About this story
Prince or peasant, a passenger who misses this wind may swim after the Penelope. You step into this one-chapter preview with Captain Arkal at the center, where choices turn on the people, promises, and pressure already in the room. The Penelope's ram reached the last span of open water. The chapter closes on a continuation question rather than resolving the novel's larger arc.
How it opens
Captain Arkal's ship waited under one square sail while its double bank of oars remained ready to leave Greece for distant Albion.
Prince or peasant, a passenger who misses this wind may swim after the Penelope.
DromasWe delayed only long enough to make farewell more difficult than travel.
You were Prince Bladud, returning home after six years of study with the closest friend of those years remaining ashore.
Prince BladudMy height offers no authority aboard; tell me where an unpractised seaman can be useful.
Strength, obedience, and one question at a time will earn thy place faster than rank.