“Is that a smile I see, my lady?” the mortal servant woman asked. “It is, I declare.”
Then without warning, the woman raised her hands to her face, struck her fingers in the edges of her mouth, and distorted the features of her face. Demeter laughed, though she had not wanted to, but this woman had made it so. How good it felt to smile again! The mortal Queen approached her with a babe in her arms; the goddess took the sleeping baby in her arms as the Queen spoke once more.
“My daughters tell me that you are in need of work, Mistress Doso. I can give you work caring for my ailing son.”
“I will care for your son as if he were my own,” the goddess promised.
The Queen herself led Demeter to a small nursery where the child lived. A servant was tending the fire, singing the praises of Hestia as she did so. The goddess took a seat in front of the fireplace and called for some herbs to be brought to her. Her words were immediately answered by the Queen’s servants.
“Our stores of these herbs are small,” a servant apologized when she arrived.
“The amounts are good,” the goddess said. “My brother’s son once showed me how to make a little amount go a long way.”
The servant bowed and retreated from the room. The goddess set the child aside to fix the potion that Apollo had shown her how to make. She fed it to the child the next time he came awake and every time after that until his fever vanished.
Her days melded together. With no windows in this room, she could not tell whether it was day or night. She could not sleep; not once had she allowed the darkness swallow her since her daughter had vanished nor would she until she had Kore back at her side.
The boy-child cheered her heart; the mortals called him Demophon. She liked the name, but mostly she liked how the boy smiled up at her whenever he was awake. How wonderful it would be to have this child by her side for eternity, she thought. She could make him immortal, she decided, but she waited until he gained his strength.
After several more days passed, the boy was strong enough. She built up the fire as best as her talents allowed. She listened to the noises outside the nursery door; the goddess learned when the people at the palace were asleep by the level of noise outside. When it had been silent for several moments, she stripped the clothing off the child piece by piece, and held the child above the fire to burn his mortal flesh away. It would be a lengthy process unfortunately. It was going to take days for the process to be complete.
Night after night Demeter burned away the mortal flesh of the boy-child until one night a scream at the nursery door pulled her out of the spell. The goddess turned to see the mortal Queen at the door, her face pale as death itself and a piercing cry escaping her lips. The boy-child joined his cries with that of her mother. The Queen rushed into take the child from Demeter’s grip.
“My son,” the mortal woman yelled.
Demeter threw off her cloak, revealing herself as a goddess. The Queen collapsed to her knees, her arms clutched armed the infant. “Foolish mortal woman,” Demeter spat. “I am Demeter of Olympus. Your interference has offended me.”
An instant later the mortal king came running into the chamber and the goddess pointed at the mortal who joined his wife on the floor. She took two long strides in his direction.
“Mortal King,” she bellowed. “This discourtesy your wife has shown me can be redeemed. The people of Eleusis will build me a temple below the citadel where you will learn the rites to win back my favor.”
Chapter 4
Her commands for a temple were obeyed immediately. Demeter retired there almost as soon as the first wall was raised. The people toiled around her as if they did not see her. She was clinging to the base where the mortals planned to erect her statue when the first of visitors from Olympus came. One of her brother’s messengers, a minor goddess named Iris, came to her side.
“Father Zeus commands you to come to Olympus,” the messenger told her.
“Tell my brother and King that I will not come, no matter how many times he commands it until my daughter is returned to me.”
Iris vanished on her rainbow, and one by one, the other gods came to her side, even Hephaestus with his limp, announced themselves at her side and asked her to join the gods on Olympus. And as each of her kin came, with their gifts and promises, Demeter turned them away. Then the days passed with none of the gods coming to her side. She hoped never to see them again, unless they returned her precious daughter to her. One day, the king of the mortals at Eleusis approached.
“My lady,” he said, “my apologies for disturbing you, but a woman has come asking for a moment of your time.”
“I will see no one,” Demeter snapped.
“Please, Lady Demeter,” a woman’s voice said from behind the mortal King. Demeter looked up to see Hecate, the goddess of witches and ghosts. “I beg for a moment of your time.”
“I grow tired of my brother’s promise, my friend. Unless you bring news of my daughter, leave me to my grief.”
The mortal King backed away as they goddess of witches stepped closer. “I have your daughter’s voice before, my lady Demeter, and I think I may have heard her scream not long ago. I thought nothing of it until Hermes brought me a message that Father Zeus called me to his side. He begged me to come to your side and ask that you rejoin your kin. As I was leaving, I heard the Lady Hestia say that Kore was missing.”
Demeter smiled, fresh tears falling down the sides of her face. At last, there was news of her daughter! If Hecate had a bit of information, who else might? Had the other gods known something that they had neglected to tell her? Not every god and goddess had come to her see her at her temple. The goddess came to her feet, and sighed. In her mind, she listed the names of every immortal who had begged her to answer Zeus’s summons, and at the moment she could only think of three: Helios the sun, Zeus who only seemed to leave Olympus if there was a mortal female in Hellas to woo, and her brother Hades who only left his dark realm when Zeus commanded it.
Only Hermes visited the Underworld, and Demeter feared that, if she visited her brother’s realm, she might be tempted to eat the food of the dead thus trapping her down there. Zeus only saw the pretty females as they danced their way through the sunlight but Helios, he had a view of the surface of the earth that allowed him to see everything. Might he have seen something to help her find her precious child?
“Lady Hecate,” the goddess said, “my thanks for your information. It warms my heart that I might be able to locate my daughter now.” Demeter paused to catch her breath. “I have a favor to ask of you: it has been years –too many moons to count, in fact—since I have journeyed to Helios’ boat. Could you lead me there?”
The goddess nodded and led Demeter to the west, to where the sun god’s boat docked each night for him to return him to the east. Neither the boat nor Helios had arrived when the two goddesses set foot there. The goddess of the grain collapsed to her knees; fresh tears streaked down her face as she waited.
“Lord Helios will be here soon,” Hecate assured her. “More often than not his horses hit the docks before his boat arrives. It should give us plenty of time to speak with him before he must set sail.”
The goddess of witches guided Demeter back to her feet then to a rock near the edge of the shows and after some coaxing convinced the goddess of the grain to sit down while they waited. Demeter took shaky breaths; she divided her attention to the ocean and Helios as he descended from the sky. She hoped the sun god would arrive before his boat so she might have time to speak with him.
Helios had always been kind to her, she remembered, and forthcoming with what he had seen from his chariot. But she kept wondering if he had seen anything at all that day. She had spotted several clouds in the sky, the day her daughter had vanished. These clouds could have been Zeus, she knew, on his way to woo a mortal female without sparking Hera’s attention. What if the King of the gods had unknowingly kept Helios from seeing what had befallen her daughter? The goddess bent forward
and cried out; she shook her head side to side, willing it not to be true.
“He arrives,” Hecate announced.
Slowly, Demeter sat up to watch as Helios and his chariot land. The horses slowed, coming to a stop, inches from the dock. The goddess came to her feet and waited for the god to descend from his chariot. Hecate stayed close to her side as they waited and waited for Helios to acknowledge them. An eternity passed before the god came around his chariot with apples in his hands. Demeter refused to approach until each of the four horses had been given an apple to eat.
“Lord Helios, son of Hyperion,” the goddess said, “I beg for a moment of your time.”
The god turned and smiled. “Lady Demeter, daughter of Rhea, I welcome you to my side. What might I do for you today?”
“My precious daughter has Kore has vanished,” she explained. “I would like to know what you might have seen, if anything.”
“Little escapes my notice from above,” he told them. “On the day your daughter vanish, I saw your brother emerge from the depths of the earth and snatch your daughter away. Do not grieve, goddess, for the god of the dead will make an excellent husband to your daughter. He is, after all, your brother.” He turned toward the dock for an instant then bid her good day. “My boat awaits me, my lady.”
Demeter felt her knees start to shake; if Hecate had not held her up, the goddess of the grain would have collapsed again. She screamed at the thought that her daughter would be forced to live in her brother’s dark realm. Only Zeus would have made such a deal. What precious gifts of the earth had Hades used to convince their brother to let his happen unnoticed?
She pushed Hecate’s hands from her shoulders and raced to Olympus as fast as her feet could take her. When she arrived the gods and goddesses of Zeus’s court were just sitting down for their evening meal together. Zeus came to his feet, a grin on his face. Demeter would see that her brother did not look so happy for long.
“I see you have finally decided to take your place among us again,” the god of the sky said, raising his goblet up to his lips.
“My daughter has been stolen from my side,” she spat. “And from what Helios tells me, I gather you are the one behind it. How could you have let Hades take her without asking?”
The grin on his face disappeared. “What?”
Demeter smiled; she saw her brother’s eyes shift to a point behind her.
“I do not have your daughter, sister,” she heard Hades say. The goddess pivoted around to see the god of the dead in his black armor. Where Zeus and Poseidon kept their beards bushy, Hades kept his neatly trimmed and close to his face. “Search my realm and you will see that she is not there.”
Behind her, Demeter heard Zeus dismiss his court from the hall. Demeter breathed and then said, “I have just come from Helios. He tells me that he saw you take my daughter.”
“I did come to Olympus around the time your daughter vanished,” Hades admitted. “It is long past time I wed. The incident with the mortal King Sisyphus has only made that too apparent. I came to our brother’s side to ask that he would consider a marriage between me and your daughter.”
As her brother finished speaking, Zeus came to her their side. “I would never marry your daughter off without consulting you first.”
“You knew I’d never agree,” she spat.
“Do you think me a fool, dear sister?” Zeus returned. “I knew I would need a compromise to keep you happy before I brought the marriage proposal to your side. I went to our mother who gave me a compromise that I think you might be able to live with.”
“If you do not have my daughter, then where she is?” Demeter demanded. The goddess grain turned to Zeus. “Does your foresight tell you anything?”
“Only that she will be returned to us. Before you ask, I’ve spoken with Apollo, as well.”
“Helios,” the goddess choked.
Zeus nodded. “I will have him dragged here to tell us what he knows.”
“I will go,” Hades offered.
“No,” the King of the gods answered. “I have four in mind.” Her brother turned away and marched to the hallway where their kin had hidden himself. Demeter could hear her brother’s commands. He sent Apollo to fly the chariot across the sky while Ares, Athena, and Artemis would drag the god of the sun back to Olympus. Demeter watched the four young gods and goddesses cross the hall to obey their father’s command. Her eyes stayed upon them until they were out of sight. Movement on the far end of the hall brought the goddess’s attention back to the other side. Hephaestus limped across the stone floor, back to his smithy she assumed.
As the crippled god reached the door, the rest of the gods slowly returned. Both Hera and Hestia came to her side, drawing her to the nearest table. While Hera offered her food, Hestia asked if the fire needed to be built up. Demeter refused to answer them and rubbed her hands together as she sat on the stone bench beside the table. She watched the door for her brother’s children to return with the sun god. The words of her kin were no more than whispers. Her lips trembled. How long did it take to fetch one minor god? Would Helios try to resist? Demeter closed her eyes for an instant, willing Helios to answer Zeus’s commands without a fight.
She would see her daughter again, of that she was certain. Was this how mortal women felt when their daughters were sent off to marry? How could they possibly stand it? She never wanted to be separated from her daughter again. Never again would she spend so much time away from her daughter’s side. Demeter opened her eyes. Her mind commanded Helios through the door, again and again until his bright yellow garments radiated its light through the door. Demeter came to her feet, ready to rush to the god’s side and demand to know the truth from his mouth.
But before she could take one step, both Poseidon and Hades were at her side, blocking her from unleashing her wrath on the puny minor god. Instead she watched Zeus take three long strides at where Helios had stopped with Athena and Ares at each side of him and Artemis behind him with her bow ready; the King of the gods slammed his fist into the god’s gut with one blow and knocking him to the floor with the next.
“This is how you repay my kindness to you, son of Hyperion!” Zeus’s voice bellowed through the hall. “I could have had you exiled as I did your father, but I granted you mercy. You told my sister a lie. Now you will tell me the truth. What did you see on the day my daughter vanished? Lie to me again, and I will turn you over to my brother for punishment.” Zeus knelt down with a grin on his face. “Hades will not be as kind, I assure you.”
“I saw nothing, my lord,” Helios answered. “I turned my eyes to another part of the world below my path.”
Zeus slammed his fist onto the god’s face. This time blood splattered over her brother’s fist, arm, torso and face. It looked as though some might have gone into Zeus’ eyes but the god of the sky seemed not to notice. Helios covered his face with his arm, turning his face away from the King.
“That does not sound like you, Helios. I asked you to be another set of eyes on my daughter and her mother, to alert me to any threats to their safety. And you looked away? I would know the truth and I would know it now.”
“One morning, just before I was set to being my journey, a demigod approached me,” the god of the sun said from beneath his arms. “He said that he had seen me wooing a mortal girl in your favor. I told him it was a lie. He said he had proof, that she had birthed a boy-child who looked just like me. Again, I told him that what he said wasn’t true. Then he told me that he was one of your mortal children, my lord, that you would believe him over me. I know how easy you are to anger, Father Zeus. I know what you do to both mortal men and gods who displease you or try to woo the mortals and goddesses you fancy. I had no wish to be chained like Prometheus or worse, be trapped in your brother’s dark realm.”
“Pretty words,” Zeus spat. “This demigod, did he by chance tell you his name?”
“Pirithous of the Lapiths.”
The god of the sky returned to a standing
position and walked back to where he had been standing when Helios was escorted to the great hall. He sat on his large throne that rested there. Zeus leaned back and stayed silent for several long minutes before speaking again.
“Bring him to his feet,” Zeus commanded.
Ares dragged Helios up while Artemis raised her bow and Athena jabbed a dagger in the god’s side. The god of war kept a firm grip on Helios’s shoulders. From where she stood, Demeter could see that Helios was breathing heavily.
“I command that you be locked up inside my son’s forge until my daughter is return to her mother’s side. You will be chained to a wall by your ankle. The next time you disrespect me, it will be Tartarus for you, son of Hyperion. Do not try my courtesy again.”
Zeus waved a hand. Ares chuckled as he pushed the god of the sun out of the great hall. “Come, fool,” the god of war said, “my brother is waiting for you.”
Hades released his grip on her shoulder and approached Zeus. “My lord, there is an entrance to the Underworld near Larissa, the city of the Lapiths.”
“What is your plan, brother?” Zeus asked.
Demeter sobbed. The god of the dead was playing his hand dangerously but well. When he was done, Zeus would have little choice but to make Kore Hades’ wife. She would lose her daughter all over again.
Chapter 5
Kore could not get comfortable no matter how she sat on the lumpy bed. It wasn’t so much the lumps in the mattress that made the bed so miserable to settle in nor was it that she missed her bed at her mother’s cottage. The young goddess found the urge to cry at the thought of her mother’s smiling face. She wiped the tears from her face, drying her hands on the thin blanket that covered the lump that was now her stomach. She wanted to pull her knees to her chest, wrap her arms around her legs and weep but the lump prevented that now. Her lips trembled as her eyes drifted to the door to the common room.
She had lost track of the days that had passed since she had been allowed to venture past that door or since Pirithous had come to her bed. Not long after he noticed her growing belly and had brought a woman he had called a midwife who had pressed her hands firmly into Kore’s belly, the prince had stopped coming. And now that woman came regularly, practically every day. Now Kore could feel movement inside her belly. Occasionally, it felt as though something kicked her periodically. She had tried to ask the midwife what was happening to her but all the woman would say was, “Things are progressing well.”
Twisted Mythology: Three Tales of Greek Mythology Page 3
