Hera's Fury

Hera's Fury

  Eric Feka

  The Legend of Herakles, Prologue

  Copyright Eric Feka 2014

  Published by Reluctant Geek

  Cover by Pieter van der Werff

  Image in the public domain, source Wikimedia.

  Much of Herakles's life was a direct result of the circumstances of his birth. This is the story of that birth - of Zeus's duplicity and his wife Hera's anger at his betrayal of their union. Herakles, named Alkides at birth, became the focus of Hera's fury from the moment he was born.

  Table of Contents

  (i)

  (ii)

  (iii)

  (iv)

  (v)

  (vi)

  (i)

  King Kreon of Thebes sat on his throne and listened as the three refugees from Mykênae told their tale of woe.

  'I am not surprised that you are banished, Amphitryon,' Kreon said. 'To my ears it sounds like you killed King Elektryon yourself and then made up the story about your club bouncing off a cow's horns to cover your tracks.'

  'It was a freak accident, mighty Kreon. Likymnios, who is King Elektryon's last surviving son, witnessed the tragedy and so he is banished along with me and his sister Alkmena, who is also my wife.'

  'And you are fortunate he is known to me and has accompanied you here to seek safety in Thebes,' Kreon said, and sat back in his throne. 'Thebes is always in need of good warriors, and you are famed throughout Hellas. I will grant you your wish to settle here, but first you must help me. A giant vixen has been causing problems for the people of Thebes. Some say that it is a magical creature, the spawn of Ekhidna, and destined to elude all who pursue it. I want you to prove them wrong and catch it.'

  'It would be an honor to help the people of Thebes, mighty Kreon,' Amphitryon said, 'but there is one more favor I ask.'

  Kreon raised an eyebrow. 'Go on.'

  'My wife Alkmena will only lay with me after I have avenged her brothers who were killed by Taphian raiders. Will you grant me men and ships to help me take the islands? All the spoils and the glory will fall to you and Thebes, of course. My only purpose is to kill those who killed Alkmena's brothers.'

  The King looked at Alkmena, who was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It didn't take long to make up his mind.

  'To stand between a man and his wife's affections is not the Hellenic way. Besides, barbarian raiders are a threat to all Hellas and so I will grant you this favor. After all, my own cattle may be the next target.'

  Much to Kreon's surprise, Amphitryon left for Athens the next day and many weeks passed without a word, but Alkmena seemed unconcerned and so the King did not fret. Having someone such as her in his court was not a burden, for she was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, possibly the most beautiful in all of Hellas.

  When Amphitryon finally did return, accompanied by his friend Kephalos, Kreon could barely keep the disappointment from his voice. 'I thought you had run away from your promise,' Kreon said. 'So when will you rid Thebes of this monster? It has killed many a beast and not a few men just in the time you have been gone.'

  'Kephalos and I will go out at first light tomorrow,' Amphitryon said. 'He has Laelaps, the hound who is destined to always catch all that she pursues. Not even the elusive vixen will be able to escape her jaws.'

  'I will ride with you,' Kreon said. 'It's not that I don't trust you, but I want to lay eyes on this monster myself.'

  So the next day, the three men went to where the fox had last been seen and let loose Laelaps. The hound sniffed the air this way and that, and then darted off up the side of a nearby hill. How Laelaps knew that the fox was hiding in a stand of trees nearby the men will never know. Their eyes were following the hound, when the vixen appeared from nowhere. It bounded away with amazing grace and speed, with the hound in pursuit.

  'It is as large as a wolf!' Kreon said, and the men urged their horses forward to stay in sight of the two running beasts.

  'Laelaps is almost upon it,' Kephalos said excitedly, but just as the hound was about to close its jaws on the fox's hind leg, the vixen vanished.

  Laelaps stopped, sniffed the air, and then ran directly at the horsemen. No sooner had the hound passed them by, when the fox darted out of a shrub behind them where it had been hiding and raced away. The men turned just in time to see the fox once again disappear just before the hound's jaws were about to close around its leg.

  The men sat and watched the two combatants for an hour. The hound would flush the fox from its hiding spot, but the fox would vanish before the hound could complete the hunt. Then another, and yet another, and still the fox and hound could not resolve their chase.

  'It is a paradox that cannot be solved,' Amphitryon said. 'A hound that can never miss its pray, pitted against a fox that eludes all who pursue it. '

  There was a noise behind them and the three turned to see a giant eagle perched on the uppermost branches of a tree. It watched the pursuit with keen interest for a moment, and then it screamed and rose back into the air.

  The men turned back to the pursuit but the fox and the hound were standing still as statues. Amphitryon dismounted and carefully approached the beasts, but they made no move. He reached out and patted Laelap's head, but found stone where there should have been flesh.

  'They are dead,' he said, 'both turned to stone.'

  'Well, I suppose that's one way to solve the paradox,' Kreon said.

  Kephalos was distraught. 'My dog,' he said, and jumped down from his horse. 'Oh no, Laelpas, what has happened to you? She who once guarded Zeus when the King of the Olympians was but an infant has been turned to stone by the one she once guarded!'

  'Stand back, Kephalos,' Amphitryon warned, 'something is happening.'

  The stone animals were beginning to glow and melt. 'A strange day becomes even stranger,' Kreon said, and urged his frightened horse to trot away. The other two followed Kreon's example and led their mounts to what all judged to be a safe distance.

  As they watched, the ground around the stone animals began to smoke and bubble, and the beasts themselves began to burn with an intense white flame. There was a rumble, and both animals shot into the sky where they exploded, scattering glowing stars into the heavens that shone brighter than the sun for a moment, and then faded.

  'I think we will have two new constellations to brighten the night sky tonight,' Kephalos said. 'It's a fitting end for such a one as Laelaps, to reside forever in the heavens.'

  (ii)

  Having discharged his promise to Kreon, Amphitryon kept the King to his word. A few days after the fox and the hound had ascended to the heavens, Amphitryon, Kreon, and Likymnios sailed for the Taphian Islands with an army big enough to destroy the raiders who had killed Alkmena's brothers.

  'We will return soon, my love,' Amphitryon said on the morning that they departed.

  'Not too soon, I hope,' Alkmena said. 'They must pay a heavy price for killing my brothers and driving a wedge in my family.'

  The weeks passed and Alkmena began to worry, but those around her who knew the ways of war told her that all would be well, and that such matters take time. And then one night while she lay alone in her bed thinking of her husband, Amphitryon walked in with his helmet under his arm and his spear over his shoulder.

  'It is done, my love,' he said. 'Your brothers are avenged.'

  He told her of all that had happened, of the golden hair in Pterelaos's head that made him immortal, implanted by his father Poseidon, and of the treachery of his sister Komaitho, who told Amphitryon the secret of her brother's immortality. Ultimately, her treachery cost Komaitho her life and that of her brother, as well as the freedom of their home island, which Amphitryon had subjugated in the name of King Kreon and T
hebes.

  Alkmena was ecstatic at the news. She took Amphitryon into her arms and they lay with one another for what seemed like an eternity. But when the sun next rose, he was gone, as was his helmet and his spear.

  Alkmena did not see Amphitryon for the rest of the day, but that night he came again into the bedroom with his helmet under his arm and his spear over his shoulder. 'Alkmena, my love,' he said, 'it is done. I have avenged the death of your brothers.'

  'But I knew this already. Why are you telling me again?'

  Amphitryon looked puzzled, but continued on much as he had the night before. Again, he told Alkmena about the golden hair planted in Pterelaos's head by Poseidon, and of Komaitho's treachery that cost her and her brother their lives. And again, they loved one another, but this time the night lasted only as long as a night usually does, and her husband was still beside her when the sun rose.

  'Why have you told me the same story two nights running,' she asked Amphitryon when he finally opened his eyes.

  'What are you talking about?' he said. 'I was looking out over the seas the night before last, fretting about not being here with you. The moment the ship docked, I raced here to hold you in my arms.'

  Alkmena said no more, but went instead to the megaron where Kreon had his throne, and where he now sat with many of his court, recounting tales of his journey with Amphitryon.

  'I gather your husband came to you last night,' the King said when he saw her, 'throughout the entire voyage home, he talked of nothing