The Hyperboreans (working title) Chapter 2 rough draft

The winds of destiny

The next day Choine climbed up to the roof once more, bared her sweat-dripping breasts to the north, and begged her love to return. And oh! The wild joy she felt when the wind again blew boldly south across her body, and Boreas’ intense gaze fell upon her once more.

“Boreas...I feared you would not come back.”

“Do you think me like Zeus, who ravishes and abandons mortals as he pleases? No, dear one. As the winter wind comes and goes each year, I too may depart, but always I return. Come. I have missed your touch.”

Choine hugged him close. “And I yours, my love.” They kissed, and the rest of their clothes fell off them. The winds blew hard and the temple moaned with it. Before long, so did Choine. And then they howled.

Day after day, she went up to the roof and prayed for her divine paramour to descend, and every day he did, and every day they made love up there on the roof. One day, she dared to sit on the roof wall, legs spread wide, as he plunged his godly cock into her again and again. Another day, she bent over it, and felt his cool electric hands on her buttocks as he plowed his way between them, and her nails scraped the plaster off the wall. A week later, she dared to bid her god lie down, and standing over him, slowly squatted down over his midsection. She put his hands on his bulging chest, playfully rubbing her labia and clitoris up and down the length of his manhood, until it was hard and hot to her liking. The bronze now prepared for the forge, she boldly grasped it, raised herself up, kissed it with her lower lips, and eeeeaaaasssseeeddd herself down. She sat proudly on top of her god, his penis throbbing deep within her, and she felt great love and great power.

The other temple caretakers noticed a change in Choine. Where before she came dutifully yet somberly, she now came in cheerily, with excitement, and with a quiet yet profound confidence that was not there before. She practically glowed.

After many weeks of this, Choine too began to notice some changes. It seemed to her that her body odor was different. Certain smells that did not bother her before, she began to find revolting, even nauseating. Her sandals, which had fit her fine for years, needed loosening. She felt more bloated than usual, and as she ran her hands down her torso one day, reaching the space below her belly button, she felt a small, firm, apple-sized object inside her.

A torrent of feelings rushed through her then, of hope, of love, of terror! Could it be? Oh Gods!

Over the weeks, the apple grew to the size of a gourd, then a loaf of bread, and Choine’s middle began to thicken. Her dress managed to hide it, and Boreas, who continued to shower his love on her, did not appear to notice or care. But Choine noticed. The shape in her belly grew bigger and bigger, crowding her guts out of its way and expanding her belly into a bump. Still able to be hidden, but it was growing quickly. How much longer could she keep this a secret? Soon, she knew, she would have to tell someone.

As summer ended and the land entered mid-autumn, Choine tightened her belt around her bulging middle as much as she dared, and returned her duties as usual. But as she attempted to take her leave to go up to the roof, Antigonos held up a hand.

“I’m closing the roof for the fall and winter, Choine. Now the flowers are out of season, there’s no need to water them. Besides,” he eyed her suspiciously, “you take too much time up there. The other maidens are working hard down here, and where are you all the time? I want to keep a closer eye on you from now on, make sure you’re not shirking.”

Her face flushed dark with sudden anger. This was unlike her. Another change.

“Shirking!? How dare you! You don’t know how hard I have worked to please Boreas, in everything I do! I love him as much as you! Probably more!”

Antigonos was unmoved by her outburst. Nor did he notice that the wind began to blow hard outside. That happened all the time now.

“Touched a nerve, it seems! Your tantrum shows me you have something to hide about your duties. I have no doubt you have worked to please Boreas. You may please him better by sweeping the temple steps spotless.” He held out a broom.

Choine had an overwhelming urge to claw that smug old face to ribbons, or cram that broom somewhere it could sweep no more! The wind howled, and from above everyone heard the horse statue once again fall with a CLANG. Antigonos looked up in annoyance.

“Ugh, that statue again. I’ll have to get it weighted. Someone needs to go up there after all. But not you! You’re going to do your duty down here where I can see you! Well?”

Outside, a stall crashed over on its side, it’s tarp tore off its poles, flying down the street. Baskets, bread, fruits, even people rolled down the street under the force of the gale. A few people, struggling to walk against the blowing onslaught, managed to make it up the temple steps.

“Antigonos!” one of them cried, “Boreas is angry today! Why does he punish us with this wind?”

“I don’t know, friend. Maybe he requires an offering. Or maybe…” he turned to Choine, “this maiden has been displeasing him!”

“What!?” Choine gasped.

“Yes! I see it now. The wind is always blowing hard when you waste time on the roof, and now look! Your disobedience calls it forth again, worse than ever!”

He turned to the people. “This woman has dishonored the gods with laziness, dishonesty, and defiance of one’s duties! Her impiety has called down their wrath! Take her! Throw her out!”

Before she could get away, the angry townspeople charged forward and grabbed her by the arms. She kicked and screamed as they dragged her to the temple doors. Outside the winds had strengthened to hurricane force. An entire stall turned end over end down the street, smashing itself to splinters. Two more followed after it. Clappers were torn off their windows and pinged down the walls.

Choine was thrown roughly towards the stairs, and fortunately she kept her footing. She raised her arms, expecting to be carried off by the wind or flung off the cliff to her doom...but felt nothing.

The people, the maidens, and Antigonos looked on her in amazement. In the midst of the tempest, which blew whole rooftops away, she stood unmoved. Her dress did not rustle. Not even a hair blew out of place. It was as if the wind refused to touch her.

Choine shook off her amazement and saw an opportunity to turn the tables. “You chose wrong, priest!” she screamed over the wind. “Look! I am favored by the god! Let me up to the roof, so that I might calm him!”

“You f-flatter yourself! What can you do to calm mighty Boreas!?”

But this was lame, and everyone knew it. As quickly as the townspeople turned on her, they nervously stepped aside to let her pass.

She opened the trap door to the roof, and saw him in his divine wrath: Boreas. Levitating 10 feet up, untouched by the wind. Hand outstretched over the town. Lips pursed as if blowing. Eyes full of freezing fury.

“Boreas! My love!”

His hand lowered, and the wind slackened, but not by much. He descended to the roof. His eyes would not look at her.

“I saw it all. By my master Aeolus. I saw it all.”

He did not raise his voice, but Choine had no trouble hearing him over the gale. He finally turned to her, eyes piercing and sharp as an icicle.

“By your word, dear one, I will blow this place and all that lives in it off the face of the earth. My breath will leave no stone on top of another. Whatever remains, I will freeze so coldly that it will never be thawed. Say the word, dear one, and I will smite this place with all my power. Say the word.”

No mortal could have looked into those eyes and heard those words without fainting, or going mad with terror. None save Choine. She took the wrathful gaze of a god untrembling, and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“No, Boreas. I bid you, spare them your anger. They have seen their error, and will honor you now as never before.”

“I care nothing for the worship of those who laid hands on my beloved. They should all perish for what they have done.”

“I forgive them, my love. Or at very least, I do not want them to die. I will make fearful servants of them. I shall make them honor me as they honor you. And we will be together for as much as we desire.”

“And how will you do that?”

“With this!” She undid her shoulder pins, and let the top of her dress drop. This time, she put her hands on her bulging belly as well.

“It is yours, my love. My child and yours. I carry the child of a god. And they shall fear me for it!”

All the iciness left Boreas’ eyes, and they widened. In an instant, all the wind stopped. A moment of pure quiet. Then he spoke:

“So. It has happened. Children of my own. To be sprung from the loins of a woman mortal. Of course.”

“Children?”

Boreas, god of winter and the north wind, melted before her. He embraced her fiercely.

“Oh, dearest Choine! Do not mistake my apprehension for sorrow! I overflow with joy! It is only the dangers I see, for you, a mortal mother, that give me pause!”

“What dangers? You hold me too tight!” Choine wheezed.

Boreas released her and looked at her with an expression she could not place.

“I have no powers of foresight. But the winds tell me of things that may come to pass. You may gain power, and this also may bring you trouble. The jealousy of mortals. The eyes of other gods. Finally, that which grows within you may also imperil you. Indeed, as I warned you, it is no small thing for a god to love a mortal. But hear me now, the words of Boreas: I give you, Choine, my divine promise; that I will never leave you, nor forsake you, and my love for you will never end.”

They hugged each other, deep in thought, and fear, and love, for a long time. Then they parted.

Choine descended down the temple ladder, and she had not bothered to pin her dress back up. The townspeople stared at her with shock, and anticipation. When she reached the bottom, she threw out her arms and displayed herself to them, breasts, belly, and all.

“Behold! I am with child! The child of Boreas! He is my lover, and the father of my child. That is why I am favored! Do you understand? You tried to cast the mother of his child to her death! What do you have to say for yourselves?”

The people recoiled in horror, then prostrated themselves all at once.

“Forgive us lady! We did not know! The priest misled us, and turned us against you!”

Antigonos went white with fear, and stepped back from her. Oh, how nice it was for Choine to see that! She was tempted, sorely tempted, to turn the crowd on him like wild dogs. But--

“I forgive you. All of you. And Boreas forgives you too. I have turned his wrath away. He has only this to say to you: to remember the power of the north wind, and its mercy. Honor him, and those he loves. And for me…” she put her hands on her belly, “...to raise his child well with your help, and let it be a blessing to you also. So speaks Boreas!”

“So speaks Boreas!” cried the townspeople.

“S-so speaks Boreas!” stammered Antigonos, bowing deeply.

Choine smiled, in a way that she hoped looked beatific. Yes. Things would be much different from now on.