014: Alliance

The cynocephali and the phalanx settled near the river, night was already upon them, campfires driving away the darkness as the children slept in their tents and the adults prepared their tools for tomorrow. Outside the largest tent in the settlement Niko and Laconia watched the entrance, their leader was there and even though they were hungry to find out how Asterion won over the cynocephali, they both obeyed his order to keep watch until they finish negotiating.

-Miss, does the captain know any cynocephalus?

-Not that I know of.

-You know much less than I would expect since you have been working with him for four years.

-He doesn't talk much about the past, he is always more concerned with thinking of his next trick.

-“Not much about the past” then he has told you something.

-I know that Jason promoted him to polemarch at your age.

-Huh?! I thought he became polemarch thanks to you.

-Everyone thinks so.

Some envy arose in the man when thought that Jason had decided to meet Asterion in person at his age, but not the young thracian.

-Now that I think about it, you mentioned that you had only worked with him, but if you have known each other for four years, how is that possible?

-… The terms of my servitude were… Complicated before Asterion.

-The captain told me that he would tell me about how he earned his respect and how they decided to work together in Skiathos, but the polis no longer exists and it doesn't seem that the time will come. Would it be too much to ask?

A faint smile appeared on Laconia's face.

-Well, I'll tell you what happened.

…

Inside the tent, Asterion was sitting in front of the five-fingered doe, the fact that she ate meat intrigued the polemarch, the latter also had a plate of food served, but he didn't seem interested.

-Aren't you going to eat anything Heleny?

-I want to eat with my soldiers.

-As you wish.

Seeing that the man would continue to watch her eat, she decided to put the plate aside and start the meeting.

-Who are you?

The abruptness of the question disconcerted the polemarch a little.

-My name is Asterion, I am a polemarch of the archon of light; in charge of exploring, mapping and cleaning the labyrinth.

-You are quite far from the labyrinth right now.

-Well, there were some complications. Could you tell me your name?

The cynocephalus took her chin in an obvious pose to concentrate.

-Artemis.

-Won't your goddess punish you for using her name in vain to deceive others?

-I don't care, she already blessed me, I'll do whatever I want with her name.

Asterion grabbed the back of his head, trying to show a strange feeling of disappointment at seeing that the woman didn't even try a little to hide her name.

-Please use another name, we heleny won't be blessed by the goddess of hunting, but we do know of her existence.

The cynocephalus looked down to quickly think of another name, this time she didn't seem to concentrate much.

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-Lita...

-Is that your real name or another alias?

The doe smiled instantly upon hearing those words.

-I won't tell you.

Asterion felt like he was dealing with a child.

-Well, "Lita," where did you come from? If you were a slave in Helena, it's impossible for you to have hidden those five fingers for your entire life.

-Wasn't our talk going to be about killing the archon and freeing the slaves?

Lita mentioned in an aggressive tone, almost like a threat.

-I understand, tell me what you want to know and in exchange tell me what I want to know.

-Do you really think you are in a position to negotiate? Tell me your plan, we execute it and then you leave.

The doe had her bow in her hands.

-Yes, I do believe that, if you kill me now you will have to fight against a demon outside and even if you manage to win, right now you and your people are against the sword and the wall, automatons to the north and heleny to the south.

The cynocephalus lowered her bow.

-Even worse, if the heleny or the hyperboreans discover your hands, what do you think will happen? Whoever finds you will discover the truth and will exterminate your entire people, right now you are the key to the salvation or destruction of all your people.

Lita tensed her bow.

-And what are you, that assures me that as soon as you accomplish your objective we will not be the next victim?

-… I'm just another door, whether it's a good one or a bad one you'll have to decide now.

The woman closed her eyes tightly, her decision had already been made, but still inside she was afraid, afraid of losing the little she had left.

-I... I was never a slave.

-What, are there still free tribes?

-It's not like that, I can only tell you that although all the cynocephali of Helena are locked up, not all of them are slaves.

The gears in the polemarch head turned until they found a terrible answer.

-Don't tell me that... in the maximum sewer.

-We tell ourselves that we either live under their feet or under their shit.

-... I'm sorry.

-Feel sorry for me again and I'll look for another alternative, "door."

-I understand.

-Your plan. How do we kill a demigod?

-If I tell you the plan it won't work.

Lita's right arm transformed into a bear's paw and grabbed Asterion.

-I'm not interested in your superstitions.

Seeing and feeling the blessing of the cynocephalus up close, he realized that the arm was strangely hard, whatever the material that blessing was made of, it was not flesh as he suspected before seeing her fight against Niko.

-I'll tell you something ‘Terion, I really need a reason to trust you right now.

She didn't say it as a threat, the doe just seemed to realize the danger that losing meant, she wasn't afraid of dying alone if it was to save her companions, but now realizing what her death implied, for the first time in many years she feared for her life. Asterion knew that look, that face of helplessness with life, that feeling of doing in despair, that you feel that no matter what you do, the gods conspire against you, he decided to break his only rule.

-I will tell you the plan, but it has to stay between you and me.

…

A simple campfire warmed the thracian and the bestiary while they waited outside the tent, they had food at hand, but they decided to wait for their leader to finish his meeting.

-When I was your age Niko I was called by the archons to the Parthenon, there they discussed who would serve as bestiary.

-That the five archons would fight for your sword…

-In reality there were four, the red wine archon gave his vote, according to him, because he thought it would be more fun.

-Haha! He always like to sweeten the story.

Both smiled under the night.

-The discussion was going nowhere and the archon of light decided to make it a competition, the phalanxes would face each other in the coliseum to obtain me as a prize.

-Wait, are you telling me that Asterion won the tournament, how? No, even if it were like that they met four years ago, not eight.

-Nobody won the first year, nor the second, nor the third, nor the fourth.

-But how?

-I told you we started working four years ago, but I met Asterion shortly after I was summoned by the archons and he approached me with a plan.

-Sounds like something similar of what he's doing right now. What was the plan?

…

Inside the tent a drawing made by furrows in the ground poorly portrayed the capital of Helena, the polemarch seemed proud of his drawing despite the disappointed face of the doe in front of him.

-The plan is to sabotage the archon.

-Do you even know how?

A mocking smile covered the face of the heleny.

-I would say that it is my specialty. Recently, minotaurs attacked and destroyed Skiathos, they seem to be focused on destroying every city that is not Helena.

-I suppose I understand them, I do not see it possible to besiege that city.

-Skiathos was full of minotaur slaves, now that it fell, they will most likely transfer hundreds of slaves from other cities back to Helena.

-Shall we attack the caravans?

-No, let them return, once they finish the transfer we will gather as many slaves as we can outside the polis.

Lita meditated, thinking about how many she could free with the help of the heleny.

-The sewer exits are very dangerous, although if you plan to escape through there we could easily free a hundred, it's a good number.

-I have the exit covered, and yes, if everything goes well we can easily get a hundred thousand out, although I would like to double that number.

The doe stood up in surprise.

-A hundred thousand?! You lie.

-Maybe.

-If you were an archon I would trust your word, but you don't have the power for something like that.

-If I were an archon... Maybe I'm not, but I have one up my sleeve.

-What are you saying?

-Jason, the archon of light plans to assassinate the Dioskouroi, that's the only reason he accepted me as polemarch, in an alliance, like the one we are about to form right now.

…

-Asterion and I formed an alliance, he sabotaged the arena again and again, delaying the fights, but what really saved me was that he convinced the archons that the final challenge for me to serve as bestiary in one of their phalanxes, was to defeat me.

-Against entire phalanxes?

-No, I know my limits, only the strongest of the phalanxes would face me.

-For four years you defeated them…

-The archons seemed quite amused by the result, I became a living training dummy and many times they sent me with rookie groups to the labyrinth.

-What happened the fifth year?

-Asterion won, that was the first time in his entire life that he had won a fight, I will never forget his words of victory.

Niko's slightly open mouth could barely get out his next word.

-What did he say?

-“It feels, nice.”