevertheless, Alya cleared her throat and straightened herself, taking charge.

  “Then it has been decided,” the daughter of Hera said. “In a vote of seven to six, Kari will be reinstated to the Elemental Military.”

  Before there was a moment to cheer and celebrate our victory, the chair beneath me, the one that I’d used to seal the deal, burst into flames beneath me.

  2

  So the good news about the exploding chair was that I was immune to fire. The bad news was that I was transported to a completely unknown location.

  The fire flew up around me as a cage of flame surrounded me. The heat flared against my skin, not burning me, but reminding me that it was there. I gripped the edge of the chair, startled by the sudden boom and wall of flame.

  Bright oranges and blinding yellows seared into my vision. I couldn’t hear anything but the rush of the fire, like a crackling waterfall. The sensation was unfamiliar and rather frightening. However, I had been in enough crazy, supernatural situations to not let panic settle in so quickly. My guard flew up as fast as the fire wall, and I readied myself for a fight.

  I tucked my legs up onto the seat of the chair and hopped up into a crouch. Tucked into my boot was a trusty knife I made myself. I got into the habit of carrying a knife in my shoe after Hailey suggested it during my second year. It had come in handy more times than one.

  I gripped the handle tightly, my body loaded like a gun ready to fire. I watched the flames around me and anticipated when they would subside. They burned bright and hot with no source so I quickly determined that they were magical, something used more for effect than actual harm. Still, whoever was behind the surprise attack didn’t know what was coming.

  After a quick count to ten, I launched myself forward, overcorrecting due to the spin and wheels of the office chair. I tumbled through the flames and hit the ground in a somersault roll. My back collided with a hard floor but momentum carried me forward and back up to a crouch. I held out my knife threateningly and eyed my surroundings.

  I saw three women sitting around a campfire in the center of a shadowed, but elegant ballroom. The ceilings were high and intricate, painted with deformed cherubs. There were curved, long windows, boarded with plywood and broken sides of crates. No light shone through the cracks.

  One woman was crouched on the ground, knees bent, head in her hands. Her curly cascade of gray and black hair draped around her shoulders. She clawed at her face, running her elegant but boney fingers along the trails of her scalp. Her fingers parted to reveal a gaunt face with solid black eyes. There was no difference between her irises or pupils. Both orbs were an inky black.

  I gagged at the sight and my eyes flicked up to the other two women, just to have something else to look at. The oldest of the three women sat by the fire. Her hands were occupied with a cat’s cradle game roped around her fingers. Hers was the only face I could see clearly, illuminated as it was by the fire. Wrinkles made her skin droop and her hair was peppery, knotted tightly at the back of her head. Her eyes were focused downward on her work, winding and weeding through the string. But I could tell that they, too, were the same kind of black as the first woman.

  The last one stood, wearing a fine-fitting sleeveless black dress that allowed us to see the bones beneath her skin. Her cropped black hair swung to her chin, and there were fine strands of silver mixed in with the black that glimmered against her pale skin. It was like someone had painted her with snow. Predictably, her eyes were black, but she wore a welcoming, slightly sarcastic smile. She raised her thin hands and clapped them together, slowly and offbeat.

  “Now that is the entrance of a demigod soldier,” she said, pushing the words through her tight smile. “Well done Cameron, very impressive.”

  When none of the creepy women moved to attack me, I slowly rose to my full height. I kept the knife held out in front of me, arm strong and steady.

  “Who are you? Where am I?” I demanded. Though I kept my words clear, my voice was sharp and unforgiving.

  “You know the answers to both of those questions, so why waste the breath asking them?” the older woman said with a heavy sigh. Her focus stayed on the weaving she did with her fingers, not once glancing up at me or her companions.

  My mind spun through the possibilities. I picked up on the visual clues. Three women, three distinct ages. The oldest played with string. The fire and the black eyes… The answer crashed into me like a tidal wave and my arm finally lowered. Fear made my heart stop.

  I was in the presence of the most powerful goddesses in the entirety of Greek mythology. These three were the deciders of life and death. They plotted the world, creating and destroying destinies with the flick of the wrist. Not only did they control mortal lives, but they were the only gods who could directly affect the lives of the gods themselves.

  “Clotho the Spinner,” I said with a nod toward the eldest of the women. She looked up at me and smiled, yellow crooked teeth confirming my guess.

  “Lachesis the Allotter,” I addressed the middle-aged woman crouched next to the fire, who still held the sides of her head as though she had a migraine.

  “And Atropos the Turner,” I finished, my gaze shifting to the youngest of the three, the thin one in the slinky dress. “Together, you are the Moirai, also known as the Fates.”

  “I told you he was a clever one, Lachesis,” Atropos said with a bright grin at her sister.

  The middle woman growled at the youngest goddess, baring her sharp teeth, much whiter and well taken care of than the oldest sister. If Atropos was bothered by Lachesis’s reaction, she didn’t show it.

  “And I’m in the Cave of Eileithyia, where mortals are born and where mortals die,” I concluded. I looked at the ballroom with a new eye now that I knew exactly what it was. It was indeed very cave-like with the lack of light and curved corners. I blew out a heavy breath that made my lips flutter. “It’s certainly not what I would have pictured, if I’m honest.”

  Atropos laughed, though it was hollow, as if she were trying too hard to please me. “We’ve upgraded over the years. It might be time for another overhaul.”

  “I like it,” Clotho said matter-of-factly.

  “That’s because you were the one to pick this decor in the first place,” Atropos argued, putting out a sassy hip to one side and resting a hand on it. “I think it’s my turn.”

  “You know the order of things,” Clotho said with a single raised finger. She had the frayed rope wrapped around it several times. “If we want a change, Lachesis is next.”

  Atropos rolled her eyes, clearly not satisfied with this answer. “Why do we have to do everything in that order?”

  “Because it is the way of things,” Clotho explained simply.

  Out of nowhere, Atropos released a deafening growl that echoed throughout the chamber. She punched her fists towards the ground and threw her head back, like a toddler throwing a tantrum. In a flash, she pulled out a pair of ratty, chipped scissors from between her breasts and jutted the tip out towards Clotho. For a brief second, I thought the goddess was going to stab her sister with the scissors. But instead, the youngest Moriai opened the scissors and snapped them down on one strand of the rope Clotho worked on.

  The snap reverberated through the air like a gunshot.

  The oldest woman held the two strands in her hand, looking annoyed. I thought she was about to scold the goddess, but Clotho did nothing of the sort. She simply tossed the strand in her right hand into the fire.

  According to the myths, the Fates controlled the universe. In the Cave of Eileithyia, who was the goddess of childbirth, they created lives from the string that Clotho wove. Then Lachesis would measure out the length of the string, consequently determining the life of the mortal. Finally, Atropos would use her infamous scissors to cut the string, thus ending the life of the mortal. If I wasn’t mistaken, Atropos just severed a mortal life while having a fit over interior design. And Clotho threw it into the
fire, symbolically giving the soul to Hades, like it was no big deal.

  If I wasn’t terrified of these goddesses before, I sure was now.

  Lachesis popped up from her spot on the floor and stomped over to Atropos, her eyebrows pinched together in a clear expression of anger. She stretched out her two arms and shoved Atropos back.

  “You bitch!” Lachesis hollered. “You’re supposed to let me measure that.”

  “I hadn’t finished weaving it yet,” Clotho said with another defeated sigh. “It’ll end as a miscarriage. No damage there.” She returned to her weaving, wholly disinterested in what her sisters were doing.

  I wanted to throw up at Clotho’s words. The carelessness for a human life was apparent and horrifying.

  “You can’t just go around cutting off lives without consulting us,” Lachesis said with another shove at Atropos. The younger goddess dropped her scissors and stumbled back this time. However, she didn’t take the abuse. She dealt it right back, though with a violent slap to her sister’s face.

  “After thousands of years, you don’t think I know that, Lachesis?” Atropos snarled as the middle goddess cradled her face from the injury.

  I felt as though I stumbled on the set for some sort of high drama reality TV show. My gut told me I shouldn’t be there and I was intruding on some private family beef. I glanced over my shoulder but there was no sign of my burning chair or any sort of way out. That’s when I realized I was at the mercy of these goddesses and knew I wasn’t getting out of there without their help or permission.

  As though she were noticing me for the first time, Clotho clicked her tongue. “Ladies, we have a guest, or did you forget that we brought Hephaestus’s son here?”

  The feuding goddesses turned their attention to me, and I offered a small wave, mainly because I couldn't think of anything to say. Atropos and Lachesis stepped away from each other, as though they were repealing magnets. They didn’t say another word. Instead, Atropos pushed her hair back into place and pointed to something at my feet.