“Stop,” Hecate said firmly.
“My lady?” Askalaphos pointed at the tiny sapling. “It’s just a weed, and it’ll become a mighty big one if I don’t pull it now.”
“Let it become what it will, Askalaphos. If you see more like it, leave them untouched as well,” she said. “Don't let anyone touch them.”
“Lady Hecate, do you know what they are?”
She remembered the rush of imagery that had come to her yesterday as she had counseled Aidoneus. The flashes had been vivid, but understanding had escaped her. “I do not. But let them grow just the same.”
Aidon took Persephone to the edge of the garden, replete with blossom after blossom of asphodel. White poplar trees shaded the boundaries of the garden, set inside the tall stone walls. Gray mist, unmoving, hung high overhead. Beyond the garden, a gray field stretched on to the horizon, cut in half by a thin black river snaking toward them.
Persephone looked out over the field, and thought of her mother kneeling down and ripping these same plants from her shrine. She had known this entire time. When Demeter saw the asphodel growing where her precious Kore had slept, her mother had known who was coming for her. Why didn’t she tell me?
She reached out and brushed her hand across one of the asphodel buds, expecting it to open for her. The white petals remained closed and motionless. She chewed on her lip and tried again. Still nothing.
Persephone took a couple wide steps to catch up with Aidoneus, who was following the garden path to a large ebony gate. The gate to the garden creaked, and a man clad in black held it open for them. After they passed through, he closed it behind them and limped to the wall to retrieve a crooked herder’s staff. A flat expanse of gray earth stretched before them. Here and there, clumps of the white flowers grew out of the rocky soil.
“Menoetes, my friend, how are you? How’s the leg?” Aidon said with a smile.
“Well, milord; doing better today. But that ram they gave us did a real number on me,” he said, smiling with missing teeth at Persephone. “And your ladyship must be…”
“Kor—Persephone,” she said. The herdsman bowed to her, favoring his leg as he clung to his staff. She was struck by the fact that Aidon addressed everyone by name— even his gardener and bondsman— called them ‘friend’ when he spoke to them, and asked after each of them.
“My Queen,” Menoetes replied before Aidoneus and Persephone walked on.
The plain itself was as bountiful with the dark stalks of asphodel as the garden. While the garden hosted rows of carefully pruned flowers, these grew wild and unruly, their roots thick and tangled. From the corner of her eye, Persephone saw a translucent white hand reach around a tall stalk, followed by short curls of brown hair, a stubbly beard, and finally a set of gray eyes peering out at her. She gasped and turned to look, but the ghostly face startled and vanished into a dark mist, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
…the Land of the Dead… Words from long ago teased her memory …drink no wine, eat no bread…
A young woman with pale skin, clad in a long black chiton, her hair bound up with black ribbon, stepped out from between two more stalks, absently twirling a white flower in her hand. Persephone could nearly see through her, and stopped for a moment to watch her. A serene smile lit the face of the shade as she pulled the anthers from the bloom. She glanced up at Persephone with a surprised gasp that melted into a soft smile. The woman cast her eyes downward and drew out the skirts of her chiton as she dipped into low curtsy. Rising again, she faded into a smoky mist that wafted back into the stalks of asphodel behind her, the flower falling from her hand to rest on the ground.
Lord Hades rules the Land of the Dead, where they drink no wine and eat no bread…
When Persephone was a child in Nysa, she and Artemis and all the Olympian children were taught simple rhymes to memorize the names and domains of the immortals. Before today, those long forgotten lines from her childhood were all she had ever known about her new husband, betrothed to her since she was in Demeter’s womb. Why didn’t you tell me?
Pale shades of mortals clad in black flitted between the plants, appearing one moment, and vanishing into mist the next. Two middle aged women looked at her and whispered, smiling. Both knelt to the ground as Persephone and Aidoneus walked past. An old man leaning against a staff clutched his hand to the front of his black himation and silently mouthed ‘at last’. He bowed low before vanishing. Five young women, three carrying newborns and two with empty arms, traipsed across their path. The childless women silently fawned over the shade infants, then disappearing into the flowers as quickly as they appeared.
“Are those mothers who died on the birthing bed?” Persephone asked Aidon, remembering the Eleusinian woman and what her mother had said about the mortal’s fate.
“There are too many,” he said grimly. “Far too many if you ask me. You’d think the mortals would have solved that by now.”
As they walked on through the fields, Persephone gathered a single white flower from each plant she passed and wove them into her hair. Aidon’s mouth curved into an amused smile as she did it almost unconsciously, fashioning a beautiful crown from the flowers of his realm. They heard a desperate bleat behind them, and a black lamb bolted past them and away into the fields, becoming a blur of rustling asphodel. “You have sheep? How did they get here?”
“Mortals do not build temples to me, as they did for you, and they rarely pray to me.” He placed his arm around her shoulder, trying to match pace with her smaller steps as they walked on. “But when they do, they send me their black sheep, and Menoetes takes care of them. It’s why all of the cloth woven in this realm is black.”
Persephone looked down at her own gown. “Aidon, would you mind if I changed mine?”
“Of course not,” he said, smiling as he heard her say his name. He spread his arm to show her the color of his himation. “I keep mine gray, after all.”
Aidon looked on as white framed in dark vermillion swirled across her gown to match the asphodel in her hair and throughout the open field.
“There we are!” Persephone smiled and smoothed down the edges of the chiton before looking up at Aidon, who stood transfixed, his eyes glinting as he shook his head in adoration.
“You’re beautiful.” Aidon pushed the same wayward lock of hair behind her ear, and brushed his fingers down her neck.
She stared up at him, the nervous smile on her face melting into desire as his fingers trailed slowly over her collarbone. Persephone felt his hand come up to her cheek again as her head tilted up, his face moving toward her.
A growl broke the silence, followed by loud baying. The ground started to shake. She turned chalk white in horror as a great monster came galloping toward them, its three dark heads baring sharp white teeth.
“Cerberus, down!” Aidon yelled out.
Persephone backed up and felt her feet start to carry her away. She picked up her long skirts and ran as hard as her legs could move, sharp gravel punishing her feet through her sandals. She didn't care.
One cannot just cross the River here…
The thin black river. It lay just up ahead. The field was hidden by mist, but now, caverns were visible beyond. Passageways to the upper world. She could run away back home. It was just a little further…
Aidon’s back was still to her. He patted one of the heads of the enormous hound. Another head yawned. “There, you see? He’s— Persephone?”
He saw her running headlong toward the river Lethe.
“Persephone! Stop! Don’t touch the water!”
She looked behind her to see him running after her, yelling for her. The great beast sat in the field behind him, blood red tongues lolling out of its mouths. She ran harder. She was almost to the river. She was going to go home, and be free of this gray waste. Persephone would feel the sun and the wind, see the green fields and her mother again. She had so many questions for her…
It was such a shallow stream; the silted bottom w
as clearly visible even at the widest part. She could cross it easily. Persephone dipped one foot into the water, then the other and… it was warm. Why was she standing here? She heard someone in the distance saying a name. The water was warm. Why was she here? The water was warm…
Aidon leaned forward and grabbed her wrist, dragging her dead weight from the shallows of the Lethe and back to the shore as her heels scraped across the ground. He knelt with her in his arms. Her body was limp and her eyes stared off into nothing.
“No…” he whispered. “Fates, no… please… Persephone, wake up! Persephone…”
Kore looked out at the gray sky and the endless field. White flowers covered everything. Someone was holding her and shaking her. She heard her other name as though it were coming from the bottom of a well. Kore knew that voice. It was closer to her now. She turned toward him, “Aidon?”
“Persephone…” Relief washed over him. Aidon held her against him, her arms slowly starting to move. “Thank the Fates…”
“You… came for me? Oh, I knew you would come!” she said, clumsily throwing her arms around him, still disoriented. He looked down at her, shocked as she continued. “But it’s not sunset yet.”
He gently broke their embrace and looked into her eyes. “Persephone, what do you remember?”
“I wasn’t expecting you so soon. I was just about to visit my garden but… this place isn’t Nysa,” she said, scanning the horizon. Kore saw a palace in the distance, set against a hillside, a waterfall cascading next to it. “Wait— I am with you. Is this where you live?”
Aidoneus relaxed and sat back. She wasn’t lost to him; she had just forgotten the past day. He could still save her memories. Relieved, he stroked her hair. “Yes, sweet one. You are with me in my kingdom… Persephone, you—”
“Aidon!” She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his neck. “I thought you were only in my dreams, or I was going mad, but… you’re here. You’re real… Now I can finally see you in the light and— and you’re beautiful and…” she said, smoothing a hand across his chest, then stopped. “No, beautiful isn't the word. It is, but, you’re a man, after all. Handsome! Yes that’s the word.” Kore looked down the length of her as she lay in his arms. “Did you give me this dress?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
Kore brushed her hands over a glittering ruby and garnet narcissus fibula pinned at her shoulder and stared down at the diaphanous fabric clinging to her legs. “Why is it all wet?”
“We need to get away from here. You need to drink from the Mnemosyne pool.”
“Where did you go?”
“What?”
“In the grove just now we— I had just…” she blushed and looked back up at him. “You were going to say something to me. At least it sounded like you were going to, but then you went away.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said, holding her. “Persephone, I wanted so badly to stay with you, but I was forced to come back here. I— there was something that I needed to do immediately.”
“So you didn’t leave because of me?”
“No, of course not,” he kissed her forehead. “But, right now we need to stand up and—”
“Wait before we go, just… stay. Please hold me,” Kore said as her hand slipped under the folds of his himation and stroked his collarbone, running her hand over his skin and tracing the edge of his tunic down to his chest. She could feel Aidon’s heart beating faster, and ran a finger back up the vein throbbing in his neck. She heard his breath hitching.
He whispered to her. “Please… Persephone—”
She cradled his face in her hand then leaned up and whispered in his ear. “I love you.”
A flash of hot, unwanted tears stung his eyes. Aidoneus tried to force them back, his voice choking. “Sweet one… we need to leave this place. Here— stand up with me.”
He rose and took her with him. Kore staggered forward, losing her balance, and leaned against his chest as he held her. Aidon braced his feet to hold her up. She peppered any piece of his exposed skin she could find with small kisses, her lips dancing along his neck and collarbone. Each press of her lips stoked the fires raging beneath his skin. Her breath came out in a warm whisper against his neck. “You make me feel so alive. I know you feel the same…”
She pressed her thigh into his groin. Aidon cursed himself and the growing hardness she had deliberately sought out as she rubbed against him. Persephone still wobbled on her feet and he supported her and held her close. The heat of her body through their clothes became a delicious torture. Persephone pressed against him again and heard him hiss through his teeth. Her lips brushed past his.
“My husband…”
Aidon captured her lips in a fevered kiss, inhibition dissolved, and heard her moan into his mouth. Her hands traveled down his chest as she fitted herself closer to his body. He embraced her, all sound drowned out by the blood coursing through him.
The cautionary voice that would have stopped him from kissing her was extinguished when her tongue snaked out against his teeth. He opened his mouth and deepened their kiss, pulling her against him. Kore trailed her hands down his stomach, feeling him tense and jump at her touch.
How terrible could it be if she doesn’t remember how you brought her here? Look at her. Feel her. She is yours and she wants you. You could have her here and now…
Her hand reached lower, making him gasp. She whispered against his lips. “Lie with me. Make me yours.”
Aidoneus broke off the kiss and stepped away from her, gently prying her off him. “I can’t. I— Persephone, I can’t…”
“You don’t want me?” Kore said, her face falling.
“Sweet one, I do want you. Powerfully. But not here; not like this.” He held out his hand to her. “Come with me.”
Kore walked after him, her hand in his as they traveled through the silent field, passing one bunch of white flowers after another. They were nearly out of breath when they came to a pool reflecting the gray mist above, its shores ringed in white poplars.
“This may be easier if you’re lying down,” Aidon said. She blushed and the corner of her mouth twisted up before he realized what he had just said. “No, no… you need to drink the water, and the effects will be very strong and very sudden.”
“Why do I need to?”
“Please trust me,” Aidoneus said as he dipped the edge of his himation in the cold waters of the Mnemosyne pool. He watched her comply, lying on the flat stone embankment. A soft, expectant smile lit up her face and she closed her eyes. He shook his head at himself. Even now, she thought he was trying to coyly seduce her.
Cradling the wet fabric, he sat behind her. Aidon propped her up in his lap with her head leaned back against his chest and stroked a hand over her forehead to relax her. “Here; just a few drops. I’ll be right here with you.”
She opened her mouth and felt the cool water hit the back of her throat, then gasped and coughed. Stars trailed in her vision, then rushed through her in blinding white light. She shook violently, and Aidon wrapped his arms tightly around her. Everything around her disappeared and fell away. She could hear his calm voice echoing, as though it were emanating from the center of her. “I’ve got you… I’ve got you. It will be all right. Shhh…”
Her mind wound back to her first memories of her mother. The taste of ambrosia. Olympus. Meeting her father. The fields. The flowers. The harvests. The wedding she witnessed. The man who held her close that night. Let me look at you. The field of Nysa. Aidon. The cypress grove. Your bridal crown. The flower in her garden that split the earth. The chariot. The searing heat. The dark of Erebus. Her legs wrapped around his waist. Hades. Caressing her. Kissing her. I wish there were more time. The pain. Pleasure. Kore no more. Running into the Lethe. Memories escaping. Holding herself against Aidoneus. I love you…
Persephone’s entire body screamed as she turned to the side, curling her knees to her chest and crumpling against Aidon. He embraced her, his hand smoothing over her arm
s to comfort her through wrenching sobs. She went limp and shuddered against him at the onslaught of memories. He rocked her from side to side in his embrace, his head leaned down against hers, until she had no tears left.
After she had been silent for a moment, he stood her up carefully and looked into her eyes. “Let’s go home.”
8.
Aidon held Persephone about the waist during their walk back to the palace, in case she faltered, and looked down at her tear-stained face. She looked ahead silently, leaning on him periodically to regain her balance. The rush of the falls grew louder, and the gray mist above them began to dim as they approached the gates.
“What happened to me?” she finally asked.
“You walked into the river Lethe. Its waters are drunk by the shades to erase the memories of their lives and the pain of their death when they first arrive. They cross over it and drink it once more when they are reborn to the world of the living.”
“And that pond?”
“The Mnemosyne— where all lost memories go.”
Persephone puzzled over this for a moment, then gasped and shrank back against Aidoneus as the great black beast from the field loomed into view. He was lying down next to the outer door, a low whine emanating from each of his three heads when he saw her.
“Persephone, it’s all right,” Aidon said, holding her. “Don’t be scared. It’s just my dog.”
“Your… that’s a dog?!”
“Mostly.” He lifted his thumb and index finger to his lips and whistled twice. The three heads lifted up. “Cerberus! Cerberus, this is Persephone. Say hello.”
Cerberus jumped up and trotted over to them before crouching down. He lowered two heads and raised one, lolling out a panting tongue. The beast’s shoulder was as tall as Persephone when he was lying down.
“He won’t hurt you,” Aidon said, reaching a hand out to pet him. Persephone inched closer and gingerly reached out her hand. It met short wiry fur. She ran her hands through it, then stepped back with a start as the creature rolled over on its back, snorting.
Receiver of Many Page 10
