Gods of War (War of the Gods Series) (20 page)

Somehow Nicolai knew Poseidon was telling the truth. He didn’t have the ability that Terry had to know when someone was lying. He just had his own experience to go on. Nicolai also recognized that drive. It was the same drive that led him to Celeste.

“Okay, I will take your word for it. We have a deal.” Nicolai and Poseidon shook hands. “Now if you can show me where the underworld is, I would be glad to continue my journey.”

“Of course, I will take you to the entrance myself.” Poseidon stood up and led Nicolai out of the dining hall. “I will also give you some items that you will need so you don’t get lost. You may have Hades’ blood, but you will be killed if you are not prepared. The underworld is no place for the living.”

While Poseidon and Nicolai left, Poseidon’s guards took Hermes, stripped him of his sandals, and confined him.

Terry felt like the rest of the day went on forever. They had to hike through some deep brush and adding to the pain was Aphrodite in the front swaying her hips in that revealing dress. Some of the men in front of Terry would fall down or get hit in the head from a branch then swear because of the distraction Aphrodite generously provided.

Terry didn’t mind since he had his mind on other things. His main concern was on the other men. Even though they have been trained by the best, they had been awake for days, and Terry knew they wouldn’t last for long. None of the men complained but Terry could tell they were getting tired. He saw it in their actions. Their breathing got heavier as the day passed; their pace was much slower than earlier in the day. Some of them would actually stop to catch their breath. The mana was wearing out.

A whistle came from ahead. Terry looked through the brush and barely made out a cave.
Thank god
, Terry thought.
We are there.

Being in the back of the group, Terry was the last person to come upon the cave. There he saw the two gryphons that had flown Aphrodite and him earlier. On a fire pit looked like an adult deer. It was turning slowly and juices were dripping off of the carcass. Looking at Jake and his men, Terry saw them eyeing the deer with salivating lips.

“Where did this come from?” Terry asked.

“From them,” Aphrodite said pointing behind Terry to the gryphons. She was already lounging in a hammock made from vines.

Terry looked too the gryphons and behind them came out seven nymphs from the forest. “Okay, where did they come from?”

“I asked for their help since we are going to be staying here for the night,” Aphrodite said as she lazes in the hammock. One nymph with grapes joined Aphrodite and started feeding them to her. “Just because we are outdoors, doesn’t mean we have to live like savages, does it?”

The other nymphs walked towards the men and served fruit and vegetables while one cut up the meat. Ignoring the fruits and vegetables, the men devoured every piece of the deer that was served to them. Watching the scene unfold before him was getting on Terry’s nerves.

“Aphrodite, can I talk to you, in private please?” He said motioning to the forest.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes and got out the hammock. She reluctantly followed Terry into the woods so that they could talk in private.

“What are you doing?” Terry asked as they got out of hearing distance from his companions. “The entrance is right there. Why don’t we go in now?”

“Well first of all, the entrance is actually a mile further into the cave. Second, you don’t want to enter Ares domain right now because it is dark there. We’re not going to enter his domain when it is night. I will have trouble protecting us all during the day, let alone the night. I figured it would be a better idea to stay here tonight, get some rest, during the day we can continue with our journey. Are there any other questions you need answering?”

Maybe I have been too hard on her
, Terry thought.
All she has done is help me out. Maybe I am wrong about her?

“Yeah, just one.” Terry said trying to cut the tension. “I figured you would have tripped one of them in your bed by now. What’s taking you so long?”

Aphrodite smiled. “Well, because of three things really. They do smell if you have not noticed; in their current condition they wouldn’t last long and maybe I am saving myself for someone special. But don’t worry about that. The night is not over yet.” Aphrodite turned around and went back to her hammock.

Following behind Aphrodite, Terry sat down by the entrance to the cave. Tonight he would try to relax, for tomorrow the real fun begins.

Terry had gone on many missions before, but never before had he felt something like this. For the first time in his life he was worried. The first time he was in his life he may not make it out alive. He had barely made it through his training when he fought against those giants, and by pure luck they had made it past the Daimōn. If the Daimōn hadn’t forgotten about Terry, he wouldn’t have been able to sucker punch it like he did. He knew it was going to be by pure luck again that he would get through this.

“You hungry?” Jake asked standing over Terry. He looked up and saw Jake holding two plates full of meat and fruit.

“Not really, but I’d better eat anyway. It may be awhile till I eat again.”

Terry took the extra plate as Jake sat down next to him. While they ate, Jake started asking questions. “So I have to ask, what the hell is going on here? Don’t tell me you don’t know either.”

Terry sighed as he recapped about what had happened since that day Jake called to have him look after his wife. When Terry brought the subject of his wife up—he saw a sad look form on Jake’s face—so he skipped to the part when Zeus came to him later that day. He told how he was supposed to be a son of Zeus and about the Change. He continued to the day of the Change and the reason why he was here.

“That is one crazy story,” Jake said after swallowing a mouth full of meat. “What I don’t understand is how Zeus is your father. How did that happened?”

“That is not exactly something I would like to talk about, with anyone. Believe me; I still owe Zeus one for that.”

“I would hate to be him,” Jake said before stuffing his mouth full of meat. “What is this thing about going to Ares’ domain she mentioned?”

“There is something I have to go and fetch. Something that will stop what is going on here.”

“Well, if you need help, I can always come with you. I am sure that whatever Ares pulls, it won’t be as bad as the mayhem we used to cause together,” Jake said grinning.

Terry smiled right back. “Oh I agree. But you need to go back and find your wife. I only brought you along this far to get you away from Apollo. You will get your chance to fight with one of my companions. He is leading the resistance and our first area of attack is going to be in the Americas. I have been in contact with him and he is expecting you guys. He will need your help. I asked him to have you go and organize forces in North Carolina. But first, find your wife and get her to safety.”

Jake sat staring at Terry with a look of gratitude on his face. “Thank you. You are a true friend.”

“I am not doing it for you man.” Terry said trying to stay unemotional. “Maybe after this, your wife will stop hating me if you tell her that it was I who got you to her.”

Jake cracked a smile again and continued eating. “I don’t think anything can make her like you, especially after what you said about her.”

“How many times do I have to say it? It was Danny who said she had an adams apple, not me.”

The two men started hitting each other and reminisced about their younger days until night finally came. Jake laid down and passed out instantly.

From the darkness Aphrodite spoke up. “You know he is one of you right. He is not as powerful, but he is still a demi-god.”

Terry nodded absently as he settled in to sleep. Silence came quickly upon the camp until morning.

With the morning sun, the men worked on cleaning up while Terry stood standing in front of the cave.

“The time has finally come, yet you still stand here. Waiting for Ares to come and give you his shard?” Aphrodite said meekly.

“Just biding my time is all. Where do you keep your shard?”

“I am not old enough to have the power to make a shard. Besides, you would have to make me blush to divulge that big of a secret, and I have not met a man who could do that.” Aphrodite said seductively as she leaned against the wall with her breasts pushing out.

“I would like to meet the man who could do that,” Terry said before clearing his throat awkwardly. “I am going to go in alone. I need you to take them to Amadi. He is expecting these men to help him with the war effort.”

“Fine, I will take them there.” Aphrodite said. Then she started giving him advice. “Whatever you do, don’t travel at night there. Find a place you can defend each night. Be careful, Ares has created some nasty beasts that live there.” Aphrodite started caressing his arm. “I wish you will let me help you. I can hide us from the beasts.”

“You need to take the men back and get them prepared.” Terry said removing her hand from his arm.

“Fine, I am going. You better be out of here when I teleport. This place will light up like a beacon.”

“Alright, I am on my way.”

At the exact moment Amadi and his men were dropped off at the abandoned base, they were attacked by Ares’ men. They were fighting everything, from Minotaurs and sphinxes to automations. Everything and anything Ares could throw at them he did. Amadi looked on as he saw ten men firing at this gigantic bull like statue. They first saw the beast heading towards them stampeding its own allies.
Thank god we have the weapons Hephaestus made, or we would have been wiped out already.
Amadi’s men were gradually pushing back the beasts. They finally pushed the perimeter out enough for reinforcements to arrive.

The area was still too hot to bring in the transport. They still had to reach the area where the nuke resided.

“Sgt. Major, we need to clear this area now. When the next battalion lands, I want you to start pushing out the perimeter, then use the third battalion to start clearing the area where the nuke is settled.”

Without waiting for any acknowledgement, Amadi pulled out his map of the base and started giving the game plan on how they were going to extract the nuke.

“When the third battalion has the nuke area secured, we will use part of the fourth battalion to transport the nuke to the boat. They have a trailer that should be able to carry the nuke. The rest of the fourth is securing the beach front and a boat at this moment.” Amadi rolled up the map and gave it to his Sgt. Major. “I will help transport the nuke if needed. But I have to be free in case we come up against something our men can’t handle.

“The bomb is not too far away. With luck we can get that bomb and have this area cleared of Ares Troops before night fall. Let the men know whomever has the most kills gets their weight in gold.” The battalion commander saluted and ran off to carry out his orders.

The commander of his first battalion was a good man. He had sided with Amadi when his officers tried to depose him and he even trained his troops well. Amadi needed a new XO and the battalion commander would be perfect for the job. Amadi would see if he made it out of this death trap.

Comets started to land inside the perimeter and men came pouring out of the pods. The commander for the second battalion came running up.
Then I have him in command of the second battalion.
He was a good man, but he couldn’t command his way out of his own house. That is why I placed his Sgt. Major with him.

The Sgt. Major of the second battalion was a hardened warrior. Amadi knew him back in his days when they were with the Congolese army. Rumors said that one time the colonel he was serving under over rode his orders. The Sgt. Major walked up to the colonel’s office and threw him out of the window. After that incident took place no officer dared talk back to him and the enlisted loved him afterwards. It wasn’t too long before the army got rid of him. When Amadi went to personally recruit him, he was in some bar drinking his pension away.
Too bad I can’t make him the commander of second battalion. Perhaps he can get a battlefield promotion. He deserves one.

“Sir, second battalion is here and waiting orders.” The colonel said while saluting.

“I want you to spread your battalion out to line up with the first battalion’s men. We need to start pushing these beasts out. This is going to be our center of command for the war effort.”

“Aye sir,” The commander then turned around and issued orders to his Sgt. Major before they left to carry out the orders.

“If only he wasn’t so loyal. We could get rid of him,” Amadi’s Sgt. Major said.

“I know. I don’t know what I want to do with him.”

“I would make him your XO,” the Sgt. Major said. And before Amadi could say anything, “Then make the first commander your general. You’re going to be a god. You’re not going to have the time to deal with things like this.”

“Yeah, then what are you going to do if you are not going to take my place?”

“Well, I was thinking that you would owe me enough that you would make me a god as well. You will need your own gods under you that you can trust. I don’t know about you, but with all of that backstabbing they do to each other, you will need someone to watch your back.”

“That is good. How come you were enlisted and never became an officer? You’re too smart.”

“That is exactly why I was enlisted. I figured I could run things with a not-so-bright officer as my stooge. Then if things turned for the worse, I could just blame it all on him.”

Amadi started to laugh. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I don’t know sir” the Sgt. Major replied. “But let’s get past this obstacle first. It seems like the extra battalion is doing well. We are actually increasing the perimeter size. Now we just need third battalion and we can get to that Nuke. I hope fourth battalion is doing better than we are.”

“They are doing just fine,” Amadi said after he closed his eyes for a few seconds. “The commander of the fourth is in a pissy mood since he has a woman giving him orders. He is too afraid to complain out loud though.”