Sapphic Voices General Fiction

Hypatia's Shadow

Conclusion

A little intro: Well, it’s been ages since I’ve posted anything new, till now. I wanted to move away from Fan Fiction and concentrate on characters of my own that bear no resemblance to X & G.

I got the idea for this Story from reading a very old book I found called "The Testimony of an Escaped Novice" by Josephine Bunkley--a wonderful book if you can find the unabridged version.

I’ve dipped a toe into the waters of Original Fiction. I hope I shall please with this modest offering :)

Comments? Questions? AHladis[at]aol.com

XI

Her cell door squealed open. Two guards appeared: one holding an official document, the other mutely dangling a heavy set of manacles.

"My lady, it is time. Please come with us."

The guard holding her shackles stepped forward; Delia took a step back.

"Are those necessary?"

The men exchanged a look between them and one nodded his head.

"I can leave them off until we reach topside miss. I will have to shackle you then."

As was her distinguished position in Roman society, the guards treated Delia accordingly. She led the way up the long flight of stairs; two sentries following half a pace behind.

News of the unfaithful Vestal’s trial had spread quickly throughout the city. Hundreds of citizens jammed the public forum to witness this rare event. A few of the more prosperous residents even brought food and wine as if attending an open-air theatrical production.

Twelve Pontiffs, who were to conduct these proceedings, had already seated themselves comfortably on red cushioned chairs at court. Lord Lucius Ladonis, of course, being among them.

Somewhere below amongst the turbulent gathering Victoria watched and worried.

"Where is she? Where’s that faithless wench!" a woman nearby shouted.

"Aye! Show yourself whore!" another echoed.

"Bring out the whore! Bring out the whore," an ever-growing rabble chanted.

All at once, a huge section of the mob moved aside causing an eerie stillness to come over the crowd. Victoria craned her neck along with everyone else to see what was happening.

Shackled and escorted by two guards the accused made her way through an army of hostile spectators; many of these spat and cursed at her as she passed by. Delia kept her gaze stubbornly fixed on the path ahead trying to ignore their cruel words and raised fists. Some of the more aggressive ones tried to reach out and grab at her robes or hair. A few were successful, but the guards held most of them back.

Her grueling march terminated at a small number of blindingly white marble steps that led up to where the pontifical council restlessly waited. She was then directed to stand in front of these men with her back to the crowd.

One of her guards handed the Pontifex a rolled up parchment and returned to his place by the prisoner’s side. Lord Ladonis then began to read from this scroll as if performing on stage. Hissilvery voice throbbed with passion, eloquence, and feigned disappointment.

"Delia Varro, you are brought before us today on a very grim charge. How is it that a Vestal, a custodian of our divine trust, a keeper of the sacred flame in the temple of Vesta, be purported to have breached her holy vow of chastity?"

Spontaneous moans and groans echoed through the huge gathering of spectators in answer to his question. Some were deeply disappointed in such a blatant transgression; others sorry for Delia’s predicament kept their opinion quietly to themselves.

"Carpeia Flavia, High Priestess and Superior to the Vestals has presented this court with firm evidence that causes us to doubt our sister’s purity. Our good Elderess has set aside all of her natural compassion for a young subordinate--this alone demonstrates great courage," he paused here for effect, "Despairing over the appalling matter before us, she has made it her utmost priority."

Delia stood silently during this performance staring at the ground looking every bit the pathetic victim. Her lovely light brown hair had come down and drifted across her face; the once stark white gown she wore was now dingy and torn in many places.

"Attend child," he sharply addressed the accused, "your Elderess is about to speak!"

Before seating himself, Lord Ladonis motioned the High Priestess to come forth.

Entering from a strategic angle Carpeia, dressed in her finest white robes, fluttered into view. She glanced briefly at Delia with synthetic remorse.

"I thank the sacred council for allowing me the privilege of addressing this court and our noble citizens of Rome."

Carpeia’s magnificently cultured tones wafted over the heads of commoner and highborn alike, charming her listeners and moving most to applause.

"Today is a grievous occasion in the ancient annals of priesthood. I Carpeia, your humble servant, have come to perform a duty that pains me to the very core." She sighed and wiped at a phantom tear. "An odious influence has wormed its way into our cloistered community!"

She looked about to observe any horrified effects her words might have had on the crowd; many seemed shocked. Satisfied, Carpeia continued.

"A supposedly dedicated disciple of Vesta," she aimed an accusatory finger in Delia’s direction, "has committed a most despicable offense!"

The people roared their displeasure; a few shook closed fists at Delia.

"This information came to me by an anonymous source," Carpeia held up a forged letter, "enclosed in this communication are names of witnesses and the details of her wild escapades mere days ago."

She unfolded the piece of fabrication and read some of the so-called "evidence" out loud.

"Dressed provocatively she offered herself to the young men in your public market place! Spurned on by this vulgarity, she nearly killed innocent woman and children recklessly driving a chariot unescorted through your busy streets!"

"LIES!"

Delia sprang forward, but was quickly caught and held in place by a guard.

Raised voices rumbled in and around different areas of the agitated assembly, slowly picking up volume as each recalled Delia’s recent visit to town.

"People of Rome," Carpeia continued, "is this the conduct of a virtuous soul? I say emphatically NO!"

Once again, Delia struggled to break free of the firm hold on her.

"SHE HAS DISTORTED THE TRUTH!"

"Silence the prisoner!" the Pontifex ordered with a wave of his hand.

One of her guards instantly reached around Delia’s neck and clapped a hand over her mouth.

The townspeople broke out in a rash of expletives, and someone threw a stone that narrowly missed hitting Delia in the shoulder.

Lord Ladonis rose to silence the mob.

"Quiet down good citizens!" he said raising a hand towards the crowd, then went on with the proceedings, "Thank you Carpeia Flavia. We appreciate the difficulty of your position in coming to address this assembly today," he turned his attention to Delia, "The accused will now have an opportunity to speak in her own defense."

Carpeia bowed and quickly exited as Delia was led forward to explain her actions. She looked into the impassive faces of these twelve men who held her life in their grasp.

The once rowdy audience below were waiting so quietly for Delia to speak that the light tinkling of her chains could be heard a fair distance away. She could almost feel the hundreds of angry eyes of the crowd behind her. Delia gazed down at the thick manacles on her wrists and then at the council members. As required by law she bowed in deference to her judges.

"Noble officers of the court, I stand falsely accused before this tribunal and these good people," she said gesturing to the crowd, "I have broken none of my holy vows. I have committed no unseemly acts in your market square or anywhere."

Delia’s simple words and sincere demeanor warmed the few spectators’ hearts that could hear the dulcet throb in her voice.

"Yes I foolishly allowed childishness to surface and impulsively drove about the city, but I am not placed here for this reason."

Lord Ladonis smiled confidently at Delia daring her to tell all.

"There are those in our order who wish me harm for what I have discovered," low murmurs arose from the crowd then died away, "Three infants are buried in the Atrium garden!"

At first, there was utter silence. Victoria, who had found a better location to observe from, covered her mouth and gasped upon hearing these words. It all suddenly made sense; the strained atmosphere, the "talk" she had with Lucius Ladonis in that cold cell. Delia’s strange behavior...she cursed herself for being slow.

"What good is this new information?" Victoria thought quietly, "I am trapped into secrecy."

Someone further on in the crowd laughed, then another, and more joined in. Some started snickering; soon a sizable section of onlookers burst into peals of laughter.

Puzzled by this odd response Delia turned to the crowd.

"I SPEAK THE TRUTH!" she shouted at them.

She turned back to the judiciary; most were laughing as well, Lord Ladonis the loudest of everyone."

"WHY ARE YOU ALL LAUGHING?"

"Because my dear child, they do not believe such a far-fetched tale, and neither do I," one of the nearest council members answered.

Delia jumped forward and grabbed hold of his lavishly decorated purple toga.

"BUT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! I TELL YOU THERE ARE THREE INFANTS BURIED IN THE GARDEN!"

"Unhand me lunatic! GUARD!"

It took both guards to pull Delia off him and finally subdue her on the ground, but it didn’t stop her from screaming.

"THEY ALL BELONG TO THE PONTIFEX! HE TOLD ME---!"

One of them closed a hand tightly over her mouth again to keep her quiet.

"Such nonsense," Lucius Ladonis waved her off without losing a beat, "Calm down citizens!" Lucius called to the audience. "As you can see gentlemen, she is poisoned by her own unbalanced reason. I believe you will all come to the same conclusion as I have: Guilty."

"Wait one moment Lord Ladonis," Mitelleus, an elderly member of the council held up his hand, "the girl has not yet been instructed to ask for someone to come to her defense."

"Thank you Mitelleus," Lucius replied sounding very irritated, "Protocol must by all means be observed. That is of course if she can refrain from shouting."

The Pontifex motioned Delia’s guards to help her up. She glared angrily at him while trying to catch her breath from being forcibly held down.

"Well Delia Varro? You have heard what our distinguished senior council member has said. Plead your case calmly," he cautioned her.

She slowly turned to the large group of people below, carefully searching the crowd for a familiar face. When Victoria saw Delia looking her way she hastily crouched down and retreated behind a few spectators. She dearly hoped her friend wouldn’t recognize her but unfortunately, she had. Delia abruptly turned her attention back to Lucius Ladonis.

"Don’t you remember our old saying my lord: A Vestal never begs for favors," she explained in a tear-choked voice, "she waits to be invited?"

Mitelleus stood up and appealed to the public.

"If there is anyone who can confirm this woman’s statement please come forward."

Most looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders, some just shook their heads, but Lucius Ladonis breathed a whispered sigh of satisfaction. He wasn’t absolutely sure if Victoria was in attendance, though it did not matter. He knew she would be frightened enough to keep silent.

"Is there no one among you who will redress the charges against her?" Mitelleus asked again.

"Please my lord...I swear to you that I have told the truth!"

Delia attempted to move towards him but was once again controlled by her guards.

"I am sorry my child, there isn’t anyone here who will verify your story."

Mitelleus made a small bow to Lord Ladonis and then sat down.

"It is time to take the vote," Lord Ladonis announced, "Those in favor of innocence, remove your seal of office and place it in my hand."

There was a long pause as Delia looked to these men for any sign of hope. Not one of them made a move to take the ring from their finger.

"Delia Varro," Lucius Ladonis declared in his most resonant voice, "The vote is unanimous. You have been found guilty of breaking your sacred vows."

"THIS CANNOT BE! IT CANNOT BE!" Delia cried out.

She would’ve dropped to the floor if it weren’t for a guard on either side. They held Delia up under each arm and walked her forward.

"As prescribed by Pontifical law," he continued, "you will be taken tomorrow from your place of confinement and escorted to the Colline Gate, there to be entombed with prior transgressors of your kind."

Victoria, unable to bear hearing Delia’s sentence of death, tried to push past some of the disorderly crowd but couldn’t escape. She gazed up at her shattered friend and prayed to their Goddess for a miracle.

"What have you won by these lies my lord? In time I shall be vindicated," Delia declared through her tears, "I pity you."

The audience grew silent; every person within hearing distance locked eyes onto Lucius Ladonis waiting for his answer. He stared at Delia and for an instant a feeling of remorse lingered a little too close to his ruthless heart. He soon recovered his reason.

"Guards, remove the prisoner!"

XII

The sheer magnitude of attendance for her punishment that following day was staggering. Yet, with this incredible amount of people packed into such cramped streets the only noise that could be heard was an occasional baby crying. The citizen’s behavior had been so different from the previous day; one would think it was all a dream.

Then, as if an inaudible bell pealed, all heads turned in one direction. Preceded by a sea of purple clad pontiffs, a ceremonial litter with four bearers neatly cut through the crowded route. Hidden away from prying eyes, an unjustly accused priestess of lower rank lay tethered inside this conveyance, weighted down under several layers of heavy silk coverings. Instinctively everyone made a path just wide enough for the procession to pass and quietly fell in behind it.

From somewhere close by a single melancholy voice rose clear and strong out of the huge gathering.

"Arise and follow

Melt into one

My sail is set

For the elusive sun..."

The procession suddenly came to a halt. A few mourners picked up the lone thread and participated in the lament.

"Draw near spirit worn

Go onward with me..."

Soon, most of the crowd joined in the chorus sending a wave of song ahead to those who had been out of earshot.

"We will voyage together

Beyond many a sea."



The small parade then slowly proceeded on enveloped by this dispirited chant. Three of her four bearers blended their voices with all the others as well.



"Arise and follow,

Melt into one

My sail is set

For the elusive sun

Draw near spirit worn

Go onward with me

We will voyage together

Beyond many a sea."

Street after mournful street the spectators added their number to song until Delia reached the end of her journey. There was one last wave of voice then everyone fell silent. Inside their city walls, near the Colline Gate a ‘Field of Sin’ waited patiently for its next inhabitant. A small chamber had been dug into the mound of earth and a ladder placed there for descent.

Lord Lucius Ladonis motioned Delia’s bearers to put down their burden and bring out the occupant. They immediately set to their task removing the heavy coverings and untying her fetters. She emerged sluggishly, nearly suffocated and shading her weary eyes from the bright morning sunshine. Her sheer burial gown was the last humiliation; Delia might as well have been naked.

"Delia Varro, we assembled of the Sacred Council do now commit your person to this underground cell."

He signaled for her to be walked to the edge of the ladder. Delia looked around somewhat confusedly at first then tried to clear her parched throat. Lord Ladonis raised his arms skyward and the other Pontiffs followed suit.

"I appeal to you great Vesta, absolve this court from liability. We have carried out our sacred duty and served you wisely. Accept this once faithful disciple into your home of sorrow oh Goddess divine. May her despoiled soul learn the error of its rash behavior through this most grievous punishment."

He lowered his arms and glanced over at Delia who hadn’t listened to a word that was spoken. Her attention was fixed on the ladder and the dark hole it led to.

"Yonder is thy place of solitude," he bluntly addressed her, "Put a hand upon the rail and descend."

With that the entire Pontifical council turned away symbolically forcing Delia to complete the act of climbing down herself. Before doing so, she unsteadily shambled forward in bare feet to confront her audience. They even refused to give her an old pair of sandals to wear.

"I proclaim my innocence once more."

Delia placed a hand over her breast.

"This heart is spotless. I am to be put to death unjustly while you allow a villain," she thrust an accusatory finger at Lord Ladonis’ back, "in the guise of piety to escape his punishment. I hold all here responsible for my undeserved execution."

She searched the numerous apprehensive faces staring back at her. Some of them had sadness in their eyes and others even shed tears.

"Curse every one of you to a life of torment."

"NOOOO!"

Victoria suddenly broke away from the massive gathering and ran to Delia throwing her arms around her. For a few moments, the only sound was Victoria’s hysterical sobbing. Delia unhooked Victoria’s hands from around her neck and pushed her friend away grinning contemptuously.

"I am so grateful that you have come forward at last, my sweet. But as you see your kind gesture arrives too late."

Victoria made another advance toward Delia but was held angrily at arm’s length.

"I love you Delia...please forgive me..."

Delia was momentarily stunned. How many times had Delia declared her love to this empty shell of a woman? Victoria never said ‘I love you’ to her or anyone she knew; now it rang hollow. She turned away and began her descent down the ladder. Pausing briefly she coldly studied her former friend’s beautiful face for the last time.

"Of those gathered here today I despise you most of all."

She disappeared out of sight and soon afterward the terrible order was given to remove her ladder.

A few onlookers helped the hysterically crying Victoria away from the gaping hole for her own safety. Two men arrived with a large cart and promptly filled in her chamber entrance then beat the earth flat with the back of their shovels.

"DELIA!"

Victoria ran from those well-meaning people, fell to her knees and tore at the freshly laid ground with her fingernails. Lord Ladonis rushed immediately over and tried to restrain her.

"Delia forgive me, please forgive me," she wailed.

"Shut up! You are making a fool of yourself. Guards, disperse the crowd!"

Victoria whipped her body about so wildly he could barely hold on.

"I should be down there not her! Oh what have I done?"

Lucius gripped her wrists hard until the pain forced Victoria to quiet down.

"Listen to me witless girl, you had better make your mind up to accept what has passed. If not you will be sorry for it, I promise. Do you understand me?"

She understood plain enough.

"I made it so easy for you didn’t I?" Victoria asked softly, "You used me to keep your ugly secret hidden."

"I would not want to further tax that pretty head of yours my dear, but of course you are correct."

The sudden lack of clatter behind Lord Ladonis caught his attention. Both gravediggers had stopped their work and were now staring at the noticeably agitated pair.

"What are you gaping at Nisus?" the Pontifex snapped at the older of the two men, "Finish up!"

He turned his focus back to Victoria and helped her to stand, then made a poor attempt at brushing her off. After taking a better look at the shredded garment she wore, he abandoned the effort.

"Shall we be on our way?" Lucius sighed in mild disgust.

He immediately yanked Victoria away and both figures soon faded from view.

"Hurry," Nisus suddenly barked, "time is wasting."

__________

The small oil lamp they supplied emitted insufficient light. The bed was just as inadequate being too hard to be considered comfortable enough to sleep on. Delia picked up the chunk of bread left on her pillow and tapped it against the low table nearby.

"Stale bread too," she said to herself, "they have thought of everything."

She let it drop to the floor and settled in as best she could. The tiny lamp’s flame flickered and dimmed, lightly casting two little dancing figures on the earthen wall in front of her.

"Good work girls! Don’t forget the corners Phyllis," she called out to the shadows.

This minor instruction to the younger Vestals had always amused Delia to no end because their temple is round not square. How she and Victoria would laugh at their silly private joke.

"Shhhhhh, not so loud my sweet, the girls might hear," Delia said as she gazed lovingly into her dear friend’s beautiful gray eyes, "They would never forgive us for making fun of them."

In the darkness, Delia imagined she could see Victoria blowing her a kiss. She placed her fingertips near her lips to return the gesture, but Delia’s limp hand slipped down onto her lap.

XIII

It wasn’t quite noon when they arrived back at their main gate. Exiting from the carriage first Victoria opted not to go inside and change clothes. Dressed as shabbily as she was, Victoria scrambled away in the direction of Vesta’s temple. Lord Ladonis and Carpeia exchanged a bemused look between them and smiled.


"I do believe I take great pleasure in tormenting that girl," Carpeia stated as she watched her target run up the hill, "She cries so prettily."

Lord Ladonis stepped off the carriage and offered Carpeia his hand, which she took at once.

"And for most of our journey home too. I’d no idea you could be so verbally creative my dear," he said helping his accomplice down, "You had the poor thing completely defeated."

"Really Lucius, it was like swatting a dead fly," she began to effect an air of superiority due to the compliment, "but she deserved it; leaving everything to a mere lictor’s charge! The stupid girl had no business coming to Rome in the first place. What on earth did she think she could do? The next High Vestal indeed!"

"True, she is rather lacking in intelligence, however, she has one or two saving graces."

Normally this statement would have infuriated Carpeia. Lord Ladonis looked over at her fully expecting to see anger but much to his surprise he found only merriment.

"How well I know," she answered with a sly smile.

__________

Both girls could see Victoria in the distance and eagerly ran down to greet her.

"Victoria!" they both called together.

Evadne was first to reach Victoria but stopped short of tackling her like she used to do. The young girl could plainly see that something was very, very wrong. The once exquisite flowing gown Victoria wore the day before was now tattered and nearly unrecognizable. Its wearer didn’t fare too well either. The tangled blond locks falling every which way and the dreadful look of complete desolation on Victoria’s lovely face brought tears to Evadne’s eyes. Phyllis wasn’t far behind and tried to run up on the pitiful woman.

"No Phyllis don’t," Evadne said as she took hold of her friend’s arm.

"Why? What’s the matter?"

Evadne quietly motioned toward Victoria who wasn’t smiling or even appearing the least bit glad to see them. She was just standing there staring sadly down at the girls and not saying a word. Evadne drew closer to Victoria and cautiously took her by the hand.

"Great Gorgons," Phyllis observed, while borrowing Victoria’s saying, "you look just like a wounded bird."

Evadne made a gesture to her little friend to keep still.

"Has Delia come back?" Evadne asked Victoria.

At the mention of Delia’s name a stabbing pain ripped through Victoria’s heart. She grabbed at her chest and dropped sobbing to the ground. The girls quickly came to her aid; Evadne lifted Victoria’s head onto her tiny lap with Phyllis helplessly looking on.

"What’s wrong? Are you unwell?" Evadne asked while gently caressing Victoria’s cheek.

She didn’t answer coherently, she only continued whimpering.

"Come Phyllis, let’s go tell the Elderess that Victoria is ill."

"No...please," Victoria reached up and took Evadne’s small warm hand in hers, "stay with me...?"

__________

"I trust the little ones didn’t give you too much trouble."

Carpeia, surrounded by the usual mountain of papers on her desk barely acknowledged Aristes presence.

"They behaved perfectly my lady, as only one would expect."

"And what of Sophia?"

Aristes naturally knew of Sophia’s illness through his many talks with Delia.

"She was peaceful."

"Very good. Thank you for seeing to everything in our absence; I realize how highly irregular it must have seemed to you."

"I considered it an honor," he swallowed hard before continuing, "My lady, what has become of Delia?"

Carpeia looked up at him; a bland statement trimmed her sharp features.

"Of course, you couldn’t have heard. Delia was found guilty of breaking her vow of chastity. The matter has been dealt with in the traditional manner."

Just as Aristes was about to speak, Phyllis flew into Carpeia’s study, high strung and out of breath.

"Elderess! Elderess, come quickly! Victoria is ill," Phyllis blurted out, "She’s on the ground. We are unable to wake her!"

"Stay here!" Carpeia cautioned Phyllis. "Aristes, come with me!"

They rushed out of her study, through the main gate and up the hill that led to the temple. There, drenched in afternoon light, Victoria lay spread out across the main path. Evadne was bent over Victoria frantically trying to coax her to stand up.

"Leave her!" Carpeia commanded her subordinate, "Go back to the Atrium."

Evadne instantly got to her feet and ran back home.

Victoria was still breathing; her eyes open and dazed. Carpeia knelt down next to the young woman and grabbed her chin tilting the ashen face towards her. Victoria’s wandering gaze met with a cold steady one.

"A tad too melodramatic, my dear girl," Carpeia whispered almost tenderly, "You won’t escape this easily; I‘m not quite finished with you yet. We have many avenues to explore, you and I," she let go of Victoria’s chin and pushed off her shoulder to stand, "Pick her up," she casually commanded Aristes.

"But...but...it is forbidden to lay my hand on a Vestal. It is punishable by--"

"--PICK HER UP, THIS INSTANT!"

Aristes crouched down, then gingerly slipped a hand under Victoria’s legs and the other supported her back. He lifted her up into his arms and started slowly down the hill. Carpeia rushed ahead of him to report to Lord Ladonis.

"She’s...no...more..." Victoria mumbled against Aristes’ chest.

He slowed his stride, but didn’t answer.

__________

A slight commotion caught her attention. Sophia pushed the window curtain aside--just enough to see what was going on. Aristes breezed quickly by, carrying something...large. She left her door wide open and followed him into Victoria’s room.

"You shouldn’t be in here!"

Aristes spun around awkwardly, still holding Victoria in his arms.

"SOPHIA!" he fired back in a rough whisper, "Don’t creep around like that! I almost dropped her! And she’s no feather weight you know!"

Sophia darted forward and together they deposited Victoria on the bed. With the last bit of his strength, Aristes hoisted Victoria’s limp legs the rest of the way onto her mattress.

"There now," he breathed heavily as he backed away, "She collapsed on the hill," Aristes started to explain without being asked, "The ordeal in Rome was too much for her."

Sophia stared down at Victoria.

"Poor Vitria," she sighed, "Visits to Rome must be so tiring."

Aristes pulled her aside as if Victoria would overhear their conversation.

"No dear lady, it is what happened there that has upset her. Delia was executed today; the Elderess told me." His voice trembled as he continued, "I just know Lord Ladonis and Carpeia conspired together to do away with her."

Sophia knitted her brow and looked very confused.

"But Delia will be back soon, yes?"

It was all Aristes could do to stop himself from shaking her.

"Don’t you understand what I’ve told you? Delia is no more. They killed her!"

He burst into tears and hurried out of the room. Sophia took little notice and turned her attention to Victoria’s tattered garments. First she tried to loosen the rumpled shawl that was wrapped tightly around her body. Sophia then tried pulling the thing; it became an impossible task.

"I can’t do this if you don’t help me--"

Victoria stirred. A fever smoldered in her brain; an image of Delia climbing down a long ladder...

"--Delia..." she moaned.

Sophia looked down at her wondering what was going on. Victoria’s eyes opened and stared, unblinking, up at the ceiling.

"What’s wrong Vitria?" Sophia lightly patted her on the cheek. When this didn’t rouse her, she waved a hand in front of Victoria’s face. "Come, come, you’re being very silly! Carpeia will catch you," Sophia paused and thought a moment, "and she might report you to Lord Ladonis and you wouldn’t want that!"

It was obvious, even to someone as unstable as Sophia, that something wasn’t right.

"I know! I’ll get Delia and..."

She started for the door to get help then stopped in her tracks.

"But Delia isn’t here."

XIV

The shutters on her windows were closed all that evening and most of the next day. Only one lighted candle glowed in Victoria’s room.

"Her eyes will need to be bathed every quarter hour. Under no circumstances are those shutters to be opened. The bright sunshine may blind her."

Carpeia stood off to the side of the patient’s bed with her arms folded.

"Why do they stay open like that? We close them, but she opens them again."

"Distress is usually the cause of this problem. More than likely something has deeply upset the young lady. Here, I have prepared a remedy for the ailment."

The physician handed Carpeia a small vile of black liquid and started to pack up his medicinal wares.

"Two drops in a small goblet of red wine at day, and again at night. See that she drinks it all."

Carpeia regarded this man with a steely gaze.

"Will she recover?"

He looked down at Victoria’s lusterless face; her blank stare fixed firmly on the ceiling.

"She may come ‘round," he answered in a bored tone, "but if she does not recover--"

"--Not recover?" Carpeia loomed unpleasantly over the stocky little man.

"--If she does not recover, she will have to be cared for like an infant the rest of her life," the physician immediately shot back, "Best to make preparations early my lady. Medicine is not an infallible art."

He looked straight into the Elderess’s frigid blue eyes challenging her to try to intimidate him.

Amused at his impertinence she backed down.

"Very well. I shall consider your professional advice."

"Send for me if there is no change in the next four days."

The physician slung his heavy medical bag over his shoulder and started to leave, then turned around.

"What she requires most is tenderness. Perhaps you should assign someone more qualified to perform this task."

He walked nonchalantly out of Victoria’s room.

"Damn his impudence," Carpeia mumbled.

"How is our invalid?"

Lucius Ladonis had stepped into the room quietly and stood behind Carpeia.

"Still convalescing as you can see."

He strolled gracefully to Victoria’s bed and held a hand mere inches above the occupant’s face then snapped his fingers. Her glassy stare didn’t budge.

"Do you suppose she could be faking the stupor she’s in?" Lucius said eyeing the young woman warily.

Carpeia knelt over and locked her lips upon Victoria’s ever so briefly. She drew back, closely observing her subordinate. Lucius Ladonis shot a startled look at his mistress; Carpeia didn’t bother herself to notice him.

"If that were so," she stated in a bored tone, "it is the best bit of acting I’ve ever witnessed."

Victoria’s chest rose and fell...hesitated...then rose and fell again. It was always the same pattern. When her eyes were bathed a few minutes later, she felt nothing. When they were bathed several times during the course of that day, still nothing. She had simply turned off.

__________

The doctor’s request to see Victoria after four days if her condition hadn’t changed wasn’t honored. Something had been making Carpeia very restless. To her, Victoria’s impediment was insignificant compared to her own well being. She shivered, but the night was warm.

"It’s like the night before Hypatia was eliminated...," she muttered audibly, "Oh really, it’s a tad late for scruples!"

Carpeia put a hand over her mouth and chuckled, "What possible use would a conscience be to me now?"

She got out of bed and went to close her window curtains against the irritatingly bright shafts of moonlight peeking through. As she started to unhook one side of the frilly cloth...

A figure draped in white sat quietly on a stone bench near the garden. Its head was down and topped with long frost-white hair. Carpeia drew in a single sharp and gasping breath that the intruder overheard. It drowsily raised its head on a tilted angle toward her. This being appeared to be female. Her smallish face could barely be seen in the dim moonlight, yet it looked just like--

"No...no..."

The skin, a chalky hue.

"NOOOOOO!"

The eyes appeared as dark holes.

"AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Her lips were colorless and grinning.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!"

Carpeia stumbled backwards from her window and the entity it framed so perfectly.

Her piercing screams woke everyone in the hemmed-in community--everyone except Victoria who didn’t turn a hair.

Lord Ladonis raced from his private elegant rooms and burst into Carpeia’s spacious sleeping quarters. The Elderess lay in a ball on the floor near her bed shrieking.

"LUCIUS...IT’S HER...IT’S HER..."

She sat up and seized hold of his robes pulling him down to her.

"QUIET!" Lord Ladonis ordered in a grating whisper, "Do you want everyone to hear us?"

Carpeia tried to calm herself with very little effect; only the volume of her rapid-fire reply changed.

"Look there, I saw her, I saw her!" she pointed towards her window.

"Calm yourself, you’re talking too fast."

He considered slapping her, but changed his mind. Carpeia breathed heavily, reining herself in enough to be heard.

"She is out there!"

He got up and walked to the window. The garden was as peaceful as usual, only Evadne and Phyllis were standing in the shadows outside wondering what was happening. Sophia’s door was open slightly. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"Young ladies," he called, addressing the sleepy children, "the day has not yet begun. Go back to bed."

Both girls obeyed and disappeared into their separate rooms. Sophia’s chamber door closed soon after.

Lord Ladonis turned and found Carpeia sitting at the foot of her bed. She wrung her hands together nervously waiting for Lucius to talk. He walked over and sat next to her.

"This deplorable conduct doesn’t become you my dear."

"We all have our moments of weakness," she answered in a strained voice.

"It must have been a dream that frightened you," he offered delicately.

Carpeia looked into his dark concerned eyes and simulated a bemused statement.

"Hardly," she took a deep breath before speaking again, "Delia was sitting in the square staring up at me."

Lord Ladonis started to laugh but the Elderess put a hand on his arm and squeezed it hard.

"STOP THAT!" she hissed through clenched teeth.

He flinched at the mounting pain and briefly glanced down at her whitened knuckles.

"Are aware that you’re hurting me?"

She let him go and went back to nervously wringing her hands.

"My dear, you and I well know this image is an impossibility. I was at her burial after all."

Carpeia looked coolly at him. For a moment, Lord Ladonis was shocked to see tears pooling in her eyes. He had never seen this woman cry, ever. Her tears brimmed over and began to roll slowly down her face. Carpeia didn’t pay these droplets any heed; they fell as if they belonged to someone else. Gallantly, Lucius took her hand and patted it reassuringly.

"The apparition wants my blood," she said directing a stony gaze at him, "Why not yours as well?"

"Because Delia is dead," he tossed her hand away, "she cannot harm us."

"We were spared Hypatia’s wrath. The infant’s..." A very sad statement intermingled with anxiety on Carpeia’s face, "I suppose Delia was one too many."

Lord Ladonis fumed inside.

"I thought we promised each other never to speak her name again."

Carpeia leaned forward ever so slightly.

"Remember when you and that dreadful Hypatia conceived a bastard? You came to me for help," Carpeia’s eyes were fixed solidly on his, daring him to silence her, "To me! I was just a pure, loving girl then..."

"Pure has never been a word that one would associate with you my dear. The price you required for not reporting me to the pontifical court was rather high. Your so called ‘love’ expresses itself in a rather distorted way, don’t you think pet?"

Visions of the odious former Elderess Hypatia Silvanus flashed through Carpeia’s mind. How, at her urging, the handsome recently appointed Pontifex Maximus squeezed the life from Hypatia’s velvety smooth white throat.

Carpeia smiled.

"Oh Lucius, my loves are no different than your own," she caressed his cheek slowly, "Wasn’t it sweet that you carried out that small favor...my adorable slave?"

Carpeia inched closer then bit into his lower lip. Lord Ladonis yelped and stood up angrily holding his injured mouth.

"DAMN YOU!" he glared at her, then quieted down into what seemed very near to despair. "You never really loved me. Not then, not now."

"But I do love you Lucius darling, in my own..."

A long shadow fell across the floor in her bedroom. It wandered briskly along the glossy boards and vanished. Carpeia froze in mid sentence watching the supple smudge as it undulated to the other side of her room and away. She ran to the window just in time to see her stranger in white disappear through the main bronze gates. Carpeia sank to the ground in an unconscious stupor.

XV

At first, watching and waiting for Delia to materialize again nearly drove Carpeia to madness. In the daytime she kept to herself, preferring to stay in her room and only came out to take meals long after everyone else’s plates had been removed.

Nearly a week passed with no sign of Delia’s apparition anywhere. As each uneventful day had gone by it seemed certain that her ghost was undoubtedly the result of a very creative and lively imagination. Before long, Carpeia started to feel much stronger and thought it only fitting to catch up on volumes of backlogged paperwork. She took her time dressing before going to the study; even taking great care to neatly line her eyelids with coal black tint.

Once outside in the cool late evening air, Carpeia didn’t care about grim formality. Instead of her usual measured stride she dashed exuberantly to her study, unbolted the heavy door, and slipped quietly inside.

A dark shape moved stealthily through the simple network of living quarters keeping close to the whitewashed façade. It didn’t even pause when caught in a blinding shower of light flooding across the marble path. This fleetingly illuminated image sped past Carpeia’s open study door and found itself once again in dusk. The indistinct figure continued to carefully feel along craggy walls until one of its pale hands fell upon a plain but well used handle.

A swift upward pull then...

*Click*

Sophia’s door opened easily, smoothly on its hinges. Not at all like her splintered hatchway, whose aged hardware had always signaled each departure and entrance with an excruciating fanfare of groans. There, sitting calmly on her bed and outlined in the satin yellow murkiness of candlelight was Sophia.

Sophia smiled pleasantly at the shadowy form and held out her hand to it.

"I’ve been waiting for you," Sophia said in a perfectly lucid tone.

Puzzled by this unexpectedly warm invitation, the apparition came forward into the light and timidly mirrored Sophia’s friendly gesture. Their fingers touched. Sophia drew the entity closer and held the frigid hand between her own.

"This is an unusually cold night isn’t it?"

Sophia stroked the icy hand fondly.

"Isn’t it, Delia?"

The being sat itself down slowly on the bed next to Sophia.

"Yes," Delia replied softly, "very cold."

__________

Carpeia feverishly worked all night and well into the next day leafing through stacks of papers piled on her enormous desk without a break. She managed to sort out and arrange most of her neglected paperwork, barked orders to the younger members of the community, and even found time to revise her cataloging system.

Sandwiched somewhere in-between all this hectic activity Carpeia made tentative arrangements for Victoria to be taken care of by a pleasant and willing matron. The sight of yet another slowly deteriorating resident made the Elderess intolerably restless.

Lord Ladonis had left early to set up this transaction at the middle-aged woman’s rather rustic village and was due to return very soon.

"Only one more nuisance left..." she brooded silently to herself.

A small knock sounded on her doorframe. Carpeia looked up a little startled from being so deep in thought.

"Yes?" she asked knowing full well, as usual, that just outside her door a subordinate waited patiently to be invited in.

"It is I Elderess, Evadne who requests an audience with you."

"Enter!"

Evadne stepped into the study and stood before Carpeia’s desk hands folded one on top of the other just above her small waist.

"Elderess, I have come to inquire as to the state of Victoria’s health," here the growing young girl paused, then became an anxious child again, "Is she to be taken from us?"

Carpeia guessed that Evadne thought Victoria would soon die. The Elderess turned her attention back to her papers. She carefully chose to only answer Evadne’s second question and replied in a dispassionate tone.

"Yes, but not in the way you fear child. Our poor afflicted sister will be well cared for by a trustworthy widow. You need not trouble yourself any longer on her behalf."

Evadne, not sure how to receive this news, stood quietly trying to form her next question.

"Come, come is there anything else?" Carpeia asked impatiently.

"Yes," Evadne answered hesitantly, "I saw someone leave Victoria’s room early this morning. Was it the trustworthy widow?"

The Elderess instantly stopped what she was doing and sat up straight aiming her full attention at the girl.

"Impossible child," Carpeia said while frantically laboring to sound calm, "Perhaps it was Phyllis you saw...?"

"No Elderess. It was a woman. A woman with long white hair."

Carpeia nervously moved some papers about and tried to appear in control.

"You are mistaken. There is NO ONE here that fits that description."

Evadne made an almost imperceptible quiver due to the Elderess’s distressing attitude.

"But Elderess, I did see her."

Carpeia jumped up from her chair and slammed her fist down on the desk.

"WHY DO YOU CHALLENGE ME? I SAID YOU ARE MISTAKEN!"

Carpeia’s thunderous outburst caused poor Evadne to spring backwards.

"I saw her-- "

The Elderess was fast on her feet. Darting from behind her table she grabbed the startled girl by the neck.

"I’LL TEACH YOU...!" she screamed and tightened her fingers around Evadne’s slender throat choking off her air supply.

A swift blow to Carpeia’s jaw caused her to instantly release the gasping child.

Lucius Ladonis helped Evadne up and got her out of the Elderess’s study as quickly as he could. He closed the door then rushed over to Carpeia.

"ARE YOU MAD?"

Lord Ladonis took hold of Carpeia’s stooped shoulders roughly turning her around to face him.

"Do you realize you almost killed that child?" he continued in a jagged rasp.

The sudden violent ordeal had caused Carpeia’s veil to fall off and her silvery hair to become untidily tousled. She looked up at him, bitterness exaggerating her glazed blue eyes.

"And what is one more dead child to you, eh Lucius?"

A small dribble of blood streamed over her lower lip and flowed down to her chin as she spoke. Fury drummed in Lord Ladonis’ temples at this new attack. Yet seeing his mistress glaring at him with such hatred, scarlet staining her perfect chin and not being wiped away, disturbed the Pontifex more than her harsh words. He reached into his elegant sleeve and pulled out a handkerchief then lightly dabbed her mouth with it.

"That would be one more too many my darling."

__________

It might have been the constant sound of a kind voice or perhaps the tender kiss upon her brow that roused Victoria from her dormant state. She painfully turned her head towards a hazy figure sitting alongside her bed. Her lips trembled open to speak, but only a raw, grainy sound sputtered out.

"Shhhhh," gentle fingers glided over her forehead and smoothed back her uncombed golden hair, "Try not to strain your throat."

Sophia’s thin, though less haunted features gradually came into focus. Victoria tried to speak again, this time sounding a little clearer.

"Sophia...?"

"Yes Vitria, I’m here."

No simpler statement could have improved upon describing this woman. Though haggard and appearing much older than her thirty-four years on the earth, Sophia was indeed "here" in every sense of the word.

"Is this my room?" Victoria asked sounding a bit confused.

"Look about you."

Sophia helped her to sit up and held on till Victoria could get her balance. She looked around straining to make out the details of her few humble belongings. Some cherished trinkets rested neatly on the narrow windowsill; others stood on the low bedside table. Victoria’s silvery gray gaze searched idly for a simple clay figurine of a bird that Delia gave her when she was a little girl, but didn’t see it. Delia...

"What a dear child she was," Victoria murmured dreamily, "and those large unusual eyes. Do you remember them Sophia? So remarkable."

"Yes, I do very well. They still are."

It took a few moments for Victoria to fully comprehend what Sophia had just said. Her heart sank in her chest realizing that Sophia wasn’t well at all.

"Sophia," Victoria tried to speak a little louder, but it only sounded more strangled, "Delia is dead. I helped them kill her..."

The weight of these words stopped Victoria in mid sentence and she turned away.

"No Vitria, Delia is as alive as you and I," Sophia took Victoria’s face between her hands and tilted it back to meet her gaze, "It is the other two that are no more."

A dark shadow crept across Sophia’s features. Her eyes then fixed themselves into an odd statement of liberation. Victoria immediately thought of Phyllis and Evadne.

"Not the girls...?"

"Oh no, the precious little ones are safe," Sophia’s strange look changed back to its worn appearance as she let go of Victoria, "the other two."

Even though Sophia no longer seemed affected by mentioning this cryptic information, her emphasis on "the other two" made Victoria lean forward.

"My dear, I’m not sure if I understand you correctly," Victoria rasped, "are you speaking of the Elderess and Lord Ladonis?"

"Yes."

"And Delia is alive? Really alive?"

"Yes."

Upon hearing this, Victoria’s thoughts were like storm waves on the ocean crashing together. When a question would arise from the depths of her confusion it was swiftly dragged down by another more violent swell. At last, the powerful meaning of the news settled into her consciousness.

"Carpeia and Lord Ladonis are dead?" she asked evenly.

"One is dead, the other..." that strange demeanor overcame Sophia once more, "...the other will never come back to our reality."

Although Victoria had not gathered enough of her wits to ask for an explanation, it didn’t matter. Sophia gazed past her charge and spoke in a voice that hardly seemed like her old frightened self.

"It happened three days ago. Delia walked into my room as I had anticipated..."

XVI

Having spent the past five days eating discarded food, seeking the shelter of dark alleys and secluded alcoves in town to hide, Delia couldn’t be wearier. Sophia’s warm room and comfortable chair were a welcome change. She sighed and removed the long white wig from her head; the pretense had not fooled Sophia. She felt that Carpeia, with her wits about her again, must have seen through this disguise as well. Delia looked at her other hand in Sophia’s grasp and did not recoil from her touch as she used to.

"You expected me to come here. How did you know?"

Sophia stopped rubbing Delia’s cold fingers and became very serious.

"I saw you sitting in the garden that first night. The sight frightened me until I watched you open the door to hide in Carpeia’s study. Spirits can walk through walls and doors, is this not so?"

Delia nodded in agreement.

"How did you escape your tomb?"

The young woman studied the scraggly white wig now lying in her lap and smiled.

"You will know...in good time," Delia moved her attention to Sophia’s questioning eyes, "How fares our dear Elderess?" she asked sarcastically, "Is she already laying plans for my second demise?"

"Carpeia has no knowledge of your trickery and is quite upset, though she takes great pains not to show it."

Delia couldn’t help feeling pleasure at hearing this.

"I suppose you will ease her discomfort now by unveiling the truth, won’t you?"

"I?" Sophia answered sounding offended, "I despise Carpeia."

Yes, there was a good reason why Delia hadn’t pulled away from this woman. During their brief conversation, Sophia remained completely rational, insightful, and focused. Whatever it was that brought her back from so many years of madness, Delia felt thankful for it.

"Those poor babes buried under the flower bed," Sophia continued in a remorseful tone, "Long ago I discovered the creatures. I sent word to the Pontifical Council; Carpeia intercepted my message before it reached them. Then Lord Ladonis threatened me with my own disgrace. He knew it would guarantee my silence."

Sophia’s statement darkened and filled with such grief that Delia squeezed her hand in sympathy.

"One of those infants is yours, isn’t it?"

Sophia nodded, and her eyes grew hard and angry.

"I gave birth to my little girl but she was taken from me. They lied and told me she was getting the best of care. Carpeia had my baby killed the day of her birth and placed her with those other two unfortunates. I found them while turning the soil one day."

She swallowed hard and continued.

"Even in that terrible condition I recognized my sweet little girl. I just couldn’t stand the weight of that knowledge," Sophia’s voice lowered to a soft whisper, "Do you know that all three belong to Lucius Ladonis?"

The memory of him confessing his sin blazed in her mind.

‘They are mine,’ he had volunteered casually walking into Sophia’s room.

"Yes," Delia replied bitterly, "he told me one was Hypatia’s," she willed the tears that gathered in her eyes to go away, "the other, I assume belongs to Carpeia."

Sophia slowly nodded her head again.

"They both have much to answer for."

Delia found it hard to believe that this was the same woman she used to call ‘wraith’.

"Sophia," she asked changing the subject, "what has happened? Why are you no longer ill?"

Sophia stared off thoughtfully trying to remember the exact moment when her insanity started to fall away.

"It began the day Aristes told me of your death. I can only guess that the shock was the cure. I am just as puzzled at the change as you are my dear, yet here I sit without the terrible confusion."

Sophia’s gaze narrowed as she leveled it at Delia.

"If I had known what they planned for you I would have spoken to the council; even with my derangement upon me."

Delia’s tears returned twofold and they began to flow down her cheeks.

"I can see it plain," Delia smiled a little through her tears, "abranded depraved criminal and a madwoman. What a pair we would have made in front of that pompous tribunal," She turned away as more tears fell from her eyes, "I’m so sorry Sophia..."

Sophia patted Delia’s hand gently.

"Sorry? For what my dear?"

Delia could feel the trembling in her throat beginning and could barely get her words out.

"For meaning to frighten you tonight and for misjudging you...all these years..."

Sophia took Delia into her arms and held her tight. Some of the light colored paint she had on her face rubbed off onto Sophia’s nightdress, but Sophia didn’t care.

"Never you mind my dear. What you ought to do is leave this place and take Victoria with you."

Delia instantly stiffened at the mention of Victoria’s name and pulled back.

"I don’t want anything more to do with her!"

Sophia cocked her head to one side trying to understand Delia’s anger.

"But I thought you loved each other?"

"Love?" Delia chuckled sarcastically, "Oh, I loved her and I believed that she cared for me." Delia’s face contorted into pained anger, "I saw Victoria hide behind a crowd when a council member called for someone to confirm my innocence. I shall never forget the sight of her cowering form. I’ll never forgive her."

Sophia closed her eyes and gasped softly.

"Oh Vitria, what have you done?" she opened her eyes and stood up, "Alas, this clarifies the mystery of Victoria’s affliction."

"Affliction?"

Sophia took Delia by the hand, urging her to stand, which she did.


"Come with me my dear."

She brought along her lighted candle stub and led Delia to the door. Cautiously, Sophia made sure they were alone and slowly tiptoed out pulling Delia along with her.

Carpeia’s study was bathed in light. The interior rumbled with activity, but it didn’t seem to pose a threat. Sophia wasn’t going far, quite near as a matter of fact. She grasped the bronze door handle and pulled it up with a quick jerk. The door swung inward on a darkened room.

"This is Victoria’s bed chamber!" Delia whispered harshly.

Sophia pushed her through the entranceway then followed swiftly shutting the door behind them. Their candle flame danced on the short wick threatening to blow out then gradually steadied to its normal height.

Radiantly beautiful in the warm glow of candlelight Victoria lay motionless on her bed, a thick blanket drawn up around her. Sophia placed the candleholder on a low table next to Victoria’s bed then hurried over to the window to make sure the heavy curtains were closed and fastened tightly. Delia walked slowlyover to the stationary form. Victoria’s gray sunken-in eyes were open.

She looked down at Victoria with a scowl on her face expecting the woman to rise up and say something at any moment. Sophia soon joined Delia and stood next to her.

"Well?" Delia addressed her former friend.

When she didn’t answer, Delia poked her finger roughly into Victoria’s shoulder.

"Why don’t you speak?"

Neither action had any effect; the woman didn’t stir an inch.

"What is the matter with her? Why is she just lying there like that?"

Sophia dipped a sponge into the water basin nearby and moistened Victoria’s eyes with it. Fresh dewy droplets dribbled onto her face and ran slowly down one side of her nose.

"Victoria has been an invalid since the day she came back from Rome. As you can see she doesn’t move or speak. She would stare at the ceiling for hours on end if one of us didn’t close her eyes."

Delia leaned her painted white face down and studied Victoria’s fixed statement carefully. Being this close to her caused an overwhelming pang of longing and loss; she then straightened up quickly.

"There is nothing I can nor care to do for her."

Sophia sighed and resumed the bathing task.

"Truly my dear, I thought that seeing her in this condition would give you a change of heart. Clearly I was mistaken."

"You were."

Delia moved quickly towards the exit, and paused at Victoria’s bedroom door.

"I know that you want me to be kind to Victoria Sophia, but I’ve lost the love I had for her," Delia pulled the long wig back over her hazelnut hair, "There is only revenge in its place now."

Sophia ran to her side.

"I don’t believe you, not for an instant! You wouldn’t harm Vitria...?"

Delia turned to gaze into Sophia’s worried eyes.

"There are two evils among us that need immediate correcting. That one--" she looked past Sophia and glanced briefly at the motionless occupant of the room, "--will follow them."

Delia opened the door and slipped into darkness.

XVII

She stepped quietly to the open study entrance and peeked in at Carpeia. The Elderess was busily moving papers around and filing them into one of the numbered slotted bookcases along the walls. Delia noted that she was smiling.

A sudden feeling of being watched made Carpeia shoot a frightened look at the door. There standing in the brightly lit room was the ghost of Delia; tattered robes flowing about her.

"Will you not invite me in now Elderess?"

Delia folded her hands one on top of the other above her waist in a customary stance of reverence; the only difference was a leering grin on her face. Carpeia, too petrified even to scream, backed into the vaulted bookcase behind her; blue eyes wide open, and pupils dilated.

"No?" Delia said moving towards her, "But it is I Elderess, Delia, who requests an audience with you!"

"GO AWAY! DON’T COME ANY CLOSER!" Carpeia wailed in a panicked voice.

Delia ambled slowly over to the Elderess, arms outstretched to enfold her. Just as she was near enough to touch her, Carpeia fainted and fell to the floor. The loud disturbance stirred their sleeping community. Lord Ladonis was, as usual first on the scene, but not before Delia fled undiscovered from the study.

"Carpeia!"

He rushed into the room to find the Elderess lying crumpled, face down next to her desk. Carefully, Lord Ladonis lifted her into his arms.

"My darling," he said patting her face gently, "wake my darling..."

Moaning pathetically, Carpeia came violently back into consciousness.

"GET HER AWAY FROM ME!"

"Calm down Carpeia, there is no one here but you and I."

The Elderess looked up at him. Lord Ladonis’ features sagged and rippled molding into a very familiar face. It was Delia smiling down at her.

"AAAAHHHHHH!"

Carpeia flew into hysterics and wouldn’t keep still. Lucius closed a hand harshly over her perfect nose and mouth causing the Elderess to gradually black out. She feebly struggled against his iron grip then went limp.

"I’m so sorry," he whispered sweetly, taking his hand away from her mouth, "I had to quiet you my dear."



Lord Ladonis stroked her cheek, tenderly soothing his unconscious mistress.

"You’ll see. I’ll bring back proof that Delia is dead and buried in her grave. I’ll return with a lock of her hair."

He picked Carpeia up and carried her to her spacious rooms.

Delia overheard the whole event hiding just below the study window. She crouched low when Lord Ladonis transported his love out of the study and headed towards Carpeia’s living quarters. Delia stared at the Elderess’s door long after Carpeia’s limp body had passed through it. There was a look on Delia’s painted face that seemed almost inhuman.

"...There is only revenge in its place now."

She removed her sandals and walked barefoot through the bronze main gate and into the damp grass. Sleepiness weighed heavily on her and a run in the cool greenery is what she needed to revive.

"I must fasten Mercury’s wing upon my ankle," she murmured softly, "I have no more time to waste!"

Delia sprinted now and then across the spongy meadows making her way in good time to the humble stone cottage of Nisus; Nisus the gravedigger. This plain, middle-aged man and his son Nestor saved her life. Though the event had only occurred less than two weeks prior, she felt as if more time had elapsed than that.

She looked up at the night sky. A three-quarter moon, and traces of dawn appearing on the horizon helped to light her way.

"It’s not as dark as..."

She shook her head in an attempt to get rid of the memories of that terrifying day, but it proved futile. The vivid images co-mingled with her present thoughts until Delia was reliving her bitter punishment all over again...

XVIII

A mountain of earth sprang up to the right of her grave again. It seemed to be piled higher this time, and not quite as neatly placed as it was before. Two men were working feverishly to remove sizable clots of clay from Delia’s burial chamber. One was older--bald; the younger sported a thick swath of black hair on his head with bits of brown dirt in it.

"Go and keep watch. I’ll do the rest," Nisus said giving his son a nudge.

Nestor climbed out as his father ordered and warily scanned the area for any unwanted guests. More dirt flew out of the hole, then--

"DAMN ALL THE GODS!"

Nisus threw his shovel aside and started to dig away at the rich brown soil with his hands.

"What is the matter father?" Nestor called down uneasily.

"Help me Nestor...I can’t find her!"

In their haste to get Delia out in time, the unstable ceiling of this death chamber had partially collapsed on her. Nestor jumped down and immediately burrowed into the earth alongside his father. Both men could barely breathe. Dust particles flew every which way taking up the already thin air of the dark passage. Halfway through, Nestor came in contact with Delia’s arm.

"She’s here!" Nestor squeezed out between labored breaths.

Nisus fumbled about in the dark until he could just make out the outline of her shoulder. Moving quickly he freed Delia’s head and the upper part of her body while Nestor worked on her lower half. This proved to be almost impossible because the soft soil had compacted tightly around her hips. So tightly, in fact, that Nisus decided that they should both pull Delia the rest of the way out. The upper portion of her body lolled sickeningly to the side just before the men got a firm hold of each arm. A passing thought occurred to Nisus that she felt like a loose-limbed rag doll in his hands.

They tugged and pulled hard to loosen her from the earthen prison but she wouldn’t budge. Nestor tapped on his father’s arm.

"Let me try it alone."

Nisus moved out of the way while his son grabbed her tight under the shoulders. Planting his feet solidly he pulled with all his might. A dry tearing noise filtered out of the soil at her waist and suddenly she tumbled free. The new hole that was left quickly filled in again.

They carried Delia to where there was more room and laid her down gently in the bright light that trickled down into the deep cavern. Delia was smeared head to toe with mud. To say that she looked awful would have been a kind way of describing her.

Nisus cupped a hand over her mouth and waited to feel a breath. Nothing. She wasn’t breathing.

"Get the water!" he said calmly without looking at his son.

Nestor obeyed and left his father temporarily alone with Delia. Nisus jammed his grimy fingers between her lips and forced her mouth open. He probed inside Delia’s mouth to make surenothing had gotten in there, then turned her over. He slapped her hard on the back a few times and cupped his hand near Delia’s mouth again. Still nothing.

Nestor came back with the water and kneeled down next to his father quietly watching him try to revive the young woman. Nisus slapped her two more times and repeated the action of putting his hand to her mouth. Complete silence. He then tried the only other method he knew to help resuscitate someone who had stopped breathing: Nisus straddled her from behind and massaged up and down her back in a long deliberate motion. He’d seen this performed countless times on people dragged out of the water who were presumed dead. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not. Nisus prayed with every stroke that Delia would start to breathe on her own.

A few clear bubbles formed at her lips that neither man could seethen she violently shuddered under Nisus’ hands. Delia’s back abruptly heaved up from the sudden rush of oxygen she drew in and Nisus hastily scrambled off of her. Rapid-fire hacking coughs came next, rocking Delia’s body in sporadic fits.

"She’s alive!"

Nestor joyfully stated the obvious and gently lifted Delia up laying her head over his shoulder. She coughed a few more times eventually settling into more of a normal breathing pattern.

Delia opened her eyes and frantically looked about. Without much of a warning she started shouting and pulled away from Nestor.

"I’M INNOCENT! I’M INNOCENT!" she screamed and clawed at the air.

Nisus caught Delia by her arms and held them firmly in his grasp.

"You are with friends. We know your Lictor, Aristes; he sent word to us..."

These words were warmly spoken in an attempt to quiet her fears. Delia stopped struggling and focused on the two men in front of her. She gradually began to realize that there was nothing threatening in these concerned faces. Nestor held out the water jug to her and she quickly snatched it from his hands. Delia gulped down several swallows and handed it back making sure she wouldn’t accidentally touch him.

"We got you out just in time. You’re safe with us now," Nestor offered, almost in a whisper.

"Out...?"

Delia’s voice seemed to be as far away as the look in her eyes.

"We must go now," Nisus put his hand on Nestor’s, "see if we are alone."

Nestor climbed up the ladder and carefully searched the area above.

"It’s safe."

He climbed down halfway and held his large hand out to Delia. She stared at it then looked over at the older man; he nodded, smiling. Nisus helped Delia to her feet and she timidly reached for Nestor’s hand. He held Delia’s hand gently and guided her up the thin wooden rungs, with Nisus making sure she wouldn’t fall backwards.

Once outside, with no one about, Nestor and his father breathed a little sigh of relief. The sun was high above the small cluster of trees lining the road. It would’ve been safer to travel at night under cover of darkness, but given this situation they had no other choice.

Nisus walked to his cart and held up a corner of the tarp stretched loosely over it.

"Quickly my lady."

Even in her hazy awareness of everything around her, she understood what he wanted.

"Where are you taking me?" Delia asked as she crawled under the rough canvas.

"A safer place," he answered while tying down the cover.

Both men then commenced to fill up the deep hole again. It didn’t take long, being that they pushed most of the earth back into place. Nestor collected their tools fastening them securely to the outside of the cart.

"You have to remain quite still my lady," Nestor whispered close to the tarp, "Your rescue mustn’t be discovered."

He lifted the long handles of their cart and began wheeling it slowly up the road.

The cart gradually stopped moving. They had arrived...where? How long the trip lasted, Delia couldn’t begin to guess. The slight swaying motion had soothed her into a deep sleep.

Sudden gusts of cool evening air blew in through a folded over end of the tarp. Caring hands helped her up then out of the low flatbed vehicle. Delia became aware of someone else putting an arm around her then being led to an open front door.

"The poor thing is near naked and frozen stiff!" came a pleasant voice; a woman’s voice, "Didn’t you two think to put a blanket on the girl?" Her words weren’t angry, just concerned.

Without answering her question, the men remained outside, wheeling their cart into its shed and unloading it. This woman enfolded Delia in the long shawl she wore and held her close

"Don’t worry dearie," the woman continued, addressing Delia this time, "Mena will help you inside."

Drowsy thoughts of: ‘Who is Mena?’ and ‘Where is this ‘inside’?’ limped through Delia’s mind. The only thing sure to her at the moment was that she was walking, walking into a welcoming yellow light.

"Set yourself down here," Mena said, while helping Delia onto a bed, "I’ll be right back."

She slipped the shawl loosely around her confused charge then went off to fetch some hot water and a cloth. Delia in the meantime had focused her limited attention on the floorboards. Each board was tight-fitting and glossy. In her dazed condition, Delia imagined she was tiny enough to fall between those boards.

Mena had quickly returned with a bowl of water, a cloth and something for Delia to sleep in. She removed the shawl from Delia’s shoulders and her thin tattered burial garment followed. Gently tilting the young woman’s face up she was now ready to
start cleaning off the mud.

"Let’s get you nice and pretty, shall we?"

Delia looked at the woman speaking to her for the first time. Mena had the kindest statement on her face that she ever saw. The warm wet cloth pressed against Delia’s skin and brushed delicately downward in short strokes working its way around to her legs.

"Nearly done."

Mena slipped a sleeping gown over her head and dressed her. She then helped Delia under the warm covers bringing the ends up around her chin. Mena smiled and kissed her cheek.

"Sleep now. If you need me I’ll be right here."

As a child, the only one that ever tucked her in and kissed her goodnight was Victoria.

Victoria.

Tears welled in Delia’s violet eyes and she started to cry.

"You’re safe with us, my dear," Mena gently reassured her, "No harm will come to you."

Delia threw herself into Mena’s arms and rested in their warmth.

XIX

Past images melted away as Delia stopped to catch her breath at the top of a rise.

This green hill overlooked a lone dwelling sitting in a sparsely wooded surrounding. A new morning sun crept through evening’s inky clouds changing them to a lighter hue. Glittering dewdrops spotted the dull red-brown terra cotta shingles of this small home giving it a very peaceful appearance, but not for long.


The low door swung wide and flapped loudly against the rough outer façade. It was Nestor, Nisus’ son toting a large wooden bucket at his side. He spotted Delia a short distance away coming towards him; her delicate form silhouetted by the pinkish light of early dawn.

"She’s back!" he called into the open entrance.

Nestor dropped his bucket and hurried to meet her. Delia waved to him and walked a little faster; relieved to see a friendly smiling face. He caught her in his arms and hugged Delia close.

"I was...we were thinking about you!"

He lifted Delia effortlessly and carried the exhausted woman the rest of the way to his father’s house. Nisus in the meantime had emerged with Mena and waited near the doorway to greet her. When Nestor arrived with his disheveled burden Nisus and Mena wrapped their arms around both of them.

"My dear child," Mena began excitedly, "we have been out of our minds with worry."

Nestor put Delia down carefully.

"Everything is going as planned," Delia stated firmly, "As I had hoped, Lord Ladonis wishes to visit my grave."

All three were slightly taken aback by her grim demeanor; it was Nisus who broke the silence.

"We are ready for him," Nisus reassured Delia, "Nestor and I have already received word to meet your Pontifex at the Colline this afternoon. You must’ve shaken him."

She took his large callused hands in hers and squeezed them tight.

"I owe you my life," Delia said in a softer voice, "All of you are taking a terrible risk. If anything should go wrong--"

Nisus’ eyes twinkled with a confident glow.

"--Nothing will go wrong dear lady, you may be certain of that."

__________

After he received word that the gravediggers had arrived, the Pontifex sent a formal and precise note to them with final instructions. Lord Ladonis then leisurely climbed into his lavishly decorated open carriage.

"To the Colline Gate," he directed the coachman.

At first, the elderly man gazed back at his master with a quizzical look on his face.

"Do we not speak the same dialect friend?" Lucius Ladonis inquired calmly, "DRIVE ON!" he added in a thunderous tone.

The driver immediately raised his whip and cracked it over the horse’s skittish heads. With a clean lurch forward, Lord Ladonis was on his way.

__________

"Elderess?"

Sophia knocked on Carpeia’s chamber door for a third time.

"Elderess, are you there?"

She put her ear to the door and listened closely. Not a whisper, not the slightest movement could be heard. Sophia took a deep breath and placed a hand on the door handle...

"Elderess, it is I Sophia who requests an audience with you."

Sophia was greeted with silence as she moved closer to the bed, and discovered it was empty. She quickly looked about the darkened room and saw Carpeia propped up by plump pillows stuffed behind her. The Elderess was sitting very still on her sumptuous guest couch facing the window; her silvery hair down about her shoulders.

Sophia walked cautiously to Carpeia’s side.

"Carpeia?"

Her cold blue eyes stared out of the window and were fixed on the small stone bench in their garden.

"Look down there," the Elderess whispered softly, "Do you see? Delia is in good spirits today. She’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?"

Sophia slowly stood up and gazed out of the window as instructed.

"Yes Carpeia, Delia is very pretty. Very pretty indeed."

A little past the stone bench Sophia looked towards the bare flowerbed that once gave shelter to her "beauties". In the wee hours of the past two days she had exhumed each infant and lovingly reburied all three where they would finally lie together in peace: near the sacred temple of Vesta.

XX

"Stop here," the Pontifex ordered his elderly driver.

The lumbering coach horses slowed to an even gait then came to a full stop. Lucius Ladonis stepped down from the vehicle and laboriously smoothed out a few unruly creases in his robes.

"I expect you to be sober upon my return!" he warned the old man without looking up at him.

The driver stonily watched Lord Ladonis walk briskly away then reached under his seat and pulled out a jug of wine. He yanked the stopper out of it, drank deeply, wiped his mouth, and made an obscene gesture in his master’s direction.



A large cart filled with tools and a long ladder sat close to a freshly dug gravesite. Nisus and his brawny son Nestor bowed low as the Pontifex came into view. As always, Lord Ladonis was exquisitely dressed in luxuriously embroidered vestments.

"Bring me a lamp," the Pontifex commanded.

Nisus lit the oil lamp and brought it immediately to the Pontifex. Lord Ladonis made his way to the grave’s edge then holding the lamp at an angle he peered down into Delia’s lighted tomb. The entrance to the small chamber had been cleared of debris and was plainly visible.

"Ah! I see you have carried out my instructions to the letter. Excellent!"

Nisus, covered in brownish clay from hairless head to sandals, came forward and bowed again.

"Would your Eminence like us to test the ladder for you now?"

Lucius nodded and waited patiently as Nestor rocked it slightly to and fro making sure the ladder was firmly set in the soft earth.

"Ready my Lord," Nestor said blandly and held the ladder for him.

Lord Ladonis eagerly grabbed hold of the rough wooden railing and began his descent.

"Do be careful your Eminence," Nisus called out, "it may be amite wet down there."

"Country boob," Lucius thought to himself and smiled, "he thinks me a womanish fop."

It was indeed damp and colder than Lord Ladonis imagined it would be. He carefully held out the lamp in front of him and turned toward the narrow chamber; its opening was barely wide enough for him to fit through.

The solidly reinforced earthen room instantly lit up as he stepped in. All of its contents were as undisturbed as they had been left, with one tiny exception; Delia’s body was not there.

"NISUS!"

Lord Ladonis shouted angrily then quickly left the chamber. He backed out into the daylight.

"NISUS, THE GRAVE IS EMP--"

Lucius turned just in time to see the bottom half of the ladder being hauled out.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

For a moment, there was complete silence. Terror gripped his frosty heart and his voice climbed to a higher octave.

"I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!"

"Good afternoon my Lord," came the unruffled response.

A small face hovered over the opening directly above. Ruthless violet eyes glared down at him with a familiar contempt.

"DELIA???"

A cheerless smirk curled her lips, as she answered him sweetly.

"Yes my Lord. How nice that you remember me."

Sweat poured down his face, as the position he found himself in became more and more alarming. Delia was obviously very much alive and the reason didn’t seem to matter to him at the moment. What Lord Ladonis wanted most of all was to be allowed to climb out of that filthy hole.

"Bless us all, it is my dear, sweet Delia! Our gentle Goddess has performed a miracle!" he crossed his arms and bowed his head to her, "Let us together bless this monumental occasion."

Airy laughter suddenly burst from Delia’s lips.

"Still the same pompous blowhard," she giggled gaily then steadied herself, "Shelf your elegant speeches Lord Ladonis, there is no captive audience listening this time!"

Delia got to her feet and turned away from the mouth of the open grave. Nestor and his father were waiting for her signal. She only glanced at them briefly.

"Fill it in."

Delia barely spoke these words above a whisper. On her command, both men pushed their shovels into the loose pile of earth and threw it into the hole. A large clump of soil landed squarely on Lord Ladonis’ head. Some of it fell into his eyes, but most of the reddish clay smeared down the front of his richly embroidered gown.

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" he sputtered as bits of dirt mixed with saliva flew out of his mouth, "I AM A HOLY SERVANT...OF THE GODDESS...VESTA!"

Nisus and his son picked up the pace tossing more earth into the deep grave. The Pontifex made a frantic attempt to climb out, but was thrown back with a large spade full of dirt.

"STOP! STOP!" he screamed through the thickly raining clay.

Lucius scooped up the earth and tried molding the loose dirt to help him climb up, but the deep pit was too narrow to move around in. Every avenue of escape had long ago been thought of when this method of execution was devised. The original architect’s plan made sure that the condemned had no way of avoiding their terrible fate.

"NISUS! NESTOR! I...I’LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING!"

He slapped at the narrowing clay walls in a vigorous frenzy as the earth closed agonizingly in on him. The air thinned and became clogged with grime kicked up by his effort to breathe in great gulps.

"PLEASE, PLEASE SPARE ME! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!" he coughed out pitifully.

Delia was standing off to the side of this activity. She wanted to clap her hands over her ears, but stubbornly made herself listen to his pathetic cries for mercy.

Lord Ladonis screeched in terror as the last bit of sunlight was about to be cut off forever.

That’s when the shoveling came to a sudden stop.

"You don’t want to die? How many innocents have your kind led to early graves my lord?" Nisus in tears yelled down to him, "It’s known not one of them sniveled for their lives!"

A day, long ago, appeared in the old man’s mind. He was a young man again, helping his father for the first time bury a Vestal alive. Nisus never forgot that poor woman’s courage in the face of her barbaric fate. He swore right there he’d save as many as he could from this punishment.

Nisus pushed his son aside, took up a spade, and tossed a large clod of earth into the tiny opening closing it for good. Lucius hacked up wads of brown fluid but managed to sputter his last barely audible plea.

"NOOOOOOOOOO...!"

Nisus promptly shoveled the last load of earth into the grave. Delia thought she could hear one more muffled cry, but the ground being pounded flat with the back of Nisus’ spade obscured it. He beat the uneven earth over and over then tossed his shovel into the cart. It landed with a harsh clang against some other tools resting there. He muttered something not loud enough to be heard then spat on the grave.

Nestor put a hand on his father’s shoulder.

"Father..."

"Yes, I know," Nisus said patting his son’s huge hand, "we must be on our way."

Nisus gathered up his wares and loaded them onto the cart, but made a space for Delia.

"One last time my lady," he said holding up a corner of the heavy canvas covering.

She turned towards the two men who waited patiently for her to climb under the cloth. Delia slipped into the cart and Nisus quickly tied the tarp securely over her. Nestor then lifted the long wooden handles and pushed their cart along at an unhurried pace. Delia closed her eyes; the rumbling of the wheels on chipped cobblestone almost made her feel human again.

Up ahead and resting idly on the side of the road was Lord Ladonis’ lavish open carriage. The old driver sat slumped back in his seat snoring away. He was too drunk to notice or care about the gravediggers that clattered by. When questioned many days later about his master’s mysterious disappearance, he told the inquiry council that after the Pontifex left the carriage he simply vanished into thin air.

XXI

The cart slowly glided to a stop in front of a small back door.

"We have arrived my lady," Nisus whispered as he untied a corner of the tarp.

Delia climbed out from under the covering and hugged the older man before he had time to protest.

"If I still owned my former status I could bless you both properly..."

"Never you mind dear miss," Nisus awkwardly returned her embrace, "it has been an honor to serve you."

Delia reluctantly released him then turned to Nestor. He stepped closer and gently took her hand in his.

"It was an honor for me as well," he said, and kissed her hand, "Will we ever see you again?"

Delia lowered her gaze and stared at the ground.

"It is possible, but unlikely."

She looked up into his affable face and he knew for certain that they would not.

"Thank Mena for me..."

Nestor nodded and let her hand go. He grabbed the cart’s thick handles and started to wheel it down the road. Nisus quickly joined his son in making their way slowly back home. He turned to wave farewell to Delia for the last time.

She had been reluctant to ask them why they saved her life or why they’d want to help her rid their land of a corrupt high priest. The reason they helped had been made only too clear to her this day.

Delia waved back and sadly watched them walk out of her life. She pulled her shawl tightly around her and headed for a small door on the other side of the street. She tapped on it, but there was no reply. Delia knocked a bit harder and could hear faint sounds of activity.

The bolt slid angrily aside and the door opened, but just a crack.

"Come ‘round to the front entrance whoever you are!" an irritated voice called out, "Everyone knows this is a private entrance! Can’t you read the sign?"

A small plaque on the left of the back door plainly read: Deliveries and other inquires, please use main entrance.

"But I’ve come such a long way. Couldn’t you make an exception just this once?"

There was a brief silence then the door flew open and Aristes anxiously stepped out into the afternoon light. A woman stood before him dressed in a drab gown of the lower classes. The long brown shawl she wore, used as a hood, obscured most of her face. He couldn’t see who this was but Aristes recognized her voice. She then let her shawl slip down to her shoulders and it was indeed...

"You?"

He said this word so softly that she barely heard him. Aristes grasped her by both arms and moved her in a slow dreamlike circle; disbelief quickly turned into a rush of emotions as he looked into Delia’s smiling face.

"My girl...my darling, darling girl!"

Aristes pulled her inside his small home bolting the door firmly behind them. Once inside, he flung his arms around Delia and cradled the young woman in a loving embrace.

"You’re saved! Nisus got to you in time! Thank the Gods!"

Aristes enfolded her in his arms so gently and with such honest affection, that it moved her to tears. He didn’t say another word, he just held Delia close until she quieted down.

"We wanted to send word," she said at last, "but the risk was too great."

Aristes drew back to look at her.

"You’re alive my dear, that’s all that matters," his statement changed to concern and with it his tone of voice, "Lord Ladonis is away on an urgent matter, but he’ll not be gone long. He must not find you anywhere near the Atrium."

"Don’t worry Aristes, I will be sure to keep out of his way."

There was no change in her voice or statement when referring to the formidable Pontifex. Aristes had no reason to guess that the man was no longer a threat.

"Do you know of Victoria’s illness?" he asked delicately.

"I was informed."

The mention of Victoria’s name, however, made a definite change in Delia’s attitude. Her sudden look of anger momentarily confused Aristes. He hadn’t heard of Victoria’s betrayal at the trial.

"Poor thing," he continued, assuming Delia’s agitated mood was due to the nature of her friend’s illness, "Even the best physician isn’t sure of what it is. Carpeia seems to be suffering from an extreme ailment as well. Though, I have been told that the two are completely unrelated."

"Is she being tended to?"

Delia’s tone was so cold that it unnerved her genial host.

"If you are speaking of Victoria, then yes, she is well cared for. Carpeia is altogether another matter; she was taken with a violent seizure this morning. I saw the litter bearers spirit her away to a hospice. I fear the lady is quite mad."

Delia adjusted her shawl and smiled, but it was far from a happy statement.

"Trust our dear Elderess to depart in such an eloquent manner."

"Yes," Aristes said adding to Delia’s last comment, "her wild appearance made quite an indelible fashion statement. Raving maniac is sure to be the newest eccentricity to model one’s wardrobe after."

For a moment, Aristes and Delia looked quietly into each other’s eyes then exploded into laughter.

"Oh my darling girl, how I’ve missed you!"

He took Delia by the hand and led her to a chair.

"It’s so good to see you too dear friend, but my visit can only be a brief one. I must be going, almost immediately."

Aristes sat down in the chair next to hers, the smile gradually disappearing from his face.

"I know this," he said timidly taking both her hands, "You’ve risked too much already to say goodbye...to me." His eyes welled up with tears.

"Dear Aristes," Delia brought his hands up and laid her cheek against them, "it isn’t goodbye--no, not ever. I’ll carry you in my heart, always."

"It’s not going to be the same without you, you know," he replied sadly.

"Thank you for that," tears swam in her eyes threatening to fall, "It is time."

She kissed his hand, got up then moved toward the door. Aristes watched Delia walk across the room suppressing the urge to stop her. She was just about to leave when Aristes made a motion of reaching out.

"Where will you go?" he called after her.

Delia paused to answer him, but she didn’t turn around.

"To the place where I have one more act to perform."

Before he could further inquire where this destination was exactly, Delia quickly glided out. The door closed on its own with a mild click.

She feverishly hurried through back alleys eventually finding her way to the main gates of the enclosed Vestal community. A light perfumed breeze from numerous flowers in their courtyard blew through the bars immediately greeting all visitors or those just reached for the cord just next to the heavy bronze gate; a pleasant tinkling chime announced her presence. Sophia quickly ran out to meet the unknown guest.

"I’m sorry to have to turn you away, but our Elderess has been taken ill and our youngest Vestals have been temporarily housed elsewhere so I’m afraid that--"

Delia uncovered her head and Sophia nearly gasped. The smoldering anger in her lavender eyes frightened the older Vestal.

"Open the gate Sophia," she commanded in a calm voice.

"No...you have come to harm Vitria, haven’t you? I can see it in your face! I won’t let you!"

Sophia ran into Victoria’s room and bolted the door shut.

"This locked gate won’t stop me!"

Delia hurried to a plain wooden shed used to house tools for repair. She found what she was looking for there: a good size ladder lying on its side. Delia managed to drag the heavy wooden beast to the Atrium wall and lifted the thing up against it. She climbed as far as she could go and had to hoist herself the rest of the way to the top. Delia swung her legs over and sat atop the wall a moment looking down. It was a fair distance below to the courtyard and there wasn’t much to break her fall. Delia threw her shawl over and she jumped after it. Landing badly, she rolled over twice before coming to a stop in a thick bed of colorful irises. She got to her feet and limped in the direction of Victoria’s bedroom.

Delia wasn’t badly hurt, only a scraped knee, but her anger had increased from the pain. She tried the doorknob and of course, the entrance was barred to her. There was only one logical way to get into this room: the window. Sophia had neglected to bolt the shutters. Delia pulled herself up and fell into the room startling Victoria’s guardian. She righted herself and started to shamble closer but Sophia dramatically put a hand up.

"Stop!"

"Get out of my way Sophia."

Delia took a few more steps forward then Sophia produced a small clay bird from behind her back. She held it out to Delia who appeared to be momentarily stunned by this action.

"Remember this? You gave it to her the first year you entered our order."

Delia carefully took the little clay sparrow from Sophia and stared at it.

"Yes...I remember."

"Victoria confessed to me long ago that it was the most precious gift anyone had ever given her. I’m certain she loved you Delia. See what betraying that love for you has done to her. Look at Victoria more closely my dear, isn’t she paying a higher price than what you seek?"

Delia moved toward Victoria and scowled down at her. She seemed a bit paler than last time but her gray eyes were lovely as ever, staring unblinking at the ceiling. Delia reached out to touch Victoria’s chiseled face with a very shaky hand. Sophia made a slight motion to stop her, but saw that Delia’s gesture wasn’t a threatening one.

Her fingers ran gently over the elegant contours of her former dear friend’s features.

"Her stone feels as warm as flesh," she whispered to Victoria, "At times I believe she longs to speak..."

Delia suddenly yanked her hand away as if it had been burned and balled it into a fist.

"YOU HAVE SHATTERED MY HEART!"

She fell to her knees in tears. Sophia kneeled down next to Delia and put her arms around her.

"Victoria knows, my dear. She knows what she has done."

Sophia held Delia closer and tried to comfort her as best she could.

"Mightn’t you one day lay aside these hard feelings and love her like you once did?"

"No Sophia," Delia said choking back her tears, "that can never be."

Sophia rocked her gently in her arms like an infant. Victoria loomed above them silent as the grave staring, like a statue, into space.

XXII

"Delia stayed till early morning and told me everything."

Sophia spared Victoria by not telling her all that happened, especially Delia’s plan to kill her.

"They have both lost so much already, why make it worse?" she concluded quietly to herself.

The narration over, Sophia folded her hands in her lap and sat calmly in a chair next to the bed.

Victoria’s head swam with this fantastic story. She hadn’t interrupted Sophia during her account of these events, not even once. Victoria wanted to make sure she missed none of it.

"You related these things to me with believable energy Sophia," she began slowly, "But you see how inconceivable it is."

"So it would seem, but I have related to you exactly what Delia told me."

Delia’s angry words, and her own miserable public show of grief flashed in Victoria’s mind. Delia couldn’t have known that she would be saved. Victoria was sure of that.

"Why would they risk their lives rescuing a condemned woman, let alone assist in doing away with a tyrant?"

"I have no answer to that my dear. Let us just rejoice in the fact that they did."

Victoria dearly wished that she had been born a much cleverer girl. She cursed herself that she was so dim. Her unsophisticated temperament could only grasp such things in small doses.

"Do you think they will continue to help others with a similar fate?"

"One can only pray that they will," Sophia stated gently.

Victoria looked down and studied her hands, soft hands that had never known mean labor.

"Where will they go Sophia, these lost women? What kind of life is waiting outside the only vocation they knew?"

Sophia imagined all sorts of menial drudgery in every common walk of life and didn’t think a lengthy existence lay ahead for any of them. Not even for Delia who was possibly cleverer than most.

"A very different life I suppose."

Waves of emotion rocked Victoria and she dizzily teetered forward.

"Vitria?"

Sophia rushed over and helped a very weakened Victoria to lie back down.

"I should have waited till you were well enough...I ought to have let you rest."

Victoria sprang back up and grabbed hold of Sophia’s arm.

"Where is she? What has become of Delia?"

"Delia left us two days hence."

"No!"

Victoria made a feeble attempt at trying to leave her bed.

"It is important that you hear this first," Sophia placed a hand over Victoria’s and held onto it tight, "Lord Ladonis’s presence will likely be missed very soon. Delia took certain measures to make the Pontifical council believe that he stole all the coin reserves kept in his rooms and then fled the country."

Victoria struggled to stay calm, but was steadily losing control over her tangled nerves.

"Then she is waiting with a trustworthy friend nearby to see if her plan is successful?"

Sophia’s statement remained unchanged from its look of heavy sadness.

"No Vitria, she has gone far away from all of us and will never return."

"But she may need help...I must go to her!"

"I don’t believe that would be advisable. Delia is well provided for. I gave her numerous gold pieces to start a new life."

Victoria struggled helplessly about trying to get out of her caretaker’s firm hold, with little effect.

"Please, I’ve got to find Delia...I have so many things to tell her..."

Exhausted, she sank back onto the bed and hid her face in a pillow. Sophia leaned down to whisper to her softly.

"Let her go Vitria. It is better that the poor girl finds her way alone."

She spoke so tenderly that Victoria turned to Sophia and fled into the shelter of her arms.

"Where has she gone Sophia?" she tearfully stuttered out, "Has she gone so far that I will never find her?"

Sophia held Victoria and absently stroked her hair.

"Perhaps, but not so far that she would forget you."

"What do you mean?"

"She has taken the clay bird with her."

Victoria’s most prized possession; the simple little figurine Delia gave her eleven years before. Now it was certain in Victoria’s mind that Delia still loved her. Smiling, Victoria closed her eyes and thought of Delia, as she used to be, capering merrily about on the fresh dewy grass with a bit of mischief in her heart.

"Wherever you are sweet Delia I’ll find you. I just know I will, and we’ll be the best of friends again...forever!"

******

Epilogue

Her destination was undecided as she journeyed through unfamiliar countryside. There was only one thing Delia was sure of: she was determined to cut all ties with the past. Before leaving she smashed a delicate clay figurine against a statue; a glimmering white statue whose stone was as warm as flesh.



End

If you have enjoyed April Hladis' "Hypatia's Shadow, Conclusion", then please be certain to e-mail her at  AHladis[at]aol.com  and thank her for posting this Story.

Click here for a list of all of April Hladis'  Stories and Poetry at  Sapphic Voices Authoresses.