ρϛ′

I was awoken by Odysseus this morning.

Feeling myself shaken, I opened my eyes to find the General's face close to mine. -He had a wide grin, and particularly funky breath.

"We've spotted land, Eurylochus!"

Dressing quickly, I followed Odysseus out to join Baius and a few soldiers at the bow.

It was true; in the predawn light I could distinctly see the dark outline of hills on the horizon.

Moments later, the sun broke behind us and bathed us in a fiery light. -It kind of gave me a tingly feeling.

I suppose Odysseus felt it to, because he raised his arms and beamed: "Helios smiles upon us, my boys!” -This brought a crisp cheer from the few soldiers present.

After basking in the moment, Odysseus, Baius and I shared an early breakfast.

As we ate, we talked about our raid and how we might approach the beachhead. -We are going to land at night, just out of sight of the city. Baius figures we are about a day south of Ismara, but I have no idea how.

Elpenor and Polites walked up before we finished.

It's very odd. Those two have never gotten along at all. -To be honest, seeing Polites with Elpenor disturbed me more than his crying fit did.

Of course, Polites just ignored me.

Anyway, our breakfast was concluded by another fortunate event. One of our missing ships has returned.

It wasn't the barge, and it wasn't Achaemenides' ship. However, I think the appearance of this vessel gave new hope the remaining two might not be lost. -Not to mention that nearly 200 of our men haven't drowned.

Odysseus and I spent much of the afternoon on this ship called the Sea Dragon.

The boat's captain is a wiry lieutenant named Mnestheus. I've met Mnestheus many times before, but don't really know much about him.

In fact, I’m pretty sure he's Samian. At least he hangs out with the Samians that are with us. -They're a clicky bunch.

Mnestheus told us he hadn't seen Achaemenides' ship or the Milesian barge. His crew did see what they thought was a mast-light last night, but lost it soon after. -As it was far to the east, he doesn't think it was us.

Knowing we were headed for Ismara, Mnestheus said he hoped to find us there. He loudly announced he was glad they hadn't missed the fight, and his crew cheered on cue. -This pleased Odysseus immensely.

In fact, the General was in high spirits for the rest of the day.

As Odysseus likes to micromanage when he's in a good mood, we spent the remainder of the day going from ship to ship on the Lil' Tethys. -I took a ridiculous amount of notes that I'll never use.

Antiphus is a funny guy. He did a great job of entertaining the General as he ferried us about the fleet.

I can't remember how it went, but Antiphus told us this hilarious joke about Aphrodite and Hermes. It was something about how Ares was so impressed with how fast his sons Phobos and Deimos were.

Damn, I can never remember a good joke.

Anyway, I guess we could be raiding the Ciconians as soon as tomorrow night.

Oddly, I don't feel nervous at all.

ρε′

We are missing three of our fourteen ships.

Unfortunately, one of the missing ships is our captured Milesian barge. -That boat contained nearly all of our Trojan treasure.

Thus, after ten years of war, we could be heading home empty-handed. No one is talking about it, but I know it's on every mind in the fleet.

Of course, the greater tragedy is the possible loss of a few hundred of our men. -Or at least it should feel like the greater tragedy.

Achaemenides' ship is one of those absent. As odd as he was, I kind of liked that guy. It's bothered me more than I'd expect.

I'm not so sure Odysseus should have given Achaemenides command of a ship. He did prove himself in battle a few times, but I don't think he was ‘leader material’. -Maybe I should have said something.

Losing men at sea always seems harder for some reason.

At any rate, although the weather has improved, the mood of the fleet definitely hasn't.

I only saw the General for a moment today.

Absent all morning, Odysseus appeared as Misenus and I were having lunch. He inquired about our missing ships (the Lil’ Tethys is still out looking for them), and whether the men were ready for our upcoming raid upon the Ciconians.

I reminded Odysseus that we distributed our arms the day before yesterday, and that I'd see to it the officers were readying their men. -He thanked me and returned to his cabin.

It's a good thing we got our supplies out of that barge. If the storm hit us a day earlier, we’d not only be without our treasure, but most of our weapons too.

Misenus suggested the other ships might have simply headed for home. I thought he was joking at first, but he didn’t laugh. -I'm not sure what I think about that.

Anyway, after returning to my quarters tonight, I spent some time looking at the ornate sword Odysseus gave me. I couldn't stand to leave it on the barge, and have kept it 'hidden' under my cot.

To be honest, I take the thing out almost every night.

I don't think Odysseus would think about it, but if he did, he might consider that I'd lost the sword with the barge. -In fact, I haven't worn it since we left Troy.

This ridiculously expensive sword means I don't ever have to work again.

I don't think I'll wear it on our journey home.

Apollo’s ass. -I kind of hate this sword.

ρδ′

Terrible weather.

I was rolled out of bed early this morning by a pretty nasty storm.

Well, I think it was early. As the sun never really came up today, it was hard to tell.

I just know I was tired.

After coming to my senses, I headed up deck to find Odysseus and Baius shouting at one another near the main.

They weren't angry. It was just difficult to hear above the whipping wind and rain. In fact, despite the weather, the General and Helmsman seemed to be in fairly good spirits.

Falling on my ass in front of them did little to dampen their mood.

Having spent some time at sea, I realized the storm was dangerous. We weren't doomed, but I knew we weren't far from it. Nevertheless, Odysseus and Baius seemed to revel in the uncertainty.

After quickly discussing what needed to be done to secure the ship, I spent the rest of my morning making sure it was carried out.

I ate lunch with Polites, Elpenor and Misenus in the officer quarters.

That was the first and last thing I ate today.

I guess my stomach was better off empty, and it soon had its way. -Maybe it was just sick of fish.

Sailors often talk about their 'sea legs' with pride. To tell the truth, some of the saltiest get sick every time they set sail. I've never been good in rough waters. -Not that I'm a salt.

Anyway, before tossing my lunch, I kind of cussed-out Polites. -I don't think I had ever done that before.

The three of us were chatting about the storm, when Polites suggested it might be a result of sweeping the fish overboard. -He thought Poseidon might have been angered.

I don't recall exactly how I responded, but I lost it.

Polites has been in a funk for several days now, and I am getting sick of it. He's always been one of our most dependable officers and I just can't stand to see him act so pathetic. Furthermore, it seems he's starting to get superstitious on me.

Basically, I just angrily told him the same. Unfortunately, I did it in front of Elpenor, Misenus, and a couple of soldiers. To make matters worse, when he tried to defend himself, I said something about Laodice. -Whoever she is.

What I said didn't make any sense. Polites had responded with something like: "Well, maybe you'd understand if the Gods took your fingers!", to which I hastily replied: "Well, maybe if you hadn't screwed-over Laodice, you wouldn't be looking for such lame excuses!"

I'm not sure what I meant to say. -I was just pissed off and didn't feel very well.

Regardless, Polites looked genuinely hurt. -At that he just lowered his head and remained quiet.

I then went top deck to lose my lunch.

The storm started dying down about an hour ago.

With the little bit of light we had left, Odysseus and a few of us officers tried to spot the rest of our fleet. We located four of our fourteen, one of which was the Lil’ Tethys.

That little boat is amazing.

We've lit a torch on top of the mast. Hopefully, the rest of our ships will remember to do the same.

Macar and Polites joined Antiphus on the Lil' Tethys to continue the search. -As Polites has such keen eyes, Odysseus asked that he go along.

I sent the General's orders through Macar.