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Baltic's
Book
Zeus and Europa, part 4
Chapter
6
Some
strange things were happening in Mount Cithaeron, but no-one really
knew what's the matter. Thebes started to build another sanctuary,
to Athena this time. Because Athena likes to visit shepherds and
olive growers, place near them was chosen for the temple. This meant
slower construction, as all materials were stored quite far away,
but Balticos was sure it is worth the time. Thebes needed to build
up their military strength, too, and a new area of luxury housing
grew up slowly. A horrible thing happened about that time: Hephaestus,
angered by city's actions against Talos, opened the earth and hot
lava flowed towards the city! It stopped just at the border of the
city, but many hundreds of people were scared and left Thebes. Some
say that Balticos didn't notice that a vital agora was destroyed
by lava and people ran away because they were going hungry, but
this may be just a rumor his rivals were spreading out of envy.
Anyway, Thebes recovered quickly from the disaster. Once again,
Talos has shown up in Cydonia and Balticos called his friend Jason
to deal with the monster. It drained food supplies of the city,
but farmers and goatherds quickly replenished the stocks. It was
time to find out what happens in Mt. Cithaeron... Balticos ordered
all his elite troops to go there, led by Jason who recently returned
from Cydonia and was already complaining about tedious city life.
Ares himself was bored, and when asked, he gladly accompanied the
warriors into battle. Soon they returned with ghastly news about
drunk madwomen tearing people apart and ransacking the city... obviously
a work of Dionysus. Now these women - Maenads - were defeated and
Mt. Cithaeron declared itself your vassal, but everybody feared
Dionysus will strike again. Balticos quickly dispatched some wheat
to Mt. Cithaeron to help them overcome the hard times, and ordered
to build defensive walls around Thebes in case Maenads would choose
Thebes as their next target.
Chapter
7
Balticos was wise to prepare... Maenads really appeared soon and
harassed the agricultural area in West, killing sheep and shepherds
alike, as well as olive growers. Sometimes they even managed to
reduce an olive tree to rubble with their magical powers! Only a
hero like Achilles can help in such situation. Fortunately, the
city's armories were running at full speed, armor was ready in the
storehouses, and city had the sanctuary to Athena, so calling Achilles
was not a problem. Four times had he to go and fight with Maenads,
before Dionysus decided it makes no sense to waste the lives of
his followers... and two times Talos returned to Cydonia and was
defeated by Theban soldiers accompanied by Ares warriors. You see,
Balticos was disappointed with Jason's results and said he wouldn't
give away two full granaries of food just to realize that Talos
is still alive. Who knows, maybe Jason was in it with Talos and
they divided the goods Jason got when Balticos called him... Be
that as it may, Theban soldiers proved to be equally satisfactory
and defeated Talos both times. Impressed by the security of Thebes,
goatherds and stonecutters called their families and established
a small village on the riverbank. Maenads disappeared from Greece,
eventually new trade possibilities opened and Thebes flourished.
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