Love and Apollo (11 page)

“Apollo was the sunlight of the human mind,” Sir Mortimer said not once but many times, “and one day he will be acknowledged for all he has given to mankind and to everyone who has learnt so much from him.”

Now she was to visit the island dedicated to Apollo and feel the wonder and glory of him.

She had been told that the unique enchantment of Delos still existed, which seemed incredible after the passing of so many years.

No one was allowed to be born or to die on what was known as The Virgin Island.

It remained the Virgin still.

Sir Mortimer had said,

“Divine light falls over it.”

Before Valona finally fell into a deep sleep, she told herself that it was the Divine Light of Apollo, which would help her through the ordeal that awaited her in Larissa.

If that Divine Light was with her, she would no longer need to be afraid.

Valona heard a knock at her door.

She realised that it was the Duke's valet telling her that it was time for her to get up.

She pulled back the curtains over the portholes and saw that the sun had just risen – it was very early indeed.

She knew the Duke was worried about not wasting time and reaching Larissa as soon as possible.

But
he was allowing her to visit Delos.

She dressed herself in a few minutes, not taking any notice of her hair that hung loosely over her shoulders.

Then in flat-heeled shoes she ran out of her cabin and up on deck, where she saw that they were anchored in a small bay.

There was a seaman to help her down a rope ladder into a small boat where two more seamen were waiting to row her to the shore.

It was only a short distance to Delos and apart from bidding her “good morning,” they did not speak.

They ran the boat up the beach and helped her out.

She hurried up a narrow path that led to the top of a low cliff.

She had read in one book that the small mysterious island of Delos lay very low in the water, as the author had said, ‘
with only the small hill of Cynthus to hold it from
floating away.
'

It took Valona a few seconds to reach the top of the cliff and then she found herself standing as she had longed to on the island of Delos.

As she had expected the island was a mass of spring flowers. Anemones flooded the meadows that were filled with many gleaming columns and ruins of what had once been temples.

Looking ahead of her Valona was still.

Now she could feel the wind blowing softly around her and was filled with a sense of enchantment she had always known she would find in Delos.

A dozen books had told her that a heavenly light always fell over the island and Apollo's presence could positively be felt.

As she stood there she could see the light flashing against white marble, which lay visibly among the flowers.

Over the whole island the air seemed to be like a dancing quivering flame.

She could not explain it, yet it was there just as she had expected it to be.

Although she felt she must be imagining it, she was aware of the light glittering and shining high up in the air.

There seemed to be a mysterious quivering, a low beating of silver wings and the whirl of silver wheels.

She walked a little further along the meadow.

As she did so, she felt the shimmering presence of Apollo himself.

It was as though she could see him with her own eyes, and he was looking unbelievably handsome.

Behind him lay the many white Temples built in his honour.

As Valona moved very slowly over the anemones, she found herself remembering what she had read.

How the Goddess Leto had given birth beside the wheel-shaped lake to Apollo, the fairest of the immortals, and his twin sister Artemis and how the whole earth had rejoiced.

To celebrate the birth of Apollo, ‘
the islands of the
Cyclades wheeled round in Holy joy
.'

Strange perfumes had wafted over the island and white swans suddenly appeared on the lake.

Apollo had found his rightful home here and ruled the world from Delos, which he had conquered by the power of his beauty.

For a moment Valona could not see ahead of her.

She knew that there was hardly a square inch of the island that did not lie under the shadow of countless broken columns.

No one lived on the island – the only inhabitants were the grey speckled lizards that sheltered underneath the stones.

Yet in the expectant quietness of the scene around her, she became acutely conscious of the presence of some unexplained mystery.

She remembered that in 426 BC General Nicias had decreed that Apollo was not being worshipped properly as a God should.

He had led a large delegation from Athens to purify the island and there had been countless feasts, games and sacrifices.  The General had presented Apollo with an enormous bronze palm tree and then ordered a huge statue of Apollo to be erected on Delos to the glory and beauty of the God.

Never had so many precious gifts been offered to a God and when he returned to Athens, General Nicias hoped that after all he had done he would now bask in the God's favour.

But the Athenian invasion of Sicily that he commanded ended in disaster in 413 BC and Nicias was captured and savagely put to death.

The bronze palm tree fell over in a wild storm and the broken pieces which fell near the sacred lake lay there for two thousand years.

Then the island was explored by the English in the reign of Charles I and the French came collecting pieces of the statues and other precious souvenirs.

The great statue of Apollo, which had fallen to the ground, was gradually broken up and pieces were carried away to England and France.

Much of the statue, Valona knew, remained on Delos, but it lay too far for her to go and see it.

Yet she was aware that it was still there and was, according to all she had read, filled with a tremendous power.

One visitor to the statue had written,

“It was splendid in its loneliness, its perfect beauty
and its terrible power.”

Valona was a long way from it, but as she stood looking towards the East, she could feel the magic of the young God once thirty feet high.

In her mind she could see him with his parted lips, his uplifted hands and his eyes gazing out to sea.

More than two thousand years had passed since Apollo's statue had been erected on the island, yet she knew in her heart that time had in no way weakened him.

It was then that she began praying to Apollo with all her heart and soul.

She asked him to bring her true the love she longed for.

As the God of Light and Love, Apollo represented the fulfilment of dreams to all who worshipped him.

‘Help me, please help me!' she begged.  ‘The love I seek is the same love you give to the world and it is even more powerful than anything else mankind could possess.'

She was sure that Apollo had heard her.

Then she remembered that the Duke was anxious to be on their way to Larissa.

She turned around and for a moment it seemed as if she was turning her back on Heaven itself as she walked away from the light that emanated from the ruins.

There was no movement anywhere, except the yellow butterflies hovering over the flowers.

Yet she felt as if the God himself had spoken to her and his arms embraced her.

Valona ran back down the winding path onto the beach where the seamen were waiting for her.

As soon as she stepped into the boat, they pushed it into the water and rowed her back to the battleship.

She climbed aboard and murmured, “thank you” to the seaman who helped her up on deck.

Then she went below and into her own cabin.

She closed the door and flung herself down on the bed hiding her face in the pillow.

She felt as if she had touched the stars.

After this she would never be the same again.

*

The battleship was now moving and leaving Delos behind.  Its speed quickened and they were hurrying on to Larissa.

Yet Valona knew she held within herself the Light of Apollo.

Several hours later, fully dressed and with her hair neatly arranged, Valona entered the Saloon.

The Duke was sitting on a sofa reading a newspaper that had come aboard at Athens.

“How did you enjoy your visit to that mysterious island?” he asked her.

“It was the most wonderful experience I have ever known and thank you so very much for allowing me to go ashore.”

“I felt that you wanted to be alone, so I did not join you.”

Valona thought it was just like him to be so kind and understanding.

She sat down on one of the comfortable chairs in the Saloon and the Duke said,

“The Captain has informed me that if we keep up this speed we shall arrive at the Port of Zante, the Capital of Larissa, at around about six o'clock this afternoon.”

As he spoke to her, Valona remembered again what was awaiting her at Larissa and felt as if she had come crashing back to earth with a bang.

She had been living briefly in the mystic world of the Gods and now she was forced to face the difficulties and problems of earth.

“Do you think,” she asked in a small rather scared voice, “they will expect me to marry the King at once?”

“If the situation is quite as bad as our Ambassador in Athens told me, I do believe they will want to make you their Queen as soon as possible.”

Valona gave a little sigh, but she did not speak.

The Duke was thinking how brave she was.

He was so aware that
any
young girl would shrink from the horror of being married to a much older man who was in ill-health.

Especially as there was no time to make his acquaintance first or even become friends before she was to be his wife.

He was wondering what he could say to console her when the Stewards came in to lay the table for luncheon.

“I am sure that the chef has taken on some fresh food at Athens which we shall enjoy,” remarked the Duke.

He walked across to the porthole and looked out at the sea.

The Aegean Sea was brilliant blue and glassy calm with the sun shining overhead.

It was the sort of weather any traveller would be happy to find when exploring a new country and the Duke knew that normally he would be delighted.

But there was still the ominous darkness of the Russians hanging over what lay ahead for them.

To take his mind off these worries he discussed the history of Greece again with Valona and soon they were both enjoying an animated discourse on the merits of the Greek Philosophers.

It always amused the Duke when he found a very pretty woman who used her brains, as he had noted that far too many of the beauties in London were only interested in themselves and their appearance.

On the subject of Greece they both naturally talked about Olympus.

The Duke had visited the mountain only to find it rather disappointing.

“There was no feeling of holiness that I somehow expected to find there,” he reflected.

Valona longed to tell him how different Delos was – yet somehow it was impossible to put into words what she felt when she had stood on the island.

She still felt the glory of it within herself.

The Duke was aware that there was a reserve about her that had not been there before, so he deliberately turned the conversation to other matters.

When luncheon was over, they went up on deck.

There was little to see except the blue sea through which they were moving at what the Captain said proudly was a record speed.

“We will certainly be at Zante, Your Grace, by six o'clock, if not earlier,” he boasted.

“I do congratulate you, Captain, I had no idea that these heavily armoured battleships could travel so fast!”

He realised that his praise pleased the Captain and after paying him several more compliments, he and Valona went below.

“I intend to write a letter to Mama,” she said.  “I hope if we post it as soon as we arrive, it will not take too long to reach her.”

The Duke picked up the newspaper again, while she sat down at the writing desk.

She wrote two pages to her mother, telling her what she had seen in Athens and also a little about Delos.

She did not mention what had happened with Lady Rose and the Marquis, knowing that it was a secret that must not be revealed to anyone till the Duke gave her permission to do so.

This meant that she could not tell her mother either that she had agreed to marry the King in Rose's place.

Then, as she signed her name with endless love and kisses, she was aware that the battleship was slowing down.

She was about to say that it seemed a little strange, when she looked round and saw that the Duke was asleep.

She therefore started another page of her letter and told her mother how very kind and considerate the Duke had been to her.

The only good news she could think of concerning her own future was that her mother would doubtless enjoy coming out to Larissa.

The engines of the battleship, having slowed down, started up again.

As they did so, the Duke woke up.

“Have I been asleep?” he muttered.

“You have,” answered Valona, “and I think it must have been the engines that woke you.”

“Engines?  What do you mean?”

Before Valona could explain, the door of the Saloon opened.

The Steward announced,

“His Royal Highness Prince Ajax, Your Grace.”

Both the Duke and Valona stared at the newcomer in astonishment.

Then, as he entered the Saloon, Valona gave a gasp.

For one moment she thought she must be dreaming and imagining what she saw.

The man joining them seemed to be her image of Apollo himself.

The Duke and Valona rose to their feet as Prince Ajax came towards them.

It was then that Valona told herself her eyes must have deceived her – it was a tall, exceedingly handsome young man who had just joined them, but not the God of whom she was still dreaming.