Elysium's Love Triangle (17 page)

Shocked gasps now.  Urgent whispers. 

The second judge is outraged, as he always is.  How dare Greg suggest that the Great Goddess would want them to welcome a temptress and a deserter into the camp on a special day like today, when the Goddess herself is prophesised to return?  How dare some fornicator-with-outsiders suggest such a thing!

I know what Greg is doing.  He is using their ‘faith’ against them.

He’s a genius.  I am so completely glad he is here.

Once again he starts speaking th
eir language.  The Great Goddess
and himself
have a close relationship
,
he tells them.

More gasps.  I roll my eyes.  The people will be fainting soon if we don’t get them away from all this excitement.

The third judge speak
s for the first time, “Are you trying to imply, boy, that you actually
met
our Great Goddess?”

Greg says that he has.

“What are you meaning to say, m’boy?”  The third judge asks.

“I am meaning to say,” Greg
pauses for dramatic effect.  “The Great Goddess is standing right in front of you
all
, right now.”

They all look around frantic
ly,
as if to see something tha
t wasn’t there before.  I do the same
.  I don’t see anyone with blood red eyes and hair, that’s for sure.

The second judge, once again, accuses Greg of ‘outrageous’ folly.  In the name of the Great Goddess, he thinks, we should both be cut up and fed to the virgins.

Well, at least we’ve moved up from being animal food.

Now that most
people
here
have noticed that
their
Great Goddess doesn’t seem to be in front of them, as p
romised, they are baying for Greg’s
blo
od again
.

Judge three beckons them to be quiet.

Greg
continues talking.  He
says that he got a message about the Great Goddess Ethereal in a dream, long ago. The gods told
him that he was only to reveal
this divine message to his people today.

Once again they are all listening.

Greg glances around.  He seems to be enjoying the attention. 

“The gods told me that the Great Goddess has come back to
earth in human form,
”
he says.

  The people are utterly taken back by this and are all waiting for more information.  This would be a great compliment to the human race for her
to take their form.  T
he news is amazing some are saying.  They are utterly shocked that their Goddess would reduce herself to
a human form
. 

I have no idea if Greg is telling the truth or making this all up
.

He carries on,
“Not only that
! The dream also told me that Ethereal
was someone I already know.”

He glances around.

Then he gestures towards me, “Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Great Goddess.”   

So much noise erupts around me
.
I am further dazed.  Did my friend just introduce me as the reincarnation of an evil Greek goddess? 

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what he just did.

Well, this is frickin weird.

He is a genius though.  They won’t kill us now. 

I look in Greg eye’s now and see something.  His words weren’t part of a plan
to appease the Cezers
or
keep
us alive.

He believes what he just said, all of it.

I don’t know how to feel about this. 

I
do know, however, that in order to stay alive
I must play along with it.  My life hinges on making these people believe
that
I’m Ethereal incarnate. 

The situation, as a whole, almost makes me smile.  I never thought I’d have to ask myself this particular question.

So, what would an evil bitch goddess do?

Perhaps she’d make some diva-like commands.

No
, surely she’d give out to them all for not recognising her.

They are all silent, looking at me now.

I’ll die if this isn’t convincing, it has to be mean.  “Some of you skipped thanking me for your blessings this morning.  Th
is annoyed me.  Go whip yourselves
, I know who you are.”

A lot of
the
eyes of my apparent followers go a lot wider.  Gasps, the guilty ones are wondering
just
how I knew that.  The girl speaks the truth
,
they are thinking.  Some leave to whip themselves, bowing down in front of me as they do
so
.

I didn’t expect them to actually go through with it.  I feel terribly sorry for not thinking that through better.

Greg bows down
,
with his hand on his heart
,
and thanks me for the honour of being in his life. 

It is very strange having people bow to me.

With him it’s especially strange. 

Judge T
wo isn’t convinced of my credentials, however.  The Great Goddess would not come in the form of such a frail looking maid, he thinks.  This is all but a ruse.  It is surely a test from the Great Goddess herself to see who could recognise this fraud.

A few of the people seem convinced by his words.  It makes sense that she would send a test, they think.

My mind goes blank of evil goddess-like things to say.  I don’t know much about this Ethereal girl that I’m supposed to be.

Judge Three argues his point firmly now.  If this maid
is
the Great Goddess then Judge Two’s stup
id words may cause punishment upon
them all.  Who is he to tell the Great Goddess what form
s
he can or can’t come to the world in?  He should think before he speaks lest he damn them all!

I tell Greg that he can stand up now if he wants.  He’d rather venerate apparently and he stays on his knees.

Judge One stands up and joins the others in arguing.  He thinks
that
I should b
e given
some sort of test
,
to see whether I am really the Great Goddess.  A lot of the audience seem to agree.  The half that aren’t already kneeling mostly.  I feel very tall here. 

Judge Three seems shoc
ked.  How dare they, mere human
s, suggest putting the Great Goddess to some human test!  He suggests that they should all start thinking
,
lest
t
he
y
raise the ire of their glorious Goddess.

I really like
Judge Three.  Blind faith is exactly what I need right now
, at least
until I find some kind of plan to escape.

Judge Four still hasn’t spoken at all.  The colour of his eyes have
convinced me
that we are related. 

Cairo suddenly stands up from his kneeling position and asks the court’s permission to speak.  As
a
thanks to the Great Goddess for appearing today he would like, very much, to burn himself alive as a sacrifice. 

This time I am the one who gasps.  He is far too pretty for that kind of thing.  His grey eyes look almost silver now and there is such l
ight in his features.  H
e is far too young to go burning himself.

I protest, “Don’t do that, I . . . do not like the burnt flesh of humans.  You have shown your honour in your suggestion. That which will be enough.”

I know I’ve said the wrong thing when I finish.  The way they are looking at me changes.

I feel I’ve said something to give myself away.

Judge Two seems triumphant.  The Great Goddess, the spirit leaders said, would never say no to a sacrifice in her honour.  It is confirmed!  I am simply a test from the Great Goddess.  They are to take Greg and me to the chamber
,
to be burnt alive.  This is the only way to show their great deity that they have not fallen for the ruse.

I curse myself.  Now
just how was I supposed to know what their spirit leaders told them? 

Cairo.  That boy!  I look at him and wonder if he done it on purpose, to expose me.  He may have always known.

There are others who still look unsure.  They fear divine retribution if I
am
their great leader.  

I very much don’t like the idea of being burnt.

I don’t have time to think about this.  Non-believers grab me from the back and tie a rope around my wrists so
that
I’m helpless to fight back.  This is done to Greg also. 

He struggles but it’s obvious the men are too strong.

One of them holds a knife to his throat.  They will slit his throat here, the tattooed man tells him, right now.  They will do it because he is a deserter who dared work against the Great Goddess with his lies.

I am frightened again. 

Then I begin to get angry.  These m
en have no
right to take my Greg from me.  I’ve known him forever.  He sacrificed everything to let me escape.

They have no right to end this boy’s life.

I need him with me.  I can’t lose him.

The man places the knife against Greg’s neck.  My friend looks so scared now.

My voice changes. 

It sounds like a hiss, so incredibly dark, but it’s mine all the same.  “Get the fuck away from my friend you son of disgrace.  Your mother will burn in flames for this . . . She will burn for
years.  The House of Ten A
gonies awaits you, you most sorry mortal.”

The fear on his face almost shocks me.  I’m a teenage girl; no one has ever had reason to be afraid of me before.  He drops the knife instantly and falls to his knees.

Where had those words come from?  That’s not the kind of thing I just say, yet it felt natural.

Where had that voice come from?  It scared me just as much as them.

I seem to have convinced everyone.

I turn to Judge Two. 

I don’t know what he sees in my face.

Whatever he sees makes him bow quickly.

They all bow.  Every last one of them, even Tanya.

I can’t believe this turn of
good luc
k.  Relief fills me.

That was some welcome
home
.

They have prepared
a feast
in my honour.  It consists of ten cows.  This glorious dinner takes place in a dining hall filled with many wooden tables.  Most run the length of the room.  One table
,
made of marble
,
sits on a raised platform at the front of the hall, looking down upon all else.  This is where they put me. 

The judges sit with me at the long table.  All except
Judge T
wo
,
who has been begging my forgiveness all day.  I forgave him quite quickly but the other judges still fear
that
his presence
here
might offend me.  They ordered him to go whip himself to show his ‘true sorrow’ at his actions.  The
poor man is probably doing this right
now.

Greg is here in the hall too, he is very special to them now.  Some have written poems about him.  He is now ‘the boy who went out and found the Great Goddess herself’.  He is seated among
st his
peers.  I wish
that
he could be up here with me.  I would love to speak with him now.  I will have to do it later.  He needs to know that I am not really Ethereal.  I will tell him, privately, at the first opportunity.  It pains me that he believes it in the first place.  I would’ve thought he’d know me better than that.

Another person who should know me better is the man sitting right beside me now.

Riley.

I told him, confidentially, that I am not Ethereal.  He just laughed and told me I don’t even know myself.  He is sure I am Ethereal, he said.  He sacrificed someone, long ago, so that Ethereal would be part of his own bloodline.  It is me, he is sure.

I insisted that he was wrong. 

He just smiled.  My bad side will come out sometime soon, he assured me.  Until then we wait.

I swore to him that I am not like him.  My ‘bad-side’ will not be coming out.

He ignored me and changed the subject.  He warned me that the food here is very different from that on the outside.  It might take some getting used to, he said.  These words come back to me now.