| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Check out this chibi-Hades that Junkie gave me for my birthday! Whoo! Yay Junkie! :D
Oh, also, Judy411? If you're reading this, I just wanted to say thank you for your wonderful feedback. I tried replying to your e-mail twice but they bounced back each time. Thank you.
Hades and Persephone
[ Part I ] [ Part II ]Part III
Perseph tried to silence her breathing, but it was hard to remain quiet when your breath was rushing out in loud, pounding huffs. Twice she glanced over her shoulder in panic, wondering if demons could hear hearts beating and blood coursing. After all, there were no living creatures in the Underworld. Those who came to the Underworld were already dead.
Then again, gods and demons couldn't be classified as either living or dead. Both labels meant being mortal. Did that mean she had neither heart nor blood to betray her presence? Perseph didn't like to think so; it made her, the daughter of harvest and life, sound rather cold.
Perhaps the demons could hear her footsteps, although she was treading in bare feet. She hadn't been wearing her slippers in the gardens, for she loved feeling the earth beneath her, and so had been unshod when they'd dragged her down the crevice. The demons had -- quite generously, she supposed -- cushioned her fall with their own bodies, but before she could recover the leader had pulled her into an enclosed cavern and bound her wrists to a large bed.
She rubbed those wrists now, wincing at the friction. The leader had strangely made sure she was unharmed -- "the master would not like cuts on his woman," she'd overheard him mutter -- so he hadn't bound her painfully. The chafing on her wrists was more a result of her escape than mistreatment. It had taken quite a bit of body-bending and self-contortion, as well as a long time, but she had managed to wear down the ropes on the sharp end of a rock. It had been protruding from the cavern walls, just above and slightly left of the bed. Throughout her efforts she had been glancing at the shut door, afraid of who might burst in.
Finally she'd gotten free and searched for an exit. She couldn't scream and make the earth part at her command, for the earth was above her. Here, below the surface, in the darkness, was someone else's domain. Hades's.
Why did he kidnap her? Perseph racked her brains but couldn't find an answer. He was already a powerful god, he had no need for a hostage. Not unless he wanted something from Demeter. Perseph wondered if her mother was aware of her disappearance, and was morose to conclude that it wasn't likely. Demeter wouldn't be back until later that night. In this darkness, Perseph couldn't tell what time of the day it was, but she had a feeling it wasn't even evening.
She had searched the room for other exits but found none. Finally she attempted the door, and was startled to find it unlocked. Apparently the creatures had seen no need to lock it when she was already bound to the bed. Or maybe it wasn't their room to lock. That was a thought worth pondering.
There hadn't been any guards either, and Perseph had made her escape. She'd hidden in the many shadows whenever she heard someone pass by, while feeling for an escape route. Now she was treading carefully, silently around the edge of a cliff to get to the other side. She didn't know where she was going, but at least she was heading somewhere -- anywhere -- far away from here.
She rounded the corner and came face-to-face with a blue-skinned demon -- or rather, face-to-waist. Both of them glanced at each other, startled, before letting out simultaneous shrieks.
* * * "You, Ahro, can look forward to a long day working at the firepits," Hades fumed as he stormed towards his chambers.
Arho scrambled clumsily after the imposing figure. "Master, I only meant well -"
"By kidnapping the lady Perseph? By tying her to my bed?"
Ahro winced. If there was any question as to why the Lord on the Underworld should be feared, here was the answer. Hades was not a god to be taken lightly. A frown alone darkened the skies. Now, with his voice raised, his brow creased in a fatal scowl, he made Arho swallow tightly and regret not being mortal. It meant that Arho could undergo severe torture several times over without the reward of death releasing him from his punishment.
"I only wanted to please you, my lord," Arho stammered lamely. He gripped his tail with his right hand, afraid that the god might choose that as his starting point.
But Hades was already pushing his chamber door -- which had been open, Arho noted with surprise. The demon stumbled against Hades when the god froze in place.
"Master?" Arho muffled against the cloak, hoping that Hades had suddenly decided he wanted the goddess Persephone after all, and maybe, just maybe, Hades decided to forgive him.
When Hades whirled around, though, Arho's hopes fell. "Where is she?" the god demanded.
"On your bed, master," Arho whimpered, scrambling back as if the cloak had scorched him. "I made sure she was unhurt, truly I did."
"She is not there."
"I did not touch her improperly, I swear. . . what?"
"She. Is. Not. There." The look on Hades could have frozen the fires of the Underworld.
Arho peered around Hades's figure into the room. It was empty. The only thing different about it than usual was that there was a piece of rope on the slightly mussed sheets.
Arho definitely regretted not being mortal now.
A scuffle brought their attention away. Tens of demons were scuttering past, chattering eagerly. Some of them had even abandoned their duties in order to head toward whatever so interested them.
Hades moved, his face still dark, but at least it was slightly lightened by curious impatience now. "What is going on?" he demanded, his cloak whirling around him as he marched after the crowd. "Where is everyone going?"
"The sight, master, the sight!" one young devil crowed. "You have never seen such a thing!"
Arho trailed at a safe distance. There was no telling when his master would abruptly decide to whirl around and strangle the immortality out of him.
The gathering stopped at the foot of one of the many shadowed cliffs of the Underground. Everyone was pointing upwards, exchanging excited commentaries. Arho sensed Hades going still as he followed their gaze, and the demon peeped up to see what was the matter. His sharp-fanged jaw dropped open as he saw the sight that, indeed, no one had ever seen before.
At the edge of the cliff, the lady Persephone was wrestling with Johan, one of the demon underlings. She had size on her side; he had a tail. As they struck and scrabbled, pebbles rained off the edge onto the spectators below.
It took a few moments before the master recovered, and once he did, he bellowed, "Johan! Release her at once!"
The blue being squeaked and immediately obeyed, so thunderous was Hades's voice. The cavern alone tremble with its sheer force. The demon jumped back, but the momentum also unwittingly pushed the lady Persephone forward. The goddess gave a very ungodly shriek as she toppled off the extremely high, extremely steep cliff.
For one mind-shattering moment, Arho contemplating leaving the Underworld and selling his services to Olympus. It would be less humiliating -- and certainly far less painful -- than being within his lord Hades's wrath.
It was then that he noticed the throng of demons scattering as a dark figure surged forward, his cloak flapping around him like the great wings of a bat. The lady Persephone's fall was cushioned once more, this time by the strong arms of the mighty lord Hades.
Part IV
[ Hades has a fanbase now. Don't you just love the guy? :) ]
archives | tentative.net
