Page 23

23

THROW A HELLBEAST A BONE

JARED

G etting into the castle now that we had a map was a far easier task than I thought it would be. As it turned out there was a tunnel system that led merchants safely inside without the chance of them being attacked by thieves on the road. Which meant it was a direct route in.

Of course, the first thing we’d had to do was make it back to the camp, and thanks to our horses, who seemed more than eager to return, it seemed like no time at all. Which meant before I knew it, we had the map spread out on a table in the largest tent in the camp. And we needed the space because everyone joined in as I told them the plan to get Ella out. We all agreed that this would only work if just one of us snuck inside, which no one argued, would be me.

However, the others were going to accompany me to the tunnel system in case Garmr had soldiers there keeping guard. The plan was not to draw any unwanted attention as we didn’t want anything able to tip him off. Because we couldn’t risk him moving her again, which meant this was our only shot.

I couldn’t fuck it up again.

The one good bit of news was that Koro had managed to get word to Dominic and the other Kings. Asher had the foresight to include our own side in this. Ensuring Koro’s messenger reached the Gate of Hermes with our own instructions to follow.

Now as for our way in, this was through the cave of Hecate, beyond the temple entrance, one built in the Goddess’s honor. She was known best for her magic and witchcraft. Most of which her knowledge of herbs, poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery was the same magic passed down today. For she was the mother of such power in this Realm. Even a lot of the Summoners magic could be related back to her. But she was also part of the Fates too, for it was said that like the God Janus, she was known to be a tripartite Goddess. Something which allowed her to see in multiple directions all at once and was a protector of all between. Whatever that truly meant, I had no fucking clue.

The map showed that this cave system led straight through, as it bordered the castle of Thanatos, who was the personification of death. Although this wasn’t as grim as it sounded, for he represented a non-violent death, which was vastly different to his counterpart. His sisters, known as the Keres, were the spirits of diseases and slaughter.

Now that was one fucked up family tree if ever there was one, but then again, wasn’t everyone in this realm of Hell. Well as long as none of the fuckers got in my way, I didn’t care, for I would use this cave to my advantage.

Speaking of which.

“The temple of Hecate, is up ahead,” I told the others. We still had the use of our horses, as Tyr had not released his hold on them yet. A good job too or this journey would have taken far too long without a portal to aid us.

Honestly, I hadn’t even understood how Garmr had managed it. Summoners weren’t well known for their skills in creating portals to use instantly. I had only ever known the likes of Niniane, and she first had to create a link to travel from place to place. An anchor of a kind. Yet Garmr had managed to discover a way to stretch those powers to creating large enough portals to sustain vast life to travel through.

Just another reason to be wary now, as I knew the enemy could arise at any minute should we tip them off. But then it was like Bill had said, no one should know of this route. It wasn’t common knowledge, or why else would a map be needed for the merchant to complete the job?

As for Bill, he had stayed behind, as I knew too many of us would only draw suspicion as we traveled. So, like before, it remained the four of us, but once entrance into the castle was found, I would then go in alone. Something my brother had wanted to argue against but it was no use, my mind had been set.

The square front of the temple held six large Greek pillars, that continued around the sides of the long rectangular building. At least forty steps led up to the huge structure, meaning we had no choice but to leave our horses behind. The triangular top, just under the tiled roof, was carved with the Gods and quite honestly, looked like a million other Greek temples in this place.

Inside, however, held nothing more than a giant statue of the Goddess at the very end. The marble floor like mirrored glass, reflecting our own images as we made our way across the large space. Arched coves cut into the walls held smaller statues of various deities. The whole room was floor to ceiling pale marble and was as tall as the statue ahead, being at least five stories high.

“They were never very subtle, the Gods,” my brother said, making Marcus scoff.

“About as subtle as their egos.”

And well, he wasn’t wrong there. But then when you gained your power from the belief of others, then I suppose it came with the territory. As for my brother and I, we were born from the belly of this realm, which was what fed our own power. One that would only faulter should the Underworld collapse and be no more.

Something I never thought I would have to worry about until talk of that fucker Garmr actually bringing about Ragnarok.

“I don’t see a door, do you?” Orth said as we reached the end and he was right. This gave Tyr the excuse to head straight to the wall behind the statue and pull his axe down from his back,

“Then let’s make one,” he said and before we could stop him, he started hammering into the walls with his axe. The marble gave way and cracked with ease, only to show nothing but bare rock beneath. Then he would move further along and do the same, until eventually, he stopped when there were five door-shaped holes and not a single one became an actual door.

“Or we could try this,” Marcus said after using his brain and reading an inscription he found hidden on the wall. One only shown once he brought his staff up to glow next to it. This was because the writing was white etched into the pale marble. This made it only visible when light was held a certain way against it. Along with the hidden panel to press that made the entrance to the hidden cave open.

“Ah see, there it is,” Tyr stated with a smirk, making my brother laugh before slapping him on the back, saying,

“I am sure had you knocked the temple down, we would have found it at some point.”

Tyr took this as lighthearted jest, making the temple echo with his laughter. One that was thankfully abandoned, or this mission would have been over before it even begun.

“After you,” I said, prompting Marcus to go first, seeing as he was the one with the light source. As well, I didn’t think it would be quite as effective lighting up the tunnel with my eyeballs glowing red like pointless fucking headlights.

“I swear if there is one fucking rope bridge, I am going back,” Orth complained, making me scoff.

“Yeah, well any shit like last time and I will be throwing both your arses over the edge.”

“Do I want to know?” Tyr asked, making all three of us say at once,

“No!”

“No!”

“No!”

To which he held up his hands in surrender.

We continued on through the tunnel, one that would open up wider in parts before narrowing again. However, the next time it started to get bigger, it continued until we were facing a cavernous space. As if someone had hallowed out part of the mountain and what we found was…

A fucking tomb.

“Fuck me, that’s a lot of bones,” Orthrus said, and he wasn’t fucking wrong. There must have been hundreds of thousands, all piled up in pyramids that almost reached the top. Hell, there looked like it could have been millions of pieces of bone, making me wonder how many creatures that would have made?

“Hey, J, do these bones remind you of…” Marcus started to say, making me finish,

“HellHounds,” I said the second one of the skulls rolled towards me. One I ended up stopping with my foot.

“What the Hell?” Orth muttered in awe.

“Right choice of words there, what the fuck are all of these doing here?” Marcus asked.

“I wish I knew but whatever the reason, someone went to a lot of effort to bring these all here,” I said, making my brother frown in question and prompting me to point out, “Well think about it, they couldn’t have all died down here, could they?”

“But then why would anyone be stock piling bones?”

I shook my head.

“I have no clue, and I don’t really ever want there to come a point where I find out,” I said, as for whatever the reason, it wasn’t going to be for anything good.

Speaking of not good, Marcus stopped long enough to find a different type of horned skull, picking it up and telling me,

“It looks like these aren’t just all HellHound bones after all, this looks like a Chimera offspring.”

I frowned at that, while my brother snatched the skull and said,

“Nah, it looks more like an Erymanthian Boar.”

“Are you fucking blind, caveman? It looks like a Chimera!” Marcus argued, making me roll my eyes.

“Yeah, I wonder how it would look if it was stuffed up your ass, we could call you asshorn for the rest of your life,” my brother retaliated.

“Would you two quit it, we are supposed to be doing this quietly,” I growled back at them, making my brother toss the skull to the pile, before he kept walking.

The only problem with this was that it disturbed the rest. Making the first few bones come rolling down as we all turned to watch. We sighed in relief when it only caused a slight disruption but then, some more bones followed it. And then before we knew it, a fuck load more followed those, until there was a fucking avalanche of bones, all coming down behind us!

“Oh shit! RUN!” Orth shouted. I looked back in time to see a fucking tsunami wave of bones coming straight for us, ready to bury us alive as the mountain floor rumbled around us.

“FUCK!” Marcus shouted, as my eyes scanned the area looking for any way out of this shit.

“UP THERE, ON THE LEDGE!” I shouted above the thunder of movement behind us as wave after wave began to fall. As it was like the domino effect, it wasn’t just one pyramid, it was them fucking all! A sea of bones coming at us, ready to crush us and bury us alive.

“I SEE IT!” Marcus shouted.

“BE READY, brOTHER, TYR, MARCUS, JUMP FOR IT ON MY MARK… ONE… TWO… THREE!” I shouted as the ledge became at its lowest point for us to leap on to. As for Marcus, he made it easily, jumping up after Tyr and I. However, this time, it was my brother who needed to be saved, and Marcus quickly grabbed him and pulled him in… T-shirt intact, the lucky fucker.

Of course, we were higher up now, but this wasn’t going to save us, as the bones just kept getting higher and higher as more pyramids fell. We continued to run up the higher platform, leaving me praying that not only would we make it out of this alive, but that we were heading the right way. As the mountain floor we had been walking on was now completely covered in meters of bone.

Bone that continued to chase us until we could finally see a doorway cut into the rock up ahead.

“RUN!”

“I AM FUCKING RUNNING!”

“THEN RUN FUCKING FASTER!” I yelled at my brother who was last.

I watched as Tyr made it, then Marcus, then I waited for my brother being chased by the wall of grey bone coming at him. I reached out and yanked him the rest of the way. Only just making it there myself before the doorway instantly became blocked, as it filled up with bone. Doing so tightly enough that it created a barrier for anymore to follow.

We all bent over to catch our breaths and when Marcus and Orth were about to speak, I held up my hand and snapped,

“Not a fucking word!” Then I stormed off, snatching Marcus’s glowing staff from his hand and using it to lead and light the way down the tunnel.

Because now I was left with an even bigger problem after finally rescuing my girl. A question that left me asking myself…

Who would rescue us?