by Nike Azoros
He pushed her onto her pretty brass bed with its sheets of embroidered pink roses, ripped open her dress, pinned her tiny frame down and thrust himself into her. Her whimpers of agony only made him feel more powerful and he was grinning as he pounded into the tiny girl so hard that if she had lived she would never had been able to bear children.
When her whimpers turned into screams he placed his huge rough hands over her delicate face and pressed hard until the screaming stopped and she stopped struggling. He was surprised he had killed her, he hadn’t meant to but he viewed it as a convenience. He now had what he wanted and she would not be around to lay any blame. He was walking out of her room when her little brother ran in from playing outside, as soon as the boy saw the wild looking man he ran out again.
The rapist chased him, caught him, picked him up and smashed him against the stone wall of the house crushing the little boy’s head.
‘Bah, I hate these complications.’
Pavlos exhaled a deep breath and wandered through the house stuffing his pockets with anything of value. He stopped in the kitchen, picked up a big knife and sliced a fat slice of the freshly baked bread that Irena Venetis had brought as her final chore. Screams from outside interrupted his thievery. The mother had returned from church to find her young son brains splattered on the back veranda. The evil intruder quickly snuck up to her from behind and clapped his ugly, bloodied hands over her mouth to stop her screaming. He dragged her into the house and stabbed her into silence.
He was still in the house when the father of the Venetis family returned home from his chores. He had rushed home to prepare for his name day celebrations, his sister was coming to visit and he knew his wife needed help with setting up the lamb to be put onto the spit to roast. He did not get to see the sight of his young son’s smashed body like the little son of Hector and Andromache thrown onto the city walls of Troy nor did he see the face of his angel daughter now turned a mottled purple and he was blessed not to see the love of his life, whose body he pressed against each evening, now lying on the kitchen floor with her intestines lying next to her. What he did see was that the long iron skewer for the spit that had been standing to attention in the courtyard was not in its place. He had put it there this morning in preparation for passing it through the whole lamb he had over his shoulders.
He slumped the lamb carcass onto the outdoor table and looked around to find the skewer but didn’t have time to fully turn around before the devil himself rushed at him and pushed the skewer into him, straight into his heart which would have broken had he seen what had happened to his family. He slumped onto the outdoor table too, right next to the carcass of lamb he was going to feed to his guests that night.
The killer had taken more than lives and some trinkets, he had also contracted the leprosy they themselves did not know they were carrying. Pavlos was only caught because he was not smart enough to go to a jeweler in another district to try to sell his booty. The jeweler recognized the gold jewelry. He personally had sold it to the victims. Pavlos was imprisoned that very day. His victims were of the percentage of the population that were carriers but had yet to manifest any symptoms but in the murderer the symptoms showed up quickly.
‘Transfer the prisoner to Spinalonga,’ came the demand from the prison doctor. Pavlos was furious. He had quickly established himself as one of the top dogs in jail and was enjoying himself along with the three meals a day and the decent bed that he did not have to scrounge for every night.
‘If you come close I will spit on you,’ was the response of Pavlos to the interruption in his routine when the guards came to take him away. But the guards were not that easily deterred. They merely aimed their guns at him, ‘You are leaving here Damnatakis, you can leave on a boat or you can leave in a box, you decide.’
Pavlos didn’t want to leave but also was not ready to die. He put his hands up over his head to signify acquiescence. ‘Turn around and put your hands behind your back.’ They cuffed him and led him out of the prison on a chain. ‘Is there a jail on the island?’ One guard asked the other.
‘No his disease is his sentence, he is both isolated from society and on a death row of sorts.’
‘Isn’t why I am asking occurring to you? What about the other sick people, don’t they have enough to worry about without a murdering rapist among them?’
‘Just fill in your forms and get on with your work. These people are already dead. We have the living to think about.’
‘Well shouldn’t we be informing the medical authorities or communicating directly with Spinalonga? These people have a right to know they will soon have a demon among them.’
‘You can’t do that.’ He was told by the senior guard. ‘You might write to them but we discourage it. They might write back to us and drool all over the paper in an attempt to be evil and share their misery.’
The guard looked heavenward and stretched out his arms in an imploring gesture and the senior guard realized his exaggeration. ‘Okay we have spoken enough, let’s go.’ The action that needed to be taken was simple, lepers go to leper colonies. But the guard with a conscience did write a letter to the Department of Health outlining his concerns about placing such a vicious criminal onto the leper colony. His letter was opened by a nurse on temporary office duty after a distinguished service in the hospital tents of the battlefields. She read the letter, folded it and put in into her pocket. Her name was Angela Venetis.
Back on Spinalonga Pavlos had beckoned his little team of thugs to follow him and to leave the others who were still crowded around Nikos. ‘But Pavlos he talks of things that are of benefit to us. I want to feel useful again, before I got this curse I was a stonemason, I helped build houses, now I help you battle the sick for scraps.’
‘So Ikaros, this is how you repay my friendship, by listening to the slick speak of a city boy?’
‘He talks sense Pavlos, you talk fear, and I’ve had enough fear.’
‘Ela Ikaros, if you’ve had enough fear go light a candle at church but you can’t can you, it’s in as much ruin as we are.’
‘Can you believe the priest came empty handed?’ said one of the others.
‘That is the charity of the church for you. I say we show him how we worship, Spinalonga style.’
Chapter 8: Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt.
Layman and priest stood on the highest point of Spinalonga and examined the empty sky. ‘Nikos, how are we going to do this? We need to be high up near where they keep their nests don’t we?’ Nikos raised his head and closed his eyes as if in a trance and tried to recall every eagle conversation he had ever had with Alikhan. His response to Manoussos was the same one his friend would always start his conversations with, ‘It is the most difficult thing to train an eagle. You must become like the eagle yourself. An eagle is wise, strong and patient.’
‘What if you are not like an eagle, what if you are a goat or a monkey?’ Nikos laughed at Manoussos, ‘Don’t laugh Nikos, I see people all the time, they believe they are lions but really they are sheep.’
‘That was another thing that Alikhan used to say, ‘Ask yourself first who you are? Do you know who you are?’ They fell silent at the sight of an eagle was soaring above them. Nikos smiled to himself. Every day he had watched an eagle soaring over Spinalonga, he was sure it was the same one by the white band across the tail feathers. As if it knew it was being observed it gave a command performance for the two of them. The eagle circled over the sea in graceful curves then did an elegant swerve, swooped down to the surface and plucked a fish right out of the water. The eagle then soared up and away with the large salmon still struggling in its claws.
‘Wasn’t he magnificent Nikos?’
‘Yes, she certainly was.’ Nikos smiled in satisfaction. ‘That is my eagle, she scouts here every day. This must be her territory. The best hunters are the females Manoussos, they grow bigger, stronger, smarter and wiser than the males.’
‘Oh I knew that a long time ago,’ chuckled Mano
ussos. Nikos was still marveling at the sight they just saw. ‘Did you notice how completely in control she was? Her wingspan must have been almost two meters wide! And her glide has so much power.’ Manoussos nodded in awe. ‘She was like a goddess descending from Mount Olympus.’
‘Yes, like Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. That is our eagle Manoussos, our goddess Artemis.’
Nikos had been thinking all night about how to lay the bait to try to entice Artemis to come in close. Getting any bait was difficult. Even if they both sacrificed a full month’s allowance to order a fresh chicken through the boatman the entire population of Spinalonga would lynch them for it as soon as the boat left. He still had to find a way to deal with the crooked clerk but first the best thing to do was stick to the plan of getting more food on their own.
Nikos had decided to keep his eagle hunting a secret from everyone for two reasons. He did not want to get their expectations up in case he failed because he knew it was a big challenge. It would not be fair to give the promise of fresh fish and meat every day and then not be able to deliver the promise. He knew nothing about catching eagles or hunting and here he was trying to do both. The other reason was until he had succeeded in his mission he had to keep the bag of Alikhan safe and out of the hands of Pavlos. He would not care what it was for or what it meant to Nikos, Pavlos would just take it because he wanted to.
Nikos had been watching Artemis the eagle every day for weeks. He had come to recognize her by the white band across her tail feathers. He also liked her style. She operated in the way he did. She was a brilliant tactician. She would first check the terrain, scouting out the best conditions and the best catch then strike hard and fast then leave.
Watching her helped alleviate his hunger. There was simply not enough food. Already he had to do his belt up a further two notches and he had only been on Spinalonga for three weeks. Finding food for himself was challenge enough, where was he going to find a suitable enough bait to tempt an eagle? Manoussos patted Nikos on the shoulder as he walked away. Anyone else would have said something obvious like, ‘I am going to the church to try to do some cleaning, I will see you tomorrow.’ Not Manoussos, he said it with a gesture and a look his eyes.
Nikos went to sit on the walls of the old fortress to watch his eagle. He had been getting to know her better and better each day. Today’s watching was different. Artemis was circling closer to Spinalonga than he had ever seen her do before. It was exciting to think that she was right above him now. Her wingspan was greater than the height of a man. He took an inward breath of admiration just as he had done when a truly beautiful woman had walked past him. It was a surprisingly similar attraction which produced a surprisingly similar effect. Not the sexual attraction, it was more like a feeling that he wanted to be near her, close to her, and for her to know that he was worth knowing, but she would always be a magnificent mystery. Just as he had admired curves then, he did now. And just like a woman, she was captivating.
But what was she hunting on Spinalonga? He went to the edge of the fort walls and looked over to see what was below. There stood Ikaros, wearing his cousin’s hat of hare-fur. He was scouting the coastline. It was a common thing for the residents of Spinalonga to do. Sometimes interesting or useful things washed up on the shore of the tiny beach. Ikaros was walking up and down to search every centimeter. It was the hat that was interesting. The hat was of the fur of the hare but the design and coloring of the hat also made it look like a hare, but it was only obvious if one viewed it from above. From where Nikos was standing it looked as if Ikaros was wearing an animal on his head. Artemis too, thought she was looking at a real hare. He watched in fascination as she swooped down to begin her dive at her prey but Ikaros heard Pavlos yelling for him. He uttered a curse at having been interrupted and ducked through Dante’s gate.
Artemis was clearly surprised by the sudden disappearance of her target. Nikos watched her jerk her majestic head in momentary surprise but she smoothly eased up and floated off to scan other parts of the area for a prey that would not dart away. He kept watching as the magnificent she-raptor turned her regal head back towards the island as if to say, ‘I’ll be back.’
Nikos had found his bait. The only problem was how was how to get the hat from Ikaros without arousing any suspicion in Pavlos.
‘Nice hat malaka.’
Ikaros was startled. ‘Malaka yourself, are you hiding in every corner? Don’t you have a regular place to sit? Do you have to go around scaring the souls out of people?’
‘I like surprises. Now give me the hat.’
‘Do us all a favor and go jump off the cliffs of Spinalonga.’ Ikaros said as he kept walking along.
Pavlos didn’t like being brushed off so he reached out to grab the hat off Ikaros’s head but Ikaros ducked down just in time making Pavlos lose his footing and tumble over. He bellowed in frustration and lunged at Ikaros and the two men fell together and rolled on the ground gouging and gripping at each other.
This was the scene Nikos walked into when he descended from the top to try to find Ikaros and to try to find a way to allow him to borrow the hat without giving away the secret of what he was doing. The hat had fallen from Ikaros’ head when they began fighting and was lying right in front of Nikos’s feet like a little rug. In the meantime a whole group had collected around the two fighters watching the battle. No-one bothered to pull them apart, they would eventually but for now they were enjoying the excitement too much. Nikos looked around him, no one had noticed the hat. If he acted fast he could grab it and be out of sight before either of the combatants would see him.
There was another lunge at each other and the crowd roared but they all sensed things were going too far so they all began to get between the men. It was the perfect moment, everybody was turned away from him. He grabbed the hat, tucked it into his shirt and ran to hide it under the floorboards along with Alikhan’s bag. It was almost a relief when nobody could find the hat, that way there would be no more fighting. Nikos promised himself that if he did succeed in catching Artemis he would leave the hat in a place where Ikaros would easily find it again but for now he had to sit and keep watching Artemis until the time was right.
Nikos initially felt like an imposter, a pale imitation of the true Berkutchi like Alikhan but the logic of Plato set him straight. Every night when he read Plato he thought to himself how the entire world had read his works and not only learned from them but applied them to their own laws. Did that make them imposters? No. Nikos too would apply the knowledge he had learned from Alikhan as best he could now he finally had some bait.
Watching Artemis in flight was mesmeric. She commanded the sky. Even among other eagles she stood out. Both men were awe struck just by watching her. Nikos had no option but to enlist Manoussos but he did not regret his decision. Manoussos was a man of few words and those he did speak had weight. Most importantly of all, the men enjoyed each other’s company even if they had nothing to say. They were just as happy to sit in silence together, a true sign of friendship.
After just a few weeks on the island Nikos already had to move his belt so much further in he had to make another hole with a stone and a nail he managed to pull out of an old piece of timber. He was worried about how much he had weakened physically and he could see how the island and its lack of decent living conditions had sapped the psychological strength out of everyone else. That was something he also had to do something about but the first was getting some food. Manoussos would supply the extra strength he knew he would need to catch Artemis.
‘Well Nikos, you still haven’t told me how we are going to go about catching this eagle?’
‘Haven’t you noticed anything after all the days we have spent up here watching her?’ Manoussos lifted his head and made the ‘tsk’ sound in the way Greeks said no. ‘You haven’t noticed how she does not waste one movement? She understands her own body. Look how she is scanning the seas now for a fish. This is the right time to lay the bait Manoussos. She is out for
the hunt. Let’s go!’
They went to the very highest point on Spinalonga, the flat stretch above the fortress walls, and laid the hare-fur hat on the ground on the most open part of the space. Nikos had tied two strings to it and handed them to Manoussos, ‘Here, be the puppet master and jiggle these now and again to make it look like the hare is moving around.’ Nikos made sure everything else was laid out and ready, satisfied they were prepared for what he hoped would come he then sat back out of view behind the rocks and waited.
The items in Alikhan’s bag were all laid out in a neat row on the ground. They had unfolded the net, the blanket lay in wait and the hood was in Nikos’s pocket as was the short leash, the strong piece of leather they would use to tie to its leg. The well padded leather glove and wrist support were off to the side on standby.
‘Nikos, once we throw the net over it we must secure it down. Such a powerful bird could just fly away.’
‘I have already got the stones ready to place all around. We must be quick in doing so.’
‘Yes, then we also cover her with the blanket?’
‘Yes, she must be kept in the dark.’
Nikos looked up. ‘There she is. She has seen it. Look she is circling.’
Nikos knew exactly what she would do. He had spent so much time watching her he was now familiar with her methods. He whispered to Manoussos, ‘If she stops circling and just hovers for a moment it means she is about to strike. Once she begins her dive she will tuck her wings in around her till she looks like a big teardrop. She will become like a merciless big bullet shooting down her target.’ They sat back in their shadowed hiding places and watched her.