"Sixteen, my lady."
"Indeed? You seem younger."
"It is because I am so small. I am as nothing next to Hercules. I am not as small and weak as I once was, though. I have grown stronger from carrying my master's weapons and from trying to work with them. Hercules teaches me so that I might be an armorer one day. It seems it is not my fate to be a hero, like my master and the others."
She smiled. "You admire Hercules very much, don't you?"
"He is the greatest man alive!"
"How long have you known him?"
"Many years, my lady. Since I was but a child."
"How did you meet?"
"My parents were killed by bandits," Hylas said. "Hercules came and rescued me from them. With my parents dead, I had no one left. At first, Hercules told me I could stay with him until we found someone to take me in, but who would want another's child, one so small and frail that anyone could see he would be of little use, only another mouth to feed. When he saw that no one wanted me, Hercules said I could remain with him. He understood my feelings. It is because ..." Hylas lowered his voice, "... he sometimes has trouble speaking. Not all the time. Whenever there is hero's work to be done, his voice flows forth as befits the son of Zeus. But at other times, his voice often stumbles and fails him."
Hylas leaned closer to her. "I think it is because he is so big," he said softly, almost whispering. "He is a giant among men and the world was made for men, not giants. No matter where he goes, people cannot help but stare at him. Often, he must bend down and walk sideways to enter through a doorway. I have seen him sit down in a chair, only to have the chair break beneath his weight and send him crashing to the floor. Then he must pick himself up and as he does so, no one looks and no one laughs, for who would dare to laugh at Hercules? Still, I have seen his face burning with shame because he knows that they have seen. He knows that they will doubtless laugh after we have gone. You have heard his voice when he is roused to anger, how it rings out like thunder? Yet, at other times, his voice is soft and low and he falters in his speech. I think it is because he is afraid to loose that godlike voice. I think that he does not wish to seem too proud."
"And so you become his voice," said Andre. "It is because I have been with him so long, I know what he would say even as he thinks it. I know what is in his heart. You see, we are somewhat alike, but not in any way that you might notice. He is only half a god who must live in a world of lesser men and I am only half a boy who must live in a world where only little children can look up to me. Each of us, in his own way, does not belong with others, so we belong to one another."
Andre reached out and touched his cheek. "You may be small, Hylas, but in some ways you stand above most men."
He stared at her, puzzled. "In what ways, my lady?"
"You see things more clearly than most men do and you understand them better. It is the rarest of all gifts. Perhaps that is why the gods have made you small. So you would not be envied."
"I had never thought of that," said Hylas. "Can it be true?"
"The greatest gifts are those that are not easily discerned," said Andre. "Those who have them are often not aware of them and if they are, they do not hold them up for all to see."
"You must be very wise, my lady."
Andre shook her head. "No, Hylas, I am not wise. But I have been to many places and I have witnessed many things. And I once had a little brother who was very much like you."
"What became of him?"
Andre sat silent for a moment. "He was killed."
"I am very sorry."
She nodded. "So am I, Hylas. You would have liked him. And he would have liked you."
"If I remind you of him, I am glad," said Hylas.
"Thank you," Andre said. "I think I will rest now and have some sleep. Wake me if I am needed."
"I will, my lady. If you need me, you have but to call. I wish you pleasant dreams."
They rowed slowly as they approached the end of the Bosporous. Between them and the Euxine Sea, rocks protruded from the water like jagged teeth, some small, some large enough to form small islands. They had taken down the sail and Mopsus stood in the prow, taking soundings with a weighted rope and watching for rocks that were submerged. Even the smallest of them could easily tear the bottom out of the ship and the larger ones had jagged edges extending out just below the water.
"Slowly," Argus cautioned the rowers from his position at the tiller. "Slowly, now."
Mopsus kept calling out the depths, so that Argus could steer away from unseen hazards. The ship slid between the rocks as if cautiously picking its way through an obstacle course. They could hear waves crashing against the two giant rock formations at the far end of the stone forest, two towering spires between which they would have to pass.
"We are almost through," Mopsus shouted from the prow. "Once we pass between those two mountains of rock, we shall be clear and in the open sea once more."
"Remain alert!" Argus shouted from the aft end of the ship. "They may be wider at the base, below the surface. We must not scrape against them!"