*
The next morning, as dawn's pink glow became visible in the east, she placed the sarcophagus inside the grave, covered it with dirt, and ordered a slave to place a large stone slab over it. She brought forward a cock, placed its head on the slab and cleaved it with one swift stroke, a sacrifice to Asklepios, god of resurrection. The wings flapped violently, sending huge gusts of wind about her and blood pumping from the wound. Myrrhine raised her hands. "Mother Earth, all mortals' Final Receiver, take this man, my father, into thy bosom for all eternity. I offer only this small fowl that his soul may be renewed in the Afterlife and taken directly to the Elysian Fields. Dear Hermes, guide of souls in the Underworld, see to his swift voyage across the Styx, and let him not drink from the waters of the Lethe. Instead, take him directly to Kore, so that she may rest his cares. He was a great man, sending you many mortal souls. I know you must share my love for him, for you have seen fit to sacrifice all Eleusis as his funeral pyre. Care for him now. Never has the world seen the like of him."
Myrrhine returned to her own chamber of ashes. The fire had gone from the hearth of Hestia and from Myrrhine's world as well. When will I ever see my daughter again? she wondered. She retraced Demeter's steps after the goddess had lost her own daughter and had come to Eleusis after abandoning her search. Though she was hungry, Myrrhine sat without eating at the Kallichoron Well, where in the past, initiates had danced and twirled during the Mysteries. But now the well was crowded with old men trying to clean it of debris the Persians had dumped into it. She entered the sanctuary to the Mirthless Rock, where Demeter had sat mourning Kore's absence. Myrrhine spent the rest of the day there, and at the nearby Cave of Hades, wasting and waiting. The gates had been ripped from their hinges and the altar defiled.
At sundown, Myrrhine heard horse hooves on the cobblestone streets, and shortly, Aeschylus once again stood before her, this time with a nervous smile.
"Some time ago," Aeschylus said, "the generals received an oracle from Delphi saying that if we fight before a temple of Eleusinian Demeter, Hellas will be victorious. But since the Persians fled the Thriasian Plane for Boeotia, this has been thought impossible. It appeared all was lost, but last night the Plataean general Arimnestus dreamed that Zeus told him all the temples mentioned in the oracle are in Plataea. A frantic search has turned up nothing. I wonder if perhaps you know of a temple in Boeotia that might satisfy Delphi."
Myrrhine answered, "I was at that sanctuary a few days ago, but the goddess no longer resides there. The Boeotians abandoned her and her temple years ago."
"Then return with me. Show us the temple and ensure the goddess' presence to bolster our cause. Bid her return."
"Let us examine this request," she said, turning to stare him down as she'd seen Melaina do in one of her most lax moments. "You've taken my daughter without permission, married her off to the biggest thief in Athens, not even allowing me my due at her wedding. Demeter's temple here in Eleusis is in ashes, and the generals have vowed not to rebuild it. Now you expect me to go into the war zone to resurrect another of Demeter's desecrated temples. All to save your stinking hide?"
"Stay then, but tell the location of the temple," he countered.
"Never!" she shouted.
Aeschylus shouted back, "We are not fighting Persia for me. Loose not your wrath upon all Hellas. We fight for our people-owned state."
"Bring Melaina. Let's talk of ending this marriage. Never will I believe this is the wish of your brother." She turned her back and walked away.
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 61