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.”
He nodded in agreement. “It’s true, it is difficult. And honestly, here in the Underworld, there aren’t many differences between them and us.”
I watched a pale, partially dressed man rummage through a trash-pile before I turned away. The thought of spending eternity in this dark place was depressing. I didn’t even want to ponder what the man had done to deserve it.
I dropped back to walk next to my husband, although he was not awake. He slept fitfully, moaning softly every once in awhile and I knew that his wound pained him. That very thought pained me, too.
“We need to hurry,” I urged Ares.
He called over his shoulder. “I know.”
This city was unlike anything I had ever seen before. We stayed on the worn gravel road as we continued through the sad civilization. Barely anyone even glanced at us twice. Our presence was of no consequence to them. I doubted they even truly realized that we were there. Their minds were certainly gone.
To our left, a massive black pit teemed with writing pale bodies. Everyone was naked and they all screamed as they clawed at the sides. I inched closer
to Cadmus. Everything about this horrible place was unnerving.
“Are you alright?” Aphrodite asked me gently.
“Yes. Are you?”
“I’m not sure. Ask me when we’ve left this place,” she shuddered. “A more miserable place I’ve never seen.”
Ares called back to me, interrupting our conversation.
“Harmonia? Can you come here?”
My mother and I exchanged quick puzzled looks before I made my way back to the front.
I found Ares staring in hesitation at someone in a small, secluded area. I followed his gaze. The woman was hooded, her dirty hair falling around her shadowy face. She was muttering incoherently with her legs sprawled in front of her, scratching into the ground with an old rusty piece of metal. She had written the same thing over and over in scraggly, thin writing.
EMPUSA
EMPUSA
EMPUSA
EMPUSA
My startled gaze flew to my father’s.
“Isn’t that Hecate’s daughter’s name?” he asked slowly. I nodded, taking one step in the woman’s direction.
Ares grabbed my arm. “Wait! Let me.”
He approached her slowly, the same as he would a frightened animal. The woman lurched to her feet and hunched away from him into the corner, whimpering.
“Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t,” she whispered.
He knelt in front of her, holding out one hand slowly.
“Hecate?” he asked.
“That’s not Hecate,” I shook my head. “There’s no way, Ares.”
He glanced up at me.
“Don’t be so sure,” he muttered, returning his attention to the dirty woman.
“Hecate?” he asked again, this time moving a little closer. She clasped her hands over her ears and began screaming. Her shrill shrieks filled the air and I resisted the urge to cover my own ears to block out the horrible sound.
He reached out a hand to touch her and she wrenched away. As she did, however, her hood fell down, revealing her face.
It was most certainly Hecate.