Defying Fate

Chapter 26-p2

The others joined him within a few minutes, blinking in the morning sunshine. The tables and the food had been cleared away, and now the tables and chairs leaned against the outside wall of the house. It smelled fresh, and there were puddles, as if in from a recent rain.

A huge olive tree stood at the edge of the courtyard, and they headed for that almost instinctively, Odysseus and Polites swinging into the branches, while Eurylochus stayed below, with Cassandra and Asterion.

Cassandra looked up at Polites and Odysseus.

"Why don't you climb, Eurylochus?" She asked.

"Eurylochus doesn't like to climb trees," Polites said with a smile, lying on his stomach in the lower branches like a jungle cat, one hand dangling toward the ground.

"I like to keep my feet on the ground," Eurylochus said, sitting beneath the trunk and pulling Asterion into his lap before the boy could wander off.

"He's afraid of heights," Odysseus said, straddling his branch and considering the higher ones. "What do you think, Polites, race you to the top?"

Polites looked up, then sat up. "How long has it been since you've climbed a tree?"

"If you two fall out of it and break your necks, Athena won't be happy," Eurylochus said without looking up.

Odysseus opened his mouth to argue with them both, but then he heard a familiar sound. The whoosh-smack of an arrow hitting a straw target, and instead, he dropped down.

"Did you guys hear that?"

Eurylochus nodded, looking in the direction the sound had come from. Beneath the laundry lines, which had been cleared of sheets and clothing, was Artemis. Odysseus recognized her patched jacket form the night before.

Odysseus went closer, to see the goddess shooting arrows into targets placed at different distances and angles with blazing speed and accuracy. Her silver bow shone in the morning sun, and Odysseus was fascinated.

He knew about Artemis, of course, the huntress, who could kill a man soon as look at him, and often had, transforming them into beasts and hunting them down in revenge for killing animals sacred to her. But, after the dinner last night, and in the sunlight, she didn't look... too scary.

"Can I try it?" Odysseus asked, pulling on an armguard, which was hanging near several normal bows, lined up on a handy weapons rack that had not been there the day before. It was too big, and took up nearly his whole forearm, but he didn't mind. He looked up at the goddess with huge eyes. "I'm pretty good with a bow."

Artemis looked down at him skeptically.

"No mortal man can draw this bow," she said stiffly. "And you're merely a child."

"I'm stronger than I look!" Odysseus piped, practically jumping up and down on his toes. "Please? Please please please please please?"

Artemis took a long look at Athena. Odysseus hadn't seen her come out, but there she was, leaning on one of the laundry poles, watching them. They seemed to have some silent conversation, and then Artemis slowly, *agonizingly slowly,* handed Odysseus the bow.

The bow was nearly as long as he was tall, and made of fine silvery wood that shone in the sunshine. It curved gently from tip to tip, and the string thrummed as he plucked it gently with a thumb. It was a strong bow, not a longbow, but, it had a heavy draw weight, and was inlaid and reinforced with a metal that could have been silver, but seemed harder than that. Harder than iron, maybe?

Forcing himself to move slowly, shaking with excitement, he picked up one of the arrows and laid it on the string, nocking it smoothly. He set his sights on one of the nearer targets and then pulled on the bowstring.

It was difficult, he strained with every muscle in his arms, back and shoulders, and got it to about half-draw. Artemis raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Gritting his teeth, he strained on the bow, if he could get the fletching of the arrow to the corner of his mouth, he knew he could make the shot. It was an easy shot, only about 20 yards or so. The bow shook in his hand, and his aim wavered. Then... a surge of strength came from somewhere, and he managed it, bringing the bow to full draw, and he released. The arrow sailed cleanly through the air, and pierced the target, if not dead center... pretty close. He cursed in his head. He was out of practice, he knew he could have made that bullseye.

"Thank you," he said, handing the bow back to Artemis with both hands. Athena came forward, her expression approving. Odysseus looked between the two goddesses, and noticed that they had the same silver eyes. It made them look like sisters, despite their differences.

"You cheated," Artemis said to her disapprovingly.

"I did no such thing," Athena said, her eyes shining. "I just gave him a little nudge. He practically had it on his own."

Artemis scoffed, and returned to her practice, ignoring the other two.

"I don't think she likes me much," Odysseus mumbled to the cobblestones.

"She likes you fine, it's me she's worried about," Athena said, but didn't explain further. "Now, where are your friends?"

Odysseus pointed to where Eurylochus, Asterion and Cassandra sat. At first there was no sign of Polites, but then the branches above them moved, and there was a glimpse of his bright red cast.

"How did he get up there with a broken arm?"

"I once found Polites up a tree with a broken *leg* and it wasn't even splinted." Odysseus said, remembering one dark, cloudy day. "It took ages to convince him to come down and get patched up. I never did find out what happened..." He got lost in the memory, remembering long nights staying up, trying to track down the ones who had done it... but he shook his head to clear it, it had been a long time ago. "If Polites wants to climb a tree, nothing will stop him," he finished.

He ran over to where his friends were, and swung up into the tree again. Athena followed at a more sedate pace, her arms folded.

"Hermes has gone to gather the rest of your crew, and to free your ship from impound," she said.

Cassandra looked up at her. "We're going to sail?"

Odysseus felt an odd sinking sensation in his stomach. Strangely, even though he knew it was the wrong Ithaca, and he knew he had to go back to his own time, he felt deep down that he did *not* want to get back on that boat. At least on this island, he was close. If he could move in time, but not in space... he would be home.

He gripped the branch he held until his knuckles turned white. Polites reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. Odysseus looked at him, and knew he'd given his worry away, and he forced himself to smile at his friend. Polites still looked concerned, but neither of them said a word.

"It's the easiest way to get to the underworld," Athena was explaining. "There's a gate to the north of here, and that'll take us directly to the Styx. Hades will grant us passage down the river, and we will sail it as far as we can."

"Very few mortals have been to the underworld and returned," Cassandra said ominously. It sounded even stranger in her new voice.

"In the last millenium or so, nobody has," Athena said.

"Its a good thing that I'm Nobody, then," Odysseus joked, pointing at himself.

"Noby!" Asterion exclaimed suddenly, laughing in delight. Everyone looked down at the toddler.

"Well, look who just said their first word," Polites laughed.