A Rebel Among Goddesses

A light breeze passed through the lounging garden. Stark ice-glazed tree limbs shuddered against the gentleness of the wind, as if seeking warmth of their own. The nearby songbirds accented what should be a serene place, one at harmony against the snow-covered island landscape. All around, the land lay shrouded in ivory beauty, except for a shock of crimson. Bella looked her part as she leaned back against the curved stone rest: a tranquil and alluring ideal. But looks can be deceiving.

“Errol won’t last until Silver Solstice, Shar,” Bella began, but hesitated at the expression on her best friend’s face. “The assembly of goddesses won’t allow it. Errol’s behavior won’t be tolerated. To refuse a goddess’s rule is to refuse life itself. A goddess’s rule is law. To rebel against law is death.”

“And once I called you friend,” Shar replied breathlessly, her dreadlocks spilling over her shoulders and shielding her face from Bella’s view. Recoiling into her embroidered gown, only her fingertips showed from the fall of crimson fabric. “You used to care about people—about me. His behavior shouldn’t mar him, but set him apart as a free thinker.”

Bella snapped, “I do care about you, Shar. That’s why we’re having this conversation.” Sighing, she added, “Errol is a menace, a brute, but above all, he is in violation of our code. His actions are vile and unspeakable. If the assembly allows this to continue, think of the ripples. Think beyond your needs, your desire for him, Shar.”

I am. Shar paused, allowing the thought to zip through her and be finished before speaking, or else it would slither from her lips like a serpent and bite into Bella’s pride. Though it was something her good friend could use right about now.

“He’s lonely and misunderstood. If the assembly would just talk to him. Explain things to him. Or better listen for once! Goddess, if only they’d listen to someone else for one blessed second...” Shar tried to pull the anger rolling out of her back in, but she succeeded only in releasing it in a long drawn out sigh.

“Why do you continue to protect him?” Bella asked with feigned disinterest. Her slanted gray eyes seemed to glow in the candles’ soft light. The shadows scattered around the two of them, leaping and dancing as the breeze tickled the candles’ wicks. “What has he promised you? Done to you? Did he kiss your nether lips? Shove his tongue deep inside your core?”

Shar’s cheeks grew hot. Furiously, she watched her friend avoid her stare as if afraid she’d be burned by the intensity. What did Errol do to inspire her loyalty to him? Good question. Bella hadn’t been elevated to priestess because of her beauty—though that had helped. The girl could see through people sometimes, and the assembly valued that insight, especially about those who disobeyed.

Nothing I’m willing to divulge to you, Bella.

Shar cleared her throat and ignored the question. “Clearly the man has made a grave mistake, but it shouldn’t cost him his life.
Honestly, Bella.”

“It isn’t for us to decide,” Bella pointed out with an aura of finality. Rising, she turned to light one of the candles in the massive pewter candelabra that shot upward from Goddess Lali’s altar. Circling the altar was a pristine pool that failed to be disturbed by the slivers of icy wind slipping between the doors and windows.

Considered to be blessed by Lali, those who sipped the cool water soon conceived a child, or sometimes several.

“His father would be angered enough he might take measures,” Shar threatened, while knowing Errol’s father wouldn’t like being mentioned in this kind of conversation.

Bella snorted. With arms crossed over her robust bosom and feet planted beside the spotted sacrificial altar, she shot Shar a smirk and licked her full lips. “A mere human amongst goddesses. And though Errol’s mother is a goddess, Lesedi’s power of the peridot isn’t nearly as strong as that of the other four.”

“His father is also king, so obviously the power of the peridot won out over the competition,” Shar argued, but the words failed to penetrate Bella’s superior smirk. “The Silver Solstice is just around the corner, and no gem can withstand that of silver on its night.”

“A king is not a god,” Bella retorted and set about lighting the rest of the candles. “And Lesedi’s powers are pathetic compared to the great goddess, Lali. Even if he tried to override or disobey the assembly’s decree, he’d be slain. Lesedi would be powerless to stop it.”

“How can you speak such words? They are grounds for your death!”

Again Bella smirked, touching one topaz-decorated ear. “Not here in these sacred walls. Lali protects her priestesses, and you should know the topaz rules all others. It’s obvious you are not ready for the ritual,” Bella said with a deep exhale, ignoring the rest of Shar’s words. “Meet me again at dawn. Truth is absolute and freeing. Embrace that truth, Shar. Errol’s behavior violates our way of life.”
Shar cared nothing for what the goddesses wished. She snatched up her satchel and stalked out of the opulent temple, leaving Bella to her prayers, chants and other duties worshipping her goddess.

Hot with anger, Shar fumed and realized she didn’t understand Bella at all. The same age and gender, they had been friends since their childhood, born into a life filled with happiness, but few men. Perhaps it was only Shar who felt how small the island had become.
The king had been named so only because he had impregnated the queen, the goddess of hot, sweltering lust, Lesedi. Unfortunately, the baby had been born male, and as such, Errol, wasn’t given guidance, attention or love from his mother or her female servants until he’d come into his manhood. Not to be outdone, Lesedi had tried again, even with other men, to sire a daughter.

Without success. Somehow, she only managed to give birth to males. Lesedi would pass the newborn off to one of the attending wives without so much as a blink to be reared by some lesser human female. Daughters. The goddesses only wanted daughters.

Now, the king clung desperately to his position, but all knew his days were numbered. Errol’s fate as the prince would dissolve and he’d be removed from the castle, just as Lesedi’s others sons have been discarded in favor of a female heir. In the wake of failures, Lesedi would be voted out by the assembly of goddesses which rule the island, and the torch would be passed to the next goddess, Bella’s choice, Lali.