The Ghosts of Herak

I had often heard my grandmother speak about ghosts and spirits that howled in the night, not just any other night but during Lemularia, where ghosts of the ancients came back to their old homes and want to return to the land of the living.

My sister Pandora and I loved to listen to the old tales but giggled about it after that. We found it absolutely funny to think of our old grandfather toddling back to life.

We lived with our grandmother as our father a Roman Centurion had died gloriously in battle far away. He was the first batch of officers after the Marian reforms initiated by Gaius Marius. He had headed a batch of 100 land soldiers, but was beaten back by the barbarians at the border. We heard he died valiantly and gloriously. Not that it was any consolation to our mother, Aelia.

She was a beautiful woman, who loved the Greek’s finer arts and way of life. That was why she named my younger sister Pandora, as she was fair and beautiful. I was stuck with the common name of Grace, as I was dark and sturdy. My mother thought I looked more like my father, while Pandora favoured her.

Anyway, my mother was heavy with child when she heard about my father’s death. She was not able to take this, and slowly sickened. She died during childbirth, calling my father’s name, as she breathed her last. Our tears were not enough to make her stay.

Our brother, whom we called Gaius, died soon after. So Pandora and I were packed off to live with our grandmother, also widowed by a war. We grew up with her, in a cottage, tending sheep and the wheat, barley, grapes and olives with our many uncles, aunts and cousins who lived around the farm.

Pandora and I were not supervised much by our grandmother, so we had freedom to run around the farm, helping or making a nuisance of ourselves.

This was our life until one fine day, the Tiber overflowed and the farm was submerged. We escaped into higher ground and my family travelled far away into a piece of land away from the roads that crisscrossed Rome. It was a land where gigantic trees grew and lush grass carpeted the ground. It was strange to be away from the amenities of Rome and the older folks looked fearful.

Nevertheless, we started to ready the land for cultivation, as we were farmers and that was all we knew. It was a tough time for Pandora and I for we were used to the relatively relaxed lifestyle of the old rambling farm.

One day, this world we created for ourselves, was turned upside down when spring turned to summer. We had forgotten Lemularia, and it came to us with a vengeance.

That day, the night fell hard and heavy, the mists hung low, and the trees canopy seemed to knit together to hide the skies. Romulus’ had forgotten to appease Remus, and his minions came gleefully from beyond the portals to conquer the only place where the black beans were not strewn, for it was the custom to walk barefooted, and strew the beans over the shoulder chanting ‘Haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis’ – ‘These words I spake, I send these beans to redeem me and mine’.

My grandmother was ailing in bed, nigh to death as Pandora and I stared outside at the eerie light, neither night nor day. We shivered with fear and the cold that seemed to pervade the atmosphere.

There were booming and whooshing sounds from afar. It was as if the skies had opened up to all elements of the earth. There were cackling, keening, thousands of whispering voices and moans and groans. The cacophony of sounds seemed to seep into our beings, weakening our spirit, making us all helpless and terrified.

The people crowded into our main building, a circular enclosure, roofed and walled against the elements. It had withstand a cold winter, rain and sleet, and we hoped that it could withstand whatever was coming from the otherworld.

We were helpless. We did not know what to do. My grandmother whispered that we should have strewn the black beans around our house, circled it nine times and implored the other worldly beings to leave us alone. We forgot, we didn’t even have the beans. We were so focused on our wheat and barley, our celery, parsnips, artichokes, beets and onions. We didn’t have beans.

Our common building shook as the otherworldly beings landed on the ground. As they stood on terra firma, they seemed to gather the energy around them and strengthen their forms. They looked almost tangible. We looked on in horror at their half formed faces, their elongated green limbs and their gaits. They didn’t look human and yet we knew that they were the evil souls of the ancient, come to reclaim their life.

The seal that Romulus stamped on the door of Remus portal was broken; the dead brother came back for vengeance with his minions.

Pandora and I were at our grandmother’s bedside, holding her hands to comfort her and ourselves. We didn’t know what to do and in fact, we were just waiting to die or be possessed by the evil spirits around us.

“What shall we do grandma, what shall we do?” I whimpered, scared out of my wits. I felt Pandora shiver besides me, and I felt her fear.

“Call Orcus…get Orcus, you must consult him…,” the old lady whispered.
Pandora and I looked at one another. We didn’t know who Orcus was and had never heard of him.

“Ask…ask…” she whispered.

We went out of her room to the main hall, where the farmers and their families huddled together at the fireplace. I looked around and met the eyes of one of the elders who motioned to us to come nearer.

“How is your grandmother?” the elder, Julius asked.

“She is fading fast. She asked us to look for Orcus…but we don’t know who he is.”

Julius went pale and looked at his hands, answering, “That’s an impossible task. He lives beyond this forest towards the North. It is but a day journey, but dangerous under the circumstances …he is the high priest dedicated to Romulus, he can help but getting to him is impossible.”

“We will go,” I blurted out, and immediately regretted it. Who could withstand the evil that was lurking around us? The gold box outside the building containing Sulphur to repel evil entities would soon be not strong enough to ward off the howling spirits, as they congregated on the field before our hall.

But we had to do something, even though we were farmers, Pandora and I were still daughters of a proud Roman soldier, a centurion no less and we didn’t want to die as cowards cowering behind sacks of wheat.

“I will go with you,” someone said, very calmly.

One of our cousins stood tall and determined, Ameria. Her long hair of burnished gold piled on her head defied her station in life as a farmer’s daughter. Pandora and I stared at her and somehow, we felt like we could do it. We were greatly encouraged.

There were no other volunteers, even among the able-bodied men. We understood how they felt as they wanted to make sure they were with their family if anything happened.

Our young men were away. They had gone to join the soldiers of Rome to fight against invaders and to invade. All that were left in the Village of Herak were older men, women and children.

We had no choice, so the three of us prepared for the journey. I actually didn’t want to have Pandora with me, but she insisted on coming along, pouting and stamping her feet, so I had to give in. We dressed up in short tunics, just above our knees; our legs were sheathed in breeches to our ankles. We were given a talisman or a lunula to hang on our necks, a crescent moon pendant filled with Sulphur.

We were given a sword each, sheathed in a scabbard tied on the waist. It felt cumbersome, but I liked the freedom of the short tunic as compared to our ankle-length toga.

We then opened the northern door, breathed hard, whispered a prayer to Athena and ran with all our might towards the thick forest. The howling mass of gossamer spirits were milling around in the front yard, so we were lucky to reach the forest before they became aware that there were humans outside.

We ran. The wan ethereal light was enough to show us the small path that led to the north where we should meet Orcus. We trusted our instincts although we were mere girls hardly out of our teens then. We followed Ameria who was the faster one, her long legs pumping as she ran.

I felt my stomach cramped up but tried to ignore it. Pandora, my lithe little sister who was almost elfin physically was faster than I was.

The sounds of the spirits diminished as we ran further and further into the forest. The eerie greenish wan lights seemed to end, and the darkness of the forest engulfed us in earnest.

We didn’t slack off our pace until we felt that we had run as far as we could. We came upon a glade and stopped. Not because we actually stopped, I actually slipped and fell face first on the ground, forcing Ameria and Pandora to stop. They ran back to me and pulled me up. I was gasping for breath, my stomach cramped and my knees could not hold me up.

We sat down together on a rock, holding one another. We were scared but it was too late to turn back. We had to look for Orcus, whoever he was. We looked around and what we saw was so wondrous, we stared mouth agape.

It was the most beautiful forest clearing we have ever seen; flowers of all colours were everywhere, and strange insects flew everywhere. The bushes were lush and fruit trees bore all manner of fruits, most of which we have never seen before.

There was a blue pond with flowers floating on it that seemed to catch the twinkles of the setting sun.

Suddenly a bright light flashed and we stood up immediately unsheathing our swords. We have never held swords before but we held it out as if we knew how.

Suddenly in front of us, a huge man materialized, he seemed to emanate white light around him. He had a helmet with wings on the side and body armour like a Roman soldier. He was very tall and muscled bound and yet he didn’t seem to be hostile.
He stared at us, as we did him.

“Who are you?” all of us seemed to ask at once, including the bright stranger.

“I am a watcher of this glen, the guardian of the forest. This is my domain. Pray tell me why you are trespassing into my home,” he asked, rather haughtily I might add.

Ameria stepped forward, holding her head high, she looked regal and for a moment I glimpsed the pride of a tribe from far north, for her mother was a fair headed beauty from that region. Her tribe was conquered and enslaved and one of the women felled my uncle’s heart and he wedded her. The result was fair Ameria who now stood tall against the giant-like man.

“We seek Orcus, for our village, Herak, is being attacked by the minions of Remus. We forgot the black beans. We need the power and wisdom of Orcus to conquer this evil and send them back to netherworld,” she stated, her hand gripping her sword.

The light behind the man seemed to turn red and yellow giving him a sinister frightening look. We gasped and took a step back, our swords poised for attack.

“Aggh! Sheath your puny sword, women! Is Herak without men that they should send women to seek the high priest of Romulus? The high priest is neither man nor spirit, for he has power beyond your understanding. The Grecians call him Hades, did you know that?” he asked. I didn’t really care for the scornful tone of his voice.

We gaped at him, not really taking in what he was talking about. He looked exasperated. He took off his winged helmet and a cascade of long golden hair fell to his shoulder. I saw Ameria flinch, and Pandora scuttled to my side. The man no longer looked human, but a supernatural being.

“Are you without sight, both within and without? Orcus is the god of the underworld, the punisher of broken oaths. And you are running headlong to him to save your village? Or are you seeking destruction?” he boomed.

We staggered with this information. Why were we seeking the god that punish broken oaths and why was he called the high priest of Romulus? Why was he called Hades? We were fearful to say the least and very confused. Should we forge on or should we return to our village.

I decided that we should go on our journey, for returning would end in certain death for all of us. We had to trust our grandmother’s judgment and carry through with our mission.

“We will go on…we will find Orcus and talk to him,” I said, as firmly as I could.

Ameria and Pandora nodded and we walked forward, across the glen to the other side, where the dark forest was.

The huge man sighed, and put on his helmet.

“I will go with you…” he said, and started walking alongside us.

We all stared at him, puzzled. Why did he want to come with us? However, when we looked at how he stared at Ameria, we sort of understood.

I did not protest too much as we needed as much support as we could garner along the way. We travelled through under the wan moonlight towards something we didn’t understand. We only had our determination…to send back the hordes to the netherworld.

We walked briskly through the forest with me in the lead, followed by Pandora my sister, Ameria and the fiery guardian. We walked in single file as the underbrush was thick.

Pandora was getting tired and clung to my arm. I encouraged her as much as I could as I wanted to reach Orcus before sun up. I was having a strange sense of being watched, but upon glancing at the guardian and Ameria, I was reassured that it was my imagination as they didn’t seem to notice anything.

We came upon a break from the closeness of the forests, several hours later. It looked like a wide track of land, without anything growing on it. The land, which seemed like a wide road leading from somewhere to another, was dry soil, well-travelled by vehicles of sorts. There were shallow marks of horse hooves on the dry hard ground. We stood there looking at it for a while, and thought how easy it was to follow the road.

As I step on it, something seemed to move underneath the soil. I recoiled instantly, and stumbled. Pandora fell on the ground near me and Ameria clutched the guardian’s arm in fright. The soil seemed to move and undulate, and all of us, gasped stepping back, cringing against one another inn fear. Even the guardian looked fazed.

The soil burst upwards and a dark creature, which looked like a bat burst out. its eyes were blazing red and its mouth was filled with fangs that seemed to look like needles. It hovered for a while and then step on the ground, it stared at us for a while, and then growled at us.

“You are trespassing…who are you…?”

I was getting tired of all the things that were blocking us. I was terrified but I was not about to let the ugly monster stop us from getting to Orcus. We needed to get to him to save our village. We needed to get to him by sunrise and it was far past midnight.

“We are looking for Orcus! Get out of our way…!” I said, glaring at the ugly monster, advancing as menacingly as I could towards it.

It recoiled with shock. Perhaps nobody had ever spoken to it like that before. Pandora held my arms, pulling me back, as I unsheathed my sword.

“Grace, no…!”

The beast glared at us.

“Looking for Orcus? All of you? Even you?” it asked, glaring at the guardian.
The guardian shrugged.

The beasts sighed…and slowly it turned misty and then sparkled brilliantly. We gasped, as it turned into a beautiful woman, with long black hair cascading over her shoulder.

I sighed. Will we ever get to Orcus…I thought.

The woman smiled at me, as if she could read my thoughts.

“My name is Desire, the Enchanter …I will take you to Orcus. I will demand a prize, but time for that later,” she laughed, her laughter was like brittle glass breaking the almost-morning air.

She stood there staring at us and then with a flick of her finger, the whole scene changed. The road was a sparkling silver stream that seemed to end into an opening that glittered like gold. From inside the cave flickered tongues of fire seeming to lick the opening like a hungry monster.

Desire stood there and bowed.

“Behold Orcus domain!”

“You lie!” Ameria snarled, “We were told that he lived a day walk to the north. It is not a day yet!”

Desire laughed her brittle laughter.

“Orcus is a god. He can be anywhere he wants to. As long as the ground is there, Hades too lives. Underneath the sod…” she said.

We looked at one another, puzzled, angry, frustrated and not trusting the dark woman, with fiery beauty.

The Guardian didn’t seem to react much, and I was glad and respected him for that. Three shivering women sufficed.

Even though we didn’t trust the woman Desire, we followed her as she led us towards the burning cave. We didn’t know what to expect, but we naively believed that we were strong enough to encounter the high priest of Romulus…Orcus, also a god, the punisher of broken oath.

We had expected the cave to be extremely hot, with the fire flickering on its sides. However, it was not as hot as we thought. In fact it was just comfortably warm.

We stood there looking around us curiously.

“What did you bring home this time, Desire?” a gentle voice sounded before us and we stared at a tall figure in a white robe. He was middle aged, very good looking and wore a smile on his handsome face.

“Strays, My Lord,” Desire laughed, caressing Pandora’s shoulder. I pulled my sister away from her, glaring at her at the same time.

“You are Orcus?” I asked as boldly as I could.

He laughed gently.

“Yes, child I am Orcus. Why do you seek me?” he asked.

I told him about our village and how the minions of Remus had descended on it. I told him that we forgot the ceremony of the black beans, as told by our grandmother.

He looked at us contemplatively, his hand caressing his clean shaven chin.

“ I don’t understand, what is so important about the beans? They are hardly worth sending ghosts and monsters for,” Pandora opined, looking at Orcus and then at me.

Orcus stared at her. He no longer looked friendly. His eyes seemed to burn with a strange fire. He pointed at the door.

“That is what the black beans are for,” he said.

We looked towards the door and gasped for we saw that it was a road again and not a silver stream. We saw beans falling on the road and instantly turned into caped men on black horses.

“They are my soldiers, my legions. What is given against Remus, becomes mine, to use them as I see fit. Your village has forgotten, and thus they are paying for it, for they did not contribute and thus I have no nocturnal soldiers to send and defeat the minions before they reach the portal to the offending village,” he said.

“Can you help us?”

“We can but with a price,” he said.

“Price? What is your price? We must save our village from the marauding ghosts and spectres at once. We don’t know if they have already started to attack or destroyed our village!” I yelled.

“Ahhh…so you agree!” he laughed, a long harsh laughter that grated in our ears. He began to change then, filling us with terror. We cringed together in utmost horror at what transpired before us.

Orcus began to change. He became taller and his robe seemed to flap like wings. His handsome face turned into something else, more regal but more horrific. Two horns appeared on the sides of his head, but despite this, he had this terrible beauty; his face was like a smooth-faced minotaur. He was even taller than before. His robe flapped around him as if they were alive.

Desire stood by all this letting out a cackling laugh and we turned our attention at her. She was still as terribly beautiful as before but she looked almost reptilian.

“Come let us face your ghosts and demons!” Orcus cried, and gestured in the air. The cave was gone immediately and we were caught in a whirlwind that seemed to grip us as it moved. The fiery Guardian held all three of us together in his mighty arms to make sure that we were not thrown hither and tither.

There was a big boom after a moment and we fell to the ground. We scrambled up immediately, grabbing the guardian’s mighty arms and looking in terrified wonder around us.

We were in Herak…but it was not as it was.

Pandora let out a wail and I heard Ameria, my tall statuesque cousin gasped in horror.

For before us was the village Herak, but the inhabitants, all casually seated on verandahs’ and porticos, and on benches in gazebos looked slightly green. They seemed frozen in awkward postures as if they were not used to doing it.

They all cringed and staggered back when they saw Orcus appear before them. For the man god and high priest was awful in his majesty. He exuded arrogance and menace that only he could achieve.

I saw Julius the elder, standing still at the door of our common hall and met his eyes. Despite the green aura around him, he looked desperate and fearful. I knew that the minions of Remus had possessed the body of the people of Herak, but some had stronger spirits than others.

The villagers in their new spirit converged and moved in a mass towards Orcus. I knew they were ready to mow him down with their pitchforks and scythes. The three of us and the guardian drew our swords. Desire laughed gleefully, she must be anticipating the flow of blood, I thought. The enchantress was also a shape changer and a vampire who loves blood.

The clangs and clashes of iron distracted me and I saw Orcus being swarmed by the hordes in the body of the villagers of Herak. He was totally covered with the mass of possessed bodies. We stood there rooted in shock at his seemingly meek demeanour.

Suddenly bright green light sprung from within the squirming wriggling mass. There was a clap of thunder and the people fell on their back. Orcus emerged, with wriggling green forms clutched in his hands.

He shouted ‘Vade Retro…exorcizamus te…’ and words we could not really catch, but there were screams of anger and despair from the green forms in his hands. And then we heard the thunder of hooves and dark hooded riders appeared from everywhere.

They thundered towards Orcus and for a moment we lost sight of him and then the horsemen disappeared. The green things in Orcus hands were gone. The people were still on the ground, women, men and children lying down dazed.

“Your ghosts are gone, women, and now for the price…” Orcus said, smiling at us. He was again a normal good looking man, rather tall and pale but still normal looking. Desire stood by him, smiling too.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Her…for she is young and beautiful. She will serve us for her years are yet plenty. You see, we add up the years of our price to ours, allowing us youth eternal…” Orcus said, touching Pandora on her shoulder and tipping her chin up.

“No!” I shouted and Ameria stepped up and unsheathed her sword. And that was all we were able to do. For we became rooted to the ground…Desire had put a spell on us.

Desire and Orcus held my beautiful sister to their bosoms, like a group embrace. Pandora looked dazed as the two non-human sucked in her youth. I cried silently as I saw the veins stood out in her porcelain-like white skin.

Suddenly white light encompassed the whole compound; the light seemed to be made of little stars twinkling. Strange musical sounds came from everywhere; tinkling bells and summer rain. The twinkling light suffused the whole village and the people stood up, spritely and fresh. They looked around in wonder.

Ameria and I stood there in astonishment; the Guardian had taken off his helmet showing his long golden hair. He spread out his arms and the whole world seemed to glow with a warm pleasant light.

Orcus and Desire stood shocked as wonder upon wonder unfold. Flowers of every kind grew around our feet and theirs. The fruit plants around put forth fruits and the tree leaves sparkled. They gasped and stood back from Pandora who fell in a heap of the ground.

“Go back to where you belong…the new gods compel you,” the fiery Guardian said.

Orcus who looked bewildered made as if to speak but stopped. Desire tried to laugh but choked instead. The ground underneath them opened up and they were gone, their shrieks of resentment and fury diminishing as the ground closed up again.

The Guardian tenderly held up Pandora, who was very weak. I ran to her and held her, but she could not respond as she was so weak. I saw tears in her eyes and knew that she was on the verge of dying.

“I will take her with me for she is very weak. Her life essence has been sucked almost to the finish by the two evil ones. I will heal her and infuse in her my spirit, so she can live. But she will be an immortal as I,” the Guardian said.

“Will we see her again?” I asked, clinging on to Pandora’s limp hand.

“No. Unless she wishes to be seen…she will be my Gaea. As her name is Grecian so will her immortal name be. She will be one of the new immortals…gods if you will. She will be with us forever.”

I cried while Ameria stood by me, her arms around my waist. I looked around and realized that the people had all gone back to their respective homes.

“It grows late,” the fiery Guardian said and in a twinkling of an eye they were gone. The sounds of bells and falling rain vanished. Only the flowers and fruits were proof of what had transpired.

I sat down among the strange flowers and bawled.

I never saw Pandora or the Fiery Guardian again. Ameria and I spoke about them sometimes, but mostly we kept our secret to ourselves. None of the villagers remembered anything, even the hauntings of Herak. They went about their daily life as if nothing had happened. Nobody remembered the black beans ritual and I didn’t pursue it either.

Our village was peaceful and thrived well. In future, our village would be called Ameria. But that’s another story.-ends