by E. B. Black
"As you know," Perseus said, "I've been gifted with protection by the gods in order to punish King Polydectes for kidnapping and raping your women!"
The crowd cheered in response. Probably because they thought they were supposed to.
"It was all so I could appoint Dictys as king, so stop following me. Bow to him now or face Zeus' wrath!"
Men that Medusa recognized as guards from the castle were the first to fall at Dictys' feet. They wore full-plated armor and their swords remained dirtied with the blood of the men who fought to protect their wives.
"Anything for you," their leader said. "We gladly bow to our new leader, King Dictys."
"These men were followers of Polydectes." Perseus' face was red with rage. "They did not kill under my orders. They are under Zeus' wrath, too. Get rid of them before I am forced to take out the head of Medusa again."
"But Perseus," one of the soldiers said. "We conquered the town in your name. The people would have never listened to you so readily if they hadn't been faced with our swords."
"Justice must be done," Perseus said.
Men surrounded the soldiers, outnumbering them. Many owned only crude swords and daggers, but the rage on their faces fueled them forward.
The soldiers sliced a man here and there, but were overpowered by a myriad of stabs. Soon they lay in a pile on the ground, their eyes glazed over and their limbs hanging loosely from them. The men continued to cut them apart and spit as the women screamed and covered the eyes of their children.
Dictys walked forward and raised his voice. "The men who fought bravely today to vanquish my enemies will be appointed soldiers and paid twice as much as these men were, if they so wish. The rest of you, prepare a funeral pyre so we can send these soldiers off to the underworld."
Dictys was soon crowned king during a public feast using Polydectes' spare crown. Perseus stayed in the castle for a while, until the fear in the village wore down. He couldn't leave until people saw what a kind-hearted king Dictys was, allowing them to approach the castle day or night when they had grievances. They grew to love him as much as they feared him and peace spread through the area.
"I'll miss you and your mother," Dictys said, when Perseus decided it was time to move on. "Can't you stay?"
Perseus embraced Dictys. "You know you're like a father to me, but I must move on. My presence here has only caused trouble from the beginning and I need to make my own life somewhere else."
Dictys grabbed him by both hands. "Take my boat with you when you go."
"I couldn't," Perseus said. "You love that thing. I've never seen you as peaceful as you are while you fish."
Dictys got a faraway look in his eye. "I don't love it as much as I love you and your mother. And I'm sure I'll be able to buy a new boat eventually." Dictys frowned. "Once I have the time to."
"Don't be so sad," Perseus said. "You're living the kind of life that most men only dream of and for once, I can say that I've met a king who genuinely has the best interests of his people at heart."
Dictys smiled. "Then at least let me give you some drachma. I have more than I know what to do with."
"You've already given me so much my whole life. I couldn't accept more."
Dictys nodded. "Make sure to come and visit after you've found a new place to live."
"We'll be back before you know it."
They walked down to the docks with no plan in mind. They had no money to hire a ship and now they had a new traveling companion: Danae.
Andromeda excused herself and Medusa followed her. She didn't like the look in Andromeda's eye or the way she was fidgeting nervously. Andromeda approached the palace and was quickly ushered inside by the guards.
"Oh?" Dictys said. "Back already?"
Andromeda swallowed loudly. "Yes. Perseus changed his mind. He'd like some of the money you offered."
Medusa narrowed her eyes as Dictys retrieved a small sack and filled it with coins. This woman wanted Perseus' heart, yet she was going behind his back?
Andromeda licked her lips. "Don't put too much in or Perseus will never accept it."
At least she felt a little guilt…
Dictys handed her the bag and she hid it under her clothing. She had lied and Medusa knew why. She was weak and having trouble living day to day without her luxuries. Although it had been awhile since she openly complained, she must have still be suffering. Medusa was tempted to tell Perseus about it, but knew it was a bad time to cause trouble.
When they returned to the docks, Danae was rubbing her forehead and her eyes were closed. "Maybe we should have taken Dictys' offer. We could use a boat! You're too stubborn to accept the help you need sometimes. You can't do everything on your own."
Andromeda's voice had grown whiny. "To be honest, I'm tired of traveling inside that stuffy bag. Two people will just make it worse. Please find a way for us to sail to our next destination."
Perseus sighed as he paced. "I'm doing the best I can. You two need more patience."
A man walked up to them, dressed in a silk chiton with an embroidered scarf wrapped around his chest. He wore a turban on his head. "I hear you're looking for a ride."
Perseus shrugged. "Yeah, but I have no money to pay you for it. Sorry."
Medusa wondered whether Andromeda would dare to offer the money she'd taken.
"It's all right." The man smiled. "My name is Amar and I'm a merchant. I saw you in town and the way the gods protected you. Traveling on the sea isn't safe. Recently, a dear friend of mine was attacked and killed by a band of pirates. I could use the protection of someone like you. I'll consider it a type of payment."
"We'll take it," Danae answered before Perseus had the chance to respond.
"Good." The merchant chuckled. "Because the rest of my crew only agreed to set sail when I told them that you'd be on board with the head of Medusa, and they are actually paying me with gold."
Amar gestured to a huge boat that sat behind him. It had silver shields dangling from the sides and a sail with a naked picture of Hera on it flapping in the breeze. Several slaves were dragging the merchant's cargo on board.
Amar waved at the crew and a family of farmers waved back. They looked dirty and carried sacks over their shoulders. Next to them was an extended family of black smiths, who had dragged most of their tools on the deck and set them in a large pile. They took a moment away from their arguing to smile and nod their greetings.
"These people do not hate Dictys, but they believe you are a god living among mortals and choose to follow you instead," Amar said.
Perseus was bright red and flustered. "But I don't want to be-"
Andromeda interrupted, a huge grin on her face. "Weren't you the one who told Dictys that sometimes we all have to take on responsibilities that we don't necessarily want to?"
Perseus glared at her, but they all wound up boarding the ship.
Over the next few days, Andromeda grew sea-sick and vomited over the side of the ship. She had terrible sea legs and Perseus had to hold her whenever she went on deck. It made Medusa jealous, but she forced herself to control it. She couldn't have another violent episode with Andromeda or she could lose Perseus forever.
Medusa threw up several times as well, although it was because of her pregnancy rather than the ocean. The crashing of the waves was loud enough to hide the sound.
Medusa hated being stuck floating on the water. As much as she despised Zeus, she'd rather be on land, which was his domain, than traveling across the sea, where her rapist, Poseidon, retained control. She reassured herself several times that he didn't know she was there. She was quiet enough that even the crew didn't notice her, but she kept having nightmares of him popping up from the middle of the ocean, wrecking the ship and dragging her down to his kingdom. In these dreams, he looked like a giant squid.
Perseus seemed restless as well. He had been on a long journey and he wanted to settle down for a while. While Andromeda enjoyed browsing the various wares on each new port, Perseus
slept under the deck all day. His movements were labored when he did walk and he didn't speak much when people tried to socialize with him. He didn't even notice that there was no logical way Andromeda could be purchasing the things she was.
A sudden storm forced them to dock on an uninhabited stretch of land.
A smile spread across Perseus' face as the men explored the shore, dripping wet and shivering in the rain. Medusa flew above them and took a sip from the lake that Perseus bent down and slurped from. The water was pure here and there were lots of green, leafy plants growing around it.
They crowded inside the entrance of a cave, where they started a fire. Medusa felt stiffness in her joints from the cold. They'd return to the ship soon.
Perseus rubbed his hands together and faced his palms towards the fire. "We should settle here. Amar is getting sick of us. We eat from his resources and don't do any work. There's lots of water here and rich soil. I think it's a good location."
The farmer, Isarius, nodded his head. "I don't think my wife can take traveling anymore. The baby's supposed to come any day now and I'm worried about her health."
The blacksmiths agreed as well. As it had been a long time since they had worked with their hands, they were eager to get on with their lives and start a new business. Amar was a bit hesitant, though, because he had heard of pirates attacking and looting small towns on the shoreline.
"But we have nothing to steal," Perseus insisted. "I think we'll be okay."
They brought their wives and families to the shore. Amar left his daughter and her new husband behind as well. He said he'd return in a few months with supplies for the town and to see how they were doing.
They named their new village Mycenae.
Chapter 19
They were forced to crowd inside the entrance of the cave and sleep until the rain faded. Then they could build their own shelters. They'd probably use twigs and vines at first and then upgrade to wood and bricks later for a more permanent arrangement. They discussed their plans to build and where exactly the best farmland lay.
Medusa snuck up on Perseus and pressed her lips against his ear, so she could whisper. "I can't wait until you have your own room, so we can be alone again."
Perseus grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He was better at reaching out and touching her instinctively than he used to be. She knew what his gesture meant. He couldn't wait either.
One of the blacksmiths loved to paint and sculpt. Back at home, he had been forced to be in the family business to earn money, but here, it was better for everyone if he expanded his horizons. His name was Fortus.
Fortus took a chisel he brought with him and started carving pictures all over the cave walls. He made one of Perseus slicing off Medusa's head. The depiction was crude, but she recognized her picture because of the snakes dancing wildly on her scalp.
"Someday, I'll make statues of this," Fortus told Perseus. "You'll have to tell me what she looked like. I know you saw her in the mirror and you've been the only one to survive her gaze."
Perseus smirked. "All right."
Medusa didn't look forward to statues being erected of her lover violently murdering her.
"I'd ask you to show me her head in the mirror"-Fortus shivered-"but there's too many ways that could go wrong."
Everyone gathered around the camp-fire and asked Perseus to tell stories of Medusa and her appearance. No one but Medusa understood why he chuckled as he embellished the story with descriptions of a battle between the two of them where she ripped down his chest before he sliced off her head. He described her monstrous appearance as "a twisted face and body so covered in scales that at first he thought she was a dragon." He winked at her as everyone gasped. She shook her head. Way to play the part.
She rubbed her rough skin suspiciously. Did he really think of her as a dragon?
Incense was placed beneath the carvings in the cavern and lit as several farmers prayed.
"Are you praying to me?" Perseus asked, his lip wrinkled in disgust.
"We are praying to the one who protected you in Seriphos that day you overthrew Polydectes. It was the first time we actually saw a god reach down and protect those on Earth."
So without realizing it, the farmers started a cult to Medusa. She was the one who protected Perseus, after all.
While rude construction went up and everyone slowly moved out of the cave, giant slabs of stone were cut from a cliff overlooking the lake and carved into Medusa. They were life-size and placed in front of Perseus' dwellings. Her body was covered in scales, but voluptuous. Her face was that of a young woman, even though her hair wiggled with ugly snake heads. Some snakes were long enough to rest upon her breast or wrap around her arm. It reeked of sexual desire. Perseus' descriptions were the cause of this.
"You know, that's not what I look like," Medusa said, when she confronted Perseus one day.
"Of course it's not," Perseus said. "You're prettier than that, but if I told them the truth, they'd get suspicious."
Medusa slapped her forehead. "You don't understand. There's a reason people die when they look into my eyes. It's because my scales, my disfigured face, and my eyes are so terrifying to look at that their bodies literally transform because of it."
"Nonsense." Perseus waved his hand dismissively. "Have you ever seen yourself in a mirror?"
Medusa crossed her arms. "You know that's impossible. I can't see my true self in a mirror."
"Then my point stands." He poked her in the chest. "Besides, it's what is in your heart that makes you glorious, not what's on the outside."
She melted at his sappy line and the two of them brushed lips. Heat quivered through her body until she felt as if she was on fire. They would have been lost in their passions if someone hadn't entered the room and asked for Perseus' help to settle an argument between the farmer and one of the blacksmiths over who would get to live closer to the lake.
Perseus had said he never wanted to be king and he was never officially pronounced as such, but people knew he was the leader anyway. They came to him with their problems. They listened to his judgments.
Perseus' castle was erected quickly, using brick made from clay and wood. It wasn't as huge as other palaces they had traveled to, but it did have a dining hall and separate rooms for Perseus, Danae, and Andromeda. He invited the whole town to live inside until their own houses were built. Fortus liked this because it meant he could work on his art inside the castle, to find where his masterpieces would rest and how the light would reflect on them.
He carved grapes on vines over the entryways. He made statues of Zeus and Athena–the ones who had appointed Perseus to his holy task. Athena wore full-length armor covered in scales. Medusa had never seen a statue like it.
Perseus' mouth tightened as he analyzed the final products. "What is that Athena is wearing?"
Fortus' mouth fell open. "You mean you haven't heard?"
Perseus shook his head.
"Varicia told me about them."
Varicia was the farmer's teenage daughter. Her large black eyes made her look like an owl. Her pale skin and frail form were sickly. She had become the town's priestess. She prayed to the gods, went into trances, and performed animal sacrifices in the woods outside.
"Varicia had a vision about it," Fortus said. "She saw Athena wearing armor made from the skin of Medusa."
Medusa hoped this was true. That meant the gods had believed their lie, but it also meant her sisters probably bought it, too. Medusa frowned.
"I didn't know," Perseus replied. "I haven't seen Athena since this whole thing happened."
Thank Hades because Medusa was pretty sure she would have seen through the ruse somehow if she'd been around. The body of Medusa's "corpse" was enough to keep her pacified for now.
Struggling to get food at first, they were forced to hunt in the woods. Medusa helped by pointing out edible plants to Perseus.
It got better when they explored enough to find a nearby village. They came in once a week
with pelts from the animals they killed that they traded for seeds and goats. It would be a long time before the farmers' harvest was ready to eat, though.
Some villagers in the town saw what they were doing and agreed to pledge themselves to Perseus. They were either mercenaries looking for work-Perseus was happy to provide them shelter and food in exchange for protection of the town-or people searching for a new start. They brought their wealth with them.
Silky sheets, homemade furniture, and silver dishes went up in the castle. It was simple, but gorgeous.
Danae and Andromeda got close very quickly. It made Medusa miserable to watch them gossip to each other and giggle as Danae taught Andromeda to sew. Andromeda poked herself so much with the needle that she bled all over the material. Danae laughed and enjoyed her company, talking about how she had once wished to have a daughter of her own to talk to. Perseus wasn't the best conversationalist.
They might as well have been jamming the needles into Medusa's heart. She missed her mother. Before her dad had gambled all their money away, they had enjoyed going shopping for clothes and the day's food in the marketplace. They took their servants as escorts and asked each other's opinions on each item.
Her mother wasn't just dead. It was worse than that–she didn't exist anymore. Medusa would someday be in Tartarus, but the worst part about it wouldn't be the torment. It would be the knowledge that she got to live on in the afterlife, while her mother didn't. She was just a memory now. Medusa knew it was her eyes that had done it, but she blamed the gods. None of this would have happened without their interference.
Medusa shook her head, trying to get all the negative thoughts she was having out of it. She needed to be as positive as possible to get through the night. Perseus was throwing his first party-a housewarming party-inside the palace ever since construction had finished.
Events like this wound up making her feel more lonely than normal. She wasn't able to interact with Perseus, as talking to and touching the air would make him look crazy, and she couldn't interact with anyone else either. They all thought she was dead, so she was forced to watch on in silence, regardless of what happened. Even when Andromeda would link arms with Perseus or ask him to dance with her.
