Born In The Palace

Chapter 6: Celebration

The beautiful Goddess cracked her neck and groaned in pain. "I stayed in that disguise for much too long. My neck and back are killing me."

"It's your own fault, Aphrodite," Bion said.

"Aphrodite?" Lena gasped and stared wide-eyed at the Goddess.

"You knew who she was all along?" I asked the satyr.

"She turned up on my doorstep a few days before she brought the lot of you into my inn, claiming that she needed to be here. She never told me why," he grumbled.

"Why are you here, mother?" Eros demanded. "Have you come to interfere into my life?"

"Watch your tone, Eros, or I will use my potions on you," Aphrodite threatened.

"You know perfectly well that I'm immune to your potions."

She sighed and took a seat at the table. "The Fates. They told me that you will be in danger once you leave Kingdom Gora. I've come to ensure that you stay here for as long as needed be."

"And how long would that be? Do you plan on locking me in here for years like you did after someone poisoned me in Olympus?" Eros rubbed his temples in distress. "I can take care of myself, mother."

"You may be a God, but you're still young. Let me handle it. If only the Fates gave me something more than a string of nonsense words... Helm, souls, sunflower. It —"

"The helm!" I interrupted. "Did the Fates say anything else? Anything other than those three words?"

"They told me an odd story about a mountain of forgotten treasures of the first king of Gora. He'd hidden his riches in a deep cave of that mountain when he'd become gravely ill." She laughed. "Those old hags must have lost their touch, because they were spewing utter nonsense near the end. What does that cave of treasures of a mortal have anything to do with my son?"

"Perhaps they knew that you would tell us this story!" I got up from my seat, a new fire igniting within me. The Fates never do anything without intent. That's what grandfather always told me. "That must be where the second piece is! We should go to that mountain."

"Second piece of...?" Aphrodite frowned.

"The Helm of Darkness," Lena, Eros and I said at the same time.

"How can you be sure that it's even there?" Bion asked.

"I'm not," I said. "But it wouldn't hurt to check."

"It would. It would hurt very much when the poisonous snakes sink their teeth into your flesh." His eyes looked serious when they finally met mine. "That treasure in the mountains? Many humans and satyrs have tried to steal, but no one ever came back alive." He shifted his gaze to Aphrodite. "The Fates have failed to mention that the king filled the cave with poisonous snakes to ensure that his treasures couldn't be taken by anyone after his death. The selfish bastard."

"Poisonous snakes?" Aphrodite exclaimed. "Eros, you're not going there."

Eros looked uncomfortable. "I... I could—"

Bion snorted. "Are you afraid? Isn't mortal poison like a sting of a bee to Gods?"

"While that may be true, let's not take any chances," Aphrodite asserted.

"No, I'll go," Eros said with a determined voice, shooting daggers at the satyr with his eyes. "You can stay here. You're afraid to leave your inn anyways, am I right?"

Bion gritted his teeth. "I'll go too. I'm the only one that knows the way to that mountain. You might get lost without me."

Eros scoffed. "I think we can manage just fine."