The Immortal Game (book 1) (39 page)

Ruby nocked her arrow and let it fly. She skewered the creature and it let out a high-pitched squeal.

Ares’s head jerked. He looked at her with wide eyes that settled into one raised eyebrow.

She bent to pick up her arrow with the Chimera still attached and scraped the length of it across the edge of the wall. The little beast dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

“I think we’re clear.”

…

“Careful now,” Ares whispered in her ear. “This is the most dangerous part.”

What stood out the most about the end of the maze was how ordinary it was. Just another corridor among the hundreds they had walked through, but instead of another hallway there was a long staircase carved out of the same gray stone as everything else in the dungeon.

In the maze they could, and had, backtracked if they heard the Chimeras approaching. Once they started up the stairs they would be in the open with nowhere to go in a hurry.

They took the stairs two at a time. Near the top the steps beneath Ruby’s feet were no longer dark-grey, but black and shiny. Obsidian. She kept her excitement in check.

In the first hallway at the top of the stairs her hope faltered. They were in a long obsidian corridor, similar to the seemingly endless granite ones they had left behind. Did the maze have more than one level?

She looked both ways down the hall, but neither view gave away anything about where it led. For no good reason she turned to the right, a habit now, and Ares followed.

They passed a window. Ruby saw a grassy area. It was the garden courtyard. They were in the palace, but still at the far end, near where she had met Adelpha. They neared an exit and snuck past a pair of guards looking out into the apple orchard.

Recessed doors marched down the hall on their left. Ares stopped to check one, to see where it led. The heavy wooden door opened with a low groan. It was dark inside, but Ruby could make out bulky shapes covered with cloth. She thought of what Adelpha said about Persephone needing storage. It amazed her how human gods could be.

They moved on, looking for stairs going up, looking for Hades or his guards, looking for Persephone.

A low rumble, feet marching, came from ahead of them. Ruby froze. Ares grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side against one of the recessed doors. She heard the quiet click of the door’s latch and felt herself moving with Ares as the door swung open behind them.

The army rumbled closer. The ground shook. She saw a flash of red and gold as the mass swung around the corner, but what made her breath catch in her throat was the black robed figure leading them with his two-pronged fork in one hand. Hades.

Ruby and Ares fell back into darkness. Ruby’s hip flared. She squelched a cry. Ares closed the door as the thunder of Hades’s army was upon them.

Had they seen them? Would the door burst open with some crazy mixed-up beast pointing a spear at them? Would Hades take Ares away again?

The sound moved away. They were heading for the long flight of stairs Ruby and Ares had just come up. Ruby smiled, despite the agony in her hip. “He still thinks we’re down there,” she whispered.

TWENTY NINE

Ruby and Ares walked out the main entrance of the palace and looked up. Two flags hung at full-staff, one white, one black.

“She’s here,” Ruby said.

Ares nodded, his bruised face almost healed now.

They rushed back inside, trading stealth for speed. Hades and his army had gone to the dungeon looking for them. Time was of the essence.

They climbed the obsidian stairs up and up, to the next level and the next, until they were outside the throne room. Ruby went in first with their only weapon, Artemis’s bow and arrow, nocked and ready to go. Ruby scanned the room and checked the corners and the walls behind her like Ares had told her to.

Persephone was there. She sat, not on her quartz throne, but at an ornate vanity that stood in the corner. She wore a flowing white nightgown and ran a silver brush through her long brown hair. She hummed softly. The room smelled sweet and flowery.

Persephone saw Ruby reflected in the mirror of the vanity. The brush and the humming stopped midstroke, midtune.

Ruby exhaled in frustration. While she and Ares had been running from a deadly smoke dragon and avoiding Hades’s army of Chimeras, Persephone sat here in a dreamy state of post-coital bliss and brushed her hair. She was lucky they needed her so badly.

Ares strode to the goddess’s cushioned stool and grabbed her by the arm. “Let’s go.”

Persephone’s eyes darted to the two thrones. On the table was Hades’s hourglass. The red sand had long since collected in the bottom. On the floor were Ares’s sword and his pack. Next to the pack were Hermes’s winged sandals, Pan’s pipes, Eros’s torch, and a full skin of water.

Ruby’s throat contracted. The muscles in her neck tensed.

Ares picked up his weapon and attached the scabbard across his back while Ruby held her arrow trained on Persephone. When he finished he handed the water skin to Ruby and kept his eyes on the queen of the Underworld.

She ripped out the cork stopper and drank the sweet clean Olympic water down in gulps. Her stomach tightened. She tried to slow down, caught between her clenching throat, desperately dry, and her shriveled stomach that rolled with the shock of it.

Hades would soon realize she and Ares had escaped the dungeon. She took one final sip and handed the skin to Ares. He emptied it in a few gulps, packed up the bag, and threw the pack over his shoulder.

“Come on.” He reached for Persephone’s arm again.

She looked at him but she didn’t move. “Just give me a minute. I can’t go like this.”

“You’ll have to,” he said as he pulled the goddess to her feet and toward the door with Ruby close behind.

The Fields of Asphodel were as they always were: pleasant. Shades played croquet, ate hors d’oeuvres, and mingled. A ripple of murmurs and whispers started as Ruby, Ares, and Persephone made their way through the crowd. The queen of the Underworld didn’t go anywhere in Hades without being noticed. Soon the whole party was abuzz.

“So much for any stealth we may have had,” Ruby said to Ares.

“We have to move her along,” he agreed.

Ares had been behind Persephone, making sure she didn’t fall back. Now he moved to the front and pushed through the crowd. Persephone stopped walking and Ruby found herself in the position of having to motivate the goddess herself.

“Keep walking,” she whispered close to Persephone’s ear. She didn’t want to let the shades around them know that Persephone was not leaving Hades entirely of her own free will. Ruby didn’t know if shades would rise up and be violent, but if there was ever a cause they would fight for, Ruby knew Persephone was it, and a lot of them were armed.

Persephone walked faster. Ruby’s singed hip flared with each step. Shades on both sides of the procession leaned in, trying to get a look at the queen. A few shades had tears in their eyes. Ruby wondered if this was the Underworld’s winter, the rainy season, so to speak. Did they miss Persephone as much as Demeter and Hades did?

Ares stopped when they reached the Adamantine Gate. Cerberus would be on the other side with his three giant heads, snake mane, and cobra tail. Ruby trembled and wondered if he was as strict about who left Hades as he was about who came in. Either way he’d still want human flesh. They couldn’t use their weapons against him or else—

“What if we fight him?” she asked. “Then the gate will close behind us.”

Ares shook his head. “Hades can open it again.”

“But it might slow him down, even for just a few minutes.” Ruby reasoned.

“No,” Persephone said. “Don’t hurt Cerberus.”

There was a loud uproar on the far side of the Fields of Asphodel. Iron tipped spears jostled along, pointing at the ceiling of Hades, as an army of Chimeras headed toward them.

Persephone didn’t look at Ruby or Ares before she strolled out through the gate. The huge black dog came loping like a puppy out of his cave to meet her. Drool hung from all three sets of his massive jowls. The snakes on his mane moved excitedly from side to side. His cobra tail whipped around, eager to see the goddess.

He rolled onto his back and exposed his enormous belly to the queen of the Underworld. She petted his three giant heads in turn and scratched under each of his chins. With her other hand she waved Ruby and Ares through.

They entered Cerberus’s lair at a near run. Ares’s arm was locked around Ruby’s. He was on the side nearest the big dog, ready to shield her if he could. There were few sounds here, just Persephone talking softly and the dog’s contented, even breathing.

Ruby remembered the feeling of seeing Cerberus’s huge black eye over her shoulder coming for her. She gripped Ares’s arm and kept her eyes forward. She told herself that it would be better to be eaten, everything over in a minute, than to face Hades and his Chimeras for an eternity.

When they reached the far side of the cavern Ruby realized that Persephone had no reason to follow them. If she turned back to the Fields of Asphodel, Ares would have to follow her. What would the shades there do? The Chimeras? Hades?

But the goddess only glanced that way. She kissed Cerberus on one of his giant heads, stood, and walked to Ruby and Ares at a leisurely pace. Thankfully the goddess had a sense of duty.

Ruby’s relief was cut short by the sounds of Hades’s army drawing through the Fields of Asphodel. The trio walked quickly past the statues of the gods in their alcoves and down the stone tunnel that led to the bank of the Styx.

The river, with its thick, inky water, came into view. Ruby had pictured Charon waiting there on the shore, as if he would somehow know they needed to get back across the water quickly, but the shore of the Styx was empty. The ferryman of the dead was nowhere in sight.

Ares’s eyes were focused on the thick bank of mist across the water. He smiled.

Ruby looked there too. Lantern light cut through the vapor, and then a faint red glow. Charon’s red eyes coming to save them.

“Charon,” Ares yelled. “We’re in a hurry.”

The ferryman slowed his pole pushing and peered at the shore where they stood. The red of his eyes intensified and then softened. He began talking, but not to Ares.

“Persephone? Is that you?” the ferryman’s dark shape stood taller. His long pole reached for the bottom of the Styx with renewed vigor. “I thought it was getting late,” he said in a rush. “I longed to see you.”

Persephone smiled, as if she had come to the water’s edge for a visit.

Ruby exhaled an annoyed breath. Was there one being in Hades who
wasn’t
in love with Persephone?

Her annoyance was cut short by the echoing footfalls of Chimeras as they crossed through the large cavern of Cerberus’s lair.

Charon’s skiff seemed to move in slow motion, even as Charon’s arms pistoned down more quickly.

The sound of marching came up the passage behind them. Ruby heard Hades’s voice, mixed with the huffing and snorting sound of his beasts coming for them. “Ready your spears,” he cried.

When the skiff, full of new shades, finally slid onto shore, Ares hurried forward. He picked up a young girl, set her on the ground, and turned to help the other new shades off the boat.

When the boat was empty Ruby jumped.
Let’s go. Let’s go.

Charon was not in a hurry, though. He put out his bony hand to Persephone. She took it and smiled, shy and innocent.

“We’ve outstayed our welcome,” Ares said. “Old friend, get us out of here.”

The shuffling sound of animal hooves drew closer.

“I’ll need your fare,” Charon said, distracted. His eyes did not leave Persephone as she sat in the boat next to where he stood.

A shiver of panic ran through Ruby. The obolus. They had been in her pack with the Ambrosia Bars and the hardtack, eaten by Cerberus. She could now see Chimeras rounding the last bend of the hall to Hades. The king of the Underworld led them.

“Could we pay you next time?” Persephone asked, as calm as the Lethe. “I’d like to get back to my mother. She misses me so.”

Charon’s red eyes flicked to the passage where Hades’s army was barreling down on them and then back to Persephone. He smiled. His hand reached up the push-pole for leverage. “Of course.”

Ruby swayed as the boat slipped away into the water.

“Persephone!” Hades cried as he reached the shore with his army.

The goddess’s face remained calm as she sang out, “My love! Wait for me. Don’t choose another.”

Ruby rolled her eyes.

“I’ll be back soon,” the goddess called. “Visit me at my mother’s.”

“Perseph—” Hades repeated his cry, but his voice was swallowed up by the heavy mists that hung over the Styx. The air was cold in an instant and the only light came from Charon’s small lantern.

A pit rose in Ruby’s stomach as the skiff approached the far side of the river. This, of all the things she had seen in Hades and even Tartarus, was the saddest of all; shades waiting listlessly on the shore of the Styx with no obol to pay Charon’s fare, and no Persephone to beg mercy for them.

When the ferry docked Persephone lingered. Ruby watched as the queen of the Underworld let the ferryman of the dead kiss her hand.

A quiver of disgust ran through Ruby.

When Persephone joined Ruby and Ares on the path, she walked in the opposite direction Ruby expected her to.

“Where are you going?” Ares asked. “We can’t disassociate with Ruby. And I’m not letting you out of my sight until we’re on Olympus.”

Persephone gave them an annoyed look that seemed to be reserved for the few people who weren’t in love with her. “
You
can go that way if you want it to take all day. I’ll meet you.”

Ares gave her a hard stare. “Don’t be cryptic.”

“I mean, if you want to walk forever and still be thousands of miles from Olympus, then go that way.”

“We have—” Ruby started, thinking of the winged sandals that would fly them to Olympus in an hour or so, but Ares stopped her.

“Show us your way,” he said, though he did not relax his tense stance.

“Of course,” the goddess said with a smile, her charms returning. She walked along the bank, with the Styx on her right, until they were out of sight of the waiting souls. She took a sharp left into a cave that was rocky and shadowed and began to climb up.