Chapter Text
"My friend, I know this is a terrible ask, but do you happen to know where my ichthys went?"
Yoseph-Amun turned to Odysseus, a worried look on his face. His necklace was missing, the empty weight of the fish shaped pendant in the middle of his collar bone making him feel bare.
"Your...what?"
"Oh. Right. Sorry. My uh, you see, I had this sort of pendant I tied around my neck. But I can't seem to find it." Odysseus raised his eyebrows, a face of recognition upon him as he shoved his hand into a pouch tied along his waist, pulling out the rusted ichthys Yoseph had worried himself over.
"I took it off you when me and Ziphir were dressing your wounds. Figured you'd want it later." He took it from him with gratitude, tying it back around his neck as he looked around in his loose, linen garment. His body was terribly stiff, the bandages tightly wound around him, pinching his skin.
"Where are the other men?"
"I sent them as scouts. That large palace over there? Suppose we could get some sort of refuge if anyone is home."
"Ah."
"Come, child. It is not warm enough for you to be standing about in such thin clothing." Odysseus grabbed his arm, dragging him over to sit down next to him. Yoseph complied, feeling a breeze forming in the wind, a shiver coming along. The ship he'd just been dozing off in mere moments ago was nowhere to be found, devoured by the oceans.
"So...I suppose a storm must have caused the shipwreck?" Yoseph looked over at the captain, taking care to notice the hesitant expression on his face.
"...of the sort, yes."
"Right." The younger of the two ran his hands along his biceps in an attempt to warm himself as they sat in wait. Odysseus stared daggers into a specific spot in the sand, jaw clenching.
The silence between them was deafening, and Yoseph attempted to find his next words as hesitation made its way to him. The man hadn't really anyone to talk to much back home, besides his wife, and occasionally the Holy men.
"How do you think you got here?" Yoseph looked at him, thinking of the question. In all his honesty, he truly had no idea.
"I'm...not so sure. One moment, I was seconds away from death, and then I wake up on your boat."
"From death?"
"Ah. Well, you see, uh, I was a sort of...soldier in the military."
"Yes, I can see that. Your armor, it's quite fascinating."
"It is actually Roman." Odysseus paused, squinting before he turned to look at him in suspicion.
"Roman? What is..."
"Yes. But, well, they don't exactly take kindly to my people. Especially with that mad emperor."
"Roman."
"Yes?"
"Hm. Never heard of it. Well, what is this mad emperor?"
"He worships his gods. I worship my God. He did not know I was one of the ones he despised. The ones he loved killing. They found me as I was praying in their gardens. And, well, it was not exactly a great ending."
Odysseus stopped him, raising his hand in confusion.
"I'm sorry—what? He beat you because you worshipped only one of the gods? I fail to see the big deal here-"
"I worship none of your gods, man of Ithaca. It is one God I set my eye on. And one I will not let go of."
The captain paused, hesitant in speaking further in fear of sparking his gods' wrath. To refuse worship of their gods was simply unheard of. They were right there. And their divine punishment was certainly nothing to take lightly, it was for certain.
"I would take heed in how you treat the gods, foreigner. For they can be angered in less than a second. Perhaps it is why you ended up here."
"You are a good man, Odysseus. Which is why I must be honest in my heart:I would sooner die than even touch upon the practice of your worship of these beings."
"Watch your mouth, man! They can hear us. You'll curse us all!"
Yoseph simply turned his head with a subtle roll of his eyes, exhausted and done with the pointless conversation.
He was grateful then, for the distraction as one of the captain's men came panting back, running as desperately as he could.
He was quite dark.skinned, with barely any hair on his head, and he looked fearful of his discovery.
"Captain!"
"Eurylochus? Back so soon? What happened to the rest of your men?
What happened to you?"
"The palace—it, we heard a voice, you see! But it was a gentle, calming voice. Not hostile, nothing of the sort."
The man continued rambling on as he stalled, Yoseph had noticed, and he stood abruptly catching himself as his head spun, and Odysseus lent him an arm to lean on.
"What was in this palace?"
"Sir. We have faced many a challenge. But this...this was too much for us."
"What was it? Say it, man!"
"A woman," The man deadpanned as one could get, and Yoseph paused his struggled breathing to side eye him with a raised eyebrow.
Really? A woman? That was what caused them to lose?
"...what?"
"Two words was all it took to have us. 'Come inside,' she said!"
"Oh."
"Seriously?"
"She brought us in, gave us all a meal to eat
But what was inside it, you see, was a spell!"
"Mm."
"They began to squeal. And they grew snouts and horns and ears and all of the sort! She turned them into pigs!"
Yoseph looked over to Odysseus, who was in the middle of nodding his head, thinking the problem over.
A woman. Who turned men into pigs?
She would certainly give Jezebel a run for her money.
"Sir?"
"A moment, Yosiph. I'm thinking." Yoseph shivered lightly from the cold, clenching his garments around him tighter to gather warmth.
Whoever this "enchanting" woman was, she seemed nothing short of a harlot, Yoseph thought.
And all the men who were entranced by her were just as much as she was. For, certainly, by their ages, they had wives.
Odysseus turned to them, face lit up with an idea.
"I'm going in there."
"What?"
"Sounds alright to me."
"Captain, let's just cut our losses, and escape while we still can. We can't afford to lose you-"
"I won't sacrifice my men like this, Eurylochus. If they can be saved, I will do it."
The man looked at Yoseph, quiet for mere seconds, before placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, I cant leave you to freeze to death out here. You will stay by me, and you most definitely will not speak out of turn. Understand?"
"Of course, sir."
"Good."
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The palace was certainly more grand than Nero's. Though both had similar marble columns and such, this one had a nicer color palette. Yoseph noticed the strange little girls running around with fins on the sides of their head, and he raised an eyebrow.
"Lady of the palace?" Odysseus called out, and both men turned, finding the woman standing in the middle of the hallway with a smile.
"Come! It must have been such a long and hard journey all this way. Surely a man cannot resist being served a meal by such pretty women?" She put her fingers to her mouth, and gently pulled a fin girl over, nudging her to them.
Yoseph couldn't hold in a judgemental facial expression, side eying both women as his head recoiled in disgust.
Odysseus coughed, putting on a charming smile.
"No thank you, my lady, I was only here to inquire about my me-"
Yoseph felt hands on his shoulders, and he shuttered, holding in a gag as the woman turned her to her, and she smirked at him, pulling him over to the dining table, forcing him into a seat.
"Oh but this one looks so hungry! Don't you, pretty man?" The last two words were purred out, like a lioness, as though she assumed he would fold under her voice, and the other girls surrounding him.
Her voice reminded him of the drunk pagan women back home.
The woman hooked arms with a girl, leading her to him before having her place her hand on his arm, which he immediately snatched away, glaring at the two.
Odysseus ran over to them, cutting them off.
"My lady, I am here to inquire of my men. They were last here, do you happen to know where they went?" She scoffed, laughing bitterly.
"Who, me?"
"Have you done something to them?"
"All I did was reveal their true forms."
Odysseus deadpanned, "You turned them into pigs."
And the illusion was over. She snapped her fingers, "seductive" smirk dropping from her face as she brought out a knife. Yoseph attempted to stand from his seat at the table, but she slammed her hands onto his shoulders, pushing him into the seat.
"Where are you going, lovely? You two aren't going anywhere until I'm done with you." She pointed the knife at Odysseus.
"I don't know why any of you are here, but I have my own to protect. I cannot in good nature neglect my nymphs. Don't think you can underestimate me." She walked closer to Odysseus, waving her hand around him, and Yoseph began to disassociate from their conversation.
For as much as the woman was horrid, she truly did have lovely decor.
It was so shiny you could paint your reflection in it.
Odysseus stood strong, confessing, proudly,
"Well I must be a god like you cus I got this molly with my bare hands."
"Hermes gave it to you, didn't he?"
"Fine, yes. But that's not the point."
Yoseph had heard of Hermes before. At the time that Paul had visited Greece, he had told him that the people there thought of him as a god. Some said Zeus, others proclaimed Hermes.
Yoseph admitted that he had barely paid much attention when he appeared. He had zoned out, even now, and so was a bit surprised to find the woman now...well, feeling the man, to put it in nicer terms, and he cringed, immediately turning his face away.
Whatever they were doing, he wanted no part of it, and so he attempted to stand without making much noise, hoping to make some sort of escape.
He slithered himself out of the doorway, hiding his face from them, but before he could even reach the exit, the woman appeared before him, crossed arms, and he groaned.
"Where are you going, darling?" She grasped his arm, rubbing a spot with her thumb, but he yanked it out of her grip, taking a few steps away from her as she walked toward him.
"Do not touch me, lady."
"Aww, and why is that?"
"I am a married man, to a dignified holy woman at that."
"Oh, but all those other men were married. Surely you would like another?" As she reached her hand toward his face, he smacked it away with a glare, not yet noticing Odysseus' gasp and hands to his head in panic.
"Most certainly not! God has provided for me one woman only, and one woman I shall have." She smiled thinly, a trick up her sleeve.
"Really? Which god limited you so terribly?"
"He has not limited me. I am bound to one woman only. And His name, lady, is of many names. Do not try and tempt me with your lustful nature." Yoseph felt a hand grip his arm, attempting to pull him away, but the woman pulled him back toward her, eyeing him.
"Goddess, I beg you, forgive his disobedience. He is a youth, and you know how they are. I assure you, he did not mean any of it-"
"No. I meant it all. Hear me, witch, you know what you are? A whore. You are a Jezebel, and these men are certainly filthier whorish adulterers. I suppose you all deserve each other."
The woman looked at him, the very slightest taken aback from the insult. Odysseus looked ready to slit his throat then and there.
She spoke.
"Well. I have never met a man so determined to insult me in respect to his wife. Well, besides your captain here. But he has not insulted me yet, he merely sulks."
"That's what you were doing? Sulking?"
"If you don't keep your mouth shut I will skin you alive."
"Go ahead. It shall be no worse than Nero."
Odysseus glared at him, but before he could do anything, the woman gripped Yoseph's chin, tilting it to her. She smiled.
"You're brave. You are not afraid of angering a goddess?"
"I am not afraid of angering a demon, no. I have angered many, I assure you." His throat was dry, and he did his best not to dry heave from the nausea crawling up from his chest.
She hit him. Well, slap, was more like it. It hurt quite terribly, even with all the body ache radiating through the man from his fever. But he stayed silent, holding in a roll of his eyes.
"Well. If that's that, come, captain, I shall house you and your men until you get what you need. And you, I shall I hope I never have to hear your voice again."
"Glad-"
If Yoseph was a child, he would have wanted to die of embarrassment. He heaved once more, gagging, before relieving himself of whatever contents had entered his stomach a few hours earlier all over the floor, right by the woman's legs.
She cringed, backing away, and the captain yelled out, smacking his face.
"We're doomed. We're all doomed!"
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Yoseph-Amun sat by the fire his captain made, ignoring the nymphs peeking their heads out from their hiding places in curiosity.
Odysseus sat beside him, forcing the other man towards him as he held up a bowl of alement.
"Your mouth almost cost you your life."
"I don't much care what you think of my words. If it's not getting me home, it doesn't concern me." Odysseus scoffed, tipping the bowl to Yoseph's mouth, and he reluctantly drank it, holding in a shudder.
"The other men are fine. All turned back and everything."
"They're all drunk."
"What about it? They can't celebrate? I'll make sure they don't do anything stupid."
"The fish girls look uncomfortable." Yoseph had forgotten what the woman called them, and he simply assumed they were some sort of fish creatures.
"Fish—what? The nymphs?"
"Oh. Yes, the nee-mphs. Why do they keep popping their heads out like that?" One of the girls poked her head out from a tree, staring at him as she tilted her face. But when he spotted her, she hid back, giggling.
"Well, first of all, your pronunciation is awful. Second, foreigner, I suppose they've taken a liking to you."
Yoseph was a little weirded out by their staring, but he had to admit they were adorable. When he was home, and he ran into children on guard, he would toss them over his shoulder, spinning until they were dizzy.
"They seem like sweet children."
"You know, for as grown as you are, you sure do have a naive, innocent way of thinking." Yoseph scoffed, and Odysseus handed him a plate of food. He eyed it, but the captain reassured that it was safe.
"...I was supposed to have a child."
"You-...oh, right. You mentioned having a wife, didn't you?"
"Yes. Her name was Michal. She's very nice. It would have been a few more months until I had a child. Now I won't even get to raise it."
Yoseph looked down at the food, appetite shrinking. He looked over at the other men, laughing and talking rowdy. One of the men, he noticed, was isolated, tied to the bark of a tree, his hands and feet knotted as well.
There was no food for him. He turned to Odysseus, asking, "Why is your man there?"
"Hm? Ah, he was caught stealing more rations from whatever was left of the sunken ship. His punishment."
"You're going to starve him?" Yoseph raised an eyebrow at him, and Odysseus rolled his eyes, sighing exasperatedly.
"Oh, don't get self righteous on me. He'll probably lose a hand soon as well, but, I'll feed him eventually."
Yoseph, in his fatigue, with a dizzied head and nausea rising up, stood, careful not to lose his footing, before walking over to the man with his plate of food, sitting beside him.
"Hello." The man barely looked up, glaring at him, before going back to stare at his tied hands.
"What's your name? I am Yoseph-Amun, or Yoseph, if you'd like." He smiled, hoping for a response.
There came none, which was fine to the man, and so he took up a piece of chicken from his plate, holding it to the thief's mouth.
"Would you like to eat? I admit I am not very hungry, and I might vomit again if I stomach anything else."
"Don't bother! He hasn't said a word since we tied him up!"
Yoseph ignored the captain, hand still holding the bite sized piece. The man hadn't made a move to grab it, but he didn't mind.
And so, instead, with his hand held up to the thief's mouth, Yoseph began to talk. He said whatever, talking about his home, his family. But most of all, he talked about his wife.
.......
He told the man many stories about her. He told him what he loved about the woman. Yoseph mentioned the beauty of the place he was in at the moment, complimenting their waters, and the vastness of it.
"-but I'm sure you don't want to hear all about my wife and her pregnancy and my child. I mean, I wouldn't want another man gushing about his wife when I have one of my own at home, do you know what I mean-?"
He felt something brush the palm of his hand, and barely shook it out of surprise, looking down to find the thief resting his chin on it, nibbling on the food.
"Oh! Sorry, here you are." Yoseph placed it into the chief's mouth, who gnawed at it in hunger, and he did his best not to smile.
"You can have all of it, if you'd like." The thief paused, eyeing him in suspicion, but Yoseph simply nodded in reassurance, before pausing.
"But give me one moment. I'm going to get you water, alright?"
He paused in chewing, staring at him with wide eyes, attempting to back away.
"I'll be back. I promise. I swear it." The thief briefly nodded, turning his head to look at the plate of food by him.
Yoseph approached Odysseus.
"Where do they keep the water?"
"They have wine inside. Ask a nymph to fetch it for you." He looked at him with a raised eyebrow, hand on his waist.
"I didn't ask for wine. I asked for water."
"Alright, you pious fool, whatever. Ask a nymph, I've only been drinking wine."
"Thank you."
"Why are you helping him? The man's a thief. You respect a thief before respecting a goddess."
"It is no matter what I do in terms of respect. I respect him because he is a human, just as much as I am human."
"Surely your God has, whoever this is, feels offended that you serve someone beneath you?"
Yoseph paused, turning to the captain.
"Why would He be? He has served us as the Savior, and we are all undeserving of it."
.....
"Hello? Uh, nymphs? Can...can one of you lead me to the water?"
Yoseph looked around in the woman's home, searching for a nymph. He spotted one poking her head out from the marble column, and he sighed in relief.
"Ah, hello. Could you-" The girl disappeared behind it, and when he looked over she was nowhere to be found.
"Alright. Ah, geez—gah!"
And Yoseph turned, coming nose to nose with a nymph with wide eyes, smiling eerily at him.
"Hi!"
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