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.'I never thought of speaking to them,' he whispered.'Wretched lot,' said Alistair.'They just got my goat.'His mind jumped back to a day in the countryside during his training to be an officer.In the course of a TEWT - a Tactical Exercise Without Troops - he'd slipped up badly and condemned a whole battalion, some three hundred imaginary men, to certain slaughter.'Wait,' he went on, as Hermy turned to go.'Surely there must be another way out of here?' All good soldiers make sure they have a line of retreat.To go Into action without one is nothing but foolish bravado.Hermy paused for a moment before he replied.'There's.' He swallowed nervously, and continued, '.there's Hades' private way to the gate.''And where's that?'The only way to it that I know of is through the archway behind the throne.But I.I wouldn't dare to.' He couldn't go on.Where was the fearless teenager who'd swarmed to the top of the ML's mast?'Which way now?'Hermy nodded to the right, where the passageway curved out of sight, and Alistair set off once more.Hermy scuttled after him, catching up just as he reached the bend.Less than twenty feet away, the end of the passage opened out into the glare of the central cavern.'We're nearly there,' he breathed.'Sephie's just around corner.'Alistair started forward, but Hermy put out a restraining hand a trembling hand, Alistair noticed.After all, he's only a kid, he thought, and shook an exasperate head as he remembered that this kid had said that he was over three thousand years old.Hermy, gesturing for Alistair to follow, started to lead the cautiously towards the opening.And immediately stopped, with a warning look.To Alistair's surprise, he heard the clip-clop of hooves.Horses? Down here?But it wasn't horses.Crossing the opening were two creatures that looked like the drawing of Pan in that rather soppy chapter of The Wind in the Willows - the one where the otter cub got lost - horns, goat's legs, the lot.But more to the point, following closely behind them was Nicolevic, a.k.a.Hades, no longer in his colonel's uniform, nor in the sober business suit of the 'chairman of the board', but resplendent in the garb of a king of ancient Greece.Alistair glanced round at Hermy.He seemed to be trying to become part of the wall.Leaving him to get on with it, Alistair moved swiftly but silently to the end of the corridor and looked round the corner, keeping his body out of sight, Intelligence-fashion, just in time to see the group come to a stop by the opening of a similar passageway.'Well, well, well,' he heard Hades saying, 'if it isn't little Miss Persephone.We were just on our way to have a word with you.'Alistair drew back as Hades returned, followed by Sephie, head held high, in the rough grasp of the two satyrs.Thrusting the anguish of seeing her so to the back of his mind, he forced himself into action.He was going into battle, and every sense had to be sabre sharp.Taking the risk of being seen, he moved onto the high ledge outside to watch where they were taking her.The walls of the central cavern where Hades held court (which was as massive as the interior of a medieval cathedral) were a tumble of crags, clefts and caves, which owed nothing to human Mind.Here and there were the signs of centuries of occupation, such as the roughly carved steps down which the group was going.At the bottom a motley crowd of humans, satyrs, centaurs and so on was waiting, all watching avidly.(Alistair caught a glimpse of a woman who undoubtedly had a head of writhing snakes Instead of hair.) As Hades reached them, there was a ripple of movement and they formed a respectful aisle, leading to the other rod of the chamber where the solid rock had been carved into a dais.On the dais were, surprisingly, two thrones, also made of stone, carved with intricate esoteric patterns.In front of it, lighting up the whole chamber, was the pit of fire with its leaping, greedy flames.The first thing was to suss out a safe way down, out of sight of the floor.Amongst the crags there were plenty of alternative routes.Alistair turned to beckon Hermy out - but there was no Hermy.Ah well, it wasn't the first time he'd seen it.All the signs were there - and now the boy's nerve had cracked completely.A pity, but there it was.He was on his own.CHAPTER TWELVEHades turned as he reached his throne, and watched inscrutably as Sephie was half dragged, half carried up the steps of the dais.'Let me go! I'm perfectly capable of walking!'Hades gave a nod, and the satyrs relaxed their grip.'Well, my dear,' he said, the coldness of his eyes giving the lie to the warmth of his words, 'have you changed your mind?''Get lost, you creep,' said Sephie, rubbing her arms where satyrs had held her.'And they told me that you had learnt your lesson! You disappoint me.'He sat down on his throne and surveyed her thoughtfully.'Stick or carrot?' he said.'We've tried the stick.'Sephie, hardly listening to him, was looking around her to assess her chances of escape.Zero minus minus, she concluded gloomily.Not only were her personal attendants still standing by, but two more satyrs, Hades' bodyguards, were only yards away.'You do realise.' went on Hades, 'just what I'm offering you? Not only to take your rightful place alongside me as Queen of the Underworld.' and he gestured to the companion throne, '.the place which has been waiting for you for over three millennia, but in the fullness of time the expectation of sharing with me the worship of every living creature on this planet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]