The Death of Medusa Their greatest curse was not the savage slinking of serpentine hair or the banishment from the most remote villages. It was the exile of sexuality and the inability to love a man without him being turned to stone. Even those who were daring and greedy enough to accept the offer of gold and gems to satisfy the sexual longings of the Gorgon sisters became supine statues whose faces were frozen forever in horror from the sight of squirming hair and green-tinged skin. Exiled to a palace of stone which was guarded by stone cats and surrounded by a moat full of stone fish, the sisters desired. Being mortal, Medusa suffered the most. She needed satisfaction as much as she required food, water, and air. She had only to think of a man and her heart would thrum, her breasts would swell, and her fingers would dip between her legs as they worked to bring that elusive pleasure. In spite of the danger surrounding her, Medusa still managed to lure men whose curiosity and love of riches sent them into death's embrace. While her sisters learned to pleasure themselves, Medusa still demanded the touch of a man. Furious that many of his male subjects, including his finest soldiers, had been destroyed by Medusa's powerful desires, King Polydectes offered his own reward to the man clever enough to bring him the Gorgon's head. Many fools, eager to claim the King's prize, charged the Gorgons' castle with swords and weapons only to be instantly turned to stone. Medusa often walked among the gruesome assembly of immobile warriors, touch her green-tinged lips to the cold mouth of her choice, and embrace the stone body, thrusting her pelvis against the statue's groin until she throbbed with pleasure. One evening at twilight, when the moon shone dully through the clouds and the stone warriors peeked desperately through the fog, a youth approached the palace. Dressed in the simple clothes of a peasant, he carried a blindfold instead of a weapon and kept his eyes lowered to his worn boots. "Medusa," he called in a deep, pleasant voice which caused the Gorgon's heart pound. She peered at him from behind a stone shield and called, "Who are you?" "My name is Perseus. I am answering your request for a lover." "All around you see the results of my offers." "I won't be harmed." "These others thought the same." Perseus lifted the blindfold which dangled from his slender fingers. "If you'll have me, I'll wear this." Darkness and fog hid Medusa from Perseus' eyes, but her vision was keen and enabled her to view him clearly. Tall, lean, with thick, dark hair and a face beautiful enough to shame most women's, he filled her with desire. Others had come to her with the same promise that they would cover their eyes while they made love, but curiosity had always betrayed them. She was certain that if she entertained this lovely youth, by morning he would be the most intoxicating addition to her stone garden. "Do you think I won't satisfy you, Medusa, because I'm young and ignorant or because I'm a peasant rather than a glorified warrior?" he called. When she didn't answer, he stepped further into the statue garden. From behind, cool hands slid gently around his throat, causing him to start, though he dared not look around. "So smooth and strong," Medusa whispered close to his ear as her palms slipped beneath his tunic and splayed across his hard, young chest. Perseus' breath caught in his throat as he felt the softness of her breasts against his back and the heard the hiss of snakes from her hair. One of her hands tugged the blindfold from his grasp and wrapped it about his head, concealing his eyes as she guided him past the frozen onlookers and into the coldness of the palace walls. Though he couldn't see through the thickness of the blindfold, Perseus tried to remember the staircases and turns as the Gorgon led him through the castle's damp halls. He heard the snapping of flames and felt the heat from a fireplace as the door of Medusa's chamber closed softly behind them. Within moments, he lay on his back upon a bed covered with silky, herb-scented sheets. Already trembling with desire, Medusa's deft fingers tugged the rough peasant's tunic over her lover's head. Her palms moved sensuously over his chest, and as she leaned forward to kiss one of his flat, pink nipples, the snakes in her hair slipped across his flesh. He tensed apprehensively at first but was surprised by the softness of the reptilian tongues. Their touch was arousing, almost human. There were no fangs and no venom, only delightful sensation. Medusa left a trail of kisses as she moved downward, untying the length of rope which held his trousers in place so that she could slide off the remainder of his clothes. Scoring his inner thighs with the tips of her pointed nails, she tasted his manhood. His eyes closed beneath the blindfold and his breathing deepened as her skilled lips pleasured him. When he'd offered himself to her, he hadn't imagined feeling any pleasure, yet this creature, this woman, was inciting his passion in ways he'd never thought possible. He no longer thought of the snakes, the reward, or his mission, but concentrated solely on his increasing desire. Stimulating Medusa was just as exciting as receiving pleasure himself. Her smooth, soft skin warmed beneath his touch. His hands encircled her breasts as his thumbs teased her spiked nipples. He listened to her sharp intake of breath as his tongue slid over her abdomen before his lips found the liquid heat of her sex. Teasing her to the brink of fulfillment had aroused him again, and as he slipped inside her and drove them both to ecstasy, he doubted his true purpose for the first of many times to come. King Polydectes was shocked when Perseus, alive and well, returned from the Gorgons' lair. "Did you meet with her?" "Yes." "Did you kill her?" Perseus shook his head, hoping that the aftermath of unimaginable passion was not still apparent in his eyes. "What you ask is difficult, Your Majesty, and must be carefully planned." "Your future depends on this, Perseus. Remember that. Land, riches, all that is important in the world will be yours, so long as you destroy her." Perseus believed the King's words until he lay in the Gorgon's arms. Then he wasn't sure which was more important: the King's reward or Medusa's affection. Behind the walls of the palace, Medusa's sisters chastised her for trusting a man enough to invite him back, particularly one who refused payment for pleasuring the most feared of the Gorgons. "Why should he lust after you when he could have another mortal woman with a face he can look upon and a body he can enjoy by the light of day?" "Emotions can be powerful. We feel more for each other than physical desire." "You're acting like a fool for this man," the sisters chimed in unison, the snakes writhing anxiously on their heads. Medusa ignored her sisters and blamed their warnings on jealousy because she had gained what they only dreamed of. Perseus came to her often, and Medusa took care to hide him from her envious sisters. Sometimes they made love in the stone garden beneath the fog-dimmed moon. Other times they waded into the lake which ran through the field behind the palace, and Perseus took her in the water as the snakes' slippery scales mingled with their own drenched skins. It was their carnal bouts in the lake which sealed Medusa's faith in Perseus. Any man who allowed her to lead him, blindfolded, into those watery depths must truly love her. One night as they lay, wet limbs entwined, on the shore of the lake, Medusa's bliss was destroyed. "I'm being sent to war." "Perseus, no." She clutched his slender, callused hands to her breast. "You can't leave me." "I have to do what my King orders." "You could stay here with me. No one would dare to come after you." "I won't hide behind a woman." He jerked his hands from hers. "But I've never loved anyone before." Sighing with genuine emotion, he drew her into his arms as her tears fell on his chest and the snakes tickled his chin. He wasn't prepared for the effect her sorrow would have upon him, and for a moment he considered relenting. Polydectes offered him a palace and riches, and Medusa had just offered him the same. Perseus shook his head clear of such insane thoughts. Trapped within the Gorgons' walls, where could he enjoy the riches? The palace would become as much a prison to him as it was to the stone warriors who guarded it. "Before I leave, I'll come to you to say good-bye." ************************* The following night as Perseus, wearing leather armor and carrying a newly sharpened sword and glistening shield, approached the palace, he felt more like a villain than the hero Polydectes told him he would be. He forced himself to remember all the deaths Medusa had caused, and that even though she was a beautiful lover, she was still a monster. She met him in the garden with a barrage of kisses, took his hand, and led him to her chamber. There he placed his sword and shield aside and allowed her to strip off his armor. Their kisses were rough and hungry, each somehow knowing that it would be the last time they would lie together, naked and sated. As Medusa cried out his name for the final time that night then drifted into a sorrowful yet satisfied sleep, Perseus rested beside her, his heart pounding with the aftermath of lovemaking and the coming of the last passionate act which would ever pass between them. When he was certain she was deeply asleep, he slipped from her embrace and silently positioned the smooth, gleaming shield at the foot of the bed. He took the sword in one hand and tore off the blindfold with the other. In the reflection of the shield, he looked upon his lover for the first time. The slender tangle of snakes rested motionlessly on the pillows and over her smooth shoulders. Her pale flesh carried the merest hint of green, except for the darker green nipples which tipped her rounded breasts. Her slender waist and flat belly were scarcely hidden by the thin cotton sheets, and Perseus' gaze lingered on the hair-covered mound above her thighs. Drawing a long breath, he found the courage to look at her face. Though she wasn't the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, she wasn't at all horrible. Her features were even, her cheekbones sculpted, and her chin strong. Her full, sensuous lips were parted in sleep, and her eyes, which were said to be the part of her which truly turned her victims to stone, were closed. Perseus felt the overwhelming urge to lie down beside her and forget his promise to the King. His hand trembled on the sword, but he grasped it tightly. He had made certain that it was sharp and would cause her minimal pain as he realized he hated the thought of her suffering. "I have faith in your manhood, Perseus," Polydectes had told him. "Prove me right." ************ After the death of Medusa, the Gorgon sisters built an impenetrable stone wall around their palace and spent the remainder of their lives in solitude. As promised, King Polydectes awarded Perseus a castle, lands, and riches. The Gorgon's head was mounted in Polydectes' great hall, and though he was proud of his trophy, he was sorry that his best warrior, the one who had brought him the vile green head, refused to enter the hall. To lessen Perseus' melancholy, the King arranged for him to marry the beautiful Andromeda. Though she was gentle, lovely, and blessed him with sons and daughters, Andromeda was otherwise very ordinary. She viewed lovemaking as a process rather than a luxury, and though she took pleasure in it, there was no fire between them. There were no conversations, no moonlit swims, and no passion. Late at night, long after the children had been put to bed by their nurses and Andromeda had retired to her own private chamber, Perseus would sit blindfolded in the courtyard with his face lifted to the fog-hidden moon. The End March 1999 HofP |