'Because I bet with Hypereides? I knew enough to know who was going to win a strange bet proposed by a stranger. So does Hypereides, I imagine, when he's sober.'
By then the women were all talking at once. Hilaeira whispered across the table, 'Latro, did you touch her? Do you remember?'
I nodded.
'Which brings us to Latro,' Pindaros said to her. 'I can't go back to our shining city until I've taken him to the shrine of the Great Mother. I won't blame you if you don't want to come, though you're welcome to if you wish.'
Hilaeira said, 'My father-he's dead-had a business connection here. I thought perhaps he'd let me stay with him a while.'
'Certainly,' Pindaros said.
'This is so near Advent, where they have the mysteries of the Grain Goddess, and I'd love to be an initiate. They'll take me, won't they? Despite the war?'
'They'll accept anyone who hasn't committed murder, I believe,' Pindaros told her. 'But there's quite a period of study involved-half a year or so. Kalleos, what do you know of the mysteries? Is there any reason Hilaeira couldn't be initiated?'
Kalleos shook her head, smiling again. 'Not a reason in the world. And Hilaeira, dear, I heard what you said about your poor uncle, or whoever it was. Believe me, dear, you don't need him. You're welcome to stay right here with me for as long as you like.'
'Why, that's very kind of you,' Hilaeira said.
'It does take a while, you understand. But you're lucky, because it's right about now that they start. You'll have to go down to Advent every so often all summer, and there are fasts and ceremonies and whatnot. I've never gone through it, but I know people who have.'
'Did it change their lives?' Hilaeira asked.
'Hm? Oh, yes, absolutely. Gave them a whole new outlook, and a better one too, I'd say. And it's ever so useful socially. Where was I? Washings-there's a lot of them, mostly in the Ilissus. In the fall they admit you to the lesser mysteries. After that would be the time for you to go home, if you want to. Then a year later you come back, go through the lesser mysteries again, and then the greater mysteries. Then you're an initiate and a friend of the goddess's forever, and every year you can come back for the greater mysteries, though you don't have to. Those last four days. The lesser mysteries are two, I think. But you really ought to go down to Advent and talk to the priests.'
'Is it far?'
'No. If you start when we're through eating, you… Pinfeather, what's the matter with you?'
'It's just that-Last night, Latro said-By all the gods!'
Hilaeira was looking at him too. 'For a man who takes talking corpses in his stride, you seem a bit distraught.'
'I should be. I am! I've been an idiot. Io, do you remember what the prophetess said? I want to be sure my memory's not playing me false.'
'I think so,' Io told him. 'Let me see. 'Look under the sun… ' '
'Further along,' Pindaros told her. 'About the wolf.'
' 'The wolf that howls has wrought you woe!' ' Io chanted. ' 'To that dog's mistress you must go! Her hearth burns in the room below. I send you to the God Unseen!' '
'That's enough. 'The wolf that howls has wrought you woe, to that dog's mistress you must go, her hearth burns in the room below.' Kalleos, is there a cave at Advent?'
Kalleos shook her head. 'I haven't the least idea.'
'There must be. I need to borrow Latro for today and tomorrow. May I have him? I'll bring him back to you, I swear.'
'I suppose so. Would you mind telling me what's going on?'
Pindaros had bitten into his apple. He chewed and swallowed before answering. 'Back in our city, I took an oath to guide Latro to the place mentioned by the prophetess. I thought it meant the oracle at Lebadeia, which is only about two days' journey.'
'You consulted the god at the Navel?' Kalleos asked.
Pindaros shook his head. 'There's a temple of the Shining God and a prophetess in our city. We never got to Lebadeia, as you can see from our ending up here. But last night Latro said-'
I interrupted. 'That we should trust the Shining God if we trusted his oracle.'
'Right. Latro, I know you don't remember, but go get your book. Look at the very beginning and tell me where you were wounded. We know about the battle-where on the battlefield.'
'I don't have to get it,' I told him. 'I read it this morning. At the temple of the Earth Mother.'
Pindaros heaved a great sigh. 'I thought I recalled someone's saying something about that. That clinches it.'
'Clinches what?' Hilaeira asked.
'The wolf is one of the badges of the Great Mother,' Pindaros told her. 'That's why I thought it was the shrine of the Great Mother that was meant-it is in a cave, by the way. But don't you remember what the priest said to us beside the lake? The morning after you and I first met?'
'He explained that the gods have different names to indicate different attributes, and different names in different places, too. Of course, I knew that before.'
Pindaros nodded. 'And do you know how Advent got its name? Or why the mysteries are performed there?'
'I thought it had always been there.'
'No, in ancient times Advent-which wasn't called Advent then-had a king named Celeos. His people lived by hunting and fishing, and gathering wild fruits. The Great Mother was looking for her daughter, who'd been carried away by the Receiver of Many. To shorten a long story, in her wanderings she came to Advent and taught Celeos to grow grain.'
Hilaeira exclaimed, 'I see!'
'Certainly, and I should have seen too, much sooner. The Grain Goddess is the Great Mother, and the Great Mother is the Earth Mother, who sends up our wheat and barley. Her greatest temple's at Advent, and it was near a temple of hers that Latro was wounded. The Shining God was telling Latro to go to Advent, and when I started to lead him in the wrong direction, he made sure we'd get to the right place after all. All I have to do now is take him there, which I can do this afternoon. Then I'll be free to return home.'
'And will I find my friends?' I asked him. 'Will I be cured then?'
'I don't know,' Pindaros answered solemnly. 'Certainly you will have taken the first step.' CHAPTER XVIII- Here in the Hall of the Great Mother
I sacrificed today. About midmorning, Pindaros, Hilaeira, Io, and I went to talk to a priest. He told us that his name was Polyhommes and that he was of the family of the Eumolpides. 'The high priest is always chosen from our family,' he said. 'Thus many of us serve our turn, hoping for a smile from the goddess.' He smiled himself, and broadly, for he was one of those happy and helpful fat men one sometimes meets in the service of gods and kings, though he smelled of blood, as I suppose all priests must.
'We are the children of Demophon, whom the goddess would have made immortal if she could. I grant it's not as good as being of the line of Heracles, who actually was made immortal, but it's the best we can manage. Now what can I do to help you, sir? This is your wife, I take it, and your little daughter. And your son, who's been injured. A striking young man-what a pity someone struck him!' He chuckled. 'This is not a shrine of healing, however, save for the spirit. I will be happy to direct you to one.'
I said, 'I hope it will be a shrine of healing for me,' and Pindaros explained our actual relationships.
'Ah! Then we have here, in fact, two parties, though you have traveled together. Let's take the young woman first, for her case will be somewhat easier, I believe.
'You must understand, my daughter, that there are three classes of persons who cannot be admitted to the mysteries. These are murderers, magicians, and soothsayers. If you are admitted to the mysteries-or if you so much as begin the ceremonies for admission-and it is discovered that you belong to any of those three classes, the penalty is death. But at this moment there is no penalty; you need not even tell me, 'I have killed,' or, 'I am a
