Herculean

Κεφάλαιο V Μέρος II

Erytheia strode with purpose through the Garden of Hesperides–the gilded cage for her and her sisters, disguised as paradise. Her steps slowed as she approached the Tree of Life, stopping entirely when she saw the poor creatures tied to its base.

Checking for her mistress, Erytheia glanced side to side, walking cautiously forward.

"It is time." Erytheia turned to see Hera striding past, silver chiton flowing, her yellow crown like spikes of gold. Wary, she followed her maker's path to the tree, halting when its canopy shook in warning. Only Hera was safe when the tree was hungry.

Hera stroked its rough bark, glancing lovingly into its branches as the prisoners on either side squirmed in panic, silenced by the rags muffling their cries.

"Hercules is gone; as planned, his brother is king. But I did not anticipate Iphicles' strength to wield the labrys." Slowly she turned and faced Erytheia, pensive, mournful even, but heedless to the suffering of her prisoners. "Humans are not so fragile, it seems." She snapped her fingers. "And yet they are."

Vines plunged from the canopy, ripping the prisoners from the trunk and hauling them, helpless, into the canopy. The tree was a sick perversion of nature. Erytheia turned her face from the screams and the sounds of their torment as the tree ripped them apart. When the cries subsided and the tree was satisfied, only the blood of the prisoners remained, dripping from the branches and down the trunk in steady streams of red.

"You would cure her? Just to kill them both?" Erytheia could not swallow her disgust.

"Phaidra's only task was to deliver the wine to Hercules. I despise failure--she nearly ruined my plans. I am too close to risk the Guardians discovering the truth. Things must look... natural. I only cured Phaidra to satisfy Hercules--and he is no longer in charge." Hera touched the blood running down the tree, feeling it between her fingers before licking it away. "Ultimate power requires ultimate sacrifice."

But never at Hera's expense. 

Erytheia swallowed. "Is it enough to take the crown?"

"Not by force. Not when Iphicles wields the power of the labrys." Hera's fists clenched. "If I had known the crown would give him the strength to wield Zeus' weapon, I would have strangled the boy in his crib. Alas, there is too much at risk. This time, poison will not be enough."

"This time? How many more times will it take?" Erytheia laughed at the irony of their misfortune. "Don't you see? Everything you have done--poisoning the brothers against each other, seeking the Fates' twisted knowledge, murdering Zeus as he slept--it has all been for naught! History has repeated itself--another powerful man rules the mountain and yet again you stand in his shadow. Once more, you are both queen and another man's prisoner--"

Shimmering to gray smoke, Hera reappeared before for her creation, gripping her slender neck in one delicate hand.

"I may share a bed with the king of the gods," she hissed, applying enough pressure to send Erytheia to her knees. "But make no mistake, you little minx--I belong to no man."

"Yet I belong to you." Ertyheia's tear-streaked face was caught fast in Hera's vice-like grip. "Will my sisters have freedom when you have found yours?"