'Interesting logic,' Steiger mumbled to Delaney.
'You don't suppose there really is a golden fleece, do you?' said Delaney.
'Be damned if I know,' Steiger said. 'It's probably some old sheepskin painted gold. Or maybe high sulphur content in some sheep's drinking water altered the pigmentation and made the wool turn yellow. They'd probably attribute something like that to the gods. Hell of a thing to go to all this trouble for.'
'I've seen knights in the Middle Ages hacking each other to pieces over a splinter alleged to be a piece of the true cross,' said Andre. 'The value of a sacred relic has less to do with what it is than what it's believed to be.'
'The oftener a tale is told, the truer it becomes?' said Delaney.
'Something like that, I suppose.'
Steiger snorted. 'I can't wait to see the Old Man's face when we plop some rotten old rag down on his desk and tell him it's the golden fleece. There you are, sir, hang it right up there in your den with your collection, next to El Cid's jewel-encrusted sword and Patton's pearl-handled. 45.'
'I'll just settle for getting back and being able to tell him anything,' Delaney said.
By the time they reached the city of Aea, they had picked up a sizable escort. Crowds followed on both sides of the road as the Argonauts marched into the city with Jason strutting proudly in the lead. Wide-eyed children ran beside them, staring at the bearded warriors with the sun-bronzed skin, and after seeing that the Argonauts seemed friendly, some of the bolder ones ventured to touch their metal shields. A few of the children picked up sticks to carry as mock spears and fell in behind the procession, comically imitating Jason's bantam rooster bearing, their heads held high, their shoulders thrown back, their free arms swinging in exaggerated motions. Hercules, Andre and Hylas attracted the most attention; Andre because she was the only woman among such an imposing looking crew, Hercules because of his physique and Hylas because he seemed the same age as the children, though he was older than most of them.
A large crowd had gathered at the palace steps to see the strangers. King Aides' soldiers waited there as well, in a show of force. It did not escape the notice of the Argonauts that the soldiers outnumbered them considerably. The soldiers of King Aietes blocked the palace steps. They stood in ranks three deep, looking very disciplined in their feather-crested helmets with bronze cheek and nose pieces, metal-studded leather breastplates and short white chlamys fastened at their throats by metal clasps. They carried short iron swords and long javelins and each of them held a small, round iron shield with the likeness of a ram's head on it. Their commanding officer stepped forward and pointed with his sword at Jason.
'Are you the leader of these men?' he asked.
'I am,' said Jason, stepping forward until the soldier's sword point touched his chest so as to show no fear. 'I am King Jason of Iolchos and we have come in peace, though if we are not received in peace, we are prepared to fight, as well.'
'How's that for diplomacy?' Delaney said to Andre.
She merely shook her head.
The officer lowered his sword. 'You are either very brave or very foolish, Jason, King of Iolchos. Or perhaps you are only very young. Those are bold words for a stranger who arrives uninvited with armed men. I am Kovalos, captain of the palace guard. Look about you first and then choose your next words carefully. We are five times your number and those are only the soldiers that you see. What is your purpose here?'
'That I will reveal only to King Aietes,' Jason said. 'It is unseemly for a king to be questioned by a captain of the palace guard. Inform your ruler that a king has come from Thessaly and that he requests an audience.'
Kovalos stared at Jason for a long moment, then turned to his soldiers. He beckoned to an officer. 'You heard?' he asked. 'I heard.'
'Repeat our visitor's words to King Aietes exactly as you heard them and then hasten back with his reply.' He turned back to Jason as the officer ran into the palace. 'We will soon know how you shall be received,' he said, curtly. 'I am not accustomed to be kept waiting,' Jason said. Kovalos pursed his lips. 'Nor am I. Nevertheless, it seems that we shall both be obliged to suffer some slight demands upon our patience. I will try to bear up under the strain.'
'If I were Jason,' Argus said, 'I would not speak to such a man in such a manner. He is not yet crowned king and we are too few to make an army.'
'This was badly done,' said Orpheus, looking around. 'Have you observed the archers on the rooftops? We should have sought out the Sacred Grove of Ares and made off with the golden fleece so that no one was the wiser. Our position here is most disadvantageous.'
'Perhaps if you sang one of your songs, you could lull them all to sleep as you did the hound of Hades,' Theseus said. 'Then we could take the golden fleece and be back aboard the ship before they woke up from their peaceful slumber.'
'Or perhaps you could tell them the tale of how you slew the Minotaur,' Orpheus countered. 'Then if any of them survived the telling of the tale, we could do battle with them on more even terms.'
'Be silent, both of you!' said Argus. 'We have enough troubles on our hands without arguing amongst ourselves.'
'I think we are about to find out exactly what our position is,' said Idmon, as the officer Kovalos had sent in to the king had returned.
'King Aietes will see you,' said Kovalos. Jason started forward and the others followed, but Kovalos stopped him with a hand upon his chest. 'A moment,' he said. He shouted an order and the soldiers broke formation, then reformed flanking the Argonauts, with a squad of men in front and behind as well. They moved in close, hemming the Argonauts in tightly so as to restrict their ability to move quickly. 'Now,' said Kovalos.
They were marched into the palace, into the large, marble-columned main hall where Aietes sat upon his throne, surrounded by his courtiers and protected by a line of armed men stationed at the foot of the steps leading to the throne. He leaned forward in his chair as the Argonauts approached and stared at them intently, stroking his long black beard. His appearance was a marked contrast to that of the Dalion king, Cyzicus. Where the Dalions were a small, impoverished people, Aietes ruled over a large and wealthy kingdom and his palace and his dress reflected this.
Dressed in a long, gold and silver embroidered gown and wearing a high crown of hammered gold set with rubies, Aietes had a ring on every finger and bracelets studded with jewels on both wrists. He looked like a debauched Talmudic scholar with long, jet black hair that fell in heavy ringlets to his shoulders and a coarse, black beard that obscured the entire lower half of his face. His eyes were dark and deeply set and his face was gaunt and striking. He was sharp featured, with a large hooked nose and a high forehead, all of which combined to give him a brooding, menacing air. Kovalos halted them halfway across the room. 'Which of you is Jason?' Aietes said. 'Come forward.' Jason pushed his way past the soldiers standing in front of him and approached the steps to the throne. There was an interested murmuring among the courtiers at the sight of so young a king. 'I am Jason of Iolchos.'
'You have traveled far,' Aietes said. 'What is your purpose here?'
'I have come for the golden fleece,' said Jason. There was a stunned silence. 'The boy gets right to the point,' said Steiger, softly. Aietes stared hard at Jason for a long time. Jason stood his ground, meeting his steady gaze unflinchingly. Finally, Aietes broke the silence.
'The golden fleece is the most sacred relic of my kingdom,' Aietes said. 'By what right do you come seeking it?'
'By divine right,' Jason said. 'My father, Aeson, was cousin to that very Phrixus who was brought here by the ram whose fleece now hangs in the Sacred Grove of Ares. It is the will of the gods that the golden fleece be brought back to Iolchos, so that the spirit of my relative may at last find peace.'
'If this is the will of the gods,' said Aietes, 'why have they not revealed it to me?'
'They have revealed it to me,' said Jason, 'in a prophecy spoken by the Oracle of Delphi. It was the gods, speaking through the Oracle, who led me here. The golden fleece rightfully belongs in Iolchos and I have come to ask you to surrender it.'
'And you come asking with armed warriors at your side,' Aietes said.
'I have done the bidding of the gods,' said Jason. 'The journey was a long and arduous one and we have encountered many dangers on the way. Yet if it had been the will of the gods that I should come alone, that too would I have done. We did not come here as raiders or as thieves, else we would not have marched here openly in the full light of day, nor would we have allowed ourselves to be placed at such a disadvantage by your
