Charon Unguarded (Ferryman Saga Book 1) Page 11

  ‘Excuse me, Miss, but do I know you?’

  ‘I do not think so. I have not yet passed through your realm.’

  ‘You’re alive?’

  ‘I did not say that. Who I am is not important.’

  ‘Will you be coming with me?’

  ‘I cannot. I have not been invited to visit the Lady. Now, you must listen to me. When you get to the forest at Aokigahara, follow the gold thread. That will take you to her. It is very important that you do not stray from that path. There is more than one way to get lost in that forest. Do you understand?’

  ‘Loud and clear,’ Charon answered.

  ‘Your driver has been instructed to wait for three hours. If you have not returned by nightfall …’ She paused. ‘How much do you know of the forest, Charon san?’

  ‘Not much. Why?’

  ‘At this point, it is probably best that it stays that way. I would not like to be the cause of your dishonour. It will take just under two hours to get there. I advise you to rest. Good day.’ She gave another small bow before returning to the airport and vanished into the crowd.

  Charon shut the door and the car pulled away.

  * * *

  Two hours later, Charon was woken by a tap on the window. The car had pulled to the side of the road and the driver was stood by the car waiting. Charon tried the door but it wouldn’t open from the inside. The driver let him out. He did not seem at all happy to be parked where he was. Charon wondered what could possibly have made him so uneasy. He reached in for his pack but the jittery driver shook his head and pointed to the uneven forest floor.

  It was a mass of roots, moss, and rocks. He was right. Where had he been sent? Charon had never seen anything like it. Or for that matter heard anything like it. Even the Underworld hadn’t been this quiet. The trees seemed to absorb sound. There was nothing. No birdsong. No cute scurrying woodland creatures. Even the breeze couldn’t get through to rustle the leaves. It took a lot to make Charon feel uneasy, but this place? This place hit all the wrong buttons.

  He peered around the tree branches looking for the gold thread. It took some time even with the driver’s help, but eventually he found a tuft of gold thread tangled with a handful of others. Charon wasn’t surprised. He wouldn’t want to go in there without first making damned sure he could get back out again. He checked his watch. It was midday. He had three hours to get in, ask his questions and get back. Peering in, he now understood why he would need that time, and he did not want to know what would happen should he fail to return on time.

  ‘Best get going then,’ he said to the driver, who did not look any happier after finding the thread than he had before and started walking.

  * * *

  Charon was relieved to be doing this in the daytime. Even in the light of day the weight of the place closed in around him. He gathered himself and kept walking, holding tightly to the gold thread, it chafed against his sweat covered palm. It had already taken him forty-minutes to reach this point and the end of the path was nowhere in sight. Every step brought him more uneasiness but he couldn’t turn back now. How would he explain it to Zeus? ‘Yeah, you know that job you sent me on? Well, I chickened out of the walk through the woods and ran home.’ He could see how well that would go down. He was the ancient ferryman of the Styx and here he was trembling. What could happen? Well, he could let go of the thread and never see home again. Charon tried not to think about it.

  He walked until he found himself in a clearing. The other end of the thread had been tied to the sign at the base of a huge tree. Now what? The only place he was prepared to go was back along the way he came. He couldn’t read the sign but there was a telephone number at the bottom. The silence had become oppressive. Checking his watch, he found he had been walking for more than an hour. It didn’t leave him much time to find out what he needed and get back out. Getting back out couldn’t happen quickly enough.

  ‘I haven’t got all day, ferryman.’

  Charon jumped and cried out. The voice came out of nowhere and he couldn’t tell which direction it had come from. Charon clasped his chest and caught his breath as he turned around in circles trying to find the origin of the voice. There was no sign of anyone. More to the point, how did they know who he was?

  ‘Who said that? Where are you?’

  ‘Here,’ a voice boomed from right behind him.

  Charon spun round to find himself face to face with a dragon. He jumped back and tripped on a tree root. As he sprawled on the ground and waited for it to cease laughing, he took in the sheer size of the beast. Her head alone was the same height as Charon and covered in pearlescent white scales and trailing blue whiskers. How long she was, Charon had no way of telling. Her white-scaled body was serpentine and wingless, and striated with blue-grey bands. Her head and ‘shoulders’ were supported on muscular legs which seemed short in relation to the bulk of the rest of her body. Her feet had gleaming black claws on each of the three massive toes. He could only see one pair. She could have had more but he could only see the first fifty meters or so. The rest of her long, slender body disappeared down a nearby chasm. Charon couldn’t remember seeing anything so beautiful.

  As she lifted her foot and picked her teeth, her head turned and he caught a glimpse of one of her eyes. At some point in her past she had been horribly injured. The left side of her face bore a scar which ran from the top of her head, over the eye and down to her upper lip. The eye was a milky blue pearlescent orb which neither moved nor blinked. The other was blue with an elliptical pupil. She fixed him with her good eye.

  ‘Finished staring?’

  ‘What? Oh, sorry.’ Charon climbed to his feet. ‘You startled me.’

  ‘I know,’ she said. ‘That was the idea. You must allow an old dragon her amusements.’ She laughed again, but this time it sounded more like racking coughs than laughter. On closer inspection, her scales were in a terrible state. Many were missing and there were patches that looked like an infection had set in underneath. Charon’s heart sank. This creature, once magnificent and terrible, was now dying, and was using the last of her time to help them.

  ‘I … I was told you had some information.’

  ‘I have lots of information. What I do not have is time. Be succinct!’ she ordered. Her voice seemed to emanate from inside his head. It certainly had not come from her mouth.

  ‘Yes. Pardon me, Lady.’

  ‘Lady? I am a dragon! You think I care for your human airs and graces? Pfft.’ She limped around. Corralling him, so the only way back to the path was either to climb over her or wait until she allowed him to leave. Charon was not prepared to make a bet on her reflexes.

  ‘Sorry—’

  ‘Stop apologising! You are here for a reason? Fulfil your purpose.’ She half slithered – half limped – around the other way. ‘And stand up straight! Your posture is terrible!’

  ‘The Titans have been released.’ He didn’t know how else to put it. How would you put that gently?

  ‘And?’ She sounded bored and irritable.

  ‘And? They are working with the Ice Giants!’

  ‘Humph. Too bad for you.’ She licked at a sore patch which shed more scales. ‘I warned you all centuries ago that this would happen. I told Zeus myself that locking away an enemy he could not defeat through wit or valour had no honour. So, what does he do? He sends a servant along to pick my brains when it all blows up in his face.’

  ‘I … I …’

  ‘I … I … I …’ The dragon mocked. ‘Of course you didn’t know. Why would you know? You think everything that went on was recorded by your precious poets? Pah! You don’t have the first idea.’

  ‘Please. If there is anything you can tell us it would be appreciated.’

  ‘That’d be a first!’ she grumbled. She fixed him with her good eye again. ‘Sit down, young man and open your ears. I will not be stopping for questions!’

  * * *

  The dragon’s words were harrowing to say the least. She could not g
ive names as her foresight did not work that way. What she could tell him were flashes of feeling and interpretations of blurred visions. She told him of a great battle to come, of the forces that had been released which could either destroy them all or restore them to glory. She told him of enemies who hid in the shadows of allies, and allies found in unlikely places. Most importantly, she warned him that Zeus’s time would come to a permanent end if her word was not heeded.

  Charon looked at his watch. He now had less than an hour to return to the car. The dragon was lying exhausted in front of him. Her voice had barely been a whisper by the time she had finished telling Charon what she knew about Ra, and giants, and Titans. As she spoke and coughed he attempted to comfort her, stroking her battered scales and offering water from his bottle. There was only one thing more he could do for her. The mortal realm could no longer sustain her –- there was not enough belief left -- but he did not see why she must endure this agony.

  ‘Thank you. Your message will be carried. Is there anything more I can help you with?’ He stroked the now wilting whiskers as he spoke to her and imagined how impressive she must have once been.

  ‘Hmm?’ she said, sleepily and coughed again. What Charon assumed was blood dribbled from the corner of her mouth. It was thick and black. He wiped it away with his handkerchief.

  ‘Charon …?’

  ‘I’m here.’

  ‘I have one last thing to say.’

  ‘Save your strength.’

  ‘Save it for what, man? I’m dying. I knew that before you and your kind passed to the mortal realm that my time would come. There was not enough belief for all of us. You know better than anyone that death spares nobody.’

  ‘I’ve met her. You’d have liked her.’ He continued to stroke her whiskers.

  ‘I’m sure I would, Ferryman.’ She coughed again. ‘Be careful in whom you place your trust. Many a seasoned soldier has been fooled by silken words spoken with a forked tongue.’ With that, she closed her eyes and didn’t move again. Charon had considered using his power to ease her way, but she had not asked him to. What right did he have to decide for her? If she had asked him to help he would have done so in a heartbeat but now it was too late to give her something in return. He closed the dragon’s one good eye and gently kissed the bridge of her nose.

  As Charon walked away from the dead dragon, tears slid down his face for the first time in living memory.

  CHAPTER 18

  After the Dragon

  Charon sat outside Zeus’s office waiting to be shown in. He’d have thought that with all the urgency that he’d been sent to Japan, they might have been more prompt about letting him speak his piece. More power games? Did he care? At this point, the answer to the latter was ‘not really’. With any luck Zeus would see him, and deal with this mess so that he could go home and his life could go back to normal. Could it? Surely there would be consequences.

  The door opened and Hera stepped out. ‘Charon. Thank you for coming,’ she said as if it had been a choice. He had been ordered to come straight back. For the last seventy-two hours, he had had a maximum of four hours of sleep, learning the hard way that he could not, no matter how exhausted, sleep on aeroplanes. It had not put him in a good mood. ‘Please, come in.’

  Charon rose and followed her through. The Olympians were all there, sat along one side of the long conference table like a panel of judges. Hera led him to the chair in the middle of the other side of the table. A large jug of cold water had been laid for him and dressed with ice, lemon and mint. As if that would be enough to tempt him. He was not prepared to eat or drink anything given to him by these people. Who knew what the lemon and mint were covering up? He took his seat and waited for Hera to hand out clipboards before returning to her own. It had been very deliberately put on the right of Zeus.

  Charon wasn’t fooled. There was no way Zeus could know what he had been told in that forest. He hadn’t told another living soul. Zeus was still trying to give the impression that he knew what he was doing. Like he could use words rather than hurl lightning around. This was straight out of Ra’s book of ‘How to look important and impressive in the mortal world without actually doing anything.’ It was window dressing. Even now, Zeus had to make the point to everyone that he was in charge. From the expressions ranging from boredom to outright contempt on the faces on the other side of the table, they were no more impressed than he was. Here goes nothing.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you some disturbing news, but first it brings me no joy to tell you that the dragon of the Aokigahara forest died imparting what I am bound to tell you.’ There were gasps around the table. ‘We owe it to her memory to use this information wisely.’ He paused to allow the whispering to stop. ‘I come here only to impart this information. Then I shall take my leave.’

  ‘You’ll do as you’re told!’ Hades snapped, ‘If you’d just done your job—’

  ‘If I had ‘just done my job’ you would know nothing of this. You would have no idea what was coming and no idea how to stop it!’ Charon surprised himself. He’d always been slightly terrified of Hades. The last two weeks had shown him the people who claimed to be his betters were nothing to be afraid of. Even after their expulsion from the mortal realm, they cared more about appearances and defending their own reputations than doing anything to earn them.

  ‘I have complied with your instructions – yours and Odin’s – and not gone to the Council but it occurs to me now why it is that you want to keep it from them. They have the power to strip you of your own power and influence, and you fear that over anything else.’ They sat in shocked silence. This was probably the first time they had been faced off by a servant. ‘The Titans got out on your watch. Not only did they get out on your watch, but you didn’t even know they were gone until I told you!’ his voice was rising now.

  ‘How dare you—’ Hades chimed in again.

  ‘I dare because I have nothing to lose and everything to gain, sir! Whose realm were they in when they escaped?’

  ‘Mine.’

  ‘And who was guarding them?’

  ‘The seals on Tartarus are—’

  ‘Impenetrable? Given the fact they have escaped before, surely you know better than this?’

  ‘Yes but—’

  ‘But nothing!’ Charon bellowed in a voice so deep and hollow it had serifs. His eyes flashed blue and the panel of gods saw a glimpse of what lay under the human form he had been given. ‘They were left without guards in a realm they had already escaped from before. The only thing which amazes me more than the stupidity of that scenario, is your pig-headed refusal to accept any responsibility. Anyone could have let them out!’

  ‘Take your seat, ferryman,’ Zeus warned.

  Charon’s rage was so great that he hadn’t realised he was standing and the chair was now lying on the floor behind him but decided to use the moment. His head snapped around to Zeus and he felt his own dormant power crackle under his skin. His eyes flared with electric blue light. ‘You dare try to silence me? The dragon warned Zeus. Did he tell any of you that? Long ago. She warned him of the risks of imprisoning those he feared. They had committed no crime other than being stronger than he could ever hope to be so he felt threatened. He could not defeat them, not even with all your help, so he locked them way in the darkest parts of the world so they could not threaten him any more. It wasn’t to protect you all from your father, it was to hide from his hypocrisy. The dragon warned him that imprisoning perceived enemies will only create real ones. That it was only a matter of time before they would break out and destroy us all. Now they have allies. What have you to say, Titan slayer?’ He spat the words ‘Titan slayer’.

  Muttering erupted down the line as Hades and Zeus simply stared at him. Their eyes were black with rage but they could do nothing to him. The other gods wanted to contact the Council but Hera cleared her throat.

  ‘Thank you, Mr Charon, your speech has been quite illuminating.’ Her eyes sparkled, but he doubted this
was from grief or shock. Her own ambition was notorious and she clearly saw an opportunity to take her family in hand. Would she use it to settle old scores? She was unlikely to take it out on him. Charon had just handed her what she wanted; two of her brothers had proven themselves inadequate to the task of keeping their people in line. That only left Poseidon to stand against her, and Charon did not want to be around for that power struggle. However, if the Council found out about any of this, Hera and Poseidon’s power grab would come to nothing. Charon shook his head. Even with the apocalypse looming, they still only cared about their own power.

  ‘Have you not heard a word I have said?’ Charon asked quietly. ‘You think the Titans care about your petty bickering? You think they are going to wait until this is all sorted out? You are going to have to swallow your pride and accept the help of Odin and his people, or we are all done for.’ There were more whispers and shocked gasping at the very idea of cooperation. He wasn’t getting through. What would it take?

  Charon was no longer the focus of the room. Most of the others were locked in bitter recrimination and accusations of how this was all everyone else’s fault. Old arguments, previously settled, usually with the blood of their rivals’ followers, were brought up. All but one. Dionysus sat in the corner, drinking from his bottomless wine glass – he’d upgraded from the horn some time ago – glumly watching events unfold. He’d been ‘invited’ as an objective witness to events but failed to see what any of this had to do with him. He’d seen better days. Once he had been an athletic young man in the prime of his life. Now he had a beer belly. His hair, once a mass of shining gold curls, had receded to the back of his head and was now worn in a greying ponytail.