My Tattered Bonds (21 page)

His chocolate eyes fluttered open, framed in a fringe of long lashes.
 
By the gods, he was beautiful, even now. I brushed his hair out of his eyes and he leaned into my hand.

“Don’t die,” I instructed.
 
“Stay awake, Cadmus.
 
We’ll find Zeus.
 
He’ll save you, but you must fight until we find him. Do you hear me?”

“Do you forgive me?” he whispered.
 
“Can you forgive me for keeping the truth from you so long ago?
 
If I could take it back and re-do it I would, I promise you.”
 
He coughed and I saw blood on the corner of his mouth.
 
I swallowed hard as I wiped it away.
 
“I can’t die thinking that you can’t forgive me, Harmonia.”

“You can’t die at all!” I cried.
 
“Cadmus, please.
 
I’m sorry.
 
I know you didn’t mean to hurt me. I forgive you- I do.
 
But you cannot die.”

He nodded weakly.
 
“I’ll try not to.”
 
He closed his eyes again and rested his head against my lap.
 

“It’s alright, my sweet,” I whispered, leaning down to kiss his forehead. “Rest now.”

“We need to move,” Ares said as he stared down at me.
 

“I know,” I answered.
 
“Why does this keep happening, Ares?
 
Why?
  
I’ve lost him in every life that I ever lived and even now, with the Fates gone, I’m going to lose him again.”

“It’s your bloodstone,” he answered softly.
 
“You know that it is cursed, Harmonia.
 
Until the day that you no longer own it, misfortune will continue to follow you.”

Anger exploded inside of me and I could barely think.
 

“Why in the hell did Zeus allow Hephaestus to curse it?” I demanded.
 
“I understand the fact that he needed me to have it, that it has his blood in it…and I’m the Chosen One and all of that crap.
 
But did he have to allow it to be cursed?”

Ares shrugged.
 
“I know not, daughter.
 
You know Zeus.”

And that said everything right there.
 
Zeus was not constrained or influenced by what might happen to others.
 
He saw the big picture and he saw how things affected him and him alone.
 
And suddenly, all of my anger that I had directed at my parents and Cadmus shifted to Zeus, where it belonged.

“You know, “I pondered angrily. “I have always held the Fates’ responsible for my tragic lives, but perhaps it was Zeus all along.
 
I’m sure the Fates enjoyed my tribulations and certainly, they deceived me into making your lives hell, too, but my own life—it would have been miserable no matter what.
 
Because of Zeus!”

I spun around and stared at my mother.
 
She looked at me helplessly.
 

“I don’t know what you wish me to say,” she answered. “You are probably right.
 
But do not let the Fates off so easily.
 
They used that very thing to their advantage and they
did
trick you for thousands of years.”

“I know that,” I muttered as I gently extracted myself from Cadmus’ grip and stood up.
 
“I do not need reminded.
 
We should move now.
 
There is no time to waste.”

Ortrera was quietly instructing her warriors and they hurried to my side, kneeling around Cadmus.
 
Making a make-shift gurney from their shields, they carefully lifted him to shoulder height.
 

He was shivering and I realized it was probably from blood-loss.
 
I cringed at the realization and quickly dug through my knapsack for a wrap.
 
I tucked it around my husband’s body and kissed his soft lips before speaking to the group.
 

“Let’s go to Hell,” I said wryly, pushing forward without looking back.
 
I felt the others follow me as I circled around the dead dragon and I paused only slightly in the entryway of Tartara.

I couldn’t believe I was here.
 
But I most certainly was and there was only one thing to do in order to get out.
 
I had to enter.
 
I took a step and then another and walked into Hell.

Chapter Nine

Hell was dark.

As I picked my way over sharp rocks and through dry brambles and descended into the bowels of the Underworld, that was the thing that stuck out at me most.
 
The absence of light.
 
There were random fires here and there, which cast frightening shadows, but there was no other light here.
 
It was black as pitch and freezing cold.

Ares strode forward to walk by my side at the front, his protective nature revealing itself.
 
As we passed a small patch of brambles that were alight, he bent to pick up a long branch and lit it ablaze before holding it in front of us as a torch.

I wasn’t sure that was better.

The fire illuminated our path, but it revealed everything else along the way.
 
To our right, a blackened demon sat hunched over on a charred log.
 
He smelled like sulfur and he had no eyes.
 
As we walked past, he hissed loud and long, following our movements even though he couldn’t see us.
 
The pale blank areas where his eyes should have been sent shivers down my spine.
 
Behind him, a long scaly tail twitched.
 

“Nice place,” I mumbled to Ares as I scooted a little closer to him.

“Isn’t it?” he replied somewhat cheerfully.

“Why doesn’t this bother you?” I asked curiously.
 
“It gives me chills, yet you don’t seem fazed in the slightest.” As I spoke, I glanced over my shoulder at the demon once again.
 
He was still sitting motionlessly where he had been.
 
Evil exuded from him and I couldn’t walk fast enough in the opposite direction.

Ares glanced sideways at me for a moment before returning his attention to the terrain in front of us.

“Are you asking why Tartara doesn’t scare me?
 
It is because this place is nothing compared to the fear that I feel over losing anyone that I love.
 
I have faced many things in my life and nothing is as terrifying as that.
 
Perhaps it is because I do not love many people.
 
I hold the ones that I do very close.”

His muscles bulged as he moved, his shirtless torso glistening in the firelight.
 
I hadn’t even realized that he had taken his shirt off.
 
Glancing behind us, I saw that it was tucked around the spike embedded in my husband’s shoulder.
 
The white linen cloth was soaked through with blood.

My eyes suddenly stung and I blinked hard.
 

Behind Cadmus and the Amazons, my mother and Ortrera were murmuring softly as they cast periodic glances into the darkness surrounding us.
 
It was clear that everyone was on guard.
 
Aphrodite caught my eye and gave me a comforting look, so I offered her a small smile in return before turning back around.
 

“Your mother is worried about you,” Ares observed.
 
“As am I.”

“Thanks,” I replied.
 
“But it doesn’t seem to be helping, so you should really save your energy.”

He eyed me again, his dark eyes holding the kind expression of a father, not the god of war.

“I’m glad to see you still have your spunk,” he finally answered.
 
“So many others would lose that spark and grow discouraged after everything that you have faced.
 
I’m very proud of you, Harmonia.
 
You might not have been born to be a warrior like Ortrera, but you certainly inherited my grit.”

“Not born to be a warrior!” I exclaimed. “Did you not just watch me kill two guards to free you from a dungeon?”

He laughed, his white teeth flashing in the dark.
 
“Technically, no.
 
I did not see you because you were wearing the helm.
 
So, as far as I know, that could have been anyone.”

I slugged him on the shoulder and he laughed again.
 

As we walked, I noticed a low moaning coming from somewhere, but I couldn’t see where.
 
After a few minutes, it grew louder and was accompanied by strange rasps and clicks.
 
I peered into the darkness, but didn’t see anything, yet the noise continued to grow louder with every step that we took.

And then, as we crested the top of a small hill, our view expanded and I froze, clutching Ares’ arm.

We were facing an entire city-like civilization that seemed to be built from rubble.
 
The sky above it glowed from the many bonfires and torches from within and the moans and wails creshendoed to an almost deafening roar.
 

My frightened gaze met that of my father’s, although his was still unfazed.

“I think this is the City of the Sleepless,” he stated calmly.

I stared at him silently, afraid to speak.
 
It felt as though if I acknowledged what we were looking at with words, it would make it real.
 
And I knew it was real.
 
But if I didn’t say it out loud, I could delude myself for a few minutes more.

But not long, because Ares continued.

“Dead souls in the Underworld do not sleep,” he explained.
 
“And just as sleeplessness can turn the living crazy, it can do the same to the dead.
 
When a soul gives in to insanity here, they are brought to this city.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I breathed.
 
“An entire city of insane, sleepless souls?”

“I’m afraid he is not kidding,” Aphrodite confirmed as she crept up behind me, laying her cool hand on my shoulder.
 
“I’ve heard stories of this place, but I have never been unfortunate enough to see it for myself.”

Until now.

We all stood on the crest of the hill overlooking this strange city of the insane, each of us lost in thoughts of our own.
 
And then I took a step.

And then another and another, each step carrying me down the hill and toward the city.

The good news was that there was light.
 
There were many, many fires and torches here and there, creating a bright glow.
 
The bad news was that just like on the trail, the light revealed the terrifying things that surrounded us.
 

The Amazons set Cadmus down for a moment and reconfigured themselves.
 
Only four carried Cadmus now, the other eight surrounded us in a protective, wary circle as we moved cautiously forward into the city.

Strangers walked, limped and crawled all around us.
 
Most of them appeared haggard and dirty.
 
But the oddest thing was that they looked alive.
 
Their bodies were just as solid as mine.
 
They were certainly not flitting about as spirits.

“Not what you expected?” Ares asked.

“Not at all,” I replied. “I cannot tell the undead and the living apart, to tell you the truth.”