I put my arm around Arsinoe and said firmly, “I am bound to Arsinoe and will take her and the boy with me regardless of your laws. Try to prevent me, Tanakil, and you will see what happens.” Once more I was ready, sword in hand, to abduct. Arsinoe and to die rather than be separated from her and the boy.
Mikon, plump and bloated from the wine though he was, collected the remnants of his wits and said decisively, “I also am a stranger in the city and an undesirable person if I have to testify as to the cause of Dorieus’ death. For the sake of our friendship, Turms, I feel it my responsibility to prevent Arsinoe and the boy from falling into the hands of evil priests.”
Tanakil’s sons glanced at her uncertainly. “Shall we call the guards and have them killed, Mother? That would be the easiest way of ridding ourselves of them. You may determine what happens to the woman.”
Tanakil pointed an accusing finger at Arsinoe. “Look at that too beautiful face!” she cried. “Look at that face that changes with her every whim. If I send her back to the temple she will surely win over the priests. I know her too well. No, the best punishment for her is to follow Turms as a fugitive, taking the boy with her. Let the sun darken her white face, let her limbs wither from want. Not a single garment, not a jewel or a silver coin will you take from my house, Istafra.”
Arsinoe realized from Tanakil’s stony face that it was her final decision. For a brief moment she seemed to weigh the chances of regaining her old position in the temple, then raised her chin.
“Clothes and jewels I can always get, but I can never win back Turms if I now leave him. You should be grateful to me, Tanakil. But for me you yourself would be lying there, your ugly face black and the mark of Dorieus’ fingers around your throat. Had I remained silent and let Dorieus fulfill his threat, everything would be different. But I didn’t want to lose Turms, nor do I hesitate to follow him now even if you should rob me of all I own.”
At that moment it was as though I stepped out of myself to watch everything from the side. I smiled. Irresistibly my glance was drawn to a pebble on the floor. I bent down to pick it up, hardly realizing what I was doing. It was an ordinary pebble that had been brought into the house by someone’s feet, and why I was compelled to pick it up I cannot explain, for I had no way of knowing that it again signified the end of one period in my life and the beginning of another.
I plucked the pebble from the floor, undisturbed by the fact that Tanakil was stamping her foot and demanding, “Go! Go quickly lest I regret it. Go as you are, for not one piece of bread, not one garment will you take from my house.”
Thus she banished us but did not dare to touch us or to set the guards upon us. Arsinoe managed to snatch up a child’s sheepskin and I took Dorieus’ heavy woolen mantle from the wall in addition to my sword and shield. Mikon had his caduceus and medicine case and at the doorway laid hands on a half-filled wineskin.
Because of the confusion wrought by the earthquake our flight attracted no attention. Crowds were pushing their way out of the city with their possessions to the open fields. The earthquake was, in fact, slight and caused little damage. Probably the land of Eryx sighed in relief at the death of Dorieus, descendant of Herakles, for had he lived he would surely have plunged it to destruction.
As we hurried toward the north gate in the midst of the moaning mass, the orphan girl Hanna, wife of the holy dog Krimisos, ran after us. Pulling at my robe, she said tearfully, “The dog Krimisos is dead. This morning it crept into the darkest corner of its pen, and when the earth began to shake and I wanted to lead it outside, it did not move. But your cat came to me and leaped into my lap in fright.”
She had wrapped the cat in her dress and held it to her so that her lower body was bare. I could not shake her loose for I had enough to do in running toward the gate with the crying boy in my arms. Arsinoe clung to my arm, Mikon panted behind us and the girl clutched tightly at my robe. Our departure from Segesta was not dignified.
No one stopped us. We crossed the open fields as quickly as possible and turned from the road toward the mountains into the evergreen forest. We spent the night under the trees pressed close to one another for warmth. We did not dare to build a fire until we met some Sicca-nians by their sacred rock. They welcomed us and we lived among them for five years. During that time Mikon disappeared, Arsinoe gave birth to a daughter, and Hanna grew into a maiden.
But before telling of that I must describe Tanakil’s fate. After Dorieus’ death Tanakil’s sons strengthened their power in the city and bribed the leaders of Dorieus’ forces to support them so that the city officials had little to say. For the sake of appearances they built a magnificent funeral pyre of oaken logs for Dorieus and before lighting it told their mother that they were tired of her lust for power and would send her back to Himera. Whereupon Tanakil said that life without Dorieus held little meaning and that she would rather share the funeral pyre with him in the faint hope of accompanying him to the underworld.
Her sons did not protest so Tanakil, garbed in her best, climbed the pyre, embraced Dorieus’ body a final time and with her own hands set fire to the logs. Her body burned with that of Dorieus.
All that I learned later from the Siccani and that is all I have to say about Tanakil and Dorieus.
Book Seven
The Siccani
1.
Thus it was that we met the Siccanians by their sacred rock. As was their custom, they explained that they had expected us and had known in advance of our coming. A skeptic might think that their young men had secretly followed our progress, since the Siccani were able to move unseen in their forests and mountains until such a time as they wished to appear.
But the Siccani did, in truth, possess the power to know who and how many people were on their way. They knew where their tribesmen were located at a given time and even what a specific chief happened to be doing at a given moment. In this respect they were like an oracle. Nor were their priests the only possessors of this ability. Most of the people had it, some keenly, others less distinctly, and could not themselves explain it. They erred only seldom, as even an oracle can err, or at least as the inspired words of the oracle can be misinterpreted. Nor did they consider their ability in any way remarkable, but thought that other people had the same ability.
They had anointed their sacred rock with oil and as they awaited our arrival they danced sacred dances around it. Their priest had donned a mask of carved wood as well as a sacred tail and horns. A fire was burning and on the fire were clay pots ready for the donkey which they sacrificed and cooked upon our arrival. They considered the donkey a sacred animal and respected us because we arrived in their midst under the protection of a donkey. Being skilled hunters they did not lack meat but believed that the donkey’s tough flesh gave them strength and patience. Above ail they wanted a donkey’s head to put atop a pole so that they might worship it in their secret rites. The donkey’s skull, they believed, shielded them from lightning. Nor did the donkey resist but meekly submitted to the sacrifice. That also they considered a good omen.
But they feared the cat, found no name for it and would probably have killed it had not Arsinoe taken it in her lap and indicated its tameness. They respected her because she had arrived on a donkey with a male child in her arms. After the sacrifice their priest performed triumphal leaps before the boy, indicated that he was to be placed on the anointed rock and sprinkled donkey blood on him. Then they all shouted in one voice, “Erkle, Erkle!”