Who Will Save Our Souls?

Chapter 4

"Can we stop soon? My feet are killing me!"

"Not until we reach the end of these tracks. Now be quiet if you aren't going to help."

"Yeah. What's the matter, thieving doesn't give you enough exercise?"

Autolycus glared at his two companions and trudged along with them. They'd spent the day before following the army's tracks and had only rested to catch a few hours sleep when it was too dark to tell the marks from the ground.

They walked on for another hour until the tracks finally came to an end. Hercules and Iolaus began searching the area for any clues as to who might have been involved in the army's arrival. Autolycus folded his arms across his chest and leaned against a nearby tree. Normally, he would have headed off on his merry way at the merest hint of actual work, but it wasn't wise to disobey the God of the Underworld.

He spotted a glint of somng ing in the sky being touched by sunlight, and he smiled. "Hiya, Dad."

"Hey kid. Find anything yet?"

"Nah. We just got to the end of the trail and there doesn't seem to be any clue as to who helped them here."

"It must have been one of the family. Damn! I hate it when Hades is right."

"What do you mean?"

"I had to take a message down to him and Seph last night and we talked a bit of shop. He mentioned Thena acting a little strange yesterday. I'll have to talk to Dite and ask her to keep an eye on big Sis."

"Why Aphrodite?"

"At the moment, she and Hades are the only ones I trust. It could be Athena, but it might not." Hermes looked distracted for a second. "Speak of the Goddess. Take care, kid. I'll talk to you later."

With a final wave, Hermes left his son only to reappear in Aphrodite's Olympian temple. The Goddess was standing in front of her mirror, primping in yet another risque pink ensemble.

"You called, Sis?"

"Herms, babe, how's Auto?"

"Annoying Hercules and Iolaus, as usual."

"Good." She finally turned away from her mirror to face him. "Hades just came by and we've got a couple of messages for you to deliver." She held out her hand and two scrolls appeared.

"How come he didn't call meselfself?"

"He's a little busy with Seph, hon. I can feel them all the way from here. If I didn't know better, I'd think they'd had some sort of disagrnt ant and were in the process of making up." She handed the scrolls over to him.

He looked at the names on the scrolls. "Hmmm, Jett and Jace. Sounds familiar. Wait a minute, they're the brothers of Auto's friend." Aphrodite nodded. "And they're triplets -- which means they're demi-Gods too!"

"Hmm, and they don't know it yet. Maybe you'd care to 'enlighten' them a bit, huh?"

"Yeah, maybe. Oh, before I go, has Hades mentioned Athena to you?"

"Not really. Why?"

"Well, Auto said they'd found the end of that army's trail and there was no sign of any mortal assistance. That means they were helped by one of us, and Hades had mentioned Athena acting a little strangely yesterday. Could you let him know what Auto found out and maybe keep an eye on Thena?"

"No prob, bro. Keep in touch."

With a nod to his sister, Hermes left Olympus in search for the two triplets.

~*~*~*~

Joxer drifted into wakefulness feeling a warmth pressed against his back. He instinctively snuggled into the warm body curled up behind him. He let out a sigh of contentment as he entwined his fingers with those of the hand that was draped over his waist.

"Hello, lover."

Mmmmm, Ares. Ares? His eyes snapped open and all the events of the past day came back. He elbowed the figure behind him and pulled away when the arms loosened from around him.

"Ares, I thought I told you no more of this. It's over."

"That's not what your body was telling me a minute ago, love. You can't deny what just happened here."

"Yes I can." Joxer turned to the two figures only now waking. "Hurry up. The faster we leave, the faster we figure out what's going on here." He went about gathering his things, all the while shaking his head. "It's so quiet here."

"What d'you mean, babe?"

Joxer rolled his eyes at Ares. "I can't hear anybody. The voices are barely there. The only person I can hear right now is old Aunt Kalista."

The rebel shivered, and the God of Love couldn't help but smile at the man's reaction. He turned his attention to the other triplets, who were reluctantly facing the new day.

As Jett helped Jace off the ground, he watched the man who claimed to be their brother rolling up his bed roll, doing his best to ignore the sulking white-clad God. "You okay, Jace?"

Jace shook his head a little. "Yeah, I think I'm fine. What happened?"

"Do you want the short or the long version?"

"The short one, of course."

"There's a universe like ours and Jox and Ares sed sed over, as well as Xena and some Executioner that I suspect must be the blonde. Apparently, there you're like Jox, Jox is like me, and I'm like you." Jett paused for breath. "Oh, and apparently Hades might be our father."

Jett reached out to catch Jace before he could faint again. "Is that everything, brother? There's nothing you left out?"

"Oh, yeah, this Ares looks to be the God of love, and apparently he's got a thing for Jox."

They stopped talking when Joxer walked towards them. "I don't mean to be harsh, but we'd better leave soon. I want to know what's happened here." Both brothers nodded. "All right. Let's go."

Joxer started walking off with Ares close behind. Jace started following but stopped when he realized Jett hadn't moved. "Aren't you coming?"

"You go ahead. I'll catch up to you shortly." As Jett watched the others head off, he leaned against a nearby tree. When he could no longer see their bodies through the trees, he finally spoke. "They're gone."

"How do you know when I'm around, anyway?"

"Lots of practice. Are you here for a particular reason?"

He looked down to the face of the Goddess who had just appeared, and was wrapping her arms around his waist. "Just the same as usual, lover."

Jett wrapped his hands in the thick black hair of his lover and captured her lips with his. "I can't stay for long. They'll notice if I don't catch them up."

"Aww, it's just your brothers. It'll be a while before they notice."

"Not with this Jox. He's too much like me."

"What are you talking about? Joxer, like you?" The Goddess giggled. "Oh, I needed a good laugh."

"Are you saying you don't know anything about this? Not even about Ares?"

"What about Ar?"

"He and Jox ove over in this other universe, and we're stuck with the God of Love."

"What?! How could he go anywhere without telling me?"

"Whoa! Calm down Dis."

"Don't 'Dis' me. My brother goes off and pulls something stupid like this, and I'm supposed to stay calm?"

"Well, it's not like getting upset will do you any good, sis," a voice replied from off to the side.

Discord turned to face her brother. "Hermes! What do you know about this?"

"A lot more than you. And the fact that you don't know a thing about this is the only reason I can think to trust you. We've got a few things to talk about."

"So you came to interrupt me and my lover to tell me about this? How long's this been going on, and how long has Ares been gone?"

"We'll discuss that shortly. Actually, the reason I came was these two scrolls I have to deliver. One's for your boy-toy here, and the other's for his brother."

Jett sneered as he held his hand out to the God. "Which brother is the other scroll for?"

"Jace. Joxer's gone, in case you haven't figured it out."

"I'll get it to him."

Hermes nodded and handed both scrolls to Jett. "Now, Discord, why don't we head back to Olympus so we can have a little chat."

The leather-clad Goddess nodded, pulled down her lover for one last kiss, then flashed away with Hermes. Jett looked at the two scrolls he held and unrolled the one with his name on it.

*You are hereby commanded to assist the Gods of Olympus in their quest to find the muderer of Zeus, King of the Gods. You are to seek out the nearest temple to Hades, God of the Underworld, for further instructions.*

Rolling the scroll back up, Jett had no doubt that his brother's scroll said the same thing. Picking up his bedroll, he rushed to catch up with the others.

Perhaps now he and Jace would get some answers about their parentage.

~*~*~*~

TBC...