Beyond Hades: The Prometheus Wars (46 page)

Both warriors shot forward simultaneously, their swords clashing together and flaring in the growing dusk. The Titan's sword seemed almost contradictory of Heracles's glowing one, and when the two powers collided, an ominous boom resounded. Again and again the two warriors came together, their weapons blurring and crashing against each other faster than most of the observers could keep track of. Wes, however, was staring intently at the fight, following the flow and every nuance of the exchange.

"Now," Wes muttered softly to himself.

Instantly, Heracles spun on his heel, the Olympian sword leaving a glittering arc as he parried Prometheus's overhand strike and whipped in a complete circle, slashing through the neck of the Titan as he stumbled past. There was no pause as the blade struck; it sliced through the heavy-plated armor like it was made of ice cream.

The helmeted head twisted slightly, the expression upon Prometheus's face remarkably like one of intense amusement. It seemed to pause momentarily, and then fell to the ground with a metallic thud. The body stood briefly, twitched slightly and then collapsed into a heap.

Heracles stood, victorious over the body.

"Don't get too confident there, Herc," called Wes. "I already did that once."

Heracles stared at Wes quizzically, and Talbot noticed the body begin to spasm on the ground, the gauntleted hand grasping the hilt of the dark sword once more.

"Watch out!" yelled Wes.

Heracles instinctively leaped away just as the headless body swiped at his legs with the ebony-bladed weapon. The Olympian stared incredulously as the decapitated corpse slowly rose, and then stood once more. Talbot watched the head frothing and sizzling like butter on a hotplate.

Talbot glanced back at the newly-risen corpse to see a tiny fresh head had sprouted from the severed neck, like a diminutive bud breaching the earth. The miniature skull stretched and grew like a balloon inflating, until eventually it filled out to the same size as the one Heracles had just hacked off.

"Ha!" laughed Prometheus as his new face finished forming. The entire growth had occurred in a matter of seconds. "How will you kill me, mighty Heracles? How will you stop that which cannot be stopped?"

Heracles leaped forward like lightning and skewered Prometheus through the middle of the chest, the glowing sword cleaving straight through the Titan's armor, piercing his heart and exiting through his back. The Olympian tore the blade loose and stepped back. Prometheus merely stood, arms outstretched.

"You cannot slay me, Heracles," spat the Titan contemptuously. "I shall kill you all, one at a time." He glared at the circle of Olympians gathered around him, several stepping back fearfully as he did so. One woman actually tripped and dropped her flaming torch to the ground. It rolled several yards before stopping, still burning fiercely.

Prometheus leaped at Heracles, and once more their weapons clashed and boomed against each other. Talbot watched the exchange in awe. Heracles seemed to battle slightly more anxiously now, unsure of how to finish the conflict. How could he kill something which could regrow its own head?

Regrow its own head...?

Something within Talbot's memory sang out at the thought, and he sought to recall why. One of the creatures he had recently encountered....

"The Hydra!" shouted Talbot aloud.

Everyone looked at him, including Heracles. The Olympian barely deflected a blow from Prometheus as a result, bringing his own sword up at the last second, the Titan's dark blade skimming along it, dangerously close to his throat.

Damn. Talbot couldn't risk distracting Heracles like that again, but he had to pass on what he'd remembered. What he wouldn't give to be able to mentally project something.

He snapped his gaze away from the battle, searching for Zeus. The leader of the Olympians was further around the fighting circle, anxiously watching Heracles, battling for his life.

"Let me help you!" called Wes. Heracles was growing noticeably fatigued from the battle.

"NO!" roared Heracles, launching a blistering assault on the Titan, forcing him back. This only ended up tiring Heracles further, though, with no real solution in sight.

Talbot pushed his way through the Olympians, slowly making his way to Zeus's side. Swiftly he outlined what Heracles needed to know. Zeus stared expressionlessly at him for a moment, and then nodded. A look of intense concentration came over his features, and Talbot immediately shifted his gaze to Heracles, who risked a glance at his father before nodding slightly in acknowledgement. Talbot even thought he saw the ghost of a smile cross Heracles's lips.

The Olympian leaped forward, his sword slashing more confidently. Prometheus blocked wildly, the fact he was invulnerable not meaning he enjoyed the pain inflicted when he was wounded. Heracles forced him further back, and the crowd parted, allowing plenty of room. As he passed the dropped torch, Heracles snatched it up and stepped back, holding the flame before him.

Something akin to fear flashed across Prometheus's expression as he saw the flaming torch in Heracles's hand, but the look was gone in an instant. "Having trouble seeing me, Heracles?" he mocked.

"Not at all," replied Heracles, the ghost of a smile flashing across his mouth. "I was just remembering something about one of the creatures from your world; a beast called the hydra, which I once had the intense displeasure of meeting. Our friend here -" he indicated Talbot, "- also encountered one on his recent journey, and just asked my father to remind me of it."

Fear once more glimmered upon Prometheus's face, but this time he was unable to conceal it. "Are we going to talk all day or fight? Why do you insist on talking about some stupid lizard?"

"Well, it seems to me that you and it possess very similar talents, in particular the one of regenerating wounds. It too has the ability to regrow its heads when they've been severed."

Prometheus's eyes narrowed, and Talbot saw sweat beading upon his brow. "Put down your pretty torch and face me like a man, Olympian!"

"It makes me wonder," continued Heracles as though Prometheus hadn't spoken at all. "It makes me wonder if during all the myriad of experiments your race did, whether one involved the combination of Hydra blood with that of a Titan."

Prometheus attacked, his sword snaking out and clashing again and again against Heracles's golden blade. Each strike was more desperate than the last, and Heracles blocked them all with ease. Finally, Prometheus overbalanced and Heracles's sword clove his chest, exiting his back in a bloody spray. Prometheus's hand reflexively opened, dropping his dark sword, which fell clattering on the stony ground. Heracles pulled him close.

"I hope you feel fear, Titan. I hope you are terrified. You have caused countless deaths in your quest to conquer my people, and all you have achieved is the extinction of your own race. The Keres will hunt down every last Titan and destroy them all. Your quest to defeat my people and conquer my land has ended with your failure. Know that, before you die."

Prometheus whimpered.

Heracles twisted his golden blade and dragged it from the ribcage of the Titan. Prometheus slumped down and scrabbled for his blade, but Heracles slashed through his neck, once again decapitating the Titan.

As the head dropped and new growth tried to push through from the severed neck, Heracles thrust the burning torch into the wound, cauterizing the flesh and sealing it completely. The soft tissue stopped twitching immediately and Heracles stepped back, preparing for anything unforeseen.

The corpse twitched slightly, becoming more frenzied as the inability to regenerate seized it. Like a suffocating man battling for breath, the body flopped and thrashed upon the ground, its hands clawing at the cauterized flesh of its neck, but they were unable to pierce the seal. Finally the struggling petered out and the hands fell aside, its spine arching as though trying to scream, before it dropped to the stone, unmoving.

"And stay dead this time," Heracles snarled, glancing over at Wes and grinning before staring back at the corpse, "you fucker of mothers."

Wes's laughter rang out across Mount Olympus. Prometheus, the last of the Titans, was finally still.

CHAPTER 19

There was no cheering, no celebrating. Several Olympians staggered in shock as the import of what had just happened began to sink in. The city of Mount Olympus was decimated, its people almost wiped out. Everyone had lost someone close to them this day. Talbot surveyed the devastation, wondering how they would rebuild.

"No time to relax, princess," snapped Wes.

Talbot tensed, realizing how true the words were. They still had to find a way home, get into Atlantis - which was apparently destroyed - and close off a rift they had no idea how to shut down.

They may have won this war, but their -

"Hey! Snap out of it! We have to go."

Talbot nodded, turning to Zeus. "Is there an easier way for us to return to our world? We don't have time to travel to Chiron's village to access the Syrpeas Gate -" He suddenly remembered something. "But even if we could travel through it we'd emerge inside the rubble of a collapsed pyramid on the other end."

Zeus looked thoughtful for a moment. "We can recalibrate the coordinates on the gate here to link with the one you arrived through. This can then be shifted slightly so that you emerge in the same locale, but away from the original gate."

"Let's do that, then, whatever the hell it is... with the thing, and the recalibration stuff," said Wes.

Zeus led the way back up the hill through the empty, war-torn streets, Wes and Talbot following with Heracles trailing further back, beset as he was by Olympians weeping with relief who wanted to thank him personally. The trip was swift, and they soon stood within the chamber of the rift once more, the rift itself still active and rippling within the hidden room. Zeus adjusted several things on the control panel, finally turning back to gaze at Wes and Talbot.

"I do not know whether to thank you both or curse you. You have brought me the worst news I ever received, seen my son taken from me, enabled our enemies to bring war to our very doorstep, wreaking death and destruction upon the city I love and causing more pain than my people should ever have to endure. But my son has since returned, bringing me joy at a time when I never imagined it possible. You have also helped save my people, fighting alongside us at your own peril. I am torn; what am I to do?"

"Well," said Wes, "for starters, you could stop yapping so much and give me a kiss."

Zeus merely grinned and shook his head. "I am going to miss you. I would tell you to return one day, but I fear what would follow in your wake the next time."

"Sorry about the whole war and devastation thing," muttered Wes.

Heracles came to stand beside his father. "You both must succeed in closing the Syrpeas Gate," he said sternly, his face impassive. "Otherwise this war will have been for naught; we shall all die if the dimensions collapse."

Talbot nodded somberly. He extended his hand to Heracles, who took it wrist to wrist in a warrior's grip. "Thanks Heracles," he said. The huge warrior merely grimaced, knowing what they still had to face.

Talbot turned to Zeus, but no words could convey what he felt. This man, a legendary figure within Greek mythology, was now facing the rebuilding of his city along with the devastation to his people, only years after fighting a similar war. How could Talbot convey the sorrow he felt?

"No words are necessary," said Zeus, reading his thoughts. "Despite what I just said, I know you two are not at fault. The blame lies with the Titans, and they have paid the price. Your task lies ahead of you, and it is more important than anything you can possibly imagine. Beware what you think you know, and when all seems lost, remember the words of Kharon."

Talbot stepped back, confused. He searched his memory for what Kharon might have said, but for the life of him he couldn't recall it.