Interlude - Ares

The monstrosity lunged itself at the much smaller being who swiftly jumped to the side, spun around on a heel and lashed out with his sharp sword, slicing up a large portion of the beast's side. In response the beast growled and turned, big clawed paws trying to reach its foe. But he was nowhere near anymore, within moments he had danced to the other side and was attacking again, now using a second blade to inflict an almost identical wound on the beast's right flank. Once more was the beast grabbing for the swordfighter, struggling to predict the next move. Far from easy, this very fighter never performed the same stunt twice, at least not in the same battle. Instead he dived down and with a war-cry he slid close to the beast and stabbed almost vertically with both blades at the same time, wounding the beast in the belly. Wounding it fatally, pulling out bowels as he withdrew his weapons. With a quick move he backed off, both to avoid the beast's swinging fists and the same's stinking intestines. Almost within the same oddly graceful move did he launch himself in the air and lashed out with a leg. A foot clad in a steel-hooded boot hit the beast right in the chest.

As the swordsman somersaulted backwards and landed on the snow-clad ground, the beast fell like a trunk in the storm and crashed against a large pine. The mighty old tree shook quite a bit and let go of a large heap of snow which landed upon the now dead beast.

With a husky laugher, the man shifted so he was now holding both swords in the left hand, walked the three steps up to where the beast had fallen and leant over it with a snarling expression that twisted his handsome face quite a bit. The smell of these things! With a glowed right hand he reached out and tugged at a golden chain encircling the dead beast's thick neck, pulling it off with a snap.
"Minotaurs!" he scoffed as he regarded the charm which hung from the chain, while he held it in the air in front of himself, swinging it slightly. "Who's organizing these beasts?"

Then he turned around, regarding the two dead horse-men lying in the snow. One elderly but still strong, with defined muscles and chestnut fur and slightly darker hair and tail. The other one was black-furred, dark in skin and had been quite a bit younger when he was sent down to queue for Charon's ferry.
"And what's their vendetta with the Centaurs?" he said with a lot more upset voice.

"Ares! Lord Ares!" the high-pitched voice made him turn around.
"Hippomeda?" Ares faced the female Centaur who came galloping through the forest, a distressed expression in her face and bow and arrows clasped hard in her hands. When Hippomeda reached the clearing her face turned into one of utterly despair.
"Nooooo!" Her yell echoed in the otherwise so silent forest and some screaming jackdaws took into the air, scared away from a nearby tree.
"'Meda... I'm Sorry." was the only and inadequate thing Ares could say. "Was a Minotaur. Another one."
"But... but... but..." Hippomeda staggered. "I thought them all dead. I thought... Oh no, no, no... Anax... Orikles!"

"Apparently there are more of them out there," Ares' voice was steely. "And they might be coming here. I suggest I'll help you organize a better defense." Then he walked over to the forlorn horsewoman and simply laid his strong arms around her, that was the only consolidation he could think of offering at the moment.

*o*o*

"Yes, father, someone's killing the Centaurs," Ares said with a poignant voice. "Someone is sending Minotaurs to take them out. I cannot believe the beasts are organizing themselves, since they're even more stupid than the bouvines they resemble."

Zeus sighed and balled a fist, resting his squarey cheek upon it, his blond hair shone like gold in the lamplight. The equally fair haired Athena, sitting next to Ares, remembered several jokes about cows, but none of them felt adequate now.
"You think someone's sending those Minotaurs after the Centaurs?" the King of the Gods asked and looked at the trio sitting in front of him in his stately office. Beside Ares and Athena, Cadmilos was in the room, oddly solemn for being him. Then again, Cadmilos was the protector of what was generally referred to as the 'wild' races and he was not looking kindly upon anyone threatening them.

"I definitely do," the War God replied. "Zelos and I hit back the first wave of Minotaurs almost a year ago. But not until they had killed more than 200 Centaurs. It was one awful fight, but when we were done there was nothing hinting at this being more than a random disagreement between the two specimens. We believed the danger to be over and moved on to other things. Until I got this call of distress a few days back. Another Centaur tribe had been hit by Minotaurs. This time the beasts were only 30 but they managed to do a lot of damage. And since Zelos was not around - no other fighter to be true - I had to do the cleanup myself. Even though these Centaurs were a bit better prepared we lost almost a hundred. The race is bleeding, father, something has to be done. We have to find whoever it is going after the Centaurs."

"Yes, I've red Ares' report," Athena added. "And done some calculation myself. If this genocide does not stop soon, we'll be down to a critical level where the Centaurs become unable to multiply without inbreeding. Especially since they have so hard to overcome their tribal differences and cross-intercourse."
"So what are you going to do?" Cadmilos asked. "Any plan?"
"Can we bring the Centaurs into safety?" Zeus asked.
"There's already some of them living here at Olympos, as guards and security detail." Cadmilos said. "Can't we..."
"There's a bit more than 600 Centaurs in all the area of Hellas. Naturally we cannot bring them all here," Zeus pointed out.
"But some..." Cadmilos began whereupon Zeus shook his head.
"How are we to select those 'some'? And then how do we explain to the 'not some' that they are out and the others are in? No, we have to do better than that. Olympos is our home; it cannot be an asylum for every threatened race in the world. Because then WE would have nowhere to be at peace."

"Would it be possible to assign some of us to keep a closer look upon the Centaurs - at least until we have traced down the threat?" Ares asked.
"Yes, it would," Zeus agreed. "On the other hand I want you and Athena to attack instead of defend. I want you to give your best in finding the one or the ones behind these attacks upon the Centaurs. Who's sending the Minotaurs."
"I guess we can fairly rule out the Minotaurs themselves," Athena thought. "As Ares said, they are not smart enough. And the mortal humans, they have no command over Minotaurs. Or at least I've only met one who had - and he's dead since almost a century."
"Who can command the Minotaurs then?" Cadmilos asked. "I know of no such..."
"Neither do I," Athena replied. "But still it's obvious that somebody does. And we need to find that one."

"That mortal," Zeus enquired. "Who was he?"
"A Cretan named Tyrabos," Athena answered. "When he was in his thirties he managed to capture some of the Minotaurs who were living in the Cretan wilderness. He locked them up and studied them and apparently he learned to communicate with them. Tyrabos was yearning to learn more about them. He believed they were possible to pet and to be put to work, as a bit more intelligent beasts of burden than general oxen. Unfortunately the rest of the people in the municipality Tyrabos lived in did not agree, and after failed attempts to stop him they simply attacked his farm and killed both him and his family and all his captured Minotaurs. Then they burned the place to the ground. Making sure that none of the notes Tyrabos had made about his work with the beasts survived."
"Horrid - but interesting," Zeus said.

"May it be that some of this Tyrabos' notes did subsist?" Ares figured. "And have now ended up in the wrong hands?"
"Very much possible," Athena replied.
"But who could that be?" Cadmilos furrowed his heavy brows and sucked in breath between his teeth. "If it all burned down I mean?"
"It's very much possible that Tyrabos kept copies elsewhere," Athena guessed. "Copies which were later found by someone who has a problem with Centaurs. It's no secret that there are a lot of mortal humans who want to get rid of the horse-men for various reasons. It is after all the humans who have been the biggest threat to the Centaurs over the centuries."

"But there is peace now, isn't it?" Cadmilos insisted.
"Peace is always relative," Ares replied. "There's always people out there who do not accept the various peaces and who want to resume warring as soon as possible. People believing the peace has been forced upon them without them having any say in the matter. People believing the peace being unfair. If they get the chance they tend to take the matter in their own hands. Just look at the Thracians. After almost a decade they are once again arming themselves against the Amazons, who in return are..."

"Ares, we're deriving from the subject here," Zeus cut him off. "What I want you to do, is to keep a vigilant eye on the centaurs. I'll assign Zelos and Bia to your help, you can brief them about this as soon as they come home tonight. Athena, I want you to try to find out if there's some truth to your suspicion about the notes on Minotaurs by this Tyrabos. If they might have come astray, and if this may lead you to the ones after the Centaurs. Or if not, if it's possible to find this foe some other way."
"May the fates be of help?" Cadmilos asked.
"I hardly think so," Zeus sighed. "They seldom keep their eyes on other beings than the humans and their realm. The so-called wild races are nothing they bother with."

"But can't you ask them to make an exception in this case?"
"No, Cadmilos," Zeus replied. "The Fates are exceptional interpreters of the temporal and spatial waves and occurrences. But they are independent ladies who take orders very reluctantly. In this case I know they will protest eagerly, consider it beneath their dignity."
"But Zeus, you are the King of the Gods, they have to obey you."
"This has nothing to do with my status. Being forced they will perform without excellence. It will lead to nothing and only make them hostile and unhelpful. I will not command them to do this."

Zeus had hardly finished when Cadmilos started to argue the wisdom of such a decision and Ares stood and walked over to the window, staring out over the gardens of Olympos with his hands crossed at the back. No matter that it was winter, his mountain home rested in some kind of eternal early summer with verdant greenery and blossoms everywhere, the afternoon sun slanting down over a lush landscape and glittering in ponds and canals, shining off the gilded rooftops of the Olympian palaces and villas. It was all very exquisite and tranquil, still it did nothing to cheer up the war god's bad mood. He felt miserable, and it wasn't only related to the Centaurs. He was troubled with a shortcoming of personal matters as well. Zeus' mentioning of Bia had brought it all up to Ares again. Bia and Zelos and their siblings Kratos and Nike had been among Zeus' loyal enforcers since before Ares was born, from the late years of the Titan war to be true. It was from them Ares had learned most of his fighting skills. Bia had trained him together with her own daughter Euryphaessa and two other youths, named Agon and Anankê. When Agon and Anankê soon became a couple it was only natural that Ares and Euryphaessa teamed up as well.

They became lovers and soul-mates, comrades in arms. Something Ares had taken for granted would always last. He had never questioned his deep connection with Euryphaessa. At least until recently, when Hyperion got in the way. That damn old fart who was the father of Helios, Selene and Eos! Hyperion came between Ares and Euryphaessa and - to cut a long story short - lured her away from war and battles and from Ares. The war god had been quite taken by surprise, he became angered, sad and disappointed. Finding himself facing a battle he didn't know how to fight. How to battle an ally of his father - over a woman?

Ares knew that if he lashed out against Hyperion using violence he would probably defeat the older man. But he wouldn't be victorious in spite, since his deed would hardly give him Euryphaessa back. Most probably such a course of action might push Euryphaessa and Hyperion even tighter. So Ares was at loss for strategy. And Athena was no one to ask, she never thought about love, she hardly ever loved to be true. Ares had never really heard his older sister claim someone to her heart. So as a desperate course of action Ares had sought revenge by bedding Hyperion's two daughters. Eos had been a piece of cake, Selene a bit harder - and as a result Ares had learned that - nobody GAVE A DAMN!

Actually, that was not entirely true. Eos had taken her liking to Ares and now she kept on shadowing him all around and therefore the God of War had found himself playing the most embarrassing cat and mouse game. Now he didn't know what to do. He wanted Euryphaessa back and he sure didn't want Eos sitting outside his door when he came home tonight. Sighing deeply, he returned with half an ear to the conversation behind him.

"...promised to protect them!" Cadmilos persisted.
"Yes, but to protect someone they must foremost want to be protected. And we can't pamper the Centaurs like we ward over nymphs and mortals," Zeus replied. "The Centaurs are a proud race. They do not want human gods watching over every step they take."
"How about their own god?" Athena asked. "Why don't we ask Cheiron?"

Zeus sighed at the mention of his old brother in arms.
"If you can find him, Athena, you're more than welcome to ask him. To plead to his conscience both as a Centaur and as an immortal. Nonetheless he's been missing for more than two centuries now, and I'm not even sure he's still alive. I think it's better if you follow the Tyrabos lead."

Ares turned around, that was the distraction he might need to get over Euryphaessa.
"Let me try to find the Centaur immortal," he offered. "I'm quite sure Bia and Zelos can ward over the Centaurs on their own. While I go looking for Cheiron."
"Let me come with you," Cadmilos volunteered and Ares made a double-take. This wasn't something he had expected. Cadmilos! Ares almost wanted to groin, he had very little patience with the stubborn son of Nyx. But Zeus and Athena seemed to think it was a good idea, they believed Cadmilos would be better than Ares at persuading Cheiron into giving a helping hand against the plaguing Minotaurs. A helping hand as well as someone the Centaurs could trust.
"Father, the Centaurs trust me," Ares protested.
"I know they do," Zeus replied. "I'm very impressed with the work you've done so far with cleaning out the Minotaurs. But if we are to have someone permanently watching over the Centaurs, I believe Cheiron to be the one. He is Centaur himself and understands how they think more than anyone of us do. Besides, you'll be needed at the front in the future, son, because I hold no doubt that other wars will be coming our way."

The war god nodded, he knew his father was right. Still he did not back off entirely.
"If Cadmilos is coming with me I'll need to have another warrior too. Someone to keep an eye on this nature god who is good at doing his thing but cannot hold a sword. Give me Nike! Or at least Kratos."

Zeus seemed to hesitate for a while before he yielded:
"Okay, I'll send Nike with you. She's been dying for some good old action lately anyway. Besides, Cheiron used to like her." With those words Zeus wrapped up the meeting and both Athena and Cadmilos were soon on their way. However Zeus asked Ares to stay. As his son lingered with his hands upon the back of the chair where he had been sitting, Zeus asked:
"Son, what is troubling you? Beside the Centaurs and Cheiron that is?"

Ares hesitated. He didn't know what to tell about Euryphaessa. How much did his father know? How much did he need to know? The War God knew well that in spite of having Helios, Eos and Selene at his side Zeus and Hyperion weren't really on best friend's term. The other god still considered Zeus a bit too young and rowdy to be leading the immortals of the world, and he had not been entirely pleased when Ares' father had been voted into the position. He knew better than to voice complaints though, and consequently Zeus and Hyperion nurtured some kind of tense armistice. An armistice which Ares suspected might be in jeopardy if his father got involved in the situation with Euryphaessa. Instead Ares decided for a clean slate.
"How can you be sure about a woman?"
"How do you mean?" Zeus raised a brow and leaned forward, elbows resting upon his desk.
"How do you know if they love you or not? I mean, they say they do and they kiss and so, but... how can you be positively sure?"
"In spite of the 'and so' thing you mean?" Zeus grinned slightly.
"Yeah," Ares nodded, remaining solemn.

"Let me tell you something, son. Pay attention to how she sleeps when you share the bed!"
"How she sleeps?" Ares furrowed his brow. "Say again!"
"Look at her when she sleeps, Ares! A woman - and a man - any person can be ever so deceiving when awake. Lying with not only their mouth but with their whole body language, with eyes, fragrances and even their aura if they are skilled enough. But that takes a conscious mind to pull off, in sleep the mind is off on a journey on its own and all deceptions are off. So look at your sleeping friend! Look what she does in bed, a woman in love, she cuddles up. Wants to be close. Look if she's reaches for you in the night or if she rolls away. Looks if she's comfortable resting against your biceps or your torso! And do not despair if she turns her back, that means she's searching for your protection. The back is vulnerable and she want you there to watch over her. It means she wants to spoon up and cuddle that way."

"It does?" Ares smiled. He didn't remember that behaviour from Euryphaessa, in fact he didn't remember any sleeping manner at all from her. He had simply been too tired - or too ignorant - to care at the time.
"Yes it does," Zeus replied and got an aloof smile upon his lips. "Hera..." he begun, before stopping himself, realizing the embarrassment of discussing the mother with his son. But Ares just grinned.
"I'll keep that in mind," he replied. "Can I go talk to Nike now?"
"Do so! Then let me know before you leave! I might have some clues to what could've happened to Cheiron in my old files. I need to look them up before I can say anything for sure."

*o*o*

When his son had left, Zeus picked up a paper from his desk and read it over once again. It was from Eumonia on Cyprus. The education of the young gods there was going really well after a few obstacles in the upstart. The girl called Aphrodite seemed promising. If she has what I think she has, she might very well be the one you're looking for, Great Zeus. I'll keep you informed of her progress. Zeus read it twice, memorizing the young goddess' name. Then he nodded with a slight smile. Some good news for a change.

*o*o*

"Aaaares!"
"Shit!" The war god dodged behind a pillar, not sure if Eos had really seen him or not. The very last thing he needed now was that annoying shadow which seemed impossible to shake. Why had he ever slept with her? Now he kept avoiding her like a stag kept avoiding Artemis. Dodging like that was not Ares' style at all. He had to do something about this, and preferable before he went out looking for Cheiron. Or else Eos could get the silly idea that he might've dumped her for Nike. And while Ares felt positively convinced that he and Nike would take their chances with each other on their common quest, he sure didn't want that experience to be spoiled by some needless accusations from Eos.

"Aaaares! I know you're around. Come forward! Let me see your handsome face."
"Okay better now than never. Sometimes things do work better without a strategy after all," Ares murmured to himself and stepped forward, pretending to have his mind on other things.
"Ares, there you are! Darling we do need to talk!" Eos was by his side in a whiff, taking his arm with both hands and started to blab. Whereupon the war god gave a weary response:
"Eos, 'we talking' - does that mean you saying a lot of things and me listening?"
"Yeah well - sort of. I mean... what I mean is that we must decide something. Before you go out warring again. I heard about the Centaurs. From Athena. Oh, you're suuuuch a hero. But Iiii think that you and I ought to..."
"Eos, I have to go away."
"Right now?" Eos stared poutingly at him. "Why can't..."

"Well not exactly this very moment, but I'm going on a quest to try to find the lost Centaur god Cheiron. He's been..."
"Isn't he dead?"
"Athena and dad are convinced otherwise."
"But why don't THEY go looking for him then? Instead of sending YOU?"
"Eos, get real! The quest-days for Father Zeus is over since centuries. Or at least since he finally and once and for all accepted the responsibility as King of the Gods. Athena is following another lead, she's trying to trace down the one who sends Minotaurs after the Centaurs."
"Oh... But Ares... When do you go on that quest?"
"As soon as possible. There are some preparations in need to be done and..."
"Ares?"
"Yes?"
"Can I come with you?"

Ares almost balked at that question.
"Eos, it's not a vacation. It might be..."
"...dangerous? Don't give me that shit! I can manage, I know it!"
"Can you now? When was the last time you went on a quest?"
"I've never been on a quest before, and you know it."
"And now isn't exactly the time to start. Eos, I am quite convinced that my father wouldn't allow it. So let's not have this discussion."
"But what about us? When you go away?"

That was his cue, Ares put sombre stresses on every word now.
"Eos, there is no 'us'. Not in that sense you seem to believe at least."
"But we had..."
"A one night stand. And then two nights mostly because I was too weak in spirit to back off. Which doesn't mean that I want this to become something serious or permanent... Now, please, Eos, don't cry! I do not want to hurt you but I mean it and I don't intend to lie about this. There is no 'us', I am going away for a while and I don't want you to sit around waiting for me or something because me returning to you is not going to happen. I'm sorry but that's the way it is."
"But why then did you..."
"Because I made a mistake, Eos. I wanted a friend for the night because I was moody. I know I should've made sure from the start that you didn't want anything serious..."

"But I did, Ares!"
"Because then I wouldn't have let anything happen."
"You're such a pig!" Eos' slap echoed in the large gallery and Ares' reflexes might've been fast enough for him to take her hand, but he let her hit him just to get the rage out of her body. On top of that he presumed he somewhat deserved it. When Eos turned on her heels and marched down the gallery the same way as she had come, Ares sighed again and rubbed his hand over his eyes. Why had he let his life become so complicated?

*o*o*

Nike looked at him with a grin plastered all over her tanned, heart-shaped face when Ares finished telling about their quest.
"Cheiron," she said. "It'll be great to see that ole stallion again. If we do find him that is. You've any lead, Ary?"
"No, but dad might. Or if not, we'll have to do this the hard way, return to the place where he was last seen and see if there's any lingering energies. Any trace at all."
"He's been gone for - what's it?" The youngest of the Enforcers counted on her elegant fingers, "180 years give or take a few of 'em. I don't think there's any chance of lingering energies still. Anywhere."
"There are other ways," Ares responded. "We'll scry backwards in time."
"Eh - dunno how to do that."
"But I do, Nike. I learned it a couple of decades back, when there was very little going on warvise and I was bored down to the bones. Mother taught me how and I amused myself with watching the Titan war. Pure entertainment originally, but I learned a few things. Forgotten tricks and such."

"Good. Now, where are you going to start looking for Cheiron?"
"Pelion, that's his last known living place."
"That's not far, we ought to make it before dinner."
"We don't even have to go there, we can see what we need from here," Ares explained and looked around in Nike's airy but rather cluttered living room. "You don't happen to have a large silver bowl handy. A shallow one, something for fruit and similar kinds."
"In fact I do," Nike nodded over to a side board, then she seemed to grasp what Ares wanted, stood and went over to remove the apples, bananas, peaches, pears and grapes, simply putting them down among the other things lying around on the marble table. After that she picked the bowl up and returned to Ares.

"How about water?" she asked.
"Another neat little trick I learned." Ares rubbed his hand and soon water started to run down from them and into the bowl. The first and the second time he filled the bowl he simply swirled the water and then he withdrew the water the same way again, an even more impressive sight which had Nike almost staring her blue eyes out.
"Cool! But why did you do that?"
"Have to clean the bowl first," Ares said when he started to fill it the third time.
"It wasn't particularly dirty," Nike protested and Ares smiled.
"Not what you'd regularly mean by 'dirt', but there had been fruit lying there and their auras tend to stick. Something which may cause disturbances in the sighting. Especially those grapes, potent stuff. I bet there has to be some special magick with grapes, although we have yet to find it. But I digress, look here now!"

Then Ares had taken out one of his daggers from his waist belt. It was a special dagger, made out of shining, blue adamantine, a certain rare metallic matter which could actually maim even an immortal, if deployed the right way.
"What you gonna do with that?" Nike's eyes widened in discomfort bordering on fear upon beholding the perilous metal.
"This water is not enough for going 180 year back in time. 30 the most. So we're going to need a stronger potent."

By those words Ares focused and then, with a quick and skilled move, he slid the dagger across his left under arm, and as he concentrated to keep the wound from healing, Nike regarded how quite a bit of ichor-orange blood poured down in the bowl and mixed with the water. As the ichor connected with the hydrogen in the water a chemical reaction took place, a bizarre osmosis which made the water fizz, boil and smoke without getting warm. Instead those orange swirls turned almost green before they became diluted in the water and it once more became still. Ares let his wound heal, dried off his knife on his chiton as if it didn't bother him at all with some orange stains of divine blood. Which it probably didn't. Finally he turned to Nike:
"Now, let's do this."