Stone Blind(82)
There was only one thing the real goddess had which the statue did not. Iodame was sorry to see that the priestesses had missed a garment the goddess wore over her dress. An aegis, was that the word? Her brother would know. It was armour, anyway, covering Athene’s breastbone. It made her look more warlike than ever: Iodame wanted to make one of those next, even if she had to learn leatherworking first. But what was the decoration in the centre? A huge mass of snakes? Or was there something else?
But of course, she was stone before she could see.
Athene and the Gorgoneion
‘Turn her back,’ said Athene. ‘I didn’t mean for that to happen.’
‘Neither did I,’ replied the head of Medusa.
‘Then turn her back.’
‘I can’t.’
‘What do you mean, you can’t? You made her stone, make her flesh again.’
‘I don’t have that power.’
‘Well, you should have thought of that before you looked at her.’
‘Perhaps you should have thought of it before you secured the head of the Gorgon to your breastplate.’
‘It’s too late for me to think of that now.’
‘Yes.’
‘You won’t bring her back?’
‘I would if I could.’
‘It’s very inconvenient. She only looked at you for a moment.’
‘That’s all it takes.’
Athene lifted off her helmet and rubbed her brow bone. ‘So you can’t look at anyone without them turning to stone?’
‘You know I can’t.’
‘How would I know?
‘You cursed me.’
There was silence.
‘I didn’t know it would be so quick,’ Athene said. ‘I thought you’d have to really stare at something.’
‘Now you know,’ the Gorgoneion replied. ‘Why did you mention her now?’
‘Who?’
‘The priestess. That’s who you meant, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, of course it is. What do you mean, why mention her now?’
The head of Medusa stared out over the sea. Athene’s breastplate was propped up against the trunk of a wizened olive tree.
‘You asked me to change her back as though it had just happened.’
‘It did just happen.’
‘No,’ said the Gorgoneion. ‘It happened centuries ago.’
‘I don’t know what that is.’
‘A century is a hundred years.’
‘Is that longer than an hour?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh.’ Athene thought for a while. ‘Could you have changed her back if I’d asked you sooner?’
‘No.’
‘So it doesn’t make any difference how long it’s been?’
‘No, not really.’
‘I wish I hadn’t turned round,’ said the goddess, all the words at once. ‘But she’d be dead now anyway, if it’s been hundreds of years. They die, don’t they?’
‘Yes, they do. And the priestesses at your temple have kept a flame burning for her ever since they found her statue.’
‘To the priestess?’
‘Yes, her statue stands where it was made.’
‘In my sanctuary?’
‘Yes.’
Athene frowned. ‘I thought that the fire was for me.’
‘It’s for the girl.’
‘I suppose that’s not blasphemy.’
‘Her statue serves yours,’ said the Gorgoneion. ‘It isn’t blasphemous at all.’
‘I’m bored of it now. I don’t care about the statues any more.’
‘Bored of the girl we killed?’
‘Yes. And everything else.’
‘I see.’
‘I don’t remember when I wasn’t bored.’
‘That must be painful for you.’
‘It is. Are you mocking me?’
‘No. Immortality must be a painful business for you.’
‘There’s no one to talk to.’
‘Because they die?’
‘Yes.’
‘There are other gods.’
‘They don’t like me. I don’t like them either.’
‘You’re lonely.’
‘I am not.’
‘You are. That’s why you’re talking to me.’
‘I don’t know who else to talk to.’
‘If you’re not lonely, then what are you?’
The goddess blinked once or twice as she tried to find her answer. ‘I helped so many men find their way home,’ she said. ‘Because they had lost themselves on a quest or in a war and all they wanted was to return home. No matter what adventures they had, what riches they held, what wonders they saw, what they really wanted was to remember those things from the safety of their homes. Do you understand?’
‘I do.’
‘That’s how I feel.’
‘You want to go home?’
‘Yes.’
‘To Olympus?’
‘No, to . . .’ Athene watched the waves breaking softly in front of her. ‘I don’t know where home is. I don’t have a home, really.’