The Eagle of Spinalonga

by Nike Azoros

  ‘Hello Pavlos, and yes that is right. I do not know anywhere near enough about anything so I learn every day. What about you?’ The monster that was Pavlos enjoyed hurting people so he gleefully said, ‘I learned that I like the company of your sister.’ Nikos lurched forward at him.

  ‘Relax city boy, I didn’t touch her, this time.’

  Nikos pushed past him to check on Maria. He found her in her house where she was comforting Aliki one of the other younger women. Maria offered the explanation before he asked the question,

  ‘He came here and grabbed a knife and held it to the throat of Aliki. He said if I didn’t clean and cook two of the chickens Maki’s cousin gave us right away he would cut her throat. So he stood there watching me all the time holding the knife to the poor girl. I quickly put the chickens on the coals to grill but I couldn’t make them cook any faster.’ She couldn’t go on talking.

  Aliki stood up and went to say something but Maria put her hand out to stop her. ‘Pavlos said I needed to be punished. He pushed me to the ground and went to violate me but Aliki attacked him. She jumped on his back.’

  ‘Nikos he went to take your sister but I wouldn’t let him. I know she is still innocent. I thought if I attacked him he would turn on me instead.’ She looked down and gathered herself in, ‘and he did.’

  Brother and sister both reached out to comfort Aliki. ‘Thank you for your concern but it was not as big a trauma for me as it would have been for Maria. I know she still has her innocence, I do not. My life before coming here was one of lusts, I am more accustomed to types likes Pavlos. The only difference is that in my previous life I got paid for it. Pavlos doesn’t know it though, I had to put up a good fight or it wouldn’t have given him what he needed to keep away from Maria. He is a man who enjoys making people suffer.’

  The siblings helped Aliki to her sleeping place and sat with her while she sipped the chamomile tea they made her from the plants Zafiris had provided them. Alike was feeling better and was comfortable, ‘You know my biggest dream was to have a child. I didn’t care if I had a husband or not. Men come and go but you are always a mother.’

  ‘It has always been my biggest wish too,’ agreed Maria. ‘Listen to me,’ said Aliki, ‘my dream will never come true. So if this incident results in the creation of a child, I will not allow it to be born.’

  ‘Aliki no, babies are a blessing from God.’

  ‘Maria, you and your innocence, just pray to your God that Pavlos did not plant a seed. Mind you there was not much there, I’ve seen goats with better equipment. I barely felt a thing.’ The laughter was a much needed relief. ‘But he did spray his seed so I will wait and see if I need to go and see the old lady Anthea she knows of how to terminate these things, this world does not need another Pavlos.’

  ‘Nikos’ Aliki called out as he was walking away, ‘there is another thing you need to organise for our great city state of Spinalonga.’ He turned his head towards her to hear her suggestion. She had a worldliness he did not have and her wisdom of the street life was as valuable as his academic wisdom, ‘What is that Aliki?’

  ‘A hospital.’

  Maria in the meantime was thinking about what Aliki had said. Maria understood why Aliki would feel that way about having a baby to Pavlos. The man was a monster, a rabid dog that should be destroyed. No woman would want to carry the child of such a man but if the chance to have a baby with a kind man ever presented itself then she would take it. Maria then snapped back into reality. God has decided her fate was never to know love or motherhood. She knew she would be on Spinalonga for the rest of her life.

  Chapter 13: The Brotherhood of Spinalonga.

  Kontos acted fast. ‘Draft a response to the letter immediately, and don’t forget to send it to the priest first mentioned, not direct to Spinalonga, so that Nikos Lambrakis will receive the letter.’

  ‘I already have sir. All that is missing is the date we are arriving and your signature.’ The minister and his young assistant worked day and night for a week to get things organized. Phone calls started coming through from the other departments that also received powerful letters from Nikos Lambrakis. They also received a phone call from Prime Minister Metaxas, ‘Do whatever is required for these neglected souls. You have the full support of the state.’

  The minister got parliamentary approval for the construction of an infirmary. In turn the people in charge of building the infirmary had to get approval from the Department of Power to provide a generator as the infirmary would need power. In the middle of all the preparations came a call from a woman, ‘You are going to be building a medical centre on Spinalonga?’

  ‘It looks that way,’ said the efficient voice on the other line.

  ‘Do they have staff for the infirmary?’

  ‘It’s a leper colony lady, there is not exactly a rush on volunteers.’ He hung up. Angela shook her head at herself and went directly to Thanos as she should have in the first place. ‘You are really moving fast on the Spinalonga infirmary project.’

  ‘They have suffered enough, they need help.’

  ‘I told you. They need me.’

  Manoussos kept watching out for the boatman every day since he sent the letter. Every day Artemis was providing food for the island. Most days there were fish and plenty of them and occasionally there was hare which made a wonderful rich stew and once even a whole baby goat. Nobody could believe it when Artemis soared across the skies carrying the kid with her claws. With the extra protein in their diets the residents of Spinalonga began to feel stronger and with their physical strength improving, so did their mental strength.

  Nikos would now walk around the island with Artemis on his arm. But she only trusted him. No one was permitted near her. She would hiss like Cerberus if anyone dared get too close. Everybody gazed upon them with awe. Nikos finally understood why the Berkutchi were considered to be so mysterious and powerful. They earned it. They had mastered one of nature’s most incredible creatures. To catch an eagle you truly did have to become like an eagle yourself, just as Alikhan had said.

  His logic had told him that even though she was trained to hunt for him Artemis was still first and foremost an opportunistic bird of prey. Such creatures are not designed to show any emotional connection. Yet she did. Even during their stroll down to the house after a satisfying day of hunting, Nikos was murmuring to her about how wonderful she was and she had her head tucked in close to his as if she was trying to catch every word. One of her wings was slightly spread open and resting on his shoulder like an embrace.

  Nikos too was different with her now. He was much more devoted to her than he thought he ever could be especially after what he had just experienced. The large oil barrels donated to Spinalonga by Zafiris had been put to good use. The first one had been shared out, decanted into smaller bottles for the individual to use and the other barrel was kept in reserve for communal cooking. Nikos had taken the empty oil barrel and used it as a nest for Artemis. He had cut off the top and filled the centre with sawdust and dry branches. It gave Artemis somewhere else to sit other than a perch and Nikos was pleased that she seemed to enjoy it. The day before Nikos had taken Artemis back home after a big day of hunting and right in the middle of her nest was a large green sprig of laurel.

  He removed it on a hunch and waited to see what would happen. That evening another sprig of laurel was in the nest. ‘How did you bring this here my girl?’ He deduced she must have made a special trip in between the hunting expeditions. He tested it one more time and removed it again. The next day, again, there was a sprig of laurel in the nest. Why she did it was a mystery but she always wanted as sprig of laurel in her nest, it was a necessity. If he ever removed it, the next day another one would be there.

  ‘Eagles have always been a symbol of God. Even in antiquity.’ Manoussos had said one day.

  ‘It is said that when Zeus wanted to discover where the centre of the world was he released two eagles, one on each side of the world, and where they met
was the centre, and that place was Delphi. Have you ever been to Delphi?’

  ‘Sadly no.’

  ‘Delphi, the sacred shrine found by eagles, was dedicated to Apollo and the tree sacred to Apollo was the laurel. There is still a laurel there today.’

  ‘Why are you telling me this? You are leading up to something.’

  ‘We do not have a laurel tree on Spinalonga. She must get it from somewhere. Maybe all the Gods are watching over you Nikos.’

  Hunting went well the next day as it did every day. The fish catch was large and he handed the fish over to the women who would share them out as best they could. On his walk back to his house to put Artemis on her perch he saw Manoussos walking towards him.

  ‘Nikos, I was at Dante’s gate waiting for the boatman. We have a response.’ In the priest’s hands was a package, it was the book of the chants required through Holy Week. Manoussos and Nikos went inside the house so Artemis could be perched. Nikos opened the book and there was the envelope tucked inside its pages. Nikos jumped with a joy he had never known in his life before. ‘They are coming. They all got my letters and they are coming.’

  ‘Oh!’ he spun around like a young woman in love, ‘Thank God.’

  ‘Which God are you thanking, the one you believed abandoned you?’

  ‘It was a natural instinct.’

  ‘I wonder why?’

  ‘We need to form a council Manoussos and I invite you to join me on it.’

  ‘I accept.’

  ‘We need the best thinkers we have to get together and make our list of requirements so when our visitors come we are fully prepared to hand over our exact needs. I think we should have twelve members.’

  ‘That is a good number.’

  ‘And as our population seems to be evenly split between men and women we should have six men and six women, like the gods of Olympus.’

  ‘Perfect example.’

  Nikos thought of the twelve Olympians and of how each deity represented different aspects of life, just as ministries operated today. It occurred to them both that the domain of each god was similar to a ministerial department. There was education, health, foreign affairs, defense, agriculture, communication, everything any well run state required, the Greeks had a god for it.

  ‘Well I like the idea of a supreme council made equally of men and women, it is a shame that doesn’t happen in our government departments today.’

  Pavlos wanted to be the chief of War and for a brief moment Nikos wanted to consider it. The man was a natural fighter maybe he could use his street smarts on how to maintain order within the other patients but then the moment passed. Pavlos was berserk enough without giving him official permission to impose his monstrous ways. He would leave it to the democratic process and could only hope it would work.

  When all adjourned for the evening to consider their choices for their votes the next day for the first time, every single resident of Spinalonga looked forward to the next day. Life now had a purpose.

  ‘Welcome all to the first meeting of the Brotherhood of Spinalonga. I first give thanks to the golden hands of Eva and Aliki who took some of our own fabrics and have fashioned a fine flag for us. The two women held up their creation proudly, it was white for purity and cleanliness but edged with a black meandric key pattern to show their association with their Hellenism and the black for the lives they lost as a mourning cloth would be, in the centre was a capital S in the brilliant blue of the Greek waters. S for Sophia, wisdom, and S for Spinalonga.

  The voting took place, it was quick and it was wise. Nikos was voted president and Manoussos was spiritual counsel, the others elected were all the appropriate people for each domain. Pavlos received one vote, his own. Manoussos stood before them holding a Bible, ‘I call for all the leaders to step forward to take the oath.’ Nikos had decided they needed an oath and there was no finer one than the one from Homer’s Iliad.

  The twelve newly elected members of the supreme council of Spinalonga stood in a semi circle before the others and with Father Manoussos holding the Bible in his right hand all repeated the Homeric oath of the warrior, slightly altered by Nikos to suit,

  ‘I do swear that I will lead my domain ‘Ever to excel, to do better than others, and to bring glory to our forebears, who indeed were very great ... This is my ancestry this is the blood I am proud to inherit’ and binds me to the sacred mysteries of the Almighty to uphold my sacred inheritance.’

  The formality of the ritual and all its symbolism rested well on the shoulders of all, like a warm cloak after an icy wind. Order was coming and it made them think the most beautiful of thoughts such as none they had ever had before. Many of the patients had never lived an orderly life, their internal thoughts of how life would be in an orderly state were intuitively correct. Order brought cleanliness which brings beauty which brings peace which brings happiness.

  The only person not choked up with emotion or shedding a quiet, much yearned for, tear of hope, was Pavlos. ‘You are all dreaming. There is no point to any of this. We are nothing. Dogs wouldn’t eat us when we die so stop trying to believe you are capable of being as great as our ancestors. And what ancestors? Who knows where some of us come from? We could be Turks or Bulgarians for all we know.’

  Voices of dissent shouted from the crowd.

  ‘Speak for yourself. I am not Turkish or Bulgarian. I am Greek.’

  ‘Who cares if we are from China? We need rules and laws and we want an orderly state.’

  Many of the things just needed some manual labor. Even that had been difficult before because of the hunger and weakness of the people, fear and low morale as well as having to deal with Pavlos’s intent on destroying everything positive. Some of the women stepped forward and looked at Nikos with a look query on their faces. ‘Speak up ladies, what would you like to say?’

  Aliki spoke first, ‘Have you ever heard of the term Syssitia?’ Nikos smiled with joy, ‘Well of course I have. It is the way many of the warriors were fed in the ancient days of Sparta. Everybody sat together in one space and ate a communal meal.’

  ‘Yes as in Sparta, where I am from. We would like to introduce a Syssitia system where you give us the daily catches of your wonderful Artemis and we prepare big communal meals so all can eat well and together.’

  ‘It is done.’

  Eva stepped forward to speak too, ‘If the domain leader of the waters can provide it we can organise volunteers with a roster to make sure all here have clean clothes. And we would like to be able to sit properly to eat. There are some timbers lying around all the other old houses. Perhaps the domain leaders of the trades can use the few tools we do have to fashion them into some sort of benches or tables?’

  ‘Yes indeed we can,’ said the men.

  ‘Very well fellow members of the Brotherhood of Spinalonga, we all have work to do.’

  Ikaros and his team set to work as did the teams of Aliki and Eva. Soon the aromas of good peasant cooking were wafting across the island and the sounds of peaceful industry, the clanging hammer and the sawing of wood became a foot tapping harmony.

  By the time the first Syssitia meal of Spinalonga was ready so were the benches. There was enough wood for a table, but only one for the time being. They were set up in the square with the sickest and lamest carried there by the strongest. The first meal was served and though it was a humble meal it was hot, tasty and nutritious. The community spirit was one of elation. Father Manoussos gave a blessing and Nikos quoted Aristotle, ‘Man is happiest when he is in a good relationship with his city.’

  The meal was fish soup, followed by baked salmon with potatoes, olives and bread. As a special treat for dessert there were loukoumathes. It could have been Christmas. Afterwards came all the happy talk that happens out of togetherness and a sated belly. Everyone offered their thoughts on what to ask for when the visitors arrived. Discussions were going on all around. Nikos overhead one on bees,

  ‘Let’s find a way to have a beehive. The loukoumathes wer
e good but with some honey they would have been crazy good.’

  ‘Oh we would need two hives. It is warm weather most of time here, the bees would be very productive.’

  ‘You are both sleeping standing up. We have no pollen producing plants here on Spinalonga.’

  ‘The bees can fly can’t they? Let them go fly and find pollen.’

  On another bench people were discussing ways of making other dishes such as the ones from their villages. Aliki was listening and acted wisely,

  ‘That sounds marvelous come and see me after dinner to discuss giving a cooking class so we can all learn it too.’

  ‘Oh I would love to.’

  ‘These rocky crags are good for goats, can’t we sweet talk the boatman to bring us a couple of goats. We could have cheese and every so often we could roast a kid. Poor Artemis needs a bit of a rest.’

  The Syssitia meals were an instant success. The sickest of the patients who could barely eat were spoon fed their soup by healthier people would dunk some bread into it for them. Teams of patients took turns in doing the serving and the cleaning up and even Pavlos would come to eat without disturbing anyone. Nikos and Manoussos were overjoyed with the civil atmosphere.

  A few days after the first meeting of the brotherhood of Spinalonga Nikos opened the letter from the Department of Health and re-read it with Manoussos, ‘They are coming on the twenty fifth of this month.’

  ‘What is the date today?’

  ‘The twenty fourth.’

  Chapter 14: The Minister’s Visit.

  Angela was thirty five years old and had served in war zones and in a sanatorium before she was sent to the Department of Health for respite. Everyone thought she was being very heroic when she declared she wanted to be part of the medical staff of Spinalonga. She even declared she would not bother waiting for the infirmary to be built. There were houses on the island already and she could live in one of them while the infirmary underwent construction, after all the residents had suffered long enough. They needed immediate medical attention.