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of
Joy now promised them for taking on these passengers, and conveying them to
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where they wished to go.
The crew of this new ship were, like their captain, ready to acknowledge the
young man, whose dazzling presence stood before them, as an avatar of
Dionysus.
At first they took him for some lord, or prince, who had been marooned here
by
chance; then, one by one, they began to realize the truth.
"Lord Dionysus!" one said clearly. And a murmuring of prayer and incantation
began among them.
"Stand at ease, men!" Alex held out his hands as if in blessing. "If you
would
please me, take my friends here on a voyage to where they want to go." And he
gestured with his staff.
Crew and captain eagerly agreed. And they were pleased and enchanted by the
presentation that the god now gave them, large bunches of purple grapes,
fully
ripe and almost bursting with their juice. "If you will save the seeds and
plant
them, I think you will be pleased with the results."
"We thank you, lord! We thank you heartily!" Once more the demonstration of
gratitude was impressive.
The ship's new destination would be a seaport of Megara, the kingdom where
Daedalus hoped to find that the ruler's generous job offer was still open to
him.
"And you . . . my lord?" Ever since Alex had put on the Face, the proud
Artisan
gave the impression every now and then that he was about to fall to his
knees and Clara had already done so.
Alex put out a hand to tug at the arm of Daedalus, holding him upright. "Call
me
your friend rather than your lord. But let me be alone for now. You should
take
ship away from here, with your woman and your child, while you have the
chance.
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I want to go where Ariadne is can you tell me where?"
"Not I, my lord."
"And so I must stay here, and gather my strength, until I can find the right
place and time to use it."
"My lord, I "
"No. Leave me now." Alex though it really came more from his new, internal
partner made a dismissive wave, a regal gesture. "I will miss your company,
all
three of you. But the battle I must now fight is one that you had better
avoid.
In any case, none of you are the kind of people who can spend a great deal of
time in the presence of Dionysus and escape unharmed."
Daedalus straightened to his full height. Alex thought he was probably
curious
about what kind of people that might be, who were able to live on easy terms
with the God of Frenzy. But the Artisan's question was: "What will you do
now my
friend?"
"My full powers will be restored to me soon, I think." The god's memory of
many
previous transitions gave him that hope. "And when they are, I must rely on
them
to tell me that. But they are not yet . . . fully gathered. For now I can
only
wait."
In quick succession he shook the callused hand of Daedalus, playfully ruffled
the child's short hair, and briefly and tenderly stroked Clara's tender
cheek.
Then he sent his three mortal companions on their way.
In another hour the ship had sailed free out of the harbor, Alex himself was
once more the only human being on the island. But this time he was not alone.
It
aroused in him mixed feelings to reflect that he, whose name had been
Half-Nameless, would never be unknown or alone again.
"Princess Ariadne, be calm, be brave, wherever you are. As soon as I can
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locate
you, I am coming to your aid."
Not that he really expected she could hear him. His only answer was the
almost
mindless singing of his sprites, and a bass chuckle, very distant, from
Silenus.
Twenty-one
For some hours after his transformation, Alex never doubted that the Princess
Ariadne had meant to bestow on him the powers of a god. Miraculous as it
seemed,
this daughter of the royal house of Corycus had chosen him, out of all the
men
who must have been who had to have been eager to devote their lives to her
service. He, Alex the Half-Nameless, the humble private soldier, was the one
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| Cytat |
Dobre pomysły nie mają przeszłości, mają tylko przyszłość. Robert Mallet
De minimis - o najmniejszych rzeczach.
Dobroć jest ważniejsza niż mądrość, a uznanie tej prawdy to pierwszy krok do mądrości. Theodore Isaac Rubin
Dobro to tylko to, co szlachetne, zło to tylko to, co haniebne.
Dla człowieka nie tylko świat otaczający jest zagadką; jest on nią sam dla siebie. I z obu tajemnic bardziej dręczącą wydaje się ta druga. Antoni Kępiński (1918-1972)
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