"Do not drag your feet, Perseus! Your opponent will pounce on the slightest opportunity in a real battle!"
Perseus gritted his teeth as he strained his tired muscles to maintain his footwork before his mother swatted him on the thigh roughly with her training dagger.
"You're not quick enough!"
Somehow, instinctively, Perseus managed to pull back his leg just fast enough to avoid another rough jab from his mother. A surprised look flashed across Daphnae's face for a split second but that fraction of a second was enough for Perseus to raise his arms in an attempt to swipe at her face. While Perseus was sure that he would finally land an attack on his mother after months of training, his hopes were dashed when he saw his mother tilt to the side ever so slightly to avoid his desperate attack. He then felt something kick the back of his leg and he involuntarily tumbled to the ground.
"Your reflexes and instincts have gotten sharper," Daphnae pressed the blade of her training knife against Perseus' throat with a smirk on her face. With his victory this time around so close yet just out of reach, the young boy's sniffled and his eyes started to water.
Daphnae faltered and she retracted her training blade from her son's throat.
"You really have to stop being so rough with your son," A man who seemed to be around the same age as Daphnae chuckled as he walked towards the mother and son. He crouched down and smiled at Perseus. "You're a Spartan, aren't you? Spartans don't cry, so wipe your tears little hoplite."
Perseus started to wipe his tears away as his mother rolled her eyes. "Not everything is about Sparta, Demosthenes." Daphnae knelt down next to the man and helped Perseus dab at his eyes with a small piece of linen. Then when she was satisfied, she grabbed Perseus by his face and stared at him straight in the eyes.
"Remember this Perseus. You will not cry, not because you are a Spartan," Demosthenes scoffed next to the woman who then secretly made a mental note to hurt him afterwards in a place Perseus couldn't see. "But because you are my huios."
Perseus felt an indescribable feeling of warmth and confidence as he stared at his mother's stern yet caring eyes and the young boy nodded in response.
"-ill alive?"
Perseus' eyes shot open as he leapt to his feet and instinctively reached for the dagger hidden at his waist. "Kid! You're awake!"
The 11-year-old boy was suddenly swept off his feet and embraced in a suffocating bear hug by a man that was several times larger than him. "Oh, thank the gods you're alive! Thank Poseidon, truly!" The man released Perseus and finally allowed the boy to take a good look at his benefactor/assailant.
The man stood much taller than anyone he had ever seen. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that the man had two eyes and was speaking in complete sentences, Perseus would've thought the man was a cyclops in disguise. Besides from being tall, he was large. His hulking, giant image was somewhat ruined by the fact that he had a bright smile plastered on his face, apparently happy that Perseus was safe.
After contemplating what the best course of action would be, Perseus slowly slid his knife back underneath his clothes. "What's your name?" The boy asked warily.
"My name is Demetrios! We were passing through when we noticed parts of a shipwreck. There was a storm a few days ago, so we came over here to see if there were any survivors and then we found you!" Demetrios kept the smile plastered on his face, perhaps in an attempt to lower Perseus' guard.
The boy closed his eyes as he tried to remember the events that led up to this point. Him and his mother commissioned a small ship to ferry them to Chios, a place where his mother adamantly said was 'safe'. Along the way, a storm suddenly appeared despite the sky being clear just a moment ago and….
Perseus felt a sinking feeling in his gut as he remembered the ship being cleaved in half by a gigantic wave and his mother being swept away by the wave.
"My mother! She was with me on the boat! She must be here somewhere!" Perseus had never felt so desperate in his entire life as he rushed towards Demetrios and grabbed his hand, staring straight into the larger man's sea green eyes pleadingly. "You have to save her!"
Demetrios frowned, the smile finally disappearing from his face as he turned around and looked at his crew members. His crew members shrugged before Demetrios sighed. "Come with me." The larger man led the young boy below deck where Perseus was greeted by an unfamiliar yet disgusting smell. In the dimly lit conditions, Perseus couldn't help but remember his mother's words.
Your ears are your eyes in the dark.
The boy recalled his training and focused on his sense of hearing and he could clearly hear Demetrios' footsteps along with 3 others behind him.
The 5 people reached a closed door and Demetrios silently opened it and stepped aside, as if motioning for Perseus to enter. The boy cautiously passed by the larger man and was immediately overwhelmed by the stench that emanated from the room. The smell was unbearably bad as well as gut-wrenching, and it faintly resembled the smell of the cabin shared by the boys who were undergoing the agoge but a thousand times worse. He glanced inside and immediately froze.
The room was lit only by a few flickering torches, but the torches provided enough light for Perseus to recognize a woman chained to the wall with cuts and scrapes littering her naked body. A man stood in front of her and he was doing unspeakable things to the woman while cacking madly.
"Erasmus, what did I say about touching the products?" Demetrios stomped over to naked man, grabbed his neck and lifted him into the air with one hand. "She has a nice face! She'll sell even if she's been used!" Erasmus struggled in Demetrios' grasp before the large man released him, sending the smaller man crashing onto the ground, gasping for air.
"There better not be a third time, or you will no longer have a neck for me to grab, understand?" Demetrios sent a thinly veiled threat towards Erasmus who whimpered in response. Sighing heavily, Demetrios turned back towards Perseus and smiled.
"That was not supposed to happen. My apologies. Now please tell me if any of these women are your mother," Demetrios grabbed a nearby candle and walked to the back of the room, revealing a few more women bound and gagged in cages. Perseus recognized all of them as fellow passengers on the small ship to Chios. As he looked at the frightened women one by one, his eyes met with a girl that was about his age whose eyes looked red as if she had been crying for a long time. He glanced at Daphnae who was still unconscious in the middle of the room and felt unbridled rage rise up in him. He desperately tried to maintain calm on the surface though as he responded to Demetrios' question.
"Sorry, she does not seem to be here."
An apologetic expression appeared on Demetrios' face as he put down the candle in his hand. "You have no need to be sorry, young one. I was only hoping to kill you in front of your mater and watch as she cried."
Perseus was shocked at how naturally those despicable words had come out of the man's mouth. His friendly façade was really just a way to lower his guard, and the boy had been had.
"Get him."
On Demetrios' order, the three men charged towards Perseus. The first man who reached Perseus and swiped downwards with his sword, but with how projected his attack had been Perseus dodged it with ease. The boy glanced behind him and saw Demetrios looking on with obvious amusement at the new development and guessed that the large man would not do anything to him for now.
Leaping backwards deftly, the boy grabbed his dagger and brandished it in front of him. The men paused for a brief second before scoffing and decided that the boy was still no threat to them. How wrong they were.
Weapon in hand, Perseus went on the offensive. The men all had longer limbs and thus had a long reach, but Perseus was used to fighting those taller than him. He dashed into one of the men with speed that made Demetrios raise an eyebrow and stabbed his dagger into the bottom of his chin. The man gasped for air as he started to cough blood but Perseus shoved the man as hard as he could and grabbed the hilt of his dagger. The dagger slid out of the man as the man fell to the ground dead.
The other two men took a few steps backwards, hesitation clear in their eyes as they stared at the blood-stained silver blade. Perseus flicked his blade and sent some of the blood splattering onto the wooden floor.
"So, you were not just any normal kid after all," Demetrios made his presence known from behind Perseus and the boy felt someone pick him up and fling him into something soft. Disoriented, Perseus somehow landed on his feet and desperately tried to regain his senses. He looked forwards and saw Demetrios and the remaining two men right in front of him. While Perseus had some confidence in being able to take on the two goons, Demetrios was an opponent he most likely could not defeat. Not only was the hulking man extremely strong, he was fast for someone his size. Perhaps noticing the fear in the young boy's Demetrios stepped forwards with his signature smile on his face.
Perseus' mind was racing as he tried to think of a way to, at the very least, escape the ship with his mother. As much as he wanted to free the other captive girls, the situation he was in currently may not even allow him to leave with his life.
Demetrios took another step and Perseus was forced to shift backwards. He quickly found that he was unable to as the back of his head pressed against his captive mother.
"P-Perseus?"
Perseus bit his lip as his mother woke up in what could be the worst timing possible. Demetrios' smile grew as he realized that Daphnae was Perseus' mother.
"Perseus, huh? You lied to me, didn't you? Looks like my original plan can be carried out as planned after all." Demetrios closed the gap between them in an instant and lifted Perseus into the air. Perseus swiped at the man with his dagger but his effort was in vain as Demetrios slammed the young boy into the floor, knocking the wind out of him.
"Perseus! Release me you malaka!" Daphnae screamed and cursed at Demetrios whose smile only grew wider as he relished in the feeling of being completely in charge. "Now how should I kill you, boy? Should I crack your head open like an egg, or should I gut you like a fish?" The man wrestled the knife out of Perseus' grip as he pinned the boy down on the floor with his right hand. "This blade is well-balanced. I think I shall keep it." The man flipped the blade around in his hand as he studied the silver blade.
"I'll kill you if you hurt him! I swear to the gods!"
Demetrios paused as he stared at Daphnae before he started to laugh like a mad man. "Swearing to the gods? The gods won't save you, woman, because I," As he laughed, his sea green eyes started to glow with power. "Am a god."