Lia White

Alkis Lia White

When King Polycarpos' wife dies, leaving him and his three sons alone, he is thrown into the depths of despair. The god Apollon sees this and gives Polycarpos the gift of a tree which grows three golden apples each year. Once a year one of the king's sons must travel to the tree in the Garden of Eternity and bring back the apples for their father. But each year, just when the apples are ripening, a thief gets into the garden and steals the apples. When both of his brothers fail, it becomes Prince Alkis' turn to retrieve the apples, though he is the youngest of the three sons. As the prince waits in the garden, watching for the fateful moment when the apples will turn from green to gold, he is alerted by the noise of what sounds like a giant stomping towards the precious tree. Alkis pursues the thief and finds the hole from which he came, a hole which leads straight down into the Underworld . . .