The Odyssey came to Jerry’s rescue. “No, she demanded rich gifts from the suitors.” That was true enough anyway, even if the reasons were different.
“Oh. That’s good. But I still need to get home. As my friend King Agamemnon says, you can’t be too gentle with women or trust them too much. A man can see all the gold he’s looted disappear if he stays away too long.”
* * *
Suddenly, Mac lurched to his feet and grinned broadly. Uneasily, Jerry realized that the young corporal had eaten at least two whole sweetmeats.
“Hey, Jerry!” he boomed. “What was that son of Ody’s name? Telemachus, wasn’t it?” The corporal swayed a little. “Yeah. He’s probably pulling a train with some of those suitors too, Ody. Keeping them off your wife’s back.”
This didn’t seem to worry Odysseus much. In fact, he started mocking McKenna. “Ha! If I was a pretty boy like you, I’d have taken on all hundred every night. Eurylochus says you can hardly cope with three.”
McKenna lunged forward and grabbed Odysseus. In a split second, the corporal was thrown to the ground. Hard. The Odysseus of legend was a wrestler of note. And whatever else the Achaean prince might be, he was tough as nails and not at all reaction-slowed by cannabis. Jerry had the sudden realization, as Odysseus landed on the corporal’s back, that McKenna might just have gotten himself into a fight where he could get killed.
* * *
Odysseus’ crew must have been expecting this, Cruz understood immediately. They’d boxed Mac and Odysseus. Shit. The kid was gonna get killed before the sergeant could get there. Cruz pulled the nunchakus from his belt. It had come to this . . .
Then Lamont spoke, loudly and clearly. “Mac, you’re an idiot. Telemachus got married in the book. He gave all the goats to the girl he was in love with.”
* * *
McKenna felt the terrible hold on his throat and the scissors on his ribs slacken slightly. “My goats! Never!” Odysseus bellowed, outraged.
“He didn’t know that you were in love with them,” snapped Medea.
“And the pigs too,” said Jerry calmly.
“What?! Impossible!” Odysseus had forgotten about throttling Mac, at least temporarily.
Jerry shrugged as Liz stalked closer. “Why? You’ve never been around to bring the child up properly.”
That bag weighed about seventeen pounds. It had reinforced metal corners. Liz gave it a full overhead arc, before it hit Odysseus across the side of the head. And then Cruz was there, with a weapon that the Achaeans had never encountered. Mind you, Odysseus might have been better off being hit by the nunchukus.
It was instantly a battle royal. And it would have been very short and nasty except that Bitar and Smitar had not eaten more than three or four sweetmeats each. Or if the Achaeans had not planned to take them alive.
Mac, having barely gotten to his feet, found himself bowled over. A dragon tail flailed overhead. He had just time to see Jerry duck, allowing two Achaeans to crash headlong.
* * *
Liz writhed. Those arms holding her from behind were like steel hawsers. She stamped with all the force at her disposal on the sandaled foot.
“Yeeeow!” But the crewman didn’t let go. And then a dragon mouth closed over both of them. The gums were toothless but viselike. Her captor let go of her in haste, just as Smitar spat them out. “Phtpt. fSorry, Liz.”
There was a smack of wood on flesh and Cruz barreled through, to Lamont’s aid. Medea had taken up a position on a washed-up stump and was walloping heads in the melee. Then there was the amazing sight of fat Henri delivering a two-footed flying kick into Eurylochus’ abdomen.
“To the ship! To the ship! Quickly!” shouted Odysseus.
The reason stood black along the ridgeline. The Lotophagi had been happy enough to make no moves except to peacefully offer hash cookies around. But when it seriously looked as if the merchandise could turn itself into hamburger, they decided to intervene a bit more directly. By sheer numbers alone they’d even overwhelm the dragons. For the moment, the little internecine conflict was forgotten in the scramble to get the black ship launched and to escape a common enemy.