Arthur Imperator (27 page)

“Yes!” Larina shouted, “by about a head or so.”

Acca was starting to get annoyed by the constant interruptions.

“Would you like to tell the story, Larina?” she asked.

“Oh, no, Acca,” replied her friend with an innocent-looking smile. “You know the story much better than I do.”

“In that case,” said Acca, “could you please stop interrupting me? Thank you. So where was I? Oh, yes, Diana turned and, not having her weapons with her, cast a spell on Actaeon, who felt horns start to grow on his head, and then his neck lengthening. His hands changed into feet, his arms into legs, and a spotted coat of hair began to cover his body.

“Actaeon fled,” she went on, “and, coming to stream, where he beheld his image in the water, he panicked. He set off running again when one of his own dogs, Melampus, spotted him and began to give chase. Soon Ichnobates and the other dogs rushed after their prey.” Acca saw that Larina was going to say something again, and gave her an angry look, so Larina held back. “They quickly overcame him,” she continued, “and he was bitten on the back, then the shoulder. More wounds soon followed, with one dog after another burying its jaws in his body, and he was finally torn to pieces.”

“Wow!” said Camilla. “So he paid dearly for his crime. I am sure Diana was satisfied once he was dead.”

“Of course!” said three of the girls in unison.

“As you probably know, her beauty is such that it should not be exposed to human eyes, unless she invites them to,” explained Acca. “She shares with whom she wishes, and punishes those who are not invited to behold her.”

Camilla smiled to herself, for she was fortunate to have been in the presence of the goddess, who had even paid her a personal visit in the woods.

Once back in the village, Camilla was invited to stay and share a meal with Tulla and her family, but she declined, knowing that she had quite some distance to travel. Moreover, given a choice, she preferred to eat what she herself hunted or trapped. But before leaving she remembered to hand back the robe and sandals that had been lent to her, and promised to come back before long.

Camilla’s visits became frequent, and her new friends soon became really interested in her way of life. So much so that Camilla began by teaching them how to shoot with bow and arrow and how to stay safe in the woods. She also had to teach them how to skin and cook their prey, just as her father had taught her when she was still very little. She was especially interested in showing them how to turn the skins into a number of useful items, such as clothing and bedding.

Then the girls decided to emulate Diana in other ways as well. First they agreed to dress like her, in a short tunic and sandals, on a daily basis, not just once a year for the festival. In a way they were relieved that they no longer had to wear their long robes, which were uncomfortable, especially in the summer, and that sometimes made them trip. Finally Camilla decided it was time to tell her friends about her connection to Diana. She told them how, shortly after she was born, her father had saved her life by tying her to a spear and sending it flying over the swollen Amasenus River, and at the same time he had devoted her to the goddess.

“To make a long story short,” she continued, “since I am her votary, I not only need to honor her all the time, but also, in a way, I need to
be
Diana. Of course you all know what this means. Diana is a huntress and a perpetual virgin. I, therefore, am a huntress and will remain a virgin too.”

The girls’ admiration for Camilla was by now great, and they already thought the world of the Goddess, so they didn’t take long to make a decision.

“Tulla, Tarpeia, Larina, and I,” said Acca, acting as spokesperson for her friends, “want to become Diana’s devotees as well. Please tell us what we have to do.”

Camilla was happy to help her friends, although there wasn’t much to it. All the girls had to do was make a small blood sacrifice to the goddess, stating their intention, then devote each one of their tasks and endeavors to her, and vow to refrain from having more than superficial interactions with men, for the duration of their lives. They already knew how to use her favorite hunting weapons, and now all that was left was for them to say farewell to their families and make the forest their new home.

Camilla welcomed them to the spot where she had lived with her father all those years. Very soon the girls fell into a routine. They got up early, invoked the goddess and took turns reciting a prayer; then they set out to hunt after making a small sacrifice to the god Silvanus, as Camilla’s father had taught her. Some days were better than others for, although they were good at hunting, game was not always plentiful, especially when it got so hot that every living creature wanted nothing more than to spend the whole day hidden away in a shady place; or, conversely, when wintry clouds hid the stars and it was so cold that the animals also decided to hide somewhere, in order to keep warm. Occasionally the girls had to trap scorpions and small prey, as Camilla used to do when she and her father found hardly any game. At the end of the day, after they had eaten their dinner and were exhausted from their activities, they would sit around the dying embers of the spit and share some of the tales that one or the other had heard while growing up.

One of the first stories they remembered telling after moving to the forest was about the fleet-footed Thracian huntress Harpalice. Like Camilla, her mother had died when she was born, and her father had been exiled. Taking his daughter with him, the King went to live in the woods and nursed his infant daughter with the milk of wild mares and cows. He also trained her in the use of bow and arrow, as well as horse-riding, all of which came in handy when her father, many years later, tried to take back his throne. Father and daughter went from town to town gathering an army, with which they managed to regain his dominions, in large part thanks to Harpalice’s bravery and her skill as a commander. But when he died, a coup d’état sent her fleeing to the woods. She lived there for a few years, hunting with her bow, but then decided to become a brigand as revenge against her people. The lambs they kept in barns became Harpalice’s game. Finally she went back to the woods again.