Chapter 8-Alecto’s
Adventure
Irgen and Idus stared with rapt attention
as their mother’s excitement began to build in anticipation for the tales of
the brothers. Finally she took a deep
breath, and they plunged expectantly into the first tale.
“Now Alecto was the
oldest and most intellectually astute of all the brothers, although he was by
no means only a book worm, he was just as strong and capable as any of the
other brothers. He had the same
characteristically deep sea blue eyes that you, Idus have, and he had long
flowing black hair, which shimmered tantalizingly in the strong Greek sun. He had a strong, youthful muscular build, and
everyone in Mycenae referred to him as a strapping lad. And he was said by some to be Narcissus’ rival
for the most handsome man in all of Greece.
Now as soon as Alecto
left his father’s palace in Mycenae, he got on a narrow, cart-sized cobblestone
road which he knew traveled east toward Athens.
After traveling along the road for a time he noticed the road start to
bend in a southerly direction and since darkness was beginning to cover the
earth. He stopped and began to wonder if
he should continue along the road to Athens or make off into a small thicket of
trees that sat alongside the road. He
thought to himself that surely Athens was not the goal he was seeking, and as
much as he would love to see the city, unless there was some gargantuan beast
at loose terrorizing the city that he didn’t know about, he knew his quest did
not call for him to enter Athens. But in
the corner of his mind the thought lingered that he did not have any real clue
as to where he was going, and going towards Athens might give him the start he
was looking for.
After sitting down and
pondering for a while, he decided the decision could wait until morning. So he made himself a shelter out of branches
and leaves from the surrounding clump of trees.
And then just as he determined to lie down and go to sleep, he decided
to take out his father’s blade. He had not;
on first receiving it, examined it. But
now he pulled it out of the handcrafted leather sheath his father had built for
it, and with bated breath he carefully perused the astonishing craftsmanship of
the heroic blade.
The sword was a beautiful
blade indeed. It stood a little shorter
than three feet in length, bound by a firm leather wrapped hilt. Truly it was shaped in a half crescent moon
shape. But it seemed to bend only
slightly, as though the bend was only to give it a significant shape. Its make was of such, that try as he might,
Alecto could find no defects in the blade.
It was smooth and sharp all around the curve of the blade. And now as he looked at it closer through the
brilliant shine of the moonlight. He
noticed ancient inscriptions which gracefully lined the deadly blade. He looked closely at them and found he could
read what was written. The inscriptions,
it seemed, were of an ancient war chant which he had never heard the likes of
before.
He stared at it
dumbfounded, and he noticed that the words seemed to be carved for his use
alone. The words themselves seemed to
delve deeply into the problem before him.
Suddenly he felt a profound desire rise in his breast to begin the war
chant. He felt himself elevated from the
earth, and he began to dance as though building up frenzy for battle. As he continued it seemed as though the sword
had a life of its own. It flickered and
whipped through the air before him, as though it knew what to do in this
dance. Then suddenly his clear piercing
voice smote the air around him.
Gods of the wonderful
Greek land,
Hear the plea of a small
mortal man.
You favored my father in
his quest for grace,
Now answer my call and
help me win my race.
Show me the path, whither
I should go,
And purify my heart and
willful soul.
Now I petition thee
again, the gods of my land.
Not just Zeus but all who
might lend a hand.
For now in this cold,
bitter moonlight,
My blade itches to avenge
a small oversight.
He halted breathing
heavily. He looked impatiently at the
stars as though expecting something.
Indeed his panting body was filled with anticipation for some long
awaited event. He did not know what he
had just done, but in uttering those words it had seemed as though he was
speaking in the presence of gods. He stood
rigid for a few agonizing minutes and still nothing happened. Finally he sighed in resignation and lay down
to sleep.
He awoke in the morning
to the touch of a withered hand belonging to an elderly man shaking him
awake. He sat up with a start not knowing
what to do. He was not usually this
heavy of a sleeper, and it seemed as though the events from the previous night
had cast some sort of deep spell of weariness over him. He looked up groggily at the old man only to
discover that he had picked up his blade and was examining it closely.
“This is a nice blade
sonny.” Came the croaking voice. “But I fear it will not be enough to save you
from the perils you will face.” He
turned to look at him, and suddenly he felt his strength returning to his body. He got up and looked inquisitively at the old
man.
The man was short, with a
frayed gray beard dangling over his stooping figure. He had a small cane in his weak brittle
hands. His tattered clothes dangled from
his old withered body. The only youthful
quality left in this old man were the two effervescent pale blue eyes which
drew and held Alecto’s gaze.
“May I ask, who are you
to see the future?” Came Alecto’s polite
clear voice.
“Who am I…? Hehehe” Came the croaking voice, and as he
said this, his mouth opened wide in what he considered a smile, but since there
was only one tooth in the mouth it looked more like a painful grimace to Alecto. “I am no one special, only a poor old man
wanting company on a cold morning.” The
old man looked hopefully at Alecto.
Alecto looked at the old
man inquisitively before replying with a sigh.
“Good, I would gladly allow you to accompany me if you would only give
me some advice. For I cannot make up my
mind on an important matter. You are
undoubtedly wise, old man. Your
experience could bring welcome advice indeed.
Perhaps you could help me.” He
once again paused and his face became red from embarrassment.
“Oh don’t be ashamed my
young friend. It takes true courage to
ask for advice. And wisdom-to seek
advice from an old man.” He gave him a
commending look before continuing.
“And I already know the
answer to your question. You should not
do either of what you are thinking of doing.”
His mystical answer stunned Alecto.
“But what do you
mean?” He asked.
“Well it’s obvious isn’t
it?” The old man gave Alecto a playful
look as he smirked through his grizzled old beard.
“No, I’m afraid I don’t
understand.” Alecto muttered silently.
“Well the answer is you
shouldn’t go to Athens and you shouldn’t leave the road. You should stay with me.” Once again bewilderment rose in Alecto’s deep
eyes. That this man could know what his
problem was astounded Alecto. It seemed
to Alecto that those pale blue eyes peered deep into the very fiber of Alecto’s
being. As though the man could know more
about a person from just one quick glance, than that person would ever know
about themselves.
Alecto glanced back at
the old man and something about his appearance jogged an old memory of
his. He remembered something his mother
had told him about how sometimes gods would disguise themselves in an attempt
to test a person. Could this old decrepit
man truly be a god though? Alecto
decided there was only one way to find out.
“My all knowing friend, forgive
me, but I do not believe I ever heard your name. I would tell you mine, but I have a strange
feeling that you already know it.”
The stranger laughed, but
it was an uneasy laugh as though he realized something had changed in Alecto’s
behavior.
“Is your father well my
boy? It has been a long time since I
have had the honor of seeing the man. We
were friends back in the-”
“-I am sorry my friend
but up till now I have never had the honor of meeting you, and my father is quite
benevolent in showing us his acquaintances.”
His eyes glittered as he looked at the stranger with an all knowing eye.
The stranger took a
feeble step forward. “You are right; I
last met your father long before you were born.
Quite a man he is, and I am glad to see the apple didn’t fall too far
from the tree…If it fell away at all?”
He once again gave a grimaced grin before continuing- “He was always
suspicious of me, and probably for good reason.
I was there the day he met your mother…”
“You mean the day he
saved my mother from being sacrificed!”
Came Alecto’s ever more suspicious retort.
“Yes, yes, you may refer
to it as that, but I always knew he would save her in the end. And your pop didn’t let me down now did he my
boy?”
“No he didn’t” Alecto
murmured before giving the old man a long quizzical look, “Who are you
sir? You speak much of what you know,
but little of who you are. If you truly
knew my father as well as you say, why would you be embarrassed to tell me?”
“Hmmph, you are wise my
boy. I have great reason to be
embarrassed around you, because I come to help you help me. You see our lives have been magically
interwoven for many years. Such deep
magic cannot be lightly undone. You see
it was I who created a need for that sword you have there.” He pointed to the
glittering blade, “It was I who nearly ended your mother’s life and in so doing
your own, and it is I who come seeking help from you this day.”
Alecto gasped, could it truly
be the god who created his father’s fame-“Pose—id--on!!!” He stammered.
The old man nodded his
head. “You are much cleverer than most
humans, Alecto. You will need your
intellect in the time to come.” A great
blue light appeared around the old man blinding Alecto. The very light which surrounded him burned a
picture into Alecto’s eyes. He fell
back, stunned as a new formidably domineering figure materialized before him.
“You are right, Alecto, I
am Poseidon, and I am answering your call!”
The old man’s figure had
been transformed into the tall magnificent Poseidon, the god of the sea, who
stood before him. He was clothed in a majestic
green robe which opened into his bared, strong, hairy chest. In his right hand he held a large golden
trident. His eyes seemed to radiate
wisdom from their pale blue depths. His
large prominent chin jutted out from his old face; however, it was a face
coated like honey on honeycomb with wisdom.
The plump round cheeks gave a happy and jovial appearance, and he had
long black hair braided and falling like waterfalls behind his face. Here was Poseidon, brother of Zeus, and god
of the Sea.
“You are fortunate to be
of godly lineage, my young friend. Few
mortals indeed can say they have seen a god and lived to tell the tale. But now that you have seen me, you must undertake
the mission I am about to give you.” His
croaking voice was gone and was now replaced with a strong echoing voice which
could only inspire awe in a person. He
looked with those searching eyes deep into Alecto.
“Time is short; otherwise
I may have attempted to appear more gradually to you. You see last week my son Halirrhothius was
brutally slain by Ares when he caught him assaulting one of his daughters. Now I am making Ares stand trial for this
unjustified murder of my son.”
“You should know best
after your father’s tale with Medusa that the gods have trouble remaining with
only one lover. Most of all Ares, who,
it seems, is always eloping with one mortal woman after another, and he should
know best not to bring railing accusations against someone else for such an
act, the god is bloodthirsty, but I fear the law cannot stop him. I know I cannot avenge my son, for I must
speak in accusation of Ares at the trial today, but because of this the
goddesses will outnumber the gods by one, and Ares, who is sure to appeal to
his fatherly right to protect his daughter will ultimately win the day by
swaying the goddesses to his side.”’
“So now I appeal to you
Alecto, the cleverest of all the sons of Perseus. I need to avenge my son’s death, but ironically,
I being a god am powerless to do so. But
you Alecto, being descended from Zeus himself can bring lawful vengeance in my
stead. In return for this service, I
offer you a gift which I have never given to any man or god on earth before
you. I offer you the power to control
water-the power to make the very seas obey you.
Truly this would carve a name for you in history, but…” Poseidon’s warning voice rang out. “Do not
take this gift lightly. Control of the
sea is terrifyingly difficult, and without care it may only result in
heartache, only your family and those whom you trust may know of it. For no mortal man can truly appreciate this
power and very few gods would agree with my malicious tactics.” Alecto nodded hesitantly, surely such a gift
was what he had set out to find, but would the quest he was about to undertake
be too difficult for him? He hesitated
before the thought came to him that there weren’t any gains without pains. So he nodded in agreement.
“So Alecto the quest I am
to give you must be completed today, by the time Helios’ chariots cross the
mountains in the western sky, otherwise you will most certainly be caught and
more than likely die a horrible and gruesome death.” His face contorted into a grimace before
giving Alecto his final instructions.
“Now Ares has two sons:
Deimos and Phobos. They follow him
everywhere he goes in battle. However,
today they will be separated from him, for they are not allowed to witness the
trial before the gods, which is to take place.
And although it is a somber and sad time for me, it is also the perfect
time to exact my revenge. Now my boy, as
soon as my chariot arrives we need to be off.
I will take you to the outskirts of Sparta where Ares has built himself
a secretive residence. There is only one
entrance to his guarded abode. But this
temple of his is not guarded by mere puny warriors. Instead it is guarded by his wrathful sons. I give you my warning Alecto, that there is a
reason they are named Fear and Terror.
Do not go about in the usual rash manner of a demi-god. You must be prudent and not forsake your own
safety. The task I am about to give you
may not seem difficult. But if I know my
nephew, I know it will prove to be a monumental labor. What I want you to do is slip unnoticed into
the temple and steal a certain staff Ares keeps in his possession.
Now this staff is not
very ornate. Indeed it would not be
remarkable at all, except for the fact that it is made out of rare sea wood,
which makes it glitter blue, and it has a large reflective black stone crowning
the top of it. It is a staff I
hand-crafted many years ago, and the one which I gave to my son.
When he was killed, Ares
took it to mark his victory. Naturally I
could go and-beg him to give back such a token…But such an act would not befit
a god of my status nor of my situation. So
instead I send you. Do not disappoint me
Alecto. Consider this payment for the
sacrifice your father stole from me those many years ago.” And with that the great god whistled and a
large sky blue chariot carried by four enormous dolphins came floating through
the sky.
“Now let’s be off,
Alecto. We have many miles to go and we
need to be there before Ares departs for the tribunal.” Poseidon forcefully grabbed Alecto and leaped
onto the carriage before it even touched the ground, and then they were off,
soaring through the skies toward Sparta and towards Alecto’s destiny.
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