Read Online Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner - Free Book Online Page A

filling our ears with the promise of the immortal fame that comes to the bravest of the brave, both those who live and those who die. The men answered the end of each verse with a cheer loud enough to shake snow from the peak of Olympus. The ship flew across the water, heading straight for the burning shore.
    Abruptly the booming beat of wood on wood stopped. Orpheus swallowed the next line of his blood-stirring song. Without his beat to help them keep time, the overeager men lost control of their oars. The heavy blades clattered against each other loudly, then fell still. Silence rippled over the
Argo
as we stared at the man who’d dared to place himself between a ship of warriors and their desired war.
    Prince Jason raised the spear he’d wrested from Orpheus’s hands and rammed its haft down hard on the ship’s hull. “
Turn,
Tiphys!” he shouted, swinging the spear’s point north. “Turn this ship back to her proper course! Have you all forgotten
why
we set sail? We seek the Golden Fleece, not some petty squabble between savages! We’ll waste no time and no lives on anything but our true quest.”
    For a moment it looked as if that would be the end of it. Our helmsman frowned, but he began to lean against the steering oar, turning the ship away from the smoke. The other men grumbled. We were close enough to hear the first faint sounds of fighting, the clash of metal on metal, the crackling of flames.
    Then Zetes spoke up: “‘Savages’?” he echoed bitterly. “Is that what you call Thracians? Or haven’t you got the brains to know where we are? I know this coastline as well as I know my own sword arm. That’s
our
homeland burning!” He clapped one fist to his chest. “If you turn this ship away, I swear by the deadly waters of the river Styx, the oath that binds the gods, that you’ll see the last of me, my brother, and Orpheus as well!”
    Jason’s smile was thin. “Small loyalty, small loss.” I didn’t like the contemptuous way he looked at his disgruntled crewmen, as if their grievances were hardly worth his time. “I won’t risk my ship for anything less than the Fleece.”
    “
Your
ship, Jason?” Herakles loomed at the mast, his eyes smoldering in the shadow of the lion’s jaw. “This vessel was made at the command of Lord Pelias, the
reigning
king of Iolkos. You’re king of nothing, and you’ll never be king over me. Unless the gods command otherwise, I serve men
worth
serving.”
    Jason’s eyes narrowed. “But the gods
do
command you, Herakles,” he said. “If you still claim to be the son of Zeus, they do. I’ve dedicated this quest to Hera, his wife and queen, because she favors me. But you? Your existence is an insult to her, living proof of her husband’s faithlessness. She’s got enough reason to hate you already. Do you want to add to her wrath against you by defying me?”
    Herakles scowled. “I’ll take my chances with Hera. Come closer and take your chances with me!”
    No one will win this fight,
I thought, every nerve taut, eyes fixed on the two glowering men. I tightened my grip on my blade. I had no idea how much farther we still had to travel to reach Colchis, but I did know that if the quest ended now, the immortal fame Orpheus sang about would become immortal ridicule. The loss would be Jason’s doing, but all the Argonauts would suffer for it, including my brothers.
    Fame…
The word trailed through my mind and struck a spark. I sheathed my sword and crawled just far enough to tug at the hem of Orpheus’s kilt and draw his notice. He gave me an inquiring look until I motioned for him to bend near. Then I whispered, “How quickly can you remind Prince Jason that fame’s more than a word?”
    The Thracian poet smiled. “The gods bless you, Glaucus,” he whispered back. “You see what I should have seen for myself.” With that, he straightened up and began a new song. He didn’t need to sing it loudly. The first line was enough to seize everyone’s