The Crew of the Argo (14)
CRAAAAAACK!!!!
“AAAAAARGH!!!”
The moment morning arrived, Perseus’s scream tore through the air, followed by the roaring laughter of the men. Today was the day Medea herself would bestow the labors, so Jason and the others had deliberately avoided heavy drinking the night before—and that restraint became their undoing.
All night long the woman’s moans had drifted through the halls, the servants had whispered among themselves, and the expedition’s leader Jason had worn a thoroughly sour expression. By morning Medea appeared with her belly already swollen, and the Perseus who walked out beside her naturally received the full brunt of the scolding.
“You said you wouldn’t make a second generation with meeeeeee~!”
“Gaaahhh~! My waist~! It’s breakinggggg~!”
“Then just break, you idiotttttttt~!”
“Ugaaaaaaaaah~!”
Achilles’s rage had slightly missed its mark, yet she clearly wasn’t truly furious; the moment Perseus could no longer move, her anger finally subsided. Still, she felt no urge to nurse the boy sprawled on the floor. She kicked him hard enough to send him flying into a pillar, and the foam-mouthed beast-boy was promptly dragged inside by Medea’s attendants.
“Will you be all right without Perseus?”
“Hmph! Why bother dragging along a guy who spent the whole night shaking his hips until his stamina ran dry? Besides, my husband handled himself splendidly yesterday—he’ll be satisfied on his own.”
“When did you figure it out?”
“Even if I don’t look it, my eyes are always fixed on my husband. And no matter what he says or does, he’s ultimately a devoted wife-lover, so I simply figured there had to be a reason.”
“I’m sorry about that, but something happened that I couldn’t tell anyone else.”
“God-related?”
“Glad you’re quick on the uptake.”
“Then I won’t pry. Just focus on today’s business.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
While Jason and Achilles exchanged their brief promise, the remaining forty-seven expedition members who had witnessed Perseus’s collapse marveled openly.
“I thought that kid was just a child, but in the end he’s got a hero’s bloodline, doesn’t he?”
“Who would’ve guessed he’d get that witch pregnant in a single night?”
“I asked Jason about last night and he wouldn’t answer. If something like that happened, I wouldn’t have been able to answer either.”
“He’s already like that—what’s he going to be like once he’s a little older…”
In the end the forty-nine remaining Argonauts decided to proceed with the labors without Perseus. Medea waited patiently until their murmuring died down, stroking her swollen belly with a softness that stood in stark contrast to the sharp edge she had shown only yesterday.
“If this goes well, won’t the whole thing wrap up easily?”
“If it’s too easy that’s a problem of its own. We’ll have nothing left to brag about.”
Medea’s mood was so radiant that a few men even fretted she might simply send them home, but once silence finally fell she opened her mouth.
“Jason and heroes of the mainland, I have unintentionally shown you an unsightly spectacle, yet I promise it will have no bearing on today’s events. As I stated earlier, I shall now bestow the labors—so listen carefully, with Jason as your representative.”
Her elevated tone put everyone at ease. The labors themselves would proceed as usual; needless worry evaporated, and anticipation for whatever trials they would receive began to rise.
“First, I intend to grant all of you the exact same labors I once bestowed upon the original Jason. Under ordinary circumstances I would have prepared different trials or taken greater pains, yet you are heroes who have already grasped the greatness of your ancestors with your own bodies. I trust you will receive these labors with joy as well.”
“Queen Medea! Then the tasks we must perform are the three legendary labors handed down through the ages?!”
“Yes.”
At someone’s shout Medea raised three fingers and folded them one by one as she answered.
“One: yoke the fire-breathing bulls to a plow and till the field, thereby proving your courage! Two: defeat the Spartoi—the dragon-tooth warriors—that spring from the dragon’s teeth, thereby proving your skill! Three: together bring down the dragon, thereby proving your teamwork!”
These were the very deeds the ancestral Jason had performed. Everyone relaxed at the familiar difficulty, only to grow anxious that the tasks might prove too simple—until Medea’s warning words snapped the tension back into place.
“Do not let your guard down simply because you already know the labors! I will not lend you the magical ointment that wards off flame! Of course I will not permit you to throw stones among the Spartoi so they slaughter one another! And killing the dragon that guards the Golden Fleece is likewise forbidden—subdue it instead!”
“Ooooh…”
“I thought it would be easy, but it just turned into a nightmare!”
“Unlike the ancestral version, everyone except Perseus is participating, so she’s making it harder.”
“That’s perfectly fair—and good news for us.”
Half the heroes cheered that this was exactly what they had wanted; the other half began turning over strategies for the coming trials. Jason belonged to the latter group. All three labors were dangerous enough that a single misstep could cost lives.
“I wish to ask about the fire bulls!”
“Very well. Ask anything you like.”
“How many bulls are there?!”
“Ten fire bulls in total. The ones that appear in the ancestral tale you know, plus their offspring.”
“And the Spartoi?”
“You of all people should understand their greatness, should you not? I have prepared exactly twenty dragon teeth—more than enough to wipe out the entire expedition. In fact, two previous Jasons perished to them.”
“Cadmus, the hero of the divine age who performed the labor that saved Lord Zeus… the dragon-born heroes who founded Thebes alongside him…”
“Precisely. They are hot-tempered and quick to blind rage, yet their strength rivals that of a true dragon.”
Medea’s words left a few men puzzled. Heroes though they were, not all of them were steeped in myth, and some asked whether the Spartoi were merely common soldiers. As expedition leader, Jason corrected them at once to prevent a potential catastrophe.
“Listen carefully, all of you. The original material for the first Spartoi—the dragon-tooth warriors—was the Drakon Ismenios, son of the war-god Ares and Lady Demeter, and therefore grandson of Lord Zeus. Just hearing those divine names should tell you this was a monster whose bloodline we dare not touch lightly. The one who slew that dragon was the divine-age hero Cadmus, and he sowed its teeth; the Spartoi that sprang up fought beside him to found Thebes. They have many legends, but the most famous is that Cadmus, just like my ancestor Jason, cast a stone among the newly born Spartoi so they would slaughter one another, then founded Thebes with the survivors.”
“So the method the divine-age hero Cadmus used was the same one the ancestral Jason later employed.”
“Exactly. Even Cadmus, who had slain Ares’s own son the Drakon, could have been killed by them; that is why Lady Athena taught him the trick. Afterward they became, according to rumor, the ancestors of the Spartans who still make their name today. Only a rumor, of course—but the deep faith Sparta holds for the war-god Ares is, in that light, only natural.”
“You’re saying they aren’t mere foot soldiers but heroes capable of founding a nation?”
“Mm. The dragon Medea keeps may not equal that Drakon, yet it is still a dragon of the same kind. Those who spring from its teeth will each be heroes in their own right; if we are careless we will face dragon-warriors who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the divine-age hero Cadmus himself. So do not relax—approach the fight with deadly seriousness.”
“I see.”
“Thanks to Jason my eyes are open. We nearly walked into disaster.”
“The thought that they might be the ancestors of those Spartan bastards is enough to make me sick just imagining it.”
Jason succeeded in tightening the men’s nerves, yet the questions continued.
“What about the dragon?”
“The dragon of Colchis, commonly called the Sleepless Dragon, is a child raised for war. Should you kill it by accident, this labor will be judged a failure—so I can only advise you to devise a method of capture.”
“……Hmm.”
All three labors were excessive. The simple solutions the ancestor had used were utterly impossible; frontal assault was the baseline, and everything would hinge on how well the crew performed.
“You’re not demanding we finish every labor in a single day, are you?”
“Of course not. I will grant one day’s grace for each labor.”
“Then there’s no problem.”
“I shall take that as your acceptance and bring out the fire bulls. Once preparations are complete I will summon you to the testing ground; until then spend the time as you please—discuss strategy or gather whatever you need. If you require anything in particular, our attendants will generally fetch it for you.”
“Quite generous. Has something changed in your heart?”
“You all know the reason, so I need not speak it aloud.”
Medea relaxed her shoulders, turned her back, and left the hall. Her hostility toward Jason remained, yet its intensity had faded until she resembled a tiger whose fangs had been pulled.
What a waste. The Medea of this moment is exactly the sort of woman who suits my tastes…
Jason’s tail feathers twitched with quiet interest in women, yet in the end he decided to let the matter go. That loose, softened air around Medea had been created by Perseus 2, and only yesterday the boy had even saved Jason’s life; he had no desire to commit a blunder against a friend.
One of the virtues of a Greek hero… “Save your friends”… He’s the sort of fool who can say that with a straight face, so he’ll surely give me useful advice…
Recalling the words Perseus had once spoken to him, Jason set his feet in motion toward the place where the boy had disappeared. A friend beloved by so many gods would surely produce a helpful answer even if he could not join the labors himself. Unlike the ancestral Jason, the present Jason received oracles far less frequently; he needed the boy’s help all the more.
Fortunately Perseus had not gone far. He was stretching his waist near a hearth some distance from the heroes, still hissing “ow-ow-ow” from Achilles’s earlier treatment. Only when Jason approached did he seem to notice, giving a casual shrug of the shoulders.
“I can’t take part. You saw yesterday—Medea laid down the law.”
“Her reasoning is sound. How many other kids have that many gods watching them? You just slipped free of Lady Hera’s notice; you won’t want another scolding, so we should understand.”
“If you already know all that, why come looking for me?”
“Even taking that into account, she never said I couldn’t ask you for advice, did she?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Jason carefully relayed every detail of the labors he had just heard. Fearing Perseus might not grasp the danger of the Spartoi, he explained that part again as well. After a brief moment of thought, Perseus answered that it did not seem particularly difficult.
“Medea is kinder than she looks.”
“Even after recommending labors like these?”
“The fact that she set no concrete restrictions already makes her quite kind.”
Perseus tapped his own shoulder twice with the mace, smiled at his ease, and passed his scheme along to Jason. Jason was delighted by the plan and added a few final words.
“If you’re going to rely on someone, you should have spoken to Iolaus first.”
“Iolaus?”
“She has a side similar to mine. If my guess is right, she’ll already be making her own preparations—so ask her for advice as well.”
“If you put it that way…”
“Unlike your ancestor, this time you also have Heracles’s bloodline among you, so it won’t be that hard. As long as you don’t make any major mistakes, the force you have is enough to carry things through—so don’t tense up too much. If you get nervous and bark the wrong order, even a winnable fight will turn into a loss.”
“That’s true too. Maybe I’ve been overthinking it. Hmm…”
Agreeing with those words, Jason returned inside the palace. Thanks to Perseus’s counsel he was able to prepare two separate schemes. Later, when the time came to face the Spartoi and the dragon, he sought advice from both of them again; the counsel worked so well that Jason completed every labor without incident.
*1) It is true that Cadmus and the Spartoi founded Thebes, and Sparta lies just to the south of that city, yet they have no actual connection whatsoever to the founding kings of Sparta—so please do not misunderstand (important). Because of Sparta’s geographic position and the extraordinary importance they placed on Ares, the two are frequently linked in popular imagination. Unlike Athens, which simply worshipped Athena, Thebes outright claimed descent from Ares in accordance with the myths; Sparta in particular regarded Ares as more important than all the other gods combined.