Divine Interventions: Nemesis of the Garden Read online

  All that was important was that her lover had a knife pointed at his heart. There was no way she could let Hyperion harm Pan. She took a deep breath and prepared to release Eos.

  “Hold!” A new man’s voice rang through the sharp silence and Nina glanced over to see a golden-haired Titan stride briskly into the throne room. His heated stare took in all of them, including Nina with her sword at Eos’ throat, but he saved his fiercest glare for Hyperion. “This has gone far enough. The past holds enough bloodshed…we have no need for more now.”

  “Who are you to give orders?” Hyperion growled. “Go back to your studies, Helios, this is man’s work.”

  The Titan of the sun didn’t back down. “This is work for a leader, Father, something you’ve obviously forgotten how to be. A leader uses words, not weapons when dealing with others. You’ve become too isolated…you see everything but understand little. Kill these gods or their women, and the Olympians will hunt us to extinction.”

  He glanced over at Astraios and the other Titans. “Our ideas are as confined as the box we live in. We need to learn new ways if we want to live outside of it.”

  “What new ways?” Astraios stepped forward, his sword dipping towards the floor. Nina saw how eager he was for a solution that didn’t mean Eos’ death. “What would you have us do?” His voice trailed off as he noted the fury on Hyperion’s face.

  Helios ignored his father’s wrath. “For some time I’ve exchanged messages with certain Olympians about negotiating a new treaty, one that would get us free of here. Your actions and Hyperion’s have jeopardized that. To fix things we need a show of good faith. We can start by releasing these people.” He waved his hands at the other Titans in the room. “Drop your weapons.”

  The dark-skinned Titan nodded, then with a sharp clang, Astraios’ sword hit the floor. “All of you, disarm,” he told his men. “We won’t allow our princess to come to harm.”

  “No!” Hyperion shouted, recovering his bluster. “We won’t surrender. Better she die than we be kept here any longer.”

  Astraios glared at him. “You would risk your daughter’s life? That isn’t acceptable, Hyperion. We shouldn’t have stolen the women’s spirits in the first place. Like Helios said, we should have asked the Olympians for an advocate and a hearing on our fitness to live outside of Titanous. By our actions we’ve shown how unfit we really are.”

  He turned a troubled stare at Eos with Nina’s sword at her throat. “I would rather live in a glass box the rest of my days than see you come to harm, my princess.” One hand waved at the rest of the guards still holding their weapons. “I said disarm!”

  There was a fierce clatter as the other Titans hurried to obey their captain. Helios strode towards his father, who still held the knife on Pan. “Let him go, Father. We can’t win our freedom by hurting others.”

  Hyperion stared at his son, then at Nina, still holding her sword on Eos. He took a long look at the other Titans, now disarmed and staring at him.

  “You’ve turned them all against me,” he said. “I hope you know what you’ve done. We’ll be confined here forever.”

  “I know what I’m doing, Father. This isn’t the way.” Helios took hold of the knife and after a brief struggle Hyperion let him have it. Stepping back, he watched as Helios cut free the gods. Pan gathered the swords and threw them to the side while Aphrodite rushed over to Hep to throw her arms around him.

  “My hero,” she cried, even as her arms failed to take hold of him and passed through his body.

  Hep chuckled in his deep voice and reached out to gently stroke the space where her face should be. “Hold that thought, Appie. We’ll get back to it later.” He looked over at Nina. “You can let her go now.”

  “As you say, Hep.” Nina released Eos, who quickly stepped into the waiting arms of Astraios. With relief she noted only the faintest red mark where the sword had been held on the Titaness’ throat. Nina smiled at the blade her hand. At least she hadn’t lost her touch with one of these.

  Unfortunately, it was getting very heavy and Nina let it fall to her side then clatter to the floor. Her whole body seemed to shiver as the spell she’d used to turn solid finally ran out of power. Nina collapsed onto the throne room steps and tried to control her fear as the spell failed and she was left immaterial once again.

  Pan noticed and ran to her side. He tried to brush the hair from her forehead only to have his hand pass through her head.

  Once he got over his surprise, amusement took over his face. “You knew you could only turn solid for a short time?” he whispered. At Nina’s nod, he grinned. “Nice bluff, vengeance nymph. I’ll have to avoid playing card games with you.”

  In spite of her exhaustion she managed a wicked smile. “What about a game of strip poker?”

  He snickered. “Now that has possibilities.”

  They both turned to watch Hyperion, who stood looking defeated.

  “So what are you doing waiting around?” Hyperion said to Hephaestus. “You’ve got what you came for. You know how to return to Olympus and take the women’s spirits with you.”

  Hep nodded. “Yes, we know, but we haven’t finished our business yet, Titan.”

  “It isn’t enough that you’d defeated us? Do you intend revenge as well?”

  Ignoring the Titan king’s comment, Hep folded his arms and regarded Helios carefully. “What are your intentions?” he asked the golden-haired Titan.

  “As we discussed, I want what’s best for my people. I want their freedom, to live where they want—and love whomever they want.” He threw a quick glance at Eos, cradled in Astraios’ arms. “We’ve been confined long enough.”

  “Do you want to be their ruler?”

  “Ruler?” Helios gave a short laugh. “If needed I’d lead them, but I have no desire to be their king.” He threw a short glance at his father. “We already have one of those.”

  Hyperion stared at him. “You don’t want to be king?”

  He shook his head. “No, Father. I want our freedom and peace for all, and I want you to listen to me once in a while, but you can keep your throne.” He glanced over at Eos and Astraios. “Of course you’ve also got to be ready to accept new ideas…such as giving your people choices.”

  The wily old king seemed to consider his son’s words. “You want to advise me?”

  “If you will promise to listen to my advice.”

  For a long moment father and son stared at each other. Finally the old man nodded. “Very well, from now on you’re my chancellor and I will hear your new ways.” He gave a hard look at Eos and Astraios. “Even the ones I don’t like.”

  Hep settled onto a bench. “Very well, now that we’ve settled who is in charge, we can return to our previous discussion. You want your freedom to visit Olympus and to explore the world of men. To gain that you need an advocate to address the Olympian court of justice,” he hesitated and looked around. “Anyone here mind if I take that job?”

  Smiling, Helios said nothing, but the rest of the Titans stared at the god in disbelief.

  At their shocked silence Hep nodded with satisfaction. “I’ll take that as a yes. So, as your advocate I’ll need you to document how you’ve changed and what you intend to do with your freedom. You’ll have to be able to pass the Earth-bound transport test…”

  They continued to look blankly at them, so Hep explained further. “It’s a set of questions that show you know how to deal with the normal humans on Earth without causing trouble. Not hard to pass if you do a bit of studying.”

  Still holding Eos close to him, Astraios was the first to speak. “You are still willing to help us, Hephaestus?”

  “I came here willing to help you. If you’d asked me, I’d have come sooner.”

  Finally Helios broke his silence and turned to face the rest of the Titans. “I vote we make Hephaestus our advocate on Olympus. All in favor?”

  There were a number of ayes as well as some comments in agreement. Even Hyperion nodded reluctantly.
Helios went on. “Very well, we’re agreed. Astraios, Eos, I suggest you be the ones to work directly with the Olympians.” He gave a glance at Eos, who still stood in circle of the dark Titan’s arms. “You two spent time there and know them better than the rest of us.”

  General approval broke out at that. Only Hyperion continued to glare, disgruntled, at the young couple.

  Hep nodded his approval. “Very well, I’ll talk to the Olympian court for you. And call me Hep, most of my friends do.”

  The Titan stuck out his hand. “Very well, call me Aster.” He gave Eos a smile. “It’s a name given me by a very special friend. But how are we going to do all this, the documenting and studying.”

  Hep rubbed his hands. “Ah, I was just getting to that. Someone want to bring me my bundle?”

  He opened the net, pulled out a pair of laptops similar to Nina’s, and handed one to Helios and the other to Eos. “These are to connect you to the Olympian intranet and Earth’s Internet. You can find almost anything you want to know using those, including the answers to your questions. I’ve already set them up with web browsers and bookmarks so you can find stuff. Plus you can use the word processor programs to prepare your documentation for the hearings. This is for power,” he said, pulling out the portable generator.

  Helios’ eyes lit up at the machine in his hands, opening it up and running appreciative hands over the keyboard. Nina thought he looked like a kid at holiday time. “Oh, we will make excellent use of these.”

  “And what about this,” Astraios said, pulling the keg from the net.

  Aphrodite rolled her eyes at Nina. “See, I told you beer would be involved.”

  Hep took it from him with a big grin. “That is some of my most special brew to celebrate our agreement. But before we open that up I have one more thing to do.”

  Recovering his hammer, Hep strode to the throne and stood on it, raising the hammer over his head. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”

  As the obvious target, Hyperion winced, then stood firm. He lifted his white-haired head and stared at the god and his mighty weapon. “Go ahead, I deserve it.”

  Appalled, Helios stepped between them. “No, Hep. No bloodshed!”

  Hep’s lips twitched in amusement. “Don’t worry, Helios, your father isn’t what I planned to hit when I brought this.” Instead of throwing the hammer, he aimed it at the glass above the throne and gave it a fierce blow. The entire ceiling of the room cracked and shattered into tiny fragments that drifted slowly and harmlessly to the floor, leaving the Titans’ throne room open to the universe above.

  A shout started up among the Titans as, for the first time in thousands of years, they could stretch their arms over their heads and not hit the ceiling of a room. They jumped up and down and cheered, clapping Hep’s back as he moved through them back to where Nina, Pan and Aphrodite waited.

  “I never could stand glass ceilings,” he told them. “There’s just something not right about them.”

  Pan tried to put his arm around Nina and failed. “Hep, I think it’s time to go now.” He nodded at the happy Titans, now passing around glasses of Hephaestus’ special brew and celebrating. Even Hyperion, who’d reclaimed his seat on the throne, lifted his glass at them. He gave a hint of a frown when Eos and Astraios threw their arms around each other and kissed, then shrugged and drank more of his beer as Helios, now the Titans’ chancellor, sat next to him with the open laptop and demonstrated how it worked.

  Aphrodite smiled. “Well, maybe the old man won’t need a lesson in not standing in love’s way after all.” She glanced down at her vaporous body. “Speaking of love,” she said seductively, “I’d like to return to my physical self, if you don’t mind.” She pretended to run a finger up her husband’s chest. “I want to thank you for your rescue properly, with a kiss. And other things,” she said suggestively.

  Hep’s eyes lit up and he nodded. “Yeah, it’s time to go.”

  They waved goodbye at the celebrating Titans then Hep spoke the spell that returned them to Olympus.

  * * * * *

  They returned to the garden, the men in their normal forms, the women back into their bodies, still frozen as statues. Pan touched Aphrodite’s figure at once and she turned to flesh, falling into Hep’s open arms.

  “My hero,” she cooed, repeating her words from the throne room.

  Holding her close, Hep grinned at her. “Let’s go home, Appie.” In the blink of an eye they were gone.

  Pan turned to Nina’s statue. He crossed his arms deliberately, keeping his hands well away from her. “Okay, let’s talk again about marriage.”

  From the statue came Nina’s disembodied voice. “Pan, aren’t you going to return me to normal?”

  The god’s mouth twitched mischievously. “Not just yet. I want to make sure you hear what I have to say and this way I know I have your complete attention.”

  “But Pan,” Nina said plaintively. “This isn’t all that comfortable. I have an itch…”

  His amusement deepened. “And I’d love to scratch it, but that will have to wait for later. I know that desiring you is part of the arrow’s spell, but that’s not the only thing you and I have going on. We both know there is more than just sex between us. You and I, we have something special.” He hesitated, but decided that since it had come up already he might as well address the subject directly.

  “The truth is, we always did. I fell for you pretty hard back when we were first together. I think it may have scared me a little at the time and I wasn’t prepared for it. So… I did something stupid just to prove I wasn’t as stuck on you as I seemed to be. When I got drunk at Baccus’ party and this woman made a play for me, I went along with it. After all, that’s who I was supposed to be, the god of sensual pleasure.” He shook his head. “If it makes any difference to you I was so drunk that night I don’t remember a thing about what happened. Later I wanted to explain and ask you to forgive me…”

  A harsh laugh came from the statue. “You were going to ask forgiveness from a vengeance nymph? What would you have expected to happen? I had to be true to my nature as well.”

  He raised his head proudly. “Well, I’m not the same god I was back then. You don’t want to be my wife because you’re afraid I’ll hurt you again, but I won’t. I’m not like that anymore. I love you and I’d never hurt someone I love. If you’d dare to admit it, you aren’t the same either. I think you can forgive me now for what I did in the long-ago past, particularly since I’m promising to never do it again.”

  Pan took a deep breath. “So I’m asking you again, Nina. Be my wife?”

  She was quiet so long, he wondered if he’d gone too far, or if her spirit had somehow managed to leave the shelter of the stone figure. Then she spoke, quietly. “Will you set me free so I can give you my answer?”

  For a moment he thought of refusing. She couldn’t leave him if she was stone and if the answer was no he could continue to argue with her. But keeping her prisoner until she agreed with him? Tempting as it was, that would be wrong.

  He passed his hand over her face. “Come to life and be my love, sweet Nina.”

  The stone shimmered with color and softened, and again Nina stood in the garden. At her frown, Pan’s heart sank, but he steeled himself for her answer.

  “That wasn’t very nice, leaving me a statue like that,” she said.

  So it was going to be like that. Pan sighed and nodded. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

  A slight smile crossed her face. “Very well. I forgive you.”

  For a moment he was struck dumb. Then, as he realized what she’d said, the joy in him tore a shout from his lips. “You forgive me?”

  Now Nina was grinning. “Yes, I forgive you. For everything just in case that wasn’t clear.” She gave a pensive sigh. “You say you’ve changed…well, so have I. I was going to let Eos free before Helios showed up. I couldn’t let Hyperion hurt you. I guess I’m not much of a vengeance nymph anymore.”

/>   “As long as you’re my loving little nymph, you can be anything you want, Nina.” His heart lightened. “So you’ll marry me?”

  She slid into his arms. “Yes, I’ll marry you. As soon as we can make the arrangements.”

  Some of Pan’s happiness faded. “Arrangements?”

  Apparently oblivious to his growing dismay, Nina began to enumerate on her fingers. “For a wedding we’ll need to make a guest list and find a date everyone can come.” She looked around the quiet intimacy of their garden. “We can have the ceremony here, but will need extra furniture for the party afterward. Zeus can officiate, of course.”

  She eyed his outfit, the tan slacks and polo shirt that Hep had talked him into this morning, saying that when a man was proposing marriage he wanted to look his best. Pan thought he looked best in a loincloth, but who was he to argue with a married man?

  He remembered how Aphrodite and Hep had looked while leaving and added, a happily married man.

  “Not bad,” Nina said approvingly, and Pan preened. Hep did know what he was talking about. She grinned at him. “I can’t wait to see you in a tux.”

  A tux? Dumbfounded, Pan watched Nina head for her computer.

  “There is so much to do. We should get started right away.”

  “Wait just a minute!” Pan bellowed, striding after her.

  Nina turned. “What is it?”

  He stared down at her. “Planning a wedding is not how I want to spend the rest of this afternoon.”

  “Oh?” she glared up at him, but Pan could see how she was teasing him. “And what makes you think what you want means anything?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You are STILL the mouthiest little nymph I know. And there is only one cure for that.”

  She stepped closer, clear mischief on her mind. “Oh, what’s that?”

  “This.” Seizing her by the shoulders, Pan pulled her into a kiss. Not just any kiss, but a kiss that set all records for heat generated by single meeting of lips. As always, he felt her melt, her legs going limp as he broke it off and she swooned into his arms.

  Ah, yes. That was more like it.