#OH ANOTHER NOTE. i did enjoy that pharmaka was a plot point i thought that was really neat

[misanthropicmegara]

A segment from my new Nanowrimo novel.

It’s mainly for the lulz guys, so if you want to read it, just enjoy. Megara is in it. Just... maybe not quite the way you expect. Seven books in.

“I have access to a page from the mysterious and precious Melanthian Pharmakopeia,” Kosmas announced, holding aloft a page from a book. “I will summon for you all a spirit from another world!”

Fotini shivered, and glanced at Karesinda, then they both fixed their eyes on Pia.

“I don’t know if it’s sacrilegious any better than you two,” Pia shrugged, but she did make the sign of Phi over her brow and heart.

Fotini and Karesinda hurriedly copied her, and Karesinda kissed the compass rose pendant around her neck, then held the little golden charm firmly in her hand.

Fotini though this was a good idea, as well, and the trio huddled close, each clutching their pendants and pressing their arms against one another’s.

Kosmas beckoned a series of servants near, each of whom carried a bowl of something, and then he paced around the room, chanting as if they were in the basilica, with notes rising and falling up a scale. “O, Megara, Megara Pharmaka, I summon you into our presence, where you may find a place to rest! May the centuries melt away! May your heart beat and your eyes flash with knowledge! May Hekate release you unto us! We bear the things which are sweet to the dead… sweet milk of the goat of the field… olives still supple from the tree, nectar of the bee, and saffron from the sacred crocus! Come to us and pour out your sweet wine, o cousin of Dionysus!”

“Did he say he’s summoning the Medicine Throne?” Fotini whispered.

“I thought he said Scapegoat Throne,” Karesinda whispered back.

“And it sounded like Throne of Magic to me, but… One of those is probably someone’s name,” Pia added.

“I saw this page of the Pharmakopeia,” Merita said, creeping up to join them. “She’s a powerful spirit, I’m interested to see how he plans to contain her.”

“Why should she be contained?” Fotini whispered worriedly.

“Oh, because she’s a vampire,” Merita said.

“The undead?” all three girls squeaked.

“I hate the undead!” Fotini lamented.

“Oh, she’s all dead. Dead for hundreds of years. But she was a witch while she lived. So, she serves the mistress of all witches.”

“I didn’t realize Kosmas was an idiot,” Pia said.

Meanwhile, Kosmas was taking a handful or scoop from each bowl into a jar at the center of his circle of onlookers, and repeating his chant.

“Adventurous, maybe,” Merita shrugged.

“Why aren’t you more concerned?” Fotini asked.

“Because powerful spirits tend to be more offended that someone summoned them for pointless tricks than because other people watched.”

“Isn’t he your brother-in-law?” Karesinda asked.

“Do I look like I can stop him from whatever he wants to do?”

“You should try! I mean…” Karesinda blushed, and hopped nervously in place.

“He’ll be fine,” Merita shrugged. “She’s never eaten anyone that I know of. At worst, she’ll take him to bed and he’ll be anemic for a week. That’ll keep him from bothering the likes of you three for a while, I think.”

“I don’t want her to go to bed with him!” Karesinda protested loudly enough that several people snickered.

A soft purple light filled the jar, and overflowed it, and as Kosmas continued to chant, a female voice began to hum the notes.

“Here she comes,” Merita breathed. “How grand, he’s actually succeeded…”

The purple light grew into a crystalline shape of a woman, dancing as the song went on, moving slowly like a gentle flame in a hearth.

“She’s not scary,” Fotini huffed. “How boring!”

“You were about to soil yourself a moment ago,” Karesinda hissed. “Let’s just appreciate the fact that a spirit from another world with magic powers is showing up to sing and dance for us!”

The audience began to clap and cheer, and Kosmas stopped in his circling to gaze upon Megara Pharmaka.

She took shape more and more to look like a woman with long flowing curls, with one coil of hair at the back of her head, and the rest swaying with her tiered flounces of skirts. Her arms were half covered by the sleeves of her tight bodice, and many jars and bags hung from around her belt.

“This is your spirit?” someone asked. “What else can she do?”

“I made her appear, didn’t I?” Kosmas asked, and approached her. “Megara Pharmaka… I am Kosmas.” He extended a hand to her, and she stopped singing and dancing to stare at him.

“No, keep away from her!” Karesinda begged.

Kosmas paused. “It’s all right. She’s harmless.”

“I don’t hear that often,” Megara Pharmaka said, quite amused by the tone of her voice through her thick, ancient accent. Her voice sounded as if it had rung in mysterious halls shadowed by a veil of time, as if her eyes had seen many things that had built the world they lived in now, if only from across a vast expanse of equally mysterious space.

“She speaks!” Someone gasped.

“Ha!” Megara Pharmaka planted both fists on her hips and threw her head back. “She speaks!” she repeated mockingly, and finally seemed to take in the room around her as her coloring filled in. She was a pale, slight woman with inky black hair, and her dress was of many shades of purple, with a blush of red. “I should be surprised that you speak, you provincial sheep!”

Fotini snickered, and the spirit’s dark eyes landed on her, which instantly silenced her.

“Mackie?” Megara Pharmaka asked, tilting her head. “No… Arete…?”

“I’m… no, I’m not—”

Megara closed the distance between them moments later, and Pia, Karesinda and Merita all jumped away from Fotini. “Not even my little Issie… how long has it been? Are you my grandchild?”

“No, no, you’re from another world, that’s what he said,” Fotini said, her voice coked down to a whisper.

The spirit was so close to her that the magic radiating off her made Fotini feel drunk.

“Another world… that sounds… familiar…” Megara blinked her inquisitive, dark eyes at Fotini, who could not look away, even though she was beginning to remember a crucial point about the spirit: she was a vampire.

“Megara,” Kosmas said, and there was a note of admiration that stuck in his throat. “I thought you may… tell the fortunes of my guests.”

“I don’t understand the birds here,” Megara shrugged.

“Are there any other tricks you might do?” Kosmas asked.

Megara raised a brow. “What will I get if I do?”

“You don’t like the summoning offerings?” Kosmas asked.

“Gods, they smell great, but I can’t really… eat them.” Megara turned back to Fotini. “What is your name, girl?”

“Fotini,” she returned, automatically.

“Fire, how pleasant. Fire was always my favorite,” Megara said, and seized Fotini’s hand. “This isn’t going to hurt much,” she said, then bit into Fotini’s wrist.

Fotini shrieked more out of dismay than pain, for she could scarcely even feel the bite or the drain, and she hopped in place shouting, “She’s biting me! What do I do? What do I do? Help me, please!”

Megara pulled back. “Oh, please. It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was,” Fotini whined, and clutched her wrist to her chest, even though she found no wounds but tiny white points on her skin, and no bleeding. “That was so rude!”

Megara shrugged. “Gods, you’re such a baby. Didn’t your father dump you in a cave when you were—oh, wait, that was me… you’re fine. She’s fine, everyone! Just a coddled girl-child!”

There was some laughter, and Fotini stamped her foot.

“What, now everyone gets to laugh at me, even vampire ghosts from other worlds?”

“Yes, it does appear so,” Megara said, watching Fotini with a bemused smirk. “What do you plan to do to change that?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t stand how everyone here thinks it’s great to keep laughing at me every damned day!”

“Watch your language!” Pia protested.

“You hold on, I’m talking to the vampire ghost witch!” Fotini shouted, holding up one finger to Pia while Megara laughed.

“Gods, when you put it like that, I sound awesome.”

“I was so scared of you before you got here, but you’re just as obnoxious and petty and disappointing as the rest of them!” Fotini exclaimed.

Megara began to clap. “Wow, you’re really good at venting,” she pointed at everyone. “Do you see them laughing, now?”

Fotini blinked and looked at all the other nobles. “No…” she said, though she did think some were probably plotting to kill her.

“And now that I’ve bitten you, and spent more time talking to you than any of the rest, what do you think they’re thinking of you now?”

“That they’re incredibly jealous because some of the men thought you’d be interested in them?”

Megara snickered, and for some reason, seemed incredibly human. “I’m not interested, thanks!” she called nonchalantly. “I may be a ghost, but Elysium has its perks. I have someone to go home to. Right now, I’m just amused that a new version of me is at the heart of a court, learning to be a complete nuisance.” She reached out and patted Fotini’s head. “It’s supposed to be a party, right? Entertain our guests.’’

“I can’t—”

“Now, you can,” Megara said, and pointed to Fotini’s arm, where she could now see that the bite marks were glowing. “Who will laugh at you, now, when you have been blessed by their parlor trick?”

“Blessed with two glowing wrist dots?” Fotini scoffed.

Megara snorted, and fire burst forth from Fotini’s hand.

Shrieking, Fotini waved her hand to put the fire out, but it only turned a deep purple with green about the edges… like her eyes…

“Oh, this is the most fun I’ve ever had at a party!” Megara exclaimed, clapping. “Thanks for the invite!”

“What did you do to me?” Fotini asked.

“Just stop whining and realize what you are, now,” Megara said. “Fotini, I heard your name, I gave you what you are. You are a fire. You have part of my power, now. I mean, sure, the moon will probably change whether or not you can use it, but let’s see people try to bully you now, huh? Worked for me when I was a child.”

“I’m not a child!” Fotini protested, and the fire spread over her whole body.

“Compared to me, you are!” Megara laughed. “Wait, I don’t know how to leave this place.”

“You can’t leave now, anyway!” Fotini waved her hand around. “Make it stop!”’

“Calm down,” Megara rolled her eyes. “I mean, really, that’s how it works.”

“I get irritated and stuff all the time, am I going to burn everything?” Fotini asked.

“Gods, you’re so picky, now I know how Hekate feels.” Megara took Fotini’s hand again, and wiggled it around, and the fire disappeared. “Now you’ll have to call on it. And it may not even show up, I’m not good at projecting my power outside my world, yet. Serves you right.”

“Uh…thanks,” Fotini frowned at Megara. “You were supposed to be a wild monster.

“Oh, is that what everyone wanted? Was I supposed to be a bloodthirsty lunatic? I actually hate blood, I always have! That’s why the book specifically said not to include blood in the summoning ritual!”

“But you’re a vampire!” Merita stressed.

“Gods, sure, but did you see me leave a mess?” Megara huffed. “I’m civilized, gods forbid I wasn’t!”

“I should’ve summoned someone else, friends, I’m sorry,” Kosmas said, rubbing his beard. “I read about a Menoikeus, a child born from a ghost—”

Megara let out the frenzied shriek everyone had expected from her and lunged at Kosmas. “Where is that book?” she demanded, and scratched at his face as he stumbled around. “If you touch my Niki, I swear to you, I’ll flay your tongue!”

“Back!” Kosmas cried, “Go back!” he kicked over the jar, and Megara evaporated like morning mist. As he caught his breath, he straightened his tunic. “That… was an adventure, wasn’t it?” he asked, his eyes darting around the crowd as they shook off their shock. His eyes settled on Fotini. “Well… welcome to court, little witch,” he said, breathing hard. “Seems like next time I need to put on a show, I’ll just call on you.”

#blackskiesbeautifultimes #anthropolite #flamesofesmeralda #mariandreapf #zerotoherohercules #anakinskywalker-vader