Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 27

Teleute shifted her crossed legs on her chair, her feet feeling bouncy.
"So toast with me, dear guests, and then join me for the sacrifice in the outer courtyard," her well-groomed brother Desire announced solemnly.
Where the fuck was Morpheus? There was a loud an clear 'objection' to be shouted, to stop this nonsense with their brother marrying a mortal just for spite! With her seat near the entrance, Teleute had hoped to catch Dream and talk him down from wreaking havoc, but he still wasn't here.
The only person who had passed the large double doors had been the comedy muse with her lopsided wreath of ivy, twice. She had run to Erato, who played daddy-of-the-bride, and had whispered agitatedly. Seemed it had something to do with the sacrifice.
Awww, Dream, hurry! After that, it was only the unveiling and the deal was sealed.
Why was Menmosyne standing up, even before the couple? She ran towards the large double doors, flashing Teleute a puzzled smile of recognition.
Was he finally here?

****

"Lord Shaper!" a woman cried, and burst towards Morpheus from the large double doors of the banquet hall. "Forgive me," She panted, her eyes glistening in the gloom and dragged him by the lapel of his coat into a hallway, "but you must hide!"
"What is the matter, woman?"
"Please excuse this strange behavior, but you have to stay hidden." She looked at him with her watery round eyes under a set of brown curls, the older version of her beautiful daughter.
"It is you, Mnemosyne."
"Yes. Please follow me, we must talk before any rash decisions on your part. There can not be bloodshed among the Endless."
Morpheus let himself be pulled along the hallway through more private quarters, until she opened the door to a woman's bedroom and pulled him in.
Mnemosyne sat on a stool atop a familiar light blue dress not bothering to light a candle in the twilight. Morpheus started pacing, to get a grip on his restless pulse.
"I am so sorry. It is all my fault. I realized too late that he was not you, and who he really was." Mnemosyne lowered her head and clasped her hands atop her festive dress. "It was I, who meddled in your affairs, when I asked my friend Teleute to invite you to our time and place. I knew what would ensue."
Morpheus looked at her quizzically.
"As the goddess of time and remembrance, I can remember the happy and cherished memories of the future. But only for a bit. I remembered how happy Calliope would be, if you two met. I remembered the look on her face, when she saw you for the first time." Mnemosyne looked up to him. "I wanted that for her, this happiness. I did not know of the consequences. I did not know, that she would marry another... I am so sorry."
"We must stop the wedding. If she marries my sibling, bad consequences will ensue."
Mnemosyne nodded, then looked up, determination in her face. "We will and I know how, without making a scandal."
Morpheus stopped pacing.
"Wait here, in her chambers. They want to live in the palace, I am sure the unveiling ceremony will be held right in this room."
He nodded. "Go and get my sister Teleute. I might need her help."

****

Everything around Calliope was still a blur.
"So toast with me, dear guests, and then join me for the sacrifice in the outer courtyard." Epithymiae announced solemnly. Someone refilled Calliope's goblet with more wine. The room spun slightly. Humidity gathering under her veil. She should have eaten today.
"I toast to the goddess Aphrodite, for a fruitful wedding!" Epithymiae lifted his wine to the traditional toast. "I toast Eros, and Bacchus, my good friends, may they bless this evening..."
Were these still the right words? Anyway, Calliope lifted her wine.
"I toast to Oneiros, god of Dreams, may he be humbled and late, so that this feast may continue until the wee hours of dawn!"
The crowd cheered and toasted. A creative, toast, at least, although Calliope must have misheard the name of the God. "You've forgotten Artemis and Athena," she whispered to her groom.
"They weren't invited anyway."
Epithymiae grabbed her hand, his bracelet digging into her palm, and pulled her through the cheering crowd, wine spilling, goblet loosing, swirling faces, noise and color. Calliope stumbled behind him though the rows, trying to keep the pace, his hand wrapped firmly around her wrist, towards the now open doors of the banquet hall, and into the cool refreshing night.
She inhaled and looked up to the stars to make the spinning world stop. Orion and Cheiron gleamed, high above her.
Epithymiae pulled Calliope up the stairs to the sacrificial altar. The steps hit her toes and then hard stone edges barreled into her legs, ribs and hands.
Searing pain took Calliope's breath away.
Hands grabbed her and helped her sit while she was desperately trying to inhale, but couldn't.
"Someone get a cushion for the bride!"
She could only half-breathe until a blast of pain caused a hiccup.
"This is embarrassing," someone hissed.
Another try to breathe caused the corners of her vision to darken.
"She already drunk?"
Breathe!
Then Epithymiae was near her, reeking of too much wine. "Darling!" He sounded too kind and worried. "You're embarrassing me."
"Sorry-" Calliope gasped.
"Someone get water!" a man yelled.
"D' you mind if I proceed with the sacrifice? I don't want the unveiling to be late." Epithymiae's voice was dripping with sweetness.
She nodded and took the goblet of water, someone was handing her, wondering how she should drink with the hiccup searing her ribcage.
She could feel her groom's heat vanish from her side and tried to straighten her spine. She could breathe in careful hiccups.
A warm hand touched the one that was holding the goblet another lifted the veil a little.
"Dear guests. Let us now pay homage to the great Aphordite!" Epithymiae proclaimed above her.
Wasn't it Athena, the goddess of marriage?
"Try slow breaths." A female voice said.
The crowd quieted down to the sound of the hooves of the arriving sacrificial animal. Calliope could hear the splatter of the grains, which the crowd threw, to bless it and a few gasps, oh's and aahh's. The smoke from the torches and fires illumination the courtyard stung in her nose and eyes.
She carefully lifted her chin and looked into the gentle eyes with egyptian eye paint of an unknown guest, kneeling before her.
"Calliope," the girl whispered, her ankh necklace gleaming in the torchlight, "try to inhale slowly. Then it hurts less."
Water splashed behind her, probably over the sacrificial animal's head to make it nod and agree peacefully to its own sacrifice.
Calliope inhaled tentatively, but stopped immediately when the pain hit again.
"Let us pray..."
"Try slow, but deep breaths, or you'll faint." The girl with the ankh necklace whispered.
Calliope let the air softly invade her lungs. It became easier, less painful. The blackness receded.
She could sip a little water.
"...and that my wife will be blessed with an heir to my realm, offspring to govern and influence them all..."
The girl took the goblet back and touched her hand. "There you go. Very good. Think you can stand up now?"
Calliope nodded, and the girl pulled her up into a standing position. Calliope stood, arm around the girl's shoulder, and looked at the crowd. A sea of red cheeked people, most of which she did not even know.
To her left, her sisters pushed their way through the crowd from their position in the back to the front row.
Breathe in, breathe out.
"Are you okay to stand on your own, now?" the girl asked her, "seems my brother has finally arrived and I need to get back to work."
Calliope nodded. "Thank you for your kind help."
"You're welcome." Then she vanished up the stairs to the altar.
Before her, her sisters finally reached the first row. Behind them, her mother tried to push through the crowd, but her path was blocked by her halting sisters.
"As one of the priestesses of this temple, I will now perform the sacrifice of this beautiful creature. May the goddess look kindly upon us!" Erato announced from above.
"No!" Thaila screamed, her face a mask of terror.
Calliope's body would only allow her to turn in slow motion.
"You can't do that!" Thaila wailed.
A horse neighed. "Ave Athena, goddess of marriage!"
The crowd gasped, Thalia screamed and Erato slid the sacrificial knife though the neck of a softly glittering being with shiny wings.
"Hippolitos!" Calliope cried, as his eyes went dull. She stumbled up the stairs and ran to him.
When Calliope arrived at his side, he was already lying on the stony floor in a patch of purple blood. She fell to her knees and hugged his face. "Hippolitos..." The pain was like a knife,rammed through her chest, a million times worse than her broken rib.
Hippolitos exhaled softly, and went still.
"Stop embarrassing me!" Her groom hissed, and pulled her up.
"It's okay. He'll protect her in your stead. We have to leave now." Calliope heard the Egyptian girl whisper softly and the faint sound of wings.

(The wedding night is approaching fast. please vote for this chapter and read on tomorrow, when we will see what Desire has planned for the later part of the ceremony.)