When it comes to throne rooms there are three words you can use modest, great, and grand. If I had to use a word to describe the throne room I was just led into the word I'd use is excessive. I mean seriously, I've seen entire temples dedicated to Zeus half the size of Troy's throne room. I think I'd have to stop to catch my breath twice if I ran the length of it once, statues lined the hall depicting the gods. The one for Athena was adorned in blue, with offerings left at the base of the statue, and she was carrying the Shield Aegis. I also noted that Hades and Hestia weren't present among the Olympian statues, atleast not in the main throne room.
We approached the thrones, a woman sat on one of them with blonde hair braided well past her shoulders draped over her white peplos. Her beauty was unmatched by anyone I ever met, and more than that her smile was carved perfectly into her face with teeth like diamonds.
"The face that launched a thousand ships," Leonidas said under his breath.
"Helen of…" I drew a blank on what to say. She was Spartan, then she was Trojan, then she went back to Sparta, and now she rules over Troy.
Helen's smile grew as she covered her mouth, hiding a laugh, "Just Helen, my dear."
"Right, Queen? Helen?" I poked around the details seeing if I could find out more.
"If you insist, now what do you need?" Helen laid her hands along the rests of her throne as Menelaus sat in the throne next to her.
"We seek The King of Ithaka, we heard he was supposedly on his way here and now Circe needs him back," I explained, bowing my head.
"As my husband, no doubt, told you, The King of Ithaka isn't here. He was last seen near Kalypso's island, where he was ambushed by a patrolling force of Wine colored sails. I know him personally, I knew his father, and I know the goddess who trained them both well enough to know he's alive but on the run," Helen stood up and grabbed a sword from the wall. "He gifted this to me for peace….there are three great kingdoms on this sea, but I have no reason to leave this realm. Give him this gift, and let him know that I would love an alliance with Circe and Telemachus."
"Telemachus? That's The King of Ithaka?" Leo asked, amused at the thought of anyone but Odysseus ruling Ithaka.
"Yes, he's the only man worthy of leading Ithaka short of Odysseus. With Odysseus and Penelope resting on the shores of The River Lethe, Telemachus took over and now Minerva resides on Ithaka's throne. I do not like the idea of one singular warden ruling this realm, but I don't want The Owl Goddess breaking through and imposing her rule on the entire world inside and outside of this realm," Helen looked at the sword and slit her hand with it smearing her blood on one side of the blade. "Swear this to me, Atticus Neptune, when you voyage and war outside the grasp of Scylla and Charybdis you'll come back and war one last time for dominance over this realm."
That's when I remembered one detail in Lord Hades' class when he taught us about The Trojan War, Helen became immortalized as The Goddess of Sailors. She could see through my lives and see my future, maybe she could answer my questions.
I took the sword in hand, "My Goddess, I need to know-"
"I don't have the answers you seek Daughter of Poseidon, even if I did your fate still takes you to The Underworld to meet Tiresias. I may be a goddess, but I'm not An Olympian and the secret you want is held close to the chest by The Olympians. That being said, Tiresias is in The Olympian's domain and can tell all of their secrets without fear of being targeted by them. Hades protects all of the dead, and Apollo protects all who have spoken his words," Helen smiled and sat back on her throne. "Safe travels, Half-gods. Come back soon, and give Telemachus my best."
We stepped out of the palace and into the street, Kalypso's island seemed to be the next destination but how do we find an island that isn't supposed to be found? The thought of throwing Leonidas overboard with a tracker on him crossed my mind, but then I thought back to Amphirite and her nautical classes. The best way to get lost is in a storm, and my dad was The God of Storms. Kalypso's island is only supposed to be found be the lost, so we needed to be lost and then maybe we could find Telemachus.
When I got to the front of the city to retrieve and change into my clothes, I dragged Leo by his cloak infront of the entire undead army back to the ships. Andromeda was awake and milling along the beach, collecting seashells along the shore line stopping when she saw us.
"Hey, enjoy your trip to the city? I used the remains men to start setting up camp in case you needed to retreat," She looked out to the sea as purple colored sails came over the horizon with the Athens Owl on them.
"Leonidas….set defenses to the sea and charge the men to fend off those ships, pull just enough men to steer three ships and let's go," I commanded, jogging towards The Argo.
Leonidas did as asked, grabbing men and commanding the rest to turn the defenses to the sea. The ships moved to set sail and go out to open waters, ready to make for Kalypso's island.
We started to sail fast as the ocean became still and the winds dragged us back to shore, I put my hands to the deck and commanded the waves to take us further. All of my strength went into steering the ships forward, my whole form burned with sheer willpower as the water opened us to get us away from the island. I fell back and took deep breaths, the weight of the ocean coming off my shoulders. We lived to sail another day, for how long was the only question.