WE STUMBLE ONTO AN ISLAND OF MURDEROUS WOMEN

When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying in a tent and inside a sleeping bag. My body ached, and I found it painful to sit up, so I lay back down until I found out Vittoria was in the same sleeping bag. I jerked backward out of shock, falling painfully on the floor. "Ow," I muttered. I really overdid it making that wall, and that's probably why my body felt so strained. Vittoria must've found a place to set up camp, and she shoved me in her sleeping bag since she didn't trust Brian. I wondered how she had no problem sleeping with a male, but I brushed it aside as an immature thought. As a friend and as the son of Kronos, my life mattered a lot. Our efforts would be in vain if I died this early. Since I couldn't yet move, I wiggled my way back into the sleeping bag and went back to sleep.

When I awoke the second time, I found Vittoria searching for something in her bag. "Where did I put...was it not here?"

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh, Yiannis," she smiled. "Are you feeling alright? You fainted after saving Brian and me."

"What's a friend for? Anyways, I'm feeling much better now." I stood up on my legs, and this time my body did not throb with pain. "Yep, I'm back in tip-top shape." I stretched my back. "So, did you need something? What was it that you were looking for?"

"Oh, it was just a pack of nerds, and here it is. You want?" I opened my hand and swallowed the little goodies in one gulp. "We don't have anything else, do we?"

"We do, but I want to save our stash of dried food for when we need it, like a last resort. That way, if we end up in a place with no food, we won't starve."

"Good idea. So I'm assuming we're foraging stuff from wherever we are?"

"Yeah. I figured there has to be something here on this island, like fruits or wild animals. Or there could be danger lurking here too, as there always is."

"We can't be demigods if our lives aren't dangerous and don't involve monsters and the like."

"Well, technically, neither you nor I are demigods, but I get your point."

"Should we start looking for food now?" Vittoria held up a finger to my mouth. "Sssh. Let Brian get his beauty rest. He snores like a dad, right?" I laughed. "As loud and as obnoxious as a dad of five could be. We should ditch him."

"Hey, just because he's a jerk doesn't mean we should be a jerk to him, although I do admit I want to do it. Let's play a prank instead. We'll pretend we've left him behind and laugh in delight as we see his reaction."

"That's even crueler than just ditching him. When does Brian plan on waking up?" Vittoria shrugged. "I don't know his bedtimes. I can tell you're famished, so if you want, we could eat now. I left the bag filled with food in Brain's tent since it is bigger than the humble little hut I have here."

"Hungry as I am, I think I can wait it out a bit, long enough to go look for something edible."

"Alright, then help me wake Brian up." She rummaged through her bag again, shoving a bronze knife and a pocket knife in her pocket. She threw me my pen. "That dropped out of your pocket. You're lucky I noticed."

"As usual, I owe you yet again."

"Yep. Take this plastic bag with you, ok? We're gonna put whatever we think won't kill us in there."

"You got it."

After waking Brian up, the three of us explored the island, which was like a mini-forest. Fruits, like bananas and oranges, were plentiful, as well as game. Vittoria managed to snag two wild rabbits, and I was impressed by her knowledge of plants. She readily identified any herb she came across and was able to tell whether a bunch of berries were poisonous or not. Another thing to note was that Brian didn't act up like he usually did. He never made fun of Vittoria, calling her names or deriding her existence. I couldn't tell if he was furious or not, but I thought it would be best to take his silence as a yes. My father would have known if Brian was plotting to kill me and would have acted beforehand. Since Brian was still among us, I ruled that out. Assuming he was mad, the only other possibility would be that he was after Vittoria. Knowing her, she would have figured this out, and I didn't see her make any preparations for it, aside from carrying weapons. Did she think Brian killing her was a stretch? Of course, she may have planned to deal with him on her own. All I could do was wait and see.

"Um, Vittoria, how are we supposed to get back? We don't have a map of this place, do we?" Vittoria buried her face in her hands. "Right, sorry. I'm so dumb; I should have realized. Well, I guess we're lost now."

"Not really. Just in case, I made a trail out of leaves I plucked from bushes. Hopefully, the wind doesn't blow them away."

"Good thinking, Yiannis. I'm so glad you're here. Now, I can worry less about messing up since you'll correct any blunder I make," she sighed.

"Thanks, but I feel like you're putting too much pressure on yourself. Try to relax, ok? I know you're thinking we might get attacked at any moment, but we have no way to plan for that unless our assailants make the first move. Let's enjoy the peace while we can."

"Well, alright," Vittoria nodded. The way she looked at me, it was as if she was disappointed. Was Vittoria actually not overthinking things? Or was the problem she was pondering about something she thought I would have noticed but didn't? Did she also think Brian wanted her head? Then I realized I was the one overthinking things, and I calmed down. If Brian was after Vittoria, all I could do was to keep an eye on him.

However, my eyes turned to something else entirely. At first, I couldn't believe it. An ancient city in the forest? Vittoria and Brian noticed, and they were just as shocked. It was as if Mesopotamia was still around, just moved over here. Did the Babylonian gods exist too? I already had enough trouble with the Greek ones. But back to the city. The houses were made of mud and clay, and they all stood on a hill. There were even stone ziggurats, which towered over everything next to it. It was astounding to think primitives(I do not mean that offensively) were able to build such magnificent structures.

But what bothered me was that for a city, it was eerily silent. Were these ruins of a great civilization? We were on an island somewhere in the Bermuda triangle, a haven for monsters and Greek mythology stuff. I felt that I was being too optimistic. Knowing the crazy world demigods live in, it was more likely that people actually lived there or monsters. "What do you think, Vittoria? Think it's safe for us to approach?"

"No, that city reeks of danger. I say we avoid it as much as possible." Sadly, that was not possible. I sniffed a strange scent that was so bad I vomited. Vittoria and Brian clogged their noses, tears in their eyes. If rotten eggs, durians, and onions had a baby, I imagine it would have this dreadful scent. I looked around for what the source might be and found it to be a ghostly pale woman with blond hair and black eyes wearing a chiton who held a knife to Brian's neck. "Why does thee come here?"

They used old language too, how wonderful. "Relax, we didn't come here to attack your people or anything of that sort. We were just looking for food." Vittoria nodded. She spoke ancient Greek, and very quickly. I only managed to grasp that she requested the woman to let Brian go in exchange for a favor, which she accepted. "Come with me. I will escort thee."

I nudged Vittoria. "What just happened?"

"The people here on our side, Yiannis. Their Queen, Hypsipyle, has agreed to support our war effort. Have you heard of the Isle of Lemnos?"

"You mean the island where the wives killed their husbands for cheating on them?" The stinky woman glared at me, and I apologized. "Did I say something wrong?."

"Try not to bring that up," Vittoria said. "Everyone here was rightfully angered, and they've been resentful to this day. Also, unless you want to die, do not comment on their odor. It was a curse placed by Aphrodite, as well as their immortality."

"It was for the sin of killing their husbands, right?"

"Yeah, just another example of how hypocritical the gods are. The men were the ones in error, yet the women were punished by the goddess of love. But then again, one could argue whether she even represents true love. She was the reason the whole Trojan War began, after all, by making Helen lust for Paris of Troy even though she already loved another man. As you know, the Trojan War ended in disaster for the would-be couple, and the city was wiped out."

"Yeah, my little sister's named after that beautiful princess. Only I won't be letting her share the same fate. But it is awful that all the women here are cursed. Did Kronos make some promises of lifting it if they joined us?"

"You hit it right on the nail. We planned to help later, but it wouldn't hurt to do it now since we're already here. Besides, this is the best way to gain Hypisyple's trust and make her followers loyal to Lord Kronos. We'll be staying here for a day or two. As for how we're removing the curse, I'll give the details later."

"A day or two? Is removing a goddess's curse that easy? You're acting pretty confident it is."

"Well, no. Even if it's Aphrodite, she's still a goddess, and hence her magic is too potent for us demigods to reverse. The Titans are the only ones who could really do it, so the plan was to do so when Kronos was resurrected. But that may take too long, and the women here might lose faith in us. So, I've thought of another way that might do the trick."

"I'm guessing our chances are low on this one?"

"Yeah. Well, before we do that, I'll try a negation spell to see if my magic is powerful enough to affect them. If it isn't, we'll only have the option I mentioned left. But it seems Queen Hypisyple has given us an additional task."

"Which is?"

"We'll find out soon enough once she tells us." I hoped that the Queen would be considerate and give us something nice and easy to do.

The stinky pale woman, who I learned was named Morgan, led us to the city. At the gates were two guards, who let us through after Morgan conversed with them. She likely told them we were with Lord Kronos and that we came regarding the curse. The guards opened the gates and let us pass.

From afar, the city looked abandoned, but up close, you could see that wasn't the case. The women and little children were huddled in their homes as if they were was a plague rampant in the city. I saw broken clay pottery shards on the ground. A wall encompassed the perimeter, and to me, everyone owned a plot of land which was clearly for farming. It suggested the people here were self-sufficient. Based on the varying sizes, I presumed the track of farming land related to the individual owner's wealth. I wondered if they used currency. Despite the population count(I estimated) at a couple thousand, considering they were the only humans here, bartering was probably the way they traded goods. There was no need to have a complex economy when everyone knew each other and what they wanted.

We came to the stone ziggurat. Throughout history, these buildings are occupied by religious figures like priests, nobles, and the royal family, the last of which was plausible in this case, considering I didn't see anything resembling a palace. Inside were levels of stairs, and we walked our way up to the top, which Vittoria confirmed was the throne room. The first floor was a storage room, where surplus food was held. The second was the abode of the priests and the nobility. The third room was where rituals would be held. I saw prayers being offered to a statue of some god/goddess(likely one of the Titans), with women bowing to the image. Then, the women burned incense, locked arms, and danced around said image, throwing flowers into the air as they sang. The fourth and last floor was the throne room and the habitat of the royal family, which was just the Queen for all I knew.

Queen Hypisyple had the foulest odor, which was in stark contrast with her appearance. She was a delicate and beautiful young woman, with doe blue eyes and jet black hair. She was well-endowed despite her slim figure. Vittoria knelt, and Brian and I followed suit. "It's been some time," Hipisyple smiled. "You've aged wonderfully, Vittoria, and become more refined. Have you come to finally rid us of our curse?"

"Kronos's orders were to find and secure the golden fleece, but since I ran into you, I can get that done along the way."

"The golden fleece? So Lord Kronos's resurrection is dawning, then?"

"Yes. We will have our Lord awoken sooner than anticipated if we use the fleece. Oh, right, the two with me are my companions. He is Yiannis, and you've already met Brian." The Queen nodded. "I am thankful you would consider our problems when you have your own troubles, but may I request an additional favor?"

"If it's within our power, we will address it."

"Not far from here is a mountain, and on it is a cave where a giant serpent dwells. Ever since it came, it has been terrorizing my city, killing my followers, and destroying our crops."

"Is that why the city is so silent and still, and why everyone's at home?" I asked.

"Yes," the Queen answered. "It likes to come at around this time. I would have wished for you to ambush it in its cave, but that won't be possible now. Once it arrives in our city, kill it. My soldiers will assist you in this."

"Is that all?" Vittoria asked. "If it is, mind informing us of this serpent?"

"It's not much smaller than this temple. It has five heads, and its poison is particularly potent. One bite is enough to disintegrate your whole body. It also has a habit of spewing acid on its opponents, which has given my soldiers trouble. Think you can defeat it?"

"I assure you we can," Vittoria gave her trademark evil grin. "It should be child's play."

"Is that so? Well, I'll see for myself soon enough." I wanted to object to Vittoria, saying I wasn't even that strong, but I couldn't. The serpent had already come.

The ground erupted into a tremor, and I fell to the ground, wondering if the serpent could cause earthquakes. Probably not. It was more likely that it had wrapped itself around the building and applied pressure to it. The shaking stopped, meaning the serpent had slithered elsewhere, and Vittoria, Brian, and I ran to confront the oversized snake.

Queen Hypisple wasn't kidding. The snake was as terrifying as she described. Five thick necks sprung five heads forward, and they gobbled up little kids who were too slow to run away, as well as the Queen's soldiers. Acid was spewed all over the fields, and the crops withered. This was not going to "child's play," as Vittoria claimed.

The snake saw us and hissed. I barely managed to jump back and avoid one of its heads. Brian pulled out a bronze sword and rolled to the right before cutting one of the heads off. I made a shadow bow and some arrows for Vittoria, who used magic to enchant them. This time she used a fire spell, and red flames danced on her arrowheads. She shot two of them, hitting the serpent in an eye and neck. The problem was that the snake was able to heal itself. The head Brian cut off grew but, but the wounds Vittoria gave it remained. Remembering the story about the hydra, I wondered if this serpent was its cousin and also had a weakness to fire.

I whipped out my scythe and asked Vittoria to light it aflame. Once she did so, I almost dropped the thing. The flames were way too hot, but that was a good thing. It increased the likelihood of that serpent being burning to a crisp.

I charged as the serpent slid towards me. When one of its heads tried to bite, I jumped on top of it and began hacking at the other heads. The snake wriggled in an attempt to shake me off, but I held my ground. Brian and Vittoria wreaked havoc on the snake's body, which was soon to be engulfed in flames. I slit the last head off and landed on the ground, watching the serpent burn.

My scythe became a pair of scissors again, and I put them back in my pocket. I was taken aback to find that all the women and a few men living here were kneeling before me. I thought men would be extinct here, given the whole story and all. I then realized the population needed to be kept stable somehow, and there was only one way to do that. "Um, what's going on? Is that gesture for the Queen?"

"No." Hypisple was kneeling behind me. "This gesture is for you, our Lord and the son of Kronos."

"Well, if that's what it is, all of you can stop now. I don't like being treated like a prince and all that."

"Lord Yiannis, congratulations on defeating that monster," Vittoria mock kneeled. "Your Lord specifically gave instructions not to do that," I smirked. "Stop disobeying me."

"Is that all we're doing here?" Brian asked. "Don't we have a fleece to retrieve?"

"Yeah. But Vittoria says this is a good opportunity to help the women here and gain their allegiance, so we're getting rid of their curse too." Brian opened his mouth to say something, then went against it. "Alright. So we're staying here for today?"

"Do you not want to be here?"

"Oh, no," Brian shook his head. "This place offers certain, fun activities only doable at night. I can't wait. Since we'll be sleeping at a guest house here, I'll just go back and grab our tents and everything in them."

"Yes, please do that." I turned to Vittoria. "Why is Brian being so obedient today? I can tell his temper's still there, but he actually kept his mouth shut for once."

"Well..." Vittoria gave a blank face. "It has to do with those nighttime-only activities he mentioned. But to be fair to him, he not the only one on our side who does it."

"Does what?"

"You'll find out tonight. Come, Hypisple's going to show us to our rooms. We're going to be rather bored until the sun goes down since there's no entertainment here unless you want to spar with the women here."

"I'll pass. It's about lunchtime, so I'll eat. I'm still worn out after that feat at the Symplegades, so I'll knock myself out afterward. By the way, why are we waiting until night? Can't we do it now?"

"We can, but my powers are much stronger at night, and thus our chances of success will be higher. I'll eat with you since I'm hungry too."

Our lunch consisted of rice, potatoes, squash, peppers, maize, and rabbit meat. After which, Vittoria showed me to my room, and I lay on the bed. I thought after fighting a giant snake I'd be restless, but I quickly drooped to sleep. I got no messages from Kronos, and I met Helen in my dreams. I was initially disquieted that Helen would be able to sense I was not in the Underworld, but she didn't seem to notice. She told me how much fun she was having at camp, and I recognized how much I missed Helen's sweet smile. I wanted to stay longer, but she said she had to go, and I told her I'd come by to visit soon.

The moon was in full swing. I washed my face(no sinks existed, so I used a water bottle) and put my clothes on. "Hey, Yiannis, if you're awake, it's time," Vittoria knocked on the door. "I can't do this alone. I need your powers." I put on my shoes. "Got it. I'm coming out right now." She talked about using a negation spell before, and I guess that eliminates magic used on someone. She said she was too weak to affect Aphrodite's curse on her own, so how did I fit in, and how were we going to pull it off?