Location: Forest North of Larissa
Time Remaining: 23 Days
Odysseus and Achilles ran toward the next camp. Unlike Achilles and many of his fellow princes, Odysseus’s blood was only 1/8th Olympian, but, fortunately, that 1/8th came from Hermes. Odysseus was sure that without that slight edge, he’d be lagging far behind Achilles. Unfortunately, Hector, Paris, and Menelaus, were all five or six generations removed from their divine heritage. Odysseus looked back and could see Hector and Paris struggling to keep up, and Menelaus, of all things, trying to drag Apollo to safety.
The men at the next camp had very nearly driven back the wildlife. Diomedes and Teucer had thinned the larger animals with their bows. Ajax had hefted a twelve-foot log and knocked away the smaller creatures with a few mighty sweeps before throwing it down and rolling it over the rest like a baker flattening dough. Odysseus announced their approach as Ajax set the log across some rocks so the archers could take up position behind it.
“Ajax!” Odysseus cried, “We need your strength!”
“What in Hades is going on?!” Diomedes shouted.
“Artemis is hunting us for sport, and turned Lycomedes into a monster!”
“Who’s Lycomedes?!” Teucer shouted as they leapt over their cover.
“Hairy guy from Crete,” Achilles said, “He’s a lot hairier now.”
Hector and Paris caught up to them. “Also, an owl turned into a scary hot lady,” the boy added.
“What?” Teucer felt more confused than he assumed Ajax felt every day.
“Key points,” Odysseus said, “Apollo is wounded, we need Ajax to carry him away from his sister, and we need to deal with a man-wolf creature.”
Diomedes gasped, “It’s half man, half animal? Like the Minotaur? It’s a Minowolf?!”
“No. The Minotaur was named after its father, Minos,” Paris said matter-of-factly, “Lycomedes already has a name.”
“He’s a Lycawolf then!”
“Good god would you lot listen to yourselves?!” Odysseus shouted as he turned and ran back the way he’d come, “Menelaus needs us!”
Menelaus could see his friends coming back for him, but could also hear Lycomedes closing on him from behind, the beast's deformed paws kicking up the sandy soil. Had Menelaus thought about it, he might have used Apollo's more resilient body as a shield, but in the heat of the moment, Menelaus could only think of the god as an injured soldier. As Lycomedes reached them, he dropped Apollo in front of himself, and hunkered over him with his heavy shield up. Lycomedes slammed into the shield and began clawing at it, trying to either pull it off of Menelaus’s arm or pull off Menelaus’s arm. Menelaus raised his shield slightly, and with a sweep of his leg tripped the beast, “Down boy.”
Unfortunately, Lycomedes didn’t stay down. He got back onto all fours and started trying to flank the man with sudden bursts of sideways motion.
The others closed in. Diomedes and Odysseus circled to the right with their bows, while Teucer, Paris, and Hector circled to the left. Ajax and Achilles charged into the middle of the fray. Ajax grabbed Apollo and dragged him clear. Achilles jumped on the creature’s back and tried to get a choke hold on it.
“He’s stronger than he looks,” Achilles grunted.
Menelaus tried to get an angle on the beast, but trying to bash it with his shield again was complicated by Achilles’s involvement. “Odysseus, I feel no shame in asking for advice,” Menelaus said when the creature grabbed his shield and started trying to tear it from his grasp again.
“We can shoot him,” Teucer said, “If the boy gets clear, I can put one between its eyes.”
“We can save him!” Achilles shouted back, hanging on tenaciously. None of their arrows could have hurt Achilles, but the boy was now determined to take Lycomedes alive.
Odysseus thought for a moment, “Does anyone have a sword?”
“I have a hunting axe with me,” Hector retrieved it from the back of his belt and held it ready.
Odysseus ran over to Hector, skirting the creature's reach, and held up his bow, “Chop it dead center - don’t cut the string.”
Hector split the bow cleanly in two. Odysseus gripped one half of the bow and swung the other half – still connected by the cord – at Lycomedes’s lower arm. The wood spun around the creature’s wrist, wrapping the bowstring around it. Odysseus grabbed the other bow half and pulled both ends tight while twisting the cord over on itself.
“You’ve snared him!” Teucer praised Odysseus, “Now what?”
Odysseus was a strong man for his size, but the creature nearly pulled him off his feet. Odysseus dug his heals in. “Teucer, snare the other arm! Use a belt or something! Ajax, you’re on Teucer’s side, Hector and Diomedes, you’re on mine.”
Teucer nearly got bitten, but he managed to loop the strap from his quiver around the creature’s right wrist, and hold it long enough for Ajax to lumber in and take hold of it too. The five men pulled in two directions, overpowering the wolf creature and stretching its arms wide. It struggled fiercely.
“I think we’re likely to tire before he does!” Diomedes expressed his concern.
“We need something to lash him to,” Odysseus grunted, “We can tie his arms back and let him struggle against himself.”
“There’s a tree twelve paces behind Ajax!” Paris shouted over the monster’s angry howling.
“As one!” Hector said, “Go!” Keeping the restraints taught, the men dragged the beast back towards the tree. Achilles released his hold on the beast, rolled under its drawn out arm, and joined Menelaus who had his shield and spear up again, ready to go if the others lost their grip. Once the men had Lycomedes’ back pressed to the tree, they circled towards one another, dislocating the beasts shoulders and drawing its forearms together behind the tree. Ajax grabbed its wrists and held the creature still while Odyssey effected a more reliable restraint.
Even with both shoulders dislocated, Lycomedes struggled against the bindings. For good measure, Achilles took off his belt and tied it around the beast’s jaws. The young men stepped back from their handy work, breathing hard.
Apollo staggered over, finally walking under his own power again, “That was some fine teamwork gentlemen.”
Menelaus laughed, “Sure, but now how do we get this tree back to Thessaly?”
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