Bellerophone and the Hag

Chapter 5

Bellerophone could hardly bare to look at the old hag.  Her teeth were rotted and falling out.  She had a wart the size of a button on her nose that was growing several pieces of course black hair.  The hag's hair was grey and matted and she smelled to high heaven.  Bellerophone wondered when was the last time she took a bath.

It had been two days since Bellerophone had agreed to stay with the hag for a year and he was already regretting his decision.  Thoughts of Isabelle kept him where he was.  He wondered how she was and if Stewart was keeping an eye on her.  He missed her blonde hair and blue eyes.  She was an angel compared to the hag he was forced to live with.

"What's your name?"

The hag looked up from where she bent over digging for roots.  Her sharp eyes pierced with a look that would have flayed a man alive.  "Why?"

Bellerophone sighed as he ran a dirt smeared hand through his hair in aggravation.  "What else am I supposed to call you?  I don't want to demean you by calling you hag every day."

The old hag blinked at him in what appeared to be surprise.  She turned away from him and stabbed the earth with her shovel.  Bellerophone watched as the hag hunched her shoulders.  He was just beginning to give up on her answering him when she answered him.

"I was once called Megaera."

"It means jealousy and greed doesn't it."

Megaera looked back at him with eyes that refused to give anything away.  "It does and do not judge me for it.  I've been judged for the meaning of my name for far to many years to count.  It is why I'm here.  I am the reason why this forest is the way it is."

"I find it a pleasing name."

Megaera snorted as she went back to work.  "Don't try to flatter me my young lordling.  Many before you have tried and they all have failed."

Bellerophone turned away from Megaera and went to work digging in the rocky soil.  Time passed in the gloomy forest before Megaera asked him about Isabelle.  Bellerophone paused in his work and stared into the trees thoughtfully as he leaned against his shovel.  He made a very striking figure.  Little did Bellerophone know of the envy that stirred in Megaera's chest.

"Isabelle is the prettiest lady in the entire kingdom.  Her hair is the color of spun gold.  It falls to her waist in gentle curls.  Isabelle has the softest blue eyes you've ever seen.  The remind me of the blue of a newborn babes eyes.  Her chin barely reaches my chest and her waist is so tiny that I can wrap my hands around it.  Isabelle's hand are a delicate as china and her skin is white as porcelain."

"What kind of woman sends the man who loves her off on a journey to win her love?"

Bellerophone looked down at Megaera.  His blue eyes hid his contempt of her.  "She has so many suitors that want her hand in marriage that you must do something extraordinary to gain her love."

"And you think a potion or trinket will gain her love."

Bellerophone picked up his shovel and went back to work.  His muscles rippled beneath his shirt as he worked at digging through the hard ground.  "She's the only woman that I have ever loved.  I've had my eye set on her since we were children.  I know she'll chose me.  I just want the help you can provide me to help claim her hand in marriage."

Megaera grunted as she turned to collecting the roots and sticking them in her basket.  "Be careful what you wish for lordling.  It might not be exactly what you think it was gong to be.  There is no turning back once you seek my help.  I have never given anyone a second chance."

"She'll chose me," Bellerophone said in a determined voice filled with wistful longing.  "I know she will."