Hero

Honor

"Well what do we do now? We obviously can not swim across the river." Telemachus asked suddenly while Phosian still laid on the ground trying to recover.

Telemachus glanced around at the three men waiting for some kind of response. He waved his hand gesturing for someone to quickly speak up and provide a solution. Aischylos looked up from the ground and locked eyes with his brother.

From his fetal poison on the ground Phosian rolled over and looked up Telemachus. He was stunned by the words coming out of the large man's mouth. Telemachus showed no remorse or care for what had just happened to Yehor, a man whom he had spent most of his time with. Instead Telemachus's gaze was locked on the dark shadow of the treasure that was sitting just on the other side of the river. When Phosian looked over at Aischylos and Adelophos he saw that they too shared the same indifferent expression that Telemachus had on his face. The only thing all three men could think about was the enormous amount of riches that they desired.

"We must find some way across." Telemachus demanded.

The brothers blinked and tore their gazes away from the shadowy image as a familiar smirk appeared on both of their faces, "If we can not go around the river and we can not swim across the river then..."

"We must float across it."

Telemachus's dark eyes lit up with excitement, "Of course!" He quickly bent over and picked up the two branches that he had broken off for Phosian. Shoving the two branches up against one another Telemachus had taken the first step to building a raft. The excitement had whipped Telemachus into a frenzy as he spun around looking for something to use to bind the branches together.

Treasure was the only thing the men cared about. They would give anything, even the lives of their friends just to have a small piece of it. The way the three men acted it was as if they had never even known Yehor, and that they had not just seen him die. Telemachus and the brothers remained focused solely on retrieving the treasure as the three of them began scouting for more long branches to use for the raft.

Slowly Phosian got to his feet. His legs still shaking and weak as he came to stand straight up. He looked around the dark forest and watched as the other men searched the area. He still could not believe that they could so easily forget what had just occurred. Phosian knew he was not capable of forgetting. He could still hear Yehor's voice calling out for help as everyone just stood alongside the river watching him drown.

The images of Yehor's death would haunt Phosian for the rest of his life. Phosian had not realized it then, but he was different. He did not see things the way Adelophos and his brother saw things. He did not think about the world the same way Telemachus did.

With weak knees Phosian stumbled over to a nearby tree and leaned up against it. His blistered fingers brushed against the rough bark. Phosian closed his eyes and took deep breath as his hand glided along the tree. Leaning up against the tree Phosian was able to remind himself how important life is and how fragile it can be. Unlike the other men Phoisan was in no rush to get across the river. He was not going to run around and help the men build a raft. Instead he slowly sank back to the ground and curled up against the tree. Phosian closed his eyes and said a prayer to the Gods to honor Yehor. Then he let his tired body rest as he went to sleep for the night.

*********************************************************

The next morning Phosian had awoken only when he heard Adelophos scream. Phoisan's eyes fluttered open as he rolled over and tried to look over towards the area where he thought he heard the scream come from. The sun was shinning brightly through the trees when Phosian squinted and held his hand up to cast a shadow over his face. When he could finally see he was stunned into silence. He could not believe the sight before him.