Chapter 4: Him, himself, and he.

The room was as sparkling clean as the rest of the palace, but about twenty times more majestic. There was a high arching ceiling, with columns scattered about the room, forming a path straight down the center, leading up to the sparkling clean throne.

The inhabitant of this sparkling clean throne was actually shorter than I'd imagined him. He sat with a displeased look on his face, which brightened minutely when the goons ushered my father and me into the room.

" So you managed to catch them?" said the small man on the throne. His voice was much deeper then you'd expect from one so small.

" It was quite easy, actually, Your Majesty." Said G#1

The man on the throne puffed up with fury at this. "You think your job is easy? You think it's simple capturing a half-blood?"

"N-n-no Your Highness, h-h-he meant the little imp's father. He was quite easy to capture."

The little man's temper deflated as quickly as it had flared, and he settled contentedly on his throne, but a look of displeasure shadowed his face at every moment.

"That guard was right saying Ares is in a bad mood," muttered G#2 to G#1 under his breath. "Be careful what you say! I can't cover for you every time!"

"So…" the little man who I assumed was Ares said in his surprisingly deep booming voice. He must have been the one who was talking when we entered.

"So you have managed to capture the half-blood and her father…" As he spoke he got up and walked around us, examining every inch of our bodies.

Suddenly, his obviously quick temper flared again.

"IS HER ANKLE SWELLED??" He boomed, his loud voice hurting my ears.

"I told you idiots to bring her back unharmed!"

"B-b-b-but y-y-your H-H-Highness," whimpered G#1, "The little devil kicked me!" At this he once again held out his 'injured' leg, which, like earlier, had no scratch on it, not even a dent on the rock-hard muscles.

"That's why you RESTRAIN HER!!" Said Ares, dangerously low on the first three words, then raising his voice so it hurt our ears once again on the last two.

"Y-y-yes your Majesty." Stuttered G#1, bowing as he said it.

"What should we do with the prisoners, Your Most High and Mighty?" said G#2.

"Prisoners? Why, these aren't prisoners!" Said Ares, immediately capping his temper and surprisingly enough not flipping out that the goons did something wrong. To top it off, an evil smile spread across his face as he spoke.

"These are our valued guests, and they should be treated as such," Purred Ares, nothing about him seeming convincing. I decided to play along anyway though.

"So you don't want us dead?" I asked, looking as innocent as I could manage.

"No, of course not! Where did you get such a silly idea?" Ares walked over to me as he said it, and caressed my face with his hand. It was all I could do not to flinch or smack the hand away.

"Well, being captured is kind of what made me think we weren't exactly on your VIP list. That kind of thing is what you do to prisoners," I pointed out.

"Oh, that's just Adonis and Luke for you." Chortled Ares. "They just have a tendency for violence."

As much that was a good thing to hear, I wasn't buying it. I decided to play along though, for fear of what would happen.

"Okay then, when do we get food?" I asked, realizing as I said it that I was starving half to death. I was used to an after-school snack, but being captured interrupted my daily schedule as you can well imagine.

"Oh, I'll get those two to send you up to your chambers, and I'll have the cooks get you some food. You must be starving!"

"Yes we are, thank you." Said my father. As he said it everyone in there jumped, except the goons, who were too busy playing rock-paper-scissors. He hadn't said anything so far, and he had a look on his face saying ' I'm not sure I know what's going on, but I'm just going to accept it'.

Ares looked shocked by my father's curt tone. Who could blame him though? He must want like heck to get to the room to have some privacy for thinking.

"Well I expect you want to go to your rooms now." Said Ares with an insulted sniff.

"Finally!" I breathed. I was getting really fed up with Ares' pompous attitude.

We were ushered through the castle, but it didn't seem as impressive anymore after seeing the throne room. Even if I hadn't seen the throne room I wouldn't have enjoyed walking through the magnificent castle. After thinking of a comfy room and food I was almost dead on my feet.

"Here you are." G#1's rough voice woke me out of my half-sleep.

"Sleep tight, and let the bedbugs bite!" Said G#2. Obviously we hadn't made any friends out of them.

I only remember a few moment's consciousness, at least enough to stumble to a bed, before merciful blackness took me.