"I've heard your name," I offered. I did not doubt this introduction for a moment; this, indeed, was how the famous Theseus ought to look.
"Most people have." He smiled faintly. "I trust you heard nothing too good associated with it."
"You can feel at ease about that. Nothing in your record as it was told to me would make me envious. Mainly tales of piracy."
Theseus laughed at that and seemed well satisfied that it should be so. He, too, as it turned out, had been invited to stay among the Amazons, for the same reason as myself. He said he had been on the job a month and thought he was already well along in his task of siring a new generation of warriors. When I asked what had happened to his men, his face darkened, and he did not reply at once. It seemed to me that it would be unwise to pursue the subject, and I let it drop.
Theseus was obviously wondering why I had been recruited for the stud farm. Nor did it take him long to put the question plainly. He squinted at me thoughtfully, looked me up and down, and scratched his bearded chin. "I wonder why they gave you such a special invitation, sprout?"
I smiled faintly and stuck out my hand. "Try a turn of arm wrestling?"
He looked at me in some surprise, then shrugged. "Don't mind if I do."
Several turns were necessary, the result of the first being put down to some kind of unmanly magic or trickery. It was even necessary to squeeze his hand a little to finally make my point. But once it had been made, Theseus accepted it philosophically.
Ten minutes later, the two of us were sitting side by side on a comfortable couch in the main room of the guest house, sipping cool drinks brought by the servant girl (yes, said my new colleague, she was one of those selected for breeding purposes; he supposed one of us would get around to her, in time) and having a peaceable discussion.
"Understand, Hercules, that in the first place, these women are not, on the average, anywhere near my ideal of feminine beauty. I've seen one or two, here and there . . . and one in particular . . . but the ones they keep sending to my bed to be plowed and planted aren't. In the second place, whatever other merits some of these girls might have, it grows monotonous when a man finds only half the usual number of breasts available for his enjoyment." Unconsciously he had begun massaging his own right hand, the one that I had squeezed.
"I understand," I said. To me also it had seemed likely that the largest and strongest Amazons, rather than the most attractive, would be selected for our attentions. Vaguely I wondered whether there would be many eager volunteers. And of course politics would play some part, as it always seemed to do.
I went on: "I, too, find the prospect of a long stay in these parts not all that alluring."
It turned out that Theseus, too, had fought a duel with the queen. He complained that it was never in actual combat that he lost out, but in the complications that arose when people were trying to make peace.
"I'll admit it to you, Hercules—I had a long struggle, trying to put her down without doing her any serious harm. Of course I managed it in the end, but I have no doubt that in a fair fight, one on one, she'd kill nine out of ten of my men; and my men are—were—hardly milksops. Maybe even nineteen out of twenty."
From the moment that Theseus had spoken his name to me, I had been ready to dislike him, knowing his ill repute for vile deeds as a pirate—there was no doubt that in his case it was justly earned. Another reason to feel aversion for him, if any were needed, was that in appearance, Theseus was everything I would have liked to be, tall and handsome with bulging muscles and graceful movements—sort of a blond, sun-bleached Jason. I could well imagine that the new warriors he sired for the queen would match the very Amazon ideal.
But at the same time, he gained my respect by refusing to either be afraid of me or fawn on me, even after he felt my strength. In this he was unlike those so-called heroes of the Argosy, or at least that faction among them who had resorted to base trickery to get me off the ship.
Another matter that Theseus and I discussed was to what extent we were really prisoners. As far as he could see, he told me, the house was completely unguarded, and no one followed him when he walked out of it and strolled about. No specific rules had been spelled out to either of us, but we were both certain that any attempt on our part to leave would have been strongly discouraged.
Our peaceable conversation was soon interrupted by another young woman, whose name, as I soon learned, was Antiope—she was the "one in particular" he had mentioned earlier. Antiope had originally been one of the pirate's assigned bed partners (and, according to my taste, much better-looking than the average of them) who, while playing her assigned role, had fallen desperately in love with the handsome intruder. She was obviously quite willing to be abducted by him.
When he caught sight of her looking in at us, he called: "Come in, sweet one. This is Hercules, he's just arrived."
My name meant no more to Antiope than it had to Moctod. She looked from one of us to the other, and appeared pleased. "I see that you are friends," she commented.
"We're working at it, honey," said Theseus, and kissed her.
Antiope adopted a friendly attitude toward me as soon as it became apparent that I posed no threat to her beloved. And when Theseus strongly hinted that I was not to consider her as one of my own clients in our joint fertility program, I assured him that I would take no girl or woman to my bed who was unwilling to be there.
With these points settled, the three of us conversed as friends. I found myself rather liking Antiope and silently hoping that the man she now adored would not desert her, if the pair of them did succeed in getting away to the great world.
Theseus talked for a while about what might happen to any of his crew who still survived, if he escaped on his own. But it seemed practically certain they were all dead.
I am not sure how many warriors I actually fathered for Moctod, but quite possibly there were several. However, the number cannot be vast.
Not many days after my arrival, the sprite whose arrival I had been hoping for came in secret to me at night, making its presence known when I was alone in bed. The creature seemed as incapable of speech as ever, but I took its cheerful buzzing to mean that the Skyboat was conveniently nearby—or at least as near as it was going to get by water—and that the sprite would somehow guide me to it when I was ready.
I told Theseus nothing of this visitor but, when the two of us were alone, let him understand that I had some magical reason to believe the time had come.
No doubt it was my strength that made him consider me trustworthy. He and I made our getaway from the Amazons in a cooperative effort.
He began to outline a plan that would have involved killing to get our hands on a boat, but I strongly urged that we do no harm, if we could avoid it, to any of the women—I reminded my colleague that there was no point in offending Diana unnecessarily by injuring her worshipers. I also let my companion know I had reason to believe that we would find a boat available.
With these facts in mind, my nonviolent method was adopted. Rising from our respective beds in the middle of the night, we joined Antiope, who had made her own way to the rendezvous and was waiting for us with provisions. The three of us then headed into the hills, in the direction of the nearest stream that was big enough to carry a small boat. If anyone had seen us, Antiope would have played the role of slave master, conducting two docile males to some new farmland where there were plows for them to pull.
To my great relief, my sprite had materialized again on cue and kept buzzing invisibly in my ear, so softly that no one else was aware of the inhuman presence. Naturally Theseus was curious as to how I could know that a boat would be waiting in a certain place. But he was ever ready to take a chance.
As we trod our way as silently as possible through the moonlit woods, I thought Antiope was quietly but almost hysterically happy at the thought of having her lover to herself, away from all those other women, for as many days and nights as the two of them might choose. I thought her a lo
vely creature, even if she had only one breast. And she had fallen desperately in love with Theseus and was eager to get away. Again, I hoped that he would treat her kindly.
I have no doubt that had Theseus still possessed even a remnant of a crew, he would have considered it essential to his honor, and to his reputation as a commander, to recapture his ship somehow. He would also have made a valiant effort, at least, to get his crew out of captivity and take them along. But as matters stood, he had only himself to look out for.
Gray dawn was lightening the sky when we reached the bank of a small river. "There she is," I said, and pointed.
When Theseus got his first look at the Skyboat, I let him think that it was the means by which I had come traveling to Amazon country. Not that the question of my mode of travel, of no immediate practical value, concerned him much.
At the first sight of the little craft, he had no high opinion of it—but when we three climbed aboard and it began to move, even before we had so much as touched a sail or oar, that was a different matter.
The way we went skipping and darting down small streams, even harmlessly through rapids, to plunge triumphantly into the sea at last, soon convinced the master pirate that there was more to this mode of transportation than at first met the eye.
For once Theseus was almost at a loss for speech. But finally he said: "I swear, Hercules. Ordinarily, I'd be sorely tempted to take a boat like this one away from its owner, whoever that might be. But I'll make an exception in your case." He showed white teeth in a smile. "Of course one reason, though not the only one, is that you'd break most of my bones if I tried anything like that." And he threw back his head and laughed with an infectious joy.
"I can show you another reason, too," I said. "Take the helm for a moment; give it a try."
Impressive as was the outward appearance of our compass-pyx, the experienced captain soon discovered that our vessel was no better than a small and barely seaworthy rowboat when it came under his command. The box of ivory and ebony lay inert against his forehead. Only Enkidu besides myself had been entrusted with the power of control, and my nephew, I supposed, was still peacefully at home. Where now I, in truth, fervently wished to be. I had had enough, and more than enough, of adventuring for the time being.
Soon after leaving the land of the Amazons, the pirate king and I separated, still under conditions of mutual respect. I put my pair of passengers ashore on an island of his choosing, on the margin of the Great Sea, from which he seemed supremely confident of being able to make his way to anywhere he wished. And we parted wishing each other success in our respective endeavors.
Antiope gave me a brief wave and then fixed her gaze once more on the man beside her, the one she so adored.
I set my course for home, as well as I was able.
Chapter Twenty-One
Thanatos
It has been my fate, in common with the great majority of humankind, to meet Death on the surface of the earth. What made my case out of the ordinary was the fact that my first encounter with Thanatos was not my last. As I write these words, I believe that the final confrontation between the two of us is yet to be. I have heard some say that I am now truly immortal, but in human minds and mouths that word has as many meanings as does human life itself.
But let me tell things in their proper order. The first occasion on which I stood face-to-face with Death (I am here using no mere figure of speech) took place some time before I ever managed to force an entry to the Underworld.
When, in the course of my laborious return alone from the realm of the Amazons, I sailed my Skyboat along the coast of the land called Pherae, I found that my reputation had somehow preceded me. It was a fair land, displaying many signs of prosperity, and none at all of recent war.
On most of the islands where I stopped, and in the coastal villages, many people recognized my name and stood back from me in awe. But here and there a few were ready to challenge me to a fight, just for the sake of challenge; and some of these, seeing my youth and unimpressive size, and the fact that my body bore no scars, refused to believe I could be the hero who had slain the Hydra, crushed the ribs of mighty Antaeus, and clubbed to death the sea monster that would otherwise have devoured a Trojan princess. Such would-be rivals I usually managed to put off with soft words and a steady gaze, though one or two required a firmer hand. With a sigh I acknowledged the fact that the days when I could wander the earth in carefree anonymity were gone, and would never return, unless I began to travel in disguise.
* * *
When the people I spoke to along the way told me that I had reached the realm of King Admetus, my spirits rose. Here I ought to find at least a friendly welcome. Many days ago I had learned, indirectly, by word of mouth from various folk, that I was formally invited to visit King Admetus and his queen, at their court, in a town described as being "below the peak called Chalcodon."
The invitation reached me first when I was in Cadmia, dallying with my new bride, and it had been carried there in a somewhat garbled form. I pondered at the time whether the invitation might be some result of my having saved Hesione from the sea monster, or whether there existed some alliance between these people and the grateful folk at Troy, who might still be trying to find some way to reward me.
The truth, as I discovered later, was somewhat simpler and had little to do with any personal reputation I might have gained: Every member of the original crew of Argo, along with their immediate families, was included in the invitation. At least one of Jason's heroes was a native of Pherae.
While I am again on the subject of the Argosy, I should mention that there have been for some years several lists of those names, all differing in detail. Each nation, sometimes it seems each city, puts forward a compilation in which its own representative is prominent. There is inevitably dispute about who joined Jason's crew and when, and who dropped out or died along the way. In some of these rosters, you will find the name of King Admetus himself, which is a mistake.
Imagine, then, my dismay at arriving at the court of Admetus only to find that the whole capital city, if not the entire nation, was in mourning and disarray. The grief the people showed was obviously genuine, and disfigured almost every face. The palace, like many other buildings in the city, was draped in swaths of black, and I entered its precincts to the sound of harsh gongs beaten intermittently. Meanwhile the air, indoors and out, was thick with bitter smoke and a fine drift of ashes from the sacrificial fires.
However, the prospect was not one of unrelieved gloom on my part. I had scarcely arrived when I saw a vision which lifted my thoughts momentarily out of the realm of death and sorrow—Deianeira, the sister of Meleager.
Several other guests happened to be present when I arrived in the torchlit courtyard, and my eyes studying the small group immediately picked out green eyes, straight brown hair, and a slender female body, clad in the finest of translucent linen.
I approached Danni at once, and we exchanged friendly greetings—like all other conversation in the palace, less cheerful than they might have been, because of the funereal atmosphere.
"Is it Fate that brings us together, or only chance?" I asked, when we had gone through the customary forms of speech and handclasps.
But Danni had little interest in such questions. Hardly had she greeted me before she was asking if I could tell her any news of Meleager—naturally she had not seen him since the day I pitched him into the harbor at Iolcus, and she had thought that Mel was still with me and the others on the Argosy.
I expressed my regret that I could not give her any news about her brother. In turn she told me that she had come here to the court of King Admetus in response to the general invitation. She was the only representative of Meleager's family who could make the trip.
"My uncle Augeus was unable to leave home, or so he claimed, and we agreed it would be rude for no one of our family to appear. So, here I am."
"And I am glad you came, and that your uncle stayed home"
I
learned that the ship that had brought her to Pherae was in the harbor beside my boat. And I was attracted to her at once, though instead of declaring the fact I told her about my marriage.
When Danni heard that, she mentioned, almost casually, that since our last meeting she had been betrothed, to one of her uncle's neighbors, an arrangement for which her uncle had been responsible. But the elderly neighbor had died before the marriage could be solemnized.
"My condolences," I offered.
There was a flash of something bitter in the green eyes. "You may save them for another time. It was a fortunate escape for me."
"In that case, my congratulations."
Our talk turned to the Argosy again, about which many rumors swirled. I now told Danni the story of how I had become separated from her brother and the rest, and she hoped that Meleager had not been involved in what had amounted to my nephew's kidnapping.
"How unfair of them!" she declared. "Are you much saddened, Hercules, to have been left behind, to have missed all their glorious adventures?"
"I have had little time to think about what adventures they might be having. My own life has not been exactly dull."
After some polite conversation with the other guests, I took Danni aside for a more private talk. At the moment I was less interested in telling her my history than in hearing more of hers.
When we were quite alone, she said to me: "My uncle Augeus is insisting that I move in permanently with him. Everyone says it is unseemly for a young unmarried woman to be maintaining her own household."
"I wouldn't want to live with your uncle," I observed.
"Nor do I, and so far I've managed to put him off. My worst fear is that he will get tired of waiting for Mel to come back, and decide to arrange yet another betrothal for me."
That would be tragic, I thought. But the funereal gloom of the real tragedy with which we were surrounded cut short our discussion of other matters. "What has happened here?" I demanded in a lowered voice, waving my hand to include the courtyard and the palace.
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