Helen of Sparta

by Amalia Carosella

  How long had he been bound this way? Dimly he remembered Persephone’s chiming voice, the smell of roasted meats and fresh breads that had drawn them. His eyes finally opened, and he saw the banquet, still, spread out before them, Pirithous still entrapped within the chair at his side. So much food, the aroma torture enough, even without the dreams and the shadow. Hades sat at the head of his table, dressed in blinding robes of silver and gold. A black beard covered his jaw, and his eyes flashed with the fire of diamonds. Beside him sat Persephone, her hair the deep brown of fertile earth, white flowers forming a royal circlet upon her brow.

  “Ah,” Hades said, his voice liquid and echoing in the vaulting cavern. “The hero wakes, Athena’s well-chosen champion. Even the powers of Lethe cannot match his strength of will. But tell me, Theseus. Do you remember the vow you made to Athena, in the temple? Do you remember swearing you would never turn from us, your family, your gods?”

  Theseus. Helen’s voice again, a whisper now, filled with such impotence, such despair. He had never known her to despair, not truly. Not so long as they were together.

  If you could only hear me.

  Persephone’s head tilted, her eyes narrowing as if she heard, too. “Not only his will,” the goddess said, her gaze warm when it settled upon him. “Poor Helen. She has waited ever so faithfully, all this time. I cannot help but feel for her, knowing what it is to be torn from that which has been chosen, nurtured into life and love, peace and beauty. Every spring, I suffer the same, forced to leave my husband for the sake of my family, my duty.”

  The goddess laid her hand upon her husband’s arm, lifting her face to his, so beautiful Theseus could not breathe, to look at her. But there was so much affection, so much intimacy even in so small a gesture. How could Pirithous have ever believed she would want to be freed?

  If you only knew.

  Theseus jerked against his bonds. Helen called to him, and he must answer. He must go to her, whether the gods willed it or not. But the shadow held, the black forms tightening around his chest and legs.

  You swore! On the Styx, you swore to find me!

  He groaned, throwing himself against the bindings. Stone cracked, dust and dirt raining down, as the cavern shook. He had never realized the power, never known he might draw from his father’s strengths upon the land as well as the sea. He fought again, though the shadow had begun to sizzle against his skin, burning into his bare legs, his arms, cutting like ropes. The room shook again, rock crumbling, rubble cascading down the far wall, but still he could not tear himself free. And he must, by the Styx, he must, if Helen needed him, if Helen had been stolen. If only he had the strength . . .

  “Peace, Theseus,” Hades said. “You will not hear her once she is dead. And then, once your vows are broken, you will belong to the Styx, forevermore.”

  “You will not keep me from my wife,” Theseus growled. “I will not let you keep me!”

  Persephone rose and came toward him. Tiered with cloth of gold and emerald silk, her flounced skirt flashed with gems and tinkled with silver. He clenched his jaw against the gentleness of her touch, the chill of her fingers upon his brow. Helen, he must remember Helen. He must remember her call, her cry. But with every beat of his heart, her voice grew more distant, her warmth farther away. But he would find her.

  “Go back to sleep, Theseus. You can do nothing more to help Helen now.”

  He must find her.

  He must find.

  He must.

  Helen.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  I slept fitfully on the cold ground, even wrapped in Theseus’s cloak with several furs beneath me. The nightmares almost felt like old friends, promising that whatever marriage I made to Menelaus, it would not last. Leda’s betrayal, Menelaus’s lies—none of it would matter for long. The war would come, washing it all away.

  The sun touched the scrub grasses with fire, and I turned my face toward it. Castor had already risen, and Pollux lay sleeping in his place, one hand clutching the hilt of a knife. He looked so much like Pirithous in that moment, the creases of worry and determination relaxed in rest. But if Leda had her way, even if Pirithous was successful, I would never meet with him again, either.

  I closed my eyes. True sons of Zeus, the both of them, set upon wiles and deceit to accomplish their goals. Always reaching to take that which was not theirs. To have their way at all costs, as if they ruled as kings.

  But I was Zeus’s daughter. They could not hold me if I did not wish to be held. The gods had already declared it so with these nightmares. And perhaps that was the truth of it all. Perhaps this war, this destruction, this death, was all mine. Because as much as I did not wish to see my people suffer, my brothers die, and the golden city turn to ash and smoke and blood, Menelaus would never have my loyalty now.

  “Helen?” Castor’s voice was low, and I opened my eyes to find him crouched beside me, offering a strip of dried goat. Pollux had already risen. “We should not linger,” he said when he saw I was awake.

  Around us, the other men were stirring, shaking out their cloaks and cinching sword belts over leather armor. Sparta’s men, their lives in my hands.

  “Here,” Castor said, nudging me. A small white crocus, barely blooming, was pressed into my hand. I met my brother’s eyes, my mouth suddenly dry. Castor busied himself with my extra furs, dropping his gaze. “I found it when I was checking on the horses. I’m sorry, Helen.”

  The first sign of spring. Nearer than I had realized. Nearer than it should have been. I stared into the soft white heart of the flower, turning it between my fingers. The seasons changed, I knew that. As constant as they were irregular. But I had been counting the days, anxious for Theseus, and even for an early spring, the crocus should not have budded so soon.

  “Persephone is freed,” I heard myself say. “She hurries from the Underworld.”

  My brother’s mouth firmed into a hard line. “Even so, it does not mean Theseus or Pirithous has survived the journey.”

  I caught him by the arm when he tried to turn away. “Castor, please. If there is any hope, any chance at all that he might yet return—it is not so great a delay.” He was shaking his head, but I dug my fingers into his forearm, forcing him to look at me. “A few weeks, Castor. If Tyndareus will only send word, keep his promise that I will not be married without the proper rites, Theseus will hear of it, and there will be time enough for him to reach me. And if he wins me fairly . . .”

  “He won’t win, Helen. Even if he comes, he will not win you. Leda will see to it.”

  “And what power does Leda have that my brothers do not? Tyndareus will want your counsel. Yours and Pollux’s. If you speak against Menelaus, Father will listen!”

  Castor sighed, his hand covering mine. “You truly believe Theseus still lives?”

  “It is not his fate to die this way,” I said, desperate to assure him. “Athena would not forsake him so easily. Not after—” I swallowed back the words, my throat too tight. What had happened to us, what had become of our daughter, I could not speak of it. “He has been her loyal servant, and she will not leave him to Hades’s mercy.”

  He searched my face, and I could only hope he saw my determination, and the confidence I could not wholly feel. Perhaps Menelaus had spoken truly in my dream. Perhaps Theseus might yet live, but nothing in my dreams had proven he would not still be lost to me.

  “I cannot promise you it will work,” Castor said at last. “But you will have my help, all the same. If Theseus lives, if he escapes Hades even now, we will give him time enough to come for you, and if Tyndareus will not hear reason, your husband will have my help in stealing you away. I swear it by Zeus.”

  I threw myself into his arms, my brother, my sweetest, kindest brother, and in that moment, hope blossomed inside me like a sea of spring flowers.

  Because I was a daughter of Zeus, and I would not be held a
gainst my will. Not by Menelaus, or Leda. Not by Tyndareus or my brothers. Not by the gods or the fates, with their burning city and their strange Trojan prince, and their war. Not even by my own father.

  Perhaps Zeus was king, but I was Spartan, a princess twice over, and queen of Athens besides. I knew my duty.

  And I would rule my own fate.

  And so Theseus rightly felt love’s flame, for he was acquaint with all your charms, and you seemed fit spoil for the great hero to steal away, [ . . . ]. His stealing you away, I commend; my marvel is that he ever gave you back.

  —Ovid, Heroides, 16

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First and foremost, thank you so much to Michelle Brower for believing in Helen, and never giving up on finding her a home, and to Jodi at Lake Union, for giving me the chance to share Helen with readers, at last! And thank you, also, to Stephanie Thornton and Gary Corby, who have been so supportive of my historical fiction writing endeavors, both as Ancient History blog friends and author friends.

  I absolutely owe a mountain of thanks to the usual suspects, including Diana Paz, Zak Tringali, Wendy Sparrow, L. T. Host, Natalie Murphy, Tina Lynn, Mia Hayson, Nick Mohoric, and Valerie Valdes, for reading (and in some cases rereading), and talking me down off those writing ledges along the way. Also to Hannah Wylie for a very complete and in-depth critique that helped me to make Helen so much stronger! Without your generosity, I am not sure this book would be where it is today. Thanks, too, to Katie M. Stout for being as passionate a beta as I could ever ask for, and tackling my grammar like a pro. I’m also grateful to Aven McMaster, for our countless chats and discussions regarding the academic interpretations of Classical myth.

  And to my friends and family, for sticking with me on this roller-coaster ride of crazy-making, and/or providing fantastic critique and notes from the reader perspective: Karen, Dan, Tom, Denise, Aunt Rose, Aunt Tommi Lou, Uncle Joey, Emi, Mattias, Connor, Drew the Third, Kevin, and John. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate the time you’ve invested in me and my work!

  Lastly, thanks to my brother Don, for bringing home his copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology from college and telling nine-year-old me that Hercules’s real name was Heracles. I don’t think either one of us expected that small moment to bring me here, to this book, and this authorial adventure, but it did, and I am forever grateful!

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  Acamas: Youngest son of Theseus, by his second wife, Phaedra; prince of Athens

  Adrastus: King of Argos; grandfather of Diomedes; guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet

  Aegeus: Previous king of Athens; one of Theseus’s fathers, by Aethra; deceased

  Aethra: Mother of Theseus; high priestess of Athens; consort of Poseidon and Aegeus

  Agamemnon: King of Mycenae; son of Atreus; older brother to Menelaus; close friend of Tyndareus and his family after spending several years in exile at Sparta as part of Tyndareus’s household

  Ajax the Great: Prince of Salamis; older half brother of Teucer; great-grandson of Zeus; friend and guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet

  Ajax the Lesser: Prince of Locris; guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet

  Alcyoneus: Helen’s Egyptian tutor

  Antiope: Theseus’s first wife; former queen of the Amazons; devotee of Artemis; mother of Hippolytus, Theseus’s first son; deceased

  Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty; daughter of Zeus

  Apollo: God of music, poetry, oracles, plague, medicine, and the sun; twin brother of Artemis; son of Zeus

  Ariadne: Daughter of Minos of Crete; goddess of the labyrinth, freed by Theseus; wife and consort of Dionysus

  Ariston: Athenian physician and friend of Theseus

  Artemis: Goddess of the hunt, virgins, and the Amazons; twin sister of Apollo; daughter of Zeus

  Athena: Goddess of wisdom and war; daughter of Zeus; patron goddess of Athens; appointed Theseus as her hero and champion in Attica

  Castor: Prince of Sparta; mortal twin brother of Pollux; son of Tyndareus by Leda; older brother to Helen and Clytemnestra

  Clymene: Helen’s maid in Sparta

  Clytemnestra: Princess of Sparta; mortal twin sister to Helen; daughter of Tyndareus by Leda; younger sister of Pollux and Castor

  Demophon: Prince and heir of Athens; son of Theseus by his second wife, Phaedra

  Diomedes: Prince and heir of Argos; grandson of Adrastus, king of Argos; favored by Athena; guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet

  Dionysus: God of wine, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and epiphany; husband of Ariadne; son of Zeus

  Hades: God of the Underworld and the dead; brother of Zeus and Poseidon; husband of Persephone

  Helen: Princess of Sparta; daughter of Zeus (in the form of a swan) by Leda; demigod twin sister of Clytemnestra; younger sister of Pollux and Castor

  Hera: Queen of the gods; wife of Zeus; goddess of women and marriage

  Heracles: Son of Zeus by Alcmene; hero; blessed with tremendous strength and ability; friend of Tyndareus; helped Tyndareus to reclaim the throne of Sparta

  Hippolytus: Theseus’s first son, by the Amazon queen Antiope; devotee of Artemis; deceased

  Leda: Queen of Sparta; wife of Tyndareus; consort of Zeus (who came to her once in the form of her husband, and the second time in the form of a swan); mother of the twins Castor and Pollux, and Clytemnestra and Helen

  Menelaus: Prince of Mycenae; younger brother of Agamemnon; son of Atreus; close friend of Tyndareus and his family after spending several years in exile at Sparta as part of Tyndareus’s household

  Menestheus: Cousin of Theseus; steward of Athens; great-grandson of Erechtheus, founder of Athens

  Minos: Former king of Crete; father of Ariadne and Phaedra

  Nestor: Elderly king of Pylos; minor hero; guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet

  Pallans: Athenian; oarsman for Theseus

  Paris: Adopted son of Agelaus; shepherd boy living in the lands surrounding Troy

  Patroclus: Guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet; Myrmidon and neighbor to King Pirithous and the Lapiths people, in Thessaly

  Penelope: Cousin of Clytemnestra and Castor; niece of Tyndareus

  Persephone: Queen of the Underworld; wife of Hades; daughter of Zeus by Demeter; goddess of spring growth

  Phaedra: Theseus’s second wife; mother of Demophon and Acamas; daughter of Minos; sister of Ariadne

  Pirithous: King of the Lapiths, in Thessaly; son of Zeus by Dia; cousin and friend to Theseus

  Pollux: Prince of Sparta; son of Zeus by Leda; demigod twin brother to Castor; older brother to Helen and Clytemnestra

  Poseidon: God of earth and sea, earthquakes, and horses; brother of Zeus and Hades; father of Theseus by Aethra

  Teucer: Younger brother of Ajax the Great; guest of Tyndareus at Helen’s banquet

  Theseus: King of Athens; Hero of Attica; son of both the god Poseidon and Aegeus, previous king of Athens, by Aethra; father of Hippolytus by Antiope; father of Demophon and Acamas by Phaedra; cousin and friend to Pirithous

  Tyndareus: King of Sparta; husband of Leda; father of Castor and Clytemnestra by Leda; adoptive father of Pollux and Helen; uncle of Penelope; friend of Agamemnon and Menelaus; friend of Heracles

  Zeus: King of the gods; husband of Hera; father of Helen and Pollux by Leda; father of Apollo and Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, and Dionysus; brother of Poseidon and Hades; god of the sky, thunder and lightning, order and justice

  IMPORTANT PLACES

  Sparta: A landlocked city in the southeast of the Peloponnese, within the region of Laconia, ruled by King Tyndareus and Queen Leda. Helen’s home.

  Gytheio: A port city south of Sparta.

  Mycenae: A very rich and powerful city in the eastern region of the Peloponnese, near the Isthmus that connects the Peloponnese to the greater mainland. Rule
d by King Agamemnon and home to Menelaus.

  Athens: A very rich and powerful city with influence over the greater part of a region called Attica, in the southernmost area of the mainland, and also over pieces of the Isthmus. Ruled by King Theseus, with the protection of its patron goddess, Athena.

  Piraeus: The port of Athens, west of the city, and the main port of Attica. Part of Theseus’s kingdom.

  Thessaly: A northeastern region of the mainland, in which a number of independent peoples reside, such as the Lapiths, ruled by King Pirithous; and the Myrmidons of Phthia, ruled by King Peleus (father of Achilles).

  Troy: A wealthy kingdom across the Aegean Sea, ruled by King Priam.

  Crete: A large island kingdom south of Attica and the mainland, once ruled by King Minos, but since brought into alliance with Athens by Theseus, via his marriage to Phaedra, daughter of Minos.

  HISTORICAL NOTE

  Reconciling mythology and legend to historical times and places sometimes requires compromise. The nature of oral storytelling and oral history is one of constant adaptation and alteration through retelling. The Homeric epics of The Iliad and The Odyssey, for example, create a world in which there is a strange mishmash of Bronze Age and Iron Age technology, custom, and religion—a world that does not seem to exist in the historical and archaeological record. We see the same kind of confusion and blending again in the myths themselves, where a hero is sometimes considered the son of a king, and other times believed to be the son of a god, and in yet another source, may be the son of both a man and a god. A good example of this is Theseus, who is sometimes a son of Aegeus alone, other times a son of Poseidon and Aegeus both.

  These issues make retelling the myths in a historical setting a tricky business, requiring a careful balance of history and legend. In some cases, a strict adherence to the historical and archaeological record does more harm than good, warping the heart of the story or the characters into something unrecognizable. One cannot always stay true to the characters of myth, for instance, if one completely excises the living presence and manipulations of the gods, and in my opinion, this is particularly true in the case of the cycles of stories surrounding the Trojan War.