The Heart of War (61 page)

They told of the systemic destruction of their kind by the Druids as well as the ethnic cleansing of the remaining tribes of Elves, Dwarves and Fey, which once lived nearby. “We didn’t know who to prevail upon,” Elvin spoke in a very creaky old voice, “we do not like being here and understand that we are not welcome, but we would ask for your assistance, Great God Zeus. We do not wish to see all of our kind perish from this Earth.”

“If you were not welcome here, Lord Elvin, you would not be here,” Zeus said sternly.

“Then the rumors are not true?” Elvin prodded gently, although his back was beginning to ache as he struggled to hold himself up straight and he was rapidly tiring from fluttering so long. “You do not harbor a hatred for those from the Celtic Lands?”

Diplomacy was always such a pain in the ass. It was bad enough Zeus had to sit here, his old eyes trying to focus on the tiny fluttering man, listening to him tell his sad tale of woe and doing all that he could to hide his pleasure at the news of the dead and dying Celtic beings, but on top of it he had to lie with grace and tact. “You could have come to me, Lord Elvin, long ago and asked for our assistance.”

“Yes,” Elvin agreed softly, “but would we have received it?”

Poseidon watched as Zeus pursed his lips and his upper lip began to curl. The King of the Seas thought it best to head this off at the pass; he stood up to take command of the conversation even though it was not his turn. “These acts are outrages! Abominations!” Poseidon spat vehemently. “They’re damn
sins
!” In order to emphasis his point, Poseidon picked up his Trident and brought it down hard against the marble at his feet.

Hades agreed that they were horrendous and even cowardly deeds. The systematic picking-off of so many powerful and grand creatures could not be ignored.

“Sin?” Aphrodite scoffed. “We don’t even understand such concepts.”

Even with everything else that was going on, Aphrodite’s words appalled Zeus. “Some things, Aphrodite, are so outrageous, so blatantly crimes against all that is good and right in this world, they
are
sins,” he corrected. “What Cernunnos has done is unforgivable. The question is, what can we do about it?”

For Aphrodite the answer was simple and she hoped the rest would agree. “Nothing.”

Apollo was immediately outraged by Aphrodite’s betrayal of their agreement and he stood up heatedly. “I want Justice for my sister!” He slammed his fist down upon the marble table.

Aphrodite looked past her angry Lover to her Son. Eros took his cue and rose slowly from his seat. “Other than Artemis, which was probably nothing more than the tragic result of a Lover’s quarrel gone awry, Cernunnos has done nothing to us that we’re aware of.”

Aphrodite spoke once more, calmly and with soft distinction. “With deference to my dear Apollo and his understandable need for vengeance,” she began and then paused a moment to look at her Lover, knowing he was furious with her at this moment. “As far as we know, all Cernunnos wants of us is that little whore of Ares’. I say she’s in this with Cernunnos—she’s certainly brought us nothing but trouble. We should make Ares hand her over to him and be rid of her.”

The idea hung in the air like a zeppelin in which the gas was slowly being replaced by lead. It sunk down deep and slow, stunning all into silence as they weighed the option in their own minds. Eros found it very difficult to stand still and hold his tongue at his Mother’s suggestion. When he agreed to back her up no matter what she said, this was not what he had in mind. Eros knew his Mother was a spiteful bitch but he didn’t think she’d cross him on this. Aphrodite knew Eros had an eye, and possibly a heart, for Alena. Ares had the audacity to fall in love with the little Fey; Eros should have known that was a death sentence for Alena. Beautiful as she was treacherous, Aphrodite might as well have picked up two daggers and stabbed both he and Apollo in the back as they stood here.

“The idea has merit,” Zeus said to no one and everyone.

“No!” Apollo thundered. “Give the bitch back if you want but don’t let this go unanswered, Father.”

“How unlike you, my Husband.” Hera stood up from her seat. “I cannot believe you would consider such a thing. Not take revenge for Artemis? She was your Daughter; I know how much you loved her.” She paused a moment to gather herself before the frustration stirring inside could overtake her mouth. The idea that Zeus would want to hand Alena over to Cernunnos as though she were yesterday’s trash had no shock for her, but that he was willing to turn his back on vengeance for Artemis was a slap in the face to all of them. “What guarantee do we have that Cernunnos will not come after us even after we give him Alena? Do you think Ares will still stand and fight for us once you’ve taken away his woman and his child?”

Aphrodite kept her seat as she cleared her throat and gave out a winning smile to those around her. “Cernunnos is bound to his lands. If we don’t go there, then he can’t touch us. What do we care about the rest of them anyway? It’s not like we ever did before.” Although the Olympians, like the Egyptian Gods, were not chained to their lands—they could and did travel the world far and wide and still retain their Powers—an unwritten law had always ruled this area of diplomacy between divinities; You Stay On Your Side of the Fence and I Will Stay On Mine. As such intermingling had always been sparse, confined only to necessity or mere chance.

“Coward!” Athena charged.

“I’m a Lover not a Fighter, honey.”

For the first time Circe spoke up. She was an older woman with straggly gray hair and tattered clothes, her tired brown eyes had been looking out at the world for far too long from the dark depths of her cave. “I agree with Aphrodite. Cernunnos is not coming after me, up until today no one knew where I was. If he’s killing Gods then I am not on his list. I would prefer to stay out of this.”

“As would I.” Morpheus spoke as he stood up, knowing Zeus was not interested in his opinion. The King of Dreams never understood if the God of Gods didn’t like him simply because Morpheus was not an Olympian or if it was because he was the only one among them capable of reaching into Zeus’ mind. Morpheus never intended to return to Olympus, but here he was standing in stark contrast to Eros. The two were similar in body type and even in the clothing they chose to wear—or not wear as the case may be—but where Eros carried a bow and arrow, Morpheus hand two black satin sacks hanging around his waist. While both contained Dream Dust, the one on his right hip would bring the dreamer the sweetest of dreams and the one on his left would bring nightmares of the deepest darkest caliber. Morpheus had hair that was black as midnight and skin—such as it was— whiter than snow with his raven wings branching out from his shoulder blades. “This is not my fight.”

“Who asked you?” Zeus shot.

“You did.” Morpheus fluttered his transparent black wings and let out a deep sigh. “I thought I was brought here to offer my opinion. If you don’t want it, Zeus, then open the door and let me out,” he challenged, wanting nothing more than to leave here. Morpheus didn’t know why Aphrodite had come to him several nights ago and traded her body for his ability to see into dreams. He’d almost said no. Screwing around with Ares wasn’t something Morpheus, or anyone, did lightly. However, it was hard to say no to the very persuasive Goddess of Love.

“There! You see!” Aphrodite said triumphantly. “Even they agree with me, we should stay out of this.”

“Shut up, Aphrodite. Why don’t you think beyond yourself for a change?” Hades thundered.

“What do you care?” Aphrodite shot back. “You’re already dead, Cernunnos can’t touch you. And you,” she pointed at Poseidon, “it’s not like he’s going to take over the oceans so what do you care either? You should be with them.” She pointed at Circe and Morpheus standing on the opposite side of the table.

Yes, it was true; Poseidon and Hades could always retreat to their respective Kingdoms where Cernunnos was doubtful to follow. Yet, that didn’t mean this was of no concern to them. “If Cernunnos is successful in whatever he’s doing with those souls, I believe he will obtain the power to leave his lands and still retain his abilities. If that happens, then Ares may not be enough to stop him,” Hades assured. “All of us may not be enough to stop him.”

Aphrodite let out a loud huff. “So what? It’s not as if he can storm Olympus. If we just stay here, we’ll all be fine. I don’t know about any of you, but after today, I don’t give a damn about the Mortals. Their world is filthy; it’s full of greed and disease. If Cernunnos wants it, we should give it to him.”

.None of the Olympians could say that they were overjoyed with the things and people they’d encountered on their search. The world changed so drastically since the time the Olympians freely walked among the Mortals it was hardly recognizable. Thankfully, most of the Olympians realized that those things did not mean the Mortal World should just fall to rack and ruin.

Hera cast aspersions with her luminous eyes and then her lips. “Those two, my Husband,” she looked from Aphrodite to Eros, “are useless to begin with in such matters. If Hades is right, then where does that leave us? You’ll pardon me for saying so but you, I, Poseidon and Hades are getting a little long in the tooth for such things as this. Ares is our best hope to stop Cernunnos while there is still a chance to do so quietly.” Hera hadn’t been impressed with the Mortal world any more than the rest of them. If it came down to an all out war between Gods, then that was bound to attract some attention. The Mortal World with all of its new technology—its cameras and its microphones, its televisions and its satellites—would broadcast the War of the Gods for the entire planet to see. Their very existence could be on the verge of discovery and extinction. In this case, discovery would almost surely lead to extinction as the Mortals tended to dissect whatever they feared or didn’t understand.

“She’s right, Father,” Apollo said strongly. He never agreed with Hera on anything. “I hate Ares, too, but if we can use him here then we should. If not for the Others then for Artemis and before Cernunnos can get any stronger.”

Athena, Warrior Goddess of Wisdom that she was, nodded. “Agreed, we take Cernunnos down now. This cannot go any further, Father. For our own survival, we must make a stand here and now. For this, we need Ares; if you start playing games with his woman he will turn his back on us.”

In truth, Zeus didn’t understand why Alena wasn’t already dead. Ares was several days under the influence of the curse, meaning to or not, he should have killed her by now. The way she ran out of his cave and how he stormed out of the Underworld, Zeus had been sure it was going to happen last night. Zeus was miffed when he asked Hades if Alena resided with him yet and received ‘no’ for an answer. It would be better if Ares was out of his mind with despair and caught deep in the clutches of self-loathing and desperation at having killed Alena. Then Ares would go after Cernunnos with no holds barred. In that instance, victory was assured and Zeus wouldn't have to put up with a mutant for a Grandchild. The way it looked now, that was not to be. If Alena had to stay in this to the end and if Zeus had to use her like some carrot on a string in front of Ares to get him to do what Zeus wanted, then so be it. When this was over, Zeus would find a very sad but plausible way to dispose of Alena.

“Pardon me, Great Lord Zeus,” Elvin spoke again in quiet tones, “but, what of us?” He looked around at his fellow Faeries and their long drawn faces. He looked to the Nymphs who lived nearby but were unprotected by the Olympians, and whom so far had yet to weigh in on the conversation. “Cernunnos has destroyed much of our kind; will you stand by and watch him destroy the last of it? Will you do nothing?”

“Look around you, my Husband. We are the last of our world,” Hera whispered. “The last remaining peoples of the Old World. This handful here, and we are on the verge of extinction. Will you allow our lights to go out without a fight? Is your hatred of Ares and the Celts so strong that you would send these small and gentle people back to their homes defenseless?” With a gentle hand, she gestured toward Lord Elvin and his small band of Faeries. “Let them be hunted down like dogs and then executed?”

Hera was a worthy opponent but worse than that she usually made the most rational and logical arguments, they were hard to fault with. His watery old eyes scanned around the room to all of the faces staring back at him, each with hope and anticipation. The things Cernunnos had done were sins, they were abominations, and they had to be punished. “Apollo, go get your brother and his little bitch.”

4

Apollo was surprised to find the entrance to Ares’ cave open. He walked straight through the opening and down the hall where he found Ares sitting on sitting on his throne with Alena curled up in his lap deep asleep. Snuggled under a blanket, she had her cheek cuddled against Ares’ chest and Ares was petting her gray hair as though she were a Himalayan kitten. Ares looked up with a sneer when he felt Apollo’s presence. “Don’t you knock?”

Apollo ignored his brother’s complaint as he sauntered fully into the room. “You’re wanted on Olympus, bring her with you.”

In Ares lap, Alena began to stir. Ares shouldn’t have worked her so hard earlier in the day. After her little nap, he made her repeat the performance two more times. While she didn’t put any more windows in his walls, each time she did better than the time before, but it left her exhausted. “Hush,” Ares soothed and ran his palm over her head to smooth her hair. "Shhhhh.” He looked up at Apollo, who was looking down with envy. “What of Olympus? Did they find anyone?”

“Only a few and none that were once called Gods. It seems we are the last of those.”