Ares’ eyes were wide open and furious. He also hung from manacles and he was a bloody mess. He was covered in bruises and welts and it was obvious to me that he had resisted and they had beaten him all the more for it. Cadmus was the same.
My husband was covered in blood. And I felt certain that he had fought as much as he could to escape so that he could get to me. I could see the blood seeping from his wrists around the steel manacles where he had tried to work them loose. My eyes filled with tears. They might have lied to me, but I loved them. And this was no place for them.
Turning, I appraised the guards. They had the gray, ashen skin of the undead. And I regretted the decision that we had made to leave Zeus’ sword with Ahmose for safekeeping. For the crime of hurting my loved ones, I would like to kill these guards, bring them back and kill them over and over until I felt like justice had been served.
But once would have to do.
I quietly lifted a heavy sword from a bracket on the wall and in one deft blow, I impaled them both. Both Ares and Cadmus snapped up their heads, straining to see what had happened.
“It’s me,” I called out as I approached. “I’m wearing the helm.” I took it off as I stood in front of them.
Ares face erupted into a grin. “Harmonia! Thank the gods! Get your mother down first, would you?”
Obediently, I raced to Aphrodite’s side and crushed her manacles in my grip, catching her as she slipped down the wall. She barely opened her eyes, in fact, one of them was nearly swollen closed. Anger boiled up from deep within. This atrocity would be avenged.
I laid her gently on the ground while I freed my father and Cadmus. As I broke Cadmus’ locks, he embraced me gently, even though I knew it must hurt him. His arms were covered in bruises and blood.
“Please forgive me, Harmonia. I love you.” His gaze implored me. “This is killing me.”
My heart cracked.
“I love you, too,” I murmured. “And I want to forgive you. I’m trying.”
He dropped his head. “That’s all I can ask, I suppose.”
I gazed around the room. “Where are Ortrera and her warriors?”
Ares motioned toward an adjoining room. “In there. Come help me?”
We flew into the next room and found my sister and her small army waiting. They were no worse for the wear than the others, but they tried hard to conceal their pain. It was simply in their nature. I grimaced for her, however, when Ortrera took a step and her ankle cracked. It sounded as if it had been broken. I handed her the helm.
“Here. Put this on. It will allow your goddess abilities to return while you wear it- and your foot can heal so that you can walk. You should all take turns wearing it- but Aphrodite gets it next.”
Everyone nodded their agreement.
“We must hurry,” I told them as I glanced nervously over my shoulder. “Hades is planning on moving you to the Dungeon of the Damned, although I don’t know when. It could be any time.”
Ortrera healed in record time and was able to walk again within a few minutes. We crept down the corridor in search of the forging fires that Persephone had spoke of. And it didn’t take long to find them.
They were enormous and took up one entire massive room. Workers shoveled iron into the fire to heat it and then laid the pieces on a huge stone slab to form them into various shapes with hammers. The sound was deafening.
There was an entire room of workers and we had only one helmet. We looked at each other and at the same time, Ortrera and I said, “Ares.”
He nodded and took the helm from her, putting it on and instantly was rendered invisible. We scarcely had time to think before the entire room of workers were lying dead on the floor and Ares was once again standing in front of us.
“Let’s go, then,” he said nonchalantly as he motioned us toward the hall leading behind the fires. It led to another set of heavy doors, which I unlocked with the brass key that Persephone had given me.
No one questioned why I had it or how I had come to get it. Instead, the entire group remained silent as we raced through the passage that would lead us to freedom.
Chapter Eight
As soon as we burst from the darkened corridor to the outside, I drew in a deep breath and looked around. Almost instantly, a cloud of red butterflies descended upon us.
“Thanks, Ahmose,” I whispered. I knew that he was somehow watching us and helping us in what limited ways that he could.
“Where should we go?” Aphrodite asked. Ares was carrying her, although since she was wearing the helm, she was invisible.
I looked ahead of us and saw the thousands of heads of the undead army guarding the palace.
“Not that way,” I muttered quickly. We spun around and circled around the palace and continued on behind it.
“We cannot stop right now,” Ares stated calmly. “I wish that we could stop long enough to allow everyone to heal, but we cannot. Hades will deploy an army to find us as soon as he discovers that we are gone.”
I nodded in agreement. “He will stop at nothing to find us. I know that much to be true.”
We walked quickly forward. The terrain was easy, flat plains and low hills. The ground was soft under our feet.
“I should tell you…” I began and glanced around at the others. They stopped and waited for me to finish speaking. “I should tell you what I know.”
Ares nodded. “Then speak, daughter. Although know this, when we have a moment, you and I are going to have a discussion.”
I ignored the last part of his statement and continued. “I think that Raquel is in Tartara. I saw a vision- she was with Hecate’s daughter, Empusa. It looks as though Empusa is helping her, but I can’t be sure. They were surrounded by shadows and darkness… which leads me to believe that they are in Tartara.”
Cadmus clenched his jaw. “Then we shall go, as well.”
He reached out and grabbed my hand. I enjoyed the warmth of his strong fingers wrapped around my own for just a minute before I pulled away. I so wanted everything to go back to the way it was. But I couldn’t forget the lies. It prevented me from forgiving him. Even though I wanted to.
He sighed, but remained at my side, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
“I’ll wait for you, my love. Forever, if I have to.”
I nodded, my eyes filling with tears. He gazed at me, his expression sad. He reached out and wiped my tears away.
“Don’t cry, Harmonia. Everything will be alright.”
“Will it?” I asked, my voice small and shaking. I wasn’t so sure.