Stone Blind(26)

‘I see,’ he said. ‘So you live here with my brother as a young widow, giving him the appearance of respectability he requires?’

‘No, sir,’ she said. ‘Your brother was well-respected before I arrived here.’

‘And will be after you leave, no doubt.’

‘She isn’t going to leave.’ Perseus could no longer keep silent. ‘We’re going to stay here for ever.’

‘What is your name?’ The king turned to her son with the full force of his disdain.

‘Perseus,’ the boy replied. ‘What’s yours?’

The king ignored him, and looked back at Dictys. ‘And you still go out on your boat every day? Live off the fish you catch?’

Dictys shrugged, and Dana? loved him for it. It was a small gesture to convey feelings too large for the words he had. Of course he went out on a boat every day: Dictys belonged to the sea. And of course he lived off what he caught: he and his fellow fishermen always did. If one of them had a run of bad luck, the others would share their catch with the man’s family. No matter what the king said to make this life sound pitiful, it was not. It was – Dana? knew – full of a dignity that you would not find in the largest palace. Polydectes’s men were all nervous around him: was that the enviable life? The quiet companionship Dictys had offered was the greatest gift any mortal could have given her. And now – she knew it even before the words were spoken – it was about to be taken away.

‘This is no life for a woman like her,’ the king said. ‘She leaves with me.’

Dictys said nothing, but shook his head slowly, and Dana? saw her world fall apart.

‘I am happy here, sir,’ she said. But the words died in the air.

‘You’ll be happy married to the king,’ he replied. It was clear to everyone that this wasn’t a question.

Perseus looked at his mother and at Dictys, trying to comprehend how these two all-powerful people were suddenly incapacitated. Dictys could steer a course through a sudden storm, he could catch any fish the ocean chose to offer, he could out-sail the monsters of the deep. And yet there he sat, wordless. His mother could heal any injury, repair any break. But she simply stood in silence as their lives were smashed to pieces.

‘She can’t marry you,’ he said. ‘We have to stay here. I help Dictys with his catch.’

‘How old are you?’ asked the king. Dana? prayed to her son’s father.

‘Sixteen,’ said the boy, trying so hard not to look like a boy any more, as Dana? tried to will him back to infancy. It was her fault, she saw. She had never taught him about men’s cruelty, she had never wanted him to need to know. And here he was, sure that his answer would make this powerful man reconsider.

‘Sixteen.’ The king nodded. ‘Old enough.’

‘Old enough for what?’ Perseus replied.

‘You want your mother to stay here with you and him?’ Dana? could almost taste the viciousness in the king’s voice that her son could not even hear.

‘Yes, I do,’ said Perseus.

‘Very well.’ Polydectes turned in his chair so he could look the boy fully in the face. ‘Then she shall stay while you go and fetch me something I want. You can sail, we know that. And you must be strong from carrying all those fish up the hill every day.’

‘I am.’ Perseus straightened a little, not seeing the trap.

‘Good, then you can bring me something that would be impossible for an ordinary young man.’ The king smiled. ‘The head of a Gorgon.’

‘Brother,’ said Dictys. ‘Please.’

‘Of course I can,’ said Perseus. ‘She stays here until I return?’

‘Well, I don’t want to give you a reason to delay,’ Polydectes said. ‘So let’s say a month, shall we? No, two months, because your mother looks so sad at the thought of you having to rush. That should be more than enough time for you to travel to the Gorgon lair and home again.’

He stood up and took a step towards the door.

‘I’ll return in two months,’ he said to Dana?. ‘You’ll be ready to accompany me then.’

And having destroyed their home, he walked out of it.





Gorgoneion


You’re probably feeling sorry for him now, aren’t you? Poor little Perseus, the reluctant hero. Defender of his mother’s honour. Boastful little fool: if he had simply kept his mouth shut while Polydectes was swaggering around trying to intimidate him. All he had to do was behave like any other of the king’s subjects. Say yes sire, no sire, whenever he was spoken to, and the whole thing would have been over by now. Dana? would have gone to the palace and, what? What harm would have been done, exactly? Polydectes isn’t a monster, he’s just a pompous little man with an irrational grudge against his brother. Greece is literally full of men like this. Dana? only had to offer a few words of criticism of Dictys as she swanned around the palace for a few days, having other people sweeping the floors for a change and eating something that didn’t have gills. Would that have been such an imposition? Food without scales. Most people would be relieved.

Polydectes would have lost interest in her in weeks, probably days. He only wants her because his brother had her: he’s the king. He can have anyone he wants as his wife. The second-hand wife of a dead man (as he believes Dana? to be) and housekeeper to an unloved brother? She’s hardly the trophy he’s looking for. Maybe if he knew about the Zeus connection, that might be persuasive? Although he might find that intimidating. (Do you really want to take the place of the king of the gods in a woman’s bed? Even if that king of the gods was golden rain when he appeared to her?) It’s often hard to say with men, isn’t it?