Location: Northwest Africa Coast
Time Remaining: 9 Months, 21 Days
Adresteia resumed her eagle form to follow the adventurers. Shadowing from above, she was first to see that the way-point camp they’d left behind was abandoned. Odysseus and his men were perplexed – the gear and supplies had been left behind, even some of the men’s clothing – but there was no sign of violence. Odysseus debated for a time, what to do. He had his prize, and the Aegis would be waiting for them in a few days. Hypothetically, it would wait another two weeks before returning to Greece without them, but Odysseus wasn’t sure he could count on that – if nothing else, he wasn’t sure if Acrysius could count to fourteen. Returning to the ship would be the easy and safe course of action.
But Odysseus had ordered the men to stay there, so whatever had happened in his absence – even if it was a fate brought on by their own stupidity – he was responsible for them. Odysseus was also well aware, though, that it could be a trap, and that it was senseless to risk his men’s lives if it could be avoided. Ultimately, he decided to send the men on ahead to the ship without him. Odysseus would stay behind the next day and investigate, with his weapons, the apple (tucked in his haversack) and a few supplies. If he found nothing, he’d hike fast and catch up to them on the way back to the ship.
Adresteia fluttered down once the men disappeared from sight the next morning, “Risking lives to save lives isn’t unreasonable,” she said “You didn’t have to do this alone.”
“I’m not alone,” Odysseus said, “I’m with you. And with them gone, you can tell me what you see from the air, and spare me the headaches of interpreting Eagle charades.”
“So, really, this was an excuse to see me naked again,” she smiled.
“Ha ha ha,” Odysseus said sarcastically, “Truly, you’re the only chance I have of finding those men, Adresteia. I’m sure there’s a trail to follow, but I could wander east for hours and not find it.”
“Well, in that case…” Adresteia changed to her winged form and soared into the air. She looped around in circles for a few minutes, then flew nearly out of sight before returning to Odysseus’s side.
“Blood?” He asked, “Tracks?”
“Clothes,” Adresteia said holding a tunic she’d brought back with her, “A trail of clothes. Your men may still be alive, but they are almost certainly bare-ass naked by now.” She pulled the man’s tunic on to cover her human form and led Odysseus to the start of the trail. He’d been right – there would have been no way he would have found it. The plains east of the coast were expansive and covered with a long grass that – at its deepest – stood taller than Odysseus’s head. The environment could have induced claustrophobia as easily as agoraphobia.
There were occasional clearings and oases where Odysseus could see a variety of beasts he’d only heard stories about – great buffalo, numerous deer-like animals, large cats, and most remarkably, elephants. Odysseus found himself wondering how Penelope might fare on an extended sea voyage – she would love the elephants.
Adresteia searched again from the air and identified a short line of hills in the distance that sheltered a thickly wooded region, and determined that the trail of clothing, mashed grass, and muddy tracks they’d been following, ended there. With a heading established, she returned to Odysseus’s side, and fell especially silent. Adresteia was laconic, at best, but Odysseus could tell that something was bothering her.
“Are you worried about killing Herakles?” He asked.
“As a tactical issue or a moral one?”
“Either.”
“I’m slightly concerned about whether I can, but not at all unsure of whether I should. I’ve heard enough about Herakles – and know his father well enough – that I have no reason to doubt Ladon’s story.”
“Is something else bothering you, then?” Odysseus asked.
“Ladon’s comment about us flirting.”
“Eh,” Odysseus punched her in the arm, “I wouldn’t worry about that. We were just getting to know each other, that’s all. And I can be kind of a flirty guy, I know, so if it came off that way, that’s on me.”
“I’m bothered,” Adresteia said, “Because I don’t know that I wasn’t flirting with you.”
“Oh, well, I mean I do it without knowing I’m doing it, so that seems pretty normal to me.”
“Normal doesn’t apply in this context,” Adresteia said, “I have had literally no romantic relationships – with gods, titans, or humans. I was raised, trained, whatever you want to call it, with no concept of love – romantic, paternal, filial, amicable – none of it. I have spent the better part of three decades trying to figure out who I am and what I want in life.”
“What brought that introspection on?” Odysseus asked.
Adresteia was silent for a long while, and finally gave the simplest answer, “Zeus raped me.”
“Wait, what?” Odysseus stopped walking, “The king of gods, the ultimate arbiter of good and evil, right and wrong… like… raped raped or like…”
Adresteia smacked him in the chest, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I mean like, did you have sex with him because he leaned on you as his boss, or did he actually, physically…”
“Does it make a difference?”
“Doesn’t it to you?” Odysseus asked, “I don’t know. This isn’t something I’ve ever… talked about with anyone.”
“He tried to pressure me into having sex with him and I refused him. He hunted me for five years, and when he found me, he had Aphrodite drug me so that I couldn’t fight him. Is that ‘rape-rape’? Or something else?”
“No, that’s definitely… what it is.”
“Yeah.”
“So, you were the victim of physical and emotional trauma, and you had your faith in the cornerstones of civilization compromised in the process.”
“That about sums it up,” she said.
“I’m sorry,” Odysseus said.
“Nothing you could have done to stop it. You were probably a toddler when it happened, and I don’t imagine a toddler would have much chance of stopping Zeus from taking what he wants.”
“Yeah. And I guess there’s nothing I could really do to protect you now…”
“Protect me?” Adresteia said, “I don’t need a mortal man to ‘protect’ me.”
“Right, that was… that was arrogant of me,” Odysseus said, “I should have said, I don’t know what I could do to help now.”
“You think I need your help?”
“Well, Athena thought you needed my help to get the apple,” Odysseus said, “Grappling with the repercussions of … this… seems a lot more challenging than fetching produce.”
“And what could you possibly do? Are you going to reverse time? Or hunt Zeus down and avenge my ‘honor’?”
“No,” Odysseus said, “I mean, if there’s a way for you to do those things, I’ll back you up.”
“Wait, what? If I decided to track down Zeus and exact revenge, you’d help me?”
“Yeah,” Odysseus said, “I mean, maybe not in line of sight of his lightning bolts,” he admitted, “But I’d do what I could.”
“But you said it yourself – he decides what’s right and wrong. Doesn’t that put him beyond reproach? Why would you even believe me?”
“Well, for one, I know you, and you’ve done nothing to make me question your trustworthiness.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah. I mean, of course. Does Athena know?”
“Athena kind of put me back together after what happened. I’d probably still be stalking bandits and murderers in the backwoods of Greece if she hadn’t given me purpose again.”
Odysseus thought about the inhuman conditions of the building Adresteia had said she was born in, “How much of what you’re dealing with is… because of what happened, as opposed to how you were treated before that?”
“Honestly… it’s not something that can be…”
“Dissected?”
“Yes.”
Odysseus backed off on the topic as they crested the hill Adresteia had led them to. The forest below them had dense tree cover that would make another aerial search futile, so they descended into the woods. The crooked tree trunks were widely spaced, but their branches – the lowest ones at about head-height – stretched to reach the other trees, blocking out the sky. Fortunately, they didn’t have to walk far before they saw a campfire, and heard Achaean voices chattering happily along with people speaking a dialect Odysseus could not place.
Given the tone of their conversation, Odysseus had no reason to expect there was any danger, and announced himself before he walked into the light of the campfire. Adresteia backed off and enveloped herself in the shadows, lest the crewmen see her. She trusted Odysseus would call if she were needed.
Before Odysseus could get a bead on his men, he was stopped by a young woman’s voice speaking his name. He couldn’t understand another word she said, but she was beautiful in a way Odysseus had never imagined possible. His heart pounded and his skin flushed as he looked at her. She ran her fingers down his chest, grabbed his belt, and led him over to their fire. She set him down on a stump and began rubbing his shoulders from behind, pressing her breasts against his neck.
“Captain!” One of the men, Etas, was lying next to the fire relaxing as another beautiful woman laid next to him, nibbling on his ear.
“Etas,” Odysseus said, “We were worried about you and the others. I guess I can see why you wandered off. Where are the others?”
There was a loud, masculine groan from a nearby lean-to, and a woman giggling.
“That would be Aestus, I’m guessing,” Odysseus said.
“Yeah, Aestus and I are still around. I don’t know where Phineas or Tysus have gotten off to.”
“Do you…” Odysseus struggled to concentrate as the woman reached down to slide her hand between his legs, “Do you know when you saw them last?” Odysseus was fairly certain Etas said he didn’t remember, but he stopped paying attention when the woman’s fingers wrapped around his manhood. The woman parted her own minimal clothes and straddle him, licking his ears and nibbling at his lips, giggling.
“Good lord.” Odysseus heard Adresteia’s voice mixing contempt and exasperation as she walked up behind them.
“Addy!” Odysseus said, “I want you to meet… I don’t know her name... but she’s amazing.”
A man appeared from the bushes, easily as attractive as the women, and approached Adresteia laughing and mumbling about something.
“Give it a rest honey,” she said, “I’m not buying what you’re selling.”
“Addy, what’s wrong?”
Adresteia sighed, placed a single finger on top of Odysseus’s head, and jolted him with a mild shock. It was like waking up from a dream. The beautiful woman in his lap was suddenly covered in spotted fur, and her face became a dark muzzle flanked by wide, round ears. Her pearly white teeth were long, yellow, and stank of rotted meat. Odysseus shoved her off and leapt up from his seat. The man who’d approached Adresteia was the same, as was the woman lying with Etas – or what was left of Etas. The man was smiling and happy, but missing significant portions of his extremities, which had clearly been gnawed upon, and were drawing clouds of buzzing flies. Phineas and Tysus’s heads rested next to the fire, their skulls split open.
“You awake now?” Adresteia asked him as the fourth creature – what Odysseus would one day learned was a kishi – emerged from its lean-to snacking on what Odysseus guessed was an especially intimate piece of Aestus.
“Yeah… um… my spear?”
“Next to your bag, right behind and to your left,” Adresteia said.
The chattering kishi began laughing, a horrific, bone-chilling chorus of howls. The male kishi lunged at Adresteia, swiping her human body with his claws. Odysseus dived for his collapsible spear, and hit the trigger on it as his seducer fell on him from behind. The shaft extended under his arm, and the exotic blade skewered her bare midriff. Odysseus scrambled to his feet, untangled the spear from the kishi’s entrails, and prepared to fight the other two as they closed in.
Adresteia changed into her demigod form, healing the cuts inflicted by the kishi’s claws, and spreading her enormous black wings as she grew. The air grew cold and the fire dwindled as she sucked the energy out of her surroundings. The male kishi leaped back, not sure what to make of his prey. Adresteia moved forward in a flash and seized him by the throat.
“I am Nemesis, bringer of justice, avenger of crime, and enactor of retribution,” she said, “I punish those who do wrong. Not faulty machines or hungry animals, men and women who do harm upon others, who try and take that which is not their right.” She took a deep whiff of the creature, “You’re not an animal, you’re a man under all of that fur, soul and all. A perverted cannibal, a murderer, and now you are my prey. And I have not eaten in a very long time.” She threw the male kishi headfirst into a nearby tree, and tackled one of the on-rushing female kishi as Odysseus tangle with the other.
The kishi clawed at Nemesis, but they all stank of fear, and that fortified her god-form. The creature's claws were no more effectual on her skin than ordinary finger nails. Nemesis swiped at the kishi with her talons, and ripped a large portion of its face off. It stopped laughing and started screaming, clutching its exposed eyeball. Nemesis drove her talons into the terrified creatures throat, and drained the frantic energy from her. It was sweet, sweet nectar to her. The kishi collapsed to her feet, dead.
Odysseus was backed against a tree, his spear up crossways to hold his fanged attacker back from his throat. It had its claws in him – literally this time – but Nemesis grabbed it by the scalp and hauled it off, tossing it into the fire. The impact broke up the piled wood, causing the fire to flash brightly for an instant with a fwoosh, scorching the kishi woman. Nemesis brought one of her taloned feet down on the writhing figure’s neck and snapped it. The male kishi, laughing hysterically, tried to lope away, but Nemesis threw out her hand; a tendril of lightning flashed out of it and curled around the man’s ankle like a whip, dragging him to the ground as it shocked him over and over.
“Fear me, Circe-spawn,” Nemesis said, “fear your judgment scion of Echidna!” she hissed as she lifted him into the air. She created a dagger out of lightning and plunged it into the creature's gut. The kishi’s abdomen glowed orange as the heat built inside, boiling organs and igniting bodily gases. When the creature’s struggling subsided into sporadic twitching, Nemesis twisted its head off and tossed it to the ground.
Sated, she returned to her human form. She was nearly overwhelmed by the stench, and by Etas’s frantic, horrified screaming. Odysseus was trying unsuccessfully to comfort the man, trying to work out how to dress his wounds. Adresteia knew little of medicine or healing, but her heart wrenched at the sight of the man.
“What do you need me to do?" Adresteia asked, “How can I help?”
Tears welled in Odysseus’s eyes. Setting aside the reality that Etas would never be able to function in Ithacan society with the loss of his hands, feet, and other extremities, it was simply remarkable that the man hadn’t bled to death already. There’d be no hope of getting him back across ten miles of savanna, and the many miles back up the coast, let alone home to Greece.
Odysseus felt like he should ask the man if he had any last words he wanted his prince to pass on when they returned home, but the words caught in his throat. Etas’s hysterical screams began to subside into ragged breathing. Adresteia picked up Odysseus’s spear and collapsed it into a short sword again. She changed form again, but only to spread her wings and dim the ambient light to ensure Etas focused on her. His ragged breathing slowed down as he looked upon her, and he simply mumbled, “Angel of mercy… fly me home.”
Adresteia positioned the spear point at Etas’s throat, and with an abrupt but very precise movement, drove the blade through the man’s neck, severing his brain stem. When Etas stopped twitching, she looked into the lean-to to see what condition Aestus was in. Objectively, worse. She knelt down to hear his last words, and performed the coup de gras on him, as well.
Odysseus sat on the ground, his back against a tree, and wept openly, his body shuddering with uncontrollable sobs. Adresteia picked him up, flew them out of the woods back up to the hill overlooking the forest, and laid him down on the soft grass.
She shifted back to her human form, laid down next to him, and wrapped her arms around him. She thought back to their earlier conversation of the day, “I don’t know how I can help,” she whispered. Odysseus said nothing, but took her hand and held it tightly to his chest.
The next morning, they returned to the horrible scene and retrieved the remains of his men. Odysseus knew there’d be no way to carry the remains back to the ship, but he didn’t want them to rot with the corpses of the monsters Adresteia had slain. With her help, he buried them on the hill overlooking the forest and the savanna, and they walked back towards the coast.
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