Enslaved Read online

  “Who…who are you?” she managed to croak, looking up at them. They were wearing the robes of lesser priestesses but she couldn’t see their faces.

  “Someone who’s been watching you and who cares about you,” the first voice, called Charlie said firmly. “Just think of me and Becca as your guardian angels.”

  “Come on, we’ve got to get her to safety—we should be able to sneak her out and get back to the ship before anyone notices if we hurry,” the second voice, who must be Becca said.

  “No, I told you, Becca, she has to make her own choice. We can’t take her until she wants to go.”

  “Just look at her, poor thing! Of course she wants to go.”

  “No, I don’t,” Trin tried to raise her voice to be heard but her words came out in a dry croak. “I…I can’t,” she added and started coughing. “I’ve been so…so wicked. I deserve to be punished.”

  “Oh, sweetie—is that what you think?” Becca’s voice was soft and sympathetic.

  “It…it’s what I know,” Trin whispered, wondering why a priestess would ask such an obvious question.

  “Were these horses yours?” Charlie asked, pointing at the still bodies of Swift and Silk. “So sad. I love horses but I didn’t think they had them outside of Earth.”

  “They were imported for me—I raised them from foals.” Trin felt like she would have cried again if she had any moisture left in her body to cry with. “Betina—the high priestess—s-shot them r-right in fr-fr-front of me. She said I had to sacrifice them as penance for my sins.”

  “What a bitch,” Charlie said flatly.

  “How awful!” Becca squeezed her arm sympathetically and Trin yelped as the long hrakka welts burned at the contact. “Oh, sorry—your poor arm!”

  “Please…” Trin still didn’t know what to make of them. “Please, why are you here?”

  “To help you,” the first voice—the one called Charlie said.

  “And to get your ass out of here when you’re ready to go,” the second—Becca—added.

  They supported Trin under her arms and helped her get up and back into the temple. Once inside they had a brief, whispered consultation about which way to go.

  “She needs a bath,” Becca said. “Or at least a shower—something. Just look at the poor thing—she’s covered in dirt and blood.”

  “That might make them suspicious,” Charlie pointed out. “We can’t risk it.”

  “We have to,” Becca said firmly. “Think of how unsanitary this is—she’s going to get an infection.”

  “Please,” Trin croaked. “Water…”

  That seemed to decide them.

  “We can get her a drink when we get her bathed,” Becca said decisively. “She’s probably completely dehydrated.”

  “All right. Good thing Stavros was able to get the schematics of this place,” Charlie muttered. She consulted some kind of hand-held device and pointed. “Look, the bathing area is this way.”

  The three of them walked down the long hallway, their bare feet whispering on the stone floor as they went. From time to time they passed other priestesses but not many as it was very late. Charlie and Becca kept their heads low, their faces still cloaked by their gray hoods so that Trin had no idea what her new friends looked like—if they really were friends. She wondered tiredly where they came from and why they were bothering with her. After all, what was she but worthless scum—a woman who had allowed herself to take pleasure in being with a male? Why would anyone want to help her?

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Becca said, “Here it is!”

  They turned down a long corridor which had a simple white curtain at one end. Past the curtain they found the bathing area which was just a row of shower stalls divided by hanging plasti-cloth sheets with spray nozzles attached to the stone walls.

  “Okay, let me get this ready for you,” Charlie said, once she’d checked to see that they were alone. “We need it warm but not too hot since you’re all cut up.”

  She stood in one stall and pushed the sheet aside so she could reach the water gauge in the next one without getting her gray robes wet. But when the spray of water came out, she wasn’t pleased.

  “What’s wrong?” Becca asked, frowning. “We need to hurry.”

  “I know but the water’s freezing cold! Like needles of ice. And no matter which way I twist the knob, it won’t get warm.”

  “That is because this is the novices’ bathing area—novice priestesses are not allowed warm water for bathing until they complete their first year and become initiates.”

  The new voice made them all turn around quickly.

  “Oh, hi. Um, I mean, greetings, fellow priestess,” Charlie said quickly to the lesser priestess standing there behind them with a curious look on her face. Trin noticed that she and Becca kept their hoods on, hiding their faces, though the new girl had thrown hers back, the better to talk to them.

  “Who are you?” the girl, who had pale skin and light purple hair asked. “Are you new to our temple?”

  “Yes, we are,” Becca said quickly. “We were told by the, uh, head priestess that we needed to clean this girl up.” She nodded at Trin.

  “You mean the high priestess?” the girl asked.

  “Um, right—the high priestess,” Charlie said quickly. “We call ours the head priestess sometimes back at our home temple.”

  “Oh? Where is the temple you come from?” The girl raised a slim purple eyebrow.

  “Um…” Charlie and Becca were clearly at a loss.

  “Shatterline,” Trin croaked, helping them out. “They come from the Shatterline province.”

  This seemed to satisfy the priestess with the purple hair.

  “All right—good meeting, sisters.”

  “Good meeting…sister,” Becca said, echoing her words. “And thank you for telling us about the water situation.”

  “Yes, where can we find some good hot water?” Charlie asked.

  “If you have the clearance to go into the initiates’ bathing room, it’s down the corridor and up three flights—by the high priestess’s wing.” The girl shook her head. “But are you certain you’re meant to allow the Defiled One to wash? She is still undergoing the purification ritual, isn’t she?”

  “The Defiled One?” Becca sounded incensed. “Is that what you’re calling this poor girl?”

  The priestess shrugged. “That’s what she is—she allowed a male to penetrate her and fill her with his seed.” She made a face as though it was the most disgusting thing she’d ever heard of and Trin felt herself wither inside with shame. “Why—do you call such females something else at your home temple in Shatterline?”

  “No, we…we haven’t had this situation before. That’s all,” Charlie said quickly. “Well, it’s getting late so we’d better be getting along.”

  “As you wish. I bid you good evening.” The girl put her hood back on and made a slow bow before leaving the bathing area.

  “Come on,” Becca hissed. “Let’s get out of here and find the other bathroom.”

  “Wait.” Charlie put a hand on her arm. “That girl said it was by the high priestess—do you think we should risk it?”

  “I think we can’t put poor Trin into a freezing cold shower in the state she’s in,” Becca snapped. “So yes, I think we have to risk it.”

  “Becca—”

  “It’s all right.” With an effort, Trin shook free of their hands and stepped into one of the stalls. Trying to brace herself, she twisted the controls and held her breath as icy needles of water bit into her skin.

  “Trin, honey—no! You don’t have to do that!” Becca protested. “We’ll get you someplace with hot water, I promise.”

  “Don’t d-deserve h-hot water,” Trin answered, her teeth chattering. “D-don’t deserve w-water at all.”

  But she was so thirsty she couldn’t help taking deep gulps of the stinging spray. And despite the frigid temperature, the water did at least rinse her free of dirt and grime. It also ri