My brothers would be livid if they caught me. Though they might have accepted my presence on the training ground back home, they’d never stand for my being a part of the boar hunt, with all its thrills and perils. They’d force me to go back to the citadel, even if it meant one of them would have to drop out of this grand adventure in order to enforce their decision. The unlucky twin would never forgive me for stealing his first chance at fame.
O Hermes, be with me! Let me find the hunt, but not my brothers!
The trickster heard, and being a trickster he answered my prayer in his own special way. The first hunters I found weren’t my brothers. They were that handsome braggart Theseus of Athens and his friend Pirithous.
“Well, what’s this?” Theseus boomed when he saw me loping through the underbrush. He was leaning on a huge boar spear, the shaft as thick as a young tree, the bronze point bigger than my hand. “Lost your way, boy? Don’t be afraid, we’ll protect you.” He and Pirithous roared with laughter.
“I can protect myself,” I told them calmly, drawing my blade.
It only made them laugh harder. “Who told you we were hunting bunnies?” Pirithous sneered. He was carrying a bundle of lighter spears and had a weighted net slung over one shoulder. “Ever seen a wild boar, puppy? Even a young one can open a man’s belly with one stroke of his tusks.”
“I’ve seen wild boars,” I lied. “This is at least as long as any boar’s tusk.” I held up my sword proudly. “When I meet the Calydonian boar today, we’ll see whose belly gets torn open.”
It was a silly, empty boast, like those they spouted about themselves, but it seemed to win me some friends. The two men traded a look of amusement, then Theseus said, “I like your nerve, boy. What’s your name?”
“Glaucus.”
He didn’t ask me where I was from; he must’ve assumed I was a Calydonian. “Well, Glaucus, Theseus and I travel light, so we didn’t come to Calydon with a whole crew of servants like some of these other so-called heroes. Why don’t you give us a hand with our gear?” Pirithous held out the bundle of spears. “When I kill the boar, I’ll give you one of his teeth to wear ’round your neck as a reward.”
I shook my head. “I only work for one person.”
“A servant with a sword?” Theseus’s eyebrows rose. “Who’d allow that?”
I looked him steadily in the eye. “Atalanta.”
“Her?” Pirithous spat. “This is the first I’ve heard that she kept servants. Theseus, didn’t we see her arrive at the palace gates alone?”
“I’m not hers,” I said quickly. “I serve Prince Meleager. He ordered me to attend her on the hunt, but she outran me. He’s the one who gave me this.” I made a great show of brandishing my sword.
“That explains it.” Theseus’s mouth twisted into a mocking smile. “Meleager’s in love with that monstrosity, the gods alone know why. The way he looks at her makes me want to puke.”
“He’d better watch himself,” Pirithous put in. “A woman like that devours men. I heard that when he was born, the Fates told his mother that he’d live only as long as the log burning on the hearth. She poured water on it, wrapped it up, and put it away somewhere safe, but I don’t think it worked. Call me a liar, but I swear there are times he looks like he’s burning to ashes from the inside out.”
“He’s still a good warrior,” Theseus said. “And a fine hunter, who’ll beat us to the boar if we don’t stop jabbering with this brat and get going.” He shouldered his massive spear and started off.
Pirithous followed, though he did spare me one backward glance. “Go back to the palace, Glaucus; this isn’t for you,” he told me. “You’re almost as weak and soft-looking as a girl. Your hands should hold a lyre, not a sword.” Then he, too, was gone.
I went after them, but only because the whole hunting party was heading in the same direction, higher up the mountain. As I made my way through the trees, I heard a new note in the music of the hunt. The howls and wails of injured dogs, the shrieks of men in pain, and, over all, the bone-chilling bellow of the Calydonian boar.
Then the trees ended. I stepped out onto a spearhead-shaped swath of open ground, the old forest all burned away by a lightning strike, just as Polydeuces had said. There were only a few brave sprouts of new green beginning to poke up from the charred earth, among the blackened stumps of trees. About halfway up that bleak terrain was a small, narrow ravine, like the bite of an ax. That was where the sounds were coming from.
Other stragglers were running toward it, men sweating and shouting, brandishing their weapons and cheering for the kill. I ran with them. I recognized my brothers from the back, already moving toward the front rank of the hunters, but I no longer cared if they saw me. The hunt was almost over; let them send me back to the palace now and it wouldn’t matter. In fact, I wanted them to see me. I’d enjoy their look of surprise when I tapped them on the shoulder and—
My hand was already outstretched to touch them when my sandal slipped and I fell on my face. I pushed myself up on my forearms and stared at the ground.
No wonder I’d fallen. The earth was slick with blood.
11
THE GREAT HUNT
I was still sprawled on the blood-soaked ground when a strong hand hauled me upright and a familiar voice commanded: “Get up or get trampled, lad.”
I regained my feet and found myself again face to face with Iolaus. “Thank you, sir,” I said. “I got separated from my master in the woods. What’s happening? Do we have the boar?”