Pseud, I corrected what you showed me. Thanks.

And thanks for reading once again. Oh, and guess I messed up. That huge chapter doesn't come around until chapter 15. So yeah, still a few to go before we get there.



"I will most certainly get you there," Hel responded a few seconds later. "But you will not be going alone, I'm afraid."

"What now?" asked Saga, throwing his hands to the side in frustration. "I can do this alone!"

"Cocytos is a dangerous place," Hel rose her voice, walking towards him with a very much concerned Magatha at her side. "If you are so convinced that you want to go, then you'll do it with a party or you won't go at all. Heck, I am having seconds thoughts about letting you go, I think I will just keep you here safely where you belong, I can just have Magatha teach you more advanced magical spells."

Magatha glanced at her dear brother with hopes that he would agree to that instead of his current death wish to go to the world of Cocytos. Seeing his glaring eyes, she quickly withered the thought.

Frustrated, Saga was about to protest, but he calmed down and nodded at his mother. "Fine, tell me, mother, what do you have in mind?"

"Fifty of our elite demons will accompany you there," Hel quickly said with a light smile. "For your own protection and for my own relief. Believe me when I say you will need all the help you can take. You'll be thanking me once you return...if you return at all!"

Saga read the anguish in his mother's words, he understood that she was really worried about him. Was Cocytos really such a dangerous place that she worried so much?

"Fifty demons? I can live with that. Alright, have them assembled as quickly as possible, I want to do this right now."

Putting her hand on his shoulder, Hel told him to calm down. "I am not done, Saga," she went on. "Just relax, listen to me. You will get your chance, but you will also have to take Ailyth along."

"No way," Saga quickly turned around and walked away. "No way, never!"

"Ailyth will go or else you won't be going either! Magatha, prepare your most advanced tomes, it seems to me that Saga is willing to stay here after all."

"Why?" Saga turned back around, rage evident in his eyes. "Why her? Why not Magatha or you?"

Magatha seemed shocked then, and she innocently glanced from Saga to queen Hel.

"Never mind," Saga said when he saw her reaction. "I'd never take you two anyway, I would not expose you to danger."

"Magatha is not going anywhere," Hel said, looking at Magatha, who relaxed at those words, for the younger daughter had no intention to go to such a dangerous place, not even if Saga--the brother she loved so much as her own life--was going. "Though that certainly does not mean she wont be helping out, I need her here with me if I am to open a portal to Cocytos."

"A portal?" Saga was thrown off, but then he recalled his mother relating that Cocytos was in some other plane, surely it was not connected to the lands he knew.

"As compensation for having helped him construct that place, my brother allowed me to keep a key to enter it at will if I needed to. Not really a key but the means to be able to enter Cocytos. There is no other entrance to it, a portal is necessary. I know how to open it and close it, but I wont be doing it if you don't agree to take Ailyth along."

Saga, in desperation, scratched his head and paced about the room thinking hard on what he was going to do. He had never liked Ailyth much, and he became upset that his mother was apparently going to force him to take her along.

"Saga," Hel surprised him and brought him to a stop. He turned to face her. "Ailyth will help you in your quest. She's the best at what she does. She's my second for a reason, she will definitely come handy. Look, son, I know you have never liked her that much. You don't like her because of her ancient heritage...she was human long ago, now she is one of us, you are just too blind to accept it."

Saga looked off to the side, unable to say anything. Yes, he knew Ailyth was great at using magic, Hel had taught her well. And she definitely knew how to fight using melee weapons as well, though Saga had rarely seen her in action, had just seen her training legions of warriors, those that belonged to her.

"Ailyth is the first human I encountered during our arrival to Midgard," Hel related. "She was dying, I saved her and she pledged her allegiance to me in exchange for a new shot at life. Over the passage of time she's done so much for me, for the realm, she's proven her loyalty a thousand times over. I even see her as a daughter as well."

Saga turned a mean stare his mother's way. "Yes, you love her much. She's never done anything for me, except has brought plenty of frustrations, that is why I hate her...and because she used to be a human."

"Just give her a chance," Hel sweetly proposed. "You'll come to understand she is not that bad. She's been watching over you for so long. During your warring with the neighboring realms she was out there looking out for you...at her own request. She's never hated you as you have hated her."

Saga said nothing, just remained quietly staring at his mother. But then he turned around and smiled, for an idea had occurred in his clever mind. He could agree to take Ailyth along only to dispose of her in Cocytos. If all went well, Saga could kill two birds with one stone: he would dispose of Ailyth and get the Orihalcon stones.

"What are you thinking, my son?" Hel asked, seeing that he had remained very thoughtful.

"I...I think I will...take her along," Saga kept his deceptive plan well hidden. He turned around and added in a serious tone. "Only because I want to do this. I accept, mother, she can come along, but she better not be a burden."

For the first time in a long time, Hel smiled proudly at her son. She pat his shoulder and said, "Then if you have agreed to this, I will keep my word and open the portal to Cocytos."

"How soon can you have the portal ready?" Saga seemed overly anxious.

"How soon can you inform Ailyth that she is to go with you?" Hel asked with a wide smile.

For a long minute Saga just remained staring at his mother, then he nodded back at her.

"Go, my son," she said, unaware of Saga's true intentions. "Tell her she is to go with you, and tell her to assemble the fifty elite demons. Come to the throne room when you are ready, I will open the portal there."

"Very well, mother," Saga said, then he stared at Magatha and nodded at her before starting his walk towards the door.

Feeling excited over what was happening, Hel joyously stared at her daughter and invited her to follow her to the throne room. "Come, Magatha, we have a portal to open."

Magatha followed her, though she felt nervous as she did, for despite feeling as happy as her mother was for Saga's apparent change when it came to dealing with Ailyth, she was frightened that they would be heading to that horrible place. What if none of those who were going came back?

*End of Chapter*