The Herb and the Sword — The Odyssey, Book X
By Pei
Twelve ships left Troy. One reached this island. When half the surviving crew follows a beautiful voice through shining bronze doors and never comes out, the lone witness returns to the beach too broken to speak. Odysseus arms himself and goes alone. On the path a young man stops him — a god — and presses a black-rooted flower into his palm with instructions: she will offer a cup; drink it; when she strikes with her wand, draw the sword; and make her swear. Circe welcomes the stranger in golden light. She drugs the cup. He drains it, and nothing happens. She strikes, and instead of a pig she finds a blade at her throat and a man she recognizes from prophecy. She offers her bed. He refuses it until she swears the oath of the blessed gods.