Timothy Boggs - Hercules Legendary Joureneys 01

The sky was filled with stars and sound. A great wind raced out of the mountains to the north, bending treetops and snapping twigs, scattering dead leaves and the remnants of the harvest, chasing summer before it to the edge of the sea.

In the vast forest beyond the village of Markan, there was no light at all save for the sputtering glow of a campfire at the back of a small clearing. Two men huddled over the stone-ringed flames, studiously ignoring the crawling shadows the fire cast on the lower branches. Their clothes were ragged and ill-fitting, singed in a few places that had nothing to do with the fire at hand, and their threadbare hooded cloaks were gathered around them like blankets.

They could hear the wind, and were grateful they couldn't yet feel it; they couldn't see the stars.

"I tell you, I have a bad feeling about this, Trax," the first man said. He was burly and tall, his face and hands scarred by knife and sword. In his left hand he held the slightly overcooked haunch of a scrawny rabbit. The rest of the animal was still on the spit over the flames.

Trax, who was smaller but no less strong, sighed with exaggerated patience. "So? You always have bad feelings, Castus."

"It's my nature."

"And you're usually wrong."

Castus chewed thoughtfully, staring at the flames.
"Usually
doesn't mean all the time."

Trax didn't bother to argue. His friend got that way sometimes, all introspective and contemplative, thinking about things a mere mortal shouldn't concern himself with, especially in a strange place in the middle of a night that shouldn't have been so cold. In Trax's view, living was what counted. As long as you could. Stealing, too, of course, but that was part of living. His living, anyway. And if the gods wouldn't mind a touch of hubris here, he was pretty good at it, too.

The problem was, being a thief, even one with the skills and panache he had, hadn't gotten him very rich. In fact, he thought glumly, rich didn't even enter into it. Bloody poor was more like it.

Until now.

A hand reached out to be sure the bundle that lay between them was still there. It was long, swathed in thick black leather that shone in the firelight, and securely tied with heavy cord. It had taken them over a week to get it. It had cost them the lives of four of their band.

Of which, unpleasant truth be known, only he and Castus remained.

Castus gnawed the bone to get at the marrow. "You think he'll come?"

"He'll come."

The clearing lay fifteen paces from the woodland trail; they sat at the clearing's back so they could see, or hear, anyone approach.

"You think he'll bring the money?"

"He will."

"A hundred dinars, Trax."

"Gold," the thief corrected with a dreamy smile. "A hundred dinars in pure gold, my friend. And we'll get twice, three times that much from the changers in Sparta if we're lucky. Midas should be so rich."

"You think—"

Trax thumped him impatiently on the top of his head with a loose fist. "Stop it! You think too much.

It'll make your head hurt."

"It hurts now."

Trax thumped him again, just for the hell of it. Castus was a lifelong friend; they had been through a lot of adventures together, shared cells and women and too many close calls to count, but there were times—

like tonight—when he wanted to thump the man into the ground, just to shut him up. Castus worried at his worries as if they were that stupid rabbit's bone.

Sparks flared from the pit.

The wind soughed.

"I'm going to buy a chariot," Castus announced, and yanked another haunch off the rabbit on the spit.

Trax stared at him in disbelief. "You're what?"

"I'm tired of walking all the time. My feet hurt. When my feet hurt, I can't think straight."

Trax was about to thump him again, but reconsidered when he realized that the man actually had a decent idea for a change. Why sneak into a village, rob the inn or whatever, and have to
run
away? Lately it seemed as if there were at least a dozen men who could run faster than they did, which often led to him getting a thumping of his own, not to mention the kicking and gouging and slapping around.

Half the time, now that he thought about it, he and his cohorts never even made it out of the village.

But a chariot... !

"You're a genius," he whispered in reluctant admiration.

"My head hurts."

A chariot would give them an advantage no other thieves in the kingdom had—at least four more feet.

Of course, on the downside, there was the expense. You had to buy a horse, or the chariot wouldn't work. Then you had to feed the horse, grease the wheels so they wouldn't squeak at night, keep the reins in good repair, cushions in the back in case one of them got lucky.... He frowned, then shrugged. No matter. It was better than getting pounded by a dozen angry villagers. That tended to take the spark out of thieving, no question about it.

On the other hand, if the village had a good chariot of its own . ..

"I hear something."

Trax looked up, automatically adjusting his hood to keep his face in shadow.

Someone had left the trail, and was making no effort to conceal his approach.

"You think it's him?" Castus whispered, nervously nibbling on the haunch.

Trax lay a protective hand on the bundle. "If it's not, you'll have to .. . you know."

He shouldn't have worried; his friend already had his dagger in hand, hidden now by the folds of his cloak. Castus thinking was a danger only to himself; Castus fighting with his trusty spiral dagger was a danger to everyone else.

Seconds later a figure broke through the underbrush and entered the clearing. He was tall, wearing thick black leather armor studded with medallions of burnished silver and polished bone. His heavy boots laced up to thighs thick as trunks. His gleaming black

cloak rippled. The hilt of his sword caught the firelight-He wore no helmet, made no attempt to hide his face.

"Do you have it?" was all he said.

Castus lumbered to his feet, still holding dagger and haunch. "You have to give the password."

The man scoffed. "You can see it's me, you fool." "The gods have been known to assume human forms."

Trax held the bundle protectively to his chest and rose cautiously, suddenly wishing he were as tall as his friend. He sincerely hoped Castus remembered the password, because he sure didn't.

"The password," Castus repeated, his voice deep, exposing the dagger's blade.

The man lowered his head and shook it slowly. "My feet hurt."

Castus bobbed his head and grinned. "So do mine. I'm going to buy a chariot, you know. If the horse's feet hurt, I won't care."

The man glared. "That's the password, you idiot!"

"Oh." Castus laughed. "Right. I forgot."

I will disappear now, Trax decided; I will find a rabbit hole and I will jump into it and disappear.

"The prize?" the man demanded.

Trax stepped around the fire pit and said boldly, "The reward?"

They stared at each other for several long seconds before the man plucked a small sack from his belt and tossed it to Castus, who caught it against his chest. Trax hesitated, then handed the bundle over, retreating quickly as soon as the man had it.

The man began to unwrap it. "I have to be sure."

"Of course," Trax agreed readily. "You wouldn't want to be cheated."

The man glanced at him. "I am never cheated."

"Of course not. And we wouldn't think of it, would we, Castus?"

"Trax?"

The rope slithered to the ground.

Trax licked his lips impatiently. He wanted to be gone. He wanted to be in Sparta, convert the gold, and be gone. Preferably somewhere a hundred leagues across the sea.

"Trax?"

"What?"

Castus held out his hand. "It's empty."

The leather wrapping dropped to the ground.

"What's empty?"

"The sack. There's no gold, Trax. He didn't give us our gold." Suddenly the fire pit dimmed as the clearing filled with a brilliant red light. Oh boy, Trax thought. Just before he screamed.