“These lovely women are helping mend my lyre.”
Danae grinned back at him.
“Daeira!” Dolos waved at her from the edge of the clearing, where he was standing with Polyxo. “Look at this!”
Her fingers slipped from Sofia’s and she ran over to them. Polyxo was kneeling on the ground, rootling around in the undergrowth. As Danae approached, the old woman sat back, a white flower with a long black root clasped between her gnarled fingers.
“Isn’t it brilliant?” said Dolos, with the exuberance of a child discovering a colorful lizard in his yard.
Danae stared at the little flower, so delicate it looked like its petals were flecks of foam that would dissolve at any moment.
“We call it moly,”said Polyxo. “The antidote to poison. By distilling one petal you can create a draught that relieves the drinker of all their pain.” She pointed to her heart.
“Fascinating,” breathed Dolos.
“Help me.” Polyxo reached for the healer’s arm. “Girl, take my basket.”
Danae picked up the wicker basket laden with various plants. She glanced around the clearing, looking for Sofia, but the girl was gone.
“Where did Sofia go?”
She turned back to find Polyxo watching her.
“Collecting lotus flowers. That is her task. She’s a good girl, Sofia, you will learn much from her in time.”
“Oh, we won’t be here long.” Even as she spoke, the words surprised her. It was as though, until that moment, she’d completely forgotten their quest.Herquest. The prophecy. Prometheus. The hope of one day returning home.
She glanced at the groups of Argonauts now dotted around the clearing. It didn’t look as though much repair work was being done on the tree huts. Telamon and Peleus were lying on the grass while islanders hand-fed them berries. Castor and Pollux were reenacting one of their famous boxing matches for a rapt group of women, and even Tiphys seemed to be distracted enough to have forgotten theArgo.
The feeling that someone was missing returned with intense pressure at the back of her skull.
Polyxo slipped her hand around the crook of Danae’s elbow.
“Help me back to my hut, will you?”
Danae glanced at Dolos, but he was already distracted by the intricacies of a spider’s web. Polyxo pulled her away and steered her firmly toward the Hunters Hall.
“Shouldn’t we be mending the huts?”
“Plenty of time for that.”
Danae frowned. Her headache was getting worse. “What did you mean about Sofia’s task?”
Polyxo leaned heavily on her arm. “We all have our tasks.”
“Why does Sofia have to pick lotus flowers?”
Polyxo shook her head. “So many questions. Did you have breakfast?”
Danae nodded.
The old woman squinted at her but said nothing more. They walked together in silence past the Hunters Hall, toward a small hut like the ones nestled in the trees, but this dwelling was built on the ground.
Polyxo let go of Danae’s arm, pushed back the animal hide that hung over the doorway and shuffled through. Danae followed her and was immediately hit by an onslaught of musk and spice. Polyxo’s hut was like an apothecary. Every available surface was covered in woven bowls and wooden boxes of various dried plants and herbs. The bodies of stuffed animals hung from the low ceiling, and blocks of insects, preserved in amber resin, clustered on the shelves.
“What are those?” Danae reached toward a jar filled with black-feathered darts.
“Don’t touch!” Polyxo slapped her hand away. “Prick yourself on one of those and you’ll be dead before nightfall.”
