“I can’t take it anymore.”
You have thousands, millions of years yet to suffer. This is only the beginning. Just a taste of what you’ve yet to experience.
“Please…”
Don’t beg. It’s so…un-Argonaut. Man up and take it like the hero you used to be.
“I’ll do anything. Anything…”
There is no such thing as anything. You should know that by now…
The voice faded to nothing. His mind fogged as unshed tears and unanswered prayers washed over him. Inside he felt his body liquefy, pool, begin to slowly ooze out through every single puncture wound. He no longer felt the thousands of feet crawling across his body, no longer saw the spiders. A thick, white haze descended, and he felt himself drifting downstream, heading for a black abyss as vast as an endless chasm.
“Yes, finally…”
“I can ease your pain, Argonaut.”
Gryphon’s eyes flew open at the sound of the voice somewhere close. His vision cleared to reveal hundreds of multicolored spiders undulating across the length of his naked body. Sensation returned to his skin, along with the pain in his flesh. But even through his poison-laden mind, he recognized the voice.
This one didn’t come from inside. It was female and deep. The sweet smell of candy wafted in the air nearby, mixing with the voice to tempt and tease and draw him back from the oblivion he needed.
“Yes, Argonaut. You know me well. Soon you will know me very well.”
Atalanta.
His gaze darted from side to side as he looked for the female. He didn’t care who she was. She was real. He wasn’t alone in this forgotten hell after all.
“Help me!”
“I can take you away from all this pain, Argonaut. Would you like that?”
“Yes, yes, please, yes.”
She chuckled.
A pale-skinned hand dropped down in his line of sight. Long tapered fingers lifted a giant spider from his chest and dangled the monster in front of his face. “Did you know there is a place within this realm where relief can be found? Where those who were sentenced long before you found refuge? Where the Elder Gods themselves rule a land more pleasurable than even Sodom and Gomorrah?”
Elder Gods. The Titans.
Gryphon’s foggy mind spun as the words sank in deep. Zeus had cast the Titans into Tartarus at the end of the Titanomachy, the war between the Titans and the Olympians. And they’d been locked in the lowest level ever since, awaiting the day they would one day be freed by the Orb of Krónos.
“I can take you there, Argonaut. I know where it lies. I can save you from this never-ending agony. With me you can leave this torture behind for good and become powerful again. Whole. The warrior you once were. All you have to do is join me.” Her voice dropped to a seductive whisper. “Be my doulas.”
Slave.
Some deep space inside screamed No! but it was drowned out by the thought of a world without pain. An end to this continuous torment.
The fact that Atalanta had been his bitter enemy in the living realm meant nothing. He wasn’t an Argonaut any longer. His prior life was over. And he was willing to do anything to make this suffering end. Even if that meant sacrificing everything he’d once believed in.
“Yes, yes, yes. Anything you want. Just take this all away.”
No!
A soft chuckle met his ears. “I knew I could count on you, Argonaut.”
A whoosh of air streamed across his bare skin, sending the spiders scattering. A rumble sounded somewhere close and blackness spiraled in, then exploded into a thousand colors, fading like a clearing mist until a face appeared through the fog. A face with skin like alabaster, lips as red as blood, eyes of coal black, and a fall of long straight onyx hair that looked as if it were made of silk.
“Follow me, doulas.”
His arms moved. Excitement leaped in his chest. But before his mind could tell his limbs what to do, he felt a tug, right in the center of his chest. A tug controlling him. Pulling him forward like a bull being led by a nose ring. Toward her. Until there was nothing. No sound. No pain. Nothing but endless emptiness fanning out in every direction.
***
Maelea didn’t know what to make of her traveling companions. As she lay on the top berth of the stateroom they’d arranged in Bellingham and pretended to sleep, she listened to their quiet breathing and wondered if they were awake. Wondered also just how long until she could make a break for it.