The One Who Gives No Answer

Recap: Epiphany, the betrothed of Icarus, stands condemned in the court of the gods. This is the tale of how she got there, which started with Icarus’s death at sea. She ran away from serving in the house of her master Celeas, a nobleman of Athens. With the ambition to bring Icarus out of the Underworld, she commissioned a fisherman named Sulaiman to help her sail to the end of the Earth. After searching hopelessly in the Underworld in the midst of danger and warnings from the gods, she has just been reunited with Icarus in the depths of Tartarus… but now she needs to find a way to get him out. Click here to read this story from the beginning.

I have found Icarus at last.

The Queen of the Dead graciously showed me the dark corner of this forsaken realm where he had hidden himself. When he realized that I was still alive and had come for him, he was so happy.

We will be together forever now.

I am elated, amazed, and relieved. Our reunion was slightly dampened by the inability to embrace; he is still a vapor, after all. I miss the warmth of his arms around me. But that is of little importance right now; we are together, so what can stop us? He will return to the surface with me and come back to life. We will be free of all this madness, the monsters, and the message of woe.

The coming back to life part is still a little tricky.

I have told Icarus about most of my journey here, but I left some things out. I’m not sure exactly when to tell him that Hades knows that I am here, that Cerberus has promised to eat me on my way out of Tartarus, that stealing a soul is a crime against the gods (which I have been warned about), and that I have to find Poseidon’s daughter if I want safe passage back through the sea.

Not that there is a way to navigate the sea and return home. I have been wandering in the Land of the Dead for an untold amount of time.

Sulaiman and his crew are surely long gone by now.

But there is a more pressing issue that we need to handle first. My thoughts go back to Silenius, who was patiently waiting for Bacchus to arrive when Odysseus and I met him. I told him I was looking for Icarus and sought to bring him back to the surface.

But what good is a wraith in the land of the living? Silenius had said. He can’t live again unless he’s restored by Bacchus.

Icarus and I are following Odysseus. My guide is not rambling in his usual way; I know he is glad for me, but his silence is radiating his apprehension for what we are doing.

“Icarus,” I say at last, “I’m not sure if it’s enough for you to simply leave Tartarus. I think you may need… some sort of intervention, in order to live again.”

He smiles at me. He’s been smiling at me since I found him.

“You’ve thought of everything,” he says. “And what sort of intervention do you have in mind?”

“Well, I imagined we might… call upon Bacchus,” I say. “He’s the life-giver; surely he has the power to revive you if he is willing.”

Odysseus stops and turns to me. “Epiphany,” he says in a low voice. “What consequences do you think might result from that? Already you have Aphrodite on your side; if you persuade Bacchus, you may yet create a conflict between the gods.”

“Aren’t they in conflict all the time?” I say. “I’ve heard the stories. They’re always tricking each other or seeking to gain the upper hand.”

It sounds a little childish as I say it, thinking of my experience of the gods over the course of this journey, which has been somewhat more dimensional than mere mischief. Yet I still don’t understand them. And why should I try?

The sound of thunder rattles in our ears and under our feet. I feel my breath catch in my throat, and my stomach turns as I think of Sisyphus.

“I can’t stop you,” Odysseus says. “All the choices you make are your own.”

I look at Icarus. He searches my gaze, waiting for an answer. All of this is new to him. I’ve given him hope — it’s sustaining both of us. How could I crush it now?

I sit down again to pray, just as I did when I called upon Aphrodite. Icarus follows suit. Odysseus reluctantly takes a seat opposite us.

I take a deep breath and empty my mind. Then I pour out the request from my heart.

Bacchus, Lord of Life, I pray, I speak to you from a place of great need. You know where I am. You know why I have wandered here. You know also that the goddess of love has aided my quest to find my betrothed. Now we are here together, but it is all useless without your help. He will not survive crossing the threshold that separates the Living from the Dead; he is bound by Hades. But you are not! Will you come and revive him? Will you restore him to life so that he can escape with me? The power of life is in your hands. Will you please come?

I feel strongly that Bacchus will answer my plea, even as Aphrodite did. I sit patiently, expecting a benevolent answer. Surely he will not refuse me; surely he will take up my side and spite the cruel will of Hades.

But the longer I wait, the more the feeling begins to fade. I wait until the silence is uncomfortable.

“Epiphany,” Icarus whispers. “What’s happening?”

“I prayed, and we’re waiting for Bacchus to answer,” I whisper back. “Just a minute more.”

But we stay still for much longer than a minute. I feel a sickening disappointment creeping in; my heart beats faster. Does Bacchus not want to answer? Have I been ignored?

The silence seems to go from incidental to intentional. It even feels egregious.

I open my eyes and meet the shrewd gaze of Odysseus. “He does not answer me,” I say.

“It’s better this way, Epiphany.”

“You do not comfort me.”

“I do not mean to comfort you,” he replies. “I mean to help you be grateful that you are not drawing catastrophe down on your head. His silence is to your benefit.”

“You know why I came here,” I retort. “I will get the answer I seek.”

“I have learned as much from knowing you. Though for now, a potential disaster is deferred,” he says with a sigh. “We must go see Cassandra.”

“Who?” says Icarus.

“The prophetess,” Odysseus says. “I think she may have answers for us, especially regarding the passage to Elysium. Though, given her reputation, she may say some things that we may not want to hear.”

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