The Hyperboreans (working title) chapter 3 rough draft

The divine consort

That morning, Choine was a lowly temple maiden. That night, she was the new head of the Temple of Boreas.

Within days, the offerings poured in the temple like never before, and Choine got the best of everything. Figs, olives, lamb, grapes! The finest clothes! Rugs, pottery, jewelry! Word spread quickly about the Sacred Mother, and many supplicants came to bring her their respects personally.

The temple made for a small, yet extravagant palace, as Choine moved in and set up her own chambers. She had attendants for everything. No more sweeping. No more griping from Antigonos. And of course, no more interruptions from her time on the roof. Now, to her delight, she and Boreas could make godly love up there multiple times in a row!

Well, one interruption. As Choine’s belly grew rounder, she knew she had to get answers for her pregnancy, and if Boreas could not tell her, she would have to go see the Oracle of Dodona. It was a long trip clear across Greece, 2 weeks at least, plus preparations. She had to make the journey while she could.

Fortunately money was no longer an object, and a caravan with armed escort, fit for a queen, was assembled. She took some retainers with her, and Antigonos for good measure.

It was indeed a hard journey there, though plains, forests, and mountains. They had some near misses with bandits, lions, and even a flock of harpies. They are stories in their own right, but for now, we skip to the journey’s end where they finally arrive at the place of the Oracle. A temple cave, ancient beyond reckoning even to them, from a time where the Mother Goddess still reigned. Choine sent Antigonos in to request an audience. Of course, that they were expected.

Choine and her entourage were seated on cushions on the floor of the cave, walls lit with braziers and air thick with incense. In the middle of the floor was a hole with a ladder leading out of it. Two figures in robes and masks guarded it. From down below, they could hear something, a woman perhaps, shrieking, chanting, mumbling, crying out deliriously. They waited patiently, but unsettled. Finally the noise died down, and another robed and masked figure climbed up the ladder out of the hole.

This figure faced Choine and her company, raised both hands, and intoned:

“The Oracle has spoken. Hear now the words of Zeus and the Mother Goddess, beloved of Gaia. I, the mouth of the Oracle, will relate them: From the womb of snow, 3 tall sons will appear. Begotten by ice, but beloved by the sun. On their coming, a flash of bronze, a thundering of hooves, a scarlet flood. The wind will reverse its course. They will fly over the mountains, and men will not know them.”

A pause. “These are the words of Zeus and the Mother Goddess. Heed them, and go with the gods.”

That night, Choine, Antigonos, and company pondered and argued over what the prophecy meant. The first part was clear enough: the womb of snow was obviously Choine. But was she having two more children after this one, or three all at once? Her belly was getting bigger pretty quickly, triplets might explain that. That would remain to be seen. Begotten by ice proved without a doubt that Boreas was the father, but what did “beloved by the sun” mean? If ice a metaphor for a god, could they mean a sun god? Helios? Apollo? One of their relatives? Sounded like a good sign. But the rest sounded dreadful. Many in the party said it was an obvious sign of battle and bloodshed. Others said that it could be more metaphorical than that, war could be too obvious an explanation. The wind reversing it’s course, a literal reversing of the wind as a sign of divine providence? Or could they be talking about Boreas again, that he might change his mind, or act in way unlike him? And how could 3 sons of a god, “beloved by the sun” whatever that meant, go unknown to anyone? Would they leave them immediately, or many years from now?

No prophecy by oracle was ever meant to be easy. They were always a puzzle. Antigonos and the other temple retainers swapped theories back and forth all the way back home. Choine, in her heart, was most troubled by the “wind reversing course”. Boreas could never betray her, could he? He promised.

But as she returned to the comfort of her home temple, her worries dimmed. Her child/children would not arrive for a while yet. In the meantime, there was work to do.

Her daily routine went something like this: every morning when she awoke, her retainers would rub her rounding body down with perfumed olive oil. As they scraped her, washed her, and dressed her in fine attire, they would summarize what offerings or notable donations were counted last night, and what appointments she had that morning. The clothes were chosen to accentuate her pregnant belly as much as possible, so when she presented herself to the morning worshipers, they would know without a doubt who was talking: the Sacred Mother, and don’t you forget it! She even conducted her own rituals. Then, she would go out on any visits or errands she desired, sometimes on foot, sometimes by palanquin. Then, when the morning was done, she would dutifully scale the ladder to the roof bare her growing breasts and belly to the north, and call her beloved down to her. They were not to be interrupted, on pain of death. When evening came, she smugly climbed back down, and saw to any more private meetings: disputes to settle, problems with temple staff, that sort of thing. And then to bed, in a fine boudoir of curtains, cushions, and silks.

The one problem in this high-class life, was that as Choine’s belly expanded farther and farther, she was finding it increasingly hard to climb that ladder. As the weeks passed and her middle swelled out, it was in danger of bumping into the rungs as she climbed. Her balance was beginning to be thrown off, and her body began to feel heavy. Her servants would not dream of telling her not go up to to the roof, but they did beg her to be careful as she grunted her way up. Oh well, thought Choine. It was bound to happen sooner or later. So one day, after mounting the ladder and turning her burgeoning belly out to the side, she went up the ladder one last time. Then she ordered her room to be moved up to the roof.

There, her body gave her no more trouble, as she felt the first flutterings of movement inside her and her belly began to swell out to a spherical shape. In fact it was even better: when she needed to make an appearance, she threw apart the curtains installed on the roof and displayed her body down to an enraptured audience below. Everything she wanted, was sent up in a basket by a pulley. Now, when someone wanted an audience, they had to climb a ladder to meet her in her rooftop domain.

Well, almost everyone. One day, from below, Choine heard a loud “HEY! You up there, with the immortal boyfriend! Got something for you!” It was Hylonome the centaurine, smiling and sending up a basket. “Got you those wild boar sticks you wanted! How are you feeling, girl?”

Smirking, Choine put her hands on her back and stood up straight, hauling up her big belly for Hylonome to see. It was now about the size of a full term normal pregnancy.

“Damn! And you’ve got three in there?”

“Yes! A city midwife came and confirmed it! Triplets, like the prophecy said!”

“’Like the prophecy said’, listen to this one go on! Speaking of which, ol’ Boreas, he’s, uh, not put off by any of this?”

“On the contrary!” Choine replied, shaking her hips. “Things are better than ever up here, if you know what I mean!”

“Sounds nice! Me, I don’t think I could be cooped up there like that! I need my space!” She coughed. “Shame you can’t come down, I’m losing my voice already talking to you like this! This is just how we’re going to have to talk for a while, huh?”

Choine, who had not felt sorry for anything in months, felt a pang of guilt. It felt so gratifying to make people come up to her to pay respects, but in doing so, she left a friend behind. It’s not as if a centaur can make it up a ladder, and that basket pulley would never be strong enough. Shame there was no other way up...wait, what was she thinking? She could make whatever way up she wanted!

“No! Unacceptable!” she cried. “Phoebe! Send word to our carpenters. Let there be a ramp built up to this rooftop, wide and strong enough to hold a horse and rider. Go on, let them start at once!” The maid bowed, then departed swiftly down the ladder.

“Aw, Choine! You don’t have to do that, just for little ol’ me!”

“No! I’m doing it, and I’ll hear no more about it. I’ve missed you! I never got to meet up with you like I should have, I’ve been just terrible! And hey! Maybe I do want to get off this rooftop somehow, while I can still move!”

They both laughed at that, and departed. Choine ravenously snacked on those wild boar sticks, while she waited for Boreas to come down and fuck her. She wasn’t lying: sex with Boreas was still the highlight of her day, and her appetite was only increasing with her pregnancy.

The carpenters worked day and night, but still, it was not easy to get a ramp that size around a cliffside temple. It took weeks, and with those weeks Choine grew still bigger and rounder. Her belly button popped, and she was having trouble keeping her legs together when she sat down. The attendants took extra care with the olive oil regimen on her rounded belly to make sure she remained unblemished. Whether it was due to their efforts, or divine favor, her steadily expanding middle bore no mark or stripe.

Finally, Hylonome came clip clopping up the finished ramp and saw Choine sitting there on a soft stool, belly swelling triumphantly. She was months away from her expected time, but she was already growing large indeed with her divine offspring.

“Whoa! Look at you, sitting pretty! Come here girl, it’s so good to see yooouuuu!” Choine got up with a hand from Hylonome, and who bent down and hugged her.

“Is the ramp working fine? Do I have to have anyone flogged?”

“No way, works great. I will say though! That drop over on the cliff facing side of the temple? A bit scary if you don’t like heights! But I figure you got no problems with those. Anyway! Enough about that, now that I have a close look at you, I’ve got to know what it’s like to be you right now, you’re looking biiiiig!”

They lounged and chatted for a while, Hylonome lying her big horsey body on some cushions, Choine snacking on more boar sticks. Choine had much less to report than other women might at her stage: she never felt morning sickness, never got acid reflux. She did feel very full all the time, yet very hungry, and she got tired more easily. Her sons were beginning to get more active, but not enough to be very bothersome. She did have to pee quite often, and getting up and moving around was getting more cumbersome every day. But compared to normal women, this pregnancy had been, on the whole, divine. She talked also about Boreas, about his coolness, his quiet intensity, and his red hot love.

The talk moved to Hylonome and what she was up to. She continued working on various contraptions whenever she had time, and her attention had returned to the mechanism she built below the statue. Yes, it could make a puff of air, but anyone could do that. She wanted to do more. Choine’s eyes began to glaze over as she talked about air currents, differential air pressures, diaphragms, pump systems…

“...like I don’t know how in hades I’m going to do it yet, but getting a system in place that could produce a continuous stream of air, water, what have you, or even doing the reverse, sucking it all back up again, it’s got a ton of different applications—”

Choine suddenly snapped awake. “Wait, hold on, hold on! What was that about the reverse?”

“Oh yeah! I imagine it’d be just reversing the workings of the mechanism, diaphragm, whatever, and you can make the air go back to where it came from! You can do all kinds of things with that, capture a bunch of smoke or bad air and send it somewhere else—”

“Brilliant! That would be wonderful for the, uh, temple! Would you get started immediately?”

“Immediately? Uh, got to be honest with you Choine, this is all still theoretical, it would take me ages to get you something working—”

“You won’t do it alone. I’ll get the finest minds available to assist you. Phoebe!”, she barked, clapping twice. The maid came to attention.

“Send word out by bird and horseback to all centers of knowledge! Athens, Samos, Crete! A call to all inventors to come to Aeolia—no, a challenge! Make a device that can make the wind reverse its course!” Phoebe left. “And you Hylonome; you will lead the project.”

Hylonome gawped. “Choine, but...why? This is mighty sudden! Why do you want such a thing so bad?”

Should she tell her? Choine thought. She felt the demigods inside her kick. Why not? She is the Sacred Mother, a walking miracle. Who cares if anyone thought she was mad?

“The prophecy of the oracle spoke of this. That when my sons come, the wind will reverse course. This device may be what she meant! I want you to build it! I want you to prove it can be done! Let’s bring about our destiny with our own hands!”

“...look Choine. I can’t talk about prophecies and destiny and all that. But if I’m hearing you right and you want this thing finished by the time your kids arrive...it’s going to take days, if not weeks, for those letters get sent out. Then they got to find the people they’re supposed to. Then they all have to pack up, and ride or sail all the way here, and that’s going to take weeks more. Then we have to actually brainstorm, test materials, make prototypes, test those prototypes, Choine...sister…” she looked forlornly down at her friend’s swollen belly, “there’s no time.”

“I have months left. You can get started while we wait for the others to arrive. I only wanted to get those other wise ones to help, you are the real genius behind this! With your amazing mechanical brain, I bet you can get something built before they even get here! You already have the device in the temple floor, start with that!”

Hylonome had a face that wanted to argue, and Choine had a face that didn’t want to hear it. Choine’s face won, and the centaurine sighed and stood up hugely on all 4 hooves.

“Fine, I’ll try it. But I’m going to need some supplies and a place to work.”

Choine took a big metal ring off her finger and handed to Hylonome. “This is my seal. Show it to any supplier or craftsman in town and you will have whatever you want. Use my old chambers in the temple for your workshop. Get to it, I’m counting on you!”

Later that day, Boreas and Chione lay steaming on cushions, panting, his hand on her sizable belly. Their heartbeats slowed, and Boreas spooned her close from behind. Choine did not react.

“What is the matter dear one? You seem distant today.”

“It’s not you. I’m just worried about...what the oracle said. I don’t know what’s going to happen, and I feel...frightened.”

He nodded solemnly. “So it is, with fate. But do not fear. I am with you, as always.”

“Boreas? Can you...is it possible to change it? Or make it come about the way you want it to?”

Boreas sat up. “I do not know. But I do not think it wise to try. Many tales are told of gods and mortals who were punished for trying to circumvent their destiny. To try and thwart fate...may end up ensuring it comes to pass. What about the oracle’s words troubles you?”

Tears began to flow down Choine’s cheeks, and she sniffled. “Oh my love! It all troubles me! The red, the bronze, the terrible hoofbeats! That my baby boys might leave and never return! But oh! Let all that come to pass! The battle, the promise of death, if that is all, I could bear it! But the ‘wind reversing course’! Oh, those words above all else, how they’ve tortured me!”

She heaved her big belly over as she turned to look at her love. “I commissioned an invention! One that reverses the wind! In hopes that somehow, the prophecy may be fulfilled with that machine. In hopes that...the wind that reverses course...may not be you!”

She had never seen him stunned before. But Boreas, god of the north wind, was indeed stunned. Before long however, cold anger set in his eyes.

“That is what you think of me? I come to you every day without fail. When you were assaulted by these worms in human shape, I came to your aid. I gave you my divine promise of faithfulness, a thing that cannot be broken for all eternity, I bring you blessings without end, and after all of this, you distrust me?”

“Boreas...no! I do trust you! I did not mean—”

He stood up. “I must go now. I will be with you always, as promised. But I will not appear to you for a time. Goodbye.”

He blew away with the wind, like dust. Choine howled and sobbed, wretchedly, alone.