Archive
Mnasidika of Sparta, adopted into the house of Athenaios, witnesses goings on at a Symposium welcoming Peisandros, Athenaios’ banished nephew, back into the family as a business partner.
The welcome turns sour when Peisandros hints that his uncle is instead the responsible party for the murder that got him banished from Athens. Athenaios and Isthia’s plans for Dika’s marriage are threatened when she meets the lovely Timas of Phokaia, an unexpected guest at the Symposium.
Dika knows Eurykles’ vicious attack is a warning to keep Athenaios held hostage. Despite the threats against her life and those she cares for, Dika is drawn headlong into a deadly conspiracy that threatens everything she holds dear.
The god Poseidon takes a hand in Dika’s fate and delivers the grievously-injured girl to the island of Lesbos, where a group of women carries her to safety upon a shield. Dika’s abilities as an oracle manifest and while she lies unconscious, she is beset by a series of visions from the distant past. When asked about what ordeals she endured in those days after she disappeared from Athens, she swears that she cannot remember. Then Timas introduces her to Mika.
As Dika transitions into Sappho’s school, the bookish Spartan girl doesn’t manage well at Gymnasium. She is teamed up with the athletic Hero of Gyaros. It’s soon clear that Hero has much more than a passing interest in Dika. When Dika’s nightmares worsen, Sappho and Isthia visit Ephesus to beg a consultation with the Priestesses of Kybele. A gifted priestess at the temple takes Dika to herself for the day and helps the Spartan girl come to terms with her abilities and who she really is.
An unexpected guest makes a visit to the House of the Muses. Gorgo of the House of Penthilos tells Sappho that she has opened a school for girls of her own in the city of Mytilene, with Andromeda, the daughter of Pittakos, as headmistress. The woman asks Sappho how interesting would it be if the people of Mytilene were reminded of her part in the assassination of the tyrant Myrsilos so many years ago. Sappho orders Gorgo to leave, but the damage has already been done.
Euneika tells Dika that she has seen their father Lykomedes in the marketplace in Mytilene. Dika plots to create a ruse that will rid them of him once and for all. His response is unexpected. On bended knee, he offers Dika her brother’s sword and departs once more. Late one night the sword whispers to her. She wants to pull it from its sheath and let it tell her its secrets, but she is afraid. She remembers full well what happened the LAST time she laid hands upon her brother’s sword….
Over the passing months, a shift in attitude of some of Sappho’s students is noticed. As Gorgo’s school grows in popularity more rumors begin to circulate about Sappho’s colorful past. Finally Sappho’s school erupts in dissension and a number of her students announce that they are leaving and going to Gorgo’s school. Atthis breaks ties with Sappho, who in despair gives her famous exclamation: “Well! Andromeda has driven a pretty bargain!”
Sappho fights back against Gorgo and Andromeda’s scheming and slander, and Mytilene is turned upside-down by the renewal of the feud between Sappho, Alkaios and the House of Penthilos.
When Anaktoria is forced to return to Sardis, Sappho lets go, but her losses have plunged her into a deep and miserable depression. The machinations of the House of Penthilos do not slow, and as time goes by, events come together in a most deadly fashion that changes Dika’s life forever.
The most emotional, pulse-pounding House of the Muses issue ever! Mnasidika tries to pull her life together after Timas’ death, but before the Hetairai can even begin to mourn, Gorgo calls Sappho to Tribunal to be tried for the girl’s murder! Event after event unravels, and Mika attempts to return to the House of the Muses only to find Sappho has not forgotten her part. The morning Sappho’s body washes ashore on the beach in Mytilene, that very night Dika finds those responsible for Sappho’s death and metes out her own brand of justice.
House of the Muses #10 – Coming March 01, 2012!
Dika and Gongyla are arrested and brought before the Tribunal to be sentenced for murder and Dika is branded with a new name: Pleistodika, “Ultimate Justice”. Though all agree she did what was necessary, Dika is exiled from Mytilene for what she has done.
