Pherenike - Chapter 43

I had forgotten the words of blessing. May you and your child be safe.

This brief and affectionate greeting emerged from beneath the bull’s sewn hide. Floating in the sea of entrails and blood like a small foreign object undetected by anyone. The hide, swollen with blood, had transformed into something resembling bruised flesh.

Only Pherenike recognized the stitches, this small letter that he couldn’t immediately place in her hands.

Pherenike spotted him, amidst her distant gaze. Her throat constricted.

He, who had been watching her all along, smiled briefly. As if he had come this far just to give her that smile, to check on her condition. Pherenike silently spoke to him with her face still soaked with blood. And he silently replied. That was the end.

They will meet again soon.

Finally, Deucalion turned away and disappeared into the crowd.

Consecutive days of autumn rain came in response to the sacrifice, gradually enriching the once-barren lands of Evdokia.

The queen’s reputation was at an all-time high. It already looked like a good winter. Despite those imagining a dry autumn and harsh winter and planted beans and barley, many planted wheat and millet with faith. Wheat relied on sufficient rain and was most vulnerable against the harsh winter winds. But they offered the greatest returns.

[“No one will be hungry on this land by the end of spring.”]

The word came again. The eldest Sybylle had delivered a new oracle from the goddess. Everything was just right.

The people inhaled the moist air as if it were a blessing. The earth goddess was smiling upon them. Evdokia’s patron and mistress, Kybellar, through her nine sanctuaries, established a sacred city. Everyone praised the goddess and Kybellaune.

Rumors began circulating from the sanctuary that a prince would soon be born.

The king soon announced to the kingdom that the queen was with child. The people, witnessing the wheat sprout, grew to love the yet unborn prince deeply.

The Sybylles vied to affirm it. Our prince was undoubtedly conceived in Geotil, just like the sacred son of Heliodora.

And as always, the men of the sanctuary, the priests, had the knack of spreading the words of these holy women throughout the land.

Even without the Sybylles’ words, who would dare doubt the child of the oracle? But now it was an established fact.

All doubts and criticisms surrounding Pherenike turned into blessings and silence. Those who couldn’t accept her finally did. Those who criticized her simply closed their mouths.

The people of Thasos lowered their stance for a while; the council remained quiet. Like a ship with favorable winds, the king’s child grew.

Pherenike, pregnant with the child, received all the precious gifts from regional governors and lords – for she was born and raised on Evdokia’s land. The precious gifts whether alive, dead, or never having lived.

Even the dynasty of Argo sent her gifts. Even beautiful fish from distant lands like Thebai and Attike, rarely seen unless they ventured outside their vast peninsula.

Around that time, the young nobles of Lykke were secretly watching Paetusa, the land governed by the brother of the king. Once a lover of the queen and later branded a traitor. The elder nobles, however, dared not even glance in that direction

Deucalion Paetusa Pelagon, he still reigned as the lord of Paetus. He was born with the inherent right to rule over Paetus as the king’s second prince. He still existed upon that right as Lord Paetusa.

He quietly maintained his loyalty to protect Paetusa as a brother to the king.

The late king, who had ordered the execution of his own son, had passed away. Queen Axiothea, who had spent her life wanting to kill the late king, still lived. Even though she was expelled overnight from her glorious abode and confined with spending the rest of her life in her son’s domain.

The glory of the deceased shines in the words of others, and the misfortune of the living only shines in their own eyes.

Thus, the tears of Queen Axiothea, who survived, were more precious than the smile of the deceased King Epicydes, who had probably forgotten even how to smile across the River of Forgetfulness.

The Thasos family, despite the downfall of their daughter Axiothea, the loss of limbs, and all their misfortunes, remained robust through their long history. After the second prince safely left the capital, all they needed was time.

And time reversed the previous declarations. The verdict of the Antehe Council was now nullified.

Queen Axiothea had been deposed during King Epicydes’ reign on accusations of attempting to cut out his left eye, but the second prince was now completely cleared of charges.

All the false evidence presented at the Council was exposed as just that – falsehoods. Most were plots, lowly defamations, and the second prince who greatly respected his father had been unjustly accused.

The truth, if there was any, was only a small fragment twisted and inflated by malice.

* Thebai: Thebes. A city located in the central region of Boeotia, Greece. It is the setting for the Oedipus myth and the birthplace of Hercules.

* Attike: A region in central and southern Greece, centered around Athens.