by P M Cole
They looked back to me.
“Only you and Daniel can pass through, Cog,” said Lucas.
“Right…” I said, trying to sound as if I had known all along. I looked at Daniel. “You can stay if you wish.”
He smiled and walked to the first to the steps. “And miss the chance of seeing the council of the gods?”
I turned to Colin. “I’ll be back, I promise.” He walked forward and we hugged and briefly kissed. I joined Daniel and looked back to the others. “I don’t know how long we will be but take the dirigible and fly to a village or town when you need to.”
Gloria smiled and nodded.
I turned to Daniel and we both walked up the steps, and into the light.
*****
I stood at the top of stone steps. Daniel was at my side. The words almost left my mouth to ask if we had gone anywhere but then I realised the rest of the chamber was empty.
We both descended to the floor. I turned around to what appeared to be the same portal as the one we had just gone through, but there was something about the stones around us that felt different.
“Look,” said Daniel, looking down at the bottom step.
I leaned over. The letters had changed, I looked at him for a translation.
“It says ‘return’.” He slid his finger over the step. “It’s not worn…”
I looked up at the structure around us; the walls were smooth and free of moss. It looked like it had just been constructed. I turned to the entrance to the tunnel, then Daniel. We both stepped forward, me taking the lead, and walked into the confined space. Immediately I could smell the air was different, fresher, and more earthy.
“It’s not as cold as it was…” said Daniel.
He was right, in fact the air was warm, so much so that I started to unbutton my coat. A chirp came from inside making me jump.
“Your toy came through as well?” said Daniel surprised.
“Yes…” I was somewhat surprised as well, but also relieved to have more than one friend with me. I pulled Auto out and held him in the gloom. “We have gone somewhere. Through a portal but I do not know where we are.” Another chirp. “Good idea.”
The mechanical bird fluttered his wings then took flight, moving quickly towards the brightness ahead of us. We increased our pace and an opening appeared, brightly lit as if it was… daylight outside.
The stench of grass and dirt became stronger as we neared the way out, and we squinted as we emerged from the small opening into a forest.
Huge trunks surrounded us, and a full canopy shielded us from above. Pockets of sun littered the forest floor illuminating twigs, flowers, and grass.
A clacking heralded Auto’s return.
’S…t…o…n…e…s…!’
“What stones? Where?”
His head rotated away from us, and I realised there was the faint outline of a path through the trees.
We walked forward, trying to make sense of where we had been transported to.
“I think there’s a clearing up ahead,” said Daniel.
He was right, for through the trees was an immensity of light. As we neared it, we could also see standing stones, but these were not weathered by the eons, but were perfectly cut. Seven of them in a perfect circle and at the centre a flat stone slab.
“Stay close,” I shouted up to Auto.
We emerged from the forest to a sunbathed plateau, the same one we were just exploring minutes before, but the landscape, far from being devoid of detail, was a series of wooded islands, and a sparking sea between.
“It’s the same place, but… different,” said Daniel.
I nodded and we walked forward between the monoliths and onto the clean central surface that the upright stones seemed focused on. I felt the electricity in the air and the ground shook, almost making us both lose our balance.
“Which god summons the council?” said a voice to our left. We swung around to the radiant face of an elderly man with only one eye. A face which belonged to a head, which floated above the stone, without a body.
“M… my… name is Cog… I mean Corine Arturo, err, sir.”
“I have no interest in your corporeal name!” boomed the head.
“She is Hephaestus and the other is Apollo.” We spun around to face the exact opposite direction. Athena’s smiling beauty looked down upon me in similar fashion to the one-eyed man.
“She is the one that Chronus asked us to protect…” Another voice, another head, but this one wasn’t human, for it was dog-like with tall ears and umber coloured skin.
“And just—” A chill ran through my spine for I knew the next voice to echo around the stones. “—as we all agreed that his false accusations against me were groundless, I ask the council to return to me those that I had brought forth into the earthly realm.” I slowly turned around to a sight from my nightmares. It was the head of the creature we fought at the manor. My father’s true demonic form floated above another of the plinths.
“He… he lies!” I shouted at whoever would listen.
“What… does… he—” I turned, and then recoiled at a head of a serpent, its tongue tasting the air between words. “—lie about young thing?”
I spun around all of the heads that were now waiting for answers, creatures and faces from the far corners of civilisation.
“Everything! He wants to kill the humans! Destroy their cities, take them for himself!”
The old man looked at the blood red face of Hades. “Is this correct? You know we must not alter the fate of non-celestials Hades.”
“She is misinformed, but there is something that I must confess that might allow this great council to make a more informed decision…”
I wondered what new poison would spill from his mouth.
“This child is my daughter. Unlike the boy and the others I mentored, she is my actual earth-born offspring…”
Even on the non-human looking faces I could see surprise.
“Oh…” said the one-eyed man. “That does change things.”
“I want to put it to a vote that they be returned immediately—” I whirled around to Athena desperate for a response.
“There is something else the council needs to consider….” she said.
“Yes?” said the old man.
“She has passed her twenty-first birthday, therefore she is of age, and not a child. She has the right to prove herself in trial to determine her own fate. They both do.”
Trial?
I looked at Daniel, he shook his head being as confused as I was. We looked around the faces looking down upon us; each appeared to be pondering the request.
“No!” shouted Hades. “She is of my blood! And I demand—”
“And if she was younger, then your claim would be valid, but you know the rules Hades. She is of an age where she can determine her own future. I second the motion for a trial.”
Sounds of agreement came from the other gods, apart from one, whose face was a picture of fury.
“Hephaestus and Apollo—” We both turned to the one-eyed man. “—the council has agreed that you should be allowed to choose your fate if you win the trial. You will both fight against two fighters from the one that opposes you, Hades.”
“I… OK…”
The old man turned to the dead eyes of Hades. “Do you have two that will stand for you in the trial?”
“They have been chosen.”
The one-eyed man nodded. “Then let the trial begin…”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“But… but…” I spun around. The faces of the council had gone, their plinths empty. Even Athena was no longer there.
“What is this trial?” said Daniel just as lost as I was.
I looked at the trees swaying in the wind and the equally serene lapping of waves a hundred yards or so away. “I think we have to—”
Auto started chirping above us, louder than I had ever heard before.
‘B…y…r…’
“Byron?”
‘C…o…m…i…n…g.’
I guess he survived his metal cage then.
Daniel whirled around.
“Which direction?” I shouted up to the hovering bird.
He spun around. ‘O…t…h…e…r…S…i…d…e.’
“Other side of what?” said Daniel.
“I think the island we’re on, but he can move—” I felt the pressure change before the impact and maybe that was what saved me, but I still sailed through the air, clipping the edge of one of the stones, then spun and landed hard on my stomach, rolling at least twice.
I looked up, trying to shake the dizziness from my head. Daniel was still in the centre of the stones, his eyes ablaze. A blur moved around him, which he was talking to? As I pulled myself to my feet with the help of a fallen trunk, I began to hear the sound of the medical student's words wafting towards me on the light breeze.
“Why are you doing thi—” Daniel bent over as the wind left his lungs. Byron had hit him in the stomach, but it happened so quickly I missed it. The taller man righted himself, his eyes still aflame despite the grimace on his face. “He’s using y—” This time the hit was on his face, and he staggered backwards against one of the stones, but there was no respite for another blow tilted his head back, spraying blood through the air. I wondered why his power was not working against his foster brother. Maybe he needed to be able to see his target and Byron was moving too quick.
I needed metal, but I was on an island of trees, rocks and grass, everything natural! Then I remembered an item I pushed into my side pocket before we left, a silver shilling. It wasn’t much, but it was going to have to do. I rummaged around the pockets in my coat, finding the coin. Now what?
Daniel fell from stone to stone, still pleading for Byron to see sense, if I didn’t act quickly, he was going to die. I ran through a hundred different ways I could use an inch-wide coin, each insufficient, until…
I ran forward a few steps. “Hey!” I shouted at the blur in the stone circle.
This will never work…
I focused all my effort into the tiny coin which had already left my hand and was setting about its work nearby.
Another punch hit Daniel, sending him to the ground.
He hasn’t got long.
I felt the weight the coin was lifting; it was a lot, but I could handle it. I just needed that bastard to take the bait.
“You’re such a coward! You can’t even beat—”
The air around me changed. He was on his way and I only had a second to implement my plan. I threw myself to the ground, for I knew he would come straight at me, and the trunk, which had laid on the ground, stretching at least fifteen feet burst from the grass and dirt, into the air, sweeping forward in the direction I hoped he was coming from.
There was a crunch, and a ‘oomph’ sound, and the blur became a man, a man that was now lying on the ground, with blood dripping from the side of his mouth.
I looked across to Daniel who was no longer moving. I ran past Byron who lunged at me, but such was his state that he just fell back to the grass, and quickly knelt next to Daniel. I felt his pulse.
Alive.
I heard the pounding of boots on earth just in time to roll to one side, around one of the stones. The white sword of Grace gorged out a hole in the dirt.
Ah, I hate that bone sword!
She was dressed from head to toe in leather armour, which I could find no metal within. Another slash came at me, but it missed, and I staggered to my feet and ran.
“You have to… kill…” shouted Byron, still prone on the ground, his head then dropping into the mud.
I was heading towards the cove and the beach below. I had no idea why, but try as I might, as I pumped my legs and arms, I couldn’t retrieve my coin from the trunk. It was lost somewhere deep within. I was defenceless against the warrior sprinting towards me, who had the power of a god.
Angry words came from Grace some tens of yards behind me, but I cared not, I just needed to put distance between us. As I careered over the edge of the cliff, trying to keep my footing as I descended the steep embankment I wondered if the other gods were watching, like the Romans of old. I almost laughed at the thought of being a gladiator, and staggered downwards, trying to get to the sand below, and I would have done so if her skill at throwing wasn’t as good as it was. A thump hit the back of my head and I fell, then started to tumble, the sky changing place with the earth, over and over, each time getting a glimpse of Grace’s manic face getting closer.
I rolled onto the sand, small sparkles of light before my eyes. For some reason I felt I needed to move forward, always forward towards the surf, the water. So, I summoned all the strength I had, pushing it into my legs and staggered forward, each sandy step feeling as if it needed two just to gain any ground.
She landed on the beach behind me, the ground almost shaking. This was it. I just had seconds before that sword made from an unknown creature would plunge into my back, and Hades would have won.
The waves sloshed around my ankles and with my energy leaving my body, I fell forward, headfirst into the water.
A shadow loomed around me.
“He doesn’t need any more daughters Cog, he has me and my sisters,” said Grace, standing over me. The shape of her shadow changed, and I could tell her weapon was held high above. No more time. Almost over.
Then I saw the nuggets glinting beneath the waves, and with a moment's thought the glittering metal rose and formed a shield across my back.
Grace's sword slammed into it and shattered.
I turned around, my hair stuck to my face, my clothes soaked through and looked into the face of a woman, who for the first time since I had seen her, looked scared.
The few pounds of gold covering me warped and melded into a spear which flew forwards a foot or two, piercing her armour, through to the other side. She looked down, shocked as blood spluttered from her mouth, then fell backwards onto the sand.
A scream of anguish came from the top of the cliff. As the waves still splashed around me, I looked up at Byron, his body becoming a blur, then back to his usual self, each time moving a few feet down the cliff.
My head was throbbing.
“Have I won…” I said under my breath, as I got to my knees, then stood as best I could.
“You have.”
I looked to my left, the radiant form of Athena stood, the wind buffeting her robe, a smile on her face.
I went to take a step forward, but my legs felt like lead. “Daniel?”
“He’s alive.” She looked down at Grace, as did I. Ripples of guilt started to flood through me.
“I… she was going to kill me.”
Athena walked forward, kneeling next to the fallen warrior's body, and on touching it, it disappeared. “She chose to fight, but this is on Hades. You and the young man fought fair.”
Tears started to run down my face. “I didn’t want to kill her… I didn’t want to do any of this!” I looked at the cliff, Byron was no longer there as well.
“They have returned from where they came.”
I pushed my feet forward, back onto the sand. “I have to get to Daniel, and we need to get back.”
She placed her hand on my shoulder. I wavered slightly. “There is no need for you to rush. This is a celestial realm, young Hephaestus, time here moves far slower than your own realm. Mere seconds have passed back there. Take your time, rest with your friend. While you are here, Hades cannot harm you. But when you return…”
“How can I ever defeat him? He can’t stay in my realm; he will destroy everything! We tried to send him back to the underworld, but he was too powerful!”
“That was because you were too few in number. But word of you defeating his champions will spread far and wide. If you look, you will now find others to join your cause.”
“But… I no longer have his blood, to undo the spell which binds him to my realm…”
She smiled. “Cog… his blood is your blo
od.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gloria ran forward. “Good lord, what happened?”
Daniel and I staggered out of the portal onto the weathered stone steps; he looked like he had been run over by a carriage. When he came back around, we waited for an hour without much of a word passing between us. He did his best to heal himself, but his ability for some reason was not working as it should and only some of his numerous wounds would heal. When he was able to walk, we decided the sooner we returned the better.
Hands belonging to the three sisters, Lucas, and Colin, helped us down the small staircase and onto the chamber floor.
“Grace is dead. I killed her.” The words came out colder than I would have wished, and I could tell they hit somewhere deep within Daniel, but he remained silent.
They all looked shocked.
“What happened?” said Lucas.
“We met with the council. We had to fight in a trial against two chosen by Hades. He chose Byron and Grace. We won, they lost.”
The chamber was silent.
Daniel’s eyes became aflame and slowly the lacerations started to disappear across his face.
“It must have been the time difference,” I said to him.
He stood upright, stretching his arms, and looking healthier.
“Are you okay to keep going?”
He nodded.
“We need to get back into the dirigible and into the air,” I said.
I went to take another step when a thought hit me. I pulled the map from my coat, quickly unfolding it.
“It’s changed…” I said, looking at the new channel of lines.
Everyone huddled over the parchment being lit by their lamps. A dark line now ran from our current location to somewhere in the west of the country.
“Wales…” said Lucas.
“What’s there?” I said, looking around the faces near me.
Katerina leaned in closer. “I believe that is Dragon mountain. There are caves there it is said even the gods would not tread within.”
“That looks like where we need to go next,” I said, then looked at the sisters. “Are you willing to continue on this journey with us? I can return you to Edinburgh if you wish.”