[ TT ] Riders on the Storm

The captain of the Astrapaios looked to the foreboding sky and grinned, as did his men. A storm was coming, aye, but that was auspicious to the men aboard his vessel. Why else would Glaucos have blessed his ship with an epithet to the Thunderer Himself? It was n't for it's speed, that's for sure, but when the Earth-Shaker saw to put most ships to harbor, it was the Astrapaios that would wrestle with the broiling sea- and win, for the grace of Zeus. He would not let His brother destroy a vessel that was blessed in His name. That's not to say that Glaucos was n't impious towards Poseidon. No sea fairing man would dare to refuse the briny god what he was due. He inhaled the salty, ozone charged air and gave a cry of elation which his men matched. 
 
 
 `` Men! Take us out!'' 
 
 
 The sails were woven from Athena's finest work, the wood blessed by Ceres herself, the emblazoning on the hull performed by the cyclopes who heated Hephaestus' forge. Glaucos was a man loved by the gods, and for good reason. There was none so pious, none so just and deserving of their favor. The Fates, however, were partial to none. Glaucos was startled by a an old, toothless, blind woman standing on the deck of his vessel. He felt as if she were always there, just that he never noticed her before. She turned her hollow eyes on the great captain and frowned. She shuffled toward him with confidence, unlike any blind woman or man he had ever encountered. He started; the world around him was filled with a sudden and deafening silence. Only her voice, scratchy and terrible, could be heard. 
 
 
 `` That which fate has decreed can not be changed. This voyage will birth monsters the likes of which have not been seen since the sky consummated with the earth. Be vigilant, son of the gods.'' 
 
 A second woman appeared and spoke in tandem with the first. 
 
 
 `` The beasts will be a plague among man, devouring and destroying anything in their path. And you, Glaucos, will be at fault.'' 
 
 
 A third woman, dressed in red and bearing a smouldering eye in her palm, joining the other two. 
 
 
 `` Take heed, son of the gods, that this will be your last voyage. No god above or below will be able to help you. You will find yourself at the bottom of the briny sea by week's end.'' 
 
 
 One by one they came up to him to touch his hand, he supposed to give him strength, or perhaps in supplication. Then all three had vanished as quickly as they had arrived. Glaucos took a deep breath, savoring the taste of the heavy air in the back of his throat, his heart pounding as he mulled over what the women had told him. The sky rumbled with Zeus' torpor, and the sea roiled as Poseidon's ire shook the earth. A wild grin broke out across his face. Destined to die, was he? 
 
 
 He was n't one to shy away from a challenge.
