GOLDEN FLEECE QUEST:MEETING PHINEUS AGAIN

The Argonauts owed their lives to Jason.

“A very clever move you made, Jason,” said Heracles.

“You saved us all,” Atalanta said.

“I’m sure King Cyzicus will be impressed,” said Castor.

“And Megara and Iona,” Atalanta said.

Even Helios was impressed by Jason’s actions.

“Phineus will be surprised,” said Orpheus.

“If the weather holds good, then we’ll reach the island in about seven to eight days,” Heracles said.

The weather did indeed stay perfect over a period of seven to eight days.

When the sailors reached the island, they made for a beach at the foot of a valley, between two tree-covered hills. As they did so, a familiar figure came into view at the foot of the valley.

“There’s Phineus,” said Atalanta.

At Jason’s command, the oarsmen stopped rowing and let the Argo drift in. The anchor stone was then cast overboard by Pollux and Phalerus.

“All ashore,” Jason ordered.

The sailors left the Argo, approached Phineus and exchanged greetings with him.

As the exiled one stared at the sailors, he set eyes on Helios. He also noticed that Mopsus was absent.

“I see that one of the Argonauts is missing,” he said.

“That, I will explain,” said Heracles.

“And who might this new crew member be?”

“Helios, is his name,” replied Atalanta.

“He used to live in the palace of Aeetes,” Heracles said. “But he wanted to get away from Colchis.”

“Fortunately, the king allowed him to leave,” said Atalanta. “So we gave him a place onboard the Argo.”

Phineus was most pleased to hear that.

“Well, Jason, I want to hear everything that happened after you and the Argonauts left here.”

“So you shall, just after I’ve sorted out a couple of things.”

One of those things, was seeing to it that Helios learned how to fight. Unless he already knew how to that is.

It was most important to Jason, that Helios learned how to fight, to be prepared for the coming battle against Pelias and his soldiers.

“You and Atalanta stay here, Heracles,” he said. “The three of us should share this story.”

The captain turned to the rest of his crew.

“Castor, Pollux, stay on the beach and start teaching Helios how to fight. The rest of you go and get food

and water.”

Jason, Heracles and Atalanta, sat on some rocks with Phineus, while the others got to work.

Castor and Pollux stayed on the beach to start training Helios how to do battle. Helios was most enthusiastic about it.

The others went off to get food and water supplies.

“Now then, tell me everything.”

“Well, Phineus, after we left you, another storm sprang up,” Jason began. “It was just as bad as the first one we faced.”

“We lost eighteen oars and were driven off course,” said Atalanta. “But Heracles managed to get us to Colchis. We stopped off at a beach to make new oars, before heading for the city of Aea.”

“Unfortunately, we had some trouble as we were reaching the city,” Heracles said.

That aroused Phineus’ curiosity.

“Was it pirates?” he asked.

“No,” replied Jason. “Several of the oarsmen started playing up and one went too far.”

“I’d better explain that, Jason” Heracles said.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Well, one of the oarsmen whose name was Mopsus, started getting over-cocky. I lost my rag with him and cast him overboard.”

Phineus wasn’t the least bit surprised. In fact, he didn’t blame Heracles.

“What became of Mopsus after that?”

“He got onboard another ship heading for the city,” replied Atalanta. “Unfortunately, we crossed paths with him again, but we’ll come to that.”

“When we reached the city, we went straight to the palace,” Jason said.

“Fortunately, we were admitted,” said Heracles.

“So how did Aeetes take things?”

“With a little deception from us, he suspected nothing,” Atalanta replied.

“We feasted too,” said Jason.

“Before the feast, we got to know Helios,” Heracles said.” He agreed to help us get the Fleece, by seeing to it that one of the servants drugged the guards.”

“Played his part well he did too,” said Atalanta.

“After the king had retired for the night, we put our plans into action,” Jason said. “The guards were drugged.”

“And I seized the Fleece,” said Heracles.

Phineus, was most impressed.

“As expected, Aeetes questioned us about the missing treasure the following morning,” Jason said. “But we convinced him that we had nothing to do with it.”

“So we left the palace and went back to the Argo,” said Atalanta. “Aeetes came too, along with several soldiers and his servants brought us food and water.”

“Then we just sailed away from Colchis,” Heracles said.

“Although, we ended up in more trouble on the way here.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Aeetes found us out after we left Colchis and chased us down with a fleet of twelve war galleys,” replied Jason.

“How did he find out?”

“Mopsus went to the palace and betrayed us, after we left Colchis,” Atalanta replied.

That angered Phineus.

“The scoundrel,” he said.

“He was with the king when the fleet caught up with us,” said Heracles.

“And what of the Fleece?”

“Aeetes threatened to send us to the bottom of the sea, unless I handed the Fleece back to him,” Jason replied.

“Did you hand it back?”

“No. I did what King Cyzicus would have done. I cast it into the sea.”

Phineus, was most taken aback.

“You cast it into the sea?” he asked with an edge of surprise in his voice.

“Yes. King Cyzicus said that no mortal has the right to own the Fleece, that it never should have been stolen from the last of the golden sheep of Colchis. Now the Fleece is out of human reach.”

“What did Aeetes do?”

“He turned his fleet around and headed back to

Colchis,” replied Atalanta.

“My guess, is that with the Fleece gone, the king saw no reason to attack,” Heracles said.

For a moment there was silence. It was a lot for Phineus to take in.

“You’re a very clever man, Jason,” he said. “Clever and cunning. But I think you did the right thing.”

“He saved us all by doing it,” Atalanta said.

“I doubt Pelias will be happy about it,” said Heracles.

“I hope he will be furious,” Jason said with sarcasm.

“We’ll have to fight his soldiers, in order to help Aeson and Medea reclaim the kingdom of Thessaly,” said Atalanta.

“That’s why Helios is learning how to fight,” Heracles said.

Heracles was most impressed by how quickly Helios was learning. He could see the young man becoming a great warrior. Jason and Atalanta were equally as impressed. So were Castor and Pollux and Phineus even.

“He’s getting the hang of it already,” said Atalanta.

“He must have witnessed lots of battles at the palace,” Jason said.

Suddenly, the rest of the sailors appeared on the beach with food and water supplies.

“Well done,” Jason said.

He got up and walked over to Castor, Pollux and Helios.

“Helios is a natural,” said Castor.

“We’re most impressed,” Pollux said.

“So am I,” said Jason.

“I’ve witnessed countless fights at the palace, so I know every move.”

“Well, you’ll be practicing again before we reach Thessaly,” Castor said.

“And now it’s time to sail on,” said Jason.

A feeling of sadness came over Phineus. Part of him wished that the sailors had decided to stay longer, but

he knew that they had to push on.

“So this is goodbye,” he said sadly.

“Yes, it is,” Atalanta said sadly too.

“Not for the last time though,” said Heracles, who was equally as sad.

“We’ll come again,” Atalanta said.

“Well, it’s been a pleasure to see the pair of you again,” said Phineus. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you, Jason and the other Argonauts too.”

“Likewise,” Jason said.

With that, Phineus exchanged farewells with Jason and the Argonauts.

He watched in sadness, as the sailors carried the supplies onboard and left the island.

Recommend Write a ReviewReport