Death on Delos by Gary Corby

Author:Gary Corby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2017-05-08T18:47:09+00:00

The Hyperborean Problem

“It began long ago, in the days of my great-great-grandfather,” Damon said. “He was the chief of our people. Our priestess, who was called Karin, came to him one day and announced that she had received a vision sent by our Goddess. The Goddess spoke to Karin and told her that in the land of the Hellenes she was worshipped with the name Artemis. She commanded Karin to carry gifts of worship to her faraway temple.”

“The tale of the Hyperborean women,” Diotima said. “Meren told us.”

“Meren told you true,” Damon said. “Except for one little detail. Karin and her friend didn’t die of illness. They liked it here so much that they decided to stay. They adopted Hellene names and settled on Delos.”

“Were your people angry?” Diotima asked.

“The people were upset at first, but when the guards explained what it was like here, how warm and lovely, the people understood. Over time, others departed to see this fabled land of Delos. They didn’t return either, but sent back word that they had settled in the village, pretending to be Hellenes, and learned how to fish.

“In all that time, we continued the tradition of sending the Gift to Delos, and hid letters to our distant relatives in amongst the Gifts.”

“How very remarkable,” Diotima said.

“When my father inherited the chieftainship, he decided to move the entire tribe.”

“Didn’t the people on Delos notice?” I asked.

“We arrived in ones and twos, or a family at a time. People move between the islands all the time, you know? We adopted Hellene names, the Hellene way of life. Well, after we were all here we knew, we must keep giving the Gift, in thanks to our Goddess who had shown us the way here.”

“Then you’re the Chief of the Hyperboreans?” I said to Damon.

“I am.”

“You’ve never been tempted to go back home?” I asked.

“You’re joking, aren’t you? We could stay in our native land, where in winter we need a pickaxe to break the water out of the buckets, or we could move here.”

“I see your point,” I said.

“Of course, we have to worry about sunburn, which wasn’t much of an issue back home,” he allowed. “But that’s a price we’ll willingly pay to avoid having our balls freeze off.”

“A very reasonable attitude.”

“The problem is, if the priests find out, they’ll throw us off the island.”

“I don’t see why,” I said.

“We’re not even Hellene,” Meren pointed out. “Strictly speaking, I don’t belong here.”

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. “That is a problem,” I said, because everyone knew Hellene temples could only be served by Hellenes.

“Meren is our priestess,” Damon said. “It made sense to get her to join the Hellene temple, since it’s the temple of our Goddess too.”

“Very clever,” Diotima said.

“Besides,” Meren said, “it means I can tend to Great Aunt Karin.”

I began to say, “Who?”

“You mean the priestess who brought the First Gift?” Diotima asked.

Moira nodded. “One of them is Meren’s distant relative. We say great aunt, but it’s more probably great-great-great aunt.

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