Jason and the Argonauts Read Online Free

messenger god stood, in a trance, watching the lad glide across the clearing, as if courage by some foul twist had been converted into fatal trust, making the beautiful boy offer his throat to the butcher’s blade. Slowly Ares raised his ax.
    Hermes changed himself into a woodpecker—but a giant one, bigger than an eagle, with an iron beak. He flew to a tree at the edge of the clearing, a towering pine, clutched himself to the trunk, and drove his iron beak into the bole. He pulled it out and struck again, and again and again, his head moving faster than a hummingbird’s. He moved around the trunk, driving his beak in again and again, working so fast that, before Ares had finished poising his ax, he was hit by the falling tree. He was smashed to earth and buried among the branches.
    Jason stood there, bewildered. Hermes returned to his own form. He came up behind the boy and touched him with his herald staff, casting him into a deep sleep. He caught the boy in his arms and flew away, climbing swiftly past the treetops. He bore him to the other side of the island and laid him in the shade of a tree, still asleep.
    He knelt there, staring at the sleeper, then he lightly kissed his face and flew back to where Ares lay, but did not linger. Already the pine branches were threshing as the fallen god strove to rise.
    Hermes flew eastward. He saw something that made him swoop. The witch rode the raft. She was gurgling and jigging and gnawing a pork bone. The fire was out. The turnspit demon was asleep. From time to time the hag wiped her hands on his curly pate. Hermes hovered, watching—but the witch, who noticed everything, was so busy eating that she did not see the god shining above her head. The sleeper snored. She screamed and frothed, epileptic with pleasure.
    Hermes climbed again and flew away from the great burning ball of the setting sun.

SEVEN
    E KION
    I WAS WATCHING THE sky for my father. He had sent no word, but I knew he was coming. I saw a splinter of light, then a streak of fire. He landed among us, pot-shaped hat pulled over his eyes, twirling his staff until the twined snakes seemed alive. And I thought my heart would burst with pride when he unwound Daphnis’ arm from around his neck and motioned to me.
    “I need your help.”
    I couldn’t say anything. I just looked at him. He smiled.
    “I’m sending you away.”
    “Far?”
    “You’ll be seeing more of me than ever.”
    “Oh, Father …”
    “You will go to the court of Iolcus and take employment with King Pelius.”
    “As herald?”
    “His herald, my spy.”
    “What’s he like?”
    “A tyrant, a glutton, a murderer. Not too different from most kings, but a bit more so.”
    I nodded, imitating composure.
    “He may not sound like an ideal employer, but you’ll be all right. Heralds are protected by sacred law. You will attend his councils, learn his plans, and tell me what he intends.”
    “I would know your own purpose, sire. Not from curiosity, but that I may serve you with more intelligence.”
    “Hearken, then. Pelius is a usurper. Some years ago he killed his stepbrother, who was the rightful king, and since then has been hunting his brother’s son. That son, who is called Jason, is hidden on the island of Cythera. I have just visited this island. I went there at the request of Aphrodite, who has developed a passionate interest in the lad and fears for his safety.”
    “Surely a goddess can protect her paramour?”
    “To contend against Ares you need allies. He will permit no rival and has a way of erasing her lovers before she can enjoy them. Indeed, I happened to arrive at the island just as he landed there.”
    “Did he kill the boy?” I asked, hoping he had.
    “It was wonderful,” he said. “Jason defied the war god and fought so gallantly, so skillfully, I didn’t believe what I was seeing. He moves like light over water. He filled the air with arrows. Each found its mark and sheared off a piece of Ares’ armor until he