Page 32 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
Ajax
Shadows were everywhere, creeping in from above, clouding their vision in the depths of Tartaros. For hours—maybe a day, even—Ajax, Dimitris, and Thalia wandered endlessly in hallways and passages, but with each step or turn came another empty chamber. Time had no dominion here. It was lifeless. Silent. Ajax swore they were going in circles, some sick sort of trap Aidon, or whateverdaimonshe kept this far below ground, had created. No mortal, no living being was supposed to step foot in these halls and return alive. He understood now—why that was true.It was as if they were going mad, slowly recessing into the blackness that made up the underworld.
At one point they stopped to rest, Ajax taking the first watch. He refused to let Thalia or Dimitris stay awake with him. It was his fault she was gone, he shouldn’t have let her run that far ahead. But after Dimitris had slept for a short while, he came over and tapped Ajax’s shoulder, signaling the commander that it was time for him to rest as well. Exhaustion would not help them find Ember—nor would hunger or thirst. Fortunately, Thalia had a pack of a few small apples, dried meats, and a skin of water. It would be enough for now. It would have to be. Ajax was used to rationing food, it was a skill taught to them as part of training for the Spartanis. Eventually, if they had not found their way out of this endless labyrinth they would need to figure something else out. Somehow find their way to Aidon and his castle in the underworld.
Once they had all rested and ate their ration of food, it was time to start their trek through the halls once more. Thick, deep claw marks lined the stone bricks they passed. Aromas of dried blood and rotted flesh met them in every room—every dungeon—they entered. Ajax would pace around each one, inhaling deeply, looking for any sign or scrap of clothing Ember may have left behind, trying to calm the fear that crept deep inside his gut. He couldn’t let himself go down that spiral. Let the possibility that Ember might be gone settle. Gone before—before she knew.
“I still can’t smell her anywhere.” Dimitris appeared from around a corner, brushing cobwebs off his leathers, kicking a stone that lay in his path. “It’s like she never existed at all, every trace of her is wiped clean.”
Ajax’s blood began to boil. It was so easy in these hallowed halls to lose yourself and he did little to fight it. “She has to be somewhere!” Ajax screamed, punching his fist into the nearby wall, meeting it with the crack of bones, and crimson of blood. “We have to back track. Start from the beginning. We will find her.”
“We couldn’t back track if we tried!” his prince yelled back, voice silencing. A small part of the wolf in Ajax crept back, bending to the will of his alpha, but this wasn’t a pack matter, nor was it a Nexian matter. This was the woman he promised to protect. Promised to stay with until the world shattered around them—his duty as a commander and so much more than that.
“We have to—” A light hand slapped over his mouth. The seer flung her other finger to her lips and Ajax’s eyes flashed yellow, dilating in the low light, his ears twitching to pick up on what Thalia had heard first.
Humming rattled the walls of the room, a low hiss reverberating in his ears. Not the hiss of the little white creature next to Thalia, but something much deeper. It came in and out and began to mix with a high pitched scraping, causing each of them to grasp their ears and buckle over. Thepsychísprung from her haunches, shifting into her large form, howling right along with them at the noise.
“What is that?” Thalia managed to get out through the punishing sound. Every hair on her arms stood on edge, much like the fur on thepsychí’s back.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. We have to move,” Dimitris replied, reaching for her hand.
That’s when, before any of them had even taken a step, out of the very walls of the corridor they wandered, a black serpentinecreature launched at the seer. Thalia was thrust out of Dimitris’s reach and back against the wall, her head smashing into the hardened bricks. Red contrasted against her moon-white hair at the point of impact and Mykonos roared, lunging at the creature, locking her jaw around its thick scaled neck.
Ajax had never seen such a being, not even in the books of olde, the myths he grew up with on Nexos. Neither was it in the books in the libraries where he was schooled in Alentus. It was as long as a ship, towering well above them on two front legs that spout claws the size of his sword. And its face—deep ruby eyes with slit pupils glowered down at him while its snake-like head shook back and forth in an attempt to fling the mountain lion off. It opened its mouth to let out that same deafening hiss and the low light of the flames glimmered off its two rows of needle-like teeth, a long split tongue grazing over its lips. With one fowlsmackit slammed Mykonos against the wall and the mountain lion shifted back to the small white cat, lying limp against the dirt-covered floor to her human. Sanguine stains pooled around each of them, neither’s chest moving up or down. Still and lifeless as the corridor had been only moments before.
Ajax was frozen in place. The seer and the cat looked so small next to the creature, both entirely helpless as it assessed its prey, deciding which to hook onto its claws first for a meal. Boots smacking against the obsidian floor had Ajax whirling to the left, spurring him into action. Dimitris had pulled both swords from his back and begun barreling toward thedaimon. He raced at it with preternatural speed, launching himself onto the tail, using his speed and the swords to race up its back as he shouted orders.
“We have to lead it away from them!”Them. The seer. Thepsychí. His friends who may not even have a breath of life left in them. Why had they gone down this far? Why had they ventured into Aidesian at all? He could not lose two people today. Not again. His parents’ faces flashed in his mind, equally as bloody and broken, their limbs cracked in half. He was too late to save them. He would not be too late today.
Ajax took off toward the opposing side of the room. The creature picked up its legs and began to slither across the floor toward him in such a speed it caused the hairs on the back of his neck to spring up. On the creature's back Dimitris had hooked his swords under its scales, using them as a mount to climb toward the head. Slowly he was making his way up, and the prince’s weight had not appeared to deter the creature from its end goal. To kill.
His sprint carried him swiftly to the dead end before him and Ajax leapt toward the wall, spinning and using it to propel himself through the air and back toward the beast's head. Meeting his mark, he pierced his sword straight through one of its ruby eyes. It recoiled, tail swinging in a curl, giving Dimitris the time to scamper up the rest of its back and stab each sword in either side of the creature’s neck. A feral wail loosened from the creature's mouth as the swords sliced completely through its flesh. The head flopped down, slamming against the ground, writhing for moments before it stilled. Thick, icy black liquid poured from its wounds, leaving a foul scent seeping into the floor.
“Gods—what was that?” Dimitris heaved through his hardened breaths.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen such adaimonbefore,” Ajax replied.
Whipping around, Ajax scanned the room for Thalia. Across the corridor, still slumped against the impacted wall, lay the seer and her tiny cat. Ajax raced over to her, checking her head and pulse to see if there was any sign of life. Dimitris followed, kneeling beside Ajax, wiping away the black venom that dripped along his swords.
“Is she…is she dead?” Dimitris asked, his voice shaking uncontrollably.
Ajax put his ear close to her mouth, listening for a breath. Shallow puffs of air trickled out, heating against his skin, but they were shallow and ragged. “She’s breathing, but we need to get her somewhere safe, somewhere we won’t encounter something like that again.” The prince’s hands shook violently, his brows narrow, as a muscle feathered through his jaw. “Are you alright, Dimitris?”
He blinked a few times. “I’m fine. Let’s just get the seer and that feline up. And once we find safety—someone to help us—we will start our search again. We will find her, Jax. We will find Ember.”
Ajax only hoped he was right. That somehow his prayers would be answered. He lifted the smallpsychíand looped the fabric Thalia usually used as a pouch around himself. Turning around, Ajax went to help Dimitris lift Thalia, but his prince was already walking away, the seer cradled close to his chest.
How much longer could they wander before Ajax truly lost his mind? The air had turned so bone-rattling thatevery breath was strained and it only seemed as if they were venturing further into the abyss of night, not out of it. They tried to retrace their steps, but every corner they turned looked identical to the last, the gray and obsidian walls sending them through the underworld with little direction. It was maddening, spiraling about the corridors, not knowing whether Ember was even alive—not knowing if Thalia and Mykonos would make it.
Dmitris had slowed over the hours, barely able to carry the seer much further, yet refusing to ask Ajax for help. Instead, Ajax clutched the furrypsychíclose to his chest, keeping the unconscious creature warm in the depths of Aidesian. He had always hated the littledaimon, the way it would lurk about and scratch at the doors on the off chance he was able to directly report his findings to the crew ofThe Nostosthe past few years, and now, as it lay against his chest dying, he could not help but feel unnaturally attached to the creature. It was so small and delicate, and had ferociously tried to protect Thalia. Something he, himself, could not do. Instead he would try to keep Mykonos safe, try to lead them somewhere—anywhere—that would not put all their lives at risk once more, or at least somewhere they could sit and rest without fear of an attack.
Around yet another corner, steam began to creep up from the floor, sizzling in the now warm air. Ajax turned over his shoulder, checking on Dimitris, whose sweat clung to every inch of his skin, knees wobbling slightly as they ascended stairs that lay before them. With each step, the air heated to a temperature that reminded Ajax of the summer’s in Alentus. Light bounced off the walls of the stairway, the stone turning from a mildew gray to a shimmering onyx with flecks that looked like shattered diamond.There were only a few steps left, and Ajax clutched the hilt of his sword firmly in his palm, unsure what terror might meet them at the end.
“Who dares enter these hallowed halls without invitation?” a deep voice boomed from the archway ahead. It was menacing, indeed, but familiar, and Ajax melted with relief.
“Aidoneus, thank the gods,” Ajax let out, sprinting the last few steps before he stood face to face with the King of the Underworld.
“Commander, I did not expect to see you so far below our realm, nor the seer.” Aidon looked past Ajax at Dimitris who had sunk to his knees at the top of the stairs. “And especially not that wolf.” He walked over and knelt beside Dimitris and Thalia.
