Burning Ember Inn Character Sketch 8: The Oracle
Meet Helena the Prophetess of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Helena the Prophetess was not well known throughout the Greek world as some, but she was still highly sought after. Kings and high priests and those in high places who could afford the temple’s price came from all parts to hear her prophecies. They came to her when the Moon was full, only then would her patroness, the Goddess of the Hunt, offer her insights. The Oracle resided in the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
Here is her story…
They come to me with their wishes, their desires, their thirst for knowing what is yet to come. That’s when my patroness comes up inside me and grabs hold. She takes my voice and tells them what they want to hear (and sometimes what they do not want to hear). My powers have brought me some amount of fame and took me from the alternative employ in my temple. So many of them I see in the temple day after day. I pity them so. The hierodoules, the temple girls, they do their ritual work, their bodies are used over and over. They get worn down and are discarded. I cannot be like them; I must remain innocent and pure. That is the only way my patroness will grace me with her presence.
And yet, I dread the coming of the next full moon, for that is my busy time. When my patroness comes into me, it wearies me to my very soul, and I want to hide away when a prophesy is over. I go and I hide somewhere in my temple, but they always find me. I can get no rest, except when the full moon has waned. Sometimes even that length of days to the next one is not enough for me to feel restored.
Then there are the dreadful hearings. These are the times where the prophesies are not favorable to the hearer. There is much wailing and crying, especially when death and disaster are foretold. Grown, aged men become inconsolable like children; rich women shriek the cries of the dead. Some grow violent!
One autumn night, Cleon the tyrant of Heraclea Pontica, came to me to seek his fortune. Fresh from much swallowing of ritual wine and consorting with the temple girls, he came to me encircled by his loyal henchmen. As they approached the throne on which I sat, my temple guards, in reflexive response, gripped the hilts of their swords. And yet we all knew they were no match to Cleon’s hoard. Having paid his fee, his arrogance was in full spectacle, demanding the goddess’ word.
And my patroness did not withhold. As was our custom, I raised my eyes to the ceiling and went into a trance, and she came.
She pronounced in my voice:
Thou darest come before me in thy arrogance!
Thou darest to incur the wrath of Artemis!
So be it! Yet, thine own pride and ruthlessness will be thy downfall.
Go back to thy lowly colony. There thou will incur the wrath of those who were once thy followers.
There thou will be deposed and then executed as the wretch thou hast becometh.
Depart now from my presence. Go to thy fate.
When I came to myself again, the room was in a state of pandemonium! Four of Cleon’s henchmen held him as, enraged, he flung himself at my person. His other guards lay about on the floor senseless with dread. Others had fled. At this sight, I was up and out using my back way passage. Clasping my knees and sobbing, I hid in the recesses of temple for the rest of the night.
The next morning, I began my pleas to my patroness. I needed some peace, some time to be away. For many days and weeks, she would not hear me, though I prayed constantly. I was persistent. My prayers therein held little threats of my running away or hurling myself from the temple top. How sincere I was in this I cannot really say. But I knew with certainty that I needed to get away, or my body or my mind would soon be wasted away.
And then, behold, my patroness finally heard my prayer. Was it my persistence, my unrest, or her good charity? I do not know.
She answered me thus.
One morning I walked the east courtyard of the temple in the early dawn light. Alone I paused near a well-known ivy laced wall in the garden. And behold, I noted a dark corridor in the stones of the wall, one that I had never seen before. Its darkness was warm and pleasant and enticing. And it came to me as with a sudden insight. My patroness’ kindness was manifesting. A breeze burst forth from the orifice—an unknown scent of foreign lands.
“Go, take your rest,” her voice spoke inside my head.
Delighted in my happiness, I dashed giddily into the darkness, and found myself pacing down a long corridor. A gentle light demarked the other side. There I emerged into an emerald splendor of unfamiliar tree leaves. I found myself within the very edge of a forest, with an open pasture in the distance. Emerging into the sunlight, I spied a stone-built edifice.
“Go there and take leave as long as you need, for time runs differently in this place.”
“Thank you, my lady, thank you!” I cried joyfully.
“Yet be aware of yourself at all times. You must maintain your purity. And be alert for my callings as I will need you again.”
“Yes, my lady, yes!”
“See those two standing in the doorway?” her voice spoke in my mind. I spied a man and a woman waving joyfully in my direction. “They are the innkeepers. Give them your gold bracelet in payment for your stay,” she added. “If more is needed in due time, you may earn your keep by telling people their fortunes.”
“Oh my!” I cried out fearfully, spying a monster sitting upon the roof of the place. “A great winged lizard!”
“He is harmless to you here,” my patroness replied, “unless he learns how to take on the appearance of a man. Then beware.”
“Should he or anyone else here ever cause you harm, the Goddess of the Hunt will come with an arrow on the string. And I never miss.”
