"There we stood, grief stricken, full of dismay.
My men and I were frozen with pain, with distress.
Circe had spoken true. I could not save every
single one of them through any means possible. Six men
snatched then scarfed down by ravenous Scylla.
No way to fight the beast, no way to evade it,
no other way to go and no way for me to save them.
Once the shock had lessened, I broke the silence.
'Men' I softly said over the sound of gentle waves.
'Night will soon fall fast and we should dock our ship
near land tonight.' The men were quiet and solemn.
I sighed and like a gentle breeze quietly quakes
a tree's shimmering leaves, so I quietly spoke again
while the men's lips trembled quavering whispers.
'Tonight, with such heavy hearts, sailing would be troublesome.
We should rest to calm our minds. Circe
spoke of an island lovely but only at day,
where you must leave by night or sleep in a ship.
I think it best that we dock the ship there overnight.'
Some men nodded, some were reluctant to break
forlorn gazes, very few looked at me when I spoke
and all but Theocydes slowly took to rowing.
Looking over the starboard, Theocydes stared
with lonesome and misty eyes. A single tear
trickled down his face. It tore at my heart
to see him this way. He had always been so lively,
like most of the other crewmembers, before we took
this accursed, long and painful journey.
'He was my brother." Theocydes muttered
without breaking his gaze from the distant horizon.
I thought he must have been speaking to himself,
until he looked at me momentarily
just as miserable as before. I was at a peculiar loss
of words. Should I speak with him or not?
Knowing it may either calm or agitate him,
I waited, speechless, it was best to avoid
any extreme. I spoke not a single word
to him, hoping his heartache would soon pass.
He lifted his sword and forcefully threw it
into the waves with a tremendous splash. The salt water
didn't faze him, though I was repulsed
by the awful taste. 'It couldn't save him,"
he said. 'and it can't save me.' He glanced
at the water droplets left on his arm.
'I'm sorry," I told him gently with care.
'No," he replied strongly. "you needn't be,
there was nothing anyone but the gods themselves
could have done to save them.' He forced out a short smile
but failed miserably.
'I'm sorry," I told him gently with care.
'No," he replied strongly. "you needn't be,
there was nothing anyone but the gods themselves
could have done to save them.' He forced out a short smile
but failed miserably. He still looked like a dog
that had lost its master, its only stable companion,
to be left without a purpose. Deep in thought,
I stood as blue-eyed Theocydes
watched me with a watery gaze.
Suddenly a man
called out that he had sighted land far ahead.
I went to the bow to catch a glimpse of the distant shore.
It took only a short time to find
the distant island. Its black sand matched the water's color
seamlessly making the trees seem to grow from the sea.
The island's trees were fiery red
and the sand darker than a starless night.
Intrigued, I stood at the bow as I told my men
to row to shore. As a bird craves bread the more crumbs it finds,
so I craved absolute knowledge of this place
with each little bit of information. The closer we got,
the more details I could make out. The types of fruits and berries
were not of a kind I've ever seen or even heard of before.
We were soon close to the dark shoreline
but in the shadow of the boat, it was hard
to determine where the shore really was.
Luckily the water was reflective enough
that we could have a sense of it.
The boat slid against the sand effortlessly,
so it took some time to get it settled enough
to tie it to a magnificently thick tree. I swung
off the boat eagerly as did a few others,
but many were very tired of this voyage
and slowly came down to shore.
The sand was fluffy and soft
as if it were often overturned.
Many of us moved around the black sand with our feet,
amazed by the texture. I reached down,
scooped up the sand and sifted it through my rough hands.
There was a single hard and yellowish object
remaining once the black sand had all fallen.
I moved it around curiously until I realized
it was a human tooth only slightly more jagged.
I held it briefly, realizing the lingering presence
of other humans, before releasing it down
to the earth from whence it came. 'Remember, to return to the ship
by night fall.' I told them. ' We've made it this far.
There's no room for mistakes so we should take Circe's advice.
For now, if there are indeed people,
for this tooth may be the work of a ship wreck,
we should figure out what the people here are like-
violent, savage, lawless or perhaps they are friendly
to strangers and god-fearing men.'
We soon traveled through the twisting forest.
Slashing the tree trunks as we went, we hoped
we wouldn't become lost. It didn't take long
to find the inhabitants, sitting around feasting
but without any meat in sight. They seemed
to eat only uncooked leaves and roots and live
in simple wood houses. As soon as they saw us,
they beckoned us to feast with them and welcomed us warmly.
I searched my surroundings with interest
and realized their uniformly light gray eyes.
Every person's eyes were the exactly same color.
After all I'd been through and the use of food against us,
I was cautious to allow my men to join them.
'If you promise that you mean us no harm
in eating with you,' I spoke to them. 'Then we will join you.'
The most ornately clad one of them spoke to me.
'Of course we wouldn't dare harm you with our feast. I promise
on behalf of my people.' We decided
to eat with them. The foods were odd in taste,
unable to be described through similarity
to any other foods but were still wonderful.
Once we had put aside desire
for food and drink, they could finally begin asking us
about our homeland. Their king described himself as Dares,
king of the Lykosfosians, one of the last
of their race. I explained
the trip past Charybdis and Scylla. They were
clueless even though it was a short sail away at most.
The remaining hours of the daylight
were uneventful and consisted
of simple conversation, but over time they took
a foul turn towards us. As daylight's red fingers cling
to the sky as it is enveloped by the night,
so the Lykosfosians' previously good nature
became smothered by an underlying dark intent.
As sunset came, they paced anxiously and snapped
at my men and I when any one of us spoke
a single word. Their gray eyes grew red with the twilight's rays
and the trees appeared blood red in the darkening light.
It was only now I realized the scratches
and bite marks on their bodies. It was odd indeed.
There wasn't a reason for such peaceful people
to have these kinds of wounds, coarse with scabbing.
'Odysseus,' Theocydes whispered.
'I'm getting very tired.' He yawned
and some other men nodded and rubbed their eyes.
'It's getting dark and the ship's uncomfortable.
Could we-' 'No,' I replied. 'I'm not risking it. I'd think
that you would agree, Theocydes,
we don't need to risk more lives. If you grow tired,
then back to the boat with you.'
I walked
on the path of vegetation that we'd cut down,
and back towards the ship while my men slowly sauntered
behind me. When I reached the ship, all of the men
were accounted for but all grew tired of the hard boat's wood.
I had my comrades go aboard the ship first.
Theocydes sat in the sand, to rest his aching feet,
while we waited for the previous men
to board the ship. His head slowly hung lower and lower
until he laid limply on the soft sand, fast asleep.
I decided to leave him sleeping
on the shore. Close enough, I thought. Climbing up the ship,
I looked down at him in his deep sleep. I sat
down on the ship, groggy from the feast
and the tiresome day. I sat for a short while
in the stubborn sun's faltering rays,
thinking about our odd encounter.
Even on the boat's abrasive and weathered wood,
I was quickly overcome with sleep.
When I awoke, it had grown much colder
and many of the men had left the ship
for the soft beach. A few men laid in the sand.
Where Theocydes had slept, there was nothing
but marks in the sand as if something had been dragged along.
Stepping carefully over sleeping men,
I looked around to see if any others were missing.
I counted four, including Theocydes,
gone with only gouges in the dark sediment
to show they were ever even there.
Awaking two men, I had them grab their swords
and walk with me. Following the tracks,
I was unsure of what may come. We hiked
deep into the forest but it took
only a short time to find the men.
Catching sight of my comrades, I was taken aback.
The four missing men were tied tightly to sandstone slabs.
The men's wrists and ankles were painfully chafed
to the point of bleeding from writhing
against the rough ropes. We darted behind gnarly tree trunks
and I hushed my men. I observed the area
and noticed that Theocydes had not struggled at all.
He waited patiently as if he had come to accept
his horrid fate or no longer cared to live.
I felt a pang of remorse for the death of his brother.
My eyes then wandered regretfully to rancid corpses
tied to the trees next to him. The cadavers
suffered lacerations and what seemed to be bite marks.
The brutish Lykosfosians were
in a state of extreme discord. They hissed and snarled
at each other, often partaking in physical fights
for their own pleasure. They taunted my men
and pulled on their tight ropes ruthlessly.
Then a few began to gnaw hungrily
on ill fortuned Theocydes' left arm.
He thrashed and hurled meaningless threats at the beasts.
At this, the two men I brought along
could no longer take it and blindly ran
out in the open, swords drawn.
A few of the Lykosfosians noticed the men
and charged at them viciously, knocking one
of my men to the ground. Falling to the ground
with only a few blows, the creatures couldn't compare
with such skilled soldiers. As my men cut down
any Lykosfosian that dare attack them,
I saw the opportunity to free
Theocydes and the others.
I ran
through the chaos and sliced through each rope
until at last, I came to Theocydes.
He was no doubt surprised to see me. I cut
loose his ropes and he attempted to stand.
Grimacing, he fell to his knees. I helped him to his feet
and he slung an arm over me. I felt a light trickle
of warm blood against my neck and immediately knew
that I could only move him slowly back towards the ship.
I needed to leave now. I motioned
to the other three victims to follow me
while I helped Theocydes along.
Theocydes limped beside me on the rough path. I yelled
to alert the men of coming danger
and called for them to get ready to board the ship.
Most of them moved but a few still slept on. I shouted
at the men still lying in the sand to awake them.
Seeing Theocydes, they quickly ran
to the boat to help him in. Once I had
almost reached the boat, the two men I had brought
to rescue the others came running back
with blood-spattered hands. Not far behind them,
packs of voracious Lykosfosians pursued them like wolves.
There was just enough time for Theocydes
to be hoisted into the vessel.
I quickly boarded the ship, grabbed the last two men's
hot bloody hands and swiftly helped them in.
Abruptly Lykosfosians began the climb
up the ladder, as my men hurriedly threw parcels
of our rations at the monsters to distract them.
This was successful and we were able
to take off from the shore but the loss of Circe's food
was unfortunate.
Then I saw
one last Lykosfosian grasping the side
of the boat in terror. It was none other
than their wretched leader. I looked down on him
and felt only disgust for this inhuman creature.
As Dawn's rosy red fingers shone once more,
I could finally see the beast's pleading gray eyes.
'You damn cannibal.' I whispered next to his ear.
With a hard swift kick to the knuckles,
he tumbled into the watery depths."