blood stain

The woods are so deep, Orestes thought.

The deep forest can often breed terrible beasts, lurking countless dangers.

Orestes is now confronting a brown bear more than two meters tall.There is a sharp short blade pinned to his waist, which can pierce through the thick fur layer of the beast and penetrate into the flesh.But he didn't dare to act rashly now, he and the beast were testing each other within a short distance of less than ten meters.He was sure that as long as he moved a little bit, the bear would kill him before he could draw the dagger.

—It seems that he shouldn't have come to this forest.

The brown bear seemed to have gradually lost patience. It began to raise its paw and took a tentative step forward. However, its bright black eyes were still fixed on Orestes' head. It could crush the prey in one bite. skull.

Orestes took a slow, deep breath, thinking he might die from it.

Perhaps this is God's will.

Orestes resignedly closed his eyes, waiting for death to come.

The next moment, there was a roar of a beast in front of him, resounding through the sky, and even the surrounding vegetation seemed to be shaken by this fierce and angry roar.

Orestes couldn't help covering his ears in discomfort, and when the sound subsided a little, he felt a huge object crashing down in front of him.

"Are you okay?" A gentle female voice came from next to his ear, Orestes opened his eyes, and a woman with long dark brown hair stood in front of him.

This is naturally not the person that brown bear turned into.

Orestes knew it, straightened his robe, and asked politely: "Beautiful lady, did you save me?"

Helen laughed out loud and shook her head: "I'm not some lady, my name is Helen, and it wasn't me who saved you, it was that person." She turned sideways and pointed not far away.

Only then did Orestes see that the bear that was about to eat him just now had fallen to the ground, with two arrows stuck in its chest.A man with a broad back and a narrow waist was kneeling beside the brown bear, cutting open its stomach with a knife, and pulling out its internal organs one by one.

Orestes frowned unconsciously, his stomach churning.

Sensing Orestes' discomfort, Helen explained sheepishly: "We came here to hunt, and we happened to meet you." She paused, "Well...take out the internal organs, and it will be easier to memorize."

Orestes nodded with an understanding smile.

Although there were a few bloodstains and mud stains on his face, his innate handsomeness and temperament couldn't be concealed.

Helen felt a little palpitation.

"It's almost done, Helen, let's go." At this moment, the tall man finally finished handling the internal organs, stood up and shouted.

"Ah, then this one..." Helen turned her head and looked at Orestes suspiciously.

Orestes smiled back, but didn't intend to say his name.

Helen could only ask: "We're leaving, what about this friend, Hector?"

The man called Hector glanced up and down at Orestes.

Orestes also took a quick look at the blond man.

"Let him go." Hector threw down an incomprehensible sentence, then grabbed the corpse's two front paws, and threw it onto his back forcefully. He pushed the bear's head on his head, looking like a mighty gladiator , the blood of the loser soaked the fabric of his back.

"How rude." Orestes couldn't help but comment in his heart.

"Helen, we have to get out of here quickly. Soon other beasts will find this place following the smell of blood." Hector urged.

Helen looked at Orestes worriedly: "Then what should you do alone?"

Orestes smiled: "It's okay, let's go." Contrary to his smile, a moment of disappointment flashed in his lowered eyes.

Helen caught Orestes' helplessness, and she worried: "It's too dangerous for you to be alone. We just go to the city to sell our prey, why don't you come with us?"

"Can I really?" The light came back to Orestes' eyes.

"Of course, how can I leave you here alone?" Helen smiled.

Orestes looked at Hector, who was silent at the side, and said embarrassedly: "That can only disturb the two of you."

Hector looked away before making eye contact with Orestes, and turned around blankly: "Stop talking nonsense, let's go."

The city of Argos is extremely lively today, with people coming and going on the streets. After Hector and Helen sold the bear skin and paws to the vendors, they carried the rest of the meat and prepared to go back.

"The front seems to be blocked." Helen stretched her neck and looked around.

"Why are there so many people on the street today?" Hector frowned, turned his back, and walked into the crowd.

Helen also followed.

Orestes' eyes darkened a little, he lowered the hood on his head, and followed the two of them leisurely.

Hector smelled heavily of blood, and everyone else pinched their noses and stayed away.He is tall and can easily see things in front of him outside the human wall.

It turned out that there was a row of arrest warrants posted on the wall.

Hector glanced, his brows furrowed even tighter.

"What's going on?" Helen patted Sol's arm and asked.

"Our king Agam was killed yesterday." Hector said with a heavy tone.

"Ah, what is this terrible news!" Helen covered her half-open mouth in surprise, and asked after a while, "Who killed it?"

Hector paused for two seconds: "Our honorable second prince."

"This...how is this possible?" Helen couldn't believe it. She heard that the second prince was a gentle and kind person, and he would smile as clear as spring water to everyone he met.

Helen pushed through the crowd, wanting to see for herself if this was true.

However, Hector didn't lie to her. The arrest warrant clearly stated the second prince's crimes, and it was the eldest princess of Asgard, Electra, who initiated the arrest warrant.

It seems that this can not be wrong.

There was also a portrait of the second prince attached to the arrest warrant. Helen stared at it. It was indeed as rumored. It was a handsome young man with a faint smile on his mouth. Even the worst painter in the city would be able to Draw his affectionate eyes.

No one would associate such a man with a patricide.

Helen stared at the portrait for a while, and felt more and more that the person in the painting seemed to have seen it somewhere.

Suddenly, she turned around in horror and searched the crowd.

In the end, her gaze fixed on a figure outside the crowd.

Even the baggy robe couldn't cover the man's slender and tall figure, and the loose hood covered the upper half of his face, leaving only the high bridge of the nose and thin lips.

While Helen was still hesitating in shock, Hector had already come to the man's side.

"You are Orestes." Hector said to the man who hid himself well.

Orestes smiled slightly, raised his head and admitted, "It's me."

The face under the hood is still only half visible, and his eyebrows and eyes cannot be seen.

Hector lowered his voice and said with a serious expression: "Why do you..."

Orestes interrupted him: "Are you planning to take me back to the palace?"

Hector froze for two seconds, and then gave the answer: "Yes."

"Hector!" Helen came behind Hector at some point. She glanced at Orestes, tugged at Hector's clothes, and whispered, "What if there is any misunderstanding..."

Hearing this, the corners of Orestes' mouth lifted slightly.

Hector turned to Helen: "You want to let him go?"

Helen was silent for a while, then nodded.

"Helen, you have to think clearly, if what we let go is really a sinner in this country, we will be condemned by God."

"But we saved him in the forest, isn't it God's arrangement?" Helen became more and more certain, "If he really committed such a sin, then God should let him die in the forest directly."

Hector looked into Helen's eyes, finally convinced.He turned around, glanced at Orestes, and said coldly: "Those who committed the crime of blood stains will be punished and cleansed, and you cannot escape." After speaking, he pulled Helen and turned around to prepare to leave.

"If I hadn't killed Agam, would you believe it?" Orestes said unhurriedly when Hector turned around.

Hector's footsteps stopped, and Helen looked back at Orestes expectantly.

"Everything you do, God can see clearly, and He will judge."

Hector didn't say another word.

Two days passed.The weather was good that day, and Hector was going to go out to hunt some prey and store it for the winter.

Helen and Hector grew up together, childhood sweethearts.Although she is a girl, she is not inferior to a man. She came to Hector's house early and waited.

Since that day, Helen has been worried about Orestes, but there is no news that the second prince was arrested, and that person should have escaped.

"Helen, pay attention." Hector reminded in a low voice.There is a deer in the bushes in the distance. If you are not careful, you will be scared away.

Helen retracted her mind and nodded.

Hector drew his bowstring, ready to shoot an arrow into the deer's breast.

He has locked on to the target, and once the arrow leaves the string, he has never missed it.

The sharp arrow pierced the airflow and quickly passed through the gaps in the trees.

But this deer was more sensitive than ordinary deer. It pricked up its ears to listen to the wind and grass vigilantly, and then jumped into the deeper grass.

Helen sighed in disappointment.

But the arrow still seemed to hit something, and Hector heard a faint groan.

He pinned the bow behind his back, took a step with his long legs, and walked towards the grass.

"why is it you again?"

With a livid face, Hector knelt down to examine Orestes' wound.

"I said, why does this arrow look familiar?" Orestes forced a smile through his chapped lips, "So it's you."

Orestes leaned weakly against a tree, his calf grazed by an arrow.He half-opened his eyes, watching Hector pull out a small knife from his waist, and teased, "Are you going to cut me open?"

As if he didn't hear Orestes' words, Hector directly slashed open his clothes, tore a long strip of cloth, and then skillfully bandaged Orestes' wound layer by layer.

"Why are you here again?"

"I have nowhere to hide but this dreadful wood."

Hector looked up at Orestes, the prince was even more embarrassed than he had seen two days ago.It seems that the suffering he has suffered in the past two days is probably much more than the sum of his life since he was born.

Why did he kill his own father?

Hector didn't ask, whether this man named Orestes was a prince or a commoner, to him, he was just a stranger.

Orestes had lost consciousness, his eyes closed in a daze.

Seeing that Hector stayed there for a long time without moving, Helen walked over curiously. When she saw Orestes dying on the ground, she was shocked and panicked: "He, why is he here? We... Did he give him shot dead"

"No, just passed out temporarily. The arrow has been quenched with anesthesia." Hector pressed Orestes' neck to make sure there was still a pulse, then picked up the arrow on the ground and inserted it back into the arrow basket before standing up.

"Are we just leaving him here alone?" Helen looked at Hector suspiciously.

"Helen, he is not the same as us, not to mention he is still a wanted criminal." Seeing that Helen couldn't bear it, Hector reminded.

"However, if he continues to stay here, he will die!" Helen still made up his mind, "Let's take him back to heal his injuries."

"Are you crazy?" Hector disagreed, "He can kill even the closest relatives, who can guarantee that he will not be dangerous?"

"You..." Helen was momentarily at a loss for words.

"Don't worry about me, let's go." When the two were arguing, the man on the ground regained some consciousness and said softly.

"Orestes, did you hear that?" Helen asked nervously.

Hector stared at Orestes like a hawk.

Orestes lowered his face, unable to see his expression: "Hector is right, maybe I shouldn't have been born in this world in the first place."

"Orestes, don't think so..." Helen said distressed and guilty, and finally, she made up her mind, took Orestes' arm and lifted him from the ground.

"Helen!" Hector said in a deep voice.

"Hector, you shot the man, no matter what, you have to be responsible!"

Helen insisted on taking Orestes back despite Hector's obstruction.

Seeing that Helen was so persistent, Hector finally sighed helplessly, took off the bow and arrow on his back, handed it to Helen, then grabbed Orestes' arm from her hand, easily carried him behind his back, and walked in the direction of going back go.

Only then did Helen feel relieved, smiled, and followed behind with her arrow basket in her arms.

Orestes leaned weakly on Hector's generous back, leaned into his ear, and with a triumphant smile, whispered in a provocative tone: "Your woman is really kind."

Hector seemed to have expected it, and replied coldly: "You really are not a good person."

The author has something to say:

Blood Pollution:

In ancient Greece, killing relatives was an unjustifiable sin; even if the person had sufficient reasons, he still had to accept some form of punishment and necessary cleansing (and sometimes was investigated by the gods).The concept of blood stains based on primitive religion will bring unbearable psychological pressure to the parties involved.This can be seen clearly from legends and certain tragedies (such as "Orestes Trilogy" and "Oedipus the King", etc.).Even in the classical period (fifth to fourth centuries BC), this concept still dominated people's subconsciousness to a large extent, affecting people's thinking about religion and law. (For blood stains, please refer to Volume 9 of Plato's "Laws").