Myth Read online

  MYTH

  a novel

  R J Dent

  Myth

  This revised edition Copyright © R J Dent (2013)

  The right of R J Dent to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All Rights Reserved

  No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).

  Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

  A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

  ISBN 1 84386 267 0

  First published in 2006

  This book is dedicated to the memory of Alisa Zinov'evna Rosenbaum

  1

  The nightmare started during the second week of the holiday.

  Up until then, James Barratt and Penny Ward — partners for almost three years — had enjoyed a beautifully idyllic week in Greece. They'd spent three days on Crete, followed by four days on Rhodes. Having then gone on to Aphros, they'd found the tiny island to be so beautiful they'd decided to stay there for the remainder of their holiday. Spending their days in a leisurely fashion, they had lazily sunbathed, enthusiastically and energetically fucked, swum, fished, eaten, got drunk once and gone to look at the ruins of an acropolis.

  On day ten, things had started to go wrong. Badly wrong! They were staying in a taverna in the tiny village of Luminos, which was bordered on three sides by a vast range of pumice-coloured hills and mountains. The fourth side was the sandy beach of a beautiful semi-circular bay that stretched for a kilometre in each direction. Luminos resembled an old western frontier town in that it only consisted of two rows of white-painted one-storey wooden dwellings running along opposite sides of the makeshift coast road that meandered its way to Praxos, the only other village on Aphros — and situated at the opposite end of the island. Praxos was also the only place on the island that the once-a-week boat from Athens stopped at. Barratt and Penny had been intrigued by the wooden houses of Luminos — they'd seen enough Greek architecture to know that wooden buildings were unusual — Greek buildings were usually made of whitewashed stone or brick or concrete. Despite the odd architecture, for which no one seemed to have an explanation, they'd been relieved to find that Luminos had a wooden one-room shop that seemed to sell everything they needed.

  Two of the village buildings were made of stone — the church and the taverna they were renting a room in. The church was an old stone, one-storey, high-roofed building; the taverna was a modern concrete, white two-storey building with balconies. Marcos Vandopolis, the taverna owner had been happy to rent them a room — Luminos was not really a tourist town.

  Barratt and Penny were more than pleased with their room — they had a south-facing balcony that overlooked the bay and less than ten metres from it, the turquoise Aegean Sea lapped gently at the beach. Every morning they got up and after a breakfast of fruit and Greek coffee, they changed into swimwear, grabbed their towels and made their way to the beach, where they swam, splashed, dived, sunbathed and tanned, as they planned their days.

  According to their map — which Barratt had photocopied from a book on Classical Greece — Aphros was shaped like a Cornish pasty, with Praxos at the northern end and Luminos at the southern end. There were no other communities on the island — and nothing between the existing two but hills, mountains, rocks and soil. This was the reason Barratt and Penny had gone to Greece in the first place — and the reason they had decided to stay on Aphros for the remainder of their two-week holiday. They both loved the isolation and primitiveness that the island and the village and its surroundings had to offer — the natural beauty of space and light and silence that every visitor to Greece either loves or hates instantly.

  Day nine of the holiday coincided with the anniversary of the third year of Barratt and Penny's relationship. They spent most of that day in bed, only getting up and dressing to go for dinner in the small outdoor dining area at the back of the inn. They ate well, and then went into the bar to celebrate their anniversary. In the long, crowded bar, as with everywhere else they went in Luminos, Barratt and Penny were treated with a mixture of polite curiosity and deferential respect. Two glasses of retsina were placed in front of them the moment they sat down and Marcos, the barman and owner of the inn, wished them good health, and then walked along the bar to serve another customer, leaving Barratt's money untouched on the bar where it had been placed. And it wasn't just in the bar where they received this type of favoured treatment. They obviously had the best room, the food they ate was wonderful, the drinks were — more often than not — free and everyone smiled at them. Constantly.

  Day nine was also one of the many days that the chimera got mentioned — although this time the reference was a little more direct than others heard up to then. They'd heard the mythical beast mentioned by hawkers of goods and had seen a few artistic representations of it since their arrival in Greece. It had been seen and mentioned on Crete and Rhodes — and again when they reached Aphros; on the market stalls of Praxos, they'd seen linen, crockery and clothing items bearing holograms of the chimera. In gift shops were brass and china effigies of it. It seemed to them both that no matter where they went on Aphros, they encountered the image — or the name — of the mythical chimera.

  Having toasted each other, they sat drinking the very distinctive and very delicious local resin wine, and Barratt thought about the little he knew about the chimera. At school he'd shown little interest in Greek mythology, but prior to this holiday had taken the time to read a few items pertinent to the island of Aphros. From these few articles and stories, he'd learned that Aphros had once been part of a large area known as Lycia, the reported homeland of the mythical chimera.

  The main myth was that the chimera was a ferocious beast with a goat's body, a lion's head and a snake's tail, which had once terrorised Lycia. A Greek soldier named Bellerephon had flown on Pegasus to the chimera's lair, where he'd killed it by beheading it and pouring molten lead down its neck. Ding-dong, the beast was dead. D — E — A — D, Barratt mused. But everyone around here acts as though it's still alive. Not only that, but the chimera always gets mentioned in the present tense, as though it's not just a monster from some old story that was once used to get children off to bed early, but some sort of living entity, still stalking victims on its old hunting grounds.

  He stopped thinking about the chimera and reached out and took Penny's hand in his. She smiled a radiant smile at him and he leaned forward and kissed her.

  "How about a moonlit walk later?" she said, once they'd reluctantly broken the kiss.

  Barratt nodded with alacrity. "Great idea," he said, thinking about their lovemaking and the beautiful scenery of Luminos.

  Penny was also thinking along similar lines. She loved James very much. It was knowledge that excited her. For years she thought that love was nothing more than some sort of elusive myth, and the best that anyone could really hope for were a few moments of combined lust, tranquillity and semi-understanding. Then she'd met James and had suddenly known and felt exactly what it meant to love someone and be loved by that person. And now they'd celebrated their third anniversary and made love all day long. And he loved her. And she loved him. It was wonderful. It was idyllic. The full feeling it gave her was what life was really about.

  Suddenly, Penny didn't want to be in the bar any more. She wanted to be alone with James. She wanted to be outside in the fading evening light, walking along the beach, or amongst olive trees, or
anywhere they could breathe in the almond and jasmine scented night air.

  As she looked out of the open door at the rapidly darkening mauve evening sky, she became aware of two voices raised in anger. She and Barratt looked towards the bar, in time to see an old man seated on a bar stool exchange a few angry Greek sentences with Marcos. The other patrons of the bar fell silent as the quarrel went on for a few more seconds. Finally, Marcos came out from behind the bar and stomped over to the inn door, which he closed firmly and then bolted shut.

  Barratt was surprised. He glanced at his watch and saw that it had only just gone eight.

  "Are you closing early?" he asked, as Marcos walked past him back to the bar.

  Marcos paused and shook his head. "No," he said simply, his face still bearing traces of anger from his quarrel with the old man. "I shut the door to keep the chimera out."

  Both Barratt and Penny started in alarm.

  There it is! Barratt thought. That name again! Chimera. Kymeera. What does it mean? And why does it keep being mentioned?

  According to all of the legends, it was dead. Yet some of the Luminos locals clearly still believed in it — and supposedly feared it enough to close their doors against it. Barratt decided to find out if Marcos was having them on — perhaps having a little joke at the expense of the ignorant tourists.

  "The chimera?" Barratt asked hesitantly.

  The inn owner nodded. "That is right," he said. "The chimera. The three-in-one." He pointed a finger at the closed door and Barratt knew he was indicating the hills and mountains beyond Luminos. "It lives in the hills and has preyed on this village for years."

  Barratt searched for the hint of a put-on in Marcos' eyes, but the man was in earnest. He believed implicitly what he was saying. Barratt was curious.

  "I thought Bellerephon killed the chimera," he said, to which Marcos shook his head emphatically.

  "No! The beast can never die," he said simply, his tone one of complete sincerity.

  "Have you ever seen it?" Barratt asked.

  The barman shook his head again. "No, but many have. Many of this village and of others. This mostly. It has taken five people in the last year."

  Barratt laughed aloud. "Your chimera is probably a wild dog or something similar," he said. "Chimera's don't exist."

  Seemingly unoffended by Barratt's laughter or comment, Marcos shook his head sadly. "The chimera is up in the hills. Those who have seen it would not lie."

  During the exchange, Penny had been giving Barratt warning looks — looks that clearly said: Don't antagonise these people! They are being hospitable and friendly. They don't need a xénos — a foreigner — coming to their village and rudely scoffing at their beliefs!

  As Barratt drained his glass, he looked across at Penny, got the message and suddenly felt ashamed. He was acting in a way that would have offended and angered him had he seen someone else behaving similarly.

  "Then I'd very much like to see it," Barratt said, as he suddenly saw a way to end the charade, mollify Penny and show interest in Marcos' mythical beast. "Perhaps I'd be able to get a photo of it. That would be something, wouldn't it?"

  Marcos shook his head. "No one will take you into the chimera's land. It is much too dangerous. You might not come back."

  "I'm not afraid of a mythical beast," Barratt said heatedly, feeling he was being made a fool of again.

  Penny placed a gentle, restraining hand on his arm. "Come on, James; let's go up to our room." There was a note of pleading in her voice.

  Barratt nodded. He'd nearly done it again. They'd had a wonderful day and he'd almost ruined it by belligerently arguing about something that didn't — and couldn't possibly — exist. He looked at Marcos as he and Penny stood up. "I'm sorry," he said, not really meaning it.

  The inn owner nodded and waved Barratt's apology aside. "Is no problem," he said. "Many people don't believe in the chimera — but it still exists."

  Barratt refrained from responding. He took Penny's hand and they walked out of the bar and made their way up to their room.

  Once they were gone, Marcos turned to the old man who had instigated the original quarrel. "Why them?" he asked.

  The old man shrugged. "Why not? I used the last of the stored bodies a week ago. Do you really want to risk it breaking free and coming down here for you?"

  Marcos shuddered violently. "No. But is he suitable? What if he's too strong?"

  The old man shrugged again. "What if he is? Either way our problem will be solved for a while."

  Marcos nodded. "That is true."

  "I think he'll do nicely," the old man said. "I'll take him up tomorrow. But not the girl. We might need her for later."

  Marcos readily accepted the old man's words, for as far as the chimera was concerned, Yannis always knew best.

  ***

  "The beast can never die!" Barratt said sarcastically from the bathroom. He was standing naked at the basin, brushing his teeth, so his words were muffled, but Penny understood him clearly enough. She frowned.

  "It's what they believe," she said. "You should know better than to mock."

  Barratt turned towards her. She was undressing next to their bed. She was nearly naked.

  "You're not taken in by their myth crap, are you?"

  Penny blushed. She stepped out of her panties. "Of course I'm not," she said defensively. "I just happen to think that they're entitled to believe in whatever they want to, without fear of ridicule."

  Barratt rolled his eyes. "Idiotic beliefs call for scepticism," he said. "I reserve the right to have an opinion. If they have the right to voice their beliefs, surely I have the right to voice my disbelief?"

  Penny stretched out on the bed, resting on her elbows. Slowly she parted her thighs.

  "James, come over here and start believing in this," she said huskily, as she cupped her hand over her vagina.

  Barratt's breath caught in his throat. His cock started to stiffen and climb. He moved towards Penny.

  She opened her mouth.

  2

  The next day was day ten.

  Barratt awoke first. Rapt, he looked at Penny's sleeping form, loving her beautiful face and her magnificently lithe, tanned body. Gently he slid down the bed and spread her slender legs. He kissed the insides of her thighs, and then brushed the pouting pink lips of her vagina with his mouth.

  Penny stirred slightly, briefly, and then was still again. Sensing she was awakening, Barratt slowly began to lick his lover's delicious slit. His tongue probed inside her moist warmth and her hips shifted to provide further access. He felt her hand touch the top of his head, keeping him where he was. After licking his and her moisture from inside her, he took the tiny bud of her clitoris in between his lips. Penny moaned. He sucked gently and his cock hardened and swelled. Penny's thighs parted further. Barratt licked, sucked and nibbled. Penny writhed. Her body rhythm speeded up, her desire becoming urgent. Barratt sucked harder. Penny thrashed on the bed, a sweet musk emanating from her. Barratt's cock throbbed heavily. He lashed his tongue over Penny's clitoris, feeling it grow between his lips. Penny suddenly came, hard and violently, pulling his hair and raking her nails across his shoulders.

  Barratt waited until her frenzied movements had subsided, then moved up Penny's body and slid his engorged cock into her. Despite his urgency, he moved slowly, keeping their lovemaking gentle until he felt the approach of his own orgasm. He then gripped Penny's buttocks firmly and thrust into her with long, hard strokes. Then he came.

  They drifted off to sleep again for a while, then awoke, kissed, got up, showered, dressed and went down to the restaurant for breakfast.

  Apart from them, the bar was empty of everyone except for Marcos, who was standing in his habitual place, as though welded there. They asked for breakfast and Marcos took their orders. They went out onto the restaurant terrace and sat down, talking quietly and touching each other frequently. Their breakfasts arrived and they hungrily ate the piled plate of pear, melon and apple slices. Th
ey washed their breakfasts down with cups of Greek coffee, then sat back to plan their day. They listed their needs: They wanted to make their way into the hills. There was a small amphitheatre they wanted to look at. They wanted to spend the day there. They wanted to have a picnic. They wanted to be together.

  As they talked, a customer entered the bar. Penny, who was facing the two open doors and could see into the shadow-filled bar, saw that it was the same man who had been arguing with Marcos the previous night. He was wearing a white shirt and khaki trousers. Barratt had his back to the doorway, so he didn't see the man exchange a few quick words with Marcos and then start to move towards them.

  Inexplicably concerned, Penny leaned forward over the table to tell Barratt of his approach. Unaware of her consternation, Barratt looked appreciatively at her cleavage.

  "That old man who argued with Marcos last night," she whispered urgently. "He's coming this way." Barratt turned to look, saw that it was the old man, then turned back and shrugged dismissively. "He probably eats his breakfast here every day," he said, then added: "Probably gets it free too."

  "He's coming over here," Penny warned, her voice a whisper that only Barratt could hear.

  "Don't worry. He's an old man," Barratt said, sensing that Penny, for some reason, needed reassurance. "I really don't think that he's—"

  The old man suddenly leaned across their table, thereby effectively cutting off the possibility of any further conversation about him.

  "Mister Barratt," he said slowly. "May I speak to you for a moment?"

  Barratt indicated the empty seat opposite him. "Of course."

  The old man nodded and shuffled around the table and sat in the vacant seat. He then looked intently at Barratt and Penny.

  "I am Yannis," he said. "And you are Mister James Barratt and you," he nodded at Penny, "are Miss Penny Ward." Having said this, he lapsed into silence. A few moments of silence passed. To Barratt, it looked as though Yannis did not know how to say what he had to say. Barratt decided to help him out.