Ariadne Unraveled by Ariadne Unraveled (epub)

Author:Ariadne Unraveled (epub)
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0000000000000
Published: 2021-11-25T18:42:12+00:00

Part Three

On The Seas

17

Dionysus Learns Betrayal

Halicarnassus

Dionysus stood on the busy quay trying to remember how to behave among mortals who were not his followers. The wind whipped at his long hair and purple cloak as he waited with his amphora of wine and chests of bounty from India, holding Thalia’s leash. The stares of sailors and fishermen told him he was not succeeding in appearing as a regular mortal seeking passage to another land. The boys who cleaned the nets, the girls who helped with the catch gawked at him. Word spread, and soon more people came from the town to stare, until Dionysus felt he was naked in the marketplace—a slave for sale. He had forgotten what it was to be a stranger.

He stroked Thalia behind the ears and wished he could ask her advice. She had decided to travel as a leopard, saying it was much safer than traveling as a woman. She had selected her red leather collar.

A crew returned from town and began to board their vessel near Dionysus. Perhaps this ship would give him passage.

“Sir,” he asked a rugged Ionian. “Can you take us to Crete?”

The sailor paused, staring at Dionysus’s purple chiton. “You haven’t heard?” the sailor asked, rubbing his unkempt beard. A wind blew from the sea, sending a shiver down Dionysus’s spine.

“What’s happened?” Dionysus asked.

“Oh,” the sailor sighed, ready to impart some juicy gossip. “A great sorrow has befallen the land of the labrys. An Athenian prince has killed the savage Minotaur.”

Asterion. Dionysus grasped the bull’s-horn necklace that had once been Asterion’s. The news did not surprise him, but the pain of loss stung.

“Crete’s sway over Athens is done,” the Ionian continued. “They will send tributes no more. It is said that Crete has lost all her power and King Minos weeps. Few ships sail to Crete today, but see there? Third boat down, red mast?”

Dionysus followed the man’s gaze to a to a medium sized cargo vessel with a prow shaped like a fish and faded blue paint on the hull.

“I hear the crew from Tyrrhenia does what others won’t—for a price. You seem like a man who can pay.”

Dionysus had the porters carry his trunks down the dock. Two sailors loading an amphora of oil on board paused to stare at Thalia. A seaman with wild, dark hair jumped off the boat to stand near Dionysus. He held his hand to his eyes, shielding them from the sun, and appraised Dionysus and his possessions.

“Hello, young sir, are you looking for something?” The man’s wild black beard almost completely eclipsed his face.

“Can you take me to Crete? I can pay well for you to take me and my pet cat.”

“Ahoy, Captain Medon!” the first man shouted up to the boat. “We have a young lord here who wants to sail to Crete. What say you?”

“We don’t sail for Crete, Dictys. You know that.”

“Come take a look, Captain,” Dictys said.

The captain also had a long, black beard, brushed into a point. He stroked it, smiling, as his eyes danced over Dionysus, Thalia, and his three trunks of treasure.

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