The Tower of Nero

And the fasces was not unguarded.

Behind the glowing ax, his hands spread as if in benediction, the guardian stood. His body was humanoid, seven feet tall. Patches of gold fur covered his muscular chest, arms, and legs. His feathery white wings reminded me of one of Zeus’s wind spirits, or the angels that Christians liked to paint.

His face, however, was not angelic. He had the shaggy-maned visage of a lion, ears rimmed with black fur, mouth open to reveal fangs and a panting red tongue. His huge golden eyes radiated a sort of sleepy, self-confident strength.

But the strangest thing about the guardian was the serpent that encircled his body from ankles to neck—a slithering spiral of green flesh that corkscrewed around him like an endless escalator—a snake with no head or tail.

The lion man saw me. My dream state was nothing to him. Those gold eyes locked onto me and would not let me go. They turned me and examined me as if I were a trog boy’s crystal sphere.

He communicated wordlessly. He told me he was the leontocephaline, a creation of Mithras, a Persian god so secretive even we Olympians had never really understood him. In Mithras’s name, the leontocephaline had overseen the movement of the stars and the phases of the zodiac. He had also been the keeper of Mithras’s great specter of immortality, but that had been lost eons ago. Now the leontocephaline had been given a new job, a new symbol of power to guard.

Just looking at him threatened to tear my mind apart. I tried to ask him questions. I understood that fighting him was impossible. He was eternal. He could no more be killed than one could kill time. He guarded the immortality of Nero, but wasn’t there any way…?

Oh, yes. He could be bargained with. I saw what he wanted. The realization made my soul curl up like a squashed spider.

Nero was clever. Horribly, evilly clever. He had set a trap with his own symbol of power. He was cynically betting that I would never pay the price.

At last, his point made, the leontocephaline released me. My dream-self snapped back into my body.

I sat up in bed, gasping and soaked in sweat.

“About time,” Lu said.

Incredibly, she was on her feet, pacing the cell. My healing power must have done more than just soothe her amputation wounds. She wobbled a bit, but she did not look like someone who’d been using crutches and leg braces just a day ago. Even the bruises on her face had faded.

“You…You look better,” I noted. “How long was I out?”

“Too long. Gunther brought dinner an hour ago.” She nodded to a new platter of food on the floor. “He said he’d be back soon to get us for the party. But the fool was careless. He left us silverware!”

She brandished her stumps.

Oh, gods. What had she done? Somehow, she had managed to attach a fork to one stump and a knife to the other. She had inserted the handles into the folds of her bandages, then fastened them in place with…Wait. Was that my surgical tape?

I looked at the foot of my bed. Sure enough, my pack was open, the contents scattered about.

I tried to ask how and why at the same time, so it came out as “Hawhy?”

“If you have enough time, some tape, and a set of working teeth, you can do a lot,” Lu said proudly. “I couldn’t wait for you to wake up. Didn’t know when Gunther would be back. Sorry about the mess.”

“I—”

“You can help.” She tested her silverware attachments with a few kung fu jabs. “I tied these babies on as tight as I could, but you can wrap them one more time. I have to be able to use them in combat.”

“Er—”

She plopped down on the sofa next to me. “While you work, you can tell me what you learned.”

I was not about to argue with someone who could poke me in the eye with a fork. I was dubious about the effectiveness of her new combat attachments, but I didn’t say anything. I understood that this was about Luguselwa taking charge of her situation, not giving up, doing what she could with what she had. When you’ve gone through a life-changing shock, positive thinking is the most effective weapon you can wield.

I wrapped her utensils more tightly in place while explaining what I’d seen in my dream drive: Meg trying not to crumble under the influence of Nero, the emperor’s fasces floating in its radioactive room, and the leontocephaline, waiting for us to try and take it.

“We’d best hurry, then.” Lu grimaced. “Tighter with that tape.”

My efforts obviously hurt her, judging from the crinkles around her eyes, but I did as she asked.

“Right,” she said, swiping the air with her utensils. “That’ll have to do.”

I tried for a supportive smile. I wasn’t sure Captain Fork and Knife would have much luck against Gunther or the leontocephaline, but if we met a hostile rib-eye steak, Lu would be queen of the combat.

“And no sign of the other thing?” she asked.

I wished I could’ve told her yes. I had wanted so badly to see visions of the entire troglodyte corporation digging into Nero’s basement and disabling his fire vats. I would have settled for a dream of Nico, Will, and Rachel charging to our rescue, yelling loudly and waving noisemakers.

“Nothing,” I said. “But we still have time.”

“Yeah,” Lu agreed. “Minutes and minutes. Then the party starts and the city burns. But, okay. Let’s concentrate on what we can do. I have a plan to get us out of here.”

A cold shiver ran down my neck as I thought about my silent conversation with the guardian of the fasces. “And I have a plan for what to do when we get out.”

Then we both said together, “You’re not going to like it.”

“Oh, joy.” I sighed. “Let’s hear yours first.”

LU WAS RIGHT.

I hated her plan, but since time was short and Gunther might show up any minute with our party hats and various torture devices, I agreed to do my part.

Full disclosure: I also hated my plan. I explained to Lu what the leontocephaline would demand in exchange for the fasces.

Lu glowered like an angry water buffalo. “You’re sure?”

“I’m afraid so. He guards immortality, so—”

“He expects a sacrifice of immortality.”

The words hung in the air like cigar smoke—cloying and suffocating. This was what all my trials had led to—this choice. This was why Python had been laughing at me for months in my dreams. Nero had made the cost of his destruction giving up the one thing I wanted most. To destroy him, I’d have to forfeit my own godhood forever.

Lu scratched her chin with her fork hand. “We must help Meg, whatever the cost.”

“Agreed.”

She nodded grimly. “Okay, then that’s what we’ll do.”

I swallowed the coppery taste in my mouth. I was ready to pay the price. If it meant freeing Meg from the Beast, freeing the world, freeing Delphi…then I would. But it would’ve been nice if Lu had protested just a little on my behalf. Oh, no, Apollo! You can’t!

I suppose our relationship was past the point of sugarcoating, though. Lu was too practical for that. She was the sort of woman who didn’t whine about getting her hands cut off. She just taped silverware to her stumps and got on with business. She wasn’t going to give me a pat on the back for doing the right thing, however painful it was.