"It is as I have always known," said Jason. "When right is on one's side, one must prevail. And we have prevailed. Titans, winged demons, clashing rocks, the fury of the sea, all have tried to stop us and we have prevailed over all. The mightiest of forces have been aligned against us and we have defeated each of them."
"Yet not without cost," said Idmon. He was staring off into the distance.
"Come, soothsayer," Theseus said, "after the fearsome foes that we have faced, what is there left to fear?"
"I cannot say," said Idmon. "My vision is not always clear. Still I perceive a danger that seems inexplicable to me. The vision seems quite strong."
"What vision, soothsayer?" Theseus said. "What danger is it that lies ahead of us?"
"One of us shall die soon," Idmon said. "I cannot s
ee which one. Yet death seems very near. And death from a most unexpected source." He looked around at all of them, as if something in their faces would make the vision clearer. "You will think me mad," he said, "but I see that one of us shall be felled by a feather."
"We must be getting close to shore," said Jason, pointing to the south. "See? A flock of birds."
"Can you see land?" asked Theseus.
Jason shook his head. "Not yet, but it cannot be far away. It will be good to reach our destination. I am weary of the sea."
"We still have to return," said Orpheus.
"But we will not be returning empty-handed," Jason said, grinning. "We shall have the golden fleece aboard with us and a kingdom will be mine to claim when we reach home."
"What sort of birds are those, I wonder?" Argus said, looking up at the sky. "They do not look like any I have ever seen."
"It is a large flock," Mopsus said. "Perhaps they migrate."
"It is not the season," Argus said. The birds were almost overhead now and they could see how large they were, like frigate birds, with wingspans of forty inches or more. There were at least a hundred of them, flying in a V formation like migrating geese.
"See how they shine!" cried Hylas.
Indeed, the birds did appear to shine. Sunlight glinted on their feathers as they flew so that they almost seemed to give off sparks. Orpheus suddenly cried out and grabbed his shoulder. A steel shaft protruded from between his fingers, as if he had been shot with an arrow. Theseus carefully pulled it out.
"Why, it's a feather!" he said, astonished.
Something went "phfft" and thunked into Mopsus' forehead. For a moment, he stood there openmouthed with a steel feather protruding from his skull, then he fell back onto the deck, lifeless. More feathers flew down at them, embedding themselves in the deck and sticking in the mast. Hercules swore as one stuck in his leg. Another shaft struck Jason in the arm.
"Down!" shouted Steiger. "Down on the deck! Raise your shields, everyone!"
They all crouched down on the deck, grouped together with their shields raised over their heads as the steel feathers rained down on them, beating a metallic tattoo as they struck the shields and bounced off. The birds made a circle around the ship and came back again, loosing another deadly volley, firing their feathers like steel darts. Several of them found their way through gaps between the shields and struck a number of the Argonauts in their arms and shoulders. The birds made several more passes over the ship, then headed north, flying out to sea.
They remained beneath their shields until they were certain that the birds had gone, then they slowly lowered them. The entire deck of the ship looked like a bed of nails. Delaney pulled one of the feathers out of the wood and examined it closely.
"What strange manner of metal is this?" asked Jason, examining the feather he had pulled free from the deck. "Silver?"
Argus plucked another feather from the mast. "No, not silver," he said, puzzled. "I have never seen the like of it."
"Birds with metal feathers," Hylas said, with wonder. "How can they fly?"
"How can they shoot them as if they were arrows?" Theseus said.
As the Argonauts plucked the metal feathers free from where they had stuck in the ship, marveling at them, Delaney handed his feather to Steiger. "Take a look at this," he said in a low voice.
Andre came up beside them, also holding a feather in her hand. "It's nysteel," she said.
"Robot drones?" said Steiger, looking out in the direction the birds had taken. "Either preprogrammed or remote controlled." He looked down at the feather thoughtfully. "This could just as easily have contained an exploding warhead."
"I don't get it," said Delaney. "Why throw this kind of stuff against the Argonauts without going all the way? Why go to all this trouble to kill a few people indiscriminately?"