Young Hercules, Hercules, Jason, Iolaus, Lilith and all other characters who have appeared in the series, together with the names, titles and backstories are the sole copyright property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. No infringement of copyrights or trademarks is intended in the writing of this fan fiction. This story is copyright © 1999 by Elizabeth L. Plessinger and is her sole property along with the story idea. The character of Denaea is her own creation. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.
Hercules entered the training hall and immediately spotted his friends Iolaus, Jason, and Lilith, who were doing two-on-one drills. "Have you seen Cheiron?" he asked, approaching them cautiously.
They stopped the drill and looked up. "Not since breakfast," Jason told him.
"We figured he’d show up when training drills started but Fiducious came and asked Thesius to run them this morning," Iolaus added.
"I wonder what’s up?" Lilith voiced her thoughts.
Just then, Cheiron walked into the training hall with a new student. "Cadets, may I have your attention, please?" Cheiron raised his voice above the din. All activity immediately ceased and all eyes were on the new student. "This is Denaea," he continued. "She’s a new cadet here. I’d like you all to make her feel welcome." He nodded to Denaea then turned and walked out.
Most of the cadets’ jaws dropped open but Lilith was beaming.
Jason leaned over to Iolaus and Hercules. "Did he just order us to like her?"
"I don’t care," Iolaus commented. "I like her already."
"You just like her because she’s a girl," Hercules corrected him.
"Well, I like her too," Lilith agreed with Iolaus. "At least now I won’t be the only girl here."
Hercules continued to stare at her, drinking in her subtle beauty.
Denaea was average height for a girl of 15 summers. She had sea green eyes and long golden red hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. She wore an outfit much like Lilith’s but the halter straps criss-crossed in front as well as in back and connected to a collar at her neck.
She looked around, not knowing whom to approach first, if she should approach anybody.
Hercules and company eased her fears slightly by coming to her first. "Hi," Hercules greeted her smiling. He held out his hand for her to grasp in a handshake. "I’m Hercules." He pointed to his right. "This is Jason of Corinth."
"Prince Jason?" She asked timidly. She smiled at him then looked away. Looking back up she said, "It’s an honor to meet you."
"You too," he said sincerely. "But please, just call me Jason." She nodded in agreement.
Iolaus practically shoved them both out of the way and held out his hand to her. "I’m Iolaus," he introduced himself winking at her.
"Uh, hi," Denaea said uncertain of what to think. She grasped his hand to shake it but instead Iolaus pulled it in and kissed it.
"Iolaus, stop it!" Lilith scolded him, lightly slapping his arm. "She’s nervous enough about being here without you preying on her." She turned toward Denaea and smiled brightly. "Hi, I’m Lilith and I’m very happy you’re here. I won’t be the only female here anymore."
Denaea giggled at her comment. "It’s nice to meet you, Lilith. All of you, thanks for making feel welcome." She looked at Iolaus. "Even if some of you came on a little strong."
"What?" Iolaus asked. "I just didn’t want to make you feel like we didn’t like you."
"All right, everyone," Thesius cut in. "It’s time for lunch. Everyone to the dining hall." A cheer erupted from the cadets as they left the training hall.
"Well, guys," Denaea started. "Let’s go."
"Uh, you really don’t want academy food on your first day here," Jason said, looking first at Denaea then at Iolaus and Hercules.
"You know, he’s right," Hercules said. "No sense in you getting sick your first day."
"C’mon, let’s go to Kora’s," Iolaus added.
"But don’t we have to be back for afternoon drills?" Lilith asked.
"We have two candlemarks before they start," Jason said. "We have plenty of time to go and get back."
"Alright," Denaea decided. "Let’s go to Kora’s." When the guys started for the door, she leaned over to Lilith and whispered. "What is Kora’s?"
"It’s the local inn," she replied. "The food is a lot better there than in the dining hall. They weren’t kidding about that. But I think they want to take you there to get to know you better."
"Oh." Denaea suddenly looked nervous again.
"Don’t worry," Lilith assured her, "they won’t try anything. They’re perfect gentlemen. Even Iolaus, though he likes to think himself a lady’s man." Denaea giggled again as she and Lilith followed the boys outside.
Hercules, Jason, and Iolaus were walking ahead of the girls, talking amongst themselves. Lilith and Denaea trailed a little behind, doing the same thing.
"So, Denaea," Lilith began, "what brings you to the academy?" When Denaea didn’t answer, Lilith turned to see her new friend’s face turn very pale and she stumbled a bit but didn’t fall. "What’s wrong, Denaea? You don’t look so good. Let me call the boys."
"No, Lilith, don’t!" Denaea said as forcefully as she could. "I’ll be alright. I just got a little dizzy. It’s OK. I guess I just need to eat." She was breathing hard and couldn’t seem to calm down. "The sooner we get to Kora’s, the sooner I’ll be better."
"OK," Lilith acquiesced. "Are you sure?"
"Hey!" Iolaus called back to them. "What’s the hold up? Everything OK?"
Denaea and Lilith exchanged a look. "Yeah," Lilith called back. "We’re OK. Denaea just tripped over a rock and almost fell. We’re coming."
As soon as they were seated and introduced Denaea to Kora, the questions started flying.
"So Denaea," Iolaus spoke, "where’re you from?"
"Thebes," she told him. "I live with my family, er, at least I did ‘til I came here."
"Tell us about your family," Hercules prodded her. He was big on families. With his father, Zeus, never being around, he loved to hear about everyone else’s family and how it was to live in a house where both parents came home every night.
"My father is a farmer," she began, "and my mother, brothers, and sisters, and I all helped with the chores it takes to run a farm. My parents, Aaron and Ardala, are somewhat strict. I mean, they never tried to tell me what I had to do but they expected it to be done. And if it wasn’t, well, they’d get very upset and I’d either miss dinner or have extra chores the next day. Usually both. But they were also behind me coming here when my brothers, Darius and Leonus, made fun of me for wanting to be a warrior. My sisters, Bethany and Shayna, didn’t feel it was proper for a girl to go off and be a warrior. They felt that I should do what they’re going to do and find a husband and settle down and have babies. But they never made fun of my choice. They just don’t really approve of it."
"Sounds like you had it rough at home," Jason asked.
"Maybe a little but not really," Denaea told him. "I mean, all families have some conflict every now and then, right? It’s just on how you handle it as to how the family turns out. My parents let me run off to play warrior with my brothers and friends when my chores were done. I think what irritated my brothers the most growing up was that I made a better warrior than they did."
"Are you still going to miss them? Your brothers, I mean," Iolaus wanted to know.
"Oh, yes, very much," Denaea answered him. "But I want to be a warrior and there’s no place like Cheiron’s Academy in Thebes. I’m not going to let their incessant teasing keep me from loving them or from doing what I want." She didn’t want to tell them the other reason she was at the academy. Not yet, anyway. She wanted them to like her for who she is not feel sorry for her because of her condition.
"Well, we’ll help you in anyway we can," Jason offered.
"Thanks," Denaea said in gratitude, "but you guys have already done enough by making me feel like part of the gang. I don’t want to get so used to it I start taking it for granted. You’d all end up hating me."
"No, we wouldn’t," Iolaus spoke for everyone.
"Right," Hercules agreed. "Besides, that’s what friends are for." He looked at her intensely. "We are friends, right?"
"I’d like to think so," Denaea said, "although I don’t know you very well yet."
"We’ll fix that, right guys?" Lilith said, turning to look at her companions. They all nodded in agreement. She turned back toward Denaea. "What do you want to know?"
"I guess they same things you wanted to know about me," Denaea answered honestly.
Jason started and told her about his father, King Aeson, and how his father wanted him to come to the academy. Although he was all for talking things out to keep the peace, he thought it would be a good idea for his son to learn how to lead his armies into battle should the need ever arise.
Hercules went next and told her about his mother, Alcmene and what a wonderful woman she was. "You should come home with me the next time I go so you can meet her," Hercules offered.
"She is a very nice and understanding lady," Lilith added. "I met her when Hercules invited all of us home during the feast of Persephone. She’s really great."
"She sounds like a goddess," Denaea said with a smile. "I’d love to meet her." She looked at Hercules seriously and asked, "what about your father? You didn’t mention him."
"That’s because he’s Zeus," Hercules said, unenthusiastically. "I’ve never met him and he doesn’t seem to care about me."
"Wow! Zeus, the king of the gods, is your father!" Denaea said wide-eyed with amazement. Seeing Hercules roll his eyes, she immediately felt bad. "Oh, I’m sorry," she apologized, "I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject."
"Don’t worry about it," Hercules softened his eyes and turned up the corners of his mouth slightly. "It’s not your fault. And hey, isn’t that why were here? To get to know each other?"
The mood lightened when Lilith told her about wanting to become a warrior and Cheiron’s Academy being the best place for her training. She also told Denaea about her time with the Telequar Amazons but that it was better that she come back to the academy to finish her training.
The mood switched again when Iolaus confessed to her that he’d come to the academy because it was either that or jail. "I don’t look good behind bars," he joked to bring up the mood again. "But seriously, coming to the academy helped me to escape Craetus. I wanted to break free from that gang anyway."
Soon the group was heading back to the academy. Along the way, Denaea started to feel dizzy again. She did her best to cover it up but since Lilith was walking right beside her, it was hard for her not to notice.
"Denaea, what’s wrong?" Lilith asked, almost panicked.
"I’m just feeling dizzy again," she told her. "It’s nothing to worry about."
"I’m not buying it this time, Denaea," Lilith shot back. "Not what’s up?"
Denaea looked at the guys who were still walking up ahead. "Fine, I’ll tell you," Denaea relented. "But not here. I’ll tell you after the workout this afternoon, OK?"
Afternoon drills were just starting when the five walked into the training room after returning from Kora’s. Lilith and Denaea immediately partnered up, as did Jason and Hercules. Thesius grabbed Iolaus for his partner.
Throughout the workout, Lilith noticed Denaea tiring out a lot faster than she should have and a lot faster than anyone else, though she wasn’t working much harder than the rest of them. She kept pushing herself to keep going. "Are you sure you don’t want to take a break, Denaea?" Lilith asked feeling very concerned for her newfound friend.
"I’ll be fine," Denaea assured her, not offering any further explanation.
From across the room, Hercules took note of how rough the workout seemed to be on Denaea. He was so into watching her, Jason got a shot to his chest in on him. "Ooohf!" Hercules moaned, as he snapped back to reality.
"She’s cute and sweet and all," Jason began, speaking about Denaea, "but you really need to stay focused on what we’re doing here."
"Oh, yeah, sorry," he apologized, still looking over in Denaea’s direction. "But look at her, Jason. There’s something about her, man. I don’t know but she’s special."
"Lilith is special," Jason countered. "We’re all special in our own ways, Hercules. Other than being a girl, what makes her so special?"
"I don’t know," Hercules said. "But look at her. The way she moves and the way she’s trying…. I can tell she’s determined to succeed here. To me, that’s a special quality."
"Hey, what if she was sent by Ares to lure you into some sort of danger?" Jason asked, suddenly becoming suspicious of her.
"What!" Hercules exclaimed, throwing his friend an incredulous look. "You’re nuts! Why would you think such a thing?"
"Ares has done it before, why not again?" Jason countered.
Hercules looked at him indignantly. "Because…." He softened and seemed to be at a loss. "I don’t know," he admitted. Hercules looked over toward Denaea. "But I intend to find out."
Later that evening, when all the other cadets were in the dorm studying for the next day’s lessons, Denaea took Lilith behind the academy barn. There was no one else around and what she was going to tell Lilith she didn’t want anyone else to know especially Cheiron.
"We’re alone. Now are you going to tell me what’s up, Denaea?" Lilith gently demanded.
"Yeah," Denaea said hesitantly. She was hoping Lilith wouldn’t make her say it but Lilith just waited there patiently for her to continue. "I just want you to know that after this, if you don’t want to be my friend anymore, I’ll understand." She took a deep breath and started her explanation. "I don’t remember when my dizzy spells started exactly. I’ve had them for so long each episode seems to blend into the next. My parents never believed that I could be sick. I was always so healthy. They’d rather believe I was making it up because I was lazy; to get out of doing my share of the work around the farm." Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at Lilith. "I’m not lazy. It hurt that my parents would believe that." Denaea choked back a sob as Lilith put her arm around her shoulders.
"I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with me," Denaea admitted. "All I know is that when I get dizzy, I have a hard time seeing and I start to feel as if I’ll be sick all over the place."
"Have you been to a healer?" Lilith wanted to know. When Denaea shook her head, she continued, "Maybe a healer could help you. Maybe Cheiron could…"
"No!" Denaea practically shouted. "I don’t want Cheiron to know."
"Why not?" she asked. "He could probably…"
"No!" Denaea interrupted again. "I don’t want anyone to know about my illness. I don’t want the cadets to feel sorry for me and I don’t want any special treatment from Cheiron." Denaea looked at Lilith with sadness in her eyes. "When I said I wanted to be a warrior that was true. My parents figured sending me here would take away my laziness. I just want to prove to everyone, myself especially, that I can do it without special treatment."
"I guess I understand why," Lilith stopped pushing, "but I still wish you’d talk to Cheiron. He’s not judgmental and he won’t give you special treatment. He’s very understanding and not at all the slave driver some people say he is."
"Promise me you won’t say anything to anyone, Lilith," Denaea pleaded. "Especially Hercules. Please? I don’t want Jason or Iolaus to find out either."
"Why won’t you even tell them?" Lilith asked confused at hearing this. "They’re your friends too."
"I know," Denaea agreed. "I just…" She sighed and confessed her feelings to her. "I like Hercules and I want him to like me for me not because he feels sorry for me."
Lilith smiled at her confession of attraction to the demi-god. "If they somehow fine out, it won’t have been through me," Lilith promised.
"Thanks," Denaea said gratefully. "I knew I could count on you."
The week went by quickly for Denaea. She had a few more dizzy spells but she was able to control them and no one was the wiser, except for Lilith, who could tell when she needed a little extra support.
It was the weekend and they all decided to spend some time at Kora’s relaxing. There was a band playing during the afternoon and they all had fun listening and dancing to the music.
Just before dinner, a messenger came in with a note for Jason. "What’s it say, Jase?" Iolaus was curious.
"Ophistus wants me at the palace tonight to entertain some friends of my father," he began to explain. "He says we’re in some serious negotiations with that kingdom and it would help out immensely if I was there."
"Sounds like a party," Lilith teased, giving Jason a big smile.
"Yeah, it will be," Jason replied. "You guys want to come?" He was looking at everyone.
"No, thanks," Denaea declined gracefully. "I’m not really in the party mood. I’m kind of tired after this week’s workouts." She looked away briefly but was smiling when she turned her face back to look at Jason. "Besides, I’m sure there will be other parties at the palace in the near future I can go to."
Jason accepted her refusal with a nod and looked at the others. "Me? Refuse a party?" Iolaus turned toward him. "I’m there, man. I am there."
"I’ll come too," Lilith spoke up. "I was wondering what to do tonight anyway. Maybe I’ll meet a handsome stranger who will take me away from all this," she joked, fluttering her eyelashes.
"What about you, Hercules?" Jason asked. "Are you coming?"
"Oh, uh, no," he stuttered. "I think I’ll stay and keep Denaea company. Besides, I’m also a little worn out from the week. But you guys have fun." They got up to leave and were starting out the door. "And Iolaus, stay out of trouble."
"Me!" Iolaus raised his voice as the others pushed him out the door. "I’ll have you know…"
"He’s funny," Denaea laughed. "You guys have been friends for a long time, huh?"
"Ever since we were kids," Hercules replied. "Trouble seems to follow him but he’s a good guy."
"I’ve been meaning to ask you," Denaea began hesitantly. "I know you don’t get along with Zeus but what about the other gods? Do they acknowledge your existence?"
"Ares does but only when he wants to kill me," he answered her honestly. In the back of his mind, Hercules was wondering if this was her way of revealing her allegiance to the god of war. "And Hephaestus does but we’re pretty good friends. I think the rest of them don’t think about me so they don’t have to deal with me."
"That’s awful that your brothers and sisters won’t even admit that you exist," Denaea said.
"Half-brothers," Hercules corrected.
"Even so," Denaea pressed on. "The gods take a lot of things for granted. If they were made mortal for just one day, maybe they’d understand how it feels to be unloved, unwanted, sick, made fun of, laughed at…."
"Whoa, whoa, Denaea," Hercules stopped her, "where is this all coming from? Don’t tell me the gods play tricks on you too."
Denaea just looked at him moment. ‘Yeah, a cruel one,’ she thought sourly. "No," she told him. "I just wish they’d take into consideration how people feel before they meddle in their affairs."
"Then you aren’t working for Ares or any other god that might be out to get me?" Hercules asked her.
Denaea looked at him liked he’d gone crazy. "Absolutely not!" She continued to stare at him with a hurt and confused look on her face. "Why would you think something like that?"
"I’m really, really sorry, Denaea," he apologized. "I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just that Ares has done it before and I can’t be too careful where he’s concerned.
"It’s alright," she said accepting his apology. "I guess if I had run-ins with the gods all the time, I’d be really careful too."
They stayed a little while longer before heading back to the academy. "You ready to go now?" Hercules asked getting up. "I’ll walk you back."
"She’s staying here with me," a voice from behind them grumbled. They both turned around and saw a rough looking man almost twice Hercules’ size standing in front of them.
Denaea stood up to her full height, which was still very short, compared to the man blocking her exit. "I’m not staying anywhere I don’t want to be," she told him. "And besides, who are you to tell me what I have to do?"
"I’m Mesosticles," he said. "And you’re my woman now, sit down."
"Leave her alone," Hercules intervened. "She doesn’t want to stay here with you. Now get out of our way and let us go."
"No!" he bellowed. "The only way she’s leaving is with me. The only way you’re leaving is…well, let’s just say, you won’t be leaving."
"Wait a minute!" Kora stepped in. "If you want to fight, you take it outside!" She looked at Mesosticles, then at Hercules and Denaea. "Hercules, don’t start anything in here. I’m warning you."
"No problem, Kora," Hercules said, still looking at Mesosticles. "You heard her. Let’s take it outside."
The trio walked out the door to the field just behind the inn. Denaea turned to Hercules and whispered, "Let me handle him, Hercules."
"What!" It was his turn to look at her like she was crazy. "He’ll kill you. Either that or run off with you tucked under his arm."
"I don’t want anyone fighting my fights for me," she told him. Seeing the concern in his eyes, she tried to explain her point some more. "Listen, guys like this always seem to think they have the advantage because of their size. Usually that means they don’t have a clue how to really fight. Let me prove to you and to myself that I’m ready for this."
"Denaea, you’ve only been at the academy for a week," he pointed out. "Are you really sure you should be doing this?"
"No," she said honestly looking deep into his eyes. "But if I don’t try this now, I’m not sure there will ever come a time when I’ll do it."
He stared back for a moment, realizing she wasn’t going to back down. Sighing, he said, "Alright. Go ahead. But I’ll be right here if you need me."
She smiled at him. "Thanks."
"Are you going to stand there making goofy faces at her all day or are we going to fight?" Mesosticles asked, looking at Hercules.
"Oh, you’ll fight," Hercules answered him. "But it won’t be me."
Denaea stepped forward and Mesosticles began to laugh. "You’re going to fight me? You don’t stand a chance."
"Just humor me then, will ya?" Denaea said sounding very annoyed with him.
They began circling each other. Denaea, being smaller, had the advantage of being quicker than Mesosticles and easily escaped his grabbing arms. She got behind him and kicked him in the back of his knees. It didn’t hurt him much but it made him very angry.
"Aaaggghhh!" he yelled. "You’re not fighting fair!"
"Oh, you wanted a fair fight?" she asked trying to sound like she didn’t understand the rules. Getting serious, she said, "Then let me take my brain out and we’ll start even."
Mesosticles just looked confused and didn’t realize he’d just been insulted. He then began grabbing for her again. He hit her in her left side, sending her flying back. She’d never let him see how much he’d hurt her but she was certain her ribs were broken.
She got back up and looked at him with a fire in her eyes that would have made Ares proud were he there to see it. "That’s it!" she seethed. She came at him full force. Just before she reached him, she slid into him, sweeping his feet out from underneath him. He fell forward on his face and before he knew what happened, Denaea had his right arm pinned behind him and his neck in a chokehold. "Now, leave me and my friends alone," she told him, "or next time I won’t be so nice."
"Fine," he reluctantly agreed, his voice straining through her choke. She released him and he got to his feet quickly. "Aw, you’re not my type anyway." He threw his arms toward her as if to toss her aside then turned and walked away.
Hercules was all smiles as he reached Denaea’s side. "You were brilliant!" he whooped in excitement. He didn’t seem to notice right away that she was swaying to keep her balance or that she had turned very pale. "Just wait til the guys back at the academy hear…" he finally turned to face her and noticed her condition. "Denaea? Denaea! What’s wrong?"
"Hercules, I…I…" Her world went dark.
Hercules caught her before she hit the ground. "Kora!" he shouted, hoping to get someone’s attention from inside the inn.
Kora ran outside and saw Hercules cradling Denaea in his arms. "Oh gods," Kora gasped. "Take her upstairs," she instructed him. "There’s a bed up there you can put her on. I’ll prepare a herb tea for her."
Hercules did as he was told. But he couldn’t stop worrying about her. How could she take a hit like the one Mesosticles gave her, come back and beat him, then not be OK? It didn’t make sense to him.
Kora brought up the tea a few minutes later. "How is she?" she asked.
"I don’t know," Hercules admitted. "I think she’s cracked a rib or two and she’s got some minor cuts and bruises. But I think she’ll be OK."
"Let me know if there’s anything else I can do," she said heading back downstairs. Hercules just nodded.
After a while she started to wake up. Her head was pounding and her left side hurt. When her eyes finally focused, they were looking into Hercules’ concerned face. "Hi," she said softly.
"Hi yourself," he returned. He was still looking worried about her. He reached for the cup of tea Kora had left. "Here. Drink this." He helped her raise her head so she could sip the drink. Then he lowered her back down still not taking his anxious gaze from her.
"Hercules, don’t look at me like that," she said getting uncomfortable in his stare. "I’m fine." She tried to move and found she was in too much pain to do anything. She sucked in her breath. "Or I will be."
"What happened out there?"
"You were there, you tell me!" she shot back at him. She immediately regretted yelling at him. "I’m sorry, but you don’t have to concern yourself with me. I’ll be fine." She tried to get up again only to have Hercules gently push her back down. "No, you’re not fine," Hercules confronted her. "What’s going on with you, Denaea?"
"Nothing," she answered him trying to brush it off.
"Nothing," he repeated. "Nothing doesn’t make you pass out. Nothing doesn’t get you totally exhausted after doing one drill. Nothing doesn’t need Lilith to hold you up when you can’t stand on your own."
Denaea wondered how long he had been watching her to notice that stuff and was annoyed with herself for not hiding it better.
"Please, Denaea, tell me what’s going on. I want to help you."
Hearing the sincerity and concern in his voice, Denaea let the tears she’d been holding back fall freely down her cheeks. "I don’t think there’s anything anyone can do for me."
"Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?" He picked up her hand and kissed it then held it to his chin.
She began spilling out all the things she had told Lilith about her family and her condition. She could hardly stop crying when she told him about how she used to be so healthy and happy playing warriors with her brothers. "It’s been hard for me to make and keep any friends since this started happening to me," she explained. "I’ll understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore. I mean, after the way I kept something like this a secret from you." She turned her head away so she didn’t have to look at the relief on his face at being able to get out of the relationship.
She felt a gentle hand under her chin, turning her face back around. She looked into his eyes. His expression was that of seriousness. "Now why would I drop you as a friend?" he asked. "It takes a little more than keeping a secret from me to do that."
Denaea relaxed a little and smiled at him. "Thanks," she told him. "It’s nice to know I have at least one person who cares about me."
Hercules bent down closer to her. "You know I do," he whispered as he closed the gap between them. Their lips met in a sweet and tender kiss.
They broke apart at the same time smiling at each other. The moment seemed magical to Denaea and she didn’t want to disturb it but she felt like she had to say something. "Wow!" she said breathlessly. "I’ve never been kissed by a half-god before." She smiled as she continued looking into his deep blue eyes. She didn’t say anything for a moment then asked, "Can I ask you something?" Denaea was serious again. When Hercules nodded, she continued, "Do you like me because you feel sorry for me?" Hercules just stared at her for a moment with a half-confused half-hurt expression on his face, not saying anything. "It doesn’t matter to me what your answer is," she told him, shaking her head. She shrugged her shoulders. "I just want to know."
"I liked you before I knew," Hercules said, "and I like you even more now. It’s not the illness. I do feel sorry that you have to go through this but it’s your strength and your courage that drew me to you."
Denaea smiled in relief. Now she felt she could finally relax and be herself around her new friends.
"Are you strong enough to walk back to the academy now?" Hercules asked. "The sun is almost down and we need to get going."
"Yeah, I think so," Denaea answered him. "Help me up." It took all the strength she had not to cry out in pain when Hercules helped her to her feet. Her ribs hurt very badly. "Hercules, the next time Mesosticles wants to fight…"
"Yeah?"
"You do it!" she laid it out to him. "He hits hard." Hercules laughed at her wit. Denaea tried to laugh with him but found it a little difficult without a lot of pain. "Ooh, don’t make me laugh," she grimaced, "it hurts." She grabbed around her middle as if holding the hurt ribs would ease the pain.
"Let’s get you back so Cheiron can take care of those ribs," Hercules said putting his arm around her waist.
"No!" Denaea practically shouted, stopping in her tracks. When Hercules looked confused, she explained, "I don’t want Cheiron to know about my illness. At least not yet anyway. In fact, I don’t want anyone else to know about it, including Jason and Iolaus."
"What! Why?"
"I’m just not ready to deal with everyone’s reactions and questions right now," she told him.
"So what do we tell Cheiron about your injuries?" Hercules asked.
"We can tell him the truth up to a point," she figured. "I got into a fight with Mesosticles and he got in a good shot." Hercules looked skeptical. "What? It’s not lying to him. It’s just omitting parts of the story." Hercules still looked skeptical. "Please, Hercules? I’m only asking you to keep this a secret until I can tell Cheiron in my own way."
"Alright," he relented, "but you’ll tell him soon, right? You can’t go on like this forever, Denaea. Regardless of if we tell him, he’ll eventually find out."
"I know," Denaea said. She leaned on Hercules to help gain her balance. "Now, let’s get back to academy before we get into anymore trouble." She let Hercules help her down the stairs of the inn and back to the academy.
"What happened here?" Cheiron asked when they walked back in to the dorm a short while later.
"Uh, Denaea was in a fight at Kora’s," Hercules spoke up before Denaea could.
Cheiron raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Care to explain further?"
"Uh," Denaea looked uneasy, "not really but here goes." She took a deep breath and began speaking very fast. "We were getting ready to come back from Kora’s and a bully named Mesosticles wanted me to stay and wouldn’t take no for an answer. I told him I wouldn’t but he said he’d fight Hercules to make me stay." When Cheiron didn’t interrupt, she continued, "Anyway, we went outside because Kora didn’t want any trouble inside and I told Hercules to let me handle it because bully’s like that have to know they can’t push people around. I beat him but not before he got a good rib shot in on me." She looked sheepishly at her teacher. "I think they might be broken."
"Hercules, get her to the infirmary," he told him. As they walked away, he added, "then I want to see you in my office." Hercules turned slightly and nodded.