Coming Out of Exile: The Strength of A Father's Love
By Moon Mistress

Chapter Fourteen

There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
There's so much inside.
You remain
My power, my pleasure, my pain
Kiss From A Rose
Seal

Ares and Calla were ushered deep under the Underworld to a cavern that made Ares’ home look like a hovel.  The deeper into they went the hotter it became. The rocks at first became blackened but then, to her amazement, they seemed to glow.  Then they did glow with the force of the heat around them. It wasn’t long before that Calla’s feet began to burn and she kept picking them up high to bring them some type of breeze as she planted them on the scorching sands. Ares looked down to see that she wasn’t wearing any shoes and grumbled loudly before reaching down to pick her up in his arms so that he could carry her. “What are you doing?” Kanan hissed. “The bitch can walk.” As the words fell out of his mouth it became easy to see the problem. “Perhaps Jackson isn’t so unlike me after all,” Kanan mused with a sly grin. “Where are your shoes, Cha’Dech?”

Life with Kanan included many things but one of them was not shoes. “I own an entire closet full of shoes,” she countered grateful that the soles of her feet were no longer on the hot sand. That was true. She’d merely forgotten her shoes today that was all.  In the rush to come down here she hadn’t even changed out of her own nightgown Ares had to give her the tunic she was wearing in lieu of a proper dress.  It wasn’t like Ares had shoes in her size lying around his cave.  They were lead through the hot and the dark to a place where the dirt turned to black sand and beyond the sands there flowed a river of lava.  

“Lead on,” Ares ordered in a tight cool tone.

“Whatever you want.” Kanan said in the same vain.

The troop of Shadows flanking them began to move forward once more through the tight corridors of the winding cavern and closer to whatever the heat source in this place was. As they traveled over burning sands and past hot rocks a large room, a cavern within a cavern, came into view and they were at the end of the line. All at once Calla and Ares realized they were deep within the Seventh Circle of the Underworld and standing on the high cliffs over the Phlegethon River, the River of BloodFire.  Everything in here was either black or red; the walls were thick with soot which clung not only to them but seemed to embrace the very air around them. The mighty ever-flowing river with no known source coursed through the rocks slowly pushing the banks further and further apart  and causing the cliffs to grow higher with the voraciousness of its heat.

Stifling. Opressive. The air was so heavy that it was almost sultry in the lungs. All around them hung the thick acrid scent of smoke.  Calla wiped the sweat off her face as Ares carried her thankful for the flimsy tunic and that she wasn’t clad in one of her velvet gowns that she normally wore when she was seen among the citizens of Altair Ain.  A Queen must always look the part and as such she had many appropriate gowns in her closet not but when she was just Calla Jackson, alone in her home among her family her blue jeans were ever-present.

The Shadows brought them to an open metal cage which sat upon the blistering sands.  The cage was not much bigger than Kanan’s prison cell and to Calla it looked as thought it might be a 7 foot cube. Ares refused to enter it but one of the Shadows held Ares’ own sword to Calla’s chest and threatened to drive them through with it if he didn’t comply.  With the cage door shut a large wheel and cog attached to an ancient metal arm began to turn hauling the cage upward into the air while it swung out far over the cliff suspending it fifty feet or so over the flowing lava. Without word or warning they left Father and Daughter high in the air.  In the cage were two things; a large pitcher of what looked like fresh water with those strange ice cubes that never melted and a ratted old mattress. 

The metal bars were scorching and like the rocks around them they glowed every so slightly with the heat. Ares settled her on the mattress to keep from scalding her feet.  However, Ares himself was very thankful for the heavy leather boots with their hard thick soles though it didn’t take long for the high temperature to radiate through them and make it feel as though the flesh of his feet was on fire.

They were alone.  The Shadows and Kanan disappeared from their spot to give Ares and Calla time to think about their current situation.  Ares’ first instinct was to find a way out and he gauged the bars containing them. They were hot to the touch but not too hot not yet but the longer they hung over the fire pit the warmer they would become.  He could try to pry them apart.  Ares looked around noting quickly that they were much too far from the cliff to jump and if they tried they’d only end up howling in a blaze of fire.  He felt very certain that he couldn’t travel the astral down here so teleporting to safety was also out of the question.

As he stood there pondering, thinking and scheming, it didn’t take long both were soaked through head to toe with their own sweat her dress (his tunic) clung to her every curve while her hair stuck to her back and the sides of her head.  Ares sat upon the too warm mattress.

With the bars almost too hot to walk upon Calla got up in her bare feet and walked to the other side of the cage.

 “Come sit with me,” he bid and held out a hand to her.  “You’ve a decision to make.”

Calla didn’t pay any attention to his request instead she turned away toward the bars looking out and down at the fiery gorge below them. “I won’t go back to him,” she said in a soft voice.  It was so hot! So goddamn hard to breath! “I won’t give him my Daughters.”

“I would never ask you to do either.” He said easily.  “Taking you there was the biggest mistake I ever made and I would die before seeing you or them at Kanan’s side.”

“It was…what?” Calla asked certain she hadn’t heard him right. The ice water in the corner looked so tasty.  Her throat cried out for just a small sip and Calla licked her lips as she thought of the way it would taste as it cooled her throat.

“You heard me.”

“Is that your idea of an apology, Father? If it is then I’m afraid you’re a day late and far more than a dollar short. Twice you did this to me…why? What did I ever do to you to make you hate me so much?”

So she did remember.  Ares wanted to answer her but he couldn’t find any words that were satisfactory or would adequately explain his wrong doings.

The ice water in the corner looked so tasty.  Her throat cried out for just a small sip and Calla licked her lips as she thought of the way it would taste as it cooled her throat. “This damn heat,” she complained and held her hand to her forehead using the sleeve of the tunic to wipe away another juicy bead of sweat. They were trapped here together and that wasn’t his fault, she shouldn’t be hard on him now. “I’m s—“

 “Don’t,” Ares said and held up a hand, “don’t even consider apologizing for that remark. You’re right.”  He never did talk to her about this and he certainly never apologized for it…not to her.  Callestah was a different story, he groveled to her about it all but never to this one. While he tried to explain and apologize for his reprehensible actions with Bacchus it wasn’t enough. “I know the things Kanan did, Callestah told me everything—“

“Bitch,” Calla mumbled, “what did she tell you? Of the hardships she endured? The pain she suffered? The humiliation?  That whimpering little bitch suffered none of it.”  Maybe it was the stress of the sweltering heat but she just couldn’t shut up. “I did.”

Ares hauled his sweltering body from the mattress to stand next to her and take her hands. “I know,” he sighed, “she told me that too.  She told me of your bravery and your determination.  You hate her because I loved her but she was extremely beholden to you, Calla.  She knew all too well the things you did for her and she was very grateful.”

“For you,” Calla corrected as she turned to look at him but dropped the big hands from her small ones. “Stupid me.  To do all of that of a Father who turned his back on me…time and again”

Her words cut as deeply as his sword ever would just as they had earlier when they were on the Road.  “I love you,” was all he could manage at the moment as his own eyes fell upon the pitcher of cold water and his throat began to cry out for just a few drops to cool it down. Calla would never feeling anything but loathing for Callestah mostly because Ares did love her and he’d left Calla—yet again—for her.  “She admired you greatly and so do I.” For Bacchus he had no excuse.

Calla gave out a little ‘harumph’ sound as she shifted from foot to foot trying to keep them cool.  “It doesn’t matter. I will never do what you did, I will never lay one of my Daughters or my Granddaughters on that blessed altar!” She didn’t realize it but she was screeching. “I sure as hell won’t smile about it!! I won’t do it! I don’t care what he wants! I don’t care what he says! I won’t do it!”  She shook her head and turned away from Ares, her feet burning she sat down on the mattress and drew her knees up under her chin. “I won’t be like you.  I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I have Daniel now, he rescued me. He fixed my life for me. Every time you screwed it up he fixed it.”

“Don’t be so quick to give him the credit,” Ares sneered as he followed her and sat on the other end of the dirty mattress, “maybe he rescued you but you’ve come a long way from the cowering sniveling girl you were when you first arrived back on Earth and you did that…no one did it for you, Calla. You fought your own demons and you won.  Jackson didn’t…couldn’t…do everything for you.”

Suddenly the cage gave a great jerk as it dropped.

Thought of arguing gone for the moment they gripped each other as the cage fell certain the end was at hand.  Then the mechanism holding them caught hold again and held the cage some thirty feet over the flowing lava below them.  The pitcher in the corner bobbled and jostled with them spilling some of its contents which hissed in the flowing red river. That was no accident.  “It seems we have a time limit.” Ares said after regaining control of himself and gazing down at the fiery death awaiting them. “If you never believe another word I say, believe this; If I could go back and change but one thing I’ve done in my life it would that. I would quell that horrid moment when my anger overtook me and I would keep you with me, I would listen to you harder instead of calling you a liar and I would never take you through the Stargate.”  Without thinking about it he put his arm around her and drew in close to kiss her head.  To his surprise and delight she wrapped her arms around his waist and let him hold her for a few moments.  Like all good things the moment was fleeting as the thought of that time limit rolled around in his head and he began to wonder how much time was left before the cage dropped again.

“And Bacchus?”

Ares looked away from her feeling the weight of the moment in his heart and every sweating pore of his brawny body.  What was there to say? Here in this moment, in this place where Death was most assuredly lurking, what else could he do but tell the truth?  His eyes shifted back to her and held her gaze. “For that I have no excuse.” He said contritely. “All I can do is to tell you that I’m sorry and to beg your mercy and forgiveness though I am not worthy of either.”

 “We don’t have time for this.” Calla mourned and again wiped her brow as she stood up on the mattress with her back to him. Ares took off the heavy vest and cast it to the ratty mattress he was sitting upon it was quickly followed by the gauntlets at his wrists.  “How do we get out of here?”  She picked up her heavy mane of sweaty hair and moved it up and down like a horse swatting a fly with its tail in the hopes of bringing her some relief from the oppressive heat.

“We don’t.” Ares said flatly.  “Do you really believe Altair Ain is safe?”

“Yes.” She returned with a rasp in her throat.  “I would rather die than give him anything.”

“Then you may well get your wish,” he growled and swiped the sweat away from beneath his eyes as he gazed down at the fiery river below them and the slow boiling death which awaited them.

“Kanan is bluffing,” Calla asserted. “He wants me alive.”

She may have a point but Ares didn’t know if it was enough to depend on. “Bluff or no bluff that fire is real enough,” he pointed through the bottom of the cage to the river below.  “Unlike our friend Kanan it is alive. Fire is a living breathing creature that consumes everything in its path that is why it dispatched the Shadows and it is also why we will die when this cage falls.”

“Can’t you do something about that?” She groused as her eyes fell upon the cold pitcher of fresh water.

Ares snorted and then cackled. “What do you want me to do? Cool it?  Put it out? I can only summon it I can’t extinguish it.”

“Then I suppose we will die,” she said in a calm voice, “Daniel and Nicholas will dispatch Kanan they will not fail the kingdom or the children.”

“Your faith in him is astounding as always.”

“We have to find a way out, there must be one.” She said contemplatively.  She didn’t feel as though she could teleport here in this place but Calla did believe she could change into her animal totem.  If she did that then maybe she could jump to the other side, work the mechanism and free Ares.  So she laid her plan out for her Father.

“You’re crazy,” he groused as he gauged the distance between the cage and the Cliffside once more. “You’ll never make it. Certainly not from a standing jump, if you could get a running start maybe you’d have a chance.”

“You’ll just have to give me a little boost.” She said in a determined voice. “Take this and hide it.” In her hand appeared the dagger she’d been carrying around since they left Ares’ cave.

“Where have you been hiding that?” He asked with genuine surprise.

“It’s been in my hand the whole time I just kept it invisible, now stick it in your boot or something.” Keeping the dagger invisible down here had been draining but she’d managed to do it just as now she managed to morph into the white cat before he could protest again.

Ares put the dagger in his boot and went along with her even though he felt this to be a truly horrible idea. “This isn’t going to work.” Ares huffed and then turned his back to her and put his arms through the hot bars. “Go on.”  The cat jumped up on his back, walked deftly down his thick arm past the bars and into the palms of his hands.  The furry creatures settled all the way back on its haunches at it prepared to launch itself into the air hoping and praying to make it to the safety of the ground some sixty feet away.  She snuggled down and down, crouching and getting her muscles in line as Ares began to pump his arms ever so gently not wanting to inadvertently drop her or cause her to lose her balance then plunging into the molten lava below.  “One, two,” the cat scrunched itself to the tightest position it could possibly get in. “Three.”

The cat leapt high into the air.  At the very last moment Ares’ second thoughts overtook him and he grabbed hold of one hind leg just the other three left his palm.  The cat let out a loud angry hiss, flipped and flopped in the air, clawing and scratching his hands for purchase as she dangled precariously in the air.  Suddenly Ares’ body jerked forward as the cat turned back into Calla and he now bore her whole body weight in one hand.  “Help me!” She screamed up at him as she swung wildly over the fiery pit with her hair, arms, and free leg flailing in the air.

“Turn back!” Ares shouted and fought to keep hold of her ankle with his sweaty palm. “You’ll never get back into the cage like that. Turn back!”

“Don’t you drop me!” She shouted in return.  It took the last bit of magick she could summon but Calla managed to turn back into the cat and Ares pulled her to safety.  The cat scratched his face and then leapt off his shoulder to the hot metal bars of the floor of the cage. She looked back at him with disgust and began to trot away only to have to her paws fall through the bars momentarily and then she was scrambling for the mattress where the cat morphed away and Calla remained. “Why did you do that?” She asked breathlessly and again looked at the pitcher of cool water.  It looked so inviting. “I could have made it! We could be out of here!” She railed or tried to as she flopped down on the mattress.

In that last millisecond just before she would have left his hands Ares just couldn’t risk her life. “My apologies but I still you would not have made it.”

“We’ll never know now, will we? Now we’re still stuck here.” She raised a hand to her sweaty forehead feeling every dry sandpaper inch at the back of her throat.  “I can’t do it again.” Between last night’s great expenditure of her energy and this one she was exhausted. Calla’s eyes closed and she fell into a heavy sleep.

In her dreams she saw the door of the cage opening, it swung wide and smiled coyly at her.  Calla saw herself rise from the mattress, walk to the open door and then walk through it. Her bare feet touched down upon black sand.

“Where are you going?”

No answer.

“I said…where are you going?”

No answer.

Those eyes open as they were might as well have been closed.  Ares grabbed her upper arm. “Calla?” He said in a sharp tone.  Her emerald eyes blinked and the haze lifted slowly. “What are you dreaming?”  She looked lazily over to the cell door only to see it closed tight.

“It was open.” She mumbled realizing in bits and pieces that she’d been dreaming.

“It wasn’t.” He corrected and held a hand to her forehead not that he could check for a fever in this place but all the same she was very hot to the touch.  Ares could bare the heat and up to a point he could even thrive in it and feed off of it but she was wilting before his eyes.  “Sit down.” It seemed to take a few moments for his words to register and she looked around for a place to sit before she found the mattress once more and took a few wobbly steps back toward it. Heaving a great sigh Ares sat next to her and put an arm around her. “This is no place for you.”

Sitting on a rock off in the shadows where he could see but not be seen, Kanan watching the touching scene between Father and Daughter play out and knew he was in her mind now. She was worn and tired. She was confused and frightened.  Vulnerable. From here her hair looked black as midnight and though he’d never noticed it before now he could see how much she looked like him.  They had the same jaw, the same determined chin and high cheek bones. Her love for him would open the door soon enough all he had to do was watch and wait. While he did he filed his fingernails. Long ago Kanan discovered doing this or any mundane activity like it somehow, well it just seemed to occupy a part of his mind that needed to be occupied and silent when he used the ring to wander around in her head; a part of him that might somehow give him away.

Wilting and withering in his arms, it was Ares’ turn to look at the pitcher and let it entice him into giving her just a few drops.   His own throat was dry as a bone and he’d like nothing more than to take a big gulp of it and pour the rest of it over his head.  He couldn’t anything like that. The pitcher here, (like the one in the room with Jack, Sam and Annie) was Kanan’s way of giving them an alternative to melting in the lava.  To hell with Kanan, neither of them was taking the easy way out! Ares snatched out his hand, grabbed up the pitcher.

“No! Father! Don’t drink!” Calla screeched and then watched him smash the pitcher against the bars. Shards of glass glittered in the red glow of the lava as they fell to the hot pit melting into the molten rock and blood mixture. Most of the water turned to steam long before it could reach the fire.

Satisfied with his little burst of anger and frustration he stared up at her.  “Do you mind if I tell you I really don’t want to go out this way?”

Calla gazed down at the river through the bars of the floor and wondered how long she would have to be in it, how much of her would be consumed by it and how long it would hurt before the end came and her suffering was over. “Neither do I but we can’t give him what he wants.” All around her the world seemed to shimmy and shake as she stared at the cavern through waves of radiating heat.

“Annie? Jack? Sam? What about them?” Ares asked.  “Are willing to let them die so readily? Me I understand, you’d probably delight in my death but them…”

Now she turned around to look at him. If she were still plain and simple Calla Jackson she would probably do whatever Kanan asked in order to gain the freedom of those she loved but she was not that woman anymore.  There were so many more things to consider when there were the fates of two kingdoms—and possibly one planet—at stake. Let loose on the Upperworld Kanan would use the armies down here to destroy it and bend it to his will. He would never be satisfied with Lording over Altair Ain and the Underworld once he got a good look around up there and saw all of the really cool things he could play with. If Altair Ain was the epicenter—the pebble in the stream—what type of ripples would flow forth to the world if Kanan was leading?  No, no matter what he did or what he said Calla couldn’t give him what he wanted. Right now she didn’t have the energy to cast the spell anyway and that would buy them a little time. Yet, in the face of all that hanging in the balance, it was Ares’ last words which struck at her heart. . Yet, in the face of all that, it was Ares’ last words which struck at her heart. “I would never delight in your death, Father.” What right did she have to condemn him and make him suffer this fate with her? Set loose from here Ares would be able to join the others in the Upperworld and he would fight just as he had last night with all of his heart and all of his strength.  Believing for even one moment that Kanan would ever free Ares, no matter what she did for him, was madness. In the glowing shadow of the river below he looked old and tired as he slumped against the mattress staring up at her and off into Time and Space equally.  Long raven locks streaked with gray she never thought she would see were plastered to strong but weary shoulders.  His broad chest rose and fell with much effort as his lungs struggled to find the oxygen in air that was arid and barren. Those lines around his eyes looked deeper than before.  She sat next to him. “Won’t you tell me what is wrong with you?  I know you are sick.”   She reached out to soothe his brow but he pushed her hand away. “Why won’t you let me help you?”

Once more without warning the cage dropped rapidly. The single chain which so precariously suspended them over the river shuttered and creaked as its load was released. Calla let out a cry and instinctively climbed upon her Father’s lap for comfort and protection. Ares closed his eyes in anticipation of hitting the lava as he held her tight. The chain stopped with as much force as it released and overhead it let out a mourning groan of protest as it was denied letting go of its heavy load as it swayed wildly over the river of lava. When he realized they were still secure for the moment his dark eyes opened and he looked around. A few feet closer and Ares feared they wouldn’t have to wait to be submerged in the bubbling flow of lava and blood but that they would simply combust into flames from the heat.

Standing in the shadows Kanan smiled when Calla latched on to her Father and he watched her cling to him.   From here her hair looked black as midnight and though he’d never noticed it before now he could see how much she looked like him.  They had the same jaw, the same determined chin and high cheek bones.

“I’m sorry I got you into this, Father. I never should have brought you here.” She whispered as she buried her face deep into the wet crevice of his neck.  “I don’t want you to die.”

Tell him you love him.

It seemed a natural thing to say at this moment. “I love you, Father.”

Even here with certain Death staring them in the face her words lightened his heart and made him smile. “I love you too.”  His hands stroked the back of her head following her flowing hair down past the middle of her back only to return to the top of her head and do it again.

Very good. Kiss him.

All she wanted to do was be close to him in these final minutes of their lives.  She laid a soft kiss on his lips.

Deeper.

She remembered their night on the beach and the passion that burned between them the same that was igniting within her now.  Calla rose up to place her knees on either side of him and kissed Ares again, the soft touch of her lips on his made his big heart beat faster. The hands that were so gently stroking her back with comfort and reassurance stiffened as they gripped her a little harder.  

Trying to turn away from what was rising inside of him, Ares pushed her away breaking the kiss. “What are you doing?” He growled. Calla didn’t answer him she just sat there on her knees staring at him.

Perhaps the Dead did have a hard time killing the Living down here but the Living could kill each other anywhere they liked and the last thing Kanan really wanted was for Calla to drop into the fiery river below her.  As she said, what good would she be to him then?  They were Olympians and there would be no return from the Phlegethon River for them. With no life in the Underworld they would simply be snuffed out. All their power and knowledge would be lost for all time as they were banished to Oblivion.  Kanan had no qualms about losing Ares and thought that to his advantage once he had what he wanted but he wasn’t going to give her up before he had it.

It’s so hot why don’t you take off that dress?

“It’s so hot here…Ares.” Calla whispered and reached down for the hem of the tunic to pull it over her head and sit on his lap naked her body glistened with sweat. Yes, make love with him. Die in his arms with him inside of her in a flaming ball of passion. She could do that, she wanted to do that. With desire and sorrow her finger tips danced through the graying hair on his bare chest.

There she was a feast for the eyes as well as the body and soul. “Stop it,” Ares said in a weak voice and batted her hands away from his body though it was not what he wanted to do.  “Put it back on.” When she leaned in close and kissed his cheek the desire he’d long held captive threatened to break free.  “I said stop it, woman!” He thundered this time he grabbed her by the wrists and yanked her into him harshly. “Leave me alone!”  She didn’t blink or show any sign of fear or even recognition.  Those sparkling emerald eyes were as dark and empty as the Underworld itself.  “What’s wrong with you?”  She didn’t answer him, she just sat perched on his lap trying to touch him by stretching her fingers out at far as they would go so that just the nails grazed lightly over his beard. 

This place was an evil place and while Ares warred and took great pleasure in the battle he did not consider himself to be an evil man. It was all around them here, in the air they could barely breath, the fire below them, so close and so alive that it seemed to call to him and whisper in his head.  It whispered thought he should not think.  What thoughts might it now be whispering in her head? This force…this place… that had the power to turn happy playful kittens into rabid lions. Pushing her down to the mattress he got up and walked to the farthest corner of the cage.  At first she just rose up on her knees so that she perched upon the mattress with her legs spread wide and her small breasts pushing forward toward him but then she got up and those empty eyes seemed to stare through him as though they were filled with sleep. 

You want him, you’ve always love him.

Staring at him she realized that for good or ill she did love him, he was her Father and he always would be. She never wanted to see anything happen to him, not as long as there was something she could do about it. “I know what is wrong with you,” Calla whispered as she gazed up at Ares and reached out to lay her hand on his chest above the place where his heart beat. “I know what a Warrior needs.”

 “What does a Warrior need?”

“He needs food and rest, that’s true. He needs the heat of battle more than that he needs something to fight for, something waiting for him when he returns home with his glorious tales of battle.  A Warrior needs Love.”

Below her hand his heart beat a little faster as he watched those emerald eyes sparkle at him with dark delight and her front teeth clamped down firmly on her bottom lip.  “Love?“ He scoffed.

“I can make you young again.” She offered in a beguiling voice.  Looking down at the bulge in his leather pants it was easy to see how much the idea appealed to him.

Ares’ heart raced with the force of a runaway horse as his lungs tried desperately to find the oxygen and the heat his body felt was greater inside than it was out. “You are bound to Jackson,” he said to her through gritted teeth.

“David,” she offered in a sweet voice as if to say; David fucked me why can’t you?  Her fingers started to twirl the long hair on Ares’ chest.

“Is Jackson’s brother,” Ares growled as he fought the urge to grab her by the shoulders, throw her down on the mattress and have his way with her. “Stop this.”  Instead of grabbing her he tossed her off and in frustration threw himself backward against the bars. His bare back was seared by the steaming metal.  “Ahhh!” Ares screamed out in pain and threw his head back it too hit the bars, his jaw tightened and every muscle in his body strained to the limit before he pulled away.  His flesh seared and smoking Ares turned away from her to look out at their surroundings. The pain was good, it was sharp and it was bright. It helped clear his head even if it didn’t quell the hungry monster between his legs. In a moment’s time her fingers were gingerly tracing along the new wounds. Ares shook his head, a dream danced in the palm of his hand but he couldn’t grasp it. “Don’t touch me.”  She didn’t listen and now her lips joined her finger tips as she laid gentle kisses on his back. “Don’t tempt me this way, woman.”  The strength was fleeing his voice and his will as everything in him demanded he given into his baser instincts.  Just as the moment grew too intense and he thought he couldn’t take anymore those finger tips moved around to his chest and began to slide down his torso.  Ares’ eyes were fluttering closed as they anticipated the silky feel of the palm of her hand gliding over him.

Was that a shadow?  A strange shadow?  Over there by the entrance to the cliffs?

Who cared if it was?

She was touching him now, her hand running along the hard part of him, squeezing it ever so slightly as her naked body moved in and those soft breasts nuzzled against his arm. They were right there, all he had to do was bring up his hand and graze his fingers along them and those nipples would stand up straight and proud.

Look!

Ares forced his eyes open. There was a strange shadow there.  It looked like the elongated shadow of a very large man.  Kanan. He was standing there watching them.

More kisses on is back and the heated sounds of her cooing met his ears and his eyes threatened to close again.

Kanan…look at him.  Don’t think about her hands. Don’t think about her mouth or those breasts rubbing your arm!  His eyes shifted from the shadow in an attempt to find the man it belonged to.  It took great effort and a level of concentration Ares found difficult to muster but he found him, the bastard was smiling, Ares could see the gleam of his white teeth even in this light.  As he gazed down at the black devil he raised his lip in a sneer. Kanan waved back.  Something else gleamed in the fiery light.

The ring.

David had it.  Kanan met them at the SGC and he stole it off the bastard’s finger! He was in her head controlling her making her seduce him!

Ares turned around, reached out quickly and ripped the necklace from Calla’s throat. He smiled in victory knowing that now whatever it was that was making her seduce him would now stop and he cast the cursed jewel into the lava.  When he turned back to her there it was just as it had been gleaming around her neck. Again he snatched it off of her and threw it into the fire only to be met with the same result.  The sheer frustration of the moment overtook him as he ripped it off and cast it away time and again until her throat and chest were shredded from the force of his nails. Calla didn’t move or cry out as he did this she only sat there curiously watching him as though she were trying to understand what he was trying to do.

Kanan stepped fully into the light of the glowing lava and laughed mightily.

“Stop this!” Ares roared and this only made Kanan laugh harder.  Feeling the futility of begging knowing it would only amuse Kanan further he turned back to where Calla had been sitting too close to him only to find her lying on the mattress.  When their eyes met she held her arms out to him.

“Don’t you want me anymore?” She whispered.  “You know what I can do, how I can please you like no other.” Her tongue parted her full parched lips and traced along them wetting them as she closed her eyes and ran her own hand down her body. “Don’t you remember?”

“I remember,” he whispered as he watched her lay there touching herself tantalizing him begging him to come and touch her too.  It was very difficult to say no when the Queen bid you to her bed. With great effort he hauled his body off the mattress and crossed to the far side of the cage which rocked and bounced with his every step. Standing there with his back to her he could get a better look at Kanan now sitting on a rock down there. The puppeteer had come out from behind the curtain. “Why are you doing this?” He shouted at Kanan but Kanan didn’t answer. If there was such a thing as Hell then for Ares this was it.  Long ago he vowed he would never take her to his bed again, at least not until she left Jackson on her own or he died if she came to then that would be all right. If she came to him then like she was doing now. If he couldn’t break Kanan’s hold or make him stop then Ares had to try to get through to Calla before this little game went too far.  “We can’t do this,” he said and shook his head. His big cock pushed against the tough leather until it hurt but he would not free it no matter what Kanan made her say or do he would not let it loose. “You are bound to Jackson,” he reminded her again. “You can no longer please me in those ways. Fight him, Calla, he’s in your head, he’s making you do and say these things. HE is!” Angrily he pointed at Kanan through the bars only to see Kanan staring up at them and….filing his nails?  Was he whistling? That cocky bastard.

This last didn’t seem to register with her but she knew that Kanan was in her deep within her mind and she couldn’t stop hearing his voice or heeding its call. “I can and I will,” she promised.

“It could kill you.”

“It will not but if it should then I would like to die in your arms with you inside me. Come.  “Not all of me is bound to Daniel,” she invited coyly. “I know you want this.”

Oh yes he wanted to but this was what Kanan wanted as well.  If Calla died, if Ares killed her, before the cage fell then she would stay here with him forever.  This was but another alternative like the water in the pitcher.  Kanan wanted her here with him and he wanted it desperately so desperately that he would use their love against her.  Maybe it was better for her to die in his arms than in the flowing lava below at least she would be spared that agony and suffering.  The thoughts in his head turned to that night on the beach and he had reached down to grab his sack and give it a very rude push hoping to make it go away.  That only made him harder as the thought of the back door Jackson had left open danced around in his mind. Ares always did like the back door, especially Calla’s.  Feeling as though some great force were trying to pull him forward, pull him to her…will him to her… he stood his ground and stayed his place.

He can’t hurt you in this place. Go to him.

When he didn’t come to her she walked to him, her feet smoldering upon the hot metal bars with every small step.  In utter shock and amazement Ares watched her cross the short distance knowing he had no where to go, no where to run. Those distant hungry eyes stared at him as that slender naked body rocked side to side as she walked and licked her lips. She didn’t even seem to notice that her feet were burning.  Calla said nothing when she reached him she just stared up at him while her hands grasped the leather tie that kept his pants together and undid it. Then her bare hands were around his long hard shaft pulling it free of its prison with the promise of fulfillment. A few deft strokes of her hand and she was lowering to her knees.  “Don’t be afraid my strong and handsome, Ares,” she whispered sweetly, “you can’t hurt me here.” Head bent forward and her full lips parted as she made ready to take him into her mouth.

Ares could feel that expert tongue dancing on his cock in his mind long before it actually touched the tip. If he let her continue this he would only want more and he would not be satisfied until he got it.

Perhaps if he just allowed her to do this for him it would be all right.

No it would not be all right.  It would never again be all right to give in to what he felt for her.  Not even when it felt so good that it made his head spin and swell to three times its size.

Yes, this was most definitely Hell.  It was the most fitting and horrid punishment for all of his crimes that Ares could possibly think of.  With his hands leaving her elbows and raising to the back of her head, Ares found the strength and presence of mind to throw himself back upon the hot bars once more searing his rugged flesh.

The pain was good. It let him know he was alive and he still had free will.  If he let her continue this he would only want more and he would not be satisfied until he got it.  He would not be used this way certainly not by Kanan.  But his cock went on pulsating and throbbing with urgency to slake its lust instead of falling flaccid. His head was full of desire that burned with as much heat as the lava below them.

“Stop it!” He thundered as he reached down to bring her off her feet and toss her to the mattress. The cage rocked back and forth on its chain as she hit it then bounced off onto the hot bars. “Don’t do this to me.”

Looking dazed and confused, Calla’s eyes scanned upward until she met his gaze. She held her arms out to him with some uncertainty as she made little cooing sounds that making his head swim more and his body sweat harder. “Kiss me?” She begged quietly. “Don’t be angry I only want to please you.”

Yes, a kiss.  A simple kiss. That would be all right.

Before he knew it Ares was bending down to kiss her long and deep then he was settling over her. Sweeter lips he’d never known. Nestled between her spread legs the tip of his cock brushed against the damp space between them and demanded its prize.  One hand cupped her breast and the other stroked the side of her face. “I love you.” Ares whispered. “With all my heart.”

She smiled up at him as her hands ran along his flanks and to the leather at his waist to push it away from his hips.  Completely free from its prison his cock twitched against her entrance and Calla brought her hips upward to greet it.  “Make love to me.” She bid in a voice heavy with the lust of a forbidden passion.

How many times had he been here in his dreams?  How many nights as he laid in his lonely bed had he replayed their glorious night on the beach in his head? Ares didn’t know.  He raised his big body up to his knees as he moved closer to her waiting entrance.   The hand at her face brushed down over her eyes to close them as he grabbed hold of his shaft with the other to hold it firm and guide it home. She was so beautiful, so ready and so willing he rubbed the tip of it along the entrance which grew wet with anticipation

No.

The inner voice was small and it was weak as his hormones raged spurring on his unending lust for the woman below him.

His hand fell away from her face and he watched her settled her back closer into the mattress while her hips came up just a little more to greet him.  Ares struggled to hold back and not give into this temptation but he felt himself losing the battle as he moved in a little closer and the musky scent of her rose to him. His mouth began to water as he eyes started rolling back in his head.  The touch of her hand brought them open again as she started to reach down now to spread herself apart and guide him into her. Glancing across the cage through the bars to see Kanan was still perched on his rock Ares slipped a hand into his boot and pulled out the dagger.  Ares turned back to her and leaned in a little closer to brush a gentle kiss across her lips. Kanan would not get his way Ares would see to it that Kanan’s prize was denied him.  With one hand on his massive cock throbbing with hunger while the other grasped the hilt of the dagger he moved in just the tiniest bit closer to her. “I love you, Calla.” Ares whispered one more time before he brought the knife down in one swift stroke.

Calla’s eyes flew open as something wet and warm splashed against her and at first she thought he’d lost his load before he’d even begun but, well, if that were true that was one hell of a load.  Looking up at him, the defiant victorious grin on his face, it took her a moment to realize that in one hand he held a dagger dripping with blood and in the other was his severed penis. “Ares!” Calla cried out and sat up to see Ichor spraying for the place where his manhood should be but in its place was nothing more than a bloody stub.  Kanan’s hold over her was temporarily shattered as she was thrust back into her own mind. In an attempt to slow the loss of his Ichor, Calla grabbed for the tunic, ripped off large swatches of it and then tied one around the protruding bleeding stub where his once grand manhood had been. The others she pressed against the wound.  “What have you done?!”

Ares pushed her aside as he rose quickly to his feet and stomped over to the other side of the cage, once again it swayed precariously on its old chain. “She is not your toy! You won’t use me!” Ares roared, almost cackled, as his head turned to where Kanan stood and he raised the items in his hands higher so that Kanan would have no trouble seeing them. “I will not harm her for your amusement! Kill us and be done with it!” His gaze turned to the dagger then to the useless member in his hand.  The wild grin on his face widened. It would never plague him again and she would never tempt him again.  No one would ever be able to turn his love for her against her. He threw the severed flesh to the mattress happy to be rid of it.  Calla gave out a little cry and skittered to the other side of the mattress to be away from it.

“You always were a stubborn bastard!” Kanan shouted back unable to believe that Ares had emasculated himself rather than enter the woman who’d been lying below him.  “Drop it!”

The great chain creaked before it started to wildly spin the cage dropped with such force they both were jolted off the mattress, the dagger fell from his hand into the fiery fate which now awaited them.  The cage jerked to a sudden stop to rest on top of the flowing lava. Ares crossed back to the mattress the dagger fell from his hand as gathered Calla up in his arms before standing on the thin protection the mattress offered. “What are you waiting for? Do it!” He challenged.

It appeared the loss of his cock did not mean his balls had gotten any smaller. Kanan nodded to the Shadow at the control and link by link the cage lowered until the bottom was completely submerged. The bars around them soon began to glow red.  “Give me what I want!” Kanan roared!

Clinging to her Father and praying the pain would no last too long Calla called back her refusal.  Two more links slipped away and the mattress they stood upon met the lava and caught fire. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything, Ares.” She should never have taken part in such a dangerous game. As always, everything was her fault.  Calla never thought Ares would go to such extreme lengths to protect her from himself. Never did she want to see such a thing happen.

“Don’t fear,” he returned in a soft whisper never taking his eyes from Kanan. “Be brave.” Kanan would not get what he wanted if he let them dip into the lava but he was carrying this bluff to the further limit. “Just hold on to me and don’t let go.”

Kanan stomped his big feet and let out a howl before ordering the cage be brought up. If they wanted to play this game out a little longer then that was fine with him.  He’d gotten into her mind and he would do it again. Soon she’d be cowering in the corner of his chamber on her knees when he refused to stop then they’d see how quickly she gave in to his demands.  The cage was lowered on to the black sand Ares and Calla were ushered out of it quite rudely. Two of the Shadows ripped her out of Ares arms and threw her onto the hot black sand at Kanan’s feet.  “I’m going to take you in front of him and then I’m going to kill him slowly and make you watch as I peel the skin from his bones!”

“Do your worst,” Calla challenged as she rose to stand eye to chin with him. “You will get nothing from me.”

End of Chapter Fourteen
Coming Out of Exile: The Strength of a Father's Love
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
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Chapter Fifteen