I sprang to my feet and sheathed my sword, but before I left the seething guard, I seized his fallen spear and shouldered it. It didn’t matter how heavy and unwieldy it was, I had no choice but to deal with it. How smart would it be to turn my back on an angry enemy and leave him armed? I thanked the gods when I saw that the only other weapon he bore was a dagger, much too small to be any danger to me now.
“I’ll leave this spear for you at the temple of Zeus, behind the altar stone,” I told him. I walked away at a smart pace, but I didn’t run, no matter how much I wanted to turn my feet into wings.
I left the spear where I’d promised I would, then I did run all the rest of the way back to the waterfront. I found Milo on the shore near the Phoenician ship. He reported that he’d gotten us a room at a clean inn, and that, by a wonderful piece of luck, the young widow who ran the place was the biggest gossip in Athens. She knew the destination of every ship in the harbor.
“There’s a Corinthian merchant who’ll be homeward bound the day after tomorrow,” he told me gleefully. “I got him to agree to take us with him for just three small amphorae of olive oil apiece, as long as we bring our own food and drink. I took care of that, too. It’s all stowed safely in our hostess’s care already.”
“Thanks, Milo. That was quick work.”
“And all for just one of the charms you gave me.” Milo proudly puffed out his chest. “You wait and see, I’ll make a fine merchant myself one day. I bet I’ll strike us an even better bargain once we reach Corinth and take ship for Delphi!”
We enjoyed a good, simple meal at the inn, then found our beds in the small room behind the hostess’s own sleeping quarters. There was only a tattered blanket between the two rooms. The widow made a great point of letting us know this, making cow-eyes at both of us and stomping off in a snit when I assured her that we would respect her privacy. Milo collapsed laughing.
The room was so small that it must have been a storage chamber formerly. We were crammed into it like bales of cloth, sharing the small space with our possessions, our provisions, and the six amphorae. Still, it was comfortable enough, and the cold weather favored us. It discouraged fleas and kept the windowless cubicle from being oppressively hot. I wrapped myself in my cloak and fell into a deep slumber filled with hazy, pleasant dreams.
The widow’s shriek tore me out of sleep. I sat up to see the curtain ripped down as two broad-shouldered shapes burst into the room. An oil lamp flared near the ceiling, then dove to blaze a thumb-span from my nose.
“Well, is this the one?” came the gruff demand from the darkness behind the flame.
“Yes, yes, that’s him!” a vaguely familiar voice answered from beyond the doorway.
“That’s what you said last time, fool, and it wasn’t. You can’t even see him from there. Gods, Telys, did he scare you that badly? He’s hardly more than a child, not even the ghost of a beard on him. Look!”
A strong hand clamped itself to my arm and hauled me upright. I didn’t have the chance to grab my sword. I yelled wild threats, swinging fists and feet. I struck the walls and our piled-up belongings more than I hit the man holding me. The oil lamp’s flame streaked crazily through the air.
“Hunh! He’s a fierce one. Hood him for me,” my captor said. Someone else dropped a cloak over my head. Though my ears were muffled, I heard Milo’s voice rise up in protest and challenge, and the sound of further struggles. Then I heard the cold, unmistakable scrape of a sword being drawn from its sheath, a blow struck, and my friend crying out in pain. Something heavy hit the floor. I shrieked Milo’s name again and again, though the thick wool cloak covered my face and choked off half my breath. I was still screaming, “Milo! Milo! Milo!” as I was slung over one man’s shoulder and carried away.
They took the cloak off my head and set me back down on my own feet when we were about halfway up the city hill. Dawn was breaking, and by the first faint light I clearly saw the three men who’d burst into the widow’s house. Two were new faces. The third was the bumbling young guard who’d challenged my presence at Hades’ shrine and lost.
No need for me to wonder what had happened. Fool, I thought. You’re so hungry to punish me for humiliating you, you don’t see that you’re bringing even worse humiliation on yourself. Good. You deserve every joke and jeer your fellow guards will heap on your head from now on.
“How dare you?” I said, all ice. “You coward, how dare you do this? If you wanted to reclaim your honor, you should have come to me alone, like a man.”
The young guard bit his lips, his thickly blemished face going red, but his helpers roared with laughter. “Hey, Telys, you said this pup was a stranger, but it sounds like he knows you well enough!” one of them exclaimed.
“I am a stranger to Athens,” I said. “I come from Sparta. I didn’t know that Hades’ shrine was the king’s alone. I did no harm.”
“You attacked one of Lord Theseus’s guards,” one of the brawny men said. “Not a very good one, but you still have to answer for it. Move.” He spun me around facing uphill and gave me a rough shove.
I trudged along with scrawny Telys ahead and both of the big men behind. I wished it had been the other way around. My hands were free. One quick pivot, a kick or a sudden push, and that pock-faced wretch would be flat on his back and I’d be racing downhill, dust in the distance, well on my way back to Milo. I wasn’t about to try my luck escaping from the others, though. They had the look of seasoned warriors. They’d catch me and give me reason to regret my escape attempt.
Glaucus had taught me to choose my battles, and to choose them wisely. I chose not to fight this one. Not yet. Great Apollo, I prayed, let your healing powers help and sustain Milo until I can be with him again.
We entered the royal stronghold, greeted by loud catcalls. Apparently all of the guards knew about what had happened to Telys. As soon as they laid eyes on me, he found himself walking through a gauntlet of hecklers.
“That’s who took your spear? He’s an infant!”