HYACINTHUS

Chapter Twenty-Four

My childhood dreams were going to become true.

I was finally holding a bow. It felt surreal. I couldn't detach my eyes from the beautiful carved toy Apollo had brought me.

Apollo led me to the inner forest. He had me use trees as targets. The first few times, I missed completely. But I didn't despair. I drew another arrow. And then another.

He was a strict teacher, but generous with knowledge. He made sure I had proper technique. He pulled back my shoulders and barked at me to relieve the tension in my upper body. He corrected my stance.

After shooting close-range fot a few days, we went up in difficulty. Fifty feet. A hundred feet. I had to shoot a tree that I could barely see.

We moved on to moving targets. Birds, squirrels. Each time I had game, he forced to sacrifice at least one to Pythia. I thought of the rotting carcasses at the altar, but I nevertheless obeyed. I burned them and watched them turn to grey ash.

After long hours, we would go bathe in our lake. I slowly became more comfortable around Apollo. As we got out of the water, I didn't mide his side glances. We would clothe ourselves and cook the game we caught over fire.

I was usually the only one eating. Apollo said his stomach felt queasy eating mortal food, and that he could only digest food prepared with nectar and ambrosia. So, instead of going hungry and watching me eating, he would take a sip of nectar from a little bottle he always carried and compose a song for his lyre on the spot.

During one of those fire, music and eating evening sessions, he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

"Would you like to ride in my sun chariot?"

I nearly choked on a medium-rare bite of venison.

"I would, very much", I mumbled.

His eyes gleamed with content.

"Where would you like to go?", he asked enthusiastically, clasping his hands together.

It was obvious.

"I would like to see the land of my childhood", I said immediately. "Not the palace - just the river Eurotas, the forest..."

He smiled. "Great! What do you think we leave tomorrow?"

I accepted. I didn't tell him, but my daily lifestyle of train-hunt-swim-sleep was beginning to bore me. A change would be quite beneficial.

On the following day, we rose with the sun, and he led me to the inner forest, where the chariot throned, magnificent in its golden splendor.

Eight scarlet cows, the size of elephants from the tales of oriental merchants, stood before the chariot, impatiently stomping on the ground. Their wings, with metallic ruby reflexions, fluttered so heavily they caused a breeze to form around the chariot.

"You go and lounge behind", Apollo instructed me, and climbed in front.

Paysages below us melted together, the crowns of trees like dots on a mural. Now, I truly understood what the phrase "from bird's view" meant.

A river slithered through valleys, forging its way to the sea. Above us, the forget-me-not colored vastness of the sky, below us, emerald and jade with speckles of white for single little houses. Then and there, we would pass above a cloud, like a gigantic cotton piece. Was this how the gods of Olympus felt, staring down at the Earth?

We reached the shore, flying above the murky gray waves. The loud flapping of cow wings, the strong wind and the pressure of high altitude made my ears unable to discern the sound of the sea.