ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

A VERY BOOK-ISH SAVE

As Pegasus flew at a good speed, I tied the string around my neck to keep it from falling down. It only made the screen hang from my neck, and Pegasus turned his head to look at it, and laughed. 

"So," He later asked, "You wanna make this flight boring? Or could you make convo?"

"Wouldn't that distract you?" I asked.

"It's been three thousand years, buddy. I don't get distracted."

"Sounds about right."

And then, we conversed. Pegasus asked me about my missions before this. I told him about them. I asked him about his adventures with Bellerophon and Perseus, people I had heard of only in legends. He told me that the demigods then used to be proud, unlike demigods nowadays. I could see how this was true. Bellerophon wanted to ride Pegasus to Olympus, and become a god himself. All because he had killed the Chimera.

"Magic boy!" Pegasus asked, "I know you are tired, but can you help me?"

"You need help?" I asked, surprised. I couldn't see why the immortal steed would need my help.

"I do, buddy."

"What is it, Lord Pegasus?"

"Lord Pegasus?" He said, "Buddy, please, just call me Peg. Everyone does that."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I am not used to this authorizing 'Lord' call."

"Okay." I said, "Peg, how can I help you?"

"I have a friend. His species is fairly new to this pantheon, about two thousand years old. He is the last of his species. Others have died."

"How?"

"His species is proud and wild. If you don't address them with care, they attack. Complete mortals, due to the veil magic, see them as something that is not wild, and try petting them. They don't like being pets, and attack. And that is why, one by one, all of them have been killed. He is the only one left."

"Where is he?"

"Down there."

"What is this place?"

"Sparta."

"We are over Sparta?" I asked surprised, "Already?"

"Yep." Peg said, "Once we are done here, we will be at your home in fifteen minutes."

"What do I have to do?"

"He is getting into locality, and his wild and violent nature is gonna make people kill him. You know how the Spartans are, right?"

"Still? I mean, those days of furious and vicious warriors, aren't they gone?"

"Spartans aren't warriors anymore, but that doesn't mean that they are calm now."

"Oh." That made sense.

"All we have to do is save him. I would break inside if he dies. There aren't many creatures to talk to."

"What about Arion?"

"Arion? Oh, my brother. He doesn't stand at one place for a couple of minutes. Tell me, how long did it take him before he took off after dropping you in Themiscyra."

"Probably five minutes."

"See? You don't hang out for five minutes. That is exactly why, this creature is the only one I can hang out with, you know, run a race, go for some grass, etc."

"What is this creature anyway?"

"You'll see. And believe me, when you'll see, you'll know."

Pegasus started to descend. After a couple of minutes, he landed on a field. It was lush green, and was by the side of a hill. There was a ruined castle on different levels on the hill. Pegasus trotted towards the hill, and stopped at the foothills. As I got down from his back, there was a man, his gun pointed at some creature. I looked at the creature with concentration.

It was very similar to a griffin. I had seen a griffin in my life. I saw it many times in Atlantis. It was the one that had a huge part to play in Atlantis's future. It was supposed to find the next ruler, the true heir (not necessarily of the royal family, since it ended after Queen Anastasia died). Anyway, this creature could easily be mistaken for a griffin, for it had four legs, the eagle head, the eagle claw like forelegs, and the eagle wings. However, it's hindlegs were not that of a lion. It's whole body was not that of a lion. It's body looked like that of a horse. Even the tail was of a horse. It's head feathers, upto it's neck was white, while the rest of it's body was black, both the feathers and the horse part. It's claws, as always for eagles, were yellow. And more importantly, I knew of this creature from before, from the most popular set of books.

"That's a hippogriff!" I said, "It was in Harry Potter."

"I told you," Pegasus said, "when you see, you'll know."

I ran close to the scene, and Peg followed me. Right there, the hippogriff was getting anxious, screeching. The man pointing his gun at him was a hunter, surely. He wore hunter hats, and hunting boots. His arm seemed to have a cut. It was bleeding. "Stupid horse broke my arm." The man said in Greek.

I looked at Peg. Neither was that a horse, nor did he break his arm. He sliced his arm. "Veil magic. He sees him as a horse, feels a broken arm, doesn't see my wings and definitely doesn't hear me speak." Wow! Veil magic could change the type of pain? "Cool!" I said. I put down his gun, and asked him to relax, and that he would be alright. The man seemed to take it. I looked at the hippogriff. The animal was anxious for some reason. So much so that even after seeing his friend, he didn't calm down. I tried to understand what troubled him. Then, I realized. Everytime he looked at Peg, he was okay. But whenever he looked up front, he lost it. I followed his gaze, and understood. The hippogriff was losing it at his own shadow.

"Time to go full Alexander the Great." I said to Peg, who nodded.

I approached the hippogriff, very, very carefully, trying to remember how Harry Potter had approached one. He was still losing it, and trotted back two steps. I decided to change my course of approach. I walked at him again, slowly, but this time, over his shadow. As my body covered that, the hippogriff calmed down. He didn't lose it, and stayed away from attacking me. I remembered Harry bow, so I bowed. The animal bowed too. "He is fine now." Pegasus said. But I knew he wasn't. As soon I moved, he would lose it again. So, I acted quickly. I jumped at him, held his claws by my hands, and dragged, making him move about half a circle. That resulted in his shadow falling behind him. He looked around, and saw no shadow. Then, he nudged me in a friendly manner. 

"Hippi is saved!" Pegasus said.

As soon as the hippogriff went calm, he and Peg started doing some sort of chitchat in some animal tongue. Meanwhile, from my bag, I took out a Dutch cookie, and put one drop of nectar on it. Then, I gave it to the man to eat. I assured him that it would heal him. Though my Greek wasn't good at all, he seemed to get my message. It was a risk, feeding a mortal a drop of nectar. But I had heard from Iris that nectar killed mortals if consumed directly. As the hunter ate the cookie, I prayed to the gods for him not dying. I had done bad things already, I couldn't take another one.

Miraculously, the man didn't die. He thanked me, and left. I packed my stuff back in bag, checked the string in my neck, and hopped back on Pegasus. "Let's go." I said.

"He needs to find himself a safe home. Do you think Themiscyra would be a good place?"

"As long as they can train him to not be afraid of his shadow, he will be fine there." I said, "Speaking of which, I want to go home now. It has been a day away, but it feels like forever."

"It feels like a day for you." Peg said, "It could be a week for your friends back there. Let's hurry." He nickered at the hippogriff. As soon as we ascended into the air again, the hippogriff followed us.

I realized one thing during the short time back home. In my quest to save the hippogriff and heal the hunter, I had completed the second step to closing the hole between the living and the dead. I had totally forgotten about that.