020: Plan

Five hundred and eleven years after Helena

The heat filtered through the entire library, Asterion had been working there for quite some time and was used to the high temperatures, on the other hand his partner was almost at the limit, the brown fur on his body accumulated more and more heat, luckily the place was empty at this time, so it was the perfect time to cool off, while Bran fanned himself with empty papyri Asterion brought a huge vessel full of water.

-Here brother.

Both of them soaked themselves completely while drinking all the water they could, once satisfied they both continued with their experiments.

-λ α υ θ π.

Asterion had written these letters on a small piece of paper, then set it on fire, the paper burned quickly.

-Not this one either, write it down Bran.

The minotaur clumsily wrote down the combination in a kind of handmade notebook.

- λ α υ θ ρ.

The scroll that had saved Bran life had not burned, instead all the words that were written on it had disappeared. Everyone knows that certain combinations in language are capable of modifying the effects of blessings, that's what the catalyst rings do, inside they carry a combination of letters; a word capable of enhancing the strength of blessings and favors, these letters are also found on the shields of hoplites, but he had never heard of a combination so powerful as to resist a favor with a simple piece of paper.

-This one neither, write it down.

They had both been trying to find the combination for months, however their experiment had a crucial flaw, neither of them was able to use a blessing so they couldn't know if that combination only works with blessings or the elements, however they cared little, they both enjoyed spending time together and Asterion was totally determined to find a way to remove the seal of the two-headed horse from the forehead of his only friend, he believed that one of these combinations of letters would be capable of something like that.

…

The hours and the sun had already spent most of their time, very few children went to the library, almost all preferred to train their bodies or their blessings, Asterion was not such a fan of the place either, but since the destruction it caused last year, he had no choice but to work for free to repair the damage.

-Nothing again, sorry Bran, another day wasted.

Bran looked into his friend eyes and gave a terrifying smile. He was not good with words or gestures, but Asterion still understood him perfectly.

-Thank you, I'm also happy to spend time with you.

The scroll that Asterion had in his hands was one describing one of the few words with power discovered, the so-called katádesmos(1), letters that when written or carved they reacted with blessings. The word on the scroll was αἰγίς, which causes shields to be able to absorb a certain force and amount of blessings regardless of the element. The word is written on all heleny shields and the scroll specified how much the word was able to resist before being erased from the shield due to overload. In theory, its effect should be the same as the scroll that saved Bran's life, but that word only works when written on bronze shields.

-Αἰγίς, Aegis… There has to be a way.

Time was up, they both finished their work and returned to their homes, for Asterion this home was any nearby temple, he had been abandoned by his parents at the age of five, it didn't affect him that much, he wasn't the first or the last orphan roaming the temples of Helena, he wasn't even the youngest, the war against the minotaurs had separated thousands of families, it was also a much better home than what the slaves had.

-Come on Bran, I'll walk you to the entrance.

The heleny and the minotaur walked to the walls of Helena, the youngest slaves lived on the foot of the gigantic walls and the oldest lived in crowded barns outside the walls, so in case of any attack they would be the first to receive the enemy. Bran and Asterion stopped at a huge wooden house where a bunch of cynocephali and minotaurs came in to rest, Asterion hugged his friend and they said goodbye, at first Bran was very afraid to hug his friend back, but by this point he always returned the gesture.

…

Birds woke Asterion, they rummaged through his long hair like crows looking for some gem, the morning welcomed him with all its splendor and the first thing he did was wash his face in one of the wells and then he went to look for his friend. The place where Bran slept was surrounded by dozens of hoplites, the door of the place was open and an old man could be seen with a pen and paper writing while several slaves stood in front of him and then left, Asterion approached one of the hoplites.

-What are they doing?

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

-… They will send everyone seven years old or older to Ithaca.

Ithaca, the westernmost island of the heleny, there is only war in the west and the minotaurs are winning, they will send them as slave soldiers, they send them to die.

-But they have their little fingers cut off, without blessings. What contribution can they make?

-Don't worry about those things kid, get out of here.

Asterion tried to get around the guards, but they constantly cut him off, he tried to look for Bran, but he couldn't see him anywhere, when he left the place to look for a house to climb to see if he could see his friend from above, a small stone fell on his sandal.

-Who?

Bran had thrown the stone at him, he was in a small alley, although he didn't seem to be trying to hide, they had probably already searched him and he simply didn't want to see the scene, but he couldn't leave either knowing that his friend would go looking for him as always, the duo headed towards the academy.

-Bran...

The minotaur was extremely tense, he was squeezing his wrist tightly, Asterion gave him a small punch on the arm.

-I'm not going to let you go friend, I promise.

Present

The cynocephali buried their companions in silence while a small group of them surrounded Asterion and Lita, they seemed curious about their relationship, the polemarch was known among Helena slaves for protecting them, technically the city slaves answer to any heleny and they can literally do whatever they want with them, however the nobles have priority when it comes to giving orders, the only ones above their authority are the phalanxes for being elite soldiers and the archons, this is why Jason has constantly fought against Silaus and his phalanxes to prevent cynocephali from being sent to lost battles, Asterion, of course, is part of the fight.

-Polemarch Asterion, who is she? I'm sorry to ask, it's just that, she seems different.

-Lita, go ahead.

The doe took off her gloves, revealing her five fingers to the old dog who couldn't believe what his tired eyes were seeing. Quickly all the cynocephali of the place approached until only Laconia continued the work of burying the fallen. "Our life, our hope, our salvation." Such words echoed throughout the mausoleum, many cried with emotion.

-Tomorrow at dusk the archon will gather all the phalanxes in Helena and the archon dioscuroi in the Parthenon, that is where your leader will take them through the labyrinth, in the center of the city, the route is already mapped and I want all those who are here, in the depths of the earth, burying their relatives and friends, to be free from this massacre, return to the polis and spread the word, you have one day to make your decision.

After finishing the little speech Asterion took Lita shoulder and she, with her blessing, created dozens and dozens of pieces of dry wood in the shape of fangs, the cynocephali immediately took as many as they could.

-Give them to all those who plan to escape tomorrow, go.

The group left the catacombs back to the city, this group had to notify all the cynocephali of Helena.

-They will barely have a day to notify everyone 'Terion, why did you give them so little time?

-The longer we take preparing the plan with the slaves, the easier it will be for them to discover it, it is already getting dark and all of them will tell their relatives about the plan, then tomorrow everyone will talk about this at work and even if the hoplites find out, they will not be able to take action until they confirm their suspicions, by then it will be too late.

Laconia finished burying the last of the dead and returned to the group.

-What's next polemarch?

-Let's go back to Helena, tomorrow we will have to prepare the second distraction.

-Second, gathering everyone in their temple is not enough?

-That will distract the higher-ups, but hoplites will continue to patrol the walls and the door of the labyrinth, for that Jason and I have another strategy.

The group returned to the city, but something strange was happening at the gate, the cynocephali that had left were all grouped together trying to enter, but something was blocking their way.

-Something is wrong.

Suddenly they all separated to let a man through, Silaus was leaving the gate and had his gaze fixed on Asterion, both walked until they were face to face, although the archon stature was a head taller than the polemarch.

-"No stars," I hadn't seen you for a while.

Asterion didn't seem to even try to answer him, he looked at him in silence and looked for a way to get around him to get back into Helena.

-Burying them in the trenches again? I'll never understand it.

-I know.

A spark shot out of one of the archon's fingers, it had completely burned a small piece of grass.

-That slave behind you, isn't just one enough for you?

Laconia also had fire in her hands upon hearing those words.

-My phalanxes informed me that they had never seen a cynocephalus with a deer face with her characteristics. Where did you get her?

-She escaped from Skiathos with us.

-And where is my mark?

-I don't know, ask the vassal who carved it, if he is still alive?

Out of nowhere a lightning bolt struck Lita, the loud sound followed by screams of pain quickly surprised the phalanx, Asterion immediately turned to help his companion while Laconia wielded her broadsword.

-I just wanted to make sure, tomorrow the polemarch war council will meet, don't forget to attend, I will make an announcement that will finally make us recover the west.

The mark of the two-headed horse had been embedded in Lita chest, the pain of the burned flesh made her writhe awkwardly in the grass, Asterion tried to calm her down clumsily so that her gloves wouldn't fall off by accident, meanwhile the slaves surrounded the group, but they could do nothing but watch in silence.

-Aren't you tired of making my companions Silao suffer, or don't you have anything better to do?

-Well, since the incident with Theseus I don't deny that I enjoy doing this with you, I need to vent my anger on you from time to time, it's a shame they don't let me release it directly against you.

-I've told you a hundred times already, I don't-

Another lightning bolt struck, this time against Laconia who despite being prepared and on guard was not able to react in time, the lightning hit her in the abdomen and although it hurt like hell, she didn't back down even a millimeter.

-You didn't save anyone "starless", Theseus escaped because of you and we're still cleaning up your mess, just because the idiot of light thinks you're good for something doesn't mean anything to the rest.

Asterion helped Lita get up and they walked back to the city in silence, the cynocephalus was furious and about to explode, but responsibility held back her emotions, Laconia followed behind them along with the rest of the cynocephalus.

-Coward.

Silaus went to watch the west gate, several scouts were seen in the distance, the mycenaeans would attack soon, before Asterion left he only managed to mutter one word.

-Bran.

…

-Write it down Bran, it's no use either.

Both of them kept experimenting over and over again, hundreds of papers burned one after another, no matter how many letters and words Asterion wrote, they didn't seem to be making any progress.

-I'm sorry friend, I don't think we'll get anywhere, let's find another way.

Asterion filled a paper with the katádesmos used in shields; αἰγίς, he wrote the words as small as possible so that as many as he could fit on a single sheet, when he set it on fire it burned anyway.

-Another way.

This time he filled the sheet with his saliva and tried again with another sheet, this time with just one word, it burned anyway.

-Again.

Asterion was desperate, in a year they would take his only friend away and it was very unlikely that he would even return to the city, if he survives in the territory. This time he put a sheet of paper with the word on it on his body and burned it. Bran tried to stop him, but the boy immediately put his arm against the candle, burning himself and the paper.

-Damn it... Again.

Seeing his desperate friend, the little bull tried to do the same, he had no faith in the experiment, but at least he wanted to share the pain with his first friend. Bran didn't know how to write, but copying the symbols was enough for him, then he stuck it on his arm and brought it closer to the candle without Asterion noticing, he was too focused on reading scrolls about how katádesmos work to notice, the flame wasn't burning the minotaur, it took almost a cycle of a clepsydra to burn him along with the paper, he tried again, but this time he pulled his arm away before to observe the symbol.

-BRAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING!

Asterion got up to help his friend, he moved the candle away from his arm and checked his burn, but there was nothing, more than that the paper was intact and the symbol that was written on it was almost gone.

-How, but it only works on shields, what was that?

Bran smiled once more, showing each of his teeth to his friend as his shy laugh reverberated through the library.

-You are… You are a very stupid genius, Bran.

A heleny and a minotaur being friends, only the gods know how many times something like this has happened, throughout history.

Katádesmos(1): Blessing tablets.