Chapter 23 Divine Revelations
Hermes flew down the pillared corridor, screeching to a halt just in time to avoid crashing headlong into the megaron doors.
Two days earlier, he had left Hera in the north tower and flown back to Erebus to confront Hades once again, this time determined not to leave until his uncle gave him answers about the Underworld girl. He would never, in his wildest imagination, have expected the sight that greeted him.
Now, standing before the throne room, he longed to flee to the safety of Arachne’s hut and never come out again. But he knew he could not. However devastating, his family must hear this news.
Heart thundering, he lifted a gauntleted hand and knocked. In the other he clutched a twisted piece of gold.
After a moment that felt like an eternity, the doors swung open.
Silence fell as he entered.
Nearly the entire royal family was in attendance.
Enthroned at the feet of their marble statues were the twins, Apollo and Artemis, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, even Aphrodite.
Hermes swallowed as she caught sight of him and sat up, her emerald eyes gleaming with expectation.
The others were watching Ares, who had the floor.
The God of War remained silent as, from the central throne, Zeus raised a hand.
Ares turned as the eyes of his family fell on his younger brother.
Hermes dropped to his knee. ‘My lord father, my deepest apologies for the interruption, I have just flown from the Underworld –’
Ares whipped out a hand, and a rope of life-threads curled around Hermes’ neck.
The air pressed against him like an invisible fist squeezing his gullet.
He dropped the piece of twisted metal he’d been carrying as he struggled for breath, instinctively clawing at the threads even though he knew his fingers would pass straight through them.
‘How dare you interrupt my report, you insolent little –’
‘Ares,’ said Zeus softly.
Quiet rolled across the throne room.
Ares released Hermes and turned to his father. ‘As I was saying, the Trojans are rallying their defences against the allied Greek army. Priam has secured aid from the Carians, Halizones, Lycians and Phrygians. This is shaping up to be the largest mortal war that has ever –’
‘What is that?’
Ares fell silent as Zeus gestured to the lump of gold lying by Hermes’ feet.
He retrieved the item with trembling hands.
As he approached his father, Hermes could feel himself coming apart.
He knew he must deliver his news soon or his mettle would fail him.
Yet he must be careful; Zeus had forbidden him to reveal his mission to anyone, and like the sun burning his cheek, he could feel Aphrodite’s eyes boring into him.
He had not spoken to her since he visited her son and failed to convince the youth to leave Troy.
That too he must keep secret. An ache began to pulse behind his eyes.
‘I journeyed to Erebus to visit Hades.’ This much he dared admit in front of his family.
In reality, on Hera’s suggestion, he had returned to question his uncle further on the Underworld girl’s whereabouts.
‘He wasn’t in his palace, so I searched the Asphodel Meadows and then Tartarus, where I found the giants set loose and the dragon’s well empty –’
Gasps echoed around the megaron.
‘Typhon is free?’ asked Poseidon.
‘Yes,’ whispered Hermes, his ears ringing.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
‘You have not answered my question.’ Zeus’ expression betrayed nothing, but his eyes blazed gold.
Hermes lay the piece of metal at his father’s feet. ‘This is all that is left of Hades.’ He could barely force the unbelievable truth past his lips. ‘The dragon burned him to cinders.’
There were more gasps, but Hermes could not tell who voiced them. His entire world had narrowed to his father’s face. Zeus was staring at the melted gauntlet as though Hermes had just thrown Hades’ body into their midst.
‘What of Persephone?’ asked Hera, gripping the armrests of her throne.
Hermes swallowed, dragging his gaze to his stepmother. ‘She too has been slain.’
He felt as though he might faint. Hades and Persephone were dead.
Gone, forever. He had lived as a mortal for fourteen years, yet now the concept of life ending seemed repellently unnatural.
The Olympians were gods, they did not age then perish like the rest of nature.
He knew the divine family could be hurt, he had borne enough beatings to prove that, but his wounds were always healed once he consumed another being’s life-threads.
A dark cloud settled around his heart, a fear that had not weighed on him since he took a bite of the golden apple all those years ago. His life might be finite after all.
His thoughts were broken by Artemis’ gut-wrenching wail.
The sound shattered the paralysing shock that had descended over the megaron.
Artemis’ twin, Apollo, ran to her side as she slid off her throne and sank to her knees.
Poseidon leapt to his feet, shouting over and over, ‘It cannot be!’ while Ares and Athena began to bark questions at Hermes.
‘Quiet.’ At Zeus’ command, his family fell silent. ‘Everyone except Hermes and Poseidon, leave us.’
‘This has gone on long enough.’ Hera rose to her feet. ‘You must tell the children the truth about the –’
‘Silence!’
Hermes flinched as his father’s voice resounded across the room. He stared at his stepmother, desperate to know what she had been about to say. What truth?
Hera’s face was a devastating mask of ice. For a heart-pounding moment, it seemed as though she might defy Zeus, then she flicked the embroidered hem of her purple gown and stalked from the megaron. Artemis and Apollo ran after her, Ares close behind.
Athena alone stood her ground. ‘Father …’
Something like compassion stirred in Zeus’ face. A depth of feeling Hermes had never managed to rouse from their father.
‘Not now, Bright Eyes,’ he said softly. ‘Go, be with your siblings.’
Athena lifted her chin, then sank into a bow and paced from the room.
The doors slammed shut, and Hermes was left alone with his father and uncle.
Poseidon had grown pale as the marble of his statue and looked at Zeus like a frightened child might look to their father. Then he crossed the mosaic floor and flung his arms around his elder brother. Zeus held him as sobs racked his powerful frame.
‘He’s gone … our little brother.’
‘I know,’ said Zeus, staring over Poseidon’s shoulder, eyes fixed on his son. Gently he pushed Poseidon away and bent to lift the melted gauntlet, turning it over as though it harboured a wealth of secrets.
‘Did you see the girl?’
Hermes glanced at Poseidon.
‘You can speak freely in front of your uncle.’
Hermes swallowed, then shook his head. ‘I went to the Underworld because I thought, as the girl was created by Hades, she might return to him …’
‘What else did you find?’
‘Nothing,’ Hermes breathed. ‘Just the Underworld in disarray.’ The part of Hermes’ mind that wasn’t still in shock marvelled at the grain of truth he seemed to have decided to keep hidden from his father. The object he had found amongst the chaos.
Keep it concealed, the voice had whispered. Even from Zeus.
‘It was her, wasn’t it?’ Poseidon said to Zeus, his voice constricted with grief. ‘She did this.’
Zeus ignored his brother, his gaze fixed on his son. ‘The dragon, did you see it?’
Hermes shook his head once more. He clasped his hands behind his back to hide their tremors. ‘I only saw the destruction it left, the scorch marks –’
‘That is all? You are sure you found nothing else?’
‘Nothing,’ Hermes whispered, his heart threatening to break loose from his chest.
Zeus closed his eyes and released a long breath through his nose.
‘Come here, my son.’
Hermes rose and walked towards the King of Heaven, pausing at the steps leading up to Zeus’ throne. Poseidon was staring at Hades’ long-neglected statue, fresh tears staining his cheeks.
‘Closer.’
Hermes advanced until he stood on the final step.
‘Sit.’
He obeyed.
‘Remove your helm.’
Hermes’ heart sank. He hated baring his boyish face in the presence of his family. If it were anyone else, he’d have refused. But no one defies the King of Heaven. With shaking hands, he lifted the golden helmet from his head.
Zeus smiled. ‘Remind me how long it is that you’ve been searching for the Underworld creature.’
A familiar fear, cold and immobilizing, seeped through Hermes’ limbs. ‘A month,’ he whispered.
Zeus’ irises were almost entirely golden with life-threads, yet despite their glow they were colder than a winter wind. ‘If you had caught her, Hades would still be alive.’
Hermes’ stomach hollowed. He turned, looking to Poseidon for support, but his uncle’s face was just as stony as his father’s. Then Zeus grabbed his jaw in his gauntleted hand and turned Hermes’ head to face his own.
‘You will look at your king when he speaks.’
Hermes screamed.
His skin blistered beneath his father’s metallic fingers. The smell of burning flesh filled his nostrils, white-hot pain searing through his face until it blinded him. Zeus released him, and he tumbled down the marble steps.
‘Go.’
Hermes grabbed his helm from where it had rolled across the floor and fled from the megaron.
He ran down the corridor, barely able to breathe through the agony.
Just as he turned the corner, a nymph came strolling towards him.
The girl barely had time to open her mouth before Hermes had clamped his gauntleted hands around her neck and drained the life-threads from her body.
But the pain in his jaw lingered, long after his skin had healed.
The palace blurred around him as he ran back to his chambers. The look in his father’s eyes as he burned him had been one of such loathing; Hermes had truly believed that Zeus might kill him.
Even now, far from his father’s gaze, that loathing burrowed into him, crawling beneath his skin. His father had trusted him, above all his siblings, and he was failing.
He must find the girl, before he ran out of chances.