Hey everyone,
I'd like to announce that although some myths contradict with others, I may need to change the order in which historical myths took place to be able to fit the characters I want into the story.
Although the setting is ancient Greece, I will make the characters talk in English and informally, as if they were regular boys/men or girls/women in the modern world. It makes writing this a little bit easier, and the characters more relaxed than if they talked formally all the time.
I would like all of you avid readers to vote for the poll. That's right, there is a poll up on my profile page regarding this story. It is regarding pairings. I have figured out a couple of ways that Percy might be able to pair up with someone fairly soon through this story, even if getting to know them is a little short. It will be a quick process in terms of the chapters as I jump from the end of the Argonautica right into the Trojan War if you as the readers choose a girl that is available in the ancient times. If the modern girls are chosen, then it will be a different story. Either way, vote vote vote! Vote, vote, vote!
Just a note about copying and pasting author's notes...in the past, I have had readers who did not read the author's notes until later chapters. I just want to keep reminding. If you have already seen the author's notes, you can just skip them and go straight to reading the story. Thank you.
With best regards,
SharkAttack719
Chapter 9
By Order of the Gods
A woman furtively entered her palace, another one closely following behind her.
She kept the cloak covering her face, not wanting anyone to notice who she was and what she was doing associating with the other woman who was following her. She urged the other woman to move faster, hurrying so that they could deliver the help they needed to deliver. She led the other woman into a secret room in the back which looked like an old library. The truth was that Athena had her own security measures and this room was private, no one daring to sneak into the maiden goddess' palace after the last break-in.
The goddess pulled the cloak off her head and let it sit on her shoulders. She nodded at the other woman who pulled her hood down. Those dark brown eyes watched Athena carefully as the goddess of wisdom grabbed a book from the shelves and placed it down on the table.
Before the woman could ask her question, Athena answered, "I come here often. It is a place where I can escape the outside world when I feel stressed. You will not tell anyone else about this place."
The woman narrowed her eyes at Athena. "I will respect your wishes, but do not dare to order me around like you are my superior."
"Very well, stepmother," she replied.
Hera gave her a cool stare. "We are on the same page here, Athena. There is no need for hostilities. We both wish to aid Jason in his quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece."
"Yes, but for different reason; however, that is besides the point." She scrolled through a few pages of the book she had taken down from the shelf. "You are right. We both wish to aid Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece. That is why I brought you here. They have landed in Colchis and are anchored in the backwaters of the Phasis. To make themselves less noticeable, they have not set up camp. That is a good thing."
"Yes it is a good thing, but how will we help Jason get the Golden Fleece," Hera asked. "He cannot simply head over to the tree. It is guarded by the Colchian drakon and will make a lot of noise if he tries to take it directly. King Aeëtes will not hand it over to him. He believes Phrixus brought a present from the gods and will hold it to the best he can."
"That is to the best he can," the goddess of wisdom pointed out. "If we can devise a plan, one that is almost flawless, the Argonauts will be able to escape Colchis with the Golden Fleece without having to deal much with the king's forces."
"But is there a plan of such caliber?"
"It is possible for them to escape with the Fleece...if they learn how to kill the Colchian drakon without raising the alarm," Athena mused.
"And how would they learn how to do that? You may be a companion to heroes, but even you have limits. Zeus only lets you help Heracles because he wants his son to have all of the glory. Jason is a mere mortal." Hera pointed out, bitterness lacing her voice when she spoke of her step-son.
"Zeus will never find out about it," she assured. "We can tell him how to kill the drakon."
"Do we know how to kill the drakon without raising the alarm, though?" the goddess of marriage asked. "Is there anyone powerful enough on the ship to help Jason slay the monster right away?"
Athena frowned. There were only around sixty Argonauts. Most were men of royal families who fought in battle, not as single hunters. The truth was, Greek military was in fact comprised of large units of soldiers who fought together. There were few men or women who could fight singlehandedly against a drakon, even with a small group helping him or her.
"Should we send all of the clear-sighted mortals to attack the drakon, so the beast does not smell the godly blood that a demigod would possess?" Hera suggested.
She shook her head. "No. They would make too much noise. Not even the Argonauts could face Colchis' small army."
"Make too much noise?"
"Not even the strongest fighters from the Argonauts together could defeat the Colchian drakon," Athena said. "Even if Jason, Theseus and Atalanta go together, they would not be able to defeat the drakon without causing a commotion."
"Just a second, Athena." Hera put her up to stop the wisdom goddess. "Let us backtrack a little bit. What are all of the options, the ways, that Jason can take the Golden Fleece?"
"They could just march straight through the city at their full number, kill the drakon with a few casualties, grab the Golden Fleece, fight their way back to the Argo and escape," she said as option number one. "That would not work out unless Jason does not care for letting his men die. That would make him careless or it means Jason underestimates death."
Hera nodded, agreeing with Athena's logic. "All right, the next option?"
"They could negotiate with Aeëtes to try and persuade them to give them the Golden Fleece. It is doubtful that would work as I said before. Aeëtes will think Jason is trying to steal away from his kingdom. He would furious if Jason came to him. With no one to help them, Aeëtes would probably send Jason on a quest that will definitely kill him. Not even you, his self-proclaiming protector, can stop that."
Something clicked in Hera's mind when Athena had said, With no one to help them, but she just had to work out the details. "Next," she said numbly.
"Or..." Athena's face lit up. "Jason and some of the Argonauts could act as a distraction at King Aeëtes' palace and another group of Argonauts could sneak around to the Colchian drakon to kill it while King Aeëtes is distracted. Trickery...that could work. Theseus could lead the other group, the one that kills the Colchian drakon. Jason just has to make sure to get the attention of all of Colchis."
Hera raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a...thing for Theseus?"
The maiden goddess' eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "What? No! I—No, I don't...you—"
The Queen of the Gods chuckled, a first time Athena had seen that in a long time. "When he grows up to be a man, you should have a child with him. That would be amusing to see."
Athena's face turned red. "You would expect me to break my oath as a virgin?"
"Do not think I do not know of your brain-children," Hera said, a sly smile on her face. "I saw the day you gave birth to the child from your head and watched as you brought it down to the man you accidentally thought of. It was a mistake on your part, yet you have not regretted it, have you. You plan to make more children as time passes. I am counted as a part of being a goddess of motherhood in some cases, though most do not affiliate me with that. I know that being a mother is wonderful when you have children, though some turn out the exact opposite of what you expected."
"Ares and Hephaestus," Athena said.
"Yes. Both are disappointments."
They sat there in silence for a little while, thinking of what Hera had said. Athena remembered her first and, so far, only demigod child. It was an accident, but Athena had watched over her daughter happily. She never thought being a mother would make her feel better. In all honesty, she believed love contradicted with wisdom, that love distorts the mind, but her child had made her proud. Her descendants still existed today, but where it had ended up made her feel very contradicted.
"When will you tell him?" Hera asked suddenly, breaking Athena out of her thoughts.
"What?"
The goddess of marriage gave her a sad smile. "When will you tell Percy that his mortal line comes from your first demigod daughter?"
Athena looked down at the table. She honestly didn't know. Ever since Athens came into existence, she and Poseidon had fought over it to become their patron. When he insulted her after she won, she knew they would have a long-lasting rivalry. Then years later, he comes together with her descendant and creates a child. She was baffled by the whole thing and tried to forget her mortal line. It was hard, though.
Athena knew that Poseidon had no idea that he had partnered with her descendant, probably only knowing she was a descendant of a god. Her own father had partnered with his own descendant for the gods' sake.
"You must do it eventually." Hera awkwardly patted Athena on the shoulder. "But I have an idea of how we can get Jason the Golden Fleece. The trickery idea may be able to work, and we will make that happen if my idea does not work out. A backup plan."
"What is your idea?" Athena questioned.
"Medea."
The goddess of wisdom raised an eyebrow. "You mean the daughter of Aeëtes?"
"Yes. We can enlist Aphrodite's help to get her to fall in love with Jason to help him by being a spy. She will know what her father has planned as she is inside the palace."
For what seemed like forever, the wisdom goddess stared at the table in silence, her eyes like a storm swirling at speeds unrecognizable. Then she suddenly stood up, slammed her book shut and walked to the door.
"Where are you going?" Hera hissed, angered by the disrespect she thought Athena was giving her by walking away.
"To Aphrodite's palace; you might want to come with me because I do not want to talk to that slut."
Eros was in a bad mood. For the past week, he'd been arguing with his mother and fighting with his father. They had both turned against him when he did something supposedly "out of control."
Whatever Zeus wanted him to stop doing, he wouldn't stop. Sometimes that annoying king could learn not to be selfish and regard himself as better than everyone else. Even his own daughter found him a little too arrogant sometimes. He'd heard her speak to other gods and goddesses in private.
"Eros!" a shriek came from the main room of the palace.
Scowling, he slowly made his way to the main room where his mother was holding up leaden arrows with owl feathers. She was carefully holding them up, making sure she didn't touch the point. Leave it to his mother to be the goddess who has slept with almost every single man on Olympus.
"What are these doing on the couch?" Aphrodite screamed.
"They are indifference arrows, mother," he said rolling his eyes. "So what?"
"So what? SO WHAT?!" Aphrodite's eyes blazed with rage. "What if I sat on one of them? And then the next person I see is a man! Do you know what could have happened then? You could have made me walk away from him in disgust! Walk away! In disgust!"
Eros scowled again. "Then don't sleep with every man in the world. You don't have to be such a slut, mother."
"What did you call me?" the love goddess sneered, which looked weird on a usually pretty face.
"Don't sleep with every man you see aside from Hephaestus, then. Maybe then I won't call you what I did."
"You are already in big trouble, Eros," Aphrodite snapped. "When Zeus called meeting, you just had to shoot me and Ares with love arrows. As we slept, we missed the meeting. Do you know how mad Zeus gets when an Olympian misses a meeting, never mind two?"
"You and Ares have the attention spans of a goldfish," Eros said, treading on thin ice. "You know, those carps in China that have an attention span of maybe two words?"
"We do not!" she replied hotly.
"Here, grab this mirror, mother."
He handed her a mirror, and she stared at him, glancing at the mirror out of the corner of her eyes. She tried the best she could to prove her son wrong. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever, Aphrodite's eyes darting back and forth between the mirror and Eros.
"Mother, you're a—"
It was too late for Aphrodite. "Oh my," she muttered. "I need more mascara here. My skin tone is not matching. This is not good. Eros, honey, could you please get me..." Then she realized her mistake.
"What did I tell you?" the winged god growled. "Your attention span is terrible. You could barely manage to listen to two words."
"There were three!" the love goddess exclaimed.
"'A' doesn't count."
"Yes it does!"
"No it doesn't."
"You are still in punishment, young man," Aphrodite snapped at last. "Get back to your room and stay in there. Give me all of your arrows and your bow. You are not going anywhere for the next century, Eros."
"The next century?!" Eros' eyes widened. "That is unfair, mother. You cannot possibly—"
A knock on the door interrupted his arguing. Eros opened his mouth to argue some more, but Aphrodite sent him a menacing glare, a glare most others would never experience in their life, not even some of the other gods and goddesses. He slumped his shoulder and sulked as he made his way back to his room.
He admitted that he disliked his mother to a certain extent at times. She would always be sleeping with someone, whether it be some mortal or Ares or another god on Olympus. Eros may have been the god of love, but in truth he'd inherited more from his father than most would think.
Eros loved messing with people by shooting love arrows between people who should not have loved each other, which usually caused some minor chaos. He'd almost nailed Poseidon and Athena with love arrows, but Athena managed to catch him and together they managed to tie him up with celestial bronze bounds and left him in the middle of the road.
He wondered what would have happened if he'd managed to get the two with arrows. It would have been a hilarious sight, Zeus punishing Athena for breaking her oath and Zeus forever harassing his brother for seducing his favorite daughter.
Eros went into his room, brought his bow out, threw it on the floor outside his room, and did the exact same with his arrows.
What came fifteen minutes later was unexpected to the young-looking son of Aphrodite.
Aphrodite came into his room with Athena and Hera by her side. He looked warily at the Queen of the Heavens and the wisdom goddess.
He opened his mouth nervously. "Uh..."
"Aphrodite wants to say something," Hera stated. Athena kept silent.
The love goddess looked conflicted but she walked up to him and hugged him. Then she handed him something, an fabulous ball. It didn't look special at all, and he was about the toss it aside when Aphrodite said, "It is a fabulous ball, intricately fashioned so as to leave a trail like a falling star. I am sorry for snapping at you. Can we at least work out our differences?"
Eros looked at Hera and Athena, who were giving Eros blank stares. Then he realized Aphrodite's change of heart. "They want me to shoot someone with a love arrow." He grinned. "I'll do it."
"You will?" Hera asked surprised. "Just like that?"
"Yes, now who is my target?"
The Queen of the Heavens raised an eyebrow at his mother. Aphrodite just shrugged. "He takes after his father as well, queen Hera."
"Well then, Eros. Your target is Medea, daughter of Aeëtes of Colchis. She must fall in love with Jason, the leader of the Argonauts. I am sure you have seen their progression from Iolcus to Colchis."
"The Argonauts, huh?" Eros said. "I heard about them. Well, I'm off to do my duty. See you later, mother."
With a flash, Eros appeared over the Argo invisible, watching over the crew of the Argonauts.
Eros had in fact heard about the Argonauts. Their leader was Jason, the son of Aeson, who used to be the king of Iolcus until his half-brother Pelias overthrew him. Pelias slew all of Aeson's young sons except for the young Jason who was sent to Chiron to train until he was old enough to reclaim his throne. He heard the first female hero, a heroine, was also on the bireme. Her name was Atalanta. He remembered hearing of the girl from Artemis, yet also a man named Meleager. Eros planned to get the girl and Meleager to love each other sooner or later.
But he thought the most famous member of the quest was the young Perseus, named after the very first. He was a son of Poseidon, the enemy of Zeus and Hades. Eros had always thought the boy would be in terrible danger, but Zeus wanted to see what the boy would turn into, as his name was one of one of his previous sons. Zeus had been curious why Poseidon had named his son after one of Zeus'. Either way, Zeus let the boy live for now, the boy twelve years of age and turning thirteen later this year.
Every god and goddess knew of Percy, all waiting for Zeus' order to kill him. Eros was sure Poseidon would have a trick up his sleeve should Zeus choose to kill Percy. He was also sure it would not end pretty. Despite all this, Hestia vowed she would not get into the conflict unless it really meant much to her. She did not want the death of the child.
Eros did not know of the relationship between Hades and Percy, but he assumed Hades had children of his own that he did not want Poseidon touching.
He flew down to the helm of the ship where a small group was assembled. They were talking about how to approach the danger of retrieving the Golden Fleece.
"The stupidest way we can do this is just to take the Golden Fleece by force," the young boy Percy said. "That is like a suicide mission. Colchis' army will come to drive us out. Not even the bravest warriors of Greece can fight without casualties. If they are willing to die..."
"Percy is right," a tall man said. Eros recognized him as Jason. The man had a sword sheathed on his belt and brown eyes. "This is my quest, so I will not let anyone else die for me. From now on, I will be the first to sacrifice for anything. We must be able to persuade Aeëtes somehow. We can give it a shot, and if it doesn't work, we will have to steal the Fleece by force."
"That sounds like a good enough plan to me," another man said. Eros did not recognize him.
Then the girl, Atalanta, spoke up. "Wait. Do we have a detailed backup plan or are we just going with the flow?"
"Going with the flow can sometimes prove disastrous," a man Eros recognized as Theseus said. "Most of the time, having a plan will work out better, like planning like Athena."
Everyone stared at him. Jason said, "Athena?"
"Yeah."
He raised an eyebrow. "Why Athena?"
Theseus went pink. "Uh, well she always has a plan, right? She's the goddess of battle strategy."
Eros grinned slowly. A devious plan formed in his head, but he pushed it to the side, focusing on his current task first.
The leaders of the Argonauts agreed on trying to persuade Aeëtes into giving them the Golden Fleece and as they departed the Argo, Eros flew overhead, watching as most of the Argonauts followed Jason, Theseus, Atalanta and Percy to the palace of King Aeëtes.
They walked into the city limits and toward the palace, earning the attention of many of the citizens of Colchis. Before they could enter the palace, though, walking around the main courtyard, a woman called for the guards. Eros looked down at the woman and smiled. That was his target, Medea.
Still invisible, he flew down and knelt at Jason's side.
The Argonauts had been halted and they waited a few minutes for the king and Medea's sisters to arrive. Before Medea could disappear from his sight, Eros took aim as she looked at Jason...then fired an arrow straight through her heart, just as her eyes laid upon Jason. He saw the sudden flood of fiery love enter her eyes and he laughed.
Then Eros dissolved from the scene, his deed done.
Jason felt angry even though he expected it.
Apparently Aeëtes wanted to give him a really tough challenge, one that seemed almost as daunting as the quest for the Golden Fleece was, even though of a lesser caliber. That was only after Jason had to deliver a soothing speech to calm the king down after seeing his grandsons with him. The king thought that they were conspiring to take away from the kingdom of Colchis.
Once Jason calmed him down, the king ordered that Jason must plough the Plain of Ares with fire-breathing oxen, sow four acres with dragon's teeth and finally cut down the crop of armed men before they can cut him down.
Many of the Argonauts were wary for the son of Aeson, as he had promised that no one would die for his cause. Out of all of them, he'd known Percy the longest. The little boy he used to know was still there, but was kind of hidden. Jason knew Percy had never really experienced high danger quests. Lack of food was one thing, but Percy would stay up at night to practice his demigod abilities. He knew that there was a heavy toll on Percy's body because of that living style. Still, in the year in a half that the Argo had been travelling away from mainland Greece, Percy had developed his powers much quicker than he had with Chiron. It was probably because the old centaur had tried to keep the young boy as safe as possible.
Percy looked like he wanted to steal the Golden Fleece himself to get it all over with, but Jason wouldn't let him. Despite everything that had happened, he still considered Percy his little brother. They would be partners forever. He'd promised it to the young boy.
The boy was looking out at the palace of Aeëtes, his face glum and dark. Still Selene made that childish part of him glow out. Jason did not know how to goddess did it, but he thanked her.
He walked over to Percy and tapped him on the shoulder. "Why so glum, Percy?"
The boy turned around and regarded Jason with tired eyes. "Just thinking about things. I promise Jason, I am ready for anything. I just feel...frustrated. I want so badly to just take on the Colchian drakon."
"Percy, you know how dangerous that is," Jason warned.
"And I knew how dangerous this quest was going to be," the boy replied. "Do you think I feel completely fine after Idmon's and Tiphys' deaths? I may seem indifferent, but the truth is that the terror of being out here is eating me from the inside. I am being brave not only for my sake, but to make you worry less. I am getting older, Jason. I want to fight."
"You will be able to, Percy," the son of Aeson said. "But fighting the Colchian drakon... It is a drakon."
"I got Anaklusmos back, Jason," Percy insisted. "This is our final chance to get the Golden Fleece. Coming back is out of the question. If we come back, we become outlaws, to be hunted by the Colchians until we are dead. I want to do something, Jason. That's what I have spent five and a half years of my life doing."
"What do you mean you got Anaklusmos back?"
"It doesn't matter," the son of Poseidon snapped. "If you die, this quest was for nothing. You will not be able to reclaim your throne. Yet the task you accepted is one of complete danger. You can die."
"I realize that, Percy, but do I have any other choice? Should the drakon be awakened, it will make so much noise that the entire Colchian army will come after us," Jason said. "Then there is the fact that the drakon would be hard to kill."
"Maybe. But we could do it. No one knows what we are capable of, not even the gods," Percy said. "We can show them. The Quest for the Golden Fleece...Pelias expected that you would have died. We have a chance of escaping, Jason. All of the odds were against us in this quest, but we have survived so far, Jason. What is to say we cannot defeat the Colchian drakon? We can succeed."
The boy's logic made sense. Jason knew that very well. All of the odds were against them. Not even Athena would have guessed that we could survive the quest without her help. Then his mind backtracked to an event that happened just yesterday.
"Percy, those Stymphalian birds yesterday...how did the idea of beating shields with swords come to you?" Jason asked.
He turned red in embarrassment. "It was actually Athena's idea. No one asked about it, but now that you do... She appeared in front of me when I was grabbing shields and armor. The birds were too busy attacking those who were trying to fight back, none of them followed me back down. Athena appeared with her sword and Aegis and beat them together, making a harsh sound. I tried it...and there is your answer."
"Athena...companion of heroes..." Jason muttered. Then an idea popped into his head. "Percy, you are brilliant!"
"I am?"
"Yes." He turned around and called for Theseus. He turned back to Percy. "Wait for Theseus to get here. I have a great idea that you two need to hear."
"What about Atalanta?" Percy asked.
"Oh." Jason turned around. "Get Atalanta as well!"
Just as he said that, two figures came running up the stairs to Jason and Percy. They looked worried. Theseus was the first to ask a question. "What is the matter, Jason? Why did you call me?"
"And me, even though I was already coming because Theseus was," Atalanta said.
"I have a plan to steal the Golden Fleece," Jason said. "While I do my hard tasks, you three will go and kill the Colchian drakon."
Theseus and Atalanta both went wide-eyed. "Are you crazy?" they chorused. "It's a drakon!" Realizing they spoke at the same time, they looked at each other a period of time a little longer than normal before looking away awkwardly, their faces a little pink.
"But Percy here, being the warrior he is, says that the odds of us surviving this quest out here to retrieve the Golden Fleece are slim to none, yet here we are," the son of Aeson pointed out, repeating what Percy told him.
"We can't pass up this opportunity, Theseus, Atalanta," Percy said. "This is the last chance we have to get the Fleece. If we come back, Aeëtes will hunt us until we are dead. He will never give it up."
"I can distract you guys, cause enough commotion so that no one will hear the wails of the drakon," Jason continued.
"How will you survive, though?" Theseus asked.
He inhaled deeply before exhaling loudly through his mouth. "I will pray to Hera and Athena. I am certain that those two goddesses are helping us in our efforts. I hope they listen."
"And what if they don't?"
Jason was hoping they wouldn't ask that. Unfortunately, it was something that could not be avoided. Jason honestly did not know what to do at that point. If he died... Percy was right. That would mean the entire quest was a waste. The whole purpose of this was for Jason to reclaim his throne. If he died, that would mean the end of the quest immediately. The Argonauts would have to fight their way back home.
Just then, the air beside them shimmered. Each of them stared wide-eyed as one of the king's daughters appeared on screen. Medea, her name was. Jason could not help but feel somewhat attracted to the beautiful young woman, but he remembered the last time he almost gave in. That was on Lemnos.
The thing was that they were too shocked to even pull their weapons out to defend themselves from this magical image.
Medea seemed to catch onto their shock quite quickly. "It is an Iris-message. There is no time to explain, though." She looked around warily, as if she thought she was being watched. "Come to the temple of Hecate you saw on your way to the palace. The tryst will be there. Go now."
"Wait, what?" Percy said confused.
"Jason, you—" she pointed at him. "You must come to the meeting, alone. I have a way to help you survive what my father has ordered you to do. Please come, Jason. I swear to the River Styx that this is not a trap set by my father." She looked around her one more time before turning back to the message and smiling a kind, warm smile. Then she swiped her hand through the image and it disappeared.
Thunder rumbled in the distance suddenly, confirming that Medea was not lying.
"She may have sworn..." Theseus looked doubtful about the secret meeting that Medea had planned, quickly recovering from his shock about the Iris-message.
"It's worth a shot, Theseus," Jason said. "Maybe now you guys can enlist Athena's or Hera's help. That would be good for you guys, not me."
Theseus, who was now twenty, put his hand on Jason's shoulder. "Just be careful, Jason. We know you are older, so you should be able to handle it. We don't want you dying."
"I will be careful, Theseus. But this is a quest. Danger is inevitable."
Jason knew that his decision was sudden, that all that had recently happened had happened so quickly. He also knew that this was their one shot. He prayed to all of the gods that his plan would work in his favor and then snatched a cloak before leaping off the Argo.
The city was quiet. Most were asleep, but just to be safe, Jason stayed hidden in the shadows. Years of teaching from Chiron helped him navigate the darkness without much difficulty. He snuck through alleys and climbed the sides of buildings, looking for the temple of Hecate. Jason found it quickly, a shape formed of a crescent and a star standing high on the white marble building.
He looked around to make sure no one saw him before he sneaked to the side of the building where another hooded figure seemed to be waiting. When Jason approached, the figure pulled down her hood. Medea showed herself.
Jason pulled down his own hood in turn and then silence enveloped them. They became speechless as they took each other in. Then the stupidest question popped into Jason's mind.
"Why the temple of Hecate?"
She smiled softly. "I am a priestess here and am also a sorceress of some sort. I learned a little bit from my aunt, Circe. You may have heard of her in the far west. Past Thrinacia."
"Oh, a sorceress, you say? That's...enchanting."
Medea laughed. "A terrible joke, but a joke nonetheless."
Jason smiled as they fell into silence again. He felt like saying a whole lot of things to the daughter of Aeëtes, but the words wouldn't come out, as if they were trapped inside of his mouth.
Before long, a gust of wind blew through the alley making the two prop up a little. Then the words Jason wanted to say began spilling out like leaking water. "Medea. If you can help me, I would be forever indebted to you. I need your help if you offer it. I promise to make you famous throughout Greece, to make you my queen when we reclaim my throne in Iolcus."
She bit her lip and looked at Jason nervously. "I—Me...but... I honestly do not know what to say. Become your queen?" Then she stiffened up and bugged her eyes out, as if she was hearing a voice in her head. Soon, her eyes returned to normal and she told him, "Promise me that you will never betray me, that you will never forget my kindness. Promise me that I will be your queen until we both die."
"I promise, Medea," Jason said affirmatively.
"All right, then." She reached into her dress and pulled out a vial from between her breasts. "This vile with make you impervious to the fire and heat of the oxen." Then she pulled out a stone, a simple stone that had little to no quality...but it glowed. "This is a magical rock for when the skeletal warriors come for you. Throw it amongst them and they will ignore you. As for the drakon, I will be able to aid you if my father betrays his word."
"That may not be needed, but I will be grateful if it does." Jason took the items Medea brought out.
"What do you mean?"
"You will see. Just be prepared to run if the word comes."
"Wait, what—"
"I'm sorry, Medea, but if we stay any longer, your father may find out about your treachery," Jason said urgently. "I promise that I will be back for you though. I will keep you as my wife until we both die."
The daughter of Aeëtes nodded, agreeing with him. "Yes, you are right. I should be going back. I will see you tomorrow, my hero." Then she pulled him into a kiss, his hands automatically going to her back where her waist sat. They savored the moment for a good minute before Medea ran back to the palace quietly, hoping to get back quickly and not be caught.
Jason smiled and turned. He nearly jumped, scared. Standing there with a stern glare was someone he had seen before. It was the old lady from the river in Iolcus. It was Hera.
The goddess glowed golden before transforming into a beautiful-looking woman with long, braided brown hair and commanding brown eyes. "I hope you understand that this is my gift to you. Athena and I hope that Medea can help you, but should you ever betray her in the future, remember that you will lose my favor. You will die alone without anyone. Everyone you once knew will leave you, even those closest to you."
Jason swallowed. "Yes, Lady Hera. I will keep my promise."
"Good, now get that Golden Fleece, Jason. You will become a legend in Greek history."
Then the goddess glowed a blinding golden, this time turning into her divine form to flash out. Jason closed his eyes shut and turned away until the sudden blast of light, even with his eyes shut, disappeared.
He knew his promise was dangerous, but he would admit that he did feel something for Medea. He knew that deep in his heart that he would never betray Medea.
But in his brain, there were doubts.
Hey everyone,
Hope you enjoy this chapter.
I apologize for any grammatical errors in the chapter above and if any historical facts are actually wrong. I have spent my time looking through different websites, and even a couple of books, but the story that will continue may have incorrect historical info. Still, I believe it just adds to the effect.
With best regards,
SharkAttack719