“Perhaps you should take matters into your own hands, then. If Orpheus refuses to do anything out of pride, perhaps you should surrender yourself, for the good of the people. You shall be remembered fondly, and sacrifices would be made in your name. If you die for them, they shall honor you as their goddess.”
“But how can I go beyond the city walls? The gates are closed, and I do not think the guards would grant me passage,” Iphigenia said, tears still streaming down her eyes.
“I know of a passage that will take you out of the city, if that is what you truly wish, my queen,” the priestess replied.
“Oh please tell me, high priestess, I wish it with all my heart. Show me the way, and I will go willingly.”
“Go and see your husband for the last time. But keep silent, for if he suspects you are to leave, he will surely stop you. After you have made your peace with parting with him, meet me here, by the river, and I shall take you on the secret passage to the outside of the walls.”
The priestess watched as Iphigenia rushed back to the palace to embrace her husband one last time and prepare herself for a life of servitude to his brother and mortal enemy. When she reached the palace, she found that Orpheus had fallen asleep on the war table, exhausted. She gently kissed his forehead and stifled her tears. She looked at him as he slept and smiled. Farewell, my love. She thought as she carefully crept outside to meet with the priestess again.
She was waiting on the bank of the river with an unlit torch in her hand.
“The path shall go through the river once we are under the great walls. Watch your step, as the torrent is powerful, and shall sweep you upstream and back towards the city.”
They began their walk on the narrow path that led upstream, to where the river enters the city. Once they were at the wall, the priestess lit the torch, and they waded into the murky blood. It stained Iphigenia’s fine silk dress and made it cling to her and tangle around her feet as she descended until the blood was up to her waist. Unwavering in her determination to save the city from the curse of Nergal, she pushed onward, carefully treading over the concealed stones, deeper and deeper under the city wall. The priestess went behind her, lighting the way. A faint glow came from the distance, and she knew that she was close to the other side. When she reached the gaping mouth, her hands touched steel bars that barred her way.
“They are too close together; I can’t get through,” she told the priestess, as she turned to her.
The high priestess threw the torch into the river and pulled out the sacrificial knife from her robes.
“I’ll get you through,” the priestess hissed as she drove the dagger into Iphigenia’s chest.
She did not feel the pain at first. Her green eyes gazed into the priestess’ as she began to choke. She clutched to her, and the darkness started pressing down on her.
“Why?” she whispered.
“You have some insolence to ask me why! You thought that you may escape your fate through treachery and lies, but Artemis spoke to me and told me of your past sins. Close your eyes. It will be over soon.” She stabbed her again and left her to float on the river of blood.
The king’s guards found Iphigenia after the river of blood had brought her back into the city. Orpheus came to the bank of the river to see his love lying lifeless in her blood-soaked dress. The high priestess had thrown off her robes and fled into the temple.
The God of Music fell to his knees in front of his slain love. His desperate cries pierced the souls of his subjects, as he held her soft body and gently stroked her hair.
“Why, Iphigenia? Such a gentle and loving creature, yet all wanted her slain. How cruel is this life, that my brother betrays me and seeks to enslave her, and both gods above and spirits below turn against my love and strike her down dead?” he howled in pain, as a wounded animal, and the citizens of the city gathered around him with bowed heads, half mourning the loss of the beautiful queen and half afraid of what their king might do in his hour of despair.
Orpheus fell silent. He rose slowly from the blood-stained ground, with the body of Iphigenia held closely against his breast. Without a word, he went to the temple of Apollo, gradually ascending the stairs in the glare of the fire that still burned inside. He laid his lover on the marble altar and fell to his knees.
“On this day of suffering, I come before you, father, who have granted me all your blessed gifts, and I beseech thee to come forth to my summoning. My love, the light of my eyes, lies slain before you, on this altar. By the power of Olympus, of the raging seas and the great Underworld, grant her life again, and I will gladly give mine instead.”
At first, the statue gave no token. Then, the familiar voice of Apollo came forth from stone.
“Your brother lays siege to the city I have given you to govern. Your followers are slain within its walls, and you summon me forth to breathe life into one being?”
“I do. Without her, I do not have a reason to stand against my foe; without her warm embrace, I shall surrender to the darkness.”
“I see. You were wrong to put yourself and your personal happiness before the happiness of your loyal subjects. You have disappointed me greatly, yet I shall still come to your aid. You shall not see Epidaurus restored to its former beauty. You are to close your eyes in this temple, and your life on this land shall end without you ever seeing your city again. I shall descend myself with you and the dryad you chose to save instead of your city, and I shall take you both down in the Underworld, and you shall become mortal. Although none of you may live in this realm, you shall live again. Do you accept this bitter gift as readily as you have accepted the former ones I have offered you?”
“I do. Better to close my eyes on this world and wake up in the next rather than know that her spirit shall be lost forever.”
“Very well,” Apollo replied, and his illuminating figure stepped forth from the stone and kneeled before his son.
With a swift blow, he thrust his hand through the chest of Orpheus and seized his inner light. The limp body of the former god fell lifeless on the floor. With the orb of light held tightly in his mighty grip, Apollo exited the temple and released it into the ether, dissipating the smoke that Nergal had set over the blazing sun. Light shone on Epidaurus once more, and the demonic army which had stood by the side of Troilus blew away, like ashes caught in a pale of wind.
The god Nergal turned into a murder of crows and dispersed into the retreating shadows of the azure sky. Alone in the face of Apollo’s wrath, Troilus unsheathed his blade and opened his veins so that he might descend into Hades by his own terms, and suffer no consequences for his heinous acts.
With peace restored to the city, Apollo returned to his temple to keep his promise and escort the two lovers into the Underworld.
Orpheus and Iphigenia woke on a white field. White grass caressed their temples as they opened no eyes and yet saw how white trees grew to cast no shadow over their weary heads. The roots drank deeply from the river that meandered and licked the white banks by their feet. Apollo stood before them, his presence felt but not seen.
“I have brought you both by the river Lethe so that you might drink from it and forget your past lives. Woes will wash away from your memory, together with moments of bliss and plentitude. After you have cleaned your souls of the taint of the past, you shall step into a new life, for which the Fates have woven a new tapestry. From your flawed, yet illuminated souls, you shall spring as mortal creatures, bound to other laws than what you have known. I have spoken.”
Orpheus reached out for his beloved. He felt his hand clutch hers, although they had no hands to touch. “I shall forget all but my love for you. I vow that we shall again find our way into each other’s embrace.”
“I vow this as well,” Iphigenia replied, and they drank deep from the waters of the river of the Underworld, with a thirst for being born anew and finding each other once more.
n Soriano, Daylights Affliction (Faded light Book 1)
Daylights Affliction (Faded light Book 1) Page 5
