Chapter Seven:
Demeter had cast down her bouquet of flowers with a cry of rage and despair as Helios told her of Hades abduction of her daughter.
The lands began to freeze over like her heart at that moment; the trees had cried their blood red leaves - their forms like skeletons upon the bleak landscape. And for the first time, winter visited the land.
Zeus, God of Gods heard the cries of despairing mortals when food ran low and sickness infected the lands, and his attention was drawn down to the earth. The Great God gave a cry of shock, his call booming over the lands in a crack of thunder. Lightning streaked the sky.
Demeter knew also of his displeasure at her refusal to do her duties, but ignored it. None shall be happy until she too was happy – her daughter at her side where she belonged.
Goddess was she and so, was unused to not having her way.
'Hermes!' Called the God of thunder, his blue eyes filled with resignation when all pleas to Demeter were answered with the same words, 'The lands shall not flourish until my heart sings again at the sight of my fair Persephone.' The winged messenger approached quickly, bright eyes filled with their usual mirth and his smile wide. A happy God was he for the most part, rarely angered or surprised, with knowledge of all sorts at his very fingertips.
'My Lord?' he asked with a bow. 'You call, and I come as swiftly as I may, though I may be far from your side.'
'I bid you go to the Underworld and bring back fair Persephone. Demeter heeds not my orders, and so I must seek the Daughter of ours in return for life to continue. Do this at once and tell Hades of my will and warn him to obey, for I shall not tolerate a refusal in this.'
So it was that Hermes took flight to the dreary underworld, his mind set upon his task and his soul determined.
All would be well now, the child would return to her stubborn mother's side and life should bud upon the dead soil once more
