Lucia became absorbed with her tasks in hand, as the room filled with the haze of the smoke - the Golem coughed. A startled Arcangela looked sideways to Celeste who gazed forward impassive, ignoring the cough as she wiped away tears from her face. Lucia and the Professor stood as if in a shared dream, as the Golem cleared her throat. Lucia then took a sheet of paper down from a shelf, before finding a lump of chalk and a stick of charcoal and put those items on the floor. Lucia crouched down and called up to the Professor: ‘take up the book of Hekate, and open it in the middle’ she said as she flattened the edges of the paper with her hands.
The Professor nodded, as if asleep, while Celeste looked on in anticipation as he reached forward for the book. A look of surprise and disappointment surged across Celeste’s face when the book lifted itself from the shelf and fell into his hands. Winston’s fingers and arms began to tingle, taking the book's weight, and he heard the distant hissing of ancient snakes in his mind. Somewhere within a dark space in Italy, the garnet eyes of a forgotten Hermeporta blinked into life, to cast their scarlet light into the gloom.
‘Hold the book forth’ said Lucia, from the floor, as the Professor obeyed and opened the book near the centre before he stretched out his arms. The pages of the book then turned themselves and stopped upon on a page with an illustration of a circle with symbols within its edge. Lucia took note, stood to examine the book, crouched again to take up the chalk and began to draw a large, accurate, circle on the floor using her rigid arm like a compass and copied the symbols from the book with as much care and accuracy she could.
With her work done, Lucia had created a circle wide enough for two people to lay within. She then left the paper and charcoal within the circle, and walked back to the table before she spoke to the Professor: ‘let go of the book, drink a cup of kykeon, and then sit within the circle.’ The Professor obeyed her without question, and released the book which then hung suspended the air; the sound of hissing snakes in his ears lessened when he let go, and he took up the bronze cup offered to him by Lucia, and they both drank down the potent, sweet, and intoxicating cocktail.
The pair both paused for a moment, as the liquid took almost immediate effect. Lucia took his cup and gestured to the circle, and the Professor seemed to hover as he walked, oblivious to Celeste’s glares, into the chalk circle and sat down. Lucia then checked on him before she reached her hand into a section of the bag that moved to pull out a sleepy black puppy, with soft glossy fur.
She cradled and stroked the warm animal, drugged to docile, before looking into its cute sleepy face as it yawned, and blew its milky breath into her face. Lucia then kissed the puppy before she lay it upon the grain in the large bronze bowl. ‘There, there’ Lucia said, as she patted its warm tummy before she walked over to open the wooden chest with the iron trappings. Lucia took a silver dagger out of the box before she returned to the plate to hold the puppy down. The blade flashed in the candlelight, and the puppy let out a whelp before it fell into stillness as its life blood stained the grain on which it lay. Lucia stroked the puppy’s ears as its flesh cooled before she anointed its body with the wild honey.
Lucia then lifted the bronze plate from the table, her vision starting to blur, and perceived the dish and the dead animal's body as a slit in a dragon's eye. Lucia swayed from side to side and saw a blinking iris studded with grains of gold. Lucia paused to concentrate and steady her mind. She closed her eyes and saw scarlet scales that rustled in the wind as a dragon flew through the air with her and the Professor on its back; while the dead puppy’s blood swirled to marble the honey and the yellow grain. ‘Tis done’ muttered Lucia, ‘we fly upon the dragon's back’ she added before she shuffled over, unsteady with the bronze plate, to sit and join the Professor in the circle.
The Professor lay as if asleep as he saw himself with Lucia upon a huge red beast that flew through the air, beating its wings, engulfed in clouds. The Professor felt as if his soul were flying like a kite tethered to an empty body. The book tilted itself towards Lucia in the air, bringing itself closer to her unsteady gaze, as the pages of the floating Grimoire turned themselves again. Lucia read out the names of the symbols scribed onto the pages and her chalked lines illuminated in turn as she did so: streaking the floor with light. The two witches muttered to one another, and the Golem looked on as the ceremony proceeded. Lucia began to chant, and both she and the Professor started to rock and undulate their bodies in unison as she sang louder. Some dogs in farm houses, scattered about the hills, began to howl and bark as if in one pack, and one mind, much to the confusion and annoyance of their owners.
Then the three witnesses stood rooted to the spot, as Lucia and the Professor appeared to be thrown back by a mighty force against the floor, and lay twitching and spread eagled as their eyeballs rolled backwards to white within their sockets.
'Mighty Dragon... deliver us' Lucia struggled to say.
The striped candle on the table, along with the others, dimmed and then extinguished as the circle and its symbols glowed brighter casting more light into the smoke-filled room. The dry bundle of oak twigs left in the hearth then combusted and burned into life with a purple fire.
‘We'll wait until the ceremony is over’ whispered Celeste, drying her tears, as she turned to Arcangela and the Golem, ‘to act now would be dangerous and foolish, but Lucia will be weakened for a while after she communes with the Goddess: let us take our stance then.’ Arcangela chewed her lip and looked down to the floor for a moment, but the Golem agreed with Celeste’s words as they all looked on.
The Professor heard, and then felt, the immense roar of a lion that thundered through his head and body, and shook him from his waking sleep. The Professor, compelled, then struggled to stand within the glowing circle, and looked back with shock to find his physical body laid down on the floor. The Professor could no longer see Lucia’s room with clarity everything seemed to spin and undulate. Lucia's hair blew from side to side, where she stood, but her own body lay on the floor next to his. The room swirled with incense, smoke, and mist as the distant lion roared again, but even louder than before.
Lucia whisked her head in the Professor’s direction.
'The Goddess approaches, Winston, only speak to her if she speaks to you. If she asks you a question answer with all the truth you have, if you do otherwise she’ll sever your soul away, and your body will die: hide NOTHING from her’, she said, her voice tense. The Professor agreed as the noise increased and the sound of a howling pack of dogs mingled with the roars. Lucia spoke again, but in haste, her voice shallow: ‘if she allows you to ask her a question, then keep the issue firm in your mind and show no fear before you ask her. DON'T leave the circle.'
The Professor showed he understood. Another mighty roar emerged from the direction of the fireplace which the Professor could just make out through the swirling mists. Then the purple fire in the hearth grew and expanded with the mouth of the fireplace, which yawned higher and wider till it reached the height of the ceiling. The sounds of barking dogs intensified, and the purple flames parted to let a glowing limb move through as the paw of a huge lion stepped out of the fireplace, and entered the room still engulfed in swirling smoke. The purple flames died down, and there, behind the mane of the colossal lion sat the Goddess Hekate. Her eyes blazed with a chemical fluorescence like burning zinc oxide, and the Professor’s eyes would have stung if he perceived them with his physical body.
The Goddess’ hair lay woven with oak leaves entwined about her head, a ring of large keys hung from her belt, and two, thin, golden snakes writhed about her waist and dark robes. Hekate held aloft burning torches in each hand. The lion then gave out such a mighty roar that it sounded like claps of thunder, as a pack of black dogs, sixty at least, yapped, yelped and howled in the fireplace with their haunted eyes aglow. The Professor looked down to check that his feet were still within the circle and tried to stay still as his spirit electrified with fear and exhilaration.
The lion crouched
, and Hekate stepped off her feline steed to walk forward in her bronze sandals - her feet echoed about the space. She processed with her torches held aloft, nonchalant, around the edge of the circle, her eyes like lasers, and admired Lucia’s work before she spoke.
‘A well-made circle of protection, Lucia, are you worried my dogs and lion would harm him?’ said Hekate, with a voice that echoed like a strong wind blowing through a deep ravine - unbridled and elemental. Lucia had swallowed before she answered:
‘No… no, oh mighty and Holy Goddess, it is to protect him from himself: he’s a new initiate.'
‘I see’ said Hekate, with slight mockery in her voice, her eyes shone as she continued to process around the circle. ‘This time I’ll let it pass, but need I remind you that I’m a liminal Goddess? The overseer of all gateways, all pathways, all beginnings and all endings; I don’t like barriers.’
With her words, a question flashed into the Professor’s mind, and the Goddess turned her face in his direction for a moment. Lucia kept her silence and waited to be addressed by the divine being. The Professor sensed the Goddess notice the dead puppy on the bronze plate that lay within the circle. Hekate stopped walking as her fearsome lion looked on: ‘I see you have a sweet offering for me, Lucia’
‘Yes, mighty Goddess’ the sorceress replied,
‘But you have kept it WITHIN your circle’ said Hekate. Lucia remained silent, the Goddess’ voice darkened, ‘do you wish to keep me hungry, Lucia? Do you want to haggle and bargain with me as mortals do at the market?’ Lucia shook her head like a child accused.
‘No, no, Holy Goddess. I would not deny you sacred rites as others have done.’
Hekate walked up close to the circle, stood next to Lucia, brought her burning torches closer and eyeballed her from head to toe. The Professor could then see two spots of light trace their way over Lucia's form. Lucia stood like a condemned woman before the gallows, looking forward, and did her best to keep still. The Goddess placed her torches down before she raised her hand, with nails like talons, in a delicate gesture, and plucked on the forcefield created by the circle like a harpist testing their strings: the sound of static clashed, and jangled in the air.
‘You’re a very cunning sorceress’ said the Goddess, before she raised her voice to a gale force wind, ‘but if you call me again, and withhold my offering as you have done: I’ll rip out your heart and eat that instead.’ The colour drained from Lucia’s face, and she looked as if she would faint before the Goddess spoke again, ‘WINSTON’ Hekate said to the Professor. He flinched but turned to look up into the strange yet beautiful light filled face of the Goddess with shining eyes. ‘Does this sorceress keep you against your will?’ Lucia flashed him a look, but he remembered her warning, and he composed himself before he answered,
‘Yes, divine Goddess, she does.’
The light from Hekate’s eyes and her torches then dimmed before she spoke, ‘people of great mind should never be bound to another's will, for it is the light of the soul and the mind that can free us all - shame on you, Lucia’ hissed the Goddess. Lucia dipped her head like a snowdrop, ‘you have abused your strength, Hierophant of Hekate’ said the Goddess, ‘but soon, your power could be taken from you as you have taken it from others.’ Lucia looked shocked as the Goddess continued, ‘for there are those you hold close that wish to be free of you.’
Hekate picked up her torches and sauntered to the enlarged fireplace, that seemed to wobble and swirl within the misty smoke. The Professor could see Hekate’s ribs move under her skin as she reached up and rested her lanterns upon it. Hekate then glided to the side of her mighty lion and stroked it like a tabby cat, before she addressed the Professor again: ‘bring me my offering, and I will answer your questions’ said the Goddess. The Professor saw a frantic expression race across Lucia’s face: to give the Goddess her offering he would have to breach the circle. He paused to watch Hekate comb her talons through her lion's mane as she watched him. To disobey Hekate would be worse than death.
The Professor then nodded before he sidestepped Lucia, who stood trembling and stooped down to pick up the bronze plate with the dead puppy. He held the plate forward, looking at the Goddess as she stood poised on the side of her huge lion, and breached the membrane of the circle with a static crash. When he did so every hair on his physical body turned to bright silver, but his face remained young. The Professor walked towards the Goddess, her great height, and her vast lion, as her hounds hushed their noise, while she stood there: the embodiment of darkness and light. He kneeled before her and raised the bronze dish aloft.
Hekate rushed forward to snatch up the platter, and he felt a wave of magnetism bolt through him when the Goddess brushed his hand. Hekate lifted the plate to her face and slurped at the body of the puppy, drinking its blood that mixed with the honey, before chewing on the grains with near gluttonous satisfaction. When Hekate had finished she gave out a mighty roar, almost as loud her lion, as she blazed all over with light - Lucia shielded her eyes against the glare.
‘You have honoured me’, Hekate proclaimed, her voice echoing in booms, ‘I have not had such offerings since the great destruction of the temples, and when men and women were burned for believing in me' she declared. Hekate bristled with power, 'I’ve had but crumbs left by the roadside to sustain me for near endless years' she said, 'few mortal men can face a Goddess like me and live, let alone stand upright in her presence. You have crossed a great threshold mortal man’ the Goddess swept her hand through the air, ‘Lucia has no more power over you – your mind is your own.’
The Professor heard Lucia cough back a protest, but he did not look at her - as he felt his soul ripple with magnetic sensations. The Professor stood and bowed to receive the Goddess’ complements. Hekate took up the limp body of the dead puppy in her taloned hands, licked off any honey that remained on its fur, held the tiny face of the dead animal to her lips, and breathed a gentle breath into its muzzle. At that moment the puppy came back to life in her grasp and gave out some shrill cries. Hekate tossed the bronze plate aside. The Goddess then smiled a smile of pure light which illuminated the animal, ‘you’re immortal now little one’ Hekate whispered, ‘I name thee, Winston’ she said, stroking its face before she put the puppy down and her dogs barked, as if in celebration.
Lucia looked on dumbfounded. The puppy then whined as if in need, dazed by its surroundings. A nursing bitch shambled forward towards the edge of the fireplace and barked. The puppy obeyed the call and ran to her dangling teats to suckle as she lay down in the hearth unscathed by the low purple flames. ‘Ask me your questions?’ said the Goddess, as she looked at the puppy suckling. The Professor composed himself once more before he spoke.
‘I want to learn how to capture the souls of the dead.’ The Goddess turned to him, and he felt the light of her gaze inspect his face as she stood up to her full height.
‘That is an immensely powerful thing you wish to learn’ she said, ‘why do you want to capture souls?’ The Professor did not hesitate.
‘I wish to capture souls, to liberate the mind of Man. I want to collect together the greatest thinkers that have ever lived so that they may speak with one another. Their combined Genius will end ignorance - and end mental darkness forever.’ The Professor spoke with all his passion running through his soul, and the Goddess saw and heard him.
‘Ambitious mortal, what you ask is very grave, such knowledge would give you the power of a God’ Hekate shifted her stance, ‘but then there are few things, if any, that cannot be moved by Man’s true will and desire. Those are one of the God’s gifts to Man.' Hekate continued to comb the mane of her lion with her taloned fingers before she moved to walk around the Professor in circles. ‘What you ask can be done, but I warn you that the Fates have laid their plans for every soul, past, present and future.'
‘But what if a person were wronged in death? Taken against their will’ he said, ‘what if they were innocent? What if…’ urged Winston. But Hekate pointed at th
e Professor with her claw extended,
'You’re forbidden from intervening to cheat a man or woman’s death – no matter how much you may love or admire them: even though you traverse the borders of time yourself.' Hekate gestured to Lucia and Professor in turn, ‘however, there are those that truly shape their own destinies and the Fates are kinder to them, but to meddle in this divine order is a sacrilege to us all that will not go unpunished. Do you understand?’ The Professor nodded. The Goddess gestured at the Professor, ‘you can borrow a body or soul offered to you of its own free will if that person wishes so before they die, or when it has reached the physical death Fated to it. But I warn you, mortal, all souls must return to of what they are made – The Source, the God of Gods: The Source that is behind all creation, to withhold from Source is to court oblivion. Do you understand?’
The Professor nodded again before the reinvigorated Goddess raised her hands above her head (her ribs no longer protruding) and turned them, as if twisting the air, to produce a vision of an unusual lantern that shone with polished brass and panes of glass.
‘Draw what you see’ she said to the Professor, while Lucia looked on agog at the lesson he received from Hekate. The Professor studied the holographic image the Goddess created as it spun above her hands, ‘I name it: “Soul-lantern - the lantern keeper for the soul”’ she declared. The Professor could see his physical body stir on the floor near to where Lucia stood. With the whites of its eyes rolled back the Professor's physical body reached for the charcoal and paper, and began to draw an accurate depiction of what the Professor saw above the Goddess. ‘You draw well’ she said before she continued, her voice becoming thunderous again as her eyes flashed like lightning, ‘mortal man listen to me well. Any common witch knows that a soul will choose the form best suited to it when it leaves its body - as the wise have always understood: for the timid a mouse, for the spirited a bird, for the intelligent a moth, or butterfly, and so forth.' Hekate continued to process around the Professor as she gave her lesson and her holographic image of the Soul-lantern continued to turn in the air, ‘the image I show thee when made real is not enough, the soul must be captured just after the moment of death, and for this, as if to catch a fish, a net is needed.’ The Professor nodded, and Lucia hung onto every word Hekate said.
The Hermeporta Beyond the Gates of Hermes Page 30
