Along the road to Gadobhra, a simple shepherd ran. He passed by the herds of sedge beasts in the fields. A few of the bulls raised their voices in greeting, and the cows bowed their heads in respect. The shepherd cared for their young, and brought the tasty salt blocks. He was an important part of their lives

On a small pond, a flock of ducks paused in their feeding as the shepherd ran by. They quickly held a meeting, deciding that two of their number would stay to keep watch, while the others would take wing and seek out the great flocks to spread the word of his return.

Oblivious to this, and only focused on the string that pulled on his heart, the shepherd entered the ancient city and ran to the stockyards. The pale creatures of the crypts stayed hidden, not wanting to challenge him during the daylight. In the Beastwoods, predators shouted challenges while prey beasts took note of his passing and stayed hidden.

Coming to the stockyards he found a headstone with his name upon it, and a golden chest. He ignored the chest and began to dig. There, in the trampled muddy ground, in a hole dug with his claws he unearthed a large cocoon buried there.

"Time to wake up, silly little bug."

The layers of silk revealed a battered butterfly with cracked and broken rings. Go away! I'm ugly and broken and I got you killed and you had to .......Wait! How the hell are you back so soon?>

Squirmie grabbed hold of Rolly, holding him tightly with six razor talons that bit into his skin. Rolly stroked the butterfly's barbed fur and smoothed out its wings, burning much of his stamina to heal them.

"Nope. I took a different route. I had a choice and started at the top. Tartarus isn't bad when you can go downhill instead of climbing up. Met some really nice folk there."

"They tried, but I got some good advice from The Manticore. I stayed on the far side of the path, didn't look over, and kept running. They gave up chasing me as I got further down."

"Before I tell you the rest, I have a surprise for you. It's a present from Great-Great-Great- Grandmother."

Rolly held out a metallic scale, glistening with all the colors of the rainbow. Squirmie put out one talon and touched it, making a purring noise. Then looked up at Rolly.

Rolly laughed and his eyes turned to scintillating mirrors that matched the colors of the scale. "Nope. That's all yours. I got peckish on the way back and ate mine already."

Squirmie took the scale and began to eat it, noisily crunching and swallowing. .

=*=

A very tired tax collector returned home and changed from his stylish suit to a more comfortable kilt and black T-shirt. He was tired from yet another day of untangling centuries of Leroy's twisted dealings. He regretted that he couldn't just drop a monolith on the Fallen’s head to get rid of him. That mortal had certainly had the right idea.

A faceless man dressed as butler walked silently into the room, bearing a chilled bottle of ambrosia and slices of golden apple. "I took the liberty of bringing refreshments, sir."

Hades sighed. Bad news was coming. Charon was never so polite as when something had happened that he needed to know about. "Thank you, old and most trusted of friends. What got screwed up today?" Hades drank down the ambrosia, and noticed that Charon immediately refilled it. Bad sign.

Charon put his hands behind his back and bowed. "The mortals sir. The special ones that we were asked to look out for during their enforced stay in the world. Another one of them died."

Hades raised an eyebrow. "That's all? I expect that we will see them quite a bit. It is a tumultuous time down in the mortal realms. Rules are changing. Mortals are running rampant stirring up trouble. I assume you made him comfortable upon waking, answered his questions, and he chose a path home?"

Charon paused, only a fraction of a moment, but long enough for Hades to notice. "He seemed very comfortable, many of his questions were answered, and he chose a path."

Hades looked at Charon. It was hard to read someone with a skull for a face, but he'd had eons of practice. Steepling his fingers he looked at the boatman. "And yet I sense that there might be more to the story. Some small detail?"

Charon decided to just get it over with. Sometimes you screwed up and sank the boat with all on board. It happened and then you started over and got back to work. There was always so much work to do in this realm.

"There was a complication. He has a relationship with a creature native to Tartarus, and when given a choice of a comfy bed and tasty breakfast, which I swear I had ready, even with fresh squeezed juice, he decided to go to Tartarus."

Hades closed his eyes as his headache started to return. "Let me guess? The shepherd? That one likes monsters a little too much. I take it that we now have one of the special mortals in our care lost in Tartarus, being slain over and over as he tries to find his way out?"

"Uh, no sir. To be honest, he did very well. He humbled and befriended The Manticore and learned much from him. All of the puppies are asking when he will be back, and only the Hive Queen is demanding his soul be turned over to her. He walked right by, totally ignoring her. She's pissed that a mortal would treat her that way."

"And?" Hades toyed with another glass of ambrosia.

"And what, Lord Hades?"

"And what else did he do. Where is he, and what has happened. Your bones are clinking together. You do that when you’re nervous."

Charon picked up a large glass of fresh squeezed juice, tossed out the juice, and refilled it with ambrosia. He tossed back half of it, then sat opposite Hades, and bowed his head.

"He went all the way down to the end of the path and had a lovely talk with the two at the bottom. He received a Heroes’ gift, and then left for home. You'll see that his name has been added to the list of Heroes who completed their journeys."

Hades drank down his own glass. "I'm sure nothing happened."

Charon agreed, and drank down the rest of his large glass. "Nothing at all. I'll get back to work, the next boatload is ready to go."

Hades gestured and the boatman disappeared.

Hades summoned a file with the details of the new Hero's life. "Interesting. He's a skilled tax advisor as well? No wonder he didn't fear Tartarus. I'll have to keep an eye on this one. Funny, I thought the Butcher would be the troublemaker of the group."