Timothy Boggs - Hercules Legendary Joureneys 02 by Serpent's Shadow Page A

dismissed it. ' 'No. He's not the most friendly man I've ever met—that runt did most of the talking—but I'm beginning to think Hercules is overrated."
    The woman squeezed his hand again before slipping an arm around his waist. "He didn't make you nervous?'
    "Me?" He laughed silently. "Don't be silly."
    "You're sweating, my love."
    "It's a warm night."
    "You're tapping your foot."
    Titus looked down, saw his left foot tapping the ground, and ordered it to stop. It ignored him. He shifted his weight as casually as he could. The foot tapped a few more times, and gave up just as he began snapping the fingers of his right hand.
    The woman giggled, and leaned her head against his arm. "You're really not cut out for this sort of thing, are you?"

    "What are you talking about?" he demanded, trying to sound insulted and commanding. "I've been doing it for years."
    "No, my love," she said tenderly. "You've been making all the speeches. I've been doing all the rest."
    He turned within the circle of his wife's arm, put his arms around her, and said, "You think this is really the end, that she'll really let us go and"—he gazed out at the plaza—"spare the city?"
    Jocasta Perical looked up into her husband's eyes. "I think we should get out before Hera fries us."
    He glanced apprehensively at the sky. "You think she would? After all those promises?"
    "In a Spartan minute."
    He pondered, he thought, he debated, and he snarled when the tapping returned to his foot. "Maybe we should pack, then."
    Jocasta smiled. "Darling, what do you think I've been doing all day?"
    The city was behind him, nothing but stars overhead and the silver trail of the moon rippling on the water.
    The tide was out, and Hercules had no problem making his way between the huge boulders that marked the west end of the beach. Once past them, he walked on for almost another hour, not stopping until he was positive he would not be seen or heard, inadvertently or otherwise.
    He also made sure that the way inland wasn't impeded by rocks or cliffs, marshes or thick woodland.
    Just a precaution, in case he had to run like hell if the meeting went sour.
    Stalling, a voice mocked in singsong; you're stalling.
    So what? he answered grumpily. If I stall long enough, maybe I can talk myself out of it.
    He had no idea, not really, why he had come up with this plan in the first place. It was foolish, it was potentially dangerous, and it was probably a waste of time. If he had confided in Iolaus, his friend would have suggested that he was, without question, out of his little demigod mind.
    Still, if Holix was right, and if his own impression of Titus Perical was right as well, he and Iolaus would need as many advantages as they could get. Without them, there was a good chance Hera would win this time.
    Stalling.
    He groaned in unabashed self-pity, stopped, and finally faced the water. Took a deep breath and moved forward until he was in up to his knees, the low waves nudging him, the moon bathing him in cold light.
    He spoke a word then, one not in any language any mortal could understand.
    Actually, he whispered it.
    It didn't make any difference.
    Less than a minute later he muttered, "Oh, boy," at the way the sea began to churn.

    Hercules took an uncertain step backward.
    Where the sea had begun to churn, a dome of water pressed upward, slowly, silently, as though a mountain were about to rise from the bottom. Sparks flared from the sides as the tower of water grew. Sparks within the tower raced in dizzying spirals from bottom to top.
    Low waves rushed from the tower's base and slammed against his legs, forcing him back until he turned and struggled to the beach's wet apron.
    When he looked, the tower was three times his height and still growing. Waterfalls thundered down each side from a central point at the top, looking in the moonlight like rivers of flowing ice-There was a shadow inside, a deepening black that filled the whole tower.
    Hercules waited; there wasn't much