Taking Orders in the Underworld (The Underworld Novellas Book 2) by Gwyneth Lesley

Author:Gwyneth Lesley [Lesley, Gwyneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Outspoken Ink Press
Published: 2023-05-19T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE: A maestro by morning

It was agreed that Nyx would escort Nika to Orpheus’ dwelling the following nightfall, for her mother’s schedule for tonight had already been set. Nika, for once, was more than happy to accept the offer, for she did not want to go to the caves alone.

The memories of the screams of insanity down there still haunted her.

The caves were where those the gods wanted to make an example of were found. After cheating death twice, King Sisyphus was forced to push a boulder up a hill that never quite reached the top before it rolled back down, only for the king to start pushing it all over again. Tantalus was imprisoned in a cave with a pool of water and a fruit tree, neither of which he could eat or drink from – thereby eternally hungry and thirsty. Then there were the Danaïdes who had murdered their husbands. They were forced to carry water in a jug to fill the bath that would wash off their sins. A shame, then, that the jugs had cracks and the water never made it to the bath.

Nika had experienced her first tour of the caves beside her mother when she was a brand-new, fresh-eyed deity, believing that her role was to restore good in the world. To learn that these were the curses put upon Souls … no, she had not wanted to play in the land of madness. Her mother had always tried to tell her that madness was essential. That without it, one couldn’t appreciate logic – ‘logos’, she’d called it, still fluently speaking the language of the ancients – or reasoning. Nika disagreed. She’d not wanted to become the curse lackey that placed such a burden just because some god felt slighted.

So, after a surprisingly sound sleep in her childhood bed, Nika decided to spend the day in her old neighbourhood while she waited for nightfall.

Her parents home, castle really, sat on top of one of the crags that overlooked the spider-like district of Tartarus, each road leading out from the centre of the mountainous rock. It cast a shadow across the tarred streets, which was appropriate for her mother and father, given their titles. They were treated like royalty here. Even Hades tended to leave Tartarus to them, not wanting to piss off the primordials who had been around longer than his existence.

Making her way down the jagged footpath, Nika went exploring all her old local haunts. There was the old carriageworks building, where craftsmen welded the palladium that was mined out of the depths of Tartarus. Then there were the market stalls behind the carriageworks, where said items were traded on the black market. There were the mines themselves, though those were no fun. And, of course, there were the usual shops, cafes, and eateries that Nika had grown up with; Asclepius’ Apothecary, Hecate’s Witchcraft Herbs & Tinctures, and Aristaeus’ Butchery, to name a few.

By the time she returned to the family home, her mother was ready and waiting for her, and dusk began to fall around them.

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