*
Melaina went into seclusion beneath a shaggy oak in the meadow of Kallias' garden. This beautiful setting is now mine too, she thought. She listened to the rustle of leaves while roaming crag and cliff of memory to retrieve an impression that occurred the instant before the pain came. Therein was an image, a frightening one, of herself large as a Cyclops, bounding across the waters of some bottomless sea into dark oblivion. She'd found it, thought it out. Now she needed Kallias desperately.
But as the afternoon wore on, she couldn't shake Kallias' words. "I'll not tolerate it," he'd said, meaning her, her illness. She contemplated what Keladeine at the Isthmus had told her, that at times our lives parallel the ancient myths and wreak great havoc. Melaina remembered that Iphigeneia's father had brought her to Aulis under the pretext of marrying her off to Achilles, only to learn that she was instead to be sacrificed to Artemis. After her initial protests, Iphigeneia had gone to the slaughter stone willingly, giving her life for Greece. Melaina thought, I'll not be sacrificed, but I've certainly suffered a marriage tragedy.
Late evening, a rattle at the gates brought Kallias' voice calling the eunuch, "Pai! Pai!"
Roused from her thoughts, Melaina ran to him.
Kallias said, "Good that yours is the first face I see. I've made a decision."
"Never mind that, dear Kallias, though already I see the negative thought chiseled in your face. The fate of Hellas must be weighed first."
"Contemplating the affairs of state is not the lot of women."
"But the gods sometimes reveal their designs to women. It's the Pythia that sits astride the tripod at Delphi, not a priest. If you'll not allow this truth, then tell the Pythia to dismount, silence Apollo's voice."
Kallias lowered his eyes, studied the ground. "Point well taken. I'll grant a short audience on this."
"Just before the seizure you witnessed, I had a vision, as I always do. I was stone-stepping in a sea, striding from island to island."
"Childhood memories. Game playing only."
"A game's likeness surely, but with a deeper meaning. One island was Delos, the other Samos. I crossed them in two steps, as would a goddess, and saw smoke billowing from Samos. Then I came to a mainland where a great battle took place."
Kallias' shoulders slumped. He turned away from her and talked to the walls. "Father Hermes, who is this woman you've sent? Ever she plagues me. Twice I've been burdened with saving her from Persians, and now comes the pestilence of being married to an ever-chattering Pandora who thinks she's a goddess."
"That's not so, Kallias!" Melaina had tried to check her voice, but still it scolded. "Simply a vision, never had I a thought of being divine. Word of a battle between Hellenes and Persians to liberate Ionia, though it comes from a woman, cannot be ignored. I'd remind you that in ancient times all prophets were women."
This last remark stopped Kallias cold, and a worried look crossed his bearded face. "I'd hoped you'd speak deranged, but how am I to dismiss words that make sense, even if they come from a mad woman?"
"Sorry, Lord. I've no desire for inducing distress."
"You know of Ionia's request for liberation? This spring, an embassy from Chios came first to Sparta, then Aegina, where the fleet mustered. The ambassadors requested assistance for their revolt against Xerxes, saying the unexpected, that the Persian fleet was still in the Aegean."
"I know nothing of these things, Lord."
"Then your vision is all the more puzzling. We'd thought the Persian fleet would return home, and planned only for a land war. Now we're ever on guard against attack by sea. If we don't clear the Aegean of the Persian fleet, Hellas will forever live in fear. Yet our fleet can't be coaxed further than Delos, trepidation standing sentry over the dark water between."
"Listen, Lord Kallias. I see our fate clearly now and know what must be done. Don't be angry if I speak forcefully, but you must understand. Several months ago while on the way to Epidaurus I had a seizure, same as that you witnessed, wherein I saw two great land-battles, one hereabouts with Mardonius and another on a foreign shore. I know now the first will be at Plataea, surely that of which you spoke earlier, where my mother has gone. So far, I'd not been able to understand the second, but now, in light of my vision, I realize it will take place in Ionia, on the coast of Asia."
"Oh, if I could be sure this isn't just baseless speculation from a pregnant girl overestimating the trivialities of her own thoughts. By the gods, and it comes before a seizure."
"I'll remain silent henceforth, Lord Kallias. I only ask that you tell the generals of my vision. Much is at stake, and the gods have spoken."
Kallias thought for a moment, then answered though his voice had lost confidence. "If Eurybiades and Themistocles still commanded the fleet, perhaps. But now the Spartan king Leotychides has supreme command with Xanthippus leading the Athenians. They haven't Themistocles' courage and will resist budging from Apollo's sacred isle."
"I know this General Xanthippus," Melaina said. "He's expressed respect for me." She was silent a moment, then her conviction again flared. "Oh, they must fight, Lord Kallias! The gods will it. They demand it. Change their minds. Affirm divine will!"
Kallias' voice became conciliatory. "Long have I also thought Ionia's alliance crucial to Hellas' security but could never find sympathetic ears. I remember your performance last year when we needed a sign for the generals to keep the fleet on Salamis, and again the night before the sea battle. You've become a symbol of divine intervention to many. If these visions are truly sent by the gods, I must take you to the generals."
"Surely, your voice is the one to sway them. Besides my mind is still cloudy from the seizure."
"You'd have a day or so of traveling to recover. The voice of the visionary would be more influential."
"I'd not speak to them here in Athens?"
"No." Kallias thought a moment. "At Delos. My three ships leave late tonight. I have but to give word for you to board." He walked away slowly, stopped and turned back. "Are you up to such a voyage? Would the unborn permit it?"
"Such a sailing is indeed frightening, Lord, for my sake as well as the child's. But I admit that, since surviving the chariot racing to flee the Persians, a sea voyage would seem trivial." She also longed to once again be aboard a trireme.
"The generals have dallied about on Delos all summer, through the good-sailing months, lacking the courage to engage the enemy. They must hear your prophecy."
The Mysteries, A Novel of Ancient Eleusis Page 74