King of Defiance by Michele Amitrani

Author:Michele Amitrani [Amitrani, Michele]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988770246
Publisher: Michele Amitrani

7

Rebellious Soul

I woke up in the middle of the night, my throat dry and scratchy. I went to fetch something to drink and found Thanatos waiting for me in the hallway.

“No trick this time.” The god of death had an inscrutable face.

“None is needed,” was my answer. I was surprised by my flat tone. I was ready. I gave him my wrists willingly, chin up, back straight. The chain closed around my forearms with a definitive clang.

A cloud of smoke seized us, and the next thing I knew, I was on the bank of a wide river, swallowed by a fog so thick, one would need a sword to cut it. The river stunk of rotten fish and spoiled eggs. The water was the color of old ashes.

Charon, the ferryman of the dead, was waiting beside a long boat.

Our stories say that when mortals go to the Underworld, they become shades. I could not tell if I had become one, for I kept my mortal body and all my senses. My heart continued to beat, air escaped from my lungs and I felt a chilling cold carried by the foul wind.

I looked at my wrists and realized the manacles had disappeared.

Thanatos pushed me forward. “Treat this one roughly, little brother,” he said to Charon with a sharp voice, “for he cheated death one too many times.” Thanatos flapped his wings and disappeared into the darkness.

The ferryman outstretched his bony hand. “A coin for a passage.”

I showed him my empty hands. “I have none.”

“None?” Charon spat on the ground. “Your aura speaks of kingship and riches, mortal. What reason could you have not to pay for the passage?”

“I have no coin,” I repeated, “for I don’t want you to bring me to the three judges. But I will offer you a bargain to bring me to another destination.”

Charon raised an eyebrow. “A bargain? I don’t know if you noticed, mortal. You are in the Underworld. There is no bargain you can make.”

“I disagree. How would you like to receive a thousand times a thousand of your bribe, if you grant me my request?”

“A thousand times a thousand? That is a bold statement.”

“I am a bold man.”

“You’re a dead man.”

“That is true, but I was a king before, as you pointed out. Hear me, wise man. Don’t let the judges decide where to sort me. Bring me instead to the house of Hades. I will convince the King of the Underworld to release me from the land of the shades. When I’m back in the world of the living I will institute a new law: every deceased in my dominion must have two obolos placed on their eyes—instead of a single coin on their tongue—before the burial. This will double your payment every time you ship one of my citizens to Cerberus’ gates. I am talking about a drastic increase in your death tax. Multiply it for hundreds of years of ferrying, and you might just become the richest of men on both worlds.

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