"Mama, please, get me out of here!" she begged, weeping uncontrollably.

Lachesis closed her arms about her daughter protectively and soothed, "Do not cry, my child - we are doing what we can."

"Please, Mama, I want to go home!" Sorrow wailed. "Please, take me back to Olympus!"

Lachesis shot a glaring look at Ares - the most emotion he'd ever seen coming from an immovable Fate - and she scolded, "This is completely unnecessary, Lord Ares. Sorrow does not belong here, and she does not deserve to be held in chains against her will."

"Perhaps you're right . . . but, let's see," Ares replied smugly with a hint of derision, "I might not have had to chain her up at all if someone hadn't told her to run. However, someone gave her the idea that she should haul ass, and since I had to go to such great lengths to find her, let's just say I'm not eager to hunt her down again."

"Ares, she is not yours to keep - she is not for you!" Lachesis tried to reason with him. "How else may I possibly convince you that she has another destiny?"

"FORGET HER DESTINY!" Ares suddenly raged. "Let's talk FATE."

Sorrow and Lachesis looked to each other simultaneously, unsure of what he was getting at and seeking reassurance, but Sorrow had none to give, and Lachesis quickly sensed why. She did not speak of it aloud, but indicated her understanding, and turned to Ares again.

"You have my attention, Lord Ares."

Ares moved to the table and slowly draped himself over the frame of Sorrow's chair, enjoying the Fate's pronouncement for a moment before informing, with a voice as smooth as silk, "It seems your little girl has no clue as to her true purpose in this universe, Lachesis. How is it that you - one of the most truthful of all the gods in our realm - could keep such knowledge from your own daughter, especially when it's come to be quite an important issue to her?"

"Sorrow knows her purpose," the Fate contradicted him summarily. "She has been tending to the grieving for most of her young life."

"Ah, ah, ahhh," he waved a reproving finger at her, watching Sorrow closely for her reaction. "That's not entirely true, Lachesis, for your sweet daughter appears to have no clue that, while she is certainly . . . blessed . . . with the ability to ease grief and sadness, she is also quite capable of creating them, and that omission is, indeed, a great disservice to your pride and joy."

Sorrow felt Ares' eyes lingering upon her, but she refused to let him intimidate her any longer, and she turned to her mother defiantly. "Go on and tell him he's wrong, Mother - tell him!" she urged, still confident that he was bluffing. However, she was beginning to question his unwillingness to acknowledge his defeat and give up his argument as moot.

"Yes, Lachesis, please tell me I'm wrong," Ares chimed in, his voice and face smug as ever.

Lachesis sensed something odd going on between her daughter and the God of War, and demanded, "What is happening here? Why are you asking me this?"

Ares grinned almost-ferally as he explained, "Well, you see, I made a small bet with your little girl there, Mom. See, if you say she's not going to cause a lot of misery and will live happily ever after with her . . . human . . . lover, then I will gladly set her free, no strings attached. But if you don't, then Sorrow will have to stay here with me. So, what shall it be, Mom? Can Sorrow keep herself in the grief business, or what?"

Lachesis turned dismayed eyes to her daughter, "You didn't take that wager, did you?"

"You wouldn't be here now if she hadn't, Lachesis," Ares interjected, his humor gone again.

"What is it, Mother?" Sorrow asked, completely alarmed by her mother's demeanor.

Lachesis pointed to the door and commanded harshly, "Leave me with my daughter, Ares."

Ares nodded knowingly, a sly smile dancing on his pouty lips, and he extracted himself from the chair very slowly, taking his own sweet time leaving the cell, and pausing only to close the door behind him. The minute they were alone, Lachesis grabbed Sorrow's hands and squeezed them tightly in her own.

"Listen to me, my child," she insisted with great urgency. "We are all doing what we can to get you out of here, but you must be patient - "

"But, why? You're here now! Why can't I go with you now?" Sorrow begged frantically, beginning to lose her thin grasp on hope.

Lachesis replied sadly, "You should not have taken that wager, my daughter."

Sorrow's blood ran cold, and she queried hesitantly, "You mean to tell me, Ares was actually telling me the truth? I cause sadness?"

"What can I tell you, Sorrow?" Lachesis replied mournfully. "You are sadness. It follows you, as well as leads you - you command it, even as you obey."

"Then, Iolaus' sadness was caused by me?" Sorrow gasped in complete horror.

"It was purely incidental, my daughter," the Fate explained gently. "You cannot control it."

"But, I only wanted to make him happy, Mother!" Sorrow almost shrieked in disgust - disgust for herself, disgust for not knowing the truth about herself, and disgust for what she had inadvertently done to the love of her immortal life. "I wanted to marry him, and have his baby!"

"And you shall, my child, in due time," Lachesis soothed, gently smoothing her daughter's blue curls. "Do you not know that love is always the cure for sorrow?"

Sorrow shook her head in distraught disbelief, so ashamed that she'd even dared to dream of a life of happiness with Iolaus. Oh sure, she might get to be with him one day, but what good would their love be if he learned to resent the sadness she would inevitably, and constantly, bring into his life? Already he'd almost been killed, and she had prayed so earnestly that it wouldn't turn out to be her fault. Now she knew for sure that she was not only guilty of this, but perhaps far more.

"Please, Sorrow, do not despair!" Lachesis put comforting hands upon her daughter's shoulders and squeezed tightly. "Trust and believe in your destiny - no matter what Ares does, he cannot stop your true destiny from being fulfilled!"

"But, I might be pregnant with Iolaus' child, Mother!" Sorrow gasped, cradling her mid-section for emphasis. "What if Ares finds out???"

Lachesis smiled wanly, "But you fear the child possibly belongs to Ares, am I not correct?"

"Only you know for sure, Mother," she beseeched without hope.

Lachesis opened her mouth to speak, but did not get the chance to clear up the matter before Ares exploded into the room, grinning from ear to ear.

"Did I hear my name mentioned?" he quipped exultantly as he stepped toward the mother and her tear-stricken daughter. "Because I could just swear I heard my name!"

Lachesis glared at him, "Lord Ares, you have things as you wish. Sorrow understands her role and is prepared to live up to her part of the bargain."

Sorrow gaped at her mother in horror and cried, "NO, Mother! I don't want to stay with him! I want to go home!"

"Too bad!" Ares snapped, grabbing hold of her arm and jerking her to him. "You made a bet and you lost. It's time to pay up, my Sweet Sorrow."

Lachesis stepped forward and warned, "Do not feel so triumphant, Lord Ares. You may have won the bet, but you have not won my daughter's heart, and without her love, you are powerless over her. One day, she will slip through your fingers, and you will only have yourself to blame for it."

Ares laughed insidiously, "So long as she gives me the sons I want, I don't care what becomes of her! For now, she's MINE, and that's all that matters!"

"Is there no way I may convince you to let me take Sorrow home, Lord Ares?" Lachesis tried one more time, her voice full of respect and complicity. The offer set off a light of ingenuity in Ares' eyes, and Sorrow's internal alarms went off.

"Don't, Mother!" she reached out and pulled the Fate away from Ares. "I was foolish to wager with him - please don't bargain with him, too!"

"Stay out of this, Sorrow," Ares waved her off petulantly. "Let the adults talk!"

"That . . . is . . . IT!" Sorrow declared with great finality, squeezing her fist together tightly as she clocked him squarely on the jaw, knocking him across the room and slamming him into the wall. He left a solid indentation where he came in contact with the stones and, stunned, he stayed in the crevice and watched as Sorrow advanced upon him, listening as she berated him further, "Don't you ever, and I mean, EVER, speak to me with such condescension again, do you hear me, Ares? You may be the God of War, but I am the Goddess of Lamentation, and by the gods, I will make you SORRY you ever crossed my path!"

When she reached him at the wall, she lifted her hand again to strike at him, but he was quick to react and swiftly grabbed her arm and spun them both around until she was trapped in the wall indentation where he'd just been, and he held her there as he chastised, "It's little outbursts like this which are going to keep you locked up for good, if you don't watch it, my dear!"

"What does it matter!?" Sorrow cried out in shrill, hysterical notes, her eyes gone beyond the usual brightness of their green light. "You've ruined everything, Ares! You've taken the one thing that was precious to my life and bent it to suit your whims, and now I'm not fit to be Iolaus' wife! And I wouldn't begin to know how to ever cleanse myself of you enough to ever allow him to touch me again, for fear I might contaminate him with you!"

Enraged, Ares lifted his hand to slap her, but Lachesis was quick to intervene.

"Lay not a hand on my child, Lord Ares!" she warned, her voice booming to him an unspoken threat. "She will comply with your wishes, but you will not strike her!"

Ares glanced guiltily at Lachesis, deeply ashamed that he had raised his hand to Sorrow with such intent. She had done nothing to him to warrant this hostility, while he had every reason to expect hers. Ares was not so callous that he did not recognize that Sorrow did not deserve his abuse. Even more, as far as he knew, she carried his child, and her well-being was therefore important.

"I - I'm . . . Forgive me, Sorrow," he stammered, stepping back as he let go of her. "I didn't mean - I mean, I did not intend to hurt you."

"But you wanted to," she accused in a strangely calm demeanor, the light in her eyes beginning to fade slowly. "You wanted to treat me the way human husbands sometimes treat their wives - I know! I've comforted far more women than men, Ares, and nearly every one of them found their grief through a man! Why should I be any different?"

Ares breathed in and out slowly, counting to ten in an effort to control his anger, and he seethed, "I am no human man!"

"Really?" Sorrow retorted. "Then, why don't you quit acting like one!?"

Ares pointed a petulant finger at her and scowled darkly, "This is over! The matter is settled, Sorrow - "

He had meant to say more, but a great, slamming noise interrupted him, and the subsequent echo shocked them all as it resounded and reverberated off the stone walls of the impenetrable Halls of War.

"SORROWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

With every running step down the hill toward the Macedonian temple, Iolaus could feel the strength and anger of at least half a dozen Olympians beginning to course through his veins, and it only pushed him on at a quicker pace. He could hear Hercules somewhere behind him, calling for the hunter to slow down and wait for him, but he just couldn't. He felt the irresistible draw of knowing that Sorrow was far more accessible now, and he couldn't stop for anyone or anything - not for Hercules, and certainly not for his own better judgment. He knew he would likely be obliterated for openly defying and challenging Ares, but he could not leave the love of his life locked away without at least trying to save her. He had sat and waited for far too long as it was.

Hercules followed Iolaus as soon as he saw the blonde warrior bolting down the hill at top speed. "Iolaus! Wait!" he kept calling to his friend, but Iolaus was seemingly possessed by his need to find Sorrow and would not listen. Hercules understood that need, but did not care to see his best friend so easily and summarily destroyed by Ares. He knew he had to intercede if at all possible. However, Iolaus would not be persuaded to stop and let the demigod catch up.

Iolaus kept bailing down the hill, ignoring his friend's hails and focusing on the main door of the temple and the ever-increasing anger inside him. By the time he arrived, he was beyond control, and with his increased volume of adrenaline being enhanced by a surge of testosterone, the main doors stood no chance. His foot launched into the air, and he kicked the never-locked doors with a solid boot. Both doors, as huge and heavy as they were, flew open as though they weighed nothing, and slammed against the entryway walls with a resounding, "BOOM!"

"SORROWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" he wailed as loudly as he could, praying she could hear his call from wherever Ares might be holding her.

In the cell, all three gods heard the enraged, yet sorrowful, call of the human warrior, and Sorrow started to shout back, but Ares quickly stifled her with a threatening glare. He pointed his finger first at Lachesis, then her daughter, saying, "You, get out of here, and you, shut up and stay quiet!"

"NO!" Sorrow shouted as she reached out to hit him, but Lachesis stopped her.

"Lord Ares, please give me another moment alone with Sorrow?" the Fate begged, but Ares was now furious, and he shook his head.

"I don't think so! Anything you have to say to her, you can say in front of me, but make it quick because I have a human to crush!"

Lachesis glared back at the God of War and turned to her daughter slowly, "Sorrow, as much as I want for you to live out your destiny, I cannot defy Lord Ares now. You lost the wager, and a goddess is nothing without her honor - "

"But, Mother!" Sorrow protested. "I don't love Ares - I love Iolaus!"

Lachesis smiled unhappily, "I am so sorry, my child - I wish I could save you from this, but I cannot. I hate to be the one to advise you so, but it would truly be in Iolaus' best interest at this point . . . to let him go - "

"No, Mother! You said my destiny was with Iolaus!" Sorrow beseeched frantically, feeling her heart beginning to break, but Lachesis only shook her head slowly.

"It cannot be so now, Sorrow. You have committed yourself to a losing wager, and now you must live up to your bargain. For his sake, Iolaus must be set free from your love - "

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Sorrow wailed pitifully as milky tears began to pour down her face, her voice reverberating out the door of the cell and throughout the Halls of War.

"Yes!" Ares snapped, now grown thoroughly weary of the entire situation. He reached for her chain and jerked her backward into his harsh grip, and growled into her ear, "You will tell that pipsqueak to go away, if you know what's good for him."

On to Chapter Eighteen, Part Two

Back to The Power & The Passion