81. The Eyes of Truth

DELPHI, OLYMPIC GREECE

The cold winds blew strongly over Delphi. As the horse-drawn cart containing Sa'luk, Mechanicles, Abis Mal, Haroud, and Amin neared the great temple, all five were wracked with chills, and Sa'luk found himself ever more annoyed by the audible chattering of Amin's teeth.

"The road to Delphi is much stranger here than back in our world," Mechanicles observed, "and yet I am one hundred percent certain this is the temple of the Oracle. A structure of this magnitude in a location of this height can simply be nothing else."

The five looked up at the great twin snakes of gold that formed the archway over the door, their heads reaching up into the sky as though they were striking the clouds that snowed.

"The Oracle will be guarded," Sa'luk pointed out.

"So we'll just give 'em the old one-two!" Abis Mal decided, swinging his fists in demonstration.

"Now, now," Mechanicles reminded him. "The Oracle is one of the most powerful people in this entire realm. We can expect the guards around her to be much stronger and more competent than those we are used to, as well as larger in number. A direct challenge would be an unwise strategy."

"You underestimate me," Sa'luk snarled.

"All the same," Mechanicles said, waving the rebuttal off, "this is a matter that requires more strategization and less brute force….the sort that is common among brutes."

Sa'luk just gave a frustrated huff that turned to mist when his breath reached the cold air.

"Perhaps this is impudent to point out," Haroud said, "but in order to strategize a break-in and kidnapping or theft, one generally needs to know about the location and its strengths and weaknesses. As it stands, we have no idea what's beyond those doors."

"True, true…perhaps insight can be gathered from what is AROUND the temple." Mechanicles cast his gaze around. "Mountainous terrain…"

"For what it's worth," Amin said, curling up into a ball-like sitting position, "it's cold."

"Thank you for pointing out that obvious factor that was clear to everyone," Mechanicles spat. "Continuing. Our cart appears to be parked upon a pedestal that activates some sort of unidentified mechanism using a rudimentary system powered by lightning." He looked directly down through the metal grates of the pedestal, to where the triple electric currents coursed through it. He then leapt out of the cart, pacing to the edge of the platform and looking over the edge. "Each lightning current seems to sync up with the connection of rather large and elaborate metal snake attached to the pedestal. Doubtless, there is a connection." He observed the snakes with interest. They were as wide around as his larger insectoid inventions, and of course much longer, scaled in multicolored metal. He wondered if something of that size truly was needed to offset the "lightning system," or if they served another purpose. "They've seen better days, though…" He looked over the worn patches in the snakes' skin. Then he looked closer; through the patches. "Oh, what's this?"

He leapt over the edge of the platform, eliciting a synchronized outcry from Amin and Abis Mal. Mechanicles ignored this. He landed safely on the back of one of the snakes, making his way to a large broken patch in the skin, a hole perhaps ten feet wide all around. He then dropped through his hole, landing inside the snake. Just as he'd observed, it was hollow, forming a long hallway with a floor that was frosted over in the cold. Upon this discovery, Mechanicles began to laugh. He ran toward the head of the snake, laughing louder and louder the whole way. When he reached that point, where several large crystal facets were set into a wall decorated with various carvings, his laughter hit a peak.

"Care to let us in on the joke?" Sa'luk asked from behind him.

Mechanicles turned to find Sa'luk, Abis Mal, Haroud, Amin, and even Scooter lined up behind him; they'd all followed him down into the snake's innards. "The controls are archaic," Mechanicles explained, "and the exterior has seen better days, but all the same, each of these snakes is a machine. A machine that can be exploited to break into the heart of the temple and bypass all security measures."

"You know how to operate…this?" Sa'luk looked over the wall and its various panels.

"Not specifically," Mechanicles admitted, "but it is similar to several magical and crystal-based panels I have encountered in the past, and it is conveniently labeled. Doubtless this is an override panel in case the machine should fall out of its place conducting the lightning that powers the pillar. Its typical function should be to restore the snake to its original place. As you all have inferred, however, I am to use it for the exact opposite purpose and displace the snake."

"That would, however, break this energy connection you have observed," Haroud pointed out. "We do not know the consequences of that."

"Something we will observe once the connection is broken," Mechanicles stated casually, touching several crystals to light them up. As he did so, the five thieves felt the rumble of the great snake beginning to move.

The snake's jaws unclenched from around its position on the great pedestal before the Temple of Delphi. The head moved backward slowly, and the snake rose up, on its own path.

Inside the pedestal, one of the three surging electrical currents fizzled out.

With the connection broken, the Temple itself began to retreat into the mountains; the connection had been to allow a bridge that made the Temple accessible. The Temple, set on a gigantic moving platform, was set to slide away from the pedestal, unable to be reached on foot until the connection was restored.

---

Cassandra's selection as the next Oracle of Delphi had been speculated upon by everyone within the Temple. It was regarded as almost inevitable. The Mists showed her clearer visions than any other, and even without them, her visions came often. There emerged from this phenomenon a joke amongst the various oracles: "She's going to be the next Oracle of Delphi…and you don't need clairvoyance to see THAT coming!"

When it had been announced to her that she had been selected as the next true Oracle, several days prior to the day that the Guild of Thieves arrived on the Temple's doorstep, she had been quite pleased indeed…but had still managed to reply with a shrug and a "Whatever." Albeit, with a smile as well.

When the day came for her to ascend, she gathered with the other oracles in the great chamber of the Oracle, the dark, massive chamber that held the great chair upon which Aletheia once sat. For the time being, that seat was ignored. Before it was the platform upon which those coming to see the Oracle would stand to make their pleas; in the times of corruption, it was where Castor and Pollux would stand watch and torment the innocent. On all sides of the platform was a steep drop downward, serving to deepen the room's darkness. On that sacred day, a long table, long enough for a human body to lie down on comfortably, was set up on the platform: an operating table. All lights were doused but for candles set at the edges of the platform, causing almost all light to be focused in on this table while the great empty seat of the Oracle loomed ghostly in the distance. The oracles ringed the operating table. The higher ranking priestesses held daggers sharpened for surgical precision, and one of them held a carved pine box in which the Eyes of Truth lay in wait for their new host.

Cassandra was at first positioned at the end of the platform nearest the entrance. The other oracles all looked toward her, some of them chattering softly and excitedly among themselves. As far as Cassandra could tell, and this astounded her, there was no feeling of jealousy present in the room. The others all seemed genuinely glad for her selection.

Her thoughts turned to the daggers. As was required in the ritual, those daggers would be used to remove the eyes she'd carried within her head since birth. The Eyes of Truth would be placed in their stead, and as they had done with Aletheia and all who preceded her, they would magically bond to their carrier. It was regarded as somewhat of a miracle that those Eyes had made their way back to the temple. In the days of corruption, Castor and Pollux had schemed with the Furies to steal and hide them before killing Aletheia as an insult to Orcos, who had loved her. The Eyes were eventually unearthed, but the warrior Kratos had used the minimum of their magic, for they did have some power available to those who did not wear them as part of their bodies, in order to see through Alecto's darkest magic. Kratos was not usually known for acts of generosity, but when he'd run out of use for the Eyes, he had ordered them sent back to Delphi, where they belonged. At last, tradition would resume.

"Cassandra," the high priestess said. "You have been selected on this joyous day to become the next Oracle of Delphi as a result of your natural skill and your gift of interpretation. Do you accept the responsibility of ultimate knowledge of past, present, and future?"

The other oracles held their breaths, waiting for Cassandra to utter another "Whatever." Instead, she gave a sincere smile. "Yeah," she said. "I mean…I accept this responsibility and honor." She bowed.

"Come forth," the priestess begged, "and lay upon the table where you shall receive your gift."

Cassandra proceeded nervously. The pain would be great, but it would be worth it. She lay herself across the table, head pointed toward the priestesses and feet pointed toward the door.

"Before we proceed," the priestess said, "a moment to honor the previous Oracle, who met an untimely demise."

"Aletheia," all the others, including Cassandra, chorused. They all fell silent in remembrance of her.

After about a minute had passed, the priestess continued. "Bring forth the Eyes of Truth."

The pine box was opened. A pair of glimmering eyeballs with deep green pupils lay on a soft purple cushion inside. They stared out at the room, and though they were dead, it seemed they had a sight of their own, even when disembodied.

Before the ritual could go any further, the temple jolted.

"What is THAT?" one of the younger oracles cried.

Cassandra sat bolt upright, knowing well that if the temple was moving in the direction she thought it was, it wasn't a good sign, and not only would the ritual more than likely end up not happening that day, but she'd be better off on her feet and ready for whatever was coming next.

"The temple is moving back into the mountain peaks," the priestess observed with horror. "The connection has been broken in the road outside!"

Then she said something else, but Cassandra missed it entirely. Unbidden, a vision came to her. A vision of one of the metal snakes that wound around the final pedestal of the pilgrims' road –

"EVERYBODY!" Cassandra barked, pointing to the door. "GET OUT! NOW!" She leapt off the table and began to run. The others followed suit.

The snake crashed through the wall, and harsh sunlight spilled into the dark chamber. Its great head landed atop the platform, crushing the operating table; had Cassandra not ordered all the oracles to move, every one of them would have been crushed.

Before any of the other thieves could make a move, Sa'luk insisted, "I'LL handle this," and leapt out of one of the holes in the snake's skin.

Abis Mal made to follow him, but Haroud stepped between the two. "Let him go."

"Who said HE was in charge?" Abis Mal grumped.

"It should only take one man to steal the Eyes," Haroud explained. "And I suspect he not only feels the same, but won't tolerate interruption."

---

Icarus and Sadira soared over the mountain, looking down upon the plain of white. "I don't see anything," Sadira observed.

"Juuuuust over this peak!" Icarus said, looking at a rock formation in their path. They swooped over it.

"I bet we've made it just in time to warn my darling Cassandra of her impending doom!" Icarus said happily. "Then again…she IS an oracle. She may have seen it coming."

They cleared the peak and came upon the sight of the Temple of Delphi, recessed into the mountains…where the great metal snake plunged into its side, making a great wound in the wall.

"Oh, no…" Sadira gasped.

"WE'RE TOO LATE!" Icarus moaned.

"Maybe to stop them from breaking in," Sadira resolved, "but not to stop them from getting away! Carpet! FULL SPEED AHEAD!"

Sadira took the lead away from Icarus, careening down toward the snake and landing on its back. She leapt off Carpet, setting off running across the snake's back, focusing on the wall the snake had burst through.

Icarus landed shortly after, pursuing as heatedly as he could.

---

Sa'luk stood before the gathered oracles, who cowered at the door at the sight of him, though their shock came more from his grand entry than from his physical presence.

"I want the Eyes of Truth," Sa'luk snarled.

"We…we do not have them," a priestess replied.

"Oh, really?" Sa'luk challenged. "The institute that commands the Oracle of Delphi doesn't have her eyes? I find that hard to believe. Perhaps you've already put them inside your next Oracle. In that case, surrender her, or I'll have to take all your eyes out, two by two, until I find them!"

"NO!" the priestess yelled, offering the pine box forward and prying open its lid so Sa'luk could see the contents. "THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE RIGHT HERE!"

"What are you DOING?" another screamed. "We've sworn to protect them at all costs!"

"Not at the cost of all of our oracles being hurt…" the first sobbed.

Sa'luk grinned, storming forward to claim his prize.

"YOU again?" a voice snapped from behind him.

Sa'luk turned sharply to see Sadira standing atop the great snake's head. "I've had enough of you," Sadira seethed. She leapt down from the snake and rushed Sa'luk.

Sa'luk laughed before striking out at Sadira with his clawed hand. She ducked under it, knocking her arm hard into his stomach. Sa'luk momentarily stumbled, but he turned to follow her path, attempting to bring the bronze blades down on her. She twisted, grabbing onto his right arm to pivot herself behind him, then leapt up and kicked him square between the shoulder blades. He bent but didn't fall. Sadira landed on her feet behind him, crossing her arms and standing with feet apart, braced for his next move. Turning away from the oracles, Sa'luk rushed at her, and she kneed him in the stomach again, causing him to reel backward from the blow to the hurt she'd left with her first punch.

At that time, Icarus had reached the snake's head, and he slid down the side of it as soon as he saw Sadira and Sa'luk locked in combat. "SADIRA!" he screamed. "I'M COMING!"

Sadira let her guard down to turn her head and look at him. "Icarus, NO – "

A blow from Sa'luk's right fist sent her falling down onto her back.

Cassandra gasped.

Icarus charged in where Sadira had fallen, fists at the ready, and when he reached proximity, he began pummeling Sa'luk's chest as hard as he could…which didn't affect Sa'luk at all. The thief just stared bemusedly down at the thin man trying to hurt him.

"This isn't happening," Cassandra sighed. "This isn't happening! WHY DOES HE HAVE TO GET INVOLVED?"

Sa'luk picked Icarus up by the wrist as soon as Sadira had made her way back to her feet. "Get out of my way," Sa'luk told Icarus as he flung him across the room.

"NO!" Sadira cried, watching Icarus sail toward the edge of the platform.

Icarus landed on the edge, scrambling to catch a hold, but balance wasn't on his side; he tipped, and he saw the blackness of the void all the way down. For a moment, he feared he'd finally have to come to grips with death.

Sadira slid across the platform, dropping to her hands and knees and reaching over the platform in time to catch Icarus' wrist. "Gotcha!" she crowed.

"Sadira!" Icarus cried. "You saved me!"

Sa'luk, in the meantime, turned back to the oracles. "No more wasting my time!" He advanced.

Cassandra charged forth, snapping the pine box shut and wrenching it away from the priestess who held it. She then pitched it over the side of the platform as hard as she could. The box plunged into darkness.

"NO!" Sa'luk raged.

"Oops," Cassandra said cockily. "Looks like we don't have the thing you want anymore."

Gritting his teeth, Sa'luk turned and ran back toward the snake, where he clambered to the top and found the way back into the metal innards.

Sadira hauled Icarus onto the platform, at which point Icarus immediately ran toward the oracles, yelling, "CASSAAAANDRAAAA!"

"Apollo help me," Cassandra sighed.

Icarus reached up and cupped Cassandra's face in his hands. "You still have your eyes!" he cried victoriously. "I was afraid we'd come here to find you blinded by that vile villain!"

"And I'm really not sure if this is a step up," Cassandra sighed.

"I was so terrified we'd find your beautiful face carved to shreds!" Icarus wailed, beginning to cry. "What would you have done if I hadn't gotten here in time?"

"Thrown the Eyes of Truth over the edge, like I just did." Cassandra seized his wrists and wrenched his arms away from her face. "So who's your friend?"

"Sadira," Sadira said with a wave. "My name's Sadira."

"Thanks for trying to stop that creep from stealing the Eyes, I guess," Cassandra said with a nod.

"At least we got him to go away," Icarus said, "and we won't be hearing from those guys anymore!"

"I don't exactly think it's over," Sadira said worriedly.

The snake shuddered, and then began to move, plunging over the edge of the platform and into the blackness.

"What's DOWN there?" Sadira asked.

"The caverns," Cassandra answered hurriedly, "and those lead back out to the road. I thought we could just go down and pick up the Eyes later if that creep left!"

"I'm on it!" Sadira leapt onto the back of the descending snake, beginning to slide down its angled back on the soles of her shoes. She slid down into the blackness.

Icarus whistled, and Carpet darted into the room. Icarus stepped aboard the flying cloth, extending a hand to Cassandra. "I'll show you a whole new world!"

"Ugh…how cliché. Just get me down to the caverns, okay?" Cassandra huffed, getting aboard Carpet. Once both passengers were settled, Carpet took off over the edge.

The snake's head hit bottom, and Sa'luk emerged again, finding himself in a dark and musty rock-hewn cavern.

"Well?" Amin griped, peering out after him. "Do you see them?"

"I can't see a thing!" Sa'luk growled.

"Here." Mechanicles exited the snake, fitting a pair of goggles over his eyes. "These increase vision in the dark by two hundred percent."

"How long have you had those on you?" Amin asked, perplexed.

"Let me see!" Sa'luk ordered.

"No!" Mechanicles insisted. "I'm wearing them, so I will find the Eyes!" He ducked before Sa'luk could grab the night-vision goggles off him, and he glimpsed the small box lying on the ground. "A-HA!" Mechanicles rushed forward to scoop the box up, opening it to see the Eyes of Truth inside. Once he was sure of what he saw, he closed the box. "I suggest we get moving."

Amin and Sa'luk leapt back inside the metal snake. Mechanicles was distracted when he saw a form sliding speedily toward him down the creature's back. Sadira leapt the last few feet to the ground, staring Mechanicles down.

Mechanicles just gave her a grin as he leapt back toward the entry point of the snake. Before Sadira could even comprehend what was happening, the snake jolted into movement, starting off down the tunnel.

"HEY!" Sadira screamed.

Icarus and Cassandra flew down to her side. "Well, that was nauseating," Cassandra groaned.

"They're going to get away again!" Sadira cried.

"No, they won't," Cassandra said. "The snakes are anchored to the outside. That was done long ago to make sure nobody COULD take them."

---

The snake halted with a jolt.

"Okay, what happened NOW?" Abis Mal asked in frustration.

"It appears the base of the mechanism is anchored to a fixed point to prevent theft," Mechanicles observed. "However, seeing as this machinery is ancient, there is a high probability that it is weakened. If we give it a burst of power, like so – "

He rapidly tapped three crystal panels in succession.

---

Outside the temple, the serpent's base shuddered. The machinery groaned. Then, with a SNAP that echoed throughout the mountains, it broke, and the serpent was freed.

---

" – it should cause the mechanism to BREEEAAAAAAAAK!"

Mechanicles' statement became a scream as the snake barreled ahead at full speed.

---

Sadira, Icarus, and Cassandra watched in horror as the snake slithered all the way through the temple and made its way out of the tunnel.

"So much for 'No, they won't get away,'" Sadira huffed.

"How was I supposed to know they'd be able to break it?" Cassandra argued.

"I don't know. Can't you SEE THE FUTURE?"

"I can't see EVERYTHING! Maybe I could have a better grasp on it if I had the Eyes of Truth. Oh, wait. They're speeding away from us right now!"

"CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?" Icarus wailed.

Sadira nodded. She hopped onto Carpet alongside Icarus and Cassandra. "Let's go!"

Carpet pealed out of the tunnel, emerging into bright light, and soared upward. From there, the three passengers could see the snake rushing across the snowy peaks, headed out to the coast.

"FOLLOW IT!" Sadira commanded, and Carpet took off.

The snake careened down the mountain, over the coastline, and into the sea, where it floated perfectly. It was apparent that the snake was headed for the portal back to the Seven Deserts. Carpet kept up pursuit.

"So, Cassandra," Sadira said, attempting to strike up friendly conversation. "I hear you're the Oracle of Delphi."

"Pretty much," Cassandra said with a nod. "What's your story?"

"Palace-sitting for a couple friends turned into me chasing the guys who stole the Eyes of Truth," Sadira answered. "I ran into Icarus, and now he's helping me out. He's told me a lot about you."

"Of course," Cassandra sighed.

"He says you're great," Sadira pointed out. "You two must really be in love."

"That's what he thinks, anyway," Cassandra sighed.

"Wait. What?"

"Let me guess. He told you I was his one true love."

"And my love still hasn't wavered an inch!" Icarus interrupted.

"Okay, if we go with your stalker behavior as the definition of 'love' here," Cassandra said sternly, turning back to Sadira, "he loves ME. I TOLERATE him."

"She's not even INTO you?" Sadira asked Icarus in surprise.

"We have our rough patches," Icarus admitted, "but it always works out in the end!"

"Still delusional," Cassandra sighed.

"I know you've been confused lately," Icarus told her, "but I will wait for you until the end of time if I need to!"

"You're gonna need to wait longer than that," Cassandra snapped.

"So you're telling me," Sadira reiterated, beginning to fume, "that you're the kind of guy who'd stick by his lover through anything, even if she hated him completely, and you're putting all that energy into someone who ISN'T EVEN INTERESTED IN YOU?"

She couldn't even define, at first, what it was about that that made her so angry. Perhaps, she thought, she was angry at Icarus for acting like a stalker, but the truth was, that didn't inherently bother her. Then it began to dawn on her that perhaps her problem lay with something else: jealousy.

Down below, Haroud was keeping an eye to the sky through a worn patch in the roof of the snake's carapace. He approached Sa'luk and Mechanicles, stating, "We're being followed."

Mechanicles let out a frustrated sigh. "Keep your hands on THIS one and THIS one," he said, indicating two panels. As Haroud took up the position, Mechanicles knelt on the floor and scooped up the skittering Scooter.

"What are you doing?" Sa'luk asked as Mechanicles wound up a key on the beetle.

"Taking care of our little problem," Mechanicles said, matter-of-fact.

"You can't expect me to believe that beetle will shake them off our trail," Sa'luk sighed.

"Well, you'll just have to see the results for yourself." Mechanicles finished winding Scooter, then lifted him up so the beetle could fly out of the worn patch at the top of the serpent's hull.

"I don't see why YOU'RE so angry!" Icarus snapped at Sadira. "No, really, I have no idea why you're mad right now."

"Uh…" Cassandra pointed down to the metal serpent.

Cassandra, Icarus, and Sadira all saw the metallic beetle moving toward them, a blur of bronze through the air. They only just registered what they were seeing before Scooter flew directly into the underside of Carpet, puncturing the cloth straight through, emerging between Icarus and Sadira, and continuing to speed upward before plunging straight back downward.

And with a great hole now torn in his weaving, Carpet also plunged, sending Icarus, Sadira, and Cassandra on a drop straight downward.

Scooter returned to the serpent, where Mechanicles had taken up piloting again. "Good boy," he said casually. The serpent pealed away, leaving its pursuers far behind.

Sadira, Cassandra, and Icarus screamed in terror until they all three hit the waters with a splash.

---

THE SEAS OF OLYMPIC GREECE

Sadira was the first to break the surface of the water, taking a great gasp. She looked around in a panic. "Icarus?" she called out. "Cassandra? Carpet?"

Carpet drifted lazily toward her. "I'm so sorry," Sadira moaned, gathering the cloth close to her and observing the large tear Scooter had made. "I didn't want anything bad to happen to you!" Dejected at the sight, but still anxious as to the fate of her other traveling companions, Sadira cast her gaze over the waters once more. "ICARUS! CASSANDRA!"

"POLO!" Icarus cried, bursting out of the waters. He then took a gasp of air as well, comically audible.

Then Cassandra emerged as well. "I'm here," she panted.

"Good," Sadira sighed. "You two are safe." Then her expression soured. She turned to face Icarus. "Which means I don't have to feel bad about giving you a piece of my mind!"

"What did I even do?" Icarus moaned.

"Nobody likes the whole stalker act!" Cassandra snapped. "'I'll wait for you as long as it takes'? All that gushy stuff you say about my face and my eyes? Even she sees how creepy it is! There isn't a woman alive who would go for that!"

"Actually, there are PLENTY of women out there who'd want someone who would commit to them like that!" Sadira corrected.

"Wait…what?" Cassandra was confused.

"And you're wasting all your energy on somebody who doesn't even APPRECIATE it?" Sadira continued. "And to think I…you…I…UGGGGHHHH!" Her head sank below the surface of the waves, as though she'd gone underwater as a form of storming off. She left Carpet on the surface of the waters as she sank deeper and deeper into the water.

"WHAT DID I EVEN DO?" Icarus repeated. "WHAT IS SHE EVEN TALKING ABOUT?"

"I…I think I KNOW," Cassandra realized. "How close are you two, anyway?"

"We've had a bit of an adventure together," Icarus explained. "I'd say we've got a pretty solid friendship goin' on. Yyyyyyep."

"Just a friendship? Do you think she's pretty?"

"OKAY! I ADMIT IT!" Icarus wailed. "I thought about how pretty she was a couple times! And that she's also fun and smart and impressive in a fight! I never meant to think about any woman but you! I slipped! And I'm never going to slip again!"

"Uh-huh," Cassandra replied. Before she could pursue that line of thought any further, she wondered out loud, "Okay, what is she DOING down there? Trying to drown herself?"

Sadira knew one thing about the ocean: the seafloor was always sand. Carpet had chased the serpent pretty far out, but not even close to the depths over which the portal reigned. She had turned head over heels and began swimming downward, reaching out with her magic. She found the point where even though she couldn't see the seafloor, she could feel it, a sort of aura of sand ready to be manipulated. And a good thing she'd found it, because she was also approaching the depth at which swimming was getting harder due to the ocean's pressure…and the breath she was holding was dying to escape.

She reached out to the seafloor, then beckoned upward. A rush of sand came at her all at once from the bottom, catching her and gushing upward. Sadira burst through the water's surface again on this cloud of sand, and as she did, she willed it to take form beneath her; the sand began to gel into a recognizable shape. When Sadira was finished, she was sitting in a rowboat with seats and oars, made of sand packed together so well it had the texture of stone.

"All aboard," she said with a grin.

Icarus and Cassandra dragged themselves over the edge, into the vessel, and began to wring out their garments over the bottom of the boat. "Where are we even going?" Cassandra asked.

After fishing Carpet out of the water and rolling him out flat on the boat's bottom, Sadira answered, "I have no idea. I got all turned around when we fell. I know which way I THINK the portal is. I'll know for sure when the sun goes down. I guess for now, we just wait it out."

Cassandra was suddenly stricken with a vision; her eyes glazed over. She sat up completely straight, and while the expression on her face was blank at first, it soon took on a shade of horror. Then the vision cleared.

"I don't think we can wait that long," Cassandra said.

"What did you see?" Sadira and Icarus asked in unison.

"I saw those thieves driving that snake through a city I've never seen before," Cassandra explained. "It was weird. The biggest thing I can remember about it is that it had a giant white palace – "

"With golden domes," Sadira finished, suddenly feeling a chill.

"Yeah," Cassandra said with a nod. "They were going through and busting it up. You know it?"

"That's home," Sadira explained.

Cassandra wasn't sure how to react to that. After a stunned silence, she forced herself to continue. "Anyway, then it cut to something completely else. The guy who stole the Eyes in the first place, the big one with the claws, he was holding the Eyes in one hand and holding up those claw things with the other. And I think I know what he was going to do. I think…he was going to try to put the Eyes of Truth in one of their heads so they'd be able to use more of their power."

"WHAT?" Sadira and Icarus screamed.

"So anyway," Cassandra insisted, "we should probably get a move on SOONER rather than LATER."

"Okay," Sadira said, almost breathlessly. "Gotta think about this. Think. So I don't know which way it is to the portal, but no matter which way we go, we have to hit land eventually, and there we can get a better boat that will take us there faster."

"Or we go completely the wrong direction," Cassandra pointed out, "and lose even more time than if we waited for the sun."

"WELL, DO YOU HAVE A BETTER IDEA?" Sadira yelled.

Cassandra and Icarus were both silent.

"That's what I thought," Sadira said, grabbing the oars and beginning to row.

"I still want to know why you were mad at me earlier," Icarus pointed out.

Sadira gave a short sigh. "Just forget it, okay? It isn't important. I don't wanna fight about it. Especially now."

And the matter was dropped.

---

SOMEWHERE IN OLYMPIC GREECE

The boat pulled ashore on what seemed, from all appearances, to be an island. The sandy, rocky coast was a mere strip before a thick tree line. Sadira, Icarus, and Cassandra leapt out of the boat and began to move through the woods in hopes of finding civilization and, thereby, a boat.

As the forest just became deeper and darker, Icarus began to wail. "We'll NEVER find our way outta here!"

"We will," Sadira resolved.

"This place actually looks a little familiar," Cassandra muttered.

"But it won't make a difference!" Icarus moaned. "Because we've probably just washed up on a deserted island with no one around for miles and miles! WE'LL NEVER FIND CIVILIZATION! WE'LL BE TOO LATE TO STOP THE THIEVES! WE'VE LOST EVERYTHING! EVERYTHIIIIING!"

He burst from the trees into a clearing and fell to his knees on the grass, closing his eyes and thrusting his fists in the air. "WHYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Cassandra and Sadira followed him, looking out at where the plain opened up beyond the forest. They could see various athletic equipment strewn over the grass, and an arena nearby. Cassandra recognized it immediately, and as the short denizen of the island approached, she greeted him with a "Hey." Sadira waved nervously to the stranger.

Philoctetes stopped before the grief-stricken Icarus. "Ya really can't take your eyes off this one for one minute, can ya?" he sighed.

---

Chapter 81:

· A lot of this chap is me manipulating the GoW Ascension map, which is where I got the "electric pedestal" setup. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to turn those giant snakes into something Mechanicles could drive.

· Yep. I'm actually going there: the eyes have to be surgically implanted. (I am going to spare you the actual surgery scene, though. You don't need that.)

· You've probably figured out by now my ship is Sadira/Icarus. I found it by accident. I was lining up the Aladdin and Hercules characters with some friends to see who shipped if we put together the ones that filled the same role. And they pretty much all do ship: Al/Herc, Meg/Jasmine, Hades/Jafar, Genie/Phil, Mozenrath/Hecate, and Icarus/Sadira. The last one being the only one I really wanted to run with in EoH. I just feel like their brands of crazy would play off each other SO well…but more importantly, if one lets them go Yandere on one another, they would fulfill each other's needs brilliantly. And I hope I'm getting that across a bit now. I'll spell it out more clearly later, as Icarus is still fixated on Cassandra…

· I'm intentionally trying NOT to create a triangle where Sadira lets her jealousy drive her to dislike Cassandra. I have better things to spend my time on than that old song and dance.