THE PAST REMEMBERED
by Lorraine
Part 40
Harmonia crawled through the twisted passages in Hades' realm. In the five days since she'd escaped from Hera and Poseidon she'd been deliberately left out of the discussions concerning their battle. Every time she tried to find out what her family planned to do they changed the subject. They'd told her to rest, to stay calm, assured her that Iolaus would be rescued, but no one, not even her father, told her what they actually planned.
She refused to wait any longer. So she crawled through caverns and passages she had played in years ago when her mother brought her to visit or Charon babysat her. Passages that she could run through as a toddler and young child she now navigated on her hands and knees. The ones she crawled through now, pulling herself along on her stomach. Even then some of them were smaller than she remembered and she occasionally winced as rock scraped across some already battered, and not quite healed, part of her body.
And she glared down as her new metal foot scraped noisily across some outcropping. Every time the occasional screeching sounds of metal on rock exploded through the passage she winced, worrying that one of Hades' guards would notice.
As she crept, heading for a remembered hole above Hades' private strategy room, she muttered her anger at her family, interspersing her comments with occasional curses.
"... think I'm too young ..." She contorted her body into an 'L' around a rock outcropping and pushed down with her three front claws and one rear claw of her new metal foot to push herself forward.
She rocked back and forth still stuck.
"... I'll give those stubborn blind idiots too little ..." She grabbed the other side of the outcropping with her right hand, planted her left on the ground as a brace and pulled, again pushing down and forward with her metal foot.
She popped free, ripping a long jagged tear into her jeans.
"And that sweet little saccharine, 'Sweety, you just rest, trust us, we'll get Iolaus,' from Mom. As if..." She pulled herself free of the outcropping, now able to crawl freely.
"Like, duh, the last time I 'trusted' them to take care of everything, I end up prisoner of sadistic psycho freak god who throws me into a power sink trapped cave and leaves me there. No food! No potty! And one comatose auntie for company."
Reaching the beginning of the last passage she easily pulled herself up and slipped into the overhead mouth. Now an easy clamber, this had been the difficult section as a child.
"Did they rescue me? NO! I had to rescue myself." She rapidly crawled forward. "Okay I got the key from Iolaus and the information from Aunt Hec. But that's my point exactly - Aunt Hec was more help. And she wasn't even conscious!"
She curled into the small hidey-hole, drawing her knees tightly against her chest. "I know that this space used to be bigger. I mean, I sat up here and played with my doll for crying out loud."
She glared down as her foot scraped across the outcropping.
"And my foot got eaten! And they didn't even destroy the monster. Instead it's Uncle Hades new pet monster and it's humping the serpent every chance it gets. I mean, hellooo, it ate my foot and you make it fall in lust. Sometimes Mom, you are just waaay too much Goddess of Love for me to get."
She looked down at the still empty room. Hades created this room out of solid rock. He meant to create the most secure meeting place in any realm. No doors or windows existed. The only way in and out was translocating, he shielded it, and created traps to prevent bringing in weapons. Only her father's sword, as the symbol and carrier of his power could make it through those traps. The solid rock table and chairs grew from the cave floor. The only breach in Hades' security was the passage Harmonia found as a toddler, a passage that would be impassable for her in a few short years.
"Adults, just because they're a few centuries older, think they know everything..." She stops abruptly as gods appear in the room.
She counts heads immediately noticing the absence of Hercules and his mortal friends. 'Father, Daddy Hep, Mom, Hades, Celesta, Eris, Cupid, Strife. No mortals at all, no Hercules, and everyone looks grim.' She shakes her head silently, hoping that the sound carries as well as she remembered.
Hades waits until everyone sits before going to his place. He doesn't sit down. 'This is not good," she realizes gloomily as Hades begins to speak.
The sound carries as well as she remembered, so she hears every word of her uncle's opening gambit.
"I've discontinued the dreamwatch. Alcmene's little stunt alerted Belisco and that path's been closed to us. This war has damaged us as badly as them. You've all lost temples and worshippers. And my attention on this war has caused me to neglect my other duties. Harmonia's escape changes the equation. I wanted a private discussion with just gods, because I suggest that we end this war."
The yelling carries to her hiding place as her mother and Cupid jump up screaming, "NO!"
They remain standing, glaring at Hades.
"We have Harmonia, there's no reason to continue this over a newly made immortal." Hades yells back. He lowers his voice finally sitting. "Zeus won't be a problem, I say we make peace with Hera and Poseidon. They'll trade Hecate for peace, particularly if we agree to end the marriage contract between Zeus and Hera. We can probably even get them to agree to cut loose their alliance with Belisco. If Hercules wants to track down his lover, let him do it. There is no reason for us to involve ourselves in that dispute."
"I will not ignore their attacks on my daughter. Or the use of chaos energy." Ares subtly gestures for Cupid and Aphrodite to sit down. The gesture is so small that Harmonia nearly misses it until they actually do reluctantly sit.
"Reparations and sharing of the information on chaos energy can be part of the deal." Celesta points out.
Eris, Strife, and Ares began arguing with Celesta and Hades on the niceties of the wisdom and contents of such a treaty. Their voices rose and fell, traveling across the same ground repeatedly. Harmonia paid attention to them only briefly, her attention instead drawn to the three sitting silently.
Cupid, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus.
All three quietly sat, apparently ignoring the argument. While they tried to look impassive, they all had difficulty controlling their body language. The normal mask of control that godhood generally made so very easy fraying, slipping. Exhaustion, worry and fear showed in their slumped shoulders and drawn faces. Small trembles of their hands turned into clenched fists. Aphrodite hung her head looking at the table and avoiding the other god's eyes. Harmonia felt certain that a silent private discussion went on between the three but didn't risk trying to tune into the private mode her mother used.
As the argument continued she could see the small signs she recognized as her mother reaching the end of her patience and control. So she half expected Aphrodite's sudden outburst.
"This is a useless conversation. I won't abandon Iolaus." She stood glancing at her son and husband. "We won't agree to any treaty which doesn't include the imprisonment of Belisco and the release of Iolaus."
"Why not?" Hades bellowed back glaring at her. "Why don't you try telling us, why is this mortal so damned important!"
"Don't badger her!" Hephaestus warned, standing himself.
Hades ignored him bearing in on his niece. "Aphrodite you're asking me to risk my realm and the souls in my care for a mortal. WHY?"
"He's a descendent." Cupid stood while Harmonia frowned, knowing that Iolaus wasn't a demigod.
"NO! He is NOT a demigod." He pounded on the table. "Who is he that you would wage war between the gods for?"
"He's my child!" Aphrodite screamed back.
Hades shook his head no. "Don't lie to me!"
"I carried her in my body for a year!" She sank back to the chair blinking back tears. She finished in a quiet broken voice. "Do you think I wouldn't know my daughter's soul? I had Cerberus find her. And she kept track of her afterwards."
Harmonia bit back a moan that would have broken the stunned silence that followed that pronouncement. 'My brother, I left brother.' Her body shook as she remembered his screams and the silence that followed. 'No, oh no, my brother ... and I left him.'
"Do you know what you did?" Hades shout of rage drew Harmonia's attention back to the group arguing below.
Hades paced agitatedly pushing his hair back as he questioned her mother. Eris and Celesta had drawn back clearly not wanting to be part of this argument. Strife had actually vanished. Cupid and Hephaestus hovered over the crying Aphrodite. While Ares intercepted Hades enraged lunge for her.
"Don't even think about hurting her," her father growled.
"Do you understand what she did?" Hades screamed. Then he shrugged his hands off. "I'm not going to hurt her." He paced then turned again to Aphrodite. "I had her in safety. She would have been a goddess."
"In a foreign place, bound to a single mountain, to never leave. I could never have been any part of her life. And it would have changed Ybalessi's fate."
"Which is how you convinced them to help?" he asked calmly moving to stand in front of her.
She lifted her head wiping away tears. "Only Benten, we're both goddesses of love, she understood. Then later Ybalessi and finally Cupid when he learned."
Hades slumped to the chair next to hers. "You know I cut a deal with the Japanese gods to bind your daughter's soul to Ybalessi and make them twins. They would have defeated the demon together and been goddesses together. Not only would she have been a goddess, she would never have been lonely."
"I know." She nodded slightly. "I didn't change your deal all that much. I just convinced Benten to give her a choice. She chose to stay mortal when Ybalessi chose to become a goddess." She looked at him closely.
"It's an incredible soul, full of love and fire. They've been incredible lives. I won't abandon Iolaus."
"I knew you were keeping a secret, but I didn't expect that one." Hades almost whispered the thought to himself, only the acoustics of the room carrying the bewildered musing to Harmonia.
"You never intended to abandon Iolaus." She hit him in the shoulder pushing him off the chair.
Hades landed on the floor and responded as Ares helped him up. "I wanted to know what your secret was. You're exhausted, I figured you wouldn't figure it out until I got it out of you. Like I said, that was not the secret I expected."
"What did you expect?"
Hades ignored the question shaking his head.
"Now we just have to figure out how to rescue him."
They slowly resumed their places around the table. Throwing ideas out again, chasing the arguments around. Long hours passed as they planned and argued, until finally, Ares called a break.
Harmonia leaned back against the cavern wall summarizing the problems. 'Problem one, they can't find him. None of them can sense the tags I left and use them to trace their ways back. And the dead Iolaus rescued can't help. Apparently, they didn't exactly find any signposts. They can't even find Lilith's spirit. Hades thinks she went to the Amazon place of the dead. Problem two, even if they did know where, they can't breach the shields. Not from the outside.'
She leaned back, planning, silently reviewing and discarding options. Finally, still silent, she crept out the way she came to collect the necessary elements for her plan.
Six hours later she was again climbing through caverns and passages. Her metal foot clicking across rocks as she clambered through the caverns of Hades. She paused, silently checking her small carry-sack before moving into the last passage. The sack was firmly tied to her waist firmly securing the small box that had held the chaos-energy. And within the key, coals, and ambrosia she had also taken. A knife and small delicate lock pick set sat securely in her boot sheaves.
She resumed climbing, carefully pulling herself over the last ledge before dropping into the last passage. She glanced back worried. "I need to be out of here before Daddy Hep wakes up." She quickly reached the last small barrier to her goal, rumbling waterfalls that indicated the origin of the Styx lay immediately behind them. Skirting them carefully she worked her way behind them, finally entering the sorrowful goddess's cavern.
A faint black glow dimly reflected off damp rock and their small-interlaced crystals. The echo of the waterfall faded, replaced instead with mournful sobbing. More by that sound than by any dim light created by this place,
Harmonia traced her way to her goal.
Alongside the furthermost wall of the cavern, Styx knelt on a rock. Water welled up from the rock flowing over and into a pool below. The goddess wept bitter tears of hate and sorrow lost in mankind's mourning for all that should be and was not and all that should not be and was. Their regrets filling her until she lost herself completely. Water rained down from the rock and the wall beside it.
A moment later Styx vanished and water took her place retaining an outline of the goddess' form.
The weeping continued, filling the cavern with rage and regret.
Harmonia stood, breathlessly watching.
Then the flow of water stilled and the ancient goddess reappeared, still weeping.
Harmonia continued staring at the sorrowing goddess. Styx flowed back and forth between forms, appearing one second to be a kneeling woman weeping onto a rock, the next her robe and body shifting, becoming a flow of water coming out of the rock. Her tears rained down from the rock, joining the water flowing from the wall beside them. Mingling together flowing into the pool below.
Harmonia shuddered at the oppressive atmosphere in the cavern. Remembering the legend that Styx had loved a mortal man, the first victim of the first mortal war. She wept for his death and became trapped in mankind's regrets and grief. To never stop weeping.
From this place of weeping came the origin of the great rivers of Hades. Water flowed from the pool creating the Styx, River of Hate. The Styx flowing out then branching into the Acheron, River of Woe. Then flowing into Pyriphlegethon, River of Fire and Cocytus, River of Wailing.
She continued to stare nearly mesmerized by Styx's shifting.
*HARMONIA!*
Her stepfather's furious, worried mental yell abruptly snapped Harmonia out of her mental reverie.
"I guess that means he's awake," she muttered to herself grinning fiercely. "Well I picked this as my starting point because you can't just pop in, too much of a sink presence. And they simply aren't going to be able to fit through those passages."
*HARMONIA! Don't you dare do this! Do you understand me?*
*Like Tartarus I won't. I know ... I know he's my brother and I'm going back for him.* With that fast mental cry she stepped onto the rock. With a fast breath she dove shifting her form as she hit the inky water. With a few quick strokes she pulled herself down and into true water. She forced the remaining air from her lungs and convulsed slightly on her first breath of water.
*HARMONIA! NO!* The mingled voices of her parents and brother echoed in her mind as she flung her awareness out locating her tags and quickly reinforcing them and finding the small pockets of safe water between her and the first tag. She traced a new path back taking better advantage of the small pockets of pure water and the lack of an enemy on her tail.
*Twins are closer than parents. And I've got a plan.* She called back.
Moving to the first new tag she felt her family's fear and anger echoing in her mind. She ignored it determinedly continuing. Swimming strongly she continued making her way back still ignoring the frantic cries of her family.
Finally she whispered to them.
*I love you.*
Part 41
Hephaestus clambered over the rocks, coming to a passage to small for his body to fit through.
'Damn stubborn girl.'
He stepped back, examining the situation. She had planned well; he absolutely couldn't translocate this deep into the labyrinth of passages. Messing with time and space was a very bad idea this close to that kind of energy sink. But he could do other, more personal magic. He kept careful track of the metal in her new leg, allowing the rest of his awareness to flow into his own body.
A soft glow coalesced around him shrinking slightly as he worked his power through his body. He groaned, slightly shaking as he came out of the working.
He stretched out his hands looking at them briefly, still powerful, but now small. He breathed deeply, rapidly accustoming himself to his new or rather old smaller form. He smiled, remembering the last time he'd used this adolescent body, when he had first met Hercules. Then he noticed Harmonia quickly moving forward and silently tracked her.
He checked his tool belt making sure that everything still fit securely in their new smaller loops. Only then did he start after her.
His now slender form fit easily through the passages, but he couldn't change the crippled structure that Zeus' first bolt of lightening caused in the womb. He still limped, his one arm remained weak and the scars on his face remained. The arm and limp slowed him, keeping him from gaining on Harmonia and lengthening her lead.
He grimly decided he wasn't going to catch up and called Ares and Aphrodite. *Harmonia is going back after Iolaus. She has a chaos box, ambrosia, and the key to Hecate's cage. I'm tracking her but I'm not close enough.*
As they acknowledged his message, he noticed her reaching the cavern and put on a painful burst of speed.
*She's stopped a moment, let me try to reach her.*
Ares growl carried back. *MOVE! She has two of my daggers, too.*
He felt Aphrodite and Ares' presence as they arrived at the deepest part they could safely translocate too.
He slid around the waterfall letting his eyes adjust to the dim light. She stood next to Styx right by the rock. Terror gripped him as she swayed toward Styx almost falling into the ancient goddess.
His gasp of fury and fear came automatically. *HARMONIA!*
He cursed himself, realizing too late that she had been mesmerized by Styx. He felt more than saw her start as she moved.
*HARMONIA! Don't you dare do this! Do you understand me?*
He quickly let her parents see through his eyes as he moved to her in the dim light, hoping she didn't realize he was already in the cavern.
*Like Tartarus I won't. I know ... I know he's my brother and I'm going back for him.*
'What? How does she know?'
He heard Ares roar at Hades,*I thought you said that place was SECURE!* as she stepped onto the rock and dove into the water.
*HARMONIA! NO!*
His cry mingled with her parents' and Cupid's.
Hephaestus made his way to the rock, stumbling as his leg gave out. He briefly saw the flare of tags being set. As he reached the rock he heard her voice again. *Twins are closer than parents. And I've got a plan.*
Hephaestus glared into the inky water knowing that even if he did reach her, that in this form he wouldn't be able to drag her back. He concentrated, shifting his body to breath water. "It had better be a good plan,
Harmonia."
He took a deep breath, stepping off the rock to follow her. As he entered the water he heard her soft mental whisper.
*I love you.*
It took Hephaestus several minutes to get his bearings. By that time Harmonia had already swum several tags ahead of him. He informed Ares and Aphrodite that he planned to join her and began swimming.
He tracked her, silently using his tag on her, the metal in her leg, and her own tags to follow. He quickly lost his link with Ares, remaining in contact with Aphrodite a few hours longer, until, finally, that link too faded. From then on he swam alone in the unfamiliar dark.
He quickly discovered that Harmonia's stronger and healthier body meant that she'd set the tags at her reach, not his. So her easy reach was a slight stretch for him, a hard reach, a struggle, and the few times when the available pure water was so far apart to be a struggle for her, nearly killed him. Culminating when he ran out of air and in desperation breathed in some part of the Styx.
That near miss weakened him still further.
In addition, the Styx sapped the energy from his body, quickly stealing the power he used everyday to compensate for his crippled arm and leg. The muscles cramped, shooting pains along the damaged tissue. Until, in desperate pain, he curled into a small niche of pure water and focused his remaining power on soothing the muscles, slowly relaxing them, easing spasms. All the while keeping track of his wayward stepdaughter.
He noticed her stopping and taking a deep breath pushed out of the niche hoping to gain ground. When she resumed, he paced her only a couple of tags away. And hopefully out of her sensing range.
Nearly a day passed as they swum. The more efficient path and the lack of a monster made this trip shorter than her one out. But for Hephaestus it was still nerve-wracking and exhausting. He continued, following as they reached the last leg of their journey and she slowly swam up. He cautiously moved forward reaching for his knife. He didn't even hope that Hera and Poseidon hadn't set a guard.
He surfaced, silently pulling himself out of the pool, pulling himself out in the near darkness and took two paces forward. Then he stumbled, tripping over a body. Groping, he discovered the damp bloody slash on his neck, and, grimacing, he stood.
A sudden shove sent him twisting off balance and he landed on his stomach with Harmonia's knee in his back and his good arm held in a vise and a knife at his throat.
"Harmonia! Put that knife down now!" Hephaestus deliberately used the same tone, or rather as close to the same tone as his lighter frame could manage, that he used when she used to pick up one of his tools.
She flipped him over in a fine display of her father's training. Without removing the knife from his throat she turned his face so his scars clearly showed.
"Daddy Hep?" She looked at him inquisitively, her voice a little uncertain.
"Do you mind getting off my stomach now?" He glared at her, embarrassed at being taken off-guard.
She smoothly got up, still staring at him.
"Sorry." She shrugged. "Overtrained I guess. I felt someone tailing me the last few tags and after I took out the guards I heard you splashing around."
Hephaestus struggled up. "I was not splashing around." He stopped as what she said registered. "Guards?"
She jerked her head to the other guard lying on the far side of the rock.
"Your father spent a lot of time making sure you stayed a blood innocent." He peered at Harmonia hoping for a response. When he got none he warned, "He's going to be irritated."
She shrugged, snarling, "They're two of the set that raped Iolaus. I'm not real happy about that. So you can expect some more blood on my blade." She glared at him. "You know this really complicates things. Part of my plan required you being up there." She yanked her head up.
"Oh you mean you really have a plan?"
She looked at him and he realized that she had only just now noticed his exhaustion. Her voice softened. "Yes, I really have a plan."
She led him around the rock, through to the cave wall, and from there around to where Hecate sat imprisoned. Leaning him against the wall she looked at him. Hephaestus saw the worried struggle in her face.
"Well?"
"I took one of the chaos boxes, the key, and ambrosia. I figured the empty box could store the ambrosia safely." She bit her lip. "I took the new lock-pick set you designed for Hermes. I figured he wouldn't mind."
Hephaestus grimaced. He hadn't even noticed the missing kit. Her next statement shook him to his core.
"I also took two coals from your forge."
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. Staring at his stepdaughter with slightly wild eyes. Closed it.
And finally opened his mouth a third time.
"You did what!"
She started answering.
"Never mind. I don't believe you did that." He pulled himself up so he could glare down at her.
"Do you know how dangerous that was? Do you have any idea what you could have started?" He paced, limping back and forth, too agitated to feel the pain his rapid pace caused.
"What were you thinking?" He glared at the again. "Don't answer that."
"I was careful." She jumped up defending herself. "And I couldn't think of anything else that would break us out of here."
He whirled placing his hands on his hips and muttered. "Careful. Careful! CAREFUL! I don't want to hear about CAREFUL!" He stopped shaking his head. "My forge is part of the volcano! If you'd screwed it up we would have had a few extra hundred miles of coastline. Of course the original coastline wouldn't be there anymore so I don't know that it would have improved anything."
He ran out of breath.
"That's why I was so careful."
"Do you know how much time and energy we put into saving that coastline? The same part of Greece you risked blowing by ..." He shuddered. "That was your plan. Make your way back here, free Hecate, use my coals to bust free, and take the ambrosia. And then?"
"That's why I wanted you up there. I figured you would sense the coals going off and home in." She shook her head. "Now I can only hope that Cupid can really find Iolaus."
He slumped to the ground leaning against the cave wall.
"Oh Tartarus." He thought a moment.
"Give me the box."
She looked at him.
"It's a good plan. Even with me here it really is a good plan. But don't think we're done talking about taking coal from my forge." He sighed holding out his hand. "That kind of power surge - a blind elephant could find. Even Hercules should feel it. Not trace it mind you but feel, yes. So give me the box."
Harmonia smiled handing it over. "Actually, the one problem was timing. I couldn't figure how to free Hecate without disrupting the energy flow to Hera and Poseidon and make to the far wall fast enough."
He took the box. Carefully opened it and removed the key. "That sounds like a fairly fatal flaw. I'd have worked it out first.”
Harmonia frowned. “I think I could have released her and convinced her to play dead while I blew the wall."
Hephaestus stood. "A plan's good. Survival is better."
He handed her the key snapping the box closed.
"So lead me to the spot where you want to blow a hole in this place." He grinned. "Hecate's easy, there's a hidden release catch. It's on the back top brace, about two fingers from the left edge. You free her and get her back. I blow the wall."
She nodded.
"Let's do it."
Part 42
Night still ruled, the moon sat low and thin in the sky, stars still winked. Their fire cast little light and warmth through their camp. Jason looked at the others. Gabrielle slept in her usual place between Atus and Xena. The three of them had taken two hours to get water from a stream less than fifteen minutes away. When they came back Atus carried the water and Xena carried Gabrielle. He didn't know what they had done, but Gabrielle had the most satiated grin on her semiconscious face he had ever seen. Joxer and Autolycus slept wrapped together on the other side of the camp. And Hercules still held him shifting restlessly his cock a little heavy against his ass. His temper had shortened after Harmonia's escape and Jason worried about him nearly constantly, the added concern simmering in the back of his mind. New worry joining his constant terror for Iolaus.
He turned in Hercules' arms, caressing his body, nibbling at Hercules' lower lip, running his tongue across it and thrusting gently into the warmth of his lover's mouth. He pushed gently and Hercules shifted to his back.
Hercules woke to Jason's kiss. He responded, pulling Jason's sturdy body on top of his. They continued kissing while Hercules ran his hands up and down his lover's body. He rested one hand on Jason's ass rubbing it in circles pushing him down and around so that his cock rubbed between them. He continued exploring Jason's ass, one finger dipping into his hole. His other hand circled around to grab his hair and pull him even deeper into the kiss. Their tongues dueled and Jason rocked faster against him, until his orgasm swept over him and Hercules felt his sticky seed on his belly. Hercules broke the kiss turning them.
Scooping Jason's cum from his stomach he moistened his fingers with it and slowly opened Jason up enough to take him. He vaguely heard gasps from the other side of the fire and looked across to see Joxer sucking Autolycus. He continued preparing Jason whispering, "Look."
Jason turned his head impaling his body further on Hercules' fingers at the sight of Autolycus' arching body. Hercules found his prostate and rubbed his finger against it. Jason's cock filled full a second time. Hercules continued rubbing a finger against the prostate over and over listening to his lover's moans and gasps. Joxer thrust first one then a second finger into Autolycus. Finally, the thief firmly pulled Joxer's head down and pounded his own orgasm down his throat. Jason moaned nearly cumming at the sight. Joxer knelt up, pushing Autolycus' legs to his chest, and thrusting in. Hercules pulled Jason's legs over his shoulders and thrust home in the same instant.
The two couples made love in the firelight, filling the small clearing with gasps and groans of passion. Hercules pulled Jason's body up almost entirely off the ground and circled a fist around his cock. They thrust together, Jason tightening his legs around his lover's back and bracing his arms against the ground to thrust up and pull Hercules deeper into him.
Joxer pushed Autolycus' legs down hard, spreading them farther apart as he thrust hard, changing the angle until every thrust hit perfectly. Autolycus tightened his ass, milking his lover. His hand stole between their bodies until he could stroke his cock in rhythm to Joxer's hard thrusts.
Hercules and Jason came first. Hercules leaning forward and slamming forward as he pulled Jason back onto him. His hand left Jason's cock to grab his hips as he thrust his orgasm home. As he finished, he pulled out and pulled Jason up to his mouth. He licked his cum from the crack of Jason's ass and from where it had dribbled, covering his balls and the inside of his thighs. Then he swallowed Jason's cock pulling it deep into his throat and sucking desperately. With a powerful thrust and loud groan, Jason came.
Autolycus heard Jason's groan and looked over in time to see Hercules pull up, cum dripping from his mouth. He moaned, cumming and tightening his ass impossibly on Joxer's cock. With a cry Joxer came, finally dropping on Autolycus.
The two couples rested. Joxer finally rolled off Autolycus with a gentle kiss. In moments they fell back asleep. Hercules stood after a brief moment and cleaned himself. He walked slowly to the fire staring at it as Jason watched the stars worrying. Finally, Hercules returned to their bedroll and settled behind Jason, once more spooning up against him. He slept restlessly, talking as nightmares and dreams overtook him.
Xena rolled over bumping into Gabrielle. With a muffled complaint Gabrielle elbowed her. "Xena, either wake up or go to sleep."
"Had a weird dream." Xena opened one eye, determined that the sky still had stars and not sun, shut it and went back to sleep.
Gabrielle's mumbled, "Me too," went unnoticed.
They dozed tuning out occasional clinking, the smell of the fire being rebuilt, and mumbles of protest from Jason. Finally, the smell of food finally roused them. They sat up blinking.
Atus was already awake slowly sharpening one of his knives looking past them. Joxer and Autolycus were quietly talking their bedrolls already packed and ready.
The very first gray of dawn filled the sky.
"Good morning." Hercules' forcibly cheerful voice welcomed them.
Gabrielle glared at him. "Hercules, I see no sun, I hear no birds therefore it is not yet morning." She continued glaring, putting emphasis in her last words. "I am sleeping."
She lay back down ignoring Xena's indulgent, "Well she really isn't a morning person."
Hercules lost his artificial cheerfulness immediately. "We have two temples on the schedule today," Hercules snarled. "We don't have time to play games." He turned as Jason rubbed his shoulder soothingly. He opened his mouth to snap, saw the look of concern in Jason's eyes and stopped.
His body trembled. "Iolaus is ... I can't ..." His face wrenched and he shut his eyes holding back tears.
Gabrielle sat back up at his tone. "Hercules ..." She went to him joining Jason. "Let it go. Hercules let it go," she soothed.
He shook his head. "I can't. If I ... I can't go there. If I let go ..." His body shook. "I don't know if I'll come back."
"Then take a breath," Xena instructed.
He complied.
"Another."
She moved in front of him.
"Open your eyes and breath with me."
She continued talking slowly while Hercules strengthened his control and the others quietly packed the camp.
Several minutes later, Hercules took a deep breath and stood. "I'm sorry. I know I'm ..."
"Your temper has gotten worse since Harmonia escaped," Atus finished for him. "We all know why. We're all afraid of the same thing. With her back, they don't have any reason to stay with this war." With that he brought the unspoken fear everyone had avoided into the light. He walked to Hercules, gaining and keeping direct eye contact. "Hercules, whatever the gods do - we, all of us, are in this until we have Iolaus back."
"So are we." Strife's voice came from behind Hercules. They turned and both Strife and Cupid stood behind them. Cupid had a black eye and split lip.
"Really?" Hercules turned slowly staring at his nephews slowly unclenching a fist.
Strife turned to Cupid. "See, they need to know."
Cupid looked down without answering.
Strife shoved him. "Cupid! You don't spit it out right now, I'm blackening your other eye!"
Everyone gathered staring at the two arguing gods. Xena caught Hercules' eyes, and he shrugged, shaking his head. Slowly Hercules and friends backed away, putting several feet between them and the gods. They ended up out of direct firing range as they stared at Strife and Cupid's escalating disagreement.
Cupid ignored their reactions, concentrating instead on Strife. He shook his head turning away. "Why don't you tell them?"
Strife grabbed his arm yanking him back. "Because Hades figured out that I planned to when I disappeared from the meeting and put a thrice damned geas on me and I can't!" Strife's voice rose in emphasis. "We already had this fight. Now stop arguing and tell them!"
Cupid stared at Strife shaking his head for several minutes. He glanced over at Hercules a few times and then at Xena. Eventually, he shrugged and backed away from the small group at the edge of the clearing.
"Harmonia went back after Iolaus and Hephaestus followed her." Cupid started. Strife glared at him. "We are all in agreement. This doesn't end until we rescue Iolaus and imprison Belisco."
"Cupid," Strife warned him in a low voice. At the same time he mentally added a stern, *Tell them.*
"Harmonia went back?" Hercules asked, "Why?"
The group stared at them watching as Strife thumped Cupid on the back of the head. Cupid heaved a great sigh.
"Because..." He stopped. *And how exactly am I supposed to say it?* he mentally growled at Strife.
*Just spit it out. You know, Mom finally confessed that Iolaus' soul is your twin sister.*
Cupid thought that method over for one millisecond and discarded it. Unable to come up with any graceful way to tell them he decided to say what ever came to him and opened his mouth to speak.
"Because Iolaus is ... um, uh, Iolaus ... Mom, Dad..." Cupid stumbled through the half-formed sentence.
"Yes?" Gabrielle prompted.
"Iolaus is my ... twin."
They sat in stunned shock. Finally, Joxer stammered out. "Iolaus is a god?"
"No." Cupid responded slowly. "He's a mortal, but his ... his soul is my twin sister's."
"Wait!" Autolycus strode up. "Iolaus is your twin sister? As in female, sister?"
Hercules murmured to himself, "That explains a lot." Thinking back on the various times that Cupid and Aphrodite had helped his friend.
Gabrielle murmured the same, "That explains a lot." Remembering a few bouts of lovemaking with the only man more insatiable than her.
Jason slumped to the ground shaking his head several times, then blinked, looking up as he heard Autolycus' questions.
Cupid shrugged, "Well his soul was my twin sister's before Zeus killed her. But souls are sexless and Iolaus is male."
Jason laughed.
"What's so funny?" Xena asked.
"If Iolaus has Cupid's twin sister's soul, that means he's Ares' daughter, which makes him Hercules' niece." He glanced up at Hercules waiting for his predictable reaction.
"I am not sleeping with my niece. Even if what Cupid says is true, Iolaus is Iolaus." The others giggled at Hercules' look of outrage. "And he isn't my niece!"
He turned shaking his head ruefully at their continued giggles. "I can't deal with this. Not after last night."
"Hercules?" Xena questioned.
"I had an odd dream."
"Dreams are important," Joxer interjected eagerly. "Sometimes gods speak or the dead come."
"Yeah," Hercules mused. "That's what I dreamed. Ephiny told me that Lilith had found Iolaus and ..."
"...and could lead Hades to him in ..." Gabrielle continued,
"...spirit," Xena finished.
They all looked at each other as Strife created a gate to Hades' palace.
Charon thrust one more time into his lover's skeletal mouth. Teeth scraped the head of his cock and his body arched as his cum flowed across Thanatos' teeth. Hard bone rubbed against him as his lover shuddered against him.
The two gods separated gasping.
Charon leaned back, looking up, and yelped at the hole opening above him. He pushed Thanatos one way, rolled the other, and they both fell from their bed to the floor with twin thumps. Screams echoed through the room and another loud thump and the bed breaking with the force of whatever hit sent them skittering to opposite corners and grabbing their weapons.
The bed slats splintered causing the frame to collapse together. Feathers had flown up when the mattress ripped and broke scattering its contents. The feathers now drifted back down slowly. The figure on the bed continued screaming and struggled with the blankets that had flown up and over to cover it when the bed broke.
Thanatos slowly approached the bed from his direction holding his scythe up and ready to strike. Charon approached from the opposite corner his pole in a similar position.
The figure stopped screaming, flung off the last blanket muttering. "This is ridiculous."
She took in the threatening figures of Thanatos and Charon and froze. "Oh shit!" She held up her hands. "See no weapons. You think maybe you could relax." She looked at their weapons. "Please. I need to see Hades." When they still didn't lower their weapons she stood up irritably plucking feathers out of her hair.
She glared at them as she plucked the last feather out and planted her hands on her hips.
"Look. I'm not threatening you. I just need to see Hades." They still didn't lower their weapons.
She scowled. "I have had a really," she paused for emphasis, "really bad few days. And I need to see Hades." The two gods stared at her. "Okay, I've been tortured, raped, and murdered. Had my soul locked in a damned cage. Used by that shithead Belisco for power. Released. Turned into a ghost. Watched a friend torn apart by those murdering raping Tartarus escapees. Met his really odd teacher. Taken a crash course in spirit movement through planes of the living, the dead, and the, I don't know what, but it's not living and it's not dead either. Anchored myself to a sword. Jumped through fire and burned. Jumped through endless waterfalls and landed in the Styx's cave and she dumped me here."
She paused.
"I need to see Hades! NOW!"
Thanatos and Charon looked at each other.
"So I take it you're Lilith?"
Part 43
Hephaestus knelt beside the hole in the cave and took a deep steadying breath. They had done everything that they could do to increase their chances of survival, and now they had to act. He held the two glowing pieces of coal, one in his damaged hand, barely able to contain its energy, the other rested in his whole hand, sullenly contained, he could sense their desire to ignite. "Harmonia, you've got the count."
"One." She stood smoothly unlocking the cage door.
"Two," she said and Hephaestus heard her rolling through the cage as alarms sounded.
"Three." Hephaestus opened his damaged hand allowing the coal within to drop into the small hole and roll to the other side of the wall.
"Four." A distinct click signaled that Harmonia had found the catch and freed Hecate. Hephaestus stood, at the same time he heard screams of agony when the coal on the other side of the wall ignited, filling the guard quarters with fire.
"Five." Hephaestus placed his hand on the wall allowing his remaining coal to touch the rock and ignite. Harmonia quickly lifted Hecate to carry in a fireman's carry, grunting softly.
"Six." He heard Harmonia's running steps echo through the cave as she carried Hecate to the safety of the Styx pool. The rock glowed red under his hand slowly beginning to melt.
Harmonia's "Seven," came right before their splash, and he felt the power pouring into him from the coal he still held traveling through the rock, not quite meeting the power unleashed on the other side. The rock continued to melt running down the cave wall and Hephaestus' hand.
He picked up the count screaming, "Eight!" while the rock under his hand completed melting, creating a hole allowing the energy from both coals to unite. He felt Poseidon and Hera's sudden presence. "Nine," he whispered, bracing for the rebounding energy from the united coals. Abruptly he felt the nauseating waves of chaos energy sweep over him. His eyes widened and he gasped, realizing rapidly that Hera and Poseidon were using the energy sink to conceal their weapons, and, more importantly, that they had breached their protective shields by coming to investigate the alarm.
"Ahhh, fuck!" he moaned and sent a sharp, firm order to Harmonia, *Stay under!* The remains of the wall before him exploded into a violent spray of molten rock. The energy backlashed into the cavern pouring over the energy sink of Styx water and into the room containing the chaos boxes.
He collapsed to the ground screaming as he felt Poseidon and Hera translocate, and then the power of his forge poured into the room behind him unleashing chaos. Waves of power crashed together until everything that remained ignited into burning inferno.
****
Strife paced through Hephaestus' forge pouting. Hades had assigned him to 'guard' Clio right after he'd brought Hercules to him. And since everyone was mad at him for convincing Cupid to tell Hercules about Iolaus none of them would take up for him. So, instead of being with Hades and his group traveling the pathways, or with Ares and Cupid doing the search, or even with his mother while she continued to pull down temples, instead of doing anything fun, interesting, and not boring, he got to watch Clio work. He'd been sitting on his ass in his uncle's forge for two flipping days, fully charged, feeling better than he had since bitchy blonde had knifed him in the gut, doing nothing. He stopped pacing, flinging himself back against the rock wall, and sliding down to sit.
After a few brief moments of fidgeting, he restlessly looked around the forge, again sighing as he acknowledged that he had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do. Clio sat absorbed in her work, skimming rapidly through crystals, noting information in other crystals and on scrolls, examining the remaining chaos box and taking more notes. Piles of crystals, scrolls, pens, and tools surrounded her, while several little air spirits danced around the table, blinking in and out, going from crystal to crystal, picking up one, then another, and occasionally tugging on Clio's sleeve for attention. When that happened she would pick the tugging spirit up, pet if a few seconds before returning it to the workbench. Even after all Ares and Hades' reassurances, Strife couldn't help but see their coming and going through the shields as a security risk, his eyes narrowing as he tried to track their frustrating appearances and disappearances, giving himself a headache. The entire time Clio hummed, he grimaced rubbing his forehead; he had listened to the tuneless incessant humming for two straight days.
"Clio," he called in a low voice, making another attempt to talk to her. Her reactions to his prior attempts to get her attention had convinced him not to use a loud voice; loud voices made her flinch, mumble and stammer. He also stayed still, since approaching her caused her to flinch and fall off the stool, and the one time he'd tapped her shoulder for attention sent her skittering to an out of the way corner in terror.
When she didn't respond to his first call he tried again slightly louder, "Clio." She continued working completely absorbed. Strife considered abandoning his attempt to talk, looking around the room in bored frustration. Shaking his head, he moved standing behind her. "Screw it! CLIO!"
She screamed a loud inarticulate, "Ahioup!" as she started to one side falling off the stool. Anticipating the fall Strife thrust out his arms before she landed, holding her until she had her balance. He let go abruptly, stepping back as she turned, screaming, "Why did you do that?" He looked at her with a pleased smile at her yell; at least a fight would be interesting. Then she ruined it, her eyes widened and she stepped back, bumping into the table. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled, don't be angry," she said in a fast terrified voice.
"Chill! You've been sitting there for two days, I'm bored." Her eyes widened even more and she started shaking. He looked at her, shaking his head, annoyed at her fear. "So, you want to eat or something?"
"Eat?" she asked incredulously, "You scared me out of my wits to ask if I wanted to eat?" At his cheerful nod, she shook her head slowly, leaning down to pick up the fallen stool. "I'm not hungry."
Strife looked at her, grinning a sudden mischievous grin, "Well I am, and I'm bored, so..." he grabbed another stool and sat next to her, "...you're going to entertain me." She swayed slightly turning pale. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, you wouldn't be any fun, you're scared of everything. Way too easy a mark." He smiled again as she bristled, then he finished, "I just want you to explain what those things are doing." He pointed to the air spirits.
Warily she sat on her stool, followed his pointing finger, and sighed. "They're researching for me." She leaned down, picking up a crystal, and focused on it, ignoring his teasing faces, and continued questions.
Finally, Strife leaned in and shouted, "Researching what?" He grabbed her arm, keeping her from sliding off the stool again.
Clio blinked at him gulping. Speaking very fast, she explained, "Um, some of them are comparing design details on the chaos boxes to known design details from other places and times to get a match, and a few of them are still scouring every data source available for information on chaos energy. The rest are trying to pinpoint all the landings of Poseidon and Belisco's troops and match them to where Poseidon's sea monsters have turned up, then I'm correlating it and trying to find out where he's hidden his entrances." She stopped having to gasp for breath.
Strife sat up straight. "All right! Now there's something I can do! Look, pull up what you have." He waited impatiently squirming on his stool. "Come on, pull it up."
Shrugging, she gave in, and, with a wave of her hand, a three dimensional map appeared. Pointing to the Gulf of Corinth she said, "We know he has an entrance someplace around there and also in the Cyclades," she gestured briefly to the grouping of islands, "and we think his main city is in the Ionian Sea, but we can't even begin figuring out where."
Strife leaned forward, "Okay he has to have a landing base somewhere on the coast of Corinth...show me that bit." He looked at the map, nodding or shaking his head occasionally, and finally he pointed. "Here, here, and here, Poseidon won't use, all three places are too close to Corinth's docks. But see, here and here, they look unlikely because there's no activity, but they're all areas loyal to Poseidon, so they could land and then travel to do their damage."
The two continued examining the map and data, narrowing down possibilities as the day stretched on, too engrossed in their task to notice the sudden increase in heat, in the already sweltering forge. Finally, Strife and Clio smiled at each other, they had four possible locations along the coast of Corinth. Abruptly the map vanished along with the little air spirits. A soft reverberation came from behind them. They looked at each other turning slowly.
"Uh-oh," whispered Clio. "That doesn't look good." She grabbed a carry sack and started whisking crystals and scrolls off the table into it.
Strife nodded, his eyes wide, staring at Hephaestus' forge. The forge vibrated, sending small plumes of fire, smoke, ash, and lava up. As he continued staring, it started turning white hot, the stone around going from gray, to red, and to white in seconds.
Strife yelped an inarticulate warning to Clio, abruptly grabbing the chaos box with one hand and her arm with the other. "We are outta here!"
****
In Corinth, a gentle rumble gave them their first warning. The vibrations increased, quickly building to a series of violent tremors. Imbrios raced through the palace looking for his family, while the subsequent shakes sent furniture and debris flying through the rooms and halls. He stopped, finding them in the courtyard, and flung his body across the space separating them as the guard tower above crumbled falling. His outstretched arms wrapped around his wife, his momentum carrying them both to the ground rolling. Huge chunks of rock struck the ground where she had stood shattering they sent smaller chunks of rock up. "Cover your heads!" Imbrios yelled to his daughters as the debris rained back down. As that series of rumbles ended, Imbrios looked up, counting daughters. Ilo wasn't there. "Where's Ilo?" The other girls and Hypatia looked at him shaking their heads.
"She wasn't with us, she was...." Hypatia started.
"She was in the library Daddy," Beate whispered.
Imbrios shut his eyes, remembering the tall heavy shelves in the library. Swaying he imagined his little Ilo under one of them.
"DADDY!" He looked up amidst the relieved shouts of his family. Montoga strode through and around debris carrying Ilo on his shoulders. "Montoga rescued me Daddy, I'm gonna marry him when I'm big enough."
Imbrios heard Iphicles' shouted orders, "I want a headcount! NOW DAMMIT!" He looked over, finding his king by Menelio and Remar striding through the courtyard, yelling out orders as he moved. "And where are the healers?"
Unwrapping himself from his wife's embrace Imbrios kissed her briefly. "Watch over the girls. Montoga get a team and start organizing this mess," he ordered walking over to meet his king, stopping briefly to give orders as he walked.
The rumbling resumed and he grimaced, initially ignoring the aftershocks. Then the movement changed and the ground wavered beneath him roiling in waves, flinging everyone standing to the ground. A sudden shriek from the port caused people to cautiously turn, remaining on the ground in deference to the still moving earth. The shrieking continued growing in volume as a great geyser of water rose from the gulf stretching so high above the port that it could be seen for miles. Imbrios ignored the cacophony of desperate screams and prayers, as the rumbling increased, and the geyser continued rising hundreds of feet in the air. Instead he desperately scrambled back to his family, yelling, "Hang onto something, grab something, NOW!" He glanced up at the geyser desperately praying, "Not yet, not yet, please, let me get to them." Ignoring his prayer the top of the geyser exploded sending water outward and down in all directions as it collapsed.
Water poured down violently tearing down trees and houses creating missiles, Imbrios watched as the courtyard became of deathtrap of water and debris, unable to help anyone else as he was pummeled across the yard into a wall. Finally, the water stopped, finally settling, and Imbrios picked himself up, shuddering, and coughing up water. Another wave of water hit almost immediately, as the geyser completed its collapse sending even more water in a tidal wave across the city, picking up debris and bodies of the crushed and drowned. Wave after wave hit them, slowly decreasing in force, as Imbrios and the people of Corinth rode them out. Until finally, half an hour later, the last one receded, and they could begin the harrowing tasks of rescuing survivors and burying the dead.
****
Hades, flanked by Thanatos and Celesta, followed Lilith, while she used her tie to Iolaus' sword to guide them through the spirit realms. Xena and Gabrielle flanked her, keeping attackers off her, so she could focus on the link. Finally, Lilith stopped, pointing up. "There! The rock Belisco uses as a trap is above." Hades could see sheets of flame surrounding the rock and began his search for an entrance. A flash of white-hot power intersected with the spirit realm tearing a long rip in the fabric, Hades stumbled back cursing. The rip stabilized long enough to confirm that it led to Poseidon's audience chamber and began collapsing.
"MOVE!" Hades flung himself through as he bellowed the order. His team followed, Celesta signaling Ares that they were in.
****
Cupid stretched out even further pulling against his mother's anchor searching for even the faintest flickering essence of Harmonia or Iolaus. A slight eddy of power, at the edge of his awareness, flickered and faded, and, honing in on that, he tracked it, following the weak trail to source.
More shields.
He grimaced. While most of the shields they ran across hid small inconsequential secrets, a few hid traps. Most irritating, many debilitating, a few, mostly those set by Belisco, disgusting, and a couple deadly.
He warned Aphrodite, deliberately weakening his anchor to avoid backlash. He began cautiously examining the outermost layer of shields searching for a trap until a small weak area drew his attention. He backed off slightly, preparing to probe that area, when a surge of power poured over him. He threw up shields trying to shunt the power, rocking until his father's presence poured over him, and his strength bolstered the shields.
*Dad.* He flowed back along his anchor, allowing his father to absorb and shunt the overflow of energy.
The flow stopped, leaving nothing.
Again.
*Shit,* Ares said in a harsh worn voice.
Cupid dropped out of the trance dripping sweat. The power they'd raised to increase his search area slowly faded from the anchor points. He shook his head, tiredly climbing off his mother's floating rose petal. His father stood against the northeastern wall, he met his eyes thanking him silently for the assist before looking at the other three men sitting next to him. Hercules, Jason, and Atus sat on some cushions Aphrodite tossed by that wall. Hercules leaned against the wall with knees drawn to his chest his head slumped down. Jason and Atus sat on either side both leaning against him.
"I take it you hit another dead end?" Hercules asked, lifting his head. Cupid collapsed in front of them sitting cross-legged.
"Yeah." He reached a hand out to stop Hercules from dropping his head. "We'll find them."
His mother stepped down, slowly walking into Ares, arms leaning against him, quiet desperation haunting her eyes; she stayed in the shelter of his arms for long silent minutes, simply leaning against him. Finally, she pulled herself away, straightening with a whispered, "Thank you." A distracted wary look crossed her face, Cupid's head shot up and he smoothly stood, crossing the room to cover his father while Ares stiffened, moving away from the wall into the clear, pulling Aphrodite to a protected place behind him. Seeing their sudden defensive movements, Hercules, Atus, and Jason quickly stood. A sudden building rumble moved through the dome beginning a gentle shake. The shaking built in intensity knocking them all to the floor.
They were picking themselves up when sudden screams of pain tore from Ares, Cupid, and Aphrodite's throats, and Hercules doubled over in pain so great he couldn't even manage an outcry. All four convulsed abruptly as agony scorched through them then they stopped.
Aphrodite pulled herself up, "Tell me that one you got that. Ares! Cupid!" She looked at them in panic.
Cupid shook his head slowly bringing himself to a kneeling position. "Too much Mom." He looked at Ares. "Dad?"
Ares struggled to his feet, eyes narrowed in concentration, his body vibrating with energy. Strife appeared holding an unconscious Clio and the remaining chaos box. Jason and Atus helped Hercules up, watching the Gods cautiously, not even daring to ask what 'that' Aphrodite meant. Finally, Ares nodded, baring his teeth triumphantly. "TAGGED!"
"Unc, Hephaestus' forge is ..." Strife started, in a panicked voice.
Ares turned, grabbing him by the arm. "Strife give me the box," he ordered gruffly, "Hephaestus just exploded a coal." Strife dropped Clio in shock and handed over the box as another series of rumbles shook the dome. The Gods all felt it, as shield after shield fell in Poseidon's city leaving his realm wide open.
Cupid threw his senses out, not bothering to anchor and searched, smiling at the brief touch of his twin's soul. "Dad! I just felt Iolaus!" Cupid yelled, "Damn it's gone!"
The group clustered around him. "Silence!" Ares ordered, "Time to move. Strife you and Eris stay here. Keep the pathway open and don't let any enemies through." Ares mindcalled Eris waiting for her to join Strife before opening a pathway to Poseidon's realm.
Taking a deep breath and drawing his sword he plunged through the door he'd created followed closely by his team.
****
Iolaus lay curled in the chair rocking silently, waiting for his body to finish healing after Belisco's last assault. He slowly pulled his awareness back up from the recess of his mind. Still rocking, he pled, "Lilith ... please ... hurry. I need Herc and Jason. It's too hard ... I'm losing myself." He broke off, desperation claiming him again, his body stilled and curled into an even tighter ball and he simply shook. Heat poured into the room followed by small vibrations. Finally, he uncurled, looking around searchingly at the change. The vibration increased, building to a series of gentle rumbles, and Iolaus rolled off the chair swiftly heading for the door.
The rumbles built to a series of tremors, which rocked the room, sending Iolaus flying into the door. He twisted, hitting the door with his back, and jumping back onto his feet as a guard flung it open, falling into the room when another rumble shook the city. The guard struggled up and Iolaus struck quickly, thumping the guard viciously behind one ear and sending him crashing back unconscious. A second guard stumbled over the first, screaming incoherently about water and fire. Iolaus took advantage of his distraction, smoothly vaulting over the tangled pair. The second guard started untangling himself, but Iolaus quickly spun, sending him crashing back into the first guard with a swift kick in the butt. He rapidly moved down the hall looking for the ladder down.
However, more screaming echoed through the hall and he spun, crouching, ready for battle. A group of guards ran toward him, followed by Cerberus and Ostseth. As they closed, another, even more violent, series of tremors rocked the city. With an explosive crack, the floor buckled, pitching Iolaus back, and sending him sliding down. Cerberus and Ostseth leapt across the expanding gap in the floor, as Iolaus scrambled for purchase, his fingers finally wrapping around the ladder's rim. At the same time, every surface in the hall reverberated, and water roared up through a gap, spilling into the corridor. Gulping a last breath of air, Iolaus clung to the ladder, riding out the waves of water that spilled over them.
As shields continued buckling, Iolaus could hear water rushing into the rooms lining either side of the hall. He started standing up looking for a way out, when the entire section of the city broke off turning on its side.
Iolaus grabbed for the ladder catching it as the floor slanted beneath him. He clung with a death grip, as the floor became, at least temporarily, a wall. Water started pouring down from what had been the rooms below. Then he heard Cerberus' enraged howl and the shrill shriek of metal against metal even over the roaring water. Turning his head to the sound, he saw the water pushing them down towards him; Cerberus in front carried by the water's leading edge and Ostseth his claws leaving great rents in the floor more slowly dragged. Iolaus ducked his head into his arm with a loud, "Oh, shit!" and prepared for the impending collision.
It didn't come. Instead, the spire completed its flip, sending the few remaining guards, Cerberus, Ostseth, and several tons of water down to hit what had, a few short seconds ago, been the ceiling. And leaving Iolaus dangling from the ladder, clinging with all his strength as water poured down, nearly pulling him off. Iolaus continued hanging on, waiting for the city to calm down. Finally, amidst much milder, intermittent tremors, he pulled himself up the ladder, carefully stepping off onto what had been the ceiling and was now the floor. Laying flat he peered through the ladder's hole and looked for Ostseth and Cerberus. He found them almost immediately standing in rising water and peering up. He flinched back as Ostseth leaped up, easily clearing the hole and landing behind him.
Turning over to glare at the cat, Iolaus scolded in a furious mutter, "Don't do things like that without warning." He turned back to check Cerberus, she whined up at him. "I know girl, you can't make this jump. Go and find your way up." Iolaus waved her away, waiting until she bounded down the hall, before jumping to his feet. "All right kitty, let's find a way up." His ears popped and he felt the floor drop out from beneath him for a few brief seconds. "Oh yeah, we definitely need to find a way up - fast," he said under his breath, "because, this city is going down." He headed down the hall looking around for a way up and out as he jogged, jumping over, or skirting around dead bodies, debris, and broken glass. As he jogged, he could hear even more water pour into the city and see it creeping down the walls and through various cracks.
Five minutes later he stopped under another ladder. Shrugging, he gathered his strength and leapt straight up, his hands reaching out to grab the ladder's rim. He hung a moment before climbing up the rungs. He brought his legs up and into a tuck until they cleared the floor. Finally, he pushed off lightly with his hands to pivot over into a standing position on the floor. Ostseth growled in warning before following Iolaus with a powerful leap. Water suddenly cascaded down on them; with a fast look up Iolaus flung himself to the side and back, closely followed by Ostseth. The floor above collapsed and water poured into the corridor.
"Damn!" Iolaus scrambled up racing away, frantically trying to out speed the enlarging fissures in the floor above which warned of further impending collapses. A loud shrieking crack warned him, and he took to the air in a powerful leap through a shower of water, stone, metal, weapons, and debris when the last of the floor above finally gave way. He landed hard on his stomach and continued sliding down the corridor, hydroplaning on the thin sheet of water that already covered the floor. As he slid, he cursed with pain, as debris and weapons fell on him.
Long seconds later, the latest disaster subsided. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Iolaus yelped, cautiously picking his way out from under the debris while various gashes healed. With a grimace and a final loud, "Ow!" he removed a knife from his thigh.
Glancing around, he looked for something to wipe the blade on. As Iolaus searched, Ostseth shrugged off the weapons covering him causing them burst up and rain back down. Iolaus dove out of the way with a sharp, "Damn it cat! Watch where you dump those things." His eyes widened and his hand reached out snatching his sword from the cascade of weapons. "At least something is going right..." he murmured, spinning at Ostseth's loud enraged yowl. He backed away from the red fiery being approaching. "...Or maybe it's not going so good." He took another look at the approaching being, backed away slowly as it moved forward the metal floor melting around its feet.
"Iolaus," it called, spewing flames and reaching towards him.
Spinning Iolaus sprinted away from the figure, occasionally glancing back as he heard it follow, only to see it gain on him. Dashing around a corner he came to a dead end. He turned, racing back up the corridor hoping to make it to a previous branch. When he arrived he saw his escape cut off by the blazing monster and ran down the only remaining hall. Belisco appeared in front of him and Iolaus skidded to a halt, trapped between the two.
END PART 43