Chapter 14
Persephone
OK, human Persephone was scared of heights, I told myself sternly, breathing hard. Goddess Persephone has vines that can catch stuff and recently jumped out of a tree. Goddess Persephone can do this.
“Will you get the fuck on with it!” screamed Minthe from above me. I flicked my eyes to her angrily as I tried to work out which rocky pillar was closest to me.
“Are you shitting me? I could have left you here to die!”
“Well you didn't, so get me the fuck out of here!”
“Stop swearing at me and shut up,” I snapped back, tucking Faesforos back into its sheath. A low rumbling moan was coming from the undead below me, and I guessed some must still have their throats intact.
I let a green vine snake from my palm, aiming it towards the ceiling. The closest pillar was about a foot taller than the one I was on and a three feet leap away. I felt a thud beneath me, and my stomach lurched as a rotten hand appeared over the edge of my pillar. The undead were climbing.
My lip curled back as I kicked out at the hand, and I watched in muted fear as the corpse fell back onto the mass of skeletons below it. Another corpse replaced it immediately.
Minthe was right. I needed to get the fuck on with it.
My vine wrapped itself around the ropes holding Minthe up, and I tugged experimentally. The vine held firm. So I could jump, and the vine should hold me if I missed. Like a safety rope. A safety rope over corpses that would tear me apart before my flesh was eaten.
My hands were shaking as I bent my knees and gripped the vine, preparing to jump. Just a few weeks ago my knees would have given out already, but I was different now. I was strong. And I had to win. Filling my mind with Hades' face, I jumped.
I landed easily on the next pillar, the vine helping me get the height I needed, and a cry of triumph escaped my lips.
“There's like ten more! Gods help me, stop celebrating and hurry up!” shouted Minthe. I threw her a glare, and found the next easiest pillar to get to.
They seemed to be in no order, but there was one about four feet away that was higher than mine. I felt the rock pound beneath me, and didn't need to look down to know that it meant the undead were still trying to get to me.
“Did you know that's how Spartae Skeletons were made?” Eurynomos' hissing voice filled my head. “They are what's left when I've finished with the flesh.”
“Lovely', I muttered, crouching for the next jump.
“Hades lets me have the bad ones, you see. The ones who have sinned most foully.”
“That's nice,” I replied, and jumped. I didn't land so easily this time, the pillar higher and further than before, and my insides lurched as my back foot scrabbled on the edge of the rock.
“I don't miss him, you know. Hades never lets me have any fun, and I'm bound to his will. This Zeus character who controls me now though...” The demon tailed off and I couldn't help my interest.
“What about him?”
“He doesn't have what it takes,” Eurynomos hissed. “He has power, but it's not dark enough to contain me. Not for much longer anyway.”
A shudder ran through me at his words. Could he really break free of Zeus' power?
“Hades would just take control again,” I said flippantly, and decided on my next pillar. It was only a couple feet away, but it was much higher than mine. A bony finger crept over the edge of my own pillar as I bent my knees, and I kicked at it. Eurynomos sighed loudly in my head.
“Yes, he would. But I might get a few brief seconds of blissful freedom first,” he said more brightly.
“And what would you do with that?” I leaped for the next pillar, and realized with a jolt that I wouldn't make it. Instinct took over and my vines shortened fast.
Too fast.
I flew up and over the pillar, dangling from my vine, the sense of weightlessness nauseating. I couldn't help looking down as I swung and black dots instantly clouded my eyes.
Swarms of undead surged between the uneven pillars below me, and the thought of falling to them was the only thing I could process.
“Just pull yourself up, you idiot!” shouted Minthe. Her voice cut through my panic, and I did as she said, shortening the vine further. I began to zoom upwards, and I kicked myself mentally. Why the hell didn't I do this before?
“Oh no, no, it can't be this easy,” hissed Eurynomos, and then searing heat flashed down my vine towards me.
One of the blackened fingers on the ceiling that had been tormenting Minthe was gripping my vine, burning through it. Revolting images of the decomposing dead flashed through me as my vines turned black, the dark power of the Underworld filling me.
And then I really was weightless, the vine severed by the demon's touch. I whipped a new vine from my other hand out blindly, praying as I twisted through the air, all other thought gone.
It hit something hard and I willed it to coil around whatever it was.
I jerked, and then I was swinging towards a tall pillar, my vine wrapped tight around the top, and bony fingers were closing around my ankle.
I kicked at the skeleton as I looked down, my insides lurching again as a squelchy, rotten fist gripped my boot.
I smashed into the pillar hard, the momentum of my fall enough to jolt the undead’s grip loose, and then I willed the vine to shorten, shooting me up to the top of the pillar and out of reach.
I was panting hard when I got to the top, and I scrabbled up onto the rock, adrenaline making my muscles stronger.
Minthe screamed again, and the undead moaned louder in response. I needed to end this. But how, if Eurynomos was going to sever my vines? They were all I had. Maybe I could distract him.
“Where are you, Eurynomos? Why don't you show yourself?” I yelled. He chuckled in my mind.
“That is forbidden.”
“Are you too ugly to be seen then?” I eyed the next pillar and instead of sending my vines up to the ropes, I launched them from both hands at the top of it.
It took more physical effort to climb the pillars like this than swinging from the ceiling, but at least the fingers couldn't get me.
I pulled myself to the next pillar using the vines, and bashed my chin on it hard as I collided with the rock, my feet scrabbling for purchase.
I dragged myself onto the top, scanning fast for the next one.
“You might call me ugly I suppose,” the demon said thoughtfully. I launched my vines at the next pillar. I reckoned I had another three or four to go, before I could reach the ceiling. I glanced up at Minthe, and saw that her eyes were squeezed shut.
Now I was closer I could see the gaping wounds the fingers were leaving, burning through layers of skin.
Bile burned in my chest. I had to get us both out.
I jumped, trying to pull on the vines earlier so that I didn't hit the pillar so hard.
It didn't work, and my shoulder took a pounding as I slammed into the next pillar.
“What do you think?” said Eurynomos' voice as I pulled myself up. I scowled through my panting.
“What do I think of what?”
“Am I ugly?”
Just as I straightened on top of the spindly pillar, he appeared, right in front of me.
My brain froze as I stumbled backwards in primal fright, and the only part of me to react to my feet slipping off the rock were my vines. They whipped towards the only thing to grab; Eurynomos.
His face twisted in delight as my vines made contact with his skin, and although my fall was halted, images so revolting I almost passed out flooded my mind.
I could see him, on all fours, surrounded by corpses. His body was black and hairless, long and sinewy, and covered in sores that oozed dark red liquid that streaked his skin.
Massive black eyes bulged in his elongated skull and his mouth was far too big, filled with razor-sharp, crooked teeth. The real demon, cackling before me, merged with the one in my vision, who was ripping flesh from bodies with his teeth like a rabid animal.
“You smell delicious,” he hissed, and I convulsed as I forced my vines to let go, to disintegrate. With another roar of laughter he vanished. “Such a shame I'm not allowed to touch you until you fail to save the other one,” he said, his voice mockingly sad.
I was taking deep breaths, trying desperately not to throw up or pass out, my knees weak beneath me on the pillar.
“Get the fuck on with it, flower girl!” yelled Minthe. Anger surged through me at her words.
“I'm nearly killing myself to save you, you ungrateful asshole!” I yelled back. Weirdly the words brought strength though, and I realized my anger was pushing through the disgust and fear. My shaking lessened and I looked up.
I had to try something else.
I pulled Faesforos from my thigh and launched a vine at the ropes above me, near to Minthe's head. It curled around the rope and with a thought, the vine began to shorten, pulling me towards the ceiling fast.
I knew I only had seconds before the fingers severed my vine, but hopefully that would be enough.
As soon as I got close enough I slashed with my dagger. Faesforos cut through the rope like it was butter, and Minthe yelped as her right shoulder dropped.
“What happens if you manage to cut them all?”
“You'd better hope we get flashed out of here before you land in that,” I answered her, pointing at the undead clamoring below us, just as a finger closed over my vine. I winced but stayed focused, looking for a pillar to land on safely.
I swung myself, adrenaline edging out the fear, the knowledge that I'd fallen from here already and survived giving me the strength I needed.
When I judged I was swinging enough, I lengthened the vine again, kicking my feet towards the highest pillar and letting out a gasp of relief as my feet made contact and I was able to disintegrate the vine.
The hideous images crawling from those blackened fingers were impossible to ignore.
“Clever flower goddess,” hissed Eurynomos. I ignored him, looking up at the ropes instead and preparing to repeat the maneuver.