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Wizard of Isis by Jean Stewart ©
2004 Once they'd marched down the long hall, they were stopped by a group of four guards before another huge door. A series of passwords were shouted back and forth, then the door was pulled open for them. The soldiers moved inside, dragging her with them. Even though she was paralyzed with fear, she couldn't help taking long looks at the vast space around her. It was an ornate creation, with plaster designs on the ceilings and colorful tapestries depicting Biblical events on the walls. There were no windows and the interior was lit by smoky torches that seemed to vent from slats in the solid rock walls. The Procurator's palace had all the trappings of a medieval fortress. A faint haze hung over a crowd of people, many of them looking well-fed and wearing colorful exquisitely made fabrics that declared their wealth. Sleek, ankle-length black robes identified the four Reverends present. Beyond them all, at the end of the chamber on a raised carpeted platform, sat a man in a large chair with red cushions. Wide steps were constructed along the length of the platform, and a thick red carpet covered the floor for about ten meters out. No one stood on the carpet. And before the carpet, there was a three-mete- by-three-meter space where the wooden floor seemed permanently stained with some unidentified darkness. The guards accompanying the Regs in their loud march through the chamber stomped to an abrupt stop at the carpet's edge. The two Regs on either side of her hauled Kali forward, all the way up to the edge of the stairs. There they stopped and waited. Breathing hard, Kali called upon her last reserves and made herself stand straight. She looked up at the man lazing in the chair, one leg tossed over the arm of it and his back curled in a deep slouch. Kali noticed the gold jacket and the many ribbons on his chest. A Procurator, she realized. The last time she'd seen someone this highly ranked... Her fear backed off as she remembered again the cruel, thin man she had once faced alone, in the captivity of a Chicago pleasure chamber. Clutching that memory to her like a weapon, she raised her chin and met the Procurator's hard stare. It could have been her mother Maat's voice whispering in her ear. Show him what a Freelander is made of. "So. It's true," the Procurator hissed. "Freeland warriors are on the loose all over Elysium." He lifted his gaze to the crowd. "We are being invaded." Amused by the absurdity of the charge, Kali nearly laughed. In a wave of reckless flippancy, she stated. "That's right, Procurator. Surrender or die." There was a low, collective gasp from the people behind her. Clearly unused to his prisoners talking back to him, the Procurator shot to feet and descended the stairs in a rush. "Outrageous! What insolence!" he shouted, then came within inches of her face. "This one needs a lesson in how a female behaves with her betters!" A massive hulk of a man gripping a coiled whip came from one side, while a black-robed Reverend swept in from the other side. The hulk stood patiently, his eyes staring straight ahead at nothing in particular, while the Reverend insinuated himself between Kali and the Procurator. "Let us remember that she is pregnant," the Reverend stated soothingly. "Not with my get!" the Procurator shouted. "Still--it could be a boy--a gift from the Almighty Savior to take the place of--" "That last wench was carrying a girl!" The Procurator swung around on the Reverend, spittle flying from his mouth in his rage. "You told me the Lord would cause her to deliver me a boy!" "The Almighty works in--" "Bullshit!" The Procurator moved around the Reverend and said to Kali. "You'll live as long as you bear me sons, Freeland slut. And if that's not a son you have in you now, you and the babe will meet the same fate the last whore and child did." "You killed a woman...you killed a child...?"Kali was breathing fast as she was flooded with her own rage. "Because child wasn't the gender you wanted?!" Overcome with disbelief, she turned to the Reverend. He made a small grimace and averted his eyes. After the sickening horror of Tor's casual execution at the hands of such men, Kali could bear no more. Energy rushed through her, and with a growl, Kali shook off the grip of the two Regs who held her. "You don't deserve children!" An amber glow centered on the space around them, like a small spotlight. The two Regs gave small shrieks and let go of her arms, staring at their hands as they shrank back. "What are you doing?!" the Procurator shrieked at them. "Seize her!" To the big man with the whip, the Procurator said, "Chain her up and give her ten lashes!" The Reverend raised his voice. "You're going to kill the child!" "All right!" The Procurator amended, "Give her five!" The big man reached for Kali and she danced out of his reach, "Touch me and it will be the last woman you'll touch!" The light around intensified, becoming a golden-green hue, and Kali squinted. Where's the skylight that's letting all this in? I didn't see one... The big man succeeded in grabbing her braid, and pulled her to him. He shifted his hand to her wrist and then screamed. As he bent over and dropped to his knees, the Reverend whirled on Kali. "What manner of demon is this?" "I want her chained and whipped!" The Procurator yelled, oblivious to what was unfolding except that his will was not being immediately fulfilled. "Get up!" he yelled at his man, then grabbed the whip when the man didn't immediately stand. The crowd behind them was making a noise that seemed to Kali to be halfway between a roar and a frightened wail. Kali glanced back at them and thought, Maybe I ought to capitalize on that fear. Red-faced, the Procurator drew an arm back, preparing to wield the leather whip on her himself. Infuriated, Kali shouted, "You dickless wonder! I curse you!" She swung unsteadily around and faced the crowd. "I curse you all! You don't deserve to the gift of being sexual. You don't deserve the gift of having a child." She threw up her arms. "Stop her!" the Reverend yelled, even as he took four steps away from her. "I curse you to--" Her mind sought for and found the worse curse any male could conceive. "--to impotence!" A collection of gasps echoed throughout the chamber. "I curse you to infertility!" Another series of gasps, and someone began screaming. A man called out, "Oh God save us, she's a witch!" Kali lifted her voice and flung all her loathing and hatred at them. "From this day forward you will have no manhood!" Pandemonium broke out as the Procurator's audience panicked and began running for the large door at the end of the hall. She never saw the Reg behind her, moving in closer with the club. She
only felt the pain explode at the back of her head. |