"Easy." Hercules breathed the advice, watching the boy as he carefully manoeuvred the first of the shiny egg cases to the edge of the rocky niche which held them. "Just let it roll down. Gently." Timeon nodded, his features creased in distaste and anxiety as he gingerly pushed the object across the uneven floor. The lumpy softness that had served the son of Zeus as an unlikely couch was actually a covering of fungi; huge flat platters of it covered the rock floor and spilled out into the main cavern. Each growth was well over an arm’s length in any direction and at least a handspan thick. It looked a little like the sort of infestation you found on damaged fruit trees – although Hercules had never seen anything to match it in size.

Just like the ants …

Once he’d got a picture of the place, the rest had been easy to figure out. Seen from a distance, the monsters’ ancestry had been obvious.

So had the reasons for it; he had no doubt that he was witnessing the result of Ettian’s attempt to hide the Elixir of Abundance somewhere out of harm’s way. Buried it deep, the priest had said, but then ants burrowed pretty deeply too – and all it would have needed was for one foraging worker from a nearby colony to find and investigate Demeter’s gift. The rest would have followed with inevitable progression.

Two, three years …

Long enough for a thriving ant hill to develop from an unremarkable nest into a total nightmare. As the ants had grown bigger, so would have their appetites; they’d probably progressed from fat and juicy insects, through small animal prey, right up to the point where they’d begun to put people on their menu. The fate of those fishermen who’d visited the lake and never returned was now pretty clear.

As was the eventual fate of the Hebris valley, if these monstrous creatures weren’t dealt with – and dealt with quickly. Queen ants build colonies – after which, they breed queens of their own, sending them out to conquer yet more territory. One nest was bad enough – but if any of these eggs had been picked to be nurtured as future Queens, then nobody in the seven villages would be safe.

The whole of Greece could be in danger …

No wonder Demeter had mentioned a little ‘trouble’ that needed looking into.

Hercules heaved a small sigh, leaning his spinning head back against the support of the wall. Everything kept drifting in and out of focus, and the pain in his shoulder was beginning to spread, eating its way down his arm and across his back. He was in no fit state to tackle even one ant, let alone an entire nest of them. If Timeon succeeded in evicting all of the eggs from their niche before any of them decided to hatch, then they might have bought themselves some thinking time – but that was all. If they moved from their hiding place they’d make themselves an immediate target; he barely had the strength to stand and the boy would have no way of defending himself.

So, what am I going to do?

Pray for divine intervention? That was always a possibility, although he seriously doubted that any of his relatives would pay much attention to his plea. Demeter had already acted to intervene by sending him in the first place. Aphrodite might come, but there wouldn’t be anything she could do – except perhaps to complain about how icky everything was. Ares might turn up, if only to laugh at his half brother’s predicament, but the warrior ants would probably be far too much a temptation to his martial ambitions for him to take punitive action against them. And Zeus … Hercules heaved a second sigh, only too aware that sending a plea in that direction was likely to carry a high cost – even if the King of the Gods bothered answering it in the first place.

Prayer then, would have to be a last resort – something he’d offer up with his dying breath, when all his other options had been exhausted.

"That’s three!" Timeon was getting the hang of his task now, half rolling, half bouncing the rubbery eggs across the floor before letting them roll away down the slope. They were coming to rest a good distance away, far enough for them not to be a threat when they finally did decided to hatch. Hercules nodded encouragement at the boy as he began to manoeuvre the fourth egg into place; with luck the job would be completed long before their contents became dangerous.

Perhaps that’s the way …

Once the eggs had been disposed of their little niche would be a safe enough refuge from the rest of the nest. They could stay there – at least until he’d regained a little of his strength. If he could regain it, that was. His body was fighting the poison, but he had no guarantee of victory. Every movement was an effort. Even thinking clearly was a struggle. He could be dying. He had no way to know.

I just need to rest.

That was it. Rest. A few more hours wouldn’t matter, one way or another. The ants weren’t in any hurry, so why should he be? He had to bide his time and see what opportunities presented themselves. Nobody knew where he was; help was hardly going to materialise out of nowhere …

Gods, he realised, straightening up from his slow downward slump to stare out into the dimly lit cavern with anxious alarm. Iolaus …

His partner was one of the best trackers in Greece. He was also one of its bravest heroes – with a tendency to take impulsive, leap before you look, kind of actions, especially when he thought his friends were in danger. He was sure to have found the remains of the cow by now – and possibly the body of the dead ant, if its companions hadn’t dragged it back to the nest to be devoured along with all the other trophies of their scavenger hunt. Either way, the hunter would have no difficulty following the trail – which would lead him straight to the mouth of the nest.

And from there, straight into trouble.

Hercules found he did have a prayer after all. He closed his eyes and prayed with all his heart, addressing his plea to the one soul he’d risk his own to keep safe. Don’t do it, Iolaus. Don’t even think about it …

"You’re gonna – you wanna – you can’t be serious!"

"Sssh!" Iolaus reacted, hastily reaching to smother Theodorus’ disbelieving outcry before it attracted attention. "Keep it down. Okay?"

The entertainer nodded, his eyes wide and his body tense, clearly realising the danger his thoughtlessness might have brought down on them both. Iolaus cautiously removed his hand, poised to clamp it straight back should the need arise. "Sorry," Theodorus whispered, the word decidedly contrite. The hunter threw him an exasperated look and went back to peering out through the branches of their refuge. "But – you can’t really be meaning to go in there – can you?"

"Uhuh," Iolaus nodded abstractedly. They were perched high up, in a sturdy oak, one that overlooked the edges of the lake – and the low mound of hard packed earth which lay almost immediately below them. Several of the giant ants were in view, most of them the same general design as the dead one that they’d found, but – standing guard at the entrance to the nest – there were two larger creatures, their heavily armoured heads dominated by the jut of serrated curving jaws.

Warriors, the hunter had assessed, as soon as he’d seen them. They made the more slender built workers look positively puny in comparison.

"I knew you were crazy," the entertainer muttered, clutching at a branch to keep himself from falling. "But not that crazy. Nobody’s that crazy …"

"I am," the hunter corrected, frowning a little as he watched a worker manoeuvre itself into the entrance tunnel. The mouth of the nest was right in the centre of the mound and it looked as if the tunnel was a vertical hole leading straight down – but looks can be deceptive. The worker vanished at an angle, implying that the way in was a slope rather than a chimney. Both could be climbed down, but a slope would make it much easier to get out again. "I have to be. Theo – " he said, returning his full attention to his company, "my partner is down there somewhere. I have to find him. The boy too. The only way to do that is to go in and look."

Theodorus craned his long neck to catch a glimpse of the warrior ants and then dropped back with a shudder. "It’s suicide. Those things’ll bite your head off as soon as you walk up to them."

"Not necessarily." Iolaus hunkered down to study the ant which was busy nosing around the base of their tree. "Ants only attack you if you don’t smell right – or taste right, or something. Look at the way those guards are checking out the workers before they let them through."

He’d spotted that right off; each new arrival was carefully vetted before it was allowed to descend. One of the warriors would stand forward in challenge, and the approaching worker would stand still while the larger creature stroked its head and thorax with its feathery antennae.

"When I was just a little kid," he went on thoughtfully, "I got my own back on particularly nasty bully by luring him into kicking the ants nest I was sitting on. I smelt right. He didn’t – and he went home covered in bites and stings that went on smarting for weeks. Old hunter’s trick," he grinned, glancing up to meet his company’s disbelieving frown. "My uncle taught me that one. All you need is a handful of ants from the right nest …"

Theodorus nearly choked smothering his explosive snort of reaction. "A handful?" he wheezed, looking at his company as if he’d sprouted a second head. "One of those things is bigger than you are!"

"Yeah." Iolaus acknowledged, nodding satisfaction as the worker below them reared up and began ‘tasting’ the tree bark with its antennae. "That’s gonna make it a little easier."

"You are crazy," the entertainer declared, rolling his eyes. "How are you going to – on second thoughts," he decided, "I don’t want to know. Just tell me one thing."

"Sure." The hunter’s eyes, and his attention, were on the ant at the base of the tree. That’s it. Satisfy your curiosity. Nothing up here but squirrels and song birds. "Whatdya wanna know?"

"Well," Theodorus leaned forward to see what his company found so fascinating, shuddered and quickly leant back again, pressing himself up against the trunk of the tree. "While you’re – busy playing hero – what am I supposed to do?"

"Mmm? Oh!" Iolaus lifted his head and gave him an apologetic look. "Didn’t I explain that bit yet?"

"No," was the instant reply, the denial backed with a rapid shake of the head. The feather in the man’s cap jiggled in syncopated sympathy, which looked decidedly ridiculous, since it had been sticking out over his shoulder ever since he’d used the hat to muffle the bells on his lute. "I don’t even know what I’m doing here."

"Well - " Truth was, half an hour before – back when he’d set out to track the other ant and its burden back to the nest – he’d had no idea why he’d only taken a few steps before diving back and grabbing Theodorus’ arm to drag him along. But now, he had a plan – and it was all going to depend on the lanky limbed entertainer turning out to be more of a hero than he might think himself to be. He’ll do it, Iolaus decided, absurdly wishing that it was Joxer sitting next to him. The wanna-be warrior might be a klutz, but his heart – and his spirit – more than made up for that minor handicap. He couldn’t be that sure of Theodorus – but he didn’t have a lot of choice.

"Okay," he began, glancing down to make sure that his targeted ant was still busily occupied. "Here’s the deal. I am gonna go into the nest, find Hercules and the boy and get them both out as fast as I can. Meanwhile you are going to sneak back to Ettian and Lathius, tell them what we’ve found and get them to round up all the men they can."

"I can do that," the entertainer said, looking a little relieved. Iolaus put up a hand to silence him.

"There’s more," he warned. "Once you’ve alerted Ettian, I want you to go back to Ytarsia – hear me out – " he insisted, pre-empting the man’s instinctive protest. "Go back to Ytarsia, find Big daddy and his boys – they were coopers or oil dealers, right? Right – find them, get them to gather as many barrels of olive oil as they can lay their hands on, and bring them here as surreptitiously as they can. It’ll be dusk by the time they’ve got wagons together – these guys’ll be back in the nest for the night, so it’ll be a little safer to work in the dark.

"You and them, and the men Lathius and Ettian can get together – I want you to stack barrels of oil around the nest and soak the ground in the stuff. Then – just before dawn – you’re going to pour a couple of barrels full down into the nest – and set it alight."

Theodorus had been frowning at him, but, with his final phrase, a smile of understanding lit the man’s features. "Oh," he said, "I get it. We burn ‘em out, huh? Keep pouring the stuff until everything in the hill is good and crispy … Waait a minute. What if you’re still down there?"

Iolaus’ smile was grim. "Then you burn it anyway. Theo," he insisted, when the entertainer’s frown deepened into puzzled distress, "we don’t have a lot of choice here. How long’s it going to take before they exhaust the food supply around the nest and start foraging further afield? A day? A week? They’ll be in Ytarsia before the month’s out – and nobody will be safe."

"But – " the protest was pained, "an hour here or there …"

"You burn it at dawn." The hunter wasn’t prepared to listen to argument. "Leave it any longer and they’ll clear the barrels away from area – or dig another entrance somewhere else. Either way we can’t risk it – anymore than we can risk men getting close to any of them. You work at night and you work fast."

"Okay." Theodorus nodded unhappily. Then a thought clearly struck him. "I can’t do it," he announced. Iolaus threw him a sharp glance. I need you to do this, Theo. Don’t chicken out on me here …

"I can’t go back to Ytarsia. Those guys’ll kill me."

Oh …

The hunter rolled his eyes in exasperated relief. "That all you’re worried about?" he asked, "Here." He dug out his money pouch and pressed it into the entertainer’s hand. "There’s a hundred dinars in there. Pay your debt – and use the rest to cover the cost of the oil."

"A hundred …" Theodorus looked decidedly flabbergasted. "I can’t take a hundred dinars off you!"

How ‘bout that? Iolaus grinned. He’s an honest man …

"Yes, you can. It’s all Ytarsian money anyway. That’s the reward for the bandits I brought in this morning. Might as well go where it’s really needed."

"But – a hundred dinars!" The entertainer paused, his face stricken with alarm. "This is a fortune. How do you know I can be trusted with it? How do you know I won’t just take it and run?"

"I don’t," the hunter answered honestly, leaning out to make sure his curious ant was still in the vicinity. "But – uh – two things. One – if we don’t deal with these things here and now, they’ll breed and they’ll spread and nowhere will be safe. And two? My partner down there happens to be the son of Zeus - and there are a few of his relatives who’ll be upset if anything really bad happens to him. Aphrodite, for instance. Imagine what she might do if she found out there was something someone could have done – and didn’t."

That was a little mean – Iolaus didn’t really believe that Dite would take revenge for her brother’s death, even if she could be bothered to find out who’d been involved in it – but, then again, you never knew …

Theodorus went a little white. "Ah – " he laughed nervously. "There’d be no reason for that. I’m a – trustworthy kind of guy, you know?"

"Thought so." The hunter gave the man’s shoulder a reassuring pat. "Now – when I say, you climb down the way we came up, run back to Ettian as fast as you can – and whatever you do? Don’t look back. Okay?"

The entertainer took a deep, determined breath and nodded, once. "Okay."

"Okay."