Second Place Story, 2002.

Olympic Politics

Kimberly Eldredge

“Must I surrender so easily then?” he asked. “Must I accede defeat to the One God and his nasty little bearded son?”

“Defeat, great lord?” Hephaestus said, the half-grin slipping from his face and returning almost at one, like one of the androids given two orders at once; Hephaestus’ smile could decide to go or stay so it tried to do both. “You gave up on that battle two thousand years ago. The One God had taken your place as King of the Gods as you took the place of your father before you.”

“The One God is no child of mine!” Zeus said angrily.

“Be that as it may, the mortals worship him now, not us. It seems that most of the Olympians have accepted that.”

“I see that every day,” Zeus said, suddenly tired. “Hera has a new silvered mirror and only dresses in clothes Hermes brings her from the runway.” Zeus said runway like it was a word that didn’t fit comfortably in his mouth. “You have this contraption built by a mortal and even Hermes prefers his Nike sneakers to his winged sandals. I’ve even heard that some of the gods don’t drink nectar anymore. They drink this new mortal stuff called Coke! What is happening to us, Hephaestus?”

“We have been replaced,” the god said softly, laying a dirty hand of Zeus’ arm. Zeus’ shoulders slumped and he nearly sank to the balcony floor in defeat. “But,” Hephaestus continued in a voice that made Zeus raise his head and look at him. “There is always an option.” He let the end of the sentence hang in the air between them, unsaid and full of potential.

“An option?” Zeus repeated, drawing closer to Hephaestus, for once not noticing that the other god was filthy from his work at the forge or the scent of sweat that always hung about him.

Hephaestus wagged his eyebrows at Zeus before continuing.

“Religions come and they go,” Hephaestus began, throwing an arm around the former King of the Gods and drawing him close. “But what’s to say that we don’t encourage this one to go sooner rather than later. I have a plan to overthrow the One God and to put the Olympians—to put you—back into power.”

Zeus’ eyes glittered as he leaned into Hephaestus’ smoky embrace to hear the plan. Soon, the one-time Thunder Thrower and soon-to-be re-crowned King of the Gods was nodding to Hephaestus’ words and rubbing his bicep eagerly as he thought about once more flinging lightning bolts onto the heads of mortals from the great height of Olympus.

Back to Fantasist's Homepage
Back to Fantastical Visions Main Page