Chapter Ten

People don't know bout the things I say and do
They don't understand about the shit that I've been through
It's been so long since I've been home
I've been gone, I've been gone far way too long
Only God Knows Why
Kid Rock

Some time later Daniel crept down the stairs in the dark house to the refrigerator. Calla was very hungry and so was he.

“You’re not going to feed her any of that are you?” Ares asked from behind him.

Daniel stood up and turned around. “What do you suggest? We didn’t pack anything to eat and, well, she’s worked up an appetite.”

“So have you no doubt.” Ares sneered. “You don’t know what’s in any of that.” He pointed to the still open refrigerator.

That was true enough but he didn’t think that Vedic D’Sila and Sovereign Nibor had gone to such great lengths only to poison them.  Daniel turned back to the contents of the ice box and began taking things from it that looked tasty.

Ares walked up close behind Daniel. “If you had made her whimper one more time I would have taken your head off.”

The Ichor in Daniel’s veins suddenly went as cold as the air coming from the refrigerator. “I’ve been making love to her for thirty-six years I think I know what I’m doing.” He said without turning to look at Ares. “Why’d you watch?”

Ares took a step closer to the man so foolishly offering him his back. “Why did you let me?”  He waited but Daniel didn’t seem to have an answer for him. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” He snickered at his own little joke and then began to walk away.

Daniel shut the refrigerator door and turned around, he waited until Ares got a few m ore feet away from him before he opened his mouth. “Who was Guinevere to you?”  His question froze the big man in his tracks.

Ares turned around and sneered at Daniel. “I don’t see what concern that is of yours.”

“Really? Did you see those ruins we passed when we came to this house?” Daniel asked and folded his arms across his chest. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Your statue is in there, in fact, there are several images of you in that temple and on this planet.”

“Merely someone who resembled me, I’m sure.” Ares offered in a cool dark voice which clearly told Daniel to drop the subject. 

Daniel understood the cue he just ignored it. “Lancelot wasn’t her lover, you were. Artuir Sera, the first great ruler of this planet, was your son.”

“If he was?” Ares asked through lips that were no more than slits and he took a few steps toward Daniel.

Daniel looked around with just his eyes as he thought of the Xerinium deposits on this world.  “Just like Superman,” he mused.  The metal didn’t seem to have a poisonous effect on Nicholas it never truly endangered his life but it affected him other ways. Like Nick, Artuir Sera was only half-Olympian. “Yep, just like Superman with his Yellow Sun.”

“I don’t know what you’re babbling about but I do know you’ve a woman waiting for you and you should drop this nonsense and get back to her.”

“That what got you kicked out of Avalon?” Daniel asked knowing he was on to something but the pieces didn’t yet make a clear picture. “When she came back you followed her and what did you do?”  There are lines in this world that are easily crossed without much consequence but this wasn’t one of them and Daniel was made acutely aware of that fact by the small flames which grew in Ares’ dark eyes.

“You are one nosy son of a bitch, Jackson.” Ares spit on the floor at Daniel’s feet. “If he was my son, so what of it?” He raised his thick arms in the arm and gestured to the whole world around him. “When Guinevere arrived on this planet there was nothing but savagery here and untamed wilderness full of monsters. Look at it now. Did Artuir Sera not build a fine society?  Is there something so terribly wrong with these people?”

“Other than the fact that they’ve got my Son…your Grandson…in prison in trumped up charges?” Daniel lobbed. “They sound like chips off the old block to me. You admit it, you’ve been here.”

The man wasn’t going to stop digging.  “All right, Jackson, have it your way.  Lancelot was a rouse, she never touched him. If Arthur found out his precious Queen was in love with a God,” he pointed to himself, “she would have burned at the stake. When she became pregnant and Zeus realized the child was mine he banished her from this planet and I followed her here. I begged her to come back with me, I swore to protect her and my son against all enemies including my Father. She would not come. I left her here.  Some years later she returned to Earth, she wasn’t the young spite fire I had known any longer. She was old and fragile.” The mourning was clear in his deep voice and for a short moment Daniel thought Ares might shed a tear but he did not. “I took care of her on my island.  Aphrodite was enraged by that.  I dared to bring a Mortal to our sacred islands and to give her my love and my attention. Guinevere felt unsafe and I took her to Avalon where she could be among those who knew and loved her.”  His misty eyes seemed to glaze over as memories flooded his mind and a sad smile touched his lips. “We shared a small cottage by a river, we were happy.  Too happy for Aphrodite’s liking. One night I went to sleep with Guinevere in my arms, when I woke she was dead beside me with my dagger sticking out of her chest my hands covered with her blood.” Now Ares sniff back a tear as she gazed down at the flat of his hands and shook his head. “I loved her. I did not kill her.  I know in my heart Aphrodite did it but they banished me and wouldn’t even let me say good-bye to her. I haven’t set foot in Avalon since.” Ares let out a mournful sigh. “Are you satisfied, my King?” He mocked. “Does knowing this please you?”

No, it didn’t please him but it helped fill in some missing pieces.  The man standing across from him with ancient memories delightful and anguished dancing behind his eyes had a heart and a soul after all.  For better or worse, Daniel believed Ares really had loved Guinevere and part of him still did.  “This whole world is living a lie. They all think they’re descended from King Arthur.” What would they do if they were to be made aware that their true progenitor was walking among them right now and not packed away in some musty crate waiting to be awoken?

“Let them. Who cares?”

“Don’t you think he’s going to be a little pissed off if they manage to wake him up?”

End of Chapter Ten of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Eleven