Page 12 of Taking Orders in the Underworld

“I’m not in trouble, Father,” Nika lied smoothly, using her napkin to wipe at her mouth. “We’re the best restaurant in the Underworld, and we want the best to play for us. That’s all.”

CHAPTER FIVE: A maestro by morning

It was agreed that Nyx would escort Nika to Orpheus’ dwelling the following nightfall, for her mother’s schedule for tonight had already been set. Nika, for once, was more than happy to accept the offer, for she did not want to go to the caves alone.

The memories of the screams of insanity down there still haunted her.

The caves were where those the gods wanted to make an example of were found. After cheating death twice, King Sisyphus was forced to push a boulder up a hill that never quite reached the top before it rolled back down, only for the king to start pushing it all over again. Tantalus was imprisoned in a cave with a pool of water and a fruit tree, neither of which he could eat or drink from – thereby eternally hungry and thirsty. Then there were the Danaïdes who had murdered their husbands. They were forced to carry water in a jug to fill the bath that would wash off their sins. A shame, then, that the jugs had cracks and the water never made it to the bath.

Nika had experienced her first tour of the caves beside her mother when she was a brand-new, fresh-eyed deity, believing that her role was to restore good in the world. To learn that these were the curses put upon Souls … no, she had not wanted to play in the land of madness. Her mother had always tried to tell her that madness was essential. That without it, one couldn’t appreciate logic – ‘logos’, she’d called it, still fluently speaking the language of the ancients – or reasoning. Nika disagreed. She’d not wanted to become the curse lackey that placed such a burden just because some god felt slighted.

So, after a surprisingly sound sleep in her childhood bed, Nika decided to spend the day in her old neighbourhood while she waited for nightfall.

Her parents home, castle really, sat on top of one of the crags that overlooked the spider-like district of Tartarus, each road leading out from the centre of the mountainous rock. It cast a shadow across the tarred streets, which was appropriate for her mother and father, given their titles. They were treated like royalty here. Even Hades tended to leave Tartarus to them, not wanting to piss off the primordials who had been around longer than his existence.

Making her way down the jagged footpath, Nika went exploring all her old local haunts. There was the old carriageworks building, where craftsmen welded the palladium that was mined out of the depths of Tartarus. Then there were the market stalls behind the carriageworks, where said items were traded on the black market. There were the mines themselves, though those were no fun. And, of course, there were the usual shops, cafes, and eateries that Nika had grown up with; Asclepius’ Apothecary, Hecate’s Witchcraft Herbs & Tinctures, and Aristaeus’ Butchery, to name a few.

By the time she returned to the family home, her mother was ready and waiting for her, and dusk began to fall around them. As was Nyx’s way, she would not leave the house before another of her daughters – Hemera, Goddess of Day – returned.

As such, Nika hadn’t met her much older sister until she’d left Tartarus in the bright daylight. Hemera, like Nika, had a … complicated relationship with their mother. Being gifted a task that literally kept you apart forever from the one who was supposed to love you unconditionally could do that, Nika supposed.

“Nika, there you are. Come, we must go now.”

“Now? It’s still dusk.”

“Your father’s gone to cover the land in darkness. Surely you saw him on your way back in? By the time you tidy yourself up, I’ll be ready to take my leave on the Underworld. Now go, hurry.”

“Mother, I’m ready. We can leave now.”

“You are windswept and have little to no make up on. Is that how you wish to make an impression on a Soul whose business you wish to gain? Go and make yourself presentable. I will not tell you twice, Nika.”

Nika clenched her jaw shut and marched back up the spiral staircase.

Five minutes later, Nika had applied kohl to her eyes and lipstick – a female’s armour, her mother called it. Then Nyx swept them out the front door and into a weightless smog in the darkness. Night incarnate – that was her mother. A primordial who could take any form she pleased because she had been one of the originals birthed from Chaos itself. As such, Nika and her mother did not have to climb down the rockface in Tartarus that sat above the caves, but rather swept into a cavern where Orpheus lived.

There was no door to the cavern, just a deep chamber of space. In the middle sat a small square table, just large enough to seat four at a push, where Opheus sat with – to Nika’s surprise – Eurydice. On the left side of the cavern, there was a small double bed pressed up against the wall with a quilted blanket and pillows neatly fluffed. To the right, where the rock seemed to have formed a half-wall, was a chamber pot and washing features.

There was no modern plumbing in this part of Tartarus. Nika had forgotten that.

On the table where Orpheus and his wife sat were strewn papers Oprheus had been scribbling on when Nika and her mother had arrived. Only the glow of the flickering oil lamp allowed Nika a glimpse at what was on those papers; music notes.

Upon Nyx materialising in the entranceway of their cavern in her ‘mortal’ form, both Orpheus and Eurydice had stood from their chairs and dropped into such deep bows that their faces were no more than inches from the cavern floor.

“My Goddess of the Night, to what do we owe the pleasure?” Orpheus said, his deep voice more gravelly than Nika had expected.

“My daughter seeks to ask a favour of you.”

Both sets of eyes landed on Nika.

“Perhaps we could discuss it over refreshments?” Nika asked.

“Of course,” Orpheus nodded, while Eurydice was already walking to a small cavern shelf to grab fresh cups.

“I have duties to perform. I take it this will not take long to sort?” Nyx turned and looked down at Nika as she asked. The fact that she even had to look down at Nika, who stood over six feet tall, said a lot about the space her mother inhabited. Not just physically, either. She soaked up the air of the place her presence was in until it made it difficult to breathe.

Nika shook her head.

“Good, then I shall return for you in one hour.”

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