Page 12 of Touch of Death
“Well, stepbrother’s,” I say, correcting myself. “Please, I might be able to help.”
Death watches me for a second before offering his arm out to me.
I take it gently, turning it over as I search for any sign of tearing or blood, but there’s neither. The leather armor bound around his arm doesn’t even have so much as a puncture mark.
“See,” Death says, “there is nothing for you to worry about. You are my only concern.”
“Okay,” I say, choosing not to mention the way I feel him flinch at my touch. “What are we to do now?”
“The gate will not open again until Hades comes to unlock it,” Death says with a frustrated sigh, glancing over his shoulder. “We have no choice but to continue on down the path, for now. Unless you would prefer that I continue fighting Cerberus for however long it takes that to happen.”
I have to bite back a laugh when I realize he’s being serious.
“No, let us walk,” I answer, my eyes flickering to the beast’s long fangs as he snarls at us just inside the gate.
Death nods, collecting his chain from the ground and re-arranging it over his body, and we continue on down the path with Cerberus growling at our backs ... Though he’s careful to keep his distance.
“Why doesn’t Cerberus seem to be afraid of you like the others are?”
“Because he is one of the few creatures that I cannot kill. There are not many, but he is among them.”
“What makes him special?”
“He is a guardian,” Death says, glancing down at me before continuing, “Cerberus is a keeper of souls, a task not entirely unlike my own. As such, he works outside the bounds of fate.”
“So, neither of you can die?”
“It is not quite that simple, but no, we cannot die without certain conditions being met. However, we can be maimed, and often that is threat enough to keep us in check ... for a time.”
We walk on in silence for several minutes while I try to process everything that he’s just told me. I still don’t quite understand how everything works, let alone how Death might still be able to kill things that are already part of the Underworld, but I decide against questioning it for now.
If nothing else, his words carry the added weight of caution for me. Perhaps simply being among the dead here isn’t quite as final as I thought it was.
At least, not yet.
“Where does this path lead?” I ask in a hushed voice, suddenly realizing that there must be a reason why Cerberus is herding us along it.
“To the Judges.”
“Who?”
“This particular path leads to the Judges, those who are meant to decide the ultimate destination of your soul. Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus.”
I frown at the unfamiliar names as I try to remember any stories that I might have read about them.
“And these Judges, what will happen once they’ve judged me?”
“That will not happen,” he says firmly. “I will figure out a plan long before I allow that to happen.”
“But if it did? If you can’t?”
Death’s silence stretches on long enough for discomfort to settle on my shoulders as I wait for his reply.
Unease knots my stomach as I shoot a nervous glance up at him, the low growls of Cerberus growing ever louder in the quiet. I can’t help but wonder how Death plans to escape the monster when he seems hell-bent on making sure we follow the path.
“If I am unable to get you away from Cerberus, then I am afraid our time together will be at an end,” Death says, his voice solemn. “Should you come to stand before the three judges, they will be forced to make a ruling on your soul. Then you would step beyond my reach, little one.”
He doesn’t expand upon what exactly this ruling entails or why it would part us, but he doesn’t need to. I can imagine what he’s left unsaid for myself.
