FALSE GODS

15 See You Anon

Empousa’s modest villa was a traditional one. The entrance led to an open courtyard surrounded by arcades on three sides. A peristyle garden flourished in the courtyard with luxuriant flowering plants, vegetable patches, and herbs, which were periodically irrigated.

A garden freshly watered makes glad the man who is tending it, Empousa would say.

There were cushioned lounges and stone benches for resting and entertaining guests. An altar of the goddess Necessitas, in the middle of the courtyard, stood beside a small fountain, which erupted with water every now and then.

The floors and walls were mosaics made of colored stones, tiles, and pebbles. There was paint on the walls depicting several gods and great kings.

The arcades were supported on twelve feet tall columns. Quarters on the left were the andron, where the men of the household lived. Those on the right made up the gynaikon, where the women were boarded. The entrance-facing rooms were the back, the back, the storerooms in the middle, and the trade office in the front. Most of the quarters had small windows overlooking nature. Empousa’s household comprised thirteen men, five boys, seven women, and eight girls. Most of them were orphans whom the old man had taken in.

Tarsus entered to find the garden flush with the members of the household. It was a cool late evening, and the men and women were occupied with drinking and dining after a day’s hard work. “Tarsus, my honeycake! Come to me!” a buxom woman in her higher thirties called out from the comfort of a lounge. She was Madam Helena, Empousa’s mistress and caretaker of the household.

She was one of those who helped raise the younger orphans of the household and was a mother figure to them. But when she had had a few drinks, she’d turn into a completely different woman.

“Come to me, my egg with eyes!“ she squealed, approaching him, and pushing his face into her bosom.

“What is all that dirt and grime on you, dear? Empousa is such a brute, making you carry those filthy carcasses every day! Oh, my poor boy.”

“It is fine, madam. I enjoy the work.” Tarsus replied, escaping from the suffocation of her breasts.

“I am hungry,” he added, as the aroma of freshly cooked meat reached him.

“Wash up dear. I will set a plate for you,” she said affectionately. Tarsus settled the silver earned in the day with the purser in the trade office and returned to the courtyard, where a plate of delicacy waited for him. It was lamb cooked in garlic and lemon, with potatoes on the side. The portions given to Tarsus were usually five times that of any other man. He had a fearsome appetite, perhaps because of his stature and the ‘strong bones,’ which Empousa always referred to.

“Honey-cake,” Madam Helena puckered her lips at him, ”Where have you been? I was looking for you in the evening.”

“I went to the Pig and Whistle Inn for a few drinks with friends.”

“Oo. You made some new friends?”

Helena already had more than a few drinks. Her cheeks were flushed so red, it could be mistaken for rouge.

“Perhaps I did,” he replied, sniggering.

“Really? Is there a girl among your friends?” she asked, prodding his arm with a fork. “A girl who you like?”

Tarsus did not answer her, but kept stuffing his face with a smug expression.

“Oh, this is good news. Empousa will be so happy. Whose daughter is she? Does she live in our suburra? Tell me. Tell me!”

“Stop it, Madam. It’s not that serious yet.”

“Daxi, you can keep your secret, but if she breaks your heart, she will find poison in her next meal.” She warned, patting his cheek.

Tarsus shook his head.

“Where is Empousa? I need to speak with him.”

“Where do you think he is? It is a Saturday, isn’t it? He’s already had his fill of wine and has gone down to the theatre for that horrible play he loves so much.”

“Well, I will be off then,” Tarsus said, licking his fingers, draining a goblet of wine, and getting to his feet.

Tarsus went to his room and packed a quick satchel for his journey. He avoided the courtyard and took a back avenue to leave the villa. Madam Helena was there to greet him again.

“You thought you’d leave without saying goodbye?” she posed with emotion.

“You could tell?”

“I’ve seen you grow up, my dear. How did you convince yourself that you’d fool me? So this is about a girl?”

Tarsus nodded.

“Then give your madam a kiss before you leave.”

Tarsus bent down to kiss her cheek, but she grabbed his face and kissed him straight on the lips.“My honey-cake,” she said, tears rolling down her eyes. “The girl will be lucky to have you.” Tarsus rushed off, flustered and slightly homesick.

Palos hill was where the theatre of Pago had been built. It was an open-air structure, semi-circular, built on sloping hillsides, into which terraced seating had been cut. These were arcs of stepped rows for the audience. The location was a long walk from Empousa’s villa, through the Agora and past the temple of Aion.

The orchestra was the part of the theatre where the performances took place. Owing to its shape, the audience sat on three sides of the orchestra. The slopes of the hill were perfect for the safe carriage of the actors' voices. Large braziers and hundreds of torches lit up the area.

Tarsus walked up to the entrance gate and read the signboard.

LUXOR’S NINE- Story of a deviant God-king.

He shelled out a few bronze coins to gain entry.

The seats were divided into three tiers. The highest and farthest one from the orchestra had free seats, used by the lower middle class, the poor, and the homeless. Seats to the middle tier, where Tarsus was headed, could be taken for a small payment. Then there was an elite tier, a special seating installed in the front row for the magistrate and his retinue, the high priests, and other important and wealthy people.

Tarsus found Empousa perched alone in a row that had low lighting.

“Tarsus, my boy! Come and sit beside me,” Empousa said on spotting him. He observed the satchel but made no comment.

“Empousa, I am leav-”

“Shh. The play’s first scene has begun. Watch.”

LUXOR’S NINE was a tragedy. It was the story of the fall from grace of the God-king Luxor, who ruled several centuries back, long before the Petromax bloodline took over. His reign was short and pathetic. He spent his days in gluttony and fornication and disobeyed every tenet of the Bibliotheca. Luxor treated insubordination with death and oppressed not only the citizens of Theikos but also the other gods.

Luxor’s nine referred to his nine concubines, who he tortured every day. In the end, the nine plotted against him with the other gods and stripped him of his divinity. He was too weak of decades spent in extravagant pursuits to defend himself. His punishment was that he was exiled from Theikos and was dumped far away in the outlands.

The audience primarily watched the play to see the fornication with the nine concubines, who were among the best-looking women in Pago. The playwright made sure that the lovemaking was real and uninterrupted.

“What do you like in this play?” Tarsus voiced as the performance ended with a standing ovation.

“The lesson that one must not give too much power to the ones closest to him.”

“Empousa, I-”

“I knew this day would come,” he said, getting to his feet with a grunt. “But I did not expect it to be this soon. Follow me.”

They climbed up the hill until the orchestra looked like a distant world. It was dark all around.

“How long will you be gone?” Empousa asked.

“I don’t know.”

“There is this girl-”

“No. The less I know, the less I will be inclined to follow you and try to protect you.”

“I am a man now. You don’t need to protect me anymore.”

Empousa brought forth a wineskin, and both drank till they were full.

“There are things about you I have known for long but have kept them from you,” he said. “I did not find you on the steps of the temple of Aion.”

“Then where am I from?”

“That I do not know. A hooded woman paid me a hundred gold to take care of you. She said you are destined for great things, and when you grow up, you will return to where you came from.”

“Who was she?”

“There was no way to tell. But I can say she was no ordinary woman and likely your mother. And hence, you are no ordinary man. You are not just a peculiar. You are blessed.”

“I don’t know what to make of that.”

“Neither do I. But it seems destiny has found you. Hence, I will not stop you. But don’t forget your old man’s kindness and come see him before he dies.”

“I don’t know, old man, you make me carry bison carcasses. I am likely to forget you as soon as I set foot outside the suburra.”

Both men laughed and talked all night. It was to be their last time together.