1
" I’d say that of the two choices, Helen will be safest if she finds her own way back.”
“A girl traveling alone on a voyage that long?” Castor protested.
“I’ve done it before,” I reminded him. “Not as a girl.”
“Yes, well, er, a few things have changed about you since then.” His face turned a little red.
“I know how to count days and watch the changing of the moon,” I replied. “I won’t be taken by surprise again, even if I have to spend every day of the voyage wearing a--”
“All right, all right, I believe you!” Poor Castor couldn’t wait to drop the subject. “You’ll travel as a boy again. Fine.”
“And Milo will come with me, so I won’t be making the journey alone,” I said.
My brothers exchanged a doubtful look. “She does insist that they’re only friends,” Polydeuces said.
“So far,” Castor remarked. “The boy’s young, but not that young. Have you looked at him lately? I wager that by the time he reaches Sparta, he’ll have a thicker beard than Father’s.”
“Why are you talking about Milo and me as if I weren’t here?” I asked angrily. “What are you afraid will happen between us? Half the Argonauts believe it already did, but that doesn’t make it so.”
“Not yet,” Castor said. “People change, especially on a long voyage. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
2
" What did you find out?” I asked.
“That’s Prince Jason’s ship, all right,” he replied. “I talked to one of the crewmen overseeing the work. That is, he talked to me. Yelled at me, I mean. Told me to get out of the way so Lord Pelias’s slaves could do their work.”
“Is that why you’re wearing such a long face?” I asked. “I’ll teach him better manners.”
Milo shook his head. “Forget him. He’s nothing. The man with him, the one who called him ‘brother,’ he’s why I’m worried. He said, ‘Let the boy be. Can’t you see he’s only hoping for a handout?’ And when I told him I wanted to earn my keep as his weapons bearer, he answered, ‘Better look elsewhere. This ship’s fully manned. We’re not looking for any extra hands.’”
“Maybe he only said that to get rid of you,” I suggested hopefully.
Milo shrugged again. “They’re still there, by the ship, and plenty of others who don’t look like slaves. Talk to them yourself. Maybe they just didn’t like my looks.”
“Then they’re fools and I wouldn’t waste my breath on them,” I said.
“You’re always too kind to me, La--Glaucus. But you mustn’t worry. Someone’s got to be ugly in this world.” He grinned.
“You’re not ugly,” I said hotly. And that was true. The same harsh slave’s life that had left Milo so skinny had also given him wiry muscles under sun-browned skin. He reminded me of images I’d seen of the young Hermes, thin but fit and graceful. His dark hair was growing longer, like a noble’s, and his brown eyes shone when he smiled.
“Have it your way,” he said good-naturedly. “But in case they do prefer your looks, see if you can persuade them to hire me, too. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
3
" Why are you talking about Milo and me as if I weren’t here?” I asked angrily. “What are you afraid will happen between us? Half the Argonauts believe it already did, but that doesn’t make it so.”
“Not yet,” Castor said. “People change, especially on a long voyage.”
“Why does this matter so much to you?”
“Because now, Helen, you can have a child,” Polydeuces replied. He lifted my chin gently. “You are the next ruler of Sparta. The man you marry will be Sparta’s king, and your children will rule our land after you. If you have a baby now, that child could grow up to challenge your other children for the throne. Sparta’s enemies would be only too happy to help that child raise an army, then swoop down on our lands in the wake of the war and devour anything that remains. When you’re dead, do you want to leave your people peace or chaos?”
I didn’t have to give him an answer. We both knew it.
“Now, Polydeuces, let her be,” Castor said, hugging me again. “Look at that face! Her brow’s all creased with worry, and for nothing. As if our little sister would ever give her heart to anyone less than a prince! As if a slave’s child could ever raise an army to take Sparta!”
I whirled out from under Castor’s arm. “Milo is no slave, and he’s worth ten princes!”
Castor sucked in his breath sharply and looked to Polydeuces. “All right, now I’m worried,” he said.
“Either you trust me or you don’t,” I said. “That’s your only worry. I’ve made my decision. I’m going to the waterfront, I’m praying to Poseidon that I’ll find the ship I need, and I’m going home. As a boy. With Milo.”
My brothers smiled. “It’s good to see you so confident again.” Polydeuces said. “But not too confident to reject some help from your devoted brothers?”
I threw my arms around their necks. “Never. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
4
" I’d say that of the two choices, Helen will be safest if she finds her own way back.”
“A girl traveling alone on a voyage that long?” Castor protested.
“I’ve done it before,” I reminded him. “Not as a girl.”
“Yes, well, er, a few things have changed about you since then.” His face turned a little red.
“I know how to count days and watch the changing of the moon,” I replied. “I won’t be taken by surprise again, even if I have to spend every day of the voyage wearing a--”
“All right, all right, I believe you!” Poor Castor couldn’t wait to drop the subject. “You’ll travel as a boy again. Fine. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
5
" Now, Polydeuces, let her be,” Castor said, hugging me again. “Look at that face! Her brow’s all creased with worry, and for nothing. As if our little sister would ever give her heart to anyone less than a prince! As if a slave’s child could ever raise an army to take Sparta!”
I whirled out from under Castor’s arm. “Milo is no slave, and he’s worth ten princes!”
Castor sucked in his breath sharply and looked to Polydeuces. “All right, now I’m worried,” he said. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
7
" We covered them with stones and made the proper sacrifices, then decided to honor our masters’ spirits by finishing their journey for them.”
Hedgehog-hair rubbed his chin, where a small black beard straggled around his jawline. “That’s noble of you, boy. Pious and practical at the same time. I wish you luck.” With that, he and the other three turned their backs on me and walked away.
I scampered after them. “Wait! Can’t any of you use a pair of able-bodied weapons bearers? The gods will reward you, for our masters’ sakes.”
The men stopped and gave me pitying looks. The shortest of the four spoke: “Lad, how do you know what the gods will do?” He managed a wobbly smile. “Apollo himself might still be angry. Your masters are beyond his reach, but what’s to stop him from taking it out on you?” He shook his head. “This voyage we’re about to take is off over unknown waters, to lands full of fierce barbarians, monsters, dangers so great that the praise-singers will go crazy trying to find the right words to describe our glorious deeds. We can’t afford to bring along two boys who might be carrying a god’s displeasure. Sorry, but we can’t risk it.”
The four walked on. I stayed behind, seething. “Pork-brains,” I snarled under my breath. “Unknown waters, yet you know there are monsters and barbarians on the other side? "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
8
" Girl, are you all right?” Argus stood just outside the doorway, speaking barely above a whisper.
“I’m fine,” I replied. For now.
“So, this women’s business of yours--” He sounded ill at ease, speaking about what had just happened to me. “Your new friends here seem to think it’s the first time it’s happened to you. Are they right?” I nodded. “Ah. Seems like it’s something special to them, a great honor to share. This hut you’re in, it’s the women’s shrine, and that crone’s a priestess. The only reason they’re letting me come this close and talk to you is so I can translate what she’s got to say.”
“Argus, please tell me what’s happening outside,” I said. “I know my brothers saw, but the others--?”
“It doesn’t matter who saw what, by now everyone’s heard all about it. If I were you, lass, I’d stay inside that hut until I had grandchildren. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
11
" How dare you?” I said, all ice. “You coward, how dare you do this? If you wanted to reclaim your honor, you should have come to me alone, like a man.”
The young guard bit his lips, his thickly blemished face going red, but his helpers roared with laughter. “Hey, Telys, you said this pup was a stranger, but it sounds like he knows you well enough!” one of them exclaimed. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
12
" Glaucus had taught me to choose my battles, and to choose them wisely. I chose not to fight this one. Not yet. Great Apollo, I prayed, let your healing powers help and sustain Milo until I can be with him again.
We entered the royal stronghold, greeted by loud catcalls. Apparently all of the guards knew about what had happened to Telys. As soon as they laid eyes on me, he found himself walking through a gauntlet of hecklers.
“That’s who took your spear? He’s an infant!”
“How’d he beat you, Telys? Trip you with his cradle?”
“Hey, for all you know, the baby didn’t take the spear. Telys probably loaned it to him so he’d have something to teethe on. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
13
" Well, well, isn’t that interesting,” Argus remarked from the doorway.
“What?” I asked, watching her warily.
“Apparently, our priestess is also the local Pythia. She foretells the future, but only for girls who’ve just become women.”
“Is that what she’s doing now?” I asked. “Telling my future?” The old woman was still making noises like those of a hired mourner. I hoped that her woeful tune didn’t mean that my life was going to be one long tragedy. “What’s she saying?”
“Oh, it’s mostly babble. You’re brave, you’re strong, you’re quick-witted, you’ll marry a king, find your true love, have lots of babies, kill whole armies with your beauty, and your fame will live forever, yap, yap, yap. If you were one of the local girls, she’d probably say that you attract fish. Don’t take any of it seriously, lass. It’s just an old woman’s way of giving you something to look forward to. That crone knows how hard a woman’s life can be, so she’s giving you a few dreams to distract you. Hope costs nothing, right?” For once, Argus’s smile looked natural. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
14
" Ah, careful there!” The man thrust his arm behind my back and braced me. “If you fall over, you might hit your head. Then what will I tell your brothers?”
“My…brothers? How--” I took my first real look at him. My spine stiffened, moving me away from his steadying arm. When I spoke his name, it was a gasp: “Iolaus.”
“That’s me.” He smiled and ran his fingers through his hair. We were both on the floor, he on the bare, beaten earth, I on a woolen cloak thrown over a thin pile of barley straw. “I was worried that you’d forgotten me. Memory loss is a bad sign when you’ve been sunstruck. I don’t flatter myself to think I’m worthy of your royal notice, Lady Hel--”
I lurched forward without thinking and clapped my fingertips to his lips. “I’m Glaucus,” I whispered fiercely as the room spun. “Please.”
He was very gentle as he clasped my wrist, lowering my hand. “My mistake,” he murmured. “Your slave told me that, but it slipped my mind.”
“Milo’s not my slave,” I said sharply. I looked around the room, which had steadied. It was bare except for some baskets, a few clay pots, one plain wooden storage box, and a tiny hearth well away from the straw where I lay. Light and air came in through the smoke-hole in the roof. The reek of fish and the sea clung to everything. “Where is he? Is he all right?”
“He’s fine. You’re both safe and there’s no one near to overhear me call you by your true name. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
15
" He took a damp scrap of cloth from a shallow bowl on the floor and dabbed it softly across my brow. It felt good. Iolaus was a warrior, the nephew of the great hero Herakles himself, yet he had a light touch and a kind heart.
“How did you find me?” I asked him.
“I was coming down from the palace to have another look at the Argo when I saw the crowd you’d attracted. There were too many people to see what was going on, but I had a fine view of things when you collapsed. I thank almighty Zeus that I recognized you, because you were the last person I’d expect to find in Iolkos, in the middle of a brawl. I almost had to get into one myself with that slave of yours. He was ready to fight me to the death when I tried to pick you up and get you out of the sun.”
“Stop calling Milo my ‘slave.’ He’s my friend, and he’s as free as you are!” I spat out the words with so much force that Iolaus raised his hands to ward off my anger.
“Lady--Glaucus--what can I say? I only remember him from King Oeneus’s palace in Calydon, where there’s no denying he was a slave. And he certainly is your friend. He let me carry you away only after I whispered your true name.”
“Where is he now?” I asked, placated by Iolaus’s explanation. “You never told me.”
“I sent him for more water.”
“Oh.” A fresh thought came to my mind. “Iolaus, you spoke of my brothers. You can’t tell them I’m here. Please.”
He looked puzzled. “I thought you came to Iolkos to find them. I’ll tell you the truth, I’ve been sitting here wondering what could’ve happened to make a girl like you risk the journey here. When your brothers showed up in Prince Jason’s company, they told me how you’d all traveled together as far as Delphi, where they’d left you safe, yet now…here you are. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
16
" I doubt you cared this much about their feelings when you chose this path,” Iolaus said. He didn’t raise his voice. The truth doesn’t need to be shouted.
“Maybe not,” I answered, looking him in the eyes. “But I had to choose it.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“No more ridiculous than why you’re ready to sail into the unknown. The only person who needs to chase after the Golden Fleece is Prince Jason, yet you and all the others are joining him for the sake of pure adventure. You hunger for it! Why can’t I?”
“Enough.” Iolaus raised his hand. “You win, for your brothers’ sake and because I’ve got the feeling you’d find a way to sneak aboard no matter how much they or I try to stop you. I wish some of the men I know had half your boldness. It’s strange to see it in a girl. Perhaps you’re really Atalanta’s daughter.”
My smile answered his. “My nurse, Ione, said I was Zeus’s child.”
“My uncle Herakles is supposed to be Zeus’s son. You two must be related. He’s a great one for following his heart first and thinking about the consequences afterward. Or never.” His teeth flashed in the shadows of the old fishwife’s home. “I’ll keep your secret.”
“Thank you. You won’t have to do it for very long. You said I didn’t care about my brothers’ feelings when I decided to join this quest. You were right. I’ve only been thinking about what I want.” I took a deep breath. What I was about to say tore at my heart, but I couldn’t escape it. “I’ll go back to Delphi. It’s one thing to take a chance with my own life, but not with so many others.”
“Oh, I agree,” Iolaus said. “Which is why I intend to take very good care of my new weapons bearers. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
17
" I brought him here,” he said, eager to claim credit for whatever had so overjoyed his king. “I caught him making a sacrifice to Lord Hades at your shrine, my lord Theseus, and when I tried to stop him--”
Theseus’s laughter crushed Telys’s weak attempt at boasting. “We all know what happened when you tried to stop him, you clown,” he said, wiping his eyes. “The whole palace is talking about how you were bested by a mere boy. Well, the truth is even better.”
He was off the throne and across the floor in an instant, scattering everyone who stood between him and me. He bounded behind me, grabbed the waist of my tunic with both hands, and yanked it back, hard. I’d relied on the looseness of my clothing to hide my breasts, small as they were, but now the thin cloth pulled taut against every line of my body. I might as well have been wearing nothing at all. I heard the onlookers gasp.
“Why aren’t you smiling, Telys?” Theseus leered as he confronted the horror-struck young guard. “You ought to be glad. You weren’t beaten by a boy after all. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
18
" You didn’t have to keep watch all night,” I said. “I wasn’t going to run away, you know.”
“We don’t know,” Castor said. “We know nothing about you anymore, Helen. What in the name of all-seeing Apollo were you thinking, coming on this voyage, pretending to be a boy, doing something this--this--” He threw his hands up in frustration and blurted, “You must be as crazy as Herakles!”
“Little sister, you could have died.” Polydeuces could hardly get the words out. “All of those days at sea, all the dangers, the raiders in Thrace, the bandits of the Clashing Rocks, even a simple misstep, like the one that killed poor Hylas--” His voice broke. He drew a ragged breath and added, “Why, Helen?”
If I answered, would they understand? Their lives were always their own. They never had to fight for their liberty. When Jason came to Delphi seeking heroes, they joined his crew without asking anyone’s permission. No one demanded that they justify their choices. If you asked them why they had so much freedom, they’d react as if you wanted to know why the sky is blue.
I’d be queen of Sparta one day. I’d marry because it would be my duty to have children and provide the land with its next ruler. If I was lucky, I’d choose my husband wisely and we’d love one another. But between You must do this because you’re a princess and You must never do that because you’re a girl, there was no time left for Do what you like, because you’re Helen. This quest, this adventure, might be my only chance to see what it meant to be myself.
What would my brothers say if I told them that?
“Don’t call me ‘Helen,’” I said firmly, brushing Polydeuces’ question aside unanswered. “Helen of Sparta wouldn’t be on this ship. I’m Atalanta.”
“I was wrong. You’re crazier than Herakles,” Castor said. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
19
" Don’t call me ‘Helen,’” I said firmly, brushing Polydeuces’ question aside unanswered. “Helen of Sparta wouldn’t be on this ship. I’m Atalanta.”
“I was wrong. You’re crazier than Herakles,” Castor said.
I ignored his sarcasm. “When the Argo returns to Iolkos, do you want the crewmen scattering to their homes, bearing the tale of how Helen of Sparta threw away her proper role in life to go sailing halfway across the world? What will the lords of Mykenae, Thebes, Iolkos, and all the rest say about us then?”
“That’s something you should have thought about before you sneaked away from Delphi,” Castor said.
“Do you want to argue about how big the fire’s grown or do you want to put it out?” I countered, hands on hips. “Helen can’t be here; Atalanta can!”
Polydeuces shook his head. “It won’t work. Castor and I aren’t the only crewmen who were part of the boar hunt. They saw Atalanta. They know she’s a woman, not a little girl.”
“I am not a little girl anymore! Atalanta isn’t that much older than me. I’m as much a woman as she is, now.”
“You’re still more convincing as a boy,” Castor muttered.
I did my best to fry him with a single look. "
― Esther M. Friesner , Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2)
