The Sacrifice.
The smell from the sacred cave was terrifying! Revolting! An acrid, feral odour. A mixture of rotting flesh, urine, and the musty smell of a captive animal. What was in there? What was this strange barbarian god they were being offered to?
“I need to pee!” Adriana whispered to her younger sister. “Don’t you dare! We are princesses. We do not show weakness. Think of mother, naked, her head held high.” Briseus, always the stronger of the two, hissed back.
The sack of a city is always hardest on the women and children. The warriors had fought hard, heroically against the barbarian invaders. They had died bravely, died to a man, defending their city and their families. In the royal palace the slaves, untrained in weapons as they were, had defended to queen and her family to the last. The final stand had been in the doorway of the royal chamber. Sven and Lars, the two slaves who had been saved from a wrecked ship, had filled the doorway, each armed with an axe. Many of the barbarians had died, bloodily, trying to get to the royal family. The slaves fought with reckless courage to save the people who had enslaved them, but men dressed only in loincloths, no matter how brave, could not succeed against armoured warriors armed with spears. Briseis had picked up one of the axes, slashed wildly at a bearded barbarian, burying the head of the axe in his chest, but then the conquerors swarmed in and it was over!
In the city the sack commenced. The old, the weak, the very young died; a mercy, perhaps. For the rest, the orgy of rape and plunder began! The barbarians burst into the royal chamber. Briseis spun across the room as a warrior backhanded her! Her mother screamed shrilly as another ripped her dress from her body. Adriana scratched wildly at a man’s eyes, ripping one out before she was felled and stripped. Arno, her brother, and now, for a moment, king, flew at the invaders, was sent reeling by a punch. The one-eyed man, oblivious to his mutilation, ripped off Adriana’s clothes, forcing her onto her back, kicking her legs wide!
A strong hand gripped his hair, jerking him backwards. The rescuer’s armour was expensive, beautifully decorated under the blood and gore spattered over it. “Are you one of the princesses?” He barked!
“Yes…sir,” Adriana sobbed.
“Virgin?”
Sobbing, she nodded.
His fingers were thick, strong, and covered in gore. He wiped his hand on the remains of Adriana’s dress, then, without warning, inserted his finger into her. He grunted in satisfaction as he met resistance. He looked at Briseis. “You are the other one? Virgin?” She nodded, there was no point in resistance. Gritting her teeth, she parted her legs, suppressing a gasp as his finger entered her. He nodded, satisfied. “These two belong to the god!” he commanded. “Enjoy the queen and the prince.”
The third soldier was already kneeling between the queen’s widespread thighs. He mumbled, “Yes, sir,” then drove himself into the gaping orifice. Arno screamed shrilly as his already violated anus was penetrated yet again. “Come!” Ordered the officer. Numbly, the two princesses followed their conqueror.
The march to the conquerors’ city was long and hard. The slaves were chained neck to neck. What sparse scraps of clothing they had at the start was soon removed by guards. The younger men, those who survived the initial shock of the loss of their manhood, marched despite the fevers that inevitably followed such a mutilation. At the end of the day there was little rest for the slaves. The soldiers’ lusts had to be satisfied.
Adriana and Briseis were fortunate. They were attached to each other by a short length of chain, left wrist to right wrist. Both were naked. Adriana’s dress had been ripped off her when the palace was taken, Briseis had lost hers to a drunken soldier on the third day of the march. He had ignored, or in his drunken state, forgotten that they were dedicated to the god. His screams could be heard for many miles as they marched. The stake was thick, and it took many hours before it penetrated his body deeply enough to silence his screams. Briseis was unconcerned by her nakedness. After all, the unmarried women danced naked at the festivals in honour of the Mother Goddess, and at the games in honour of the Virgin Huntress they competed naked in the running, jumping, swimming and wrestling contests. The sisters were well fed, spared the nightly rapes, and slept in the Priest-General’s tent.
The Priest-General explained their fate to them. “You are to be a sacrifice to The God, an offering of thanks for our victory over your city. You are princesses, royal and virgin. The sacrifice will please The God. Your mother and brother will serve in other ways. They will atone for the harm done by your city with their bodies. They will serve our people, the price of their bodies the smallest copper coin. Their penance will last many long years.”
The princesses were treated with great care. They remained chained together, naked, but they were fed the finest foods, bathed, perfumed, pampered. The ceremony in the temple was long. From their position at the high altar, they could see over the main square of the city. On raised platforms stood the two royal prisoners. Their mother, her back straight, her head held high, her expression disdainful, despite her exposure. Her stance was regal, although her breasts sagged and her waist had thickened with age and childbirth. She managed to maintain her haughty expression as a beggar dropped a small coin in a jar, motioned her to her hands and knees, and mounted her from behind. On the adjoining platform Arno blinked back tears as he knelt, his mouth filled with the thick, smelly organ of a common labourer.
Briseis looked around the temple. Strangely, there was no image of The God. The walls were covered with murals of mythical beasts. Gryphons, Centaurs, Yales and Satyrs. The predominant motif was a monster that was half bull and half man, a Minotaur. The ceremony ended with a strange, exciting dance. Seven girls and seven boys, naked, lithe and supple entered. A bull was led in. A huge creature, long horns curving forward. The boys and girls started to sing, a mournful tune that seemed to mesmerise the bull. Then, one after another they ran forward, gripping the bull by the horns. He tossed his head, throwing each dancer high in the air, where he, or she, did a neat half somersault, landing on the bull’s back, then bouncing off with another somersault to the ground.
Led by the garlanded bull and the still naked dancers, the procession moved toward the steep mountain in the centre of the city. Here was another, smaller temple. The Priest-General took Briseus’ hand and led her into the temple. The procession started singing a mournful hymn. At the back of the temple was a cave, the entrance closed by a heavily barred steel gate. Priests opened the gate looking fearfully into the gloom. The Priest-General gently pushed the girls in through the gate, which was rapidly slammed shut behind them.
“I need to pee,” Adriana whispered. Briseis was frightened, terrified. The cave had the musty, acrid smell of an animal’s lair. She thought of her mother, maintaining her haughty dignity as she served as a whore to the barbarians. Her back straightened, stiffened. She strode into the gloom, dragging her sister with her. Somewhere in the back of the cave there was a movement, a heavy snuffling sound. Adriana moaned softly. “I’m frightened, there is something in there.” Briseis gave her a warning look! “We will die here, but we will die proudly!”
In the gloom she could see a shape. It was huge, half again as tall as a tall man, much broader in the shoulders. The head moved, a broad head with a blunt snout, crowned by wide horns. The Minotaur! Small, red eyes stared at them. The Minotaur, The God, gave a low rumble. Briseis wanted to turn, to run, to scream! Adrianna tugged at the cuff connecting their wrists. “He’s huge! Is he…is he going…to eat us?”
Briseis looked at the monster, the tendril of saliva hanging from his mouth, the small, piggy eyes, the… “Oh dear Virgin, protect us,” …the massive organ slowly becoming erect as she watched.
She stood straight, proud! Adriana, resigned to their fate, copied her.
Briseis took a deep breath. “We are princesses, virgins, priestesses of the Virgin Huntress. We greet you, oh God of the barbarians. We are the sacrifice! We are Royal!”
They stood, proud, as the monster God advanced on them!
Picture by Julie and Melissa