Serpent and Stone

Chapter 4

My shoulders ached fiercely, and my muscles burned with each step. I gritted my teeth as my snakes danced around my head in twists and turns, somehow even more impatient than I was to get home. My breath heaved and sweat dripped down my forehead. But at last, I emerged from the tree line and made a noise of relief at the sight of the familiar temple carved out of the stone. 

It had taken several hours to pull the soldier from the site of the battlefield back to my home in the center of the island. The place where I was born, where I had lived all my life, and where I would most likely die was a simple but beautiful temple carved into the base of the Shoulders, the twin peaked mountain that loomed over the rest of the island.

My mother had called it that because the two identical peaks of the mountain looked uncannily like the great shoulder blades of some giant man poking out from the earth, as if he had slumped down in that spot and never gotten back up again. I used to wonder when I looked up at the peaks if the name was more than mere coincidence, if the mountain was truly the body of one of the legendary Giants vanquished by the Olympians in that ancient war. My mother had merely shrugged when I'd asked, saying she did not know the answer. Having no one else to ask, I was left to debate the mystery with my own imagination.

The façade of the temple was expertly carved into the dark gray limestone. Perfectly symmetrical, lined columns decorated both sides of the intricate doorway, which was patterned with designs of climbing ivy, ripe grapes, and olive branches. I pulled the sled through the beautiful doorway, beneath the baleful eyes of the short-eared owl carved above it.

It was irony, or I suppose Fate, that I lived inside a temple dedicated to the goddess who had cursed me. Though dark and abandoned now, the temple to Athena had once been lively and active with the devoted priestesses who lived here, murmuring prayers and burning offering to the grey-eyed goddess of war and wisdom. My mother had been one of them, before I was born.

The bronze shields scraped against the hard stone floor as I dragged it inside the temple. The inner chamber of the temple was much larger inside than it appeared from without. The tallest of the island's orange trees would have just scraped the flat stone ceiling, which towered far above my head. A small pool shimmered against the far wall, a perfect square of clear, cool water. Along the walls, several bronze tripods and silver braziers sat unused and dull. The instruments hadn't been used for burning incense or offering libations in many years, yet mother had refused to get rid of them. The chamber was filled with similar clutter that I had collected over the years, just in case I might need them one day. The remains of a torn sail taken from a beached ship, a small collection of knives and other weapons recovered from intruders, compasses, paintings, ink pots, and various other trinkets the inhabitants of the island had left behind when they'd fled. When you were alone and isolated for as long as I had been, you learned to salvage anything and everything.

I brought the sled next to the bed pressed against the far wall, the wool blanket still unkempt and messy. The plain wooden pallet was low to the ground and covered by a thin mattress made of straw and rushes. I rolled my shoulders, wincing at the burn in them, and then turned back to the soldier.

His condition had not changed from what I could tell, which was both good and bad. It meant that he was not yet dead, which was about as much as I could hope for. However, it also meant his wounds continued to bleed steadily. I frowned, noting the paleness of his face. If he had already lost too much blood, there wouldn't be much I could do.

I lifted him by the shoulders, grunting with effort, and deposited him onto the bed none too gently. I cringed as his body haphazardly tumbled onto it, his arms bent under him at an uncomfortable angle. But when I peered over him, he still drew breath. I breathed out a sigh of relief and straightened him out, placing his arms at his side.