From the Beginning: The Old World

by Kurtz, Timna

  The black priestess got up from the spot she was cringed in during Cole’s shrieking speech and came up to me. In my surprise, Jonathan had fallen asleep in her arms despite the hateful yelling and looked very peaceful and sweet, unaware of the harsh tones around him. “He has a good character. He will be a strong and stable boy.” She spoke with a heavy accent and smiled at him when she saw me checking him. “Don’t worry, I won’t let him hurt the baby,” she now smiled at me to explain and to prove to me we were in the same boat. She checked the wound on my lip and instructed one of the women in a foreign language to bring more water and something else I didn’t understand the meaning of, but when the woman came back I saw it was healing herbs, the medicinal use of which were probably known to her.

  “Why are you helping him?” I asked with anger yet with gratitude, unable to understand why she was cooperating with this low life of a man, but at the same time, I knew she had no choice.

  “You are correct,” she replied sadly. “But I wasn’t the one chosen to defeat him. Only you can. I don’t have the powers you do, which is why I waited for you to come, and yes, I also helped, against my will of course—kidnap the baby so you would follow him.” While she talked, her hands were busy tearing the herbs, crushing them with her fingers in the water, squeezing it and again placing in water, until the water changed their color into greenish brown. “This will sting now—” she prepared me for the contact with the solution she had made, “but this will heal you immediately, and you will not have a mark or swelling.” She placed a moist patch of herbal solution on my wound, and I flinched from the sting on my lips.

  “Here, it will soon pass,” she reassured me and placed the patch again. This time I was ready, and indeed, the burn subsided, and seconds later I didn’t feel it at all.

  “What did you mean when you said you waited for me?” I asked as I took off the patch, thanking her with an apologetic smile for my unjust attack.

  “When the rains came, and the big flood destroyed the world, my people were ready. Not all of them survived, but a small group of us came here, to this mountain top. If you managed to get here, that means you found the maps transcribed by our ancestors. The prophecy told of the flood, the destruction and of the rising of humanity from the ashes. The elders also told that two forces will fight for the fate of the world, as usual—good and evil. When the black bird came wounded to our shores, we thought at first that our savior had arrived, and we took care of him with devotion. We gave him a free hand and complied with all his wishes and requests—mainly to keep him happy so he would stay with us. We were so blinded by his arrival and by the hope for a promised renewal—that without noticing we have been nurturing a monster. When two more boats of survivors arrived, he already ruled us with an iron fist, leading his policy of force, spreading fear, violence, suspicion and distrust with one another—between those who supported him and those who wished to go against him.

  “As you probably noticed, my people are black. When more white survivors came, he immediately created a new camp of subjects. He elevated them to a higher position, and gave them privileges, as he forced us to serve them and treat them as our masters. He gave permission to the whites to punish all those who opposed him, gaining a pact of followers that were happy to be in this new position. After their fearful time when they wandered the seas, lost, they now found themselves a safe harbor. They enjoyed a new life of doing nothing, all the while being served by a small group of people. This is how he gained their trust in the beginning, making them more and more egoistic and lazy. When he realized that the hedonism and laziness had spread amongst them, he started treating them violently too, making it clear to them, that they were meant to serve him as well.

  “He forced me to concoct special oils.” All of a sudden she choked and started crying. “Plants that I had to brew and make concoctions of drugs that were used to drug the women so he could rape them one by one. Some of them were already pregnant with his child, but with other oils I concocted, I made sure that any white woman who became pregnant miscarried her baby. When he realized that something wasn’t right, he began to rape the black women, and here he was successful. At this point, most of my tribe escaped. They ran for their lives to the forested part of the island—where Cole had no foothold. He didn’t dare go there out of fear that he would be ambushed and revenge would strike him. That is why he kept me and my son hostage for leverage. As long as he is holding me, my people will not dare go after him. They are afraid he will use my powers to hurt them. He kept the young women to himself as a pact of slaves at his mercy. I also stayed to watch over their pregnancies, and with the hope that someday I will get to meet the high priestess of the new world. The one with the rare turquoise eyes that the prophecy foretold of her arrival. She is the only one that can defeat and remove the black bird’s shadow from our future.” Her voice was elated, and her eyes sparkled as she shook my hand warmly. “I don’t know how you plan to beat him, but since you brought backup, you must have some sort of plan. I can now feel it in my heart that finally—we will see redemption!” She concluded her words for the time being, and I felt ashamed. Fixating my eyes on the ground.

  “I have no plan, oh black priestess. I came with the intention of returning little Jonathan to his mother’s arms. It’s only in the last few hours that I realized I will have to fight Cole. I am so sorry to disappoint you, but I haven’t got a clue as to how I will be able to turn the tables to my advantage.” The only thing I knew for certain was that I would not disclose my pregnancy to her. Even if she was on my side, she was still being controlled by Cole, and with my senses and instinct, I felt like I needed to keep this information hidden, even from her.

  “Grace,” she addressed me by name, pronouncing it with a softness that was filled with love and faith. “I don’t know how you will do this and how I will be able to assist you either, but my heart is telling me that you didn’t come here in vain, and at the right time you will know what to do in order to triumph and to eradicate the evil from the world!” The twinkle in her eyes returned and sparked a slither of hope in me too. “I am asking your forgiveness in advance for the things I will be forced to do to you during the ceremony tonight, which is why I am turning to your compassionate heart that is filled with love, that you keep in mind I have to comply with Cole’s instructions so he will not become suspicious, to keep my son safe. If he knew that I had told you of my people’s prophecy, he might act on his threats.” Her voice was reduced to a trembling whisper when she wasn’t able to speak these horrible words.

  “Now I suggest that you rest up and save your energy. You will need your strength later, when the time comes. Are you ready Grace? Will you be truly prepared to fill your greatest calling on this earth and sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity?” She stood up and left the place, entering back into the extra niche in the cave, carrying sleeping Jonathan with her. Her words echoed in my head like war drums…

  * * *

  Chapter 44

  The hours passed slowly. I leaned on the cave’s wall, my hands still bound, and I laid my head back to try and catch a little nap. My thoughts were too distraught for me to sleep but at the end the fatigue and exhaustion caught on and my eyes closed.

  I didn’t know how long I had slept, but suddenly Cole’s voice sounded again, disturbing my sleep, awakening me from my nap. My heart started pounding in fear again.

  “Nice! I see you managed to rest, very important,” he chuckled with contempt.

  “You can stop the pretense Cole, it’s not like you really care,” I replied coldly.

  “You are right—I don’t really care—and yet, my enjoyment will be doubled when you fight me with all your might and I break you and bring you down for all to see, and then—” He paused and looked deeply into my eyes— “That surprise I will leave for the ceremony.” He winked as if pretending to joke. “Girls! Take this woman and bath her! She has to be clean for the ceremony, and so do you,” he ordered the group of young wome
n and only now I noticed the little bulges on their stomachs.

  The girls, rushing to comply immediately with Cole’s orders, led me to another space in the cave, there a sight was revealed to me, that if I didn’t know what it was used for, I would call it “spectacular”: it was a covered space with a large basin inside, and to my astonishment the water was steaming! Around it, inside little grooves in the walls of the cave, there were many little oil candles, spreading a soft light and a pleasant aromatic scent. My eyes widened in awe.

  “A bath for the madam?” Cole whispered behind me, his lust came through clearly in his voice as he watched his slaves undress me.

  “You must be joking?!” I gave him a skeptic look. “How exactly do you, Cole, fit in with this romantic setting? This is hardly your style,” I commented cynically about the setting of the room, which was ready and designed all for one purpose only.

  “Hmmm… Correct. This isn’t my style. But, it is theirs—” he hinted with his head at the group of women who had just finished undressing me, and with my hands still bound, they led me gently into the little pool. “You will soon see and understand everything!” His vicious smile was spread on his face again.

  “What are you up to now?” I asked trembling. The warm water caressed my body, and the pleasantness that filled me was in contrast to what was causing me to tremble from within.

  “Relax darling. It’s a shame you won’t enjoy your bath. In general, I suggest you make the most of the nice things you will go through until the high moment of the ceremony, because afterward you’ll have real hell waiting for you! Priestess!!” He called out loud to his black priestess that appeared in the opening after a moment, carrying a beautiful antique urn.

  “Pour your oil into the water. I want her soft, obedient and submissive—Just as I like!” My eyes opened wide in terror when I realized it was the same numbing oil she had told me about earlier. She approached the pool and bent over to pour the gooey liquid into the hot water, her eyes pleading me to understand her and to play along. “This is the only way you will beat him,” I imagined her eyes telling me without her speaking.

  The oil mixed with the water, turning them into milky white, and the scent of invigorating heavy musk twirled in the air, threatening to daze me.

  One by one the women came closer, moving their dark arms in the milky water that made for a perfect contrast to their skin, mixing the water, twirling it around me. Their eyes veiled and looked glazed, and then they closed on me in a circle.

  A dozen pairs of hands started moving on my body, caressing, kneading, and massaging. A dozen mouths started kissing and licking me from head to toe, igniting the wildest vibe I had ever felt, when the effect of the oil started drugging my body and my senses.

  My head spun and my limbs became weak. Against my will, I gave in to Cole’s slaves’ sensual arms, while he was standing on the side, observing what was happening in a sadistic pleasure. A voice was screaming in my head to flee for my life, but my body could not oblige, and so I found myself dizzy and drugged, the vibe turned on with a force like none I’ve ever experienced. I was trapped in my paralyzed body that caved in, and there was nothing I could do about it!

  Cole’s chuckling and gloating voice filled the cave. I tried to yell at him, at them, I tried to call out to the black priestess to save me—but my voice wouldn’t come out. Even my vocal cords were limp and mute. My tongue rolled in my mouth and my eyes twirled in their sockets. More and more hands were touching, massaging, tantalizing, continuing to rub my body with the oily water, making love to me as they were drugged themselves as shown on their numb faces. After a while, which seemed like eternity, I felt as if my body had reached a climax many times, yet I felt no satisfaction—they pulled me out of the intoxicating water, and as I was, naked, wet and dripping with oily juices, they lifted me onto a soft cloth gurney, and four men from Cole’s guards carried me out of the cave.

  The sun had already set outside, and a silent wind was blowing on my bare skin, whispering the dark secret of the altar I was led to like a sacrificial lamb.

  The men lay me on the alter with my legs spread towards the Y-shaped opening and my head towards the straight edge. My ankles were bound to the horns of the altar. My hands, which were still tied at the wrists were finally cut loose only to be bound again to the altar itself.

  For these brief few moments when I wasn’t touched by the black women, I regained some of my consciousness and could move my head a little. My eyes that regained focus noticed dozens of people that gathered on the parameter of the crater that surrounded the altar. It seemed like they were keeping their distance—intrigued and excited on the one hand, but afraid to come too close and be exposed to Cole’s wrath on the other.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another totem pole, not far from me, and Violet was bound to it. For a minute, I thought I saw her trying to untie the ropes behind her back, but stopped the instance someone looked at her. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to break loose or I just hoped she was.

  The place became silent as Cole and his black priestess came out of the cave and approached the alter. Following them, came out Cole’s dozen poor and drugged slaves, who circled the altar and stood around me.

  The black priestess passed through them and poured more of the drugging oil on their hands as they resumed massaging my body until again my body sank into a daze and the vibe burned inside me.

  “Today is a great day!” Cole opened his speech to his people, his subjects and slaves who had peeked on the scene with a growing curiosity. “This evening is the last of three moonless nights, and the last day of our tribe women’s ovulation and fertility cycles. The best methods and means in which to make sure that a woman becomes pregnant was studied over the years, and when would be the optimal time to conceive a male baby or a female, a slave!” he uttered the words in contempt and scornfully. “It turns out that the last ovulation day is the best possible day to conceive a male child!” Where did he get this information? I could only guess that the black priestess misled him into thinking this.

  “That is why tonight I shall fertilize this woman’s womb with my seed, and you will bear witness to the creation of a new baby that will become my first heir, a male boy that will succeed me and lead the new world! This is not another low and inferior woman, this is Grace—the high priestess of the near island that is situated not far from here. She made her way to me, under the assumption she could overpower me, but what she didn’t know is that the prophecy foretold that should she carry my son—he would follow in my footsteps and lead the world according to my beliefs and the education I will give him. You will soon witness my power and my potency, and you shall know the might of your leader, and why you should never undermine the rule of the black bird!” His voice echoed in my ear in a sound that alternated strong and faint strengths, going up and down like an un-tuned radio. I understood his words well, but I had no strength to resist. Drugged and vibrating I watched, as if from a hallucination. Cole approached the altar and stood at the foot of the altar on which my legs were spread apart. Only when he came near, I noticed that he wore an improvised crown and a ridiculous royal cape. He took the cape off, revealing to all, his firm naked body and his engorged penis.

  Warm and stinging tears of humiliation streamed from my eyes to my temples when I felt his hands moving on my thighs, his fingers invading me—and I was being raped without the ability to fight.

  Where is the struggle he talked about? Where is my opportunity to fight him and give him what he deserves? I could hear him growl like an animal in heat, moaning with sadistic pleasure mocking me in contempt for managing to fool me and humiliate me with hardly any effort. My heart was tearing inside, but my cry wasn’t heard. I could feel him penetrating me, sliding into me without difficulty or a hint of resistance. Even more so when I felt my vibe powerfully reacting to him.

  “I remind you to do it gently. Otherwise, your plan will go wrong!” I heard the voice of the black priestess fro
m above, advising Cole of the right way to perform his task, and I felt the knife of betrayal being plunged into my heart.

  I cried, yelled, called for help—but not a sound came out of my mouth. My voices were screaming in my head, deafening my ears from within. I was positive a terrible dissonant noise was accompanying the proceedings, but it was the vibe in me that screeched with every move made by Cole’s body, who penetrated me again and again. The pace grew faster, and the women’s hands did not leave my body, making sure my skin was kept numb and my senses blurred. The vibe became stronger and stronger, up to a boiling point, and I had hoped that when it happened—I would blow up and die as well.

  Cole was so ecstatic, to a point he could not help himself and increased the penetrating rhythm, ignoring his priestess’s warnings, moaning and growling at his perfect revenge.

  But when he was about to climax and pour his seed into me—the vibe blew up, hitting him like lightning! Cole was thrown back in a thrust, hitting the ground with force.