Reluctancy (Book #1 of the Ancient World series)

Ch.7

Keandre was at home getting ready for another day at the mylos. He lived in a small, two room mud-hut in Ithaca, near the northern coast of the main island. He didn't have any siblings, so it was just him and his mother. His mother was often sick, the doctor's had said on many occasions she had a weak constitution. She did earn a meager living working as a house servant for a wealthy family, named the Megalos, who owned a number of trading ships in Ithaca, making them one of the wealthiest families on Ithaca. However since his mother was so sick, she couldn't work much of the time. Therefore it mostly fell on Keandre to earn money to support them.

Keandre arose early every morning, just as the sun was cresting the hills. He'd get out of bed, splash his face with water, change into his work clothes and slip on his sandals, before heading out the door. When Keandre left his house, the streets were already bustling with people. Many of which where heading to market to flaunt their wares. Ithaca was the centre of trade in the eastern Mediterranean, thousands of people came through every year, seeking a profit. Cinnamon, anise, cloves, cumin, lemons, oranges, pomegranates, olives, leather and wool were goods commonly seen in the marketplaces.

On this particular day his mother was feeling well, so they left the house together. They walked together for about twenty minutes and then went their separate ways; his mother to the Megalos' home and he hurried on to the mylos. On days she was well enough to work, his mother was forced to work long hours, only returning after the moon was high in the sky. The Megalos were malicious and unsympathetic people, the patriarch, Kyriakos and his wife Despoina, totally disregarded his mother's poor health and they only let her go home if she was so ill she could barely function. On top of that, they payed her next to nothing. It rankled him how his mother was subjected to this and Keandre had tried numerous times to convince her to quit working for the Megalos' and find work elsewhere; but she stubbornly refused, saying it was unlikely anyone would hire her because of her health condition and they should be grateful she had a job at all.

Weaving his way through the crowds, he continued on his way to the mylos. It wasn't long before Keandre caught sight of the mylos'  high walls, that rose above the surrounding buildings. The mylos  was plain and made of rough orange sandstone. Just as he was entering the front gate, he heard a commotion in the yard to the right. He turned and saw a crowd of people gathered in the corner of the yard. Shouts echoed loudly from amidst the crowd. Hesitatingly Keandre stepped forward, the shouting growing even more audible as he approached.

He pushed his way past people until his eyes found the subject that had garnered the crowd's attention; there stood Theseus who gestured wildly and shouted, spittle flying from his mouth and his face purple with anger. The target of his contempt was a terrified child who lay on the ground, attempting to shield his head with his arms. Keandre stopped dead in his tracks as he watched Theseus hoist the boy up by his collar, jerking him from side to side violently, continuing to scream in his face. Icarus. What have you done? Keandre asked himself.

The poor boys face was stained with tears and he was crying frantically. His hands clawing at the arms that held him. Keandre felt hot anger boil up inside him and he charged forward, pulling Theseus off of Icarus. Theseus stumbled a few steps and straightened, looking up at Keandre, his nostrils flaring and his eyes red with anger. Keandre braced himself, anticipating Theseus' next move. He knew he had crossed a line and Theseus would retaliate in force. As he had expected, Theseus lunged towards him with a strangled cry, swinging a fist, Keandre blocked it. Theseus continued swinging at him, cursing all the while but Keandre just placidly dodged each hit. 

After a few swings Theseus tired out and stormed back into the mylos, shouting back "You two are lucky I am short-staffed or you would be sent home today! than he muttered another slew of curses that Keandre couldn't make out. He was out of breath but relieved they hadn't lost their jobs. Keandre went up to Icarus and offered him a hand, the youth accepted it, sniffing and wiping his face with the back of his hand. Keandre lead the way through the crowd, people parted for them, whispering behind their hands and ogling the two boys. Once they entered the mylos, Keandre turned to Icarus, "What did you do to make Theseus so angry?" he asked, concern lacing his tone. Icarus who was understandably shaken, stuttered "I was helping another boy grind some grain and after we had ground up enough, we collected it  into a basket, than I went to bring the grain to another station when I tripped and fell, spilling the contents everywhere", he said wrapping his arms tighter around himself. "But that's not it... just before you came here, I was leading a donkey out of the stables for one of the other boys to secure to a cart and another man came charging past on horseback and startled the donkey, causing it to rear up and bolt." he said choking on his words, "I couldn't hold onto the reins, it all happened so fast, the donkey rose up and the reins were ripped from my hands. Before I could catch up to the beast it had ran into the streets and I lost track of it" he finished with fresh tears welling up in his eyes. Keandre squeezed Icarus' shoulder to comfort him and Icarus managed a weak smile. "Well we should be glad that for the time being we still have our jobs, if Theseus fired us we'd be finished, both of our families rely on us to bring in a steady income", Keandre said as the two made their way back into the mylos  to start their day of work. 

At the end of the day, Keandre finished up a few last minute before heading home. He waved to Icarus as the two of them left the mylos. The crowds in the streets were sparser than they were this morning but there were still plenty of people. Where the road narrowed Keandre had to elbow his way past people in order to keep moving. As Keandre made his way home the sun was setting in the sky, it's rays bouncing off the white stone walls of the buildings lining the dirt streets and turning the sky salmon pink and bronzed orange. 

When Keandre finally arrived home he swung the front door open calling out for his mother, when he heard no reply he assumed she was still working. He made his way through the main room which served as a kitchen, sitting room and his mother's bedroom. Since he and his mother lived alone and didn't have much money, they lived in a small two room house, with 2 windows to each room and reeds littering the floor. In the main room there was a small stove, two wooden shelves with cooking supplies and a few clay amphora (jars) filled with honey, water, grains and few other things as well as a mat where Keandre's mother sleeps. The second room was where Keandre slept, he had a mat against one wall and a shelf above it that held a few small treasures; a miniature clay figure of the god Mars, a polished beige stone engraved with the letter lamedh*, a piece of faded blue fabric that held a fish carved from a beautiful blue stone and a reed stylus. These items were the most precious of his few possessions. While the other side of the room was used for storage, wooden crates, woven baskets along with a old trunk with a bronze lock, which was an heirloom passed down through the generations in his mother's family, were stacked neatly along the walls.

Keandre had never seen the contents of the trunk before, his mother always kept the key on her person at all times and never allowed him to see what was inside, whenever he asked her about, his mother would just say vaguely, "Oh it's mostly just some clothes and jewellery, I inherited from my parents" and that's as far as she ever went. If Keandre ever tried to push for further answers she would just evade the subject and change the topic of conversation. He didn't like to push her too far because of her poor health, so he usually just avoided asking more questions. Still the trunk had always intrigued him, it was medium sized, made with worn mahogany wood and sealed with the ancient bronze lock. Keandre went over to the trunk and lifted the lock to see the keyhole on the bottom, he was very tempted to pick the lock and peek inside. After all these years his curiosity about the contents of the trunk had never lessened, he just avoided asking his mother about it too much since he didn't want her to cause her distress. 

He was snapped out of his reverie when he heard someone entering the house, his mother must be home. He stood up and ran into the other room, stretching his arms out to hug her. Keandre stopped in his tracks when he saw the state she was in, her face and arms were covered in bruises and her chiton was stained with dirt. "What happened mother?" Keandre asked, his heart sinking as he went to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Oh I am fine, I just got jostled around by the crowds and fell" she said shaking him off. "But I am tired, I think I shall have a rest before I start making the evening meal" she said smiling. Than shuffled over to her sleeping mat and lay down. Keandre followed, pulling a blanket over her. A frown furrowed his brow, he didn't believe her story of how she had gotten the bruises but he knew it would take some skillful coaxing for her to tell him the truth.

*Lamedh- the equivalent of the letter l, in the Phoenician alphabet which proceeded the Greek alphabet. I used this letter because my story is set in 1600 BC, which is nearly 1000 years  before the creation of the Greek alphabet.