Part Two
The next few days continued chill and rainy, which kept Jason's
practice with the wheeled chair confined to the house and covered
portions of the courtyard. It also kept the former king restless and
scowling as he surveyed the winter weather's effect on Alcmene's
garden. It wasn't that he expected to see it at full bloom this time
of year, anymore than he expected to see his beloved walk in the door
with her arms full of flowers or herbs. He was simply sad to realize
that he could not go out and do the weeding and pruning she would
have been doing this time of year with his leg held at a right angle
to his torso. He was still more downcast that he would never see
Alcmene in her garden or anywhere except Ellysia, again.
"You miss her a lot, don't you?" Jael asked, handing her friend and
father by marriage a steaming bowl full of soup to warm himself with
.Jason smiled, and turned his head. "I'm transparent to every woman
who's ever lived here any length of time." He sighed. "Lucky for me;
there haven't been that many. I miss her more than I knew I would.
When she became ill, I moved her bed right next to that window. It
was full summer and she could see her garden that way. I looked out
the window just now, and saw two of her favorite plants blooming,
despite the rain and cold. All they needed was one day's worth of
sun. All I need right now is to hear her voice. That's just
selfishness on my part, isn't it?"
"No, its just love. My people say: Memory of the righteous is
Blessed." Jael answered, giving him a hug. "Now, drink up that soup,
if you please."
"Better listen to her, my friend. She's quite the task mistress
sometimes." Iolaus warned Jason walking in with the results of a
sodden day's hunting, primarily a wet head and squeaking boots.
"Yes I am." Corinth's queen agreed. "You'd better have some of this
soup, too, Iolaus, since you've brought nothing to cook for supper."
"Now there is where you're wrong, my dearest queen." The hunter
protested, laughing. Going back to the door, he lifted and carried
something in that proved to be a side of venison dressed and ready to
roast. "I found this doe shot and left, as if for sport, on the
roadside. There was no one anywhere in sight. I can't imagine who
would hunt so carelessly, to no purpose." Iolaus explained grim
faced. "So I asked the Huntress' blessing, did what remained to be
done, and brought it home. I wasn't hungry enough to eat the whole
deer, though. So I decided you could use some."
Now for the first time all day, Jason laughed aloud. "Thanks for
leaving us so much, Iolaus."
"You know, I've always wondered where he puts all that food." Jael
smiled. In a quieter tone, as she walked past the hunter, she
agreed. "Yes, thank you, Iolaus. For bringing supper and for cheering
him up."
"We live to serve, my queen." Iolaus' eyes danced at his long time
friend and he bowed in exaggerated fashion.
"Oh? Good, then you can go ahead and start that meat roasting. I
never go near the palace kitchen. Iphicles says Cook's wrath with
intruders is deadly dangerous. Except for Andreos, of course. Did I
tell you both what happened the other day at noon meal?"
Jason and Iolaus shook their heads no; so Jael continued: "We were
just getting ready to start. Iphicles was getting a little impatient,
because he had a meeting with his advisers. We were waiting for
Andreos and finally he showed up, covered with flour and honey and
grinning from ear to ear. 'Daddy!' he yelled. 'I'm baking a cake!'
I thought Iphicles was going to split, whether from laughing or
irritation, I couldn't tell at first. Iphicles wiped some of the
batter off Andreos' face and licked his fingers. Then he looked at
him for a very long time, shook his head and said, very solemnly:
'But Andreos, we haven't put you in the oven yet!'
Jael was grinning as widely as her four year old stepson now.
"And Iphicles got up, doing that wonderful Nemean lion roar he does,
and chased Andreos down the hall!
Two days later the sun was out again and everyone heaved a sigh of
relief as Jason wheeled himself out into the courtyard, and began to
practice getting around in Daedalus' invention. Turning the wheels
was the easiest part since he had full use of his strong arms.
Steering proved a bit harder, as he had to deal with the angles and
turns of the house. As he got the knack of using the device, Jason
laughed more than he had in weeks at each new accomplishment.
"Gods, Jael!" Jason called to her at one point. "Is this how great it
felt to you when you could glide around the palace in this thing?
It's almost like riding the tides into shore like Aphrodite does, or
flying with Pegasus! I didn't know I felt so trapped in the house the
past few weeks, until I got out here!"
"Well there are two schools of thought I heard about from Sofia.
She's already built several of these chairs for old people and
crippled children living near Daedalus' workplace. Some of those
people feel very freed by the change, others still feel confined,
by limits on where the chairs can go. I had been crippled for so long
when Hercules first brought that chair, that I hardly knew what to
do, cry or laugh!"
Jason raised one big hand to her face and smiled. "Well, I owe you
a great deal for this, Jael." He said, patting the arm of the
chair. "Now I'm going to try a couple more spins around the house.
Wait, what's that commotion in the yard? C'mon, lets go see." A
clanking, squawking, wailing noise reached them from outside the
front of the house. Alcmene's geese were out of their pen and greatly
disturbed by the fact. They were attacking something or someone
loudly and angrily.
"Hello? Help! Oww! Hello, is anyone there? Hey, get off me! I need
some help, here. Oww!" a nasal, high pitched voice called out. At one
point, a man's head appeared, covered with what Jael supposed was
intended to be a warrior's helmet, with a wide brim and remarkably
pointed top. In the next moment, the geese had their victim down and
shrieking again. He flailed at the birds, which only excited and
distressed them more and couldn't seem to regain his footing.
"I think I'd better go down and drive them off whoever it is, before
there's bloodshed." Jael looked at Jason, who was laughing so hard he
looked ready to fall over.
"I think I know . . . who it is. You're right, Jael, you'd better go
rescue him." The former king finally managed to say between gasps of
mirth. "But I'll come with you, supposing this device will take to a
plain garden path."
"I think it will. I found it worked fine on most surfaces, as long as
there wasn't too much of a slope. But Jason, have you practiced
stopping in it? Sometimes that's the hardest. . ."
" Help!" the newcomer was yelping now. "Oww! Get off me! Oww!"
"Be right there, Joxer." Jason set off towards the scene of battle,
grinning from ear to ear. Jael stayed where she was, smiling and
unworried, since she had seen her brother by law easily maneuvering
all morning. Then she remembered something she hadn't thought of in a
very long time. There was what most people would consider a gentle
grade or slope running from the stone wall, through Alcmene's garden,
and up to the house. No one would think anything of climbing it under
normal conditions. But he was not under normal conditions.
If he hasn't tried stopping the chair, except by putting his healthy
leg down, he could be in for quite a shock. Jael realized
"Jason! Be careful! Hills are harder to manage than level paths and
there's that herm at the end of the path!" she called out. She
remembered asking Alcmene years ago what the smallish, rough stone
carving was that greeted every visitor.
"It's called a herm, in honor of Hermes, the god of messengers and
other travelers." Iphicles and Hercules' mother explained to her guest.
"My first husband, Amphtyron set it up, when we built our home here.
At the time, I believe there was a custom in the larger cities to have
water or wine always ready next to the herm, to refresh a visitor.
We never followed that custom. My . . Amphtyron preferred to invite a
weary traveler to rest in the house or in the courtyard, depending
on the weather."
Now Jael took off at a run, as she rarely did, either here in the
countryside, or at her palace home. Still she could not catch up to
Jason in the wheeled chair. She couldn't tell if Jason heard her
warning or not. She couldn't decide whether it would be better to
call out again, further distracting him, or stay silent, praying for
good results. She decided on a third course of action, running
wordlessly towards the offended geese. At least she could herd them
back into their comfortable, comforting pen. Couldn't she?
Working with the birds, softly calling and gesturing to them, Jael began
to get them filing back into their home. They were really beautiful, she
thought, and the racket they made when disturbed was certainly a
distinct announcement to the house of any strangers' approach. When
Jael turned, to look for any remaining geese, she saw the stranger
who had somehow freed them sprawled face down on the ground. Turning
further, she saw Jason wheeling down the graded path with a look on
his face she had never seen there before, absolute surprise.
"Jael!" he called out, flying down the hill, into the herm and out of
the chair in the space of a few moments. "How do you stop this thing?"
Fortunately for everyone involved, both Jason and the wheeled chair
landed softly on opposite sides of the path. "Jason," she cried out to
him, reaching down to touch his head. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Jael. Just fine." Jason smiled sitting up and gingerly
touching a bump on his forehead. "But did anyone see who was driving
that cart?"
"Cart? Oh, uh no, I'm afraid it got clear away. Maybe the geese
scared their horses." Jael laughed back.
"Maybe so, and I know what scared the geese! Joxer, get up and get
over here!" Jason ordered, winking at Jael to show he wasn't going to
beat the smaller man. The man he addressed as Joxer scrambled to his
feet and nearly fell over them again, in his rush to reach Jason's
side.
"Jason! I'm sorry to bust into your home like this! I wanted to be
sure no one was following me. I'm here on a mission. There's a lot of
trouble going on up in Thrace. Most likely a war's going to start any
day now between some warlords disputing territories, stealing cattle,
raiding towns, you know, the usual. But someone's trying to blow this
up into a big deal and we think it could be . . ."the speaker dropped
his voice conspiratorially before going on ". . .Ares. So we need
your help. Uh, Jason, what happened to you?"
"Joxer, bring that wheeled chair over here, steady it while I climb
back on and maybe, just maybe I'll explain the whole thing to you
without wiping that expression off your face. And Joxer, after you do
that, turn around and pay proper respect to your betters. This lovely
and generous lady is Jael, Queen of Corinth."
The young man Jason called Joxer whirled like a child's toy, but did
as he was asked. First, he brought the chair and held it still while
Jason returned to a sitting position. Then he turned to Jael, whipped
off his helmet and bowed as prettily as any courtier she'd ever seen.
"Your majesty! We haven't met. I'm Joxer the Mighty!"
"Mighty what?" Jason demanded, scornfully.
"Well, he's a warrior, Jason. Can't you see that?" Jael shook her
head, knowing how compassionate he normally was.
"Your majesty obviously knows a real fighting man when you see one."
Joxer blustered. "If it weren't for the terribly important mission
I'm now on, I would be absolutely at your service. But, where's
Hercules? I was supposed to . . . That is, I really need to discuss
this with him."
"Hercules is on a mission of his own, Joxer." Jason answered. "I
don't know when he'll be home. Hades sent for him. Apparently his
help is needed in the Underworld. Maybe Achilles and Hector are at
it, again!"
"You said there's a war starting in Thrace? Did you march all the way
from there?" Jael asked kindly, taking Joxer's arm. "You must be road
weary and starving! Will you give Jason some help getting back to the
house and we can talk about the aid you need. I'm sure King Iphicles
and Iolaus both will want to know about the problem."
They spent the afternoon talking about a great many things. They were
waiting for the outriders Jael sent from her escort to bring Iphicles
from his meetings, and Iolaus from the farther end of the homestead.
Jael asked her spouse to bring young Andreos to the house to see his
uncle Jason and meet the young stranger.