Note: This is a work of fiction and any resemblance of any characters to any persons, real or fictitious, is purely coincidental and unintentional.
Note 2: This work includes themes of a graphic sexual nature and involves person who, although entirely fictional, are all above the legal age of consent. This story is set in the slightly historical, but primarily imagined world of Ancient Rome, however, no offense is intended to any persons or cultures if I have mis-portrayed any historical, factual, or cultural aspects of the setting; the setting is used solely for its exotic and romantic attributes. If you find anything in this work objectionable or offensive, please move on to other content.
Note 3: This work is my own personal intellectual property. Copyright © 2017 Audrey07. All rights reserved.
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The next few days passed largely uneventfully. The wash woman's body had been found on a rocky beach not far from the cliffs on the side of the island closest to the village of Anacapri. Her death was particularly mysterious among the villagers and, given that she was found just after the full moon, suspicion fell upon Sabine and her cult of followers. In a way, the villagers were right, but not for the correct reasons. It turned out, however, that the woman was not generally well liked and her funeral service was attended only by Gaia and a couple of members of the household staff. She was cremated on a pyre and that was about that.
Her death was overshadowed, in any event, by the arrival of the Emperor's nephew, Gaius Germanicus, on the island. Gaius Germanicus was extremely popular in Rome. He was a well-known playboy and bone-fide eccentric, but he was also very good-looking, wealthy, single, and heir to the empire. In Rome, his public appearances almost always accompanied festivals, parties and lavish celebrations. When Gaius Germanicus partied, everyone partied.
But here on the remote Island of Capri, his presence was only cause for worry and concern. The people of this little fishing and vineyard province were little accustomed to the ways of the big city and were ill-suited to hosting the roving festival that seemed to follow the prince wherever he went. His arrival, with a fleet of four ships filled with servants, courtesans, friends and attendants shocked the people of the island. "They shall surely eat all of our food and drink all of our wine!" "They will leave us barren and destitute!" "They will take our homes!" Ligeia overheard the villagers complaining to one another one day when she was in the market.
At Gaia's house, the harvest had finished, and the house was lightly staffed as many of the household servants had been sent off to work the vineyards of the other houses. Things had mostly settled into a routine, and Cassia and her handmaidens mostly stayed out of the way. That didn't change when Gaia was ordered to quarter part of the prince's party. The new guests, several young men, were segregated from Cassia and her father's guard was more on alert, but other than that, life continued as before.
Cassia had stopped going to the village herself. There was not much to do there and the dullness of life in Anacapri had all of them in low spirits. She still sent one or the other of her handmaidens to the market on occasion, but no more than was necessary. They waited each night to see if they would get the call from Sabine, but even Sabine seemed to have gone into hiding. Cassia had been wondering what business was still keeping her father occupied and considered sending a messenger with a note begging her father to please let them all return to Rome. She decided in the end to be obedient to her father's wishes, but every day that passed without word that his business here had concluded brought the girl a little further down into her funk.
Then, one night, as Ligeia and Athalia were preparing Cassia for her bed, they saw a flash of blue light at the window. Athalia went to investigate. In the darkness, she could see a hooded figure slipping silently from shadow to shadow. That was the signal. Athalia turned to the other two and mouthed a single word: Sabine.
The two servants did not break form. Without another word between them, they finished preparing Cassia for bed and then left the room and retreated to their own chamber. When the house had grown completely quiet, Cassia slipped out of her own bed and met the other two. They donned their own hooded capes and snuck out into the night.
Athalia noticed several other hooded figures also making their way toward the grotta azurra but she did not mention it to Cassia or Ligeia. She kept it to herself, knowing that something big was going on and that all would be revealed when they arrived. One of the figures caught her eye and they briefly exchanged knowing glances before each disappeared into her own patch of darkness.
The girls noticed two things immediately upon entering the cave. First, in addition to the acolytes in their blue robes, there were a dozen strange women in white fur cloaks. They were standing in a row along the ledge and Cassia noticed that they were all measurably taller than all of the acolytes. They were slender, too, with skin that was pale, like Sabine's. They stood so motionless that Cassia almost mistook them for statues.
The second thing that Cassia noticed was that a dozen long wooden boats were tied to the stone platform. They were narrow and each had a mast and sail that had been removed and laid across the topside from stem to stern. Even still, it did not seem possible that these boats could have possibly slipped through the tiny opening of the cave. The magic here was powerful, yet almost unnoticeable.
Cassia's puzzlement was interrupted by the sound of the strange music that seemed to fill the cave. The women in the blue robes, who now included Ligeia and Athalia in their number, although Cassia could not remember them ever leaving her side, fell into a trance-like state and formed a line to receive the blessing of the goddess, just as before. In turn, each knelt before Sabine and placed her lips on the priestess's wild red tangle of pubic hair, only for the briefest of moments, before standing and returning to her place on the platform.
Cassia did not see the women in white join in the line, but nor did she see them leave. In a moment, she noticed that she had been stripped of her own clothing and had been covered in a white robe that draped over her shoulders and fell open in the front revealing her breasts and her own dark patch of pubic hair. Instinctively, Cassia joined the end of the line and made her way to the goddess.
The goddess smiled knowingly at Cassia as she bade Cassia to bow and receive her own blessing, but Cassia paused. She recalled the last vision that she saw when first she received the goddess's blessing. "I am afraid," she stammered nervously. "What shall I see? What visions await me?"
Sabine's sweet, inviting smile did not break, as she replied, "That is not for me to know. Each must receive her own message from the goddess. Your vision is for you alone. I am merely the vessel; the conduit between you and your fate."
