The Minoan Rhapsody

Lemnian Deeds

     The sun set. Inside the heart of Mosychlos, the cave where Lemnian fire flowed, the Sintian and the Fallen One finished building a box made of wood sheathed with bronze. More than twice the size of Ari, it was open.

"Start packing the bottom with sand," Hephaestus said. "It's time for me to get them." He saw the Sintian nod.

As he faded away, his skin tingled and crept while his view of the interior of the cave distorted, slowly giving way to him seeing the inside of the house by the olive grove. He noticed Surá and Myrina turning their heads towards him as he finished materializing.

"How is she?" He knelt by Ari's side and kissed her on the forehead.

"Weak, but she is strong and stubborn," Myrina answered.

"How about my son?"

"Healthy," Surá said as she looked at both, Hypsipyle and Hephaestus son sleeping over a bed of furs.

"I need him."

Surá gently picked the newborn. "He was just fed." She handed him over to his father.

He turned towards Ari and placed the newborn by her side. "Ari. Wake up My Peace."

She forced her eyes open to a slit and her dried cracked lips managed a smile. She whispered, "I see you still limping around."

"Ari, I must take our son away. It is not safe for him here."

"No." Her forehead wrinkled while she tried to sit up.

"Don't, you must lay down," he placed a hand on her shoulder. "I am so sorry Ari. If we want our son to live, he must flee Lemnos. I wish there was another alternative."

"Let," she swallowed dry. "Let me hold him."

Ari sat up with the help from Myrina. She looked at her son, passed her fingers over his tiny face, memorizing his every detail. "Will I see him again?"

He pressed his lips and paused. "I will do everything I can to make it so. We must hurry. There is much to be done."

Ari kissed her son while managing to shed a single tear which fell on the boy's head.

The Fallen One took his son and stood. "Keep her alive," he told Myrina. "I will not be long." He faded away, reappearing outside the entrance of Mosychlos cave. On front of it rested the giant bronze hermit crab, the aperture of its giant snail shell facing the ground. He walked to a boulder nearby, where he'd placed the Nectar and Ambrosia Dionysus brought him. He wetted a finger with Nectar and let his son suck on it. This will sustain you during your journey. He gave him a few more drops and then approached the crab, placing his hand on its shell. "Let me in."

The shell swayed, letting out grinding noises from within. Slowly the crab emerged. First its claws, then its antennae, legs and head. It continued its way out, until its abdomen and tail, glowing from the blue fire within, released the shell, swaying on its side. The crab looked at Hephaestus with its fiery pearl eyes, waiting.

With his son on his arms, the Fallen One hunched over and entered the shell. Shortly after, he came out from it, empty handed. He went to the crab and placed his hand on its giant claw. "Take him to Úliat." He turned around and faded while listening to the grinding noises of the crab re-entering its shell.

The Fallen One re-appeared by Ari's side, in the house by the olive grove. "Your job is done," he told Surá and Myrina. "I will take her now. You can go."