Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Underworld

Hades sat in his parlor enrapt in the goings-on in the Royal Bedroom as he eavesdropped through his crystal ball.  He had a half a mind to go up there and shut Ares up but if he really intended to see to it that Calla’s life was not cut short then it was best if he remained here and silent.

“Lord? My Lord?”

Hades didn’t appear to hear the call but he felt it when there was a tap upon his leather clad shoulder.  Peering to his right and looking down he saw Stefarro one of his most trusted aides in charge of new arrivals.  He looked down into the old gnome’s bearded face and saw the strange look in his overly large blue eyes. “What is it?”

“Well, ah, My Lord,” Steffaro stuttered and pulled his long ears.  “Well, there seems to be some sort of error.”

“Error?” That took Hades’ attention away from the crystal ball.  “What do you mean there’s an error?”

“We seem to have…an early arrival.” The gnome sighed and waited for the God of Death to erupt.  Such things were never grounds for celebration. 

“A what?”

“Yes, see here.” The old gnome placed an ancient book on the pristine black marble table.  Dust flew from its pages and Hades waved a hand in the air to clear it from his nose. “This man,” the gnome turned around, “well come in, come in, don’t stand out there.” He ordered to someone unseen and when the guest stepped into the parlor he turned back to Hades. “His name is Antonio Dubois and as you can see, My Lord, he’s really not due here for another fifty-one years, six months, eleven days and well some-odd hours.” He explained in one big rush of air.

The young man stepped inside very hesitantly as he looked around.  Ever since he arrived here he felt as though he’d had the rug pulled out from under him and everything he’d ever known was a lie.  As he followed the ugly little gnome around after having been ferried across a burning river by a skeleton named Charon, Brother Antonio prayed he was hallucinating.  Standing here inside the gleaming black marble palace he thought he knew differently and finally got up the courage to ask the question dancing on the tip of his tongue. “Am I dead?”

“Quite.” Hades returned without feeling.

That led to the second question. “Are you God?”

It was then that Hades took in the crucifix hanging around the young man’s throat which had been slit quite wide.  “I am Hades, God of Death and the Underworld.”

That couldn’t be right.  Brother Antonio spent his whole life believing that when he died he would go to Heaven and…. “Am I in Hell?  Did what they did to me take my soul?”

“Where did you get this one?” Hades groused to the gnome and then stood up. “No,” he looked down at the register again and read the name, “Brother, I see.  No, Brother Antonio Dubois you are not in Hell.  I hate to break it to you but there’s no such place.  However, I see you will be spending a good deal of time in the Elysian Fields, I’m sure you’ll find it to your liking if not your exact expectations.” Hades assured.  “Tell me, Brother, who are they and what did they do to you?”

“They killed me,” Antonio stammered still trying to comprehend the lack of white blissful light and harp music and angels with wings.  “I don’t know who they were or why they did it but it was horrible.”

The cut on his throat would elude to that much.  “How long’s he been here?” Hades nearly whispered to Steffaro.

“Too long.” The gnome muttered knowing what Hades was really asking was if there was still time to send him back to his body if it were, perhaps, not yet buried or embalmed or grieved over or something like that.

“That’s just great.” Before Hades could go any further he heard his name being bellowed by a voice that could only belong to… “In here, Ares.” Hades called back.  “Take him to the Fields,” Hades said to the gnome wondering just what Ares was here for though undoubtedly it had something to do with the conversation just held in the Royal Bedroom.  “You’ll have to excuse me, Brother Antonio, my Nephew is here.”

The great deep and commanding sound of the voice struck a bolt of fear into Brother Antonio’s already befuddled body.  If this was Hades, thee Hades as in Zeus, Hera, Apollo and all of those guys then the man coming around the corner couldn’t be anyone but the God of War.  Just as he was about to find the strength to ask that very question a massive shadow loomed in the doorway and a man so large that he had to duck down emerged from it.  Out of fear and instinct Brother Antonio made the Sign of the Cross as he stared up at Ares and began to mumble The Lord’s Prayer.  Ares gave him a very cross look before lurching forward at the frightened would-be priest and stomping his foot heavily upon the ground. “Boo!”  The man let out a shrill cry and jumped backward but he kept mumbling his prayer and Ares laughed before turning his attention to Hades clearly insulted by the gesture the Brother had made to protect himself.  “Who is that?”

“He was just leaving,” Hades said to Steffaro. “Yes, that’s it, go on now.  I’ll check on you later, Brother.”

The hunched little gnome grabbed hold of Brother Antonio’s arm and escorted him out of the room and from the Black Palace.  “Early arrival,” Hades said with a sigh, “a monk no less, you know how I hate it when they come here. They’re always expecting trumpets and harps and Gabriel himself to open the Pearly Gates.  Takes them forever to be deprogrammed.” Hades tried to sympathize but after all these millennia it was most difficult to be patient and tolerant of those who closed their minds to all of the infinite possibilities the universe had to offer while insisting they were the only ‘right’ people on Earth.  He did feel a little sympathy for the poor young Brother, it didn’t look like he had any fun crossing over to the Other Side at all. “What are you doing here?”

“Am I unwelcome?”

Hades took his seat at the head of the table while rolling his eyes. “No.” That was true, these Hades was grateful for anyone’s company.  “Something has brought you here so what is it?”

“I told them.”

“I know.” Hades gestured toward the great crystal ball in front of him.

“Will it help?”

“I don’t know.”  He leaned forward and stared at Ares. “Why did you do it?”

“There was no risk to me even if there was; so what? I’m already Damned.” Ares took a seat near Hades.  “They will begin to remember now, as I do?”

“I would suspect you’ve opened a door that might have best been left closed, my dear Nephew.  Certainly it isn’t bound to please anyone.”

“Anyone? You mean---“

“Uh-huh,” Hades said softly as he covered Ares’ mouth with a black gloved hand.  “We don’t say his name.”  With just his eyes he looked around the room as though someone might be listening to them.  “Although my surroundings may be grand and my power great, I am but a humble servant.” Hades declared with a smile and hoped he sounded sincere just incase anyone was listening.  “When they all remember how far away do you suppose you should be?”

“They need me,” Ares protested and then caught the look at Hades’ face. “Four or five galaxies.” He muttered.

“At least.” Hades agreed.  “What did you hope to accomplish with this?  You know it is forbidden for people to know the details of their past lives.”

So it was and so what?  “Perhaps in this case it is good if the past intrudes on the present. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in between them.”

As David might have said; Dun bun can’t be undone.  The cat was out of the bag and the damage done there was nothing left now but to sit back and see how events unfolded. Although David, on some level, was probably delighted with the news of having been Doc Holliday Nicholas probably wasn’t so thrilled to understand he had once been his Mother’s Lover.  “I don’t know how or even if what you’ve set in motion will be good if it will achieve the end we are all seeking,” Hades began, “in case it does not I have a back-up plan in mind.”

Now it was Ares who leaned forward in anticipation. “Do tell, Uncle.”

“Just hear me out.” Hades prefaced and then went on. “Zeus decreed that we would not kill each other under penalty of damnation, right?”  It was clear that at least for a moment Ares was willing to play along as he nodded his head in response. “Zeus was the God of Gods but now Calla is the Goddess of Gods.  She probably can’t do it but if she stepped down and Colleen ascended to the throne then Colleen, as the new Goddess of Gods, could decree otherwise.  What do the mortals call it?”

“A pardon,” Ares said through gritted teeth then set back in the heavy chair.  It might work.  It wouldn’t save her life but she wouldn’t spend eternity in the Seventh Level of the Underworld either. Her soul would be saved, she would reside in the Elysian Fields for a time and when she was ready she would be reborn.

“Yes, that’s it. What do you think? Zeus is dead he’s not coming back and the new Ruler has every right to make new rules.” Hades reasoned.  “It would be….unseemly….if Calla was to make the new decree but if Colleen did it.”

It was still unseemly but it worked for countless politicians over the course of history so why it shouldn’t it work for her? “I always said you would have made a great strategist.” Ares complimented.  “Yes, if we can get them to agree then I think it will save her from damnation.”  Colleen didn’t want to be Queen and so convincing her to step up and Calla to step down was apt to be difficult even though a good argument could be made for it without the pardon. Calla was incapacitated. She was disabled and unable to communicate for the most part.  It was her duty as a concerned Queen to step down at least for the time being.  “He didn’t love her, you know.”

Ah, now they were going to get down to the meat of why Ares had made this unexpected trip to the Black Palace.  “Gaylord?”

“Yes, him.  He didn’t love Helena, I had every right to kill him.”

Hades rubbed his chin and didn’t know what to say. Long ago and far away Hera once gave birth to the child of a mortal man. A daughter she named Helena.  The girl was largely untalented magickally and she was a bit awkward and never flowed with the grace of a true Olympian.  Thinking themselves above their sister the other Olympians didn’t bother with her but Ares was different.  He seemed to take to her and her to him they spent much time together and he was very protective of her.  When she was of age Hera chose for her a man of a good breeding, a prince from a nearby province.  Helena detested him on sight but the marriage was a good match and even Ares insisted she go through with it when Helena protested.  “What do you want from me, Ares? Absolution?”

“Helena was…she was innocent….she was naive.”

“Just say it,” Hades prodded. “Go on, say what we all thought of Helena but dared not utter.”

“She was not backwards,” Ares insisted.  “She was too trusting and maybe she saw things in a simpler fashion than we did but she was not stupid and she was not….retarded.”  Ares finally spit out the word that had hung around Helena almost since the day she’d been born. That innocence and naivety were Helena’s charm they what drew him to her, the way she always looked at him with trusting eyes and never once questioned him not that he’d ever done anything questionable with her for he had not.

It was no secret that more often than not mud-bloods and half-breeds turned out, well, they turned simple as Ares said.  Helena was a very likeable girl but, “You could spit in her face one day and call her whore come back two days later and she’d open her arms and welcome you in.  She had no mind.”

“She was forgiving, she had plenty of mind and if you had spent more time with her then you’d know that.”

“If you believed that to be true you would have let her make her own decision and you would have stood by it even if you didn’t agree with it.” Hades returned.  “You didn’t.”

Gaylord was a man of no breeding, no title, no land, no money, no family and extremely questionable reputation.  Helena flaunted him in front of the Olympians as though he were some new interesting toy and when he asked her to marry him she said yes even though she was already betrothed to Agapios Vlahos, prince of the Isle of Kos. Kos was not the largest island by far but by marrying Agapios Helena would have position, title and security.  All that would lie ahead of her with Gaylord was a life of poverty.  When Helena announced that she intended to marry Gaylord Hera was enraged and Zeus threatened to strike Helena down with a lightning bolt—she’d always been a sore spot between the old married couple anyway.  Helena begged Ares to go to Hera and Zeus and plead her case. To tell them that she loved Gaylord and he loved her they would be very happy together even if they would not be rich.  Most of all if she couldn’t have their blessing then she would run off with Gaylord and never return. This was news which was happy to Zeus’ ears but not to Hera’s.  Ares loved his Mother, she was a wicked bitch who could be very difficult to get along with but for all of his faults Hera did love Ares and she always had. She stood up for him with his Father when others dared not and so Ares was not keen on the idea of being put between these two women.  In the end he sided with Hera against Helena and Gaylord.  “He only wanted position and title.” Ares insisted.  “All of us saw that, all of us who cared to weigh in and have a look at the situation that is.” Ares scoffed.

“That gave you the right to kill him?” Hades asked.  “I don’t know about that, Nephew. Helena was old enough to make her own decisions and live with the consequences especially if, as you say, she was not retarded.” Ares was not proud of the fact that he’d killed Gaylord, he never boasted about it nor even brought it up as he was apt to do surrounding the deaths of those he truly felt justified in killing.  As far as Hades was aware this was the first time in many centuries Ares even ventured to speak about it. It wasn’t Gaylord’s killing that kept his lips sealed it was Helena’s death which quickly followed that kept his mouth—and part of his heart—closed all these years.

End of Chapter Twenty-Seven of
Golden Years
by Moon Mistress
a/k/a Lisa Beth Darling
Go to
Chapter Twenty-Eight