Thrice Bound

by Roberta Gellis

  By morning, Artemis was resigned to the fact that there was no treasure in the sense of a huge repository of metal and gems. Hekate helpfully sent Kabeiros to sniff for hidden rooms or areas disguised by illusion, but he didn't find any. Artemis was annoyed, but not surprised and said she thought Gration was a boastful liar. She busied herself with collecting all the jewelry in the house and all the bejeweled and golden artifacts. At noon the maids served a meal.

  Having eaten, Artemis went back to scouring the place, all the while assuring Hekate that these were just toys to remind her of her victory—more hard won than she had first implied—over Gration, that her worshipers supplied her with jewels and gold in plenty. Hekate thought that Gration was not the only boastful liar, but she said nothing of that, only promising to tell Artemis if she found a treasure room.

  She doubted Artemis believed her but sat down in the antechamber with Opis while Artemis searched. With the glittering gauds gone, she liked the room even better. It was simply a very large chamber, furnished with comfortable groups of chairs, divans, and tables, all in soft earth tones, lightened here and there with a dull gold or a flick of sun yellow. The walls were not disguised forest glades or manicured gardens; they were smooth, polished stone colored like pale sand, and they were hung with remarkable pictures.

  A quick survey showed Hekate the beginning—a desperate battle scene, dominated by two figures, one of which was opening the earth to swallow the army of the other. The next picture showed the defeated fleeing (among whom, because of highlighting, Hekate was sure were Titans). A whole series of scenes followed the defeated on an incredible journey in which passes through mountains had been opened by a massive figure who seemed to be drawing heat from the rock, which was then pulverized by the hammer blows of the Titans. Then a valley was depicted; it was rocky and barren, but under the scrub brush and tangled hummocks of grass, the artist had depicted a red glitter that was surely meant to be earth-blood—the valley of Olympus as first seen.

  Next to last was a picture of a city being built. The houses were of hewn granite rather than polished white or patterned marble, but Hekate was sure it was Olympus from the Titans' point of view. The last painting was not finished. It showed two crowds of men confronting each other. On one side was the man who had sucked the heat from the rocks; on the other was a man even bigger, dark-haired, dark-eyed with an expression of acute distress and one hand extended in a plea or a welcome to the first tall person. Behind the men were women, some standing proudly alone and others clinging together in twos and threes.

  It was near evening again when Artemis came back, several bundles improvised out of cloaks being carried by her women servants. She looked around, commented on what a dull room it was, and then said that Hekate could have the house furnished as it was if she wanted the furniture, which was terribly old-fashioned, for the freezing spell.

  Hekate had given the matter thought and was ready. She held her hands before her breast and in them grew a silvery sphere. This she held up to Artemis' face and said, "Drink."

  The "goddess" stared at her, mouth thin with tension.

  "Do not fear. Remember, I depend upon you to bring me into favorable notice of the other gods. I assure you, this is only the freezing spell you desired, bonded to the renewing spell so that as long as you have power or can draw power, the spell will not fail. You can use it as often as you like, but I warn you again, that if you use it too often you will grow empty and weak. That's nothing to do with the spell. That's only dependent on your own power."

  It wasn't the whole truth, for Hekate had also bound to the renewing spell a very gentle compulsion to like her. The compulsion would not prevent Artemis from being angry with her nor induce any strong fondness, just encourage a mild friendliness. Aside from that the spell was harmless.

  A moment of tense silence passed, then Artemis bent forward and put her lips to the ball of silvery light. It disappeared quickly.

  "Now bring the spell to your mind, point your finger at whomever you want to freeze, and say, `Teleia stigme.' " Hekate grinned as she saw Artemis' hand rise. "Not at me. The spell won't work on me or on Kabeiros."

  Artemis swung around and pointed at a maidservant. "Teleia stigme," she said, and began to laugh with delight as the girl froze. Then she blinked and whirled to confront Hekate. "What have you done?" she shrieked. "You've seduced me into freezing one of my maidens! Release her. Release her at once!"

  "Lady Artemis, be calm. You can release her yourself. I'm not the king of tricksters that would teach you a spell you couldn't reverse. Now, simply point at your maiden again, see her in your mind going about her normal business, and say, `Thialuo.' "

  Release accomplished, the girl who had been frozen finished the step she had been about to take and then stared around at her companions, who were crying out with relief and delight and rushing forward to embrace her. Artemis grinned, looking suddenly like a young girl herself. Then a speculative gleam lit her eye.

  "Is it permanent?" she asked Hekate.

  "No. No spell is permanent."

  That wasn't the truth, because the renewal spell, attached in a different way, would make any spell permanent; Hekate wasn't about to tell Artemis or any "god" that. If Artemis was any indication, these powerful yet totally untaught and quite uncontrolled Gifted individuals should be trusted with as little as possible. Perses had taught Hekate how dangerous spells could be in the hands of a monster without conscience.

  "Oh." Artemis sounded rather disappointed, the gleam in her eyes dimming. "How long would a spell last? I mean, if I hadn't released Britomaris, how long would she have remained frozen?"

  "I can't tell you that." Hekate laughed at the expression on Artemis' face. "I don't mean it's a secret I don't want to reveal, I mean I don't know. Different spells wear off at different times. It depends on how much power is needed to keep the spell active and how much power you are able to invest in the spell when you cast it. Spells can be renewed by touching the bespelled person or thing and adding power—"

  Artemis shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  "I don't know how to explain it better." Hekate sighed. "I was taught from a child. How do you make the arrowheads?"

  "I . . . I wish for arrowheads, and then they are in my hand."

  She wasn't telling what she actually did, but Hekate didn't blame her. She herself was divulging as little as possible.

  "I hope it will work the same way," she said. "When you cast the spell, wish as you do for arrowheads, but wish harder or only lightly. Then see how long each freezing spell lasts. You needn't be concerned for whoever is frozen. The spell does no harm—unless it were to last for several days because you have so much power. A person needs to eat and drink and void. The freezing lets them wait longer, but not too long."

  "Is there a way to freeze the body but not the mind?"

  Hekate shuddered at the thought of being aware and unable to speak or move. "I don't know. I never tried."

  "Think on it," Artemis said, smiling slowly. "If you can give me a spell like that, the house is yours."

  "And in the meantime?" Hecate asked, quite prepared to be told to go.

  Artemis laughed. "Stay, if you like, as long as you like. I saw your face when I asked about freezing the body and not the mind. I would use it as a punishment, but not unreasonably. When you realize I'm not a monster and are willing to trust me, I'm sure you will be able to create the spell I want."

  "I will think about it," Hekate said.

  She would need to discover how long a spell cast by Artemis would last. If it were not too long, being frozen for some hours or a day would be better than being slain. Still, she would do no more for Artemis until she fulfilled her part of the bargain over the freezing spell.

  She said firmly, "And now for Kabeiros' trouble. Will you make me and his problem known to the other gods and goddesses and ask if any are willing to help me?"

  "If you do not give any of them the freezing sp
ell."

  Hekate hesitated, then nodded. "That's fair. I'll not give the freezing spell to any other . . . well, I have it, but I won't use it unless it means my life or Kabeiros'."

  "If you have time, I would rather you called on me and I will come and protect you."

  "Call on you . . . how?"

  Artemis grinned. "Oh, there's something you don't know? Can you speak mind to mind?"

  "With Kabeiros."

  "Can you scry?"

  "If I must. I don't like to spy on people."

  "Well, Calling is like scrying, but with voice only, no vision. When I've got home, you can Call me and see if I hear you."

  "That's very kind, Lady Artemis, but I would be afraid to Call at an inconvenient moment. At your own best time, if you would Call me, I will answer if I hear. But about meeting the other gods—"

  "You are fixed on letting a man have this power?"

  "It's a Gift he was born with, and his right. He's taking nothing from me nor from anyone else."

  Artemis made a moue of distaste. "Very well, that was our agreement. You've fulfilled your part. Tomorrow I'll take you to my mother, Leto. There's no one in Olympus she doesn't know, and her greatest delight is to help people."

  Hekate signified her satisfaction with that arrangement and Artemis departed with her maidservants. When the house was quiet, she and Kabeiros explored it thoroughly. They even found a substantial stable off to one side, and Hekate laughed heartily as she established their one small mule in a huge stall, clearly meant for a horse able to carry a heavy man. After she had spread oats and barley in a manger, piled hay in a crib, and carried water from a stream diverted to supply the stable, she said to Kabeiros. "Either we must be rid of the mule or get a groom."

  *It's a big house,* Kabeiros pointed out. *We need more than a groom. We need servants to cook and clean and go to the market.*

  *And how do I pay them?* she asked, shouldering two packs and draping the third over Kabeiros' back; he held it steady with his teeth fixed on a strap.

  *Probably not at all. I'm sure that all the `gods' are served by slaves. You'll buy those you need with spells from whatever `god' has too many. I'm more concerned with paying for food and drink—*

  Hekate winced.

  *What's wrong?* Kabeiros asked anxiously.

  *Drink. Dionysos. When you said `drink,' I felt a drawing toward Dionysos. I wonder why? He's too young—*

  *Not now. We've been away from Ka'anan a long time. If your binding to Dionysos is drawing you, we must go at once.*

  *No, not yet.*

  Hekate put her hand on Kabeiros' shoulder, but he trotted forward so suddenly, it slid away. She looked down at her hand, and her eyes misted with tears. It was almost as if he hated her in this form. He would talk to her, but he wouldn't let her touch him. Blinking back the tears that obscured her vision, she found the back door and opened it. They entered a huge kitchen, spotlessly clean, with shining pots all ready to be lifted from their hooks and used.

  *What do you mean, not yet?* Kabeiros' voice was loud and sharp in her mind, impatient, as if he had asked the question before.

  *First we must see what the `gods' can do for you. I'm not sure I even felt a draw to Dionysos, just . . . for a moment an uneasiness . . . *

  *In the name of the nameless Mother, are you mad? It took us how many years to get here? It isn't as if we are within an hour's walk of Ka'anan. Who knows what will have happened or how painful your binding will be by the time we return?*

  She stared at him, then shook her head. *You told me these `gods' had a way to leap from one place to another. Perhaps I can buy a spell for us that will take us to Ka'anan in the blink of an eye. They don't know magic, but they have these Gifts. At least we can wait for tomorrow and see what Lady Leto says.* She hesitated, then looked away and added, aloud but very low, "I know you cannot bear to be with me much longer. I'm sorry, Kabeiros. I don't know what I've done. Perhaps when you can change your shape again and are not bound to me, when you are free to go if you wish—"

  The dog lifted his head and fixed his white eyes on her. *Are you mad?* he asked again. And then, *Oh, you fool!*

  He dropped the pack that had been balanced on his back and ran out the door. Hekate looked after him, but he had already disappeared into the shadows of oncoming night. After a few moments she lifted the pack that carried their food to a huge table of polished marble in the center of the room and began to unpack their supplies. Miserable as she was, the sight of the few pieces of dried meat, the small bags of barley and millet, the carefully wrapped wedges of cheese, and low pile of flat, hard, journeybread huddled together on that enormous table made her laugh.

  There were stools under the table and she pulled one out, sat down, and, because she couldn't bear to let herself think about Kabeiros, she looked around. On the wall that held the door through which she had entered were three large hearths; each had some complicated erection of metal rods and chains. Hekate smiled again at the thought of hanging her little pot on any of the massive hooks attached to the chains or of roasting her one-rabbit supper on a spit plainly meant to hold several sheep or deer or even a couple of oxen.

  One side wall had a single door, the other two, and the wall opposite the outer door, had one. Hekate looked toward her supplies, realized she couldn't see them, and called a mage light into being. Then she shook her head; she hadn't eaten since noon but she wasn't hungry. Her eyes turned toward the open back door. Impatient with herself, she rose and turned her back on the temptation to run out and call Kabeiros. Instead she walked to the door to her right.

  Behind it the mage light illuminated a long passage with doors along the way. She opened two, which were identical bedchambers, small and austere but not grim. Each had a window, a narrow bed, a plain but sturdy chest, and a three-legged stool. Near the door, the corridor formed an L with another. Sending the mage light down that, Hekate saw several larger, more ornate doors, which she assumed closed off the bedchambers of Gration and his family.

  She went back to the kitchen and opened the first door on the left wall. There was a tiny antechamber that had doors at right angles to each other. The nearer one, on the inner wall, opened into a dry storage chamber; the chamber behind the other door was at the outer corner of the house and had a clear stream running through it, providing a place to keep milk and cheese and even to cool wine or beer.

  The farther door opened into a narrow serving pantry that led to a huge dining room. Hekate did not bother to send the mage light far into the room. A glimpse of the immense table surrounded by tall-backed chairs made her back out. They were a convivial people, the Titans. Tears came to her eyes again and she forced them back. She would never have any use for seating for so many guests.

  The wall opposite the hearths had a single door that opened into the back of the reception chamber. Serving tables flanked it, providing space for the servants to place food and drink for visitors. Hekate sighed and closed the door, returning again to the kitchen where she picked up the bundle that held her clothing. This she took to the bedchamber nearest the reception room in which she had slept the previous night. Kabeiros would look for her there first . . . if he came back at all.

  Eventually she went back to the kitchen and ate. The back door stood open, but the black dog did not appear in it. She wept a little, finding it very difficult to swallow. He might come back—probably he would because he had nowhere else to go and no other hope of regaining the man's form—but when he recovered his full powers, he would leave her. The tears fell a little faster. It had been so good, so warm, not to be alone. She wiped away the tears angrily, moved her supplies to the storeroom, which was warded against pests both insect and vermin.

  Hekate left the door of her bedchamber open as well as the back door, but she was very tired and despite her misery she fell asleep. She had no idea that Kabeiros had returned until she went into the kitchen and saw two dead rabbits on the table. She would not let herself search for him, partly be
cause she was too afraid she wouldn't find him. She began to gut and skin the rabbits, hoping the odor would tell him she was awake and bring him to her, but even after she cleaned up, he didn't come. She made some tea and choked down some journeybread to break her fast, wondering what she should do next if Kabeiros had left her, until Artemis' voice rang in her head.

  *Come to my house, and I will take you to Leto.*

  She couldn't tell Artemis that she didn't know where Kabeiros was, so she said, *I'll come as fast as I can, but remember Gration's house is at some distance.*

  *You can't leap to the marketplace?*

  *I can't leap at all, except on my two feet.*

  Hekate was aware of an odd pause, which somehow reminded her of a physical sigh. Then, *Perhaps I should take you to Hermes first. He can sell you a leaping spell that will take you to the marketplace from wherever you are in Olympus. This time I will come to Gration's house, since Hermes is closer to you than to me.*

  *Should I meet you there? That would be halfway for each of us.*

  *Have you done something to Gration's house that you don't want me to see?* Artemis asked suspiciously.

  *No, my lady. I was only—* she hesitated, her eye having caught a shadow moving by the door; her heart leapt, beating double time as joy flushed her cheeks *—trying to save you some effort. You are welcome here at any time.*

  A sense of satisfaction, even a mild pleasure at the warmth of Hekate's welcome, came across although Artemis said no more. And then Hekate was aware that the communication was ended. She looked down at Kabeiros, who was sitting, facing her from beyond the table. He showed no sign of remorse for the pain he had caused her. Hekate gave him a sour look.