Chapter 28.
Theleos rushed through the undergrowth, he breathed heavily, sweated profusely, and bled from lashes of plant vines and insect bites. The Egyptian jungle was unforgiving to those without experience among its fertile trunks. His fear drove him on blindly. He had not ceased running since glancing between the ancient gates of Sais.
In the courtyard an enormous vessel rested, partially sunk into the sandy grounds. The upper half of a body lay before the strange ship, just feet from its head the Egyptian ruler’s crown. It was Apep, crushed under the wake of whatever had come to rest between Sais’ walls.
Theleos had watched from behind the ranks of Egyptian guards, hidden by the crowds. Sprinting through the jungle foliage the image of those moments would not stop recurring in his mind. The vessel appeared to unravel, its outer layer like the bark of a tree falling away from age.
Two figures rose up from amidst the structure, Theleos had stood dumbfounded gazing at the tall entities who stepped out before the entirety of Sais’ population. They surely were the makers themselves, their bodies were tinted like bronze, but as bright as the sun. They appeared without distinguishable faces, but of some giant animals, they were no man nor woman. The nightmare stirred his mind, he tripped and was propelled face first into dry jungle dirt.
Theleos sat up immediately, resting elbows on knees, he breathed heavily. Moaning to himself in frustration he punched the ground, as the crunch dissipated another sound became apparent far in the distance. Though his mind raced, and the plants around him buzzed with an amalgamation of jungle life, he was certain it was the sound of a washing tide.
The captain exhaled wiping an endless waterfall of sweat from his forehead before lunging back up to his feet. He was unsure just how far from the delta river he had strayed, but he was aware of the horrific beasts that lined its waters. He had no intention of strolling along the banks of that death pit, it was suicide.
The young male feared he would not be able to return home and inform Arbephest of the impending danger, nor of the events he had seen at Sais. He hoped that his warlord had learned enough from Tuth, and that his king had granted him use of the Athenian armies to defend Greece.
He charged along any jungle pathway, uncertain as to whether they would lead him to safety or not, he had come too far to stop now. Un-obscured daylight approached with each stride, in his mind he was already away from the binding chords and discomforting humidity beneath the jungle canopy.
With another awkward crash he burst into the light, onto an empty beach, the paranoid captain immediately looked about in the sky, holding his arm up to block the sunlight’s potency. There was nothing, there never was anything. He laughed to himself sitting down once more, facing the jungle.
For much time he let the warm rays caress his back, shutting his eyes he listened to the soft sea waves washing back and forth upon the golden sand. A slight breeze cooled him, flowing over his perspiring skin. What now?
Warlord! The word hummed in his mind and for some moments he was too entranced and weak to notice, he could not take his mind away from the image of those giant bronze beings amidst Sais. Please, warlord! This time he looked up, out towards the ocean.
“Warlord?” The confused captain spoke aloud to himself. The coastline bent sharply away from him to his left blocking the view of the beach. With a struggle he lifted himself and stumbled along the hot sand until he could look along the coast.
Beyond the jungle trees that prevented his sight, far along the shoreline, Theleos watched in disbelief the sight of Crastan dragging an unknown warrior from the ocean, his aging body striated with weakening muscles. The blade attached to him had come off somewhere between his collision with the invader’s vessel and his return to shore. The young captain sprinted forward, overwhelmed with joy to see some of his kinsmen alive.
Masses of trireme woodwork lined the beach, along with six males laying down who were either deceased or heavily injured, two others stood while Crastan dragged a ninth from the endless sea.
“Crastan!” Theleos called out to the male with enthusiasm. After a brief glance the lion of Panthea continued about his business without acknowledging Arbephest’s captain. Immediately recognising the man’s frustration, Theleos slowed down and walked respectfully towards his peers. “Are there many more in the water?”
“All my men are in the water.” Theleos still breathed awkwardly for his flight from Sais.
“Alive, I mean.” The lion shook his head looking out at the wreckage, some of the trireme were still floating. The majority had vanished beneath the calm ocean waves.
“The bastards took them all.” Crastan spat on the sand and smeared a hand over his mouth.
“Perhaps we can salvage one, warlord.” A soldier from Panthea murmured. His leader grunted at the idea, though it was not dismissive.
“Perhaps, but I doubt we could move the damn thing with just ten of us.”
“We must try, Crastan, the warlords of Greece must be warned.” Theleos pleaded with the male who turned to look upon him for the first time.
“Why haven’t the Egyptian armies chased these bastards after they repelled them, captain? We could have lead a thousand ship fleet back to Greece, why are you here alone?” The aging Athenian’s stern gaze confused Theleos.
“My lord, the Egyptians did not repel the invaders, something else. Something that made the sky dark. It looked like a ship, but it was in the middle of Sais, from nowhere.” The lion’s eyebrows sunk as a look of disgust flooded upon him.
“Someone hand me a sword to slit this traitors throat.” The young captain stepped back in shock.
“The Egyptian army was at Sais, Crastan, and the invaders arrived, but I swear to you, the sky went dark and their vessels burst to flame as though the sun had come alive.”
“He lies, my lord.”
“No! From the vessel stepped the makers themselves, I’m sure! Every guard behind Sais’ walls, every labourer, even Apep’s family knelt down before the makers. Whatever it was crushed Apep, and his own family knelt before them... The Egyptians must have known they would come!”
“Then where are they now?” Crastan stepped forward, still looking at Theleos with outrage. The captain simply fell to his knees. He sweated profusely.
“I don’t know, my lord. Please, If we can’t return to Greece, then let’s return to Sais, see for yourselves, the makers have come.”
“My men can barely move, we can’t march through the jungle, you go and return with a boat.” Theleos swallowed down the dreaded thought of returning to Sais alone, quickly thinking of a solution he shook his head.
“Every ship in the port was burnt to ashes, a former warlord of Greece could demand a party return to the delta mouth and help your men.”
“Go, warlord -”
“Shut up, Antos.” Crastan snapped at the bleeding sea veteran, he stood for a moment in deep thought though Theleos’ concentration was quickly lost on the lion. A great suction sound roared across the sea. Each man stood turned about to watch the water begin stirring violently.
With an almighty gust that forced Theleos onto his hands the entirety of the ocean shoreline retreated off the beach. The men stared in amazement as the tide swept hundreds of feet out in a split moment, erupting the sound of rolling thunder into the air. The sea floor was covered in sunken trireme and an endless array of ocean life. Amongst them the bodies of deceased Athenians. No man could speak for it looked like the entire sea was being drained all at once.
“What have the makers done?” Theleos mumbled to himself, Crastan quickly turned to look.
“Hephaestus punishes the invaders,” he and a number of his men began laughing. “These worthless bastards! The makers live!” Theleos stood, continuing to glare out at the sea bed.
“We should return to Sais, my lord, if it is the makers, then I have seen them in skin. They may still be there!” Crastan began nodding.
“How many of you can walk?” The lion asked and a number of men r
aised their hand. “Theleos, Antos, Pelis, help carry the weak, lead us the way you came, captain.” He pointed his stub back along the beach and Theleos nodded rushing to help support his injured kinsmen. Together they hobbled slowly across the pristine sand, back towards the jungle entry from which Theleos had recently stumbled.
With the parting in sight another thunderous sound bellowed out across the empty ocean bed, far in the distance an enormous wave was returning. “Quick! Into the clearing!” With trouble they dragged the wounded amidst the dense foliage and helplessly made effort to push their way through the endless array of flora.
Just meters in, the trees behind crashed with a terrifying explosion of water, a sea wave twenty meters tall cascaded into the jungle swallowing everything in its path. Theleos dropped the male he carried and leapt desperately in efforts to take refuge behind a great trunk. He grasped at the jagged wood and scrambled up its bark. “Into the trees! -” The wave lashed into him hindering his speech, his efforts to warn his peers were futile. The unstoppable ocean current sucked them, and all that it touched, deep below the surface.
Barely able to keep a grip upon the unstable tree, Theleos pulled himself tight against it, he began to shiver and weep in confusion. The water continued to flow heavily through the jungle though it was not rising, with a meagre effort he pulled himself clear of the waterline’s chill and took refuge in the tree’s enormous palms. He knew he must return to Sais, to learn what the makers had done to his home, but he was stranded, and his kinsmen likely dead.
The Echoes of Solon Page 40