Odysseus in the Serpent Maze (7 page)

Odysseus had the grace to look embarrassed. But only for a moment. “
Marooned
, you said.
Exiled
.”

This time it was Silenus who seemed uncomfortable. “It was aaaa misunderstanding,” he said. “Some nymphs. Too much wine. The usual thing. But I’m a saaaatyr. Whaaaat did they expect?” His voice rose in indignation. “How could I know this paaaarticular misunderstaaaanding haaaappened in Aaaaartemis’ saaaacred groves? No sense of humour, thaaaat one. None of the gods know how to laugh. Very full of themselves, they are. Aaaaartemis got her brother Aaaapollo to straaaand me here. A punishment. Long forgotten. On their paaaart. Not mine.”

Odysseus finished drinking the water. “Haven’t you even tried to escape?”

The satyr looked at him and shrugged. “Ever seen aaaa goat swim? I thought not. Still, perhaaaaps
you’ve
been sent by the gods to end my exile.”

Setting the bowl down, Odysseus asked carefully, “What do you mean?”

“Follow me,” said the satyr, standing.

Odysseus stood as well, but carefully. He didn’t want to lose another stomachful of water.

Ambling in a rolling gait, the goat-man seemed entirely at ease. He led Odysseus along a small rocky ledge that jutted out over the sea. Odysseus had to pick his way with a great deal more care.

On the lee side of the path were stunted trees from which a single little wren was singing its own morning song.

“I caaaan work my passaaaage,” Silenus was saying. “I’m aaaa good cook, just drop me off aaaat the first convenient spot. Cytheraaaaa, perhaps, where delicious Aaaaphrodite first rose out of the sea. Or Naaaaxos.” He smacked his lips. “Yes—it’s faaaar too long since I saaampled the sweet Naaaaxos wine.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Why—one of your ships is come to find you, O prince,” Silenus said, beaming. “Look down there in the baaaay. You could tell them how I rescued you. You could taaaake me aaas aaaa paaaassenger.”

Odysseus shielded his eyes from the sun that sparkled off the water. Where the satyr pointed, a ship lay on its side, pulled up on to the sand. A black-tarred ship. He recognised the fish markings on its side.

The pirates’ ship.

“T
HEY’RE COLLECTING WAAAATER FROM
the spring,” said Silenus. “Been there since this morning. But I was aaaafraid to show myself in caaaase—like many maaaanlings—they’re cruel.”

“Crueller than the gods?” Odysseus asked.

“The gods do not eat goats,” said Silenus.

Odysseus stared down at the busy scene below.

“You don’t look very haaaappy,” Silenus said. “I thought you’d be haaaappy to see your shipmaaaates.”

“That isn’t my ship,” Odysseus told him. “Those are pirates.”

“How caaaan you be sure?”

Odysseus sat back on his heels. “I’ve run into them before.”

“Before—or aaaafter—the fight with the sea serpent?”

Above them gulls flew in circles, screaming at one another.

Odysseus sighed. “There was no sea serpent.”

Silenus nodded. “I knew thaaaat.”

Odysseus said carefully, “Then know this: those pirates would cut my throat as well as yours.”

“Aaaa,” Silenus said. He flopped down on to a rock, with his elbows on his hairy knees. “I knew you weren’t really a prince. Moment I looked aaaat you, I knew. You’re not taaaall enough. Not fine enough. Now Perseus—there was aaaa true prince. Aaand Hercules—the muscles on thaaaat boy. Aaand—”

“I
am
a prince,” said Odysseus. “For what it’s worth.”

“Not worth much,” the satyr said. “It’s not princes we need now. We need aaaa hero.”

“A hero!” Odysseus stood.

“Who is aaaa sailor,” said Silenus, standing and sidling over to Odysseus, but thankfully downwind.

“I grew up around boats,” said Odysseus. “I’m an islander, after all. I’ve sailed from one end of Achaea to the other.”

Silenus looked suddenly sly. “If we found aaaa boat—even aaaa small boat—could you get us to the mainlaaaand?”

Odysseus rounded on the satyr. “You have a boat? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“Well, it’s a very
smaaaall
boat. Haaaardly worth mentioning.” Suddenly the sun hid behind a dark cloud, and the old satyr’s face became full of shadows.

“How small?”

Silenus looked around, as if afraid of being overheard. “Some while back—months, years, I’ve lost count—this fishing boat waaaashed on to the beach. You’d be surprised—really you would—what I’ve found in the shaaaallows.”

“Get on with it,” growled Odysseus.

“It waaaas wrecked, of course. But I fixed it.”

“So why haven’t you sailed off?” Odysseus asked.

“Goats and waaaater. Baaaad mix. Baaaad. Baaaad. Baaaad.”

Odysseus looked back over the ledge. There was an awning set up next to the pirate boat. He assumed the two girls lay under it. But he couldn’t see Mentor anywhere.

“Where
is
your boat?” Odysseus asked suddenly.

“On the other side of the island,” said Silenus. He joined Odysseus in looking over the ledge. “But we could taaaake
their
boat.”

“You really don’t know anything about ships, goat-man,” Odysseus said. “That’s a full-size war galley. We couldn’t even get it back into the water, let alone hoist the sail. We couldn’t—”

Silenus sniffed loudly. “I smell something sweet.”

“The wind must be blowing away from you then,” Odysseus muttered, turned, and saw Mentor tied to a date tree.

He’s alive!
Odysseus bit his lip.
Thank you, Athena.

“Wine and women, women and wine,” sang Silenus, sniffing. “Nothing sweeter for paaaassing the time …”

Odysseus grabbed the goat-man by the horns and pulled his head around to face him. “Listen, Silenus—I can sail your little boat. But first we have to rescue a friend of mine.”

Silenus tore from Odysseus’ grasp to look over the side again. “But there are two … twenty … thirty baaaad men there.”

Odysseus yanked him back by the little goat tail. “Then we’ll have to come up with a plan.”

Making a plan was easy. Odysseus thought; it was a lot like telling a story.

Of course, in a story, heroes always win.

But acting on the plan was going to be a great deal more difficult. Large boulders, slippery rocks and prickly bushes had their own way of adding to a tale. By the time Odysseus and Silenus were hidden among the rocks at the edge of the beach, Odysseus’ arms and legs bore the scars of such a telling. His tunic was sopping wet with sweat, and the goat-man was—unbelievably—smellier than ever.

Still, they had got where they’d hoped to get: far enough away that the sailors couldn’t hear them, close enough that they could watch what was going on.

It was clear the pirates were getting ready to leave. The newly filled water jars were lined up by the side of the boat. Scattered about the beach were the remains of a cookfire.

Breakfast
, Odysseus thought, and his stomach growled.

Mentor was no longer tied to the tree but now—bound hand and foot—he was propped against the ship’s black hull.

A few yards away Helen and Penelope—also tied—sagged against each other. Helen had a gag over her mouth.

Odysseus wasn’t surprised.

“Women,” said Silenus by his side. “You didn’t saaaay, but I knew. The nose aaaalways knows. Wine and women,” he began singing in his bleating monotone. “Women and wine—”

Odysseus elbowed him. “Shut up. Go and do your part of the plan or you can forget about my helping you get off this island.”

“I’ll make my waaaay there and baaaack without them noticing,” Silenus said. Then, casting one last lingering glance at the bound girls, he began to pick his way through the rocks with a speed and stealth Odysseus envied.

Just then the captain of the pirates stood, and in his stiff-legged mastiff way, walked over to the boat to check on things.

“Load the water first. Then the prisoners. Girls first. Then push the ship off,” he commanded loudly in his bark of a voice.

The pirates jumped to do his bidding. Odysseus was suddenly wondering if the satyr could possibly get to the other side of the beach in time, when a cry went up from one of the sailors.

“Look! Look!” A sailor with a curling beard was pointing.

The pirates all looked and, from his hiding place, Odysseus looked as well.

Silenus had indeed made good his boast. Hopping on to a large boulder, he started making obscene gestures in the sailors’ direction. “Ugly sea dogs. Woof! Woof!” he cried. “Medusaaaa waaaas your mother. Ugly! Ugly! Like aaaa centaur’s hind end!”

The pirates gaped at him.

Silenus did a little dance on the rock and stuck out his tongue. “Do the world aaaa favour,” he called. “Behead yourselves. Baaaad men. Baaaaaaad.” Bleating, he swung around bent over, and let loose a noxious blast of wind.

Boreas himself does not blow that hard
, thought Odysseus with a grin.

The captain drew his sword. “After him, lads,” he yelled. “But don’t kill him. There may be some profit to be had from exhibiting that foul-tongued beast.”

The pirates all swarmed off in pursuit.

Silenus had promised he knew every rock and crevice on the island and could easily shake off any pursuit. Odysseus hoped this was true, for he needed plenty of time to free Mentor.

But at the edge of the beach, the pirate chief had a sudden change of heart.

“Thyetes,” he called to one of the men, “go back and stay with those prisoners. Lest there be any more such beasties around.”

Thyetes turned, his long, skinny legs carrying him back quickly to the boat, where he stood right beside Mentor. But instead of keeping an eye on the prisoners, he turned to watch his shipmates disappearing into the trees.

“Go on!” he cried after them, hoisting his spear. “Hit him once for me! No one says that about
my
mother!”

Odysseus hadn’t counted on that.
What can I do?
he wondered. He looked around frantically. All that was near him was sand and stone and …

Stone.

He had a good throwing arm. Best among the boys at the palace in Ithaca. He could hit pretty much anything he aimed at. Bending down, he picked up two very large smooth grey stones.

Odysseus took advantage of the pirate’s turned back and heaved the first stone. It struck the pirate’s shoulder, and he spun around, looking for the thrower.

Mentor saw Odysseus first, his eyes widening. Penelope saw him next. Helen was too busy muttering and straining against her bonds to notice anything but her own discomfort.

Just then the pirate spotted him and raised his mighty spear.

Twisting around, Mentor struck out with his bound-together legs and kicked the pirate in the knees.

“Ooof,” Thyetes cried, beginning to fall.

Odysseus sprinted forward and brought the second stone down on the pirate’s skull. The man dropped like a sack full of dates.

Plucking the pirate’s dagger from his belt, Odysseus sliced through Mentor’s bonds.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw you, galloping over the sand like … like…”

“Like a hero,” Odysseus said, grinning.

“I meant like a ghost back unheralded from Hades.”

“It takes more than a drowning to kill me,” said Odysseus. “Can you stand?” He held out his hand and pulled Mentor up.

Mentor stood, though he was a bit wobbly from being tied up so long. “I can manage.”

“We’ve got to get out of here.”

“What about Helen? What about Penelope?” Mentor whispered, rubbing his chafed wrists.

“They’re only women,” Odysseus whispered back. “And they’ll slow us down.” The crease between his eyebrows suddenly appeared. “Once we’re safely away and find our own ship, we can come back for them. Not now.”

“But …” Mentor’s face flushed. “We can’t … You don’t mean …”

Odysseus seized his arm and pulled him away. “Think, Mentor, think,” he said. “Helen is their big prize. They expect to make a handsome profit out of her. If we leave her, they’ll probably sail on and deliver her to old King Theseus. And honestly—didn’t you hear her before? She
wants
to go.”

“Well,
I
don’t want her to go,” Mentor said. “Her
father
doesn’t want her to go.”

“She’s a princess,” Odysseus said, losing his patience and speaking loudly. “They marry old kings all the time.”

“But …”

“If we take her now, the pirates will tear this island apart looking for her.
None
of us will get away then.”

Penelope had heard the last part of their conversation. “He’s right, you know,” she told Mentor. “Go now. Rescue us later.”

Mentor was about to argue with her, when he wrinkled his nose. “What’s that awful smell?”

“Baaaad men aaaall gone,” said Silenus, bounding over the sand towards them and waving his big wooden club. “I said I could do it.”

“
What
is that?” asked Mentor.

“You mean
who
is that,” Odysseus said. “Silenus, meet Mentor.”

The two nodded at one another, each cautious in their greeting.

“He’s got a small boat,” Odysseus explained. “We’ll lie low until the pirates leave and—”

“Women!” the satyr cried. Bounding past the two boys, he dropped his club, grabbed Helen, slung her over his shoulder, and loped back across the sand towards the shelter of the rocks.

“Y
OU INFERNAL CREATURE!” ODYSSEUS
shouted, waving a fist at the fleeing satyr. “You’ve doomed us all.”

But Mentor wasted no time in cursing. Instead he was already racing across the sand in hot pursuit of Silenus.

Penelope held out her bound hands. “If you’re going after Helen, you’d better take me as well. I’m the only one who knows how to cope with her.”

Odysseus groaned but knew she was right. It was either take Penelope along now, or murder Helen later just to keep her quiet. He slashed through the ropes binding the girl’s wrists.

“If we empty these water kraters, we can delay the pirates’ pursuit by boat,” Penelope added. “They won’t dare sail without stocking up again.” She began kicking over the pottery jars until all but one spilled out their precious fluids on to the sand.