It was Calliope’s turn to gape, her reserve having dissolved, finally worn down by the unending volley of strangeness that had been her day. And it was, apparently, the man’s turn to whimper…. which he did. She might have been happier about that fact if she wasn’t still reeling from her own fear. It didn’t help that Thelios had turned his furious glare back on her.
“Is this him?” He asked gruffly, clearly attempting to keep himself from shouting as he spoke through clenched teeth. She caught his meaning and nodded. She felt as much as heard the growl which emanated from him. It caused a shiver to pass up her spine… she could only imagine what effect it had on the man who was now furiously, and futility trying to pull Thelios’s hand off of him. “You were told, to keep your hands to yourself. He grabbed the man’s arm, hard. “Need I remove them to help you resist the temptation?”
The man sputtered, but didn’t give an answer.
“Not quick enough.” He pulled and the man screamed. He didn’t quite rip the man’s arm off, but there was a sickening ‘pop’ as his shoulder came dislocated. “Shall I keep pulling?”
“No… no… please.” He begged, whimpering and panting with pain. Calliope winced, beginning to feel very sorry for the man, and not a little guilty that she was in some way the cause of his suffering.
“Who does this belong to?” He asked, still growling as he raked his gaze over those who’d come to see what the commotion was about. The Host stepped forward, calmly, but Calliope noted the tightness around his mouth.
“I take responsibility for him, what has happened.”
“It appears he can’t seem to keep his hands to himself.” Again his fiery eyes turned on her, feeling like a physical blow for all their intensity. “What did he do this time?”
“Oh… ah, um, nothing… really.”
His eyes were merely slits of fiery red now. “So, you pulled his own sword on him simply out of boredom?”
She flushed at being caught out in the unintentional lie. “Well,” she offered clearing her throat, “nothing more than before.” He just stared hard. She sighed. “It’s true, ” she insisted softly, “I…” she winced, knowing he would not like her next words, “I stopped him before anything more could happen. I pulled the sword when he grabbed me.”
She winced all the more as the fist tightened visibly around the man’s throat. He was, she noted, gradually turning an ever brighter shade of pink.
“Did you think to strike her then?” At first he seemed to shake his head in denial, but as the hand clenched around his throat he switched tactics and breathlessly begged forgiveness instead. It was awful to see, and made somehow worse by the audience. She was torn. On one hand she didn’t want to question Thelios, not publicly at any rate. And, she had to admit, some not so small part of her was gratified to see him not only give her the benefit of the doubt, but to also come so immediately and fully to her defense. However, the sight of the man, gasping for breath and whimpering in pain… it was a little more than she was able to bear, not in the least because it was in part her involvement which had put him in his present situation.
She stepped forward and touched Thelios hesitantly, her fingers falling lightly at the band of his wrap near the small of his back. “Please, my lord…”
He looked down at her and she gazed up at him beseechingly. “I think he has already paid more than the harm he did.”
“I do not.”
There wasn’t much she could say to that. She wasn’t going to contradict him in front of the others, and the look he was giving her was still hot with anger, and she quailed again in the face of it. But… he continued to stare down at her.
“Are you pleading for his life?”
She hesitated for a tremulous moment, then nodded nervously. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“I…” It wasn’t a bad question. He was a worm… but… “I don’t like to see people suffer.” The look in his eye didn’t look promising, so she tried a more familiar tactic, one that usually worked on both of them. “Besides,” she smirked with more good humor than she felt, “I’m sure our host would be most grateful not to have to clean the resulting mess off the walls, don’t you think?” That did it. He didn’t quite chuckle, but there was an almost amused grunt, and his fingers seemed to ease.
He turned his attention back to the man. “You should be grateful, she’s saved your life.” His growl deepened, “But this is the second offense, and there will not be a third.” Before a response could be formed Thelios tossed him aside, letting him slam into a nearby wall.
She watched him with sympathy, but was also distracted by the massive hand which had come down around her upper arm, steering her away from the scene.
The ‘others’ were watching with curious apprehension. “Keep your dogs on a shorter leash, brother.” he snapped out at the host as they pushed past the group. Or rather, he pushed past while she was dragged along behind. The notion of complaining about the rough treatment flitted through her mind, but dissipated quickly enough when she glanced up to see the expression on his face. She didn’t have to say anything anyway, as the moment they were out of sight, he released her to her own volition. She had to move quickly to keep up, but at least she wasn’t being dragged any longer.
She barely had time to register exactly ‘where’ they were going- deeper into the maze being the only phrase which leapt to mind– and none at all to note any of the wonders they passed, save for their purpose as a road map. Right at the statue of Persephone, left at the tile mosaic with the dragon… etc.
She had no illusions about memorizing the route on the first try, but it couldn’t hurt to have points of recognition for the inevitable times she’d find herself completely lost and turned around in this obviously massive, sprawling palace.
She was so caught up trying not to get lost that she trotted right into Thelios’s back with an undignified ‘umph’.
He glanced back at her over his shoulder, but said nothing as he stepped to the side and gestured that she enter the doorway before him. She might have been awed once again by the glistening white marble chamber and its colonnades leading out into a small garden courtyard. She would have, if she wasn’t too busy glaring a hole through the disappearing Demitri who was busy chatting up a cute little blond haired girl. He turned from his conversation to give her a questioning look as Thelios walked in behind her and stormed off to one of the side chambers. The girl gaped at the furious giant, then gave Calliope an anxious look before ducking her head and making a swift exit out toward the garden.
“Where in Hades were you?”
Demitri cocked a brow. “What happened?” He asked flatly, not rising to her own frustrated tone. She huffed and plunked herself down on a bench by the door where she’d initially frozen.
“This place is awful.”She was trying to feel irate, but she suddenly felt as if everything had just caught up with her at once and her eyes burned as they slipped toward the doorway Thelios had vanished into. Demitri laughed, but his expression softened, and though still amused, he gave her a sympathetic look when she turned her face back to his. He strolled over and sat next to her.
“What happened?”
She swallowed hard. “Everything.” She groused back petulantly. He chuckled again. She sighed. “I don’t know. It’s not just one thing… after that…. gauntlet, there were the others like Th-like the master, and I tried to say out of it but… well that was awkward as hell. Then that slimy bastard showed up and…” She finished the thought with a growl of frustration.
“Which slimy bastard are you referring to?”
She shook her head and sighed. Some of the tension slid from her as Demitri’s calm good humor began to wear down her anxiety. “Oh you know,” she waved dismissively, “that idiot from before, the one who thought I should be ‘taught a lesson.'” she added with more than a little derision.
She was about to add to this, but was stopped by the dark expression on Demitri’s face. “What he do?” His growl was faintly reminiscent of Thelios’s and it made her hesitate.
“Don’t you start too,” she warned “there was already a scene when the master came back into the hall and found me holding the fool at the end of his own sword.”
His expression turned slightly more quizzical. “How did that happen?”
She shrugged. “turn about is fair play?” He did laugh at that.
“You’re not saying you started it?” She smirked, then frowned again in consternation.
“No, I… said some things… after he did mind you,” she amended quickly, “then when I thought he might strike me I took his sword.” She pursed her lips and looked toward the doorway again. “Then I cut him when he took a swing at me. He’ll be… pissed. More so because of what the master did… in front of everyone. I had to beg him to stop.”
“Why.”
Her eyes widened. “He might have killed the man!”
“No, why stop him?” That caught her off guard. Surely he would understand… or so she thought.
“I won’t have some one killed because of me.”
“It wasn’t ’cause of you. He was warned. He decided to take his chances just so he could be spiteful. It was all him, luv.”
“Fine then, killed in my defense then.”
He shrugged. “What did he do then?”
“Choked him, dislocated his shoulder… probably broke his arm, and threw him into a wall.”
Demitri only nodded. “That it?”
She gave him a disbelieving look. “Yes?”
“Hm.” He said nothing more and got to his feet, patted her knee in the process, then wandered off toward the garden leaving her alone, as bemused and discomfited as she’d ever been.
She slumped against the wall then finally turned her attention to her surroundings. How in blazes did they get a garden to grow in a mountain?
She rose, feeling more than a little exhausted and walked in a daze across the smooth polished marble floor. It wasn’t colorful or elaborately patterned as the halls had been, but merely simple squares of white veined with gray. The columns running about the edge of the spacious chamber were of the same make, as were the few pieces of simple furniture. Large furniture, she noted as her gaze raked over the room.
As she neared the small garden, the mystery of its existence became apparent. Shards of light streamed down from overhead through shafts bored into the very rock. Or perhaps they were natural, she couldn’t tell, but she could see by the distance that they must have been near the surface and not buried deep inside the mountain as she suspected. The light did not have far to travel and dropped like illuminating accents on the seemingly sporadic arrangement of flowers. It was all rather pretty actually.
She sat on one of the benches, near a pool of water, letting a shard of sunlight catch her face. It was warm, and felt lovely. Next to her a collection of iris’s stood tall and still, their petals a deep, velvety purple, so dark that it nearly looked black around the edges. She reached out to touch one when a soft ‘shush’ caught her attention, making her freeze, her hand still hovering in mid air as her eyes, and only her eyes, shot up toward the sound. From the other side of garden, a dark serpentine figure emerged, moving slowly around the edges of the column lined walk way which led to the open chamber… which led to the private rooms beyond.
Calliope watched the snake-woman until she disappeared into the same room Thelios had. It didn’t appear that the creature had noticed her… but then she might have just been ignoring her, just as she’d ignored the garden, or the furniture. She ripped her eyes from the doorway and turned them back to the flowers. They suddenly irritated her. What the hell was the point of a black flower anyway? Weren’t they supposed to bright and colorful? Weren’t they supposed to cheer you up?
She huffed and stood, squaring her shoulders and brushing her dress out. Enough of this. She had a job to do… it was time to stop whining, and figure out how to do it. First she’d try to find Demitri and wring some answers out of him… baring that… she’d wring them out of someone else.
She shot the black iris one last dirty look and was on her way, a woman with a mission.
*******