Jack has followed the others through the dark forest. Rain was getting under his clothes and water seeped into his cheap boots. He had been lost in thought. Unnerved.
They were walking in solemn silence. The quiet, backtracked by the rain hitting the leaves and branches, broken only by the sound of their boots hitting mud was one of the factors in making the whole trip creepy. The sizzling torch constantly reminding him of the purpose of it didn't help either.
Finally they breached the final wall of trees and emerged to a semi-covered clearing with a boulder on one end. He knew the place well. They all did. Stunned for a while, they walked around the perimeter of the clearing, not quite daring to walk into the center. They formed quiet groups and avoided eye contact. Jack found himself towards the trail edge of the group, rain dripping onto his head from a tree. Despite that he didn't dare walking too much farther. The woods seemed too dark and scary right then, even if Jack wasn't a particularly squeamish person. He knew the men in their group, all from the same village. Grisly old men and burly young ones. None of them spoke a word since they departed.
Finally after a good while as the rain slowly subsided, a final part of the group entered the clearing. A robed man whom Jack knew to be their priest and a girl dressed in a white robe, made dirty by the trek through the woods. Her hands protruded from the front of the robe, tied together tightly as she was lead in between the others and to the middle, near the stone.
The priest set down his torch near the boulder and nodded to the others. They knew their job.
Slowly they walked into a semi circle around the clearing, the stone completing it. Each held a torch in a stern hand, facing toward the middle. Their faces cold and set, unmoving. Jack felt sick from anticipation, from the significance of what was about to happen.
In the center, the priest slowly unwound the robe from the girl. Her dark skin slowly coming out to the light of the torches. Their light danced in the reflection of her curves. As robe went down from her body, its nakedness played a contrast to how dressed the priest and the others were. Only ropes binding her skin and pulling on it in various spots proving inadequate for most situations but this one. Jack found himself staring at the play of light over the skin of her full breasts as she was slowly stripped, soon following down over the ropes curving around her bottom and squeezing her thighs. In all other situations he would be quite enjoying the sight of her. But not now. Not here.