The Haunting of Guaritori Diolco, Part 34
The Foundation Crumbles
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An earthquake shook us, no doubt a result of Poseidon striking the ground with his trident. Death magic lashed out at us again as Hades attacked from the shadows.
“Stop it!” I yelled, but my voice was lost in the rumbling of the earth. I threw what protection I could around us, but such a hastily constructed defense couldn’t block all the death magic. By far the most vulnerable was Iskios, who was half dead already. I reinforced the shielding around him as much as I could, but his heartbeat and breathing were both slowing. Mateo, seemingly unperturbed by the chaos around him, moved next to Iskios and did what he could to strengthen my son’s vital signs.
Hermes also did what he could, awkwardly twisting his serpent body in the process. “Iskios will not die,” he gurgled. “But you need to get my kin to stop this attack.”
Thoth raised another, much stronger and better constructed shield around us. “Do as Hermes says.”
That was easier said than done. I knew I had to move closer to the Olympians to have a shot at reasoning with them, but the closer I got, the more I faced their direct power.
I didn’t want to invoke Hermetic magic again, but I needed to use a little to fly. Poseidon and Hades were keeping out of sight, though I could hear the roar of the sea in the distance and knew that a tidal wave would strike our current position long before I could run to where the Olympians were.
As I moved closer to the sound of the gathering tidal wave, it became easier to discern that we had one thing going for us—none of the others had joined Poseidon and Hades here. They must have stayed back to protect Zeus’s body in the event that another attack occurred.
Hades was invisible, but Poseidon, pulling water all the way from the nearby sea, was as conspicuous as a mountain. I waved my arms frantically and started yelling again.
“Stop! The one who looks like Damnameneus is really Zeus. The sea serpent is really Hermes.”
Poseidon looked up at me, his eyes filled with rage. “Another trick!” he yelled back, his roar louder than the sea.
“You know me!” I said. “Feel my magic. It is from the Philosopher’s Stone and from Hermes. Could someone else fake that?”
“Perhaps not,” said Hades, appearing right in front of me so suddenly that my heart skipped a beat. “But some of our opponents have powerful magic. Lower your defenses so that I may examine you more closely.”
Hades, stone-faced as always, was his usual, hard-to-read self. I couldn’t take the risk.
“Swear by the Styx that you won’t take advantage of this moment by attacking me without provocation if I drop my shield.”
Poseidon roared again, and the impending tidal wave appeared right behind him, though he was holding it where it was.
“I swear,” said Hades, without hesitation. I let my magical defenses fade away, and he reached out with his cold hands, putting one on either side of my head. I could feel him reaching into me and did my best not to resist.
After a short time, he said, “You are Garth as far as I can tell—but you could have been misled.”
“Can Damnameneus throw lightning like Zeus can? You must have felt those blasts when you attacked us from Olympus. You might even have felt the magic of Hermes, not magic a normal sea serpent could wield.”
“And what of Iskios?” asked Hades, his tone harsh. “You witnessed how he betrayed us—and you—by kidnapping you from Olympus.”
“We all make mistakes when we’re young,” I replied. “He had a plan to trick the Telchines—which worked, by the way. We hold two of them as prisoners, while the third became a receptacle for Zeus.”
“Why didn’t he just share that plan with us—or even with you?”
“He wasn’t sure I was a good enough actor. You’d have to ask him why he didn’t want to tell the rest of you. But you’ll need to wait until he’s healed. When you first threw death magic at us, he used all his magic to shield me, leaving himself vulnerable.”
“Well, that is a change,” Hades admitted, making me wonder if he was the god of understatement. “Take me to him. I swear by the Styx that I will harm no one there as long as they make no attempt to harm me.” Looking down at Poseidon, he said, “I believe Garth’s story, but I am going to confirm it with my own eyes. Hold the tidal wave until I return.”
Poseidon nodded, though he looked as if he would rather unleash his watery wrath. I couldn’t help wondering how much energy he had to expend to hold such a powerful natural force stationary.
Hades and I flew back to the place where I had left the others. I took it as a good sign that the lord of the Underworld remained visible rather than disappearing again—but I felt jittery, anyway. I wished I hadn’t been forced to leave Iskios’s side before he was fully healed.
It was obvious that my companions were just as edgy when Hades and I appeared above them in the sky.
“We come in peace!” I yelled, even though I doubted any of them were hotheaded enough to take a random shot at Hades.
As soon as our feet touched the ground, Zeus moved toward us.
“Brother!” he said. “It is good to see you.”
“Just to be sure that you are my brother, I will need to examine you,” said Hades, walking toward the Telchine body that was Zeus’s new vessel. I took the opportunity to run to where Hermes, Thoth, and Mateo had been working on Iskios. He was sitting up and gave me what might have been a smile. He hadn’t had much practice with that particular facial expression.
I knelt and put my arm around him. He looked a little surprised but didn’t pull away.
“Thanks for saving my life,” I said.
“You helped give me this new body,” said Iskios. “It seemed a fair trade.”
He sounded about as emotional as Hades usually did. I couldn’t help being disappointed that he hadn’t been more expressive. I had to keep reminding myself that he’d been my mortal enemy until just recently. It would take time for him to adjust to being my son. At least, I didn’t see hatred when I looked into his eyes.
I felt a wet, slimy hand on my shoulder and jumped, but it was only Zeus. “Hades believes our account of what has happened. We must now return to Olympus and plan our next move.”
“I would like to accompany you if I may,” said Thoth. “I could be helpful.”
Given how much Thoth knew about magic, I had no doubt he could. But I suspected he wanted to tag along as much to learn more about some of our mysteries—including my situation—as to give aid. Either way, Zeus, even though he looked reluctant, couldn’t afford to turn down such powerful help at this point.
“We would appreciate whatever you can do,” said Zeus. He attempted a smile, though his scaly Telchine face didn’t seem to have the right muscles to pull off that kind of expression. But Thoth, whose golem face was probably not as flexible as he would have liked, did his best to smile back.
“As for you, I assume you will want to return to Earth,” said Zeus, looking at Mateo.
“Actually, I want to remain here,” replied Mateo. “I have the feeling I might need to help again.”
“The longer you stay, the more danger you will be in,” said Zeus. “You are far more fragile than the rest of us.”
Mateo nodded. “That point is not lost on me. But I have the strong impression that God wishes me to stay. Even if I were certain that I would die, I would still stay. Though I am more vulnerable than the rest of you, my faith enables me to do things that the rest of you might not be able to do.”
I was sure Zeus wasn’t accustomed to hearing that kind of statement from a mortal. The king of the former gods looked nervous about the whole situation, perhaps fearing that if Mateo died, God would hold Zeus responsible. But Zeus had to be seeing Mateo the same way that I was. The curandero did look even more fragile than usual, but he’d been praying hard and healing hard. The pure white glow of divine power around him was unmistakable.
“If you insist,” Zeus said slowly. “We will do the best we can to keep you alive.”
“And I will do the best I can to help all of you,” said Mateo. A lot of people would have sounded arrogant saying something like that to Zeus, but Mateo managed to sound humble.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked him as the others prepared to leave.
“If I weren’t, I wouldn’t have said I was. Besides, someone needs to keep an eye on you. I leave you alone for a short time, and you somehow manage to have a teenage son with Medea. If you can do that, I see no reason why I can’t survive here.”
I felt my cheeks redden. “There is a lot more to that story.”
“I have no doubt,” he replied, smiling. “These days, there is no such thing as a simple story.” He leaned closer to me. “But in case you were wondering, I think you’ll make an excellent father. Even before I knew what Iskios’s story was, I saw how much you cared about him, how hard you worked to protect him.”
“That’s more instinct than calculation,” I said.
“A large part of parenting is instinct.”
I would have liked to talk to him longer, but Zeus was already calling for us to leave. Since Mateo had never learned to fly, I invoked a little Hermetic air magic to get both of us off the ground, but maintaining a conversation in midair wasn’t practical, particularly because of the wind noise that surrounded us.
Since we were pretty close to the base of Mount Olympus, it took little time for us to return to the others. Hades and I had to make some quick explanations to calm the various suspicions that our appearance provoked. After that, I was more than relieved to let Zeus do the talking.
“The sickle which wounded me was a product of Telchine magic,” Zeus reminded his kin. “Having been a Telchine for a while, I’m confident I can undo the damage to my body and return to it. After that, we will try to reunite Hermes’s soul with his body, which I think will also succeed. Once we are all back to ourselves, we can apprehend Cronus and Atlas, restoring peace and order.”
Despite the Telchine voice that still sounded like an undersea storm, Zeus succeeded in raising the spirits of the Olympians somewhat. Even Hera, though still recovering from exhaustion, managed a tentative smile.
But then the ground shook beneath us so hard that I was almost knocked off my feet. I looked at Poseidon, who seemed just as worried as I was. This tremor wasn’t the result of another trident strike.
Two more jolts, each stronger than the last, quickly followed.
“Something is amiss,” said Hecate, still looking a little drained from her earlier exertions.
“I think I know,” said Hades, staring down at the floor as if he could see clear to the realms below. “Tartarus—the prison and the surrounding rock, not the elder power—has collapsed completely.”
“Why can we feel that from so far away?” I asked.
“Because of the way this plane came into existence,” said Hades slowly, as if we had all the time in the world. “Tartarus is in some ways the foundation. Erebus, though it is pure darkness, somehow forms the next layer. The Underworld lies just above that. The next layer has three parts, the realms of Gaia, Pontus, and Oceanus, or, as mortals would call them, the earth, the sea, and the outer ocean, which encircles the other two. Just above that is air, which gives mortals life and is the abode of storms and rain. Above that is Aether, which gods breathe. Last of all is Uranus, the upper sky wherein the heavenly bodies reside. Olympus lies in Aether, but with the mountain forming a link to earth and the mortal realms—”
“That is sufficient,” said Hecate, her tone sharp as daggers. “The important part is that, if Tartarus has indeed vanished, the layers above it, which constitute most of the plane, will begin to slip downward, with unpredictable results.”
“To prevent that from happening, we need Tartarus, the elder power, to restore his realm,” said Zeus.
“If he can,” said Hecate. “And if he will. His actions of late have been unpredictable. And as we have had no prior experience with anti-magic, we cannot be sure he can recreate what was destroyed by it.”
It was my recklessness that had helped unravel Tartarus in the first place. Guilt stabbed at me like an icy sword straight through my heart. I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. Making a mess in one area was bad enough. But collapsing an entire plane of existence? How could I ever make up for such a drastic error?
“I should go speak to my fath—to Tartarus,” said Iskios. “He will respond to me if he responds to anyone.”
“He’ll always be your father,” I whispered to him. “It’s OK to say so, even in my presence.”
That got me a nod from Iskios. That was better than nothing. I wanted to take him in my arms again, but I was getting an adolescent, not-in-front-people kind of vibe from him, so I restrained myself.
“He may not even recognize you,” said Hera. “Nothing is the same about you except your soul, and I doubt Tartarus knows much about souls.”
Zeus sighed. “Just in case, it appears that I must accompany you—and stay in this soggy wreck of a body for a little longer. Tartarus will recognize the physical form, if nothing else. After all, he cared about the Telchines enough to release them.”
“I should go as well,” I said. I hoped that no one would ask why. Truly, I didn’t know whether I would add much to a Zeus-Iskios mission. But I was partly responsible for the problem. I felt the need to be part of the solution.
I also wanted to spend time with my son. I’d probably not get the big emotional moment I was looking for—now or ever. But at least, I would have tried to help him, tried to be a part of his life.
“I will go as well,” said Medea, much to my surprise. Maybe she had read my nervousness and was trying to preempt any possible questions by pulling the attention toward her. If so, since most of the Olympians actively disliked her, they had no desire to question her motives for wanting to be further away from them. If I was reading his scaly face correctly, Zeus looked displeased by Medea’s announcement. But perhaps, he saw the utility of having Iskios’s parents along, just to make sure that the newly transformed teenager didn’t cause problems. In any case, he raised no objection to either of us tagging along.
“If that is the most urgent problem, I should come as well,” said Mateo. “That seems to be the place where prayer will be most needed.”
Given that we didn’t even know what we’d have to do to reach Tartarus, I felt uneasy about Mateo getting involved, but he wasn’t likely to be talked out of anything by me, and Zeus nodded his approval.
“I will return to the Underworld,” said Hades. “If I can reinforce its coherence, I might be able to keep it from falling into Erebus too rapidly.”
“I will help Hermes reunite with his body,” said Hecate. “After that, we will join you in the Underworld.”
“The rest of us will watch over Zeus’s body,” said Poseidon, shifting his trident from one hand to another. “Cronus is still at large, and if he somehow eludes Hera’s curse, Zeus’s body would be a logical target.”
“All of that sounds reasonable,” said Zeus. “Let us proceed as quickly as we can.”
I’d gotten the job I wanted, but I still felt uneasy, close to nauseated.
We had a plan, but the most critical part—enlisting Tartarus’s help—seemed about as practical as trying to hold this plane of existence together with chewing gum and paper clips.
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