Chapter 4 - The Temple of Athena (2)

Alexei felt hurt by Jill's words. The man finally let the princess and her maid walked again towards Athena's temple—the place where Portia had a tragic accident that almost took her life. Alexei looked thoughtful, he wasn't in a hurry to replied to Jill's words. Obviously he wouldn't give up easily just because of one or two rejections.

The temple of Athena stands majestically not far from the Sparta palace and is surrounded by densely populated houses. The temple looked alive and though sometimes silent-never completely empty.

"Look! That's Princess Portia!"

The presence of the princess was like an attraction for the residents there. She was a servant of the temple of Athena and regularly went to the temple to make offerings on behalf of the king of sparta. Her regular appearance in public and her unusual beauty had made rumors about her spread throughout Greece.

"Look! It's all just rumours! Princess Portia isn't dead! the goddess Athena protects her!" Such exclamations were boisterous as Jill began to stomp on the temple grounds.

Like Portia always did, Jill smiled. This time she improvised by waved her hand the same way as members of the British royal family do. But she soon realized that her way of greeting was too foreign and lowered her hand. Because she imitated the behavior of the nobility in the twentieth century. She had to remember that now she lived in era where even Jesus was not born yet.

When she finally inside, she was immediately greeted by tall pillars and a huge statue of the Goddess Athena. She still smelled of incense there because this temple is never devoid of ritual offerings. Jill saw Oracles—blessed with long life and the wisdom of the gods— sitting around. Occasionally they would conveyed a prophecy or message from the gods to humans who stop by.

It was not uncommon for kings to seek advice from the Oracles before went to war or about to made political decisions.

"Princess Portia, are you all right?"

One of the elderly women who was the temple oracle greeted her happily.

Jill nodded gracefully, she was quite often spoken to by Portia in the past.

"I wonder what happened to me then. Did the snake really bite me?"

The woman pointed to a place, close to the altar of worship.

"One of the oracles found you there just when the sun had just risen. I don't know why you went to the temple when it was dark. Your body was as cold as death when I touched you." The female oracle explained.

"Is that true? Have you ever seen the snakes?" Jill confirmed.

Jill held her wrist as she studied it. Jill looked for bite marks but they weren't found anywhere. She doubted the testimony of healers about the cause of her illness.

"Honestly no, the oracle who found you testified that it was a snakebite. besides, didn't the palace healer already confirm that? He said it came from six snake bites."

Jill narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She temporarily concluded that someone was strongly suspected of deliberately harming Portia. Because the temple of Athena is located in a crowded residential area. there were barely any trees and shrubs there. Snakes are cowardly animals. How could a snake roam the temple and bite Portia? Moreover, they said there were six bites.

"Where's the Oracle who found me?" Jill asked again.

"He's not the Oracle who lives here, I hear he's from Athens. After delivering the medicine that he claimed to be from the god Ares for you - he's gone."

"Do you know his name?"

"He's called Cyllenius. The man isn't old enough to be an Oracle. Why are you interested in him?" The female Oracle asked further.

Jill thought for a moment, that person named Cyllenius, probably caused Portia's illness. It could be that he also had information about how her soul was able to transfer to Portia's body. Jill knew this might be a waste of time but she didn't want to take her fate without struggle.

"Princess, maybe General Alexei can help you." Her petite servant suggested in a whisper.

"Alexei?"

"He can help you escape so you don't have to go to Olympus," said the maid anxiously.

"Then what? After that? Alexei will rule over me, I will be considered a traitor by the kingdom and can't go back to Sparta. That's as bad as being an offering to a god." Jill shook her head.

She looked outside the temple, Alexei was still on guard and watching her from afar. That man is dangerous and can do anything. Jill didn't want her freedom to be taken away by anyone.

Although being taken to Mount Olympus and left alone there sounded scary, at least Jill had a chance to escaped. She could secretly pay people to put horses at the foot of the mountain or hire someone to escort her from Olympus to Athens.

She must meet a mysterious Oracle named cyllenius who is suspected to have planned this all on Portia. From there, Jill will force him to explain how to get her soul back to her old perfect life.