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Vengeance of the Sun God, Part 2
*Part 1 can be found at http://mrsedenela.oucreate.com/indianepics/story-1/. *
Daedalus watched his son intently as they flew across the sparkling Aegean Sea toward freedom. The boy's eyes narrowed in concentration, his furrowed brow glistening with sweat. It was after several leagues of fixing his full attention on Icarus that Daedalus realized that he was not struggling as much as the boy. In fact, he was not struggling at all. It was as if the feathers retained their muscle memory of flying although they were no longer attached to the muscles that directed their flight. Daedalus tried to will the wings closer to Icarus so he could share his revelation: the wings knew how to fly on their own.
Before he could figure out how to communicate his plan to the wings strapped around his arms, Daedalus saw Icarus jerk his face toward the sky. A shock of fear spread across the boy's face. Daedelus glanced up at the sun to see what had frightened the boy but saw nothing other than the glaring sun. As he looked back toward his son, a surge of fear gripped his own gut. The air swam around Icarus, turning the boy's form into a mirage. Icarus had hit a pocket of condensation, assumed Daedalus. Horror thrilled through his body as he waited for the coming downdraft to force Icarus towards the sea. Daedalus opened his mouth to shout out a warning, but a foreign voice broke through his lips.
"Sampati! No!" As if responding to the strange voice, the wings carrying Icarus angled expertly, causing the boy to bank left. As a thermal caught him, the wings snapped wide and the condensation around Icarus cleared. As the image sharpened, Daedalus saw the form of a great eagle instead of his son. The eagle arced sharply upward and blocked the sight of the sun from Daedalus. Suddenly, the wings collapsed around Icarus, the image of the great eagle gone as Icarus plunged head-first into the waves of the Aegean.
***
The shock of the events that passed before Daedalus paralyzed him. The wings continued to maneuver on their own, preventing Daedalus from following his son head-first into the sea below. Daedalus's mind was back in the prison tower.
Late at night: Daedalus bent over the apparatus. Icarus, who was in charge of stirring the beeswax used to affix the feathers to the scaffolding, would occasionally stay his father's hand and pass the paddle's handle over to Daedalus to take over the constant motion over the low fire. Icarus would pick through the feathers and, using an artist's eye, sort the feathers into two piles. Daedalus assumed that Icarus had studied the plumage of the giant eagles as he plucked the feathers from their corpses, but the feathers had whispered to the boy's subconscious directing his efforts to ensure that each wing was replicated exactly.
Daedelus fretted over his choice of using the beeswax as the two worked. He wished he could have obtained more than the minuscule sampling of pine pitch from the Cretian engineers. The sturdy tar would hold better than the beeswax, but King Minos was afraid that Daedalus would use the pitch as a weapon against the guards. Which he would have. Daedalus was only allowed enough to perform experiments in order to discover new ways to refine the tar for new uses in the kingdom.
"Not too high, the sun may melt the wax," Daedalus was positive he warned Icarus each time they made design adjustments to the wings. "Not too high, the sun may melt the wax," Daedelus replayed in his mind, over and over, each instance he gave his son this critical advice as he sailed along. The paralysis that gripped Daedalus saved his life. If he had been able to move, he would have driven himself into the sea. The wings continued their journey, flying on a crosswind that caught the magnificent feathers and angled them west.
***
Land finally came into view. The wings folded into an elegant dive, snapping open again when the water met the shore and setting Daedalus gently on the sandy beach. Daedalus's legs crumpled under him when the wings no longer supported his weight. Blinding rage overtook him. A howl of anguish burst from his lips as he clawed at the bindings that held his arms to the apparatus. It was more an act of mutilation than of emancipation. His fingernails carved deep red welts into his skin, at places breaking through and drawing blood. The blood loosed the bindings of the apparatus and Daedalus ripped the wings from his back.
Once freed from the weight of the wings, Daedalus began to mourn his son. Hot tears mixed with sticky blood, sand, and sea salt and seemed to call an invocation to the heavens. A gentle hand rested upon his shoulder. Blinking away the stinging mist from his eyes, Daedalus half-turned and looked up. A familiar face smiled with sympathy. She held two spools of silk twine, one in each hand. Daedalus glanced at his shoulder, looking for the hand that continued to provide its calming pressure. Nothing was there. Fearing he was beginning to lose his mind, he looked up imploringly into the face of the woman beside him.
"Athena," he stated simply.
"Hello, Grandson," she replied warmly. "You must get up. We have much work to do."
***
Sweaty and exhausted, Daedalus looked up from the altar he constructed from rocks collected from along the waterfront. Dried driftwood had been placed in the center. The work had cleared his head and he finally focused on the scenery beyond the beach.
"This isn't Greece," he observed. "Where are we? Why did the wings bring me here?"
"This is the shore of Sicily. Our essence would be too strong among our own followers to perform a proper Convergence. Surya and Aruna's combined rage allowed them to Converge for a short time, but they would not be able to hold form long enough for a conversation." Athena smiled at the look of confusion of Daedalus's face. "Place the wings on the altar, Grandson. Strike the fire and call for my brother, Apollo."
Daedalus knelt next to the altar and removed his fire kit from the pouch tied at his waist. He made a nest of tinder on the edge of the altar and placed his hands just above. Poised to strike the first ember, he closed his eyes. He could not find the proper words to pray to Apollo. He packed all of his grief and pain into a single word and whispered, "Apollo." As he brought the sharp stone to strike against unyielding metal, a brilliant light flashed as scorching heat blew Daedalus onto his back.
***
*Author's Note:
The story of Jatayu and Sampati, Sons of Aruna: The two young vultures enjoyed racing each other each day. One day as they were racing, they annoyed their father Aruna, the charioteer of Surya the Sun God. Aruna sent a scorching ray to punish his sons. Sampati raced above Jatayu and shielded him from the blast. Sampati fell to the earth. Unable to fly because he was severely disfigured, Sampati lived in a cave by the shore on the southern tip of India.
I didn't understand why Aruna would scorch his sons just for being annoying. I mean, I'm a human and I manage to not maim my children when they annoy me. I decided to blend this story with the story of Daedalus and Icarus. I'm still doing research to figure out how to bring Jatayu and Sampati back to life. I have ideas, I'm just trying to decide if Surya or Indra would be the right god for the job. Maybe a combined effort?
I chose the references below because they explain the parts of the myths that I drew from in a better way than Wikipedia or Britannica did and some of them have really cool pictures. Bibliography
"Angel Wing Clipart Png #1699972." Clipart Email. Clipart Email, 2020.
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Showing posts with label Daedalus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daedalus. Show all posts
Friday, February 28, 2020
Week 7 Vengeance of the Sun God, Part 2
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Week 5 Story: Vengeance of the Sun God, Pt. 1
**Update**
A copy of this story is located at http://mrsedenela.oucreate.com/indianepics/story-1/. That is the version that will be receiving revisions. Thanks for your help and support!
-Eden
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(Image courtesy of ClipArtEmail.)Vengeance of the Sun God
Daedalus let the rope slip quickly over the window sill. He had saved weeks of his rations and packed them along with valuable tools to trade for additional supplies for his son Icarus. The young man and supplies were now on the opposite side of the rope disappearing into the darkness below. Daedalus sent his son on an impossible task: find feathers from the wings of the mythical giant eagle so both father and son could escape from the prison of King Minos.
There were no giant eagles, Daedalus knew, but Icarus refused to escape without his father. The long years Daedalus spent engineering the labyrinth below the city of Crete had taken its toll. There was no way he could manage an escape from the island, so he created a design for magnificent wings that could carry him on the wind across the sea to Greece. The design was scientifically sound, and it was easy to convince Icarus that giant eagles existed. The search would take the boy far away from the prison tower and keep him safely away from their enemies. Icarus was a determined boy and would not return until he found the fabled feathers, which would be never.
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***
Icarus traced the stories of the giant eagles to the land of India. His journey was long and arduous. He had traded all the tools his father had packed away for him, saving only the knife his father smithed for him: a large dagger, shaped to represent Zeus' thunderbolt, the tang buried into a piece of the Minotaur's horn. His remaining supplies were scant, but now he was standing on the mountain overlooking the roosting site of the giant eagles; the nearly empty bag was now a welcome supply. It had plenty of space to fill with those coveted wings.
Two young, strong eagles had breezed in on the evening air, settling to roost. As the night deepened, Icarus crept along the thick branches and slew the two eagles. As the second body fell to the rocky mountain terrain below a gleaming light appeared beside Icarus.
"What have you done?!" a throaty feminine voice cried as the light dissipated around her strong form. "Grandson, what caused you to act so unwisely? This is not the way of our clan!" It was Athena, the matriarch of the clan Metionid, and the benefactor of Icarus's father Daedalus. "Do you know who you have just slain? These corpses were Jatayu and Sampati, beloved sons of Aruna, the charioteer of Surya- the embodiment of the Sun God that serves the people of India."
"I was sent by my father. Their wings are the only way that he can escape the tower we have been trapped in," replied Icarus defiantly. "You once favored him, but now he rots in a prison, a slave to King Minos."
"Because your father's actions resulted in the loss of Aruna's sons," prophesied Athena, her stormy grey eyes boring into the sky blue eyes set in the face of Icarus, "your father will also lose his son." In a flash, Athena disappeared. Unsure of what else to do, Icarus remained committed to his quest and climbed to the base of the tree to remove the magnificent feathers that made up the wings of the Aruna's sons.
***
Intermittent plinking sounds began at the window shortly after sundown. Assuming it was the clouds struggling to produce rain, Daedalus hurried across the room to close the shutters. As he reached the window, something stung his forehead. Looking down at the floor, he noticed several pebbles strewn under the window. He thrust his head out the window and looked to the base of the tower. Fortunately, Icarus saw his head extended out the window, and froze, arm cocked, ready to loose another pebble. Shocked, Daedalus quickly lowered a rope to his son.
***
The two Metionids stood atop the tower. Daedalus had affixed assorted instruments to the ramparts in order to gauge the weather. The finished wings were stored safely in a pine box waiting for the seasons to turn and bring the hearty spring wind that would carry them to Athens. Icarus watched the instruments closely. The wind toward the mainland, bringing about a barometric change. "Father, it's time," stated Icarus as he threw open the lid of his pine box. They strapped on the wings and climbed to balance on the ramparts.
***
The experience was both shocking and wonderful. Wind zipped through Icarus's hair as he worked to gain control of his wings. Not too high, instructed Daedalus when he was giving Icarus ground lessons, hiding behind the ramparts struggling to remain unseen, the wax holding the feathers to the apparatus will melt. Not too low, Daedalus reminded his son before they jumped into the wind, the sea spray will weigh you down.
Icarus's confidence increased, but he remained mindful of his position between the sun and the sea. Suddenly, an odd movement from above caught his eye. He looked toward the sun, tracking the motion. When his eyes adjusted, he realized that a flaming chariot was quickly approaching him and his father. As it got closer, he saw two men within the chariot. One man driving, and the other testing the strength of his bow. The men's bodies shimmered like the heat off of desert sand. Each man was a dual image, first looking like the Greeks and the next moment sharing the facial features and dress of the Indian clans that Icarus traveled with on his quest.
The bowman drew an arrow of pure fire and aimed it at Daedalus. "This is for Aruna, my most faithful servant!" he cried.
"You slew my sons," stated the charioteer staring directly at Icarus. His face once again shifted and solidified into the face of the man who was surely Aruna. "Your father will pay with his life!"
Without thinking, Icarus banked to the left and caught a thermal pocket that sped him closer to the chariot, placing him above Daedalus. The image of Surya solidified as the arrow was loosed. Icarus spiraled out of the sky and hit the water. The weight of the wing apparatus dragged him below the waves.
***
To Be Continued...
Author's Note:
The story of Sampati and Surya made me think of Daedalus and Icarus. I thought it was strange that the eagles' father would be annoyed enough at them soaring around the chariot that he would strike out at them, causing Sampati to suffer serious damage. If you want to know how they showed up in the Ramayana if they were murdered by Icarus, you'll get that part of the story during the next writing session. I've got some cool ideas about that, but it would definitely double the word count limit. The next part will be more India heavy than this one was. India has cooler creation gods, and I think they can handle reanimating a couple of sentient eagles.
Bibliography
Icarus https://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Icarus/icarus.html Apollo https://apollogreekmyth.weebly.com/areas-of-rule-and-weaponspowers.html Helios https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios#Conflation_with_Apollo
Athena's Weapon https://sophia-nick-athena.weebly.com/tools-weapons-or-attributes.html
Jatayu https://www.giantbomb.com/jatayu/3005-19521/
Sampati https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampati
Aruna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aru%E1%B9%87a
Surya https://www.ancient.eu/Surya/
Jatayu https://www.giantbomb.com/jatayu/3005-19521/
Sampati https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampati
Aruna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aru%E1%B9%87a
Surya https://www.ancient.eu/Surya/
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