Gears of Fate, page 14
part #1 of Forgotten Gods Series
From the left passage, a snake slithered out and came to rest at Hecate’s side. From the right passage came a low growl. A wolf walked out and sat licking his paws at her other side.
“There are two paths before you,” Hecate said. “One will lead to the Seelie Court.” The wolf lifted its head and barked. “And the other leads to the Unseelie.” The snake hissed and wrapped around itself. “Which one will you choose? The cute puppy, or the icky, slimy snake?”
“I just thought I should point out,” Seneca said. “It’s very saying about where we are going when a snake has to lead us there. Just my thoughts, always open for discussion.”
“We follow the snake.” I said.
The wolf got up and ran back into its forest passage, which closed behind it. The dinner table vanished and with it all the food and aromas that made my stomach happy. Hecate also vanished, leaving only the snake. The serpent waited a moment as we gathered ourselves, before slithering off into its forest entrance.
Chapter Fourteen
The forest road grew denser the further we travelled. Soon, we had to walk single file in order to keep from getting caught up in all the shrubs and branches that pressed in on us. After a while, we reached an entrance made of mossy stone. The snake coiled up in a circle and dissolved into smoke in front of the doorway.
“That was pleasant,” said Seneca.
The huge double doors sparkled with a silver sheen, glinting from a carving of a deer wearing a snake as a crown. The snake’s tail vanished into its own mouth, the creature devouring itself.
“What’s the symbol mean?” I asked.
“It’s the crest of the Unseelie,” Seneca answered. “You still want to go in?”
I pushed the heavy doors open, letting musty air escape. Spider webs draped from the corners of the doorframe where dead birds hung trapped in webbed coffins. Seneca brushed them aside and headed in first. I followed down a long corridor that soon forked into many paths.
“It’s the Labyrinth.” Seneca looked bothered. “Once we get through, we’ll be in Unseelie territory.”
“That doesn’t sound so hard,” I said.
“Guardian,” Seneca added. “Places like these always have big, bad, ugly guardians.”
A ferocious roar echoed down the corridor, unsettling the dust and filling me with dread.
The passage led us down a hedge maze of twists and turns. We walked through narrow halls with walls so high the ceiling appeared to be darkness. Thorny vines snaked in and out of the green hedges, catching bits and pieces of clothing and biting our skin if we walked too close. A light mist clung to the ground, making it impossible to see where our feet landed. The humidity soaked our clothes. Most unsettling however, had to be the continuous howls of pain echoing from deep in the maze, the cries of a man in anguish. I cringed thinking of the pain that could cause such endless screams.
“It’s Loki,” Seneca said. “This is where he made his last stand. When Zeus, Odin, and the others fled, Loki sought to stand and fight. He’s been imprisoned here ever since. The Labyrinth was built as a prison. If we follow his screams, it will lead us to him.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Wait, Loki is here?”
“Yeah… that’s what I said.”
“Did you know all along we would find him here? Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking about it. We were more concerned about Alice.”
“Were you?” I said. “Or was it just convenient?”
She flashed me a surprised look. “Look Zak, I don’t know what you are trying to say, but Alice is priority―so is saving my people―our people. We’re crew, remember?”
I turned my ear toward another scream. “Just remember, we don’t leave until we have Alice.”
“Agreed.” She walked off without meeting my eyes and I had no choice but to follow.
I couldn’t be sure how far we walked or if we may have even been lost; it all looked the same to me. With the approach of every turn or fork in the road, I hoped it would be the last, only to find another path waiting. Loki’s shouts never seemed to get any closer or farther. Gradually, I lost my will to go on. The maze seemed hopeless.
Seneca stopped. “We are being followed.”
“Is it Loki?” I asked.
“No. His shouts are coming from ahead. I think we’re getting close. But I’ve picked up on something behind us, a stink the wind has carried our way.” The howl of a beast shook the walls with such a ferocity that my heart nearly stopped. “It knows we know.”
“Rust.” A shiver ran through my body. “Maybe we should be doing more running and less talking?”
Stomping footsteps and snarling approached. We ran, but with every path we took and corner we turned, the heavy breathing and stomping followed. Soon, the stairs carried us to higher levels, where passageways led to gravity-defying upside down corridors.
We pushed on until we went into a passage of darkness devoid of all sound or light. Here, too, a weightless, strange feeling came over me, as if I had no body at all. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. I tried to touch my body and felt nothing but air where my chest should have been. I felt for my legs and arms and had no sense of touch. I tried to scream out to Seneca, but made no noise. I struggled to will my body forward, barely grasping the tips of sanity as my mind went full on cogged.
I gasped with relief when we stumbled out into the blinding light of a forest that seemed ten times bigger than us. I felt like an ant running across a grass field, dodging mountainous roots and avoiding the strange chirping sounds of insects no doubt monstrous in size. As we ran, the world shrank, or we grew in a slow, but steady transformation. Once we reached normal size, the path led us back into the hedge maze. Through it all, the beast growled and rumbled at our heels while Loki’s cries grew nearer.
The Earth shook with the beast’s thunderous roar. The maze angled downhill to the point we had to slow our run and lean back in order to stop from tumbling forward. The further we went, the more awkward our footing became. We practically crab walked down until my leg slipped from under me and I went rolling into Seneca. My weight swept her forward, and we tumbled on, a knot of body and limbs. The tunnel grew steeper and steeper until we plummeted in a straight drop. The world spun around; darkness, stone, and flesh all mixed together at a sickening speed. I braced for an impact that never came. A plunge into icy water shocked me back to my senses. We struggled to untangle ourselves. My foot scuffed stone, and I realized we’d landed in a waist-deep pool. I gathered my legs under me and stood.
Torches hung along the walls, making shadows dance at every corner. The screams became so loud, we covered our ears. We waded among the remains of decaying body parts and mauled bones… all human. The pool bottlenecked into a narrow tunnel, forcing us to walk sideways. I could barely breathe and my nerves were getting the best of me. At one point, Seneca had trouble squeezing through; stuck behind her, dark shadows closed in around my vision.
The screams coming from ahead didn’t help my panicking. I needed to be outside with sky easily in view. How had I come so far from home, lost deep beneath the bowels of Earth? I pushed at Seneca, trying to force her ahead. She offered me some appreciative curses before popping out of the other side. I struggled after her; I had to get out before I fainted. In my haste, I turned wrong and wedged my shoulders between the rocky walls. I couldn’t breathe!
“Zak,” Seneca shouted. “Calm down. Take a deep breath and try to turn sideways.”
I gasped for air, but my lungs refused to work. The walls wanted to devour and suffocate me. I fought and pushed, but everything only seemed to get me jammed tighter. At least when I crawled through the small spaces under Olympus, I could enjoy the air or warmth of the sun on my skin and see the sky. But this place, trapped miles underground, was horrifying.
“Relax!” she yelled.
“I can’t breathe—get me out of here!”
She grabbed my arm and pulled. My body scraped on the rough stone, but I didn’t care. I would gladly have been skinned alive if it meant freedom from this coffin.
“Focus on something, anything. I can’t get you out with you panicking like this.”
“Get. Me. Out.” I needed to focus. Focus on what I was here for… I needed to find my sister. I needed to rescue her. How could I expect her to be brave if I was acting like a coward? I imagined her sitting quietly, waiting for me to come get her. Because she depended on me. No, she trusted me. I had to be brave for her. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. Slow it down. Easy, steady.
“Exhale; it’ll help make you smaller,” she whispered.
I emptied my lungs. I turned sideways, and with her pulling and me pushing, broke free. I fell out the other side almost on the verge of tears. If I wasn’t waist deep in water, I would have laid down, closed my eyes, and checked out for a bit. We entered a grand cathedral, ivory pillars reached up so high into darkness we couldn’t see the ceiling. Carvings of men fighting battles with tiny creatures and monsters alike decorated all the surfaces. Painted pictures on the wall’s glistening tiles were rich with detail.
The beauty of the cathedral meant nothing compared to what awaited us in the middle of the room. A man decked out in bronze armor sat upon a beautiful throne of ivory and emeralds. Horns rose from his forehead like wicked antlers and fine black hair hung low over his shoulders. A sword rested at the side of his throne, in a scabbard encased in black jewels and leather. His eyes shone dark like the night itself and stars seemed to sparkle in them, watching us closely. He did not speak. Chains bound his wrists and legs.
Behind him stood a copper statue of a woman, a sculpted immortal look of sadness on her face, and a snake draped around her shoulders. She rose up above the throne and held a bowl over the man’s crown, beneath the snake’s massive head. Its mouth open wide, drops of golden liquid dripped from its fangs into the copper vessel. With each drop, gray steam billowed from the serpent’s nostrils.
The man breathed long, hard, desperate breaths, beads of sweat dripping down the side of his face; his jaw clenched as if he awaited an attack. When we finally came to stand before him, I noticed a faint ticking, barely audible above the swishing of water. It stopped and a bell chimed so loud that Seneca and I both ducked. The man tensed up.
With each tick, the statue turned; all the while, the snake’s head stayed in place. Soon, the bowl no longer hovered over him, and the venom dripped on the man’s head. He let out a torturous scream and thrashed wildly at his restraints. His crazed eyes filled with tears as he tried so hard to fight against the pain. Horror and shock kept me frozen in place; I didn’t know if Seneca felt the same, but she didn’t turn away.
Once the bowl no longer hovered over him, the statue upended it, letting its contents pour into the water. The statue righted itself and continued its slow revolution. All the while, the poor man howled in burning agony. Finally, when I thought I could take his suffering no more, the statue completed its circuit and came to a standstill, once more catching the venom.
The man took a moment to compose himself. Once he relaxed, he looked at us and spoke with a tortured voice. “Have you come to watch my torment?”
“Are you Loki?” I asked.
“There are no other gods on this cursed land but Loki,” he said.
Seneca inspected the chains that secured his legs. “How long have you been here?”
“Since the time of the Fey uprising… only you can tell me how long ago it’s been.”
“Years… many, many years.” She whispered.
“I have lost the ability to track time, without the passing of day and night in so long. There is only pain and waiting.”
“Who would do this to you?” I asked.
“I did this to myself… I sided with the gods and watched as they fled, leaving me to make a last stand. My penance for betrayal.”
“They just left you?” I asked.
“I am the one who summoned the Fey to this world. I wanted Odin’s throne. I was foolish enough to think I could control them. When I realized the error of my ways, I tried to make amends with my kin. They would not have me… so I made a sacrifice to regain their favor.” He chuckled. “A favor that they will not soon give me. For betraying the Fey, Mob built this prison just for me, where I should suffer for eternity.”
Seneca pulled on the chains. “If only I had my magic!”
“I thank you for your effort,” he said. “But these chains cannot be broken. Not by any―”
“Can Zeus break them?” I asked.
He closed his eyes and seemed to think it over. A moment passed before he spoke. “I believe he can. But he has yet to try. So I have no hope for even his divine intervention.”
I stepped forward so he could look me better. The sorrow in those endless black eyes made me shiver. “Help will come. Zeus has lost his power. Ares stole his Aegis, and with it, his power. The Fey plan to march on the people of Olympus and you are our only hope.”
His laughter rumbled throughout the room for a few seconds before it died down into thankless sobs. “What hope am I? Look at me!”
“Odin sent us,” Seneca said. “He promised to side with the Olympians if Zeus freed you from your prison. The only way he can do that is if his power is returned. We’ve come to restore Zeus and stop the Unseelie.”
“Odin has not forsaken me?” Loki asked.
“No, he swore to only help if Zeus freed you,” Seneca said.
Loki’s eyes filled with water and tears freely fell down his golden cheeks. For the first time, he smiled, a smile that reached his eyes. “Knowing that, I can endure my pain for a millennia to come. Go then and continue your quest, know this… when I am freed, I will rain down a vengeance that these cursed Fey will never forget! Behind me, there is a passage that leads to the land of the Unseelie. Take it and be on your way. I will be free of these shackles yet.”
“Remember me.” Seneca stood up straight. “Seneca Rose and Zak Walker are the ones who saved you… my parents died for me to be here.”
“I understand,” Loki said. “And it will be done. Free me, and it will be done.”
I placed my hand on his. His fingers felt like ice and with no life. I looked to Seneca next. “We should go.”
“Wait,” Loki said. “Take my sword. It is called Jotunn and has the power to slay gods. This was a gift given to me by the Fey for betraying my kin, and a way to end Odin’s reign. The reason for everything that has happened. Let my redemption begin with this sword. It has the power to end those who seek to destroy us. Be wary though, every use will freeze the soul just a little bit. Mob left it barely within my reach, as a constant reminder that I will never escape.”
I picked up the sword, a sharp chill rushed up my hand into my heart. I had to brace myself against the shock to keep from toppling over. I breathed out a gush of mist, as if the room itself froze over. I drew the blade and found it made of ice. Vapor rose from its clear blue sheen, and the room grew colder. Seneca shivered; she cautiously backed away with a fearful look. I sheathed the sword and the temperature returned to normal. I wanted to speak my thanks when the alarm rang out again. The statue started its slow turn.
“Quickly,” Loki shouted. “Go now! End this misery!”
“Let’s do what the man says.” Seneca grabbed my arm and dragged me into the passageway behind the throne.
I didn’t want to be in another narrow space, but Loki’s screams urged me on. A light far ahead beckoned. Please let that be sunlight!
We ran straight for it and never looked back.Chapter 15
I could almost taste the fresh air. I ran faster and faster with the promise of seeing the outside world again. When we finally reached the lip of the tunnel, I threw myself out onto wet grass and inhaled deeply. I rolled around and found the familiar sky looking down on me. I never realized how much I missed it and how much it reminded me of home. Seneca took a more graceful approach emerging from the cave as she casually stepped over me and sat against a tree.
I questioned her somber mood. “What’s the matter? We’re finally out of that Hades hole.”
The beast’s roar came from the darkness. An explosion of dust and rock shook apart the cave opening. Smoke erupted from the entrance and the earth rumbled under out feet. The soot cleared to reveal the cave torn wide open, and standing in the hole was the beast that pursued us.
The head of a bull sat on massive shoulders, with copper horns, mechanical eyes, and snout. Mighty hands shielded his eyes and he crouched down. Its lower body was a mix of tendons, fur, and steel merged into flesh that led into large hooves. He had a man’s torso, arms nearly as big as me, and leathery brown skin bursting with muscles over every inch. He stood to his full height, towering over us, and raised his arms while bellowing out another roar. The trees ruffled and waved as birds fled. The forest cowered in fear before the beast.
“Run,” Seneca said.
“We can’t. It’ll just keep chasing us.” I let Jotunn’s scabbard fall to the ground. The cold of the blade seeped through my body. The whole forest grew chilly. I shivered, but still held the weapon ready to fight. I advanced, staring the beast down. It huffed steam and stomped its metal hooves, kicking up chunks of dirt. His intimidation was working, but I wouldn’t let it show. I took a deep breath and watched the vapor escape my nose. The forest came to standstill, as if waiting to see what would happen next. I would put on a show. I ran at the beast with the sword held high. When I came within striking distance, I brought it down hard, but not fast enough. He swung his arm, catching me in the side and knocking me clear across the field. My back crashed into a tree and I fell into a world of hurt.
I looked up as Seneca jumped on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and rode him like a wild horse. I got up to one knee, feeling the cold pain in my side, but forcing myself to ignore it. The beast swung Seneca back and forth until she lost her grip and crashed to the ground. I had to get back to my feet. I stuck the blade into the earth and used the sword to help support my weight. Tendrils of ice ate away at the soil around the blade, spreading like a plague. With the sword almost frozen in place, I had to struggle to pull it free. Once I snapped it away from the block of ice it created, I readied myself to strike.
