Unknown Chapter 25 - Reunion
Eurydite guided Nisse to her tent and bade her to enter with a smile as she saw Zacheus and Phidios talking over wine and maps. They both stood up straight as they saw the two women enter and bowed their heads to the woman in black.
"My Lady, we were just discussing whether to wait here for the rest of the legion or to go on to Argos." Phidios said as Eurydite removed her cloak and threw it on a chair in the corner. She began to remove her armour and set it on the same chair.
"You will be staying here to meet with the Legion or what is left of it. I will be going to Argos by ship." She turned to Nisse. "Go gather your things, you will be staying with me tonight." The young woman nodded and left the tent with a smile.
"My Lady, it would be wise to stay with us. The men love you and will follow you." Zacheus said to her as she began to remove her braces and greaves along with her sandels.
"Acrisius must believe his men still serve him, if he knew I have taken command, he will try to kill me." She knew that she couldn't really die, but pain is pain not matter what. "I would be no use to anyone dead or injured."
"Of course, My Lady. Your judgement is right." Zacheus looked to the old commander and only recieved a nodd of approval to the plan.
"When do you set out, My Lady?" Phidios asked her as she poured a cup of wine for herself and sat in a chair facing them. She drapped herself over it like she was a queen. An exhausted queen really.
"I will need someone to go to the port and procure one for me and three others." She said before she took a sip of wine and sighed. "I am aware two young men came into the camp while I was attending to a private matrer in the city." Eurydite looked up at the two men with sterness and in want of answers.
"Yes. I interrogated them myself." The older man answered as he put his goblet of wine down on the table. "They came from the Legion to escort the girl that was with you back to Argos. Geleon's orders."
"Bring them to me in the morning. I wish to speak with them myself." Eurydite said no more and sighed. She was absolutly exhausted and needed sleep for once, but had been unable to sleep since coming from the Underworld. "Leave me for the night. No one but the girl is allowed in." The two men bowed to her and left her to herself. Tonight of all nights she really yearned for Ares' arms around her.
Draco and Solon were sitting at a fire they had made outside of the tent provided for them. The horses were tied on a picket line not far away and looked happy to be standing in one place for once. The grey stallion was picking on the mares, but did nothing more as they kicked at him.
"Look at that, a stallion with manners." Solon said as he heard his mare squeal at the stallion tied across from her. "Not everyday you see that."
"The horse is smarter than most men." Draco said looking at the stallion who nickered at Nisse as she approached from the other side of the camp. "Did you get lost, Nisse?" He gave her a small smile knowing full well that she could take care of herself.
"No. I happened to meet a nice woman that offered me a place to sleep tonight." She left Eurydite out of it as she wanted to surprise them whe they finally reunited. "She thought it best I have a place where there were not so many men and I could use a good nights sleep." She went over to her tent and grabbed her saddle bags, throwing them over her shoulder as she went over to untie Anrion.
"I agree, Little Nisse. This is not the place for a young and beautiful woman such as yourself to be." Solon said rising to his feet and walking to her. He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Sleep well and we will be here in the morning waiting for you." The blond woman smiled as he let go of her. She could see Draco rising himself.
"I'll escort you." The young man said walking over to meet her. She had to refuse him for the sake of the surprise.
"Draco, I will be fine with Anrion." She felt bad for it and even more so when the look in his eyes changed from egerness to disappointment. "I thank you for offering, but you look as exhausted as Solon. Please stay and rest." She grabbed his hand as he went to grab Anrion's lead and covered it with both of hers. "Please?" She gave him a pleading look. "I promise I'll explain everything in the morning." She whispered to him hoping Solon wouldnt hear.
"Fine." He pulled his hand away from hers with a hard look in his eyes at being rejected. He was hurt by it, but it seemed she was a little put off by it as well and turned to leave with an apologetic look.
"You've got it bad." Solon said as he stood next to Draco as Nisse led her horse up the hill from them.
"I don't know what your talking about." Draco turned away from Solon and went to sit back down by the fire to let his feelings stir.
"You're in love with the girl." Solon sat across from him and looked him in the eyes. "I've seen it before and I've been through it." The older man chuckled to himself. "Still going through it really."
"Its none of your business, Solon." The younger man said gruffly as he threw another log in the fire harshly. Nisse had wounded him slightly and he shouldnt be petty about it, but it hurt like an arrow piercing his heart.
"It may not be my business, Brother, but its as plain as day that you love her." The blue eyed man looked at his brother in arms and spirit with soft eyes. "Don't keep it locked up for long or you will lose her." Solon stood up and walked to his tent to leave the younger man to his thoughts.
Draco suddenly wanted to talk to Eurydite about his feelings like he had done as a boy. She had become the mother he never had and he had stayed up with her many nights as a boy in her company as she told him stories about her travels. Stories about the different people and creatures that she had either helped or hindered. She had never spoke of love to him and now, more than ever he needed her guidence. He felt like a child again craving attention from a parent because he had gotten a bruise or a scrape.
He was sure he sould be ashamed, but in his heart he knew that Eurydite would probably tell him to heal up and move on. He would do just that and still love his starlit maiden from a distance.
Nisse came to Eurydite's tent and tied Anrion to the picket line on the side before going in. There she saw Eurydite washing her feet and legs in a basin at her feet as she sat in a chair.
"You can have the pallet over there and wash if you need to." The older woman removed her feet from the basin and wiped them dry with a lenin cloth. Nisse stayed quiet as Eurydite looked up at her. "What's wrong, Nisse?"
"Draco was unhappy with me leaving." The girl said to her mentor. Nisse had felt guilty and hoped she hadn't hurt the man she had come to care for a great deal. "He wanted to escort me here, but I made him stay behind." Eurydite saw a flicker of regret in the young woman's eyes and stood up to comfort her.
"You care for him don't you?" Eurydite asked and put a hand on Nisse's cheek in comfort. She gave her surrogate daughter a knowing smile. "Don't be in a rush to give your heart to him yet, Nisse. Make him work for it."
"Why?" The young woman, still a girl to Eurydite, asked in confusion. She wondered if Ares had to work for Eurydite's heart for a moment and then she knew the answer to that already.
"Because, even though he has proven himself in many ways already, when it comes to your heart its yours and its precious. He has to prove its safe with him." Eurydite pressed a kiss to the girls forehead and walked to her own pallet of furs and laid down leaving Nisse to undress and wash herself.
Eurydite laid there on the bed of furs wide awake reflecting on the words she had told Nisse. It was true that Ares had indeed worked for her heart in a manner, but when she had given it to him she felt like it was a mistake. If only for a split second. She loved him more than anything, but sometimes she wondered if she had refused him, where would she be? Her son would never have been born and she loved him as much as she loved his father. The real question was how much did Ares truly love her if Gods didnt know love.
Nisse was sound asleep on the other side of the tent and Eurydite was happy to give her a sound sleep. The girl slept better than she did and she truly wished she could sleep a sound sleep. Instead she would just lay there in the dark listening to the sounds of the camp and of the night as the hours went by. She could feel him near when her heart began to tug at her to move, but she ignored it hoping he would come to her.
Eurydite felt him lay down behind her, only in his chiton as he wrapped his arms around her. She put her hand over his as he nuzzled her neck and she reached with her other hand put on his cheek.
"I heard your thoughts from Olympus." Ares whispered into her hair as her eyes finally began to get heavy. "Sleep."
"I'll sleep when I sleep." She mumbled as she removed her hand from his face and turned a little to get comfortable. "I just want to enjoy the moment." She smiled and closed her eyes.
There had always been a certain aspect of their relationship that most would fight over and honestly, the arguments between Eurydite and Ares were few and far between, but they were distructive in nature. Ares was always quick to anger before thinking about what he did and at the same time he was calculating. In the heat of battle he was an unstoppable force, but when it came to Eurydite, he was a tempered dog brought to heel. Some said Aphrodite was his greatest lover because he had persuaded her to leave her husband and she did for him, but the truth was far less agreeable.
Aphrodite was a beacon of lust and Ares had a great need for it then. He had been drawn to the Goddess like many others, but it was mostly lust and the thought of sex that brought him to her multiple times. She was the embodiment of fertility and he had craved her. Eight children had come from that affair and they were beautiful. His daughters were more like him than his sons, but he did care about them. Eurydite was the complete opposit.
Eurydite was beauty and power. She was strong, but loving and kind. She was everything the Goddess of Love was not and filled every room with her strong presence. She was a skilled warrior and she was also as human as she was Goddess. She was simply herself and not some lustful Goddess thst grew boring and dull over time. It is what Ares loved about her and as she slept in his arms the nights he went to her, he actually cherished those moments the most over any victory in battle. Gods don't know love or they aren't supposed too, but he was sure this was close to it.
It was just before dawn when Eurydite was woken up by Ares who had kissed her goodbye before going back to Olympus. She laid there for a while as the sun rose above the horizon thinking about the issue of Acrisius. The king had been a potential enemy of hers from the beginning. His approach to her was that of lust and spite because she was a demigod. It was clear then as much as it was now that the spoiled brat was just as ungrateful as most men, however was going to actually attempt something that had never been done before. A seige on Olympus.
Eurydite smiled when Nisse came to lay down beside her sleepily. The girl's hair was tangled like a birds nest and the older woman laughed a little as the girl, yet young woman, snuggled up to her. It was like those mornings back on the island when she would sneak into Eurydite's room and sleep until the woman would get up from bed. Sometimes, Ares would be leaving just as Nisse would be coming in and he would greet her as if she were his own. That was how special the blond girl was to Eurydite.
"Nisse, you aren't a child anymore." She threw a pillow at the sleepy blond to wake her up more.
"Maybe not." Nisse stood up to go get ready for the morning while the older woman sat up and ran a hand through her hair pulling knots out. When Nisse returned she had put her hair up in a knoted bun typical of most women in Greece. She had a brush in her hand and a few ties. "May I comb your hair Eurydite? Like when I was younger?" The older woman smiled and nodded to her surrogate daughter.
"I cant remember the last time anyone has combed my hair. It seems like eons ago." Eurydite said with a small smile as Nisse began to comb through her dark tresses softly.
"I feel like a child again." Eurydite smiled at Nisse's childlike manor.
When Nisse finished, Eurydite had a simple braid wrapped around her head and held together with golden ties. It was not her normal style, but she did like how free her neck felt. Nisse had helped her put her gold belt around her waist and as she was picking up the golden bangel it had turned into a serpent and the young wan gave a yelp as it went to strike her.
"Nisse!" Eurydite went over to her surrogate daughter and grabbed the golden viper as it calmed in her hand and went to wrap itself around her neck as if it were a necklace. The serpent bit its tail as it began to turn back into the peice of jewelry.
"An Ouroboros?" Nisse said breathlessly as she watched the transformation happen before her eyes. "No one has ever seen one."
"It is not really an Ouroboros, but a child of the serpent Ophiucus that lives under the temple on the hill." She looked over Nisse to make sure she hadnt been bit by the little creature. "You must have startled it." Nisse nodded as she let Eurydite check her hands.
"My Lady!" Eurydite let go of Nisse's hands as Zacheus came into the tent with his helmet under his arm. "Forgive the interuption, but I have sent a rider to locate a decent ship for your journey to Argos and we recieved word from the Legion." He held out a rolled up scroll for Eurydite.
"Very good." The dark haired woman walked to Zacheus and retrieved the scroll from his hand and began to read it. "Have someone bring us some food and wine." She dismissed him as she walked with the scroll.
"Eurydite, what does it say?" Nisse wondered if she had been right about the Legion going up against Thrace and the Djinn. The Djinn were just protecting their homeland while Thrace was not to accepting of a Legion coming to 'ask' for their service.
"Twenty thousand spears fallen over six days and reports of Ares himself doing damage." The wife of the God of War looked up and sighed at the fact her husband was not only giving her comfort during the night, but was also killing soldiers. "He can't help himself."
"He is the God of War. I had warned them that if they didn't leave they would lose half their numbers and I had warned them that Ares was not on their side." Eurydite dropped the scroll on the table at Nisse's words. They had both known that Thrace was unstoppable as long as Ares was behind them, but there was no stopping Ares either.
"No doubt Zeus is preparing for whatever Acrisius has planned and Ares follows his father's orders." She had come to the conclusion that Zeus did not know she was walking the mortal world again if he was calling for Ares to beat down the Legion. "Whatever is left of the Legion will be here in six days."
"It will only take one to get to Argos by sea." Nisse said as Zacheus entered the tent with a young man who carried a tray of fruit and wine.
"This will give us time to speak with Acrisius." Eurydite said taking the wine and pouring a cup of it as she looked over the map.
"My Lady, Phidios is outside with the two men who came in from the Legion yesterday." The young commander told her and she nodded giving permission for the two men to enter. Nisse tried to hide her smile as she sat in a chair on the other side of the table.
Her heart swelled as the two young men entered with Phidios following them in a stern behavior. She didnt want to appear as if she knew them or recognized them so she used what she inherited from her father. She held a passive face as she looked over the older of the two first, clearly in shock of who stood before him. Solon hadn't changed much but had clearly seen a little more battle than he wanted. Her eyes drifted to the young man on the right who held no sign of recognizing her. He had grown handsome and he was youthful, not a boyish charm to him. He was a man now and it showed.
"You think you would get away with disobeying orders from your commander?" The two men stayed silent as she walked in front of them as stoic as possible. "You should be flogged for it." She stopped in front of Draco and put a finger under his chin, lifting it and he looked down at her with his angry eyes. "Why so angry, Draco?"
"You made a promise." She removed her finger from his chin and let him look at her in the eyes. "You were supposed to come back." He held a grudge against her because of a promise he had made as a child. She closed her eyes and nodded.
"Phidios. Zacheus. Leave us." The two commanders bowed to her and did as they were told. Eurydite turned her attention back to Draco while Solon stood silently watching. "I couldn't."
"Why?" His eyes grew harder as he was not sure as to why he was angry at her in the first place. He had hoped that their reunion would be softer in nature, but for some reason he felt angry that she had left him in the first place. "So you could be with the God of War?"
"Does it matter why? I am my own person Draco, just as much as you are yours." She said calmly but inside she was ashamed that she had made a choice she shouldnt have. She regretted ever staying on Circe's island now. "I made a choice and now I live with the consequences."
"You deserve whatever you get." Nisse shot up at Draco's words and stalked over to him and made to slap him but Eurydite caught her wrist, shaking her head as the girl looked to her in shock.
"You are no longer a child, Draco and you are allowed to be angry, but that does not mean you get to tell me what I do or do not deserve. That is not for you to say." She dropped Nisse's hand as Draco looked her in the eyes. He saw what he needed to see in them and then he remembered the story that Nisse had told him. He saw raw pain in Eurydite's eyes and then he understood. He looked to Nisse and realized he was angry at her too and he abruptly turned around and left the tent in a haste.
"Draco!" Nisse made a move to go after the young man, but Solon grabbed her by the wrist to stop her.
"Let him go, Little Nisse. He needs to cool down." Eurydite watched as Solon leg go of Nisse's wrist and turned his attention to her. "Now, My Lady, I know that a lot has happened since we last saw each other, but you are right. Your choices are your own and you have taken the burden of them." He walked to her and grabbed her hands in his and looked into her eyes with a smile. "That in itself doesn't change the fact that we love you." Eurydite almost wanted to cry and she took her hands from Solon and wrapped him in a hug.
"When did you become so wise, Solon?" She let him go and he smiled at her with a hint of pride in his eyes.
"My wife is smarter than I am." Eurydite began to laugh at what Solon had said. She never saw Solon as a married man and he had just proved her wrong. "Beautiful and smart really. I don't know how I would live without her."
"I am happy for you." The demigoddess said as her smile turned into a frown and she turned away from him feeling sorrow. "Hold on to her." She looked back at him as she turned around to leave the tent.
Eurydite found Draco standing in the spot she had stood the night before watching the city. The people below went on with their morning routines as if nothing was really going on with the world other than their tiny lives. It was almost comforting to see men and women taking care of themselves and their families like that, even if they had nothing. She walked up to him and stood beside him watching the people below just like he did.
"When I see them working like ants I wonder if sometimes this is how the Gods look on us. Like we are ants. Nothing more." She said as she watched a man and his son trying to fix a wheel on their little cart full of pottery. "We may be ants, but those tiny little insects can do amazing things when they fight together." When he didn't say anything she found herself feeling even worse.
"You could've stayed with us." He finally let out with a hurt voice. "We needed you."
"We?" Eurydite asked as they continued to look out over the city below them. "Or you?" She knew he was a man now, but he still had a boy's heart.
"Me." Draco sighed giving in and letting gonof the anger in his veins as he admitted it to himself. "I grew up without a mother and my father..."
"I know." She interrupted him silently as he looked to his feet. "Your father was cruel. More than mine, but I've learned to make my own family and you are part of it, Draco." He looked to her, his height not much more than hers, but enough to look down on her. "I ask that your forgive me and help me with one last adventure."
"I do forgive you, My Lady."
This took me a couple days to write because I am so busy. Anyway, Im going to skip forward a slight bit in the next chapter so I can get to the Clash storyline.
Fact: Athena's temple the Parthenon wasnt completed until around 450 BC. For this particular story I have it partially built in my mind because it took several years to build.