Chapter 1.30

Karson

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I took off my helmet as I spoke, and the woman looked down at me. I saw her jaw drop in disbelief. “Karson Weyland?”

“Hi,” I said in English. It was a bit understated and brief, but hey, it seemed to work.

“How the hell… you… you’re dead!” she exploded. She pulled off her helmet to reveal her hair still cropped short and spiky, but without the bleached tips she had always worn when we were in college.

“Nope, alive and kicking. My brother Ax is around here too. Well, headed to Iolcus. Get this, he’s married now! I guess I am too.”

“But… Ax? You mean Alex? He’s dead too. Fuck!”

“Sorry to disappoint,” I said. I’d dated her sister briefly in college. We hadn’t made it past three dates before she’d met her soon-to-be husband. Last I’d heard she had a few kids. “How’s Jennifer? Still doing well?”

“No, of course she’s not! Jesus, what an ass,” she said. “Whatever.”

“So I take it you know her?” asked Dadaces wryly.

“We had some of the same… teachers,” I said in Greek.

“I am Strategos Dadaces. I lead… what remains of Assos,” said Dadaces. He had aged visibly over the last few days. His once shiny armor was grimy, his clothes soot stained with tattered hems.

“I am Princess Sparta of Laconia,” said a proud voice from the horse next to the one Cris was riding. I turned to look at her, only to realize that the armored woman was a true beauty. She had classic greek features, from her refined nose to her long, curly black hair and dark eyes. Her skin was soft and clear, and despite having ridden hard, her clothing appeared clean and well made. She wore a simple cuirass over her peplos and no helmet, but there was no mistaking her station by her bearing. “I seek out allies for my father, King Eurotas. He who can help free Laconia from the centaur tribes that overrun it will earn my hand in marriage, and be my father’s heir to the throne.”

I looked around at the ragtag bunch of townsfolk and scattered militia. Danae stood behind me, my own Vanguard close by.

“You won’t find that here,” said Dadaces. “Nor in Tekmon. The city has been sacked.”

Sparta frowned, her brow furrowed. “Has mankind lost already to the spawn of Kronos?”

“Spawn of Kronos. Now that’s a great term,” I said with a chuckle. “Believe it or not, the battle here against the Titans was a victory, not a loss. Hades herself led an army against it, and supposedly Athena leads one against the Titan Atlas and his forces. My brother is even now heading to Iolcus to build up his own warband.”

“Then you will take me to him,” said Sparta imperiously. “I cannot sway the gods, but perhaps your brother might be the warlord I need.”

“I can’t do that.” Zahra gave me a questioning look, so I whispered to her, “I’ll explain later.”

“Why not?”

“I have my own quest to complete before I join him,” I said.

“Then we will come with you,” she said decisively.

“You don’t want to seek out other cities?” asked Cris, disbelieving.

“No. You shared teachers with him, yes?” asked the princess.

“We did,” came the cautious reply.

“So he must also be a demigod, as is his brother. The Fates have guided you to my side, and so to, shall this man and his brother lend aide to my cause.”

Cris said nothing. I looked to Zahra, who stepped forward. She walked boldly over to the princess, and took her hand. Zahra blazed with power, visible even to normal eyes.

“What are you…” started the princess in shock.

“Bold you are, seizing the thread and fraying the weave. Your strength and virtue smooth impetuosity. Yet the fire and flame are ahead. The divine may lend support, but armies will rally to your name. A mortal heart will bear your cause and your banner. Look within when all is lost, and salvation may be found.”

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“An Oracle,” breathed Sparta. “Thank you, Holy One!”

Zahra didn’t acknowledge Sparta’s words, merely walking back to stand beside me. I took her hand and rubbed it soothingly with my thumb. I could see the vision shook her.

“Well, looks like we’d better set up camp,” said Cris. She began to shout orders at the mounted soldiers behind her. She glared at me one more time, before they turned away.

“So who is that?” asked Zahra. “And what is that quest you spoke of?”

Her questions had barely waited until we were alone. I didn’t blame her; we had been too wrapped up in the desperate search for survivors and healing the injured to talk. This morning had been far more personal, talk of our own relationship.

“Cris is a few years older than me. I… courted… her sister for several weeks, before her sister chose someone else,” I explained. I was trying hard to put modern ‘dating’ into terms that would work for Zahra. I’d taken Jennifer on two dates, before she’d politely refused a third. She had met Andrew, a dental school student, and fallen hard. Last I heard, they had two kids and a nice house in the suburbs. “I was in a few classes with Cris.”

“So you didn’t court her?” said Zahra suspiciously.

“No, she doesn’t allow men to court her,” I said. “In fact, she was well known for ‘courting’ as many women as she could.”

“So why was she so angry with you?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “But I’m sure we’ll find out.”

I then explained the details of my conversation with Hades. Zahra listened carefully, asking few questions until I completed my tale.

“If we rescue Alecto, you gain a goddess as your patron,” said Zahra thoughtfully. “And that patronage will make you more powerful.”

“Exactly. I don’t know if you noticed, but Ax and I both got kicked around pretty bad in that battle. Unlimited mana is great, but if what you can do is limited or negated…”

“...you have lost before the battle has begun,” finished Zahra.

“Which is why I must learn more magic, and gain whatever strength Hades is willing to give me.”

“We will travel this path together, husband. Now go, seek out this old acquaintance, and smooth over the bad blood. If her mistress is traveling with us, we cannot have knives at our front and our back.”

Zahra’s words were wise, as befitted someone who saw so many lives, present and future. I went searching, and found Cris with Princess Sparta setting up camp behind the house in an open area that we’d set aside for the oxen teams. Tents filled the empty space in a circle, a new campfire in the middle of the ring. I approached cautiously.

“Cris? Can we talk?” I asked in Greek, to be polite to the princess.

“Go, speak with your… friend,” said Sparta. She waved her hand imperiously to dismiss her. “I cannot have my guardian distracted by the past.”

Cris nodded and walked over to me. We walked a short distance away to gain some semblance of privacy.

“So how long have you been here?” I asked.

“Oh, two, almost three years now,” she said stiffly. “I still don’t understand how you are here.”

“Two or three years?! Ax and I just got here three months ago!” I sputtered.

“What?! That makes no sense. I was at your funeral! Kabiri was beside himself! He buried you right next to Alex.”

“Okay, slow down. Let’s back this up. Kabiri got killed by some weird cult. Ax and I investigated it and fell into - “

“Some kind of well, right?” she said. “Yeah, I was SWAT team lead, we were raiding a murder cult’s headquarters in a warehouse. I got tackled and fell into the well. It was the clues we found on your body that led us there!”

“Okay, so… I don’t think we’re from the same world. You keep saying Ax is dead. When did he die? Did the cult get him too?”

“No, why do you keep calling him Ax? Alex died in eighth grade, got caught in a drive-by.”

“Yeah, Ax grew up and became a welder in my world. We both fell into the well and wound up here.” I frowned.

“Did you marry Jennifer in your world too?” she asked.

“No, we went on a few dates, but she met some dental student named Andrew. They popped a few kids, two or three I think. I lost touch with her years ago.”

“Oh. Shit. And I thought I finally had a handle on all the strange of this place.” Cris slumped, all the anger run right out of her. “So that tanned chick you’re with, who’s that?”

“My wife, Zahra. She’s an Oracle.”

“Right. So this quest, does it have anything to do with getting home?”

“There is no way home, I don’t think,” I said. “The Cult of Kronos, led by a man named Asphalion, was trying to make anchor points on different worlds so that Kronos can’t get killed. Ax and I are going to kill Asphalion and break the anchor points.”

“Revenge?” she asked.

“You know it.”

“Well, sounds like we’ll be riding together for awhile. I wouldn’t mind a piece of that revenge pie myself. They killed a few of my team during the raid, and trapped me here,” she said.

I held out my hand, and she grabbed it in a firm handshake. “Looks like we’re on the same page after all,” I said.

And we were on the same page. Ax and I had built ourselves the foundation we needed to strike back at our enemies, against all odds. Ax would build us a permanent base of operations out of Iolcus, and I would gather power working on behalf of Hades before meeting back up with him. Strategos Dadaces would be a great ally to the both of us, and looked like he would wind up being a vassal of Ax’s when all was said and done. Cris and her princess may wind up our ally as well, if we could help her, too.

We may be from a different time and place, and this world may yet kill us. But my brother and I were strong, and driven by our righteous anger at the wrongs done to our family. We would find Asphalion and we would kill him. By the time we were done, the gods themselves would know our names, and know us as Titankillers. We had sworn ourselves to this path, and come hell or high water, we would do it. The Kabiri brothers were coming.