seymoure | Brotherhood of the Twisted Iron: Beggars and Gods

Tiko

Grath said, “Who are you women?” He asked it loud, in case any one of them might speak his tongue.

The older woman, in an accent he didn’t recognize, said, “We are the Vestals of Murlain. We serve the Priesthood. We are all virgins, but beyond physical love we will fulfill any of your desires. Until you enter the Kingdom.”

“Whose kingdom?”

“The Kingdom of the Gods.”

That didn’t sound good.

He saw one of the girls had picked up the bird in the cage and had brought it to set before the doors he had entered through.

“What is that?”

“That is Tiko. She will open the gates to the Kingdom for you. Her blood is your key.”

He took the obvious next step.

“And who is my blood the key for?”

“Why it shall bring the Holiest of Holies to this world, where she shall sit on the throne for the rest of time.”

He swallowed.

“And who is this holiest of holys?”

Several of the maidens laughed, but the glare of their elder stopped it.

“She is Shistal of the Gold and the Serpents. She has eaten her mate our god Murlain, he of the crops and the bounty of humanity. It will be a dark time for those who do not give themselves to her and her hallowed ministers.”

“And I take it those jobs are taken?”

She smiled and splashed a bit of foam off his chest, “You need not apprehend, you shall have already found your reward in the arms of the Kingdom. You will have what few will have, an eternal seat at the table of the Gods.”

“As the main course, no doubt,” he thought to himself.

HE worked his way out of the pool and was encircled by women with the softest towels he had ever felt. They rubbed him down so gently that he needed to get into his robes before they realized that his enjoyment had been raised to an embarrassing level.

“We have new robes for you!” the elder said, “Beautiful silk, new and clean. You need not wear those filthy things!”

“They are comfortable,” he informed her, “But I think you and your ladies. But now I must leave.”

They were aghast. Then they gasped again, when he picked up the cage with the goose in it.

“I think Tiko should be migrating to somewhere that she or he might find more than a slicing in his or her future.”

He opened the door, peaked out and left the warm pool room. The woman who had spoken to him said nothing. The others continued to laugh and play in the warm water.

In the chill of the outer room Grath was aware of how seductive that kind of life might become.

Brotherhood of the Twisted Iron: Beggars and Gods - Chapter 9