Chapter 5
THE TRICKSTER''S HEIR
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He reached the training grounds, an enormous field area filled with soft dirt and grass. There he found her running against other Argives and seemingly leading the race.
She was the first to cross the finish line, without breaking a sweat while the others were trying to catch their breath. Achilles approached her, thinking hard to find a way to initiate their first conversation. After all, it was the first time he found someone like him… Some he could probably relate to.
“Hey, young girl!” he caught her attention. “You are… pretty good runner, those guys you were up against are sworn Argives”.
“So?” she answered him with a cold look in her eyes, completely ignoring him.
She splashed some cold water on her face and fixed her hair so that they would not be in her way while continuing her training. Then she turned to him, pushing him out of the way, making her way to the next race.
Damn I suck at this, Achilles thought to himself, frantically trying to find a way to let the conversation flow. But he was interrupted by one of the runners who lost the race
“Hey! Achilles, how have you been, long time no see!”
“Hey it''s Achilles!” another one said enthusiastically.
“Where have you been man? How are the Greek islands this time of year?”
“Did you bring us a souvenir?”
More and more people started to group next to him. He was popular, not only for his demigod status, but because in the past he trained with most of them, either as a companion, or as a trainer. This often would overwhelm him but since he knew all of them he tried to cut the conversation short as soon as possible and turn his attention to the girl. His popularity turned out to work for him though! The young woman saw the crowd with the corner of her eye and once she heard the name “Achilles” she made her way towards him.
“YOU are Achilles? The one Nikolaus told me about?” the girl grasped, once she managed to stand before him.
“Yes, indeed I am,” he replied.
She was looking at him with wonder in her eyes.
“And you are?”
With that remark from Achilles, she snapped out.
“Oh, excuse me, my name is Nephele ! Pleasure to meet you sir!”
“Sir? Please no need for such courtesy,” he said with a smile.
He then turned to the rest of the guys that were seeking his attention.
“It''s nice to see that all of you are well, please continue your training. I have some matters to attend to!”
He urged her to follow him. As soon as the Argives around him saw him leave, they dispersed. Although he was still shy about what Nephele''s first impression of him was, it seemed that the popularity gig did its job.
“I heard there has only been a couple of weeks since you arrived here, and yet I did not get to meet you. And I apologise for that. I was away,” Achilles was the first one to break the ice.
“I was eager to meet you, too. Nikolaus told me so much about you! Do you know that he admires you and your capabilities?”
Achilles chuckled.
“Are you sure we are talking about the same Nikolaus?”
“Yeah, pretty sure!” she replied, probably not getting his rhetoric question. “He also told me that it was you who had to decide…”
The son of Poseidon raised his left eyebrow and looked at her. She was embarrassed. Her face was red. He smiled at her with affection.
“Decide what?”
She stopped, made two steps forward and stared directly at him.
“Please let me join your Team!” she screamed unfazed, but it was obvious that her demand was genuine.
This plea pleased Achilles but also made him chuckle a bit since everything seemed to align perfectly for him. First, the way they got to meet, and second, she already, from the very start, expressed her will to join him on her own. His work to recruit her was not so hard after all.
“I am sorry… it was… I … It is only natural to laugh at me…,” she lowered her head as she thought that Achilles was laughing at her.
“It would be my honor to have you in my team!” he said, still smiling.
“W-What?”
“I can say though, you are pretty forward with your demands. Straightforward and honest. I like it!”
“Seriously? Are you toying with me? Is this sarcasm?”
“I am serious! I would love to have you in my team!”
“But, why? You barely know me… What if I fail?” she asked.
“Just a minute ago you wanted enthusiastically to serve under my command,” Achilles commented.
Nephele lowered her head with embarrassment.
“You know what I mean… I don’t like to disappoint people…”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Well, since I value honesty, it is my duty to be honest with you. The truth is it was asked of me to test you and to judge if you are of Argive material, if you were I would have trained and taught you, but you already showed me some aspects I look for in my comrades” he explained.
“But I was told I have to pass some sort of test, a trial in order to become an Argive and join the Brotherhood”.
“Yeah but that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to be around us! We will teach you, me and my team. We will explain to you how everything works! Come let us go and meet them!”
*
Not long after they started walking together, young Nephele started to bombard Achilles with all kinds of questions.
“Nikolaos told me, you are the leader of the team”.
“Yes, our team consists of me and five more members. I chose them all according to three factors. Skill, Intelligence and… Sense of Duty…,” he said, before adding “...though having sense of duty towards the Gods is like selling your soul to Hecate” under his breath.
“Duty huh…,” she commented, probably overhearing his last comment.
“Yes,” he answered, his gaze vaguely staring at the horizon. “Being an Argive is all about loyalty, being truthful to others and to yourself, and of course the certainty you will carry your mission no matter what… Even to the bitter end…”
“Incredible!” she exclaimed, trying to cheer up her companion.
She was certain that many memories were haunting this man, but there was no reason not to enjoy himself on this sunny day. So she tried to change the subject.
“I heard talks and rumors about you during my stay here at the camp!”
Achilles laughed.
“Rumors eh? Well, that’s reasonable. I practically grew up in Delphi”.
“You truly are an incredible person!”
Achilles hearing that made him almost blush… He didn’t expect a comment like that.
“There is one more rumor I heard about you… and I have been meaning to ask…”
“It’s about my father right?”
“Is it true that you are a son of the Olympian God Poseidon?”
He sighed. The last thing he wanted was to talk about his absent father.
“Yes…” he said and as they were walking he made a move with his hand and some water that was flowing in the river nearby traveled above his hand creating a sphere that was spinning around it… “Not something I brag about…”
“AMAZING!” she shouted, “You are amazing! What a wonderful skill! Your powers are awesome!”
Achilles, confused and surprised at the same time did not know what to say… The woman that was at first so shy and timid, proved to be more than willing to speak with him and join him, and now she was screaming with excitement like a little girl.
“I always hoped I could find someone like me! I will do everything to join your squad!”
“Someone like me… I see…”
“Yes! I am a daughter of…” she went on to say but Achilles stopped her, with an anxious look on his face.
He instantaneously put his hands on her mouth blocking the end of her sentence.
“I know… I am the only one who knows… but please, for your own sake, for the Argives’ good, we have to keep it secret… I… I do not want you to face discrimination for the wrong reason, here,” he whispered to her ear.
Her face turned red, even when Achilles removed his hand she put hers on her mouth indicating that she will remain silent on that matter.
“I am happy that we understand each other. You and I will be great teammates!” he said.
They walked silently for several minutes. After a while he reignited their conversation. He didn’t want her to feel bad about what happened before.
“Oh, speaking of teammates, let me give you some hints and insights before you meet the rest of them. We are getting close to our own camp, so let me give you a head’s up”.
He cleared his throat.
“Nikolaos, you have already met him. He is a fire Elementalist. He used to be between the ranks of the Priests and the Warriors, being a member of the priesthood of Delphi and also accompanying me and the rest of the squad to most of our adventures that we were assigned by the Temple order. Because of that, he couldn’t always be in the Temple to perform his priestly duties. After consulting with the High Priest, Nikolaus lost some of the privileges as a priest, such as not being able to perform sacrifices on his own, but also gained the right to become full -fledged official member of our squad and to join the Warriors division. Because of that, nobody could actually put him in a specific category, he knows the way of both Warrior and Priest”.
“What is the difference between Warrior and Priest?” asked Nephele
“Ah, yes sorry, I forgot you don’t know about that. Well, let me explain to you how the Brotherhood is structured. The Argives are a sacred band of heroes with exceptional capabilities that bid the will of the Gods, with sacred, but secret missions. There are three divisions, the Priests, the Warriors and the Rangers.”
“You are a Warrior?”
“Precisely, the Warrior division deals with the most missions, which can be done either solo like Nikolaos did when he rescued you, or with a group. We used to rarely be at the camp since we always went out for multiple expeditions, especially when Alexander took the throne. But since his reign managed to bring stability to the Greek realm, our missions grew fewer. We have some kind of peace now”.
“So you are more frequently here at the camp…”
“Correct”.
“What about the Priests?”
“They are different, in combat and in their role in the Brotherhood. They are mostly around the Delphi, the temples and they focus on receiving and interpreting the messages of the Gods, study ancient manuscripts and perform sacred duties, like praying and offering sacrifices. They do not go on missions - it has happened, but they rarely leave the Temple - but that does not mean they are powerless. They are granted gifts of elemental control, based on their allegiance to the God they choose to follow. After all, they are the fierce defenders of everything that is holy here on Delphi”.
He leaned into her ear again, as they walked past a priest of Dionysus.
“Don’t ever get to their bad side. One time, this guy had me tied from a vine that he summoned for a whole day and night”.
She chuckled. He was relieved that Nephele was taking all the things he was saying so well. He thought she would be overwhelmed.
“Cool, so Nikolaos has those elemental powers and gave up his position as a Priest to join you. But what about the Rangers division?”
“Their main purpose is accuracy and distance. They have a more stealthy approach on missions, in contrast to a Warrior. They are filling in every mission and task the Warriors are given. For instance when we are tasked to go on a group mission at least one Ranger is mandatory, that is because they provide range, accuracy and tracking, skills that most of the Warriors do not have. Even the Priests when they perform rituals, when they go to different towns and cities to spread their divine messages or whatever they do, a Ranger is always accompanying them, for protection. They offer a much wider presence than a dude with a sword”.
“So that means in your team you also have a Ranger?”
“Two, in fact!”
“Wow, could you tell me about them? Is it true that the women are followers of Artemis too? Do you think that maybe I…?” she went on to say, but Achilles touched her shoulder softly.
“Slow down, Nephele. With all that much talking, we actually arrived. You can ask them directly yourself,” he said and showed Nephele a small clearing under two big oak trees, where some tents were set up with few people around, trying to set up what seemed to be a campfire.
The night was approaching as the sun was beginning to fall.