Winter Harvest by Ioanna Papadopoulou

Author:Ioanna Papadopoulou [Papadopoulou, Ioanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ghost Orchid Press
Published: 2023-11-20T18:30:00+00:00

WINTER

This time, my journey wasn’t an aimless wandering. Though Kore wasn’t anywhere I could reach, I knew exactly where my next destination ought to be. The next allies I needed to find, the ones who had always been by my side since their eggs hatched.

I found them at the location where my misery began, at the shore where Kore was abducted. I saw them basking under the sun, tired looking and hungry, and I was hurt by the hardships I had caused them. They were innocent and I loved them; after Kore and Hestia, they were my closest friends. I rushed to my serpents, even though ideas of fairness had no place alongside my motherly ache, and hugged them tightly, feeling relieved I was amid creatures who loved me, and I could hold onto and depend on.

“We will get her back,” I promised, and they rubbed their bodies against mine. “I am sorry I left you alone for so long. I am so sorry.”

My beautiful creatures didn’t hold any grudges against me. They understood me without needing any explanation. They showed me all their affection with the same eagerness I was used to. I caressed their bodies, my hands frantically traced their scales, and I rocked my body around as they encircled me and kept me safe under their wings. They covered me completely, hiding me from Zeus’s gaze. Within that small cocoon of their wings and scales, I planned how I was going to fight for my child.

It will be an ultimatum, I decided. I don’t care if this causes a rift between Zeus and Hades. I don’t care if it starts a new war or makes me a monster in everyone’s eyes. I don’t care about the cost. They will come to me. I will not go begging. I will not go and accuse. I will find a place and stay still there, waiting for them to realize they need to come and beg me to stop. And when Zeus is forced to come and see me, to look me in the eye and admit how he disrespected me, and promises to bring back Kore, then I will only allow the barest of life to come back.

“I want her back,” I whispered to my flying serpents. “I don’t care for anything other than to get her back in my arms.”

These words became my mantra, my chant, and I whispered them in the hug of my beautiful animals as I took back everything, not leaving a single breath of life left in the soil. They tightened their grip around me, which would have choked a lesser creature, but I felt comforted by the tension of their bodies around me.

“Everything will starve,” I muttered. “Everything will be death and darkness. If my child is to live in the Underworld, then all the world will be the realm of death.” Nothing else matters but that they learn they cannot disrespect me anymore. They cannot ignore me anymore. They all need to understand that I will never stop.

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