Bellerophon

**Bellerophon** was the victim in Saddle Up! (Case #34 of Graecita).

## Profile

Bellerophon was a resurrected Greek prince and hero who had ginger hair, blue eyes and a tan complexion. At the time of his death he was bare-chested, wearing a light blue shendyt, a colorful embodied necklace and arm cuffs made of cold and sapphire.

## Murder details

The tribe welcomed the group with open arms and they entertained the crew with their activities. The belly dancers were teaching Madelina how to dance like them, the others were having their hands painted with henna and the men of the tribe were showing off their falcons to the boys. Meanwhile, Mia was having trouble with traders trying to sell stuff to her. Eventually, she decided to ask a random tribal woman about Circe by giving her a brief description of her appearance and the woman responded by telling her that the description she gave fits their leader’s fiancée, “Shaheen”. Wondering if “Shaheen” was actually Circe under a different name, Mia was about to ask the woman where they could find their leader, but was interrupted by Miguel Huizar, who shouted that there is a dead body at the stables. This made the Bedouins panic so Mia rushed to the stables with Zachary where they found a dead man on the ground with his skull smashed. When Zachary and Mia saw the victim, the first thing they noticed is that he was neither Arab nor does he seem to be from their generation judging by his Greco-clothes. The crime scene was soon crowded by Bedouins and among them was their tribal leader, Anir Aznag. Anir was shocked when he saw the body, identifying the man as Bellerophon, a name which Zachary recognized as that of a Greek hero who slayed the Chimera. According to Hasuro, the killer used a horse to kill Bellerophon, who they later learned was his own winged horse, Pegasus.

## Killer and motives

In the end, Bellerophon’s killer turned out to be Af’aa Althueban. Zachary and Mia head to the village to arrest Af’aa but she was nowhere to be found. They decide to ask one of the other belly dancers where she is and were told that she went Cyrene. Assuming she was trying to run away from punishment, the duo quickly go there and began yelling her name. Suddenly they hear a hiss, and it was coming from the ruins of the Temple of Demeter. Curious, the duo head there and they find Af’aa waiting for them there with a smirk on her face. To their surprise, Af’aa throws away her jacket and begins dancing. She stares at them as she hides behind a column before turning her back on them and she takes off her top. She turns to face them again, using her arms to cover her breasts and she smirks again. She turns her back on them again and she continues dancing, eventually posing and she completes the look by pulling down her skirt. But she did not have the lower body of a woman- Instead of being fleshy, her behind was scaly. Zachary feels something tickling his legs and when he looks down- He sees a dragon’s tail. Realizing what Af’aa actually was, he mutters “Echidna”. “Af’aa” stares at them again but this time with yellows eyes and begins breathing fire at them. Zachary and Mia dodge the attack and they start to run.

## Trivia

* Bellerophon is an actual figure in Greek Mythology.
* Bellerophon was modeled by Moses (portrayed by Charles Heston) from the 1956 epic religion drama film, *The Ten Commandments.*

## Gallery

Arethusa, Bellerophon’s ex-girlfriend.”Af’aa Althueban”, Bellerophon’s killer.