'You help a guy out and what do you get? Thrown in jail, that's what you get! What is it about me? Must be the company I keep. Okay, so, I'm not about to fight my way out of here, they really think I stole the crown jewels, sheesh - like I'd do a thing like that. So, I've just gotta wait until I can explain what really happened to somebody in charge - like the King or someone. They'll let me go and then I'll find that Autolycus fella and give him what for!'
Iolaus sat on the bench at the back of his cell, he'd been in worse prisons before and he wasn't really worried but he would have been happier to know that Hercules had arrived in town. Sighing and rubbing his rumbling stomach, Iolaus leaned back against the wall and said, "How do I get into trouble so easy?"
"Perhaps you should stop stealing other people's property."
Iolaus started, not having heard anyone enter the guard's room. He quickly stood and moved to the front of his cell to meet his visitor. He'd heard a woman's voice - a young woman's voice - Iolaus unconsciously straightened his back as he turned to face his visitor. Putting on his most charming smile he greeted her, "Hello, I'm Iolaus."
"Dirce. I'll be your representative at the trial."
"I get someone to be my defence? Wow, that's cool."
Dirce smiled quietly to herself and then remembering why she was there stepped closer to the prison bars. "Look Iolaus, tell me how you did it and I'll see what I can do to help you."
"You've already decided that I'm guilty!"
"That's irrelevant."
"Irrelevant! Irrelevant!" Iolaus blustered, unable to contain his anger. "My innocence or guilt is hardly irrelevant. And as it happens, I'm innocent!"
"That's nice." Dirce clearly hadn't heard what Iolaus had said, and was concentrating on a scroll that she was holding. "According to the Captain's report you were found with the chest of jewels at your feet, is that correct?"
"Well, yeah but..."
"And you denied all knowledge of the said jewels."
"Yes, I'd never seen them before."
Dirce smiled in just the same way a mother smiles at her errant son when she knows he's lying to her.
"I'm telling the truth! I was just helping this guy fight off some bandits, and next thing I know he's gone and your guards have surrounded me! I didn't know he was a thief!" Iolaus could hear his voice rising but he couldn't seem to help himself. Suddenly, somehow this all seemed to be getting way too serious. "What's going to happen?"
"Well, there'll be a trial, the King will find you guilty and you'll be executed." Dirce spoke in an off-hand manner not really recognising the impact her words would have on her client.
"But you'll get me off right? I mean I'm innocent. Right?" Iolaus didn't like the expression on the face of his companion.
"Oh, what? Hmm, oh yes, of course I will. You're innocent aren't you?" Iolaus nodded mutely. "Well, justice will prevail, good will overcome evil. Only the guilty will be executed." Dirce looked up at Iolaus for a moment, for the first time noticing the blue of his eyes and the soft lines around his mouth. Distracted by her thoughts she stared at him for a moment before remembering what she had been about to say. "Umm, oh, don't worry, I'm here to see that justice is served. Everything will be fine."
Dirce gathered up her scrolls and turned to leave, Iolaus called after her, "What happens next? When's the trial? Has anyone seen Hercules?" He hadn't meant to ask the last question, it had just popped out of his mouth unbidden. Clamping his lips together Iolaus decided that he was babbling and that was not a good thing.
Dirce looked back over her shoulder, "Who?"
Iolaus rolled his eyes, "Hercules, you know, big guy, muscles, son of Zeus."
"Oh, him. Haven't seen him, why?"
Iolaus sighed, "Oh no reason." Satisfied, Dirce left the guard's room. Iolaus returned to his uncomfortable seat muttering to himself. 'Oh, no, no reason. He's just supposed to be my partner, he just supposed to actually be there when I need him. Once in a blue moon would be good, now would be really good. Come on Herc, where've you got to?'
Iolaus fidgeted around on the bench until he was as comfortable as he could manage and then he picked up a thin stick that he'd found under the bench earlier. Sighing again he started making patterns in the dirt between his feet. What was it about Iolaus that he was always getting himself into trouble and waiting for Herc to get him back out again? Was he that pathetic? Was he that useless that he needed someone else to rescue him all the time? No, damn it, he wasn't. He could handle himself just fine, he knew he could. He'd just been caught off-guard this time. And anyway what would Herc have said if he'd fought off those guards? He'd have been madder than Hera at Iolaus for not respecting the laws of the kingdom.
Damn but that holier-than-anyone-else-he'd-ever-met stuff was rubbing off on him. If he weren't careful Iolaus would soon be known as Mister-Goody-Two-Shoes. Iolaus chuckled to himself and grinned. That was never going to happen.
Iolaus looked down at the pattern he'd been making in the dirt and narrowed his eyes in contemplation. It was the shape of his talisman, now why had he done that? Iolaus took the hard stone of the talisman in his hand and pulled it over his head to look at it. He rubbed his fingers over its cold surface and remembered seeing it around the neck of his father. This small piece of carved stone was Iolaus' only physical link to his family. His father was dead and he didn't have the courage to visit his mother. It had been years, how could she ever forgive him? How could he ever forgive himself? And now, it was starting to look as if he wouldn't have the chance. He'd never get to tell his mother that he was sorry, or that he loved her.
Iolaus shook his head, angry with himself for this defeatist attitude, "While there's breath there's hope." he spoke aloud to give the words strength, and taking one last look at his talisman he dropped it over his head again.
Just then the door to the guard's room opened and a familiar tall figure entered.
'It's about time. What's the point in being best friends with a demi-god if he's never there when you need him.' Iolaus got up from his bench and moved to the bars, grabbing hold of them with his hands and looking up at his buddy. Suddenly, he felt an awful lot better.
The End
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