Heroes: Volume II of Mythos

D EATHS , R AZOR -S HARP F EATHERS AND THE P HRIXIDES Eastwards the Argo sailed. After the initial high, the exertions of the crew were beginning to catch up with them. The breakage of the sternpost had forced Argus to work hard to make a new steering blade. Not for the first time Jason was grateful that Chiron had instructed him so well in the healing arts.fn51 He prepared medicinal salves for the blistered hands and chafed buttocks of the crew, and even allowed them a little wine, albeit mixed with honey and water. Orpheus, a blanket over his shoulder, made a great show of sneezing. The Euxine Sea was living up to its optimistic name. No pirates, sea monsters or unfavourable gales hindered their passage to Colchis. They made a few stops along the way however, which did have unhappy outcomes. The first occurred in the kingdom of Mariandynia, where Idmon the Seer met the end that he had always known was coming. As he walked through the woods, a wild boar burst from the undergrowth and gored him with its tusks. Peleus speared the beast, but the damage was done and Idmon died of his wounds. He was not the only casualty of that stopover. Tiphys succumbed to a fever and died too. He was replaced as helmsman of the Argo by Ancaeus of Samos. Funeral rites were observed for both and it was a far sadder crew that left Mariandynia behind. They were at least fortunate that it was summer, their new helmsman Ancaeus told them, for the winters this far east could be cruel.fn52 As they sailed on, passing the lands ruled over by the Amazons, they suddenly found themselves under attack from above. A flock of wild birds was dropping their feathers onto them. But these were no ordinary feathers, the crew soon discovered. Their quills were bronze and their vanes razor-sharp, so that they fell like arrows. The Argonauts had to take refuge under their shields for protection. For once Orpheus’s singing was of no help; if anything, it seemed only to enrage the birds into further assaults. ‘Let’s just yell at them,’ Philoctetes suggested. They hooted, screamed, and bashed their swords against their shields until at last the birds flew away. ‘What the hell were they?’ ‘No idea,’ said Jason.fn53 ‘But let’s put in at this island and make sure their feathers haven’t ripped the sail or cut the rigging.’ The island at which they now dropped anchor was called Areonesos, or ‘the isle of Ares’, because of a small temple where the Amazons sometimes came to worship their father, the war god. The avian arrows seemed to have done no serious harm to the Argo, and Jason and Nestor were debating whether to spend the night there or press on when four young men approached and introduced themselves. Their names were ARGOS,fn54 CYTOROS, PHRONTIS and MELAS, and they were the PHRIXIDES, or sons of Phrixus. Phrixus, you will recall, was the child of Nephele and Athamas who had been rescued along with his sister Helle by the golden ram, whose fleece Jason and the Argonauts had come all this way to bring back to Greece. ‘But why are all four of you here?’ Jason asked. ‘We were shipwrecked,’ said Melas. ‘Our grandfather accused us of plotting against him.’ ‘Which was untrue!’ ‘So untrue …’ ‘We just simply weren’t …’ ‘Whoa!’ said Jason. ‘Your grandfather?’ The brothers explained. When Phrixus had landed at Colchis, sacrificed the golden ram and given its fleece to King Aeëtes, he had then married Aeëtes’ daughter Chalciope. She was the boys’ mother, so Aeëtes was their grandfather. ‘Your own grandfather expelled you?’ ‘Expelled us? He was going to kill us!’ ‘We escaped on a ship before he got the chance.’ ‘We wanted to get to Greece and maybe try our luck with our other grandfather, Athamas.’ ‘But we were shipwrecked …’ ‘And here we are …’ ‘Thought we’d die here …’ ‘But you arrived …’ ‘Who are you, by the way?’ When Jason explained that he and his men were on a quest for the very fleece their father had brought to Colchis, their eyes widened. ‘It’s the Fates,’ said Phrontis. ‘No question.’ ‘I detect their hand here too,’ said Jason. ‘Come with us back to Colchis. We’ll protect you from Aeëtes. You can introduce us to your father Phrixus. The Fleece is his by right. Surely he would let us bring it back to Greece?’ ‘That would be a problem,’ said Cytoros. ‘Dad died last year.’ With these four new crewmen enlisted, the Argo sailed from the isle of Ares and finally reached the port of Phasis at the mouth of the river of the same name.fn55 Somewhere upriver and inland, Jason knew, lay Aiafn56, the capital of Colchis. And somewhere in Colchis the Golden Fleece hung on its tree awaiting them. ‘Do we have to leave the Argo here,’ he asked the four grandsons of Aeëtes, ‘or can we safely navigate up?’ ‘No problem,’ they replied. ‘Plenty of shipping gets to Aia.’ The shallow draft of the Argo and the shallow rise of the Phasis towards its distant source in the Caucasus Mountains did indeed allow them to travel far upstream. As they made their way along the river, the four grandsons of Aeëtes told Jason a little of how things went in Colchis. ‘Our grandfather is a tough man. Some say he killed our father Phrixus. We don’t know about that.’ ‘He’s the son of the sun, and he never lets anyone forget that.’ Jason had indeed heard the rumour that Helios the sun Titan was the father of Aeëtes by the Oceanid Perseis, herself a daughter of one of the original twelve Titans.fn57 ‘His sisters,’ said Melas, ‘are our great-aunts Pasiphae, Queen of Crete, and the enchantress CIRCE. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.’fn58 Jason had indeed. ‘There is magic in your family.’ ‘None that we’ve inherited, but yes.’ ‘And Aeëtes is still married?’ ‘Oh yes, to our grandmother, IDYIA.fn59 They had two daughters, Aunt Medea and our mum Chalciope …’ ‘… and a very late son, Uncle ABSYRTUS.’ ‘… who’s actually younger than us.’ ‘I believe that does happen,’ said Jason. ‘Uncles can be younger than their nephews and nieces. So your mother Chalciope married Phrixus?’fn60 ‘Correct.’ ‘Whom you say Aeëtes may have killed?’ ‘It’s a pretty fair bet.’ ‘And yet your mother stays at the palace in Aia?’ ‘She loves her father. Now, two more bends in the river and we will see that palace.’ ‘We’ll stop here then,’ commanded Jason. The talk of Aeëtes’ power and apparently murderous propensities put Jason on his guard. He ordered everyone to disembark from the Argo and lift her out of the river. They carried her across to a wooded area that he picked out as a sheltered hiding place. They covered her with some of the netting they used for catching fish on the voyage. Jason instructed them to twist saplings and leaves through the netting so that from a distance the ship was invisible in its woodland setting. ‘Animals merge into their backgrounds to avoid danger,’ he said. ‘Why shouldn’t we?’ Carrying gifts for the royal court they set out on foot over the short distance to Aia. But before the Argonauts reached the city, the four sons of Phrixus took their leave, promising to meet up later. Aeëtes would not take kindly to seeing them amongst Jason’s party.