'Are there guards posted at the Sacred Grove?' asked Jason. 'Or is it watched only by priests?'
'There are no guards and there are no priests,' Medea said, 'but the golden fleece is watched over by a dragon.'
'A dragon!' Jason said. 'You did not mention this before!'
'No?' said Medea, a touch uncomfortably. 'Well, perhaps I had forgotten.'
'How could you forget a dragon?'
'I–I don't know. I suppose that in all my concern for your safety and for the safety of my sister and your men, it must have simply slipped my mind.'
'By the gods,' said Jason, 'a dragon! This changes things!'
'It is too late for things to change,' Medea said. 'There can be no turning back, Jason. For better or for worse, I have cast my lot with you. The only way out is through the caverns. You would not find your way without me and I cannot return now. The only way to go is forward, down that trail. It is the only way. To reach your ship, you will have to take that trail to the river at the bottom of the ravine and the trail passes through the Sacred Grove of Ares.'
'I see,' said Jason. 'So there is no going back and there is no way to avoid the dragon. I think, Medea, you did not forget about the dragon. I think you never meant to tell us until now.'
'Very well,' Medea said, looking down at the ground, 'I was afraid to tell you.' She looked up at him beseechingly. 'I know it was wrong, but I was afraid that your courage may have failed you. Where would that have left me? I would have been forced to remain here and marry that detestable Kovalos! I have risked everything for you! The golden fleece will make you a great king in Iolchos and you shall have me in the bargain. Losing it will serve my father right for promising me to that common mercenary!'
'There is nothing to do but to go on,' said Jason. 'I will not return to Iolchos without the golden fleece. It is only that news of this dragon comes unexpectedly to me. I have heard tales of dragons, but I have yet to see one for myself.'
'Then you will see one soon,' Medea said. 'To a man such as yourself, a dragon is no obstacle! Come, we must go quickly if we are to meet your friends by dawn.' She grabbed Jason by the arm and started pulling him toward the trail.
'I fear that Jason will have two dragons to contend with,' Idmon said. 'If he can slay the first, the second will take him for a husband.'
'Have you ever seen a dragon, Idmon?' asked Delaney.
'I confess that I have not,' the soothsayer said. 'Indeed, I had not thought that there really were such creatures, but we have seen so many wonders on this voyage that a dragon somehow comes as no surprise. It is a pity we have left Hercules behind.' He closed his eyes and stood very still for a moment. 'How large do dragons grow, I wonder?'
The agents exchanged nervous glances.
'Does your intuition tell you something, Idmon?' said Delaney.
Idmon sighed. 'It is a most vexing and peculiar gift,' he said, 'not very dependable at all, I am afraid. Just now, I had a presentiment that this dragon may not be a large one. Yet there still remains a question to which I have no answer. What is small for a dragon?'
11
'How do your priests deal with this dragon when they come to the grove?' asked Jason.
'They mix a potion into its food which puts it to sleep for a time,' Medea said.
'Can we not also use this potion?' Jason asked.
'I fear not,' said Medea. 'Only the High Priest of Ares administers this potion and only he knows how to mix it. It is his sacred trust and I could not ask him for it without arousing his suspicion. You shall have to kill the dragon before we can get the golden fleece. You can do it, Jason. I know you can.'
Jason sighed. 'Yes, but does the dragon know?'
The well-worn narrow pathway took them down a rocky slope, through a dense thicket of birch trees. They had to proceed in single file until the trail widened and brought them to a large clearing. They entered the Sacred Grove by passing between two large boulders which had long ago fallen from the heights above. The rock-strewn clearing was roughly circular in shape and about thirty yards in diameter. A number of stone altars ringed its circumference, each with a small bowel-shaped sink carved into it. Each of these sinks held pitch and there were large urns on either side of each stone altar which held oil and incense. Near the entrance to the grove stood two braziers which were always kept burning.
In the center of the clearing stood a leviathan of a tree, ancient and gnarled, its thick branches spreading out all around it in twisted shapes. In the moonlight, they could discern the shape of something hanging from one of the thicker, lower branches, a dark mass that looked like heavy Spanish moss.
Medea lit a torch from one of the burning braziers and started to light the pitch bowels in the altars near them. As the crackling flames leaped up, the dark mass hanging from the lower tree limb reflected the firelight in a metallic, golden glow.
'The golden fleece,' said Jason, softly. As Medea poured scented oil on the flames to make them burn more brightly, there was a rustling at the foot of the huge tree and what looked like a mound of earth started to move. The dark shape came at them quickly, moving with an ungainly, splayfooted motion that was deceptively fast. It charged them and stopped with an abrupt jerk about twenty feet away, making hissing and snapping noises. It resembled a small prehistoric reptile, a dinosaur from the Mesozoic era. It was thirty feet long from its head to the tip of its tail. They had scattered when it charged them, but they recovered when they saw that the creature could not come any closer. It strained at them, but a long heavy chain fastened to the tree held it back.
'It really is a dragon!' Andre said.
'It's a monitor lizard,' said Steiger, staring at the creature. 'Also known as a Komodo dragon. I've seen them before in Indochina, but not as big as this.'
'Is it dangerous?' asked Andre.
'Oh, yes,' Steiger said. 'Komodo dragons are carnivorous. They'll eat wild pigs and deer. They could kill a man. This one is certainly large enough. I don't think it does too well in this climate, though. Probably makes it sluggish.'
'It doesn't seem all that sluggish to me,' said Delaney, apprehensively.
Jason stood with his back against the rock, his sword held out before him, his gaze riveted to the lizard as its long tongue lashed out repeatedly.
'Kill it!' yelled Medea, crouching behind one of the stone altars. 'Kill it, Jason! Quickly!'
'There is no need for haste,' said Jason. 'The chain holds it fast. Does it breathe fire?'
'I have never seen it do so,' said Medea, uncertainly.
Steiger nocked an arrow to his bow.
'That will serve no purpose,' said Medea. 'It cannot be killed in such a manner. Arrows cannot pierce its hide.'
'Who told you that?' said Steiger. He pulled the bow back to his ear and let the arrow fly. It struck the lizard in the throat, penetrating deeply. The lizard thrashed, making hissing, rasping noises. He fired another arrow into its eye and the creature fell. It twitched several times and then lay still.
'But my father told us all that the dragon was impervious to arrows!' cried Medea.
Steiger shrugged. 'Your father lied.'
Medea flew into a rage. 'Oh, how I hate him! I can draw a bow as well as any man! Had I but known it was so simple, I could have slain the beast myself!'
'Then you would have had the golden fleece and you would not have needed Jason,' said Delaney. He grinned. 'Too bad. Looks like you're stuck.'
'You did nothing!' said Medea, turning on Jason. 'You merely stood there while your friend dispatched the beast!'
'I took you at your word when you said that arrows would not pierce its flesh,' Jason said. 'I was thinking
