Chapter 30 � Let Slip the Dog of War
Joxer wished that Jett were there. His brother was better at this sort of thing. He could move without smashing into everything in his path and drawing attention for 50 miles in any direction. Joxer just couldn�t get his feet to cooperate, godhood or not. They seemed to make extra noise, even.
There had to be a way. There just HAD to be.
Ares was out of the question. He�d never go for this and � Joxer had a feeling that he wanted to keep this as far away from the God of War as possible. Something wasn�t right and he wanted to put as much distance between whatever this was and his new lover as possible. A twitch in his spine agreed with him unreservedly. Anyway, Ares was off, something about a meeting with Zeus and Joxer DEFINTIELY didn�t want any part of that.
Eris? Maybe. But subtlety wasn�t exactly her forte. She was more War-Hammer-To-The-Face than Thief-in-the-Night. Plus� he hadn�t seen her in a while. She was probably extremely busy.
Strife? He had his hands completely full. The way Cupid had snatched him away, Joxer would be surprised if he saw the mischievous god anytime soon� especially not in any condition to help. Joxer snickered. Or to sit without wincing.
The candidates were really slim. He could hunt out Hermes � as the official chaperone, he was sure he could wiggle a favor out of him. But the messenger god was probably swamped with his own business as well.
And he needed help. Athena was a senior goddess with powers beyond his comprehension. She would no doubt detect him snooping around in her Hall. And then she would turn him into a memory� or maybe even not that. Maybe even less than a memory. She had the power and probably the compunction to erase him from existence.
He thought of his brothers. The three of them had been close at times and had settled into a friendship of sorts in their older years. They still fought like cats and dogs now and then� but he couldn�t imagine what it would be like if there were only two of them left. Any two. Something would be missing, that unimaginable chasm. Even if they never knew, their minds wiped clean of him by godly hand� there would be a space that was left empty.
He thought of Xena and Gabby, not in the longing way he used to but detachedly. They might miss him � as much as they thought of him as an annoyance, he was still their friend� kind of. A cloud slipped past his mood � not enough to, say, tell him important things like they were nailing each other, though.
Don�t think of them right now, Jox� And he thought of Ares, as an imitation of the War God�s growl mimicked in his head. He wasn�t sure what he meant to Ares. He might never know. But he got the distinct feeling that his disintegration would be something the heir of Zeus and Hera might take offense to. At least inasmuch as Joxer was his. If nothing, there was that. Though Joxer did hope there was more than that.
And he thought of himself! He didn�t want to be blasted back to his elements, thank you very much! That sounded like it would be just about the worst thing he could think of happening. He�d gotten very used to living, and was currently trying to get used to living forever. Being dust would seriously put a cramp in that.
So he had to do this on his own� but he wasn�t so blind to think that he could actually do this without some kind of help. His newly-deitized brain whirled through many possibilities when a wet nose nudged into his hand, encouraging him to keep up the rhythmic petting that had been helping him think. What was it about scratching a dog�s ears that was so calming? Was it the wordless companionship? The repetitive motion? And when had Graegus come in anyway? Joxer hadn�t heard him shuffle over or anything � the great gray hound had just sort of nudged in under his hand and�
