Ismene and Lycus remained silent as they took the road out of Thebes.
"Are you really Ares' son?" she said glancing at him.
He laughed. "Don't you believe your uncle?"
"I believe him, just not you." Pause. "Does he talk to you? Your father, I mean."
He shrugged. "Sometimes."
"Must be weird talking to a god." She mused.
"Oh it is. You never know when he's going to drop by for a chat, or what he's going to look like. He always comes in disguise. He trained me how to fight, and ride."
"Have you ever been up to Olympus?"
"Are you kidding? No mortals are allowed up there."
They were riding into a wood that caught the morning sun. Lycus glanced at Ismene and was transfixed. The sunlight, filtered through the trees, was hitting her hair and face, making her hair shimmer and warming her skin. He held that picture of her, in that moment she was beautiful.
"So what about your family? What happened to them?" he asked innocently and brokenly. For some reason he was shy and rather nervous.
"You don't want to go there. Trust me. My father… was Oedipus." She hesitated in saying his name as he was well known and she was under the cloud that followed the name.
"Wasn't he the guy who killed his father…"
"And married his mother? Yes. My father was my brother and my mother was my grandmother."
"I think I remember the story."
"I don't want to get into it. It hasn't been easy living under his curse. What with Antigone and everything."
"She's your sister, am I right?"
"Was. She died recently, leaving me alone with no family, apart from Creon. He also lost his family. Now he wants Meggy. Megara, the wife of Heracles. The people we're trying to find."
"Did you want this task?" his question caught her off guard.
"About three months ago, I would have said no. Now that I have nothing left I do want it. Something has happened to me. I'm not leaning on Antigone for support anymore because I know I can't anymore."
The bushes on the side of the path rustled ahead of them. The horses stopped and skittered nervously.
"What is it?" Ismene looked worried.
"I don't know. Stay close."
The bushes rustled again and something moved out from behind it. It was a large bird. The travellers relaxed…until they saw the teeth in the sharp beak.
"It's a Stymphalian bird!" Lycus shouted.
"Isn't Heracles supposed to be killing these?"
"Never mind that now! Go on ahead; I'll deal with this one."
She looked at his determined face as he dismounted and drew his sword. Before she could make a move however the bird took flight and attacked him. He didn't move fast enough and the sword dropped form his hands. It clattered away out of his reach. He struggled with it trying to keep the mouth away from any part of his skin in case the bird wanted a bite to eat.
Acting on impulse Ismene drew the bow and selected an arrow. Carefully she took aim and winked. The head of the arrow flashed into flames and she released it. She didn't miss, although she didn't know how her aim had gotten so good. Hurriedly Lycus dropped it and wrinkled his nose as the smell of burning feathers drifted up from the dead bird.
"Did you know you could do that?" he asked panting, resheathing his sword and mounting his horse again.
She swallowed and shook her head.
"Okay then."
And they continued on their way.
That night they sheltered in a clearing. Lycus tried to get a fire going but only succeeded in creating a very small flame. Ismene took one look at it and spat on the wood. At once the fire sprang to life and burned away happily.
Lycus took one look at it and then stared at her. "Okay, now you're starting to scare me."
"I'm starting to scare myself."