*
Late that afternoon, Kallias returned, and Melaina was anxiously awaiting him. "Any word of my mother?"
"She's been behind Persian lines searching for you. When the Hellene army heard, it created a sensation, and she's been quite a storehouse of reconnaissance. She's not pleased I've wedded you without her."
"No doubt. But how happy you've made me with word of her. This one bit of news gives me renewed life."
"Your mother retrieved six Eleusinian women from Mardonius. The mother of Agido was among them."
"And Anaktoria?"
"Not that I heard."
"At least Agido is not an orphan. But none of my jubilance rubs off on you. Trouble clouds your eyes."
"It's not you weighting my mind but the fate of Hellas. While Mardonius has retreated to Boeotia, the danger is not over. A great land battle looms. We've word of an oracle from Delphi that Hellenes will win if we fight before a temple of Eleusinian Demeter. Such a temple has been found on the feet of Kithaeron, and your mother has gone to resurrect the abandoned sanctuary. But another battle may take place in the Aegean. How it could be fought before a temple of Demeter is beyond me. I must join the fleet to inform them of this impossible imperative. I've three triremes outfitted for battle and tomorrow must sail for Delos, where the fleet harbors."
Melaina took this news much harder than she'd have expected. She didn't want her husband off at war. She dizzied, staggered, and dropped to one knee. She felt a small spasm in her throat, a heightened sense of awareness.
"Your eyes," Kallias said, "that heavy, lost look. Trouble with the child?"
Melaina rose to her feet and threw her arms about his neck. "My lord! Don't be angry. If you've compassion in your heart, find some for me now."
"What have you done?"
"It's not what I've done, but what I'll do."
"Pray quit speaking riddles. Is it a prophetic trance?"
"No! I have the sacred sickness."
His eyes still questioned. "Your cheeks quiver."
Lady Hipparete entered the room.
Melaina ran to her. "I haven't much time," she said. "You know the falling sickness?"
"Yes," she replied, "I've seen it in a neighbor's slave."
Kallias spoke to his mother. "Is she ill?"
"See this stays between my teeth." Melaina bit down hard on a leather strap.
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 72