by Sahara Kelly
He paused, mid-pace. “She would not see you?”
“Oh she saw me. The High Priestess always sees her neophytes before the claiming.” Ren’na curled her lips. “She was not—what I’d expected. She seemed disposed to like me, which is good.” Ren’na paused. She could not tell him of the discomfort she’d felt during the audience or of requirement that she be naked prior to meeting the Priestess.
She could not bear to remember the look on the woman’s face as she’d devoured Ren’na’s naked body with her eyes. It had been lascivious and made Ren’na squirm. “Yes, she definitely liked me. In her way.”
He stopped her, hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Tell me the worst.”
She nodded. “Very well. I requested an audience with the Goddess. Sometimes visitors are permitted into the Sacred Chamber. I was denied, however. I was sent directly to the High Priestess. Which is an honor accorded few, I should add. I suppose because I am promised to the temple, I qualify as one of the privileged.”
“Go on.”
“She is old, Raven. An old and bitter woman who almost seems to hate the Goddess she serves. I was—shocked.”
Raven tugged her into a small alcove and pushed Ren’na down onto a stone bench. Shaded by an arbor of scented jasmine, he joined her, taking her hand in his. “Why were you so shocked?”
“She’s the High Priestess. She should be the representative of the Goddess here to her worshippers. Instead, she’s…”
“She’s what?”
Ren’na sought for the right words. “Vindictive. That’s the best way I can think of to describe her. She talked to me as if I was stupid, ignored every request or explanation I tried to make, overrode my words half the time and barely listened the rest of the time. She…she wielded her title like a sword over my head, Raven. She threatened me, my family, you, your family, our village…she made it very clear that if I choose not to follow my prescribed vocation, then she will exact revenge on behalf of the Goddess.” Ren’na battled tears. “It was terrible.”
Raven frowned. “It makes no sense. You are but one woman. There must be at least twenty or thirty other priestesses, aren’t there?”
Ren’na nodded. “I believe so. I saw some of them. But I have to say, Raven, that I saw no young ones. A few were a little older than me, perhaps. Most were from our parents’ generation.”
Raven stared at her. “I wonder why?” He thought for a few moments. “Is it possible that you are not the only one to ask for permission to withdraw from temple service?”
Ren’na considered the idea. She had her own suspicions, but hearing Raven put her thoughts into words helped clarify the situation. “It’s entirely possible. In fact, it might be quite likely.” She stood and paced up and down as her thoughts tumbled over themselves.
“We know of no other from our village called to service, so we can’t tell from our people. But there must be other women, other girls unwilling to serve. What if too many have said no? What if the High Priestess sees her power waning as her neophytes dwindle? What of the Goddess herself?”
“And why? Why are these girls refusing an honor? Surely they cannot all have found the one man they wish to wed?” He rose and took Ren’na’s hands. “I’m not mistaken, am I? You do wish to wed me?”
“More than anything in this world.” She knew her voice rang with the force of her convictions.
“Then wed we shall.” Raven dropped a kiss on each palm. “You have my pledge. We’ll find a way around this somehow. Find an escape for ourselves the High Priestess has overlooked. If worse comes to worst we can hide in the mountains. As long as we’re together…”
“Yes. As long as we’re together.” Ren’na squeezed his hands back. It was all she wanted—the chance to be Raven’s wife. To bear him strong sons and beautiful daughters. To grow old at his side. To love him until breath left her body.
Was it too much to ask? Her heart screamed no—that it was simply a life that anybody would choose.
But her mind quailed. Raven hadn’t seen the madness in the eyes of the High Priestess. Perhaps this particular request was too much for the Goddess. And yet, she was the Goddess of Light, of goodness, of warmth and joy. One who radiated her face each day on the earth beneath and brought light to the darkness. How could a simple request be forbidden by such a one?
They were questions Ren’na knew she should not ask, and yet her heart would not allow her to deny them. She knew she should bow to the will of the Goddess. It was not a good idea to do otherwise.
The Goddess and her fellow deities held sway over Ren’na’s life and that of her people. In fact the entire world as she knew it paid homage in one way or another to the supreme beings upon whom their fate rested.
Without their gracious kindness, there would be no light in the sky, no moon at night. No rain to water their crops, or wind to pollinate the flowers. Ren’na knew all these things as surely as she knew her name.
And yet at that moment, as she gazed into the dark eyes of the man who held her heart, she wondered.
Wondered if there was not more in the world—answers to questions that she had not asked yet. Other reasons why the world was bright or the skies wept. And whether the Gods themselves were as powerful as she and her people had been led to believe.
A chill breeze made her skin shiver and she shook off the heretical thoughts. It was not for her to question these things. She had her own immediate concern and he was standing right in front of her, agony in his eyes as he dealt with the possibility of losing her.
She smiled bravely. “We shall find a way, my love. I will not believe it to be otherwise.”
He smiled back. “I know.”
A loud caw distracted them and they turned as one to see a raven perched on the high wall surrounding Ren’na’s garden.
She grinned. “Your namesake calls for you.”
He shrugged. “More like he’s calling for you. If he’s my namesake, that’s all he wants.”
The sky dimmed for a moment and Ren’na swayed as her vision blurred. “Raven. I…I…” She held out a hand blindly seeking his strength.
“You’re tired. The journey was long; you’ve not eaten…I can see I must take care of you myself.” Tenderly, Raven swept her off her feet and carried her indoors out of the strong sun.
The shade felt refreshing, but Ren’na couldn’t rid herself of the notion that there was more than just a relief from the sun around her. There was a shadow now, something dark, lurking just out of her sight. A harbinger of something bad perhaps, a storm or an unseen evil.
Ren’na lifted the little statue and held it tightly to her breast as Raven swept her past and to her room. This would bring her hope and light once more. It had to.
It was made with love. She knew of nothing else as potent or as protecting.
But would it be enough?
*~~*~~*
Raven knew he had to do something—something drastic and risky if he wanted to take Ren’na for his wife.
In truth there was nothing more he wanted than that very thing. Without her, his life would have no meaning at all. He could not, much as he tried, find any reason why the Goddess should require this sacrifice of them both.
So he made plans.
Over the next few days he talked to some people, traded with others, and finally had all the arrangements settled to his satisfaction. The moon was waning, the nights dark enough for his purpose. All he needed to do was persuade Ren’na to meet him at her garden gate. He’d take care of the rest.
She was restless, unsure of the rightness of their actions, but committed to their future together. She agreed that it seemed wrong to separate two people who had done nothing but fall in love.
She also agreed that there were others who would willingly serve the Goddess of Light if asked. There could be no reason for the deities to be unduly upset. It all seemed to come down to the whim of the High Priestess. She lived miles away in another town. How would she ever know?
Thus it
was that Ren’na’ila crept from her house in a small village one shadowed spring night and into the waiting arms of her lover, Raven. They boarded a small wagon and quietly drove away from all that they had known into a future they hoped would hold happiness for them both.
Sadly, it was not to be.
As the wagon made its way from the village, two silent figures followed, easily keeping pace with the muffled feet of the beast pulling the small burden. They paused as the wagon took the northern road and one departed by another route leaving his fellow to continue the pursuit.
By the time dawn broke, Raven and Ren’na had traveled several miles, not knowing that each was spent in the company of a silent shadow.
They also did not know that a reception awaited them at the fork in the river. They would have to stop there and lead the wagon across the water just above the falls. The valley walls were sheer at that point, offering no other way to continue up into the hills and north.
It soon became abundantly clear that they were expected.
The rising sun glittered off the handful of mounted guards surrounding the carriage of the High Priestess.
Raven and Ren’na were upon them before they could stop themselves and as soon as they rounded the bend in the road towards the riverbank, savage-looking guards ran to the head of their mule and held it fast.
They were caught, trapped by circumstances beyond their control in a situation not of their making. They barely had time to exchange glances before they were torn roughly from each other’s side and taken before the High Priestess.
She glared down at them through eyes narrow with spite and filled with vengeful anger. “You dared defy the orders of the Goddess.” She pointed a bony finger at Ren’na. “You were told quite clearly what you were to do. What course you were to follow.”
She turned and curled her lip at Raven. “And yet you threw it all away—for what? For this?”
The Priestess rose from her carriage and stepped into the dusty road. She moved to Raven and looked him up and down, her expression scornful. “A mere man. Good for nothing but plowing the earth.” She ripped his robes from him and reached for his cock. “And occasionally plowing a woman’s furrows.” She squeezed him cruelly. “I doubt this one has seed that will survive.” She looked at the huge guards surrounding her with more approval. “At least I pick those with strength.”
She turned to Ren’na. “You are a foolish child. The Goddess knows all, hears all, sees all. Sees into the corners of your heart.”
She closed the distance between herself and Ren’na, oblivious to the others around them or Raven’s indrawn breath. “She knows what you think, what you feel and what you do. Do not ever assume otherwise.” She drew the gown from Ren’na’s shoulders, baring her breasts. “She is a woman, just as you are.”
Ren’na’s shoulders rose and fell as she sucked in air. Raven struggled, but was held fast by two men, strong and in service to the Goddess. They were firm of muscle and of intent and outweighed him considerably. Raven could do naught but watch—and ache for his beloved.
The Priestess was fondling Ren’na’s body, thin hands lifting and cupping the white breasts, toying with the ruby nipples, making Ren’na shudder with distaste. She too was held fast, but clearly for the pleasure of the High Priestess whose eyes now glittered with a strange hunger.
When that bony hand delved down to toy between Ren’na’s thighs, she cried out, unable to contain herself a moment longer.
“Stay your hand, you foul creature. This is not what our Goddess permits…” Outrage lent strength to Ren’na’s voice and it echoed through the valley.
Followed by the harsh sound of flesh meeting flesh as the Priestess lifted her hand and slapped Ren’na hard across the face. “How dare you tell me what the Goddess does or does not permit?” She tore the gown from Ren’na’s hips, leaving her naked and exposed to the gaze of not only Raven but her guard. “You are a mere mortal. You know nothing of the Goddess or her ways.”
“Ren’na…be careful…”
It was a whisper from Raven but she heard it and took courage. She lifted her chin and stared into the wildly angry eyes of the Priestess. “I know the Goddess is good. I know you are evil and you are corrupting her name and her Temple. I know that this is probably why you are so desperate for new priestesses. The others must know of your horrid ways. They are withdrawing from service. Aren’t they?”
She nearly screamed the question, her anger all but choking her, heedless of her nudity or the danger of the situation.
She saw the answer in the Priestess’s face. There was no need for words—it was all there. The decadent desire as black eyes roved hungrily over Ren’na’s body. The fury at the accuracy of Ren’na’s assumption. And the dark anger welling within the scrawny body, an anger that went beyond the restraints of what passed as civilization.
An anger that was unbounded by anything resembling humanity.
The Priestess stood straight, seeming to grow before Ren’na’s eyes. She stepped back and turned to her guards.
“Kill him. Do what you want with her then put her in my carriage. Make it…interesting.”
“Noooo…Ren’naaaaa…”
Chapter Nine
“Raven…”
Renny screamed his name as she jumped up, disoriented, afraid, confused to find herself back in Grey Corvo’s study. She dropped back into the chair. “Oh God. Oh my God…”
She bit back a sob and looked at Grey, only to see Raven’s eyes staring back at her. Then they shifted and changed back to Grey’s.
Renny blinked as a piece of the puzzle dropped into place. “It’s you.”
Grey nodded stiffly, flexing his shoulders. “And Jakob.” The bird flew to his side and perched rather proudly on Grey’s shoulder.
“I’m out of my depth here.” Renny curled her arms around herself protectively. “What the fuck is going on?”
Grey sighed, a deep sound of loss and sadness. “It is as you remembered, Ren’na mine. We were separated by tragedy many lifetimes ago. An evil woman, a thwarted desire and two souls were sent down the wrong road.”
“You mean…” She swallowed. “You mean we’ve been searching for each other for thousands of years? Sort of?”
“Yeah.”
“Bullshit.” The modern woman in Renny stood up and snorted in derision.
Grey ignored the expletive. “The guards did as they were told. But they didn’t dispatch me immediately. They made me watch, held me bound tightly as they raped you, over and over again.” His words were impartial, almost cold. His eyes weren’t. “They took their pleasure with you, all six of them, any way they wanted. It took several hours, too, since a couple came back for more.”
Finally, he looked at her, a grief-stricken man recounting a horror too terrible to contemplate. “By that point you were unconscious. Torn and bloody. The last man picked up his sword—I’m guessing in an attempt to put an end to your misery—but the Priestess stopped him. She didn’t want him to worry about having killed a temple neophyte and she still wanted you.” He almost chuckled. “Strange, isn’t it? Rape, perversions, sodomy, my murder—but whatever you do, don’t kill a potential priestess.”
Renny stared at Grey. “Shit. This is bad stuff, Grey.”
“I know. I was there, remember?”
She shook her head. “No. I remember the Priestess and I remember screaming your name. Then I was here.”
“Probably a good thing.” He looked away and she saw his throat move as he swallowed. “Yeah. As a matter of fact—all things considered—definitely a good thing.”
“So? What did happen?” Renny leaned forward. “I have to know, Grey. Please. No matter how bad it is, I have to know what became of me. Um…her. And…you.”
Grey nodded. “All right. You were unconscious, broken and bleeding on the bank of the river. I was—beside myself. I wanted to hold you, to kill them all, especially the High Priestess, and then to die with you if you were gone already.” H
is hands shook as he folded them together in his lap. “I didn’t know if you were still alive.”
“Please go on.”
“I knew I was next. They took me to the edge of the river and slit my wrists, leaving me there to bleed to death and feed the vultures.”
Renny blinked. “The vultures? Or the ravens…”
His lips moved in wry acknowledgement. “Yes. This is where it gets really weird.”
“Like it’s not weird enough already?” She couldn’t help the sarcasm. It held her down, anchored her to her own world, told her that reality was a fire in the fireplace and a snowstorm winding down outside. Even though she could still smell flowers that bloomed in strange lands and hear the waters of a river that probably no longer flowed.
Grey swallowed. “I was dying. I lay half in the water and I could feel the life ebbing out of me. Then I heard…”
“What, Grey? What did you hear?”
“I heard a voice. Or music. I still—to this day—don’t know which it was. But instead of your bruised body, I saw you stand on your own feet, whole and beautiful. Then you walked into the water and told me to follow you.”
Renny was silent as tears fell down over Grey’s cheeks. She wasn’t sure he even realized they were there.
“I wanted to. Oh God how I wanted to follow you. But my strength was gone. There was a raven on my arm, pecking at me. I couldn’t feel it—couldn’t feel anything. Just my love for you. Then the voice spoke to me and told me I’d always be with you. That this separation was temporary. And that at some time in the future we’d find each other and be reunited. Forever.”
He paused and absently wiped his face with the back of one hand. “I felt my soul leave my body, Ren’na. It was the strangest sensation. My love for you took flight with that raven as it left my physical remains on the riverbank. I soared over you as you walked into the river. You cried out my name as you fell over the rapids.” Grey lowered his head and stared at his hands. “You were gone. I was gone. It was over.” He raised his gaze to hers. “And then it began.”
Renny stared back at him, lost in the depths of his strangely familiar eyes. Eyes that were changing even as she watched, going from pale to dark brown—almost black—then back again to the shade of aged whiskey.
