Monstrous Guardian
by Richard W. Kenneth
Content Warning: Implied Sexual Abuse
Andromeda woke to the shouts of her slave girls, Euryale and Stheno. “Mistress! Fire!”
Racing downstairs to the front room where the girls slept, she found the thick wooden door to the courtyard ablaze. Stheno hurled the contents of a chamber pot at the flames with little effect.
Outside, two drunken lovers of Andromeda’s stepmother bellowed. “Oh Mistress Andromeda,” mocked Alexos, “we bring you sad news. Tonight a messenger interrupted our fun to report that your father died in battle.”
“We know how much you miss him,” jeered Nikolas, “so we’ll send you and your slave girls to join him!”
The windows set into the stone walls were too high and narrow for escape but Andromeda opened the shutters to help vent the smoke. “Take your cloaks and sandals to my chamber!” she shouted to her maids.
As embers ignited Euryale’s sleeping mat, Andromeda lit two torches in the flames, followed the teenage sisters upstairs and kicked her bedroom door closed.
“What do we do now?” asked Euryale.
“Get dressed. I have a way out.” Andromeda slid the torches into metal wall brackets and dug through a large wooden chest of clothes and bedding until she found her own hooded cloak. Then she reached under her bed to retrieve her pet snake, Pythos. He coiled around her shoulders as she put on her sandals. She grabbed her father’s old spear from the hand of a life-size clay statue she’d sculpted of him wearing his armor. Eying the brick wall behind the statue, she jabbed the spearhead into a crack in the mortar. A concealed door opened to reveal a narrow storeroom containing several waist-high amphora storage jars.
“What is that, Mistress?” asked Stheno.
“Something my father prepared in case the harvest failed when he was at war, or I needed another way in or out.” She handed one of the torches to Euryale and the spear to Stheno. “There is a stairway behind the last amphora. Wait for me there.”
Taking the second torch, Andromeda fought back tears as she touched the cheek of her father’s statue. “May you find joy with mother in Elysium and guide me from beyond.” Then she ignited her bed, chest and scattered clothes. As the room filled with smoke, she moved into the storeroom. She tipped an amphora to spill olive oil onto her wooden bedroom floor and dropped her torch into it. The more damaging the fire, the more likely her stepmother, Gorgo, would believe they all perished.
Andromeda closed the storeroom door, reclaimed the spear and second torch from the girls, and led them down a set of narrow stone stairs into a cistern. They waded through waist-deep water in the long underground chamber and up the outside stairs normally used to access the stored rainwater. The moon was full so Andromeda tossed the torch into the cistern. Then they raced through the estate’s olive groves, neighboring vineyards and up a steep hill to a ruined temple. She hid the girls in a corner of the crumbling sanctuary, beneath their cloaks. “Rest here,” she told them. “I’ll see if we were followed.”
She crept back through fallen masonry to the hillside. The fire was visible in the distance, but no torches of pursuers.
Returning to the girls, Andromeda stumbled and struck her head on a toppled pillar. She awoke at the feet of a woman wearing armor that glittered in the moonlight. An owl perched on her shoulder.
Pythos hissed at the stranger.
“Hold your tongue, Pythos!” Andromeda scolded, “That’s Athena!”
Bowing deeply, she addressed the goddess. “Forgive our trespass in your temple, Mighty One! We needed refuge. My stepmother’s lovers tried to murder us.”
“Fear not, faithful Andromeda,” said Athena. “I have seen your many offerings here for your father’s safety, in spite of my home’s disrepair. You have also protected your slaves from the lusts of your stepmother’s lovers and have not taken any vengeance for her abuse and adultery, though you had many opportunities. Such strength is rare in mortals.”
“The girls are like sisters to me so I could never let them be harmed. Gorgo is still my father’s wife, so I stayed my hand to avoid staining his honor any further. She changed after he left. I pray she doesn’t find us.”
“You now have my protection, in addition to that of your fearsome serpent.”
Andromeda smiled. “He has no venom, Great One, when I was a child playing in the storeroom, he ate a rat that was about to bite me and we have been friends ever since.”
“I too have place in my heart for snakes. Since you do not fear them, I shall send vipers to guard you and your slaves and kill game for you to eat. In return, you must be my Medusa, my guardian, of this place until your father comes home and rebuilds it.”
“My father is alive?”
“Yes. He was wounded in battle while another soldier with the same name died nearby. The messenger was dispatched to the wrong family thanks to the mischief of my brother, Ares. Your father will return within a year.”
“Thank you for that news, Great One! I will be your Medusa for this temple.”
“That will not be simple,” said Athena. “The year you were born, Poseidon struck this temple with an earthquake. My priestesses lost faith and abandoned it to looters and defilers. I sense stronger faith in you but it will be tested. You cannot leave the temple grounds but your slaves can. When people approach, you must warn them that only my worshippers may visit safely and all others will be struck down by vipers. Some will ignore you and die. Others will blame you and call you a monster. You will be hated and feared. Some people will try to kill you, but the snakes will protect you. Do not hinder them or strike anyone on your own. If you break these rules, you will lose my protection, and someone will take your head as a trophy. Do you still agree to be my Medusa?”
“Yes, Athena.”
“Then arise, Medusa!”
Athena disappeared. Andromeda, now Medusa, awoke in daylight, lying on the soft grass and gazing skyward. Pythos lay stretched alongside her. The red-orange patches on his gray skin were resplendent in the morning sun. True to Athena’s word, vipers of various colors coiled around Medusa’s arms like living bracelets. Others slithered in her waist-length hair, splayed out around her head. Pythos’ tongue tickled her ear, making her giggle. Instead of hissing, he whispered in a low, masculine voice. “Now I speak the words of Athena and my kin to you and your words to them.”
“I praise Athena’s wisdom in giving you speech,” answered Medusa.
“Mistress, you’re alive!” shouted Euryale and Stheno, approaching from the sanctuary. “When we awoke and you weren’t back, we feared for you.”
“I am well,” answered Medusa, “Athena visited me.” She recounted her deal with the goddess as the girls listened, wide-eyed.
“Medusa is a fitting title for you, Mistress,” said Euryale. “You have protected us well.”
Stheno nodded, and then asked, “Do the snakes squeeze tightly?”
“No, they are gentle, like Pythos,” said Medusa. “Would you like to feel?”
“Yes.”
“Hold out your arm.”
Stheno did so, and a black viper spiraled down Medusa’s arm and up hers. “It’s smooth and cool,” Stheno said. She held out her other arm, and another of Medusa’s snakes encircled it. “I feel safe and powerful. You should try, Euryale.”
“Perhaps with snakes like Pythos?” asked Euryale. “I am used to him.”
Pythos hissed. Two serpents with markings like his slithered out of the grass at Euryale’s feet. She picked one up and coiled it around her shoulders, as she’d seen Medusa do. It nestled its head in her hair. The other she lifted to her waist, where it formed a belt for her robe.
“I like this,” said the younger girl. “Now we’re all snake sisters!”
Medusa laughed. “Euryale, since you are less known in town, could you take your cloak to cover your snakes and go learn what people know of the fire or what happened to us?
“Yes Mist—I mean Medusa.”
“I’ll escort her to the edge of town,” said Stheno.
“Of course,” agreed Medusa.
While they were gone, Medusa asked Pythos, “What shall we eat?”
“Follow the gray snake,” he replied.
Medusa did so and found a large rabbit, freshly killed.
“Will there be venom in the meat?”
“No.”
“My father showed me how to prepare game, but I don’t have a knife.”
“Look behind the rock to your left.”
Medusa did so and found a small knife with an owl etched on the handle. “Athena says it belonged to a priestess who dropped it in the earthquake. She grants it to you.”
Medusa started a fire and skinned the rabbit. Stheno usually did the cooking, so Medusa hoped the girl would return and help her avoid a charred meal. “When will you eat, Pythos?”
“My kin and I will take turns hunting while you sleep. Some of us will always be with you.”
Stheno returned at a run. “Medusa! Three young men are coming up the road to the temple. Euryale and I hid so they did not see us. She continued into town and I came up another way.”
“Finish the meal, I will meet them.” She donned her cloak and found her father’s spear near where she’d met Athena. She intercepted the strangers just inside the temple grounds. They were about her age.
“Who are you?” the lead man asked.
“I am Medusa of Athena’s temple. Do you come to worship her?”
“Crazy woman,” said a second man. “Athena didn’t make her a guardian. Her father probably threw her out.”
The third man spoke. “We’re visiting friends in town and they suggested we come see the view from up here. We’ll just take a look and leave.”
“No,” said Medusa, lowering her hood. Pythos and the snakes in her hair all hissed. “Go back or Athena’s serpents will kill you.”
“I worship Poseidon, the earth shaker,” said the leader. “He ruined this temple and I’ll ruin you.” He lunged for Medusa’s spear, but Pythos surged out of her cloak and bit his arm. He shouted and fell to the ground where another viper struck him.
The second man picked up a rock and was poised to throw when two other snakes bit him. He collapsed.
The third man turned and ran.
Medusa knelt beside the first man, but he was already dead. The second man wheezed, unable to speak, until his soul followed his friend’s to the afterlife. She blinked away a tear.
At a hiss from Pythos, the vipers withdrew. He whispered, “You cannot leave the defilers to rot, nor bury them here. This is holy ground.”
“What does Athena wish me to do?”
“Eat now and restore your strength. Then my kin will show you a sacred spring in the ruins. Add its water to the soil nearby to form clay. Cover their skin and clothes with it, and then place them in the sun. By Apollo’s power, the clay will harden quickly. They shall become statues for Athena’s temple and a warning to any who might defile it.”
“But without burial—”
“Their spirits are not your concern. They will reach Hades and be judged.”
Medusa, shaken by her encounter with the trespassers and the harshness of Athena’s demands, returned to Stheno and told her what had happened. After the meal, Stheno helped her coat the bodies in clay, which covered the snakebites. Medusa posed each man to reflect his bravery, the first lunging forward and the second about to throw his stone. Yet their faces were frozen in fear and pain that her skill as a sculptor could not conceal.
After just a few hours in the sun, the clay had the look and feel of stone. The women wrestled the statues into place beside the road where it entered the temple grounds. They were resting by the sanctuary when Euryale returned.
“What were those statues?” She asked. “They look like—”
“I’ll explain later, Euryale,” said Stheno. “What did you learn?”
“Gorgo and her lovers have told the townspeople about the fire and say we all died. No one is looking for us.”
“That’s good,” said Stheno.
“It is,” agreed Medusa. “Since we came here, I’ve been thinking about granting you both your freedom. You didn’t make this bargain with Athena. And since we are all thought to be dead, you can leave this place and start new lives. When my father returns, I will make him understand, and face any consequences.”
Euryale, in stunned silence, glanced at Stheno, who answered for them both. “You are generous as always, Medusa, but our slavery is paying our family’s debt to your father. Since Athena says he is still alive, only he can grant us our freedom. It would also be wrong to leave you now. The bargain you struck with Athena is a heavy one, and I know you made it to protect us as much as yourself. So we will help you keep it.”
Medusa nodded. “I swear by Athena I will ask my father for your freedom when he returns. Until then, you are no longer slaves to me.”
“But you can be our sister!” said Euryale, pulling Medusa and Stheno into a hug.
“Sisters,” agreed Medusa.
The next morning, Pythos awakened Medusa. “A man and woman approach,” he said.
She found them by the statues of the two men who had died. The woman wept by the feet of the stone thrower and the man had his hand on the shoulder of youth who had boasted of worshiping Poseidon.
“These men were our friends!” the man yelled at Medusa. “Ektor tells us your serpents attacked them.”
“They did not come to worship Athena,” replied Medusa. “I warned them her vipers would strike them dead. They ignored me.”
“Vipers don’t turn people to stone!” cried the woman. “You did this! I can see the fear on their faces. Undo your stone curse and let us take them for burial.”
“I cannot undo what has been done by Athena’s command,” said Medusa.
The man drew a dagger. “Perhaps if I kill you, the curse will be broken. And if it isn’t, at least I can avenge their blood with yours!”
“I beg you not to come any closer. Leave this place and you will live.” Hoping to look as fearsome as possible, she lowered her cloak’s hood to reveal the snakes writhing in her hair. The man advanced on her and she backed away toward the temple. Three vipers slithered between them, hissing. He struck one with his dagger but the other two bit him. He fell to his knees screaming as more snakes attacked him. Medusa turned away.
She heard his dagger clatter on the rocks and his body thump to the ground. With a raspy breath he asked, “Who are you?”
“Medusa.”
Only after the man fell silent did she dare to look at him. He lay sprawled on the ground with snakebites on his arms and legs. Through weary eyes she watched the woman run back down the road toward town. Athena’s prophecies were coming true.
As Medusa and the girls coated the man in clay, they found he had a small bag of coins.
“He has no need of money,” said Pythos. “Athena grants it to the girls for buying supplies.”
That afternoon, a third statue was placed by the road, with a dagger clinched in its raised fist.
Over the next two days a few people ventured close enough to see the statues but fled when Medusa approached.
Euryale slipped into town to buy a pot and some bowls and also brought back stories that were spreading about Medusa. Some said she was a sorceress who could turn people to stone and summon snakes, or a beautiful seductress and murderer of men. Others claimed she was a former priestess of Athena, or the ghost of one, being punished for abandoning the temple or for succumbing to lust for Poseidon, who had destroyed it. The tales varied in whether Medusa had the eyes, fangs, tongue or lower body of a serpent, but most agreed she had snakes for hair and that looking her in the eyes was fatal.
Euryale acted out each description with gestures and funny faces, bringing much needed humor to the situation. Medusa was disappointed at being so feared but understood it was part of her agreement with Athena.
Later that day, Pythos alerted Medusa that four men were approaching with heavy footsteps. Stheno dashed to one of the lookouts where they could observe the road without being seen. She returned and reported that the men were soldiers. They carried swords and wore bronze armor.
When they reached the statues, the soldiers called out. “Medusa! Come out to us. We are sent by the Archon to bring you before him on accusations of murder and witchcraft. Come willingly and you will not be harmed.”
“Don’t go, Medusa!” Euryale pleaded. If they take you away from the temple it will break your agreement with Athena. Let the serpents protect us.”
“I will not go with them, but I must warn them. That is part of the bargain too.”
Medusa left her spear with the girls to avoid looking confrontational. When she was close enough for the soldiers to hear her, she shouted, “I cannot leave this place. But do not pass the statues or Athena’s vipers will kill you.”
Ignoring her warning, the soldiers marched onto the temple grounds. Medusa ran a few strides and hid behind a pillar. The soldiers followed slowly, checking for snakes before taking each step. She saw the tall grass around the men sway as serpents silently surrounded them.
Shouts and hisses followed as the battle began. Some vipers’ fangs struck the bronze greaves covering the soldiers’ shins but others found flesh. The men flailed with their swords, sometimes slicing snakes but often striking grass or rocks. Two soldiers went down quickly. A third fell trying to retreat to the road. The fourth backed against the trunk of a tree, only to be struck from above by a serpent that had been climbing in the branches. The distraction allowed other vipers to strike.
Soon all four were dead. The next day, they took their places as stone sentinels for the temple.
“When will this end?” Medusa asked Pythos.
“Not soon,” he answered. “But Athena has decided that seven statues are sufficient warning to any intruder so you do not have to warn anyone else about the vipers.”
After the soldiers died, no one approached the temple for weeks. Then Euryale heard that a chest of silver coins, worth a year’s wages, was being offered for Medusa’s head.
The reward spurred quests by would-be heroes of all types. Archers, spearmen, swordsmen, and even slingers came, alone and in groups. Some came close to success but all found their end in stone. At direction from Pythos, Medusa and the girls gathered the bodies of the snakes that died protecting them and placed them near the sacred spring.
Following a dozen attempts on Medusa’s life, a pair of women came to the temple with offerings for Athena. Grateful for the respite, Medusa led them toward the cracked stone altar where she prayed each morning. She didn’t see them draw daggers from their cloaks, but Pythos did. They joined the statues lining the paths of the temple grounds.
Months later, a weary Medusa waited at a lookout to see the latest threat the serpents had detected. A pair of soldiers came up the road at a brisk pace. They held their gleaming shields high so she could only see their eyes below their helmets. The lead soldier stopped at the outermost statues, raised a fabric bag overhead with his free hand and shouted. “Medusa! I bring Athena an offering! I must know if my daughter Andromeda lives!”
Medusa ran towards him. “Father!”
“Andromeda!” The man dropped the bag and his shield and embraced her, unafraid of her snakes. “Praise Athena you’re alive! When I arrived in the port, I was told you and the girls died in a fire, but later, I heard stories of a woman named Medusa with snakes for hair, living in Athena’s old temple. I remembered your bond with Pythos and how many offerings we brought here together and prayed it was you, perhaps in disguise.”
“Athena has protected us with vipers, father, and in return, I am her Medusa of this temple.
“Us? Are the girls here with you?”
“Yes they are. Stheno! Euryale! My father has returned!”
The girls raced from the sanctuary to meet them.
“Master Leandros! It is so good to see you,” said Stheno, taking his hand. “Medusa has prayed every day for you, and kept us safe.”
Euryale hugged him. “We heard you were dead but Athena promised Medusa you would return.”
“It is a joy to see you both,” said Leandros. “I was wounded. But my brave friend Perseus here carried me from the battlefield and found a healer for me.”
The young soldier behind Leandros nodded. “Your father and his men saved my village from the enemy. For that I have sworn him my allegiance.”
“We appreciate you watching over my father,” replied Medusa. “I hope our serpent protectors do not frighten you.”
“They do not,” replied Perseus. “I’ve been around snakes since I was a child. My uncle is a priest of Asclepius. Healing serpents roam his temples freely.”
“And Perseus saved my life again last night when I took him to our home,” said Leandros.
“Gorgo—” said Medusa.
“I know,” Her father nodded. “I found her taking pleasure in the arms of two men. In a rage I killed one. Gorgo rose and tried to stab me but Perseus beheaded her. The other man, Alexos, begged for mercy. He told me how Gorgo ordered him to set the fire and kill you and the girls. When I could stand to hear no more, I killed him. I brought Gorgo’s head to show Athena I had ended the threat to you if you were alive, or avenged you if you were dead. I am grateful that she protected you. If she is willing to release you from your role as Medusa, I will rebuild this temple and make it worthy of her again. My men and I recovered many treasures the enemy left when they finally fled our lands.”
“Athena agrees,” said Pythos.
“Did Pythos just speak?” asked Leandros.
“I heard it too,” said Perseus.
“Yes,” said Medusa. “He speaks Athena’s words since we have been here.”
The vipers in Medusa’s hair and around her arms slithered down her body and into the grass, leaving only Pythos behind. The snakes that had protected Euryale and Stheno also departed.
“Andromeda,” Pythos said, “You are free to go, but Athena requires a new Medusa.”
Andromeda grinned and took the bag from her father. “I will prepare this for Athena while Euryale and Stheno return home with you and Perseus. I will follow soon and we shall feast!”
Left alone with Pythos, Andromeda shaved Gorgo’s head and covered it in clay. She reached for the bodies of the dead snakes near the spring then paused. “I mean no dishonor to your kin, Pythos, I can sculpt snakes instead.”
“My kin would be honored to know they serve Athena even after death,” said Pythos.
With a nod, Medusa coated them in clay and fashioned them into wild serpent hair that matched the stories. Then she left Gorgo’s head on a pillar to dry and returned home.
After the meal that night, Andromeda spoke to Leandros alone. “I have some things to discuss, father.”
“What are they?” He asked.
“First, I ask that you grant Stheno and Euryale their freedom. Their loyalty and courage to help me while I served Athena was service far beyond any debt their family might still owe you. I consider them as sisters and will gladly work in their place for as long as needed.”
“They learned such loyalty and courage from you, my daughter. I was going to grant their freedom for the same reason, even if you had not asked. And if they wish to marry, I know some fine young men among my troops who would treat them well.”
“I will tell them, father. But now I have an idea on how to prove Medusa is no more.”
The next morning, Perseus and Leandros took the ‘head of Medusa’ to the Archon. Later they returned to Athena’s temple, accompanied by several soldiers. They were greeted by Andromeda, Stheno, and Euryale.
“What are you doing here?” the soldiers asked the girls.
Andromeda pointed at Perseus. “My sisters and I met that man on the road. He said he had killed the gorgon Medusa and showed us her head. We came to see if it was true and brought offerings for Athena.”
Euryale shouted. “I see Medusa’s body!” She led the group to the stone body of a headless woman sprawled on the ground near Medusa’s victims. Perseus drew Medusa’s head from the bag and showed that it fit on the woman’s body.
The lead soldier nodded. “Well done Perseus. You have ended the curse of this monster and the Archon will grant you the chest of silver. Strategos Leandros, you may oversee the temple’s cleansing and restoration as you proposed.”
“We are honored to serve,” said Leandros as the soldiers marched away.
Over the next few weeks, Leandros returned the statues of Medusa’s victims to their relatives for burial. Any that were unclaimed were buried in unmarked graves, as was Medusa’s body.
Stheno and Euryale volunteered to serve as the first priestesses of the temple while it was being reconstructed. The temple quickly became famous for the accuracy of the prophecies the priestesses gave, whispered to them by sacred snakes.
Perseus fell in love with Andromeda, married her, and used part of his silver to buy marble so she could sculpt a life-size statue of Athena for the temple. It depicted the goddess in full armor, holding a spear and a mirrored shield bearing Medusa’s head. Although Andromeda donated the statue to the temple anonymously, it became the model for many more statues, including the Athena Parthenos later created for the Parthenon in Athens.
Richard W. Kenneth (he/him) is an engineer by day and an author by night. His sci-fi flash fiction thrillers have appeared in Havok Magazine and Havok’s anthology, “Prismatic”. His short horror has appeared in Last Girls Club. He also writes poetry when the mood, or the muse, strikes. He shares life’s adventures with his wife, who also writes. Email him at richardwkenneth@gmail.com or find him on social media at Facebook.com/RichardWKenneth