"Chronicles of Immortality, Matthew" - A Retelling of the Iliad

FOREWORD

Every nightmare about creatures of the night is true. There is a reason why you huddle close around fires. There is a reason why even the staunchest of unbelievers, is from time to time troubled by chills. Superstition calls it; "Someone walking on your grave," but it's based on the here and now. It sets your teeth on edge, running chills down your spine and making your hair stand on end. Adrenaline courses through your veins and your throat feels like it is choking even though the opposite is true. The throat expands to allow more air as the breath comes in pants. Why?

Because you have sensed something. Something, a presence which oozes malevolence. A predator that is unseen or unknown.

I know what they are; have always known what they are, because I am one of them.

Usually it is something you are born with, a juxtaposition of blood lines that causes a throwback. A throwback, to something that pretended to be human. Something that needed to walk among humans without being noticed.

Nature answers every threat with a defense or another threat. No predator can be completely successful or it dooms itself to starvation. Imagine if Lions were as intelligent as you, it's a terrible thought isn't it? Lions who could open locks and use tools, along with being stronger and faster than you. There would be nowhere that you could hide. But, of course after they had eaten everything, they would starve and die themselves. Unless they could sleep until something else came along.

No, nature doesn't allow that. Lions don't tolerate lions from outside their group, thankfully most predators don't. Imagine if they like the wildebeest, they ran in giant herds accepting new arrivals as if they were family and facilitating each other. Nothing would stand before them... nothing.

Of course we can play this game perpetually, what if polar bears cooperated? What if dinosaurs still lived? What if vampires or something like them were real...

Vampires? Well not exactly, but something very close, close enough that it would make no difference.

Dissolve in sunlight? No. Nearly blinded and burned like the worse sunburn you can imagine? Maybe. Maybe the oldest, and strongest, the least human.

Die from being staked through the heart? Yes. It's a fact that everything on this planet that has a heart will die if a wooden stake is shoved through it. Of course if it's capable of regeneration, it might not stay dead. It might be pissed if the stake was removed or rotted away. It might want 'pay-back'.

What would it be like to live forever? Would you isolate yourself? Not allow yourself to have emotions about others so you wouldn't have to experience the death of those close to you? Not wonder what it felt like as you ripped the throat of someone out. It's probably better to not think of them as the same as you.

Because they're not are they? Besides the appearance they're not. Not, by an extreme. They're not as strong, not as fast, not as agile. While they heal it takes a long time compared to you. Then there is that live forever thing again. Mortals don't use up all their brain, but you might.

You might use up all of it with memories. You might get to a point where you couldn't tell what was happening in front you because you were reliving something from a hundred years ago, or maybe a thousand. If you had been lucky.

If you had been cunning maybe you wouldn't be hunted down by another one like you. You wouldn't be consumed so your strength and bloodline would be added to theirs. If you were cunning and lucky you might act less intelligent than them so they wouldn't believe you were a threat.

If you were really lucky, maybe the Blood wouldn't give you the craving. The craving is a burning desire to kill and slake a terrible thirst that makes you lose your mind from time to time. Maybe you'd be lucky and not have that, or maybe you could have it for so long that you wouldn't pay attention to it. Maybe you would like it, celebrate it, immerse yourself so deeply in it that you would go blood crazed. Of course if you did that, the powerful ones might hunt you down, to get rid of you before you drew unwanted attention. Maybe they would do it because they thought it was fun. Maybe because it was more challenging.

In a world where vampires are real what else could be real? Werewolves? Animated dead? Maybe even ghosts? Maybe.

What would make you write a book about what you were? Why would you tell the world? Maybe you would do it because nobody would believe it. Maybe you would do it because every now and then one of the oldest, if not the oldest would show up and rip your head off. Maybe your healing is strong enough to bring you back even from that. Maybe, because anything is possible in a world with vampires.

Maybe you've been writing it down forever, hiding your story in plain sight. In cave paintings, on clay tablets, and carved in stone. In a world with vampires, it's possible, right? Maybe you could tell other people the story, so they would remember it and write it down. Like in Gilgamesh, the Iliad or Beowulf? That might work, if you were clever, if you were lucky.

It might work because you would live longer than other people and you would want to know "Why?"

Maybe your personality is so ingrained that it would survive. Your sense of humor, your writing style, just your choice of words. It might be so strong that you could see your hand at work. Maybe you could send yourself secret messages. Encode warnings. Like little bottles, floating on the sea of eternity.

You would have to be immortal, clever and very, very lucky.
Enough about you, let's talk about me.
I have hidden histories over the entire face of the Earth, but my memories begin on the Aegean.

***********************************************

Chapter 1

I awoke on a white sand beach. That is my first memory. How I came to be sleeping there I cannot tell you. It would please me to no end to tell you that I was given birth to by the womb of the Aegean, but that is not the truth of course.

I didn't do anything special. I wasn't attacked by some beast of the night in a Tibetan pass, while looking for a rare flower. I was born with it. Or at least I think I was. I don't remember. But I do know that I have lived for thirty-five hundred years since the last time I died.

I have to use the word died because nothing else fits. I can't say reincarnated because that's not what happened. There's another, of the Blood, who knew me and has spoken to me about it. I trust her implicitly. I wasn't reborn as a new person. My first memory is as an adult, in Greece. I simply awoke on the shore of the Aegean.

I wouldn't call it resurrection, because my memories were gone, in that respect it was like a childhood. I was taken as a slave by a farm owner. I learned Greek. He kept me for ten years and in that time, we became friends. You probably expect me to say that he freed me, but he didn't. He and his wife died in a fire. I should have died too.

I can remember the searing pain of breathing in the flames but not much else of that night. Occasionally the nightmare of that memory is punctuated by intense pain over my entire body. When I awoke, the ashes of the house were cold. There were only a few charred bones in what had been the bed chamber, to tell me that my friends had not survived.

As for me, I had no mark of the inferno even though I remembered being on fire and throwing myself out of a window.

I knew there were clean clothes in the place where the oil from the past years pressings were kept and went there.

It caused me no happiness to see the geese had survived the fire. The gander came at me with his wings held wide, hissing. I would have happily killed him but when I ran toward him he flapped a short distance away, only to come at me again when my back was turned. I truly hated that bird and have taken great relish in roasted goose every time that I have had the opportunity. My owner had always laughed at my distress saying, whatever I was before he had found me, it was certain that I was no warrior.

I missed him and his wife, they always treated me well, more like a son I suppose.

The clothes fit me loosely, which was a puzzle because they had belonged to the farmer before me and he had been thinner then I.

I simply walked away from there, carrying a large jar of oil on my shoulder. In the village I carried the jar to a merchant with whom we had often traded. He commented that I looked thin, I answered that I had been sick. It was an answer that I knew was plausible because my owner had come hereby himself at the beginning of the olive season. The merchant nodded and asked how the farmer was doing, I said, "Well enough." And then held my hand out for the coppers he gave me. There was no quivilling, he paid me a fair price, I thanked him and walked back the way I had come, but I kept going, past the farm, towards Athens.

Along the way I killed birds and small animals with rocks and ate them raw, by the time I got to Athens, the tunic fit me well enough, I also noted that most of the scars from the fire were gone.

At the city walls the guard asked me many questions. Who was I? Where was I from? I answered his questions with truths and near truths. My name was Maethias? I had been found on the shore of the Aegean and taken as a son by a childless farmer and raised as his own. The guard examined my wrists and ankles carefully for the calluses of being bound as a slave, then he had me remove my tunic to look for scars from the lash. There were none. So with the payment of a copper for entrance, I walked into Athens.

In those days there were about ten thousand living in Athens which was and still is the capital of Attica. It was an age of heroes, titans and gods. There is a reason why Homer more than seven hundred years later used Mycenae names. Where all the Mycenaean's of gigantic stature? No, but the Greek peninsula concentrated several lines of the Blood and produced the likes of Achilles, Hercules and Odysseus. It also produced the cyclops, harpies and a thousand other horrors that relished human flesh. At the apex were the gods, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Ares and Hades who had been locked in a five way chess game since beyond memory.

Ajax was King then. He was a giant and strong even beyond his size. The army of Athens was one hundred and fifty men strong, all of whom called Ajax cousin or uncle.

My presence did not go unnoticed. My sense of the Blood was dulled by so many present who were more than human. It was like trying to find a candle hidden in front of the sun. So I did not sense the three bronze clad warriors who walked up from behind me. The edges of their armor plate was padded with leather and felt so it made no sound clicking together. I had no warning when the iron like hands fell on my shoulders.

The hands pushed me forward and until I was pressed against a stuccoed stone wall. Then I was spun about quickly around. Sunlight flared of red bronzed that had been rubbed smooth over generations of use. The man in the center had handed his short spear off to one of his companions but placed his hand on a large dagger strapped to his waist.

"What are you doing in this part of the city merchant?" He growled from under the close faced helmet.
"I am no merchant. I am a farmer." I replied.
"Then I ask you once more. What are you doing in this part of... the... city?" He punctuated each of the last three words by thudding his scarred and callused fingers into my chest.

I carefully pulled the token the city guard had given me from my belt and held it out for him to see, knowing that any sudden movement would end with at least two spears driven into me. Then I answered him, "I have just come to Athens. I am the foundling son of a farmer. My father and mother died in a fire and I have no desire to farm anymore, so I came here."

The lead man lifted his helmet so that it was cocked back on his head. His visage was so much like mine that I choked but quickly turned it to a cough. He had my strong nose, my cheeks and most noticeably my gold flecked eyes. In body shape we were exactly the same with the exception that I was not so tall as he and was darker in complexion.

"Have I done something that is wrong?" I asked.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." He had evidently notice our similarities as well. "Did you say that you were a foundling?" He continued.
"Yes, my father found me on the edge of the sea."
"This important, I am watching you for lies..." I nodded my understanding and he continued, "… were you as you are now or were you a child?"

I thought for a moment. Perhaps I should lie and tell him that I was a child, but I had no childhood memories, no reference to base the lie on. "I was as I am."
He nodded as did his companions then asked, "Have you suffered any injury from which you should not have healed?"
Now I was intrigued and my manner shifted from guarded to curious. I nodded my head 'yes'.

His attitude and stare seemed to become more knowing, then he asked, "Do you have any memories of the time from before when you were found?"
"No."
"He could be from the Titanochy!" One of the others blurted.
The leader nodded and said, "Yes he could, but we will leave that to Ajax to decide." He said 'Ajax with a mixture of awe and fear then turned back to me and said. "Listen carefully again, you must do exactly as I say or they will put their spears into you. It could be that you are of the Blood and our cousin but it could also be that you are of the Blood and something else. We will take no chance, follow me and do not veer."

No further word or threat was made. With him before me and the other two following at spear length we turned and walked deeper into the city.

In those days Athens wasn't the marvel that it became. The city was more like a compound with several thousand houses which shared common walls and courtyards. The building was covered in white washed stucco and gave the impression of being carved from one mass of stone.

The palace was different only in that it was much larger. One Mycenaean King or another had added on to it over the centuries until it made up a quarter of the city.

My guards led me through a heavy gate and by way of a corridor with many doors to a central courtyard ,which was filled with many people all dressed in their finest linens and wools. The floor of the courtyard was set with lapis lazuli tile. It's polished surface gave the impression of a deep pool on which the finely dressed nobles walked.

While they were intermixed it was obvious that there were two main blood lines present. There were those with a resemblance to the three men who brought me here and another tribe who were shorter and stature with a darker completion and hooked noses.

On a throne toward the back of the courtyard was an immense man who could easily see over the crowd even though he was sitting in a relaxed fashion with his chin resting on his great fist. A woman who wore a circlet matching the giants leaned over and whispered in his ear. She was as tall as any man present with exception of the king. Her arms and legs were well-shaped and muscularly thin. As soon as we entered the courtyard I found my eyes locked to hers.

The leader of the guards who had brought me here spoke something to me, to which I nodded and then left, making his way through the crowd. Halfway to the throne he spoke to a man dressed in purest white who listened with boredom at first then suddenly looked in my direction. He nodded and then approached the throne. The woman motioned him forward. The giants attention was with some noble as the white-clad herald spoke to the woman.

She rested a hand on the King's shoulder and he turned his attention to her, then his eyes like hers turned to me. Where he gaze had been one of warm contemplation his was stare of the challenged adversary. It made me feel as if the courtyard where some great game board and I had dared to challenge the master to a game. At a word from the woman, the herald announced that all were to retire from the King's presence. A hand gesture toward the guards let them know that they and I were to stay.

When all were gone the guards led me forward. The man who I took to be their captain stepped behind me and I heard the whisper of his sword being drawn from the sheath. How I knew what the sound was I cannot say, but I would speculate that it is a sound which always conveys a threat, even if you've never heard a dog growl you know the sound for what it is.

I've told you that I am a coward haven't I? Some other might have brazed into motion seeking to overcome his captor and prove his meddle. But not I. I held very still, aware that besides the newly drawn sword there were also two bronze spears. If you want heroics then read the Illiad, Homer tells the tale heroically. If I had been Achilles I would have killed everyone and then played at Pente with Ajax, as it was I barely managed not to shake.

Ajax was huge. I've never seen a human larger. On the floor all about him where the skins of lions. Later I would learn that he had killed them with his bare hands. Upon the largest pelt rested his shield which was made to his size. Several men could have hidden behind it although I doubt that any man of average size could have seen over it without hopping. Laid beside the shield was his armor which gleamed like gold, and beside that his spear. The blade of the spear was as long and as heavy as the bronze would allow it to be made, and I doubt that any besides Ajax could have used it.

In a voice as deep as thunder he said, "Come forward, that we may see you clearly." The guards stayed where they were and I walked carefully forward. He laughed and mumbled something to the woman beside him.

His eagle eyes stared into me while the woman seemed suddenly sad. In a motion which belied his huge size, his hand fell to the side of the throne and grasped the spear by its haft. In that same lightening motion he plunged the spear into my stomach.

The pain didn't come immediately only a sudden pressure which pushed the air out of me.
"It could be that I am wrong and then Zeus will judge me for my lack of hospitality. But I do not think so." He withdrew the spear with the same sudden motion that he struck me with. I watched in horror as my blood washed across the brilliant blue tiles of the floor. Blackness came quickly with pain and I dropped into the pool forming around me.

I heard the woman speaking as the darkness swallowed me.
"There were other ways, to tell the truth, brother."
"Yes, but none are as quick as this. There was guile in his eyes and I am pressed for time."

***********************************************

Chapter 2

For the third time I awoke from death.

The scene had change very little except that the woman I now knew for Ajax sister was sitting. Her golden eyes where looking down on mine with sympathy. I had been moved onto one of the lion pelts and pillow put behind my head. I looked down for the gaping wound that spear had surely left and saw that I had been clothed in pure white wools which matched what Ajax was wearing.

"I don't know if you are Olympian or Titan but it is obvious to me now that you are one of them. I owe you a blood tithe so I give you the larger half of my gold." From the way Ajax spoke I knew that he had planned this all along.

"Agamemnon has summoned me to his court, and I must leave tomorrow morning, there was no time for inquiry. Because you came to us in the day without impediment from the sun, I knew you were not one of Hades wraith. Because you healed I know you are not a man. But the question remains as to whether you are Olympian or Titan. You seem to be without malice though you may now wish me harm for the harm I have done to you. Put that aside, I promise that I will do right by you from now on." Ajax stopped speaking and waited for my reply.

I can't say that he had any fear, because I think he was completely without that emotion. I suppose in his mind there was a possibility that he had taken me unawares and that I now might take retribution. There was a look of respect in his eyes that had not been there before he had struck me down.

I thought for a minute and spoke, "What I know of Olympians and Titans is what is taught by priests. I do not believe myself to be either. Truthfully I do not know anything of my past beyond my father's olive grove. I see the resemblance with you and your people but I cannot account for it." I thought for another minute and not wanting to give up any stature I had gained by rising from my injury I finished by saying, "King Ajax, it could be that with time that we shall be best friends or brothers, "I looked around and saw that the guards who had been here before were gone, there was only the three of us," but I find your attack rude and cowardly." Inside I cringed, if I had gambled wrongly I had no doubt that he would rip me apart. I continued staring into his eyes which smoldered like a volcano. "But it could also be that you are wise and that your hand has been steered by the Fates." I watched him carefully ready to leap aside and save myself as best I could.

His eyes considered me and while they didn't soften any in my consideration there seemed to be even more respect.
"What is your name?"
"Matthias."

"That is a good and ancient name, but it could be any mans name. You are stronger now then you were when you first came to me so I am going to give you a new name. From this day you will be Promatthias. I will arm you as my brother, and you will be trained by my brother who, if he had my strength would be my better in war. My sister Mera will see that you are taken to Teucer. You shall have ten of my best guards and cousins as a bodyguard, I also give you ten slaves to tend to you."

I was stunned and probably showed it because Ajax said, "It's good that you did not show that face sooner or I might not have been so generous. Remember always, the outcome of any contest can be decided by the one who keeps his composure." He quickly stood. In respect his sister stood also but remained as he strode from the courtyard.

She and I watched him go.
"You are a brave one Matt."
I was struck with the familiar use of my name.
"And my brother is right, we need to work on how open you are with your face." My face burned at her words, not in anger but like a boy who catches a woman's glance.

She laughed lightly and then began to speak as if we had known each other for many years. "Teucer lives a day away, we will leave in the morning after His Majesty. Until then my slave, Ulnor will see to your needs. I will send the things my brother has given you."

I bowed my head to her as she left.
The slave was waiting just outside the doorway of the courtyard. He was dark, perhaps a head shorter than me but strongly built. His forearms were heavily scarred with what could only have been sword cuts.
"Walk beside me, so you do not need to steer me like a horse." It was something my father had said to me when I had tried to behave like the other slaves I had seen in our village."
"But others will see!" he marveled.
"Let them, Ajax has bound himself to me as his brother, who will speak against me?"
He walked beside me and politely gestured to where we should turn to find my new place."

When we arrived in my new rooms a feast had been set which consisted mostly of meat. As soon as I saw it I became immensely hungry. Ulnor brought me plate after plate of mutton and quail trying not to stare at the amount of food I ate. "You eat like the King himself." He commented then ducked his head in submission.

"Ulnor, when we are alone like this, speak to me plainly, I would not want to miss your advice because you were afraid of me."
He looked at me with puzzled brow but did as he was told.
"I see that you have not always been a slave." I indicated his scars.
"No not always, I came from across the sea and was captured after a great battle." he answered.
"The Titanochy?" I asked but he laughed.
"No not so long ago as that." He looked at me strangely and with something like fear, "Do you mean the war between the gods?"

I thought carefully wishing I had picked my previous words better. "It was a joke Ulnor, obviously not a good one though."

Before anything else could be said there was a knock, I nodded to Ulnor and he opened the door. A line of slaves dressed in the same plain clothes as Ulnow entered. Between every two was a chest or a cloth wrapped bundle. Ulnor spoke discretely with the first to enter and said, "These are some of the provisions promised to you by the King."

The first chest was opened and contained many sets of fine clothing, some warm and some cool. The second chest was filled with rich leather works of boots and harness. The third chest was of armor, there were two sets, one which was fine and engraved with griffins, the other was plain but of high workmanship. Like the armor of the guards who had taken me to Ajax both sets were lined with leather and felt. While they were both just a bit large for me their harnesses adjusted to fit. Ulnor and two other slaves began putting the armor on me. I would have protested but two armed guards came in, the first one who was the captain that had escorted me to court said. "It is the law of Attica that every freeman shall keep his armor ready and at hand."

He turned to the man who was behind him and took two swords. "This first sword was Ajax' when he was ten, he wore it and the armor you now have on to his first battle, the shield," He indicated with his chin, "Was also his." their richness and quality is beyond anything made today. Only a king or a prince may wear such trappings." The sudden change in my status seemed to concern him.

"What is your name?" I asked.
"I am Anaxis."

"Anaxis never worry about what you have done in your king's service. When you decide to serve another or you are born to it you become an extension of that king, like the fingers of a hand. It would take a small person to seek revenge against a man who was following the beck of another man. Only when you know that what you are doing is a wrong against all men do you need to fear justice." The words came to me without thought, and while I found that I agreed with them, I wondered at where they had come from.

The captain seemed to be put at ease and finished arming and armoring me. As he pulled the last buckle tight he reached out and was given the shield, it took two slaves to lift it.
"Even when our King Ajax was young he was far stronger than almost all. Which shield would you prefer?"

It took almost no consideration as I looked at the two straining slaves. I nodded to the other shield which was hardened leather with a bronze sheet covering it.

He nodded in agreement and slid the other shield upon my arm.
"His Highness Teucer will see to your training, but for now I will give you small advice to serve you until then."
He had me draw the sword, which was large pommelled and well-balanced. How I knew that was a mystery.

Anaxis called me to guard and I easily stepped forward with my left foot placing the shield before me, I unconsciously rested the sword on the shields edge pointing toward the captain.
He nodded and said, "You have done this before." There was no question in his voice but the questions in my mind were a million fold.

He moved from side to side and I easily tracked him with the sword point. He stepped out of my range and called for me to thrust at him. I stepped easily forward hiding my movement behind the shield . His eyes widened when I stopped the point a fingers width from his eye. I quickly stepped back to my starting position.

The movement had come again, quickly and without thought. It was as if my body knew these movements instinctually.
"Aim at the wall, I want to see you at real movement. Do not move to the wall but thrust as if you were going to stab it. Begin!"

My arm moved of its own volition stabbing in a perfectly straight line that vibrated at the end as the tendons snapped tight. My shield had moved along with the sword protecting me from chin to knee.

"I think it is you who should be teaching me. That was nearly faster than I could see."
"Indeed!" A feminine voice remarked from the door. Mera was standing there backed by a man who was shaved bald and extremely dark in complexion.
"How is it Matt that you know how to do that?" She asked.
"I don't know, my body seems to know the way even though I don't."

A mischievous smile came across her face and she said, "I wonder what else your body knows how to do."
My cheeks and ears burned and Anaxis stared attentively at the floor.
Without pause she change the conversation.

"This is Babaef, he is a priest and a historian from a distant land, and is also a trusted member of my brothers court. He comes to us as an ambassador so always treat him as family. He will be your teacher."
I turned to Babaef and with my hand on my forehead bowed, he returned the bow with amazement.
"You are a wonder Matt." She marveled and then turned and walked away. Again instinct took over and I watched her go.

***********************************************

Chapter 3

Ajax sent for me early the next morning and I attended him at his breakfast table, he did not invite me to sit and I did not ask.

"I am leaving today to meet Agamemnon to enforce our will on neighboring lands. You will follow the instructions of my sister who will see to your education. She has told me that you know more than you seem to. This has been told, if while in Hades you drank from the River Lethe you will forget what you did when you were alive. It is better that you drank from that one then the others or you would not make good company. Babaef tells me that he has heard of such a thing and will help you to remember who you are."

I made to comment but the giant waved me to silence.

"Have a care with Babaef, while he has never done me harm or given bad advice, he spends more time contemplating the dead then I like. His people the Egyptians are thus. It is best that a living man confine himself to things of life except when dealing death as a warrior." He smiled wolfishly at the last.

"Agamemnon is like a spoiled child but I am sworn to him for the defense of Greece, along with Achilles and Ulysses. He is always slow to send us home so it could be that I will send for you, make yourself ready as quickly as you can. The men I gave, given you need nothing from you but direction, listen to their advice but make your own decisions." He stood up with a leg of mutton in his hand and gnawed it as he walked to the door. "I look forward to a time when we may speak at length." He added the last as he walked away. Four men were waiting for him in the hallway. I followed along behind them.

When he got to the courtyard his men at arms quickly armed him then fell in step behind him as he walked out into the street. A giant horse was waiting for him but he took its lead instead of sitting the saddle.

Families stood along the street and chanted his name as he passed. Old ones who were heavily scarred stood in front of their houses, backed by women and children. Boys who were too young to go on campaign marched alongside the column, with wooden swords tucked in their belts and leather tipped spears on their shoulders. They carried their light shields lazily on their left arms and kept their eyes straight ahead just as their fathers and brothers did.

"Ajax! Ajax! Ajax!" The name boomed with every other step until they arrived at the beach where a hundred ships waited. The cheer was answered by ninety ships which were already manned by warriors from the rest of Attica...

Ajax climbed a giant stone on the edge of the beach. He moved with a grace and litheness not to be expected from one so large. At the top of the boulder he stood with his engraved armor shining in the sun.

"Marathon!" He bellowed, and the ships from Marathon answered back with "Ajax!"

"Rafina! Nea Makri! Brauron! Thorikos! Agios Kosmas! Eleusis! Menidi! Markopaulo! Sparta! Aphidnae! Athens!" Each time the ships roared his name and then he called, "Attica!" And they all roared his name together so that a wave spread from each ship and joined together to ripple outwards from the fleet. The camps of well wishers who had marched along with their warriors from all over Attica joined in the cheer until it was deafening.

Ajax stood tall on the stone with his spear and great shield raised high over his head and roared again "Athena!"

He leapt down from the boulder sinking halfway up his grieves in the sand and strode into the surf kicking the waves from out of his way. The men of Athens raced to keep up with him and swarmed over the gunnel's of the ship.

Each ship set a frantic drumbeat that somehow merged into one giant heartbeat. As they turned sails were raised and like one they all filled with the wind at once. The sound struck those of us on the beach like a blow to the chest. More than twenty thousand oars threshed the sea into white foam as they raced from the bay and toward Argos.