The Dead Chronicles: Lovers, Liars, and Heroes

Chapter 18

Psyche shivered with her head bent to the Goddess of Love. She bit her lip to try and stop her teeth from audibly chattering. Aphrodite crowed, lounging on her petal-lined throne. Her perfect face was turned into a sneering grin.

"All the way from the River Styx..." she formed the words carefully with those luscious lips.

"Well, thank you for your fine delivery. It seems that you have one last little thing to do for me and then I will be satisfied..." Psyche could only imagine what the last impossible task was that the goddess had set for her. The heavy aroma of perfumes, spices and flowers was making her head spin. "I lent the Queen of the Dead something for her wedding," Aphrodite continued, her smile growing wider. "It is in a precious little box that she keeps in her private House at all times. I need you to go and fetch it for me and bring it back, whole and complete. I'll even be generous and start you at the River Styx, just to save some tedious walking."

Psyche nodded, obedient. Aphrodite stalked over to her poor victim and lifted Psyche's face up with one perfect fingernail under the girl's chin. Psyche dared not meet the lovely eyes of the goddess. "How anybody could mistake you for something as beautiful as me, I will never understand." Aphrodite whispered, her voice layered with malice. "Mortals are fools. If you can survive this, little butterfly, you may take your crippled body back to my son and be happy together. If he can still stand the sight of you, that is."

Psyche felt heavy with exhaustion and fear. She wanted Eros here with her so badly she could almost taste it. The short time with Himeros had only reawakened the need she had for Eros's arms, his words, his sweet kisses. She dragged herself to her feet with the force of that desire and moaned, feeling her loneliness keenly. But she moved towards that door for the last time, for better or for worse. With Aphrodite's mocking laughter in her ears, Psyche cried and pushed open the door. She was back at a familiar landscape – that grey nothingness of stone. Psyche wailed when the door shut behind her and vanished from sight. It was so unfair, all of it!

Despair sucked at her, draining her willpower. She considered that Orpheus had a point – there did come a time when hopeless love drove you to lay down and simply waste away. Her tears tasted bitter; acid rolled in her stomach. The ground was jagged with stones but all of a sudden it seemed like the best place for her. Psyche let her knees give way and fell into the dirt. For there was no way to survive a descent to the Underworld.

Yes, some heroes had managed the feat, but she was no hero... As though thought had conjured reality there suddenly came to her ears the distinct sound of male voices. One was calm, assertive and the other sounded shrill, almost panicked. She lifted her head to try and see the speakers. One enormous hero was a bit of a mess. He was wounded terribly; blood poured down his forearms and the back of him was bright red.

He was pulling himself along somehow on shaky legs. It was his panicked words she had heard while lying in the stones. The other hero was tugging the collar of an enormous three-headed hound... Psyche realized with some shock she had to be staring at Cerberus, the dog that guarded the Underworld. But gods and goddesses, what were these heroes doing with /Cerberus/? Psyche staggered to something like a sitting position just as Theseus fell. Hercules frowned but there was little he could do. Scrambling to his knees Theseus groaned. "Go on without me," he muttered into the stone. "I need to rest and gather my strength. I have not walked in so long and..."

"You will survive," Hercules still frowned. "But I'm not going to just abandon you here." Psyche got to her own feet and teetered towards them. Something within her was fascinated by the pair and the gigantic dog, as though all of her reality had become one vast ridiculous dream. She fumbled until she found a waterskin at her hip and, with it aloft, she approached the heroes. Hercules saw her and held Cerberus behind him carefully. His companion coughed and sprawled further into the stone. Psyche approached the stricken man and put the water to his lips. He guzzled eagerly.