A/N Thank you so much for the lovely reviews. You've all inspired me so much that I've managed to get the chapter out a day early! I just hope it doesn't disappoint.

Please don't forget to review - if you feel like reviewing that is ;-)

Pythagoras gulped as the figure stepped forwards and gripped the shaft of his bow a little more tightly. Perhaps he should think about drawing an arrow? All around him the guards began to unsheathe their swords and he could feel Hercules behind him preparing for action. Without a word the big man stepped around his young friend, his sword in his hand, preparing to defend Pythagoras. In all honesty the young genius appreciated the sentiment but couldn't help feeling that as he had the only ranged weapon in the group perhaps Hercules ought not to get in the way of what was essentially their first line of defence. That thought made him pause. Since when had he been anyone's first line of defence? He was a mathematician and a sometime philosopher and healer not a warrior. His life really had changed in so many ways since Jason had come crashing so unexpectedly in through the window – was much more dangerous and yet much more exciting. At least he could say he had lived now; at least he had personal experiences to draw on and his knowledge of healing and of wound care in emergency situations had increased exponentially.

He shook himself, reminding himself to keep his mind on the task at hand and not let it wander. The figure in the shadows stepped even closer. As it did a shaft of moonlight from the still open doorway glanced off brown curls and bright, alert dark eyes.

"Jason," Pythagoras breathed in relief.

Jason drew close, motioning them all to keep quiet and looked over his shoulder at the stairs beyond. Then he grinned at Pythagoras, an unexpected flicker of happiness in the grim situation they once again found themselves in. Pythagoras couldn't restrain his own brief smile of relief. Then Jason's smile dropped. He looked at Dion through narrowed and wary eyes. Pythagoras couldn't really blame him – his interactions with the city guards had not until now been entirely friendly.

"They are here to help," the young genius said softly.

Jason nodded.

"Fair enough," he murmured. "We need to move quietly. The kidnappers are in a room downstairs and there are a lot of them. I counted at least ten but I could only see a fraction of the room from where I was hidden and there were definitely more voices from men that I couldn't see. Once we get down the stairs there's a corridor. The room is about halfway along but there's a torch on the wall right outside. Beyond that the corridor splits in two. The children are in a room down the left fork. The corridor carries on beyond but I didn't stop to see where it went. There are between fifteen and twenty children in the room – all girls. The youngest can only be two or three and the oldest about thirteen… and yes Cassie is with them," he added looking at Talos. "They're all very scared and the youngest ones are going to need to be carried… so getting out of here in a hurry might be a bit difficult."

"Can we take the men in the room by surprise?" Dion asked.

"Possibly," Jason answered. "If we can be quiet enough coming down the corridor. They seem to be having a party in there so they're making a fair bit of noise. We'll need to keep to the shadows as much as possible but unless one of them needs to come out to relieve himself we should be able to get right up near the door before they know we're here."

"What do you mean we?" Hercules growled. "You're going to stay up here with him where it's relatively safe," he added, nodding at Pythagoras.

"Not a chance," Jason hissed firmly. "I gave my word that I would go back for the girls and I am not going to break it."

Before Hercules could say another word or make a move to grab him Jason slipped away towards the top of the stairs, beckoning the rest of them to follow him. Hercules swore softly and headed after him. Pythagoras winced. Jason was not helping to improve the burly wrestler's temper in any way – although Hercules really should have known better than to think that Jason would simply do as he was told and sit this one out; it wasn't in his nature. The mathematician didn't much fancy being left up here while everyone else went down to take on the slavers either – especially not on his own. Something might go wrong and he would never know. No, the three of them were a team and would go into this together no matter what Hercules thought. He tagged onto the back of the group as they made their way over to the archway.

At the top of the stairs Jason hesitated. Much as he was unwilling to admit it the walk up them had been pure torture and he had the feeling that the journey back down would be even worse. He'd promised Amathea and the other girls that he would be back to rescue them though and he wasn't about to let them down. It would be better if his leg wasn't hurting quite so badly he decided. What had started as a vague throbbing and a slight stiffness in his knee joint had morphed into constant screaming pain that had grown worse as he climbed the stairs. It had been all he could do to stop himself from limping as he walked across the floor to join the others and he really wasn't looking forward to the trip back down the stairs. He swallowed hard and moved forwards again, hoping that no-one had noticed the pause or worked out the reason behind it (although he wouldn't put it past Pythagoras to have worked out the truth – his friend was simply too observant).

By the time he reached the bottom Jason wanted to scream. He stopped, bracing himself against the wall with one hand, and gulped down some breaths of air – his breathing coming more heavily than he would have liked. He felt a strong hand touching his arm and looked up to see Dion unclasp a flask and shove it under his nose. The water inside was lukewarm and stale but it seemed to help him to regain some balance and allowed him to pause while the ball of fire that formed his knee settled back to the constant ache he had become used to. He handed the water bottle back to the large soldier and mouthed his thanks.

Before anyone could suggest that perhaps he ought to wait where he was Jason set off again, keeping to the shadows along the wall in much the same way that he had done before. As the group approached the doorway he paused, holding a hand up to bid the guards to be still, and crept closer, ducking down behind the barrel once again. He was quickly joined by both Dion and Hercules – although there really wasn't enough room for them all. He peered around the barrel and into the room. The men in the room were full of raucous cheer and appeared to be well into their cups. Jason half smiled. That would work to the advantage of the rescue party. Drunken men were rarely able to co-ordinate their movements enough to work together as a team. If they were hit hard enough and fast enough it would be every man for himself. The only thing that needed to be guarded against was that some of them might try to make a break for the girls – to effectively use them as bargaining chips or human shields. That wasn't going to happen, he thought grimly.

Pulling back around the barrel he found himself face to face with a worried and angry looking Hercules. Jason bit his lip. He really didn't have time for the big man to launch into a lecture right now. Fortunately it appeared that Hercules well understood the gravity of the situation and was not about to start scolding. As Dion took his turn at assessing their position, the burly wrestler caught hold of his younger friend's shoulders and peered into his face.

"We'll talk about this insanity later," he murmured, his voice a soft rumble. "Don't take unnecessary risks though, alright? I know you're going to do this no matter what I say but try not to let yourself get hurt this time."

Jason nodded tightly, glad that Hercules had put off the inevitable lecture until the children were safe. Hercules' eyes tightened as he pushed up his Jason's sleeves and took in the scrapes and fresh marks that would darken into bruises over the next couple of days that decorated his young friend's arms. Where Jason had picked them up from the Gods only knew but Hercules intended to find out. All he really wanted right now was to finish what they had come here to do and then get home where Pythagoras could be put to bed to rest and Jason could be checked over for additional injuries and then bundled off to join his friend. The big man hadn't failed to notice how long it had taken Jason to get down the stairs or that he had had to stop at the bottom for a time, and realised that the young man had been overexerting himself to the point where his knee would be extremely painful. Hopefully that would settle with rest once he had his feet up and equally hopefully he had not made the injury any worse.

Hercules also couldn't fail to notice just how cold the lad felt beneath his hands – the faint trembling as he shivered slightly. This really was not the weather to be running around the streets without a cloak. No doubt Jason had forgotten it and while he had been running it had not been a problem. Now, however, he had clearly been waiting in the darkness for his friends to arrive for some time; keeping watch over the slavers. That meant he had been standing still in the darkness and after his earlier exertion it had left him chilled through – although he himself was still so caught up in the situation that he had yet to notice just how cold he had become. Yes, getting him home and bundled up into a nice warm bed with a good fire going to prevent him from catching a chill was a very good idea to Hercules' mind. There was no point voicing it to Jason at the moment though. The look of grim determination on the young man's face told Hercules that it would not be well received and probably sharply rebuffed.

Dion ducked back around the barrel and motioned to them both to come with him to re-join his men. Quietly they pulled back towards the bottom of the stairs where the patrol leader could outline what he intended to do.

"We are going to hit them hard and fast," he murmured urgently. "They are so far into their cups that with luck we should have most of them subdued before they know what has hit them. We'll split into two and take half the room each. That way we should manage without falling over one another. Now we don't know exactly how many we'll be facing and it may be that there are more of them than there are of us, but we have the advantage of training and surprise. I want as many of them alive as we can to bring before the King but if that's not possible then I'm not going to lose a great deal of sleep over it. Whatever you have to do to capture them do it. I don't want anyone taking unnecessary risks." He turned towards Jason. "If it looks like any of them might get past us then it's your job to get those girls to safety," he said. "You and your friends' first priority is those children. Do you understand?"

"Of course," Jason answered tightly.

"Good," Dion said. "Now before we go on your friends have told me that you are injured. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No," Jason answered. "I'm fine."

He was very aware of the incredulous looks he was getting from both Hercules and Pythagoras at that moment. Clearly neither one of them believed that he was really as fine as he was claiming to be and each resolved to keep as close an eye as possible on him until they were all safely back home. Jason sighed under his breath. It was nice to have friends who cared so much about his wellbeing, particularly given the fact that so few people had ever actually cared, but he did think that they made far too much fuss at times.

Dion looked at him sceptically with his eyebrows raised. Jason looked back steadily.

"Are you sure?" the big soldier asked. "If it is likely to be a problem I need to know now. I do not mean to sound harsh but I do not need to be worrying about you in the middle of a battle."

"Indeed," Jason answered. "You do not need to worry about me. I am more than capable of finishing this and I can look after myself."

"Alright," Dion growled. "Then we go now."

The suddenness of the attack took the slavers completely by surprise, much as Dion had intended. There were indeed far more of them than either he or Jason had been able to see from outside the doorway – between twenty and twenty-five at best guess – and the city guards and their allies were outnumbered by more than two to one. No-one really had time to count the number of opponents, however. By the time they had rushed into the room and fallen upon the kidnappers they were all too intent on the job to stop and count heads. Many of the slavers were fortunately too drunk to stand, but those that were left quickly rallied and began to form a defence. Their sheer advantage of numbers began to slow down the attack.

Separated from the main group of guards, Jason found himself fighting back to back with Hercules, surrounded and outnumbered by a pocket of the criminals. The feeling of déjà-vu assaulted him again and almost took his breath away even as he parried another stroke from the hard faced kidnapper he was facing. Then the fighting grew too intense and all thought was driven from his mind and he fought on, relying on instinct and practice to know what the next move his opponent made would be. He was tiring rapidly though and could feel it – and his recent injuries meant that his movements were far less fluid than usual. Still they were nearly through the group and on the verge of joining up with Pythagoras, Talos and Dion.

Then the inevitable happened. One of the slavers, reeling from a blow, kicked out brutally as he fell and caught the side of Jason's knee. It had been a desperate move on the part of the slaver, an act borne of panic rather than thought, and he had no way of anticipating just how successful it would be; no way of knowing that he was actually targeting his young opponent's biggest weakness at the moment. Jason cried out sharply as white hot agony exploded in his leg and he fell as his knee gave way. Still moving on instinct he rolled to one side and narrowly avoided a downward stroke from the man above him. Now though he was trapped, caught in a tangle of felled bodies. It seemed that the next blow would inevitably hit him.

Hercules roared in anger. He had seen Jason go down and was trying to reach him but a couple of the slavers stepped in between them, preventing him from getting to his friend. With a horrified, sinking feeling he realised that there was no way he could get there in time but still redoubled his efforts. He could not let one of his boys down like this; he could not stand by and see one of them hurt or killed in this skirmish.

On the floor, Jason looked up to see another downward sword cut heading his way. The pain in his knee had begun to subside again but there was still no way he could get out of the way in time – there was simply no room to manoeuvre. Then the slaver's sword was deflected as it hit another outstretched sword, thrust out just in time. Who knew where Pythagoras had found the sword from or how he had managed to get there in time, but he had – although he looked more startled at the fact than his opponent did. With a shout Dion dived in from the one side and took on the man whose sword Pythagoras had managed to parry while Hercules attacked from the other, still roaring and swinging his own sword like a meat cleaver. Pythagoras turned breathlessly and offered his hand to Jason, pulling his friend to his feet. Jason held onto his arm for a minute even after he had stood up, biting down on the flare of pain he felt and struggling to regain his balance. Once he was sure he could stand on his own he let Pythagoras' arm drop and reached down for his sword.

Opponents defeated for the time being, Dion turned to the two young men. He looked hard at Jason.

"Are you hurt?" he asked.

"Just winded," replied Jason. He spun and fended off another attacker, blocking and thrusting neatly. "He took me by surprise... I'll be alright."

Dion easily fended off his own man, clobbering him on the back of the head with the butt of his sword and watching clinically as he fell to the floor insensible.

"For someone who I am told has a badly injured knee you fight very well," he said. "I would like to see you fight someday when you are not hampered by injury."

Jason looked at him quizzically.

"Thanks… I think," he responded.

Dion half smiled. He turned and swept the room with a glance, assessing the situation.

"There are more of them than I had hoped. We must fall back to the corridor where the confined space will work to our advantage. You must get to the children. You must get them out of here. We will regroup in the street once this is all over."

Jason nodded and started for the door, pushing Pythagoras and Talos ahead of him. In the doorway Dion turned.

"On me!" he roared.

It appeared that this particular group of city guards were both better trained and more disciplined than was their norm, Jason was pleased to note. To a man they came to join their leader, reforming in the corridor to take on another attack from the rapidly dwindling group of slavers.

"Hercules," Jason called urgently, beckoning for his older friend to join himself, Pythagoras and Talos behind the guards. "We have to get the girls to safety," he explained when the big man had joined them.

Hercules nodded and the four of them set off down the corridor in the opposite direction to the stairs. It was getting harder for Jason to hide the fact that his leg was hurting badly but he gritted his teeth and moved on as fluidly as he could. Without hesitation he led his friends and Cassie's worried father down the left hand fork in the corridor to the room where he had found the girls before. At the door he paused for a minute and then knocked gently, reasoning that Amathea at least would realise that their kidnappers would not knock – at least in part because they would still believe that the girls were caged.

The door opened a crack and a pair of large eyes peered out at him. Then it swung open fully and Jason slipped into the room. The children were huddled at the back of the room, the older ones trying to comfort the younger. The cages still stood at the sides, their doors now hanging open. Jason could feel the horror coming off his friends in waves. Having been here earlier and seen the worst of the situation he was a little more prepared this time. His friends were not. Pythagoras in particular seemed appalled by what he was seeing, his blue eyes bright and watery.

Amathea came forwards and smiled softly at Jason, offering him his hunting knife back.

"You came back," she said.

"I promised you I would," Jason answered, tucking the knife back into his belt.

"Are these your friends?"

"Yes," Jason responded. "The older one is Hercules and the skinny one is Pythagoras… and the other one is Cassie's father, Talos."

Cassie herself had by this time spotted her father and had launched herself across the room and into his arms, where he was holding her as though his life depended on it – pulling back occasionally to check that she really was unharmed and alright.

"There are city guards outside fighting with the men who took you," Jason went on. "We need to get you all out of here now and then we'll see about getting you all back to your parents, alright?"

"Yes," answered Amathea, smiling.

"I'll need your help to move them all though."

The young girl nodded and drew herself up to her full height, straightening the filthy dress that hung from her thin frame as best she could and setting her face with a determined expression.

"Let's go then," she said.

They slipped back out into the corridor, the youngest girls being carried by the four men and the older children gripping the hands of the younger ones. From the direction of the stairs the noise of battle was drawing inexorably closer and the four adults of the group shared a concerned look.

"We can't go back that way," Hercules said.

Jason nodded and started off down the corridor, a trusting little soul of no more than three held in his arms, playing with his necklace.

"You don't know what's down there," Pythagoras protested. "You don't even know if there is a way out that way. We could end up being caught in a dead end; trapped."

"It can't be worse than trying to take these little girls through the middle of a battle," Hercules argued.

Jason tuned them out. Something was pulling him onwards. A feeling of rightness that he could in no way explain. Although there were no torches or lanterns down here he could almost see a golden glow ahead of him, sparkling and drawing him on. Up ahead the corridor split into two again. Without hesitation Jason took the right hand option, picking up speed as he went. A hand caught hold of his sleeve and forced him to halt. He turned to see Pythagoras staring at him in exasperation.

"We cannot simply run on without knowing where we are going," the mathematician stated.

"We are going the right way," Jason insisted.

"You cannot know that. You said yourself that you had not had time to explore the corridor beyond the room where the girls were held. We must tread cautiously. We should examine both options before we decide on a course."

"This is the right path," Jason answered, his eyes distant. He turned and looked down the left hand fork with a shudder. There was a feeling of wrongness about it; a darkness that he had no wish to explore.

"How can you possibly know that?" Pythagoras asked.

Jason hesitated. He didn't know how he knew and therefore had no way of explaining himself. It sounded crazy even to his own ears and he could only imagine what his friends would make of the fact that he was choosing a direction by what felt right. They would probably think that he had cracked again, he decided, and he would hardly be able to blame them. Perhaps he had; perhaps he'd flipped over the edge. All he really knew was that he was being pulled forwards by something – and that something was coming from within himself. To be honest it was all a bit terrifying. Seeing Cassie in that cage – fighting back to back with Hercules as they were surrounded – he had seen it before; had seen it almost exactly as it had happened in his dreams last night. The more he thought about it the more his breath caught in the back of his throat and he really couldn't afford the time to think about this now. He could have a meltdown later once the girls were safe.

"Do you trust me?" he asked Pythagoras.

"Of course," the blonde mathematician responded.

"Then trust me now… please," Jason almost begged. "I can't explain how I know that this is the right way… I just do."

"We don't have time for this," Hercules griped from his position at the back of the group. "Whichever way we're going we need to go now."

Pythagoras looked earnestly at Jason and nodded. Jason smiled gratefully and plunged off down the corridor again. At the end of the passageway a metal gateway barred their way. Through the bars they could see the street. They were nearly free but although the bars were fairly widely spaced it seemed unlikely that they would all fit through.

"Are we all going to fit through there?" Pythagoras asked, eyeing Hercules' bulk apprehensively.

The burly wrestler sighed dramatically and set the small child he was carrying down on her own feet for a few minutes.

"Out of my way," he declared. Grabbing hold of two of the bars he heaved against them, using his immense strength to bend them out of shape and forming a hole they could all fit through.

"Wide enough for you?" he asked Pythagoras sarcastically.

"It was never too narrow for me," the young genius answered primly as he stepped through.

Once they were all through the gap they moved away a little from the gateway and stopped. Pythagoras looked around nervously, half expecting the slavers to pop out of the darkness and attack them.

"Where do we go now?" he asked.

"To the Temple," a deep voice murmured behind them.

Startled they turned to see Dion stepping through the gap in the gateway.

"The slavers have been subdued," he stated. "Those that are still alive are confined. I have left most of my men to guard them and dispatched another to fetch reinforcements. They will face judgement before the King. Justice will be done."

Jason had a feeling that he knew exactly what that 'justice' would entail. He almost felt sorry for the slavers, no matter what they had done. He tried to suppress a shudder, knowing that there was simply no point voicing an opinion on the fairness or lack of it in the Atlantian justice system – no-one here seemed to understand his feelings. Even Pythagoras thought that the system was reasonable and the sentences just. He looked up to see Dion watching him shrewdly.

"You do not approve," the big soldier said flatly.

"Jason has difficulty accepting capital punishment," Pythagoras interjected. "Apparently they do not use it where he comes from."

"It doesn't really matter," Jason said hurriedly. "There's nothing I can do to change things anyway… Besides we need to be concentrating on what we do next."

"As I said, we will go to the Temple," Dion answered firmly.

"And why would we want to go there?" Hercules asked suspiciously. No matter how helpful the patrol leader had been he was still a member of the city guards and therefore someone to be wary of.

"Many of the refugees are housed in the Temple. If you wish to find the families of the children then your best chance will be to search for them there. Prymneus and I will escort you there and then I must report this matter to the King at the Palace. You will spend the night at the Temple and return to your home in the morning."

Hercules glared at him.

"Absolutely not!" he flared. "We'll be going home tonight. He's been ill and he's still injured," he stated pointing to his two younger friends, "and they could both do with a good night's sleep in their own beds. If you think I'm going to let you keep them from them then you've got another thing coming."

"You have no choice," Dion said, his tone hardening. "The city is still under curfew and I cannot allow you to be wandering the streets without an escort. We are still under attack at the moment and unless you are part of the defence on the walls you do not have permission to be out of doors. I cannot spare the time or the men to escort you to your own home tonight and if you should try to leave unescorted I will reluctantly be forced to arrest you."

"Arrest us?" Hercules yelled. "After what we've done tonight? There's gratitude for you!"

"Hercules," Jason interjected sharply. "It's fine. Let's get the girls to safety and hopefully back with their families and we can sort out the rest afterwards."

Hercules looked at his friend with a frown. He couldn't help but notice how tired Jason looked right now – how tired both the boys looked actually. Jason hadn't slept well last night, he reminded himself, and combined with this evening's activity it was clearly catching up with him. The burly wrestler sighed. He had hoped that there would be a way of resolving all this quickly so that he could get his friends back home where they belonged. He would even have been willing to forgo the discussion that he wanted to have with both his friends over their behaviour tonight in favour of letting them both get some decent rest and tackling them in the morning.

"Fine," he muttered. "But don't think that this is the end of it," he added, pointing a meaty finger at Dion.

To do him credit the soldier did not say a word. He simply returned Hercules' gaze steadily with an eyebrow raised. The truth of the matter was that he had no real wish to arrest anyone and understood that Hercules was acting out of worry for his friends, and he did appreciate that both of the younger men ought to be resting – they both looked almost ready to drop – but he had his duty and it was simply not safe to allow them to go wandering through the streets tonight. His was not the only patrol in the streets and he somehow doubted that many of his comrades would think twice about arresting any of this little band – or of sending them to fight on the city walls. Besides which there were looters around – desperate men who survived by stealing from others – and with the city walls under attack there was always the threat that that posed, with arrows raining down from above . At least the Amphigeneians had not yet managed to finish building any catapults and he silently thanked the Gods for that fact, knowing that the situation on the city could be so much worse right now. His companions would be far safer within the walls of the Temple tonight whether they realised it or not and at least it was warm there. Yes it might be true that they would be more comfortable in their own home but right now he was more interested in their safety than their comfort.

With a grunt Hercules adjusted the wide-eyed child on his hip and started to move in the direction of the Temple. Talos was still too caught up in the joy of having got Cassie back to be aware of the situation around him or the tensions within the group but the other two young men exchanged a long look. With Hercules in this sort of mood their chances of getting away without one of his well-meaning lectures seemed slim. Dion gestured to the guard that had come with him to follow the burly wrestler and then indicated to the others– both adults and children – to follow on behind, taking up his own position at the rear of the group. As one of the little girls began to drop back, her small legs rapidly becoming tired, he scooped her up without breaking stride and simply carried her on one arm. Ahead of him the other soldier, Prymneus, selected his own little girl to carry – picking the one who seemed smallest and most tired from the group.

Pythagoras watched them quizzically. It still seemed alien to him to see members of the city guard being helpful. He supposed that there were reasonable men who joined up; were family men who were simply trying to do their best to protect their families and work for their city; it was just that he and his friends had always in the past seemed to encounter the petty minded bullies that seemed to be attracted to the job. Dion seemed more than reasonable, however. Everything he was insisting upon was fair even if Hercules didn't particularly like it, and he had trusted them – trusted that they were telling the truth – and had done everything in his power to help them based on that trust.

Then he turned to look at his friends. Hercules was clearly seething. Pythagoras winced. He had known that his older friend would be distinctly unhappy that both himself and Jason had chosen to leave the house this evening in spite of Hercules' feelings on the matter; had known that the big man would say that they had both endangered their health and would be cross as a result. In a way he did agree that Hercules had a point. Neither one of them was operating at full strength and the burly wrestler really hadn't needed the added distraction of worrying about them when he needed to look for Cassie. Without them though Cassie might not have been found. It had taken the particular combination of Pythagoras' brains and Jason's pig-headedness to locate and save the girls. If it weren't for them Hercules would still have been at the Palace with Dion trying to convince the King to allow a rescue mission, and would then have ended up going in the wrong direction and searching in the wrong place. By the time he had realised his mistake Cassie and the other girls might have been lost forever. Pythagoras was fairly certain that in spite of his current ire Hercules could be made to see that with some well thought out arguments. All he would have to ensure was that Jason kept a lid on his temper for the duration of the conversation and would allow Pythagoras to take the lead in reasoning with Hercules. It would help if they both appeared suitably contrite when Hercules broached the subject, and perhaps had some wine on hand – that always helped to soothe their older friend's temper.

Pythagoras looked speculatively at Jason. All he had to do now was to convince his dark haired friend to let him do the talking and to do that he needed to broach the subject with Jason first. He frowned. Jason, it appeared, was losing himself inside his own head again; drifting off into that dream world he sometimes went to when he was upset or worried about something. Pythagoras had learned to spot the signs over the last couple of months – both he and Hercules had actually – and could usually work out what was causing it. The only thing was he'd never known Jason to drift when they were still in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation before.

As he watched, though, he realised that his dark haired friend was completely aware of what was going on around him; had not lost himself completely; was simply deep in thought. He avoided any obstacles in his path neatly enough and broke out of his reverie to quiet the little girl he was carrying down when she started to get upset. Perhaps this was a coping strategy, Pythagoras thought. He knew that Jason had to be in pain – after all he was still limping badly most of the time and needed to put his feet up in the evenings to stop his knee from swelling and seizing up. His leg might be healing now but he was far from back to normal yet and the pounding he had given it this evening would only have exacerbated the injury. Plus Pythagoras had seen that slaver kick Jason and knew that his friend had been in very real pain as a result. Yet right now you would never know that he was hurt. Jason was walking confidently and fluidly with only the slightest hesitation in his movements that told those who knew him best that something was wrong. So perhaps losing himself in thought was helping him to keep going until they were in a place where he could sit down and rest. Pythagoras decided to confirm his theory. He moved alongside Jason.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly.

Jason looked momentarily startled. He had been deep in thought and had not heard Pythagoras draw up to him.

"Yes," he answered. "My knee's a bit sore but I'll live. How about you?"

"I am tired," Pythagoras answered honestly. "Very tired."

"Yeah," Jason breathed. "Sleep sounds ridiculously good right now… do you think Hercules would mind if I had a lie in tomorrow?"

"A lie in what?" asked Pythagoras with some confusion.

"It means not getting up when you usually would… staying in bed later than normal," Jason explained.

"Ah," Pythagoras said. "In that case I do not think that Hercules will mind if either one of us has a 'lie in' tomorrow… in fact I think he will almost insist upon it."

Both young men chuckled lightly at their older friend's paternal and protective nature. Hercules could try to claim that he didn't worry about his friends all he liked but they both knew only too well just how much he fretted when either one of them seemed under the weather or unhappy. After a moment Jason looked at Pythagoras with a peculiarly sad smile.

"We did alright tonight didn't we?" he said softly. "Tonight we won."

"Yes we did," Pythagoras answered. "These children will be reunited with their families and the slavers are no longer a threat."

"This group anyway," Jason responded, his tone turning bitter.

Pythagoras frowned.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We stopped this gang but there'll just be someone else that takes their place won't there? As long as there are people who are willing to buy children there'll be more like them."

"Jason you cannot think like that," Pythagoras said firmly. "Tonight we have done the right thing – done a good thing – and these girls are safe as a result."

"And what about the next child that a grown man takes a fancy to? Who'll be there to save them?"

"It is not that simple and you know it," Pythagoras answered, "but I do understand how you feel."

"Do you?"

"Yes." Pythagoras said sharply. "You identify with these girls because you see yourself in them… but you cannot save everyone no matter how hard you try… and you should not punish yourself because of it."

Jason gave him that funny little sad smile again.

"You're right," he said with a sigh. "I should be grateful that we managed to get to these girls in time."

"Quite," Pythagoras said. "Now we have only to return them to their families and we can think of getting home and finding our own beds… and listening to Hercules scold of course."

He was rewarded by a snort and a rueful smile from his dark haired friend. Inwardly Pythagoras smiled. His mission had been accomplished – Jason had been diverted from the dark path his mind was beginning to wander down.

"We're probably not going home tonight though are we?" Jason pointed out. "I mean Dion said that wouldn't be allowed to."

"Since when have you done as you were told?" Pythagoras asked.

Jason thought for a moment.

"Good point," he said. "I don't know about you but I'm a bit too tired to argue this time though."

"Indeed," Pythagoras agreed with a yawn.

The yawn quickly became a short barking cough that robbed him of his breath. He felt a hand on the centre of his back and looked up to see Jason looking at him, his hazel eyes wide and worried. Ahead of them Hercules had also turned around and Pythagoras could almost feel his older friend's concern from here.

"Do not worry so much," he murmured. "It is just a cough – nothing more."

"I shouldn't have dragged you out tonight," Jason fretted guiltily. "You should be at home in the warm."

"You did not 'drag' me anywhere. I made my own decision to come… and it was as well that I did. How far do you think you would have got without me?"

"I'd have managed," Jason protested, although he couldn't help but smile.

They walked on in silence for a time, listening to the innocent chatter of the little girls around them. Pythagoras marvelled at how resilient they were. After all they had been through a horrible ordeal over the last few days and must have been terrified. Now, however, they played little games as they went along or chatted brightly in hushed voices, talking about their families and homes. It seemed a miracle that they had been rescued before anything more horrific had happened to them. The more that Pythagoras thought about it, however, the more questions sprang up in his mind. How had Jason known which way to go in the tunnels to bring them all to safety? And come to that how had he known which warehouse to search in the first place? Had he seen the slavers go in? If so, why had they not seen him? Pythagoras knew that Jason could keep himself concealed when he really wanted to but surely with the speed he was running at he would not have had time. It all seemed unbelievably lucky somehow and the young genius wasn't entirely sure he believed in that much good fortune happening at one time.

"Jason?" he said, casting a sidelong look at his friend. "How did you know that that tunnel would bring us out onto the street?"

"What do you mean?" Jason asked, the defensive, guarded look that Pythagoras hated springing up in his eyes once more.

"Before we went down the stairs you told us that you had not had time to explore the corridor beyond the room where the girls were held but when we had to go down it you seemed to know exactly where you were going."

"It was just a guess," Jason answered shortly.

Pythagoras frowned. He could usually tell when Jason was trying to evade the truth and everything told him that he was doing it now – although he couldn't for the life of him think why that might be the case. Surely Jason had nothing to hide here? With a start he realised that Dion had drawn up behind them and was listening intently, his blue eyes curious.

"You seemed so certain," Pythagoras said. "You asked me to trust you and said that you knew we were going the right way. That did not seem like a guess."

"I was lucky, that was all." Jason shut down all further discussion. "Come on let's move a bit faster. The quicker we can get to the Temple the better."

He sped up a little, pulling ahead of his blonde friend. Pythagoras couldn't help noticing, however, that Jason had begun to limp slightly once more. He frowned, knowing that that was a sign that Jason was hurting far more badly than he was willing to admit to; knowing that when the adrenaline from the evening finally wore off Jason was likely to crash hard. His friend had remarkable willpower and at times seemingly inexhaustible energy and stamina but Pythagoras knew only too well that Jason was far from being indestructible or indefatigable and sooner or later he would need to stop. The fact that he had already admitted to being very tired indicated to the young genius that it was likely to be sooner rather than later.

When the Temple finally came into view everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Soon the children would be back with their families – or at least could be looked after properly until their families could be located. For a moment though Jason paused at the bottom of the long flight of steps, mustering up the energy and willpower he knew he would need to get to the top. He could feel both his friends watching him closely and stubbornly gritted his teeth, knowing that there was no way either of them could help him while they were carrying the smallest of the children. He hitched the little girl resting on his hip up a little higher and set off, taking one step at a time.

By the time he was halfway up he was sweating and breathing hard, and fighting a losing battle to hide the pain each step was costing him. He paused again, trying to get his breath back. The presence of a figure at his elbow made him half turn and he found himself face to face with Hercules once more. To do him credit the big man didn't say a word. He moved the little girl he was carrying around onto his right arm and simply held his left out for Jason. With a muttered but heartfelt expression of thanks the young man slipped his arm around his older friend's shoulders leaning heavily on Hercules, although his grip on the little girl he carried remained secure. It helped, he decided, that the child was so small and light. With a grunt and a nod Hercules gestured for them to move on, he left arm gently encircling his young friend's waist.

At the top of the steps Jason let his arm drop from around Hercules' shoulders and brought it back around the little girl once more.

"Thanks," he murmured again. "I'll be alright now… it was just the steps that were a bit of a problem."

Hercules raised an eyebrow and looked disapprovingly at him, but knew better than to try to argue. It would be a futile exercise anyway given Jason's stubborn and independent nature – once he had made his mind up there was rarely any changing it. With a final half smile at the burly wrestler Jason limped through the Temple doors, following Dion and Talos inside.

The Temple was more brightly lit than was usual at this time of night and bore more of a resemblance to a refugee camp or a field hospital than to a place of worship. Apart from the usual fire-pits, braziers had been dragged in to the enormous space and beds and bed rolls were set up between the giant pillars. There were people everywhere; talking; eating; sleeping. Doctors were treating wounded soldiers and priests and priestesses brought comfort to the dying.

"Amathea!" a voice rang out across the floor and a middle-aged couple wearing the plain but serviceable clothing of a farming family ran across to catch their daughter up in their arms, crying and laughing at the same time.

Then, suddenly it seemed, they were surrounded by people reclaiming their daughters and clamouring to know where the lost children had been found. Jason couldn't help but shrink back slightly from the throng. He had never exactly relished being the centre of attention and since his breakdown had tended to avoid crowds if he could. A warm hand started to massage the back of his neck gently and without turning around he knew that Hercules was at his back, silently providing support. Above the babble a familiar voice sounded. It was Cinyras the doctor who had visited their home several times over the last week or so. He pushed his way through the crowd and looked straight at Pythagoras.

"I would ask what you thought you were doing out on a cold night such as this with your chest still weak," he said, "but right now I'm so busy that I don't have time. I was told you have some knowledge of the healing arts."

"I do," Pythagoras confirmed.

"Good. Then I have a job for you. I've a soldier losing too much blood and I need someone to hold a tourniquet while I cauterise the wound. There's no-one else to help me so you'll do." The seedy looking doctor grabbed the young mathematician's wrist and dragged him back through the crowd, disappearing with him behind a pillar.

Once they were gone the crowd pressed around once again, all talking at once and shouting with joy that their daughters were once again by their sides. The child Jason was carrying was plucked from his arms to be carried away by her grateful mother, who clutched the young man's arm and insisted on kissing him and praying that the Gods would look favourably upon him before she went. Jason was beyond embarrassed, dropping his eyes and muttering shyly that it was nothing. That of course earned him another kiss from the woman much to his mortification and Hercules' amusement.

"What is going on here?" a voice boomed from across the floor of the Temple.

The crowd parted to reveal the King striding towards them with the Queen at his elbow. Minos' face was stern and unreadable. As he reached the edge of the throng he stopped and looked about himself imperiously.

"I asked a question," he said firmly, "and I require an answer."