So Odysseus was bored. He used to go out hunting ghost deer with Achilles or Orion, but that sport soon palled. The main disadvantage of a ghost deer was that you couldn't kill it. And even if you could, you couldn't eat it.

Odysseus was in a receptive mood when Achilles came over and told his problems. Odysseus suggested that they go at once and talk to Dis, king of Tartaros, in the black palace he shared with Persephone.

Dis had his own problems. He was engaged in jurisdictional disputes with the Roman chthonic deity Plutus, who had recently become the chief deity of the Roman underworld, and had pulled strings to be declared a separate deity in his own right and not subsumed under the Hades concept. Because of this ruling, Dis immediately lost control of a large section of the classical underworld, and no longer had jurisdiction over the Latins who had formerly been his subjects. In one way he was glad to see them go.

Latin dead had never gotten along well with the Greeks. On the other hand, losing the Latins diminished his kingdom, and shrank his archetype.

Problems, problems. And then suddenly there were Achilles and Odysseus, demanding justice.

"What do you expect me to do about it?" Dis said. "I don't have any power up there. To hell with Dis, that's what they say. They've got new constructs."

"There must be something you can do," Achilles said. "If you're so ineffectual, you should step down and let somebody else rule Hades. I've got a good mind to bring it before the Hellenic General Assembly at the next Bylaws of Hades meeting."

"Hell, no, don't do that," Dis said. "Let me think about this. Do you know who took her?"

"There was "a demon involved," Achilles said. "Alecto told me that. He was one of those spirits from the cycle that came after ours."

"Which side is this demon on?" Odysseus asked.

"Alecto said he represented Darkness or Badness," Achilles said. "I can't remember which."

"Darkness," Odysseus mused. "I suppose that equates with Badness? In that case we know which party to apply to for redress. I've never been able to understand the distinctions between Good and Bad.

People only started making them some centuries after our time."

"Beats the hell out of me too," Dis said. "But people seem to like the Good and Bad stuff."

Odysseus said, "Meanwhile, there's a wrong here we must right. If you'll give us a provisional reality card so we can get out of here, and your authority to act for the classical infernal construct in this matter, Achilles and I will bring this matter to the attention of the proper authorities."

"All right, you've got it," Dis said. He felt pleased with himself. One of the most important things about having authority is being able to delegate responsibility. Now it was up to Odysseus to right this wrong.

CHAPTER 2

After Odysseus received permission from Dis to accompany Achilles to the world of the living, he decided to seek out Tiresias, the most notable magician of the ancient world. Tiresias would know what they had to do and how they could get where they were going.

The two heroes set off for the grove of Persephone, with its black poplars and aged willows, at the point where two rivers of Hades, Phlegethon and Cocytus, flowed into the Acheron. There they dug a trench and poured in the blood, heroically desisting from drinking it themselves. Whenever dead people came by asking for some, they turned them down. They wouldn't even give a sip to Agamemnon, their old commander-in'chief, who drifted by, drawn by the scent. This blood was for Tiresias alone.

Dark and oily, the blood lay in the trench. Then it suddenly frothed, then diminished, drunk by an unseen presence. Immediately after that Tiresias appeared, a slight figure in a long gray wool mantle, his face painted with ochre and blue clay, his dank white hair hanging down over his eyes.

"A very good day to you, gentlemen. Thank you very much for the nice sacrifice. Some of Dis' private store, isn't it? Lovely stuff! Don't have any more, do you? Too bad! Well then, what can I do for you?"

"We seek Helen of Troy," Odysseus said. "She has been unlawfully abducted from her husband, Achilles, here."

"Somebody always seems to be stealing the fair Helen," Tiresias said. "Do you know who did it?"

"We are told it was a demon from the new age," Odysseus said. "But we do not know his name or where to find him. We need your advice and assistance."

"All right," Tiresias said. "The demon's name is Azzie and he is part of the new Dark-Light overview which has captured the minds of mankind."

"We will go seek him out!" Achilles said.

"You're going to find it a different world out there," Tiresias said. "You will have to go to the main place from which Evil is commanded, which is called Hell, and make your enquiries there. I can provide you with a Traveling Spell, as long as you have Dis' permission to use it. As a matter of fact, I happen to know who Helen is with at present."

"Tell us!" cried Achilles.

Tiresias cleared his throat and turned toward the trench, now drained of blood.

"We have no more to give you," Odysseus said. "But at the first chance we will provide another sacrifice."

"The word of Odysseus is good enough for me," Tiresias said. "But I warn you, finding Helen won't be easy. She's moving around a lot since she is now the consort of a famous magician named Faust."

"Faust?" Achilles said. "That doesn't sound like a Greek to me."

"He's not. Other races have come up in the world and are now the physical as well as intellectual masters. This Faust is engaged in a game with the gods themselves. I mean the new gods."

"Where are our old gods, by the way?" Odysseus asked.

"Well then, where do we find Faust and Helen?"

"They are traveling," Tiresias said. "But not only on the Earth. They are traveling in time as well."

"Can we get to where they are by boat?" Achilles asked.

"Not unless it's an enchanted boat. Traveling by spell is really the only way."

"You're sure we can't get there by land?"

"Not that way, either. It takes a bit of magic to get where Helen has gone to. Luckily, I have brought along my bag of spells." From beneath his mantle he took a horsehide bag. It bulged and creaked suspiciously, and gave off little sighs and whines.

"The spells are restless today," Tiresias said. "Use them with care and mind your fingers when you take them out of the sack. Do not be precipitate. Remember, the matter must proceed step by step. First you have to visit Hell and get permission from the Powers of Darkness to take Helen back. There's always a procedure in these matters."

"And will you accompany us there?" Achilles asked.

"No, I will not. But I'll be looking around for information. Don't forget, you owe me a sacrifice! Now, I must away."

Odysseus would have liked something a little more definite. But Tiresias had said his last word. So Odysseus agreed. Tiresias vanished. Odysseus reached into the horsehide bag and separated one spell from where it lay coiled around the others. He brought it out and hastily tied up the sack again. The spell writhed and squirmed, but Odysseus held it firmly and muttered the necessary words. The spell quivered, and then gave a mighty lunge. Odysseus held on, and Achilles held on to him. With classical simplicity, and no baroque nonsense about fire and brimstone, Odysseus and Achilles found themselves in the anteroom of the Kingdom of Dark.