Only half the crew was off the ship when a group of six spearmen came trotting down the length of the dock to intercept us. Their tunics were as red as the royal stronghold walls, and their shields and helmets glinted in the dying daylight. Their leader was a short, swarthy man with a boarhound’s face half covered by a sooty beard. He hailed us in the local tongue and then, to my surprise, in several more languages, including our own.
“If you come in peace, be welcome to Colchis,” he said. “What is your business here?” As he spoke, he cast a canny, expert eye over the Argo. His thoughts were as plain as if he spoke them aloud: If you’re a merchant vessel, where are the goods you’ve brought to trade?
Argus would have answered, but Jason hurried to plant himself between the shipbuilder and the spearmen. “I am Prince Jason of Iolkos, and my business here is with your king.”
“Iolkos?” The lead spearman repeated the name in a way that showed he’d never heard of it. “What would my lord Aetes have to do with Iolkos, wherever that is? If that’s your only claim to an audience with the king—”
Argus made an impatient noise. “Since when does Lord Aetes need the likes of you to decide who he’ll want to see? Or has his kingdom become so poor that he can no longer afford a little bread and salt for his own kin?”
The spearman goggled at Argus. “Are you claiming kinship to Lord Aetes, old man?”
“I look older than I am, fool, just as you’ll look the worse for wear when my grandfather finds out you insulted me. I’m Argus, son of Phrixus and the royal lady Nera, Lord Aetes’ eldest daughter by his chief wife. Do you recognize my name, or were you whelped yesterday, pup?”
The spearman’s mouth flattened. “You were banished.”
“So I was. Yet here I am. Now use the mind the gods gave you. Ask yourself why any sane man would risk his life by defying an order of exile. What could be so crucial that I’d be willing to put my own blood in the balance for it, eh?” He clapped the spearman on the back before the man could react and concluded, “Don’t you think Lord Aetes might want to know the answer to that, too?”
Night enveloped the port of Aea and still we stood on the dock. The leader of the spearmen left his troops to watch us while he carried the news of our arrival to Lord Aetes. The men still aboard the Argo kindled a few oil lamps to chase away the shadows.
I sidled up to Argus. “What do you think will happen?”
He made a dismissive gesture. “It’s going to take my grandfather some time to chew over the news, then to decide what he wants to do about it. Don’t worry. I remember him being a reasonable man. If there’s a price to pay for my return, I’ll be the only one who’ll have to pay it.”
“We won’t allow that,” I said staunchly. “We’ll stand by you.”
His laugh was short. “You can’t speak for anyone but yourself, O huntress. The other men might defend me, if only to add to their fame as fighters, but Jason himself would skin me alive with his own knife if Lord Aetes offered to swap the Golden Fleece for my old pelt.”
“What are you saying, Argus?” Jason came out of the darkness like a murdered man’s ghost. “I heard you mention my name.”
“Only telling Atalanta here about your own exploits as a hunter,” Argus said as naturally as if it were true. “You ought to show her that leopard-skin trophy of yours. It’s a beauty.”
“There’ll be time enough to show her that later.” Jason tried to look annoyed, but I could tell that Argus’s smooth talk had flattered him. “When I choose to do it, not when you try to send me off on an errand. I still lead this venture, not you.”
I hated his arrogant attitude toward Argus, to whom he owed so much, but there was little I could do about it. The best I could manage was a ruse to divert him. “A leopard skin?” I put the proper note of awe into my voice. “You should wear it when Lord Aetes summons us to his hall. One look at such a prize and he’ll know who our leader is without asking!”
“You think that will be necessary?” Jason growled, giving Argus a hard, resentful stare.
I pretended I hadn’t heard that. “A leopard! Not even Herakles could boast such a kill. He wore a lion’s pelt, but brute strength’s all you need to slay one of those beasts. You need strength and brains to overcome a leopard.”
“Would you really like to see the pelt?” Jason asked eagerly. I nodded. “For you, then, honored huntress,” he said in a low, honeyed voice. He leaped back aboard the Argo with so much vigor that Argus had to bite his lips to hold back the laughter.
“I’ll never call you ‘girl’ again,” Argus said to me. “A woman twice your age would envy your cunning!”
“If I were still ‘Glaucus,’ you’d say I was smart or clever, not cunning,” I chided him.
“Pfff! What does one little word matter?”
“So you won’t mind if I call the Argo a ferryboat?” I replied sweetly.
Jason returned with the leopard skin draped over his shoulders. I noticed that he’d also taken the time to put on a clean blue and green Mykenaean-style kilt and to bind his long, dark curls back with a white cord shot with gold. Rock-crystal earrings caught the lamplight as well. He smiled warmly at me, and I heard Argus snort behind my back.
“What do you think, Atalanta?” Jason purred. “Do I look more to your liking now?”
“Never mind me,” I said, taking a step closer to Argus. “It’s Lord Aetes you want to impress.”
“Not just Lord Aetes,” Jason said.
He looked at me like a hound looks at a tasty piece of meat. I wanted to get away from him, but I knew if I did that, he’d only follow. Instead I sprang toward him and grabbed the leopard pelt by one tufted ear. “Tell me about how you caught this marvelous animal!” I exclaimed. Jason would never pass up the chance to talk about the one person dearest to him. He was still gabbling about his prowess as a hunter when the leader of the Colchian spearmen returned with the news that Lord Aetes awaited us.