Goddess Rising

Aria watched the first few deities, but by the sixth person, she realized that she would not remember all their information. She also had the larger problem of her own safety to consider. She did not know if Garo would know that she was actually a ghost. She did not know what weaknesses to reveal to him, either. Desperately, she searched for a means of escape. On the higher floors, Garo’s warriors were herding Evera’s attendants into a large room. A few hid in closets and secluded rooms, but that did them no good. The search was thorough.

Downstairs, Garo’s process was proceeding too quickly. Each new person stepping forward grew the pit in her stomach. A division was forming between those accepting of Garo's takeover and those who were still resistant. As some deities calmly stepped forward, others stepped back until a distinct group was standing in the back of the room, separated from the others by a distinctly empty row. Aria found that she was among the resistors.

And then, it was their turn.

The room fell silent, as only the unconvinced remained in their places. Aria wondered about their reason for standing back and wondered if they were curious about hers. She wished she had possessed the foresight to stand further back. As it was, she was on the first row of bodies.

Garo surveyed them calmly and, when no one moved for several seconds, pointed in Aria’s direction.

She froze. Of all the people in the room, he chose her? A glance around showed her that she was standing in the exact center of her group. Her confusion turned to disgust with herself. How had she become so foolish that she had not properly taken note of her surroundings? Everyone else had probably chosen a good place and left her standing where she was like a fool.

As the warriors marched toward her, her heartbeat sped up. She considered running in any direction, but that would have been foolish. Garo had defeated Evera. He could defeat her too. The soldiers reached her, grabbed the woman beside her, an orange-haired goddess, and dragged her back to the dais.

Aria’s heartbeat relaxed, even as guilt filled her. The warriors dumped the woman before the dais and then stood back as she composed herself.

“Speak,” Garo said.

The woman remained silent.

Garos sighed with disappointment, opened his mouth to speak, and then stopped. His head tilted up to stare through the ceiling. Overcome with curiosity, Aria followed his gaze.

The other grey-clad attendant was two floors above them, with most of Evera’s attendants and some of Garo’s. The women were gathered in one half of the room while Garo’s men guarded the door. In the other half of the room, one of Garo’s warriors held a priestess by her neck with her face inches away from a fireplace. She cringed back as far as she could, but that was not very far.

Aria felt her own neck to confirm that it was free. Despite the confirmation, she felt a sense of rising panic.

Another warrior held back another priestess, her own face filled with fury as she screamed.

“I don’t know anything! Leave her alone.”

Beside them all, Alogun’s priest stood, looking disturbed.

“I have no control over them,” he said, “but I can tell you that louder denials will do nothing. Knowing these people, you will eventually tell all you know. I strongly recommend doing it now.”

“You base-born pig,” the priestess glared. “You might be unfaithful, but I have never been.”

Aria found that she was hugging herself. Her breathing was coming faster, but she couldn’t tell why. Her stomach churned unpleasantly.

“Come down here!”

Garo’s voice stopped the proceedings. The warriors first froze and then hurriedly wrangled the women out of the room. As they navigated to the staircase, Aria pushed back into the crowd so that she was a less tempting target. She caught Garo’s eyes as she did so. He noticed her movement and smiled.

As the procession came into the hall, her eyes met the screaming priestess’. There was defiance in them as well as fear. Shortly after her captors dumped her before Garo, she was on her feet, dusting herself off and glaring angrily at him.

“She knows something,” Alogun’s priest said. “She lied when I questioned her.”

Garo looked at the woman intently, eyeing her from the soles of her bare feet to her beautiful face.

“Your loyalty is commendable,” he said, “but you should know that it is not your own. Evera sinks her will into every person that serves. You’ve probably never had a thought of your own since you met her. That burning devotion you feel is just her control over you.” He sighed. “But, naturally, I won’t be convincing you of that. And my mistaken warriors can never torture you enough to break such a spell. So, what do we do?”

The woman stuck her chin out proudly.

Garo laughed. “Silly woman. Devotion like that is frighteningly easy to break when your goddess is trapped behind a wall that shields her powers. Consider this. The cords binding your mistress were constructed by Alogun. He does not excel at much, but crafting magical tools is one of his strengths. Those bonds will hold for a century and keep Evera well in line while they do so.

“Since she’s secure, I won’t waste her. I will let you have all the time you need to ponder your choices. While you do that, I will strip her naked and parade her through the marketplace in some suitably populated city. Once we have sufficiently displayed her assets, we will hold an auction to find her the most appreciative husband we can.”

“You uncultured boor!” The priestess looked shocked and enraged in equal measure, but Garo smiled as if he’d been complimented.

“We cannot permit one man to hide her from the world, so the marriage will need to be dissolved after a week. Then we will hold another auction. We will continue to hold the weekly auctions until we have reason to stop.”

“Did a woman give birth to you?” the priestess asked. “I think not. I think you crawled out of the carcass of a pig.”

Aria shared the opinion, but the priestess put it more eloquently.

“Perhaps you do not care as much about her as you think,” Garo said. “If, after three months, you do not relent, I will turn you over to Alogun. With some experimentation, he might be able to cure you of your infatuation. If he does not, well, we can’t have everything we want.”

The woman stared at the walls hiding Evera, but no response came from them. From her expression, Evera had heard the entire conversation, but she remained silent.