Hero for Hire by C. B. Pratt

all.”
“I’ll listen.”
    She peered at me, plucking at one of the long hairs that grew from her chin. It came out and she flicked it away. “Will you, dearie? You want to know about last night? About the temple?”
    “Whatever you want to tell me.” I smiled down on her, trying to imagine that I had nothing better to do than listen to the meandering tales of the old ones.
    She impatiently motioned me closer. “That Nausicaa was bad clear through, like an apple with a canker. I would have watched over the boy but she never let me near him. Still, she couldn’t do much with him while I was always on the watch. So she turned her wicked ways upon the king, made him kill himself.”
    “What ‘wicked ways’?”
    “Telling him things men shouldn’t know. Divulged the Mysteries, got him hooked like a fat eel, and then drew him ever deeper in. Why did he buy a lock for his door and only she had the other key? What rites did they perform during the black of the moon? I could say more, but I will not corrupt your heart.”
    Having seen the remains of the king, I didn’t really want to hear more. “What were they trying to do?”
    “She told him he could bring back his wife, with certain rites. But whether those were the rites she taught him...ah, that's another question, isn't it?”
    “At least Nausicaa is dead now.”
    She laid her hand on my arm. I expected it to be hot but it was as cool as the clean cloth laid on a fevered man’s brow. “Did you kill her, Thracian?”
    “No, one of the Dead did for her. One of the priestesses.”
    “They were good women. Their service will not be forgotten. Others will come to rededicate the temple.” Her voice was fainter, as though she were speaking to herself or to someone I could not see. “All must pray to the Fearful Goddess that no harm will come to Leros itself through being used in such a way.”
    “I’m sure Artemis will protect her people.”
    “Artemis? She'll do her best, I'm sure. We shall see. But I am glad you are not guilty of any crimes.”
    “Thank you, mother. Why did the king kill himself?”
    “What else could he do? How else could he turn the spell back on she who sent it?”
    “What spell?”
    “He cast her out, didn't he?"
    "Did he?"
    "Aye. He repented all they’d done, all the terrible things. They made the women miscarry and the crops wither. They made the sky turn green and the spring dry up.” The cackle had come back.
    “Temas didn’t tell me his father had dismissed Nausicaa.”
    “How could he know? He was down by the pier. And that foolish tutor was drunk in the tavern. But I...we of the household...we know all that happened.”
    “She was here when I came. She was running the household.”
    “We saw him thrust her down the stairs so that it’s a wonder she didn’t break her neck, and more’s the pity that she didn’t. But he gave no orders to the rest of us and who was brave enough to tell her she must go after the king died? She could shrivel a woman’s womb or rot a penis off with a look.”
    “Mine’s all right,” I couldn’t help saying and I thought she was going to choke with laughter.
    “So I saw....”
    I felt relieved. Whatever the late king and housekeeper had summoned from the dark pits of Hades had been dispatched. Perhaps the king’s sacrifice had made it easier for me, the way the mother’s embrace of her dead child had eased my task last night. Everything would return to normal, I hoped, not just on this one island but throughout Hellas. Less business for me, maybe, but somehow I didn't mind.
    “What do you know about this Eurytos fellow?”
    Her hand slipped from my forearm. “A paltry blowhard, one would say, and yet I have felt some stronger force within him. Perhaps the same force that moved Nausicaa. Perhaps another. Not even the Gods know everything, let alone one old woman." She coughed juicily, pressing her hand to her thin breast. "Be wary of him.”
    “I will, never fear. Tell me one