Abandon All Hope

Chapter Fourteen

As the crowd continued to pound against the gods' barrier surrounding the heroes, Hercules finally spoke up vehemently saying, "I know that some of you believe that Dahak is still possessing Iolaus because of the lies you have been fed by Ariclytus and this witch you believe is fighting on your side. Most of you know Iolaus is himself and that you just don't care because you need someone to blame for all your suffering Dahak caused you. You can't blame a man you all once considered a friend. If you do, then you're no better than Dahak or the gods that feed on your pain and suffering for their own selfish ends. Please think about what you're doing."

Ariclytus glared at the half god and shouted, "Hercules is lying! You can't listen to him. All he wants to do is save his murderous friend!"

"I suggest you hurry it up, little brother," Ares called out angrily. "We won't be able to keep this up for much longer. There's a reason why we've never gone up against this evil witch before."

"He's right," Hercules responded as Hope's spell on the people began to weaken causing them to slowly begin to stop beating against the obstruction between them and the heroes. "I do want to save him. He's my best friend and has been my whole life. I know him better than anyone, which is why I know he is himself and a man, who would never harm any of you. I know him as well as I know each of my friends here and your king. We are all trying to save you from the real evil standing among you, the daughter of all evil."

As he moved to stand beside Hercules, Iphicles firmly continued, "My brother is right. Many of you are people of compassion and decency. You are all also obedient and loyal to your king. As your king, I am asking you to please, listen to Hercules, as I know that you've all considered him a hero at least once in your lives and most of you have always believed him to be. For those of you, who won't listen to my plea, I will make it an order if I have to."

"Don't stop!" Gwen replied as more of the crowd finally stopped what they were doing and began to shake off the spell's effects.

"Hercules and Iolaus are our friends!" Phoebe cried.

Archivus quickly added, "You all know this. Come on!"

Jason stepped forward and said, "Fight her!"

"Hercules is right!" one of the people from the crowd spoke finally as she stepped back after realizing what she had been doing. "They're all right!"

"We can't do this," another man answered back in agreement with the woman. "If Hercules says that the demon that possessed Iolaus is gone, then he's gone and we've been tricked into harming our friend by this witch that Ariclytus has asked us to have faith in."

Hercules responded, "You have been manipulated and put under the Great Evil's curse. She is your enemy, not us. Now that you can see the truth, stop your fighting and stand down. Let me and our friends take care of Iolaus, please."

Hope finally lost her strength to keep up her fight against the gods standing with Hercules and his friends, lowered her arms, then the gods lowered the barrier as she stared coldly at Hercules, and replied, "I may have failed to kill you again, Hercules, but your friend still paid for your nobility. Iolaus is near death. Even if he lives, he will ever be the man you knew again."

"You underestimate the strength in him, just as you underestimated me," the son of Zeus answered with more confidence in his voice than with what he felt as he sadly looked down at the man in his arms. "He didn't let the demon, Dahak beat him and he won't let the daughter of all evil beat him either. Together we're undefeated."

"And this time, he has us to fight for him as well," Aphrodite responded as she moved to stand in front of Hercules and the others, followed by Hephaestus. "You're finished here, Hope. I suggest you hit the road and disappear for another few thousand years."

Hephaestus replied, "As long as Hercules is alive, you don't stand a chance in spreading your evil around and you know that you can't kill him."

It was then that a few in the crowd, followed by the rest of the people, with the exception of a few like Ariclytus and Gwen, started to chant loudly over and over, "Get out of Corinth! Get out of Corinth! Get out of Corinth!"

"You've lost, Hope," Hercules shouted out over the chanting. "Now do as they say and leave. You can't stay where you're not welcome."

With that, Hope faded and disappeared from Corinth for good. The people all began to cheer wildly, as did Jason, Iphicles, Autolycus, the Argonauts, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and even Discord. Hercules just stood there and stared out among the crowd, then looked down again at Iolaus.

It was then that Ares moved to stand beside Hercules and spoke up saying, "You know, I didn't think you'd be successful this time, Hercules. I hate to admit that I'm glad you won. That doesn't happen very often and it will never happen again."

"I don't care if that is your way of thanking me for helping you against Hope, or if that was a threat," the son of Zeus answered coldly without turning to look at him. "All I care about is getting Iolaus back to take care of him. See you again soon."

"I've already sent for a physician back when Iolaus was first taken," Iphicles said as he and the rest of the heroes followed behind Hercules as he carried Iolaus toward the palace. "He should be here by tonight."

Then, from out of nowhere, Ariclytus suddenly charged toward the half god with a knife in his hand in attempt to finish Iolaus off, when Domesticles and Archivus both got in his path and shoved the leader of the mob back with one of their staffs, causing him to fly backward and land in the still burning fire that once was the pyre where he had initially tried to kill their friend. Gwen screamed just as loudly as he did as he burned to death and everyone just stood back in shock.

Domesticles finally stated, "We didn't mean for that to happen. We were only protecting our friends."

Iphicles nodded and then called out to the people of Corinth, "What just happened is tragic, but it was an accident. If there is anyone else, who feels the same way as Ariclytus and Gwen here, who try to harm my friend again, I will have you arrested and imprisoned for the rest of your life. Is that understood?"

Everyone just turned away and began to disperse as Hercules and the others started back again toward the palace. As Iphicles had said, Hemnor, a well known physician throughout Greece, had arrived that night and finished administering on Iolaus after Hercules and the rest of the heroes worked to make him as comfortable as they could.

It wasn't until nearly morning that Hemnor finally walked out of Iolaus' room and said softly, "He isn't well. He has been beaten and whipped so badly… I've done the best I can do for him. I'm afraid now all we can do is wait."

"Thank you for helping him," Hercules sadly responded. "I'll be staying with him. The rest of you go and get some rest."

"No way," Phoebe replied. "We're staying right here until we know that Iolaus is going to be all right."

"But there's nothing more you can do," Hercules said. "You've already done more than enough."

Jason looked around at their friends in the hallway outside of the room and then answered, "We can give Iolaus as much of our strength as we can to help him get better, and he will. He's too stubborn to die again."

And just as Jason and the rest of their friends had assured the son of Zeus, Iolaus finally did manage to recover for the most part, at least physically, within six days after remaining in bed to heal. However, emotionally, he wasn't doing well. He refused to speak or even look at his friends as he felt ashamed. He wanted to believe their assurances that he wasn't to blame for anything he had done while possessed by Dahak or for any harmed caused by Hope, but after hearing all the cruel things said by the people he had always fought to protect, he could no longer accept that he was the hero he knew Hercules and the others believed him to be.

It wasn't until two nights later, as Hercules sat at the end of his bed and just talked about random things that Iolaus finally spoke for the first time as he asked quietly, "Why are you still here, Hercules?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" the half god responded. "You're still my best friend. Despite what you think I should feel, I don't hate you or think any less of you. You could have fought against the people to try to escape, but you didn't."

"I didn't because they were right," Iolaus replied.

Hercules shook his head and answered, "No, they were wrong. No one has the right to harm another person out of revenge. Dahak, Hope, and Ariclytus are the only ones to blame for everything you've been through and if I have to follow you around for the rest of our lives in order to remind you that, I will."

Iolaus suddenly laughed as he finally looked up at his best friend and then responded, "You probably would. I'm still not so sure you're right, but I promise to try to believe you. Thank you, Hercules, you know, for saving me again."

"You're stronger than you think," Hercules replied. "It's good to have you back, Iolaus."

"It's good to be back," Iolaus answered.

The End