Chapter 45
METILAI
After Gabriol had shared their plans with him, Rydon embarked on the challenge of getting out of the palace unseen. It had taken him an hour, and when he’d finally made it into the city proper, the journey to Daris’s camp was even more difficult.
Shading his eyes against the late morning sun, Rydon found the door leading to the sewers they’d used a year ago to get Ren and Sonah out.
Recalling the location had delayed him further, and by the time he came out near the river and circled around to the front, he was filthy and cold and in dire need of a bath.
Holding up his hands as he approached the encampment, one of the soldiers on watch grunted in acknowledgement and waved him in. Looking around at the additional men, Rydon tightened his jaw and lengthened his stride, his head swiveling about as he searched for the commander.
Rydon came to an abrupt halt when he spotted Daris standing with Hermes. They didn’t seem to have noticed him and Rydon had the fleeting thought he should melt back into the shadows of the tents and make his way back into the city.
“Ah, there he is!”
Rydon closed his eyes and cursed Soros for his ill-timed greeting.
The captain clapped him heartily on the back as everyone nearby looked over at them.
Rydon cut a glance at Daris who watched him with a frown.
Hermes, of course, had a face-splitting grin as if Rydon was the key to all the world’s wisdom.
“Eudaemon, come!” Hermes raised his arm and motioned to Rydon, who could do nothing but drag his feet as he approached the god with Soros at his side.
“What news from the palace?”
“Everyone’s shitting themselves, most like,” Soros laughed.
Hermes ignored the man, a cruel glint in his eyes as he watched Rydon.
“Terena’s inside, of course,” Rydon said, parsing his thoughts to share only what would appease the god and not further endanger Ren.
“They know you’re out here but they are waiting to see if you’ve terms. Otherwise, they are hosting a feast this evening, to announce Prince Lerek’s reinstatement as successor and crown prince. ”
“Aye, but,” Hermes’s mouth twisted. “How is my niece? Is she recovered?”
Warning bells went off in his head but Rydon kept his face blank. “Recovered from your… conversation with her back in Ravos? Aye, I’d say she’s recovered.”
Hermes gave him an amused, incredulous look. “I’ll let that one go, Eudaemon, because I like you. I am referring to her ascension. Today is her nameday.”
Rydon’s heart stopped and then threatened to gallop right out of his chest. His eyes darted to Daris, who stared back at him with dawning horror. His face was as red as a harvest sunset, and he looked about as ill as Rydon must at that moment.
“When did you see her last? If you saw her this morning, you should’ve already seen a difference.”
Rydon hoped his face concealed his frustration. “In what way?”
Hermes laughed. “In the way that separates someone like me, from someone like you.”
“I’m immortal as well,” Rydon seethed.
“You know what I mean.”
The underlying edge to the god’s words was belied by his grin.
“She looked the same.”
“No… uncontrollable rage? Changes in her appearance? Visions of previous circles?”
Rydon blanched and the god laughed.
“So she knows everything that came before. Good. I’ll speak with her later, of course, but I’m curious. Did she say anything of interest? About any of it? Specifically, does she know how she was tricked into finding the shroud before she reached her majority?”
Rydon shook his head. When Hermes arched an eyebrow at him, Rydon sighed. “She did not mention anything about that, no.”
“But…”
“But,” Rydon glanced at Daris. “She said… Sonah tried to kill her in the first circle. And that Daris tried to kill her in the last circle.”
Hermes turned his head and stared at Daris. “Interesting.”
“Her appearance remains the same,” Rydon added, pulling the god’s attention back to him. “Was it supposed to change?”
“Depends on the god,” Hermes sighed. “We’ll have to catch up later. I have an assault on the city to prepare for.”
Rydon’s thoughts spiraled as he tried and failed to take in everything Hermes was saying.
There was an ocean, swirling and turbulent, crashing through his head right now and he had the overwhelming urge to throw his head back and scream at the sky.
Instead, he looked over at Daris. The commander’s mouth hung open.
“Why would you assault the city?”
“I need to make an example of them,” Hermes said as if talking to a child. “This is the beginning of a new era, Eudaemon. This is no longer the age of man. I am proof of that. Terena and Sonah are proof of that. Melanos—”
Rydon’s jaw snapped shut when a large shadow to his left resolved into a scowling visage Rydon knew well. Melanos stopped next to Daris, his enraged countenance fixed on Hermes as the trickster god held out his arm and smiled at the newcomer.
“Melanos,” he said again, turning to pin Rydon in place with a malicious grin. “Is proof of that.”
In the sudden quiet of the clearing, Hermes looked around at the soldiers who’d stopped to listen in.
“They all thought they killed us. When we Olympians left, the demigods and those favored by the gods were hunted and killed. Their families were hunted and killed. But man is arrogant.” Hermes laughed, a maniacal chuckle raising all the hairs on Rydon’s body.
“Mortals cannot kill gods. The gods left behind hid themselves,” Hermes said as he pointed to Melanos.
“They’ve lived on the fringes. Hiding their nature.
Their gifts. No more. Our time has come.
Tonight, we reclaim this realm, and all those who have fought against the gods, railed against the gods, prayed against the gods will learn what their defiance costs. ”
Hermes abruptly turned away, leaving them all in stunned silence. Melanos was the first to react, bounding forward, gripping Rydon’s shoulder in a crushing grip that made him wince.
“Where is the goddess? Is she safe?”
Rydon nodded dumbly. Daris, too, came to stand before him, their small huddle the subject of low, murmured conversation from the soldiers nearby. Daris motioned with his head, and all three of them moved away to speak in private.
Following on numb legs, Rydon’s thoughts shifted from everything that had happened to Terena and the others inside the palace. By now, everyone would know Hermes and his army were camped outside their city. Rydon wondered if Terena was already moving forward with their plan.
They stopped walking and Rydon glanced up, realizing they stood in front of the commander’s tent.
“What do they have planned?” Daris asked.
Rydon smoothed down his beard. “Croak is in the dungeons. He and the cleric were found almost as soon as they arrived. Orry is somewhere else. Some college. I don’t recall the name.
The prince has a plan to get Croak out, but he needs Ren to distract the emperor at the feast he’s planned.
All the guards will be there. If she holds them off long enough, Lerek and Gabriol will sneak down to the dungeon to get him out. ”
“How?” Daris snapped. “They’ll still be stuck in the palace—”
“Lerek has a plan for that as well, although, he wouldn’t elaborate.”
“And Terena was fine with that?”
Rydon shrugged, nonplussed. “I guess. She trusts him, at least.”
Daris colored as Rydon watched him. They were silent, with Melanos’s giant frame blocking them from anyone’s prying eyes.
“Why did they come to Metilai in the first place?”
Startled, Rydon glanced up at Melanos and shrugged.
“That was the plan all along. Before we left Olympia, Hermes said we’d meet up here.
But I know she wanted to come because of something she figured out about the prophecy.
She said something about it back in Ermanel when we found the prince. And Cassandra was adamant that—”
“Who’s Cassandra?”
“The seer,” Rydon said with an uncertain glance at Melanos. At the blank look on the god’s face, Rydon grunted with impatience. “She was with us in Ravos. Blonde woman. About this tall?”
As Rydon gestured, a grin broke out on Melanos’s face.
“Aye, the little one who was draped all over you. Are you together, then?”
“What?” Rydon spluttered, feeling his face heat. “No, we are not together. She’s not… I’m not…”
“All right, what did the seer say about Metilai, then?” Daris cut in. “She was adamant about what?”
“That she follow Lerek. Join him in Metilai. She seemed to think we’d find an amulet here. An amulet with a terrible power. Something about twisting people’s desires until they’ve ruined themselves and everyone around them.”
Melanos snapped out his hand, clutching Rydon’s forearm hard enough to make him wince. When he looked up at the god to loosen his grip, Melanos’s eyes were wide with alarm.
“The Amulet of Ka?ra? It’s here?”
Rydon frowned. “Aye. I guess. She seemed to think so.”
Melanos cursed under his breath, which worried Rydon.
“So how do we help?” Melanos asked, dropping his hand to stand akimbo. “We cannot allow Hermes to find that amulet.”
“The emperor searches for it as well,” Rydon grumbled. “Ren struck a bargain with Xoran, the Captain of the Imperial Guard, to find it. Who knows what nefarious plan Solon has for it.”
“Wait,” Daris said, shifting so Rydon was forced to look over at him. “You allied with Xoran? Wasn’t he one of the ones trying to kill Ren back when you first met her?”
Rydon shrugged and chuckled mirthlessly. “I said much the same to Ren at the time. Although, he’s proven trustworthy, thus far. As has Vassori. She and Ren have gotten close over the last few weeks.”
“Vassori is the tracker? What’s she have to do with this?”
“She’s Xoran’s sister.”
Daris stared back at him for a moment, incredulous.
“Someday, I hope to hear more of what happened to you all before we found each other again.”
“For now,” Melanos added with a scowl, “we need to find a way inside. Perhaps we can help with Croak’s escape.”