Defying Fate

Chapter 9 p2

"Cassandra!" Odysseus shouted, as the cyclops roared out a laugh. "I need a bow! Someone get me a bow!" For about the thousandth time since he had left Ithaca, Odysseus wished he had not left his own bow behind, with its specific draw weight, and accuracy, he knew he could fire an arrow into that eye and stop him, even if the cyclops was moving. But no bow was forthcoming, and he took off running after the cyclops, but the sheep blocked his way, bleating curiously. "No!" he shouted, pounding his fists ineffectually on their wooly sides.

"Captain!" Suddenly Polites was there, riding on the back of the sheep that had taken a liking to him. Eurylochus rode behind, holding onto Polites' shoulders like his life depended on it. Polites lowered his hand and Odysseus grabbed it, leaping atop the sheep in front of Polites and the three rode it through the rest of the flock, until their way was blocked once again, this time by a ram standing half again as big as the sheep they rode. Odysseus looked back at his friends, nodded once, and jumped.

He landed just behind the head of the massive ram, and quickly grabbed the horns with both hands. Wrenching it's head around, he urged it towards its master.

"My favorite sheep!" Polyphemus roared when he saw Odysseus coming. "Thief! Nobody is stealing my favorite sheep!"

"Drop the girl!" Odysseus shouted, "and I'll let you live!"

Cassandra hung limply in the Cyclop's grasp, her arms and legs swinging loosely, but at the sound of his voice, she seemed to come to, and looked at him, confused struggling against the grip on her torso.

"Nobody! You have to run! Get everyone out of here!"

"Not without you, stubborn girl!" He reached for her, and she reached back, when Polyphemus turned and swung his walking stick at Odysseus' head. Odysseus ducked, putting his face into the wool of the sheep. It stank of lanolin and animal filth, but the walking stick—the club—whistled overhead and missed.

"You wouldn't hurt your favorite sheep, would you?" Odysseus taunted, seeing Polites and Eurylochus approaching from the far side. He just had to keep him distracted.

Polyphemus roared again, and Odysseus grinned in satisfaction. He urged the ram onward, making it dance just outside of the Cyclops' reach. With his hands full with Cassandra and the club, Polyphemus looked just a little overwhelmed. He swung at Odysseus again, but the club went wildly over his head.

"Drop the girl, and I'll let you live—" Odysseus called out again.

Polyphemus wavered, hesitated... then swung behind him at Polites and Eurylochus.

"No!" Odysseus reached out helplessly as time slowed down and the club fell in slow motion, catching the two men and knocking them from the sheep. They fell and rolled, but Odysseus didn't have time to see if they were alright. He charged the cyclops, drawing his sword and readying it to slash at anything he could reach.

But as he got close, the ram stopped abruptly, unwilling to hurt its master and he was thrown from its back. He landed hard, and the air left his lungs in a whoosh. Asterion cried out as he slipped from the sling, and Odysseus made a blind grab for the child. He blinked and gasped, trying to regain his footing, when a shadow passed over him, and there was Polyphemus, towering over him, club in one hand and Cassandra dangling in the other.

"Enough chasing," the cyclops said. "Tiny human, what do you hope to gain? You were all doomed the moment you came to my home. We do not like outsiders, no matter how pretty their words are. You just want to steal from us and kill us, so we will kill and steal from you."

Odysseus rolled to avoid another blow from the club, cradling Asterion in his arms, but it didn't come, instead, the cyclops wavered on his feet, his eyelid drooped, and he fell first to his knees, and then onto his face. Cassandra dropped to the ground in a heap.