City of gods - Hellenica (10 page)

“Saoirse,” he said, “please put your ears under the water. Perhaps you can intuit something else from this creature.”

Saoirse dunked her head under the water.
She’s a beautiful girl, a fragile, rare gem,
thought Gunnar,
yet she feels at ease with dangerous animals.

Saoirse brought her head up; her wet blonde hair shone brightly in Tommy’s light and she spoke calmly, as if in an oracle’s trance.

“It knows not where it is,” said Saoirse. “It senses our presence and wants to kill us. It wants to …”

Saoirse put her ear to the water once more and listened for a moment, and her eyes soon widened with fear.

“It wants to wrap its arms around us and smash us to bits. But it can’t unless we come to it; it cannot move in this shallow water.”

“Can we approach it in safety?”

Saoirse listened to the water.

“Yes,” said Saoirse, “but it won’t let us pass.”

They went into the waves, around turn after turn, through fork after fork. Soon it was clear that the creature was around the corner, and the waves had them almost submerged.

“Saoirse,” said Gunnar, whispering, “does it sense our presence? That we are here?”

“It senses us,” said Saoirse, “but doesn’t know where we are. It can see quite well though.”

“Tommy,” said Gunnar, “can you look around the wall’s edge with that suit somehow? See it without it seeing you?”

Tommy smiled, glad to be an asset to the team, and then crept to the corner. The water was thrashing him now, but his heavy suit held steady in the current. He latched on with his right hand to the wall, and extended his left hand around the corner.

“I have a camera,” he whispered.

After holding his hand there for a few moments, he crept back towards the team. He pointed at his mask and showed a grainy black-and-white projection of the creature.

It looked like a giant squid stranded in shallow water. Each picture was blurry; its long tentacles were in constant motion. Its eyes were enormous and shone in the darkness. It seemed helpless, but its arms were so long that it had a range of at least fifteen meters.

“It’s a Kraken,” said Gunnar. “A Norse sea monster.”

Gunnar paused a moment. He remembered the Agoge’s sea training; they’d taught them to do
anything
in the ocean. Gunnar could hold off a tanker with a small, lightly armed boat; he could live for a month on open water with no food. But his Spartan teachers only taught him how to
avoid
Krakens.
They’d teach us the signs that a Kraken was near: abundant fish, roiling water and moonless nights,
thought Gunnar,
but they wouldn’t teach us to fight Krakens, because neither god nor technology can defeat these creatures.

Gunnar looked at the Kraken and started formulating a strategy.
Not even a god can capture a live Kraken,
thought Gunnar.
This one must be weak, or perhaps ...

“This one’s a juvenile,” Gunnar said to the crew, “probably only a few decades old; but it’ll still be strong. They can see quite well, especially in the dark; as soon as we go around the corner it will see us. Now, look here …”

Gunnar pointed at the images. It looked like there was a small doll sitting behind the creature. Tommy zoomed in on it, and it was clear that it was Bes. He was sitting near a door with light pouring from it.

“That’s our exit,” said Gunnar. “That’s our goal.”

“Can we get around this Kraken?” asked Tommy.

“No,” said Gunnar. “His range is too big. Once he sees us, he’ll get ahold of us with his tentacles, and then we’re done.”

“I’ve got a suit,” said Tommy. “I made it out of titanium alloy—”

“That clicking sound is his beak,” said Gunnar. “It can put a hole in a steel ship. Even if he can’t break your suit, he’ll hold you under the water for a few days and try.”

Gunnar studied the pictures again. The exit was clearly behind this creature, but unfortunately there was no way past it.
I only know how avoid Krakens, not to get past them,
thought Gunnar.
Four unarmed kids in cold water won’t be able to escape its tentacles. There’s got to be another passageway around it.

“Tommy, can you see another path?” said Gunnar. “A tunnel, another route, anything ...?”

“I can’t see anything,” said Tommy. “But maybe if we—”

“There’s no other way,” said Saoirse. “The Kraken knows this, and I sense it. He’s blocking the only exit.”

“Can we lure him away?” asked Tommy.

That could be it,
thought Gunnar with a smile.

“Legend has it that Krakens are extremely protective of their young,” said Gunnar, “even young not their own. Exposed Kraken eggs send an electrical signal through the water and can lure them from far away, even a juvenile.”

“True,” said Saoirse. “I’ve heard this legend too.”

“We don’t have Kraken eggs,” said Gunnar, “but Tommy, can you
simulate
the signal from a Kraken egg?”

Tommy shook his head no.

“We learned much on Lepros,” said Tommy, “but we  didn’t  learn about sea creatures.”

Gunnar paused to think.
This isn’t the pit, this isn’t the Agoge
.
Though this is training, this is real. The Kraken is real, and if it grabs hold of one of us with a tentacle, Bes won’t be able to help.

“Then we go back the way we came,” said Gunnar. “We fail
,
live to fight another day, and—”

“I’ll go,” said Kayana.

The team looked back at her. She’d found a ledge above the water and was perched in the darkness, looking off to an odd angle.

“Go where?” asked Gunnar.

“Let me talk to this Kraken,” said Kayana. “Not like Saoirse would communicate, but like I would. I’ll enter into dialogue with this creature, and we will pass.”

“Enter into
dialogue
with a Kraken? I can’t allow you to do this,” said Gunnar. “This Kraken will—”

“I’m not yours to allow, General,” said Kayana. “I will talk to it, and then we will pass because I wish it.”

She’s determined
, thought Gunnar,
but she knows not what she’s about to do. Death or not; the Kraken will rip her head off.

“Shine the light, Alderon, so that I can sneak past this creature,” said Kayana.

“Shine the light?” asked Tommy. “That will tip it off to our—”

“One of my powers is that I disappear into shadows. A Kraken’s eye is strong, but it cannot see what’s invisible. I require a light.”

“Please tell us your plan, Kayana,” said Gunnar. “We beg of you.”

“Shine the light, Alderon,” she said, “or this creature will rip me apart.”

And in a heartbeat, Kayana disappeared around the corner. Tommy hurried to shine a light from his suit, and the pale girl immediately flickered and then disappeared. The Kraken was disturbed by the brightness, but didn’t notice Kayana. 

They heard her wade through the water, just barely. Tommy crept up to the corner and stuck another hand around. He pressed a button and they saw a live video feed of the Kraken. They could see a ripple where Kayana was walking and even a faint outline when she went into direct light. The poisonous snakes encircled the Kraken, sending roils and ripples through the water. But they parted ways when Kayana went through.

Kayana reappeared right in front of the Kraken’s eye. The Kraken quivered, clicked and shook in surprise. It tried to grasp at Kayana, but she was too close to it; it started to beat itself with its own tentacles. It started clicking more and more furiously, but couldn’t grab hold of her; she was right by its ear, whispering something. The Kraken slowly stopped thrashing about, as if listening to her words. It secreted a black substance into the water, and soon it was still.

“She made it calm,” said Tommy.

“It’s not calm,” said Saoirse, “it’s terrified. That black substance in the water is ink.”

Kraken’s
ink
, thought Gunnar.
The Norsemen believe it to be a legendary substance. I never thought I’d see it with my own eyes.

Kayana
walked behind the Kraken and climbed up the perch next to Bes. She was at the entrance.

“Hurry,” she said, “it won’t be still for long.”

Gunnar took one more look at the creature. Its eyes were dull and vacant, and its limbs were quivering slightly.
A Kraken can do many things,
thought Gunnar,
but it doesn’t give ink unless its world is about to end.
Gunnar signaled them to move forward. All the sea serpents seemed to have vanished, and the team trudged quickly by the giant monster.

It smelled horrendous. Gunnar pushed Tommy and Saoirse up the ledge to safety, but couldn’t help but to stay there for a moment. He examined the juvenile Kraken up close; its giant eyes, its tentacles, and its enormous head sagged with gravity. From an angle he could even see its pale beak.
A thousand generations of Norse marines have come and gone,
he thought,
but not one of them have been this close and lived to tell the tale.

Gunnar crawled up to the ledge and was joined by Bes.

“Congratulations,” he said. “You’ve passed the test, unharmed as well. I cannot say the same for the other teams.”

Bes went out the door, followed by Saoirse and Tommy. Kayana was about to leave, but Gunnar held her back.

“What did you say to the Kraken?”

Kayana laughed.

“I didn’t say anything; Krakens don’t speak,” she said.

“What did you say?” he asked again. “Please tell me.”

Kayana sighed deeply, and then looked up at Gunnar.

“No one, not even a god, can capture a living Kraken, even a juvenile,” said Kayana, “so this Kraken
must have come from an egg brought to this place. This world is all he’s ever known, and so far his life has been only darkness and hatred, nothing more.

“He sensed me, and for the first time in his life he understood that he would one day
die
. He then sensed that he’d most likely die here, alone in this artificial dungeon. He became afraid, and since he’s never felt fear before, it overwhelmed him.”

Kayana pointed at the Kraken quivering on the floor beneath them. The water was now almost completely black with ink.

“Krakens have no language, but they experience emotion on a deep level, deeper than we,” said Kayana. “He’s more afraid than we could ever understand.”

THE PLEDGE

Saoirse’s hyaena met her at the door a few moments after she walked out of the labyrinth. He wasn’t brought by Bes or anyone else; he’d navigated around the Kraken’s maze by himself. Bes didn’t seem to have any problem with this and barely paid it any notice.
Why are they so comfortable with a free-running hyaena?
Saoirse wondered. She looked into the creature’s eyes as he laughed twice and began to whine.
This hyaena was worried about me
, she thought.
I should give it a name soon
. Saoirse pet the hyaena twice more and walked forward; the animal quickly fell into step with her.

Saoirse was still shaken by the experience with the Kraken. She was no fool; she knew the Kraken would have gladly torn her in two if given the chance. But still, she’d never felt an emotion that deep before; it was the fear of a child, magnified a hundredfold.

Saoirse also wondered what her power was. Occasionally Elysia would host monotheists, so she had studied the scriptures that contained the Horsemen. But if she was the White Knight, what was her gift? To speak with animals? And was she to harbinger the Apocalypse? She looked up at Gunnar and felt that he fit the mold quite well. He’d shown her compassion, but he was a boy who would clearly
do what needed to be done
when necessary.

The group followed Bes back to their quarters. On the way, they saw the other teams’ doors. The team with the Amazon was celebrating in the halls after their victory. Her teammate Pan joined with a Yōkai and tried to put her on their shoulders. But the Amazon and her armor were too heavy and they collapsed with a thud. The girl got up, laughed, then hugged the faun to her breastplate; clearly she had adjusted to life here.

Gunnar still eyed the Amazon warily, and then walked on.
Spartans and Amazons have done horrible things to each other,
thought Saoirse.
Their history is too deep for reconciliation, even for a young Amazon and an ex-Spartan.

The team with the ghoul was still struggling in their labyrinth. Saoirse listened closely and heard some whinnies and thuds from inside the room, but Bes informed them that the team inside was going to be fine.

“They’re fighting a Minotaur calf,” said Bes, “and they’re winning.”

But Bes became concerned when he walked by the final labyrinth. He told the team to be quiet and listened intently. Saoirse heard some clashing of armor, some yelling, and an ungodly shrieking.

“Go back to your quarters and wait for me there,” he told the Horsemen. “Now!”

Bes disappeared into the last labyrinth, and Gunnar nodded at them to leave. As soon as the door shut, Gunnar winked at Tommy, and Tommy hid beyond a corner. Tommy stuck out his hand and pulled a recording device from his suit’s forearm. He discreetly planted it on the wall and then gave another wink. Gunnar looked at it out of the corner of his eye; no one would notice it, not even a god. 

“Let’s leave,” said Gunnar.

Kayana had already disappeared, so Gunnar, Tommy, Saoirse and her hyaena went back to their dormitory.

/***/

Later in the common room of their quarters, Tommy projected the scene onto the wall. The picture and audio were quite clear.

Bes burst out of the labyrinth door dragging Rowan, who looked like he’d been hit by a boulder. Soon after that, Heracles came bursting out in a rage. Bes dodged him easily, so Heracles charged again. Heracles moved fast, but Bes moved faster. It was like the bigger man was chasing air.

“Calm yourself, brute,” said Bes.

Heracles took a moment to compose himself. After a few seconds, Heracles put up his hands to say that he no longer wanted a fight. Bes’s brown skin, pug nose and hairy shoulders made him look like a squirrel in the shadow of Heracles’s enormous girth, but the big god kept his distance.

“This boy needs medical attention,” said Bes.

“This isn’t your worry, Bes,” interrupted Heracles, still angry. “Rowan’s team is under my purview.”

“You had him fight a
Banshee
,” said Bes. “This boy is no match for a young warlock, let alone a
Banshee
.”

“And your team is a match for a Kraken?”

“My Horsemen escaped
unscathed
,” said Bes. “And your Berserker has his femur broken in three places.”

Heracles frowned.

“Rowan’s a fool, but fights with honor,” said Heracles. “When he recovers from these injuries, we’ll teach him how to fight smarter,
with
his team. We
will teach him his limits
. But
his honor
will help clean this city. He won’t be bought by Dagon or sold a bill of goods by Loki. I understand that the concept of
honor
is foreign to you, Bes, but it has tremendous value.”

“I know
precisely
what honor is, Heracles,” said Bes. “
Honor
is the artifice kings sell the peasants’ sons so that they may fight and die without pay.
Honor
is what drives a peaceful man to bloody vengeance.
Honor
is what drove the Celts to behead the children of the Apache Courts.”

Bes pointed towards Rowan’s broken body.

“Honor makes a boy fight a Banshee, even if it leaves him crippled,” said Bes, walking out. “Now get this boy medical assistance,
real medical attention
from a licensed doctor. If you fail to do this, I’ll know, and I’ll find you.”

Bes walked closely to Heracles and stood like a figurine at Heracles’s sandaled foot. Bes stepped forward, as if to charge at the great Heracles, and the big man flinched. Then with one last scathing look, Bes walked out in a huff. Heracles mulled everything over, and then spoke to two Spartan mercenaries outside of the screen.

“Do precisely as he says,” said Heracles.

The Spartan mercenaries brought out a stretcher and carefully put Rowan on it. They took him off the screen, and soon everyone was gone. Gunnar nodded at Tommy, who turned off the screen.

“I don’t want to take sides in their quarrel,” said Gunnar, “but this much is clear: we can’t trust them.”

“But Bes has faith in us,” said Tommy. “He’s the protector of the weak. All the kids on Lepros prayed to him.”

“It doesn’t matter if he has faith in us,” said Gunnar. “He doesn’t care to be here. He doesn’t believe in this Academy. We survived the Kraken on our wits alone; if we get between him and Heracles we may not be so fortunate.”

Gunnar thought for a moment and then looked at Saoirse.

“What’s your feeling on this?” he asked. “What do you
sense
from them?”

Saoirse was at a loss for words. Elysia had taught her to intuit men’s carnal wishes, but these were not men; Bes and Heracles were full-grown gods.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“This is a school,” said Tommy. “They’ll care for us. They may argue from time to time, but they’ll care for us.”

“This is a school, perhaps,” said Gunnar, “but it’s
young
. As of a year ago, this place didn’t exist; there’s no precedent. That means things can go wrong, and it’s not to be trusted.”

“So what do we do?” asked Tommy. “We can’t leave.”

“I’m not asking us to leave,” said Gunnar. “Though one day I may. What I am asking is that we treat this place with wariness. What trust we have, we place in each other.”

Gunnar got up and caught his breath.

“Now, I know we just met,” said Gunnar, “and I don’t know what truly drives you. But this is a hostile situation, a hostile school. We’ve been ripped from the world, threatened repeatedly and fed to monsters, and this is
our first day
. So I want to know: can we in this room,
the
Horsemen
, put our faith in one another?”

They were silent for a moment.

“I know the trust isn’t earned,” said Gunnar, “but we’re somehow bonded; you all sense that. I ask for nothing but a small show of faith. And from what I saw in the labyrinth, I can put my faith in you.”

“I still believe in this school,” said Tommy with a smile, “but I believe in you too, and in us. I’m in.”
             

Saoirse paused for a moment. Back on Elysia, the Emetor taught her to be wary of men.
You can love your Danna
, he would say,
but you cannot be friends with a man, let alone a group of men. A group of men will absorb you in the spirit of camaraderie and then spit you out when they’re bored of you.

But these were not
Danna, and they  didn’t  want her for her charm.
Tommy is young and trusting,
she thought.
He’s lived a life of safety despite his condition and has never known a reason to cheat
.
Gunnar is fierce and a killer. He wouldn’t shed a tear at my funeral, but I don’t notice him leering at me either.

She looked at Kayana and drew a blank.
I sense nothing from her,
thought Saoirse.
My intuition, my thoughts, my first glance all tell me nothing about this dark-haired girl; this Kayana Marx may as well be a stone. But she bears no malice towards me or anyone else.

“I’m in,” said Saoirse. “You can count on me.”

“How about you, Kayana?” asked Gunnar.

Kayana was silent, looking off in the distance. She was seemingly lost in her own world, disinterested at best.

“Kayana?” asked Gunnar.

“I hear you, Redstone,” she said.

She turned her eyes towards Gunnar; they were almost completely white. Gunnar was unnerved by Kayana’s stare and averted his gaze. He noticed that Saoirse was uncomfortable too, but Tommy was fascinated, and he smiled at Kayana.

“She’s meditating,” Tommy explained with a grin.

“So be it, then,” said Gunnar. “But I need to know if you’re with us, Kayana. Just let us know—”

“I have no faith in you, in our team, or in anyone else,” she interrupted. “This whole place is an artifice, a stopgap placed against a growing ocean of corruption in this world. Our teachers are just as self-interested as the gods we’re to police, so no, I don’t trust anyone yet.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Tommy gave a little laugh. He smiled at Kayana, but her eyes turned black again, and Tommy started to wring his gloved hands. He took a deep breath and again focused on her.

“You haven’t answered the question,” said Tommy. “Are you with us?”

Kayana mulled it over and then began to nod.

“I don’t
distrust
you three,” she said, “and I do actively
distrust
the others I have met here.”

“Good enough for now,” said Gunnar, forcing a smile. “We’re the
Horsemen
. Right now we have each other, and nothing else.”

/***/

Saoirse woke to find her hyaena gone. He had cozied up next to her but had vanished sometime in the night. She heard faint whimpering coming from the window and saw him there outside of her balcony.

The hyaena was pacing back and forth in the underground courtyard, occasionally looking back to meet her eyes. Saoirse wanted to call him but realized she had yet to give him a name.
Only things with names return to you when called
, she thought. But the hyaena seemed to know exactly where she was, pacing back and forth, and then staring right at her window.
He wants me to come down
, she thought.

Saoirse felt that despite her Elysian training, she was growing attached to the hyaena. The Emetor had taught her to
never become attached to anyone but your Danna, for your Danna is the only soulmate that you’ll ever have. Love is fleeting, so don’t give your emotions away lightly, for a Hetaera with a trampled heart is worthless.

But she sensed something different between her and this hyaena. This was the first creature that didn’t see her as a means to an end, and he never wanted anything from her. This creature loved her without hope of recompense; she rarely even brought him food.

Saoirse decided to follow the hyaena outside and first walked from her cell to the common room of their quarters. Their housing unit was sparsely furnished and symmetrical; there was one square sitting room surrounded by four private, rectangular bedrooms. Tommy’s and Gunnar’s doors were closed, but Kayana’s door was open. Kayana was staring out the window, not at the hyaena, but at something else.

“Kayana,” said Saoirse, hoping to get her attention gently.

Kayana had no response. Saoirse came closer and it appeared that Kayana was in a trance.
She sleeps with her eyes open,
thought Saoirse,
but only the whites are visible.
Saoirse looked out the window from Kayana’s vantage point and saw nothing. She left Kayana alone and shut the door.