Wondertrev: Alive

Chapter 4

It was bone chilling cold, even with my cloak on and a torch in hand. I had been going down these stairs, for Hera knows how long. I felt the back of my neck tense. By the gods, I'm positive someone is watching me. I drew my sword and turned in one movement. Nothing was there. I let out a sigh of relief. The cold must be affecting me. I continued on, until I mistepped. This was the end of the stairs and the tunnel had changed to a damp dirt floor. I must be nearing something. I looked around the corner and saw a river...the River  Styx. The water was black and flowed gently. It seemed to resemble more of a lake, it was very wide, but the ends of the Styx looked like it went on forever. A floating wisp of white came toward me, then another and another, till there became almost thirty. I tensed and bent my knees. I didn't know what they were or what they wanted. The one leading the group came up to me... and then passed on by. The others started to do the same. When they passed, I could hear low murmuring.
"Great Hera, what are you?" I wondered aloud.
"They are spirits that have to wander because they could not pay to come across."
I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man totally covered in a black robe that had a hood which hid his face from view. You could only see his hands which looked like they had been worked partially to the bone, literally. He gripped a long pole in his right hand and stood on a raft. He was the ferryman of the Styx.
"Charon" I bowed my head.
"I am Diana, princess of the Amazons"
"Are you wanting to cross or not?" Charon interrupted, crossly.
"Yes, thank you"  I tried to attempt a smile.
"Don't thank me. This isn't free. Give me my payment." I could faintly hear Charon muttering under his breath saying
"Amazons ... and I get stuck with the princess. And an alive one at that. This day has been worse than a day in the pit of Tartarus."
I narrowed my eyes, but let the insult pass. I interrupted his grumbling to say
"I did bring a gold coin, is that sufficient?"
"Yes, yes, hurry up."
I hurried onto his raft. I never dreamt Charon would be this way. He pushed against the side, suddenly and fast, then looked up as if to see if I had fallen into the river. As if that would fall an Amazon.
"Charon, I've paid you and I would like us to be friends rather than enemies."
"Really, Amazon?" Charon said, scoffing.
I pitied Charon, ferrying spirits for an eternity. I noticed a pole, a duplicate of Charon's, in the raft. I picked it up.
"Would you like some help?"
Charon went still and in his black hood, I saw a flash of white.
"Yes, princess, I do."
Within minutes, we were across and I stepped off the boat. Charon bowed his head to me.
"No one has ever helped me across. Thank you. I wish you luck."
I smiled at him and told him goodbye. I turned and beheld the gate of Hades. It was made of onyx and seemed foreboding. It was opened wide for the spirits. But, wait... where was Cerberus? Hades' three headed guard dog should be at the front of the gate. I heard a low growl from behind me. Hera help me. I slowly turned. I was face to face... to face to face with Cerberus. He was dark haired with red eyes and stood as tall as me. His faces all snarled at me.
"I'm not here to harm you, Cerberus. Calm down."
The beast pounced and its paws hit my shoulders. My knees gave out and I slammed to the ground. Cerberus loomed over me. I could feel his hot breath on my face. I grabbed my lasso as Cerberus snapped his teeth inches above my face. I threw the lasso around his midsection and pulled him off me. I got up in a flash and turned to face Cerberus. Then, I gave out a little laugh, for Cerberus was cowering before me and whimpering.
"I won't harm you. You are all bark and no bite, aren't you?"
I took my lasso off of him and he calmed down and didn't try to attack me. So, I turned and entered the gate of Hades...
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Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long. I will answer any questions, comments, or critiques you may have. And don't worry, we will see a bit of Steve Trevor soon.