Soldier of the Mist

Soldier of the Mist Page 16

Pindaros shrugged. "A man must trust the gods. There's nobody else."

"If the scroll is true, I've seen many more than you," I told him. "You've only seen the Black God - "

The black man nudged me and opened and closed his hands to show that there were twenty black gods at least.

"I believe you," I said. "But the scroll tells only of your seeing one, and the same for Pindaros. Have you seen more?"

He shook his head.

Kalleos asked, "Are you saying you've actually seen a god, Latro? Like they used to appear to people in the old days?"

"I don't know," I told her. "I've forgotten, but I wrote of many in my scroll."

"He has," Pindaros told her. "He's seen one at least, because I was there and saw him too. So did little Io - remind me to ask how you got here, Io - and our comrade there. I think he's seen many more.

He's told me about them at various times, and after seeing the King of Nysa, whom he just called the Black God, I believe him."

"Then believe me also when I say no one should trust them. Some are better than others, no doubt: the Swift God, the Shining God, and the King of Nysa. But I think ... "

"Yes?" Pindaros bent toward me, listening.

"I think that even the best act in some twisted way, perhaps. There's malice even in those who would be kind, I think even in Europa. In the serpent woman it burned so hot that I felt it still when I read what I had written of her."

I do not think Kalleos had been listening to me. She said, "But you remember, Pinfeather. And you, honey. You've got to tell us about it."

Then Pindaros and Io told of meeting the Black God. I remember thinking that it was much as it was written in this scroll, so I will not give their words here. I remember too that I was glad it was they who spoke and not I, because I was hungry and it gave me time to eat.

They were still talking when I finished my barley porridge and bit into an apple. When there was a knock at the door, I went.

A pretty woman with blue eyes darker than Kalleos's waited there. "Hello, Latro," she said. "Do you remember me?"

I shook my head.

"I'm Hilaeira, and we're old friends. May I come in?"

I stood aside and told her I had read of her in my scroll that morning.

She smiled and said, "I'll bet you didn't read that you're handsomer than ever, but you are.

Hypereides says this house is full of women. I don't see how they can keep their hands off you. Do you remember Pindaros?"

"Yes," I said. "He's eating the first meal. I think perhaps Kalleos will invite you to join us if you like."

"I'd love to. I just came from Tieup, and that's no stroll."

We went into the courtyard, where I told Kalleos, "This is Hilaeira. May she join us?"

"Of course, of course!" Kalleos said. "Hilaeira, dear, I ought to have introduced myself on Europa, and I'm sorry I didn't. You can sit beside me - move over, Eleonore - and help yourself. Like I said, I would have offered to help you yesterday, but I thought you were Pinfeather's wife. How'd you get to the city?"

"I walked," Hilaeira told her. "Hypereides says it's against the law here for a woman to go out alone, but Io was gone - "

Io called, "Here I am!"

"Why, so you are! Anyway, Hypereides wouldn't send anybody. He didn't want to spare them, and he thought Pindaros would come. Pindaros didn't, so I decided to risk it. I thought I'd probably meet him on the road, but of course I didn't. Hypereides gave me a letter for you." Hilaeira reached into the neck of her gown and drew it out. "It's a little damp, I'm afraid."

"No matter. Read it to me, will you, dear? This sunlight would have my poor eyes weeping like Niobe."

Hilaeira broke the seal and glanced at the writing, "Are you sure you want me to? It looks rather personal. I - "

The women all laughed.

"Go ahead, dear. We've no secrets in this house."

"All right. 'My darling sweet: May I say once more how fine it was for this weary old sailor to rest his salt-rimed head upon that divine white bosom of yours - "'

At this point Hilaeira was interrupted again by the women's laughter, and some of them beat the table with their spoons. There were more such interruptions subsequently, but I shall take no more notice of them.

" 'When I began my voyage to the Navel and Tower Hill, I quite agreed with the Assembly's decision to send ships instead of going overland, but what a weary steed a ship is!

" 'And yet the return paid for all. Thank you, dearest Kalleos. The second part of your payment must await my return, alas, for we are being dispatched to join the fleet. Send my slave back with the chair today.' That's underlined," Hilaeira added.

Kalleos looked at the black man. "You have to take the chair back, understand? Then go to the sheds and find Hypereides. If you don't, he'll have the archers after you."

The black man nodded, his face expressionless, then turned to me, pretending to write upon the palm of his hand and cocking an eyebrow as he does when he wants to ask a question. I said, "You want to know whether I read of you in my scroll. Yes, I did. You were my first friend; I know that."

He left the table, and I have not seen him since.

" 'Be kind to poor Latro,' " Hilaeira continued, " 'and you will find him anxious to do whatever lies in his power to help you. At least, I have always found him so.

" 'Pindaros Pagondas of Cowland will already have told you what happened last night. I think it was the worst adventure of my life. May all the Twelve preserve me from such another! I lost, and you may pay the money I and the others left with you to Eurykles. When you have done so, I urge you never to see him again. Believe me, O sweetest Kalleos, if you had been one of us last night, you would not.

" 'And now farewell - ' "

"Wait up!" Kalleos exclaimed. "Pinfeather hasn't told me anything. What happened, poet?"

"In a moment," Pindaros said. "Let her finish."

" 'And now farewell from your grateful lover Hypereides, darling Kalleos. The Rope Makers say a man who goes to war must return with his hoplon or upon it. I've tested mine and it won't float, so I mean to carry it back. Till then I remain your loving Hypereides.' "

When the women had subsided somewhat, Pindaros asked, "Do you really want me to tell you what happened last night? In front of everyone here? I warn you, if I do I'll tell the truth. You've been a generous hostess, Kalleos, so if you'd prefer to hear it in private ... "

"Go ahead," Kalleos told him.

"From the beginning?"

She nodded.

"All right, then I'll start by saying that when Eurykles made his bet it struck me that Phye's tale had been very convenient for him. When she said she'd come with us - alone out of all these women - I felt sure something was in the wind. Maybe I hadn't drunk quite as much as the others, or maybe I've got a stronger head. I don't know. How much were you supposed to get, Phye?"

Kalleos said, "Never mind that," and Phye, through bruised lips, "An owl."

"We found an opened grave," Pindaros continued, "and at first I thought Eurykles had done it himself; later I realized it would have been too great a risk. Phye was frightened, and she went to him for protection. That told me she knew Eurykles better than any of the rest of us, and that she was really afraid. If she'd been faking it, she would almost certainly have grabbed Hypereides, since he'd bet the most money."

"Go on," Kalleos said grimly.

"When we were here, Eurykles had seemed very drunk. I suppose you have to seem drunk to bet that you can raise the dead. But at the burial ground, he was the soberest of all, except for Latro, who hadn't been drinking. Phye said she was leaving, and it seemed to me she meant it; but it also seemed that Eurykles either thought it was part of some plan or wanted her to believe he thought that, so that she'd go ahead with it when she got her nerve back."

"She didn't," Kalleos told him grimly. "She came here."

"I can see that. Phye, I'd put a slice of cucumber on that eye, if I were you."

"Nothing you've talked about would have horrified Hypereides," Kalleos said. "Get on with it."

"All right, I will. Eurykles raised the woman from the grave. She stood up and talked to us, but she was quite clearly dead. Her face was livid, and her cheeks beginning to fall in."

Kalleos leaned toward him, her eyes narrowed to slits.

"He did it?"

Pindaros shrugged. "He sacrificed a cock, and she stood up and spoke. When the rest of us left, she followed him into the city." He turned to Phye. "What were you supposed to do? Supply the voice, or actually appear as the ghost?"

She said, "You knew. Even when we were back here, you knew."

"Because I bet with Hypereides? I knew enough to know who was going to win a strange bet proposed by a stranger. So does Hypereides, I imagine, when he's sober."

By then the women were all talking at once. Hilaeira whispered across the table, "Latro, did you touch her? Do you remember?"

I nodded.

"Which brings us to Latro," Pindaros said to her. "I can't go back to our shining city until I've taken him to the shrine of the Great Mother. I won't blame you if you don't want to come, though you're welcome to if you wish."

Hilaeira said, "My father - he's dead - had a business connection here. I thought perhaps he'd let me stay with him a while."

"Certainly," Pindaros said.

"This is so near Advent, where they have the mysteries of the Grain Goddess, and I'd love to be an initiate. They'll take me, won't they? Despite the war?"

"They'll accept anyone who hasn't committed murder, I believe," Pindaros told her. "But there's quite a period of study involved - half a year or so. Kalleos, what do you know of the mysteries? Is there any reason Hilaeira couldn't be initiated?"

Kalleos shook her head, smiling again. "Not a reason in the world. And Hilaeira, dear, I heard what you said about your poor uncle, or whoever it was. Believe me, dear, you don't need him. You're welcome to stay right here with me for as long as you like."

"Why, that's very kind of you," Hilaeira said.

"It does take a while, you understand. But you're lucky, because it's right about now that they start.

You'll have to go down to Advent every so often all summer, and there are fasts and ceremonies and whatnot. I've never gone through it, but I know people who have."

"Did it change their lives?" Hilaeira asked.

"Hm? Oh, yes, absolutely. Gave them a whole new outlook, and a better one too, I'd say. And it's ever so useful socially. Where was I? Washings - there's a lot of them, mostly in the Ilissus. In the fall they admit you to the lesser mysteries. After that would be the time for you to go home, if you want to.

Then a year later you come back, go through the lesser mysteries again, and then the greater mysteries.

Then you're an initiate and a friend of the goddess's forever, and every year you can come back for the greater mysteries, though you don't have to. Those last four days. The lesser mysteries are two, I think.

But you really ought to go down to Advent and talk to the priests."

"Is it far?"

"No. If you start when we're through eating, you ... Pinfeather, what's the matter with you?"

"It's just that - Last night, Latro said - By all the gods!"

Hilaeira was looking at him too. "For a man who takes talking corpses in his stride, you seem a bit distraught."

"I should be. I am! I've been an idiot. Io, do you remember what the prophetess said? I want to be sure my memory's not playing me false."

"I think so," Io told him. "Let me see. 'Look under the sun ... ' "

"Further along," Pindaros told her. "About the wolf."

" 'The wolf that howls has wrought you woe!' " Io chanted. " 'To that dog's mistress you must go! Her hearth burns in the room below. I send you to the God Unseen!' "

"That's enough. 'The wolf that howls has wrought you woe, to that dog's mistress you must go, her hearth burns in the room below.' Kalleos, is there a cave at Advent?"

Kalleos shook her head. "I haven't the least idea."

"There must be. I need to borrow Latro for today and tomorrow. May I have him? I'll bring him back to you, I swear."

"I suppose so. Would you mind telling me what's going on?"

Pindaros had bitten into his apple. He chewed and swallowed before answering. "Back in our city, I took an oath to guide Latro to the place mentioned by the prophetess. I thought it meant the oracle at Lebadeia, which is only about two days' journey."

"You consulted the god at the Navel?" Kalleos asked.

Pindaros shook his head. "There's a temple of the Shining God and a prophetess in our city. We never got to Lebadeia, as you can see from our ending up here. But last night Latro said - "

I interrupted. "That we should trust the Shining God if we trusted his oracle."

"Right. Latro, I know you don't remember, but go get your book. Look at the very beginning and tell me where you were wounded. We know about the battle - where on the battlefield."

"I don't have to get it," I told him. "I read it this morning. At the temple of the Earth Mother."

Pindaros heaved a great sigh. "I thought I recalled someone's saying something about that. That clinches it."

"Clinches what?" Hilaeira asked.

"The wolf is one of the badges of the Great Mother," Pindaros told her. "That's why I thought it was the shrine of the Great Mother that was meant - it is in a cave, by the way. But don't you remember what the priest said to us beside the lake? The morning after you and I first met?"

"He explained that the gods have different names to indicate different attributes, and different names in different places, too. Of course, I knew that before."