Chapter 11-Untimely Escape
Alecto sat with his back
to the giant statue. His back felt like
a frozen board. He hardly dared to
breathe in fear of what might come of the noise he made. It was only now that he began to realize how
small and frail his body was. He sat in
fear thinking of the tragedy that his last moments in life would be spent in
this underground dungeon. He closed his
eyes for an instant thinking about this, and then as he opened them, he saw the
glint of the golden armor. Suddenly his
strength came flooding back to him. He pulled
himself together. He was not done. He was not finished, and this was not his
end. He was a demi-god, and not just any
demi-god. He was endowed with the very
power of the sea which Poseidon possessed.
And more than that, he had the mighty Achilles’ armor and the great
Apollo’s bow.
His burst of courage
overwhelmed his body with brevity, but then he felt a feeling of shame
beleaguer him. “No fear should ever
enter my mind” he thought. But still he
had no idea what he was going to do, and he could hear the pounding of a pair
of oversized feet coming towards him. He
looked around frantically, and he racked his brain for a quick answer, and then
suddenly the voice came again.
“Trust your instincts.”
Alecto hurriedly fixed
his eyes upon the statue behind him, and thought to himself “I need someplace
to hide, I need someplace to hide.” And
then just as he thought this, the word “sconde”
hissed silently from his lips. He
watched in astonishment as a piece of the statue dissolved to create a small
doorway. Not only did the doorway
appear; however, but it seemed as though the inside of the statue had just been
hollowed out for his use. Hastily he
dropped onto his belly and crawled through the opening, and as soon as his feet
cleared the small opening, it closed silently behind him.
He had entered not a
moment too soon, for as soon as the doorway disappeared Deimos’ ugly head
leered around the statue. But instead of
seeing an infinitesimally smaller Achilles, he saw only the crimson floor, and
the back side of Ares. He grunted as he
twisted his muscular head and stomped off, away from the statue.
Now that Alecto was in a
position of safety, he began to take in his newest prison. Inside the statue it was, as one might
expect, rather dark; nevertheless, it was not pitch black. Instead he saw two slits above him, on the
wall, where light was flooding torrentially into the small room. He stared at this spot for a while, realizing
it was the eyes on the statue. He
wondered if there was a way for him to reach the eyes. If there was a way, he would effortlessly
have a bird’s eye view of what was going on at the front of the great hall.
Alecto looked about him
as he thought and suddenly his eyes rested upon the blue staff. For the first time he had a moment to examine
the staff. He thought it looked
brilliant, for even in this light it shone with a dazzling radiance about
it. Alecto’s heart took courage as he
looked at the glimmering object, he picked it up and he felt his heart stir
inside of him. Just touching it set
light to a burning desire in his heart to do something special. It was a fire which had long been dormant. He wondered if this happened every time he
handled the staff. He thought to himself
that he had not had this feeling when he first picked it up. But then again he had not really had time to
record his feelings the first time he had picked it up.
Now holding the warm wood
in his hands, he felt he could do anything, but first he felt like he needed to
reach the two eyes above him. As he
contemplated what to say, the word “togliere”
burst abruptly from his lips. He felt
himself begin to rise in the air. It was
a strange sensation, rising through the air with magic, and although he had
never had something like this happen, he felt he knew what to do. He concentrated his attention at the two
holes, and he rose steadily towards them.
Finally he came to a halt. He was
now standing motionless in the air, peering through the two eye slits directly
in front of him.
At the end of the hall
stood one of the brothers, Alecto guessed it was Phobos. As he watched, the brother became restless
and began to pace back and forth in front of the tunnel. Alecto watched apprehensively as the solid
mass blocking the entrance to the tunnel stepped to the side. He was afraid they had blocked the entrance,
in an attempt to keep him in, but he was relieved to notice nothing in front of
the entrance. It looked like the
brothers were so convinced that nothing could get by them (An idea with which
Alecto wholeheartedly agreed) that they had overlooked the obvious need for
something to block the entrance.
As he thought this, he
felt a disturbance in the air around him and looked down to see Deimos trudge
haphazardly past the statue. He had
passed directly below the face, and Alecto suddenly felt extremely queasy, and
started to choke in his throat. He had
sniffed a large whiff of Deimos’ vile stench.
Six weeks (At least) without a bath only intensified Alecto’s dislike
for the two of them. Alecto coughed
stealthily into his hand as he tried to prevent himself from tearing up from
the horrid smell which clung to the air around him.
As he did this he failed
to notice Deimos approach his brother and begin to whisper to him. After he finished whispering the two brothers
glanced uneasily around the hall in front of them. Of course all this Alecto failed to notice
because he was gasping for air, but in case you, my sons, are wondering why
Deimos looked unnerved.” Jennifer looked
at the two sons and only then realized both of them had drooping heads, and
were rapidly blinking their eyes in an effort to stay awake. She blinked herself, realizing how tired she
herself was. She yawned and like a chain
reaction both sons started yawning as well.
In fact the whole table began to yawn.
She came out of the yawn first and asked.
“Shall we wait to finish
the story another time?” And before she
even had a chance to look inquiringly at her sons Idus answered hastily, but in
a slow tired voice.
“No, we want to hear the
rest of it.” His voice rang out wearily,
and yet it was unquestionably firm.
His mother sighed and
then continued the tale.
“As I was saying,
although Alecto didn’t realize it, the two brothers had just discovered that
Apollo’s bow was missing. However,
Deimos had failed to recognize Achilles’ armor had disappeared as well. But the brothers were terrified of the person
who might be in their dwelling. The
facts, to them presented themselves like this:
Deimos on awaking saw a golden flash of light at the doorway to the
hall, next he could find no intruder in the entire house, it looked as though
the thief had just disappeared, and finally, when he found the bow missing he
felt he knew who the intruder was. For
from these facts it could only be one person…The great Apollo himself, and if
Apollo was there, they were in a very dangerous situation, for neither of them
stood a chance at besting Apollo. Let
alone a ticked off Apollo, which he undoubtedly was.
They knew they were in
trouble. Ares himself, when he had
brought home the bow, had told them that if it ever went missing to fear for
their very lives. They were immortal it
is true, but they had heard a rumor, which Ares confirmed, that if one of
Apollo’s arrows was to hit a god dead center in the heart. It would break the binding link between body
and soul and the god would become mortal and inadvertently die. Now, they knew that as soon as they reached
the river Styx, Hades would recognize them and restore them to immortality, but
the thought of the pain which accompanied death did not sit well with the two
brothers.
That such an idea would
have occurred to the brothers is, of course, absurd. For Apollo was one of the gods on the
tribunal and would undoubtedly be at Ares’ murder trial, but as all too often
happens, when fear is present, intelligent thinking is shunned, which causes
only more fear and unrest.
Now all of this Alecto
missed, because he was too busy trying to quietly waft away the air surrounding
him. Finally he succeeded and took a
deep gasp of the clear crisp air near him.
He felt life rush back into his body with this breath of air. His body became invigorated again as he gazed
back at the two brothers, trying to form a plan to escape from this death
trap. Then he felt an eccentric idea
form in his head, and although he had not seen the brothers’ uneasiness his
instinct told him this was what he should do. So before he truly knew what he
was doing, he was shouting at the brothers in a deep earth-shaking voice.
“Deimos! Phobos! You two have lain hidden too long in this
wicked lair. It is time you paid for
your sins against humanity. I, Apollo,
have come to repay your wrongdoings with vengeance. To implement pain on those who will not do
right. And to execute judgment on
thieves who steal my weapons.” He spoke
the last words with his own kind of poetic flair, but really he did not need
to. For after the words I, Apollo, the
brothers had gone scampering to the door to the left and had slammed it shut
with an enormous force, and now were throwing everything they could against the
door, to create a “life protecting” barricade. Alecto smiled at his own wit as he descended
to the floor and crawled back under the opening which had reappeared.
Back into the dull light
of the great hall, Alecto wasted no time in sprinting hastily for the
tunnel. As sure of himself as he was,
there was no telling when the brothers might think something was amiss and come
after him. But his worries were
groundless, because he had managed with his few words, to strike such fear into
the hearts of the brothers, whose names were fear and terror, that they were at
that moment, cowering on the floor, behind the sofas which they had thrown into
their barricade to block the doors, and they were trembling at the very thought
of death, which had never reared its ungainly head so close to them.
So Alecto was able to run
unheeded through the great hall and through the tunnel, but as he approached
the entrance to the tunnel he heard shouts and the clashing of weapons
outside. Undeterred he ran boldly on
into the blinding light of the setting sun, confident he could take on whatever
new threat presented itself to him.
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