A Sacrifice
In the gentle town, nestled deep within the Chinese mountains, is were our story begins. Religion moves the hand of the greatest leaders, no matter how much they claim against Gods. This town, is no different from the others. Gods blessed this land. While others around them fell to the war that raged around them, or were attacked by the sky or the ground. This small town, stayed the same it had always. The rice grew better than any where else, the cattle were fat and healthy. Everything in this little town was perfect. All but the fact that a young woman would vanish once a year. The woman would be taken from her bed during the night and not be heard of again. The priests would go up to the temple, high upon the hill to pray for the woman's safe return, but to no avail. Or at least, that was what the story went.
In truth, a woman was kidnapped from her bed from the priests. Drugged, she was draped in a white tunic that the priests adorned. They went up to the temple and dressed her in the finest silks and bathed her soft skin with perfumes. When she woke, the priests were gone and she was at the mercy of the Gods that lived within the temple. The priests didn't know what happened to the young women, all they knew was that a single woman needed to be sacrificed to the Gods and their land would remain safe from the world around them. The year was progressing beautifully, but the time for the sacrifice was coming closer. They had secretly selected a woman already, all they had to do was to wait for the night to take her from her slumber and up to the temple.
A young priest, dressed in black moved through the darkness. It was easy to get within the homes, for some reason, it went forgotten on when the women would vanish from their beds. The doors were unlocked. He slipped though and into the room where the young woman slept quietly. Pulling an herb from his robes he placed it over her mouth and nose. Her breathing quickened for a moment before slowing once more. He lifted her from the ground and into his arms and out the door he went. To the home of the head priest, she was covered in the priest garb, her mouth and hands bound tightly to keep her from running or fighting.
The morning dawned and her parents ran to the door of the priests, begging for them to pray for their missing daughter at the temple. The young man who opened the door, bowed his head. "Of course." was his simple answer. Then the priests, hoods over their heads, made their way through town and up the hill side to where the temple rested. The woman's fake priest garb was removed and she was bathed in the temple waters and given silk to adorn her body. The drug forced upon her whenever she became coherent enough to fight. When she finally left alone. The moonlight over head drifted through the windows and pooled upon the ground, dancing across her soft skin. Whispers filled the silent temple at the new arrival of the woman. A young man appeared upon the window sill. "Brothers..." he spoke, his voice deep and soothing, "Sister... We have a new arrival..."
[[PM to continue. Please be the woman kidnapped and left. ]]
PrimoLevi · Wed Mar 02, 2011 @ 12:53am · 0 Comments |