by Hilary Green
‘I serve the Goddess.’
‘But did you do this on Her express command? Did She appear to you in a vision, or did some oracle bid you take the Prince for the Chosen One?’
‘I am the handmaid of the Goddess. I serve Her with my whole being. You Achaeans have never served Her with more than your lips. She was our Goddess, long before you came and pretended to worship Her, and put your ancestors in the place of Her earthly husband in order to take our land away from us.’
‘But was it the Goddess Herself who chose the Prince?’
‘I chose him, to try his faithfulness – and yours, daughter of the King. Had you been truly Her priestess the Chosen One would not have rejected you. Had he been utterly Hers he would have forgotten that you were his sister and remembered only that he was Her chosen Bridegroom. Now the Holy Marriage has not been consummated and the proof is clear that She has rejected the House of Neleus.’
Karpathia suddenly rose to her feet. ‘It is you whom the Goddess rejects! I am still Her priestess and I speak with Her voice. You betrayed your trust and used the Chosen One for your spite. It is upon you that Her anger falls!’
My sister was not tall, yet now she seemed to tower over the other woman. Her body was like a flame in the shadowy cave. I saw Eritha’s wild triumph waver.
Karpathia’s voice went on, ‘You thought to speak for the Goddess, but it was your own will that spoke. Now Her anger upon you is terrible and you cannot hide from it. Already you feel Her curse eating at your heart. Already Her power is drawing the life from you. She took you to Herself and you were born again in Her, but now She will cast you away and for you there will be no rebirth.’
As she spoke I saw Eritha begin to tremble so violently that the flounces on her dress shook like leaves in the wind. Then her legs folded under her and she sank to her knees. Karpathia ceased and we all stood silent, watching the crouching figure. A low, keening wail broke from her and her hands began to claw her hair. She lifted a distorted face and cried, ‘She is our Queen and my people have always been her priestesses. You came and took our land and made us slaves, and I have been a servant in the sanctuary where I should have been supreme. It should have been to me that the Goddess spoke, and into my body that She entered. Now Her anger is upon me and my life is leaving me: but She will punish you also and he who rejected Her will never sit upon the throne of Pylos!’
Her voice rose to a scream on the last words and then broke into frenzied sobs, while her nails ripped at the pale skin of her breasts, leaving long red weals. My father called out and several attendants came running and dragged her to her feet. Her cries echoed about the cave and died away.
My father turned to the Chief Priest. ‘So, it is clear that the woman devised this terrible affair out of her own madness. Can the Goddess’s anger against us be placated?’
The priest looked slowly from one of us to the other. ‘I cannot tell. No matter how, the Prince was the Chosen One, and his rejection was an insult to the Lady. Some atonement must be made.’
‘And my daughter?’
Karpathia lifted her head and looked first at the priest and then at our father. ‘When I spoke just now the power of the Goddess was upon me, but it was for the last time. One thing is clear. I can no longer be the instrument of the Goddess. This I understand. What Her will is concerning Alkmaion I do not know.’
My father turned to the priest again. ‘How may we find out what the Mistress demands?’
‘I have prepared all that is needful within, in the Holiest place. Let the Prince come before Her.’
‘I must go into the very presence of the Goddess? It is death to do so!’
‘Go you must, and abide Her will.’
I stared from Karpathia to my father. Her face was white as marble, and as dead. His was wrought with anguish. The priest drew aside the curtain and beckoned me. I went, with the blood singing in my ears, towards the darkness.
The heat on the mountainside was like a physical blow, yet it seemed powerless to touch the cold within me. I stood alone outside the Sacred Cave, with no sense of the world around me.
Then I looked down and saw Alectryon waiting a little below me. The slope between us was steep but I took it at a run and he had to catch hold of me to prevent me from falling.
He said, ‘You are shivering again.’
I answered, ‘It was cold in the cave.’
‘But here it is warm. You can feel how hot the sun is and smell the thyme. The air is as sweet as honey.’
Slowly, with his words, the real world gathered again around me. I loosed my grip on him and he set me on my proper balance and looked into my face.
‘You see. We meet again.’
‘Yes.’
‘May I know what is the Goddess’s will?’
I stared back at him, so dazed that my mind could not frame an answer.
‘Perhaps you have been forbidden to speak of it?’
‘No … no, it was not forbidden.’
‘Then?’
‘The Goddess has been merciful – beyond all that I could expect.’
I heard him release his breath in a low cry of relief. ‘I was sure it would be so!’ Then he added more gravely, ‘But there is a penance?’
‘Yes. I am to leave Her land and not return until I have achieved purification.’
‘And where may that be obtained?’
‘To the west there is an island whose people are closer to Her than any on this earth. It is to them that I must go.’
‘Is it specified that you must go alone?’
‘No.’ I looked at him, still trying to gather my thoughts and understand what had happened to me.
‘Then when do we leave?’
In my dazed state it was a moment before I took in the meaning of his words. Then I asked, ‘You would undertake a hazardous voyage with one on whom the displeasure of the Goddess rests?’
‘To the ends of the earth, if necessary. But I do not believe that She intends you harm. It is Her mercy that sends you to this place, where you may rid yourself of this accidental defilement.’
I nodded slowly, my eyes on his face. ‘I believe it may be so. And if it is, surely I should rejoice, rather than despair?’
‘So you should. So let us be grateful and look forward to the adventure ahead of us.’
Suddenly I remembered how I had envied my ancestor Periklymenos who had sailed in the Argo with Jason. Was not the Goddess offering me an adventure that would give just as good an opportunity for glory? On the way to the sacred island and back again who could tell what might happen? I lifted my head and began to laugh, and the laughter became mingled with tears and only ended when Alectryon gripped me hard by the shoulders and sternly bade me stop. Then he made me sit down with him on the warm grass and tell him what had passed in the cave. I told him everything, up to the point where I entered the innermost sanctuary and there I stopped.
‘Then?’ he prompted me.
I shook my head. ‘I cannot speak of that, save that it was there that I learned the will of the Goddess.’
‘And your sister?’
‘She will no longer be a priestess, but she has no other punishment.’
‘And Eritha?’
‘I do not know. Karpathia says she will die – that the Goddess will take her life without human intervention. Do you think it is possible?’
He nodded gravely. ‘I have heard of it. Well, the punishment is deserved.’
I shuddered, remembering the passionate body I had held in my arms.
Alectryon said, ‘Where are the King and your sister now?’
‘Within, performing the last sacrifice. I may not take part until I am purified. They told me to wait for them.’
My father and Karpathia came out of the cave at that moment and we rose to greet them. My father’s face was like that of one who has just recovered from a painful illness. He took me by the shoulders.
‘The Goddess is merciful.’
‘Yes, sir. I than
k Her for it with all my heart.’
‘Later we must make arrangements for your journey. Kerkios’s ship is ready for another voyage. I shall entrust you to him.’
I lifted my head and looked him in the eyes. ‘Sir, Sirios was making a new song the other day. It concerned your voyage to Asia when you were not much older than I am now. Did your father send you in the care of the captain? Or were you commander of the expedition?’
I saw that I had struck home. He answered slowly, ‘It was my first command.’
I dropped to my knee. ‘Then I beg you, father, have as much trust in me as your father had in you. I must go a long journey. Who knows if I shall return? Let me, at least, go as a Prince. Then, whatever the end of the voyage may be, I may have a chance to make you proud of me. I have caused you trouble and anxiety, I know. But the Goddess permits me to attempt to regain Her favour. Will not you do likewise?’
My father bent and raised me. ‘This trouble was not of your making, Alkmaion, so I will grant your request. You have long been fretting for a chance to prove yourself, I know.’
I embraced him and then Alectryon came forward and knelt in his turn.
‘My lord, once before I knelt to beg the Prince’s company. Will you now grant me that favour again?’
‘You would go with him?’
‘I would, my lord, and he has given his assent.’
My father smiled for the first time that day as he raised Alectryon, saying, ‘Count, I shall part with my son with far less anxiety, knowing that you are with him. Come now, both of you. Let us return to the palace. We must make plans for your journey.’
We turned to go down the hill, Alectryon and I laughing together with excitement and relief. Then we saw Karpathia, seated silent on a rock, her head hanging in utter dejection. My father went to her and drew her gently to her feet and we passed in silence from the Holy Mountain.
I see in memory a bright morning on the beach below Pylos. The sacrificial fires burnt clear and pale in the sunshine and the smell of the roasting flesh of the bull that my father had just sacrificed to Poseidon drifted to my nostrils and set a keen edge to my appetite. The Prince of Pylos was being despatched on his first voyage in truly royal style!
My father had given out, truly enough, that I was undertaking the journey at the express command of the Goddess, but he had let it be understood that this was a mark of Her special favour. After a few days of rest the shadows were beginning to fade from my mind and I was looking forward eagerly to the adventure ahead. At the water’s edge our ship was ready, her black hull trim and shining with pitch, her crew waiting nearby. Only Kerkios knew the real reason for the expedition. He had served my father too well to be sent on a voyage under the command of one who, as well as being inexperienced, was also defiled in the sight of the gods, without fully understanding what was required of him. He had taken the news philosophically, commenting, ‘Since the Lady wills it the Prince must go. I shall not fear to assist him in obeying Her commands.’
The voyage had been planned like an ordinary trading venture. We were to sail north along the coast and hope to make Ithaca by evening on the second day. Here we were sure of a welcome, since the Royal House was related to our own through the marriage of Odysseus’s son Telemachos to Nestor’s youngest daughter, Polycaste. From there we would continue north to Corcyra, whence we could cross the narrow strait and follow the opposite coast line southwards until we came to the great island of Sicania. From here, Kerkios told us, it was only a day’s sail to the Holy Isles.
The sacrifice over and the ceremonial meal eaten there remained only the final libations. The wine cups were filled, libations poured on the altars, and my father offered a prayer to Poseidon to grant us a prosperous journey. Over the edge of the goblet my gaze met Alectryon’s. His eyes were sparkling and I could see that he was as eager to be away as I was.
My father handed his cup to an attendant and turned to me.
‘The time has come, Alkmaion. Your ship awaits you. Remember to greet Persepolis of Ithaca from me. And keep well to the fore-front of your mind all that I have said to you.’
All that he had said to me! There had, indeed, been a good deal, all of it wise and no doubt necessary advice to a rash young man eager for glory. Yet, even as I promised him that I would remember it all, my mind leapt ahead to a plan I knew full well he would have forbidden. He embraced me and kissed me on both cheeks and I returned the salutation warmly. After all, it might be for the last time – but I could not bring myself to believe that.
‘Farewell, my son. The Gods go with you and may the Lady of the Mysteries grant you a happy return.’
Suddenly I saw that there were tears in his eyes and instantly my youthful confidence humbled itself. I was his only son. All his hopes rested on me and I knew he would rather have me back alive, with no glorious deeds to boast of, than dead, no matter how honourably, in some unnecessary raid.
I kissed him again and then made the round of all my relatives. Uncle Paion touched my brow with formal, fleshy lips. Antilochos’s cheek touched mine, hard and smooth as stone. He was consumed with jealousy, and I delighted in it. But Perimedes’ eyes looked honestly into mine as he wished me good fortune and Melanthos hugged me hard and bade me hasten my return.
I looked round and saw that Alectryon was waiting for me under the stern of the ship. I joined him and we climbed the ladder to the after-deck. The ship was already half afloat, only her stern still on the beach. Most of the crew of thirty were already on the benches, the rest waiting to shove us off. There was a pause. I looked around and realised, with sudden exultation, that Kerkios was waiting for me to give the order to cast off. To savour the moment, and to cover my hesitation, I took a last look round, at the beach with the crowds of people, at the rooftops of the palace shining on the low hill beyond, at my father standing among his Companions a few yards away.
Then I turned and said, ‘Cast off, Kerkios.’
Orders were issued, the hawsers thrown aboard, the crew who were still ashore put their shoulders to the hull and the ship slid gently into the water. On shore a hymn began to Poseidon. A last member of the crew hauled himself over the side and took his place and the oars began to strike. I raised my arm in salute and was suddenly glad of an excuse to keep my face turned away from those in the ship.
I stood in the stern and watched the shore recede until we cleared the straits guarded by the Holy Mountain and gained the open sea. Everyone else on board had the tact not to speak to me until I turned. Then I found that an awning had been rigged over part of the after-deck and Dexeus was spreading fleeces for us to lie on.
Alectryon smiled at me. ‘Shall we sit down? We have a long day ahead of us.’
A long day it proved to be. After the excitement of our departure the long pull up the coast seemed flat and dull. The wind, as we had expected, was northwesterly so it was useless to put up the sail. I watched the steady, rhythmic swaying of the rowers’ bodies and wondered how long I could have kept it up. The shore slid past almost imperceptibly. Up to Phea it was familiar. This was the most northerly town of the kingdom and I had made the journey before with my father. After that there was a little more to interest me, as unknown country came into view but it was much like Messenia and I was quickly bored again.
That night we camped at the mouth of the river Peneus and the next day we resumed our slow progress northwards until, in the late afternoon, the helmsman called to Kerkios and pointed ahead. The captain turned to me.
‘We’ve sighted Ithaca, Prince.’
I jumped up and stared towards the horizon. I could just make out the dark outline of an island. Ithaca, the realm of Odysseus! A hundred stories crowded into my mind and, as if in response to my new mood, I felt a breath of wind stir my hair. In a few minutes, as the sun dipped to touch the horizon, the breeze from the mountains on the mainland was strong enough to make it worth stepping the tall fir mast and hoisting the big square sail. The men shipped their oars thankfully and we
began to hear the water hissing under the keel. The difference in the sensation, after our laboured progress under oars, lifted all our spirits. I looked at Alectryon. His hair was blowing across his face and he laughed with pleasure through it and said, ‘This is better!’
The island ahead drew closer with a speed that had seemed impossible an hour ago. We could see it now as a rocky, mountainous place.
Alectryon said, ‘Odysseus must have been glad to see this sight!’
‘Do you think that all the things that are supposed to have happened to him are true?’
He shrugged. ‘Who can say? He certainly had some remarkable adventures. But no bard was ever satisfied with simple reality! No matter how exciting a story, they must still embroider it. You know that. But I’ve no doubt Odysseus had had enough excitement by the time he got home, without the bard’s additions!’ Then he added, ‘I daresay you’re regretting that we have no such tales to tell, but remember it took him ten long years to get home from Troy, and I’ve no desire to wait that long before I sample King Persepolis’s hospitality. So kindly don’t tempt some god who happens to be listening to grant your wishes!’
‘Very well,’ I agreed with a grin. ‘I’ll wait until tomorrow.’
We slid along the coast of the island until we came to the sandy haven with the town running down to the beach and the palace above it. It was not a big place and the palace was not much larger than the house of a nobleman in Pylos, but it had an air of prosperity and peace. The sail was lowered and the men took the oars and drove the ship through the quiet waters until she grounded, and then leapt overboard and dragged her up the beach.
Our approach had obviously been noted while we were still some way off and a small crowd had gathered. Among them was a young man who, by his dress and bearing, appeared to be in some authority. I threw my cloak across my shoulder and disembarked, with Alectryon following. The young man came forward and said courteously, ‘My greetings to you, friends. I am Opheltas, son of Persepolis, the King of this island. May I know your names and parentage, and for what reason you have made the journey to our island?’
