Chapter 2 Welcome to the Underworld
The House of Hades was a palace made of polished black marble. The Ferry man pulled into the dock and every body got off.
As every body automatically went up the black stair case and entered the house Alexander stopped on the dock and watched as the ferryman boarded the boat he picked up the oar and set off once again.
Alexander turned back to the house and slowly began to climb the stairs.
He didn't know what he expected of the house of Hades but it wasn't anything he had imagined.
The entrance hall was covered from ceiling to floor in black velvet the windows were stained glass that had nightmarish creatures in them.
He could hear the slow beat of a drum calling them closer; he followed the mass of people in to a room that was jus like the entrance hall except it had one blood red window at the end of the hall. The room was lit by a hanging chandler.
People where sat around Alexander didn't know who he was ever going to find Hephaistion in this crowd, he got the feeling that the House Of Hades was a lot bigger than he first thought.
Another thing that was troubling him was that nobody seemed to notice who he was the amount of people who he had passed some he recognised had not stop him. He spotted a young officer that had been killed in India by a snake bite and was about to go up to him when the doors at one end of the room open.
The room fell silent as the figure came closer to the room and the door closed.
The figure who had enter the room was no other then the lord of the underworld Hades himself.
He wore a blood red chiton his hair was long and black and his eyes were a dark brown that they almost looked black.
He came into the room and went to stand on a little stage his voice echoed through out the whole room.
"Welcome to the Underworld," he said "It is that you would be spending eternity here well not here this is my house it just a place where you wait while I decide where to put you."
His eyes scanned the room and Alexander looked down.
Then he felt it, somebody staring at him boring into his soul he looked up and realized that it was Hades that was staring at him with an evil grin on is face.
Alexander went numb the stare and the grin made him go cold inside he wondered if Hephaistion had to stand this, as quickly as the cold feeling had come it was gone again.
"And while you wait I hope that you all enjoy my hospitably." he clapped his hands and suddenly wine and food appeared people smiled and clapped then dug in.
Alexander noticed that a small band of musician had begun to form in one corner and Hades was talking to a figure that was dressed in a silk black hooded robe. Once again Hades spoke to the room.
"How about some entrainment, Alexios will you grace us with a dance."
The hooded figure bowed, stepped forward and out onto the open space that was in front of the tables.
Alexander who had put food on his plate and wine his goblet was sat idly pushing it around he was to busy thinking about how to find Hephaistion, when something about the dancer caught his eye.
The dancer slip off the black robed and Alexander's mouth dropped.
The dancer wore a brown leather loin cloth and had brown leather laces wrapped around each leg and tied at the top, His brown hair was hanging lose and a brown band was around his head. His blue eyes were made enormous by the heavy kohl.
The dancer was his Hephaistion.
