LEGACY, PART 1

Glax was taken to the Pallas citadel, on one of the city's hills, where the Echelians' palace was located. All he wanted was food and a bed. But as he knew, the Krotons were very, very tough to think of a traveler's discomfort. That was something for a Rhoas, if that.

In fact, where was Rasmus? Certainly having all this, and maybe even more, next to his wife.

The palace couldn't be called luxurious, but the echelians' monolithic, clean and concise architecture conveyed immediate respect for the people who made them. The decorations comprised scenes, invariably warlike, painted or sculpted on the walls.

Only there was he formally introduced to Nikandros' wife, Aglaia, and her son Iasos. He also discovered that the archigeos' wife was named Roxana, and that General Megara had at least one sibling. He was a boy of no more than 14 years old, called Alexandre, who kept his eyes on Glax. As was to be expected, he dressed like a typical Kroton warrior, and wore a shaved head.

He almost tripped over his own father, who was leading the way, because of this distraction.

"What is it now, Alexandre?"

"Sorry, it was my distraction. I thought we were going to turn around, and… Why are we going this way? "

"Your son is always asking stupid questions, Roxana."

"I will thank the gods tomorrow that he is not mute, Demophon," the woman said, showing no concern. Megara was physically like her, but the general had a thousand times more arrogant face.

"I just thought that Kalanthe's son would like to see something. We never know when he will return to visit us."

The archigeos' statement seemed to take everyone by surprise. Even Nikandros stopped on his wheels, "What is this nonsense? Aren't we going to hear about Chriseis?"

"Big bro, if you want to go ahead to the table, make your way. As a matter of fact, everyone who wants to... Be my guest." Demophon's response seemed indifferent to his older brother's foul temper, but there was a hint of irritation in his tone. Realizing that Demophon indeed looked a few years younger than General Nikandros, Glax wondered what kind of succession regime the Echelians have.

Nikandros snorted, but he stayed, just like everyone else. Then the archigeos looked around, shrugged, and led the way again. They arrived at a circular atrium, which led to other parts. The naked torches illuminated yellowish-colored walls, where reliefs told a story. In the center of the atrium, there was a replica of a ship, in small size, and a life-size statue of a warrior in full armor.

'So this is Kalanthe ...'

Glax approached. This statue had been made by an artist far superior to that of all the 'new' statues he had seen so far. That is, the statues that had heads. Kalanthe held her helmet under one arm, and her intrepid pose, pointing at something on the horizon, depicted a pioneering spirit.

"Your mother's story is inspiring for many women in our clan. Many like her wished to leave their native provinces to become warriors in the Echelian Army. Even if they had to show all their willpower and toughness to do that."

"It inspired me too. But she returned home, in the end. I wonder why."

"She chose it that way." Demophon spoke after looking at Glax strangely. The archigeos seemed to want to read his thoughts, but then he gave up. "And you are a Kroton now. In my family. This is unexpected."

Glax nodded, but before he could say anything, the archigeos commented, "You certainly hadn't seen a replica of Argos II. And you might not have known the imperial family presented the clan with a statue of Lady Kalanthe, when they heard of her death."

"I also didn't know, until I left Valosia, that my mother was more than a local celebrity." He stopped to analyze the replica of the ship. "And I always wanted to know the details of Argos II journey. The ship that went to Valya… Where I was born. "

Demophon sighed loudly and waved to an old man, who was in the group. "Pamphilos, you can tell the story of Argos II, and of Lady Kalanthe. And then we'll hear Glax's account of Chriseis and the monster Sillabot, so you can record it in your memory. Glax," he said. Then turning to the Valosian,"This is the famous Pamphilos, one of the best narrators in our lands. At least, his style fits my taste... Which is a feat in itself, since our people are not into wordplays." The archigeos shrugged with a mischievous smile.

'It's because you didn't meet a guy named Hikesias ...' Glax was amused internally.

"Lady Chriseis was very fond of this story. In fact, she said it was her favorite. I suppose our great general Chriseis may have been inspired by the courage of Lady Kalanthe! Besides being inspired by her own family," Pamphilos spoke diplomatically. Glax remembered Chriseis mentioned his mother once, with a dreamy expression. Maybe it was really true.

Servants appeared at the snap of the archigeos wife's fingers, bringing stools, rugs, cushions and small tables. Everyone sat down after the archigeos sat down. Excellent quality wine was served. Glax wondered if he should warn them he couldn't handle booze, especially on an empty stomach.

Nikandros overturned the contents of his cup before everyone was served, and asked for more. Glax understood that father's pain. He had already been through something like that.

Pamphilos waited for everyone to be comfortable. His assistants, two young musicians who sat behind him with a small leather drum and a flute. They made a musical introduction to the narrative. The old man cleared his throat, and pressed between Nikandros's deadly gaze and Demophon's expectation, began.

"The women in our clan are peerless among the Stygians. They are our sisters, mothers and companions. Their voice is as strong as ours. They don't wait, they do. That is why echelians are superior in everything to the rest of the Stygians."

Approving grunts appeared from all sides in the torchlit room.

"Any echelian born outside the houses can prove his worth to defend the clan, and have his name inscribed in history. Lady Kalanthe is one of those people who showed that the gods favor their chosen ones. "

Glax felt his new family's gaze on him, assessing him. He couldn't know what they thought, but he guessed they must be wondering if he, too, was a chosen of the gods.

"Kalanthe was born into a family of fur traders in Valosia. She was promised in marriage to a local man, but she fled to the other side of the mountains on the day she was going to be married. She impressed a group of guides from the Hermos Pass by fighting one of them. The group's leader, Amphios, allowed her to join them. He taught her to fight and all the secrets of the mountains and the Pass, except for one: if there really was an underground river flowing under the mountains, a river that led to the ancient Underworld. "

"At that time there were different groups of guides in those mountains," interrupted the archigeos, after taking a drink from his glass and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "The bandits, the useless, and the good guides. In any case, none of them revealed their secrets or the best ways easily. Ahhh… I remember riding on the Perfumed Mountain, or being attacked by wild fuzzy goats on the north side could be as deadly as avalanches…"

"Were you really attacked by wild fuzzy goats, Dad? And who won?" Alexandre barely hid the urge to laugh.

"Is the goat here?" the archigeos asked the youngest son, with an eyebrow raised arrogantly. "Let the old man tell the story."

"Thank you, Archigeos. One day, Kalanthe was on the mountain and found a small group wandering through the forest."

"You were lost and didn't want to admit it. She followed them for a week," Nikandros grunted.

"Achmeron was very stubborn, and he insisted on using a complicated map he had found in some moldy library," Demophon explained, motioning for the storyteller to continue.

Pamphilos seemed quite used to interruptions, and he didn't care, continuing where he left off.

"They didn't know the region, and she offered to be their guide. They were Demophon of Echelion, and Prince Achmeron. The man who accompanied them was Talaos, guardian of the prince."

"She wanted to charge us an exorbitant salary, Glax." The archigeos looked at Kalanthe's son, shaking his head with an amused scolding look. Glax grimaced and sank back in response.

"She didn't know who they were, so she was rude, but it didn't bother them. Kalanthe imagined that they just wanted to cross the Hermos pass, known to be a dangerous place and prone to avalanches. However, they said that they wanted to check for themselves if there was a passage to abandoned hell, and an underground river as the legends said."

"Hm… It's not like I was that unoccupied at the time. Only that my father had made that promise to the prince the previous winter, that when spring came he could look for Charon if he wanted to. But my dad didn't think Achmeron would actually DO that."

"Wandering the mountain for a considerable time," continued Pamphilos, "they came across a sphinx. The hideous creature had made its trap in a narrow ravine, as usual."

"I never understood that part of the story," said Lady Roxana, interrupting for the first time. "In my land sphinxes are still not as unusual as they are here. But the sphinxes used to live in warm places and close to the sea. What was that sphinx doing on top of a cold mountain?"

"You have no idea what it's like to talk to a sphinx. It's so confusing that it gives you a headache. I thought to ask this, but she would certainly ask me what I was doing there, too," Demophon replied.

"How was that sphinx, archigeos? I never heard that story until today," Iasos, Glax's brother-in-law, asked.

"Ah… To this day, I can't say if it was a male or a female. All the sphinxes I saw after that were like that, too. Like, say, hermaphrodites. First, we heard a soft sound of bells, mixed with the howling of the wind, then we saw that majestic figure at the end of the ravine, on top of a rock. It spread its black wings, with an enormous wingspan. They were bird wings, with bluish reflections. The sphinx purred like a tiger, and was at least twice the size of an ordinary Echelian warrior. She had a beautiful human face, and wore an ornament on her head, and gold earrings as well. It was not possible to see her entire body, as she was wearing a shaggy robe. She sat like a cat on the back, and her curved claws looked like mother-of-pearl scythes. When the sphinx opened its mouth to speak in a deceptively soft voice, it was possible to see pointy canines the color of ivory. Because it was the first, it was perhaps the sphinx that impressed me the most. I was young, after all. If I were alone, I probably would have fought the sphinx, though. Talaos later said that if we had tried to fight or flee, we would have all died, in that space where the Sphinx had all the advantage. I had too much respect for Talaos to doubt him, at that time."

Realizing that Demophon was finished, Pamphilos resumed the story,

"Upon realizing the travelers' interest in the underground river, the sphinx offered a challenge. If the group won in an enigmas competition, she would tell them how to find the entrance to the river. And if she won... she would devour them. The archigeos, who are here as we can see, want to tell us about the victory over the sphinx?"

"I wouldn't remember the details. We stayed there for hours, and honestly Achmeron seemed to enjoy talking to the sphinx and she to him. In the end, Prince Achmeron won the sphinx. Or she pretended it was like that because she wanted to pee…"

Demophon seemed to be reliving that moment from his past with longing and good humor. Everyone laughed except for Nikandros.

"The fearsome sphinx lost the battle of wits to Prince Achmeron. As promised, she told them where the entrance to the underground was. Before letting them go, she warned them that, if they really chose to visit the Old Hades, they would never return the same from the journey…"

At this point, the archigeos again interrupted,

TO BE CONTINUED