Helix

A Gods Blessing

19 AD

Helix crouched in the shadows keeping his breathing slow and quiet. It was two nights since the storm had blown over. Everything on board except the cabins had been drenched. Even the cabins were damp but they had faired the best. The deck which had, of course, dried the fastest in the brisk sea air was now littered with crates, barrels, and anything that needed to dry out. It was behind one such crate that Helix hid.

Ever since she had miraculously rescued him, Helix had watched Sal closely. He wanted to know more about her and how she'd saved him but, if he was being honest with himself, he was scared of her. It was Sal he watched now as she stood near the rail at the prow of the ship. She had been standing in the same place, staring into the water, for over an hour.

Just as his muscles began to groan in agony and his eyes tired of straining through the darkness, a dull glowing green light began emanating from the water somewhere below where Sal stood. Eyes wide he forced his breath to stay calm and even.

A hand suddenly appeared next to Sal on the rail, followed by a man's head, shoulders and finally legs as he climbed onto the ship. Helix instantly noticed how tall the stranger was as he stood looking down at Sal. His bare torso complete with thick muscular shoulders and back was tattooed with what looked like scales. The impressive ink started at the strangers neck and vanished beneath the midnight blue pants. His wet shoulder length black hair, almost the same color, and length as Helix's own swayed slightly as the man tilted his head presumably to examine Sal. The stranger's entire body seemed to emanate an eerie dark green glow which lit the area around him and the woman quite well.

"Why have you summoned me Decuma?"

The stranger's voice, although barely audible from Helix's hiding place, was deep and rich with power as he spoke Sal's much longer real name. Each syllable crashed across his ears as waves crashed against the ship. The familiarity in his tone stiffened every muscle to the point of trembling. Helix cringed as lighting on a clear day and the sound of a thunder-filled voice filled his mind.

"I need to find your nephew." She quietly growled the words at him, her chin lifted high.

"Why come to me? You are the third Seer. Surely you can weave your thread and find him."

"Ares is avoiding me."

"With good reason I am sure." Humor laced his words.

"Tell me where he is Poseidon."

Helix's mind raced. Poseidon. God of the Sea. Zeus's brother. Brothers with similar voices, he mused.

"No." The god firmly answered.

Anger twisted Sal's pretty face as she spat at his feet. "If you do not want to help me then why bother coming at all!"

Faster then light or sound, a strong male hand closed around her throat lifting her clear of the deck. Still, her expression remained angry the fire in her green eyes burning bright.

"Do not think that because you have courted my Nephew and garnered favor in the Pantheon that I will tolerate your meddling ways." His face was so close to hers that his black waves of hair mixed with her red ones. "You gave a damned mortal a blessing two nights past. My blessing. Who?"

She glowered, gasping slightly as his hand loosened enough for speech and for her to land back on the deck, her knees absorbing the shock. "An insignificant boy."