Before her eyes, Alpheus’s limbs and body hardened, and the River God
became a living, breathing man.
Artemis Rising Excerpt—Chapter IV:
What follows is an excerpt from the novel, which illustrates the myth of
Alpheus and Arethusa in a vision.
Arethusa fell to a strange darkness. It seemed only a moment. Then a
brilliant light materialized into a riot of cerulean blues and moss greens. She
stood, surrounded by forest, at the brink of a shallow river. It burbled and
sang and beckoned. The sun was setting but the day was still hot. Shafts of
light filtered through the old grove of cedars.
She wore a strange tunic, cut very high on her legs. A bow and quiver of
arrows lay beside her in the grasses that lined the banks. She strode
forward, her step confident despite her confusion. She dipped her toes in
the water. The river was cool, inviting. She glanced around, but no one
lingered in this forgotten forest.
Just a short swim, she thought, to wash the heat from my skin. Her lack of
modesty surprised her, but she didn’t give it another thought. She shed her
tunic and boots, unbound her hair, and dove headlong into a pool at the
base of a waterfall.
The very instant she crested the surface she felt a movement beneath her
and around her. Like a separate current a powerful presence encircled her
and, like a whirlpool, it dragged her down under the surface, into the
shallower depths where her feet touched the algae-covered stones.
She blinked, and when the sting of the water against her eyes cleared, she
saw a face. The soft edges of jaw and nose and lip swelled and billowed in
the currents like a translucent sketch, a colorless portrait.
He did not speak with a voice but his thoughts touched her mind, blending
seamlessly with the babble of the river. You disturb my waters, little nymph.
But I am not displeased. I am the God Alpheus. Come into the depths with
me and I will show you all that I command.
When she felt the God’s desire surrounding her, filling the pool with a heavy
force, she grew afraid. She remembered the warning of the Moon Goddess:
chastity above all. She did not hesitate, but scrambled naked from the
water.
“Stay,” he cajoled.
Arethusa did not answer but ran on, over moss and stone, grass and stick.
“Come back!” he shouted. “Come back.”
He chased her deep into the forest, and she hid where she could behind
trees and thickets. The day slipped into pale dusk, and the Moon Goddess
rose in the east.
Alpheus chased her down to the sea. She ran down the abandoned beach,
her bruised feet aching and her lungs burning with the fire of her breath.
The moment she had given up thought of escape, the moment Alpheus
touched the ends of her hair, Arethusa called out to the Goddess.
“Save me, Artemis. Have mercy.”
Artemis flashed bright, her rays reaching down to embrace her like a
mother. A strange sensation coursed through Arethusa’s veins. As she ran,
her body became fluid and transparent. Unbidden tears streamed from her
eyes. Her limbs turned to liquid pools and, on her tongue, she tasted
strange, cool water. All at once, she collapsed into a deep river of herself,
bleeding into the beach sands into the interminable darkness beneath.But
Alpheus was cunning. He shifted into his river form and dove after her,
slipping with insidious silence behind her.She felt Artemis’s anger rumbling
through the earth. Her light grew strong, her heat burning into the ground.
Then Arethusa felt herself fall.Dive deep, my Arethusa. I will make a way for
you, she felt rather than heard the Goddess say.Grateful, Arethusa plunged
down and slipped her way under the seas, coming back up through a spring
near the Rio de Antigos. There, the Moon Goddess gathered up Arethusa’s
scattered drops and transformed her into a bubbling fountain.Arethusa
thought she was safe at last, but the earth trembled and quaked beneath
her and a terrible roar shuddered through the ground. Alpheus cleaved up
through the soil, bursting skyward with the sheer force of his anger. She saw
again Alpheus’s translucent face, twisted in rage. Then he plunged down
into her waters, imprisoning her with his own.
You’ll never escape me again.