"What tongue was that you spoke?" Medea asked. "And which god was it? What did he say to you?" She swallowed hard and dropped her voice. "Have we incurred their vengeance? Am I to be punished for what I have done?"
Delaney improvised. "The god spoke to us in the language of our people. And he did not give his name. He spoke to us because you angered him, Jason, but he wishes you well upon your quest. Yet the gods are divided in their desires. Some of them wish for us to succeed and return to Iolchos with the golden fleece. Others wish for us to fail. In pleasing some, we shall anger others and there is nothing to be done."
"That is because gods are capricious," Jason said. "Chiron taught me so. The only way to please all the gods together is to prevail over whatever obstacles they may set before us, so that they will deem us worthy."
"It may not be wise to defy the gods," said Medea. "Some are more powerful than others."
"And what of my throne?" said Jason.
"One throne is as good as any other," said Medea. "You have a force of warriors behind you. We could seize some other kingdom, maybe just a small one in the beginning until we can increase our army, or perhaps we could join with my sister and march upon my father. Then we could seize the throne of Aea and-"
"No!" said Jason. "I am not some freebooter who takes that which is not his by right. I want only what is mine! Pelias will surrender the throne of Iolchos to me or I shall have his life. That is what I have sworn and that is what I shall do! I will hear no more talk of seizing kingdoms. I have told you what I shall do. Now it is for you to decide. I will go to Iolchos with the fleece. You may come and share my fate or you can stay and face your father and Kovalos. Make your choice now, but do not come to me later with regrets."
"I will go with you," Medea said softly, "if you will have me."
"Done," said Jason. "We have wasted enough time. It will be dawn soon. We must hurry to join the others."
"The boy learns slowly," Idmon said, "but he does learn. Who knows, perhaps he may yet slay this second dragon. Yet I fear that we are not yet done with gods."
"What do you mean?" Delaney asked.
The soothsayer sighed. "We still have a long journey home to make and much can happen in that time." He nodded. "Yes, much can happen, and I have a strong feeling that much will."
12
They left the Sacred Grove of Ares by the trail leading from the opposite side of the clearing. It took them on a winding course down to the bottom of the ravine and curled around to follow the river that ran down from the mountains to the sea. It was a narrow path that necessitated their traveling single file along the riverbank, making it difficult for Jason and Delaney to carry the golden fleece. It was too heavy for one man to carry any distance by himself and between Jason, Steiger and Delaney, they spelled each other. Idmon walked ahead of them with Medea leading as they picked their way among the rocks and shrubs. The trail was old and clearly little used. In many places, it took them over flat rock surfaces slick with the water spray from the rapids. Even without the weighty burden of the golden fleece, making fast time would have been difficult. The sky was already growing gray by the time they left the trail along the riverbank and circled round roughly parallel to the coastline on a path which led down to the shore.
"From here on, you must lead," Medea said to Jason, "as I do not know where you have hidden your ship." She pointed.
"The main road to the city lies just north and to the east of here."
"Then we must go north and to the west," said Jason. "We must keep to the shelter of the trees as much as possible, in case we should encounter any of Aietes' soldiers." He looked up at the sky. "The sun will rise soon. I had hoped to be underway by now. Theseus and the others should already be at the ship, unless something has gone amiss." He glanced at Idmon. "What do you see, soothsayer? Shall we put safely out to sea?"
Idmon was frowning. "I do not know. But I have a strong sense of death nearby."
"Whose death?" Medea said, frightened.
Idmon shook his head. "I cannot tell," he said. "I only feel death's presence. Death itself, waiting in the shadows, hidden. Death armed and waiting to do battle."
They walked along the shoreline, staying out of the open and away from the beach, which slowed them down still more. The sun was rising and starting to dispel the early morning mists by the time they neared the place where they had hidden the Argo.
"Something has gone wrong," said Idmon, staring at the still hidden ship. "If the others had arrived, they should have uncovered the ship by now and made ready to sail."
Medea looked bewildered. "Where is it?"
"There," said Jason, pointing. "Hidden in the reeds." He gave a slight start. "I just saw something move!"
He glanced at the others. "Wait here. Guard the golden fleece."
He started to run across the open stretch toward the reed-bank where the ship was hidden. When he was not quite halfway to the ship, some of the reeds on board were thrown aside and Theseus leaped out, along with Hercules, Orpheus and several of the others. They ran toward Jason, who quickened his pace at the sight of them.
"We were beginning to think you had been killed or captured," Theseus said. "What happened to the others?"
"They are back there," Jason said, pointing, "with the golden fleece."
"You have it, then!"
"We have it!" Jason said. He turned and shouted to the others. "Come on, then! All is well! Come quickly!"