Aphrodite stood on the cliff overlooking the Halls of War, doing her own contemplating, for she had sensed Ares' departure just moments before and knew the young goddess would be alone for the time being. ~ It would be so easy to just sweep in and release her, ~ she thought impulsively, and except for the fact that Ares had the only key to Sorrow's chains, and the uncertainty of his imminent return, Aphrodite would have grabbed the two heroes and already done it.

"So, what do you think?" Hercules asked quietly so as not to awaken Iolaus.

"I'm trying not to," she quipped unhappily.

Hercules nodded in equal despair. They were now in the right place, but their course of action was no more clear now than it had been in Thessaly. There, they had the excuse of Testacles' troops to answer for their inability to act. Here, they only had themselves to blame. They could storm in now, as Iolaus had wanted to do back in Thessaly, but Hercules didn't want to rush in there blind.

"We need a plan," he ventured matter-of-factly.

"Definitely," agreed the blonde goddess, but her voice was no more confident than his.

Hercules frowned, "What can we do, Aphrodite?"

"Invade the temple, find her, and break her out?" she answered mindlessly, speaking only from her heart.

"That's what I thought, too, but odds are she's chained up - say, what are the chances that Hephaestus has a copy of the key?"

Aphrodite shook her head, "Already thought of that, bro, and Hephy shot it down. Ares stood over him the entire time he was making the chains. Not only that, but he had Hephy make three pretty hefty doors of oak and three sets of locks, each one more intricate than the last. Ares is apparently making sure that no one's going to even get close to her, much less set her free."

Hercules sighed in exasperation, "Then there's nothing we can do?"

Aphrodite first tilted her head thoughtfully, then shook it in denial as she said aloud, "Naw, he'd never go for it."

"He'd never go for what?" Hercules' eyebrows creased in consternation.

Aphrodite frowned, "I was just considering the possibility of cutting a deal with Ares, but I don't think he'd agree to it, and even so, I don't think you could live up to it - "

"Live up to what!?"

Her frown turned into a charming half-smile, "Well, I was sorta thinking that if maybe you offered to stop interfering in his business, he might be willing to let her go."

Hercules shook his head resolutely, "Not an option - I don't even think Iolaus would go for that deal. No, we've got to find another way, and soon. Ares isn't going to just let us sit outside his main temple forever without some sort of reaction. We've got to act, and act soon."

Aphrodite sighed, "The only thing I know to do is petition the Pantheon directly to do something about it."

"And you're about as likely to get a resolution from them as we will just standing here looking helpless," the demigod almost sneered, knowing the other gods would never fully act against the eldest son of Zeus without fear of repercussions. Such a decree would only set off new disputes on Olympus, and that would result in battles on earth. They would have to figure out a way to bypass the locks that secured whatever room Ares had her in, if even for just long enough to let her know that they were trying to free her, and maybe give her courage to keep resisting the war god. It might be too late to save her from his advances, but they could certainly give her hope that she might be free one day to choose for herself who she wanted to be with. ~ If we could just get Poseidon to change his mind, ~ he wished.

"Do you really think we can get Poseidon to do that?" Aphrodite asked in reaction to Hercules' unspoken thought.

"If anyone can find him and talk him into it, it's you, Aphrodite," he pointed out somewhat tenderly, with just a hint of intrigue.

Aphrodite knew he was deliberately flattering her, but she took it for what it was worth and grinned saucily, "I am pretty cute, aren't I?"

Hercules chuckled lightly, "Yes, you are. Can you do this for us?"

"Hey, I'll do anything I can for us!" she winked before promptly disappearing.

"Huh - what!?" Iolaus muttered groggily as he bolted upright from his pallet. "What's going on? Where are we?"

"Whoa, Iolaus!" Hercules halted the blonde warrior. "We're in Thrace - "

"THRACE!?" Iolaus exclaimed, jumping to his feet in panic. "How in the name of Tartarus did we get to Thrace? We've gotta go back!"

"Wait, Iolaus - she's not there," Hercules grabbed hold of his arm. "She never was."

"What?"

"The army was a decoy," he admitted reluctantly. "We were . . . duped."

Iolaus' pained expression went immediately from panicked anger to extreme despair in a split second, and he gasped, "We were in the wrong place all the time?"

"I'm afraid so, Iolaus . . . I'm terribly sorry," Hercules apologized sincerely, fearing the sadness he saw radiating from his friend's eyes. It was almost as though the hunter already knew the full truth, but didn't want to admit it, and the demigod certainly didn't want to be the one to broach the subject. At least, not yet.

"Yeah, me too, Buddy," Iolaus replied, his voice sounding hollow and embittered. To Hercules' dismay, he then asked, "So, what else has happened that I don't know about? Just go ahead and lay it on me. I can take it."

Hercules hesitated, unsure if he should obey his friend and reveal the entire story. There was nothing they could do to change the fact that Ares had taken advantage of the young goddess, and Hercules did not doubt that his brother had indeed impregnated Sorrow. Telling Iolaus about it would only cause him more heartbreak, and perhaps make him give up hope. He couldn't do that to his best friend.

"He's got her chained and locked up in a cell somewhere inside the Halls of War. Aphrodite is trying to find Poseidon now to see if he'll help us get to her."

Iolaus nodded slowly, looking down upon the Halls of War gloomily, feeling something akin to the desperation of suicides, and he predicted, "He won't help. This has been going on for days, and Poseidon hasn't answered any of our prayers. No one can help us."

"Don't talk like that, Iolaus - there's got to be something we can do," Hercules encouraged, but Iolaus didn't appear to be able to harbor any such hope, and the demigod knew his friend had given up. "Iolaus, you will be with Sorrow again," he reassured with great seriousness.

"Will I, Herc?" he asked vacantly, seeming to be lost in his memories. "I had her, and I let Ares steal her away from me - the same way death stole my Ania, except this time I could have stopped it from happening. But I did nothing."

"What could you do, Iolaus? I found you unconscious on the floor of Poseidon's temple!"

"I could have done something!" Iolaus continued to berate himself. "I could have married her when I had the chance, and stopped Ares right there!"

"I really don't think that would have stopped him, Iolaus," Hercules informed hesitantly. "Ares is after something only Sorrow can give him, and being your wife wouldn't have stopped him from taking her. In fact, it probably would have only made her all the more attractive to him."

Iolaus didn't reply, for he was bound and determined to feel guilty over the situation in spite of Ares' culpability. Iolaus was older than Sorrow, so he felt more responsible for what had happened to her, and certainly he felt liable for her future freedom. And now he despaired of ever saving her, especially now that he knew her to be locked in chains somewhere inside the Halls of War. He knew from experience that navigating the Halls of War was not for the weak of heart, and the odds of finding the right hall with the right cell in it were not good. They could search for years and still never locate Sorrow. It all seemed utterly hopeless, and he lowered his head to his hands.

Hercules recognized his friend's need for silence and acknowledged it, but wished he could fill up the silence and time with something to help Iolaus forget. He knew from his own experience that Iolaus would never be able to let go of his love for Sorrow, and ultimately it would wear him down. It was not fair to either one of them that they had to battle Ares for the right to be in love and have a life together, and he wished he knew what to do to stop the war god's machinations. In the end, he could only pray that Aphrodite would be able to persuade Poseidon to help them find her.

The demigod turned his head to scout the area around them just as Iolaus was slowly beginning to find his anger and courage again. The embers of his passion for Sorrow were easily reignited just knowing that she was within short reach of him now, and not trapped behind lines of soldiers armed to the teeth. He had wanted to rush into the thick of those troops time after time, but the thought of being skewered before reaching the entrance had kept him unable to act, for he could not bear the thought of Sorrow mourning his death so soon after joining with him. Now he was hindered only by lack of motivation, and he was quickly developing that as he recalled the sweet taste of Sorrow's kisses, and then remembered the love she had for him and he for her. It would not allow him to sit still, and without another thought, Iolaus took up the quarterstaff in his hand, stood up from his rock, and proceeded down the hill toward the Halls of War.

On to Chapter Eighteen

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