“Lady Aithra.” The two men on duty saluted Telys’s mother solemnly. One of them added, “My lady, please join my prayers to yours when you ask the gods for Lord Theseus’s safe return.” She inclined her head graciously in response and he smiled, basking in “royal” favor.
The second sentinel looked annoyed at being left out. He stepped forward, keen to grab his share of the “queen’s” attention. “My lady, perhaps it would please you better to have a different guardsman accompany you to the shrines?” He looked meaningly at Telys. It was clear he hoped to win “Lady Aithra’s” approval by shunting aside the man she most despised.
Telys’s mother shook her head emphatically but said nothing. If she spoke and the guards realized how different her voice was from the queen’s, we’d be doomed.
“Are you sure, Lady Aithra?” he persisted. “Say the word, and I’ll—”
“Are we going to waste the morning here, listening to this jabber?” I demanded loudly, drawing all eyes to me. “Where I come from, guards take orders and keep silent.”
I stalked toward the gate as though exasperated with the pushy fellow. Telys overtook me in two strides. He clamped one hand to my shoulder, turned his head crisply toward the “queen,” and coolly said, “Lady Aithra?” His mother responded by standing taller, turning her back on the abashed sentinel, and sweeping past Telys and me, out of the citadel, the perfect image of regal pride. The two slave women hurried after.
“That was close,” I whispered to Telys as we all walked down the path to the heart of the city. “For a while, I was afraid I’d have to use this.” I patted the familiar weight on my left hip. I had my sword at my waist again, hidden beneath my cloak.
“You sound more regretful than relieved,” Telys joked. “If that man had challenged us, you’d have given him a fight to remember.”
“I did not want to fight my way out,” I said vehemently. But in truth, this wasn’t how I’d pictured my escape from the citadel. In my more fanciful moments, I’d imagined the clash of swords, the shouts of soldiers, the rumble of running feet, maybe even the reek of smoke and the crackle of fire.
We reached the temple of Athena as the city was waking up. Soon the streets would be crowded. Many eyes followed the five of us as we entered. I could just hear what those people would be telling their families that night: “You’ll never guess who I saw this morning: Lady Aithra herself and the king’s young bride-to-be, visiting the shrines. Yes, again. Mark my words, with so many prayers constantly in their ears, the gods won’t fail to bring Lord Theseus home soon.”
“Lady Aithra” had her slaves give the priest wine and olive oil for Athena while she and I stood together before the image of the goddess. Before we left, she removed a necklace and placed it at Athena’s feet. I saw the priest beam with approval.
Looking less queenly than before, “Lady Aithra” proceeded downhill to Aphrodite’s shrine, where she and I each gave the goddess one of the more splendid pieces of our garb. The priest was too busy admiring our offerings to notice how much more we resembled ordinary folk than royalty.
In Apollo’s temple we left behind wine, cakes, and one of the slave women. I admired the inconspicuous way she faded into the shadows. Telys also took the opportunity to find an out-of-the-way spot and hide his sword inside the basket she abandoned. When we headed for Zeus’s temple, we looked like a well-to-do family attended by a single slave woman, but when we left the god’s house, only three of us remained. The same sort of Athenians who would have stared at “Lady Aithra” and her escort didn’t give us a second glance as we passed them now.
By the time we reached the ship, we were just a mother, a son, and a very modestly veiled daughter. The sailors had gotten the ship into the water already and were too preoccupied with their own tasks to bother about us. Once aboard, we were sent to a place in the stern of the ship between the last bank of oars and the helmsman.
The captain gave an order and the men bent their backs over the oars, rowing the ship into deeper water to wait until it was time to set the sail and let the wind do most of the work. I pulled back the folds of cloth concealing my face and felt the familiar touch of sea spray on my cheeks. It filled me with elation and memories.
Lord Poseidon, forgive us, I thought. We didn’t have time to go to your shrine and ask for a safe voyage. I ask that favor now, and I promise you that when we reach Mykenae, I’ll make you a worthy offering.
I rested my hands on the ship’s rail and turned my eyes toward the prow. I remembered all the voyages I’d known since leaving Sparta, chief among them the quest for the Fleece. Where are they now? I wondered. Are my brothers well? Has the Argo brought them safely back to Iolkos? Oh, Castor, Polydeuces, I do miss you! My thoughts painted their faces against the bright sky, and other faces, too. Hylas and Herakles, Jason and Argus, mad Medea and sweet-voiced Orpheus. Above all, Milo. When I wiped the sea’s breath from my face, it was mixed with tears.
The voyage from Athens to Tiryns was pleasant enough, though I missed the freedom I’d enjoyed when I’d traveled disguised as a boy. My new identity was Telys’s younger sister. Telys, his mother, and I agreed that I’d keep my given name for simplicity’s sake.
As the daughter of a humble but respectable family, I couldn’t speak to strangers. Thankfully, my “mother” and “brother” didn’t have to live by such rules, so by the time we neared Tiryns they’d made friends with the two merchants aboard our vessel.
“They’re heading to Mykenae, too,” Telys told me one day as we watched a flock of gulls dive for fish in our ship’s wake. “They said we can travel there with them.”
“That’s a stroke of luck,” I said. “I guess Artemis really wants you to know she’s forgiven you for that lie.”
Telys looked sheepish. “I did dream about her. Last night. I was scared at first, afraid she was going to curse me for what I’d done. But all she did was look at me and laugh.”