Priestess' Gambit

High Priestess Izefia looked out on her temple. It was a place full of beauty, lit gently by fires and by the thin squares of sunlight that filtered down through the holes in the roof. On the wall opposing the entrance, their goddess, the Bringer of Health, stood carved in stone, watching over them with her motherly smile. Her simplistic robes parted to reveal her wide hips, her smooth belly and her swollen breasts, all signs of her eternal fertility and health.

From her vantage point above, Izefia watched as the Bringer's three dozen servants burned incense and chanted the smooth, sublimely beautiful songs of their divine mistress. Jaydi, loud, clear and unafraid, led the singing with her honey-sweet voice, while Nadifa blew flecks of powder onto the fires to keep them colored just right. Nadifa's smooth, contented smile peaked out from under her hood as she watched the fire flicker green. Across from her, at the Bringer's feet, the imperturbable monk Nakasi sat in a trance.

Izefia herself completed the picture. Standing on a balcony set high into the wall of the temple, her rich golden-laced cloth and bright blue cape gave her the queenly appearance that befitted a High Priestess of the Bringer of Health. In better times, she would stand on this balcony, and preach the glories and unconditional love of her matron goddess before a crowd of supplicants. Then the masses would line up, a few at a time, to be warded from maladies and evil spirits. All the while, firelight would gleam off the gold band around Izefia's forehead, her cape would fly on a draft, and the golden disks that hung from her ears would quake as she gave her speech.

But these were not better times. Turning around, Izefia watched as unrest frothed in the streets. The Queen was fallen, and the artisans and the traders and the clerks knew it. The lower tradesmen—the quarry diggers and the butchers and the fishermen—knew it too. The warriors knew it, and they had thrown down their weapons rather than defend an empty palace.

And the barbarians knew it. Brandishing purple-streaked shields of a design Izefia had never seen before, the foreign men rollicked through the streets, stealing from vendors, hurling rocks against buildings and getting into brawls, mostly with each other.

Izefia noticed someone standing next to her. Bandele, the Speaker for the Novices, leaned over the outside parapet and watched it all unfold beside her.

"How can it have come to this?" murmured Izefia.

"It was coming for a long time," said Bandele, in her deep, motherly voice. "Ever since the Queen's Finest lost the river, we knew this day would come. The tax-men took too much, the poor stole too much, and the cattle blight did the rest. Our nation was in no shape to last."

"They'll be coming for us," said Izefia. "Those barbarians have no respect for our gods."

"And the Bringer of Health will not keep them out."

Izefia hesitated, knowing what this meant.

Bandele said it for her. "We must abandon the temple."

Izefia closed her eyes tightly. "The sisters will all survive," she assured herself. "The faith will survive. Those are the things that matter most."

"If there is any hope of escape, it's on the docks. Maybe there is a ship still outbound."

Izefia nodded. But she kept watching the chaos, spellbound.

"High Priestess? We need to do it soon."

Wiping her eyes, Izefia tore herself away from the sight below and sadly descended the stairs to the temple floor.

Izefia had hoped to slip out of the temple without worrying anyone by explaining her mission. It wasn't to be. Jaydi stood expectantly at the foot of the stairs, having slipped away from the prayer-song she had started. Her wide mouth smiled as usual, and her body, covered only by the lace over her breasts and the fur that hung from her waist, smiled in its own way. Even now, she looked ready for anything.

Beside her, Nadifa stood tall, hands clasped behind her back, her big, dark eyes peering out from under her hood and seeming to see right through Izefia.

"Oh..." said Izefia.

"High Priestess?" said Nadifa. "We know the temple is in danger. Please, tell us you have a plan."

"As it turns out, I do," said Izefia, mortified that they would think otherwise—and that until recently, she had indeed had no plan. "We are going to the ports. It is time to find a ship away from this city."

"We're coming too," said Jaydi. It was not an offer, but insistence. Even as she smiled, seriousness hardened her usual cheer.

Just as Izefia prepared to refuse, Bandele gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Let them, High Priestess. You are conspicuous enough with all the gold you're wearing. We'll only be safer as a group."

Izefia let out a tense breath. "You are right. Come, girls. We don't have much time."

Outside, the half-empty streets roiled with muted panic as people packed what they had and ran, or else sat and waited to see what the barbarians would do to them. Wood had been pried away from mud-brick windowsills to be reused somewhere else. Holes had been smashed in walls so that towering family totems could be extracted from them. By her goddess, Izefia wished the refugees good luck.

Reaching the port would mean traveling through the parts of the city that the barbarians had held for hours already. Ducking her head, Izefia did her best to stalk through the narrowest streets and walk beside carts to look less vulnerable. But as they passed the gymnastic field in the center of the city, she saw something that stopped her.

Women stood on a stage, side by side and facing a great cheering crowd. But these were not the acrobats who had performed a month ago, nor was this the annual visit of the inlander play-acting troupe. The women were slaves, stripped completely bare, their hands tied behind their backs, baring the curves of their calves, their sweat-glistening stomachs, their heaving breasts and their apprehensive faces. One of the barbarians, feathered like a chieftain, pulled ahead one of the women, a thin, wide-eyed creature, and announced her to the crowd in his thick plainsman accent. As if that humiliation were not enough, he reached down and pinched the woman's nipples, causing her to flinch and close her eyes. But she was helpless to stop her nipples from hardening, and the brute man cradled her left breast and pinched it so the whole crowd could see.

The others on the stage were not spared either. Two girls, just a little younger than twenty by their looks, were lashed together, back to back, trembling and sweating. One unlucky woman was forced to keep her legs straight, as she had been forced onto thin post that rose from the ground and penetrated her pussy, immobilizing her. Every movement she made shifted the wooden peg inside her, and she helplessly struggled to keep still as her juices dripped down the pole.

This was the new status of women in this city. Under the tutelage of the queen, it had become a bastion for females with independent spirit. But now these barbarians had stripped them, chained them and pulled them back into submission.

Finally, Izefia came to her senses. Of all places, this was the worst to catch the eye of some rapacious savage. She crept along the side of the field until finally she and her women left it behind them, arriving at the port.

The port had more ships left than Izefia had dared hope. None were the great ocean-crossers she had wanted most, but a few good house-sized sailcraft looked like they could hold most of the acolytes; merely two of the them would do.

"Split up and ask everyone," said Izefia. "Remember, it makes no difference where we land, as long as it isn't here."

The women split up, and Izefia approached the biggest ship first.

"Yes?" said the captain, looking not the least surprised to see a gold-plated high priestess addressing him. "What is it?"

"The daughters of the Bringer of Health require transport," said Izefia, as calmly as she could. "We would pay greatly if you would bring the thirty-eight of us away from here."

"Passengers?" The man shook his head. "No passengers. If you sail, you have to work. And there is no room for that many."

"How many, then?"

"Try five."

At the next ship, a deep, a blunt-hulled thing that looked like it just might hold them all, a burly spearman folded his arms. "We do not take requests," he said sternly. "We do not carry passengers. Only slaves." His lewd tone was not lost on Izefia; the look in his eyes alone made her want to cover up. She hurried away before she could end up stripped naked and tied to a mast.

At the final ship, something odd happened. A barbarian stepped off the deck, thinner than his brethren who pillaged the city. Calm features made him look human, a jarring effect.

When asked the inevitable question, he gave a negative grunt. "My apologies, god-wife," he said, "But I took a sun-oath that no woman would ever die aboard my ship. What would I do if I let you on, and one of you took ill?"

"No one need ever know!" said Izefia.

"No human, you mean." He looked past her, his gaze inclined to the sky. "You don't know us plainsmen, do you, god-wife? To break a sun-oath is the one thing my people fear more than death."

Back at the middle of the docks, Izefia found Nadifa waiting with her arms tucked into her cloak, face plaintive under her hood. "High Priestess," she asked mournfully, "Did you find anything?"

"No. No, I am sorry, Nadifa, but none of them would help us."

"I found three who would take us. One bound for Gorszka, one for Nzaz and one for Yaab. But none will carry more than six."

Izefia tipped her head down. "There is still hope."

When Jaydi came bounding up across the dock, the urgency in her gait could have foretold success or desperation. But her eyes made it terribly clear. "Nothing!" she said sharply. "None of them are big enough, and they're all going to different places. If we took the ships, we'd end up scattered to both ends of the world!"

Izefia sighed miserably. "That may simply have to happen."

"No!" snapped Jaydi.

Izefia jumped. Jaydi shrank a little, realizing her impudence, but then continued, "High Priestess, we'd rather die than split up! Right, Nadifa?"

Nadifa nodded slowly. "You have made us into a family, High Priestess. Whatever we may do for you, I beg you, don't take that away from us."

As Izefia processed this, Bandele ambled in, dejected but composed. "I found no one who would help," she said softly. "I even offered to sell myself for it. They wouldn't take me."

Izefia sifted through her options. "We return to the temple," she said firmly. "While I think of a course of action."

They took a different route back to the temple, away from the auction where women were reduced to toys and whores. But it was not to save them. Most of the way back, in the middle of the street ahead, two barbarians, each armed with a purple-streaked shield and two weapons, sat atop a pile of thrown-together riches. Everything from furniture to clothing lay smashed together. Before the women could duck away, the men spotted them.

"Hah!" said the bigger one. "Pretty ladies! Come here!"

They'd been seen, and there was no undoing it. As the smaller plainsman slid down from the pile, a hand-ax flashing on his belt, Izefia reluctantly stepped toward him. His long, firm hands wrapped around her jaw. "What is a little jewel like you doing alone?"

"I am not alone," Izefia replied, as bravely as she could.

"Then where is your husband?"

She was silent.

"Relax, gold girl. My brother and I do not take slaves. We only demand tribute."

Carefully, Izefia pushed the man's hands away and began to remove her golden headband.

The savage threw his head back with laughter. "We don't want your gold! What use is gold?" He stared straight into her eyes. "We want you."

Izefia's jaw twitched. "If I allow you to take me, would you let us continue?"

"On my honor."

"No!" Nadifa stepped forward. "Take me instead."

The men were shocked, but not as much as Izefia. There was Nadifa—quiet, demure Nadifa—volunteering herself as a pleasure toy for these uncouth plainsmen.

"Even younger and prettier?" said the smaller man, with another loud, cruel laugh. "You have a deal."

From the corner of her mouth, Nadifa whispered, "Jaydi, fetch some flat-vine."

Nadifa had barely finished speaking when Jaydi darted off.

Facing the two men who bore down on her, Nadifa sank to her knees and began to whisper a charm to protect herself from the maladies of sex. Such charms had never failed before, but then again, they had never faced such men as the plainsmen.

"What a good idea," said the big one, seeing Nadifa kneel. With a little jerk of his hand, he revealed his cock, a massive thing without a strand of hair on it.

Nadifa kept her eyes closed, mouthing the last few words of the charm.

"No, brother, no." The smaller one parried the cock with his left hand. "Let us kiss her first. Then we'll dirty up her mouth."

Sensing that her time was up, Nadifa opened her eyes just in time for the bigger man to grab her under the arms and hoist her to her feet, as easily as if she were a doll. Eyes wide with shock, she did nothing as the big man pressed her into a kiss, groaning in his deep, brute voice. As soon as he released her, his brother took her chin gently and turned her to face him. Closing her eyes again, she puckered her lips as the other male mouth took her. She moved like rubber, wrapping herself around whichever man had her. Wherever they pushed, she bent.

Grinning like a hyena, the bigger man circled behind her, and his hands clapped onto her sides. She yelped into her kiss, but pinned between them as she was, she could barely move as the man's giant hands slid down her curves to her waist. Slowly, his thumbs undid the knot of her cloak.

Bare feet padded against sand behind them, and Jaydi came sprinting up, nearly bowling into the two men before scrambling to a stop. Through her heavy breathing, she could only say, "...flat-vine." Her trembling hand held up a fistful of the contraceptive.

At last, the smaller man separated from the kiss, a little saliva trail connecting his lips with Nadifa's. Looking at the flat-vine, he and his brother seemed to get the same idea. While he laid Nadifa on her back to pull up her cloak, the bigger man took the flat-vine and crushed its dry leaves into powder.

The men did not seem to notice, but it did not escape Izefia that Nadifa opened her legs on her own, exposing the thick, swollen lips of her pussy.

The big man spread her lips, revealing her bright pink flesh underneath. His fingers pressed the flat-vine powder into her, and Nadifa failed to restrain a moan. His forceful fingers worked her like tough dough.

"Gentle, brother, gentle," said the smaller man. "We want her to welcome us, don't we?"

To Izefia's amazement, the big man listened, and his fingers came away for a moment, then returned in a gentle stroke across her womanhood. His fingers spread her, then caressed her and teased her clitoris in a way that made Izefia blush simply to watch it. Soon, Nadifa was dripping.

"Now," said the bigger man. "Now we use her. Take your pick."

"I'll have her mouth," replied the brother.

Holding her by the thighs, the big man flipped Nadifa onto her hands and knees, her cloak almost completely coming off. The smaller man knelt in front of her, and she looked up at him with expectant eyes. Behind her, the bigger man's fingers gently plied her pussy, teasing it open.

Almost at once, both men took her. The smaller man's cock, which if anything was bigger than his brother's, pushed into Nadifa's open and waiting mouth. But to Izefia's relief, the bigger man did not rush his overwhelming shaft into her, but only kept going slowly, patiently sliding himself in and out of her. With every push and pull, Nadifa moaned around the cock in her mouth. Her eyes rolled back, then closed as she began to suck.

She must have put up a masterful performance, because the man in her mouth straightened his back and threw out his chest, making a comical face as he hooted with sudden pleasure. Across from him, his brother merely laughed as he kept up his slow, smooth rhythm. Neither seemed to notice that Nadifa enjoyed it as much as they did, moaning and bucking her hips while her saliva dripped around the smaller man's cock. Arching her back, she stretched herself and shuddered through an orgasm, somehow managing to keep her mouth open. The man in her mouth was next, as he put strong hands on her shoulders and hissed, emptying himself into her. A few drops of thick cum oozed from her lips. When she swallowed, and only then, the man pulled out.

The big man, too, was ready to burst. He could have lost control of himself and crushed Nadifa between his hands, but instead he kept himself steady, and Nadifa's moaning resumed, then rose sharply in pitch.

That did it. Stopping himself deep inside her, he bared his teeth in a savage orgasm. For a moment that seemed to stretch for half the day, he stayed inside her, then finally pulled out, a few rivulets of cum dripping from Nadifa.

"Well done," he said, patting Nadifa's rear. "Go on, girls. You earned it."

Nadifa stayed on her hands and knees for a moment, then finally stood up and pulled her cloak back on. The blush lingered on her face.

"Well?" said the smaller man. "You're still standing there. You want this too, golden girl?" He looked at Izefia and fingered his penis, which had not gone completely limp.

That got everyone moving. In an instant, they were around a corner.

"Nadifa, you did not have to do that," said Izefia. "Those men could have split you in half!"

"I'm thankful they didn't," said Nadifa, still moaning a little from afterglow. "But I didn't want hiding behind you to be the last thing I did before the temple scattered."

"That won't happen," insisted Bundele. "We'll find a way."

The temple, mercifully, was untouched, but the plainsmen were roaming closer. Inside, the women had stopped their incense-burning, and the songs were hushed. Dozens of eyes begged Izefia for good news.

"The ships can only help us," she announced, "If we split up. They refuse to change course, so we will end up apart."

Gasps came from everywhere. Close friends held each other. Even Nakasi looked paler.

"Will you not even consider it?"

Nakasi stepped up to Izefia, holding hands with her lover, Zaliki the temple scribe. "We will run from this temple," she said firmly, "but not from each other. Whatever it takes, High Priestess, we stay together."

All around the room, heads nodded in tender agreement.

Just then, the plainsman voices outside grew clearer. The barbarians were here.

A few of the younger priestesses panicked. Izefia rushed to the door, making no effort to hide herself as she looked out.

The plainsmen came, not as a gang or even a mob, but as an army. All of them marched behind one man wearing so many resplendent feathers that it took Izefia a minute to make out his figure. His warriors checked windows and doors as they passed, but when their leader saw Izefia, he approached and faced her. Izefia looked bravely into the man's eyes, a full hand-width above hers.

The feathered man looked inquisitively down at Izefia, this lone woman who showed no fear, then past her at the temple full of priestesses. A smile bent his firm face.

At this moment, with nowhere to run, Izefia suddenly stopped wishing she was on a ship, sailing away from all this. Suddenly, there was nowhere she wanted to be other than here with her women, standing between them and these powerful men. "You'll not take us from each other," she declared.

"You may send us away," the feathered man replied. "But other men will come. And they will not listen to you."