Chapter 1.28

Ax

The woman walked towards us. I could easily see that she was at least seven feet tall, perhaps a bit more. She was the goddess of the underworld, or would be once the Titans were defeated. But if something like the gender of a god or goddess could be different, then could the outcome of the entire war be different? What if the future wasn’t as locked in stone as we thought? Karson and I had been operating under the assumption that this world would follow the same path as the mythology of our world. But what if we were actually wrong? What if the Titans actually won? Had we chosen the wrong side?

Karson went over to Zahra, his hands gentle as his magic washed away the wounds of the battle with Nyphron. He cupped her face gently for a moment, garnering a smile, before moving on to the others. When he got to Xia Fang, he sat for a moment before shaking his head. She was gone.

“So Chaos resides in both of you. Brothers, no less. You find such interesting things in the mortal realm,” said Hades. Her melodic voice no longer echoed through the whole town. She stood in front of me as Karson finished his rounds, looking expectant.

“I… don’t know what to say to that,” I confessed.

“Why did you assist me in the fight? Menoetius could crush you without even a thought.”

“The Cult of Kronos killed our father to help Kronos. We oppose them, and Kronos, because of it,” I answered. I had no reason to hide my opposition to Kronos. Hades was his enemy.

“Yes, Kronos stands to destroy all who worship Zeus and his allies.” The way she said it implied that she wasn’t among them.

“And you?” I asked.

Hades looked at me sharply. “And me.”

Karson came over then. “Xia Fang and Jin Hai are both dead. Zahra was injured, but I healed her. The Vanguard are bruised but okay.”

“Your spell was quite handy in irritating my cousin,” said Hades to Karson. “You have my gratitude. Would you walk with me for a moment?”

“I.. umm, sure,” he said. Hades waved her hand, and a doorway opened before her. Karson followed her through the door, which vanished behind them. Now what the hell were we supposed to do?

Zahra turned to Jin Song. “Your honor has been redeemed, Jin Song. You and yours have fought in a battle of the gods, and acquitted yourself honorably. I release you from your servitude, and grant you leave to return home. Please bear my words to your lĭngdăo, and continue in your master’s teachings.”

Jin Song, silent as ever, bowed deeply to Zahra. He took up Xia Fang’s sword, and bowed to her body, before walking to the gate alone. Zahra sighed. “There were ten sworn to me when I left my tribe. He was the last, and the only one fated to survive.”

“You knew the others would all die?” I asked.

“Calamity and Fate are but two sides of the same coin. I saw it in their futures, as I see it in yours. They were fated to fall in my service.”

“And they could do nothing to avoid it?” I asked.

“There was much they could do to avoid it. They all sought to redeem their honor for crimes unknown to me. Their leader gave them the opportunity to serve, but did not force them. They chose the path they were on, and could have stepped aside at any moment to live a full life. I warned them that only one would live,” she said, her voice haunted.

“And they still chose to protect you,” I said, awe in my voice. Her silent protectors had been ghosts around our camp, speaking to no one. Yet each had known they faced almost certain death.

“They chose to live a life of honor,” she replied. “They redeemed themselves in the eyes of their homeland, so will be remembered and revered.”

Her words were poignant and resonated with me. A life where you are considered dishonorable and reviled by your own neighbors was no life at all. “What shall become of Jin Song?”

“It will take him four years to return to his village. His beloved will be a widow by the time he arrives, living out her disgrace for her affair with him. He will marry her, and they will have many sons. When they are grown, he will become a village elder, and a great teacher. He has a happy ending. Too few do,” she said, a tear in one eye.

“Can you see with such clarity for everyone?”

“No,” she said. “Those fated to a violent end will meet that end in many ways in my visions. Battles are chaos, and bloody actions can have ripples that change many things about your fate. Far easier to see are those who live peacefully, for fewer things can derail them from their path.”

“And can you see my future, and my brother’s?”

“Yours is clouded, and I have seen many ends. Few are peaceful. You are a man of action, of purpose. You seek out violence, and thus may it be done to you. I will not tell you the day of your death, Axerios. That is knowledge you do not want.”

“And Karsos?”

“He is a mystery. Blank and unformed,” she said with a pleased smile. “I cannot tell his fate.”

I wanted to ask her more questions, but I spotted a familiar figure on a horse, leading several others also on horseback. Strategos Dadaces had survived. His armor was covered in blood and muck, his fine clothes muddy and his helmet sported a sizable dent. I waved to him and he began to make his way to us.

“Lord Axerios,” he called once close enough. “I had thought you and your people would have fled by now.”

“Karsos was still in the town when the attack came. I sent my people on ahead with half my forces. The rest are holding the gate. Well, the hole where the gate used to be.”

Dadaces dismounted and pulled off his helmet. His face was weary, his thinning hair mussed and sweaty. “This is a calamitous day. I could find no building still undamaged. Most are destroyed, and all the people in them. Precious few can be repaired. I fear we will be gathering the survivors to flee as well. The enemy army may be defeated, but this town is gone.”

I understood. The wreckage was near total at this end of town, and we had only had a few minutes of the fight between the Titan and Hades. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the scale of the disaster.

“Will you take them to Tekemon?” I asked.

“Tekmon has been defeated also,” said Dadaces sadly. “Those barbarians carried heads on spears as their standards. I recognized the Hyparch on one of them, my father on another. My father refused to exit the city walls. His world began and ended inside the city gates. There was only one way they could kill him.”

“We are headed to Iolcus. When you are organized, come join us,” I offered. “We can prepare a place for you as best we can.”

“I think, my friend, that I may take you up on that. There is little to hold me here now, and the people here will need somewhere to find refuge.” Dadaces grasped my arm in firm agreement, before climbing onto his horse once again. “I go now to see what survivors I can organize from this mess. If your brother could spare some healing, it would be most welcome.”

We waited for two hours, before the doorway opened and Karson returned to us, alone. The doorway vanished the moment he was through, as if it had never been there. We had not wasted our time, for we had been digging in the rubble and pulling out survivors. I had all of our myrmidons and archers helping, and the Vanguard did the heavy lifting.

We found more bodies than anything else, and those that did live suffered from all manner of injuries. We piled the dead in one place, and had cleared the street of rubble so that we could lay out the wounded. Their moans of pain and cries of sorrow filled the air. Karson went around and healed the worst injuries. He limited himself to life threatening or serious injuries and broken bones. We worked late into the night, before Karson came over and stopped me.

“Ax, you need to go to our people. They need you and the rest of the myrmidons. I will stay here with Zahra and Antiope, and my Vanguard.”

“I came in here to get you both!” I said, tired and exasperated. “I’ll be damned if I leave you behind!”

“You came and saved us,” he agreed, but he countered forcefully. “But we are not in danger now. Our people, your wife, could be now. Do you think every last one of the enemy was slain? What if some of them regroup and attack the caravan? How will they do with only half the troops we planned for?”

“Alright, I’ll go, but we’re going to wait for you,” I said.

“Do not wait. We’ll be on horseback, we’ll catch up quickly. There are many wounded and injured here. I haven’t even made it into the main part of town yet. I’ll be healing for days at this pace. We’ll catch up to you within a week or two.”

I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t. Latona and our people needed the extra protection I had here. They were probably still on the road, but wagons were slow. We’d be able to catch them by mid-day if we left now, even allowing a few hours to rest at the house on the hill.

“I don’t like it,” I grumbled.

“Go, Ax,” Karson said. “We’ll be okay.”

So it was just me and my troops that wound up leaving Assos. We stopped and napped at the house for an hour, then lit up some torches and got on the road. We were all tired, every last one of us. We barely took the time to refill our water and eat the bit of food we carried. It was probably the single longest night of my life, and it didn’t end with the dawn. We stopped only long enough to drink water and do morning ablutions, before marching on.

My legs ached. My back was sore. My eyes itched, and I was tired of wearing armor. The sandals I was wearing were chafing at my feet, and I had no doubt that I smelled to high heaven. But we pressed on. In late morning, we spotted the caravan in the distance. It took us another hour to catch up.

Latona came back to greet me with a hug. I took off my helmet and kissed her cheek, holding her close for a moment. Then she pressed gently against my chest.

“How did it go here?” I asked.

“We had to fight off a small band of centaurs,” she said. “But they moved off in search of easier prey. What happened to the town.”

She must have read the expression on my face. “Lord Karsos? Lady Zahra?”

“Both are fine,” I reassured her. “They are helping in town. Let’s make an early camp, we should have no serious pursuit. The myrmidons are exhausted, and so am I.”

“You aren’t the only one who marched all night,” she said. “I’m certain everyone here would be glad to rest.”

A field was off to one side of the road, large enough for us to circle the wagons. We left the oxen in their yokes, bringing water and food to them just in case we had to move in a hurry. We had twelve wagons for nearly two hundred men, women and children. One wagon was dedicated to carrying children twelve and younger, with the older watching out for the younger. A second wagon was for women with small children and the smattering of elderly. These two wagons were rigged with a bunch of hammocks, for the wagons had no shocks and the roads could barely qualify as roads by modern standards. The hammocks, at least, would swing when a pothole or large stone was hit. The hammocks pulled double duty, for they were a comfortable place to sleep at night.

Nine of the wagons were filled to almost overflowing with crates of goods, food, water and grain. They carried far more than it appeared because of Karson’s reality-warping enchantment. It was mind bending for me. Like many things that I didn’t understand well, like calculus or women, I accepted that it as it was and worried about more important things.

The last wagon was for our House. It was the largest wagon, and carried the valuables. There were our money-making chests, Karson’s chest with his books and scrolls about magic, and a crate containing the conjuring machines I’d made. Personal belongings and extra weapons were stored here, and hanging above it were the hammocks for me, Latona, Karson and Zahra.

We had planned on several more days of finishing things, buying more food, and getting the wagons prepared. But despite the urgent exit, things had gone according to plan. We had built up a fighting force, albeit a small and inexperienced one, in a period of a month. We’d relied heavily on magic to do so, but we were ready now for bigger things.

I just needed Karson to catch up, and we’d be all set. It didn’t even occur to me that I hadn’t asked about his private meeting with Hades.