Disclamer: Okay, I'm not going to write this every chapter so just understand that it goes for every chapter. If you recognize anything we don't own it and aren't claiming to. Oh yeh, and this story was done by my class. Each of us did a different chapter, but I'm not saying which one I did. ;) It kind of has the same idea as the Odyssey but not exactly. Since this was done for school (bleh) we had to include certain parts, so sorry if it looks forced. I do have the rest of the story and will be posting it soon; so if anyone actually likes this enough to sit through another chapter, I should have it up in about a week.

Review! Flame if you want, but that doesn't do anything.

To start off we also needed an "Invocation to the Muse" but I don't want to put that on its own page, because then it messes up the numbers and I hate that. So chapter 1 and the Muse are both on this page.

Now onto the story, with the hopes that I haven't bored you already or scared you away.


Muse, guide my pen,
and let no imperfections come through
in the story of the honorable fighter,
who risked her life for her people.
Let me not fail in showing
the courageousness of the woman
who struggled against the terrors of hell,
who never paused in her journey to save her kin.
When the battle raged on
she took no note of her own injuries,
but struck down the attackers to save the righteous.

Let the tales long told over winter fires,
and on dreary days,
come forth and glorify the one,
whom fought the rebels to save her country,
whom was a leader of men!

Give me the strength to tell all
about the honor she held,
and her steadfast resolve to fulfill all promises.
Australia, she calls home,
but she finds no rest there.
The battle was won by her hand,
guided by the goddess of arrows,
but she finds the war is far from over.
This war, though, is a new one.
A war with fate!
A war against anything
that stands in her way of fulfilling her promise!

Trickery! Deceit! Lies!
are what she is rewarded with.
She is on a mission far different from any before,
and it is one only she can do.
Destiny seems far off but fate is always at hand.

Muse, make for me the words
with which I may use
to tell how Dylan interfered in Talia's life.
For it was his intention
that she never reach her goal,
that she never fulfilled her promise.
Show me how to explain to all who beg to hear,
how he showed his favorites a plan that would surely make her fall.

Provide me means to let all know Talia's story!

Chapter 1

Destruction

Talia, wearied and tired from the long battle,
trudged ahead of her men.
"Sing! Celebrate!" they cried.
But with only a stern hand movement,
she silenced them.
Walking down roads of dead
she told them of her plans and thoughts,
"Do not celebrate the death of another,
for one day it too will be your turn.
We have defeated the Aborigines.
Be joyful that we won and give thanks to the gods.
There shall be a celebration,
but first we must rid the other side of the rebels.
My brother is there and we shall reinforce him and his troops."

Moral was high due only to the wine,
but all were ready to fight.
It would take one day to reach Talia's house and her brother.
The Aborigines had surprised them one night
and now they were next to defenseless.

Alone in her tent Talia prayed to her patron goddess,
"Sagettia, if it pleases you,
guide my hand tomorrow,
and let no arrow or strike fall short of its goal."

But the goddess was too busy.
Dylan, the patron god of the Aborigines
was starting a fight in the court of the gods.
It did not please him that mortal Talia
was able to defeat his men.
He had vowed revenge on honorable Talia
and was not going to let his chance slip by.
The court of gods,
to which only some paid attention to,
ruled for the time being,
that due to the reason of preserving the rest of the earth
Sagettia could not personally interfere.

"You will not fail this fight, Talia,
but there will be a big battle ahead.
You are blessed by the Fates
but cursed by the Aborigines,"
Sagettia, lady of the arrows,
whispered in Talia's mind,
"Be strong my Talia!"

Golden rays glowed
and shined off the metal swords raised high in the air,
overpowering all sources of light
but for the light of Talia's sword,
like the stars in the night sky
giving light to all,
overpowering all but the sun.

Talia's troop marched inland
towards a rapidly growing fire on the dry land.
Only a few men remained in the midst of the ruins,
and they were Aborigines.

Not far from them Talia's hundred men halted.
They no longer knew their course of action,
for they could now see
that the ruins were what was left
of Talia's house.
No one could see what had happened
to the other troops
for there was no blood,
no bones,
just charred wood and broken stone.

"Be brave. The battle must have taken place elsewhere.
Come, let us find where they have gone.
We beat them once and we can do it again!"
Her voice rang clear and her men rallied around her.
When the moved to approach the survivors,
the survivors yelled to them to stop.

"We have beaten your allies!"

"Then we shall teach you a lesson,"
they replied.

"If you dare touch us
we won't tell where to find Talia's brother."

Talia's brother, Kristof, was one of the troops
best friends and most respected officials.
Talia knew,
that although she wanted to save her brother
there were the troops' families,
and the members of the near-by town to care for.
Her troop would have been fully willing to go after them and make them tell,
but Talia stopped them.

She had them send out scouts to see what was of the towns.
When they returned they privately told her,
told her of the doom.

"Everything is leveled.
Nothing is left.
If anyone survived they aren't here.
Kristof may be the only one left."

'But why,' Talia thought.
To her men her voice was braver,
the voice of reason,
"Listen! There is no one here we can help.
Be strong! Let us see what they know,
what they will tell us!"
Loud cheering endured,
and the two Aborigines were brought into their midst.

"Tell us everything so that we may spare your life,"
one ambitious member threatened.

"We know nothing but where Kristof is.
For yes, he was taken.
You will not find him,
nor will you survive, Talia.
The Black Lord awaits you,
and with Dylan behind us we will help you meet him!
And that goes for anyone who tries to help her!"

"Where is he!" resounded in the great dessert,
more like a demand then a question.

But there was no answer for the two men were dead.

"Let us set up camp and think over what we have heard."

Kimi, goddess of spies, sat on her cloud,
watching the events fold out.
Talia was handling the problems well.
In spite of the fact that everyone who lived there
could be dead for all they know,
they seemed quite happy.
The truth was that the members of the village
had disappeared before the Aborigines came.

She didn't like the way those two handled their job,
so she decided she would help.

Deep in a dream, Talia heard a voice call her.
"Talia, to save him you must go to Scotch Plains."

"Scotch Plains? Where is that?"
Talia asked this dream-like voice,
for the moment forgetting other pressing questions.

"In the state of New Jersey, in the United States,
which lies in North America.
The Aborigines have hidden him there.

They mean for you to fail,
to fail him,
to fail yourself.
Only you can save him."
Startled out of her sleep,
by a leaving owl which she didn't recall in her tent earlier,
she faced a hard fact.

Talia threw off the coarse blanket

and walked out of her tent,

yelling at the sky,

"I WILL SAVE HIM.
I PROMISE YOU KRISTOF!
I WILL SAVE YOU.

I PROMISE."

When the fiery rays hit the sand,
they glittered and shined,
as though they were gold nuggets,
and gold dust,
in a sea of never-ending melting gold.

"Today we begin our journey
to leave the Great Sandy Dessert
towards Port Hedland.
From there we will catch a ship to the Americas,
and save Kristof,
along with whoever may be with him!"
The dessert was hot during the day,
but horribly cold at night.
There must have been a rat in the pack,
for five days out they soon found themselves without water.
They had brought supplies enough for months,
because thirst was inevitable.

Moral was low but they had no choice but to move on.

Finally, when not a drop was left,
the hundred began to complain.
They called it a bad omen.

"No one in my care will die of thirst.
We will have water tomorrow.
If anyone does not want to stay with us,
then you are welcome to leave."
Despite the fact
that they could see no sign of rain,
nor any hidden stores,
Talia seemed confident.

"Soon we will hit the De Grey River,
and also enter more favorable conditions.
All we need to do is,
temporarily,
change our direction southeast
instead of northeast."

"No!
Northeast and we will run into the river."
a member shouted.

"I assure you
that either way you will
come in contact with the river,
but as to where we are,
southeast is faster.
But if anyone
wants to go northeast,
go ahead."

Two men left and headed out northeast.

"It is better that they have left!
Hold out!
We will make it!"
With a day passed
and no river in sight
the ninety-eight were beginning to lose hope.
Thirst blinded them,
and hallucinations caused them to wander.
Each time Talia paused,
sought the man,
and when found, they continued.

Two more left the next day.

Talks of mutiny began to grow,
but that night Talia had them stop.
They sang and told stories,
but only after Talia assured them
that they would reach Soda Creek
the next day.

And thus, Talia prevented her men's destruction of themselves.

When the sun was high overhead,
like a child left a flashlight pointing straight up,
they saw the river.

More days were spent gathering water.

Talia called a council on the sixth day,
to consult those who knew the area well.
It was decided that Route 95 was very close,
and they could easily take it to the port.

Walking along the road was boring,
but nicer than the desert.
Dylan watched them with hatred.
He wouldn't let them leave
unscathed.
Throwing fire in a straight line across the road,
he laughed evilly.
But of course, with him not being a fire god,
the fire was not real.
But they didn't know that.

"Talia, Talia!
A fire blocks our path."

'A fire?
I can't let it stop me!
But I can't risk my men.
Something looks wrong.
This fire isn't right.'
Talia thought to herself.

"I will go through it,
and if the gods are with me I will make it.
If I yell for you to follow then it is alright."

Uncertainty filled the air,
but Talia didn't wait.
She stepped right into the fire,
going as fast as she could to reach the other side.

The men watched her in amazement,
for she was not being consumed by the fire.
That meant either the fire was a fake
or she was protected by the gods.

"Come my ninety-six!
You will be safe!"

And they did go.
All but one who was to afraid to pass through,
and told them all
that he would rather die then travel with them,
so they left him to his own means
for that was what he wanted.

In about one day and a half they reached Port Hedland.
There they boarded and sailed off on a ship.