The Gate of Heaven (46 page)

“No, I was never sweet!”

“Yes, you were. I saw it in you. Oh, you were layered over with a silly selfishness, but I watched you, Dinah. I've seen the kindness you show to everyone. You must never call yourself selfish. A selfish woman would never have paid all her money for a slave…as you did to save me.”

“I wish I could believe that…but I can't.”

Dinah was very much aware of the warm pressure of his hands. She was suddenly possessed with a longing such as she had never known before. It came so sharply that the poignancy of it almost took her breath. She wanted to simply fall into his arms and stay there so that the world could not hurt her anymore.

“Demetrius, I can never be the same again. My heart is broken.”

Demetrius pulled her down to the bed and sat beside her with his arm around her. She was caught off guard by this, but it was exactly what she had been longing for. She turned to face him to see what was in his countenance and saw the deep compassion in his fine eyes. “You could never heal my heart.”

“Well, you just don't know me, mistress! Why, I have a reputation in my country for healing broken hearts.”

“Oh, don't be foolish!”

“It's true. I could have made a good living at it instead of being a sailor.” Demetrius saw that she was watching him with a childlike expression. She was longing for someone to say these things to her, but nobody had been able to.

“Parents came to me from all over Minoa, begging me to help their children who had been hurt. Many of them”—he nodded firmly—“were young women who had been disappointed in love.”

Despite her grief, Dinah could not help smiling. “And did you do it, Demetrius? Did you cure them?”

“Every single one!”

“And how did you do that, if I may ask?”

“Ah,” Demetrius said, shaking his head with mock sobriety. “I'm not giving any secrets away. Why, you'd steal them. You'd become the famous healer of broken hearts. You'd become rich and have nothing to do with a poor sailor.”

“No, I wouldn't do that, Demetrius.” She took his hand then, the first time since he had brought her home that she had reached out to anyone. She clung to him and said, “I would never turn away from you.”

“You wouldn't? Well, now I'll take you on as a special patient. Dinah, the daughter of Israel the Hebrew.”

He got to his feet and lifted her up by the hand. “Come. It's time for the first treatment.”

“What? It's almost dark!”

“It has to be that way. The first treatment always begins just at twilight.”

The heat had gone out of the earth and the night breeze was cool. Out in the distance, under the full light of the moon, the full shadows of night had fallen, and the earth nearby had a gray, lucent shine to it as the two stood beside the same stream where Demetrius had been fishing earlier. The sun had dropped down in the west, and the clear light of the moon seemed to bring a fragrance to the land. The stillness was complete, except for the murmur of the stream at their feet. They had been there long enough for the full moon to clear the horizon and turn to a butter yellow haze in the air.

Overhead the stars were great crystal masses, almost bright enough to hurt the eye. And the coolness of the night air was a relief after the heat of the day. The wind softly roughed up the leaves that had fallen from the trees, and the smell of the land rising with the dissipated heat whirled in streaky currents in the moonlit air. The two figures beside the stream were facing each other. Demetrius sat in front of Dinah, his voice softly rising in excitement at times, and his hands waving in the air to outline his tales.

Dinah suddenly said, “You've been telling lies for two hours, Demetrius. When does your treatment for broken hearts begin?”

Demetrius smiled. His teeth looked very bright in the moonlight. “I
have
begun. Don't you feel it working?”

Dinah stared at him and realized that she
did
feel better. The tales of his homeland and of his adventures on the sea and in foreign places had taken her out of herself. She smiled and said, “Yes, I do feel better. Is this all your treatment, healer of broken hearts?”

“Of course not. It's just a beginning. Now the second part is very important.”

“What is it?”

Demetrius rose to his feet. Dinah's eyes widened as he reached over and picked her up off the ground. “The second step is that you must be totally immersed in running water.”

Demetrius stepped to the bank and swung her back as if he would fling her into the river.

“Demetrius, you can't!” Throwing her arms around his neck, she clung to him. “Don't you
dare
throw me in that water!”

“Well, that's part of the treatment. Of course, there is one alternative that will keep you dry.”

“What's that?”

Demetrius turned then to face her. His arms felt strong and capable, and she suddenly loved the strong planes of his face as they were laid into chiseled planes by the moonlight. She had always thought him handsome, but never had he seemed stronger and more masculine and virile than at that instant.

“You must sing me a song.”

“Oh, Demetrius, I can't sing!”

“Too bad. Good-bye, then.”

He swung her back and actually started the forward movement, but she wildly grabbed at him, saying, “No, don't! I'll sing!”

“Good. Let's hear it.”

He did not put her down but held her, and she saw that he was smiling.

Dinah began to sing. She had a beautiful voice and sang an old song she had learned as a child. It seemed to draw her back into the past. She was aware of his arms holding her close. The strength of his body seemed to give her strength. Her voice grew stronger, and when she finished the verse and he insisted on another, she sang another song she had learned while growing up.

When she ceased, Demetrius said, “That was lovely. You're just like my old mistress again.” He suddenly put her down and said, “Come. It's late.”

Dinah was filled with amazement at how the time had flown. She walked alongside Demetrius, and when they approached the camp, she said, “Thank you for coming to me…and for the paintings.”

“Well, tomorrow the
real
work begins. Get a good night's sleep.”

“The real work! What is it?”

“I never reveal my methods.” Demetrius was smiling, and suddenly she found herself smiling back at him.

“You've got to tell me.”

“No, it's so drastic, mistress! I used it once on a young woman from Greece. She was in poor shape, but I'm afraid it worked too well.”

“What do you mean? What happened to her?”

“Oh, she fell madly in love with me.” He laughed then and said, “Tomorrow we'll have another treatment, won't we?”

Dinah was filled with a sense of gratitude that seemed to fill her breast. She took his hand and whispered, “Thank you, Demetrius. I…I like your treatments.”

Demetrius suddenly grew serious. He lifted her hand to his lips, kissed it, then said quietly, “The best of life lies ahead of you.”

“I wish I could believe that.”

Demetrius dropped her hand. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. “It's true. My methods never fail. I hope you can live through what you will face tomorrow. You'll have to be strong.”

Dinah suddenly felt light and free. “I'll try to live through it no matter how bad it is. Good night, Demetrius.”

She went into her tent, undressed, and got into bed. For a long time she lay there, and then she realized as sleep came to her that for the first time since the horror at the palace, she was excited about waking up the next day.

“Well, it's time for another treatment from Master Demetrius—healer of broken hearts, magician, and expert in all matters known to human beings.”

“I don't see how you could possibly be as wise as you pretend to be.” Dinah turned to look up into the face of Demetrius. He was staring upward, and his profile was outlined against the sky, blocking out the stars.

Turning to her, Demetrius said, “You must have faith. All my patients are required to have faith, and I must say I'm rather pleased with myself. You laughed three times tonight. That's a good sign.”

“Yes, it is. I do feel strangely content tonight.”

The two of them were standing on a flat plain quite a ways from the closest tent in the camp. The stars were sharply glistening overhead, and the scented wind frayed at the odors of the wilderness about them. The mystery of the night had closed down, and loneliness had moved in with its questions and its majesty. The breeze coming in from the mountains over to the west flowed around Dinah, and she sensed the timeless swing and vast rhythm of all the starry bodies that glowed above her.

From somewhere far off, a wild dog broke into a half bark, adding an indescribable note of wildness to the night. “That's a lonesome sound,” Dinah said.

“I kind of like it. We don't have wild dogs where I come from. I admire those fellows.”

She stared at him, noting how the silver light brought out the boldness of his features. “Nobody likes wild dogs.” She waited for him to answer, and when he did not, she asked, “Why do you like them?”

“Oh, they're free. They can go where they please.”

Dinah opened her eyes with surprise. She had never heard him speak of his bondage before. “Are you really so miserable, Demetrius?”

He did not answer but suddenly said, “Look!”

Dinah turned to look and saw a star make a scratch on the heavens. “I've always liked that,” she said. “What causes such a thing, do you suppose?”

“I'm sorry. That's a trade secret to us professional heart healers. But it's a good sign. It means you're going to get something very nice in the future.”

“What will I get?”

“Ah, you'll have to wait. But for tonight the treatment includes learning something about those fellows up there.”

“What fellows?”

“Those. The fire people up in the sky.”

Dinah turned to look upward. “You think those are people?” she whispered in awe.

“Nobody knows what they are, but I know them pretty well. A sailor has to know them. They're the only way he can find out which way he's going or where he is.”

Dinah was staring upward. “They all look alike to me.”

“Well, they won't in a few minutes. I'm going to teach you how to recognize some of my good friends. Now, look up there.” When she obeyed, he reached over and put both hands on her head. “No, right up there.” He kept his hands on her head, and she was conscious of the strength that always seemed to flow out of him. “You should see a big cup with a long handle, a small cup with a crooked handle, a bear, and a strange-looking beast like a snake with a big head.”

Dinah stared. “I don't see any of those.”

“You don't! Well, you have eyes, don't you?”

“Yes, but it's just a bunch of stars. There must be hundreds of them.”

“All right. Here, I'll show you. Wait a minute.”

Dinah watched as he scrambled around. The silver moonlight flooded the plain, and she felt the peacefulness of the night. The past days had been good for her. Demetrius had not done a great deal of work but had instead spent as much time with her as possible. He had encouraged her to travel with him to see the flocks, to go to the river to fish. She knew her parents were glad that she was getting out. Now as she watched, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Gathering stars,” he said. He came back with his hands full of small stones and got down on his knees. “Now, sit over here right across from me.”

Dinah obediently moved to where he indicated and knelt, leaving some space between them. She watched as he put stones out in a peculiar pattern. Once he stopped and said, “That won't do. Come over here by me.” She got up, dusted off her knees, and knelt down beside him, so close he could feel the pressure on his side as she touched him. “Now,” he said. “There's what you see overhead.”

Dinah stared at the stones. They seemed to be scattered in a random pattern. “They just look like rocks on the ground to me.”

“All right. Look up at the sky again. You don't see a cup with a handle?”

“No. I don't see anything at all but a bunch of rocks and up there just a lot of stars.”

“All right. Look at this.” He picked up a stick and began to draw lines between some of the stones. “Now,” he said, “do you see the cup with the handle?”

“Well, of course I see it now.”

“Of course,” he mocked. “Okay. Look up. Right up there you should see it. The same thing in the sky.”

Suddenly the pattern seemed to leap into her eyes. “Why, I
do
see a cup, and it's got a long handle that's bent.”

“That's the Big Cup,” he said. “That's your first lesson in learning the sailor's friends. All right. Do you see a little cup?”