Chapter 7
The Song of Orpheus
Panic struck hard and fast as the blackness swallowed them all. They fell for only moments, but it seemed like agonizing hours crept by in the inky dark. Soon, however, the sensation of movement stopped, and they found themselves floating in an endless abyss. There was no sky or earth anywhere to be seen, no distinguishing feature to break the view to an infinity of nothing.
"Wh-what happened?" Starfire asked fearfully. "Where are we?" She looked to Talon, but he had vanished.
"I knew we couldn't trust him!" Robin fumed. He drew his legs up to a sitting position as he thought. "There's got to be some way out of this. It's just another one of his illusions."
"You're right," Cyborg confirmed. "Sensors still have us at the table."
A faint melody floated through the void, timid and soothing. Ground began to appear beneath their feet, and Talon stood by them once more, strumming his lyre.
"I am truly sorry," he said, inclining his head and looking sheepish. "It has been so long since I tried this, I forgot how much effort it requires." He looked genuinely apologetic.
"This is my story, of the day I wed, of the day I died," Orpheus intoned, and they realized he was no longer speaking English. The words that flowed were musical and alien, but the sense of what he sang they heard, each in their native tongue.
Speak to me mother, of that fateful day.
That day everything began, when everything ended.
The scene shifted, and they were standing on the surface of a tumultuous ocean. Suddenly, their perspective doubled. They were simultaneously above and below the water. They(he) were drowning and hale, wet and dry.
He(they) floats alone on a wine-dark sea. He(they) looks around for his(their)love, but she is not there. He calls her name in a broken voice, but there is no answer. He begins to cry, and the salt of his tears mingles with that of the waves.
It comes to him, then, that he must be dreaming. He smiles in relief.
"Father?" He called tentatively, and the dream changed around him. His father stood on the waves before him. He looked different than when the Titans had seen him on the beach. His hair was the darkest black that could be imagined, and his clothing, an elaborate toga, was of the same color, save for a blood-red ruby clasp. But there was no mistaking the Lord of Dreams.
"Orpheus. You should wake soon," he said, not unkindly. "It is, after all, your wedding day."
"But what does this dream mean?" Orpheus asked, still in the water with only his face above the surface.
"Am I a hedge wizard, that I should translate your dreams for you?" Dream sounded displeased.
"But was it an omen, or merely a nightmare?" he persisted.
But whatever Dream would have answered was muddled, as Orpheus felt himself shaken.
The blackness swirled in, and when it cleared, they found themselves standing in a small house. Orpheus slept naked on a bed of straw, and a hairy creature shook his shoulder, urging him to awake. Beast Boy opened his mouth to ask what the creature was, and the word satyr came unbidden into his mind.
Orpheus stirred. "I am sorry, Aristaeus," he mumbled, still groggy. "I had.. nightmares." His voice was musical, almost hypnotic. It was hard to reconcile that fact with Talon's scratchy, gravelly voice.
"Don't worry, lad. Takes me back to my wedding day. I was terrified."
"You were married?" Orpheus asked. "You never told me. What happened to her?"
"She died," Aristaeus said bitterly. "Long ago."
"I am sorry,"
The satyr harrumphed. "It was a long time ago. People die. It's part of life. Now get dressed, or you'll be late." He smiled slightly. "It's been a long time since I attended a wedding. Roast ox, eh?"
"No, old friend," Orpheus said, pulling his tunic on. "No sacrifices today. Nothing will die on my wedding day."
Once more the scene shifted. Orpheus and his companion were walking along a hill towards a clearing full of people. Seeing them, a youngish woman, in her mid-twenties at a glance, waved and ran to Orpheus and they embraced. She had platinum-blonde hair, and wore a simple toga.
"Orpheus, my son. I am so proud of you," she said.
"Thank you, mother," Orpheus said, breaking the embrace and stepping back. He indicated the satyr. "This is my friend, Aristaeus. He's a farmer. Aristaeus, my mother, Calliope." He looked around. "Will father be here?"
"I would not miss my own son's wedding, Orpheus," Dream spoke from behind him. He was wearing a simpler tunic than in Orpheus' dream, though it was still black and clasped with the ruby. "But where is your wife-to-be? I would meet the girl."
A woman in a white dress approached from behind where the Titans observed. She stepped through Starfire without pausing. Starfire flinched slightly as the woman emerged from her.
"I am here, Oneiros," The woman said. She had jet black hair, with a stripe of white down the center. "I am pleased to see you here this day." She looked at Orpheus with a twinkle in here eye. "And you too, Orpheus."
Orpheus wrapped her in his arms and held her tightly. "Eurydice. My Eurydice." He smiled warmly as he held her.
"Well here we all are," said a new voice. They all turned to see who it was. An older woman was walking from the trees, wearing a dark blue, flowing dress. She wore a large ankh-shaped pendant around her neck, and a smaller one dangled from either ear. She was stunningly beautiful, and had an infectious smile. "I like weddings," she said. "Especially family weddings."
Dream inclined his head. "I was not certain you would come, my sister."
Her smile widened. "Oh, it's not just me. It's all of us." She gestured at five others who followed her.
Orpheus took Eurydice's hand. "Let me introduce you to my uncles and aunts," he said. "My aunt Teleute," he said, and the woman in the blue dress nodded. He introduced her to a short, nude woman named Aponoia and a young girl called Mania. The next person he hesitated a moment. "This is my, uh… uncle-aunt Epithumia" He or She, they couldn't tell which, smiled and wished the two well. A giant man in armor was introduced as Olethros, who also gave his best wishes. As Orpheus said each of their names, they heard another, more familiar name, overlaid on top of it.
"And this," Orpheus said, bringing her to meet the last person, an old man in a brown robe, "is my uncle Potmos."
"I greet you, Eurydice, on the day of your wedding," he said, stiffly.
"Uncle?" Orpheus asked, confused. "Will you not wish us well?"
Potmos straightened up. "I am Potmos. I am Destiny. I do not wish; I know. What will happen, will happen. But the priest awaits, the wedding begins."
They watched the wedding in silence as it proceeded, aside from Beast Boy snickering when the priest asked for a blessing on the union in the name of Hymenaeus, the lord of marriage. Calliope cried and even raven found herself smiling as Orpheus and Eurydice shared their first kiss as man and wife.
There was a sense of time passing as the revelries went on. Orpheus led the band on his lyre while the wedding guests danced. Later, the titans would be unable to remember if it had been moments or hours that they had listened to the music before Orpheus' head shot up and his lyre fell from his hands.
"Something is wrong.." he said in a small voice. Then, even smaller, "Eurydice?" His eyes widened, and a stricken look crossed his face. As he ran towards his wife, the music halted and the scene disappeared. Once again, the Titans found themselves in abject darkness, but it quickly lightened, and they found themselves again in the real world.
It was a moment before anyone spoke. They were all both stunned and disoriented from the visions. Beast Boy broke the silence first. "What.. what happened to her?"
Talon spoke, and his voice was again gravelly and unpleasant. "She died. A snake bit her as she danced." He sounded choked, but his eyes were dry.
Raven looked at him coolly. "Theatrics notwithstanding, you haven't told us anything we didn't already know."
Talon sighed. "This is how it must be. There are rules that prevent me from answering directly. Please, I beg your indulgence."
Without waiting for an answer, he began to play again. This time the change was sweeping, and a new scene bloomed around them. They stood above atop a cliff behind Orpheus, who gazed down at a burning pyre on the ground.
Cyborg looked over the cliff, peering at the fire. Focusing with his electronic eye, he could make out the people gathered around. A body lay in the middle of the pyre, wrapped in linens that had begun to burn.
Robin asked, tentatively "Is that-"
"Yeah, that's What's-her-name."
They waited to see what would happen, but for the longest time Orpheus merely watched his wife's pyre. His grief was palpable, but his eyes were dry.
Finally, he picked up his lyre. It was the same instrument he had used in the tower, but much newer. He began to play, and the melody was strange and dreamlike; they could not pick out the notes, or hear the accompanying words. The air in front of Orpheus began to shimmer, and they could see into a strange place beyond it. The window became a door in the strange way things happen in a dream, and Orpheus stepped through.
They found themselves on a marble staircase leading down up from a lagoon. Before them was an immense castle. Made of marble, in a decidedly Greek style, statues of angels and gods adorned parapets and spires beyond number. Above and to either side of the main gate, the guardians of the castle, for they could be nothing else, regarded the intruder to the realm.
"Who is it?" Asked a griffin perched to the left, turning his head to look from either eye.
"It is the boy-child," Answered the dragon that laid across the top of the gate.
"Ask him what he wants"
"You ask him."
"I am here to see my father"
"Enter, then, boy. Your father is here," the griffin dipped his head in acknowledgement.
The third guardian, a winged horse, spoke for the first time. "Orpheus, we have heard of your loss. You have our sympathies, my friend."
Orpheus' eyes narrowed. "I do not need you pity, hippogriff," he snarled.
"It was freely given, boy. You should not scorn it," the hippogriff replied.
Orpheus stormed past. "Don't pity me."
He found his father on a parapet, staring off into the distance. Oneiros' black robes billowing in the wind. He spoke without turning.
"You should have gone to the funeral"
"Why?"
"To say goodbye." He turned to face his son.
"I have not yet said goodbye to Eurydice," Orpheus
Dream sighed. "You should. You are mortal: it is the mortal way. You attend the funeral, you bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you continue with your life. And at times the fact of her loss will hit you like a blow to the chest, and you will weep. But this will happen less and less as time goes on. She is dead. You are alive. So live." He paced as he spoke, like a professor delivering a lecture.
Orpheus met Oneiros's gaze levelly. "She is alive in the underworld.
Oneiros stopped. "So?"
Gathering his resolve, Orpheus pushed forward. "So. Will you help me get her back? Will you go to Hades and Kore and plead my case?"
Oneiros looked away from his son. "You are talking foolishness. I will hear no more of it."
"But father-"
"No more." The Dream King's face was unreadable, as always, but his tone was absolute. There would be no appeals.
"Very well, then," Orpheus said softly. "No more. I am no longer your son." He brushed by and walked briskly back out of the castle, ignoring his father's calls, his mouth set in a hard line.
He awoke on the clifftop, and realized that almost no time had passed, in the manner of dreams. Eurydice's pyre still burned, hundreds of feet below. He walked to the edge of the cliff and stared down in contemplation.
"Suicide, eh, laddie?" a boisterous voice startled him, and he nearly fell off the cliff. Rough hands caught him and brought him back to solid ground. Olethros in his armor stood with him. "D'you really think that's your wisest course?"
"I do," Orpheus answered morbidly. "We cannot be together alive. We can be together in the underworld. Cold and pale and immobile forever. Together we will whisper in the shallow voices of the dead; together we will wait in the darkness. And, in the end- but together- we will drink the waters of the Lethe that bring forgetfulness."
"That… is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and I'm as old as time itself!" Olethros laughed heartily at this. "Boy, I think you're more in love with the idea of your dead wife than you ever were with the girl herself."
Orpheus's face darkened. "You take that back. Take it back or I'll-"
"Calm down, lad, calm down," Olethros admonished him, "Or I'll toss you in the air and catch you, the way I used to when you were smaller." They stared at each other for a time, Orpheus glaring and Olethros looking bemused. Finally Orpheus visibly deflated and turned away.
"What do you want, uncle? Did you merely come to mock me as well?"
"As well? You've seen your father, I take it."
"Yes. For all the help he was."
"Mmm." Olethros nodded. "He's set in his ways, but he does care for you."
"He has a funny way of showing it."
"Well, death is hardly his province. Have you spoken with Teleute?"
"Why? What could she do for me?"
Olethros sat down on a large rock. He looked uncertain, as if he regretted having broached the subject. "She can do anything she wants. But there will be conditions. There are always conditions."
Orpheus didn't even seem to have heard him. "But, I don't even know howto find her. I mean, she just turns up whenever she wants. What would I have to do?"
"Well, you could die, naturally. You wouldn't have much of a chance for chitchat, but you'd see her at least."
"That's what I was about to try when you interrupted me," Orpheus interjected.
"Or, you could be born. You'd see her then, but you people never remember that conversation. I don't know why, but you just don't. "
"'We people' only get born once, remember. So that one's out."
"Don't be an ass. I suppose all that's left is to try going to her house."
"She has a house?"
"Aye. She has a great many things, though she seldom finds use for them." He gave a rumbling chuckle as he mused. "You should see her floppy hat collection." He laughed at Orpheus's confused look. "Never mind. Yes, she has a house."
"So how do I get there?"
"You ask your uncle Olethros to send you there. And you ask nicely." He gave one of those infuriating grins that only close family seem able to get away with.
"Will you? Please?" Orpheus asked.
"Aye." Olethros held his fist outstretched away from Orpheus, and without warning the air rent itself open, revealing a portal. "Through there," he said.
Orpheus nodded and turned away. Hesitating for only a moment, Orpheus stepped through into the House of Death. But as he did so, the scene froze. After a moment, the scenery began to dissolve, like mist after dawn begins to burn it from the ground. The Titans realized they were now seated, though there hadn't been any transition, which was more than a little jarring.
Talon leaned heavily on the table, sweat standing out on his brow and his face flushed. Robin turned to ask him a question, but Talon forestalled it with a waved hand. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired."
"What happened?" Beast Boy asked. "It was just getting good."
Talon glared at him for a moment, but then his face relaxed. "No mortal alive knows the details of what happened next. That is as it should be. "
"Yeah, that's not melodramatic at all," Raven said flatly. She raised her hands to her face. "It's sooo mysterious. And what's with the full-immersion? Can't you-"
"Because there are rules," Talon snapped, losing his patience. "My tale is not allowed to be spoken aloud or passed with symbols by anyone who knows that 'Talon' is Orpheus. For someone to be initiated, when it cannot be avoided, it must be shared, mind to mind, in dreams." He gave her a strained look. "Look, I am almost finished. I can finish the tale in a few moments, and then I will answer your questions. Acceptable?" Without pausing for her to respond, he snatched up the jar of wine and drank deeply, then set it down with a satisfied sigh.
"I can't tell you what transpired between myself and Teleute. Suffice to say, it was made so that I cannot die. Ever. It was the only way for me to enter the underworld, which I did. Appealing to Hades and Persephone, I was told that Eurydice would follow me to the world above, so long as I didn't turn and look behind me until we both left the underworld.
"Hades… tricked me. When I at last stood under the sun again, I turned to embrace her. But she still stood in the shadow of the underworld. She was stolen from me again, and the entrance was sealed to me. When I realized there would be no second chance, I attempted to join her there in death. That was when I discovered that no matter what was done to my body, I could never die.
"Decades passed as I wandered the earth. I tried to die many times, in every way I could think of, but nothing took hold. I did learn, however, that there are ways to destroy something like me utterly. Immolation, Ingestion," he ticked off the options on his fingers. "Basically, anything that leaves no physical remains or something that takes the physical form into another vessel. So when chance presented, I allowed myself to be attacked and consumed by the Baccheae, who were more or less a tribe of cannibals. Again, fate was against me, and they left my head untouched and flung me into a river." He smiled bitterly. "At the very least, I learned what my dream had meant.
"My father came to me when I washed up on shore. He had prepared a place where I would be cared for, a small temple away from the mainland. I resided on a shelf for the better part of five thousand years. I gained some repute as an oracle, and from time to time, supplicants came to the temple where I was cared for. I was stolen once, and taken to France during the revolution for a time. But eventually I was brought back to my 'home'.
"One day, my father returned. He was, ironically enough, seeking my aid this time. I told him my price, and in return for my aid in locating his elder brother, he ended my suffering and finally let me die. That was twelve years ago."
He sat down and drank from the jar again. He looked defeated, withered. It was costing him a lot, it appeared. "When I arrived in the underworld, Eurydice was nowhere to be found. She had moved on and been born into another world. I entreated upon my father, but-" He stopped.
"What is it?" Robin asked.
"What I am about to tell you is…"he searched, "very secret. Only a few beings in existence know of all that transpired. You may never speak of this to anyone." He looked around the table, they all tacitly agreed. "All right. The furies, the hellhounds of my world, they killed my father because he spilled my blood. He was reborn in a child who had been conceived in the dreaming, as I was. Daniel the Dreamborn is the current incarnation of Dream of the Endless.
"When I called to my father from the Elysian Fields, it was Daniel who appeared to me. I begged him for a way to leave to search for Eurydice. He agreed, and I took on the mantle of the Paladin. There are situations in which my Lord's hand cannot be seen to intervene. So though I am a nightmare, I draw my strength from another source, and when I strike, it is not in the name of the Dreaming. Most of my duties involve protecting stories, or culling those that have gone wrong beyond redemption. In return, I am free to travel where I will when I am not on assignment," He looked down at his hands, folded on the table. "That's my story. Any questions?"
For a moment nobody spoke, then Raven and Cyborg both started to say something at once. Raven inclined her head to Cyborg, and he asked, "You said you can't talk about what happened with Death and in the underworld. Because nobody knows it. Why is that?"
"Because at one point, I theorized that, being descended from the incarnation of stories, I could only cease to exist when I was completely unknown to the world. It made sense at the time, and I wove a spell that prevented anyone who made the connection from communicating it ever again." He shrugged. "It didn't work, but I prefer being unknown, truth be told."
"All right," Cyborg said. "I can't think of anything else. Sucks for you, though, bro."
Talon blinked. "Thank you. Lady blackbird?" he asked, "what did you want?"
"Call me that again, and I swear to every conceivable god-" she began, but Talon held his hands up in supplication.
"My apologies. Please; your question?"
"Fine. I told Robin who you were, and your Name. So how come I wasn't affected by your spell?"
"That's…" Talon paused and looked confused. "That's a very good question. I'll have to look into that."
"All right," Robin said, "I've got one. You're trying to turn Beast Boy into what you are now. From what I heard from him, it's basically a killer-for-hire."
"That's a very negative way to describe-"
"Let me finish. Why? Why did it turn your whole outlook around when you realized he had a shot back on day one?"
Talon looked at him levelly. "Because it's quite rare for-"
"Don't lie to me, Orpheus. Remember who taught me the ropes. I think you're back on your usual kick. I don't think there's much of a retirement package for this Paladin gig, is there?"
"There is some precedent for-"
"Is there?" Robin slammed his hand down on the table. If looks could kill, Talon would have been a swiftly-fading memory.
"….Not usually," Talon admitted. "The fact that he is learning from a living master is quite rare."
"And you expect me to just let you sign him up for that? My friend?" He was visibly restraining himself.
"Robin, stop it," Beast Boy said. "It's not your choice, it's mine."
"Beast Boy, you're being an idiot. Look at this joker! This is where you're going to end up if you keep chasing her! Just let-" He broke off as a green fist struck him in the face. Robin fell backwards out of his chair, more in shock than in pain.
"Shut up!" Beast Boy yelled. "You don't know what it's like!" He raised his fist to hit Robin again. As he started to swing, though, his wrist was caught. Talon stood to his side.
"You're right," Talon said quietly. "He doesn't. But I do. If that's why you're doing this, then quit. It's not worth it. Take it from somebody who knows loss."
Beast Boy looked around. Everyone was on their feet, ready to intervene if things got hairy. "But… It's my only chance." He wiped the back of his left hand across his eyes. "You can let me go now. I'm calm," he said in a low voice. Talon released him, and he slumped back into his seat.
"The hope makes it worse," Talon said quietly. "Doesn't it?"
"Yeah. It does."
Talon laid a hand on Beast Boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you agree so easily. If you want to reconsider, I won't hold it against you. When you want to talk, I'll be in my chambers." He looked around. "Things got out of hand, we're all tired. With Robin's permission, I'd like to postpone the rest of my past for another night.
Robin got up, rubbing his jaw. "That's probably a good idea. Hell of a right hook he's developed, though." He turned and left the room, muttering under his breath. Starfire started to follow him, but had second thoughts and hesitated. Cyborg gave her a light shove and a pointed look, and she took the hint and followed Robin.
"Well," Talon said, to the three who were left. "That could have gone better. The five of you are becoming much more interesting than I first thought." He bowed slightly and started to leave.
"Hang on," Cyborg said. Talon raised his eyebrows. "You don't sound like Shakespeare on a high horse anymore. What's up with that?"
"Oh," Talon said, with a dismissive shrug, "I've just been talking a lot. It speeds up the acclimation process considerably. After all, I wouldn't be much good as an 'assassin' if I stuck out like a sore thumb, would I?" Satisfied that there would be no more questions, he made his exit.
Beast Boy left without acknowledging the others, and Raven and Cyborg went their separate ways after a curt nod. Nobody remained in the room to watch the sun rise on the new day a few moments later.
