alicia_h: (TARDIS)
[personal profile] alicia_h
Daedalus, father of Icarus, presented his son with his greatest invention: a set of wings constructed painstakingly from the fallen feathers of the birds in the skies over Crete by day and sealed to the wood and copper frame with the wax of the candles that lit the workshop by night. Daedalus gave his son freedom in the form of flight. His breath caught as Icarus bravely stepped forth, up the steps to the window.


He had earlier declared to his father that he was young and light and strong and, therefore they would know if the wings were too weak for their purpose and, if that were so, that his father must not follow. Daedalus reluctantly agreed. If King Minos were to discover their plot, it was better that he be put to death and Icarus given the chance to fly away. With the Gods on their side, they both might reach the mainland. Perhaps not before nightfall and perhaps not so far, yet anywhere other than this accursed land / cursed Crete would do.


As Icarus prepared to test the invention at long last, Daedalus cried out for him to wait a while. Icarus leapt backwards from the ledge and turned to his father in one swift movement. Daedalus strode to his son as fast as his old legs could carry him. He embraced his son, holding the moment between them as long as he dared. They must leave soon. While the guards dealt with the loss of more than a dozen sacrificial slaves and before the king discovered the abduction by Athenian prince.


Daedalus felt sure that Minos would blame him and his son in some way for Ariadne’s flight with Theseus. For a long time he and his creations, from his finely crafted daidala, his bowls, armour and bronze work for all manner of jewellery. This was to say nothing of his architectural achievements. The dance-ground for Ariadne that became the prison for the bull child and eventually for father and son during their days of shame and exile. Yes, for a time Daedalus had been appreciated. When the king appeared to tire of him there was always a new invention Daedalus could pull from his head and at last set on paper to prove his worth. He would not often need to take it beyond that stage because the king would find some new way to test his skill and those odd designs would become mere ephemera.


It was true that the inventor had long been aware that he was a kept man. It had taken Icarus most of his life thus far to approach this realisation. The boy had long thought himself privileged in his island life. He played along with the young princesses, Ariadne and Phaedra, and had one day forgot himself enough to kiss Ariadne before her sister and brothers.


Minos, full of fury then, had uncovered the secret visits Ariadne and Icarus made to the bull child. Though much younger than Icarus, who was still several years away from being a man, the child had aged with the haste of his bull father and had the physique of an adult human. Icarus described to his father after this meeting how Ariadne had seen the injuries the creature had sustained from the Athenean slaves presented to it as food. Though she was shaking with fear, Ariadne spoke soothingly to it and dressed it’s wounds calmly, though quickly for fear that the spell of her voice would lose its power on the creature known to all others as Minotaur but, it seemed, only to her as brother.


Ariadne had charmed Icarus with this display of love also. From that time on, he would declare his love for Ariadne to his father every day. Some days he would declare himself at the top of every hour as though her magic kept him stating her name to sustain her in the boy’s thoughts.


Daedalus loosened his grasp on his son as the memories of those days of lovestruck Icarus filled his mind with heavy, weighty, vivid colour. Now was the time. Minos had quickly traced the clew of thread that Icarus stole from his workshop to guide him and Ariadne through the labyrinth to meet her brother. That clew that had led to the discovery of their mercy visits to the minotaur through the public revelation of the devoted affection Icarus held for Ariadne. That clew had seen the metamorphosis of Daedalus and Icarus from a kept man and his boy into two imprisoned and betrayed men whose lives and comfort depended on the wit and whim of an aging and disagreeable king.


The clew that had sparked the chaos of the long night they had used to finalise the preparation for their escape had been presented willingly from Daedalus to Ariadne with no Icarus as a go between. Ariadne told him that a young hero had come to slay the minotaur and that she must go away with him that night. Daedalus forbade her to tell this to Icarus. His son was at that time securing the last of the feathers to their great wings and, be she happy distraction or bringer of despair, Ariadne would not help him in finishing his task.

Date: 2011-11-17 11:13 pm (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (Default)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
it reads so nicely up here.

Date: 2011-11-17 11:35 pm (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (cushing)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
PS - just read this: http://www.munsterlit.ie/Southword/Issues/17A/Poetry/campbell_siobhan.html
and thought of your story straightaway :)

Date: 2011-11-17 11:40 pm (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (Default)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
and that poem is called Clew Bay from the Reek.

Date: 2011-11-18 12:58 am (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (Default)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
that really is a very a powerful poem - thank you for the link :)))

on a vaguely related note do you know this song?

http://youtu.be/7WrA0iGsYqk
the white ship:

The white ship has sailed and left me here again
Out in the mist, I was so near again
Sailing on the sea of dreams
How far away it seems
Sailing upon the white ship

Home through the night here in my darkened room
Sails of white across the misty moon
Floating across the sky
Burning into my eye
Sailing upon the white ship

Out of my mind nothing flows
Alone on the shore, but that's how it goes
Everyone knows
How the wind blows

The white ship

Out of my mind nothing flows
Alone on the shore, but that's how it goes
Everyone knows
How the wind blows
The white ship

The white ship has sailed and left me here again
Out in the mist, I was so near again
Sailing on the sea of dreams
How far away it seems
Sailing upon the white ship
Sailing upon the white ship
Sailing upon the white ship

Date: 2011-11-18 01:01 am (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (dr three)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
and i have a tom baker horror of fang rock icon somewhere - i always liked it when he quotes that Gibson piece. :)

the white ship - story

Date: 2011-11-18 01:28 am (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (Default)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Ship_(story)
i'm a Lovecraft fan anyway but this is an accessible story - and i think you might like it.
wikiquote "A lighthouse keeper named Basil Elton engages upon a peculiar fantasy in which a bearded man piloting a mystical white ship is found sailing upon a bridge of moonlight."

Re: right time - for

Date: 2011-11-18 10:59 pm (UTC)
wytchcroft: heavent sent (Default)
From: [personal profile] wytchcroft
i'm glad you enjoyed it :)

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Alicia

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