CHAPTER XXV

CHAPTER XXV

He had given himself a week before he told Amara he would be away on business for a while. Logic had dictated that he was pacing himself, but even he knew that was a lie. He wanted more time with her. He wasn’t ready to leave just yet. That selfish desire quietly told him not to rush. That desire outweighed the voice in his head that told him to use his knowledge to immediately solve Amara’s problem ... not that she remembered her sleep talking when he’d questioned her about it.

A week was nothing in the scheme of things, he reasoned to himself. Plus it allowed him to plan how he would tackle Zeus’ ego enough to get him onboard with Prometheus’ plan. He’d learnt from the last time. This time he had to make sure it was the God of God’sidea.

“And who needs your crafts this week?” She’d teased playfully in bed the morning before he’d left forOlympus.

“My mainpatron.”

“Patron? Are we living in the Renaissanceera?”

Prometheus had scratched at his stubble, trying to think of a better way to describe Zeus but the only other words he had for his long-term friend were decidedly too brash and rude. Instead, he placed a soft kiss on herhead.

“I’ll be back before you knowit.”

“I know,” she said softly, giving him a gently admonishing look, her eyes filled with what he was hopeful was returned love.

She tugged him down for a proper kiss. He allowed her tongue to tease the edges of his mouth until he coaxed her lips open and flicked his tongue into hers. He angled his jaw, deepening the kiss, loath to ever let it end. Eventually he pulled back. He hadto.

“I’ll be fine,” she told him. “Go.”

And so here he was, wandering the dusty track of the mountains that would lead onto a spectacular field of meadows, still ripe in greenery. It used to be ripe with maidens too that Zeus often chased when his wife, Hera, wasn’t looking. Prometheus was sure he’d find him here today. He was right.

“Prometheus, old friend!” Zeus boomed across the field, making large strides towards him and enveloping him in a hug that suggested he’d forgotten the two of them had fallen out. Given the number of tasks on the King of Olympus’ to-do list, this was entirely possible. Given his ability to hold grudges, it was not. Zeus could be a mercurial character ... but today, it seemed, he swung in Prometheus’ favour.

“How are my humans? I assume that’s where you’ve been all this time? Hera has been asking after you, you know. Telling me I should invite you to dine with us. I told her I would if you’d show your bloody rugged face ... and here you are. So tell me, how arethey?”

Another common trait of Zeus’ − to not let another get a word in edgeways. It was understandable. He’d been a boisterous young boy and an upstart of a young man. Not abandoned per se but certainly left to his own devices for most of his youth, Zeus had carried that penchant for being the centre of attention ever since.

“They’re ... as well as can be expected, Lord.”

“Oh don’t you start with your doom and gloom now! And stop with the formalities. Our squabble is finished now that you have served your time. Look, Apollo has set the sun high in the sky today! Why not come out on a hunt with me? Fresh air running through your lungs will shake off any tendrils of those pesky thoughts running through yourmind.”

Clearly someone had played a hand in letting Zeus think his time had been served and that there was to be no further consequence. Prometheus wondered if that had been Athena or Tyche’s doing.

“No, Zeus, I need to speak with you.”

“We can speak as wehunt.”

Prometheus knew that tone. There was no room for debate.

The hunt ran from the afternoon to the early hours of the evening. Zeus set a punishing pace, even for a Titan such as Prometheus. Sometimes Zeus partook in a sneaky hunt, but today he was clearly feeling boisterous, bellowing out across the fields, giving the heifers plenty of warning to scarper. Zeus laughed at the thrill of the chase, and the two gods jested with each other all afternoon about who would catch the prize. Of course, it was always to be Zeus. He caught the biggest heifer and killed it quickly and cleanly, before the pair of them carried it back by its legs to the fire pit outside the palace Zeus and Hera called home. Prometheus proceeded to skin it and fillet off the meat. They would eat it that night.

“I’ll get Dionysus to join us and bring somewine.”

“Wait, Zeus. I would speak to you first. Alone,” Prometheus stressed. Zeus sighed wearily and for the first time Prometheus detected age in his sigh.

“Very well, what troubles you so? You’ve been badgering for my ear allday.”

Prometheus paused, composing himself, before speaking.

“Athena approached me some time ago with concerns over thehumans.”

“Missing us, are they?” Zeus chortled, but his heart wasn’t in it. The humans, once his most cherished possession, were now abandoned like an old toy a child no longer wished to play with. Instead, he stared at the meat, practically salivating though it had barely begun to char.

“Zeus, they aredying.”

That got his attention. His eyes, a cobalt blue so painful they could pierce your soul, snapped to Prometheus. Oh make no mistake, it wasn’t because Zeus cared about the humans. Well, he did. It was … complicated. Prometheus knew Zeus had asked him to make the humans in his image after all, so he loved them. It was just that, sometimes, Zeus didn’t particularly like what he saw in the mirroring they offered him. Perhaps Prometheus had been too accurate in his portrayal. Perhaps that had had a little influence over his sentencingtoo.

About to bite out a retort, Prometheus quickly continued. He must play this right and there was no room forinterruptions.

“Athena was right in her concerns. I can see why she isfavoured.”

Something flickered behind Zeus’ eyes and Prometheus imagined Athena’s mother, who had turned into a snake and inhibited Zeus’ mind after he’d swallowed her, was listening also. Zeus paused for a moment, cocking his head, before offering an amused smile that held an inch of cruelty.

“It’s not like you of all people to give platitudes, Prometheus.” Zeus’ lips tilted up further.

Prometheus had been sure that praise would have been important to both Athena’s mother and the boy within Zeus who had never had anyone else to truly play with and praise him. Well, apart from that goat-like nanny of his with hairs on her chin, who no one seemed to count.

He continued carefully, “I do so because I now share her concerns. After spending time in the human realm, I can see Athena is right ... your humans are introuble.”

Zeus waved his hands in a gesture of ill concern and returned his attention to the fire pit. “I’m sure she will take care ofit.”

Here itgoes.

“Her plan is failing, myLord.”

Zeus merely hummed unconcernedly.

Prometheus tried a differenttack.

“While the statues of you remain, there is no adoration towards you like there oncewas.”

Prometheus began to see a thick vein in Zeus’ neck pulsate.

“And instead of heeding your lessons of decadence, they have begun to sacrifice themselves. Albeit in a more ... discreet manner, so as not to capture yourattention.”

Zeus’ head snapped back to him. Everyone in Olympus knew Zeus had specifically forbidden the humans to sacrifice themselves before Hera’s ruling had taken effect. He had told them he found the act itself repugnant. His eyes bored into Prometheus. Cold and calculating they were much like a predator measuring another predator of a different species.

“They dare defy me? Again? Are youcertain?”

“Without question. But there must be a reason why the Fates turned to Athena.” A little pandering would not hurt Prometheus’ cause. “Perhaps there is still something that can bedone.”

Zeus shrugged. “I could simply ask Poseidon to wipe them all out with another flood. Problem solved. Now can weeat?”

“You would really put yourself through this whole sorry charadeagain?”

“Come now ... you enjoyed making them the first time, didn’tyou?”

“I did,” Prometheus nodded in agreement while silently cursing him. “But I thought that there may be an even more ingenious plan for you to embarkon.”

“Oh?” Zeus turned the leg of the heifer with his bare hands, the heat of the fire doing nothing to scorch the God of Lightning, impatience thrumming through hisblood.

“You could give the humans the gift of whitefire.”

Zeus paused for a moment before letting out a belly-aching laugh that roared through the heavens. He stopped when Prometheus did not joinin.

“You would have me give them ourknowledge?”

“Your humans are killing themselves. They have no idea what awaits them. All their science gives them is a sliver of information and they are exhausting themselves, their bodies, each other ... desperately trying to get answers.”

“This never happened to the philosophers. Why don’t they just listen tothem?”

“The philosophers are a dying breed, mocked amongst their kind. Humanity has begun to fear what it does not know now we have left and they only trust what they can answer. They will kill themselves trying to getthere.”

Zeus was quiet for a moment. Prometheus knew Zeus understood the self-sacrifice he spoke of, but he could not tell if Zeus’ silence was in contemplation orboredom.

“Would you really want to lose them?” Prometheus asked. “Remember the days when fair maidens would walk past you, offering coy looks?” He pressed on. “The thrill of the chase before they bowed down at your feet? The adoration they show that a nymph, Oceanid or fellow goddess willnot?”

“No,” Zeus said slowly.

“Imagine how much greater that adoration will be if they know how tiny and insignificant they are compared to you. It won’t be like the old days where they knew about us, about you, from the beginning. It won’t be a given. They consider themselves your equalnow.”

A dark, brooding grumble began to stir in Zeus’ mouth.

“They’ll fight you now. Wouldn’t that make the chase so much sweeter, rather than the ones who give themselves so willingly here hoping to gain favour? Don’t you miss when you had to trick them? Imagine the shock and awe they will feel when they realise that you grace them with their presence. Once they concede, they’ll love and adore you, fear and worship you, obey your every whim in a way they never havebefore.”

“Psychological warfare,” Zeus mused. “Well, it does sound rather ... novel, after all thistime.”

“Psychological warfare is what they need,” Prometheus agreed, as he handed Zeus the juiciest flank of meat. Zeus ripped the meat from the bone and began methodically chewing. When Zeus’ smile began to turn to a frown, Prometheus pre-empted him.

“Hera need not know. I can take the task for you. Slip the fire into the hands of a select few. Replace the fire before anyone knows it was missing and let the humans’ need for telling tall tales of legends naturally do the rest ...”

Zeus ripped another large chunk of meat off the bone with his teeth and swallowed whilethinking.

“Well, I suppose no one is going to find it hard to believe that you offered the humans another gift of fire should we getcaught.”

Prometheus grunted in agreement.

“But naturally, I’ll have to be seen as punishing you again for this if we do. Would you really put yourself through that again? Just for them? Thehumans?”

“Solitude was not so great a punishment for one like me. You and I both know that, my friend.” Prometheus shrugged.

Zeus smiled at the informality and this time it appeared neither cunning nor cruel, malicious nor boisterous. It was golden. In that rare moment, he truly was the King of the Gods.

“Alright, you may give them the white fire my friend, but no one may know until it is done or else all hell will breakloose.”