Goddess of Spring (Goddess Summoning 2)

"Saddle Orion!" Hades commanded in a voice that carried to the stables. Then the God closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. He blocked out the voices of the dead and focused his entire being on Persephone. He found the link that tied their souls together, the link that had told him when she had entered his forge, and then told him when she had departed. But it was like a thread that had been cut. Their connection had been severed. Fear mushroomed within him.

"Bring Cerberus," Hades commanded Iapis. The daimon nodded and disappeared. Hades turned back to the spirits of the women. "You did the right thing coming to me." The crone and the maiden bowed their heads, as did the multitude behind them. Hades' gazed searched the faces in the throng surrounding him.

"Eurydice! Bring me an article of Persephone's clothing. Something she has worn recently." Instead of instantly obeying his bidding, the young spirit approached him. Her eyes met his and he felt the light touch of her hand on his arm.

"You must bring her back to us, Hades." Her voice was choked.

"I wil ," he said, and strode to the stables.

Orion plunged through the forest close on the heels of Cerberus. The three-headed dog hunted silently, fol owing the scent of his goddess. Hades' hands were slick with sweat, and they gripped the steed's reins tightly. The stal ion needed no urging to stay on the dog's trail, which led inexorably toward the dark realm of Tartarus.

His thoughts warred within his mind. He must have wounded her terribly if he had driven her to the dark realm. He hadn't meant to hurt her. His own pain and jealousy had made him forget her youth. Persephone couldn't possibly know into what she was heading. Not even being a goddess would afford her protection against the utter despair that reigned in Tartarus. Desperately he tried to remember if she had been wearing the amethyst narcissus when he had last seen her. Yes, he thought she had been. A trickle of relief cooled his panic. The amethyst would help to protect her. It was a powerful jewel that he had fashioned specifical y for her. Its protective properties were vast.

Hades tried not to imagine what might be happening to Persephone. As God of the Underworld, he knew only too wel the horrors of Tartarus. It was the eternal dwel ing place of the damned. Only the souls of mortals who had completely embraced darkness were condemned to that region. He loathed it, but he acknowledged the necessity of a place to house immutable evil. And that was where his beloved had gone.

Orion came to a halt beside the dog. Cerberus was snuffling through dried leaves and pawing at something that flashed silver in the dim light. Hades dismounted and picked up the object. It was Persephone's amethyst necklace. She had no talisman to protect her.

"Faster, Cerberus!" he commanded.

The dog redoubled his efforts and Orion responded in kind. They broke through the forest of trees. Cerberus had come to a halt beside the fiery bank of Phlegethon. The dog was whining piteously and al three heads were nudging what Hades thought might be the col apsed body of a dead animal. Then Orion pierced the air with a heart-wrenching scream and plunged down the bank toward the dog. As the horse slid to a halt, Hades recognized the body.

"No!"

He flung himself from Orion's back and pushed Cerberus' massive body aside. Persephone had col apsed upon the cracked earth. Her arms were wrapped around her legs so that her knees pressed into her chest and her body had formed a rigid bal . Her eyes were open, but her pupils were fully dilated and she stared unseeing into the darkness beyond the flaming river. Hades fol owed her gaze. The blackness of Tartarus was leaking from its banks. He looked down. Fingers of darkness had slithered from Phlegethon and they soaked the ground around Persephone.

Fury pulsed through the God. Quickly, he bent and knotted the broken chain around Persephone's unresisting neck. The amethyst narcissus began to glow. Then he raised his arms and the air around him began to swirl. In a voice magnified by anger and love, he commanded the grasping darkness.

"Away! You have no right to harm this Goddess!"

The dark tendrils shivered, but they did not loosen their hold on Persephone.

"I am Hades, Lord of the Dead, and I command you. Do not touch her!" The God roared, casting al of his formidable power against the malignant fingers of evil.

The darkness drew back and then with a sizzling sound it dissipated like a thief retreating into the night.

Hades fel to his knees beside Persephone. He grasped the goddess's shoulders and turned her rigid body to face him.

"Persephone!"

She did not respond. Instead she continued to stare unblinkingly into the darkness beyond Phlegethon. Her face was deathly pale and her skin was cool to the touch. She was gasping in short, panting breaths, like she was having difficulty breathing.

"It is gone. It cannot harm you now. Look at me, Persephone." Stil she did not acknowledge his presence.

"Persephone! You have to listen to me." He shook her until her head bobbled and Cerberus whined his distress.

The Goddess's lips moved.

"Yes! Speak to me," Hades cried.

"Too many mistakes. I can't..." Her voice cracked, and her words became inaudible.

"You can't what?" Hades prompted, shaking her again.

"Can't find my way. My body isn't here. I've disappeared."

The emptiness in her voice terrified Hades. Her face was blank. Her eyes were glazed. The Persephone he knew was not there. It was as if an echo of her spirit was speaking through a shel . And suddenly nothing mattered to him except bringing her back. He didn't care if she thought of him only as a job her mother had charged her to complete. He didn't care that Apol o was her lover. He didn't even care that she was going to leave him. He cared only that she was herself again.

Hades cupped her cold face in his hands. "Your way is here. You must come back to those who love you."

Persephone blinked.

"Come back to us, beloved. Come back to me."

She took one deep, rasping breath and Hades watched as her hand lifted to grasp the glowing amethyst flower. Then she blinked and struggled to focus on his face.

"Hades?" she croaked his name.

Dizzy with relief, he pulled her into his arms. "Yes, beloved. It is Hades, the foolish, arrogant God who loves you."

"Take me away from here," she sobbed, and buried her face in his chest.