Epic: The Odyssey

The Horse and the Infant

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The Troy Saga
Song 1

The people of Ithaca wished their king farewell as he sailed to Troy with his fleet of twelve ships, each flanked with fifty men, all ready to follow the king of Ithaca into war.

The plan was simple: use the horse as a gateway and a distraction, find Helen and free her from Prince Paris, and get home to Ithaca safely with every single one of my six hundred men. "Alright, my brother's, listen closely," I said amongst my men, all eyes trained on me, "Tonight, we make the Trojans pay." There was a murmur of agreement. "Ten years of war, they've killed us slowly, but now we will be the ones who slay!" A quiet collective cheer rang throughout the torso of the wooden horse waiting outside the gates of Troy. I stood up, my legs tired from crouching on my feet, and hefted my sword. Looking at my crew's wary and scarred faces, I felt a twinge of guilt. We had all left our families for this war and ten years had gone by. Surely, they missed them as much as I missed mine.

"Think of your wives and children," I spoke, my voice quivering as I allow my own mind to drift to her, "Your families wonder where you've been. They're growing old and yet you're still here." The faces of worried husbands and fathers sickened me. I too felt my own words weigh down upon me as fierce as an anvil. My poor boy was ten years old now with only his loving mother to raise him. I would make it back to them. "Do as I say and you'll see them again." My faithful companion grabbed my shoulder. Eurylochus was a dark man with the features that reminded me of smooth stone; hard and cold but with a sense of calm that led you too feeling eased.

"Yes sir!" My comrades synchronized, pounding their spears and swords against their bronze shields. I felt my heart lift, a smile threatening to break through my tried for tough expression. I began my plan and nodded to the stocky and dignified soldier to my right. "Diomedes will lead the charge,"
I looked to a man on the far left, "Agamemnon will flank the guards." I pointed to the back of the wooden tube we were enclosed in, "Menelaus will let our mates through the gates to take the whole city at large." The man was my ally that I ask requested to help us storm the Trojans. He had agreed. "Teucer will shoot any ambush attack, and little Ajax will stay back." A tall boy in the back groaned. I suppressed a grin. "Nestor, secure Helen and protect her. Neo, avenge your father, kill the brothers of Hector." I nodded and glanced at the man who held his thumbs up, smiling broadly as my crew shouted, "Yes sir!" Polities was one man I could not help but feel warm around. He was, much like Eurylochus, my brother. His glasses fell lopsided on his nose and his hair stuck out beneath the cloth around his head, but he looked as though he had just found an abundance of gold and jewels under his bed. His tanned skin was illuminated in the moonlight peeking through an opening in the horses side.

I again took in the men surrounding me. They had done so much for our kingdom, I was sure they would have quit and gone home if they could've. But each face looked determined and strong, holding themselves together before we had the time to relieve ourselves of the hardships and leave for Ithaca.

"Find that inner strength," I coaxed, " Use that well of pride. Fight through every pain now, ask yourself inside; what do you live for? What do you try for? What do you wish for? What do you fight for?" They repeated my words like an echo, filling the now moving horse body with a sense of pride. Inside, I felt my head spinning with the answers to my own questions. What do you live for? Penelope. What do you wish for? Telemachus. What do wish for? Be on my way. What do you fight for? The rocking stopped. Noise from the outside became loud. I reached for the latch at the bottom of the stomach. "Attack!"

I began my ascension of the stairs leading to the top of the tower where I believed the prince to be. As I reached the top, I felt something peirce my abdomen, a searing pain that forced me onto the ground. I unsheathed my sword and spun to see the perpetrator, but found no one. I was alone.
"Who was that?" I said aloud. I looked expecting to see the stab wound but found nothing tracing to my pain. Thunder rumbled in the distance, harsh lighting striking down where the balcony dropped off into the street of chaos.

"A vision," a booming voice said in my head, tearing at my conscious and leaving my head aching, "of what is to come. It cannot be outrun. Something that can only be dealt with right here and now." I looked up to the sky to see a man, broad and beautiful with long black hair and piercing eyes the color of gold. "Tell me how!" I called up, searching this mysterious man for signs of hostility. I found many. His eyes were narrowed, arms were crossed, and he was looking at me with an intense stare that sent shivers down my spine. He gave me a sinister smile. "I don't think you're ready."

Feeling quite offended, I glared at the man whom radiated the most power I've ever felt, even at such a far distance. With a jolt, I understood who I was looking at. The King of the gods, the Bringer of Thunder, and the killer of Kronos. "A mission," Zeus said, "to kill someone's son. A foe who won't run, unlike anyone you've faced before." Resisting the urge to flee, I continued to stare into the eyes that shimmered like stars. "Say no more. I know that I'm ready." He pointed behind me. "I don't think you're ready." I turned and faced an archway leading into a small circular room. I walked inside and felt my stomach drop.

On the far left of the room, a crib of oakwood stood, covered from sight by a drape of satin blue. I shook my head as I walked over, peering into the bundle of blankets.
The boy was no more than maybe a month old, the whisp of blonde hair barely visible and his hands clutching his covers. My heart sank with the realization of what Lord Zeus was asking of me, something impossible.

"It's just an infant," I said, my voice barely above a whisper, "It's just a boy. What sort of imminent threat does he pose, that I cannot avoid?" I let my eyes glide over the baby's features, his round nose and soft skin, the wrinkles around his wrists and ankles, and the small birthmark on his shoulder.
I could not keep myself from being reminded of the boy I desperately wished to get back to.

"This is the son of none other than Troy's very own Prince Hector," Zeus mused, "Know that he will grow from a boy to an avenger. One fueled with rage as you're consumed by age. If you don't end him now, you'll have no one left to save." My hands began to shake. "You can say goodbye to Penelope." You can say goodbye to Penelope. His words replayed in my mind as I took the small boy in my arms and studied him once more. I did not want any harm to come to this infant anymore than my own son. He was as innocent as the anemone in the fields back home and that was something that seemed to hold me back from surviving my predestined death.

"I could raise him as my own!" I suggested up to the sky, holding the boy close to my chest. Zeus did not seem to appreciate my defiance. "He will burn your house and throne." I searched for another alternative. "Or send him far away from home!" Another disappointing look. "He'll find you wherever you go." I was becoming desperate. "I'll make sure his past is never known!"; "The gods will make him know."

I looked back down. He was reaching out for my face, his tiny fingers closing on invisible ropes. "I'd rather bleed for you, down on my knees for you. I'm begging, please!" Zeus smiled down at me with a look of upmost disdain.
"Oh, this is the will of the gods." I felt my heart rip open. Will of the gods. That is a sentence you cannot escape. I landed on my knees, keeping the baby's tender head aloft with my hand.

"Please don't make me do this! Don't make me do this!"
Zeus did not let up and grinned as his final words reached my ears. "The blood on your hands is something you won't lose.

"All you can choose is whose."

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This was a lil tricky but I like it actually. Again, this is NOT supposed to be accurate to the actual myth and more or so accurate to the songs based on it. I tried to make it not so noticeable that those are the lyrics so please tell me how I did on that !! Thank youuuuu!! 🫶🏻⚘️