Persephone by Eva Pohler

Author:Eva Pohler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eva Pohler Books

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Birth of the Triplets

H

ades watched on with a feeling of terror as Hecate and Galin helped Persephone lie down on the bed. He should have been full of joy and excitement over the fact that his daughters would finally be born, but he feared he was destined to bring one of them to harm. And as much as he wanted to be at Persephone’s side, he forced himself to hang back in the shadows.

He stiffened when she cried out in pain. He’d never felt so helpless.

“Dear, Persephone,” Hecate said softly. “Bite on this cloth and see if that helps.”

“And open your legs,” Galin said. “Wider.”

“I’m afraid they’re all three trying to get out at once,” Hecate said. “Maybe it would be best if you went to sleep.”

“Should I call Hermes?” Hades asked from the shadows.

“Please do,” Hecate replied.

In another moment, swift Hermes was there. “Yes, my lord?”

“I need you to put Persephone into the deep boon of sleep,” Hades commanded.

Hermes moved to the bedside and touched Persephone’s forehead. Her moaning ceased.

In the next instant, Hades shuddered at the sound of ripping flesh. Then came the squeals of infants as all three babies flew up—one from between Persephone’s legs, another from a rip in her belly, and a third from Persephone’s mouth. The baby girls flew in a circle around the room and then disappeared.

Hades rushed to Persephone, who lay in a pool of her own blood, looking as though she’d been torn apart by the Maenads. Even though her mouth and body were already beginning to heal from where they’d been ripped, Hades was frightened that she might need more care.

“Can you help her?” he asked Hecate, who, along with her weasel, was busy soaking up the blood.

“It wouldn’t hurt to call Apollo,” she replied.

Hades turned to Hermes. “Can you bring him to us?”

“What about the babes?” Hermes asked. “Shouldn’t I go after them?”

“I’ll hunt them down,” Hades said. “You get Apollo and bring him here.”

“I can do both,” Hermes said before he vanished.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Hades said to Hecate.

Before leaving his domain, Hades reached out with his senses, hoping to detect the triplets somewhere in the Underworld. When he didn’t, he god-traveled to the upperworld and soared across the sky, using his hawk-eye vision to scan the earth for his daughters.

Although he hadn’t known what to expect, he never, in a million years, would have guessed that the babies would fly away as soon as they were born. Where had they gone to? And were they together? Or scattered?

He hoped they hadn’t been summoned by another deity bent on swallowing them. It occurred to him that Zeus or Poseidon might feel threatened by the expansion of the Underworld pantheon. Would either go to such lengths as to swallow his newborn children?

Combing the land, sea, and sky for hours, Hades saw no sign of his runaways. Just as he was about to weep with an overwhelming sense of gloom and hopelessness, Artemis appeared beside him.

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