Seraglio of the Gods - Segment 05

Chapter 21

It turned out Mae Li was right in her prophecy. For two hours, we women waited anxiously for news about the meeting of the gods. We stopped servants coming into the room to find out if they’d heard anything from the great hall, but each one denied knowing anything new.

The sound of large animals racing into the courtyard and the jingling of metal against metal brought us once again to the balcony. Below us were dozens of stable hands. They were bringing a large herd of horses into the center of the yard. Attached to the horses’ saddles were various pieces of protective armor from a wide assortment of countries. The horses restlessly wandered around the courtyard, viciously biting the rumps of other horses that got too close.

Loudly yelling in excitement and coming to meet the stable hands were the gods, the battle plan to rescue Eros finalized. Each male, whether warrior or god of peace, aimed for his particular steed. Without hesitation, my eyes found Vulcan in the mass of horses and men. I watched him gather the reins of a massive black stallion and vault up onto its back with one graceful leap. The horse reared on its hind legs when it felt the weight of the man on his back. With no effort at all, Vulcan easily controlled the animal with just the pressure of his knees.

An elderly servant came out to the balcony with a message from Jupiter. “You are all allowed to go down to your master and wish him well in the coming battle.” Her next words dampened our excitement at hearing this. “Some of them won’t be coming back, and this might be your last chance to be with him.”

I raced down the stone stairs with the others and quickly located Vulcan atop his horse at the edge of the crowd. When I reached him, he leaned down and quickly pulled me up and placed me sidesaddle in front of him. He whispered sweet words of longing into my ear and held me tightly to his chest. Behind him I could see a dented, metal breast plate hanging from the saddle. I cried out for more time with him when he finally lowered me back to the ground.

“Don’t shame me, Melody, when I’m gone,” were the last words I heard from Vulcan before the old women forced us back into the building. Tears were flowing down our faces as we returned to the balcony and watched the men below us putting on their armor. The amount of raging testosterone in the air was almost strong enough to smell. It was hard to tell who appeared more excited, the men or the horses.

Slowly, four abreast, the line of horse carried our masters from the courtyard and out of our sight beyond the various buildings. “Look,” called out one of the women, pointing to the dirt road leading out of the compound itself. First a few riders appeared, and the rest quickly came into sight until we saw all of them heading toward a distant mountain pass.

We stayed on the balcony watching them until the last horse and rider disappeared into the dark shadow of the mountain. Will my master survive the battle, or I be a widow before I’m a wife? This thought in many variations was foremost in the mind of all the women.

It would be days before the first of the wounded, along with the bodies of the dead, would return.

* * *

Chapter 22

Late in the morning, a large carriage pulled by four white horses arrived. The driver, dressed in blood-red livery, stopped in front of Jupiter’s palace. We watched when two women stepped out and walked slowly toward the building.

I whispered to Mae Li, “Who’s that?” A few of us had remained on the balcony after our masters rode off into battle. There was no reason to return to the main room with the others. The concubines usually primped and bathed to make themselves ready for the evening ahead with their gods. Today, though, all that lay ahead of us was the company of only women.

“The older one is Juno, the wife of Jupiter. Don’t call her that, though, since she hates the name. It’s Hera to all us lowly humans.” Mae Li peered out to see who the other woman was, and then turned to Sabrina. I didn’t understand the look that passed between them.

“Melody,” Sabrina said, searching for the right words, “the other one is Venus. You already know about her being your master’s wife centuries ago, don’t you?”

I didn’t answer her, but continued to watch the younger woman glide across down the pathway to the palace. It would be inaccurate to call the graceful way she walked anything but gliding. Her delicately shod feet hardly seemed to touch the ground. From what I could see at this distance, she had a perfectly proportioned body.

A coronet of holly leaves held her blonde hair piled high on her head. Her long, slender legs seemed endless and disappeared under a short pleated dress, which promised hidden treasures once a male dared to remove it. She must have felt the many eyes watching her from our seraglio since she turned to face us.

I felt sick to my stomach when I realized Vulcan must have been comparing this beautiful creature to my more ordinary appearance.

Sabrina saw the distress on my face and gently placed her arm around my shoulders. “Her beauty is only on the outside, Melody. That’s why Vulcan divorced her. He wants and needs a woman in his life, not a selfish bitch like her.”

Although she meant well, Sabrina’s words didn’t help. I watched this vision of perfection turn back toward Hera, who was waiting patiently for her daughter-in-law to join her. Both women disappeared inside the palace, leaving me wondering why Jupiter had chosen me for his son.

* * *

Chapter 23

For the next few days, rumors were flying around our quarters like bats startled by a bright light. Servants from Jupiter’s palace periodically came to visit with our elderly servants and pass on what they heard Hera and Venus discussing.

When the latest rumor reached Sabrina, she rushed to share it with me. “Could it be true?”

“Could what be true?” I asked, since she started the conversation with this question.

“I heard that earth is in turmoil without Cupid to help bring couples together with his gold arrows.” She sat down next to me, wringing her hands in worry. “Because nobody is falling in love, there are fewer children born, and the human race is on the brink of becoming extinct.”

“Wait a sec, Sabrina,” I said, seeing a flaw in her reasoning. “The Titans captured him only recently, so how bad can the situation be?”

Sorrel, the beautiful black woman whose master was the mischievous Loki, joined us just as I was asking this. “Sabrina, haven’t you told her about the time difference between here and earth?” She next reminded me, not waiting for Sabrina’s answer, “Time here passes slower. I heard they captured Cupid a few weeks ago in our time, and Jupiter only found out the other day. Enough years for the birth of a whole generation, or not, have passed on earth.”

“She’s right, Melody.” Sabrina stood and started pacing back and forth near the balcony’s railing. “What’s terrible is what will happen to the various gods and goddesses if no humans survive.”

“What?”

Sorrel looked off into space with a sad look on her face before answering for Sabrina. “The human race might have abandoned these ancient deities, but you have proof they do still exist. They still watch over humans, just with less manipulation of lives than before.”

Sabrina returned to sit on the stone bench with us. “When you lived there, didn’t you ever wonder why some people, so oddly different in temperament, fell in love? That would be Cupid’s doing.”

“Also,” continued Sorrel, “what about the constant turmoil and unrest in parts of the planet?”

"That would be at the instigation of my master, Ares.” Sabrina patted my hand as if I were a simpleton or a small child. “With the extinction of the human race, there would be no reason for the gods and goddesses to exist any more. Some already have faded into oblivion with even their names forgotten by the gods themselves.”

I finally understood. “So, if our masters lose the battle and fail to bring Cupid back, not only the human race will disappear, but also our masters?”

“And also all of us, since we’re living in their world now.” We hadn’t heard one of the old women join us, the one whom all the concubines loved. “My friend from Jupiter’s palace just told me the situation on earth has reached the point where countries are arming themselves for a final planetary war. With no love remaining on earth, only hate and suspicion remain.”

* * *

Chapter 24

“Are you getting gray hairs?” I asked Sabrina this before realizing how rude it sounded. My new friend was rather vain about the radiant color of her flame-color hair. However, I could swear there was a touch of gray near her temples. I quickly added, “Sorry, it must just be the way the sun is hitting you.”

The last week had been hard on the waiting women, so it wouldn’t have surprised me to see gray hair on all of us. News of the battle in the distant mountains between the Titans and our masters wasn’t good. Wounded gods returned daily with stories of the horror the Titans were bringing down on the more powerful gods like Jupiter and Thor. Concubines whisked each of the wounded away to recuperate in their own home. So far, news about Vulcan was meager. Some told me they last saw him fighting valiantly with his father and brothers. None of the returning gods knew if he had been wounded or, even worse, killed.

Near the end of the third week of battle, we saw a line of horses returning down the mountainside. They were still too far away to see who rode them, our masters or the feared Titans. With the hope that Vulcan was finally coming instead of our enemies, I quickly changed into a white linen dress. For some strange reason, my wearing clothes and not tempting other gods with my nakedness always seemed important to him.

“Can anyone tell yet who they are?” One of the old servants stood at the balcony’s railing, but her eyes just weren’t strong enough to see that far in the distance.

Sabrina leaned dangerously out over the railing to get a better view before crying out in excitement, “I think I recognize, yes, it is him.”

“Who?” demanded half a dozen voices from further back on the balcony.

“Is it my master, Oghma?” Briana, just barely out of her teens, pushed her way to stand beside Sabrina. Only recently had her master removed the chain of submission. For days she had proudly shown the dainty ring Oghma had placed on her finger instead.

“Do you see Loki?”

“Please, you have to see Montu. No one can miss him.”

“Sabrina,” I begged, “is it Vulcan?”

“No,” said Sabrina to all the women, “I can only recognize Jupiter because of that gigantic Clydesdale he always rides.”

I gave a sigh of relief. If Jupiter was returning, it might mean I’d be seeing Vulcan soon. Jupiter wouldn’t allow the Titans to kill his sons, would he? This thought came unbidden to me, since I believed in the absolute power of Jupiter.

* * *

Chapter 25

It took almost an hour for the horses to reach the compound. Slowly they entered the courtyard, close enough to where the women on the balcony could finally recognize their masters. My eyes scanned the group, looking for one dark-haired god in particular.

As each concubine found her god, there were cries of joy or horror depending on what she saw. Blood flowed from some males, while others leaned over the manes of their steeds in exhaustion or near death. I nearly fainted when I saw the black stallion, which once held Vulcan, had returned without him. Loki, astride a second horse, held the reins. That horse pulled a crude stretcher along the ground.

“Vulcan!” I whispered, seeing the silent figure on the stretcher. My feet hardly touched the floor or ground as I raced down the stairs and toward the stretcher. “Loki, what happened?” Almost at the stretcher, I begged Vulcan’s friend for an answer after Loki had paused to wait for me.

Loki got off his horse and tried to hold me back from reaching Vulcan. I fought him and managed to gather Vulcan into my arms. As I knelt on the ground with my white dress fast turning red from his blood, I started cursing Jupiter for not protecting his son from death. Next, I screamed curses at the Titans, and then I cursed Vulcan himself for leaving me.

All the while, I was rocking back and forth on the stretcher, holding his body with his face pressed to my breasts. Loki tried to talk to me, but I was crying hysterically at the loss of the one I’d grown to love.

* * *

To be continued in next segment.

Seraglio of the Gods - Segment 06  (XGC) Chapters 26 through 30 #1312309 by J. A. Buxton