Ariadne s Brother 1

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by

JOHN DEMPSEY

T\( H\ .Xf1(


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Author's Note

Originaly 1300 pages, this novel synthesizes 15 years' research in "Minoan and other sources ranging from myt to archaeoloy to anthropoogy o religion, from Sir Arthur Evans toDr. Nanno Marinatos, and it reects tota agreement wih noneo them. While its setting is Crete circa 1450 BC, I've included certain events from around that year, as wel, in the interest of

a ler portrat of Cretan hegemoy. (The tow o Akrot oprnt-dy ntoini, o xl, d b bd olllaout a generation efore this story, and the shrine at Anemospilia, Crete, even earlier: te Cretan tradestation in Rodes ote oter and, was destoyed roay ate te a o oo)

Te ear West eaced a cruca turnngpot in its cuture durng the 5th century BCE., ad adn B constructs a "Cetan pont of view on those events, in order to ringte de acceted adtoa ae o te ea We (a eeor eampe in Mary Renauts 958 T King M Di) into closer agreement with nearly 40 more recent years of physical andcutura anayss e tets oeeded ararahin is simlan attem to mmc t auae ceta sc eect o acient Cretan art, especially a uid interplay among sujectivities

and surroundings. And while I tink it a writers trade to takechances ad, ievitaly, to ill aps in the acts wt tutiosad ae (eeciall ode o oe ciet culture!, I oe the stor will suest ow muc umanwld did exist, for mnna b h bgnnng "h-y Waeve is ood hee is ot me ut Crete's

toneham, assausettsMay 15


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os

grefuy,

o

(I)

Do

d eory of Ee Heee Wkowz

-8

l'antica amma. mi pita vali

Copyright 1996 John Demsey

All rights reserved. For information contact Kalendis & Co Ltd.

Mavromichai 5, 106 79 Athens Greece

te: 3 Fa: 3233

ISBN

s Edon

Coer Ilustration Detai from ia Triada Sarcophaus, Ct 4 .C.


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...but if any far-off state there bedearer to Life than mortality,the hand of the Dark hat hold thereof,d de he bve

So we ae sick for ife, and clingon Earth to this naeless ad hiing hig,fo othe ife is a ounai ealed,and the Deeps below are unevealedand we drift on legends foreve

Euipide, Hippolytos


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IIn the Lair of the Minotaur

1 The Wounding of the Beast

2 The Monster Responds

II

Daughters & Sons

III

The Offering

7 Continuance

3 A Bull in the House

4 Who Teaches Whom?

5 End Game

6 End of the World


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ARIADNE'S

BROTHER

I

In the Lair of the Minotaur


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1

She was coming...

The high headland east of the harbor Amnisos stood

blck agans s of rosy gol Down here n he ech,where we of the Labyrinth waited in ceremonial array be

fore e wakng waers of he sea, e lg was vsily rs

in now, an ws just hat moment of the ay when theshore-trees rouse themselves and the rst birds appearfrom no one knows where Our eles priestess Perdi

moved only her eyes as she too a prearranged sinalfro he wcers f ur cas, sngle lap unveleato the healand, to et us now hat Aridne's riual

boat had embarked toward us; and ten Perd lied upino he dawn the tall buished uble-axe she held, an

the six oher sisters long our crescent-formation raised

hes w er ll eir srong an racelete armsloced out ih. Te sea felt calm as a pod before us,the sprin mornin air all but sill and scarcely a leafsrre aln he shafs of he splen le-xes,

wrappe with spirals of planetree leaf and white hyacinth

I watche te Queen, Pspe, y er, fr esgn she was to give me to ome foard before the peo

ple In her short openbreased jacke and great beltedbellsirt of saon that lowed in the dawn, she steped

The Wounding of the Beast


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14 JOHN DEMPSEY

to the center of our crescent and slowly lifted her armsot toward the sea and the isle of Dia, three miles opposite the harbor. Somewhere between her lifted palms andthe slopes of the isle out there, a shape on the sea like abig-hipped woman sleeping on her sie, Aiadne'sprit wr plying hr boa owar sore: our

mother's prayerful pause would time just right so that ritual here would peak with her daughter's arrival. Ariadne,The Ver Manifest One, my sister: if it had always beenboth power and burden to stand as family with her beforethe people, his was a day or me to learn more of bearingthem both; and everybody in the crowd strung along the

beach had a manner of quiet excitement for her thismorning, as this rite brought her one more public step toward our throne.

Uner my short plain cloak the touch of the dew andthe sea's cool brought a kind of memory out of mybones, an ache from just below my bottom-left rib, where

a strip o proudesh marked a wound rom a raer'sjavelin. y whole body still felt the violence of what hadhappened, and its own luck, since people often ied ofhal such a srath Yet I was sorr to have it toda forstil wished to see m brote Pl I'now efe the settl h stood with our fath,

the inotauros, to asiphae's right at the head of theirwhiterobed priests the Kourees. To te eole in thecrowd around us father and brother in their bri emroiere kilts and diadems of goldfol looke like daemon-eyed, russet-skinned, old and oung forms of thesame man still. Butespecially gien th rl sy of ou fathr's itual fat, not so far ahead of himn ngered me to see m brother borrowing Minosteee smile, tat of a man wo ve n The Pr-


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ARINE'S BROTER 15

ence, but grafting onto it his own martial stance. He wasstanding thee feet apat as on a ship's deck, thick armsakmbo

It was like Palesus to put forard all his nineteenyears' grave intent, making sure everybody saw thetrnth h mnt to thm with At th dg

one beheld te world of sudden undiscriminating deathwhich he was mastering ahead of myself: he aways hadgone before me, from our first hunts together to the BullDance, and from there to the throne, wich woud bemine in turn Palesus had always honored me, and lost nochance these days to recount how younger brother Deu

calion had saved that island-boy Icarus from a burningmercant sp am te atte. What was it beteen us,the? Fear, at what was happening to our people and teream; my own fear, and nger about Palesus' intendedsoutions to tese probem wn t tt Mrwas wholly hs I hoped that nobody noticed the glare I

suddeny fet upon my face, and spoke to the pain in myside, that surely our mothers and custom and riadneherself woud rein him in but it was my prayer that fromThe Powers I might learn more how to suffer and toshine, like these people around me

Moter urne ac o me n eur Cme Deu-calon, and I gae myself fully to the privilege, steppingforard with the palmdecorated jar I'd borne in our procession down fom the valley o Cnossos an teLabyrnth o the crowds of canspople attendant bhind us I might've looked like one of the giftbeaing ancient youths painted on ou walls, except that Id beend re own oay or aesus benet an anot even painted my eyes hen I reached her Pasiphaelid hands upon the ja and paused again, then reoved


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16 JOHN DEMPSEY

its lid; and the sick zinc smell oated up to me of blood ofsacrifice, mixed wth wine.

Up close I could ee the lugh-lines tat crinkled

moter' eyes' black kol, th golden faces of the bulls on

her earrng: tere was always a calm warmth to her near

n touh h w quit imonl now, nd

pleasure for the three of us to be le by her through progresively publc roles. My boy's mind aw her kneadingand hapin the douh of ritual barlebread and coulsell the warmth of home ovens, the scent of crusts her

hands ad shaped with Palesu and clergy I' been al

lowed to make first offering of the bread to Ariadne be

fore it was ared out at our srines, to Te Dea and toour people gathere in Cnosos courtyards. But now as Ientered manhood ther were other things to learn and I

breathed slow and ep of te hea liqui etween us,an a on h o h m'

angng black curls, and my spin tll bristled wth the

heat of those animals' lives So muc d ther palpablevgor rma n t bood tat t all but drownd myqution of ing and t pan at my rb What a brother of Bull' brood a come tong s garlanded osbefore our altars in tat frt blue hour of thi awn, a

monster of pure rippling powr and tatel anctity y

you felt the trust and even a gntleness in the bottomlescalm of i& body and hi wild black

The Dance gives Bull Hs chace bak u, i

adne onc cofde to me, but sn' lucrous somhow a beast like tat's ubmsson to ng? Y ju

tidin r u in proion th monter of our

mountains all but gav u Cnoan om for what it wasSh lovd th goldwok of or more braen aians hatd Bll bi f t an


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ARINE'S BROTER 17

trappers. Ye she'd never shied, either, from what ourparents had called Necessity. Our mother's and herstrokes with the stunning-mace and Labs exemplifiedresolve before the peopleevoking teir consent to howThe Powers had made te world by holding firm as thel bld r l , l

and potent. No, there was just noting to balm te memory of tose sentient, dimming eyes, except to raise oneel up straighter upon the spine like ur parens andclergy (and like y broter, after all); and to walk heworld with something like riadne's proud plian posure, a scin of te Huse of the Double Axe. Te very

taste of this sea air and ts ood sweed my ody wth ar a all se harbrorks, he ancien sonmoles utting ino the waves an e lovely pink sone of prmisrss' illa, he ship-shelers and Anisostown climbing te shore hills had come into beingthrough our fami's mirations, and mixtures with oter

bl an surl, haer e' bc, i ha bborn trough these women with their grasp of Necessityand tr atit for beaut. Ad ust as dolphins longago had le one of our grea granrs, Erpa, rto Crete, so now befoe m ees did The Powers cooeat; for Ariadn was coming, and h sa ay at and quiet like Bull noddin down is ead befoe he Queen

Mer e jar r by , pi iai alr' r a ri f rbrh lisgt, egan to cce eftas un ou woe fomai a re e ife entrused er. Tis was to callupon The Dead and The Ones To ome to do as se did,for Ariadne's sake this sprng morning, and compete thegreae rcle for if ere was no life fr Te ea i r r r


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18 JOHN DEMPSEY

could there be grain or strength of chilren fo us withoutThem. The Dead wee (mostly) our friends among the ultimate Initiates, we were taught learn om Them to play

with those Powes in the world which we called GoddessAlmost done as mother slowly worked one could no

hea Te ls slon eely the sattee san, y

father Minos striking gave triple-beats upon a Kourete'sbullhide drum. I watched the dawn give ising brightnessto the myiad jewels and silve and richly patterned robesof our people, backed by the sea's own brightness and thisgift of mild weather: mother's heay breasts and bellskirtswayed just a little with her steps back toard me, and the

prestesses honoed her with a concerted loweringandifting o the axes as she passed. Poo mother! As resolved as Minos to meet the end of her reign with graceMy rib ad stopped throbbing and I took the jar back,aised m ight hand fisttobow for her we pased together, and heard te cow take up my gesture, and then

I baked aay eecting Pasiphae's quiet pleasure. I wasglad to have pleased he and glad fo an ancillary oleright no that le me ee

Actually I had uthe piestly duties back at theLabyinth beoe these ites wee even done, but like everyoy else I ante to see Aane come ashoe. I setthe jar aside for our priests and found myself a vantageamong many geetings next I knew I was eyeing a localauhter at te crowd's easten ee about m ae with

bow us p up a , , rna spi o willow on her neklace as she watced theQueen. mm just to bite he a little, ight here thoseocs ng in spas at e ease e ead aTheir ays of fostein new generations and t thilled myyoth that some of the Houses wlde blood an in my


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ARINE'S BROTHER 19

veins. Still, one had to mind the soberer lans and guestsaround us. A Queen could arr a candlemaker f he

pleased her and threw more light than a palace fop, and I

could not let my brother wth that stance of his keep e a

boy n others' eyes. was glad I'd not much spoken to him

s , l l

Then a hand on my soulder: it was Glaucus, one ofour parents' favored ambassadors to the islands, in is

ate tentes an mpressively tall and traveled gentleman.

Very cordial, rugged, not too condescending toward my

outh-but I knew he'd been sent to bump nto me latel,

before his own year of duty began as a help toward rec

onciling Palesus and mysel. I liked him and envied hisstories and his dealings with foreign queens in my father's

name, but why had the House sent no one like this to

ward Palesus? Pasiphae in her irdescent ounces had

turned seaward and now held her palms outanddown,

as th prstsss d rists hted soti toes.

When this concluded, the Kouretes thuped their tallu ss o wt jvlsats t mar t pr

ceedings with a keener edge; and at las moter oo up

the House's best white conch, ad blew three long woolly

calls. Glauus ushed bak is gra angld man o

black hair: he had our strong native beaknose, and his

neklae of golden seashells rose with his chest as e

smiled down at me, nodding his on antcipation.

Aradne was comin: the salt air teased the ust in

s spirit to behold her, and man ees searched ost the sall boat bearn her across the strat to us

from the isle's Grove Of The Trees. She was yet invisible

against its blossomng dappledgreen slopes, but the peo

ple along the sea's dge pressed nearr, shusn lren

and romping dogs and tardy relatves in the wake of the


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20 JOHN DEMPSEY

Queen's three calls. For all te walking-songs and chatterthat had followed our Houses procession down here at

daybreak, they now grew quieter than the sea, than the

sparrows in the tamarisk trees along the head of the

beach. Retired marines of ours and old matrons curled

h v, l l l h

inner ailments sat quietly under the trees behind, as theylways did with their erpetual needs at the edes of public ceremony: it was sure Ariadne would call hem or

ward, too, but of course this pous silence would last only

till somebody sighted her. Glucus (fishin aain?) remarked a kind of extra aprehension somethin more

han the seasons normal seed-time anxieties alon theshore, but I took my own measure of those whod

comethe earrined well-todo of Cnossos and nerbytowns, generaions o clan, arborands, oreigners anmsto witns tis imprvisd rit.

Wed accomplished already, ha is, ls moons tradi

tional early sprng customs broken open the stores ofnew wine and crop-seed, and loosed The Dead out intothe world from Their ancestrl burial jars, in which weourseles would lie one day and receie the honored life

we had bestowed. We had eased Them, and labored tos Thir hun, st Thi i uld.In rites They hd been shown the lumnous romise ine aesin ide d Plesu; nd te wi

and buckthorn and switches of birch wed ressed Them

back oward her abodes, rom whence ey cou

seak to us and uide and reproe as intmatey as ayone alie It lways needed our clergys intage of tact

and reolve o ke Them u h h like Etis nd hes Id hd o, w ust shod thold bons or in the crpts to make room or new ones,


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ARINE'S BROTfR 21

attering Them the while that more family was on theway. And we could look this year for Their pride andpower to feed our own; for They ived throgh our eshand, o do so, pushed up the barley that ed us

A good year coming, and this he sweetest time: thegrin hd rong goldn hd o ld, h -d

of corn popies was splashed to extravagance on our hills,with goa's beard and hyme and oleander: finches andmgran ngngales and hoopoes roosted n the brllantrees, the pens ere ll o cleanlicked calves, there ereplenty of women' bellie too ig for he daer's ilt adhere'd been a wild rainy winer to help prune te olve

tree Not so mh as a ildew o a grapeer. Bt tisear, since he ries, or os everbod o spoke with,there'd been something not quite well, not cear, no balanced in our midst This ear, from he sancuaries atCssos o ose o ou ouas' paks ad cas,ere r ee ed erey ad rae

uide hem hrouh heir lves here ad b oo r lik a ther layig p i theound, as omone whispred a palpabl bt unintelligible anger in our midst, a malingering unapeasement.oo many ruors o vllageouths' nitiations and counhouse nerals disrupted, let aone sipler rites hat

ept order in the realm, by queer garbled and someimesvolen words ro he oracles, which were spposed ogive peace and closure b problems wih vestments and

vesses ad oter toos so arey stored y our lergy,spontaneous breakages, rusts, foul smells of unknownsorce We ere taght hat or House shold never es one sp behnd h opnion of a armer in suh matters and our parents and priestesses gried the appropriae loa eople, bu all dened knowng the roos o these


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22 JOHN DEMPSEY

disruptions: the worst of this so far, however, was thatmore than once or twice in a moon ths year, the rams

and goats and even bulls in some prominent rites had

turned suddenly recalctrant enroute to altar Why had

something in my priest's heart leaped up with a joy to

uh hn? Not ood, no ood, ou ld d,

ts mae a eacle o autorit, te animls elt something wrong and would not speak it, ot even to old

Perdx or Cratus, our House's Masters of the Herds. or

were these lives that helped to sustain our world ever to

be forced, ny more than the inotauros himsel would

be. In Crete's mountains, wl Bull was bontho: it was

Bul who made ou holy, and not otherise. But was itnot a ard plce tt settng ree suc a beast could onlyunbalance everyting more

I will tell you that Pasiphae and Minos did not consid

er this Crete's worst problem these days But this out-o

sorts, undercurrent nge or unease was hardly mine

lone; n our clery jut could not rticulte the ill,they'd laid requests for pruden measures beore thethrone. ot healthy at all, to let the Earth grow too un

easy beneath your feet

And his had brough about Aiane's threegjourney to Te Grove O Te Trees wit to eler

priestesses A ew yeas ago the radical communion oere tt lcete ot (it i) ere oteruropa rst landed nd where ll the symboltrees o ourd od h o oh o u

sue. But in her and our grandmother aras eyes, Ar

adne at sevenee ow was ready for such a ask, oe pre

cisely rave ad sall enoh for the start of her wholl

public seice And as our mothers were roverbia n theskilll management of sgns and ceremoy, Arane's


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ARINE'S BROTER 23

task was to become new custom as well, one that wouldhelp-beginning with her own accessionto sooth tecoming transition of power in Crete.

I think I was drawn to begin wit this spring day be

cause it was the ast time I saw my brother and siter aivend hy tothr in ubi Guu hd been h,

though, that more than pantingtime anxiousness hadbrought so many people to the harbor at sunrise: theywere still straggling down the sore his and pressing thetes rer te wer; d I sse wt tters that ed straight into our unease

For one thing, the end of a reat Year, and ony our

second Great Year at that, was upon us. Four more seasons rom ts sprng, one more turn o Te Wheel of teYear, and Minos our fer ws o ke the Oering fis life, wile our moter retired, as grandmoter had, oa vila adjoining te Labyrinth. On recentl-since ourBu Dance, and the batte at seahad I realized the

ormtis hind the dreadl respect whch our clnsdeed Mours' House, d how shr he e hd

to seem to my father, whod have hed power nineteeners n ll, lnger t y eta onsort to he Queenexcept Parias No small thing for our cans to allow somuch power for so long in so few hands. This new reckon

ing of tme and highes oc, you see, through a son ofoldr sts undr Moon and Sn, was stil on trial sin p . I

rea ear a aance (a as) e owers o our hose powes sutaned o the eam a r

tions-ess confdent in taking om the and, or less pious, depending on whom you spok iththe Consortd l . O


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24 JOHN DEMPSEY

line of that Man Who Stepped Forard: in his blood livedon that man who had first given hs life as an oering consequentia enough o soothe the harest-ravaged land,and Those beneath it Tat the Consot should willinglyplough his life under, and do so from the height of wealthd owe n our world ws th or of i and,

what the arpers called his great heartBut through the generations tat ad seen our island'spowerful families rise, each with teir on connections inforeign sea-trade, such a shortlived onsort had made fotoo muc instability among our clans, too many fealtiesthat ded with the man and passed with his Queen. Again,

our moter an ceg (lie our artisans) never stoppednkn w a a n wok ter, an tscrowd toda was sure sign that thei wor was underscrutin Te great ec f nosos sowing te pocessions o rute-bearng ouths from all over Crete

were how we commemoated agreement on where the

ractical center of our realm sould be it ad not been amatter of rivals illing each other over wealth since thewas plent for all contenders o te searater, theuestion had been how to get tat wealth ome and loseas fw lrn clans as pssl. A more ecentet f ip and a juster concription-sytem fr cewing

t was still, even now close o the tter o er eteePalesus and me, as oull see So, if our parentswosepotenies and sls hd ssed our eds nd ou orderthrough time of esse broug oureed eet bac to nearly ll strengtwould not lac for

pase nex summer Da when th full Oa Moon

and Sun-at-hznt av Ea wasfor adne and Plesus to pove tht ths would go onas te evr ad and n real keen self-interests


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ARINE'S BROTHER 25

watched through these quiet people along the shore tosee how the Labyrinth would meet such ends and begin

nings in the prsence of the agesBut you must know that of al these people here I was

not the onl one who if asked to spell out the trouble un

d ou kin, woud hav oind nothwad (fo a ta)

ou beyo Dia til you cauht tat aint white glimmering o snow that sometimes haunted our horizon. It wase sun o te souers o a mountai-o-ire calledVekanos so huge and so close a day's sail perhaps rom

Crete that n good eather ke ths sno or not youcould see out there in the blue the brown blotch of its

crooked cratr Some people shook ther fists no farthertan tat or teir worries bame the unwecomechanges of a generation on that mountains bursting intoame and thunder that long ago I had hit our wide-oencoasts with waves that had illed hundreds smashed tokinding more than a third of our ships civilan and mil

tar and then for months had poured gray poison on ourfields

n tuth though this had happnd mo han oncacoss h wno gnaons snc h aisng of hLabyrinth And as grandmother's conserative circles

would boast we had always rebult and one the job bet

ter besides: you could ask Iris or Kudru as leaders of ourartisans th adaae what opotnity thir forebearshad made o the irst reat destruction o our House Agrander staircase there, or here new pipe lai in fohousehod wat whr hr'd een none a nw oefor convenience nar some prominent family's shrines

cratspeople made their lie's prie o tese cunninghings and there were always enough earh-shaigs o

make this a smiledat obsssion of theirs


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26 JOHN DEMPSEY

The difference these days was that now we had to compete with, and even defend ourselves from, a particularlyirritating tribe of foreign pupils of ours: the Achaians byname, descendants of a horde of horse-driving, beardednomads who had drifted southward a few hundred yearso no mnnd Pin lnd bynd th ilnd.

Wihout even a word for the Great Green of the sea, as Iwas told On my honor, you'd be pressed to name thingsof the good settle life tht e h ot tuht the. Noone in Crete woud dey that our ancestors' rtisans hadheled t build great huses u north for these Achains'leading familes; just s we'd helped Pelasians (first

born f the lnd) an others up there to build roads,ran marses, weve ct, cer, teer u rigus their trade or an esement to metals in their ground

But nce hese nderers h really beu t frciblydisplace, rather than settle for mxing blood with, Pelsgian clans u northburning teir great multicolored

House of Lerna by te sea, or exme, n recng twith fortified Tirns, turning villages into cerced dependencieswel, what could e do, get int lr uthere? ur stet ws the ps crewed b our oumen n women, an in the unity o or huses tht wswy you coud a ut wak r into any of Crees roya

precincts and seaside towns Nor had it helped for long toer elasins assistnce in settin ne ans a utposs for trade fr, s grndother spun us the sto, inme e scen o e sea (whch s wealth ws Acannoses, and in a few generations they'd learned to spellret reen, an to sa it too now, snce our as

dstress beneat Veknos and the previing norherliesftr it lcd with sh, Achaans had bee boldly trailnr ercss eeee, uercu e


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ARINE'S BROTHER 27

liances for a season's gain, carring themselves like something a bit more than our equals: in our halls there wereeven reports now and then of raids carried out againsttowns o the islands and the east by their kinsmen. Young

fools and bored barons looking or that brainless statusbon of thi good-old-wning-y

This boiled my blood as much as it did my brothers,and the promise of his posture was just what many hadcoe a disance to see again toay, especially in he wakeof his actions on the sea. I looked around besie Glaucusand knew that, while some Cretans wished the Minotau

ros an even Greater Year, others who knew Egpt and

parts o nd th orth protestd hat little gooda ce o man nse anace ese. News,like the fact that the new Pharaoh was chiseling his mother's carouce o their monuments, travele fas; an we

had Libyan and Canaanite refugees whod swear to it living here besides, in ight from the glor of his ame.

Ol ratus and the cler like him said that what itmnt o m t ll hgig d ot or th

beer: I unerstoo thei solicitude in Glaucus hautinm latly, as e wa plaily a llo a strong prinsou earn om. He soo any taer an most men

on this beach, had the nipped waist and powerful thighs

that so pleased our painters, and a cordial presence thatbelie a fiece son of home: he also had ray eyes, anman knew his can (rom our eastern town rasos) asone o t est o tese gakoth wom Crete a evermixed her lood. e was like a sin of a possible future, a son o tat group o vsngeer Acaans aso

wit us thi moning who hd pld thmslvs n nkbehind my aters Kouretes, talish men wt eards andhair e color of dr segrass, or kerm-oak red. hey all


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28 JOHN DEMPSEY

wore their usual long chest-andthigh-covering tunicswth stitched-in symbols of mainland lords across thebreast, solar signs, ions and white bulls and horses rampant: we'd grown up much in the presence of suc menwith their coming and going under tutelage agreements.

d I houd i if I id th w lo lo b

tween them and Palesus; but Glaucus was a reminderthat sometime, like hi own ancestors rom Aeois in thenorth, such mn did assimilate in Crete and found goodhouses. We were an ancient but decidedly mongrel racehere, and even my father' blood (I mean, te told ehe was my ather) had come from the noth round the

same time as Glaucus', and been adopted by Mother Europa, as our sang was.

Now ou can ee better how or Grea Year ae tobe, a consummation of an age of cange and presure o

change, a hopefully-better balance of The Powers thatturned the world I just hoped my brother won't oer

d it ad pil my eig by ig ti wau tustfrom our clans: in essence he wanted more ships, andmore people to crew them, and to our mothers that wasp oo Aaan a response. Aer al, by heir ownproession Achaian gods (erona engs n the s!)made nothing grow, did no work, fostered no construc

tve sks an, o a tat, tye themees lords ofwomen even we wih the mos to gain saw he ophearik here. I waned o keep Palesu' plans from main

me an e t eentmentand hu ee everbodystood, to see ow certan lines would be drawn

Look a hem bunched up on Minos' side of te crcent like that, standin there studn, one suposed,

wt arm oe or nger to ter beards Rufous skulls,ie a un gong own som rea ner eenn o


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ARINE'S BROTHER 29

of them smelled like goat's butter and affected rough disain fo the pleasues o be an bath an clean lnen;wouldn't think of paintng their eyes, and not a ew Ce

tan youth were faing n wth them. Very ell, I admt wehad lttle poof yet that the house mt e ectl n

vlve n these ras. People afra to walk ther own

beahes. Circumstantial stuff and biased merchants, asMno warned my bothe. But Ill tell you why he and I

were mad in our ways aganst them: because they were solost in ther own lies that they thought we could not dscern their real opinion of our father. I wont mince aboutit. They mos of them held the inotauros a kind of

gand foo for his so-called submission to our Queen,whch showed rght off what tey understood of u Heoleaed the as n which aiphae houh it best oinstruct the, and as she elevated them, they mockedhim in ther sous. hey no-end admired how the web ofhis rade (his trade) had worked so moothly time out of

mnd, but would never say aloud how hs Oering was,fo em, a relc of a reamwol, a chlsh sort of darkmagc game imposed by omen It was in their looks andsmall remarks everyplace they went here, tight, cautious,critical, as if the cow of their mothersmik had beenstaled in a countnghouse. Game! How could anybodynot feel appalled to sckness and fea t te ay a feldlooked ate haesters had ravaged it, by Necessit? Andcoud the act of healing that, for the peope's sake, tel aan Wo Steppe Fowa antng t te ort ohis own fe eope came o our ries o learn rom myparents how to de and how to lve an we had no morehonored part of ourselves that we coud gve back to heoes, to Cetes fa el n feal ae

or those of Parias conserative circles you did not


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30 JOHN DEMPSEY

meet Velkanos' disaster with rsk of another: they'd opposd the Great Year from the start of Paria's own reign,wich brought them inuence. And these signs of restless

unappeasement came as no surpris to her now, for so

much time without The Offering. To make herself plain

r till-h w bit of bowbt d vv

among some women the hanging of corn dollies from thefruit trees of Cnossos and elsewhere, chastening symbols

of a legend almos noody belied anymore, that therst One Wo Stepped Forar ad been a woman

But Paria and her councils had consented to the

change becaus it was in line, at least, with the uning

changes among our grat houses and their assimilativepast most a agree on te need to kep men pacified

in light of the foreign news, too. Now, though, for many,

enough was enough I could remember playing undrfootwit broter an siste in te dust and spirally woosha

ings as mother had redesigned our whole throne room for

gander effects, adding also a substantial pillared shrinein the west wing to Achaian Poseidon. Yet asiphae's ef

forts to make the norths isitin elders and studentsmore at home, by bringin in their blueblooded god, had

put conserat clr less than at ease in thir ownHou. Mayb a rouh toh ad a od h

men at te oars, but the Labyrinths sisters and brothersdid not njoy concalng their opinion of a dit whoserest ad new money, could chang him from mou-

anr to salor acording to tadwns

Nobody blamed my mothr for hr ffort to p th

clealy dwindling espect of the mainland houses. W allmeant to help with Ariadne's and Palesus' comin bur

densfind out what was souring in our Egyptian and

Eastrn alliancs, sol radtrrtorial probl in


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ARINE'S BROTER 31

Rhodes and Sicily, keep bringing our fields and eet backo healh. I had a du coming soon in all his ha Glau

cus could advise on, oo: I'd e him to walk me to he

city. But wy sould I brak myself to Palsus' intentions,

especially knowing what he new man's respec migh

m wh ou h ws o lo s l?

-I must say he does look fierce and splendid as thyug Bu su b t D, uus wispd

now, s peopl squined ino the sa's rising ligt to spott ot Evry it t n ou wo sipp

those scribes home, eh

didn't ask his sources, but he ravels of that nws

tol me things. laucus meant my brother's first realsowngfort of imslf ast utumn, when he'd foundtt sv in stunts of our ipers a susttuted nicames for Cetans on House lists of personnl.Dngus an Barn Ow, Backea, an Earhling-had't ralized hat his lst ws an Achaian pejorative

-nd wha do you call a man who is more than a mecnt and ess tan a raider asked him wih one of

Plesus' jibs for th Bight Hais. But w had no word t sw; w uus ok t as i tochasten, I shed wth a nger. Come on, Arine!Thoug I wasn't sur ow ven she could hlp Sh had

dance Bull jus as ravely an willy as her brohers inthe indispensable rite tha guarded Crets thronebut

she had no fough on he sea. Ou here, here were no

s; and somehow I had le aner become he answer ot n y ons

aucus touc m tn, ta is arm aong mywais and leaned in with his lan grac, a good stylishos o h l uh h s s

well, who urned wonderl colos when Cetan m dd


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32 JOHN DEMPSEY

such things. Yes, look at Palesus and father, the one withhis lovelock forard over the shoulder and the other

dressed down like myself for his benefit today, letting the

heir wear the emblematic leather codpiece oer is kilt,get people used to the new king's person over time The

rm flt ood rond m; nd oddl, just now th whol

Achaian assembly raised their fisted right hands to theirbreasts in Minotauros' honor, a gesture that drew manynods from the people around us. Must've been the lihtthat was just beginning to shift its shapes and ash on theried sea, warming bodies and moods and the colors ofour gatherin, the heas of the doble-axes: a mornin

breeze was astir now too and curled about our feet, lie asunwarme snae. Pasiphae hane the coch to Palesus,an as he bellowe throuh it thriceiade ha betteet i before the srf woe uMother led the crowd tolift its palms out towar the sea It was pleasue to seeand feel so man hands lift that wa in unison and to see

the muscles of her bac still so defined and symmetrical,like runes recalling festial nights when you saw what apowerful ancer she was. Some bol fellow in the crowd,

a friend of Palesus' from his Bulldancing team now calledout the title my brother had earnedL for us, Ms-tos Kouros! (Greatest o Youths!)and he oblige the

man indeed, deigning to smile with a bit o a struttingce- ste an his ams ot hih, then trnin to waitAiadne again with a bristling energy. And the whole baybefore him ws s blue s th bas of cndls a an

alon the shore the tees wee litin an thee wee

w of boom-colo clibing th gn hill inland,

white sea dafoil and ellow anthemis, and those garishpurpleyellow ice daisies and seasquills with tall whitete ou co wae upwar nto slopes o them an


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ARINE'S BROTHER 33

pick yourself armfuls of anemone and asphodel and copoppy bright as blood, and on the way down home leave afew bunches scattered before the brooding pillars withinthe cave up there on the hill, by Amnisos' seaside altars;

or if the high air took you you could just keep climbing,

clear o e snowline of our mounains east and west o

here, whose thick white dris were tinted luminous-pinkwith the dawn and looked to be hovering in the s, ikeods you new you coud wak o f ou woud. he day

was awss nd everyting seemed to course with a deepgente strengt, ie Bull at our altar this morning: apriest would predict such a day for the month that oined

Willow Moon with Sun in the House of the Bull. Soo,oo te sea was saying

Some of the lifted hands were pointing no and others caught on o those: ou knw ny moment the women woud let loose that hgh tr ie a seabrd's theloved to uuate together, the O-o-o and Ooooo

whih hir mothers beore them hd sng for the prsence o Te iea, Te Very Maiest One. nd justat this instat when the shape of the crowd seemed set

ted and its outc near, another large ow of peopleemerged from te head of mnisos Road behind us and

walked down beach in scatterng bunches o join in itwas anoter procession, organized by one o our upandhoss at Archanschdrn wearng and hodig oers and riding the backs of horses seven hands high (teyraised the bgger reeds on t mainand), thes d

ao b pas of rchanes priests and piestesses inher sal r idnial fengt robes, ct owarod the shoders A pretty company in Ariadnesoo a a ovr tm and n their eyes the gow

of te dawn tey wakd tor, nd tr now cm


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34 JOHN DEMPSEY

grandmother's carryng-chair, no less, with the yellowawnings tied back and her small gray head leanng outtoward Tukato. He was Archanes' tall factotum andleading priest and even from ere his airless sensitiveface looke to be at prayer that Paria close her enlessonfrnin whil hh: slihtst liftin nd turnin

o heads now, a palpable shiftng in the boes as n abank of owers, a silent consent to jon together andsee understandings or the pain These priests and sstrs you s an t clrn of any racs nArchans' charge, occupe te same place n people'ssentments here as te mountains and secret valleys

above us, the matrix of our race these were ildrenorn o Communon urng our estvas worspthrough the year, when all distinctions o class and gender and race dissolved in the heat of the worship of life.n everyboy knew that tese clren were te ongoing story by whic our own esh had come to be; nd so

t was onor fro close to t eart of our magc tattey' take ts trouble to come own My parentslood rant, grnmothr magpecpper esptehr vey ba joints n th ornng ukato must'v a

hem a sng the geat ady ot rom her va's courtyardof lemon tees, were te corn olles angle Te

horss and lttle ones padde and soft-clopped aroundParia's set-down char the quet of the children's grinsute mpressve for the energy rising off the sea, te

brght tngs o rtua an te utes an sysrums manyheld

- Ohlololo! - Ohlolololo...

Was a ousan lfte pams an voces onng tatfrst cry? Sudenly t lan ws louer tn te waknngsurf befor us as Glaucus showed m the glint of gold off


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ARINE'S BROTHER 35

Ariadne's boat-prow, and we rocked together on our feetwhile the Kouretes drummed their shields in triple-timewith ritual swords and received drummed answers fromhousehold instruments in the crowd. Women an daughters and little ones (laughing) kept up the ululations wave

ate overlppin wav mn rttld systrums and

stamped their feet, whisting: dogs began to run aboutbarking again as youths blew squalls on wooden pipes,old people claped or just enjoyed it all and the shoreline's tamarisks seemed to cast their birds aloft. It was afine contaious cacahony and, as we now made out hethree persons and the green of a sma tree aboar he

boat out there, it got even wilder: brother and father eacha ter ar e out towar ter resective Queens,our Achaian guests looked amost bright with a magnanimous envy and the Archanes chilren waved their peonies and turbanbuttercus ike sceter. Near the backof the company I caught sight of that lovely Phaedra, a

yout o Archanes most arent in Ariane's serice, butthe boy Icarus, my boy you might say, born of my wound,

a not ith tem toay I'd have to peak with Tukato tosee if the little daemon was any more socia a all and howoe treaent ecocion o valerian ere helinh . Ad ere en our otr urnn a fe trong

teps herself amid the priestesses' grove of lifted Labryses, clawing at the air, provoking everyone

Oh-lo-lo-lo-lo! Ohlo-lolo...

s I gla on s Gs ho getting rid of my coak would be in taste today. He ave mehe owl's eye don't dilute your brother's potences

e, a, wen a man come of age he utwants eole to see he need not obey the women ostrictly anymore


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36 JOHN DEMPSEY

-Especially the girls! he agreedOh-lo-lolo...Now you could see the gilded ull's hons on the

boat's small wooden figurehead and the ashes of the wet

paddles worked by Cleite and Diamat, nd how erectlyAian sat in its ste with th t in its silpintd

planteox beside her: her and our brother's older riendsamong the youth were chanting Aela! and MestosKouros! clear over eveybody else. How it lit my pridethat they embodied titles only Bull cold bestow, and

now these yoths' own elders joined in with phrases fromearlier spring ites

Leap, eap at te ead of ty daemons,Kourqs of al that wet an gleaminand al mankn be hel about wealthlovn Peace!

n lep or us ao,or ll jars an ee oc,an leap or el o tan or hves to bn ncrease...

Our fathe's eyes shone darkly like rich stones set beneat the gold of his iadem, as he savoed these avoite

aspirations of his and the upoa made of them: Palesuswas still holding ack his est But when Minos joined thevoces and poned a Palesus while calling ot those

prases ep r our es, n ep or our seaoeshps, an leap for our youngctizens!-ell, o sPasphaes son or calculation On the instant he took

hmsel some real spce ihin th bloodirl nd the

Koretes seemed o know what to o: they trooped out ina ile etwen Palesus and the incoming boat with ival


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ARINE'S BROTHER 37

rous javelins and shields raised against him, and whenhe'd stripped a gold ring from his left hand and displayed

it, laing (like others) with minor custom, e hurled i ina confirming gesture of berohal over their ducking

heads into the sea, and the ro of em el over at

backards at the force of it, groaning. The ring splashed

jus shy of Ariadne's boat and the Archanes little onessquealed But then-even Glaucus shook his head a

itwh did Palesus mar things as he did? Striding backto his place triumphant, kilt and codpiece showing hemuscled tops of his thighs he simpl had to shake out hismane of black locks and spread his arms toward he

Acaian elders with a Byyourleave, unnecessar esture, a toofine obeisance o all fathers of a sort Manysmiles; ut no lauhter, as our guests reurned im a fisttobreast salute.

Meantime the priestesses rowing had egun to helptheir bull negotiate the ustrisin inshore surf: it seemed

to me hat our gaze reurned now to hat was needed.

n more, as I saw m sister ou tere oa, sitting asgraceful as a young palm, left hand lifted to less and theother holding stead the spiralle planter at her side, akind of hollow or eep drop I'd never felt before was sim

ly there within my chest, as sudden as a sails belly emptied of he wind My ody rejoiced with all he others under the morning sun, she was no longer our siser or an

oun woman bu The Aidela-e hw larger andsrkng er frank brown eyes today, eore a e crazcrow! Wed een raised to know ourselves in the ight of

the Image of Power we called Goddess, yet somehow oda al ormal hings were fused i a fire wit my sisterand my friend, and he udding woman I kw, and I

sere, as earng er ne oce eang cans w


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38 JOHN DEMPSEY

a cave. Cleite and Diamat had dressed her with just theright deference to mother: so organdy kohl round those

eyes, a at white cap eeping her blac tresses up o her

nec, an organdy kilt ct as high on the ip as or broth

er's and chased with silver running spirals. A light tangle

f lse ars a e bac f er elcae nec-y

srengt seeed near o a ind of swoon. don't ow plled free f Glacus and shved wn a ac.

How her strong pliant posture too the wellbred nos

sa woman's bearing to ts almost swabaced limit; te

strength o her chin and her arms besides, a dancer lie

moter an as resolte wit the stunningmace; the same

faint smile at la behind the ttle, love of her iends andteir uproar; and someting perhaps The Grove Of The

rees ad gven er only now, a new grav, as f te l

der sisters had shown her a sadness to be mastered, a bullt e met ea, a tamed t te pe te te.

There were tears on my chees because for me she cen

tered the beauty o te world and a sorrow I hated was

worming ts wa int my heart-What lss? Wuld she

not alwas be near? In her I saw what I could not yet bear

to lve myself, a raance rn of acceptng-Ever

thing-! ad to gt goig or trd b touble wit

mher b I lnged lie a lve t hea ateve se

mgt ave t sa an Iwsed we wee oung and ote

sponsib enoh again o play arond a little in bed aswe had a time or two, it was all cofused, and i that hol-

low pace was nowing ow much her accessio mightwell tae me

leite and iamat ad stopped paddling t fel outte nshore waves, and sddeny the reeze and waer

turne te boat boadse to te crowd, and wt te rs

ing tide's small aves relentless ehind tem tey started


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ARINE'S BROTHER 39

to sidle toward the sand. It could've happened to anybody, let alone tat ou two eldest piestesses had to be

tired oarsmen, and some people smiled as if hoping this

struggle deliberate; but with a few moe waves they could

well spill completely on the shingle and my bones seemed

o lp o sls o r sh o. I d

leaped once before to save that boy and Palesus and father seemed caught up in Afte-You glances, while the

clerg held off in aious respect. I dropped my cloak andin a moment had waded rib-deep out to the just to help

brin round the pow. What did Clete have on her face,was that a bead? But then I stoped myself om touch

ing the gunwales because, up close now, I saw the dozensof tny ceramic co dollies they had hanged alon the

boat's sides. I could not make yself touch anything be

cause I saw taces of what had to be moonblood steakedoer he furnes, any pes knew ha powe could kl,

and people wee watchin: I was close enouh to ead the

paintpattened sgnatues of etan clas dedcatonson the dollies daglg sts, toens of equests to uc

t fields ad los all thouh the eal and this wasnoting to tie o play eo ith. I felt I had done soth the eyes so hey upo y bac , as I fubledw o o ow, e er e eod e o

horions o or hllsNo! Ge bac! Thas al! Do ouch ha! old

Daat uetl sceeced o (ot fvote o te

sisters, so officious about the messages in public deeds).They bought the boat to, of couse, d I deonsated

how had t was to wade in gcelly ove ocks efoe somay, thoug thee wee some smiles and caps. Fathera ror odd o I s cr mother's as I assed r Laer, she sad tat one


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40 JOHN DEMPSEY

might well show all the proudesh one wished, but for therest, one just didn't do that. He, mother? No, Deucalion:panic.

Well, I went back dripping to Glaucus, who was nowanked by two of the leaner reliable harbor-hands, Cordx nd Pod, fo whom one could always h

scurier kins of foreign news: they'd let Glaucus knowthat his ship had been moved down-coast to Katsambasfor the day, our military port kept separate om mercant-aairs but not oo far west of ere. Tese friends

kinly clappe my back as the noise die down around us,people gazed on Ariadne or fist-to-brow gave praise with

eyes shut, a few dancing manically under the tamariskseie and Diamat were now liing the planter fom therawn-up oat, then set the small fig tree n it at the heaof the shingle with a space behind for The Aridela tostand Once she stepped from the boat her stance quitedeliberately seemed to rise from the planter and it would

not have been far om our truth to say that she was TheTe of The Trees, as winning as the little one before he

with its beneficent fivepointed leaves, its tiny greenomens of foo an meicine Young Woman I' knownony the beauy and disciplined ricness tat ad brougte tus far toward oce: the radical devotion, the callos cruely born of it, the dreamsall that was tomorow. iadne crossed the line of blood now, and lied er

palms out to the eole, ad er fae sone forh er r t; n ou oter steppe oarand laid her alms to her daughter's, welcoming, communing, completing the Circle

you say tey gave you things to ready for her atCnossos? Glaucus asked thinking of me, though he coulbe inrusive. Following sui e sevedore oe e me


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ARINE'S BROTHER 41

know that the boat I was trying to build with young Icaruswas coming along ve nicey, in his opinion. I hafsmiled

and ifted my hand to still this, and just then my mother's

hea bowe deeply, her body visibly sighed, and sheturned with remarkabe tears on her face to the people

-Their worldi passed away! s l-sg o

ken lament, speaking of The Dead, and more, of thesoonto-beso among the living in every heart, including

her own: she looked at Minos as he stood with chin lifted

a little too high, and then her upraised hands turned tofists in front of herself, she shook them, and beckoned

Paesus forard to his Queen. Glaucus had nodded with

an approving comprehension whos uness elue e,while a sow wave of disappointment seemed to rolthrough te crowd, nd ten its bckas showed in gestures of homage and surrender to One Who might yet

l s lesus took Aridne's hand, others took tighthold on hnds near tem. do not know how Ariadne

gave our mother those words but there they were and Iwondered what else would be done to hea the restess

unappeasement underneath these days our priests toldme later of the rest of the rites hed here this morning.

Traditional things, a ceremonial touching o the tree for

a who wished it, a pouring of wine between partneredcelbrants rising odess in ec otr, eling touc

es from cergy and Queens as th sick were caled orwar Canseoe o te countrsie wo brout

own animas and first-fruits caime those powerful do

is ltr, too had to go, but at least I'd seen my famiy's

own gestures of resove. Live, live! Maybe rites were one had with which to face the orace Ariadne hadbrougt ro D, d ou owr ws ust tt w

oduced the beer than others


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42 JOHN DEMPSEY

As Glaucus and I headed up mnisos Road we couldonly hear the sing which Archanes' children offere up,

and I was sorr to miss what I heard later of Cleite's wit

She'd dance-displayed herself in gailychosen tokens of

all our clans' totem ancestors, from the feather of Maat's

Egt to the goatskin bib of Pelasgian and Libyan dress:

wool for our Carian stock in the Eas, horns in her hairfor old Euopa's bul fom he ciies of Canaan, even a

horse's mane of teased-up straw to keep Tukato's and

Glaucus' northern forebears in the game. his was all to

help he clans renew hemselves as part o Ariadne's ver

esh, as if they themseles comprised her power, which

was true: most eole had best-liked the beard, worn inremembrance of Phaaoh's assed-away moher Hat

shepsut, Paria's contemporar who'd had to wear one to

hold their throne (if you can believe that) till her boy hadcome of age. As a bit of shocing common knowledge

h s m h ig h Queen sould eer let hings come to tha. Good! And

wh Clit had ackd away with all hese signs, there

again had stoo young Ariadne, new world, new race pre

sent in her womb

Well, I daresay nobody noticd Velkanos much bhind he today, laucus mused as we climed from the

shore. Oh who s hs boy o yours, Icarus?

* * *

The harbor town fell ehind us, and Glaucus, unan

swered, let himsel jus enjoy he wal awhile, ining ussoos o ans o cew us o crckes and watchng

h oos py weon an ww se v roa ahead We cested the shoe hills, passed the sunny


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ARINE'S BROTHER 43

outdoor altars anking the entrance to the little cavewhere mariners and mothers beseeched good fortune ofThe Powers: then we sloped down beeen small grovesof almond trees and olives, the land either side o us beginning to spread out pleasantly nto lowlying meaowso orgras.

straw and in these morning-quiet vales sood a few smallbrgt wosto houses wh gou an grape arors, fgtree and burgeoning unowers, mos of heir commonyards deserted for the rte at the shore right don to theloomrame unde the shadeee only some spaowswere whipping about as ye but we heard catle and goats

and shee within thee orders of lowand reen, and thene ass seemed o lo om beneat ale winecru The wa brght ue an you coud me cktilth an good water in the sun Ahead the land atteneout more to a richy green pan wh snoy mountnbeyond east and westward, with some youn aley sownhere and there an woode hilocks ie natural sentinelso Cnoopropr crc k un o there loomed the green and roc lanks of Mount Juk-as, a mie or two eyon e ea o te vaey of theLabyrinh eople had leared and arved that wholeidge i coul not have ooe more lie the prole of agant gazing at the s, stretched on his bier but deamingnew lie to come I aways thought that, though the land' but grown over and forgoen wa at peace, since hed given himsel to that which alwas wins Preesses d h wa h n' jutrg an

swer to he mage n the shape o Dia sle Dy wabigheningHope I'm home for the Midsummer bonres up

thee, Glaucus said These days, odds are I'll be


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44 JOHN DEMPSEY

abroad, but I'd like to celebrate your father's reign withhim. T he echoed now with arare sigh. -Excuse me, Prince Deucalion, but will you be

speaking any further this morning? I don't think you un

derstand et. I'm not sure who does.

-Undnd?

Oh, it's te secretive highborn priest today. Buttell me, Gaucus went on undaunted, whe you medi

tte or dance The Changes up on Juktas' forehead, and

groom yourself for your ather's honors nd powers and

serice, does t really you, the way Bull did when

yo danced Him, that your own displaceent as a man is

in store?All the clerg sa I'm young to know what my father

really feels, alowe. But r eample is te eart ofte office, the gret eart, te Steppig For s tt

-But whose world is passing now? sai Glaucus with a

downcutting gesture It's ours, Deucaion, ours and

me. The world is uch bigger than our Cretan ways,

however many cities and islands borrow our best in ever

thing. Forgve me, but it's not gong to e enough for you

to sow our life bac into tis andI mean, that mst be

one as always, Glaucus added to be herd b the living

forms around him, but we are n roue, and denyng it

is making it worse. Does it eer eem to you that that

mountainoffire Velkanos isnt' really aseep, et alone ow a priesess back m P

Vln s ly , s e wr, th, sr eboment or emanation f a te bad feeling around

these days, te things hurting us. Se ss tt f 'dpush back, rathr thn b so hgh and hosptabe n te

Name o oddess

-Wat ese do you and my rother tak about I aid.


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ARINE'S BROTHER 45

-Neither he, nor your parents or clergy said anyting,Glaucus answered.Which e Ariadne; and suddenl many things filled

that hoow in my chest, not east of which was a pride, agratitude hat she might hold me as someone who couldhlp i dys o om Hd ts sll sl n s

cretive months among the women before her throneworked more on myself than on anyone, making er theimage of our peope's health an my sou's growth? Alour ives we young men had been warned not to get in her

wa for anything, she'd grown up much away in themounains without any lmits, it was saidWha did she

wan of me, then? And now as we walked realized thefairly shapeless younger brother must've been to her

A moment later all this changed to a boyish same beside Glaucus' worldliness Goddess, the Mother of Lovewithin all things, and Earthbull, the molteneyed monsterbeneath the groundtese understandings had seen us

a trough childhood, calmed fears and made us familyto each other, bloodkin ad coons and srangers othe sea But The Powers which our great houses adessed and wred withthese were deeper than Goddess or Bul or any Form, and They did not care t allwheher you were kind, or got killed: Goddess was simplythe os ol nd sson o xss ho fel he wor ad i was his uerstanding (ad henere to ake use o ) tat a ven our ret milespower. Jue, rer, u e u usa plastcty lay behnd hese thngs and sw howobedi-ent sti was but at least nowI could sense how we wereal stuck soeow, wishing neither to harm nor put imitson od, nsn n o ossih ee su I ss n esus


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46 JOHN DEMPSEY

it was so. I looked up over the road at the greatness ofour land and at the mountain that made us men whocould Step Forard, and spoke her name in myheart-et there was still the old angry sick confusionthat made a brtch of te wound at m rib

I jut wnt to belong, Glucu, I id.

Belong to what? A ding thing that our silencewon't help? My friend, if I thought al things doomed I'dmake them shake with my heart's blood.

Glaucus was angy beyond his decorum and that mademe trust im, though we'd been taugt to beware techoices anyone offered us: I wante to be usefl, an tat

meant getting fullstrength again like field an eet, andthere was yet an hor's walk ahead. Meanwle too agoodlooking oung man jounced down te eastern hillside and crossed the road before us with a string of fishesshiny n te sun, taking te sortcut ome from teKairatos River with the ant's fresh breakfast. A ear or

to would find im at an oarsman's bench someplace andit woul be is life firt t anser fr Lbyrint olicie

Alrigt then, I told Glaucus, mabe the called thisproudesh at my rib but I was ashamed of what had hapnd on the sea and of wh it appened From AriadneI'd learned earlon that not everting mother did camefrom perfect wisdom Songs from boyhood in the Housea tol ow Crete was amire from Troy to Paros,from Gaes to Bablon for uttin the first of law on tesalans-ut was that what we don? ow manymoters of slain marines and oarsmen were really chok

n c when te eft offering t te Lbrint,and saw the Eytian gold and the Libyan ostrich eggsa Canaanite perfumed silks? I was ot my sisteronlya man, an felt tere was sometin wron wit me to


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ARINE'S BROTHER 47

have such thoughts at all. But what I'd seen-I could notbe the only one. And yes, tese wellborn pirates on our

tails all across the seacharts, curse them, at least raiders

made no pretense

Just tell me what happened, Glaucus said touching

my bk gin, mthing my trid

But before I could speak it the memory of battle madethe blood seem to drain om my arms and legs, and I felt

cold, felt far from the green and the eace al around and

the hafshaded road we were walking up valley: I was on

ly wearing a kilt, boots and shawl and we didn't go into

closequarters fighting with much else on you feel so vul

nerable and that makes you battlemad; and a living thingseems to drain om your marow

Weren't there some pleasantries first, Deucalion?

Yes like receiving my sword and dagger and sealstone

from my mother at the head of a crowd of royalkindred

initiates to manhood the tension in the House when it

was time to make first voyage, and nowing Palesus abeen out once already and would ep to command a sis

tership on patrol with us and my father's pompous pride

in is o sons and te tactlly plain small jar of bessed

and scented oi for my saior's skin that radne gave. d

my oow share of the crew's courage and devotion as

we'd rowed away from the and and seen even the moun

tains sink away into an endless roling sea that could swal

low an and all without a blink and when the nausea had

assed, beginning to lea, and oving te open een

ene e on e oter on tt e o te Talos, tt

ad seeme so arge in port. Singing calandanswer tnight beteen the shis hen there was no landfall, and

recognizing signs in the clouds of torm and dstant land

n srts o sur sarng te pre as passng sanmer


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48 JOHN DEMPSEY

chanters hailed the ships of Crete, and seeing truly how itwas our family that kept the tn and the copper owing

east and west, our clans that midwived ths brightness andwealth-loving Peace into the world, as our song sai

And on our sixth morning out (I was still counting inte of home) I woke u d u ee ss wee su

denly reefing sails and heaving ito spring's still-coolsouthwesterlies. We were out of landsigh up north somewhere beteen Patmos and Myconos, it was a blood andhoney sunrise and ou prows were lunging toward a singlegrayblack ower of smoke on the sea ahead Trouble;ad to rt I saw broter n the ec of te Lba

shp the Swif Queen, beating oar-stroke time with hissword on the air, while to starboard the Melanippe, a shipl of Tauran women-marines was starting to outpace sas their voices took up on of those batte-songs that

would curdl Bul's blood. However I'd swaggered ondeck for our ouse's expertise and far-ung connec

sese were w f our ercest aies, pusegetng t know the net inotauros i my brotherwell,

battle was about to prove how deep the bonds of bloodand shared atrol could run

-Twice lively now, ad out! Folo th shouted Perides, our mateal uncle and commander ofCrete's entire military War had never been the Minotauros oice but I was ga ater a entruste s sons tono less a fiure. Short even for a Cretan and built thickad quc, w narrow ar eyes aove a we-rmm

bear Perdes srode u an down he cene beplank giving sgnas to both sdes as we ook he ead slotour fifty oars beginning to outpace our sisterships

Whr's that felow Nyos wit th ong eyes? Shny upth mas, man, and count us thes carpsucrs!


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ARINE'S BROTHER 49

I was up on the high cured aerdeck beeen thebrail-lines with Keta the steersman, afraid, caressed by

winds that rumbled in my ears. Nyos called dow theirstrength: three raiders and a burning merchanter, we'd betoo ate, too much sea. But Peries cursed and the Talos'

osmn b s is sip ws old bu y n slee

beamed and its name was known in the islands, not leastfor its complement of crack Cetan marines, russet wirymen with boarstooth helmets and the small very manageable shiels and swods you neeed fo shipto-sip fighting. Their eyes and hands were ll of the experincedsoldier's tricks of death and as thei brothers at the oars

hulled us swily now toward battle they mosty just satamships in a doule-grove of planted avelins, payi

knify for their neres or reminding the younge ones of

points of what they called conversatio. To port the thrtyLyans (men and women) had sat o sing as one o

Nut, their warname for Goddess, putting all their back

arms into it while Paesus deferred to ther shamaness,who hu forard o their prow in appin zebra-skis,

hurn cursesanyway we mht be too late but I knew

tese raiders woud have no chance. You could fee thatall these people, schooled to imitate the Mother fightig

for Her ciren, woud take it to the death in the honorof it: I could not think yet that transporting commoditieswas the bottom of our being here at all. And I waved toPalesus on the Swi Queen, but he was tn back ismae ad hs hps were cocke a pre sace, elooke al as n lisie

We luged o, the oarsmen's discipline beauti tos, n soon yeow cker o e os was cear n

inous scu of the raiders as they gutted thewreck And then a dift of wack and bodies passe be


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50 JOHN DEMPSEY

tween us to starboard. Bobbing corpses of young islandmen. A woman, face-down, white arms splayed out of herpink shift, bloody graymatter poolin through red hair: know I saw one man with a huge bte gone from his side,the ragged white ribs

-Msml ame a deus urs r Tauri

ans. Mml and everybody answered heir holy anerFamous fighters now thse priestesss and their followers, in ridingbritches on the amber roads or on seaduty

werever hey leased their catain Alxina had made aoint of brain that they were the firs of us souhernpeoples to make war in defense of territory True or not,

they did seem never to have conciliated Arans (whosewanderings southward our Achaian friends had shared),and now that cry, they'd seen the womn, that curs

would chase you down if it too a Great Year saw evnruff old saty Perides shiver as he pulled off his purplesad sroe ubride my sid

Th fools! h said he ma h bodis hymust've tried to save the mere tithe of escort by a qucearlyseaso voyage with their goods, gotten cauht by

raers wt ungersarp wts and a it of luck. Now wecould even see them tossng meta talents and jars s theyooaded punder to he hold of their big cog n the cene: sury thy' ou us, , and wud fih it ouSeaulls shrieed on our sern, souls goading o o

vneance circlets of breze ran he sea befre usie seps o a iat as erdes grppe my souers

Ducaion, stn. e wat ts tvs av done?Your father told me no to engage so many with both hiscaves here, but can't let them o, these are clearl noragtags, they're old hands. S thr, how thy stow alt oo o ads cog and h plys thm off,


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ARINE'S BROTHER 51

promising surivors a better share? Well, you watch himfeed the othe ships to us.

-Miasma!

Hnnyeeah! Perides shivered at the cry. Treetims seals it. I could use a ittl nifey too, I declare. But

hy'll b windd on wih ill, w'll t hm u.

Now listn, wn we go in, I need you to kp well backher and help Keta ster us dead-on for cnter. Our sisrs will cu insid and isolat tm, se? Now ou plant sid in s acings an an on. Eas p o a

rows, Kta Good man Ho, Palesus! Tak th necklace

off, you pacock!

I can fight! I stamered to his bac, quite out of slf wit fa.

You'll tak ordrs first! Wapons! Your voics now,my brohers!

I was a jok of ow fon o au ol

Perides was: I coud also feel his perfct right o kill me if

I got in the wa now, so I helped brace Ka's bi manshapd shield too. But my whole body was paling a th

ratl-sounds of strapped-on hlmets, he clinks ofweapons and the sick sliding o swords from sheahs If I

livd we wee serng he law then the orror would ny ay on an ' ami o susain m

in th next wod if it happened, but y body fet pal, was no riendly crowd waching you play Bull outher, no rules: perhaps the pale and the cold mant Idson k os s vtm o i I'd n, wih

oozing wounds, masted with spers, it was eath's vionc I ear an ising age o hese proessionas

o an a a soi nsaon I

buted, and Keta put his hands ovr min on th tiller,

but his eyes never left Perides at he bow. We cosed, and


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52 JOHN DEMPSEY

the raiders' oarsmen were catching a kinds of crabs (asthey said) trying to keep the burning wreck between Tland themselves. But the wreck was sinking anyway and astheir loaded cog drew back te other two ships huddedNo-you-don't nearer to it. We sipped into ragged smoke,smll of pin-hr nd oth nd op, and n h

togues Perides shouted or rndr. They answed ina ind of horse-rhythmed cuse, as if Poseidon was theirgod-in-common: a abbe of murderers and graverobber,Hittite deseters eng Pharaoh, as we'd ind) and catte-thieves, some who aready had the brad of Labrys, ob-x a ito t t shouder, showing

they'd been caght one at this an had ad tir mercypoo om Aay or. aan womn answered ouest with shrieks and whistes and stampng, asou ik a mare eaing up to cush your skul nd hraide bga to bunh up umsiy on thr dk. Saowacs bhin a kinds o pikd-p hid, om in the

ahr-csd hmts o sain Carian eguars out oou East aianes, with ured reaping-hook swordso axs o nies oy arces beind them their armsaone expained many a ship posted missin. We thuddedpast the wreck

t sap o bowstrings Kta jrk m down, thit oy intendd o a m, aid, ad aarrows stuck ou shieds looke back a wlowmerhaner an saw a baa bo tou te bro

ken smoke. t was carus u on e lngstenperaps ten, hs aw working spasticay but nosondand with terror's eyes he'd cimed aove the a a a I aw aow y d d hi A a o a Iod y ah' ie in age us as Perides howd


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ANE'S BROTHER 53

the boarding-order; and we stood together and hauledot the trn to come alongside the cog, and oars were

sipped and we collided

Ad the sick choppng clatter an clang of weapons

broe ot as they all fel to it. The first deaths were

be ies' ' lepe ig es'

raised javelins, to pull them awry and embolden the others: tese were dmped aside ailing like uman fis and

a chaos of cries went up, screams and goads over thds o

blades on oxhide, axes cracking helmets, snapping shafts:

the Taurian women livid with rage with wrapped hair and

breasts jst leaped over their rails and hacked their way

aboard the starboard enemy. The pared ships started tort an looke to port or Palesus t saw only ssel n e wall e Lans rme er peyin one movement: the marines before me shoved and

haced orrd and or deck all but emptied except or

ow osm, d the y th yoth Nyos oss

to benches with an arrow in his le ee. Keta beside mespit, and wiped his eyes wit it and clawed my shoulder.Bt raiders had begn to go down on three roaring clat

tering sides, ard elles spllng meat, ace splt lke oysters, impaed on avelins they dropped al loose into the

sea. Men o looke so mch alike wrestln mdl overe ences, grapplng wt oarsmen for sometng to t

with, a stabbed somebody dobled up in the holdtheywere being crowded back to their ar rails so the arrows

t up I isd oo t s th by sti phd e spg se, ps e e e g s

peaing: that vicous clack! rale nng! o casng baestat kept ending in sceas, in tes es, ille eai bt some raiders with open wounds from their first

gt were spent, and te Tarians ad all thers bcked


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54 JOHN DEMPSEY

up into their stern. The men against them seemed only tobe warding o the sythe-strokes and some at the rear

dove into the sea and never suraced. To port it was desperate now too and some barechested raiders gamble

on a leapadthrow move just to get a blade past the

ess of Lby shels; he h ol es

scuttling or what had dropped, they were being cutdown. And om the butchery ext to Talos I began tohear marines' voices calling on Rhea Dictnna, a ameor Goddess as Judge: t tht the raider catin (in Crian crest) ormed up his last deenses and then black irepots, weaons o pure spite sailed over the ury onto our

deck, they burst nd Ket shoved me at and went downbridge or a skin to help smother the ames. Marines andoarsmen jumped to help and I rose but they shouted StayPut and Peries' orders were ull o rage

Well what cn I do! I yelled and then saw Ket

take a jvelin through the neck. It burst out under his

locks in back and he died kcktwitchig in the hold.couldn't beleve it1 waveredhgs were bobbngo the bloody water al around our ships. A little eet o

them led to the aurians and now I saw the last raider's

hea op oose rom a ste two sstrs ong ac sbroke ars. The he slshe d bobbe les red. The priestess iona stood up and howled, her stouttwny chest draped with her own blood rom neck

wound and the were inished mancorses bein kickedover the sides whie their own crouce over e eaand the bleedig, tistg touriquets ad waling dswining their hair dw loose ove stilled ces Yes,ers o rie to come or these ew moments nd I unerstoo wen some o them leaed nd swam aroundbhid the cog to grab at heels o the stillighting raiders


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ARINE'S BROTHER 55

paired with us: this, although more than once oatingbodies moved a ways across the surface of themselves,ounere, stopped-sharks' work, an oarsman said later. And now the Libyans had prisoners in a inching circle over there and I found my breath as I saw Palesustdin vr h hildih orp o H wh r

toed boots. Then I lost sight of him as the Libyans rushedfor their benches and turned the Swift Queen with its captive back toward Talos. I felt for the tiller-where Keta'shads had smoothed theI wanted to impale theseis, h way th did maai lios i the Eas

Bu a ull ame from the mercha behid a t

sea's last rush drew the fire in across the entire dec Aam ball up, an carus isappeared, unmong,don with the stern. They'd fight to the last aboard thcog with so much boot to feed their spite, these sons ofPoseido, so I breathed, and jumped, and with hatred to

wam my bones I iced deep for over throuh the sa,

wintercold below the queer cer, strainng to see heship or the boy through blue haze. elow where all

warmth an liht faild a ray shape emerged and shotoff oward the ships' canks and splashes a shark, but he

wa one almost before I could fear odies were suspdd down here oo, arms up lie drowsy heralds of

e Nigh MaeI needed to beate, gulped air amid wac ad fi

an ov agai, straight down this time, forcing myselfeeper w s as cane, orcng se agans ear ha waes in the se's upweli ress y easur and it was so old that I ould not follow tes ass

es of bubbls muh farth; bu then the blac an of wa u a, a ow ad dow i adream ito oblivio and there was the boy, giving up is


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56 JOHN DEMPSY

last breath yet clinging to the arrowstudded stern. Wh? Igrabbed his wafted-up hair because my lungs were brstin and he was chkin nw but he let the ship o: an instant later his clutch was hurting me bt he managed tokc upward and we broke thrgh the halfburning srface I had hm, I had him! He vomitd watr a lk

at e wild ike a bast at altar witht its cnsent anmre I can rer a bad intimatin ut f that btthen the rll of the sea bore sme f the fired is rihtoer s, we dove aain and the messae was frtten inaazement and happiness and xpctatin of honr. Wecrawled just nder the srface tward the rin hs

Bt then I cldn't b sre where to come p, the boatswere tunng, nse, so ruse us or the largest oneand we re watr nar its tiler Mit Th la eistance was ding on the c's afterdeck and ne f t

with a jaelin saw us undering, just in range cl! hart cried, and his blazin ees

si, an h threwThe bo's weight felt like a shield to lift bt he

screamed and I froe there was not even time to ickbacar and the javelin arced out and perced the wateran stck n m ft i, crackin downward aainst mbtt-left rib The pan crmped me in the water and I

heaved n te saft nt in a then it hurt oc cd n lner ove m les, and I san

rght Glacu? I said toppin short at the fot fa wooded ris. -Tha' h e h ea safe for

prts Answer that t the queens u must meet overseas,w t tir Crtan rtectrs st ttin laN dbt n f them riees ta fr Icarus' oterand Kta' a an w ee

rke and atr an srrw erhelme


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ARINE'S BROTHER 57

and I put my palms to the Earth that She might take thispoison from me. Oh, and had I not passively pretended tobe proud of the whole thing later, brothe holding myhand as they'd borne me home? Saying nothing to theeyes along the road seeking out their own kin, Palesusan Behold the boy our bhr's wund gav if

-Poor oy! cried in paroxsms, jeking free ofGlaucus' touch, I couldn't believe the heat of the bloodnse m skull

-Come up here to ths rssy sot off the roa, ust amoment, Glaucus beckoned. -That's it. They healedyour ri well enouh, but you'd better let the rest of this

bleed ome more. You mst finish, Deucalon. Becausetngs are even worse than you might suppose

Worse He ouln't say, et, but had me la m hean his lap as e rested in thick shady moss, facing a short

vie of he e's beeth the clmbn sun. Oh thad felt good to let this out nto plain siht even to my

self, an remembered my mother once mentionin ho,in her work with nobles of northern houses, they' almostnee alk wh he ab n nde them. dng t,their souls wounded too somehow, shame under blusteror codness or manners. All of us, festering, like mountsffe: s' es u sss ee f te tbehind your oudesh

Wel, reembered comin to ao sh esus'lap lik hi and thinkin th jvelin had been ked acrosse, f the pain across mywoe ower ces I puse athe uian oman holdn a oultce har aainst theslit the all uessed that he anle an the chippe bone e te erence, an my rother kissed me anstaed right with me and washed me, it wa the it tmeI'd seen his teas ince hi own thrtenth year and he


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58 JOHN DEMPSEY

wore this very unbecoming broken smile as Peridesbrought over Icarus safe and sound. The boy mae no

thanks-gestures or words, just stared, witches in his fea

tres

But of course our crew an uties wee waiting, there

udd nd blod nd oh vh Mo

of or peple died before midday and you cold hear thesls pssig i is fm hi gs. W'd hv id

m at sa no this tim, Palss wantd the people

at home to really see this: he was se any failies' resnments wold d p fedig him sppor w h

came to demand higher eet appropriations, the way

parnt works harde in the village fields for losing the bayadh ws sccssl

I cn a cld siss, Dcali.Cold? Th d y cll i h w ing

only twelve of tnt pisones? Palss mad thm all

swi o ad ak at s lf of hos civilians n

own people back from the sarks. Or crcks with eafriends and loves, well, some of them turned away with ashame b Palss cam clos o lettig he othrs maketargets of he captred. To jst stand there while some isi picsnd ll h ay hom he was

hoppig ship to ship, as if te contingen wee his little isll. N pc, cs fm w i cases li this hlf h copp or a spils will sared b clans of our wn de, d the reminrlvd btwn h Lbyrinth and th prima victims'hoses, if nyone shows to idni. I don't kow I was

e lsphemous he had the raiers' ships in ow

and each of them tied to a talent so tey cold fondlewht they' mrdered for, as pt i. Thn h psoal

ly ore ir olds apr and fod so rps


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ARINE'S BROTHER 59

painted with that stiff clumsy bird you can hardly tell is aneagle, ad others with marching soldiers on them, thatstyle they call an artistic advance up north. Showed theseall around as f he had Achaia dead-to-rights trying to

destabilize the whole web of our trade. And Hold that! heshouts because our people were throwing raider-weapons

over he sides Were's that Hittite's knife e says. The second one I kiled, he had a blade made of A-ya.

Iron? Tht stuf wll tr ythg, eve roe,

Deucalion Yor broher was ame, for how his ki hadbeen hurt

But he kept it, I said. You know it's forbidden to

keep battle trophies like that. Eve Peries objected, it'sd mgc. n Pess says, Do you see that blueblooebird on the pots? Do you know what that implies? My moth

er herse wi cleanse this knife, a then we're going to clip

ome wi with it! The time was right: he got three ships'

worth of cheers. And she dd cleanse it for him, Glaucus.

He had the tase not to wear it at the shore this mornig,but I'm sure he'll be showing it around when he goesnh hs n. M moth s sndng m bcaus ourPelasgian cousns near a place called Athens say that thesilver mines that we opened there long ago are in some o jeopry I i' er the rest ut, yo see, he'll

be up there to demonstrate their continuing connectionswith s. d between his spirits and this iron knifeitcan all et out of control

n ws ustc don th rdrs Gcs asked,tyg to stey thgs

Depending on whom you ask. We didn capure anyrepea oeers or e e, e mesarent skewed enouh, some o e ther twelve vised

their Poseidon in tha west wng shine my mother addd,


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60 JOHN DEMPSEY

to thankhim for he mer of just a branding. I will havethat so-called god ou of here, when my day comes.

I had never spoke his last before but some part of me

was lad for it: as we go u, composed ourselves and descended the hillock to the road agai, a memor seemed

o r , o so I s bod a leas had

not donesaying Yes, in the oldest days this was how weleaed to play with the gods, for reasons: Dare, dare to live

these things you feel. Ad I elt lighter and sroner andplsatly arier ow, even excited o recall o had

kep Glaucus comin after me; and to try o sho morepoise I oandedly asked what he'd mean by even woe

as e rod bee rus o aons alo he road. Beforee answered, houh, Glaucus remarked he saller rutsad hoorints of a chariot's passage at our fee: ogeher

we mused how, in general, only old oicers like Peries

had he oleraion of our horse-priess o ride such athing. On he mainand wih heir bigerbred horses,

such a contraption mean staus: here it was bu convenience, to speed older leaders oward Kasambas if needb

Whih is what they said at firs overses, oo, h

ended Well, Deucalion, I undersand hat you sit i on

al he councils you can, so Im sure youve heard thecomplains aainst tha pey kin Kokalos in Sicily, ing to squeeze us now for passage of our own shipmensof in from he Balearics If know or bo

o o o c lor Frs, of ourse, hell hae odeal with complains om Trianda in Roes, about he

Achaian setlers hoing in close o our stion rTh e ve case o upsar priess of ha mouseorace polo tryin to ake over half he year's ries u

north at Delphi, which would make me laugh except hat


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ARINE'S BROTHER 61

they've got Achaian priestesses to shill right along andhelp the conservative local folk accept the change. I

know, this is old news, but the point is, why take over a

major oracle unless you've got bigger things comng

whch later yo'll want to justi throuh its ood name?

Why i thi nw Phoh, mnd yo t on wo' n

his mother's ve aftelife, why is he trying to deal directwith Achaia now and cut out the middleman, ourselves?

As if we don't know this. It's hardly that Achaian shipping

is ore ependable! No it's for somethng i here they

want to change, evehere they cn, Glucs sd tap

ping his temple, and suddenly his color darkened

-Do you realize that today in the holy cit of the Httites they'll chop your head off or quetioning Hisrac? That Pharaoh can cut the nipples off a disrespect

l concubine? No wonder they hate him in haros and

the Delta towns I thoght it was all prett stores mymother told me of how our ancestors left the Delta

when that Menesking started hammering people intoslavearmies. Now I lsten better. ay I sy that I e yoo wt yo n yo h.

-Youre a ngy as I am, or was, I s

es, because I don't know what to do, wht to gest except that you back your brother up, and not despi

cably submit to what's going on everwhere. Listen, you

can either dea with your guilt abot power or get readto lose it, m riend I m loalt to the House makes me

nknd, w, yo ndnd.y. Eno yon ond, nt mht

greedy to exploit instabilities, foreign ele age to t

te themelves n Cretan clover. Some of them I knw: a

blueeyed afelasian oy name Ornes come ere

wth i mothe, ting hard to disown her oldstyle pety


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62 JOHN DEMPSEY

and find out who his father was, just dying to page forsome local priest or prince. Meanwhile he was learningour ciphers (nicknames too?) and watching chariots pss

with big dreams in his eyes. Another one in Tukato's

charge was a Hurrian youth whom friends here called Ra

zorclam, come here on a merchanter from the Pharaoh-

devastated East, a worshipper of horses; but this boy, ifhe share the rchanes priess' love o women's aire as

part of worship, would not yet make the sacrifice whichalone could sancti the ractce as a lie-choice I could

not blame his hesitation but the women here did not ap

preciate hs use of Tukatos patience for the pleasure of

his loins An Icarus? Why wouln't he help us returnhim to his islankin? Tukato was sure the boy's spasms

were real u he was an asocial pest at imes, unless we

kep him busy in Iris' or Kudru's craftshops or t the boat

we were building together Here he could get the toolsan tranng o whch most people only reame an he

knew there was hidingspace inside our own delight withhealing him

Then tell me the worst of all you know, Glaucus. IfI'm to help the Houseyou know my mother hs as

signed me to work with a new trader coming here soon

from Achaian Pylos, andYes, se menone hat, t's to get s olk's purple

basalt owing in here steadily, so the shops can use i tomke hose hl ovend fui-ke h ell o

yptian nobles, Glaucus grimly grnned. oull do fine

f ou dont expect much civilty. But alright, Deucalion.

ou know tht the Lion King of Mykeni, High Lord ofall Achaians as h styles hmself, can scarcely keep all thelesser manland houses from pillaging each other unless

there are more nerestn arges someplace else. There's


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ARINE'S BROTHER 63

no depth of lineage, no web of custom to hol anybodyback with hese wanderers-ust as Egyp says about ou

sders like us, eh? Bu put ha map into your mind that

your grandmoher wove ino he hrone room tapesry.Ever hear of Athens, across the bay from Mykenai? Well,

you se, hee's ben an a o s bld b

those two kingdoms. And also beween hem s a srp ofland called the Isthmus, a sort of brutch of their own,

whic by mutal neglect became so lawless that neithertrae nor travelers could use the roa across it

I remember, I said. nd thats why our shipping

station on an sland near there did so well Aegina, its

called. It seems srange o say this, but dont tell me thatMykenai and this thens have actually cooperae?

Thats where its worse than you think. We stillhavent got mch detail, but just last moon, some apparent princeling from a minor barony got togeter a force,

and drove hs way from Mykenais side of the sthmus

clear to Athens, and opened the road. But losses in shppingbusiness are not the problem. You see, the king of

Athens, or raher he presen conqueror of is ciadel, hasno children because of a cur

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Ariadne s Brother 1