Argolis

What one thinks and what is are two different things. The lynx did not lose interest and simply continued to follow Art. Not wanting to scare the wild cat off, the Young Gael simply allowed the little beast to follow him. When inquired on what his lynx's name was at a port, Art thought for a moment before answering: "Niall."

Thus did Art and Niall go together on a ship to Achaea, hearing tales from the sailors. He learned of the land of Argolis ruled by Eurystheus, grandson of the great hero Perseus, the Gorgon Slayer.

To say that the tale of Perseus was known to Art, would be untrue and so the sailors told him the tale of the Gorgon Slayer. They spoke of Acrisius who had lived in Tiryns. They spoke of an oracle who told Acrisius that the son of his daughter Danae would kill him. So it was that that Acrisius locked Danae in a tower plated with brass so it shone like gold in the sun and vowed that his daughter would never marry. But Zeus, that King of the Achaean Gods who was always taking more wives, as kings did, did come to Danae and he did marry her. When a child was born, Acrisius believed the father was his brother Proteus, whom he hated, rather than Zeus when Danae had told him. Believing that Proteus had stolen the key to tower and married Danae in secret, Acrisius had his daughter and his grandson Perseus placed in a great wooden chest and then pushed it out into the Bay of Nauplia. A day and a night the chest floated out to sea, until on the morning of the second day it came to the shores of Seriphos, where Polydectes ruled as king and his brother Dictys lived as a common fisherman. It had been the latter who had found Danae and Perseus and so he took them into his home and became like a father to Perseus. Perseus grew to be a strong and noble youth, as great a fisherman as he was a swordsman, and in time Polydectes came to hear of the mother and son who lived with his brother and upon seeing Danae for the first time, lust was born in the hornet's nest that should have been where his heart was, for it was known that evil men had no hearts.

Alas, Art heard no more of the tale. For the sailors had argued on who should tell the story and how it should be told so often, that Art had only heard up to the point of Polydectes meeting Danae. Thus, when the ship reached Argolis after a few days of sailing, Art was left not knowing what came next.

Making his way from the port, Art looked down at Niall as the lynx followed him. He wanted to say something, but what did one say to a cat?

"Hello there, young man!" Looking up, Art saw a man of one and forty twelvemonths approaching, though from his frailty, toothless mouth and his cane, one would have taken him for a much older man. "You seem to be a foreigner, what news have you?"

"None in particular, sir." Art answered. "I was advised to come to Achaea and so I took a ship here to Argolis. Art is my name and I am a Gael and through Goidel Glas, the father of my race, I am descended from a Scythian Prince and a Princess of Kemet, which your people call Egypt."

"And I am Timaeus, a Corinthian." Answered the man. "We are both strangers to this land and I have come here for the chance to meet the great hero Heracles, who is both paternal half-brother and great-grandson to Perseus, the Gorgon Slayer."

To say that Art was troubled by what he had just heard would be untrue. If a divinity would have his sister as a chief wife, then it stood to reason that the thought of having one of his great-granddaughters as a lesser wife would not even cross the god's mind as odd.

"That would make the first cousin once removed of Eurystheus then?" asked Art. Timaeus nodded, and then the Young Gael inquired: "What can you tell me about this Heracles?"

"When he was a baby, he squeezed two snakes to death!"

For a moment, Art looked to Niall. The lynx's expression seemed to say what Art ultimately asked the Corinthian: "That's it?"

Wrinkling his brow, Timaeus thought for a moment. He then opened his mouth, only to close it again.

Shaking his head, Art continued on, Niall following him. If the Corinthian knew next to nothing about Heracles, then there was no reason to ask him anything. To his surprise and mild annoyance, the Gael found the Corinthian following him. The lynx he welcomed as company, but he was not sure he wanted Timaeus accompanying him.

"I go to Tiryns, lad…" uttered Timaeus. "The mighty citadel from which Eurystheus rules over all Argolis. Wherefore don't you accompany me? You were advised to come to Achaea and now you are here, I have come in search of Heracles and now I am here. Let us go forth to Tiryns together."

Tiryns… Where Perseus, the Gorgon Slayer, had been born. Nodding, Art asked: "Wherefore not? I will happily go to Tiryns and see the birthplace of Perseus."

"Splendid!" exclaimed Timaeus giving Art a pat on the back. "I've not aged well, lad, and I need someone strong to take care of me. How I ever managed to get here by myself is beyond me. Pure luck I suppose. Tell me, does your lynx have an appellation?"

"He is Niall."

"Art and Niall… Both strange names."

"They are good Gaelic names." Art retorted.

Timaeus could only nod. He supposed that the names of the Achaeans would seem odd to a Gael, a race that had come forth from a union of Scythian and Egyptian.

As the two walked together, Art asked what Timaeus knew of Perseus. As it turned out the most that Timaeus knew was that Perseus had slain the gorgon Medusa and that he was a son of Zeus, but beyond that the Corinthian had little to say. When he asked what a gorgon was, Art was given a description that was the stuff of nightmares.

The gorgon Perseus had slain had been named Medusa and she had had in the place of hair snakes, while her sisters Stheno and Euryale had dragon scales covering theirs. All three of them had white-tusks like those of pigs, hands made of brass and great golden wings growing from their shoulders.

"Other than that, a gorgon looks human." Commented Timaeus.

Looking up to the sky, Art fearfully asked: "Have Stheno and Euryale ever come forth to seek vengeance for their slain sister?"

"Not that I have ever heard." Replied Timaeus.

Not that he had ever heard… There was much that Timaeus did not seem to know. He could name a hero's parentage, ancestry and at least one of their deeds, but what else could he name? Had Perseus ever fought Stheno and Euryale? Had they ever come here to Argolis seeking vengeance for the expiry of Medusa? Had they ever come to Argolis to seek vengeance upon Perseus' descendants? Eurystheus was Perseus' grandson and in addition to being his paternal half-brother, Heracles was Perseus' great-grandson as well. Surely, they would have known, maybe one of Heracles' deeds was slaying Stheno and Euryale after they had come seeking vengeance.

Continuing on their way, Art and Timaeus walked in silence while Niall ran at any bird he spotted. Always the lynx would return to the two humans as they walked along the path. As they walked, the Young Gael wondered if the Corinthian even knew where Tiryns was. For all he knew, the they would end up walking past this wonderful citadel that Eurystheus resided at.

Hearing a cry of distress, Art turned his head to the right to see a group of young ladies under threat by a lion. Like all of the lions of Achaea and Asia, the mane was not as developed as those of the lions of Africa, and did not extend below the belly, sides of ulnas. Regardless of how the mane looked, it did not change the fact that the lion was a formidable beast and that the women were in trouble!

Picking up a fallen tree limb to use as a club, the Young Gael ran to the defense of the damsels, Niall running after, while Timaeus called after them, saying they couldn't fight a lion! Ignoring the Corinthian, Art struck the lion across the head with his club and watched as the great cat turned its attention to him. Growling, the lion approached only to stop in its tracks the moment that Niall hissed in its face. The lynx the lion knew well, but this did not look like the others of the land that the great cat knew. In the centuries to come, the species that Niall belonged to would be named the caracal, a completely difference species from that of the Eurasian lynx the lion would have known, for until this time no caracal had ever set foot in Europe, though the species was known to Achaeans who had traveled as far as Asia and North Africa, but even then, they never would have considered the caracal and separate species from the lynx native to their own lands. To them a cat with black-tufted ears was a cat with black tufted-ears.

Overcoming its initial puzzlement at this strange looking lynx, the lion looked up at Art, eyes narrowed and fangs bared. This was his target! This was the one for him to kill! Not the women! Not this strange lynx! This young man who dared interfere!

Lunging at the young man, the lion soon found himself again struck in the head by the branch the young man was wielding. Again, and again, he lunged forward, but again and again the so-called King of Beasts found himself truck in the head by the tree branch. Giving up, the lion walked away in search of easier prey.

Turning to look at the damsels he had come to the rescue of, Art's eyes widened when he saw one of them. She was his age and an inch taller than him, slender in build with light skin, large reddish-brown eyes and red hair that was long and straight. She had an honest face, a cute mouth, a good pair of legs and overall, fairly attractive. She was wearing triangular god earrings, an amber breastband and a brown perizoma, while the others were wearing long dresses. She must have not originally been from this area.

Giving him a smile, the damsel said: "Thank you for coming to our rescue! Is there anything we might do to repay you?"

Looking up to Timaeus as he approached, Art then looked back to the damsel and asked: "Could you direct us to Tiryns?"

"We are from Tiryns." Answered the damsel. "We could take you there ourselves. I am Thebe. How are you three called?"

"I am Art, my furry friend here is Niall and this is Timaeus, who seemed to think we could not fight a lion."

"It was perfectly impossible!" exclaimed Timaeus. "There was nothing any of us could have done!"

"Any of us, or just you?" inquired Art.

Sighing, Timaeus bowed his head in shame. There was indeed nothing he could have done wherefore then did he think there was nothing that Art and Niall could have done?

"We are happy to meet you all." Said Thebe. "Come we will bring you to Tiryns." Thus did the group walk to the citadel where Eurystheus dwelt. On the way, Thebe did inquire about Art asking to know where he came from originally. When he had explained he was a Gael and what his ancestry was, she said to him: "We are in someway alike then. I am an Achaean, true, but I am not an Argive by birth. I am an Athenian my father Pandion having been a member of Aegeus' court."

"How is it that you come to be an Argive then?" inquired Art, curious to know how an Athenian came to be so far from her native land.

"Aegeus has a new wife who had manipulated him to banish my father." Answered Thebe. "She claimed he was in league with Minos of Crete."

"I do not understand." Said Art, not knowing what Minos of Crete had to do with anything. The appellation Minos was nothing more but a name and Crete was nothing more than a place.

"I will explain later."

As the group continued to walk, the sight of a structure began to come into view. Upon a hill was a fort with mighty walls. This was Tiryns, built by the cyclops so long ago. Here had Perseus the Gorgon-Slayer been born, here did his grandson Eurystheus rule and as far as Art was concerned it was the most magnificent structure he had ever seen.

Getting closer to the citadel of Eurystheus, Art heard the cry of an eagle and yet as he looked around, he found he could see no eagle. It was probably just out of sight, just a bird, or perhaps it was Zeus' sacred bird saying: "This is Tiryns! Here does the grandson of Perseus reside! Long live Eurystheus of Argolis!"

Shaking his head, Art thought to himself how he should know what birds said? The language of the feathered ones was not his to understand. The Gaelic tongue may have been created by combining all the languages in the world into one, but alas, it had simply been all human languages. The tongues of the birds and the beasts were not known to his people, nor were they to any others. Could a god understand such languages? Art knew not, but it would have surprised him if a god could not understand the tongues of the birds and the beasts.

Looking once more to Tiryns as he and his companions got closer, Art wondered what he would see at this mighty fortress.