Rumor Machina

"Well, I suppose at the rate we are going, Dordei will be back home in Amazonia in good time for her great rite of passage," the Lady Berdine said.       

Arion swung his head around to look at Berdine, his eyebrows arched. "What rite of passage is this?" 

Berdine laughed, staring at Arion in incredulity. "She has not told you?" Disturbed, Arion shook his head. Berdine rubbed the side of her face, obviously contemplating her words carefully. "Her marriage. On her twenty-fifth birthday, as ordained by Artemis, Dordei will meet and wed her consort." 

In an instant, Arion found himself drowning in a wicked storm of agonizing emotions. He audibly gasped for breath, and put his hand behind him to steady himself. "No, Berdine," he whispered. "It cannot be." 

She bit her lip, moving forward to pat his shoulder. "I thought you knew," she offered.      

"Dordei never said anything about this!" he cried, clenching his fists. "I told her--she told me--" 

 "Arion," Berdine breathed, her eyes wet with sympathetic tears, "I am sorry. I thought Dordei had told you, and that you understood. Forgive me for being the bringer of bad tidings."  

He continued to stare at her, his eyes wild, his fingers buried in his thick hair. Berdine clapped her hands over her eyes, to still her tears. "Ah, my friend, I am sorry."  

With that, she quickly fled, leaving Arion alone in his grief. But Arion had not wanted Berdine to leave him. He had too many questions to ask of her, to ask of this sudden marriage between ween Dordei and her consort. Unfortunately, he could reason out too well why Dordei would not have shared such tidings with him--had he not made it clear enough how he longed to be her consort?--and this only further substantiated Berdine's news in his mind.    "Dordei, my Dordei, no," he whispered for his own ears. "Artemis, no, do not let this be so. No other man will love her as I do!" But he received no divine answer, no reassurance from the goddess, and Arion broke down into sobs. 

----- 

"Dordei, as an old friend, I feel obliged to speak my mind to you."  Ophion poked in the dirt with his heel. "You might not like what I have to say."     

She furrowed her eyebrows, then reached forward to touch Ophion's hand. "It is good, my friend. Speak what you must."      

Ophion nodded in reluctant agreement. "It is not my business, and I ask you to forgive me. I have noticed that you and my king are very fond of each other."      

A crimson flush colored her cheeks. No one but Berdine and the Sibylla had approached her on the subject of the Iphisiad king, and now was Arion's own guard opening such a conversation. "We are fond of each other. I have known Arion all of my life, after all." 

"I know that. But Dordei, I, too, am very fond of you, and it is because of that fondness that I dare to share some knowledge with you."  Ophion's eyes widened, and he moistened his lips. "Stay away from Arion, my princess, for your own good."      

"Ophion!" she exclaimed in astonishment, a strange smile curving her open mouth. "What for, my friend?"    

Ophion clasped Dordei's hand and met her eyes. "I am very serious, Dordei. A great heroine such as you must not fall into his hands--the gods know too many good women have already fallen. My king, he has many women back home, many concubines; his objectivity towards women infuriates many of us, but we can say nothing against it. I know he has not spoken of this to you, and I cannot see you fall into such a trap. This is why I advise you to stay away from him." 

Startled, Dordei rubbed her chin as she digested this information. Could Ophion be serious? "I must admit--and do not take this as doubt in you, Ophion--that such is difficult for me to believe!" Though, and she did remember this vividly, Arion had been keeping Omphale as a lover, and Omphale had mentioned his other women.      

The Iphsiad sighed. "It is a horrible thing to say about your lifelong friend, and about my king. But it is nothing but the truth, and I fear upon fears that he may be plotting to bring you into his amorous retinue as well." 

"By the goddess will such never be!"  Dordei would not bother to hide her confused ire from Ophion. For the love Artemis, she had been a fool! How could she have let his pretty words and his embraces mean anything more to her than simple acts of a besotted male?  Dordei reprimanded herself severely for letting down her guard, so that she could not feel the pain of her breaking heart. 

"Dordei, dear princess, a word," Ophion murmured. "You know as well as I that we are all pledged to get to Delphi, regardless of what we might think of one another."      

"I know that we are pledged so, yes." 

"Do what you must to keep yourself out of his hands, my friend, but I beseech you not to confront him directly. Not only would this disrupt our group and our quest, but it would make my life very bad for me." 

In understanding, Dordei nodded. "I will not murmur a word," she promised. "Though how I will extricate myself from the web I have woven myself into, I know not." 

"Do not worry, Dordei. It will come to right."  

_____ 

"Come on, Dordei," Arion groaned, pushing her backwards onto the ground.   

Her eyes filled with contempt as he mounted her, forcing his lips against her face.    "Arion, no!" she screamed, trying to push him off of her. 

"Why not? You want me, don't you?" He brought his lips against hers roughly, taking her in an angry kiss.  

She struggled to break free of the kiss, but still could not escape from underneath him.    "How dare you!" she cried, slapping Arion across the face. "You, who have made such show of your honor and your courtesy, how dare you!"      

Arion did not react to the slap. He widened his eyes, and Dordei saw that they were filled with lust. "There are some things worth more than honor, my princess," he hissed, crushing her against the ground. "I think having you would be worth my own death."      

Dordei stared at him, agape. "Have you lost your mind?"   

 "I may have. It's been a long journey, and I've had to look at you and be near you for all this time. I just can't control myself anymore."      

As Arion lifted himself just slightly, reaching to rip Dordei's tunic off of her body, Dordei took the opportunity to strike. In one quick move she had brought her legs out from under him, kicking him hard in the face. Arion went falling backwards, and Dordei stood in a jump. Blood dripping from his black-lipped mouth, onto his white skin, Arion slowly stumbled to his feet.  

Dordei, with only escape in mind, ran away from him before he could give chase.    Pounding the earth as she ran, Dordei contemplated the implications of this act. She considered herself and her Amazon companions released from their obligation to Iphis, that was for certain. Fearing how the other Iphisiads would react when she accused their king of trying to rape her, she wondered if they shouldn't just sneak away.  

She reached the campsite, breathing heavily, and everyone looked up at her, in surprise. And Arion was there already, before her, and he had tended to his wound.     

Dordei tried to catch her breath as her anger surfaced. She pointed her finger at Arion accusingly. "You bastard!" she cried.    Arion drew back, his eyes widening.  

"Dordei, what for?" 

"You know well, hypocrite!"  Dordei clenched her teeth, oblivious to the befuddled stares of her companions. "You just tried to rape me!" 

The group gasped in unison as Arion got to his feet. His disturbed eyes filled with apprehension. "Dordei, are you ill? I would never do such a thing!"      

"You did! You did!" she cried, and Lexine, Berdine and Damia came to stand by her. "By the gods, you took me into the woods and then you tried to force your lusts on me. I swear this, on Artemis' bow!"      

Dordei's oath frightened Arion to the bone. "I have been sitting here, waiting for you to return from the woods. I took you nowhere! And I certainly forced nothing on you!" He tried to approach Dordei, but the three Amazon warriors would not let him near. "I wouldn't do that! You know I wouldn't," he insisted, his voice rising in his panic. "And that do I swear, by the gods!"     

These conflicting oaths frightened their companions. "Dordei, I don't know what happened," Ophion said carefully, "but even if I hadn't seen my king before my eyes, patiently awaiting your return, I would testify that Arion would never, never commit such a heinous act--especially against you."  

"Are you calling me a liar? Forsworn?" Dordei demanded in a hysterical voice.      

"No!" Arion declared. "No one calls you forsworn. But nor am I, Dordei!"     

Dordei met his gaze evenly. "We Amazons are hereby released from our pact with you Iphisiaiaiads," she sneered, hiding her heartache in her fury. "Such an insult against me constitutes a major breach of the Treaty of Thermedon."      

Arion put his hands to his head, agonizing. He whipped his head around, glancing at his knights, then he looked back to Dordei in desperation. But the Amazons had already turned their backs on him, preparing themselves to journey on without the Iphisiads. 

Ophion shook his head as he came to his king. "Arion, this is insane. You have been right before my own eyes this whole time."   

 "And mine," agreed Abydos. "Should we not stop the Amazons from leaving?"     

 "How? You have other armed men in this land?" asked Arion. "We cannot stop them if they want to leave us!"      

"Arion," Abydos said kindly, touching the king's shoulder in a brotherly affection, "take your canteen, and go down to the stream. Get yourself a drink, and try to calm yourself. And we will try and talk sense with the Amazons. I'm sure this will all resolve itself." 

His eyes burning with unshed tears, Arion nodded his reluctant agreement. He moved away from the campsite slowly, praying for some vision that would help explain to him what Dordei had experienced. How could she think he would try to rape her? Had he not already saved her from rape? Had he not already proven to her that he would deny his passion to protect her vows? And he owed his life to her! How could she believe he could offer her such a brutal insult? Arion loved Dordei with all his being, and he did want her. But never, never would he force his love or his desire on Dordei.      

Reaching the stream, he squatted down to fill his canteen. He heard the soft rustle of the bushes behind him, and he quickly turned about. There was Dordei, smiling beautifully at him, changed out of her tunic and garbed in an evocative manner. 

"Arion," she said, fully pushing her voluptuous chest out, "I've been thinking."      

Stumbling, Arion closed his canteen and examined Dordei carefully. Shaking his head to rid himself of his confusion, he sensed something strange about her. "Do you still think I tried to rape you?" he asked harshly. 

“Of course not, Arion!"  

He rubbed his chin nervously. Such a change of mind was not in Dordei's nature, and he feared that she may be very ill, indeed. "What have you been thinking?"      

Dordei laughed softly, looking down shyly. "I am in love with you."      

Now Arion gaped. She had just spoken to him the words he had longed to hear from her all this time. But Dordei had offered no prelude, and that was uncanny.  Dordei's full breasts pressed against the diaphanous material, which just skirted her midriff and left her tantalizing belly exposed. She ran her fingers through her honey hued hair, picking the tresses up above her head and then allowing them to fall around her, like a waterfall.   

As she came towards him, swaying her hips seductively, she ran her tongue over her lush lips as she met and held his confused blue eyes with her determined, fiery emerald eyes.    Arion felt himself choking on his ardor, gagging on his passion. His heartbeat sped up dangerously as he soaked in his own sweat. He dropped to the ground, underneath a tree.  Mesmerized , he could not take his eyes off of her. She soon stood above him and removed her frail garment, exposing her perfect body to his gaping view.   

Her eyes intensified. "Do you want me?" she breathed.      

Backed up against the tree, Arion clutched at the ground, trying to control his quaking. In her implied consent, the throbbing in his loins filled him with a savage lust, and he wanted to grab her and take her and have his fill of her body. In fact, Arion couldn't understand why he wasn't jumping at her, when everything in his being was edging him on. But had she not just accused him of trying to rape her? 

Dordei slowly lowered herself to the ground. Without averting her eyes, she laid down in front of Arion, her skin at his fingertips, completely open and overtly willing. "Do you want me?" she asked again in a husky voice, stretching herself out so that he had an excellent view of her curvaceous figure.  

The very skin of Arion's fingertips began to burn, hungering to touch her soft flesh. But now, his mind had broken through the morass of lust within him. That Dordei would turn into this kind of wanton so suddenly struck him very odd. "What about your vow?" he asked hoarsely. 

Dordei threw her head back, revealing her lovely neck, and laughed deeply. "Oh, who can live for a silly vow?" she exclaimed. "I am mortal. I cannot deny myself such pleasures while they are available to me."  

Now Arion felt very frightened, as his ardor drained away and was replaced with anxious confusion. Whoever or whatever this woman was, she could not be Dordei. "I find it hard to believe that you could abandon your vow so easily," he commented.      

"My lust for you is stronger than any vow." She raised her eyebrow. "I thought you would have taken me by now."  

"If you were actually Dordei, princess of Amazonia, I might be inclined to do so," he cried, jumping to his feet. "But you are not Dordei!"     

The woman laughed hysterically. "Arion, are you well? Of course I am Dordei!"     

He folded his arms, rubbing his chin as he examined her. "A test, then," Arion said, maintaining a level voice. "I have a question for you. Answer it correctly, and I shall believe it is truly you, Dordei." He cocked his head. "Though do not think I will take you I will hold you to your vow, if you have lost the mind to hold to it yourself. I would not see you forsworn to Artemis."      

Sitting up, the woman nodded as she exhaled grumpily. "Fine."  

Arion narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing her. "There is a certain name I call you by, older than the sea. Spoken from my lips, this name is for your ears alone. I call no other by it, no other calls you by it. It manifests my respect and my affection for you. What is that name, Dordei?"      

Her mouth fell agape as she rose to stand before him. She folded her arms, apparently thinking, and her face contorted in the effort. Stalling, she paced a little, still maintaining the facade of pondering. "Why, you call me princess, of course," she answered, obviously knowing her response to be incorrect.      

"Wrong!" Arion grabbed the woman by her shoulders. "You fool! You are not Dordei!" For Arion knew that the real Dordei--his Dordei--would know the name he meant only for her--Otrere.      

Now the woman's eyes were changing, coloring in a swirl from Dordei's green shade into a blackness. "You're right, Arion, I am not Dordei," spoke a masculine voice from within the womanly form. Arion gasped, letting go of the woman's shoulders as her flesh began to melt away, bubbling into a sickly black liquid.      

The king of Iphis found himself standing in front of Morpheus, the god of sleep and shape changing, and the deity was quite irate. "So you have found me out," Morpheus spat. "Oh, so it is, then. But I have truly enjoyed our little game while it has lasted."      

Arion stared in disbelief. "What game? What have you done?"      

Morpheus laughed a bubbling, warped laugh. "The road to Delphi runs straight through my demesnes. You and your companions have rudely intruded upon my gardens, Arion of Iphis.  So I have done with you what I do with any and all intruders--I have tried to make you go mad through rumor manifest."      

Drawing back, Arion recalled the strange events of past days, the confusion and the fights. "All of our strife, our conflicts, these delusions--this was your doing?"      

Bowing mockingly, Morpheus said, "And what fun it was, too! Your little group is so full of complexes to play upon. I have amused myself well with you mortals. You, your princess, the Sibylla, the medicine woman--all of you perfect playthings. I merely needed to put the actual person to sleep while I took over their form and essence."      

Arion wanted to strike the god down where he stood, but he knew such was impossible. That Morpheus had assumed his own form and tried to take Dordei infuriated the Iphisiad. As if reading his mind, Morpheus smirked at Arion. "I still don't believe you didn't just take me as Dordei," he pouted. "I thought for certain I'd get you there, Arion. I know how deep your desire for her is."      

"You thought wrong," Arion spat. "I know Dordei too well. She would never offer herself to me like that. And she would well have known the answer to my question, that you did not know."      

"What was the answer?"      

"I will not tell you."      

Morpheus shrugged. "So it goes," he sighed. "Well, though I have had my amusement, you have called my bluff, Arion. Now I must let you all pass through my gardens without further interruptions, so Zeus has decreed."   

And with that, Morpheus disappeared, and color returned to the landscape in his departure. 

Stay strong! Stay well!

Emilie J. Conroy

ejconroy778@gmail.com