Hey Peoples! Yes, I know, I finally stuck my butt to my chair and got on with the typing. Anyway, a big thank you goes out to my reviewers from my last chapter: HoneyGoddess57, classofthetitans711, and mystery! Thanks for all the kind words!
This chapter is going to be rated T for a whole lot of suggestiveness, but don't fret! There will be no graphic content whatsoever, only a few tense ideas.
On with the show!
…
Chapter 8
The Isle of Lemnos
Part One
Nightfall, the world was completely different here. After all the recent happenings I've been wondering whether or not this could still be the same world as before. Time was younger and knowledge among the crewmen was scarce. Out of every person aboard the ship other than Odie, intelligent conversation was a farfetched fantasy. Thus I resorted to giving everyone the silent treatment and keeping to myself for as long as I could stand to be alone.
Working conditions aboard the Argo weren't bad, and I'd noticed that there were actually a lot more than fifty men on board the ship. The only thing that perturbed me was the fact that I hadn't yet found my sea legs and ended up slithering all over the deck when the weather against the waves was particularly bad.
Atlanta, Herry and Archie had taken quite a liking to their new surroundings, mostly due to the fact that they didn't have to take a shower as often as usual. Neil responded to this by sneaking a shower of deodorant or cologne all over himself and elaborately pinching his nose closed whenever someone predominantly pungent walked past him. Sometimes I wondered what else he had inside that bag of his. He seemed to have more space in his satchel than anyone else did.
Odie however, seemed to be a tad at war with himself. One minute he would be crouched in a corner and sliding across the deck while the boat rocked, and the next he would either try to climb up to the crow's nest or he would pull a Titanic and pretend he could fly over the bow of the ship, all with an enormous smile pasted onto his face. Occasionally he would reach into his satchel for his laptop and then catch himself before anyone would notice. I couldn't tell whether it was just seasickness or homesickness that was getting to him, but it was thoroughly disturbing to see him act so out of his character.
We'd been at sea for nearly three days and I'd hardly caught a glimmer of the captain, much less Theresa. The only thing that kept winding its way into my line of sight was the sea: endless and Mediterranean blue. It was really starting to get on my nerves. How did people keep this up? There's no way I'd be able to stay sane on a boat for more than a few hours at a time, no matter how much I loved sailing.
Another thing that happened to bug me was that I wasn't in control of anything. I didn't know what was going on around me and it didn't look like anyone else did either. I wasn't exactly a fan of waiting in the wings, now I knew what my team felt like when I took charge of a situation, it was so frustrating not to have sufficient information.
I sighed, this wasn't helping me to strategise. Sure, we found Theresa, but what now? We can't just grab her and run, there's nowhere to run to. Also, I missed her; she's always been valuable to me in the most… sentimental way. She was cool and bubbly and funny and smart and, and, and… she'd find a way to calm me down, she always did. But we weren't allowed to go near her, she was Jason's fiancée. No communication allowed unless she started the conversation. She didn't even know my name, why would she even bother talking to me? Unless I got her to talk to Atlanta, she was a girl too. Maybe they could connect with each other and be best friends the way they were before?
"Hey!" a cry came from behind me.
I turned and faced Herry who stood a few feet away from me, his arms folded and his expression sour.
"Are you just going to sit there and mope in a bubble of solitude or are you going to help row the boat?" he came and stood next to me so that I had to look up at him. I was sitting on the edge of the boat, overlooking the sea and the giant wooden oars being manoeuvred just beneath me. I was just getting more annoyed by looking at them; everyone had to have a turn to row the boat. That's what Jason considered 'teamwork'.
"Is it my shift already?" I asked, not really listening for the answer. Herry only looked at me accusingly and we were silent for a few minutes, just staring solemnly at each other. "I'm gonna stay in my bubble." I finally said, turning to look over at the ocean again.
Herry groaned, "Oh, come on, Jay! You could at least try and help out."
"I am helping," I retorted, "I'm staying out of everybody's way."
Herry didn't look impressed, but his expression softened as he sat down next to me. "Seriously, what's really getting at you? And don't tell me it's because of Neil's reeking cologne."
I almost smiled, almost. "What does it matter anyway? What am I even supposed to do?"
Herry started listing things using his fingers. "One, you're the leader, which means you need to make all the plans. Two, you're the only one who really knows how to get on Theresa's good side and you're the descendant of the ship's captain. And three, you need a shower."
I looked at him with disdain, ignoring his last comment, and shrugged. "Yeah, sure, like Theresa's going to talk to me."
Herry gave me a knowing look, "Well the way you two carry on back home, I'm sure she'll be running into your arms by the end of the day." He knit his fingers together and puckered his lips while mockingly batting his eyelashes at me.
"Ha, ha very funny," I shoved his shoulder and looked back out at the sea while he chortled away next to me.
"It can't be that hard to come up with a plan, can it? I mean, I'm sure one of us can help you out."
"Feel free." I shrugged again.
"Okay, so… happens next in the story? Are we supposed to go somewhere specific or battle a sea-monster or something?"
I tried my best to think back to the story of Jason and the Argonauts. Myths like these always ended up being like bed-time stories to me, and Jason's story had always been one of my favourites. "Well, we're supposed to be porting at some island within the next few hours or so." I sat up straight and turned to Herry while he thought.
I hated the fact that almost everyone made fun of him because of his one track mind, but he wasn't stupid, nor was he slow, he just had a lack of focus sometimes. He was really quite intelligent when he paid attention to what was happening, and he was really good at making split-second-decisions, especially when fighting. He was just more of a hands-on kind of guy; he wasn't the type to think ahead. Plus, he was one of the easiest people to get along with.
"Okay, and what's supposed to happen when we get there?" he asked.
"It's this whole island full of Amazon women." My hands started talking with me while I explained. "They started neglecting their worship of Aphrodite and she punished them by making them smell so bad, all of their husbands left them; so they killed off all of the men on the island because of their anger towards Aphrodite. In the story the Argonauts, you know…" I couldn't think of a loose enough euphemism, "Help them repopulate the island."
Herry's cheeks grew redder and redder as the realization of what I meant dawned on him. "Okay, ew." He shuddered, "Does everyone on board the ship go and…" he trailed off, eyes inquisitive.
I couldn't help but smile at his embarrassment, "No, Hercules and some of his crowd stay behind, Atalanta too."
Herry was quiet while I stared ahead of me, the water lapped against the boat in time with my breathing. My feet were dangling over the edge, but not dangerously, just enough for me to feel the sea-spray scatter over my toes. Herry's breathing stopped suddenly with a loud gasp and I looked over at him. His eyes were open wide, almost to the size of saucers. He looked at me and swallowed hard. "Jay…" he struggled for words.
"Yeah?" I couldn't tell whether I was worried or curious about what he was going to say next.
"Does Jason also… you know… with the Amazons?"
I was puzzled, "Yeah, he's supposed to have fathered twins with the queen or something." This conversation was getting a little too awkward for me, but that didn't stop him from pressing his point further.
"But now, he's with Theresa." Herry said. I couldn't help but wince at the way he seemed to just be comfortable with saying it boldly like that.
"Yeah, and?"
"Does Jason have any other kids after the twins?"
I was completely befuddled as to where this was going and tried to think back. "Uhm, he had kids with Medea, but she ended up killing them when they were still little or something like that." I could hear the confusion in my own voice.
Herry pushed on more, "So then there were only the twins in the end?"
"I guess so, why are you even asking me this, Herry?"
"Well, you are Jason's descendant aren't you? If he's with Theresa now," I winced again, "then I doubt he'd start going off with some Amazon queen just for a good time, he and Theresa have always been together since we first saw them."
My eyebrows furrowed slightly, then I caught on and my eyes shot open wide. Jason wouldn't cheat on Theresa if he was just about to get married to her, so he wouldn't go off gallivanting with some lady that lived on an island. Meaning he wouldn't have any sons with her, no sons meant no more descendants; and I would never have existed as a result.
…
The call from the crow's nest came two hours later, land was in sight. Even from my position beneath the deck, and through the sounds of creaking oars; my own strained, heavy breathing; the grunts from all the crewmen crowding the space and Herry's roaring stomach beside me; I could clearly depict the excitement in the caller's rickety voice as he said the words that only ensured me of my approaching doom.
Cheers erupted all around us, many of the men immediately getting to their feet and trampling up the wobbly ladder, some pushing others out of the way and most ending up on the floor. This was all to get a view of a speck of land miles and miles away. In a sense, I pitied them. They were out here looking for adventure, they all wanted to be war heroes, to be remembered; but none of them seemed like they'd be able to bear it, not to me at least.
Look at me. I didn't want to be a war hero, this isn't even the real me. Sometimes I wonder if I've gone crazy at all, I never asked to be faced with life or death, and if I don't do something quickly I'm only going to end up with one option, not having chosen at all. What made destiny decide to pick me? I can't even do laundry, let alone fight mythical beings. I was willing to give this up to any one of those yahoos battling it out by the ladder. They wanted this, I didn't.
Fate could be unnervingly vindictive.
Herry nudged at my ribs with his elbow, trying to discreetly grab a hold of my attention. I looked up at him with a bored expression. He smiled and leaned over to me, whispering just loud enough for me to hear him, and soft enough so that Archie, who was sitting behind us, wouldn't be able to hear at all.
There were only a few men who stayed in their seats, not wanting to get involved in the calamity up front. One of them seemed a little out of place though, as if he were uncomfortable in his surroundings. He sat still and stared ahead, tense lines in his forehead highlighted by sheens of fresh sweat from the laborious work of rowing the boat. Looking at him, I experienced the same sense of familiar unease that I'd felt in the market in the village only three days before.
"I have an idea." Herry said, pulling my attention away from the other man. Strange how Herry was the one coming up with ideas while I was just sitting there with a lump in my throat and thinking negative thoughts about nonsense. Herry continued, "The way I see it, we have two options."
I looked at him sceptically, "And they would be…?"
"We grab Theresa and get Odie to take us back to New Olympia with his device thingy." He said it in a similar tone to one Ares would use when declaring war on a brick for defying him by jamming his path, I've seen it happen. In other words, he said it quite forcefully.
"Too many complications," I paused and considered it well enough though, it was a very tempting idea. "What's the other option?"
His smile grew wider. "We want Jason to get off the boat and get busy with some Amazon queen, right?"
"Correct." The conversation was getting awkward again and I could feel the blood begin to move up into my face.
"And we carry knowledge from the twenty-first century with us, right?" Herry tapped the side of his head, like he could display his intelligence with just that one gesture.
"Where exactly are you going with this, Herry?"
"Think about it: from our time, the only sure fire way of getting someone to do something they don't want to do, without them really remembering is…?" he prompted.
"Knocking them out and hoping they wake up with amnesia?" I asked, trying to take this seriously. Herry gave me a stern look. "Okay, fine. I give up. What is it?"
"Alcohol."
I almost burst out laughing. How on earth could he suggest it? Alcohol? We'd only be able to get some if we raided the storage cabin, and it's practically impossible to get in there without any authority. Though, the more I thought about it, it actually did make sense. There was enough in the cabin to get Jason inebriated enough to get off the boat and get on with his business, however much I hated thinking about my great-great-great-great-etc. grandfather getting up to these kinds of things. I shuddered at the thought, but I knew it had to be done, and that was the best idea on the table at the moment.
"Okay." I said, letting all of my practicalities fall off of my shoulder with just that one word. "So how exactly are we supposed to pull this off?"
Just then, Archie poked his head between us and spluttered, "What are you guys whispering about so intensely?"
I looked at Herry and he smiled back at me, winking conspiratorially. He turned to Archie and spoke in a low voice so that the sentry in the front of the room couldn't hear us. "Hey, Archie, what do you say to a little prank on the ship's captain?"
Archie grinned, "I'm in! What are we going to do?"
…
The food store was a lot like a bank safe. Well, it was guarded in the same way. That's what you get when you have almost a hundred men, most of them teenagers, aboard one ship. Appetite was the foe of many, and if we weren't careful, it would result in our own demise; but enough about food!
As I watched, Herry and Archie moved toward the small cabin housing the boat's food supplies. It was already late in the afternoon and the shadows elongated near every wooden corner and frame. The two of them were skilfully hidden within the dusky dimness, edging their way towards the two crewmen guarding the door of their objective target.
I was watching from a safe distance. My only part in this plan was to allow the two of them to get to the wine-store, and then go find Jason and engage him in conversation long enough for the two of them to incapacitate him and drown him in their own alcoholic concoctions. Ethically I didn't approve, but these were desperate times and I was willing to let this one slide for the time being. Not to be melodramatic, but it was my only chance at survival.
My only problem was actually talking to him. What was I supposed to say to him? I didn't actually know anything about him, apart from what I'd heard in the stories my mother used to relay to me. I've always thought of him as an admirable character, until I saw him with Theresa.
I wasn't exactly jealous, but at the time I was completely certain I'd dreamt all of this up and there was no time travelling at all. It was just utterly unfathomable that my ancestor and Theresa were together. I was frustrated, disappointed even. I'd pinched myself over a hundred times just to make sure I wasn't dreaming; but what Herry had said was true, the two of them were absolutely indissoluble.
Herry moved forward slowly, Archie flanking close behind him. Herry peered over his shoulder and gave Archie the signal to move ahead of him. Archie took a deep breath, sucking in his stomach very dramatically, and walking out from behind the corner of the smaller cabin where Herry still hid. Archie quickly changed his character completely, replacing his former self with the type of person he was at home: a hungry teenager nagging everyone for food. Normally, I would have been quite grave at this point, but I just couldn't take Archie seriously in a toga.
Whilst Archie was occupied entertaining the guards with his suave acting skills, Herry slowly emerged from his hiding place. He was a burly boy, that was for sure, but the only sounds he made were the scuffing of his sandals against the polished wood of the Argo. The two men were none impressed by Archie's display, but he had somehow managed to position himself in front of them in such a way that they now had their backs towards the intimidating figure that was Herry.
One of them shook his head fervently at Archie's degrading pleads for rations, a zealous shout of 'no!' escaping him before Herry's muscles hung over him. The guards barely had a chance to gasp before Herry's giant fingers knotted in their hair, each fist grasping thick tufts of their greasy locks. He lifted them up gingerly and smacked the sides of their heads together. He didn't do it hard enough to incur any damage, but he'd used just enough force to knock them out for several hours.
Archie dealt him a high-five and the two of them disappeared behind the door of the cabin withholding the medium we required. Its hinges squeaked slightly when the door swung closed behind them. I knew that there were steps just beyond the ladder, letting the storage space stretch further beneath the deck. So far so good though, and no one was around here to see anything.
The sun was an hour away from dwindling down into the horizon, and the sea was turning into a light shade of navy blue. The island still only seemed like a spit of land to me, though I knew it was roughly just over ten miles away. We would reach it after nightfall if the ship continued at this speed and if the weather stayed the same as it was now.
My heart was thumping heavily in my chest, I didn't know if this would succeed, and I was still a little put off by my part of the scheme. Jason wasn't an idiot, and what if he saw right through me? What if this plan didn't work? Would I still be here in the morning? Moments like these scared me half to death, with the consequences of the outcome pushing me the rest of the way.
I swallowed hard when Herry kicked the door wide open, hauling three small barrels of a sour, fruity scented liquid: two in his arms and another that he kicked ahead of him. He was followed by Archie, who struggled to carry one more of the same barrels. I was too afraid to ask what was in them and waved them both over to me.
"You think this is enough?" I asked sarcastically.
Herry smiled, "We could always get more."
Archie put down his barrel in front of me and grunted with all of the effort it took. He made a show of snapping his spine into place, several clacks emulating from his back as he did so. I still found it strange how the weight of the barrels had absolutely no effect on Herry at all.
Archie spoke up, "Okay, Jay, you're up next."
Herry went back to the door of the storage space and dragged both guards, one in each hand, back into the dark room. When he came back up he shut the door tightly behind him.
I took a breath, "Okay, you guys get to fabricating some sort of hybrid drink that'll have Jason incapacitated while I go find him and try to have some sort of conversation with him. I'll walk by here in the next few minutes. Just be ready."
"What are you guys doing?" Atlanta's voice came from behind me. I groaned inwardly and turned around to face her. She stood with her hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.
Archie retaliated first, waving a hand at her, "Atlanta, get out of here."
She just stared at him, "Ya, right. What are you doing with those barrels? I thought we were supposed to be keeping a low profile."
Archie sidled up to her, "Look, Atlanta, this has nothing to do with you. So could you please just leave us alone for a second?"
"And if I say no?" she challenged.
Archie stood right in front of her, bending his head forward so that his eyes could meet her own. "Then I'm going to have to remove you from the premises."
Atlanta cracked a smile and then burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she doubled over in a fit of giggles. "You and what army, Mr. High and Mighty?"
Archie's face was impassive when he looked over at Herry. Herry immediately stepped forward and grabbed Atlanta firmly by the waist, lifting her into the air.
Her laughter ceased immediately and she started struggling in Herry's grasp, breathing her words in frustration, "Herry, put me down!"
"Sorry, Atlanta." I said, opening the door to the food store, "But this is for your own good."
"What are you-" she stopped mid-sentence.
Herry shoved her lightly into the cabin and I quickly shut the door, letting the steel hinge clamp tightly shut so that she couldn't get out again without someone opening the door from the outside. At least she wouldn't get in the way now.
…
Okay, another chapter done! I apologise profusely for the long wait! Thanks to everyone who sent me a PM and got me moving, encouragement is always considered an asset! Please leave a review on your way out! The next update will hopefully be finished soon.
Also, I'd like you guys to check out my new story Mortal Minds if you haven't already, and tell me what you think!
Thanks again.
~Toymaker.
