ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE - IV

Adapted from the retelling by Elsie Finnimore Buckley

Fourth Story
In which Orpheus visits a royal court, cheers a queen up, and stirs a heart of steel

And Orpheus went on his way, with hope beating high in his heart, till he came to the portals of the palace of Death. On the threshold lay Cerberus, the three-headed hound of hell, who night and day kept watch beside the gate to see that no one passed in save those who had died upon earth, and that those who had passed him once should pass him never again. When he heard Orpheus coming, he sprang to his feet and snarled and growled and bared his sharp white fangs; but as the strains of music grew clearer he sank silent to the ground, and stretched his three great heads between his paws. Orpheus, as he passed by, bent down and stroked him, and the fierce beast licked his hands. So did he enter into the gates of Death, and passed through the shadowy halls, till he stood before the throne of Hades, the king. A dim and awful form did he sit, wrapped about in darkness and mist, and on his right hand sat Persephone, his wife, whom he stole from the meadows of Sicily. When he saw Orpheus his eyes gleamed like the gleam of cold steel, and he stretched forth his gaunt right arm towards him.

"What dost thou here, Orpheus?" he asked.

"I am come to ask thee a boon, O King," he answered.

"There be many that ask me a boon," said Hades, "but none that receive it."

"Yet none have stood before thee in the flesh, as I do, O King, to ask their boon."

"Because thou hast trespassed unlawfully on my domain, dost thou think I will grant thee thy boon?"

"Nay; but because my grief is so great that I have dared what none have dared before me, I pray thee to hear me."

Without waiting for an answer, he struck his lyre and sang to them the story of his life, and of how he had loved and lost Eurydice. The eyes of the pale queen brightened when she heard him, and the colour came back to her cheeks, as the song brought back to her mind the days of her girlhood and the sunlit meadows of Sicily. Then a great pity filled her heart for Eurydice, who had left the green earth for ever, and might not return, as she herself did, in the springtime, living only the dark winter months below. As Orpheus ceased his song she laid her hand upon her husband's.

"My lord," she said, "grant his boon, I pray thee. He is brave and true-hearted, and he sings as no man has ever sung before."

But the stern king sat with his head upon his hand and eyes cast down, deep in thought. At length he spoke, and his voice was soft and kind.

"Orpheus," he said, "thou hast touched my heart with thy singing. Yet it lies not with me to grant thee thy boon."

"But if the Queen, thy wife, may return to the earth in the springtime, may not Eurydice, too, come back at thy command?" asked Orpheus.

"The ways of the gods are not the ways of mortals, Orpheus; they walk by paths you may not tread. Yet, though I have no power to give thee back Eurydice, thou mayest win her thyself if thou hast the strength."

"How may that be?" cried Orpheus. "For the sake of Eurydice I have strength for any venture."

"No strength of the flesh can win her, Orpheus, but the strength of a faith unfaltering. I will send for her, and when thou seest her stand within the hall, holding out her hands towards thee, thou must harden thy heart, and turn and flee before her by the way thou camest. For the love of thee she will follow, and she will entreat thee to look at her and give her thy hand over the stony way. But thou must neither look at her nor speak to her. One look, one word, will be thine undoing, and she must vanish from thine eyes for ever. The spell of thy song still rests upon the guardians of my kingdom, and they will let thee and thy wife pass by. But think not by word nor deed to help her. Alone she passed from life to death, and alone she must pass back from death to life. Her love and thy faith can be the only bond between you. Hast thou the strength for this?"

"My Lord," cried Orpheus, "'tis but a small thing to ask of a love like mine."

DIE UPON A KISS - ACT III

Act Three: Temptation, The Handkerchief, And Ill-Placed Trust

These slight disappointments are sent to prepare
  For what may hereafter befall; 
For seasons of real disappointment and care, 
  Which commonly happen to all.

The handmaids walked away as Quatre entered the courtyard in the clear sunrise. Locking eyes close to him, Noin reassured him gently:

“Trust me. You can count on me”. She kissed him on the right cheek, and the look in her violet eyes was sincere.

As these words were spoken, Zechs and Treize entered the courtyard. Upon seeing his commanding officer, Quatre went in again full speed, looking now and then over his shoulder, not before having thanked Noin for such a generous offer.

The dark-haired young woman sat on a bench with her husband. Calmly and gently, she pleaded for Quatre’s sake while stroking Zechs’s flaxen hair. For a while he remained doubtful, until he finally gave in and approved the reinstatement.

Noin went back in, in search of Quatre, to inform the young blond of her success. In her excitement, she forgot a handkerchief lined with lace on the cobblestone pavement. As her mistress, Zechs and Treize re-entered the guardhouse, Une picked up the piece of white cloth and hid it quickly in her pocket.

“Now, what did you do?” Dorothy inquired, to obtain the response:

“My husband. He wants to study that very handkerchief for me to make similar lace”.

“I didn’t know stone cold Treize was such a gentleman!”

Then, Une entered the guardhouse, followed by Dorothy.

Meanwhile in a corridor within the guardhouse, Zechs and his second-in-command had established a relevant conversation when the latter softly mused:

“Wasn’t that Quatre who ran away? I didn’t like the looks of it”.

“Excuse me?” the officer with lengthy, fair hair asked curiously.

“Nothing at all, just a few intrusive thoughts”, Treize made his words seem less important to attract his commanding officer’s attention.

“Khushrenada... are you trying to insinuate something?”

“Did she know him from the start? You know I know; Noin, and Quatre...”

“Why, we are all acquainted with each other...”

“Do they keep a relative distance? You know, in conversation?”

“I wouldn’t call that a “relative” distance”, Zechs replied. The glittering twinkles in his eyes betrayed a slight internal agitation.

“And finding out their signs also keeps me in check”, the veteran officer added.

Upon giving Treize said information, Zechs remained silent before asking one quivering and doubting question:

“Are you trying to insinuate that my wife is betraying me with Quatre Winner? Is that perchance what you’re trying to tell me?”

“And prithee why? She sings well, dances, paints, bakes, makes lace, speaks fluent French and German, can also defend herself with a loaded gun; and his dismissal was due to an unfortunate mistake”, the older officer replied. “Why on Earth would they betray you?”

Those seemingly honest words sank to the commanding officer’s heart, and he could hardly restrain the internal agitation they had brought upon him. With restrained tears and troubled expression, he took Treize by the collar and spat unto his face:

“I doubt so. I need proof of their betrayal, or else...” he did the cut-throat gesture with his left hand right before Treize.

“And some more advice: beware of the green-eyed monster, that poisons from within”.

Letting go of the veteran’s collar, Zechs wandered without aim in the opposite direction. He did trust Noin, for he loved her and had thus wed her; but he also did trust Treize, who had saved his life and was esteemed an honest person. Torn asunder by doubt and restlessness, he couldn’t sleep that night at all.

That very evening, in Treize’s bedchamber, the kerchief was brought to light. However, his wife could no longer restrain her thoughts:

“You scoundrel have forced me to steal from Mistress! Now you want to keep that cloth!”

“Is that how you treat your better half? You were meant to obey my orders!”

“I’m your spouse, not one of your soldiers!”, she begged for mercy, but he didn’t listen to her pleas and beat her in the back with his rapier’s scabbard.

“Now that’s my Une”.

“Prithee tell me what you really intend to do!”

“ It’s none of your business, you meddlesome magpie!”, he resorted to the scabbard again, as she undressed herself and went to bed, dreaming that he weren’t so secretive.

As Une shut her teary green eyes, her better half ventured again, handkerchief in hand, into the corridor. Quietly, he entered another room, where a flaxen-haired lad slept quietly, his steady breathing marking the tempo for Treize’s steps. The veteran, with catlike thread, approached the table and placed the kerchief on it. Then he went back to his own bedchamber, before the changing of the guard called upon his presence.

Lady Une was sobbing in her dreams as Treize returned and got to bed beside her, her face resting upon his throbbing heart and her tears dried upon his nightgown. He just hoped that she wouldn’t become aware that he had left that piece of cloth in Quatre Winner’s quarters.