Mneme

(The Village Leader is putting down a lynching by an ignorant lout named Rhig’mos.) Approaching Rhig’mos at the languorous pace of a father-of-the-bride escorting his daughter to the altar, the Village Leader slowly drew a dagger from his belt.  He raised it shoulder high, in a downward thrusting position.  The companions on either side of…

(The beginning of the book:  Homeros wakes up, aphasic and suffering from amnesia, after being attacked by an unknown assailant.  He’s been in a coma for the past four days.) Homeros’ eyelids fluttered like the moth’s wings, and when he opened his eye he had no thought but of the searing fire in his brain. …

(This is our first view of Homeros’ wife.) The wife of Homeros was born in the Aeolian settlement of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, a day’s sail north of Chios (provided the wind was at your back, which it usually wasn’t).  The bard met her there twenty years ago as he made the rounds…

(This is our first view of Calliope.) The younger daughter of Homeros was sixteen, small and slender like her mother, with the thick, lustrous black hair of a Lydian.  She was darker skinned than most Hellenes, with a sensitive complexion that was easily marred by insects or illness.  Blessedly, the pox had spared her features. …

(In a flashback, Homeros recalls a time when 16-year-old Alekto enticed the drunken Village Leader.) Homeros found Alekto behind the Sanctum of Dionysus.  She was holding up the skirt of her peplos for the Village Leader’s viewing pleasure. As Homeros strode toward them, he scanned their faces.  Alekto had the taunting smile of a sixteen-year-old…

(Homeros, on trial for murder, is confronted in court by the priestess Aisa.) Dread Aisa.  Potent Aisa.  Mad Aisa. She dwelt alone in the Cavern of the Chthonics and had proclaimed herself a votary of that ancient race of subterranean divinities.  Equal portions of the settlement considered her priestess, sorceress, witch, and madwoman. “Aisa, your…