. 01-03

Life and Times of a Priestess : Ch.4 : Prisoners Of Prancir (Parts 1-3)

CHAPTER 4

PRISONERS OF PRANCIR

Part 1

Danella had learned enough about the way Vanmarians lived to know that they worked not in exchange for a recognised place in society, as did the citizens of Pirion, but for a means of exchange known as money. This was not a new concept to her. She knew that when a High Priestess or a farm manager or a General wished to obtain a product from outside the city or township boundaries they would use a value of money and ask the town or city authority to purchase it for them. It was very rare that such a request might be made but she had heard that it was possible. She knew also that the requirements of the army or of communal building projects would be valued in money as a record of the efforts which the Empire or the city were expending upon the project. She did not know whether these methods were ancient ones continued from the earliest days of the Goddess's Empire, or whether these were techniques borrowed from the Vanmarian nations.

She knew that the Vanmarians based their whole society upon these principles of valuation and money. Everything had a price, whether it be a quarter of an hour's labour or the hat on the head of a Prancirian soldier, the cost of laying siege to a Pirionite city for months and occupying it, and probably the cost of a soldier's head. The Priestesses and other ladies of Dalos were prisoners of the occupiers at the moment, but she gathered from the Prancirian soldiers she was now learning to converse with that in Prancir these sorts of services could be performed only at a cost and that the ladies could earn large sums of money for what in Pirion was given freely. This was the reason why ordinary men and soldiers could not afford sufficient sexual entertainment to keep them happy and satisfied. Only "wives", and sometimes "girlfriends" were free, and many argued that even these had a cost.

It was only after some weeks of her new existence of looking after the sexual needs of the Prancirian soldiers that she realised that even her own services were not being 'freely' given as she had thought. The priestesses who were used to giving freely of their various talents noticed no difference from their previous employment in this respect. In return for their participation in the culture and rituals of Pirion society they had always been rewarded with, aside from the blessings of the Goddess, good food, accommodation, friendship, a wider family and all the things a human being needs to feel happy and content. Of course Danella had begun to feel a lack of happiness and contentedness in recent times, before the war had interrupted her life, but her basic needs had been satisfied. Only her own, as she thought, unusual desire for learning and perhaps adventure had made her unhappy. Even so she believed she had been happier than these soldiers of Prancir were in their own land. Now, under occupation, the Priestesses' lives returned to a lower quality version of normalcy than before. They were now well fed and looked after by the military authorities, valued indeed by them and given privileges, which were not granted to the male population of Dalos. In many ways therefore their former lifestyle was restored. But it could not be the same when the men of Pirion were forced to work like slaves, treated far worse than the Empire would ever treat its people.

The Priestesses and other ladies remained prisoners, not free to leave their new 'employment' or the city. They felt the unfairness of occupation. This was their city and they could not accept that Prancirians could have a right to rule it. They were not only Priestesses who knew nothing better. During the siege they had also become soldiers and they had felt their own power. When they worked together they appreciated what they could do to an enemy, and they had tasted a power which could be turned to defend justice.

From the first day when all had been abused to the point of exhaustion they had been treated well. Roger and his men were, for the first few weeks, assigned to ensure they were treated well by the soldiers who visited them. There were times of day and during the night when no one was allowed to visit and the guards ensured that there were never more than fifteen visitors at any one time. For the first few days there was a constant stream of soldiers coming and going and usually about fifteen were with them during the open hours. All the Priestesses were therefore well employed, and the best looking ones, which certainly was a description which fitted Danella, were requested more frequently. After about a week the number of visitors began to drop to a level of an average of perhaps six or eight at any time. At first Danella assumed this was due to the men having tried them enough and being satisfied.

She mentioned it to Sreela one time, but she asked Roger and he had not known the reason. Many of them had commented on it by now. They had wondered whether many soldiers had moved out of the city, but this did not seem to be the case when they asked soldiers. Some began to wonder whether many soldiers had brought their wives to live with them. The Priestesses had become well aware of some of the officers doing this but it didn't seem to stop them paying visits to the Priestesses' dormitory. Apparently none of the ordinary soldiers were yet allowed to bring families over. Most of them were expecting to continue the campaign further into Pirion.

They tried to ask some of the friendlier soldiers about their homeland, about the war and about their families, but the language barrier made real communication difficult. Now that they were all trapped in a new life and had met the enemy at close quarters, Danella observed that the other Priestesses were now more curious about the foreign nations than they had been in their old life. They thought the Prancirians rude and violent because of the war and the events at the conquest proved it, but as they began to learn Prancirian words and the Prancirians began to learn Pirionite words there came curiosity and then sometimes understanding. It became obvious that some of the Prancirians were coming back frequently. These were the ones who tried to talk the most. The Priestesses began to get to know these men well and learned things about their lives and backgrounds and that they had personal feelings and thoughts, even about the war they were engaged in, but it took some time before good communication was reached. Many of the regular visitors were indeed officers. From what some of the ones which were not officers said, Danella and some of the other Priestesses learned that these men were not 'paid' as much as the officers. This was apparently why they could not 'afford' to visit the Priestesses as often as they would have liked. Some even moaned that they would prefer to go to conquer another city because the Priestesses would be cheaper there. Most of the Priestesses who began to hear these words did not fully understand their meaning, although they recognised it was something to do with status. It was easier for the officers to come to visit and the ordinary soldiers' opportunities were being restricted.

Danella soon found that she wanted to learn everything she could about these invaders. Once she had recovered in mind and body from the trials of warfare and conquest she began once again to be stimulated by thoughts and tales of foreign lands. These people began to fascinate her. When she took a soldier she examined his sexual personality and analysed it, but she also tried to find out more about him and where he came from. To do that she was motivated to learn new Prancirian words and to make the attempt to communicate.

Life And Times Of A Priestess

Ch.4 : Prisoners Of Prancir

Part 2

Her time with General Polad's books had educated her already about certain aspects of Vanmarian history and culture. She understood, unlike the other priestesses, about the need for a Vanmarian, and a man in particular, to earn money. All the things he required in life, his clothes, his food and even the house or room he lived in had to be paid for out of money he earned. He was not allowed just to exist, but had to pay for his existence, and therefore had to earn to exist. This was why the soldiers fought. It was not just because his leaders told him it was necessary to protect his family and his people, although that was part of it. It was also because he needed to earn money and soldiering paid quite well by comparison with other things he might do. For many soldiers it might be the only way they could earn money, she suspected. Why else would anyone be encouraged to invade a foreign country, far overseas, and risk his life. Fear of not having money forced them to conduct this miserable hell of a life, attacking and conquering innocent people.

She thought about what the soldiers said over some weeks and talked to the other priestesses about them. Then she finally understood. To see the priestesses the men had to give up some of the money they were fighting for. It was a sufficiently large amount of money to encourage many of them not to come very often, and perhaps not at all after early visits after the conquest when it evidently had cost nothing at all.

She now understood why soldiers were not allowed to walk straight into the dormitory, why guards always delayed them before they were allowed in. It was not just to protect the priestesses and limit the number of men allowed in the rooms at any one time. It was also for the guards to collect money from the soldiers.

Now she remembered how she had seen things changing hands in the entranceway on occasions. They were not just shaking hands, a Prancirian tradition she understood. The clink she had occasionally heard was the clink of the coins she had read about in General Polad's books and the rustle of the notes she had also heard of. It all made sense suddenly. The numbers of men visiting the Priestesses had dropped quite suddenly when a change of money had been made. The ordinary soldiers needed the money they were paid so much that they could not afford to visit the Priestesses as much as they would have liked if it had been free.

For the Priestesses, Danella realised this had been a good thing. It meant they did not have to work so hard. Their minds and bodies could be relaxed more often and they could enjoy the quality of their communion all the more. Danella told this to Sreela, who had become very much her friend now, even though she was a High Priestess. Then she also explained it to the other Priestesses. They all agreed it had been a good thing for them, protecting them from overwork, protecting their bodies and giving them more of what Danella called 'balance' in their daily lives.

However there was some process of thought, something further about this which Danella felt she still had not properly thought out or understood. It ate at her and kept her awake for periods on a few nights as she considered what she knew about the Vanmarian culture and economy. It was difficult for a 'child of the Goddess' to understand money. It was something they as individuals had never needed or used while under the protection of the Goddess. She talked to the soldiers also, careful to betray nothing of her concern about this but keen to understand what they understood about money.

The men seemed to be concerned about who had money. The officers had more than the ordinary soldiers and the Generals had even more than them. It mattered who kept and held on to the money. One day a soldier moaned about how much money he was paying to the guards. He said he didn't think the guards should get it. Danella was able to ask "Are the guards getting it?"

The soldier seemed surprised at that. "You mean you don't know. Well I certainly don't know if you don't know".

Danella was slow in thought, confused by the negatives in his language, working hard to try to translate what he said into sense. When she had thought about what he said she said, "We don't know, I thought you might". She felt confident to ask this man. He was a regular. She had been with him before a few times. He was open with his words, critical of his officers, even critical of the war.

"I thought you were getting some of it," he said, smiling as he said it, as if about to burst into laughter.

"No I don't think so," she said haltingly. "Who does get it?" she smiled, to make herself seem less stupid to this man. She expected the man was laughing at her because she betrayed ignorance. She did not mind his humour but she did not wish to be thought ignorant. She wanted his respect. She thought by smiling the man may be unsure whether her question was serious or not. She wanted him to answer it, but she did not want him to think her stupid. By smiling, she would encourage him to answer but there would be doubt in his mind as to whether she was really stupid or whether she was just making a joke. Perhaps he would think that she knew about where the money went but would not know how much of it. That was more intelligent and, as a kind of prisoner, and it was the guards collecting the money why should she be expected to know who kept how much of it.

"Some of the money you earn keeps you alive and looked after," he suggested, "the rest of it I would have thought you would know more than me. I am just the customer who gets exploited. I thought perhaps you get some more, the guards and their officers, and probably the Generals at the top".

When she had considered his words she thought she understood. In a flash she did understand. Everyone gets a part, probably, at each level in the army from the ordinary guard, to Roger and maybe others like him, to the higher officers, to his General, Ravelleon, at the top, and perhaps to the other two Generals also. Maybe the soldier was right when he said that part of it went to keep the Priestesses alive and looked after, but he was wrong when he said they got more. Danella knew that none of them, not even Sreela, were getting any of the money. She, Danella, was the only one, as far as she knew, the only one who had yet understood about the money. Sreela evidently had no more understanding of money than Danella had until she had realised money was being collected from the soldiers at the door.

To a woman of the Goddess's Empire this knowledge should not have been interesting. They didn't use money and they would not have known what to do with it, if they were given any, so the knowledge that others were profiting from their labour would not be likely to upset them. However Danella was beginning to think more clearly after the adventures and dangers she had been through. She was living now in a Vanmarian world, and she knew their world was constructed on money. She was a prisoner, unjustly. Pirionite males were prisoners and they were being denied contact with their priestesses. It was not right. And now she discovered that the offers and commanders were using them to enrich themselves. Not content with killing innocent people, conquering and imprisoning them, and controlling their bodies, they were using them to make themselves rich and bring themselves more power amongst their own people.

Not only were they exploiting the conquered but also their own soldiers who were forced to pay money which some should have sent home to their poor families for the simple enjoyments of life which were everyone's by right in Pirion, but had to be bought dearly in Vanmar.

She asked the solder how much he paid to come to the Priestesses, but the amount meant nothing to Danella. She questioned him further and found it was worth two days pay to the soldier, two days in which he might easily be killed.

Danella felt some anger now towards their protectors. Roger had presumably been taking his share of this money, and his General Ravelleon who, it was rumoured, did not approve of sexual communion, but who was quite content to enrich himself at their expense.

Ch.4 : Prisoners Of Prancir

Part 3

After a few weeks Roger and some of his men were sent away assigned to the new campaign in the South. He left pledging to return soon for Sreela. Although he had regularly been with many of the Priestesses, including Danella on a couple of occasions, it had remained obvious that he reserved a special place for Sreela. He had persuaded her to live with him part of the time in his own quarters up the road. Most nights she spent with Roger in his bed and when he did not need to use her he wanted still to lie with her and be close to her, listening to her heart beating and enjoying the comfort her body gave. They talked slowly and falteringly in the Goddess's tongue and they had in those few weeks become close to what the Prancirians called a married couple, or Partners, as the people of Pirion termed it. From his behaviour Danella would have expected that Roger would not approve of making money from the Priestesses. The culture of Vanmar was now revealed. Money came before everything else. She now thought Roger had been using Sreela to make money for himself. Now he had gone and Sreela would probably never see him again. Now his 'business' was passed onto others and he had nothing to return for. He had made his money for a while and now he would move on to another conquered city and do it again. But his General Ravelleon was still here, so how could Roger acquire the authority to do elsewhere what he had already done here without his General, who gave him that authority. Perhaps he would never be able to repeat what he had done here.

Danella decided to share what she now knew with Sreela. She picked an evening after all the soldiers except the guards outside the door had gone.

The Priestesses were sitting around, relaxing after their 'work', talking in small groups, some were in the kitchen, working and eating the plentiful food they were now being supplied with. Some were in the washroom, water had soon been installed, and they heated it twice daily for the Priestesses to wash themselves in turn. A small few of them had already gone back to their beds, to rest and sleep this time, exhausted by their daily routine. Others only two couples cuddled up with each other, under blankets at this time for warmth and continued to commune together in their own female way, as Danella had sometimes done in her now distant past in Shanla with young Carel. This was a more gentle discovery of communion than was possible with the soldiers who could not understand what it was to be a woman and were naturally more concerned with their own pleasure when they had paid for it. They believed that the Priestesses were here to serve them, not to be served.

Sreela lay on her own bed, sitting up against the wall at the back of her bed. She had been sitting like that for quite some time, as no soldier had requested her towards the end of 'opening hours'

Danella approached slowly and met her eyes before she began to speak, inviting an indication from Sreela that it was alright to invade her privacy. Sreela smiled and her eyes brightened, welcoming the contact. "What are you thinking about, Sreela? You are quiet today" Danella asked.

"Come sit with me on my bed for a few minutes," offered the High Priestess, with something of the authority she might have displayed before the conquest, but it was meant as a free invitation to be accepted or refused at Danella's will. So Danella sat on the side of the bed and swung her legs up to lie next to the High Priestess. Sreela placed her arm around her waist and drew her close. Danella reciprocated. They were closer now than they had ever been before the siege and the conquest, although Danella knew they had liked each other from the day of Danella's arrival in Dalos. The barrier of Sreela's authority as a High Priestess had gone now, although all still recognised her as such. Even in captivity they still recognised the old authorities, even though they no longer served the whole community, but only the Prancirian soldiers.