CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED EIGHT

There Be Dragons Here, Part 1

The mist cleared before them like cloudy gates giving way to a landscape that seemed far removed from anything one would discover in the mortal world.

Sam found himself staring at a grove of strange, red-leaved trees whose tips reached up to a sky tinged in twilight’s orange glow. Even the grass seemed dyed in red. As if this small corner of the cosmos had missed the memo that autumn had already given way to winter. Peppered all over this sacred grove were wooden stakes that pierced the ground at various spots. Plumes of flame exploded out of the earth at random, enforcing Sam’s view that they’d somehow found themselves in one of the Underworld’s hellish landscapes.

“The blessed folds of War’s embrace,” Jackboot recited. “Seems like we’re in the right place.”

The smiling skulls perched atop their stakes stood like ancient warning signs for those foolish enough to trespass in War’s domain.

“Yep, we’re not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy,” Sam agreed.

At the far end of the grove stood a tree that lorded over all the others. Its red leaves were basking in a soft golden glow that Sam quickly realized was emanating from the objects hanging on the tree’s many branches.

“Is that…”

Yes, Sam was sure of it. He’d found the cure to Thunder’s illness. He’d found the Golden Fleece. Only, there appeared to be more than one fleece hanging on that tree.

“Where is it?” Jackboot asked.

“They’re right there,” Sam pointed.

“I can see them,” Jackboot replied. “But I’m more concerned about the guardian of Colchis that’s supposed to be protecting the fleece…fleeces.”

Oh, yeah, there was that complication too, Sam thought, frowning as he did. “Any chance we lucked out and it’s died after seventy-plus years?”

“When have we ever been that lucky?” Jackboot countered.

Sam sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Despite their high vantage point, neither hero could see this so-called guardian. No upturned grass or broken earth. Not even the tell-tale sign of a horror's lair. There was not a single clue of its presence within the grove.

“Maybe it’s on a coffee break,” Sam mused.

“It might have quit,” Jackboot mused too. “I can’t imagine Aries is a good employer.”

“No bonuses or days off,” Sam added.

“Or health insurance,” Jackboot replied.

“You two are idiots,” came Farsight’s voice from the radio in Sam’s hand.

The door of the Argo VII screeched open and the rest of the team stepped out of it to experience the same otherworldly atmosphere that Sam and Jackboot had already taken in.

“Nice place for a picnic,” Dr. Hearthstone said.

“If you’re into the hellfire and brimstone view, sure,” Farsight replied in a wry tone.

Sam jumped off the Argo VII’s roof and joined Thunder who had walked a little further ahead of the others. She didn’t seem to notice that he was standing next to her as Thunder’s eyes were glued to the tall tree and the many golden relics hanging on its branches.

He tapped her on the shoulder. “Are you okay?”

Sam wasn’t certain, but he thought he’d seen a tear rolling down her cheek before Thunder looked away from him.

“Is…” He could hear the slight quiver in her voice. “Is this it?”

His right hand fell off her shoulder so he could bump the back of his palm against her left hand.

“Yeah, this is it,” Sam promised. “We’re in the endgame now.”

Thunder turned to face him, and although tears were pooling underneath her eyes, the smile she offered Sam was full of warmth and promise and all kinds of happy thoughts.

Blessed Aphrodite, please, please, let me keep my promise to her, Sam thought.

Dr. Hearthstone appeared to the left of Sam and aimed his patented smoldering glare at the many golden relics. “Which one do you think it is?” he asked.

“Can’t it be all of them?” Sam wondered.

“It wouldn’t be a mythical relic if there was more than one of it,” Dr. Hearthstone argued.

“We’ll have to get a closer look to see what’s what,” Sam replied.

Jackboot popped up to the left of Dr. Hearthstone. “Right, a stroll through this hell grove… Here’s hoping we won’t encounter anything nasty on the way.”

“Yeah, you people should know this by now, but the fates don’t plan to make things easy for us—like ever,” Farsight chimed in as she appeared to the right of Thunder. “I should know… I’m their only remaining seer in America.”

“You think it’s an ambush?” Thunder guessed.

“Probably,” Farsight answered. “Guardians by definition are wily suckers.”

“Can’t you use probability to give us an advantage?” Sam asked.

“You know my powers don’t work right inside a celestial zone,” Farsight reminded him.

“Which means we’re going in blind,” Dr. Hearthstone deduced.

“It’s pretty much what we normally do,” Jackboot chimed in.

“At least this time we’ve got an idea about what we might be facing,” Farsight said as she dropped the duffel bag she’d been carrying on the ground. “I’ve gathered some goodies that might even the odds.”

Thunder picked up the duffel bag and took a peek at its contents. “What’s in these vials?” she asked.

“The blue vials are high-grade tranquilizers,” Farsight answered. Then she grinned that mischievous grin of hers. “The green jars are…Greek fire.”

“O~~okay,” Thunder quickly passed the bag over to Dr. Hearthstone, “I see you’re not discounting the nuclear option…”

“What, you want to try asking it nicely to just give us the real fleece?” Farsight raised an eyebrow at her. “You do know what kind of horror this guardian is, don’t you?”

Yes, Thunder did. They all did. Anyone who’d read the story of Jason and the Argonauts would know about this particular moment in their journey and what sort of guardian protected their coveted prize.

“Still…Greek fire?” Sam’s gaze took in the sacred grove before him. “Ares won’t like us thrashing his garden like that… Let’s pray we won’t need to.”

“You know, I could just zip over there and nab the fleece before we do anything drastic,” Jackboot offered.

“You’re not fast enough,” Farsight answered flatly.

“I’ll have you know, I’ve got the proportionate speed of a—”

“And you’d still be dead before you made it to the fleece,” Farsight cut in. “I’ve seen it happen, Jack.”

“Didn’t you just say you couldn’t use your seer’s gift in here?” Jackboot reminded her.

Farsight glanced his way, an impish grin on her face. “And here I thought you were all brawn.”

“You little—”

Dr. Hearthstone raised a hand, cutting off Jackboot’s comeback. “Even if you speed run over to that tree, you wouldn’t know which of the fleeces is the real one.”

“Right, because fighting off a guardian wasn’t complicating enough…” Jackboot sighed.

“Can't we just use the bus?” Thunder asked.

Farsight shook her head. “The divine energy saturating this grove’s messing with our billion-dollar war machine’s systems. Engine, navigation, weapons—none of them are working right.”

“You mean we might crash or blow ourselves up if we pushed it?” Thunder pressed.

“Until we figure out what’s causing the disruption, yeah,” Farsight answered.

“Then what’s the plan, Ash?” Sam asked.

“Codenames on the field, Herculean,” Dr. Hearthstone reminded him.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Sam scratched his hair at hearing his not-so-beloved code name uttered by a hero other than Farsight. “Um, we do have a plan, right?”

“Well, if this is the same guardian as the legends”—Farsight stepped forward and then turned her head slowly to gaze at each one of them—“then we can’t beat it. Not even with the talent pool we’ve got here.”

She moved over to pat the duffel bag Dr. Hearthstone now carried.

“I think the best approach is the same thing Medea did for Jason,” she said.

Sam recalled another old sermon from Saturday temple, the one where a priestess of Zeus shared a tale of how Medea tricked the guardian with a sleeping potion which saved her lover Jason from dying inside the horror's stomach.

“Alright,” Sam’s expression hardened, “let’s go claim our prize.”

As he strode past the first of the skull stakes, the temperature rose dramatically so that it felt like leaving an air-conditioned room and stepping out into a swelteringly hot beachfront.

“A god’s domain never makes sense, does it?” Sam glanced over his shoulder. “It’s not—”

Sam had been planning to reassure them, but he could see from the determined expressions on their faces that he didn’t need to. The sight of his team following after him made Sam's chest feel warm, and it had nothing to do with the rising temperature of the grove’s interior.

I can’t believe I’m part of this awesome team, he thought.

The crew of the Argo VII made it about halfway to the rear of the grove when they felt the ground rumble beneath them.

“Get ready…” Sam’s fingers tightened on his hammer’s handle. “Here it comes…”

However, nothing came. Nothing happened. The tremors just stopped.

“That was…anticlimactic,” Jackboot noted.

“It’s goading us,” Thunder guessed. “Stay frosty, people.”

They moved on—their gazes wary and alert—and although the tremors became more frequent the closer they got to the fleeces, whatever caused these rumblings refused to make an appearance, resulting in heightened tensions for our heroes.

It’s like we’re all just waiting for the other shoe to drop… Sam thought.

Twenty feet to their goal.

I wonder how Chiron’s doing… Sam wiped at the sweat dripping down his cheek. Did Apex double back to him when he couldn’t catch us?

Fifteen feet.

I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but I wish Chiron was back in my head, Sam clenched and unclenched his left hand. I never realized how comforting his lectures were in these kinds of tense situations until now…

Ten feet.

“Alright, I’ll say it,” Jackboot said, breaking their silent vigil. “Perhaps Lady Luck is on our side tonight.”

His hopeful musing was met with several sighs.

“Why do you always do that?” Sam asked.

“Do what?” Jackboot replied.

“Tempt fate,” Farsight chimed in just before following up with a yell of, “Scatter!”

A healthy respect for Farsight’s intuition drove the team to do just that. They jumped away in every direction and were saved from the horror that burst out of the ground they’d all been standing on.

Sam felt debris from the ground smack against his back, encouraging him to pull Onus from its sheath just before he whirled around to face the giant monster looming over him.

“Oh, gods…” Sam’s fingers tightened on Onus’s handle. “Did it have to be another dragon?!”