City of gods - Hellenica (4 page)

“I do not know about these plates, Elsephela,” said Saoirse. “Should I warn my clutch not to use them?”

“It’s no use,” said the Elsephela. “Oshun has deposited these plates in too many places. Soon each Hetaera will pick them up and use them, or perhaps threaten to do so. And the Hetaerae are the primary source of income in Elysia.

“We have a year here at most before that money runs dry, all because your goddess Oshun decided to free you. What will you do, Saoirse?”

Saoirse had never considered that notion.
To do?
She’d done as she was told all her life. Perhaps someone else would come in and tell her what to do; someone always did.

“And what am
I
to do, child?” asked the old woman, her anger rising again. “Like Aspesia, I have houses, land, but they aren’t mine. They belong to the island and are lent to me as pension for my youth, for a single decade earning them extraordinarily high profits.”

Saoirse didn’t answer, thinking the question rhetorical, but the old woman pressed on.

“What am
I
to do, Saoirse? Your prayers have ended my existence here, so now you must answer me. When this island crumbles, what am I to do, and where am I to go?”

All the years of rhetoric, poetry and training failed Saoirse now. There was no place for this old, foul-smelling woman to go. If Elysia vanished, the Elsephela could re-enter the conurbation as a low-paid prostitute, or perhaps a beggar.
She could also die
, thought Saoirse, but she kept her thoughts to herself. 

“All I need is a little money to live out the rest of my days, Saoirse, and I think that you owe me this, wouldn’t you say so? Don’t give me coyness or passive diversion; answer me
yes
or
no
. After destroying my only means of support, do you believe that you owe me a way to spend the rest of my days without penury?”

“Yes,” said Saoirse, more out of reflex than meaning.

“Good,” said the Elsephela, “then I have found your Danna. He will come to take you away tonight.”

Saoirse’s heart skipped a beat yet again, and then sank.
This was both her destiny and the day that she dreaded, and it was coming tonight! There was no time to prepare and no time to say good-bye. And the one thing she always kept at the back of her mind was now gone:
there was no time to run away.

“I don’t think Emetor Kain will approve of—”

“Emetor Kain won’t know of this. I’ve already received the initial payment and will receive the rest of it upon your arrival outside this island.”

“Arrival? Where?”

“I don’t know. But this is the way it will be done.”

Saoirse started to cry, and unlike any other time in her life, she couldn’t stop. The striped hyaena came up close and rubbed his head against her leg until the Elsephela shooed him away. The old woman got up close to Saoirse, and her stench was so overpowering that Saoirse’s nose began to bleed again.

“You’d better stop crying, child,” said the Elsephela, “for if your Danna rejects you, there will be consequences. I have another man who is willing to pay for your services, not as much as the Danna, but he will pay enough to sustain me for a few years. He owns the Mines of Capua and he will use you as he sees fit. I believe only prisoners work those mines, isn’t that true? Would you like to go to the Mines of Capua?”

“No, Elsephela,” said Saoirse.

“Then get yourself together for your Danna, and smile,” said the old woman, “because this will be the happiest night of your life.”

/***/

Saoirse was in her room alone without a clue what to do. Could she escape? She would surely be caught. What if her Danna was “
unsightly, malodorous or simply unlovable,
” like the Emetor warned? What if he was cruel?

And why was he taking her away? Only on the rarest occasions would
Danna
take their Hetaera away, and that was after a decade of courtship.
Something feels wrong
, thought Saoirse,
and not just with me. This night feels different; it feels like the world’s going to end.

Saoirse had not given up on the idea of escape, but had no idea what to do. She’d never been off the island in her life, and boatmen in the area are told not to pick up girls like her. Could she stow away? Surely there was some ship carrying supplies that wouldn’t notice her presence.
There are no ships carrying supplies at this time of night,
thought Saoirse.
All the ships here are the ships of Dannas
,
and
they’re built for wealth and pleasure, not for cargo and stowing away.

It was then that Saoirse saw something glowing on her windowsill. She looked closer and picked it up. It was one of Oshun’s
lip plates.

I prayed to Oshun for a way out,
she thought.
Is this my destiny?

The lip plate was beautiful and felt warm.
Just put it close to your mouth,
she thought,
and Oshun will do the rest. Oshun will take care of you.

She thought of how it would be. She’d lose her beauty, but what had her beauty done for her at this point? All it had done was to keep her in this cage and headed her towards tonight, the night she dreaded. If she would take the lip plate, what would she do? Where would she go?

Saoirse heard a scream outside from the courtyard. She went to the window and saw another clutch of younger Hetaerae running away. She noticed they were running from a girl in the middle who was on the ground, convulsing. The girl seemed to be changing into some sort of small, hairy creature, and she was making a strange sound, like bleating. She had a glowing plate wedged in her lower lip.

It was then that Saoirse saw that the girls were not running from their fallen sister; they were running from what was nearer to the walls. A group of more developed creatures was approaching the fallen girl, and they all had lip plates as well. They were covered with thin fur and moved with a quiet agility; Saoirse could barely see them in the darkness. They fell across the prostrate girl and made several chirping noises, which seemed to soothe her.

The creatures helped her up, looked around and made a few barking sounds, and then started babbling in a high-pitched language Saoirse could not quite hear.
But I can sense what they’re trying to say
, thought Saoirse.
I can’t make out the words, but I can understand them.

The creatures seemed to be talking about freedom and how the island wouldn’t survive the night.
One girl looked up at the moon and then barked instructions to the rest of the pack. In an instant they went scurrying in four directions with great speed and agility. They climbed the walls of the courtyard with the greatest of ease, and in a flash they’d gone over the wall.

What were they?
thought Saoirse.
What has Oshun done?

Saoirse looked at her lip plate. It glowed and tempted her to wear it, to become one of these animals, to flee the courtyard and live in darkness the rest of her days. She turned to look out the window again, and saw that one of the creatures was just outside her balcony.

She went up to meet the creature. Its face was cute; something like a monkey’s but smoother and with less definition. The creature had sharp teeth, but it was apparent this creature was built for climbing, not fighting, so Saoirse approached easily. The creature sniffed her and then chirped its odd tongue again. Once again, Saoirse  didn’t  know the language, but
she understood.

Oshun’s magic is not for you
, the creature said.
You’ve something far greater in store. Now leave this place immediately or you’ll burn with it.

In a moment, the creature was gone. Saoirse stuck her head out the window and could see nothing but the moon. She was trying to locate the creature when she heard a knock at her door.

“Yes?” she asked.

“It’s me,” said a husky voice. “Your
Danna.”

/***/

“Where are we going?” asked Saoirse.

The man didn’t answer. He was tall, athletically built, clean-shaven, and young-looking. He didn’t seem like the gruff, grey
Danna Saoirse usually saw and didn’t seem particularly interested in her; he focused entirely on driving the boat. Saoirse saw her island drop into the background and started to panic.

“Where are we going?” she asked the man. “And who are you?”

“Please,” he said, “be quiet, and all will be explained.”

“I need to know who you are,” demanded Saoirse.

The man looked at her and stopped the boat. He pointed in the direction of the island. Saoirse could see that flames were coming from the center and spreading out towards the beach.

“Your Isle of Elysia is no more,” he said. “Now, please
be quiet
. All will be explained later.”

Saoirse sensed that he was telling the truth but noticed that he wasn’t headed inland; he was headed out towards the ocean. She could see a small island in the distance, about an hour away.

“Just tell me, are we going there?” she asked.

The man nodded and increased the speed on the boat. Saoirse looked back; the flames had spread to most of Elysia, and looked like they were going to engulf the whole island soon. She turned around and saw something dangling from her Danna’s neck. She looked closer and found that it was a glowing lip plate.

/***/

An hour later, the boat came to a dock in the second island. It was manned by two tall women who grabbed the rope and moored the boat quickly.
             

“Bring the girl to the President right away,” said one. “Interrupt her if need be.”

The guards beckoned Saoirse forth and together they traveled forward. They walked for ten minutes on paved roads and came to a city at the center of the island. Saoirse noticed that every single person she met seemed to have a crisp, soldierly look to them. She also noticed that every single person here was a woman. This wasn’t Elysia though, and these women were not Hetaerae. These women, even the young girls, were
warriors
.

The group approached a building. They were moving at a brisk pace, but they were not forcing Saoirse to walk with them; it was clear that she wasn’t a prisoner. The building they approached was grand, broad and gilded, and its edges were very square. They went inside and immediately came to a security checkpoint. Two guards asked them to surrender all their arms, and the women around Saoirse handed over at least twenty weapons. They went through some sort of electronic detector. After a few moments it beeped, and the security guards waved them forward.

The inside of the building was sterile, holding long hallways and endless office suites. As they walked past, Saoirse realized that once again, this building was almost exclusively female. Occasionally Saoirse would notice a man attending a meeting, but this building clearly belonged to women.

They came to another security checkpoint and they were frisked by two more female guards. One guard found Saoirse’s lip plate and took both it and the Danna’s lip plate.

“These will be returned to you after you leave,” said the guard.

They went through several detectors and entered a different-looking zone of the building; it was cleaner, whiter and held less rooms. They were heading down to an office at the end of the hallway with a strange regal seal. They stopped at the doorway, and one of the guards pressed a button.

“Do as we do, Saoirse,” said one of the females next to her. Saoirse’s Danna was now in the back of their group, following as well.

The door opened automatically to reveal a grand office with a large chair that faced the other way. Next to the chair was a dark-skinned woman with glowing eyes. This woman appeared to be in conversation with whoever was in the chair.

“President Hippolyta,” said the guard, “may I present Saoirse Frost, of the former Isle of Elysia.”

The chair turned around to show a woman who looked to be seventy years old, clearly once beautiful, but now grey and wrinkled with age. The whole group, including Saoirse’s
Danna, knelt in the President’s presence. Saoirse knelt with them.

The dark-skinned woman with the glowing eyes nodded at President Hippolyta and walked towards Saoirse.

“Rise, child,” said the woman. Her eyes glowed the same color as the lip plates.

“I am Oshun, goddess of beauty,” she said, “and you are in the office of President Hippolyta of the Amazons.”

Saoirse wanted to maintain her composure, but found it difficult.
Emetor Kain has only prepared me for pleasing a Danna
, thought Saoirse.
No one has prepared me for this.

“We have been watching you since the day you were born,” said Oshun, “and we’re so happy to get you here, to this point.”

There was a brief moment of exhilaration, and then President Hippolyta broke in.

“Phoebe, you’ve done excellent work. You may reveal yourself, and then be excused,” said President Hippolyta.