Timothy Boggs - Hercules Legendary Joureneys 02 (22 page)

A man sat to his left, grinning smugly.

It took a moment for Hercules to remember what had happened. Then he looked sharply to his right, holding his breath until he spotted Iolaus, lying peacefully on his back a few yards away.

"He's out," Poseidon said. "I thought it would be best for a while."

"Is he ... ?"

"A little battered, a lot bruised. A brave man, Nephew. He destroyed Hera's shrine, and that took care of the storm." A finger poked his arm. "You, on the other hand, have a lot to learn about sea monsters."

"Tell me about it," Hercules said, the ache in his head competing now with the ache in all his muscles.

Far beyond where Iolaus lay—a mile, not much less—he saw the toothlike rocks.

Even at this distance he could tell the Klothon was no longer there.

He was halfway to his feet before Poseidon took his arm and pulled him down.

"I tidied up a little," the sea god explained. "Except for the head. I left the head. Otherwise, they'd never know what happened."

Hercules saw people then. The glint of waning sunlight on brass armor and spears.

"You want something to eat?"

“What?' Hercules saw two thick slices of bread in his uncle's hand, and something red and dripping between them. "What's that?"

Poseidon smiled and shrugged. "Steak."

"What's that?"

"What you get from the flank of a dead critter, what else?" The sea god waved the fillet-of-sea-monster sandwich. "You want some?"

Hercules shuddered. "No, thanks, I'll pass." He looked around again. "Cire. Where's—
"

"Asleep under the trees," Poseidon answered patiently. "You don't think I'd forget her, do you? Most courageous woman I've ever met."

Hercules' eyes widened. "You talked to her?"

"She'll think it's a dream."

"It
was
a dream. A nightmare. I—" He stopped and very slowly turned toward his uncle. "It was you, wasn't it?"

Poseidon stood and brushed the sand from his legs. "Me?" he said, so innocently that Hercules had to laugh. "Don't know what you're talking about."

As Iolaus began to stir, Hercules and Poseidon walked down to the water.

"You held it back," Hercules said, thinking aloud, remembering. "It would have made it up the cliff, but you held it back."

Poseidon kept walking.

"Then you caught me." Gingerly he touched his head. "What did I hit?"

Poseidon waved his trident and lifted a shoulder in apology.

"She'll be mad, you know," Hercules said, louder now that Poseidon was in the sea to his waist. "She'll hate you for this."

Poseidon turned and walked backward. "She never liked me anyway, Hercules. And she'll be madder at you for escaping again than she ever will be at me."

"Uncle ..." He didn't know what to say except a humble "Thank you."

Poseidon waved the sandwich as he sank below the waves. "Don't mention it. The tuna, by the way, will love you. Klothon's going to last me for a long, long time."

He laughed heartily and vanished, and a huge wave rose from the spot where he'd stood, crested, and carried Hercules a good twenty yards toward the grass.

When he sat up sputtering and spitting, he heard, "Sorry again, Nephew," and another delighted laugh.

Hercules didn't bother to stand up. He drew up his knees and stared at the water, letting the last of the warm sun dry him.

"That was Poseidon, wasn't it?"

He nodded as Iolaus dropped down beside him.

"I thought he was a wave." Iolaus frowned, then shrugged. "Funny, I thought he was a lot bigger, too."

"Oh, he is," Hercules said fondly. "You have no idea how really big he is."

They walked back to Themon in twilight.

The city was battered, but still standing more or less intact. Walls had cracked, roofs had caved in, and the sea had indeed swept up the boulevard all the way to the plaza. But there was nothing that couldn't be repaired with hard work and time.

A few questions of passersby brought them to the house of Titus Perical, where an awestruck servant let them in. When Jocasta saw who had arrived, she wept with joy and hugged them, blessed them, wept, hugged them, and finally said, "The stories are true."

"The Klothon?" Iolaus said. "Well, maybe they—"

She grinned. "No. About you two."

Once more, Hercules was embarrassed, and tried to cover it by asking about Titus. Jocasta wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and led them to a room near the back. Titus lay on a bed, covered to his chin, his hands at his sides, trembling.

"He was out there the whole time," Jocasta told them, her voice filled with anger and love. "Directing everything. The fool. He said Hera's curse would get him anyway, so .. ."

Hercules knelt beside the old man and laid a hand on his. The man was pale, too pale, and his breathing sounded like the rasp of rough metal.

Titus opened his eyes.

Hercules smiled.

"Did we win?" the old man asked weakly.

"We won." Hercules squeezed the hand gently. "Thanks to you."

Titus tried to laugh, ended up coughing instead. "It was all my fault. Pride, Hercules, and a dose of self-importance, can make you do very foolish things."

Hercules shook his head. "It was Hera from the beginning; you couldn't have fought her. You did what you thought was right." He paused and, at Iolaus' nod, added, "And you did well."

Titus closed his eyes. "Too late."

"No. You'll be fine."

Titus opened one eye. "I... I suppose you have inside information?" he asked wearily.

Hercules couldn't help a quiet laugh. "You could say that. Yes."

He waited until he thought the old man had fallen asleep, then touched his shoulder with a finger and headed for the door.

"Demeter," Titus wheezed suddenly, "is going to be really pissed, isn't she?"

"Maybe," Hercules agreed. "But Hera's not too happy either. Demeter I can talk to, if she doesn't know what happened already. Hera?" He shrugged, and when Titus didn't respond, he left, following Jocasta down a short hall at her insistence.

In another room he found Holix and Cire.

"They're going to stay with us," Jocasta explained in a whisper. "They'll have their own cottage, I think. Holix claims he knows something about horses."

"Yeah, right," Iolaus said good-naturedly. "Everything except how to stay on one."

Hercules laughed.

Holix laughed.

Cire jumped to her feet.

"What's the matter?" Holix asked, inhaling sharply when one of his broken ribs reminded him it was broken.

"I can't find my knife!" Cire cried.

Iolaus backed off, pulling Hercules with him. They still laughed, but they weren't taking any chances.

At the front door, Jocasta thanked them again, so fervently that Hercules felt a blush rise to his face. He kissed her cheek and said, yes, they would both be honored to visit the new place once Titus was well.

"I'll miss you. Miss you both."

She kissed their cheeks and hurried away.

Iolaus cleared his throat, clapped once, and said, "Okay. That's it. We're done. Let's get something to eat and hit the road."

"Iolaus, it's almost dark."

Iolaus stood in front of him, reached up to put his hands on Hercules' shoulders, and stared him in the eye. "Tell me the truth: do you want to spend one more hour in this place than you absolutely have to?'

"But I thought you were a hero," Hercules said mildly. "All those women just waiting to hear your stories ... are you sure you want to pass that up?"

"Herc, what I want—"

A voice from inside the Perical house called his name. Sweetly. Insistently. With a definite squeak.

"Meet you on the road," Iolaus said, and was gone.

A moment later Venitia raced by, raced back, said, "Are you sure he's not married?"—and raced away.

Once he had stopped laughing, Hercules took to the street. No hurry. Nothing to do but get back on the road.

All in all, it hadn't been that bad.

A monster was dead, a city spared ... an old man saved in more ways than one.

Best of all, Hera had been thwarted again.

And he had survived.

It was that time of day, and as he passed people cleaning up, gossiping, a few still eating their last meal, he decided that perhaps it was time for him as well.

Time to go home and finally finish that wall.