A Boat Ride from a God

its off to see the underworld

 

 

 

                The lobby of the Hotel Styx was eerily quiet as Grayson and I entered through the white door into its marbled halls.

            “I still think this is an absolutely terrible idea,” Grayson whispered to me as the two of us stepped lightly towards the staircase. We had entered the lobby from the far corner by the stairs, the corner that was opposite the room containing the River Styx. We had planned it that way last night.

            “I said it’ll work, so it’ll work, trust me,” I said. “Remember . . . I’m the great warrior.” I whispered back with a sarcastic smirk on my face. I peered through the bars along the railing of the grand staircase, looking for any sign of anyone.

            “But . . . what do we have to gain by seeing Hades? I mean, I’ve heard a lot of stories about him, and none of them mentioned that he was a nice guy.” Grayson snuck behind me, looking around the room for any sign of trouble as well.

            “Nothing,” I said, looking down at Grayson. I bent down low and moved past him to the edge of the staircase, taking care to stay in the shadow that the chandelier above cast. Grayson moved next to me, crouched and ready to spring out at my signal.

            This plan I had formulated was beyond stupid, it was ridiculous. A simple diplomatic explanation to Hades about the atrocities of the games, and if we could get him to listen to us, we had a chance at putting Chiron back in his place, but then again the chances were slim at best.

            First we had to get to him though.

            So there we were; the only place we could pop out of in the underworld that had clear access to the outside. I raised my hand and followed with a slight gesture to Grayson, who raised himself slightly off the floor in preparation to move to the doorway that stood only a few yards away. He pushed off with his left heel, but I caught him quickly by the back of the shirt.

            “Wait!” I gasped, pulling him back to the floor next to me. The two of us sat there motionless, in complete silence. My ears perked back and my eyes widened as the sound of a door clicking open sounded throughout the lobby.

            “This is unbelievable.” Said a familiar voice, “That idiot got away again!” I could almost picture the black suit and slicked-back white hair as Chiron walked into the lobby, not ten feet from where Grayson and I sat crouched and hidden.

            I heard a clacking as something wooden was slammed against the floor. Then, a ghostly wind blew over my shoulder as demons fell to the ground next to us. I sat up even straighter, my heart pounding against my chest as I feared that they had seen us.

            However, the black shrouds made no move for us. The stood stock still, or rather hovered above the ground as Chiron spoke to them.

            “This was a problem when he managed to escape the first time. But now he and his pesky little friends are wandering around my city.” His voice was filled with anger and I dreaded what would happen if he found us here.

            “Now, you useless bags of gas had better find him and those damned kids he’s running around with, or you don’t even want to know what will happen to you.” He threatened. His footsteps came closer to where we were hiding and I tensed up, but just as he came a few feet from us, Chiron turned at the stairway and climbed up, the wooden clacking sound getting quieter as he disappeared into the darkness.

            The demons gave off a muffled howl, which sounded eerily like a sigh, then they flew back up into the ceiling and disappeared. Grayson and I slouched back down and took in a deep lungful of air.

            “He did not sound happy,” Grayson noted sarcastically.

            “Yeah, come on,” I said, standing up quickly and hurrying over to the doorway. Grayson followed suit and helped me wrench open the heavy door. The two of us managed to force the huge thing open just enough for us to fit through it. We slid through the crack out of the lobby of the hotel and out into the underworld as the door slammed shut behind us.

            Gasping almost silently as I stepped onto the scorched blue earth, I gazed around at all there was to see. Great twisting plants and trees wound their ways up, high into the blue light that cascaded down from what looked like the night sky, except there were no stars. All the trees had tiny white buds on them, growing beautifully. Beyond the short forest, an endless black sea stretched as far as the eye could see.

            “Wow, I was expecting something . . . more evil-looking.” Grayson commented. “This place is--”

            “Beautiful.” I added. Looking around, then up at the towering black spire behind us that rose infinitely into the sky; the Hotel Styx, I thought.

            “Yeah,” Grayson agreed.

            The two of us made our way down to the sea, where amongst numerous black boulders of obsidian that shined brightly even in the dim blue light, a clear area of black grass resided. We stood together on that patch, waiting for something. The waves from the sea fell lightly upon the rocks with a refreshing sound, leaving their black surfaces even more slippery.

            “How do we call the boat?” I asked, looking over worriedly at Grayson. He scratched his head, then put his pinky fingers to his mouth and blew a loud, shrill whistle.

            “Jeezes,” I said, rubbing my ears. “What the hell was that?”

            “Dunno,” Grayson said, looking back at me. “The people in New York always did that to get a taxi,” He explained.

            I was about to say something about how that wouldn’t have worked, when I heard the familiar sound of a boat as it moved through the water.

            As it approached, I got my first glimpse of the object that had carried me over the waters so many times. It came out from underneath the black water like a submarine, the water flowing out of portholes in the sides it. Perhaps the most notable thing however, was the blackened man who stood upon the very tip of the bow; an oar in his hands. The man looked as if he had been burned alive for years, without his skin ever melting or peeling off. It was simply charred beyond belief.

            “Why . . ?" He asked in a scratchy, weary voice. "Why isn't Chiron with you?” 

            I took a chance and said “We are challengers . . . fleeing the challenges in pursuit of a higher goal . . . who are you, old one who rows the boat?” I said, trying to make it seem much more sophisticated than any normal sentence would sound.

            The man on top of the bow paused for a moment, squinting his cracked eyelids at us.

            “I . . . am Hermes, ex- messenger to the gods, now reduced to a prisoner of the underworld.” He said grudgingly, but puffing out his chest and raising it as if he were proud of the statement.

            “A prisoner?” I asked.

            “Yeah kid, that is what I said,” He growled. “I'm indeed a prisoner of this place, forced to ferry those who have passed to the other side of the river.” Hermes gestured grandly to the sea that sprawled forever behind him.

            “Why?” Grayson called to the burnt man.

            “Because I have to!” he yelled, his anger rising. “I was captured by Hades and held against my will. He will listen to no reason! I was tortured for many years until my will was broken, shattered to pieces in the face of this terrible place. I agreed to this job, now do it I must,” he said, his voice fading into a whisper once again.

            “Can’t you just quit?” I asked him.

            Hermes looked up with an expression of loathing. “No! I cannot just ‘quit’” he yelled into the air. “A god’s law is much higher than that of a mere human . . . a kid such as you could not possibly understand.” He turned away and prepared to paddle back into the water.

            “Wait!” I cried. Hermes looked up at me hesitantly. “Wait, what if we could help you?” I said.

            “And just how do you expect to do that, kid?” he asked. Grayson leaned over towards me and whispered, “yeah, how are you going to do that?”

                        I took a determined step forward, then looked at Hermes in his pitch black eyes. “We are going to put an end to the games, whatever it takes. We’re going now to Hades to request an audience. If we can convince him of the evil that has been wrought upon his land, then maybe he’ll let us free. If that happens, then we may be able to get you a pardon from this hell as well.”

            Hermes snorted in amusement. “The god of the underworld hasn't excepted an audience in decades.”

            “That doesn’t matter,” I said defiantly. “We’ll go anyway. If we are captured, then so be it. But better to be captured taking action than cowering in a hole.”

            Grayson grunted.

            “Will you take us across the river?” I asked, finally.

            Hermes laughed himself into a coughing fit that lasted for a minute, then he looked up at me, smiling. “Sure kid,” he said. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. And if you actually manage to set me free, I’ll make sure to put a good word in for you upstairs.”

            “Thanks.” I said. Grayson nodded in agreement next to me.

            “Just don’t mention it to anybody kid . . . seriously, when you get captured, I don’t care who tortures you. For all I know, you swam there . . .” Hermes said vaguely, glancing up at the ominous black tower that rose behind us.

            I nodded and stepped onto the black boat as Hermes pulled closer to the grassy shore. Grayson followed me on, wheeling his arms slightly as the boat lurched into the water.

            “I always hated this thing,” he said as he gripped his stomach and looked to the bottom of the boat. We began to move swiftly through the water as Hermes paddled through the darkness.

            Heavy mist occasionally drifted into our path, but we pushed through as if it were a massive, white silk curtain. There were islands as well; small, black plots of land that occasionally nested a small house or two among the waves and sharp rocks that jutted out like ominous knives.   

            Grayson and I watched as these islands drifted by, unaware of why they existed in a place of death. Soon, however, they became more numerous and then there was land. Not an island, but a massive shoreline that stretched off endlessly before us, covering the entire horizon with its unimaginable girth. Upon this land, black spires shot out evenly from the dark earth.

            “What are those things?” I asked. However, my question was answered as we drew near. The spires were not spires at all, but buildings, black and tall as mountains. I stared in awe at their cracked windows and corroded walls.

            “That’s Erebus’s city. Trust me kid, it ain’t a happy place. Nothin’ but criminals and diseased-ridden animals in there. Souls too damned for the fields, but just holy enough to escape Tartarus . . . there's been a whole lot of their like coming down here as of late, ” Hermes said, pausing for a moment to rub irritably at his decrepit eyelids. “We’re crossing into the Lethe now, so hold on.”

            The boat suddenly lurched sideways and began moving leftwards while the bow still led straight. It took a minute to correct itself to the change in water flow, but soon we were headed in the right direction again.

            “Did you say Lethe?” Grayson said, suddenly looking up and his eyes going wide. “Oh man!” He quickly reached inside the depths of his shorts and pulled out a tiny bottle of amber liquid.

            “Where the hell did you get that?” I asked him.

            “Snagged it from the hotel before I escaped,” he responded. “Wonder if it went bad by now?” Grayson pulled the cork from the top of the bottle and emptied the contents of the vile down his throat.

            “Nope, still amazing,” he said dreamily. He took the vile and plunged it into the river until it filled up with clear water.

            “What was that for?” I asked.

            “Don’t worry; it might come in handy later.”

             At the time, I thought he had meant that he might get thirsty for a drink of water at some point. Grayson sighed and placed the vile back into his shorts and looked towards the black city as it passed by, then disappeared behind us.

            “Hades palace isn’t too far now. I’ll drop you off at the shore and wait for ten minutes, and only ten minutes,” Hermes said.

            “That doesn’t exactly give us a whole lot of time,” Grayson commented.

            “Yeah, well, no offense kid, but I don’t have a whole lot of faith in your plan. Besides, I’ve got things to do, people to see . . . dead to ferry across a depressing river.” Hermes said, waving his gristly hand around in circles.

            “Whatever,” I muttered. “Thanks for the ride anyway.”

            Hermes nodded and continued to row. Soon, a shape emerged from the darkness. A silhouette of a massive castle with towers and turrets, resting darkly upon a high cliff. The waves became stronger and higher. Soon, Grayson and I were forced to grip the sides of the boat tightly. Hermes however, even in his brittle form remained motionless aside from his steady paddling.

            Closer to the cliff wall, the waves rose up above our heads and crashed down upon the sharp rocks with a mighty roar. The spray from the water as it pelted against the cliff shot into our faces and felt like rain.

            “Well here you go kids.” Hermes said calmly. Don’t go killing yourselves now.”

            “We’ll try not to.” Grayson called as a large wave crashed  near them.

            The two of us stepped off the rickety boat and onto gravel made from tiny obsidian stones with a crunch. Water ran down the steep cliff and onto our heads as we walked closer to the wall.

            Stretching high up, a zigzagging pathway cut smoothly into the cliff wall and wound its way steeply up to the immense palace above. I looked at Grayson, who, through soaking wet hair that fell in front of his eyes gave a slight half smile and nodded to me. I nodded back, then turned to face the path.

            It was a tough climb for a while. The water sprayed down at us first, then higher up, the water shot over the edge of the path and onto our clothes. Soon, we were soaked to the skin and shivering. Meanwhile the palace grew ever larger before us.

            This is crazy, I thought. First I’m competing for my life in a series of random, insane challenges and now I’m about to try to have a diplomatic conversation with Hades.

            “Fan-freaking-tastic!” I shouted out loud, kicking a small stone up the path. Grayson gave me a strange look, but was apparently thinking along the same lines.

            Well whatever, I decided. The only thing I had to look forward to right now was a nice chat with the lord of the dead, then fine, I thought. I continued up the black-stone to Hades palace, trying not to think about how slim my chances for survival were.

Author's Note

point out any errors you see. comments or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Reviews

[The Perfectionist]

I've never understood why anyone would RR me something from the middle of a book. A single chapter midway along is going to make no sense to me.

That said, you do show some promise. I'm a big fan of Greek myth and knockoffs thereof, and you may have something interesting here, but I'm really only getting a snippet of that.

I have three things to say:

1. Your grammar is uncreative, but not bad
2. Was this chapter enough to make me want to go back and start over? No
3. Would I consider looking at it once I finish all the other reviews I have to do? Most definitely.

[Drifter]

I'm still enjoying this. However, it slightly throws me off when I read the dialogue of these ancient otherworldly beings and they sound kind of... well, normal. Granted, I'm not saying it's a bad thing and maybe it's because of my own expectations, but I read it and go "Hmph!" Still, the story is coming along quite well and, like I said, I am still enjoying it.

[Star Wolf]

Awesome. I'm still really enjoying this story/book! You're doing an excellent job keeping the interest level high.

[HorrorMaster]

very good story

[James Watts]

“Well here you go kids.” Hermes said calmly. (comma after kids. Whenever dialogue is followed he/ she said, whit the exception of questions and exclamations, the last word is followed by a comma then the " Saw this a few times, nothing major, but you want to save an editor as much work as you can) All I saw. The story is coming along smooth. No hitches and it keeps you interested.

[WriterSki7]

So far, so good. I see no immediate errors in your writing.

[The Analog Kid]

Yes. Still going strong!