The Gift From Poseidon: When Gods Walked Among Us (Volume 2) (45 page)

“Do you know why the gods gifted Sapiens their mystic abilities, their great intelligence, their long lives?” Queen Diedrika asked her daughter.

Random rays of sunlight peeking through the serene canopies towering above them; the charming sounds of hooves, talons, paws, and wheels crunching the brush and leaves atop a winding path through the forest; Laigria in chains moping miserably behind them….

Was there ever a better setting for such a question?

“Well,” Evagoria drawled, “I know about the fire from the sky, and the Pool of Torment and Discovery, and ––”

“But why?” Diedrika pushed as others gathered close to listen.  “Fire from the sky, the pool, these were just the results – the what.  Why, Evagoria,
why
did the gods rain down rock and flame upon the huddled masses living lives no more purposeful than those of mole rats?”

Hezekiah watching closely as he walked alongside them, Evagoria sighed.  Her eyes on her mother, Diedrika ran her fingers along Judiascar’s mane and so the princess did the same to Zacharias.  Her eyes then drifted downward.

“I do not know, Mother.”

Diedrika guided Judiascar closer to Zacharias.  With a single finger, she then lifted Evagoria’s chin.

“Do not feel ashamed that you do not.  For an event of such sweeping consequence, the
why
is quite simple and it is for this reason so few think of it.  Above all else, Evagoria, the gods want to be impressed.  They crave this, desire this, are obsessed by it.  Our world is beautiful, full of wonder, but changes little.  Once that wonder wears off, what is there?  Many clever animals here and there, great and small, the gods needed to give a single creature – Sapiens – three great gifts so they, in turn, could gift themselves that which even the gods could not.”

Evagoria gazed deep into her mother’s eyes.  Her birthmark swelled and began to darken somewhat.  “What is it, Mother?  What is it that only Sapiens could gift themselves?”

“The urgency to build,” Diedrika proclaimed proudly.  “A family, queenship, cities, temples that reach to the sky, a dam to harness the runoff of mountains, an arena to hold tens of thousands – to build on a grand scale today in fear that tomorrow might not come is to do what only intelligent beings –
mortal beings
– can.”

Diedrika held her hands high and waved them around as she pointed in different directions.

“The trees, the mountains, the plains, the sea, rivers and streams, every animal; the gods create these, but do nothing with them. 
We do.
  Our days numbered, many passing by without making even a single memory, it is because of this we must hurry and make our mark upon the world.  As for the gods, they have all the time that ever was or ever will be.  A fish sees the sea it swims in as endless – no beginning, no end – when it comes to time, the gods are no different.  If tomorrow always comes, why bother to feel a sense of urgency today?

“Do not dare doubt it, Evagoria: In awe they look down upon us from the heavens, up at us from the sea and Underworld.  The fear that our last day charges forth driving us to do what they have not the will to, with each passing day, we impress them a little more.”

Queen Diedrika let those amazing blue eyes lit up by the late morning sun stare at her for a few thoughtful moments before continuing.

“If proof is required, just look at the grand creature you ride upon.  Did the gods envision the Gryphon or did Sapiens?  And even
if
the gods did foresee such magnificence, only the great mystics of old had the courage to meld lion and eagle to make it so.  The molding of Gryphons might not be something the gods had intended, but none would dare suggest they are not only impressed by such a wondrous being, but are eternally awed by them.”  Diedrika now looked directly at Hezekiah.  “And as the gods look upon Gryphons in spellbound wonder, we Mermaids, their eternal allies, do so as well.”

Hezekiah looked proudly upon the Mermaid queen and nodded.  Penelope had told him more than once how Evagoria saw Diedrika as not only a mother and queen, but almost as if one of the gods herself.  And the princess was not the only one.  That will, that need to dominate was brute force delivered in the rawest manner, yet her mind moved with the swiftness of the most educated historian.  She wielded no magic, yet could wrap anyone she wished in the most enchanting of spells – effortlessly.  As others gazed at her in wonder, Diedrika looked upon their world with a likewise twinkling in her eyes.

Grateful he was able to share a tender moment between his current queen and future one, Hezekiah wandered about the caravan headed for Atagartis.  Theodoric, Perseos, and Andromeda already home; he caught sight of Penelope.  She had healed well since the chariot crash, but still moved slower than normal.  Lounging in an open cart led by a single horse, Hezekiah now approached her.

Busy writing and drawing things as they went to pass the time, she looked up at him, smiled, and then resumed her scribing atop an oversized, thicker than normal strip of bamboo.  Back and forth, Penelope would pick up a small knife with a handsome ivory handle to carve detail into the drawing, then set it down next to her and pick up her charcoal stylus.  After a bit of shading with the charcoal, she would again use the knife.

“I thought I might try my hand at prettying up the wench,” Penelope chimed in a childlike voice.

Hezekiah chuckled at this.  He then followed her eyes and his own settled on the captive woman.  More than two weeks had passed since Laigria and her father tried to kill Penelope during the chariot race.  Time in the dungeons and three days of chains she now dragged along the ground had turned the brutish woman into a properly broken down shell of what she once was.  Just as Diedrika had promised, her steps ‘earned’ her keep among them.  Each league walked bought a meal, but today was special – three days and twelve leagues finally bought her a filthy sack with cutouts for her arms and head to cover her lumpy nakedness.  Shoes probably still a ways off, that this sack covered Laigria probably explained why Penelope just now decided to draw her.

“Do you pity the Sapien, Hezekiah?”  Penelope stopped what she was doing and set her inquisitive emeralds on him.

“Pikes at the ready to impale her, a chain on each limb; a Gryphon rarely feels sorry for others, but I must admit: I am getting close with this one.  Still, punishment is required and who am I to disagree with our queen?”

Penelope giggled.  “HA!  My thoughts exactly.”

A hush soon came over the forest and the group halted.  As protocol demanded, Diedrika and Evagoria hurriedly dismounted Judiascar and Zacharias, and a phalanx of at least twenty Mermaids formed a protective circle around the queen and princess.  Every head on a swivel, hundreds of petrels unexpectedly flew out from inside the forest and right through the now enchanted caravan.

“Look!” a Mermaid shouted as he pointed into the trees once these birds passed.  “Look through there!”

A troop of ground sloths visible through the brush casually made their own path north as well.  Every head now turned to his or her right to watch these docile, but massive animals; a cheery glow overcame most of the Mermaids and at least a few Gryphons – including Hezekiah.  He stepped away from Penelope and toward the sloths for a closer look.

Xavier sauntered over to where Hezekiah and King Judiascar peeked through the brush.  He smelled the wind, grinned, and then wrapped his tongue around his beak.  “The saber-tooths are not far behind.”

Half the group groaned while the other half cheered this.

“NO!  HELP!” a voice screamed suddenly.  “AAAAHHHH!”

Hezekiah swung around.  A bloodied knife with an ivory handle raised high in the air – that wretched woman stood over Penelope and repeatedly stabbed her with it.  The scraping of a desperate blade against bleeding stone, Penelope finally bronze-made a weapon, but before she could strike with it, her crude dagger fell to the ground.  And with a loud moan, so did she.

A fury Hezekiah had not felt since he was young shot through him.  He rushed Laigria.  A smug smile on her face, she did not even try to get out of the way.  A hating roar wrapped in a vengeful screech, he smashed into her; she now soared through the air and into the brush bordering the left side of the trail.  Although bloody and tangled in thorny bushes, that smile stayed smug!  At least a dozen Gryphons and Mermaids now moved in on Laigria with but one morbid goal in mind.  As if to taunt them into doing so quickly, she cackled wickedly.

“NO!” screamed a voice they all knew, but who was no longer their queen.  “DO NOT KILL HER!”

From her horse-led carriage, Cassiopeia bronze-made small clubs and threw them at those ready to tear the still heckling woman into pieces.  In shock at this, they turned toward Cassiopeia.  Two Gryphons then dragged Laigria out of the bushes, threw her to the ground, and a trio of Mermaids began to tie her up in silk rope.

Hezekiah gawked in Diedrika’s direction.  She now looked at Cassiopeia as if her grandmother was their world’s most treacherous soul capable of unspeakable hurt.  Or so she might have thought.

“For
what purpose
do you care to save this rancid woman’s life?” Diedrika demanded.  “Judiascar!  Xavier!  Shred the wench until there’s nothing left to burn.”

“NO!  STOP!  You must listen to me, Granddaughter.”

Cassiopeia shot a quick look at Penelope and so did Hezekiah.  As Penelope writhed on the ground in a pool of blood and cried out in pain, Mermaid medics swiftly gathered around her.  “She is hurt badly, my queen!” one called out as he removed silk from a pack and unfurled it.  The other medic worked to stop the bleeding and began to apply this not so fresh looking silk.

“The pig must live – we need her! 
Trust me
, Diedrika.  To have any chance of saving Penelope – for at least a little while longer – she needs to live.”

Diedrika leapt atop Judiascar and they rushed over to Penelope.  Hezekiah did so as well.

“I know you are of the age when insanity takes hold, Grandmother, but it seems to be doing so rather suddenly.”  Diedrika slid off Judiascar, knelt down, and cradled Penelope in her arms.  Tears streamed down the cheeks of both.  “Look what that wench has done to my sweet Penelope …
oh, Penelope
.…”

Whispers and murmurs about to sweep the stunned silence away, Cassiopeia raised her hands high: “QUIET!  All of you!”

Setting dozens of creatures in motion with the skill of an acting queen, not a retired one, Cassiopeia now moved and talked faster than any Mermaid in her seventh decade should be allowed.

“Sky chariots!  Two of the swiftest!”  As commanded, a pair of sky chariots led by four Gryphons apiece hurriedly came near.  “The slowest or most tired of each – I do not care which – remove your harness.  Judiascar!  Lead this one.”

Diedrika back atop the Gryphon king, he dropped her off in the sky chariot and hurriedly replaced the smallest Gryphon at the lead.

“Now you, Zacharias – do the same.”

Just as his father had done, he loaded Evagoria onto the second sky chariot and took the lead.  Hezekiah following them, the medics had already begun to load Penelope into the one with Diedrika already inside.

“M-My queen … I’m not g-going to make it,” Penelope sobbed.

Light blue hands stained in blood reached for Diedrika’s face.  Diedrika sobbed with Penelope and stroked her hair.  Terrified that his beloved counterpart had seen her last day, Hezekiah just stood dumbfounded next to them.

“Cassiopeia has a plan.  I don’t know what it is, but we have to trust her.”  The queen looked up and peered at Cassiopeia with a stare that could have carved granite.  “Just what
are
we doing, Grandmother?”

“Hezekiah!” Cassiopeia called, ignoring the sobs and the stare.  He galloped over to her.  She then pointed at Ahuram and Ahriman, who tailed just behind him.

“Ahriman she does not trust, Ahuram she might, I know she will trust you, good Hezekiah.  With great haste, return to Antediluvium.  Tell Marseea –
do not
settle for Komnena, but demand the Witch Queen herself – tell her that a soul prepares to depart, yet the one who caused this encroaching death still lives.  Make sure she knows Penelope is hurt, that Laigria is responsible … that an exchange must be made.”  Cassiopeia looked up and straight at Diedrika.  “An exchange only our world’s greatest sorceress can make.  If Penelope is to live, this is the only way.”

“I don’t understand – Marseea knows of a spell that can ward off the Grim?”

“As we have no time to waste,” Cassiopeia answered quickly, “I will say only this: to answer your question, no, of course not.  But there are other ways to cheat death and only Marseea knows how.”

Held down inside Evagoria’s sky chariot by a pair of burly Mermaid guards, Laigria let out a blood-curdling scream.  Tied in so much silk rope she appeared as if inside a funerary wrapping – a head start never hurt – only Laigria’s filthy head stuck out.

“NO!  NO!  She will not do it – SHE CANNOT!  The gods will curse all who dare try!”

Cassiopeia turned to Laigria.  “Scream all you want, swine, but I promise you this:
Your
queen, of your
own
kind will see it through.”