Persephone
By Sonophax
Chapter One
"Push! You're doing a beautiful job sweetheart. And again. I can see the baby's head! Breathe."
Demeter let out a harsh scream of pain. "Artemis help me!"
"Keep pushing, you can do it. And again."
"Harder!"
"Here comes the baby. Calm down, you're holding it in. Loosen your thighs. Breathe. You're doing great."
Demeter panted, breathing hard, trying to regain her calm. It was important for babies to enter the world in a state of grace.
"I know it's uncomfortable. You can do this. Are you sure you don't want to use a wizardry to ease the pain?"
Demeter nodded frantically.
The midwife grimaced. "Massage her stomach Gaiane. Beautiful job. Keep pushing!"
"You're so close, lady,"
"There's the baby!"
With a final scream Demeter pushed a squalling infant into the world.
"It's a girl!"
"Well done, my lady," the midwife grinned. She plucked the baby from between the woman's legs, holding it gently in a scrap of wool. "I just need to cut the cord."
Demeter closed her eyes, still breathing heavily. It was done. Dimly she could hear her new daughter crying nearby. Doubtless the babe was being cleaned by the midwife.
"Shall I fetch your husband, lady?" Demeter opened her eyes. It was Gaiane, standing anxiously at her side.
"Yes, please," Demeter tried to smile. She had never felt so exhausted or elated in her entire life. She had thought nothing could compare with being a wizard, but it seemed that being a mother would give her job some serious competition.
Gaiane left quickly. Doubtless Kleitos had asked to be informed as soon as his new child was born.
One of the serving women came to help Demeter change into a clean robe. Another servant changed the bedclothes as it happened. Gaiane returned soon after it was done followed by an anxious Kleitos.
"Agapomene, are you alright?" Kleitos hurried to his wife's bedside. "How is the baby?"
It was the midwife who answered. "She is fine, merely tired. Would you like to hold your new daughter?"
A radiant smile lit Kleitos' face. "Yes! Indeed."
The midwife held out the still squalling infant to her father.
"She's so small," Kleitos marveled. "I have seen many small things in my time. Much of my work has to do with the tiniest pieces of the world. But she is small in a different way."
The baby grabbed his outstretched finger, holding it in a tight grip.
Kleitos laughed. "If she were a boy I would say she could be a blacksmith."
The midwife chuckled too.
Kleitos turned to her. "Thank you for assisting in the birth, Eadgyd. I know you had to come a long way."
Eadgyd sniffed. "Well, I am the only wizardly midwife, you know. And of course I would help Demeter. We all know what we owe to her."
Kleitos looked down at his daughter. She was still determinedly clutching his finger. "Indeed we do. Not all women could act as well as Earth's Planetary Wizard while pregnant."
Eadgyd smiled. "Just make sure to keep helping her. Balancing raising a child and being a wizard is hard, and I should know: I have six young ones of my own. It will only be harder for Demeter, with all her responsibilities."
Kleitos nodded. "I will be sure to."
XXX
Demeter recovered well in the days that followed. She had no qualms about using her wizardry to heal her body now that she wasn't with child and her baby couldn't be affected by the raw forces of the universe.
She and Kleitos delighted in their new daughter, whom they had decided to call Persephone. She was a lively child with a tuft of copper hair atop her head. She grew quickly and became more and more curious as she grew.
"No, Persephone," Kleitos smiled, attempting to wrest a caterpillar from his daughters tightly closed fist.
"She won't hurt it, you know," Demeter said. She sat at the table pouring over her manual. "I caught her with one just the other day. It was fine."
"I'm just worried she'll put it in her mouth," Kleitos explained.
Demeter chuckled. "She does seem to like doing that." She sighed, trying to turn her attention back to her manual. It was hard, harder than she had expected to balance her life. She always seemed to feel as though she was neglecting something these days.
"What's wrong, Agapomene?"
Demeter shut her manual. It was useless. "I can't seem to concentrate. The Macedonians are on the brink of another war but whenever I try to resolve it things just seem to get worse. I can't shake the feeling that something darker is going on behind it. Maybe even Him." She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "I need to spend so much time if a war is to be prevented. But if I do that, I will be neglecting Persephone. What good is power if I can't help my child?"
Kleitos listened to her rant, wishing there was more he could do to help is wife. He couldn't take on her assignment though; no one could. It was something she alone could do, by the will of the Powers that Be.
"I can watch Persephone. I'm not on assignment," he said at last.
Demeter glared at him. "Persephone is nearly six months old! I have barely spent any of that time with her. I am always out on assignment. At this rate she will think you are her mother instead of me."
Kleitos thought about the problem for a moment. He was an even tempered man, one who did not get angry easily. He knew there had to be a solution to their problem that would please Demeter. "Why don't you take Persephone with you when you next go to speak to the leader of the Macedonians?" he asked reasonably.
Demeter stared at him, somewhat surprised. "But she could be in danger."
Kleitos smiled. "You are too good a wizard to be in danger from regular humans, Agapomene. Simply put up a shield. Everything will be fine."
Demeter thought about it. At last she smiled back.
XXX
Demeter rose early the next morning. She had arranged a meeting with the Macedonian leader for later that day. She had never met the man before and knew little about him that didn't come from rumor. His name was Atanas and he was supposed to be a fearsome warrior. It was said he was a giant who wore wolf skin for clothing and the best armor money could buy.
"Good luck, my dear one." Kleitos greeted her as she came down for breakfast. Persephone sat happily in his lap gumming a peach.
"Isn't she a bit young for that?" Demeter asked, gesturing to the peach in her daughter's fist.
Kleitos shrugged. "She grabbed it from me. I don't think it can hurt her: it's much too big to swallow. I would be more worried if she had taken an olive."
Demeter chuckled. She felt better than she had in weeks. Hopefully today she would make some real headway and prevent this war. Surely the Macedonians would be open to reason.
Kleitos seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "I'm sure today will go wonderfully, Agapomene. When you get home we can eat dates to celebrate."
Demeter set out soon afterward, Persephone in a sling at her back. The baby was intensely interested in everything that happened around her.
After checking to make sure the girl wasn't holding anything (Demeter couldn't afford to have any unknown variables) she set up the transit spell that would take her and her daughter to Macedonia. She was exceedingly careful with her daughters name. Babies weren't as developed as older humans and could be much more easily changed by a simple spelling mistake. She didn't want Persephone to suffer for some carelessness on her part.
When Demeter activated the transit spell, Persephone started cooing in excited happiness. It took all Demeter had not to start laughing and keep singing the words of the spell.
As soon as they arrived Persephone's excited babbling stopped. They were in a dark hall with no windows. The only light came from a few stuttering candles placed along the wall. Demeter froze, quickly taking inventory of the situation. Persephone squirmed anxiously against her back.
"Hello, Lady Demeter. Good of you to come."
Demeter whirled around and was faced with a throne. The man who sat upon it, she knew, must be Atanas. He was both taller and broader than any man she had ever seen. He had powerful shoulders and his clothes were made entirely of the skins of wolves.
"It is good of you to meet with me," Demeter said politely. She couldn't stop a soft buzz of fear from creeping up her spine. She felt beyond a doubt that this man was evil. She shouldn't have come.
"I understand you wish to stop the war I have spent so much time planning?" His voice was polite, but was all the scarier for it. The sound gave Demeter chills.
"It would hurt much of Greece to have a war. Many places in our land are low on resources: war would cause starvation and death for many." Demeter tried to keep to reasoned argument. Words, she thought desperately to herself. Words. It's my ability with words that made me such a good wizard in the first place. I need to reason with this man.
Atanas laughed. It was a harsh sound, almost a bark.
Demeter squinted at the man. Was it her eyes, or had his back become more arched since she had first laid eyes upon him? She mentally felt in the air around her, reassuring herself that her shield was still there.
"Why do you laugh at my words? It is very rude to laugh at a guest, especially one who has traveled so far to be in your company. Our Gods are serious about hospitality. Do not think they will not notice." Demeter warned.
Atanas laughed even harder. "Your Gods? You think your Gods scare me, little human wizard? I have Someone much more powerful on my side." He threw his head back and laughed some more, apparently overcome with mirth.
Demeter's blood seemed to freeze in her veins.
"But now let us come to the point." Atanas grinned and his mouth stretched wide to reveal fangs. "I will have my war. It is the will of my God. He will not be disobeyed. And I will have my wish: You will be dead, unable to oppose me."
Demeter knew it was time to get out. She had stayed much too long. Why had she tried to reason with this creature? It was becoming more and more apparent that he was no man.
Suddenly Atanas launched himself at her, jumping much farther than any human should have been able to.
A Peryton! Demeter realized belatedly. There was a sharp crack as he hit her shield. Then, to her horror, the shield disintegrated. He must have extra power from the Lone One! Demeter thought in despair. She tried to sing, tried to get her shield back up but Atanas was on top of her. Persephone started to cry, screaming at the top of her lungs. The sound echoed hollowly throughout the hall as the Peryton-Warlord's jaws closed around her mother's throat, snapping the woman's neck in a rush of blood.
"What is going on here?"
Atanas stepped off the woman and turned towards the voice. Blood dripped sluggishly from his mouth.
The newcomer was tall and man shaped. He dressed as a King in black velvet and silver armor. A spiked silver crown sat atop his head.
"My lord," Atanas bowed humbly before his master.
"Is that the wizard?" The Lone One gestured to the dead woman on the floor.
"Yes, Master."
The Lone One walked closer. Everything in his body language spoke of casual unconcern. "She is dead."
Atanas wondered where this was going. "Yes, Master," he said again.
"I had wanted to speak with her myself."
Atanas seemed to shrink inside his skin. "I'm sorry, Master. I had not realized."
With a blast of power the Lone One slammed his servant against the wall. Atanas crumpled to the floor, whimpering.
"I said as much quite clearly the last time we spoke. I even told you my aim, to get her to give up her Wizardry in exchange for her daughter's life. It was more than you deserved. You let your idiotic bloodlust get in the way of my victory."
Atanas couldn't look at the Lone Power. The concentration of hate was unbearable, even for a creature of the Dark like him. "Her daughter is still alive," he said, hopeful that this might make some small difference to the angry Power.
The Lone One glanced towards the body of the dead wizard. The baby was still shrieking in angry despair, thrashing against the blood still seeping from her mother. He walked over to the body and took the child from the dead woman's back. For some strange reason, the child quieted as soon as he picked her up. Briefly a look of astonishment flashed across the Lone One's face.
The Power seemed to struggle for a moment. "She could still prove useful. Her father is also a wizard." He paused then tucked the baby inside his cloak. He had heard human children could get cold.
Atanas sagged in relief. "Is that all, Master?"
The Lone Power's eyes flashed at him in sudden fury. "Not quite," he said. With a burst of power he slashed the creature's throat. Atanas died instantly.
The Lone One exited the chamber, wondering where he could keep the baby until the time came to use her. He didn't look back to see the two bodies he left on the floor and he didn't see the bloody footprints that trailed behind him.
A/N: I was intending to tell this story as part oneshot part fairy-tale... but then it got longer and longer and I gave up on trying to cut it down. Oh well =/
I did use some creative license for this fic, but I wanted it to be told as a story that could be represented very differently from each of the characters' sides. It was the only way to make the actions of the characters seem somewhat reasonable in the context of the YW universe. I mean, face it: the Lone One we all know and love doesn't exactly run around abducting women for the purpose of marrying them, does he?
I did quite a bit of research on Ancient Greece for this, but I may have made some errors. If you spot anything, feel free to tell me about it. I couldn't, for example find any references to who cut the umbilical cord in Ancient Greece but I did find sources that said the father wasn't present during the birth at all. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, Eadgyd's name is Anglo-Saxon. No, I don't know how to pronounce it. Neither does the internet.
Cheers and let me know what you think of the story so far!