Hades

Chapter Thirteen - The Wings, Part Two

Chapter Thirteen: The Wings Part Two

Uxi was beaten terribly, her wings stripped from her back, and as she lay bruised and battered before the mightiest of gods he looked down on her with contempt.

‘You treacherous little wretch,’ he spat, his handsome face contorted with fury, ‘have you no respect for the rules I set down? To think you not only turn me down to get emotionally involved with a human, you also prevented his death! If that weren’t bad enough, you committed the cardinal sin of revealing yourself to him!’ He struck her roughly in the face, sending her sprawling across the decoratively marbled floors.

‘You are a disgrace, a disgusting piece of filth not worthy of your wings. You are hereby banished from the world of the living, both Olympian and human, from this day forward; get her out of my sight!’

And with that, Uxi was hurtled into a world of darkness below. When she opened her eyes she was on cold ground, water lapping against her ankles. Every muscle in her body ached, but worse still was the searing pain on her back where her once-beautiful wings had been. She was completely bare and freezing cold, and with no idea where she was Uxi wrapped her arms around herself and wept, her sobs echoing in the darkness. She eventually cried herself to sleep, and when she came to again she immediately felt the presence of someone else near her.

She looked up, terrified, and saw a pair of violet blue eyes sparkling back at her. Only one race had ever had eyes like that. A hand reached for her.

‘God!’ she screamed, and hit out instinctively. There was a sharp smacking sound as her hand collided with a face. After a moments silence-

‘Damn, you’ve got a good right hook on you,’ said a voice as deep and rich as dark chocolate.

As the man in the shadows reached forward again, Uxi shivered uncontrollably and squeezed her eyes shut, tears streaming down her face. Something warm and soft was placed over her shoulders, and Uxi opened her eyes to see that he’d wrapped a black cloak around her trembling body. She stared as the person she’d hit leaned forward into the light, and gasped when she saw him. There was no doubt he was a god – his eye colour gave that away – but his face was the most handsome she’d seen of any divine being, even if his hair was wild as a brushfire. She knew she should be afraid – after all, she was naked and vulnerable and he was a stranger - but something about his expression calmed her. He held up his hands, his mouth twitching into a half smile, his cheek red with her finger marks.

‘I won’t hurt you – I’m unarmed. Just give me some warning if you’re gonna whack me again, okay?’

Uxi nodded, unable to talk. Overwhelmed with pain, shock and fear, her tiredness overwhelmed her, and the world around her grew fuzzy. The last thing she felt before everything went black was the young man’s strong arms around her.

*

Uxi woke later to a cold, stinging sensation on her back. She gasped with pain and lurched forward, nearly falling off a large bed.

‘Whoa there, careful. Sorry about that, didn’t know you were awake,’ said that same low, soft voice, steadying her from behind.

Recoiling from his touch, Uxi gathered the white satin bed sheets around her body and turned, watching the young man with wary, animal-like fear.

‘Who are you?’ she whispered.

‘I could ask you the same,’ he said, squeezing the sponge he had been using to clean her back. ‘I'm not used to pulling living things out of my rivers. Turn around.’