ATALANTA AND THE CENTAURS

In the classics, Atalanta, daughter of Prince Maenalus, kills the centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus with her bow and arrows when they try to rape her.  This remains the case in Part Three of my novel with a slight variation.  After Atalanta shoots the centaurs in self-defense, their brothers Pholus and Eurytus attack her and leave her for dead while Maenalus, her father, looks on and does nothing.  Here’s how the following scene might read in a screenplay: 

 

 Pholus:  As I see it, Maenalus, blame rests on both sides.  You’ve lost a daughter and we’ve lost our brothers.  We’ll claim that they perished in the wilderness, and profess to know nothing about what happened to your daughter if you agree to do the same. 

 

Maenalus (bitterly):  I bear no blame in this.   

 

Eurytus: (Jumping to his feet and grabbing Maenalus by the throat):   Agree, you pile of royal shit, or I’ll stake you to this grave and leave you for the wolves, or to the Macedonians -- whoever finds you first! 

 

Pholus (Intervening, rescuing Maenalus):  Enough!  We’re done with fighting.  Be reasonable, Prince.  Whether you like it or not, you are a part of this.  Agree or we’ll accuse you and your daughter of murdering our brothers.” 

 

Maenalus dusts himself off and grudgingly agrees.  The three men set out at daybreak, forsaking the main road for the dusty, dung-littered trace to Strymon’s river, leaving the bodies of Rhoecus and Hylaeus to molder in an unmarked grave.