Charon Unguarded (Ferryman Saga Book 1) Page 4

  ‘Good! Now you are asking the right questions. It is never good to make assumptions. Sit.’ Ra waved his perfectly manicured hand lazily at the end of the desk, and an ornate enamel-work tray appeared, holding a matching coffee pot and two matching cups. The smell was unmistakable.

  ‘You’ll find this far more palatable than the swill from the machine. I only keep that there for appearance’s sake. My powers are returning, but more slowly than I would like and they are not what they once were. I will need them at full-strength before I can carry out my plan. I also have other preparations to make.’ He handed a cup to Charon. ‘Forgive me, you have no chair.’ He waved his hand and one of the scruffy chairs from the waiting room appeared behind him. ‘I am sorry. Were you expecting something grander?’ He had obviously seen Charon’s expression. ‘Sadly, I cannot yet make anything materialise which does not already exist in the mortal world. There is also a limit to the range to which my powers extend. Two or three rooms away appears to be the limit. As I said, it will take me time to regain my full strength. You still have a year.’

  Charon took the cup, wondering when Ra would get to the point. He was dubious about eating or drinking anything served to him in this office, but he needed to appear cooperative. Offending Ra would not get him what he wanted. It was already likely to come with a penalty.

  ‘Normal time? I spent what felt like ten minutes in the other room, yet my watch and your clock both leapt forwards by forty minutes.’

  ‘Yes, that does rather disorient people the first time they come across it. I charge by the hour, so accelerating it is just one way of adding a few more minutes onto the invoices. What I do doesn’t take very long – not the way I do it – so this little parlour trick simply adds oil to the gears. Besides which, the sort of human who employs my services wouldn’t trust me if I charged less.’ He smirked then. Actually smirked ‘Too scared to lead but dying to be in charge. Literally.’

  Oh, very clever, smart boy. What else are you stealing from them? On second thought, he didn’t want to know. Ra was evading his first question. He had reasons. What reasons? He sipped his coffee and considered another angle to approach the issue from, while Ra continued to drone on about himself and how brilliant he thought himself to be. Charon was now certain that Ra’s plan came, not from any malice, but from total self-interest. He simply didn’t care about anyone but himself. The man could have taught Narcissus a thing or two. He’d been another total waste of space, if you asked Charon. He’d had to practically drag him away from the edge of the Styx, when he realised there were no mirrors in the Underworld. Stupid boy.

  ‘Yes, thanks for the sales-pitch and everything, but you still haven’t told me why you suddenly intend to end the world just so you can take an extra-long bath with your bestie? Some of us have to get back to work, so I’d appreciate it if you got to the bloody point.’

  ‘You came for answers, Mr Charon, but you are mistaken if you thought they would be free. I have not asked you how you know what I said in that meeting because I already know.’

  ‘Yes, and you, or one of your flunkies, sent me a text warning me off. If I remember the ‘rules’, your lot can’t tell me what to do …’

  ‘I am sorry to disappoint you, but I know nothing of any messages, and while it is true that I cannot give you orders, I can issue an official complaint to your own superiors about your interference, which I will do if you continue to press this issue.’ Ra poured himself another coffee. His eyes were flaring again.

  Probably best to ease off a bit now, Charon’s better judgement warned him as the reprimand continued. He cleared his throat and put his cup down gently.

  Ra continued, ‘For now, I shall say nothing but I will remind you that you came here unannounced and uninvited, demanding that I give you my time at no charge. Your courage has impressed me this once.’ That had all sorts of connotations attached to it. Charon swallowed. ‘I have allowed you this meeting for one reason: my own amusement and when I am no longer entertained the meeting will end, not before. Now, ask your questions.’ Ra’s voice was cold and hard, and Charon needed no persuasion that he meant every word.

  ‘How do you plan to regain your powers? You can’t possibly think we still have any influence here, Ra. The mortals are forgetting us as we speak.’

  ‘How I plan to do this is not your concern. Let’s just say that my plans have borne fruit and are progressing nicely. Next question.’

  ‘Back to my first question. Why?’

  ‘You think I am the worst thing that can happen to you? No. Unlike your own superiors, I keep track of those I am responsible for and my connections among the lower deities have been bringing me disturbing reports for months. There is a danger coming that, in our diminished physical forms, none of us can hope to defend against. I decided to act. That is all.’

  ‘What danger? Did it not occur to you to share this information with the rest of us?’

  ‘Share? Why should I share? Where were the rest of you when that manipulative, petty, pretender Yahweh, spread his influence across our lands, forcing us to take physical form just to survive?’

  ‘They hardly …’

  ‘They. Let. It. Happen! That bet, to use a human idiom, was just the icing on the cake. They were all far too busy squabbling and picking fights with each other to even notice. When they did pay attention, it was only to play with the head of some poor mortal who had done nothing more than worship the wrong god. Or do something petty to another woman because her husband couldn’t keep his toga down around mortals. Yes, we got the news about Hera’s little acts of revenge. The whole immortal realm could hear that woman on one of her rants! Sometimes I almost felt sorry for Zeus but then your friends made that stupid drunken bet, knowing that he would cheat, and suddenly we’re all out. Tell me. How does what I plan differ from the terms of that bet? It wasn’t just Dionysus who got thrown out, it was all of us! Over a cosmic bloody pissing-contest!’

  ‘Fine, I’ll give you that one’. Hera had an extremely nasty streak, but it occurred to him that Ra and the rest of the Egyptians were just as guilty of ‘squabbling’ among themselves. Now was probably not a good time to point that out though. He also had to agree with him on the sharing front. None of them was great at volunteering information which might give a rival any assistance. The ‘problem shared’ mantra was not their style. Losing the bet? The gods had been losing influence long before then and, through that, their powers. Getting them to admit that was another matter.

  They had assumed they would always have influence. To many, their very existence had confirmed it, but the gods had been neglectful and cruel. Those who had retained influence were still too strong, and Yahweh had not had the power to throw all of them out, but those who had been expelled had always mistaken fear for respect and had lost their genuine support long before then. Something kept them present and whole in the mortal realm. It wasn’t until popular memory of them began to fade, and them with it, that they realised how much they really had relied on mortal belief. As more stories began to fade out of human consciousness, more of them simply disappeared. Hesiod and Homer were, well, a godsend. Thanks to them, they had been able to maintain a hold on their existence, however tenuous. Even though they had lost their followers, they still had tangible ties to this world.

  ‘So you’re sulking?’ Charon asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Yes. You are.’ Charon stood up and leant over the desk, almost nose to nose with Ra. His better judgement jumped up and down in his head, screaming at him to, for gods’ sake, shut up and sit down. He ignored it. ‘You’ve just told me that you’re giving up without a fight because you don’t want to ask for help fighting something which none of us will be able to fight alone. Never mind that your solution means we all go with you.’ He paused. ‘But that’s not the whole story is it? Your ‘solution’, as you put it, means saving your own selfish carcass. You never had any intention of taking any of us back with you.’ He felt something in him shift th
en, as if letting some long-buried aspect of another incarnation out of the shadows. His already pale skin began to glow along with his eyes. This was rage, and it felt good to finally let it out. He felt like his old self again, but no, this was better. The centuries of merging stories had imbued him with the power of Death. Not the same being, but all the same, he could do with every advantage and he was certain that Ra had not seen this coming, ‘And you have actually told people about your plan because you cannot resist gloating. It’s not enough for you to know you have won, you need to drive that point home too. As half-baked, maniacal plans go, yours is up there with Lex Luthor’s!’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Popular culture. I would have thought that considering what is keeping us all here, you might have paid a bit more attention.’

  ‘Oh, that. Well, only insofar as it serves my purpose. I keep throwing money at the arts, but they plough straight through it. Those humans do love to dig things up though. I simply make a profitable strategic location known every decade or so, and presto, we are suddenly ‘alive’ in public consciousness again.’

  ‘You manipulative bastard!’

  Ra feigned a pout, ‘I don’t see Zeus or anyone doing anything to keep us from fading away. Besides which, I would never be so crude as to resort to direct manipulation. Unlike that usurping whelp. Who do you think put the idea to convert into Constantine’s head in the first place? The battle of Milvian Bridge? Yahweh set Dionysus up for a fall by raising the stakes like that and you were all too busy griping and backbiting to see it. He’d had one of his flunkies whispering in Constantine’s ear for months before that battle. To be thrown out of my realm by a mere boy was humiliating enough. Imagine my disquiet when I discovered why?’ Charon swore he could hear Ra’s teeth grind.

  Dionysus had already been punished for his part in the bet. He was still under supervision of the Council and had been expressly forbidden from gambling in any form. He wasn’t even allowed to buy a lottery ticket. If Ra ever got back to the immortal realm, there was going to be one hell of a punch-up and there were some very angry immortals down here just lining up to take a swing at him. ‘I have had enough of explaining myself to you. It is decided and there is nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me.’ Ra smirked again.

  Charon’s anger at Ra’s arrogance was giving him heartburn but at least he had some answers. Ra’s scheme was total self-preservation. He wasn’t even particularly keen to go back, he just didn’t want to be beaten by … whatever it was that was coming. The self-satisfied git was just looking after number one. ‘Are you going to at least tell me what this big threat to our existence is?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Just ‘no’?’

  ‘As far as I am concerned, Mr Charon, the matter is closed. I have made my decision and my plans are in motion. I cannot allow you to disrupt them and your opinion on the matter is not required. You may now leave my office.’

  The office door was suddenly open. Charon knew it would be very dangerous to stay any longer and he doubted he would get more out of Ra anyway. He decided he would put in a last favourite parlour trick of his own. As he closed the door behind him he lowered the temperature in the office to the point that Ra could see his breath, and no amount of artificial heat could fix it. He promptly left the building before he was hauled back in to put it right.

  CHAPTER 5

  A friend in deed?

  He waited until he had got around the corner before calling Hermes. It was already getting dark, but he could have been in Ra’s office for no more than an hour. Somehow a whole day had passed. He checked the time by looking through the window of a nearby car. It was an old model and so still had an analogue dashboard clock. Quarter to five. Damn Ra and his stupid time tricks. He must be getting stronger already. Charon knew that his absence from his post would have been noted now despite his efforts. No point going back now. The caretakers would lock up and the night-watch would be in soon. His hands shook a little as he pulled out his phone.

  ‘Hello?’ Hermes answered within a few rings.

  ‘Pub. Fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Charon? Is that you?’ Stupid question … Charon didn’t bother to listen to the rest and didn’t want to discuss it down the phone so hung up.

  * * *

  Charon sat at the same table as before, but this time he was facing the bar. He didn’t like the attitude of the barman who had resumed his pastime of giving him funny looks. As Charon calmed down he lost some of the glow from his skin and what hadn’t faded was hidden under his hood, but even so, the boy had no manners. Hermes arrived and ordered himself a drink before joining him. He hadn’t even sat down before Charon spoke.

  ‘I went to see Ra. To get to the bottom of why the hell he thinks that he can take us all with him.’

  ‘You did what! How the hell did you get out?’

  ‘Wasn’t hard. He practically threw me out.’ Charon laughed. ‘He wasn’t at all pleased to see me. Said I was to mind my own business, keep my mouth shut, and that I was never to turn up there again.’ He decided it was probably best not to tell him about his little trick with the thermostat. It wouldn’t impress Hermes, but it still made him smile. Small victories always make life worth living.

  ‘What in Hel’s name possessed you to go there?’

  ‘This.’ He showed Hermes the text message that came through last night. ‘Did you tell anyone what I said yesterday?’

  ‘Who would I tell? I’m not stupid enough to broadcast that. If they thought for a moment that I had anything to do with it, they would roast me alive. Lord knows what they would do if they actually found me interfering.’

  ‘Still scared of Daddy?’ Charon teased. It wasn’t fair really. Hermes had basically been the boot boy for the lot of them. Errands, diversions, subterfuge. Now he had a modicum of extra freedom from them, Charon couldn’t blame him for not wanting to risk it.

  ‘Terrified, and you would be too if you had any sense. I don’t want your newly emerging heroic streak coming back to bite me. Remember, I don’t exactly have a spotless reputation.’

  ‘The dice thing?’

  ‘And the rest!’ Hermes dropped his voice. ‘I hacked into my personnel file. ‘Opportunistic troublemaker, not to be trusted as far as you can kick him,’ he recited in a nasal sing-song voice. ‘In short, I am probably, if not certainly, being watched. If they catch me anywhere near this, I am a dead man.’ Charon felt his ire rising again. This wasn’t the Hermes that he knew. He’d had enough of the defeatism. ‘Charon, mate, I know this has gotten to you, but we don’t have any idea what the others are planning. I can’t see Zeus or Hades sitting back and taking this quietly and they have a terrible track record when it comes to shooting the messenger.’

  ‘Taking what? Herm, we have no idea what we are up against and they still think this is just another one of Ra’s tantrums. We haven’t heard a word from any of them.’

  ‘It’s only been a day.’

  ‘There is that.’ Charon paused. ‘All Ra said was that his plan was a solution to a bigger problem. One we can’t fight. He’s just given up, but it’s worse than that.’

  ‘How can it possibly get worse than the end of the world?’

  ‘Two ways. Firstly, I don’t entirely believe him. Secondly, even if he can be ‘trusted’ he has decided for all of us that we can’t beat whatever is coming and taken it upon himself to embark on a solution that means only he gets to survive while the rest of us are left to face it. By refusing to tell us, he is making sure he comes out on top. If we knew what it was we could at least work together to stop it but he’s not spilling.’

  ‘Yeah, I can see that happening,’ Hermes said, fiddling with the coaster absently. ‘Did you ever leave the 1960s, mate?’

  ‘It was a good decade.’ Charon grinned and downed half of his pint. Gods, he felt tired. That trick with the temperature had left him drained. It had been foolish to show off like that. Especially as he had probably annoyed Ra. He won’t forget that in
a hurry and he is actively trying to rebuild his power. The temperature in there should return to normal in a couple of days. Even so, Charon was not looking forward to coming face to face with him again. ‘I need your help, Hermes. You are closer to the top than I am. I’m sure you can keep your ears open, do some digging, find out what the hell is going on.’

  ‘I told you already, I am not fishing around!’ Hermes leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. ‘Look. I do understand and if I hear something I will let you know, but I am not going looking for it. That is suicide. I might be able to trace that message though. Lend me your phone.’ Charon hesitated. ‘I’m not going to eat it. Relax. You’ll get it back tomorrow.’

  Charon considered this for a moment. Hermes was probably right to want to stay out of it, but Charon felt he was in too deep now and he was not ready to just give up and wait for the end to hit him in the face. He needed to know what ‘it’ was. ‘Very well.’ Charon passed it over. ‘I’ll meet you back here at the same time tomorrow so you can return it. Thanks, Herm.’

  ‘Don’t thank me yet. I haven’t made any promises and I still think you are being a pig-headed old fool. You’ve been warned off. Twice! Yet here you go off on a mission that you are not equipped to take on. Didn’t thousands of years on that river teach you to leave the heroics to the heroes?’ Hermes was getting over excited now and the coaster had been reduced to confetti.

  ‘Sshhh! Keep your voice down!’ Charon hissed at him.

  Hermes ignored him. ‘Since you are determined to take stupid risks, I will keep an ear open. Just don’t go doing that sort of damned foolish thing again.’

  ‘Going soft in your old age?’

  ‘Not even close, old man!’ Hermes laughed and downed the last of his pint. ‘Come on, I’m hungry and all they serve here are snacks.’

  As they left the pub, the green haired barman glared at their backs then watched them through the window. After they had rounded the boundary hedge, he pulled out his phone and hit the speed-dial simply named ‘C’.