Charon Unguarded (Ferryman Saga Book 1) Page 14

  ‘I did what you asked of me,’ Charon said quietly.

  ‘Granted, but you are not one of us—’

  ‘Hel was my wife!’

  ‘Yes, and the two of you married in secret, against the express wishes of both of your peoples! You nearly started a war!’ Odin bellowed, and slammed his fists down on the table in front of him. ‘That, Mr Charon, is why we cannot trust you.’

  ‘There is no law against what we did!’ Charon felt his heart race with hurt and rage. The pain of her absence was as fresh as it had ever been. Tears burned behind his eyes. How dare they use Hel against him? They had found love. They had been happy. Then, she was gone, and he was left alone again. But now is not the time for this. He had to remain focused but, if he got through this alive, he would find Hel and win her back.

  ‘That doesn’t make it right!’

  ‘Really? Who were we hurting?’

  ‘It’s not about who you were hurting. You defied your leaders. Both of you.’

  ‘I defied orders so I could pass on your message too. Or is it a different matter when it works in your favour, Odin? From where I stand you are as much a hypocrite as Zeus!’

  ‘Charon, that’s enough! Now is not the time,’ a female voice rang behind him. It was familiar. Kind, but with all of Odin’s command. It couldn’t be …

  Charon turned slowly and faced her. His knees buckled in shock and relief, and he was suddenly on the ground. She was here. ‘You …’ That was it. She was okay. His tears flowed, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, buried his face in her and begged the world for this to be real.

  CHAPTER 23

  The Ex-Wife!

  ‘Charon? Charon. Stand up.’ One desiccated hand lay on his shoulder as the other, healthy and manicured, stroked his greying hair. She whispered to him, ‘Charon, I know this is a terrible shock, but you need to get up now.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Why what?’

  ‘Why anything?’

  ‘You are still needed. You must speak to Zeus again. We must stop this.’

  Charon looked up, seeing his wife’s face for the first time in decades. She was as impressive as ever. ‘I’ll give you his number. He doesn’t trust me either. You’ll be in good company.’

  ‘Charon …’

  Shock gave way to anger. ‘You left me! I heard nothing for twenty years and here you are. Under my nose. I thought you had faded. I grieved for you! For years!’ He stood and brushed the dust from his trousers. ‘And you were here all along! Had a good laugh at me have you, everyone? Stupid old Charon. Always trusting. Let’s play a good joke.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that at all. How long since you have slept?’

  ‘I’m not a child who can be sent to bed when they get tiresome!’

  ‘No, you aren’t, but you have not rested in weeks, not properly. You will need your strength in the next few days. Erick! Take him to my rooms and see he sleeps. Knock him out if you have to.’

  Erick obliged.

  * * *

  A few hours later Charon woke. After detangling himself from an impractical number of furs and sheepskins on Hel’s bed, he decided to apologise to Odin for his display. He’d had a point. No one in this situation had been entirely blameless. If the Council found out, they would all be in deep trouble but if he hadn’t been sneaking around, he wouldn’t have known about the meeting, or what was going to happen. Then again, nor would they, and none of them would have found out about Hermes and Loki until it was too late. He still had to wonder who had tipped him off about Loki and Hermes. Robin had been found that morning, so it could not have been him.

  As he left the room, he realised that he had no idea where in the building he was. There were no windows, so he had to be somewhere in the middle. He slid the door open as quietly as possible. Thankfully, the rails had been oiled. On the wall opposite Hel’s room was a peeling sign pointing people to the fire exit at the end of the corridor. Charon decided that the best bet for finding Odin would be to go the other way. Following the noise of snoring and some horribly organic smells, Charon came to a door he recognised. He stopped. The door was ajar and he heard a heated discussion which seemed to be about him.

  ‘I told you to stay in the back and out of sight!’

  ‘Yes. But you also promised not to use me against him. You broke your word.’

  ‘That’s irrelevant!’

  ‘Is it? You cast doubt on his reliability while ignoring your own promises?’

  ‘No … it’s not like that at all.’

  ‘So, is trust only one sided? I will not tell others you broke your word to me, Odin, but I will not hesitate to remind you. Charon was … is correct. The rules only appear to apply when they are in favour of you gods. Liars and thieves are the masters of self-justification, aren’t they? Charon and I are not gods. Nor is my father. Are we forever to be considered expendable?’

  Odin eyed her. He knew better than to cross Hel. She was correct about not being a god. Technically, like her father, Loki, she was a giantess and she had a very long memory. She had not forgotten what they had done to her brother, Fenrir, just because they feared him. She had been banished to Nilfheim to care for the souls of those who had died of age or sickness because they could not allow her to roam freely. It had been under the pretext of giving her responsibility, but Odin suspected that she knew the truth. It was a means by which to contain her. They had done to Hel and the Giants, what Zeus had done to the Titans. ‘Yes, I was getting to the point of your father. Where does your loyalty lie, girl?’

  ‘My loyalty lies in its proper place, sire.’

  ‘Obscure as ever, Hel. You have a place in the final battle. I cannot interfere with that course of events. But the same cannot be said about your husband. He has outlived his usefulness. Once he has delivered his message to Zeus--’

  ‘You would kill him? He has done no harm to us.’ Her voice was flat, but her eyes spoke her rage.

  Odin had to bring her around. Then she would be free to marry someone who would bring him an advantage.

  ‘Has he not?’

  ‘No. He has not! As well you know.’

  ‘He is not one of us. Our laws do not protect him.’

  ‘That record is getting old, Odin. They may not protect him, but they bind our actions.’ She folded her arms and pursed her lips. ‘It would appear that our laws only apply when it works in your favour. My word, isn’t that convenient.’

  ‘Your judgement on the matter was not invited, girl!’ he bellowed. ‘Had you not become involved with him in the first place, I would have no decision to make!’

  ‘So, you would have simply murdered him? You hypocrite! You speak so highly of honour and valour in combat but when it comes to it, you’re as cowardly as any mortal.’

  He blanched at those words, and momentarily raised a hand in anger. ‘Not all things are as simple as you would like them to be, my girl.’ He threw the last of the contents of his horn into the fire pit. ‘You are Loki’s daughter. That makes you practically my granddaughter … you are family but you are not my conscience.’

  ‘There is no need to make excuses. I know that if I were not Loki’s child, or if you did not love my father as a son, you would have slaughtered me where I stood when you found me. Your loyalty to me lies only in your love for my father, but what now, Odin? My father has betrayed you, yet here I am, showing you the loyalty you withhold from all others. All I ask is for you not to harm Charon.’

  ‘He is a spy!’

  ‘He is no such thing! Even if he is, it is what you have made of him!’ She stood almost nose to nose with him, her voice raised every bit as high as Odin’s. ‘He did what you asked and passed your message on to Zeus!’

  ‘And what else has he passed on to Zeus? Our numbers? Our weaknesses? Has he told the council about our business?’ He gripped the top of Hel’s healthy arm, but she pulled away in disgust.

  ‘Gah! You’re paranoid! I cannot speak to you when you are like this.’ She storme
d out.

  Charon saw her coming and ducked into a shadow as she came into the corridor, shouting obscenities about gods and their ‘promises’. He held his breath until she had passed, hoping that she wouldn’t be checking on him. He needed his absence to remain unnoticed. Charon had heard enough. Hel had tried, and by god he still loved her fire, but Odin was dead-set on disposing of him once he delivered his message. He should have suspected this. Gods! It doesn’t matter which pantheon they come from, when it boiled down to it, most of them were self-serving bastards. He should have known that Odin would have some plan up his sleeve. Well, he couldn’t stay here. There was only one thing he could do. Charon ran.

  * * *

  A door in the distance slammed, making Odin start. ‘What was that? I gave no one authorisation to leave!’

  ‘It was probably just the wind, sir,’ Erick said, yawning. He did not want to go out in the cold. The sun was up now, but the air was still freezing. ‘It was probably Hel getting some air.’

  ‘Go and find out! And wake our guest. He has a job to do.’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘Are you really going to kill him? He seems harmless enough.’

  ‘With any luck, I won’t have to. The final battle is coming. It may solve that little problem for me. Something Charon said earlier got me worried. If the Council do find out about any of this it won’t just be his neck on the line for not raising the issue. It’ll be mine too. Just go and see what that noise was.’

  ‘And Loki?’

  ‘Loki will be dealt with. Go!’

  CHAPTER 24

  The Passing of the Torch

  It didn’t take Erick long to find Charon. He sat at a bus stop, coat wrapped tightly around him and teeth chattering.

  ‘You’ll be waiting a while,’ he said, tossing the motorcycle helmet to him. ‘This bus route no longer runs.’

  ‘Thanks. Can’t say I’m surprised.’ He shivered. ‘I just want to go home, but Odin knows where that is.’

  ‘You heard all that huh?’

  ‘I think people in Belgium heard that,’ Charon said grumpily, ‘Call me old-fashioned, but last time I checked, plotting to murder someone generally requires stealth and secrecy. Shouting so loud that your victim can hear you on the other side of a factory, could possibly be considered boastful.’

  ‘Yes, but you can’t tell gods anything.’ Silence passed slowly. ‘So, where would you like me to take you?’

  ‘Won’t you get into trouble?’

  ‘Yes, but Odin’s plan doesn’t sit well with me. I did not get into Valhalla by being a sneak and a cheat.’ He smiled. ‘You have a lot to learn about Vikings.’

  ‘What does it matter? Both sides want to kill me. Whatever I do now, I’m dead.’

  ‘What about Zeus?’

  ‘What about him?’

  ‘He doesn’t want you dead.’

  ‘Yet. If I had just told the council …’

  ‘If you had we would be in a worse position. They are supposed to be all-knowing, so, where are they? Sitting back and watching, no doubt. This is the first interesting thing that has happened in a millennium, unless you count the renaissance. But that was just funny.’

  ‘The Renaissance?’

  ‘All those paintings of faeries and goddesses in the altogether, and mythological scenes?’

  ‘What about them?’

  ‘Let’s just say that not all of them were from the imagination, and not all the models were human.’

  ‘Oh!’ He smiled. Charon vaguely remembered censorship boards being set up, but he had thought that had been down to the church. If the council had been in on it too … well, it would have kept them busy. He imagined the council scurrying all over sixteenth century Europe trying to keep their world a secret and giving wayward dryads a slap on the wrist.

  ‘Icarus was one of the worst. Biggest poser going.’

  ‘I thought he …’

  ‘Died? Yes, so did the rest of us. Turns out he faked his death to get away from dear old dad. Look, you know stories have power. They bring us to life and keep us going. I don’t even think I was born. Not in the traditional sense. My first memory is fighting beside Beowulf, then I remember dying, so at best I was literary collateral damage. Does wonders for one’s humility, I can tell you.’

  ‘But what does this have to do with me?’

  ‘My friend, if the story is written against you, what you need to do is—’

  ‘Change the story?’

  ‘I was thinking more like hunt down the author and gut him in front of his family, but your plan works too.’

  ‘I think it would be less messy to go straight to Zeus. He’s bound to have got my message by now.’

  ‘So that’s where we’re going. Hop on, I’ll give you a lift.’

  * * *

  They pulled up in front of the conference centre that Charon had left a week earlier. It was dark, bar a single office on the second floor. He saw Zeus at the window clutching a steaming cup and looking harassed. The reason for this expression emerged a moment later in the form of Hera. By the look of things, she was tearing verbal strips off him. He felt sorry for Hera. She had been forced to endure his jibes and adultery for hundreds of years with no hope of finding her own relief – not that she hadn’t caused her own fair share of trouble. Remember Troy? Then, to add insult to injury, she was forced to take a subordinate role in this world too. He truly hoped she would come out on top of it. It wasn’t possible to make a bigger cods-up of it than her brother. At least, Charon didn’t think so.

  ‘They’re upstairs,’ Charon said.

  ‘Maybe I had better wait out—’

  ‘No.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘This affects us all. Plus, you can back me up. Zeus is every bit as cantankerous and mistrustful as Odin. Probably more so.’

  ‘This isn’t making me want to go up there any more than I did before.’

  ‘Yes, well. Someone needs to give Odin the good news if Zeus decides to zap me.’

  ‘Can he still …?’

  ‘Up until this point, I have been lucky enough to never have reason to find out. I would like for it to stay that way.’ Charon looked up at the window again. Zeus looked straight at him, tapping his watch impatiently. Well, I guess that’s my cue.

  They made their way upstairs after spending ten minutes arguing with the night doorman about following proper procedures, opening hours, and it not being like this in his day. Being on the other end of that sort of conversation was a little unnerving for Charon until he realised that he had witnessed a genius at work. It had it all: the delay tactics, the deliberate misinterpretation of procedure to defend laziness, and most of all the belligerent mistrust of all who tried to enter his building. After all, anyone turning up to a meeting more than forty minutes before normal opening hours had to be up to no good. If miracles happened, and he survived this unholy mess, he would have to start practicing.

  ‘The office is over there.’

  As if on cue, Hera marched out of the office. Her face was thunderous and seeing Erick did not improve matters. It occurred to Charon that, having learned of Hermes’ treachery it might have been prudent to come here with the news first. Getting the news second hand would not improve his situation but at this point, he couldn’t see any possible way for it to get worse.

  ‘Charon, get in here! Do you think we have all day?’

  ‘Erick has information too.’

  ‘Really?’ she sniffed, looking him up and down, then taking a deliberate step back, ‘What information can he possibly have that would be of any use to us?’

  ‘Odin plans to kill Charon,’ Erick said, leaning on his axe.

  ‘He what!’

  ‘Look, I need to speak to Zeus and he’s waiting. I’ve already had to talk my way past the guy downstairs.’ Charon didn’t wait for permission. He and Erick marched into Zeus’s office and stood in front of the desk.

  Zeus looked like he hadn
’t slept for days. His previously pristine designer suit was crumpled, he had at least three days’ growth on his chin, and his eyes were puffy and red.

  ‘As much as I hate to make your day any worse than it already is, I have some bad news about your son.’

  Zeus sat bolt upright and stared at Charon before pausing. ‘Which one?’

  ‘Hermes.’

  ‘I told him to stay away from you. You were supposed to stay away from him! Does nobody do anything they’re told anymore?’

  ‘I was staying away. I got a text message as I left your last meeting. I say meeting. Utter bloody shambles is more like it.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘And I followed the instructions. It’s a good thing I did, or I wouldn’t be able to tell you what I know.’

  He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands, ‘Sit. Both of you.’ He pressed the intercom. ‘Three more coffees please.’

  ‘Charon, what has got into you? For years, you were a good employee. You did your job and didn’t get involved in things that were not your concern. Now you’re disobeying orders and mixing with …’ He gestured at Erick.

  ‘Vikings,’ Erick volunteered. ‘You’ll find us quite friendly … most of us.’ He raised his axe and leaned it on his shoulder.

  ‘Thank you for that clarification. I take it there is a good reason there is a Viking in my office, Charon?’

  ‘I’m getting to that. Let’s just say I woke up and leave it at that.’

  Hera entered with a catering trolley. It held the three coffees he asked for. It also held the biggest pile of bacon and cream cheese bagels Charon had ever seen. His mouth watered.

  ‘I only asked for coffee …’

  ‘The Sandwich Lady pulled up as I was on my way up so I bought the lot. You all need a proper breakfast. No arguments, brother. You look terrible.’ She forced a bagel into his hand. ‘Don’t make me stay here and watch you eat that.’