Chapter 23 #2
Danae had to think, buy them some time. She looked around for something, anything to distract their captors. Her eyes fell on the darts peppering Heracles’s skin.
“You kept us alive,” she blurted. “We’ve been here for hours. If you wanted to kill us, why wait?”
The sword remained at Danae’s chest, but the woman hesitated. She glanced at Heracles. “Your leader killed two of my hunters before he succumbed to the phármakon.”
“He’s not our lead—he was defending himself.”
“Only cowards drug their enemies,” growled Atalanta.
“Hypsipyle,” said the blonde woman impatiently. “Why do we wait? He killed our sisters.”
Hypsipyle’s face was almost impenetrable. But Danae could tell there was something holding her back from giving the order.
“You want something from us.” She hoped with all her soul she was right.
With a grunt, the blonde woman swung her axe over her head. Both Danae and Atalanta cried out as the double blade sang through the air.
“Peta.”
The axe came to a halt just above Heracles’s neck. Hypsipyle removed the sword from Danae’s chest and turned toward her hunter, eyes burning with fury.
“I did not give the order.”
The two women stared at each other, like two rival predators circling the same fallen prey. With a snarl, Peta swung her axe away from Heracles’s body and stalked off across the beach.
“No one harms them until I give the word,” shouted Hypsipyle.
The hunters glanced at each other then took a reluctant step back from the unconscious Argonauts, their weapons still raised.
Hypsipyle rounded on Danae. “What are you to them?”
She frowned, surprised by the question. She was still lightheaded from the dart. “I... I’m their seer.”
Hypsipyle’s eyes narrowed.
“I divine omens and relay the will of the gods.”
“You are their mantis.”
“Yes.” She had no idea what Hypsipyle was talking about.
“They listen to you?”
“Yes,” she said again, with more conviction than she felt.
“And you.” Hypsipyle pointed the sword at Atalanta. “You fight with them?”
Atalanta spat onto the sand. “I would give my life for the man your dog tried to kill.”
Thankfully Peta was too far away to hear the insult. Danae clenched her jaw. The last thing this situation needed was the warrior’s temper.
Hypsipyle appraised them both for a long moment. “Maybe I can make use of you after all.” She cut Danae’s bindings with her sword. “Make a move toward a weapon and I will kill you. Understand?”
Danae nodded, aware of the knife nestled in her bag.
Once free of her bonds, she rose unsteadily to her feet. Whether it was the effects of the dart or the strangely viscous air, she couldn’t quite shake the fog that had settled into the creases of her mind. A worrying predicament, given she had to negotiate for all their lives.
She was distracted by her itching wrists. Angry red welts circled her skin. She glanced down at the discarded bindings lying in the sand. They appeared to be fashioned from vines with black, mold-like spots. She rubbed her skin and looked warily at the hunters scattered around the beach.
Hypsipyle prodded her with the sword. “He is not your leader?” She gestured at Heracles.
“No.” Danae pointed to Jason.
Hypsipyle’s eyes roamed over the captain’s unconscious form. “This one?”
She nodded.
Hypsipyle marched her over to him. “This is the deal I offer you. Our homes were damaged by the storm. You will repair them for us, then we will allow you to take wood from the island to mend your ship. Break your word and we will kill you. Your leader and your men must agree to these terms.”
Danae didn’t trust her, but what choice did she have? She nodded.
Hypsipyle crouched down and pulled the darts from Jason’s neck. Then, she took a small bottle of amber liquid from a pouch on her belt and wafted the contents under Jason’s nose. His eyelids fluttered. Then he struggled like a newborn lamb, his legs flapping uselessly against the sand.
Hypsipyle placed a firm hand on his thigh.
“Wh-what have you done to me?” Jason slurred.
“I am Hypsipyle, Queen of Lemnos. We bound you to protect ourselves from those who come uninvited to our shores.” The other hunters were looking at the Argonauts with sullen, mistrustful eyes. “Tell me who you are.”
Jason pulled himself up against the tree trunk. “I am Jason, captain of the Argo and rightful King of Iolcos.” He looked as though he was going to be sick.
Danae was suddenly reminded of how young he was. For all his bravado and confidence, he was a boy playing at being a captain, in charge of warriors far older than him and hardened by years of bloodshed.
Hypsipyle moved her face closer to his. “This is what will happen, Jason. I will wake your men, and you will stop them from attacking us.” She glanced at Heracles. “If you fail, you all die. Understand?”
Jason nodded.
“Good.” She straightened up, staking her sword into the sand and folding her hands over the pommel. “Tell him the deal, Mantis.”
Danae relayed the bargain Hypsipyle had offered.
Jason stared at her while she spoke. When she finished, he said quickly, “I accept. I swear to the gods, we will do as you ask and I will keep my men in line. Then we will repair our ship and leave your shore.”
Hypsipyle smiled, cut Jason free and gave the order to her hunters to revive the crew. Begrudgingly, the hunters lowered their weapons. They moved among the unconscious men with vials of the amber liquid.
The Argonauts didn’t come round quietly. As soon as they woke, most strained violently against their bonds, swearing at the hunters. The Lemnians shouted back and raised their weapons.
“Listen to me, Argonauts!” Jason shouted. “I have made a bargain with these women—”
“I’m not agreeing to anything,” growled Pollux.
Ancaeus spat at the hunter nearest him.
Jason raised his arms in a placating gesture. “I will explain! Please, calm yourselves...”
He was interrupted by the crack of splintering bark. Danae spun around to see Heracles rip the tree he’d been tied to from the sand and toss it across the beach, his bindings shredded on the ground. Chest heaving, he glanced down at his muscled torso and pulled fistfuls of darts from his skin.
Danae’s throat tightened. The hero’s pupils were swollen, his eyes crystalized with hatred.
Silence rippled across the beach. Then the hunters charged.
Heracles swatted them away like flies. He grabbed one woman by the throat, crushing her windpipe, while punching a hole straight through the chest of another. Jason just stood there, gaping at what was happening.
“No!” Danae shouted, running toward Heracles as he backhanded another couple of hunters, sending them crashing into the undergrowth.
She skidded to a halt as the hero swung around to face her and she was hit by a wave of fear. His handsome features had morphed into something terrible. He didn’t look human.
“Heracles, it’s all right, they’re not going to—”
A dart embedded itself in Heracles’s neck. The hero snarled, pulled it out and looked around for the woman who’d shot him. She dropped the pipe, but Heracles grabbed her before she could run. Screams tore across the beach as he ripped off the woman’s arms one after the other.
Danae froze, unable to look away. Something inside him was broken. He was going to kill them all unless someone stopped him. As though answering her call, her limbs began to thrum with energy.
Use your power, said the voice. You can save them.
But after the mountain village, could she risk revealing herself again?
Another hunter shrieked as Heracles caught her.
Danae’s nails bit into her palms. She couldn’t stand by and watch more people die.
She closed her eyes.
Breathe, said the voice.
She listened, her lungs inflating like a pair of bellows.
And then she felt it, like the clouds parting to reveal the sun, the power of the life-threads running through her veins.
She hadn’t known how she’d accessed the energy before, but now she understood.
It was her life force, always there inside her, waiting.
Bending the threads to her will, she gathered a clutch of glowing strands and pushed them out of herself into the earth. The ground quaked. Trees vibrated, and birds rose from the shuddering jungle like sparks escaping a bonfire. No one was left standing.
Jason, Heracles and the hunters scrambled back up, gazing around in shocked confusion. Fighting the sudden weariness that threatened to drag her to the sand, Danae raised her arms to the sky.
“The Lord of the Sea and Shaker of the Earth has spoken to me!” she called. “Poseidon in his wisdom, demands peace.”