Chapter 29

When he stepped off the gangplank, he absorbed his first sight of Ios. It looked nothing like the civilization to which he was accustomed; there were boulders and brushes everywhere with no discernible path or road. The smell of fish floated up from the pier. The fishermen were salting and packaging their wares for sale. Marcus wished to get as far away from them as possible due to the stench. Further ahead were horses drawing carts of wheat and hay. Bird circled the sky above them, likely eyeing the fishermen’s catches. As they advanced through the island, they came upon a few small homes. There were no temples in sight. The locals preferred to worship their gods in “holy groves”.

Marcus snorted at the thought of anything in this boorish place being holy. “How do these barbarians get around? Do they spend their days scaling the mountains?”

The guard, dressed in a helmet and breastplate, snorted. “There are a great many birds here, my lord. Perhaps they fly.”