Chapter Three

The days that followed were joyful ones as I moved among the residents of the temple complex and as I became stronger… I helped situate the pilgrims who chose to rest upon reaching the complex and to answer questions.

A few weeks later, Danaë removed the linen bandages that held my arm to my chest for the last time. It was a withered looking thing by then and I sighed in despair.

"What's the matter?" she asked me as she laughed gently.

"I'd wanted to be a soldier. Archelous had promised to teach me how to use a sword on this campaign." I held my arm up to the light and grimaced as I turned it. "It will never be right now."

She laughed and then sobered when she saw my pained expression. "This meant a great deal to you? Why?"

My heart swelled in my chest as I grinned. "I was raised in a military household. My master spoke always of the glory of war and the nobility of sacrifice. I should love to fight for my people and to be their champion."

I didn't understand the odd look she gave me then… I do now of course. I'd asked to be the champion of our people. Until that moment, I don't think she had considered me anything more than just another pre-immortal to guide into adulthood as she had done others.

"Do you truly understand what it means to be a champion?" she finally said after some moments.

"It means to be the best!" I replied in my youthful enthusiasm. "It means to be so good and so feared… that you carry the hopes and dreams of your people with you into each battle." Those were platitudes I'd learned from Archelous… but I think they were true ones for she nodded.

"Yes… but to be the best also means you must endure many challenges. Many would come to test themselves against your reputation. How would you handle that?"

I recall shrugging. "Kill them all," I replied matter-of-factly. I was too young to know better.

Danaë snorted. "Somehow… when it comes to it… I doubt that. But let me think on your request. For now… help the priests with the offerings and the novices with tending to the pilgrims. Use your arm as much as you can without causing you pain." She smiled warmly and I smiled back. I think I was quite in love with her at that moment. She had said I was no longer a slave, and I had no real desire to become a priest, but at that moment… I would have been satisfied to live the remainder of my life in that temple.

Days passed… and I fell into the routine of the temple. I might have remained there and lived and died but for her. During those days, I did not speak with her, nor did she call me to her side. She seemed focused on the pilgrims who came. Night and day… at low tide… she was in the cove… looking to all as if she stood on the water itself, ready to answer their questions.

A day came when there were no pilgrims. I rose, surprised that no one was on the twisted path climbing the mountain. One of the priests pointed at the storm clouds on the horizon. "Poseidon is angry this day. He raises the waves to fight the wind."

A typhoon was brewing in the distance. I could see lightning wrack the dark sky above the crashing waves. Here, on the island, it was still a gray day… and the winds, while rising, were not yet of deadly force. Archelous had spoken to me of the great storms of Poseidon that sometimes erupted in the Aegean… and of the deadly waves and whirlpools that sometimes appeared that could suck even the stoutest ship into the depths of the ocean as payment of tithe to the appetites of the gods. I worried that the great wave of the gods would come to the island… and roar over us all in a blinding wall of terror.

But the priest laughed at my concern. "We are the oracle of the god. He will not send his destruction this way."

By mid-morning, it seemed the old priest was right. The storm was further out to sea and appeared to be heading in another direction. Below in the village, I could see the people, like small insects, beginning to scurry about their lives once more.

"An interesting perspective," Danaë said from beside me. She rested one hand lightly on my shoulder. "Such small beings. Are they worthy of protection?"

"Yes," I answered.

She smiled and motioned me to follow her. Once we'd arrived at the open portico near where the pilgrims left their gifts, she turned and smiled as she tossed me a polished wooden staff. I caught it awkwardly and looked at her curiously.

"You wish to learn… yes?"

I nodded and I think I grinned in anticipation.

"And so it begins… my champion." She smiled that moment with such warmth… that I was determined to do all that might be necessary, endure any pain, fight on through whatever adversity, just for that smile. She held out a worn staff that I had seen her use to walk with up and down the stairs sometimes… and postured beside me, urging me to take the same stance. She encouraged me… moving a foot… or my arms until I was as she wished. Then she slowly showed me a move several times… then did it with me… then watched as I did it. Then encouraged me to do it faster… and faster.

By the time the stars had unveiled themselves in the robe of Niobe… I was weary… and yet energized. My broken arm was still of no practical use… but the moves she'd had me practice had forced me to use it some… and in the moves… I'd had only minor pain.

"There is hope for you my champion," she said as she glided away. I slept deeply that night for the first time since I'd come here.

That day was a pattern for others. During lulls in the activities, I would meet her at the portico and learn whatever she wished to teach me. Soon we'd progressed from my just following her moves in some sort of dance… to my defending myself against her. She seemed ecstatic when I foresaw some move she planned and prepared a counter-attack. More and more elaborate our bouts became as the days passed until the day I improvised a series of attacks against her… and she fell on the ground. I stood confidently over her and pointed the staff at her neck.

Time stopped in that moment… and became a memory frozen in time. Sweat beaded on my forehead and a fine sheen seemed to cover her face as she sobered and regarded me.

"Would you take my head and inherit all that I am? Or would you be my champion?" Her voice was low pitched… and yet the words echoed in my soul.

I removed the staff from her neck and reached down to grasp her hand and pull her to her feet. "I am yours my Lady, for all time."

She laughed and said I'd best remember it.

The following day… she gave me my first sword and my training began in earnest. During my free time… even when she was busy with her duties… I practiced until my sword became an extension of who I was… a part of me. I learned by that time to use either hand… to feint and use anything about me as an aid to help me win. In my mind I fought glorious battles… and was lifted high on the shoulders of men.

The day came at last, though, when she said I had learned all that she could teach me. She smiled sadly at me and presented me with a commission she had managed to obtain for me in the forces of Thebes. I was to be attached to the citadel there and learn the art of war from men who made their living from it.

"They will teach you the philosophy of war and how to wage it… something I am not able to teach you… for I have never fought in war. My teachings were ones I learned in my life in an attempt to protect myself from men who would have attacked me and done me harm."

I was properly solemn, I recall, and bowed humbly as I accepted humbly the commission. I was to leave the following day and carry it to the captain of the citadel in Thebes… there to take my place in their ranks. "My thanks my lady," I told her.

"You may come to the day you will curse me for sending you to them," she laughed. But I never did. I never did.

At mid-morning of the following day, I was at the stone wharf in the village, and ready to board the ship for my new home. It would leave with the rising of the tide. My lady came to me there and presented me also with raiment suitable for a soldier, and a bag of coins with which I might purchase armor, food, and proper lodgings… for a soldier was not paid… he was supposed to be able to fund his own needs. Her gift meant I would not be lost within the ranks of those who were impressed to serve. I would learn to command and lead men… I would be a captain of Thebes.

I wanted to embrace her. But at fourteen summers, was too near the age of a man to embrace any woman not my mother except in a way I did not feel for her. Sometimes I wish I had broken my resolve and embraced her, for it was the last time ever I saw her. Instead, I thanked her humbly and shouldered my bag with my things and my gifts… and walked stiffly and proudly up the plank to the galley ship. I found a place near the forward rail and waved at her as the ship began to move.

Long she stood on the wharf as the boat set sail and, catching an offshore wind, quickly moved into open water and the island of Niebos fell far behind us. I watched her until I blinked and could not find the tiny speck that was her again.

After that, I faced the ocean, and eagerly awaited my new life.