Journal I: We Leave Troy
I am Odysseus, son of Laërtes, and king of Ithaca.
After the great war of Troy was won and Helen returned the yearning for my own land of Ithaca caused me to commence my journey home.
I and my men left and after many days of sailing we landed on the coast. There we raided the city of Ismaros which is in the land of the Cicones. The men indulged themselves in every want, and when the time for departure came they refused to leave the comforts of that land.
In our plunderings there were many killed and taken hostage. Though I commanded some of my men to watch those we had caught very carefully they were subdued by the great amounts of food and wine they had consumed. Only a few of the prisoners escaped, but that was enough to go and warn the rest of the surrounding country and bring them against us.
Perhaps if those drunken men had told me of their fault I might have been able to save them. But alas they did not. At dawn the massive armies of the Cicones swept over the hills coming to reclaim the city of Ismaros.
They outnumbered us our one man to their thousand, and we fled to the beach where a bloody battle was started. Somehow we held them though our losses were great. My first mate was slain beside me and I grieved for he had stood beside me in many battles and was an admirable friend. After many hours of fierce fighting we could stay their advance no longer, and I sounded a half-hearted yell of retreat. Each man ran with speed provided by the gods to the ships and we pulled away from the shore. We stopped as soon as we were out of range for all were exhausted. There was a count among all of the ships that revealed our losses to be more numerous than I had expected. We paused to rest and call out three cries of remembrance for those being disembodied on the shore. The cries lasted until the sun was high in the sky and we resumed our voyage.