Son of Zeus

sat daydreaming and kill everyone in Thebes?

  'No!' he screamed. 'Where are they? I'll kill you all!'

  There was a sound beside him that could only have been an enemy trying to flank him. Alkides threw himself to the right and down, but it wasn't enough. He felt a crushing pain in his back just before consciousness left him.

  (x)

  When he next opened his eyes, Alkides saw the concerned face of Iphikles looking down at him.

  'Brother! You are alive!' Alkides exclaimed. 'What of the others? Are the enemies gone?'

  Iphikles shook his head. 'There were no enemies,' he said. 'It was a madness sent by Hera to plague you. If it had not been for Athena knocking you out with a stone, many more would have died, and you amongst them.'

  Alkides sat up. 'A madness? How can this be? I saw the enemies of Thebes with my own eyes. They were coming to take our children. In fact, I slew two of them myself.'

  'They were not enemies you slew,' Iphikles said. 'They were your sons.'

  'Don't speak such things!' Alkides said, with anger in his voice. 'My children are my heart. I would do nothing to hurt them.'

  'Nevertheless,' Iphikles said.

  The grief in his brother's voice caused Alkides to pause. 'Is this true? How can it be?'

  It was only when Kreon entered the room that Alkides noticed the darkness. 'Where is the sun? Has Helios abandoned his chariot?'

  'No, Alkides. You have lain as if dead for three days. We thought you gone, never to rejoin the land of the living as punishment for the heinous crime you had committed,' the King said. 'Had it not been for the word of Athena, who stood over you and protected you from the wrath of Thebes, you would have been hacked to pieces by the citizens of the city you swore to protect.'

  Alkides looked about him, unable to put his thoughts into words.

  'They are truly dead?' he stammered out, after a moment, 'and by my hand?'

  'By your hand, yes, but not by you,' Iphikles said. 'At Hera's request, Lyssa descended upon you and drove you mad.'

  Alkides looked like a man bereft, a man lost and unable to see his way clear. But only for a moment. The steel returned to his eyes and he stood up off the bed. 'There is only one action left to me,' he said and reached for his brother's sword, which was leaning on the wall beside him.

  Kreon and Iphikles both realized that Alkides was about to take his own life and launched themselves at him, but they may as well have been trying to stop the ocean's tide. They hung from the arms of the huge man like puppets on a string.

  Alkides paused with the point of the blade held just below his ribcage. 'Please, my friends, you cannot stop me,' he said. 'My crime is too great a burden to bear and even my life will be too small a penance.'

  A bright light appeared by the door, and from within it came Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. She gestured and the sword flew from Alkides's grasp and buried itself to the hilt in the wall above his head. 'Hades is ill prepared for one such as you, Alkides son of Zeus, and your penance in the underworld would be great indeed,' she said. 'Better to atone for your crimes in the land of the living, despite how long and difficult they may be, than suffer an eternity in Hades's domain.'

  'And what of Hera's penance?' Alkides said, anger replacing the sorrow in his voice. He reached up and pulled the sword free of the wall. Athena gestured again, but Alkides held the weapon in a grip stronger than the will of the Gods.

  'I followed the path of virtue as I said I would. The people of Thebes have never been safer than while I was their guardian. How does such duty earn me such a reward? Why were my children killed? What will Hera's punishment be since it is she who sent the madness that killed my children? How will she atone for this catastrophe that she has caused to fall upon my family?'

  'Again, your temper fails you,' Athena said. 'Hera sent the madness, true, but it was your hand that butchered the innocents. She knows that you are quick to anger and bring death to all who stand in your path, and she used this knowledge against you.'

  For a moment, Alkides looked set to attack Athena, but a sadness came to his eyes and he deflated. He dropped the sword and sat down heavily upon the bed.

  'All this talk of penance and punishment, and who owes what and to whom it should be paid is meaningless. My sons are dead, and more than likely buried while I lay here asleep. I did not even get the chance to see to their burial and wish them well in the underworld.'

  'They are already in Hades's domain,' Athena said, 'and it is from there that I have just returned. Hades has taken pity upon these innocents and has sent them to reside forever in Elysium, the Isle of the Blessed.'

  'Thank you, Athena,' Alkides said, looking shamefaced. 'Your compassion for my family makes me ashamed. I do not know why you are so kind to me, but I thank you regardless.'

  'Do not forget that Zeus is my father as well,' Athena said.

  Alkides dropped his head into his hands to hide his face, so that the others could not see the tears in his eyes.

  'Death is not your fate, Alkides son of Zeus, but the time has come for you to leave Thebes forever,' Athena said. 'Go to Delphi and consult the oracle. She will tell you what you need to do to absolve yourself of this guilt and pain.'

  Alkides looked up. 'I will go immediately,' he said. 'There is nothing for me here but painful memories.'

  'I will come with you,' Iphikles said.

  'No you won't,' Kreon snapped. 'Thebes can ill afford to lose its two best warriors in one day. You have a duty here, Iphikles, to your family and your people.'

  'But I cannot let my brother go alone! These are his darkest days and he needs his family.'

  'Send Iolaos, your oldest son,' Athena said. 'He has grown to be a fine young man and the stillness of city life sits uncomfortably on his shoulders.'

  'Who am I to doubt the word of the Goddess of Wisdom?' Iphikles said, but his voice betrayed his sorrow. 'It was selfish to suggest myself, I know, but my brother and I have been together since birth and a part of me wants us to be together until death.'

  'I will miss you more than anyone else,' Alkides said, 'but go now and fetch Iolaos. I want to leave as soon as possible.'

  (xi)

  Alkides would not even wait for the sun to rise and set off for Delphi immediately. The journey to the temple of Apollo took six days, and in all that time Alkides barely uttered a word. Iolaos sensed that his uncle was not well and performed the duties of setting up camp and preparing meals without the need to be asked, and rode much of the journey twenty paces behind. When they finally reached the journey's end, Alkides was reluctant to enter the oracle's chamber.

  'A week is not enough time to grieve my loss,' he said when Iolaos had secured the horses. 'What could a mad priestess say that would make the pain lessen or the memory of my sons fade?'

  'It was the counsel of Athena herself that you consult the oracle, uncle. Surely you can trust the word of one so wise.'

  Alkides grimaced. 'You are right,' he said, and passed through the door into the temple.

  Iolaos paused for a moment and looked about him. The temple itself was splendid and a fitting tribute to Apollo, but the darkened doorway that led to the oracle's chamber was anything but. Tendrils of smoke and steam escaped from it. He wasn't comfortable with the ways of Gods and priests, but he had come on the journey to support his uncle and he wasn't about to let him down at the last moment. Iolaos took a deep breath in case he couldn't trust the air on the other side and followed his uncle.

  Inside, the temple was dark. A brazier of coals glowed in the middle of the floor - the room's only illumination - and the atmosphere was thick with smoke and steam that seemed to come from the stony walls themselves. Iolaos could see little beyond the bulky frame of his uncle, which he found reassuring. Whatever monster lay ahead would have to fight its way through the most famous warrior in all of Hellas before it could get to him. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dim light, he could see that there were columns and statues dotted around the cavernous room, and
someone had positioned an ornate seat covered in silken cushions directly behind the brazier.

  'Fret not, Iolaos, I am no monster,' said a female voice and a shadow detached itself from a column and moved into the light, where it resolved into a haggard woman in a tattered, red robe. She sat down on the seat and lifted her eyes towards Alkides. Iolaos couldn't help but notice that they glowed from within with a strange green light.

  'So, the son of Zeus has listened to wisdom for a change,' she said, 'how unusual.'

  'I come seeking counsel, priestess of Apollo,' Alkides said. 'I have committed a great crime and seek redemption.'

  'I know of your deed, and of how it came to be. This is the way of the world, Alkides. The will of the Gods is rarely questioned and mortal men are often left to pay the price.'

  'Only hatred drives the will of Hera, and she must bear some of the responsibility for the outrage committed upon my family. I have never wronged her, but have borne the brunt of her quarrel with Zeus nonetheless,' Alkides said, in a voice edged with anger and sorrow.

  'The nymphs told you that the path of virtue will be difficult,' the oracle said, 'and this is only the beginning of your journey to immortality. Brace yourself, for what I am about to tell you will not be easy to hear.'

  'Nothing has been easy since I awoke from a dream and found myself in a nightmare.'

  'You have good grounds for your anger towards Hera, but you must put it behind you. If you are to lessen the