Stone Blind(13)

‘Poseidon,’ she said. ‘Don’t you usually have a trident?’

‘Do I need one?’ he asked. ‘I thought your sisters didn’t mention what the gods wear and carry.’

She stared at him, wondering why he didn’t like her sisters.

‘I don’t know what you use it for,’ she said.

‘Attacking Titans,’ he replied. ‘You saw me on the frieze outside.’

‘That’s why you don’t have it, then? Because the Titans were overthrown.’

‘Exactly. So now I only carry it because I am used to it,’ he said. ‘But sometimes it gets in the way.’

‘When you visit temples to look at your niece.’

‘That’s not quite why I’m here.’

Medusa opened her mouth to ask why he was here, before realizing she didn’t at all want to know his answer. ‘What’s she like?’ she asked instead.

‘Athene? She’s . . .’ He thought for a moment. ‘She’s sharp. Sharp-eyed, like you see here. Sharp-tongued, often. Sharp-edged. She’s quick to take offence and ruthless when she takes revenge. Zeus spoils her, and it makes her less pleasant than she might otherwise be. She’s very quick to go crying to him if she doesn’t get her way.’

Medusa looked back at the statue. ‘I wonder what she’d say about you,’ she said.

‘I’m sure she would say that I am handsome and charming and that you should stop wondering if you could reach the door before I reached you, because you already know the answer is no.’

There was absolute silence. Medusa thought of the sheep and the eagle that had tried to steal one and again she wished Euryale was with her now.

‘It wouldn’t make any difference anyway, would it?’ she said.

‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘I am wherever the sea is, and you can’t be with your sisters all the time.’

‘So what happens now?’

‘Now you submit to a power greater than your own.’

Medusa was never aware of it when she was with her sisters, because there was always the sound of the sea and the wind and the gulls and the cormorants and their flock. But in this silent space, she was conscious of being the only one whose breath could be heard. It made her feel weak. ‘What if I don’t want to?’ she asked.

‘You will want to,’ he shrugged. ‘Why wouldn’t you want to? I am one of the Olympian gods. You should feel honoured that I am singling you out in such a way. It is a privilege you have done nothing to earn. I have seen you and decided to bestow my favour upon you. It wouldn’t occur to you not to want to. It will occur to you to say thank you, I suppose.’

Medusa could not say why she suddenly felt less afraid, though her dislike of the god was in no way diminished. It was, perhaps, his tremendous self-regard, which meant that even though he was so much more powerful than her, and so intent on exploiting the disparity between them, she felt rather sorry for him. Imagine being a god, she thought, and still needing to tell everyone how impressive you were. ‘You cause the earthquakes,’ she said, ‘that make the sand shimmer on the shore.’

‘I strike my trident on the bed of the sea,’ he agreed, ‘and the earth trembles at my command.’

‘Why do you do it?’ she asked.

Again, she thought she saw a glint of weakness, as Poseidon straightened his back but somehow managed to look slightly shorter. ‘Because I can.’

‘Could you smash this temple and send it tumbling into the sea?’ she asked.

He nodded. ‘The columns would shatter and the roof would collapse,’ he said. ‘Although it’s probably too far from the edge of the cliff for it to fall into the sea. The columns might roll, I suppose.’

‘I’m not asking you to prove it,’ she said.

‘I don’t need to prove it,’ he snapped. ‘The humans are building my temple now, to Poseidon Earthshaker. You must have seen the site as you flew here.’

‘Oh, is that going to be a temple to you?’ she asked. ‘I wonder why they did this one first.’

‘I imagine they were honing their skills,’ he said.

‘Do you think so? I would have thought they would do the most important gods first. But then, I suppose they would have built one for Zeus first, wouldn’t they?’

‘Not necessarily. Not everyone thinks that Zeus is the god most worthy of honour.’

‘Oh, don’t they?’

‘No. Seafaring people have always built temples to my majesty.’

‘Well, yes, I suppose seafaring people would. But these people obviously value you, because they’re building your temple now.’

‘Of course.’

‘I suppose they just honoured your niece first because they value her skills, and perhaps they don’t travel much by sea.’

‘They have little need to travel anywhere,’ he said. ‘Their land is fertile, their livestock are strong.’

‘Perhaps they should build a temple to Demeter next?’

‘You’re trying to make me angry.’

‘I wouldn’t have thought I had that power.’

He stared at her, his green eyes glittering in the half-light. ‘I’m beginning to wonder if you do. Where did you learn to be so brazen?’