Chapter One
"The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend."—Zac Brewer
Atlantis was swelteringly hot, but that didn't stop its citizens from preparing for the mid-summer festival to be held in two months' time, celebrating the beginning of the Greek New Year. This summer's festival would be especially grand, as it was to be marked by a very special set of war games. King Minos had announced the betrothal of his daughter Ariadne to the Queens' nephew Heptarian at the spring festival last month, and that the union was to be celebrated by a Pankration; where every phase and type of combat would be represented, from archery to group and single combat.
Each division winner(s) would receive a purse of gold, with the biggest award going to the winner of the single hand-to-hand combat division. As the news of the royal betrothal spread, more and more visitors from neighboring city-states were arriving in Atlantis each day, most of them either potential combatants hoping to make a successful victory at the city's training grounds and so win a spot in the war games competitions, or merchants hoping to make windfall profits from tourists and Atlantians alike as anticipation of the coming festivities grew to a fever pitch.
Every single stall at the many agoras dotted throughout the city had been bought up and the city coffers had gained a healthy injection of funds for their sale as well as the extra revenue from taxes on the foreign traders and their goods. Those that arrived too late to gain a spot inside the cities walls had erected an impromptu marketplace on either side of the two main gates into the city. With no rooms left to rent anywhere inside the city walls, these visitors were left with no choice but to erect a sea of tents as accommodation, forming a small city of sorts of its own. With such an influx of people, crime naturally was on the rise, and it wasn't long before King Minos was forced to call in additional troops from outlying districts to help the city guard keep things in hand.
The days leading up to the festivities were filled with either the shouts of merchants hawking their wares, construction noise as builders labored to erect extra seating around the arena as well as the various training grounds for the thousands of spectators that were flooding the city, or the shouts of contestants as they passed the time before the festival in vehement training, as each hoped to take the top prize in their respective divisions. As the time for the contest drew nearer, the anticipation grew, as each division favorites' merits were weighed and measured. Fortunes were going to be made or lost as the betting on each outcome grew higher.
Secretly Jason and his two friends had been pleased at the news of Ariadne's betrothal; especially as it was getting harder and harder to make up excuses as to why Jason could never 'accidently' meet up with the princess anymore now that Alek had arrived in Atlantis. Hercules had managed to finally convince Jason that the quickest way to get them all killed as well as get his heart broken was to let Ariadne and Alek to find out about each other before Minos married the princess off. After all it was one thing for Ariadne to believe she was in love with a commoner, but it was an entirely different matter informing her that the object of her infatuation was throwing her over for another woman; regardless whether that woman had a prior claim on him or not.
Hercules also correctly deduced that Alek would be less than pleased to find out Jason had been mooning over another woman, especially as it had occurred so soon after their separation. Jason was especially anxious that Alek not find out; not only because of all she'd lost and given up to find him, but also as cheating was a sore spot with her anyway as that was what caused her mum to divorce her dad. And though technically nothing had ever happened physically between the brunette warrior and the princess other than one chaste kiss, Jason still couldn't shake the feeling that Alek would be hurt and disappointed with him. After all she had risked everything including her life to find him, rather than live without him. Whereas Jason had cowardly tried to replace her with the first imitation he could find that reminded him of her. The royal wedding announcement had been like an answer to Jason's prayers. While none of them liked Heptarian, and they were pretty sure the Princess was less than pleased as well; they reasoned that he could be no worse or better than Minos. Besides, it would be Ariadne that ruled someday, as any husband she took would be no more than an advisor and consort.
When Ariadne was finally married at the end of the summer festival, it would finally be safe for Jason to list his intent to marry during the next Hierogamy with the city's census taker. Then neither woman need ever know about the other as they were unlikely to ever meet until after their respective weddings. Confident in their plan, the only thing left to accomplish was to avoid the princess as much as possible. What none of them had counted on was Ariadne using Jason to help her in breaking off her betrothal.
Avoiding Ariadne seemed like a relatively easy task at first. After all as a goddess on earth and one of Poseidon's servants, the princess had royal duties that were designed to fill her days, leaving little if any spare time to sneak away and meet a lover. But as the festival drew nearer, and anticipation of a royal wedding grew, Ariadne was starting to grow desperate. When Minos had made his announcement at the spring festival, none had been more shocked than the princess. She'd had no idea that her father was even entertaining the possibility of a marriage as he'd given her no indication at all. At first she'd tried reasoning with him; finally flatly stating her distaste for Heptarian.
While Minos wasn't immune to his daughters' feelings, he was above all a king first. The benefits to the kingdom must come before all else, personal preference included. Heptarian had served the city well as a fine military general and tactician. Though he did have a bit of a reputation as being harsh with those who fell outside the law, that could be reasoned as no bad thing as it did tend to keep law breaking in check. Besides as far as his dealings with the princess, Minos had only ever seen him as being attentive, courteous and respectful with Ariadne. Not to mention that it was a match his Queen had had her heart set on ever since she had brought her nephew to the palace when his parents were killed in a fire. Finally tired of Ariadne's complaining, Minos flatly informed his daughter to reconcile herself to her future. After all, love fell very far down the list of necessities for a royal wedding. The good of the kingdom must come first, and he would accept nothing less than a sign from the gods themselves to stop the wedding.
With the battle lines firmly in place, Ariadne wracked her brains for a way out of her predicament. The easiest solution seemed to be to convince High Priest Melas to speak with her father. Unfortunately, though Ariadne could always count on an ally with the high priest, her step-mother (already suspecting some resistance from Ariadne once the announcement was made), had immediately had the temple priests to publicly bless the union, effectively tying Melas' hands and preventing any further intervention by the temple. Finally fed up with Pasiphae's blocking her every move to break the engagement, and growing ever more desperate, Ariadne decided to take a leaf out of her step-mothers book and have Heptarian assassinated; after all it would be impossible for her to marry a dead man. Knowing any communication she tried to send to neighboring kingdoms would be intercepted by her step-mother, Ariadne had Melas to secretly inquire for any possible prospects within their own kingdom, but unfortunately the queens reputation was too fierce; none would brave her wrath should they be caught. As for Ariadne, no matter how much she despised Heptarian, she wasn't willing to risk attempting to kill him herself and possibly getting caught. It wouldn't matter that she was a royal princess, Heptarian was Poseidon's servant and any attempt on his life was treason, punishable by death.
In the end it was Korinna who came up with a solution. She convinced Ariadne to use her father's fear of the gods against him, knowing the one thing Minos feared above all else was displeasing the gods. Korinna reasoned that if Heptarian were to be defeated in the Pankration, (something that had never happened before), it would be taken as a sign from the gods that the union would not receive the blessings promised. Therefore if the wedding were to proceed, it could potentially bring the gods wrath down on the city. With her only course of action decided, now all Ariadne need do was find a secret champion to enter the games and defeat her intended, and she knew just who to ask.
She planned at first to somehow manage to 'accidently' meet Jason in or around the cities arena and training grounds. After all it was a perfectly natural way to pass an evening's entertainment watching her betrothed spar along with the rest of the contestants from the comfort of the royal box, and if she just happened to bump into Jason while strolling through the grounds nothing would be thought of it. It would be a simple task for her maid Korinna to pass him a note outlining her plan. It didn't take long however for the two conspirators to realize that Jason had no intention of entering the competitions, as his name continued to fail to appear on the list of hopefuls and the deadline for earning a spot among the fighters crept ever closer.
Determined to put her plan in action, she sent Korinna to Jason's house with a message to meet her in the temple after evening prayers, only to learn from his friend Pythagoras that Jason and Hercules had gone on a hunting trip somewhere deep in the forest. Nearly every day for a week, Korinna was sent to see if he'd returned only to be frustrated at finding the brunette warrior not at home. Luckily for the men of the house, Alek was always up and out and about by dawn; usually either at the library, or at lessons with Daedalus, or at the street of the bakers with her friend Emineous and was prone to never being home until well after the evening bells had been rung, thus avoiding the possibility of crossing paths with the servant girl. This left Pythagoras the job of concocting one fabrication after another as to the brunette warriors' whereabouts, (usually while Jason hid on the roof of their house until after Korinna had gone). A job that was quickly causing the worried mathematicians nerves to fray. Finally when it was becoming too suspicious to say he was hunting, Pythagoras concocted the story of a job that had Jason traveling as a guard to Helios and beyond with a traveling merchant caravan, with no firm date of return. Frantic now, Ariadne conferred with Melas and determined to set spies at all the city entrances with the instruction that should Jason be spotted anywhere that word was to be sent immediately to Melas, who would get word to the princess. Finally with just a month left till the wedding, word came from Melas that Jason had been spotted in the city the night before. Ariadne now only had to figure out a way to meet him without giving Pasiphae any indication or reason to be suspicious.
Korinna hurried through the palace halls, taking care to avoid both the palace guards at their various posts as well as any path the Queen would be likely to take. Right before the end of the morning meal, Princess Ariadne had given the secret signal the two of them had developed to let Korinna know there was a task her mistress needed performed. Reaching the princess' door, Korinna checked that the coast was clear before silently slipping inside. Ariadne was waiting for her, pacing the floor of her chamber nervously. When Korinna slipped inside, the princess whirled as if expecting an attack.
Seeing her only friend and confidante, Ariadne's shoulders slumped in relief, "Did anyone see you come this way?" Ariadne whispered quickly.
"No mistress, I took the servants halls, none were about at this hour to see me" the young servant assured her.
"Korinna, I must ask you to take a message for me. It must be secret. If you're caught, I fear it could mean more than one life lost. Will you do this for me?" Ariadne pleaded earnestly.
"Of course Mistress, anything you require I shall do" the blonde girl promised.
Ariadne nodded solemnly, "Then take this note, and at the first opportunity pass it to Medusa with instructions to see that the note reaches Jason. It must go to his hands alone and no others; there are too many of the Queens' spies watching my every move for me to trust any but you three."
"It will be done Mis—" Korinna never finished her sentence as at that moment, Ariadne's door was thrown wide and Queen Pasiphae swept into the room only to pause at the sight of the two girls looking so shocked and guilty.
"Ariadne is everything alright?" the Queen asked suspiciously.
"Y-yes, yes thank you…" the princess stammered trying for a look of calm indifference, while simultaneously trying to ease between Korinna and Pasiphae. The Queen raised one brow imperiously, a small cruel smile playing across her lips. For her part Korinna tried as unobtrusively as possible to slip toward the door, only to be brought up short when the queen stepped casually into her path, never sparing a glance at the servant girl.
"The choosing of the winning hopefuls begins at weeks end; you are expected at your father's side to applaud your betrothed as he competes." Pasiphae informed the princess, her eyes glittering maliciously at the knowledge that Ariadne would be forced to appear pleased at the betrothal when she so clearly was not.
Refusing to let her hated step-mother see how the mere thought of Heptarian made her stomach turn, Ariadne drew herself up to her full height and stared Pasiphae straight in the eye, "Of course, the Gods would expect nothing less for a union that is to be made in their name." Pasiphae continued to hold the princesses gaze, but to Ariadne's credit she never flinched. After a long tense moment, the queen smiled and nodded, "Good" she replied, starting to turn away to go out the door. Just as her hand touched the door post, she paused as if forgetting something important.
Turning back she glanced at Ariadne for a split second before her cold eyes settled firmly on Korinna, "Now if you'd be so kind as to hand me what you've so carefully tried to conceal in your hand" she demanded harshly.
Korinna paled as she felt those cruel eyes penetrate her soul, "Y-your H-Highness…" Pasiphae held her hand out silently, and Korinna knew there was going to be no escape.
Turning fearful eyes on her mistress for only a moment, Korinna held out the slip of parchment in a trembling hand. The queen snatched the note and quickly unfolded it. After only a cursory glance at the message, she turned a fierce glare on the helpless servant, "Who gave you this?" she hissed viciously. Korinna stared at the floor and remained silent though she knew it quite possibly could cost her her life. Pasiphae looked between the two girls for only a moment before piecing together who the note was from and also who it was meant for.
"No matter," she purred like a cat with a wounded bird, "That is a conversation we can have later. GUARDS!"
In seconds, two burly guards burst into the room, "Take her away" the Queen waved toward Korinna.
Ariadne panicked at seeing her only ally hustled from the room, "Wait! Please no!" she cried uselessly.
Pasiphae stepped between the Princess and the retreating Korinna who was being roughly dragged away. Holding up the small slip of paper before Ariadne's eyes, she purred spitefully, "Did you really think something like this could go unnoticed, unpunished?"
"What will you do to her?" Ariadne asked fearfully.
Pasiphae spared the girl a small smile, "A servant who betrays our trust must be punished, regardless of who her mistress is."
Pasiphae crushed the note in the hand, her eyes glittering with malice, "I mean really Ariadne, did you honestly think I wouldn't find out? Imagine the scandal! A royal princess and a commoner? What of Heptarian? He cares for you deeply Ariadne, and your father. Think of your father! Did you never stop to consider how this would have affected him? You know Minos has not been well recently. Something like this; it could well push him past the limits of his endurance. Not to mention how it would threaten the kingdom! What if the people should find out that their 'beloved' princess was panting after a simple commoner, and a foreign one at that, like some bitch in heat? Where would your reputation be then?" Whirling to the door, Pasiphae turned and raised the fist still holding the crumpled note, "This will end Ariadne! You are betrothed to Heptarian and nothing you can do will change that, so either you end this with the boy now or I shall have to have your conspirators and him…removed. Do I make myself clear?"
"Perfectly" Ariadne whispered never taking her eyes off her despised step-mother, "and Korinna?"
Pasiphae sighed as if dealing with a particularly difficult child. Dropping the crumpled note at Ariadne's feet, Pasiphae purred, "Remove this boy from your life once and for all and Korinna may return. After all I have no desire to punish the innocent; that's fair isn't it?" Smiling triumphantly she turned and swept out the door, leaving Ariadne to crumple into a defeated heap on the floor.