Enslaved Read online

  “Oh, Trin…” Charlie shook her head sorrowfully.

  “These awful priestesses here have really done a number on your head!” Becca exclaimed. “And that’s coming from a girl who almost got married to the church instead of letting myself love a man…or men, in my case.”

  “I only know what I have been taught since I was an infant,” Trin whispered. “And I cannot bring myself to ignore it. Once I thought I could but then…” She flashed on her mother’s face again—on the rigid disappointment and disgust she’d seen in those dark eyes that were so like her own. “Then I realized it’s impossible.”

  “Trin…” Charlie ran a hand through her blonde hair and sighed. Then she shook her head. “All right. If that’s how you want it.”

  “What?” Becca looked at her friend in amazement. “You’re not just going to let her stay here, are you? Look at her! Look what they’ve already done to her hair….her skin! If we let her stay any longer…”

  “As hard as it is, it’s got to be Trin’s decision,” Charlie said firmly. “The Goddess said she would have to make a choice—maybe this is it.”

  “She’s not in any shape to be making choices right now,” Becca argued. “She’s brainwashed. She’s got the worse case of Stockholm syndrome I’ve ever seen!”

  “I don’t know what kind of disease that is but I am completely sane,” Trin said softly, addressing Becca. “And I choose to stay here of my own free will. To complete the ritual. Anyway, I…” She swallowed hard. “I do not think it will be much longer. Tomorrow…tomorrow I have to make a sacrifice to the Goddess. Maybe then I will finally be completely cleansed.”

  “What kind of sacrifice are we talking about?” Charlie asked, frowning.

  “I must give something I don’t wish to lose.” Trin looked down at her hands. “A finger…or an ear. Or sometimes the high priestess says the Defiled One chooses to lose an eye.”

  “Wait a minute…” Becca put a hand on her arm, being careful not to touch any of the raw welts. “Are you actually telling us that tomorrow you’re going to be maimed? And you’re okay with that?”

  Slowly, Trin nodded. “It is…what I deserve.”

  “For falling in love and getting a little nookie? Honey, no!” Becca shook her head. “Think about what you’re saying!”

  “I have to side with Becca on this one,” Charlie said. “I had no idea they were planning on maiming you.” She shook her head. “That’s going too far—way too far.”

  Becca snorted. “Too far? By any sane standards these people left ‘too far’ back in the dust a mile back! We need to get her out of here—now.”

  Charlie frowned. “Maybe you’re right. This really is way beyond the pale. I just—”

  “You will not be taking The Defiled One anywhere!”

  The ringing voice of Betina made them all jump. Trin turned, her heart heavy, to see the high priestess standing there flanked by two lesser priestesses, both armed with hand-held destroyers. Behind them was the priestess with pale purple hair.

  “I knew they didn’t belong here, your holiness,” she was saying to the high priestess. “I don’t believe they’re priestesses at all.”

  “You did well to come and tell me, Lali.” Betina spoke without taking her eyes off Trin and her companions. “Who are you?” she demanded of Charlie and Becca.

  “We’ve been sent by the Goddess of the Kindred—the Mother of All Life—to help and protect Trin,” Becca said, apparently deciding that honestly was the best policy.

  “Yes—she’s been punished enough,” Charlie put in. “So we’re going to need to take her back with us now.”

  “I think not. The Kindred goddess, you say?” Betina frowned. “I have heard of her. A misguided deity whose supporters advocate the forbidden practice of females and males mating and living together.”

  “It may seem forbidden to you but it’s normal to us,” Becca pointed out. “Can’t you try and see anyone else’s point of view?”

  “I see only right and wrong and what you are espousing is totally and unequivocally wrong,” Betina spat. “Not only that, it is blasphemous and disgusting!”

  “Well, so much for talking it out,” Charlie muttered.

  “There is nothing to talk about,” the high priestess said firmly. She pointed at Trin. “The Defiled One must be taken to a cell for security until the Ceremony of Sacrifice tomorrow. As for you…” She narrowed her eyes at Becca and Charlie. “You shall both be imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the temple while I decide what to do with you.”

  “You’ll be sorry for this.” Charlie’s eyes were blazing. “We were sent by the Goddess herself to save Trin!”

  “That’s right,” Becca said, also glaring at Betina. “She sees what you’re doing to this poor girl and she does not approve. Nobody would. You’re treating her like a war criminal just for falling in love!”

  The high priestess looked at them speculatively. “You serve your own goddess with much fervor and determination—perhaps with a little retraining you might be led into the light to serve the true goddess—the Goddess of Judgment—instead.”

  “Don’t hold your breath, sister,” Becca snapped.

  “Yeah, I don’t think we’re interested in converting to the Nazi Germany of religions,” Charlie added.

  “Well, you will have a night to think about it.” Betina snapped her fingers. “Guards—take them to the dungeons.”

  Charlie and Becca looked like they wanted to put up a fight but with the muzzles of the destroyers pointed right in their faces, they didn’t dare.

  “I’m sorry,” Trin whispered as they were led away. Though she hadn’t been able to agree with what they were saying, she was still touched that they had come all the way from Earth to try and rescue her. She only hoped her new friends would be treated more gently than she had been.

  * * * * *

  “So she refuses to come with you?” Thrace asked, staring at the viewscreen where the blonde haired woman, Charlie had appeared. He had spent a restless night, pacing up and down the length of the small ship, itching to invade the temple and take Trin out by force if necessary. Only the other males’ repeated reminders that the Goddess had said Trin had to make her own choice had held him back. And now to hear that she had refused to come…

  “She absolutely refuses?” he demanded.

  “Shhh—not so loud!” Charlie hissed. “We’re prisoners here. If anyone finds out we managed to hold on to our communicators we’re in deep trouble!”

  “You’re in prison?” Stavros pushed closer to the viewscreen.

  Truth and Far spoke at the same time.

  “How in the Seven Hells did that happen?”

  “Are you in danger?”

  “Not right now,” Becca said, shoving in beside Charlie so that her face filled the other half of the screen. “We told them we came from the Goddess so they are showing us some respect. I think they think of us as misguided but possibly teachable.”

  “She’s right,” Charlie said. “They want to convert us.”

  “Convert you?” Truth scowled. “To a religion of fear and shame?”

  “Not to mention a religion of no nookie,” Becca pointed out. “Don’t worry—we’re not going over to the dark side here.”

  “Not a chance in hell,” Charlie agreed.

  “I still don’t like this.” Far frowned. “Thank the Goddess you were able to hold on to a communicator when they took you!”

  “Good thing we brought them in the first place,” Becca pointed out. “It’s weird how this temple is able to block our ability to think-speak to each other through our bonds. I wonder what kind of stone it’s made of? It’s so strange.”

  “Strange and very lonely,” Stavros said softly. “I miss you, Charlotte.”

  “I miss you too, honey,” Charlie said. “But we’re not the ones in immediate danger right now—Trin is.”

  “What?” Thrace had been shifting impatiently from foot to foot, waiting to hear more news of t