02 - Clotho, the Spinner

After the fiasco, Nazarius recalled what he left the house for; his friends. Panicking over the time he wasted listening to the nut case, he sprinted towards the alley next to the marketplace. His wavy, light brown hair jumping in the wind along with his bland, white tunic. His sandals clapped against the rocky street as he ran at a speed abnormal for a 7 year old to be able to run at. His greenish brown eyes flicked back and forth, looking for his friends as he ran down the street. His light brown skin was a bit different compared to most of the others who lived in the city, but nothing really worth noting.

Finally, after a while of running, Nazarius spotted two figures on the side of the road; Kakó and Korítsi. Kakó seemed to be trying to tell Korítsi something, but it couldn’t have been very exciting as she looked uncomfortable.

As he got closer, he could start to make out what Kakó was saying. “…s just go already, he’s obviously not coming.” “But…” “What's the point of waiting? Do you just want to sit here all day?!” As the attempted persuasion escalated, Nazarius realized that he needed to arrive before things got too serious. This happened with Kakó sometimes, as he would take any opportunity possible to spend some time alone with Korítsi. The only problem is that he tended to be very pushy, which only made Korítsi feel more uncomfortable around him.

“Haa… ha, hey, sorry I’m late,” Nazarius shouted as he waved at them. When Kakó saw this, his eyes widened, as if he didn’t expect Nazarius to show up at all. He then looked down and pitifully growled. “Nazarius, have you checked the clepsydra? You’re ten minutes late!” “Yeah, sorry. I got distracted by a nut,” Nazarius replied.

Authors note: a clepsydra was basically a clock that was controlled by water.

“A nut? Did you not eat breakfast or something? Anyway, come on, lets go,” Kakó sneered. “That’s not… never mind. Anyway, where are we going today,” Nazarius inquired. “Hm… I don’t know. Where do you want to go, Korítsi,” Kakó asked. “Um… I would like to look at the markets today if you don’t mind… I heard a new pharmacy was being built,” Korítsi timidly stated. “The nut,” Nazarius inwardly screamed.

The markets were located in a circle shaped plaza that led up to the city hall. In the middle of the plaza was a twenty feet tall monolith that contained one of the few clepsydras in the entire city. The town wasn’t very developed, which made sense seeing how little crops the land could yield. “Even Apostles of Demeter have a hard time farming here,” Aunt Gyn once said unhappily.

As they walked, an odd silence engulfed the group for a while until Nazarius started dragging the others around, showing them the cool things he saw the merchants selling. However, they were merely windowshoppers as 7 year olds usually lacked a stable source of income. This irritated a few shopkeepers, so they were politely told to leave on multiple occasions.

They were busy looking at a small, wooden horse when the faint sound of marching filled their ears. Curious about what was causing the noise, Nazarius peeked over the heads of the random passerby, gradually getting closer to the cause of the commotion.

Riding down the street was a small army squad made up of about 8 men. Leading them was a man with dirty blond hair covered by a helmet. He had a dark stubble that covered the bottom half of his face, which held a cold look. His brown eyes flicked around quickly and subtly, as if he was looking for something. Soon enough, his gaze locked on to Nazarius. The difference was small, but when the man looked at Nazarius, his eyes definitely widened for a fraction of a second. The oddest thing is that Nazarius felt as if he’d seen that man before.

About ten meters away from the middle of the square, the men on horses stopped. A few seconds later, a more stout man rode up next to him and whispered something to him, to which the man in front whispered something back. After a brief pause, the fat man pulled his horse back around and the group continued going forward.

After the group passed, everything turned back to normal, as if time started moving again. “Uhm… G-guys,” Korítsi stuttered, “Can we go s-see the new pharmacy now?” “Sure,” Nazarius and Kakó said in unison. ‘Why does she want to visit that nut’s house so badly,’ Nazarius wondered for a second. ‘Well, maybe it's got some really cool freaky stuff,’ he reasoned.

…

“Hey, Àndras,”

“…”

“Hey Àndras.”

“…”

“Àndras?!”

“…Oh, Megálo.”

“Don’t ‘Oh, Megálo’ me. What’s up with you today? You’re even colder than usual,” Megálo muttered.

Àndras had gotten lost in thought, which wasn’t like him. Currently, they were both residing in the tavern Àndras had brought them to. The floor was wooden and creaky while the walls were made of cracked brick. In the corner of the room lay a single bed with a chamber pot on the side which neither of them were willing to touch. There was a desk in another corner at which Megálo was previously sitting.

“So,” Megálo started, “How do we decide who gets the bed and who gets the floor?” Money among soldiers was not infinite, so they decided to send two people per room. They thought that the beds would be large enough to hold two people, however much to their disappointment they were barely big enough to hold one.

“Isn’t it obvious,” Àndras said, “I’ve already got it, so what’s to decide?” While Megálo was sitting at the desk, Àndras was laying on the bed.

“Oh come on,” Megálo pleaded, “at least give me a fighting chance. How about a simple game of artiazein? Poker? Hell, I’ll play with dice for all I care, just give me an opportunity.”

Authors note: artiazein was a game where someone would hold a random amount of objects and the other person had to guess whether the amount was odd or even.

“…Alright, but what do you intend to gamble,” Àndras questioned.

“What do you mean? Aren’t we just playing for bed rights?”

“But as you can see, I already have the bed, which means you’ll have to bet something else.”

Megálo paused for a bit, processing what Ándras had just said.

“No way in hell am I gambling anything with value again. Especially against you,” Megálo said semi-seriously. “Fine, I’d rather take the ground than have you take my wages for the next three years.”

Megálo began to lie down on the ground while Àndras watched him. Sighing, he rolled over and stared at the wall, thinking of the events that occurred earlier that day. He looked different… more grown up, but that was definitely Nazarius. ‘I wonder if I should go visit my family tomorrow,’ he thought.

…

Crap. I’m really late.

According to the clepsydra, it was around 9 PM, however Aunt Gyn had no way of knowing that from her house. However, it didn’t take a clepsydra to know that Nazarius was out way past curfew.

As the moon rose higher into the sky, so did Nazarius’ heart rate. He knew that if he didn't get home soon, Aunt Gyn wouldn’t let him leave the house until the blessing ritual started.

However, it wasn’t entirely Nazarius’ fault that he was out this late. Unbeknownst to him, Kakó was trying to keep him out later than he was allowed to so that he would be grounded for a while, leaving him and Korítsi by themselves for a while. It was quite the genius plan for a 7 year old boy.

‘I’m almost there. Oh boy, what do I say? ‘I was too busy looking at a bunch of overpriced medical remedies sold by a lunatic’ isn’t a very good excuse,’ he thought to himself. Missing dinner was the least of his worries, as Aunt Gyn’s wrath was worse than starvation.

Running as fast as he could, Nazarius began to see his house out in the distance. The only problem was that, in the middle of the courtyard, a figure was standing there, waiting. Nazarius immediately knew who it was and prayed to the gods he would live to go outside the next day.

As he approached the abode, the amount of sweat coming off of him increased. He was scared, like a nice, juicy steak falling into a lion's den. He just hoped that he wouldn’t get chewed out too hard.

Finally, he was able to make out the details of the figure in the distance who was, unsurprisingly, Aunt Gyn. Unfortunately, as soon as he saw her, he could see the rage and worry exuding from her face.

As she saw him, he started to slow down and took a deep breath.

‘Be cool. She’s probably not even that mad. She’s probably just worried and is gonna tell me never to do that again,’ he thought.

“Where the hell have you been,” Aunt Gyn roared, dashing all of Nazarius’ hopes of a swift ending.

“Uh… sorry… I know I’m a bit late…”

“A bit late?! Artemis has already done half of a shift and you think you’re a little late,” she screamed.

Authors note: Artemis was the Greek god who was believed to move the moon. She was also the god of hunting.

“Uhm…”

“Hurry up, get inside and go to bed right this instant!”

“Yes ma’am,” Nazarius said timidly.

“Honestly, do you know how worried I’ve been?! First, Fíle starts running a fever, and then you don’t come back until way past sunset,” Aunt Gyn continued. Nazarius was concerned about that first piece of information, how he was too terrified at the moment to think too deeply about it.

…

“Hm… from what I’ve observed it seems to be salmonella,” the doctor said gravely.

“…Is that bad,” Aunt Gyn asked, quivering. She wasn’t too knowledgeable about the medical field.

“Nowadays, due to blessings being able to check the quality and state of produce, salmonella has become quite rare, meaning that no significant amount of research or funds have gone into trying to cure it.” This morning, Fíle had woken up with a burning fever, so despite the cost, Aunt Gyn decided to call a doctor.

“Do you know what could have caused it,” Aunt Gyn nervously asked.

“Well,” the doctor said, “salmonella is usually transmitted through meats or fruits. However, there is also a chance it could have been a contaminated egg.”

“Egg… oh gods…,” Aunt Gyn started quivering badly, tears pooling in her eyes. “This is all my fault,” she repeatedly muttered. She somehow got a misplaced sense of responsibility since she was the one who prepared the food. Then with the last of her strength, she asked, “please… is there anything you can do?”

“…As long as the bacteria doesn’t enter the bloodstream he should be fine, but…”

“…But what,” Aunt Gyn stuttered.

“…Fevers are a symptom that typically only occur after the bacteria has entered the bloodstream, which means…” The doctor looked down with a guilty expression.

“…No… It can’t be… Impossible…” Aunt Gyn fell down on her knees begging.

“Please… if there’s anything I can do… please…”

Nazarius was stunned. There was no way this was real, right? Fíle was fine. He was probably just pretending to be sick so he wouldn’t have to go to work again…

“…I’m afraid there’s not much hope. The only remedy that has been made to my knowledge cost over one hundred drachma to make… and even then, it was only sold at very niche places known for selling medicines for bizarre illnesses.”

Bizarre illnesses…

Nazarius thought for a second before he remembered yesterday.

“The nut,” Nazarius accidentally screamed out loud.

Aunt Gyn, who didn’t seem to hear him started crying. This wasn’t supposed to be how this boy’s life ended.

The doctor, who thought they were starting to go delirious from the sorrow, decided that he should probably leave.

“Ahem,” the doctor coughed. “don’t worry about the fee. May the gods be with you.”