Chapter 31 #2
“Argonauts!” he shouted at the crew climbing aboard.
“Why did you come on this quest? For glory? For riches? Or to flee like cowards at the first sign of danger? Yes, we’ve been humiliated and lost good men, but we are still the greatest warriors in all of Greece.
It is not in our blood to run. We were forged in the heat of battle—it’s what we were born for.
” He fixed his gaze on Jason. “You want your voyage to be legendary, Captain? I know a thing or two about that.” He turned back to the crew. “Let’s kill some fucking monsters!”
There was silence as Heracles’s challenge hung in the air.
Then Telamon thrust his sword into the sky and roared. He was swiftly followed by Atalanta, Hylas, Peleus, Ancaeus and the twins, until the entire ship was clamoring.
A stony weight settled in Danae’s stomach as she looked at Jason. The captain was still. He made no effort to regain control of his crew. Perhaps he knew it would be futile now their blood was up.
Tears streaked the stranger’s hollow cheeks, but he raised a finger to his lips and frantically gestured for the Argonauts to be quiet.
“Thank you, thank you! But we must hurry, they will have heard you.”
“Good,” said Heracles.
“There’s too many of them. Please come with me, I couldn’t live with myself if I sent you to face them unprepared. We must go, quickly.”
Heracles appraised him for a moment, then placed a large hand on his shoulder. “Come then, take us to your people.”
They traveled by ship, skirting along the beach. The stranger told them not to leave the Argo beached on the shore, otherwise it would be destroyed.
“My name is Cyzicus,” he said, once they were aboard.
“You wouldn’t believe it to look at me, but I am the King of the Doliones.
” He raked a hand through this filthy hair.
“You can moor your ship to the rocks at the end of the isthmus, it will be safe there. The creatures never venture beyond the beach. I will explain everything once we’re inside. ”
Jason ordered the crew to do as he said.
Sweat trickled between Danae’s shoulders as she clambered down from the Argo onto the wave-slicked rocks.
She couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling this was her doing.
The prophecy stone had tried to warn her, but she didn’t recognize it as a warning, and now the Argonauts were about to fight a deadly foe they knew next to nothing about.
“Follow me,” Cyzicus called from further along the rocky outcrop. Then he ducked out of sight.
The Argonauts climbed after him, one by one disappearing behind the rocks.
When Danae reached the spot she saw an opening, invisible until you were upon it.
Easing through the gap, she found herself in a tunnel.
Green veins of algae snaked over the walls.
It was steep and treacherously slippery, the rock echoing her breath back to her.
She flattened her hands against the damp stone for stability and descended.
A familiar tightness bound her chest as the daylight faded behind them.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but the rock passage felt like it was growing narrower.
She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe.
Gods, she hated being underground.
Finally, a glimmer of light silhouetted the outlines of the crew ahead, and they stepped out into a cave.
Danae looked up. The ceiling stretched high above her, jagged with the underside of the rocks they’d just climbed over.
She tried not to think about the weight of the ocean pressing in around them.
The steady drip, drip, drip of seawater punctuated the air and glistening stalactites lengthened down to kiss their stalagmite sisters stretching up from the floor.
Clustered around the stone structures were people.
About forty or so men, women and children, all bedraggled like Cyzicus.
They reminded Danae of the forgotten citizens of Delphi, forced to hide in the cracks to stay alive.
Their faces flickered in the weak light of several bronze dishes holding stuttering candles, filling the cave with a stifling smokiness.
Despite the few pieces of ragged material stretched between the stalactites for shelter, everything was wet and smeared with algae.
Even the Dolionian’s faces looked green.
Many shied away from the strangers who’d invaded their sanctuary. A few of the men drew their weapons.
“Doliones!” shouted Cyzicus. “Do not be afraid, these warriors are going to help us fight the Earthborn.” He stepped aside. “And look, the mighty Heracles is among them! The gods have not forsaken us. Zeus has sent his son to our aid!”
The Doliones lowered their weapons, eyes glistening with wonder. Danae wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she felt even more wretched than before.
“Why the long face?” Hylas whispered. “The omens are good.”
She avoided his gaze.
A stout woman with deep brown skin and hair flecked with gray came pacing toward Cyzicus, as fast as the slippery floor would allow.
“Cleite, my love!”
Cleite slapped him across the face.
“You foolish man.” Her voice shook with fury. “How could you go out there on your own without a weapon?”
Two small children appeared behind her skirts. She glanced down at them and placed her hands protectively around their shoulders. Dark circles puckered her eyes.
“Did you once think about your girls? About me? About your people?”
Cyzicus rubbed his cheek, then bent down and took his daughters in his arms. “I know, it was foolish to go unarmed. But when I saw these warriors on the beach, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to recruit their help.”
Cleite pressed her lips into a hard line.
She looked at the array of strangers standing in her cave then said to Cyzicus, “I suppose they’ll need feeding.
” She turned to the Argonauts. “We’ve not much, but a hot meal is the least we can do if you really are going to help us.
” She turned away muttering, “Gods save us all.”
Danae noticed a wooden structure snaking up the rock wall to the ceiling. A rickety ladder, constructed from what looked like driftwood, rose up to a small platform.
“Is that how you saw us?” she asked Cyzicus.
He followed her gaze and nodded. “There’s a crack between the rocks above sea level. You can see most of the beach from up there. We wouldn’t have survived without it.”
“How did you find this place?”
“My friend Theo discovered it when we were boys. It was our secret sanctuary for many years.”
His grief rose like flotsam on the sea of his thoughts. Danae hoped the Doliones had been able to bury their dead.
“These warriors are the best fighters in all of Greece.” Hylas appeared behind them. “I’ve seen Heracles take out a dozen men at once and creatures five times his size. If anyone can help you, he can.” He placed a reassuring hand on Cyzicus’s shoulder.
Cyzicus’s brow smoothed and the same hope that glowed in the faces of his people now shone in his.
“I’m counting on it.”
When the food was ready, Cleite called the Argonauts over to the far side of the cave. She gestured for them to sit, while she spooned what smelled like fish stew into clay bowls.
“It’s not much, but it’s the best I could do under the circumstances.”
“My lady, you do yourself an injustice.” Dolos slurped from his bowl. “This is the finest soup I’ve tasted in years.”
Cleite’s cheeks glowed, and she busied herself with passing steaming bowls to the rest of the crew. A soft smile tugged at Cyzicus’s mouth as he watched his wife work. From the little she’d seen of them, Danae thought theirs was a marriage born from love. A rare and precious thing.
“Now, Cyzicus.” Heracles set aside his empty bowl. “Tell us everything you know about these creatures.”
The King of the Doliones grew grave. “They are abominations. Like huge bears with six arms and their claws...”
Danae didn’t hear the rest of the description.
Six arms. Six hands. Three sets of handprints. This must be what the stone had been trying to show her. The vision had been a warning after all.
“Numbers?”
“We believe just over a hundred. They invaded us about a year ago.”
“Is their skin hard to penetrate?”
Cyzicus nodded. “Their fur is unnaturally tough, but their bellies are soft like a man’s. We call them the Earthborn. We’ve managed to kill several with spears through the gut.”
“Their sleeping habits?”
“They sleep at night and hunt during the day.”
“Any other weaknesses?”
“Not that we know of.”
“So, what’s the plan, Heracles?” Jason sat slightly apart from the others. It was the first time the captain had spoken since they’d descended into the cave. “If these Earthborn are as strong and as plentiful as Cyzicus says, even you won’t be able to match them in a direct attack.”
“We have fighters too,” said Cyzicus. “I have fourteen soldiers and a dozen more capable men.”
Jason laughed.
“We could ambush them at night,” said Telamon. “Stake out their nest.”
Atalanta nodded. “With bows we could take them out at long range.”
Cyzicus shook his head. “We’ve tried. Even with arrows, we can’t get near enough without them knowing we’re there. We believe they have a heightened sense of smell.”
Danae’s brow creased as they continued to toss ideas between them. The fighters would need to mask their scent for an ambush to work. Submerging themselves in the sea would do that, but then the monsters would see them when they came up for air. Unless...
“What if the Earthborn couldn’t smell or see us?” she said.
“What are you thinking?” asked Heracles, his eyes sparkling with intrigue.
“If the men were fully submerged in the sea, it would mask their scent and keep them hidden. My sister and I once played this trick...” She could feel Jason’s eyes boring into her, but she continued, “we hid on the beach under water, breathing through hollow reeds to hide from our mother. What if we were able to draw all the Earthborn down to the isthmus? Our fighters could hide in the water on either side of the sand—where it’s deepest by the rocks—and ambush the creatures once they’re on it.
Then you’d be rid of them once and for all. ”
“It’s a brave idea,” said Cyzicus. “But there are so many of them, we couldn’t draw them all onto the isthmus.”
“You wouldn’t need to. Atalanta and anyone else who can use a bow could hide aboard the Argo and take out the ones left on the beach.
Heracles—” she glanced at the hero “—could lure them down from their nest and entice them to follow him onto the isthmus. He’s the strongest by far, and his lion hide would protect him from stray arrows. ”
“A seer and a strategist.” The edge in Jason’s voice could have cut bronze. “There is no end to your talents, Daeira.” He turned to Cyzicus. “Do you have a supply of reeds lying about this cave?”
Cyzicus shook his head.
Jason shot Danae a hollow smile. “Why don’t you help Cleite with the children and let the warriors plan the battle.”
In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to conjure a wind and slam Jason into the rocks.
“The pipes!” Hylas jumped to his feet. “Sorry...” His cheeks flushed as everyone stared at him. “It’s just, when we left Lemnos—” he glanced nervously at Jason “—I took the dart pipes. I thought they might be useful. They should just give us enough depth to breathe through them under water.”
“How many?” said Atalanta.
“Twenty.”
“You clever bastard.” Telamon slapped the younger man on the back.
“Looks like Daeira’s plan might work after all,” said Heracles, his mouth quirking into a smile.
The sight of it sent a flutter through Danae’s stomach.
“How will you get the beasts to follow you?” asked Jason, petulantly.
“Leave that to me,” said Heracles. The hero rose to his full, towering height. He was still slimmer than he had been when Danae first saw him in Corinth, but standing before her now he looked like a god.
“Doliones,” his voice boomed across the cave.
“I know you have suffered. But you need fear no longer. We are the scourges of evil. Where men fear the fires of Tartarus, monsters fear us.” The Argonauts began to stamp their feet and bash their weapons against the rocks.
“We will turn the sea red with the blood of the Earthborn, and never again will they darken your shores!”
The Argonauts roared. Many of the Doliones joined them, thrusting their fists into the air.
Danae noticed a man holding a small baby.
A sudden pain struck her chest. She pictured Arius in the child’s chubby cheeks.
The boy’s father was weeping silently, staring at Heracles as though he was salvation incarnate.
The crew had belief on their side, and although they didn’t know it, they had her power. Perhaps the omens were in their favor. Perhaps the vision had been a symbol of the six-handed Earthborns’ destruction.
Perhaps, against the odds, they might just win.