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such
agreement. Unless of course you have some proof to offer? Witnesses, perhaps?
I
thought not. My dear young fool, no one's going to believe you." There was a
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pause before he added softly: "I may as well let you go."
And the king scornfully crumpled what was left of the Fleece into a ball, and
threw it back in the direction of Jason's face. "Get out of my sight. If you
are
wise, you will get your ship out of my harbor too. Unless you want to see it
broken up for firewood, which is probably the best it's good for."
The soft little missile traveled more slowly than the king had intended which
might have roused his vanishing interest, had he been paying attention. Jason
easily caught the balled Fleece in his hands at the level of his waist. "I
will
be moving my ship, Uncle, as soon as I can make it ready to sail again."
"See that you do." The king waved his hand dismissively, then shifted his
gaze
to Proteus and Haraldur. "You two men, remain here with me for a time. I
would
have some words with you."
Jason looked at his shipmates, evidently decided that this was not the time
or
place to tell them anything, turned his back on his uncle and went out.
* * *
The Princess Medea was still waiting, in the same neat, well-lighted
anteroom,
for her meeting with the king. And she was still burdened with the company of
the same minor official who had been with her from the start, and she was
beginning to be irritated with the length of the delay. To her surprise,
another
official, this one of higher rank, came to tell her that, regrettably, the
king
had been called away on vitally important affairs of state. His majesty sent
his
profound apologies, and he would see her on another day. Would tomorrow be
quite
suitable?
So, Medea thought, he is going to talk to Jason. She got gracefully to her
feet.
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"I will consider tomorrow. Has His Majesty been taken ill?"
"I have heard no such rumor, Princess."
In a corridor immediately outside her anteroom she encountered Jason, looking
no
worse for his visit with his uncle. Medea was surprised and somewhat relieved
to
see that her husband was free to go; that his uncle had not handed over the
kingdom to him came as no surprise at all. Beginning a quiet argument, much
like
other debates they had had in recent days, they started to look for the best
way
downstairs, while her previous escort diplomatically bowed himself away.
"Shall we take the private stair?" Medea suggested. That was how she had
ascended, along the inner cliff and through the castle; the stair went all
the
way down through an enclosed tunnel, whose lower end debouched directly on
the
beach, near the place where the Argonauts had left their ship.
"No, the regular stairs are good enough for me." Jason started that way.
Medea sighed and followed him. There were a few more details she wanted to
get
straight with her husband, though it was already settled between them that
they
would separate.
As they began their descent, Jason told her of his short meeting with the man
he
called the usurper.
"There is no way I can force my uncle to my will."
"Obviously."
"I know that this is not what we had planned "
"I know it too. Will it surprise you to hear that I am not surprised?"
"Medea, believe me, I "
"Why bother asking for my belief? Jason, I am bitterly weary of this."
"Of what, my love?"
"I am your love no longer."
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"I have been faithful to you."
"You mean that you have lain with no one else. If that is true, it is only
because you care very little about women or about men either, for that
matter.
All you really love is the idea, the image, of that golden circlet, that must
someday rest in your black hair. But I think your hair will be quite gray
before
that happens. You are a cautious sort of Hero, after all. You may live for a
long time."
It was as if he could not hear her words. "I think I have kept the essence of
every promise I ever made to you. Here you are, in safety, a free woman,
beyond
your father's reach."
"You were ready to send me back to him. But you did marry me. That was one
promise you kept as soon as it became advantageous."
"And I have given you all I have to give."
"And in turn taken from me everything I had which was much. Very much indeed.
I
gave you my innocence. I sweated and starved and almost died of thirst. And
then
for you I committed murder. I have lost my entire family, and made an enemy
of
my Aunt Circe, for you and your ugly Fleece. I suppose you still have it?"
Jason tapped the small pouch at his belt. "It was on our wedding bed.
Remember?"
"How could I forget? It was a glorious sight then."
"Now much reduced."
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