Read Online Hellenic Immortal by Gene Doucette - Free Book Online

SEAGOING VESSEL WHOSE DEPARTURE WAS IMMEDIATE, CONCERNED LESS WITH ANY PARTICULAR DESTINATION THAN WITH WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN SHOULD HE REMAIN ASHORE TO BE RECOVERED BY THE DODDERING KING’S VERY LARGE ARMY. IT WAS NOT A FLIGHT OF FEAR, FOR SILENUS THE MAGNIFICENT WAS NOT A COWARDLY MAN.
    AND SO IT HAPPENED, THE VESSEL ON WHICH SILENUS TOOK CHARTER WAS BESET BY PIRATES ON THE OPEN SEA. THE FOUL BRIGANDS TOOK ONLY THAT WHICH COULD BE SOLD OR RANSOMED AND ALL ELSE WAS OFFERED TO POSEIDON. AS A MAN OF GREAT IMPORTANCE SILENUS THE WISE WAS SPARED, TO BE BARTERED BACK TO THE VERY KING FROM WHOM HE FLED.
    SO, TOO, WAS A SECOND MAN. HE CARRIED LITTLE BUT WORE THE FINERY OF A NOBLE AND SPOKE THE LANGUAGE OF THE GODS. HE CLAIMED NO BIRTHRIGHT OR TITLE, AND WHEN A NAME WAS DEMANDED OF HIM HE PROVIDED SEVERAL. TALL AND GRACEFUL, HE WORE HIS RAVEN HAIR LONG AND CURLY, AND SPUN INTO A BRAID BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS IN THE MANNER OF AN ETHIOPIAN PRINCE. BUT THAT HIS SKIN WAS TOO FAIR, HE COULD HAVE BEEN MISTAKEN AS SUCH. LIKEWISE, WITH HIS LOCKS AND CARRIAGE AND RAIMENT THE MAN COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN FOR A WOMAN, ON A CLOUDY DAY AT DUSK.
    THE PIRATES SHACKLED TOGETHER SILENUS AND THE STRANGE MAN, AND FIXED THEIR CHAINS TO A BOLT ON THE AFT OF THE DECK. THERE WERE THEY LEFT TO THE ELEMENTS UNTIL SUCH A TIME AS RANSOM COULD BE NEGOTIATED.
    “WHAT MANNER OF BEING ARE YOU?” THE STRANGE MAN ASKED OF SILENUS, “THAT WALKS AND TALKS AS A MAN BUT WITH THE EARS OF A DRAUGHT HORSE AND THE SMELL OF A CAMEL?”
    “I AM SILENUS AND I AM THE ONLY,” SILENUS SAID PROUDLY, FOR IT WAS TRUE. “AND WHAT MANNER OF MAN MIGHT YOU BE, THAT GLIDES THROUGH THIS SPHERE SO GENTLY AND WITHOUT AFFECT? THAT SHINES OF NOBILITY BUT ACCEPTS THE IGNOBILITY OF FATE WITHOUT PROTEST?”
    “I AM BUT A MAN,” HE DECLARED SIMPLY, TO SILENUS’S DISSATISFACTION. “BUT YOU ARE NOT. I BELIEVE I HAVE HEARD TELL OF BEINGS SUCH AS YOU IN MY TRAVELS.”
    “YOU ERR, MY LORD,” SILENUS DECLARED, “FOR THERE IS ONLY SILENUS AND NONE OTHER THAN HE. SILENUS IS UNLIKE ANY.”
    THE STRANGE MAN LAUGHED HEARTILY, BUT NOT SO BROADLY AS TO ALARM THEIR CAPTORS. “IS IT TRULY THUS? YOU SPRANG UPON THE EARTH FULLY ASSEMBLED? THAT IS NOT SO; NO BEING THAT STRIDES THE DIRT DID SO WITHOUT FIRST KNOWING THE WARMTH OF A MOTHER’S WOMB.”
    “WHAT OF THE GODS?” SILENUS COUNTERED, TAKEN ABACK BY THE SHREWDNESS OF HIS COMPANION. “DO THEY NOT CREATE THEMSELVES?”
    “THAT IS NOT SO; EVEN THE GODS HAVE MOTHERS. NOW WHAT IS THERE TO YOU ASIDE FROM YOUR PECULIAR EARS? DO YOU HAVE A TALENT THAT WOULD HELP RESOLVE OUR PRESENT CONCERNS?”
    “I HAVE A GREAT MANY TALENTS,” SILENUS BOASTED. “I CAN TRANSFORM MYSELF INTO A GOAT AND STEP FREE OF THESE CHAINS. I CAN CALL DOWN THE WRATH OF AEOLUS HIMSELF TO VISIT A GREAT STORM UPON THIS VESSEL. I CAN SUMMON PROTEUS FROM BELOW TO VISIT WATERY VIOLENCE UPON OUR CAPTORS. THE WINGED GORGON DOES ANSWER MY . . .”
    “SO YOU HAVE NO TALENTS, THEN,” THE STRANGER INTERRUPTED. “ASIDE FROM A VAST CAPACITY FOR EXAGGERATION.”
    “I AM THE GREATEST STORYTELLER THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN,” SILENUS SPOKE ANGRILY. “KINGS WEEP, MAIDENS SPREAD THEIR THIGHS, AND THE GODS THEMSELVES . . .”
    BUT THE STRANGER INTERRUPTED SILENUS YET AGAIN. “YOU MUST STOP,” HE DECLARED, “FOR I HAVE MET THE GREATEST STORYTELLER THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN AND YOU ARE NOT HE. WHAT I REQUIRE OF YOU IS A TALENT THAT WILL HELP US AT THIS VERY MOMENT. UNLESS YOU CAN SPIN A TALE THAT CONVINCES THESE PIRATES TO MURDER THEMSELVES, I DO NOT FIND YOUR LEGEND-MAKING PROWESS AN EFFECTIVE SURVIVAL SKILL. AND SHOULD YOU TRY, I FEAR THEY MAY SLAY US BEFORE PROCEEDING TO THEMSELVES, AS I HAVE CONSIDERED MURDERING YOU TWICE SINCE WE HAVE BEGUN SPEAKING.”
    “AND WHAT TALENTS HAVE YOU, STRANGER,” SILENUS DEMANDED, “THAT WOULD BE OF USE TO ANY, ASIDE FROM YOUR SKILLFULLY INSULTING TONE?”
    “FREED OF THESE SHACKLES, I CAN BEST ANY ABOARD THIS VESSEL,” THE STRANGE MAN SAID CALMLY,