City of gods - Hellenica (30 page)

But it’s out there somewhere
, thought Gunnar.

“This is the beginning of a new era,” said Dagon. “The chaos of the conurbation is going to fade away, to be replaced by order. And it will begin at this point, when I dispose of the Academy’s strongest children.”

Gunnar’s team was standing by the giant tank, surrounded by a score of Dagon’s armed guards. Gunnar looked at the water, which was calm and reflected the moonlit sky.

“This is a monstrous act,” said Saoirse. “History finds a way to dispose of its monsters.”

“True and
truer,
Hetaera,” said Dagon. “But I’m not thinking of history, I’m thinking of
now
.
Now
, in the chaos, society
needs me
to bring the conurbation out of the muck. Now is
my
time.”

Dagon nodded at his guards and they attached chains to their captives’ shackles. The chains were tied to posts in the middle of the water.
Dagon is using the same method of torment that he used downstairs,
thought Gunnar,
but we’ll be dragged into the water instead of dangled above, and rather than a score of crocodiles, we’ll face only one creature, but it’s more deadly than anything we’ve faced before.

Dagon pressed a button and the posts drew the chains in, and they soon brought Gunnar and his friends into the water. The team began kicking their legs desperately to stay above the surface; their hands were still shackled behind their backs. Kross was tied to Saoirse and he was having a hard time staying afloat. He panicked and whined, and Saoirse whispered unintelligible words into his ears until he calmed. The chains then drew back and tightened them against the poles; they were trapped, but at least they could stay above water. Gunnar looked around; the Megalodon was still nowhere to be seen.

“Drop some blood in the water,” said Dagon. “Let her know dinner’s ready.”

Gunnar secretly dropped his wrists below his feet and brought his shackles in front of him. He ground the shackles against a secret blade in his breastplate; it was made of adamantine and cut the metal quite easily. He looked around and saw that Dagon had erected a barrier around the water’s edge; he didn’t want the Megalodon to jump out and do any damage.
You’ll find a way to escape later,
thought Gunnar.
The bomb will take a few minutes to “go off.” It’s best to release it now.

Gunnar put his hands forward, opened his breastplate and took out the case. He opened it just as Dagon’s assistants started to pour blood in the water. Gunnar dunked the thin, leathery bomb into the water but didn’t let it float away.
It’s a matter of time before this takes out Dagon’s aquarium,
thought Gunnar,
but if we’re to survive the Megalodon, I’m going to have to do something very difficult.

“Use your suit to free the others, Tommy,” said Gunnar.

Tommy had already been working on his own chains and soon was swimming freely. He swam towards Kayana and brought an electric knife from his forearm and cut through her chains.

“Go ahead, swim around,” said Dagon. “The shark will get you. Look, there she is.”

Gunnar saw the huge dorsal fin in the distance.

“Hurry, Tommy,” said Gunnar.

Tommy had freed Kayana and was now working on Saoirse. Gunnar held the bomb close to him and then looked at the approaching shark.
Poseidon’s children are coming,
thought Gunnar.
I just need to time this perfectly.

Tommy soon freed Saoirse, and the group was now swimming towards Gunnar.

“Swim away from me,” said Gunnar, pointing his friends away from the aquarium to a patch towards the ocean nets.

They swam towards the shore, but Gunnar soon heard Saoirse barking orders at Kross. The hyaena whined and then spoke back to her; she yelled back and the creature left her side. Gunnar looked over and saw that Saoirse was now apart from the group and swimming towards him. She got near him and he yelled at her.

“Go away!” he said. “There’s no need for both of us to risk our lives.”

“I can talk to the Megalodon,” said Saoirse. “At least I can send it a few simple messages. I’ll help us escape after you deliver the bomb, whatever it is.”

Gunnar nodded and looked around; the Megalodon had disappeared and it was completely quiet. Wherever it was, it was too late to send Saoirse back.

“Don’t look down,” said Dagon.

Gunnar felt an immense rush of water as the shark swam under him; it was so large that they were pulled under. Gunnar grabbed Saoirse underwater and then brought her upwards. They came through a thin layer of blood on the water; Dagon’s men were pouring a steady stream into the tank. The Megalodon was still under the surface, but the roiling water showed that she was clearly in a frenzy.

“She’s having a hard time locating us,” said Gunnar. “We’re just too small. Now, I know this creature can’t talk, but can you send a message to attract her to a point, to get her to eat something?”

“Yes,” said Saoirse, “I can make a sound imitating prey.”

“Good,” said Gunnar. “When I say
now
, get under the water and do just that.”

Saoirse nodded yes.

“Good,” said Gunnar. “After that, come to the surface and hold onto me while I swim away.”

The Megalodon’s dorsal fin appeared twenty-five meters away, and it was tracing a circle around them. The fin was the size of a man and got closer with each lap, until Gunnar could see the Megalodon’s enormous head cutting through the water. It went twice more around Gunnar and Saoirse, and the third time it cut a hard left and blew by them. It scraped Gunnar’s side and tore him away from Saoirse.

“No!” she yelled.

Gunnar stayed above water, and once again it was quiet. He saw that he had accidentally let go of the bomb and it was now floating by Saoirse, leathery and flat. He then heard the cry of Poseidon’s children as they breached the outer nets.

“
Now
, Saoirse!” he yelled. “Become prey!”

Saoirse went underwater and Gunnar went with her. He heard her make strange noises and swam towards the sound. He then heard a snapping and the rush of bubbles as the Megalodon changed course.
No time to think
, Gunnar calculated.
All you need is a few meters’ distance.

Gunnar hit Saoirse in the midsection, bringing her to the surface. He kicked them both a few more meters away, and moments later the Megaladon swam straight up through the surface, its jaws fully open, and swallowed the bomb whole.

It swam down into the water again, preparing for another hit, and then arose two hundred meters away towards the ocean. Gunnar felt a warm splash as Dagon’s men threw a vat of blood upon them. It was unnecessary; the Megalodon had already figured out where they were and was now swimming right for them. Gunnar held Saoirse and kicked away, but it was no use; the Megalodon changed course slightly and kept on them. It opened its mouth wide and showed three rows of teeth, many of them bigger than Gunnar’s head.

Gunnar held onto Saoirse tightly as the shark’s open jaws began to engulf them, but just before they did, a Kraken’s tentacle attached to its nose and made it change course.
Poseidon’s children are here,
thought Gunnar as he smiled contently.

The Megalodon dove down with the Kraken, and two more Krakens appeared behind it; they were frightening but ignored Gunnar and Saoirse and focused solely on the Megalodon.

“That’s what the
bomb
was,” said Saoirse. “A Kraken egg.”

“Even Poseidon can’t control these creatures,” said Gunnar. “All we know is that they’re extremely protective of their eggs.”

“And their eggs send an electric signal through the water,” said Saoirse.

  The Megalodon breached the surface three hundred meters away, taking two of the gigantic squid with it. The Krakens had wrapped their tentacles around the shark, and when they sunk together another time, Gunnar saw two more Krakens coming in from the sea and heading for the shore.

“They know that the Megalodon ate their egg,” said Saoirse. “They want to destroy it and its home.”

“We need to go to the others,” said Gunnar. “Amazons are waiting for us.”

Gunnar swam to the nets and saw that Tommy, Kayana and Kross were already in a small speedboat. Gunnar and Saoirse swam to the edge of the boat and were helped in by the strong hands of the Amazon driver. The boat was so small they could barely fit inside, and it disappeared through the waves as it sped away, unheard and unseen.

“Nice delivery,” said the Amazon driving the boat. “The Kraken egg was my idea.”

Gunnar looked up and saw that the driver of the boat was Pyrgomache.

“We make quite a team, then,” said Gunnar.

Pyrgomache spat black juice into the water and smiled at Gunnar. “Indeed,” she said. “We brought the squid here, and now we’ve given them a vendetta against Dagon. They’ll start attacking his trawlers next, and after that his constituents will flee his district in droves.”             

Perhaps it’s better to be feared than loved,
thought Gunnar,
but feared leaders lose all power when a greater danger arises.
Gunnar looked to shore and saw that three more Krakens had now joined the fight; one particularly large one was focusing solely on destroying the aquarium. It swung its tentacles into the side of the building, and several tanks were now pouring into the sea. The ocean nets were cut through, and another part of the building was on fire.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” said Pyrgomache. “One of the squid probably ate him whole.”

“He’s alive,” said Kayana. “He still dies a year from this date; I’ll be there to make sure it happens.”

Pyrgomache spat again and then let out a loud laugh. It was so loud that Gunnar wondered if Dagon could hear it over the destruction of his aquarium. It didn’t matter anyway; three other Amazon speedboats were now escorting them safely to their shores.

“This black-haired girl’s more vengeful than I am,” said Pyrgomache, still laughing. “But you’ll have to wait for vengeance, Reaper; we need to get you to Hellenica immediately. The Horsemen’s names might be cleared, but your Academy is currently a madhouse.”

THE RETURN

There was a knock on their door three hours before morning call; it was Bes. Kayana was already up meditating with white eyes, but she chose to ignore the knocks until Tommy came out and opened the door.

“Go back to bed, Alderon,” said Bes. “I need to speak to Kayana alone.”

“Be my guest,” said Tommy with a yawn. He went back to his room and shut his door.

“Kayana, we need your help,” said Bes.

Kayana chose not to answer, but stopped meditating and returned her eyes to normal.

“Headmaster Indra has made a memo to the teachers exculpating you Horsemen of any wrongdoing,” said Bes. “In fact, he stated that you’re heroes for uncovering the truth. Except for the fact that Heracles is now enraged because someone stole one of his belts, everything seems back to normal.”

Kayana still chose to be silent; the words meant little to her, other than the fact that she need not run from the Academy anymore.

“But we still have a problem,” said Bes. “Many of our men are infected with these demons, and though we could lock them up, we can’t keep them locked up forever. Praetor Mantus tried to clear a soldier of his demons, but failed in that regard. I know you hate Praetor Mantus—”

“I haven’t yet learned the emotional state of
hating
anyone,” interrupted Kayana. “Though when I do, Praetor Mantus will be near the top of the list.”

“Fine,” said Bes. “Praetor Mantus needs your help driving the demons out from the Academy.”

“And you shall have my help whenever you wish,” said Kayana. “Line up all infected soldiers, one by one, and I’ll enter their dreams; they’ll be clear within a fortnight. All I ask is that Mantus or anyone else refrains from throwing me in Tartarus afterwards.”

“We can do that,” said Bes, “but Praetor Mantus wants to go with you; to supervise.”

“To supervise?” asked Kayana. “I’d sooner take mentorship from Pan the faun.”

“You’re quite powerful, Kayana,” said Bes. “You are what we would call a
prodigy
, and Mantus recognizes this. But you’re unskilled; if you were to enter the soldiers’ dreams tonight, you’d fail. Allow Mantus to chaperone and together you’ll be successful. And though you’re not fond of him, he’ll teach you to do things in dreams you can’t imagine.”

Kayana meditated on this for ten minutes, and Bes didn’t disturb her.

“I’ll go,” said Kayana, “upon one condition, which will be a secret between you and me.”

“Speak,” said Bes.

“I did much dream-flying this evening and know who’s infected,” said Kayana. “I’ll accompany Mantus and clear all the demons from everyone’s head, except for one remaining Spartan. He was the last to be bitten, and the bite was weak. His infection is in its infancy and he acts quite normal. I must clear his head, alone.”

“Why would you want to cure one Spartan alone?”

“I cannot reveal my motives,” said Kayana.

“Fine,” said Bes. “Then tell me the name of this last Spartan.”

“I’ll reveal it after Mantus and I are done,” said Kayana. “For now, let’s just say that there are only two beings on this earth that I would consider true friends of the Horsemen. You are one, and he is the other.”

/***/

It took the Academy a day to contain the infected Spartans. The insane and comatose ones were easily controlled, but the lucid ones took some time. The demons inside their heads knew what was happening externally, and each afflicted subject reacted differently. Some became violent, some hid, and some tried to argue their way out of a cure. Some worked together and some tried to escape to the surface. The gods worked together though, and sooner or later Heracles brought them all down to Praetor Mantus’s laboratory.

“We’ll bring you Rowan by the time you’ve cleared these Spartans,” said Heracles. “He’s somewhere in the Manitou. He injured four mercenaries in his escape, but didn’t kill them. I’ll have him ready for you by the time you’re done with these men.”

If you don’t,
thought Kayana,
I’ll find him, subdue him, and he’ll never harm anyone again.

Mantus’s wife Mania injected the Spartans with a dark substance and soon they were laid out in a row, thirty in all.

“They’re ready,” said Mania. “As always, they’ll sleep forever if need be.”

Praetor Mantus drank his dark liquid and poured Kayana a glass.

“Drink deeply and we’ll soon be in their dreams,” he said.

“I don’t require your substance,” she said. “I’ll enter their dreams on my own and you’ll meet me there.”

Kayana’s eyes turned white and she began to meditate.

/***/

The dreams of the soldiers were varied, and so were their actions. Some required assassination, some required chicanery, and some required Praetor Mantus raising an army with Kayana’s help.
Though I learn his tricks quite easily,
thought Kayana,
I must admit he has a lot to teach me.
One by one they cleared the Spartans’ head of demons, until they flew in the world between dreams and all their subjects were sleeping in peace.

“There,” said Praetor Mantus, pointing at a Viking castle. “Heracles has subdued Rowan; we must enter soon.”

Praetor Mantus and Kayana entered Rowan’s head and set up a camp ten kilometers from his castle, in the grey, lifeless marsh that surrounded it. The demons had built an entire town around the palace since she had left, and the castle itself was now better armed.

“It’s going to take some time,” said Praetor Mantus, “but we must free his mind in this go-around. If we fail, he’ll soon be beyond repair.”

Praetor Mantus and Kayana raised an army of ten thousand soldiers. As their army encircled the Viking citadel, they flew over the castle and found it densely packed; their army was outnumbered ten to one.

“The demons must have dug barracks deep into the earth,” said Praetor Mantus. “They have an endless supply, like ants from a hill. It’s a miracle that Rowan’s still sane. But nonetheless, the size of his army doesn’t matter, nor even the fierceness; we just have to make sure ours is smarter.”

/***/

Their siege lasted three days. They took and gave ground, captured enemy soldiers, and recaptured some of their own. Kayana went down into her soldiers’ makeshift prison to see some of the demons firsthand. They were fierce, ugly and seemed to be enjoying her soldiers’ taunts. When the soldiers beat them, the demons laughed maniacally—even as their heads were being cut off.

These creatures don’t respond to violence,
thought Kayana.
I won’t get what I want from them with threats or torment.

Kayana looked around; they were winning the battle, but she needed to do more than
win
when Bes would bring her the last subject.

These creatures don’t cow to violence,
she thought,
but there have been three days of fighting. This siege is on its third day.

Kayana’s army soon broke through the demon’s ranks and freed Rowan’s subconscious from the dungeon. All aspects of his soul had been taken over by the demons, save for one child near death, the child with the gravelly voice. Praetor Mantus blew life into him, and the child grew strong.

“We have garrisoned the castle,” said one of Praetor Mantus’s generals.

“Burn it to the ground,” said Praetor Mantus. “We can’t risk any demons holing away in hidden nooks.”

Praetor Mantus took the child and split him into four beings: a woman, a soldier, a dog and another child.

“Multiply further,” he said. “Build another castle over the ashes of this one. And if you should ever see these demons in the future, kill them without a second thought.”

/***/

“Looks like you were successful,” whispered Bes, back in the real world. “Rowan is a bit dazed, perhaps, but he’ll be okay.”

They were in the forest under an artificially moonlit sky. It was the only place they knew they could meet in secret; the Manitou had been growing out of control and the security cameras were out.

“I brought your subject in,” said Bes. “Now, would you care to tell the two friends of the Horsemen what this is about?”

Kayana looked at Cassander; he looked normal, hale and hearty, and he was shaking his head
no.

“Let Kayana clear me of these demons first,” said Cassander. “I feel okay now, but perhaps I’m not. There could be something inside me, listening.”

“Agreed,” said Bes. “And I must be leaving; Kayana, you’ll be good here?”

Kayana was already meditating and peering into Cassander’s thoughts.

“She’s all yours,” said Bes.

“Thanks,” said Cassander.

Ten minutes later, Kayana felt Cassander tapping at her shoulder and stopped meditating.

“Speak,” she said.

“You have a lot to learn about human interaction, Kayana,” said Cassander with a smile.

Kayana looked at Cassander and tried to understand what he was feeling. She didn’t sense fear; just the dull sense of duty that Spartans felt when faced with unpleasant tasks. But she did sense a
melancholy
in him, a longing for something that would never be again.

“I do have a lot to learn,” said Kayana.

“You do,” he said while lying down in the grass. “But your lessons will come later. For now, exorcise me.”

Cassander closed his eyes, and ten minutes later he was snoring. Kayana began to meditate and within moments she was entering his dream.

/***/

Cassander was dreaming of his wife and young son; Kayana could immediately tell that they were both gone. She couldn’t see Cassander’s family, but she sensed their presence in the same way he was sensing them: through
loss
.

I’m not feeling their presence at all,
thought Kayana,
I’m feeling their absence.

Cassander was sitting alone in a dark room, and she sat next to him. He had a depth of emotion denied to most Spartans, including Gunnar, and Kayana felt his emotions flow into her. She felt his pain and from that, extrapolated what had happened to him in
his
life.

“Your wife bore you a son that was also training to be a Spartan, and he died in the Agoge,” she whispered into his ear, unseen. “Is this true?”

Cassander nodded.

Kayana sat next to him a bit longer and absorbed a little more of his pain. She felt his longing, his regret and his anger. She felt it as he was feeling it, and found it fascinating.
This is what it’s like to suffer emotionally
, she thought. She couldn’t contain herself any longer and materialized next to him.

“A Spartan woman’s only duty is to raise warriors to die for their country,” said Kayana.
“And when she felt no pain over your son’s death, you could no longer bear the sight of her, so you left, is this true?”

Cassander nodded. Kayana turned her emotions off and dematerialized.
These emotions are fascinating
,
even if I can only feel them by proxy,
she thought.
But I can’t dwell on this now. I have a demon to catch.

/***/

Kayana flew over his dreamscape, but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, let alone any sort of demon. Cassander’s dream held dark, cold land and plenty of emotion, but there was nothing that caught her eye. She flew high in the atmosphere and looked at the dreamscape as a whole, and had to scan it three times before she saw it.
There is a fire in the far distance,
she thought,
and demons do not like the cold.

Kayana flew towards the flame and was soon over the demon. He was a small little thing with charred skin and a scrunched-up face; perhaps one day he’d become an army and drive Cassander to insanity, but for now he was just a spirit in the woods. She could have easily torn out his heart and sent him back to Hell, but instead she chose to materialize a dome around them.

“What’s this?” squealed the demon. “Speak, or fight!”

Kayana thought once more of what to do.
Demons don’t cow under threat of violence, and seem to cherish death,
she thought,
but a three-day siege …

She materialized at the far end of the dome, cross-legged, floating, and white-eyed. The demon rushed towards her with claws out, but hit an invisible barrier she’d constructed around herself.

“What is
this
?” asked the demon, clawing at the barrier. “Speak, or fight!”

Kayana didn’t speak or fight, but instead slowed time down to a crawl inside the dome.

“So it’s a waiting game you want, aye?” said the demon. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, sister.”

Kayana meditated more … and more. She waited a day, and then a month. The demon paced around the dome, smashed its head against the wall and tried to penetrate her barrier again, but she wouldn’t let it out. She waited another year, and then slowed time even further so she could wait a decade. The demon tried to kill itself hundreds of times, of course, but she placed a barrier around its body so it could do itself no harm.