City of gods - Hellenica (20 page)

“He’ll destroy us if we do that,” said Sobek, speaking from just outside the shelter. “We must lay in wait for him, and then ambush him while he is unaware.”

Pan smiled and then laughed.

“Hunt Heracles or ambush Heracles, both ill-fated quests!” said Pan with a smile. “It’s impossible what they ask of us!”

“Then do you suggest we do nothing?” asked Sobek.

“No, just that we think outside the box a bit,” said Pan, now looking at Saoirse. “So tell me, Horsewoman, what should we do?”

The White Knight can lead
, thought Saoirse,
but for right now, lead as they taught you on Elysia. Start with praise and bring your idea as a suggestion.

“Nanook, your idea of hunting Heracles is indeed noble,” said Saoirse, “but it won’t work with any weapons found in this artificial forest. Heracles is invulnerable to bullets, and shan’t be deterred by sharp sticks.

“Sobek, your idea of setting a trap might work, but remember that we only have two hours. I have an alternative.”

“It’d better be a good idea, girl,” said Sobek, “because I’m getting hungry.”

“I say instead of hunting Heracles,” said Saoirse, “we have Heracles
come to us
.”

As Saoirse told them her plan Nanook smiled, Sobek let out a hoarse, grating laugh, and Pan started to dance. As they focused on the task ahead, Kross let out a whine and then came close to her ear.

It’s here,
he said.
Poison is here now.

While Pan danced Saoirse saw a creature run by on the periphery. She looked closer, and it appeared to be a legged snake.

/***/

Pan’s little dog found Heracles half a kilometer away.

Strong man in tree,
said the little dog.
High in tree, throwing pain.

“Throwing pain?” asked Nanook.

“He means some sort of weapon,” said Pan. “Heracles has perched himself up there and will probably be heaving things at us.”

“He can’t hurt us from a tree,” said Sobek.

“You’d be surprised,” said Nanook with a laugh. “He’s like a bear. They’re always dangerous.”

“All right,” said Pan, “let’s put the Horsewoman’s idea into action.”

They came within two hundred meters of Heracles’s tree and set up another camp. The rain followed them so they moved quickly. Nanook augmented this camp and gave it a better roof and a bigger fireplace. Saoirse gathered some big leaves and weaved them into a fan. Pan and his dog collected several armfuls of herbs, nuts and berries and warmed them on a rock by the fire. Nanook took the fan and started wafting the scent towards Heracles’s tree.

“Keep pushing it towards him,” said Saoirse. “We need the smell to cut through the rain.”

Then Sobek walked out and sat by the tree. The artificial rain followed him and the dogs soon followed, barking and causing distractions. They heard Heracles laugh, and he started throwing pinecones at the dogs but couldn’t quite reach them. He switched his aim towards Sobek, but the pinecones bounced off Sobek’s thick skin. Sobek got up and started cursing at Heracles, but Saoirse ran out and calmed him down.

“We can’t make him yield if we’re his enemy,” said Saoirse.

Sobek sat back down and buried himself beneath some sticks on the ground. Soon, Heracles had run out of things to throw and just sat in the rain. For good measure, Pan climbed the tree and ripped some of the upper branches down. Heracles was getting soaked, and Saoirse knew it was just a matter of time before he gave up.
Even a god as mighty as Heracles is miserable in cold rain
, she thought.

“Heracles!” she yelled. “We have you cornered.”

“I can run, girl!” he said.

“Then we’ll hug your heels and bring this rain with us,” said Saoirse. “Would you like to come out of the rain?”

“Of course,” said Heracles.

“Then surrender peacefully to us,” said Saoirse. “A dry den and hot food await.”

There was a moment of silence, then an earth-shaking
thump
as Heracles jumped down and hit the ground, splashing mud and leaves all over the place. He stood above them in the pouring rain, as wide as he was tall, bearded and angry. Even Sobek shirked from his presence. But then Heracles laughed and pushed Saoirse aside.

“I yield, surrender and give up,” he said. “And I regret I ever volunteered for this gods-forsaken exercise. Next time I’ll send Bes in my stead, or the Banshee.”

/***/

Moments later they were drying off next to the campfire, eating baked nuts and some strange steamed delicacies that Manitou had brought. The rain was shut off, but most of them were still wet, including Pan’s dog, who kept shaking water on them. Kross kept looking at the periphery of the camp, and then shared a knowing glance with Saoirse. Saoirse ruffled Kross’s head, and he nuzzled in close and whined quietly into her ear in return, as if he were whispering a secret.

Kross knows those creatures are out there, stalking us as we speak,
thought Saoirse,
but he’s keeping it between us.

“The power of Nature is arcane, to say the least,” said Manitou. “You must ask Nature to come to your will, and find a way to do so. But let’s say something bigger than Heracles was threatening you, something bigger than a single god. Imagine that Lugh had an army waiting outside the doors of the Academy right now; what would you do?”

“I’d have already built a moat,” said Sobek, “and filled it with the fiercest crocodiles I have.”

“All well intentioned, Sobek,” said Manitou, “but Lugh’s army has guns, flamethrowers and poison. Your army of crocodiles wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“You’ve not seen my crocodiles,” said Sobek.

“I wouldn’t care to see his crocodiles either, Manitou,” said Heracles with a laugh. “All men fear those creatures, and most gods do too.”

“Pan, what would you do when faced with an army?” said Manitou, ignoring the quip.

“I’d make it rain,” said Pan, “just as we did now. I’d send colder rain, flooding rain perhaps.”

“It would slow them down, but Éire rains nine days of ten; Lugh is accustomed to downpours. Nanook?”

“I’d bring the cold,” said Nanook. “Éire rains, but his people aren’t accustomed to icebound winters.”

“Better idea,” said Manitou, “but that would only work for an extended engagement, and Lugh prefers short campaigns. How about you, Elysian? Your idea brought down the mighty Heracles; what would you do to bring down an army?”

Kross whined and looked at Saoirse once more.
He’s motioning to me that the creatures are on the periphery,
thought Saoirse.
Answer Manitou and end this class. Do not appease, do not persuade, tell them what is needed to be done and then have them gone. Think like a Horsewoman, not a deferential Hetaera.

“I’d tell my hyaena to run into the forest and talk to every animal he can,” said Saoirse. “He’d spread a message throughout the land that any creature that comes to our aid will be rewarded, even the unlovely. We’ll bring rabid pigs, malarial flies, snakes, spiders and choleric rats to bite the army in their sleep. And just as we did with Heracles, we’d tell Lugh that we’ll call off the animals as soon as he surrenders.”

Manitou thought for a minute, then looked at Heracles and they both laughed.

“Hetaerae always seem to have both softer and harder edges than the rest of us. This plan would work, though there is one fatal weakness.”

“Please tell me what it is, teacher,” said Saoirse, falling back on her Elysian tone of appeasement. “Please tell me what it is so that I may learn from you.”

“The first step involves sending out your hyaena,” said Manitou, “and your hyaena seems to have run off.”

/***/

Manitou sent the class home, but allowed Saoirse to find her hyaena by herself. He left it nighttime and she listened patiently for any sound from Kross. She heard him laughing in the distance from beyond the woods. She ran over branches and soggy mud until she was on the edges of the forest, and still Kross was further away. She caught up with him around a small artificial cave; he was growling at something inside.

It is here,
said Kross,
in the hole.

What is it?
asked Saoirse.

Poison,
said Kross.
Poison in there
.

Let’s wait,
said Saoirse.
Wait for friends.

No,
said Kross,
find it now.

She peered into the dark hole; the moon illuminated her surroundings but wasn’t strong enough to light up the cave.
My night vision is good,
she thought,
but I see almost nothing in here, just blackness and faint edges. I hope Kross can see more.

It was a shallow cave made half of imported rock, half of substance made by the Manitou. Kross was ahead of her, growling. Saoirse felt along the edges and heard a hiss in the distance about ten meters ahead of her.
I’m out of my element,
thought Saoirse.
I have to place my faith in Kross.

Be careful,
said Saoirse.

I found the poison,
said Kross back to her.
The poison is here.

Saoirse heard Kross burst forward and snarl. She heard several hisses and smashes, and then felt something scurry by her leg. Kross soon followed, bursting out of the cave. Saoirse ran out to see her hyaena with a small, dying creature in its mouth. The snake-like creature had many legs and large eyes; it opened its mouth in one last death gasp to reveal two fangs dripping with green liquid.

You’ve found it,
said Saoirse.

We leave now,
said Kross.
More.

More what?
asked Saoirse.

More poison, more creatures all around us,
said Kross.
They’re coming for us here, now. We leave. We leave now.

THE NORSEMAN’S BANQUET

Kayana was meditating when the Banshee visited her again, flying in through the window and smashing Kayana’s bed to pieces.

“You needn’t feel obligated to blow everything about,” said Kayana. “A simple knock at the window would do.”

The Banshee ignored the comment, but refrained from pushing Kayana up into the ceiling this time. The wraith’s face had deteriorated since she’d last visited Kayana, and her pale skin was now covered with black, necrotic sores. The Banshee’s hair was matted into clumps and smelled like a dying pig, and she stared at Kayana with bleeding eyes full of accusation.

“You’ve been flying in dreams, Death, skimming the battlefield, nipping at the heels of demons and thrashing one soundly.”

“You’ve heard of my nighttime adventures no doubt,” said Kayana with a wry smile, “but I fear I’ve made things worse.”

“You’ve not made things worse, for it’s not possible to make a demon
worse
,” said the Banshee. “The demons are coming in droves whether you thrash them or not.”

“Who are these demons?” asked Kayana.

“I don’t know,” said the Banshee. “All I know is that they’re coming. I heard of your dreamtime exploits not from Praetor Mantus, but from the depths.”

“The depths?”

“Aye,” said the Banshee. “Hel, Hades and even Mictlan heard how you beat that Amazon she-demon; they found it humorous. Hel herself told me that ‘
though the demon army shall surely destroy the Academy, one poor foot soldier took on Death and paid the ultimate price.’
”

Kayana felt a strange feeling; she felt no pride that the Lords of the underworld were speaking her name, but she did feel the weight of the moment.
If Hel is speaking my name, they’re surely watching the events that are about to transpire. And if they’re watching, something big is about to happen.

“I don’t like this,” said Kayana. “The demons, whoever they may be, aren’t right to come here. Though this Academy is a foolish venture and the gods here are misguided, they’re trying to make things
right
. The Academy sees the conurbation for the
abomination that it is, and the Academy
acts
. Though we may fail to correct the wrongs of our surrounding districts, I can’t sit idly by while an invading force of demons comes to stop us before we can even begin. Hel, Hades and Mictlan are weak to sit on their thrones and jeer at us as we get run over.”

The Banshee laughed and the sound blew Kayana to the back of the room. The Banshee covered her mouth and thrashed her own head until she stopped cackling.

“This is not their
domain,
child, nor is it yours,” said the Banshee. “These demons are attacking the living only.”

“The demons attacked an acquaintance of mine, a fellow Horseman,” said Kayana, “and now he lies in the infirmary, a power outage away from suffocation. Whatever they are, they’re in my domain as of now.”

The Banshee frowned and then slowly nodded her head. Blood dripped from her eyes and fell onto the floor.

“Then so be it,” said the Banshee. “But how are you to fight an army when you know not from where they came? When you know not what they are?”

“I’ll fly back into Dion’s dream and find one more demon,” said Kayana. “I’ll plunge my hands into the demon’s chest and wring the truth from it.”

“And that demon’s friends will gladly lie in wait for you there,” said the Banshee. “Once you get this ‘truth’ they’ll wrap you in a suit of thorns and drag you down to their home deep beneath the earth. They’ll destroy the Academy and keep Death herself as a prisoner.”

Kayana realized that the Banshee was right.
Going it alone
wasn’t prudent, nor was pursuing any act of vengeance.

“Then perhaps I need help,” said Kayana. “Perhaps I need
your
help. In real life strange creatures bite us in the neck, and then demons torment us in dreams soon afterwards. I know not the first thing of what’s happening, nor how to rectify it. All I know is that it must be rectified, so I beg you to help me.”

“I never thought Death could beg, let alone of me. I’ll help guide you,” said the Banshee. “That’s all I can do. I know not what the neck-biters are, nor where the dreamtime demons are from. I know not how to beat them; all I know is that this requires secrecy, which is a skill you have and I don’t.”

“Thank you,” said Kayana.

“I’ll teach you how to enter dreams yourself, so that you can spy on these creatures,” said the Banshee, “but I would advise you not to enter Gunnar’s or Dion’s minds; the demons will surely be waiting to take you prisoner there.”

Kayana looked outside her broken window at the artificial night. In the morning, Praetor Mantus would see her broken room and realize something was awry. If there was a time to act, it would be now.

“I’ll go with you into dreams and then find what the demons are,” said Kayana. “I’ll not enter Gunnar’s nor Dion’s head; I’ll enter another possessed soul’s dream and study the demons under the cover of shadows.”

“Good,” said the Banshee. “Do you know whose dream you would like to enter?”

“Yes, I have someone in mind; a fool surely possessed,” said Kayana. “His name is Rowan.”

/***/

Kayana meditated with the Banshee for twenty minutes before she began to feel herself float away from her body. She saw herself cross-legged on the floor with white eyes next to the Banshee, who was floating face-down as if drowned in a lake.

“We can see everyone’s dreams from here,” said the Banshee in a calm, clear voice.

Kayana looked up and saw the Banshee in her dream form; the spirit was whole and beautiful, as she once was. The Banshee had red flowing hair, porcelain skin and beautiful, dark eyes. She sang softly as she floated above Kayana, and the wraith’s clean, white dress floated gently and exuded an inviting warmth.

“You must help me pick which dream to enter,” said the Banshee. “I can guide you, but you must choose.”

Kayana flew from her window and saw the sleeping Academy and the dreams that spilled out of their quarters. She was surrounded by an endless array of images and sounds, and soon became overwhelmed. She saw Heracles wrestling with a large boar, and his dream was soon pushed out by a Spartan mercenary whom she’d not seen before; he was kissing a young girl. She saw nightmares in the distance; it appeared many Spartans were succumbing to the demons that had attacked Gunnar. She saw Tommy on the island of Lepros, speaking with a tall, dark man with a pockmarked face. The tall, dark man morphed into a girl; it was an image of Kayana herself! Tommy started to glow and soon both he and Kayana’s image turned into lights that began to dance and intertwine with one another.

“He fancies you,” said the Banshee with a smile.

Kayana didn’t know how to respond.

“He’s dreaming of you,” she explained. “And his brain is filling itself with the pleasure chemicals dopamine and seratonin to their maximum amount. Be warned; you might not be able to bring him to that level in real life.”

“I’ve been so warned,” said Kayana, still unsure how to respond.

Kayana flew through Tommy’s dream and saw the dreams of the rest of the Academy. They avoided the nightmares on the periphery, but flew through dreams of anxiety, love and some odd images that made no sense at all. Kayana saw a Viking longship floating around a moat of a castle. There was a celebration going on inside, and Rowan was behind a curtain, kneeling to a man with his head bowed.

“There,” said Kayana. “That’s Rowan’s dream.”

“Are you sure?” said the Banshee. “Perhaps the dreamer is the one to whom Rowan kneels.”

“It’s Rowan,” said Kayana. “Even in his dreams he kneels before a greater man.”

The Banshee laughed and it felt like silk on Kayana’s ears. The red-haired woman spread her arms out and all the other dreams went to the side, leaving the castle in front of them.

“I cannot enter with you, Kayana,” said the Banshee. “Someone will recognize me. They may recognize you too if you’re not careful, so be sure to disappear into the shadows and if you must materialize, come across as someone else.”

“I will,” said Kayana.

“And do not underestimate the dreamer nor the demons that attack him. Though you may call him a fool while he is awake, his dream is his own and you’re a mere visitor. If any part of him should spot you for who you are, the demons will come and take you to a very dark place.”

“I understand,” said Kayana.

The Banshee flew away and the castle came at her quickly. Kayana looked around and saw that all the other dreams had disappeared. She was now facing the moat and behind her was rural Scandinavia. She saw a dark cloud on the horizon and dematerialized quickly, leaving only a shadow.
This may be what a man’s subconscious looks like when his thoughts have already been annexed.

Kayana’s shadow walked across the moat and saw creatures swimming in the water below. Upon a closer look, the creatures appeared to be Mermaids, laughing and swimming about. They were singing a strange, giggling song:

The Bazer-elk, the Bazer-elk,

The Bazer-elk, in night

The Bazer-elk, now pretty

Yet still, he’ll sure bite

Kayana was tempted to sit and listen to these creatures until she could decipher their song, but thought against it.
Mermaids are put on earth to distract, to lead you astray with their charm
, she thought.
They do this even when in another man’s dream.

Kayana walked across the moat into the castle to join a banquet underway. The foreground was filled with a hundred members of royalty, and in the head of the hall there were ten Norse warriors kneeling by the empty throne. The royalty’s eyes glowed green, but other than that they acted just like royalty did, eating, laughing stiffly and keeping one eye on the king’s seat at all times. After a few moments, a small man came from behind a curtain and made an announcement.

“Ladies and Princes,” said the small man, “Viceroys and Barons, may I present to you
Cnut the Great
!”

A great cheer went among the crowd, and the ten Vikings bowed their heads in unison. The king came from behind the curtain proudly, stout-chested and somewhat fat, and held his hands out to his people. His hair was grey, his skin was ruddy; he looked every bit the king save for the fact that his eyes glowed as green as his subjects’. He snapped his fingers once, and soon everyone was quiet.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said. “Welcome to the feast of victory; a
small victory
perhaps, but the first of many, I assure you.”

The crowd cheered again, and the king bid them be quiet once more. Before he spoke again, Kayana heard the sound of whimpering beneath the floor.

“We’ll move forward from this battle and expand outward, ever outward,” said the king. “We’ll do this relentlessly, for there is no other way! To lead this conquest I’ve gathered the greatest, bravest men in all the land. May I present to you, the
Húskarlar
!”

The warriors stood in unison and the crowd once again cheered. The king bid his people silence and once again, Kayana heard whimpering from the floor beneath.
It’s the sound of pain,
thought Kayana,
the sound I heard from Dion when he was himself tormented by demons.

“And to lead them, I’ve brought in the fiercest, most noble, and most loyal man in all the land. Please pay homage to Rowan the Berserker!”

Rowan stood up in front of the audience and plunged his sword down into the ground; it lodged within the stone in front of him. The crowd cheered, and Kayana noticed that Rowan was bearded and a bit taller than he was in real life. His eyes flashed green like the rest of them and he beamed with pride.

The answers I seek aren’t here,
thought Kayana, and she slipped unseen through the dining royalty to the curtain behind the king. She went through the curtain and saw stairs leading downwards, and listened carefully to hear the whimpering coming from their depths. She floated down the spiraling stairs, going round and round until she reached a basement. The basement was dark, but illuminated with the green faerie-light that came from torches along the wall.

It was a dungeon, and there were hideous goblins holding several innocent-looking villagers behind bars. The goblins had glowing green eyes, and the villagers whimpered each time the creatures hit them with a whip. Kayana breathed deeply and concentrated on what was before her. After the larger of the goblins hit the villagers with a whip for the third time, she knew what was happening.

These are the last bits of Rowan’s subconscious that the demons have yet to subjugate,
thought Kayana.
These are the last bits of his free will.

Kayana decided that her strategy with Dion would not work here; she could not make a dome and fight these creatures one at a time.
Besides
, she thought,
I’m not here to exorcise these demons from Rowan. I’m here for answers.