Icarus ran his fingers gently across the strings of the lyre, not hard enough to make a sound, just a gentle vibration. He swallowed hard, unable to stop the tears that were forming.
He couldn't even tell the others what was wrong when they noticed how quiet he had been the past few days. His genial spirit had disappeared and he had withdrawn to work in solitude, preferring to avoid his friends and even Pythagoras. Because his mind was overrun with nightmares.
Ariadne was preparing some packs with arrows and blankets that they could bring when they reached shore. She cast a concerned look over to Icarus, who was sat a fair distance from everyone.
"What's wrong with him,?" she questioned Jason, who was sat beside her.
He looked up briefly and said, "I don't know. Perhaps he's missing Daedalus?"
"Perhaps," Ariadne replied, but unconvinced. She rose after a short moment and went to sit with Icarus.
Seeing her approach, he quickly ran his hand across his face in an attempt to dry his tears and gave a half smile when Ariadne was stood beside him.
She smiled kindly, "I'm worried about you Icarus. Is there anything wrong?" Her concerned eyes and open heart were almost enough for Icarus to spill everything that burdened him and he moved his mouth but remained silent.
Ariadne sat beside him. She looked out at the calm sea and spoke softly, "Its beautiful isn't it? I almost wish we would never find land, that we could always sail on the ocean. I somehow feel more at home on this ship than at any other place in my life." She turned to him and asked again, "Icarus, I can see something is wrong,
whatever it is let me help."
He had not looked up this whole time but finally and with a shakiness in his voice, he looked up at her and said, "I'm scared..." but he couldn't finish.
"Scared of what?" Ariadne responded.
"Everything", Icarus said. "I'm afraid of..." and he looked over at Pythagoras who was quizzically frowning at a piece of rope in his hand whilst Hercules was throwing his arms around obviously trying but failing to explain what he needed him to do.
Ariadne followed Icarus' gaze, and her eyes set upon Pythagoras.
"I can't lose him," he finally uttered.
Ariadne understood too well the fear of losing those you loved the most. But it didn't explain why Icarus had become so withdrawn in the last couple of days when nothing had changed. The danger was no more imminent than a week ago. "Why would you think you'll lose him? We're going to be fine. We have the lyre, we have each other. We're all going to make it Icarus." And Ariadne smiled kindly.
Icarus let a grateful smile paint his face, though inside, he was burning. Because Cassandra's words had sown nightmares where his heart lay and he could not be rid of them.
"I know how Pythagoras has worried about you these past few days." Ariadne said gently.
"Talk to him", she continued, "Don't close yourself away. Whatever it is." Ariadne's eyes studied his for a long moment.
Icarus lowered his head and feeling the nightmares claw away at his heart he could stand the pain no longer and finally whispered, "Its Cass -" but he didn't finish because Jason shouted from across the deck.
"I SEE IT! I SEE THE ISLAND!" and the urgency in his voice meant everyone leapt and ran towards him.
Her huge broken wings beat against her pale body. Seeing the Argo in the distance excited her and she turned towards her two companions, a twisted smile upon her face.
The others crawled their way to the top of the rock she was sitting on and the three of them crouched there, waiting.
Pythagoras stood beside Icarus and took his hand. Icarus gifted him a grateful smile which was returned and suddenly Icarus forgot his fears. Pythagoras was there, beside him, real, alive, heart beating, his. He had lost nothing. He had everything.
Jason looked at them each in turn. "Ready?"
They nodded.
Jason focused on Icarus. "You can do this," and Icarus smiled nervously.
Hercules smashed his strong arm against Icarus' back.
"Ow!" Icarus protested.
"Sorry!", Hercules apologised. Then they all grinned at each other.
Icarus took a deep breath, faced forward and let his hand fall from Pythagoras' slowly, their fingertips lingering for what felt like an eternity before they parted completely and Icarus headed towards the front of the Argo.
And in the depths of Hades, Perspehone shuddered. She pleaded silently to those that she once called friends not to harm this ship, "let them be, let them pass", but she knew it was fruitless. Even if by some miracle they heard her, it would change nothing in the end. If they defeated the sirens, they would still meet the sleeping dragon, the place where he would die.
Persephone closed her eyes tightly. The day was close. And she could not bear the thought of another Orpheus stood before her, consumed with grief and love and despair. Anything she did would only delay this day, not stop it. Powerless, she clapsed her hands together and let dreams of spring run through her mind. Though even her dreams were not safe from the clutches of Hades. In every flower that bloomed, a thousand died. She wept.
The sails of the Argo bellowed out even in the gentle wind and the friends stood together, Icarus holding the lyre as steady as he could in his shaking hands.
And suddenly, they saw them clearly. The sirens. Their long hair trailed like rivers down their willowy bodies and though still far from the Argo, the brave friends felt their pull already.
The first one unfurled her tattered wings and lost many feathers as she did so. They flew in circles about her before they vanished in the wind. The span of her damaged beauty was vast for her wings stretched beyond the width of the entire rock she was sat upon. Like a moth eaten blanket, her unused and unloved wings blew pitifully in the breeze and as she drew them around her she seemed to transform into a terrifying cage. This is where she swallowed you before you were cast to the grave of the ocean.
The friends stood silently as they watched her unfolding her wings and then curling them back around herself again and again. Menacing and deliberate. They knew she had seen them.
"What if this doesn't work?" Icarus said.
Jason put his hands upon his shoulders and looked him sincerely in the eyes, "It will work. Have faith. We believe in you."
"We all do." Pythagoras said. "I do", he whispered intimately.
Icarus looked at Pythagoras' shining eyes, the truest, kindest eyes he had ever known and in that moment, he believed.
"The Song of Orpheus", Icarus said breathless but ready.
"The Song of Orpheus", they all said in unison and although their nerves were palpable, it was their belief which really shone.
The second siren cast her head back and made a grotesque stuttering sound to the sky above, "YATATATATATATATATATATATAT", and the others copied her. This was just their rehearsal. The performance was yet to start.
Icarus held his fingers just an inch from the strings of the lyre and began moving them like waves back and forth. But he dared not touch the strings yet. He had to wait until the sirens began their song.
He closed his eyes slowly, let the argo and the sea and his friends disappear. Let everything disappear. Except for Pythagoras. He kept him there when everything else went dark.
Rehearsals were over. The performance was about to begin. And the curtains pulled apart, agonisingly slowly and revealed the three monstrous half-birds sat on the cold rock, their deathly glares nothing compared to the song they were about to present.
"SSCSCSCSCCCCCCCCCCCSCSGSHSHSJJJ!" and all Jason could do as the sound reached him was shout at the top of his voice, "NOW ICARUS NOW!"
And Icarus, still with his eyes tightly shut, placed the tips of his fingers across the strings and played.
It was like the whole World stopped breathing for a moment. Birds fell silent, even the sound of the waves abated for the first few notes of Icarus' music. It was like no sound anyone had ever heard before. Like tasting colours or seeing a touch. It mixed up senses in such a magical way.
The friends stood still, captivated by the beauty of it, almost moved to tears before the waves began crashing again and they shook themsleves out of their daydream.
But still the Argo was pulled towards the sirens song, which was itself a haunting melody. The sirens sung to the Argo as it drew ever closer, despite the efforts of Jason and Hercules to steer it away. The wicked half-birds cackled inbetween their song which was putting Hercules under their spell. He dropped the rope he was holding and went to the side of the ship, reaching his arm towards the three creatures beckoning him to the darkness.
With great effort, Jason and Pythagoras restrained him though they were both fighting against the pull themselves. But like unravelling a bandage, the power it held over them started to fall away the more Icarus played. The song of the sirens was not beautiful now. At first it had been like gentle laughter and waves lapping on the shore, every alluring sound that made you happy to be alive. But their song turned to dust the more Icarus played. For his song was beyond life itself. It was everything.
The sudden turn of the Argo away from them confused the sirens and their wings began to flap angrily as they continued their song though it was crushed with every second the lyre was played.
Icarus let his fingers move more and more rapidly as the power of Orpheus' music flowed out of the lyre and escaped into the world. It drew fish to the surface of the sea and made them dance above the crystal waves. Unseen beasts suddenly slept, no longer a danger to their prey. The grey rocks, unmoving and lifeless on the far distant shore suddenly had their own heartbeats as they positioned themselves into a formation and began to dance.
Orpheus' lyre gave life to the lifeless and the more Icarus played, the uglier the sirens became. Their already broken wings fell apart. They began to scream and their song became their screaming. It had turned into the most grotesque noise the world had heard in its long life and they were maddened. The sirens spat at each other and then at the ocean and as hundreds of feathers fell from them and danced in the music carried by the wind, they clung to each other, their own feathers betraying them by spinning to the sound of the lyre.
The sirens clawed their own heads in frustration, pulling out clumps of their hair as they did so.
Bald, ashamed and powerless, the three shook with confusion, lay in a bed of their own feathers, the ones which had not danced upon the wind and in turn, the sirens let themselves be eaten up by the hungry sea, slipping off the rock and into the depths where they had sent so many men before.
Jason watched the sirens dying and after a moment said eagerly, "You did it! Icarus you did it!"
But Icarus still had his eyes shut, still saw only Pythagoras and nothing else. He did not dare open them.
Like slippery fish sliding from a plate, it was a pitiful end for such creatures who had held that much power and now had nothing. Simply because of music and love.
Icarus opened his eyes slowly, played the last few notes and just caught the sight of a fish dancing in the air before returning to its proper place. Icarus smiled then as a child would upon seeing magic because for the dreamer seeing something that impossible made him realise that the World wasn't predictable. Sometimes it could surprise you.
Everyone, except Cassandra who had been praying in the decks below, crowded around Icarus, hugged him and praised him.
He went red and mumbled an awkward, "Thank you," before finding his voice and saying fairly, "But without the lyre, without Orpheus, we would not have achieved this."
They all fell silent for a moment, each remembering the man who made the enchanting music.
Icarus couldn't shake his smile . For his friends were safe. Surely this had been the moment that he could have lost everything? Everything being Pythagoras. But there he was, eyes shining, his everything. He needed so much to speak with him, to say how sorry he was that he had been so quiet lately, to say...
But he couldn't, not yet.
And they all sat and ate and drank and laughed, Icarus glancing up from time to time bewteen mouthfuls of food and moments of laughter to catch Pythagoras' gaze. And for that moment their laughter would fade and they would just share that secret connection until shaken out of it by the euphoric celebrations around them.
The stars settled in the sky, thousands of them flickering like tiny fireflies. So many more out to sea than Pythagoras had ever seen from the rooftops of Atlantis. He smiled to himself remembering that night he explained how he would count the stars to Icarus. Because even his idea of quadrants would not help him count them out here.
Jason and Ariadne held hands for the first time since boarding the Argo, suddenly aware of how close they could have come to losing each other. They bid goodnight to their friends and made their way to their chambers.
Hercules, clearly joyous with his off-key singing, went searching for the nearest crate of wine as Pythagoras rolled his eyes and laughed.
And then it was just Icarus and Pythagoras, standing on the deck. No rocks were alive anymore. No fish were dancing above the ocean. Yet this was magical.
"We're safe," Pythagoras said, "We need not fear anymore", he smiled.
They stood for a while in silence, both gazing up at the stars.
Under the beautiful starlight that cast a silver illumination upon them, Pythagoras whispered softly, "Stay with me tonight?"
Icarus swallowed hard and turned to face Pythagoras. He smiled nervously. His heart was pounding.
Pythagoras smiled back, breathed out and turned towards the lower decks, certain his heart would escape from his chest and start bouncing around the Argo!
The two boys made their way towards the chambers when Icarus suddenly saw Cassandra like an omen out of the corner of his eye.
Her head was bowed and Icarus frowned at her defeatist stance.
Pythagoras, unaware Icarus had paused, continued to walk towards the lower decks.
Cassandra looked up to meet Icarus' gaze and gave the slightest movement. A shake of her head.
And approaching him, she hovered her slender hand above Icarus' and immediately -
Like hitting the ground but ten times worse than when he had been shot down, Cassandra poured her visions into him without waiting for a breath and they came fast and muddled.
"You will fall" he says over and over.
"He doesn't need it" he says, desperately trying to convince himself even though looking at the pale lips says otherwise, "He doesn't..." but Jason gently pushes the obolus into his hand.
And then he sees it glinting in the sun.
It has scales like armour but they shimmer like jewels. Its huge nose bellows smoke every few seconds and its great tail thrashes around even in this deepest sleep.
"You will turn."
"If you had just one day, would you take it?", she says desperately.
Pythagoras looks in wide-eyed horror at Icarus. "No!"he despairs, "Not you, please not you!"
And Persephone clicks her fingers.
Icarus shuddered as the visions ended and he realised only a few seconds had passed as Pythagoras was still just a few feet ahead of him. He cast a desperate glance towards Cassandra.
She looked back, her wise sad eyes spoke only, "Everything must end," and she turned slowly to walk in the other direction, leaving Icarus despairing.
Persephone looked upon her sleeping husband then at her slender, unassuming hands. She held her thumb and finger up and closed her eyes, envisioning a beautiful flower, red as the blood river that flowed in the depths. She clicked her fingers
A small weight landed in her lap. She opened her eyes and there it lay. The reddest rose she had ever seen, even from her times on Earth. And she glanced towards her King and smiled secretly.
Orpheus' music had reached her, even in the depths of the underworld. And it had restored her power, one she thought lost long ago. She breathed slowly and deeply and thought of Icarus and Pythagoras.
One of them would fall and join the lonely wanderers in the dark. One would be left behind unable to bear his loss in the light. This one would come to her. Just like Orpheus had.
And touching the silky petals of the rose, Persephone let hope free inside her, like a caged bird suddenly granted a magnificent forest.
Perhaps he had a chance after all. Perhaps she could save him. She closed her eyes just as Hades opened his.
He saw the rose lying upon her lap and sneered. Casting his ugly hand briefly above it, the rose turned to ash.
And far away from Hades, on a desolate lonely strip of land, the dragon waited. The great grey beast flared its huge nostrils and breathed in the stale air which had suddenly been invaded by something else... The Argo was coming.
Hung between two lifeless trees, the golden fleece twinkled like a thousand shimmering suns behind the imposing dragon. Smoke bellowed all around and then he opened his giant mouth, with teeth as sharp as daggers and spit fire into the sky. He was ready.