It was an hour after I'd had a chat with the girl that celebrations began. I'd learned a bit, but unfortunately, I didn't know how to read, so I had to have leos reread the missive of our mission to me.
My inability to read was simply because of a lack of anyone in the village I'd grown up in who knew or could teach me. A common case sadly, luckily, as a demigod of clan Herakles, I was given an aid by right.
Still, I had leos teach me as much as he could during our longer voyages.
Apparently, the girl was a presumed kidnapped daughter of one of the clan Herakles's higher kings. Thus, when it was heard that she was last seen in a small village, it had been decided it would be the perfect opposite for me to get some experience with raiding.
What the missives failed to inform us of was that young Peresè had run away from an arranged marriage in order to learn the arts of witchcraft from the coven of hebè who worshiped the one armed goddess of magic.
That made things.... complicated. The clans had long ago abolished the practice along with the practice of not allowing women to become soldiers after the new gods under the direction of Hipolta threatened to destroy any Greek clan that did so. The only exception was on marriages arranged for the sake of peace on the exchange that the bride would never bear a child and be granted a life of luxury.
Of course, some clans members took advantage of that last ruling, setting up minor wars for the soul sake of abusing that rule with the idea that they were helping their daughters.
in other words, if I didn't bring this man back to his daughter, he would be forced into war due to his own schemes. On the other hand, the daughter was capable and didn't strike me as the type to enjoy the life of a gilded cage.
I really wanted to let the man suffer his own reckoning, but without knowing who he had chosen to make "war" with, his people might suffer. Old gods save me, but I was not about to deal with this right now.
So celebrations. I danced and partied with the men while making sure leos downed each and every single one of his cups of wine, much to his dismay. The man needed to learn to hold his wine. He needed pancrease training. So did the girl. Peresè had gotten drunk on a single cup! When did Spartans grow so soft?
After the party started to die down and I'd started to gain a light buzz, I felt finally in the mood to tackle the beast that was Poltics and headed towards a groaning Leos. What a babe, it was only 200 cups.
"OH no!!! I'm nosh huving smesh with you while srhunk. You nervy drained me the life of me lub time." He said swaying, but I knew he wasn't really drunk. Even if a demigod had drinken a 1000 cups, they would only stay drunk for 10 minutes or so.
"Malàka! enough with the act Leos, it's time to discuss business." I said flatly, not really in the mood for antics, even my own.
"You mean the girl? Tricky business that. Normally, I say we should we leave her here and claim we couldn't find her. But Her father is the only one with concrete knowledge of where to find a hydra."
I grimaced. That was the real issue. Outside of manners of politics was the fact that we had our own goals as well. I wanted to complete one of the labors and gain the famed bow of herakles. Not only that, but I needed it before the harvest, when the Spartans conducted their annual raids on the land of Nazareth. The bows poison could affect anything, even golems after all.
GAAAHHH!!! complicated stuff like this was iratating. Life would be so much easier if you punch the complicated stuff. Politics? kick it in the balls. Time? rearrange its face. Are you not smart enough? beat up your brain until it grows smarter.
Alas, things were not so simple. So I had to make a choice. Leos might be my aid, but I was a leader, and leading was part of that. I took a few minutes to weigh my options.
"Well, take her to her father and see what happens then. I don't want to make a move until I know who he has made an enemy of."
Leos simply noted, and his eyes took on amber green while he tapped into the blood. His ability to process information would increase a thousand fold as a result.
"Noted. I'll make sure to set up the proper countermeasures in case we need to make further adjustments to the plan."
that meant that Leos's plan needed to be kept from me. I didn't like it. Things felt too complicated here. But part of being a leader was trusting your subordinates. It was much like my spear. Though unblessed, it was not simply a point end to poke people with. It was a part of me that made me 100 times stronger than I would ever be on my own. My subordinates were the same. A part of me that I would be weaker without.
a spartan trusted their weapons, or they were not spartan at all.
So all I could do was prepare for the voyage. I had already chosen an elder to lead the village in my absence. In truth, the only thing that changed was who their tithes would go to. That and probably a reinvigorated desire to train after I had whipped thier assess.
A successful raid and soon a hopefully successful mission. My blood and myself warmed at the thought. Yet I had an uneasy feeling. A strange feeling.
like something wasn't right. Hmmm, probably just needed more wine.