Eagle Bearer, that was one of the many titles that the misthios had gotten over the years; one in which most have heard every so often. At first Alexios, didn't really like the name, it was named after an eagle who he had no idea where it came from nor would said eagle even remotely listen to the mercenary.
When the spartan had noticed the eagle at first they bickered all the time. Alexios would sometimes even try to spear the eagle, who would respond with some aerial wrath so frequently the misthios couldn't go outside. Sooner or later they reached a truce when the eagle landed himself into a trap and was going to be eaten by a wolf, not wanting the eagle to die Alexios ran while waving his spear hoping to scare off the predator.
If it worked on birds, why not anything else? Such was the mindset of a child.
The wolf of course backed off and squared itself to face its new opponent. Using the opportunity, the spartan child quickly cut the rope binding the eagle's leg and turned to face the predator. In hindsight, the misthios couldn't believe he actually thought he could kill a wolf on his own with a broken spear.
As. A. Child.
Needless to say when the wolf charged and pinned Alexios under its paws, did the child understood the phrase 'biting off more than you could chew.' The dangerous silver predator was ready to rip the child's head off when it heard a shrill cry that made Alexios's ears vibrate. the eagle dive bombed out of the sun with his talons at the ready, to return the favor to the child who saved his life.
The wolf couldn't act fast enough when the eagle plunged his talons into the wolf's eyes blinding it. Snarling and writhing its head, the wolf managed to toss off the eagle and was about to run in the direction of its scent when it felt a spear running through its underbelly. Alexios had put in all his strength into stabbing the wolf and gave it a couple of twists until the mighty beast had fallen to the ground, unmoving.
Shakily picking himself up, the child approached the wolf spear first waiting for it to spring up and attack again. Poking the wolf warily, Alexios waited for sign of movement from the predator. Upon seeing none the child sighed in relaxation knowing the mighty beast had been defeated and would not be getting back up. It was at that moment, Alexios heard a flapping sound and noticed the eagle flying past him and perching himself on the corpse to face his savior.
At first the two stared at one another for a moment before, the child broke the silence. "You've been following me since I've gotten here, even Markos said you were circling above me on the shore." The eagle of course said nothing but tilted his head to the side, a inquisitive gesture. "You could go anywhere yet you stay here with me, why is that?" The eagle responded with what seemed to be a shrug of his wings in response to his question.
So he can understand me.
Alexios hesitantly reached his hand out for the eagle, as the creature in question locked his eyes on the appendage. When the spartan child's hand was over the eagle's head the appendage stopped and the child began looking intensely at the eagle. The creature looked at the hand for a moment then back at the child for a moment before rubbing his head on the hand affectionately. Alexios smiled as the relationship between them had improved, going from butting heads to fighting side by side.
"You know I never told you my name, i'm Alexios what is your name?" The eagle tilted its head for a moment before flying off and began circling around the child, before landing on the corpse again. "So you're saying you're going to follow me wherever I go?" The eagle screeched in affirmation, which made Alexios come up with a name.
"I'm gonna call you Ikaros." The eagle Ikaros screeched and took off into the air as the child ran after his lifelong companion. From that day on they were inseparable as the years went by Alexios became stronger while Ikaros became more connected to the spartan. He didn't know when nor did he know how but one day, he discovered that he could look through the eagle's eyes. It shouldn't have been possible but he could do it anytime he wished. It had helped over the years, the amount of danger he avoided because of Ikaros was astounding and rumors of it spread, that's how he came to be known as the Eagle Bearer.
So when Ikaros decided to suddenly take off and begin circling something, and refused to let the misthios see what he was circling, there was no way he couldn't check it out. So when all he saw was a woman who was examining an animal pelt, he raise an eyebrow as Ikaros planted itself on his shoulder and let out a shrill screech alerting the woman to his presence.
With the speed and grace of Athena, she turned around while unsheathing her sword then had the blade against the misthios's neck. Face to face, the spartan didn't know why he was the one that was out of breath, the only movement he made was raising his hands in a peaceful manner. Perhaps it was the way she fluidly moved that made him breathless or maybe it was the fact she was beautiful. Her raven hair was pulled into a low bun, with her burning hazel eyes fixed onto him, her face looked to be crafted with clay by legendary sculptors with her tan skin perfectly shaded.
Her figure was that of a hunter, lean and powerful. Her eyes had years of experience behind them, yet there was not a single wrinkle on her body. She was wearing what seemed to be a hunting outfit made from leather stitched with string under the white overalls. Yet they did not conceal her figure whatsoever which made the spartan lose his words when he had a quick look of her before she was so close to him.
"This is sacred ground. You should not be here." Alexios could only open his mouth and close it in astonishment, he has never froze up in his entire life and now he couldn't even speak. The woman pushed the blade into his neck slightly to emphasis her patience beginning to wane. "Well? Either leave or tell me what you want. Who are you?"
Ikaros seeing his companion freeze, bit his ear to jolt him out of his stupor. "Malaka!" Sending the eagle a quick glare, Alexios stepped away from the blade and rubbed his ear with a scowl on his face. "A misthios. I'm not here to start trouble but if that's what you want then I'll end it." He sounded strong when he said it, maybe he'll buy Ikaros some grapes later.
The woman's eyes glinted for a moment at the display, he couldn't tell if it was amusement or something else but her hard edge returned. "Your name?" The spartan straightened out and squared his shoulders to look somewhat respectable as he introduced himself. "I'm Alexios." Ikaros, who hadn't moved from the misthios shoulder the entire time, screeched alerting the two that he was still there. "This is Ikaros, because of him, I'm called the Eagle Bearer."
The woman relaxed upon hearing the name Eagle Bearer and sheathed her sword before introducing herself. "I am Daphnae, leader of the Daughters of Artemis, and you are maybe exactly who I've been looking for." Raising an eyebrow, Alexios wondered what she could have meant by that. "And who would that be?"
"A warrior, a hunter. One who straddles our world and the gods'. One who will meet my challenge." The spartan tried, he really tried to not think of the next string of thoughts that flashed in his mind but unfortunately it was like someone wrote his thoughts out into the sky for all of Greece to see.
If it's you whose straddling, I'll meet your every challenge.
Alexios may have had a few encounters before but he could usually keep his mind focused on his tasks and not fantasies. This was not one of those times, he was blessed his face didn't change and he reminded himself of what her title was.
Daphnae, the leader of the Daughters of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, wilderness, the moon, and virginity. That essentially made her a lost cause if it came to having a future with her, if the spartan even wanted that. Back to the present, she presented a challenge, and maybe it was the spartan blood in him, he jumped at the chance to meet her challenge. Putting on a confident grin, he answered her with his chest puffed out.
"When you say it like that, how can I not accept?" Daphnae smiled at the display and his acceptance of her challenge. "There is a boar not too far from here, kill it and bring me its pelt." Alexios's chest deflated, a pig, that's her challenge? "A pig, you want me to kill a pig?" The beautiful woman had a melodious laugh at his expression. "This is no ordinary boar, west of here is a cliff, scale it and you will see your prey."
Ikaros not needing to be even asked flew off ahead and before long was circling something. Alexios was about to look through the eagle's eyes but Ikaros had flown back down to land on Daphnae's shoulder. The spartan's jaw dropped, never before has the eagle ever decided to land on someone else's shoulder. He'll hop away from Phiobe but would outright attack Markos should he get to close, Barnabas would get a screech while Herodotus would just be ignored as the eagle flew away from the historian.
"It looks like I have a new admirer." Alexios couldn't deny he enjoyed seeing her smile but frowned when he called Ikaros and the eagle would not budge. "Ikaros, come. We have a boar to kill." Again the eagle would not budge but that wasn't all, no the eagle had the audacity to rub his head against Daphnae's neck. The beautiful woman laughed as she watched the misthios turn away grumbling about traitorous eagles.
Daphnae rubbed his head before walking into a structure up the hill they were on that happened to be a temple of Artemis. Sitting on a bench inside the woman looked into the eagle's eyes with a smile. "Do you believe Alexios will be victorious?" Ikaros screeched in what seemed to be an affirmation of its companion's strength. Seemingly to share the spartan's ability to understand the eagle, Daphnae laughed. "Such faith, I sincerely hope it's not misplaced.
On the cliff to the west, the spartan was still grumbling about Ikaros. "All those years and a pretty face is more important than my life, makales eagle." The spartan intentionally kept the fact he fell for her beauty also out of his mind as he finally made it to the top. At first he couldn't see past all the tall grass in front of him but when he waddled through it, there was a large patch of wetland in front of a cave.
No boar in sight Alexios took a few steps into the water toward the cave opening when heard a deep and loud roar. The roar sounded like it came from a full grown grizzly bear but what came out the cave wasn't a bear. Hell, the spartan would rather have the bear then what came out of the cave. It was the boar, and when he says the boar, he means the boar. This monster was bigger than a bear with tusks longer than daggers.
With a loud roar the boar sprinted towards the misthios, something so big had no right being that fast. Diving to the side Alexios, could feel the ground shake as the legendary beast ran past him. Unsheathing his weapons, the spartan readied himself to fight the boar. "The one time Ikaros decides to like someone I get to fight a boar worthy of Heracles himself, I should've sacrificed the eagle at that temple of Artemis."
As if Zeus heard his crude joke the boar charged again towards the spartan who let out a battle cry as he ran forward with his broken spear in hand.