Another bit of folk&myth play from Agent of Exiles. I have a group of characters I call the Amazons of the Sea. Outis is their captain (look it up and you’ll get it), the Pilot her first mate, and Mankiller is the ship’s parrot. Besides piracy, their mission is the liberation of enslaved women wherever they sail. They particularly honor “the maiden of the delicate ankles,” aka “the one who was taken” aka Persephone, and the Pilot is her priestess. In book 3, they intend to liberate the women prisoners of Sone Kee Ungalee, a Bond villain of the ancient world, but find themselves surrounded in a trap [FYI: the speech tags are in strange places because this was for audio recording]:

A masked woman stood forward. “These are the words of Lord Ungalee the Great to the Amazons of the Sea: “Greetings! It’s so delightful that you have come here too. I knew the brat would be here. The bestial monkeys too. But you are a sign that the elder gods smile upon my work. If you permit me, my servants will capture you alive. I shall taste all of you, and then you shall join my golden girls forever.”

Even at these monstrous words, Outis stared at the minion impassively. She’d known in her heart that such a day would come. Then, the captain laughed, with all the bitterness of someone leaving a party when the fun had finally begun. “Rejoice, my lovelies! The end of our mission is at hand! Raise arms!” ordered Outis.

The crew raised their weapons.

“Ready!” cried Outis

Each woman pointed her blade at the woman on her left. All were prepared on the captain’s command to slay that other woman quickly without hope of recovery. With one more word, so much love and friendship would become ashes.

Perched on the Captain’s shoulder, Mankiller said one quiet word. “Hold.”

Outis froze. A chill went down her spine, and her hair stood on end. From far away and deep inside her, a woman was singing. “The Maiden of the delicate ankles approaches.”

“Hold! Everyone. Keep these monsters off for a few moments longer. Wait for my command,” ordered Outis.

“But captain…” objected one of the crew. The masked minions and the women’s guards stepped forward with their spears, thrusting in demonstration of the coming attack.

“Another bloody moment! Death is here, and she is with us,” said Outis

“You’ll listen to your fucking captain. I feel it too. Our Lady Persephone is among us. Death is among us, and she is well pleased. Hold, women of the west!” said the Pilot.

The minions around the crew closed another step, spears out, within reach…. Then, from the back of the chamber, the screams started. Horrible screams of terror from men and women who’d thought they’d seen all horrors from their lives and Ungalee’s imagination.

“Kill them all in the Maiden’s name!” yelled Outis.

I had some fun with folk&myth in my Agent of Exiles books. Here in book 2, my monotheistic heroes (the granddaughter of Zoroaster and rogue secret agent of the Judean court in exile) do the mystery rites at Eleusis and tour the afterlife (with the help of some hallucinogens)–they weren’t doing it for the big secret (and still unknown) revelation, but…:

[Mehrnaz said,] “Wait, one other thing.”

“Yes?” said Demeter, as if she were addressing a child before bedtime.

“Well, there’s supposed to be some higher revelation with this initiation, right?” said Mehrnaz. “As long as I’m here, what is it? Please tell me.”

The great mother smiled. “Before you descended, they were telling you the story about how I lost a child I loved to the land of death, and how I moved heaven and earth to bring her back to me.”

“And?” Mehrnaz had heard similar stories before.

Demeter shone with the brightness of the lifegiving sun. “The revelation is that you are all my children, that I love you all, and that when you die I will move heaven and earth to bring each of you back to me.”

“Oh,” said Mehrnaz. “That’s a good one.”

“But remember, don’t tell anyone,” said Demeter, conspiratorially. “I like to tell people myself. Coming from you it won’t mean as much.”

“My lips are sealed,” said Mehrnaz.

“Mine too,” said Samuel, surprised that this revelation moved him.