9 The Envoy

"Greetings, Princess of Sparta, my name is Alastair. I am here to pick you up." A young man in a red robe bowed respectfully before Jill. Alastair had black hair with a pretty handsome outline. like the clothes of the Greek knights, the young man wore leather pants with an exposed upper body. He carried a bow and arrow and a sword sheathed in deerskin.

Alastair came with two horse-drawn carriages full of treasures. Scrolls of high quality silk from Libya, jeweled swords and daggers, beautiful jewels, gold coins and some marble statues. These were all wedding gifts from the God of War to the King of Sparta.

She bowed back to Alastair, but the corners of her eyes glanced at her brothers and sisters who couldn't hide their delight at seeing the pile of treasures. They laughed and some shamelessly approached the horse carriage curious about its contents.

"Watch your attitude, they are messengers of the God of war!" The King of Sparta rebuked softly. He seemed unfazed by the treasure, all he thought about was Portia. No amount of wealth will be able to replaced his beloved daughter.

Jill fingered the silver bracelet on her left wrist. It was a gift that Ares supposedly gave her through the vulture that broke through the palace yesterday. She didn't expect that Ares's envoy would arrive so soon. They had came in two chariots and had entered the gates of the Spartan palace less than half an hour ago.

They only consist of five people. Four men with mercenary-like appearances. And a woman with dark brown hair in a similar outfit. Jill initially suspected that the messenger of god Ares would have a unique physique like a centaur or satyr. Her suspicions were ran high, but the gifts they brought were bountiful. Jill doubted that any wealthy aristocrat in Greece could afford such an expensive wedding gift.

She certainly couldn't persuade the envoys with the meager gold in her pocket. Because if they wanted to, they could just steal the war god's gift and run away.

In addition, the tame vultures she had met yesterday were also with them. That was one thing that was slightly unique about the messengers. They brought the pet bird of the god Ares.

"What do you have to do with the God of war? I thought he'd come for me himself." Jill in her Portia form asked innocently. however they was going to take someone's daughter away, Jill felt it would be rude to just bring a messenger.

The Queen of Sparta hastily tugged on the girl's clothes to warn.

"Watch your mouth my daughter, this is the messenger of Ares we met. ares is the God of Olympus who cannot possibly lower his status and set his majestic foot on human land." Her mother whispered angrily.

"I am a demigod, one of the relatives of the Great God Ares. We are his followers and warriors." Alastair explained. He had purposely ignored Jill's question about why her future husband had not come to pick her up.

Demigod he said, Jill immediately realized again the nature of the gods of Olympus who like to go around. They are often told to sow seeds everywhere, both fellow gods and non-eternals (mortals). The child of the marriage of a god and a mortal is called a demigod.

Jill was familiar with some of the famous Greek demigods such as Hercules or Perseus. alastair may have been just one of the lesser known demigods, or his role was not yet significant enough to be worthy of inclusion by poets in their rhymes.

The gods came to the women they like and made love with them. Women who gave birth to divine children were usually not despised. Quite a number of demigods, even though born from illegitimate relationships, could become kings, queens or war heroes.

But demigods were not common in Greece. No one can really confirm it. they could not go to Olympus and force the gods to confessed that they had impregnated their daughter. Jill could see that the whole palace was now whispered between fear and amazement at his confession. Not one but five people. One of them claimed to be a demigod, but what about the other?

Given Ares's extraordinarily cunning and unfeeling character in Greek poetry, what Ares did now didn't lived up to his reputation. Ares just can kidnapped her and treated her as he pleased then when she is pregnant or bored Ares can dumped her.

Ares was a God, no one could go against God's will or questioned their morality. Moreover, even though Ares is the most hated God, he is still one of the twelve main Gods of Olympus. But now he had come with a lavish gift for the king and formally asked for their daughter.

Zeus was said to be able to transform into a swan or any creature and secretly slept with the girls he likes. Why did Ares have to go to great lengths for this?

Jill was still wondered what the reasons were that made Ares want to marry Portia other than the fact that Portia was nicknamed the prettiest Princess of Greece.

Besides, were they really the messengers of God Ares? what if they were actually sent by a king or prince from another kingdom whose proposals to Portia were often rejected by the King of Sparta? They could have claimed to be messengers of Ares knowing that no king could oppose God.

"Prove that you are indeed messengers of God Ares and not messengers from kings or princes of other lands," Jill said, looking Alastair seriously. Alastair's face turned flat, he didn't seem to like the Princess of Sparta challenged him. but Jill had to because she didn't want to end up in a bed of lowly nobles who didn't match Portia's.

Alastair raised his right hand, and the vulture was seen flew from behind Ares's group. The bird then landed right in front of Jill. then Alastair baited it with a purple strawberry-like fruit. The vulture chewed it in one gulp.

Jill and the rest of the palace hall witnessed a show they had never seen before. The vulture trembled and spread its wings. Then the bird squealed loudly as if it had just had a shot of adrenaline. Clumps of muscles and veins were clearly visible protruding from beneath it fur. It body grew rapidly until it was almost the size of a horse.

The now gigantic vulture shrieked again and proudly flapped its wings, created such a strong gust that knocked down many things around it. He then flew back to Alastair and stood beside him with eyes ready to hunt.

The Spartans were stunned. They had just witnessed a God's miracle. The whole hall immediately kneeled down in worship. Now that she's witnessed the miraculous transformation, Jill finally had to believed that they really are Ares's messengers.

Jill during her life in New York was practically an atheist. Jill often claimed to be an agnostic who didn't believed in any religion. the concept of ancient Greek belief for her was very far-fetched. But the transfer of Jill's soul into the body of a Spartan girl named Portia made her rethink her faith. And now she saw for herself a vulture turned into a giant which she could not explain logically. Was that a magic?

I will prove myself whether the Olympians are real gods or not.

jill determined as she took Alastair's hand that would guide him into the carriage.

Jill thought back, when Jill lived there was such a thing as a magician. Even Jill had seen a live performance of David Copperfield flew in a bubble around the theater without a harness. The vulture that turned into a giant can be a super sophisticated magic trick.

For the ancient Greeks, a magic trick or two would easily amazed them and worshipped the magician like a god. But it wasn't that easy for Jill.

"Wait a minute!"

The messengers, Jill and perhaps the rest of the Spartan palace were now dumbfounded. After all the miracles that had been shown, the king of Sparta still carried on with his intentions.

"My king! I beg you!" The queen looked worried.

Meanwhile hundreds of the best Spartan soldiers now surrounded the envoys. they would not allow Alastair to take the princess's hand.

"Would you like to say something, king of Sparta?"

"I don't want my daughter to be taken by you. I want to renegotiate!" The king of Sparta commanded.

"You have agreed to the terms of our Oracle more than a week ago. You can't go back anymore. Even the god Ares has graciously brought all these gifts. Do you want to go against him?" Alastair asked in an even tone.

"We don't believe that you guys are messengers of the god Ares," the King responded stubbornly.

Alastair exchanged glances with his four comrades. Then the female messenger nodded and looked at the terrified Jill. She grabbed her slender arm and drew her sword.

"I'll go first," said the woman warrior as she ushered Jill away.

"Arrest that woman!" The king shouted, the Spartan soldiers immediately blocked.

"King of Sparta, you chose the hard way. Yet you can part on good terms. We accept your challenge. What is clear is that you must remember that Ares will not side with Sparta in your war this time."

Alastair also drew his sword which looked different than any Spartan soldier had ever wield. The blade had a lightning-like glint and the metallic color was dissimilar. Alastair swung it. Although they all clearly saw—that the tip of the blade didn't touch their armor in the slightest—about six soldiers within range were mysteriously thrown away.