The Oracle of Delphi (Greek Myth Fantasy Series) (13 page)

“That’s not true.” He stood across from her. “I did not save your life for my own benefit.”

“I refuse to talk to you anymore tonight.”

“Fine,” he said. “I think it would do us both some good to get a little uninterrupted sleep.”

She wondered if he was referring to their lovemaking last night, which had kept them awake nearly until morning. She rustled a blanket out of the saddlebag knowing there wasn’t another for him to sleep on.

“I only have one blanket, and I think it better if we don’t share it.”

“I agree,” he said. “You use it.”

“And what about you? Will you sleep on the bare ground?”

“Perhaps. Or mayhap I’ll use these winged shoes of mine and sleep in a tree. Even the company of that owl seems warmer than what I’ll find down here tonight.”

*   *   *

Perseus awoke the next morning with a branch sticking him in the side. A hornet buzzed around his head. Looking up from his position in the tree, he saw a huge nest dangling precariously above his head.

The clanking of cooking utensils from below had woken him from his dreams of Andromeda bent over the bed with him entering her from behind.

“You will never get that Gorgon in time if you sleep the day away,” Andromeda called from the ground. A spoon and pot dangled from her hands, the weapons of a deliberate attack on his dreams.

“You are absolutely correct,” he said, turning over on the branch. Just at that moment, the hornet swooped into his tunic wrap, heading right for the part a man does not want stung.

“Whoa!” he cried, trying to shoo it from under his tunic. “Out! Out with you.”

His abrupt movements set him off balance, and before he knew it he landed with a thump upon the ground. With the air knocked from his lungs and his head splitting, he lay on his back watching the hornet hive swing back and forth on the branch.

“I am not starting out the day very well, am I?”

Andromeda stood over him, hands on her hips looking down at him. Her gown rested just past her knees and he could not help but see up her bare legs.

“If you don’t stop looking up my gown, I’m going to take this rock and let you know just how bad your day can be.” She tossed it up in the air and caught it in one hand while glancing up toward the nest of hornets.

“I don’t believe you’d be so cruel.”

“I still can’t believe you only saved me from the pit because you didn’t want to lose your answer.”

“Now, Princess, you know that is not true.” He reached out and touched her behind the knee, not able to pull his eyes away from the milky white legs.

She stepped away quickly, shaking her head. “I warned you.” Her arm came above her head, and before Perseus could stop her, she had thrown the rock at the tree just missing the nest of hornets.

“You didn’t!” he exclaimed in shock.

“I did! And I’m only sorry I’m such a bad aim. I think I’ll try it again.”

She bent to pick up a rock, and Perseus jumped up after her. She took off at a fast pace, looking over her shoulder as he continued his pursuit. A lake sat through the trees just ahead and he knew he should stop her before she fell in. He gained on her easily and reached out for her just as his feet left the ground.

He’d forgotten he still wore the winged shoes. He lifted up over her unable to control his actions, up over the lake, high into the air. His legs kicked wildly as he tried to stop and turn back, but not yet used to the operation of the shoes he fell headfirst into the water. He broke the surface, whipping his wet hair out of his eyes in aggravation. Andromeda stood at the bank laughing so hard she held her sides.

“It’s not funny,” he said, only causing her to laugh harder.

“You are most pathetic at the art of flying. If only you could see how funny you look.”

He failed to see the situation as amusing, and knew he needed to teach the wench a lesson in taunting a demi-god.

“I seem to have lodged my foot on a vine,” he lied. “Actually, it seems more like some kind of water creature. Oh no! It’s pulling at my leg.” He made a dramatic act of being pulled under, watching Andromeda’s eyes widen. Her laughter stopped as he disappeared under the water.

His lungs were strong, enabling him to stay under for a very long time. He had practiced for underwater races and scavenger hunts many times off the shores of Seriphus, always winning. He swam concealed to the spot he had last seen Andromeda, and watched from below the surface until the reflection of her body coming into the water to look for him could be seen.

He jumped up behind her with a loud roar, causing her to scream horridly, beating at him with her fists. He grabbed her hands in his and laughed, pulling her down into the water. They both dunked below the surface, all the while she still struggled. When he brought her back up into the air he couldn’t help but notice the paleness of her face.

“Well, Princess, now we’re even.”

“How dare you frighten me like that. Next time I’ll kill you if you don’t make your presence known.”

He pulled her against his chest, noticing the rapid beating of her heart. Her body trembled, and he didn’t understand her reaction to the prank.

“You really are scared,” he said. “What did you think? You were being eaten by a sea monster?” He knew he’d guessed correctly when she wiped a hand over her eye and bit her lip, looking away.

“Princess, had I any idea it would affect you like this, I would never have done it.”

“I’m fine,” she said, pushing away from him and pulling her soggy garment around her as she made her way to shore. Perseus followed her toward the fire.

The embers were low so he added more wood until the flames grew high and stable. Stripping off his tunic, he stood before her in his braies.

“We should dry our clothes. Do you have rope in the saddle bag so we can hang them above the fire?”

“I do,” she admitted, digging within and producing rope. He took it from her, running a finger over her cheek. “Princess, you really should dry your clothes, too.”

“I will not undress in front of you. Turn away.”

Out of respect, he turned away and tied the rope over the fire. When he turned back, he found her huddled in a blanket, handing him her clothes.

“We are man and wife now,” he reminded her. “I’ve seen you naked before.”

She didn’t answer, just sat down and stared into the fire. He removed his shoes and hung them up to dry also, followed by his wet braies. He noticed her eyes settling on his lower half, but when he looked at her, she looked away.

“I’ll be leaving as soon as my clothes are dry. With these shoes I should be able to make it to the cave very quickly.” He wanted her to object, or to tell him not to leave. But she didn’t. He had come after her thinking it was what she wanted, but now he could see that was not true. “Andromeda, I hate to leave you like this.”

Still, she remained silent.

“But you know I have to do this. I’ll come back and help you with the sea serpent after I’ve delivered the head of Medusa to King Polydectes.”

“I know you will,” she said, sounding more confident than she had all morning. “But you have it wrong. You’ll help me slay the sea monster first.”

“Now, Princess, we’ve been over this already. You know the plan.”

“Well, the plan has changed,” she said, raising to her feet. “Because you are not leaving here without me.”

“I do not understand. I’d be happy to have you join me, but the plan remains the same.”

“Not anymore it doesn’t, Perseus.” She stood in front of him, her blue eyes snapping with determination. “Because I have information from the oracle that you need. If you help me, mayhap I will be willing to give it to you.”

“What information?” asked Perseus for the third time.

Andromeda clasped her cloak in place, trying not to watch Perseus as he finished dressing. Seeing him naked had only reminded her how much she’d enjoyed their wedding night together. Even if he didn’t really want her as a wife, she wasn’t going to let him just walk out of her life that easily.

It was almost as if he had been waiting for her to agree that his mission was more important than hers. It wasn’t. He had sealed an agreement with her in Dodona and their marriage had been contracted as her insurance that he would keep his word. He would still kill the sea serpent for her, even if she had to lie to get him to do it.

“I know where to find the Gorgons,” she told him. “When the oracle showed me all the answers of the universe, I realized the location of the Gorgon’s home was amongst them.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” he growled. “You were holding out on me.”

“I guess it just slipped my mind.” She looked over her shoulder as he glared at her and then started dousing the fire.

“Just slipped your mind,” he repeated in a tone of voice that announced he didn’t believe her at all. “Not likely. A woman like you is more careful what she lets slip. I think you were holding the information from me purposely all along because you wanted to see me fail.”

“Now, Perseus, you know how ill I felt after confronting the oracle. I guess you could say … things come back to me little by little.”

“Hmmph,” he grunted at her comment, pulling the straps on the saddlebag secure. “More likely they come back to you whenever you decide it’s beneficial to your own cause.”

“Well, shall we?” she asked, mounting the horse. “A sea serpent awaits us.”

“And so does Hermes at the cave of the Graiae women,” he said, hoisting himself onto the back of the horse. “We can’t make him wait any longer.”

He wrapped his arms around her, taking the reins. His large body pressed against her in a most intimate way. She had almost gotten lost in her own thoughts until she realized just what he was telling her.

“What? I thought we were going to Thessaly.”

“We have a previous engagement to keep.” He kicked the winged heels of his shoes into the horse’s sides to go faster.

“But … but you need the information I have of where to find the Gorgons.”

“I do,” he agreed. “But not yet, so you’ll just have to wait. I’ve been told I need certain weapons to go up against Medusa. Perhaps they can help protect me from the sea serpent as well. I will not go to my death needlessly. I’ll use the gifts of Zeus wisely, as he suggested.”

Andromeda stirred in his embrace, feeling the fury engulf her. By the gods, the man was stubborn. She would just have to work a little harder at persuading him from now on.

Perseus watched overhead as the sun rose higher in the sky. He hoped Hermes still waited at the cave he’d pointed out the night before. Perseus knew he could have made it to the cave much quicker had he used the winged shoes, but he didn’t plan on letting Andromeda out of his sight again.

She knew where to find the Gorgons, and by the gods, she was going to tell him. He would not be tricked into going off his path in order to get the information. He would accomplish what he had to in order to attain the weapons, then he’d demand she give him the answer to where Medusa lived.

“We are approaching the cave,” he told her. “Stay quiet. I don’t know what to expect of the Graiae. It sounds as if they can be very dangerous.”

“Not as dangerous as the fact that I may decide not to give you the information if you don’t turn around right now and head for Thessaly.”

“Don’t start that again, Princess. You will stay outside the cave where you’ll be safe until I return. And you had better be here when I do, or you won’t want to deal with my temper.”

“I’ll be halfway to Thessaly before you even step foot inside the cave.”

“Not if I can help it.”

Perseus spied Hermes lounging on a rock in the shade, tossing a golden pear in the air and catching it. Perseus’s horse stood tethered to a tree not far from the entrance of the cave.

“Hermes! So glad to see you are still here.”

Perseus dismounted, making sure Andromeda did the same. He held her hand so she wouldn’t think of leaving.

Hermes fluttered down from the rock, handing Perseus the helmet of invisibility. “Here you are. You know what to do. Have fun.”

He whisked up into the sky, heading off.

“Wait!” Perseus called. “Where are you going?”

“Can’t stay any longer,” he said, buzzing in a circle around them. “You should have returned sooner and I might have stuck around to help. But duty calls. I’ve got a dozen gods breathing down my neck to deliver their messages.”

With a flick of his hand, Hermes swept through the sky away from the cave of the Graiae.

“But where can I find the Gorgons?” Perseus yelled after him. “You haven’t told me.”

Too late. Hermes disappeared and Perseus knew he’d seen the last of him.  “Damn!” he cursed, tucking the helmet under his arm. He looked at Andromeda who smiled from ear to ear.

“Guess you really do need my information after all. Shall we go find that sea serpent now?”

“We’re doing this my way,” he commanded. “Now get away from the mouth of the cave and take the horses with you.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I feel it is rather a nice day for a ride.” She twirled a long blond strand of hair round and round her finger as she spoke.

“I can see this won’t work.”

He put down the helmet and walked over to the saddlebag. Digging through it, he continued to grumble. When she didn’t retort in her usual fashion, he slowly looked over his shoulder to find her gone.

His eyes shot to the ground where his helmet had been. It was missing also. So the girl wanted to play games, did she?

“Perseus,” came her voice from somewhere behind him. “I’ve got on your helmet of invisibility. If you want it back, you’re going to have to do things my way.”

He didn’t turn around, just closed his fingers around the skein of rope inside the bag.

“I can’t seem to hear you, Princess. Your voice is lost on the wind. Come closer and talk to me.”

The ground beneath them was damp, with leaves scattered everywhere. He peered from the side of his eyes, listening to the crunching leaves and knowing she approached his right side.

“Perseus, you may as well do what I want. Without this helmet you will fail in your attempt with the Graiae and probably Medusa.”

Still, he did not turn, just kept his attention on the saddlebag.

“The helmet is right here,” he said. “So quit trying to deceive me.”

“It is not!”

Perseus glanced over toward her voice without moving his head, seeing her footprints imprinting on the damp soil as she came closer.

“Look over here. If you’d look, you’d know I had on the helmet.”

In one motion he whipped the rope out of the bag, diving toward her footprints. Though he saw nothing, his body collided with hers, falling to the ground in a slight roll. The helmet slipped off her head showing her position. Perseus quickly wrapped the rope around her wrists.

“What are you doing?” she screamed. “Let me go at once.”

“I’m doing something I should have done long ago. If I had, I wouldn’t be so far behind schedule on this quest.” He tied her hands behind her back, and then tied together her ankles, throwing her over his shoulder and depositing her on the ground behind a tree far from the mouth of the cave.

“You can’t treat me like this. By the gods, I am your wife!”

“Then start acting like one and listen to your husband.” He gathered up the horses’ reins and led them over to her, tying them to a tree. “It will be easier to confront the Graiae women successfully if I’m not distracted by you.”

“I’ll scream and warn them,” she threatened. “I’ll tell them you plan on deceiving them just as you have done to me.”

“I don’t think so, Princess.” He pulled a cloth out of the saddlebag and tied it around her mouth. Her muffled protests continued as he checked his sword and put the helmet of invisibility under his arm. “Now be a good girl,” he told her. “I have work to do.”

Entering the dark cave, Perseus couldn’t help but gag at the awful stench that soured the air. Letting his eyes grow accustomed to his surroundings, he inched forward slowly, sword raised for protection.

“Who goes there?” he heard an old, crackly voice. He looked toward the sound and saw a gray-skinned old hag hobbling toward him from the shadows. He stood still and didn’t answer, and she stopped as well. That’s when he saw her eyes were nothing more than empty sockets. “Enyo, give me the eye,” she crooned, holding out her hand in the dark.

Another old woman, not much different from the first, shuffled over using a wooden cane. Her eye sockets were empty as well, but she smiled, showing one razor-sharp tooth within her mouth.

“I have the tooth, Pephredo. Dino has the eye.”

Then a third came over, a torch in her hand, walking a bit straighter than the other two. One of her eye sockets held an eye with which she studied him from across the room. “Who are you and what do you want?” she asked.

“I am Perseus,” he said, “the son of Zeus.”

They shuddered, stepping backwards at his pronouncement. As he had hoped, his parentage brought caution to their actions.

“He’s a handsome one,” said Dino, eyeing him from head to toe. “Mayhap we’ll have to keep him.” She cackled loudly and her voice echoed off the cave walls.

“Let me see!” Enyo grabbed the eye, putting it in place, doing the same thing as her sister. “Ah, you are right. He is mouth-watering.”

Perseus had a feeling the old hag spoke literally. He had no doubt in his mind from the smell in the cave that they ate all their visitors.

“If you have the eye, then I get the tooth,” said Dino, pulling it from her. “Mayhap I’ll be the first to get a taste.”

“I still have nothing,” Pephredo protested with a stamp of her foot. “Give me the eye, Enyo. I want to take a look for myself.”

Once again, the exchange was made and now the first one he’d met surveyed him.

“You come looking for something,” she said wisely. “What is it that you want?”

“I come to ask for the magic bag. The bag that instantly changes to whatever size one needs.”

“Ohhhh, I’ve got what he wants,” smiled Enyo standing in the middle of the three. “He’s going to be mine” she told her sisters.

He saw that the middle hag indeed had the bag hanging from a string at her waist. She swiped it with her long, curved fingernails, and it swung back and forth. His target in sight, he looked for an opportunity to steal it from them, knowing they would never give it over freely. Still, being polite as his mother had taught him, he thought to try anyway.

“May I have it?” he asked, giving forth one of his best smiles.

“Oh, look at those white teeth,” Pephredo said with a cackle. “We could use those, couldn’t we sister?”

“Here, you take the tooth and give me the eye.” Dino reached over and did the exchange with the sister on the other end.

“Come here,” she said, moving closer to Perseus.

“No, come to me,” said Pephredo, “I want to taste you.”

The middle sister grabbed on to her sisters and walked forward with them. Perseus backed away as they came closer, keeping watch of the bag at the middle sister’s waist. Then suddenly, Pephredo jumped toward him, her tooth glittering in the light of the torch held by her sister on the other end. She opened her mouth just above Perseus’s arm, but he was too fast for her. He grabbed the torch, putting it in front of Pephredo instead. The tooth sliced through the wood like butter, the torch falling to the ground and extinguishing in the process.

“Darn, he tricked us!” she yelled.

“Give me that eye,” said the middle one, reaching out to the sister on her left.

Instead of stealing the eye, he used the opportunity to slip the helmet of invisibility upon his head. He knew his plan was working when the middle sister didn’t seem to see him.

“Where is he?” she asked. “Dino, light another torch.”

The fire lit up the cave, and the three of them felt around the walls and floor with their hands, one sister using the eye to search around herself.

“He’s got to be here somewhere,” said Dino. “I can smell his young delicious flesh. Oh, give me the eye back. I want to find him.”

Perseus slipped forward, snatching the magic bag, cutting the strings with his sword. Immediately, they realized it was gone, and frantically they all started cackling and waving their arms. A flutter of wings whisked past Perseus’s head causing him to swat at it, exposing his whereabouts when the helmet came off his head. It fell to the floor with a loud clang as a group of bats exited the cave.

“There he is!” yelled whichever woman had the eye at the moment.

“Get him!” yelled another as they hobbled toward him.

Perseus scooped up the helmet, remembering Zeus told him to ask them the way to the sea nymphs. A little late to remember this now, but still he had to try.