Read Online Bring Down the Sun by Judith Tarr - Free Book Online

breasts and pregnant belly and deep slit of the vulva. The rest were male, thick and bandy-legged, flaunting the rampant phallus. They were ugly and crude and irresistibly powerful.
    â€œHere is the Mystery,” said a veiled priestess, taking shape beside her.
    â€œHere is the truth,” said a priest who had not been there a moment before.
    â€œFemale and male, woman and man. The Mother made them both.” Their voices mingled, echoing in Polyxena’s skull. “One cannot be without the other. They are all one.”
    The priest slid something cold and strange onto Polyxena’s finger. It was a ring, and it made her skin prickle. She stiffened against the urge to fling it off.
    It was a thing of power. Once she had accepted that, it was easier to bear.
    The priestess knelt and bound a long belt of linen about her waist. Its color was too dark to discern, but in sunlight she thought it might be crimson.
    â€œRing and girdle will guard you,” the priestess said as she rose. “Keep them close and tend them well.”
    â€œNow you are initiate,” said the priest. “Praise to the Mother and the Son, the Great Gods and the Sacred Brothers.”
    â€œPraise be,” the priestess said, half-chanting.
    While they spoke, they led Polyxena through the temple. Just before they thrust her through the door, she dug in her heels. “I’m not done. There’s a second rite, isn’t there? I want that—I want more. Tell me how to get it.”
    â€œBe careful what you wish for,” the priestess said.
    And the priest said, “Do you know what you ask?”
    â€œI know what I must do,” said Polyxena.
    The priestess stood perfectly still. “You would pass the gates of death and face what lies beyond?”
    â€œWhatever it is,” Polyxena said steadily, “I am meant for it.”
    It was impossible to tell behind the veils, but she suspected that her guides exchanged glances. If so, there was no telling what those glances meant.
    â€œCome with us,” the priestess said after a pause.
    Polyxena’s hands were icy, but the chill of fear only made her the more determined. She had come here for the Mysteries. She would stay for all of them.
    Her guides turned aside from the door that must lead back to the terrace. Instead they sought one lower, smaller, and darker, that led down by rough-carved steps into the darkness.
    The air that wafted up had a cold smell, like damp earth and old graves. Past the first handful of steps there was no light at all. Polyxena could not stop or turn: the priestess ahead and the priest behind kept her moving down into the darkness.
    After what seemed a long while, the steps ended. She stood on what felt like packed earth, in a space that might have been as wide as a cavern or as narrow as a grave. When she stretched out her hands, they found only air.
    Her guides had vanished. So, when she stepped back, then searched frantically with groping hands, had the stair. She was alone in the dark.
    With a strong effort of will she slowed her breathing and quieted her heart’s pounding. Maybe she should have explored her prison, but she judged it best to stay where she was and wait. She sank down on the hard earth, drew up her knees and clasped them and rested her forehead on them.
    Time stretched until there was nothing left of it at all. The Mystery she had been shown ran through her mind again and again. It was the truth she had been looking for—though in accepting it, she had set herself against everything she had been raised to be.
    She had already done that when she left the temple in Dodona. She sighed and closed her eyes—as little difference as that made in this place.
    She let memory take her, as vivid as a dream. It gave her bright sunlight and fierce blue eyes and a strong-boned, broad-cheeked face.
    Warmth flooded through her; her breath caught. Then darkness did not matter at all, nor was she lonely or