I rested on a stone seat, thoughtfully provided by the city fathers for the weary market goers, and considered my options, holding my aching head in my hands. I could try the work hall again, though I knew it would be barren. I could resort to theft as Johan and Syros had done, the lousy shits, but I still had that slight pride in myself that recoiled from thieving money, because to take from the poor was simply wrong, and to take from the rich was to invite being strangled in the central square. I couldn’t face the mines, not that day. Maybe the next.
Or there was the strange offer from the temple. I looked in the direction of the big, dark black and red building with its huge walls that could hold several villages within its area, and cursed the god in whose honour it existed. Had Paon arranged all this to manipulate me into accept Jaime’s work?
I knew, even as I tried desperately to think of another answer, that I was going to have to do it, even if it was only for a week or whatever the minimum time of employment was. Twenty silver pieces would go a long way, and this time, I could be a bit more cautious, hide the money other than on my person. He hadn’t said I had to work a whole year—only that if I did, I would be rich. I didn’t want to be rich. I just didn’t want to starve to death. Twenty silver pieces might even take me to Perikeg, if it was true there really was work there—but of course, that could have been a lie. I was now sure ‘Johan’ and ‘Syros’ weren’t their names, and now I thought about it, Johan was surely too old to have such young children as he claimed. All I could really be sure of was that they were from Jendon, or at least, their families were. There had been Jendonese living in Egin for generations, and for all I knew, my assailants had learned to fake a genuine accent simply by listening to all the incomers. I knew nothing at all, for certain, and if I complained to the watch, they would be sure to point this unpleasant fact out to me. The watch didn’t care about the safety of the Jendonese—only that we kept out of trouble.
The day was a-wasting, and if I wanted to seize this opportunity, unwelcome or not, I couldn’t risk that Jaime would find another candidate. I didn’t know what his criteria for recruitment were, but there were men aplenty to choose from, and I was nothing special, I knew. Reluctantly, I let my feet find their way to the temple, not sure if the nausea I was feeling was from being knocked out, or from revulsion at what I might be asked to do.
Jaime’s name didn’t produce the immediate response it had the previous day. In fact, it looked as if I was already too late—the guards told me I couldn’t enter the temple, and they made no move to send for the man. I argued for a little while, but there was clearly no point. Despairing, I turned away and stumbled down the marble stairs, back towards the city. There seemed little else to try but the mines, perhaps the penalty I had to pay for my stupid, trusting nature.
I jerked as my arm was taken. I turned and saw it was one of the temple guards. “Come with me.”
“
Let me go!”
He did so immediately, rather to my surprise. “Don’t you want to see Jaime?”
“
Uh...yes. You just startled me.” He went to take my arm again, but I pulled it away. “Don’t.”
I walked in front of him back to the temple, back up the long stairs, wondering why they couldn’t have just fetched Jaime while I was actually there, instead of making me and my poor head exert themselves so. I was led to the same small room as before, and told to sit.
Conscious I may be being watched again, I tried to sit up straight, and tugged my now damp rather than dripping shirt into a semblance of order, running my fingers through my unruly hair. The bastards had taken my comb—I ask you, who would steal a man’s comb? I had nothing but my shirt, my pants and my boots, and no one would have given me a copper for the lot even if I could have spared them to sell. I had lost my razor in the fire, and hadn’t shaved in three weeks. I knew I looked a complete vagabond. But I supposed I was one now.
No one came for me, and I began to lose my nerve. The stillness and cold of this room was oppressive, the light struggling to get in, as if Paon somehow could control the sunlight too. I was being fanciful, you might think, but let’s see you sit in that room for half an hour and see if you wouldn’t be fanciful too. The statues of the gods that had lined the halls and corridors I’d been led through were menacing, demonic, lit by torches even in the middle of the day. It seemed the temple had little use for natural light—the effect was hellish, to say the least.
At last the door opened and Jaime walked in. He didn’t sit. “You wanted to see me?”
“
Yes. I, uh...well, I wondered if the job was still available.”
He wasn’t using the hood today, although he was wearing the cloak, but a scarf covered his hair and half his face. His cold eyes bored into me. “Why?”
“
Because I need the work.”
“
You needed it yesterday, but you refused it.”
“
Yes. Well....”
My fingers drifted unconsciously to my belt, to where my purse would be tied if I still had one. He worked it out immediately. “I see. You’ve been robbed. Injured also. I have no use for damaged goods.”
He turned to leave. “I’m not! I’ve got a bump on the head, but I can still work,” I protested, desperation making me a little forceful. “I swear, set me any task, anything, and I’ll do it. I need the work, I have no money at all.”
He turned. “And what would you do for money, Nikolas?” It was the only time he had used my name. “Would you kill a man?”
“
No! Nor commit any crime, if that’s what you’re thinking of asking. But set me any honest task, any job of work, and I’ll do it, however harsh. I’m sorry if I offended you yesterday.”
His lips curled in a sneer. “No, you’re not. You still despise me as a pervert. That’s all right—I don’t think much of you either. The conditions are the same. Total obedience, continence and confidentiality. Fail in any of these, and you won’t live to spend your coin.”
I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was utterly serious, and if I betrayed my bond, I would suffer just as his words promised. “I understand. I am not to commit a crime?”
“
Not in the strictest sense, though....” He caught himself, and I fancied I saw a look of pain briefly cross his face—what I could see of it anyway. “You may find it distasteful, though most of your predecessors have managed for a few weeks at least.”
“
I don’t mind dirt or hard work.”
“
I’m sure,” he said sardonically. “For those are clean compared with what I offer. Do I have your bond? You will have to sign letters, and remain a minimum of two months. Leave before that, and you will get no coin. Leave and break our conditions, and you will wish you had never been born.”
“
You have my word, you don’t have to keep threatening me—I’m broke, not stupid.”
“
Very well.” He moved behind the table and sat, his hands clasped in front of him so tight the knuckles showed white against his brown skin. “This temple is blessed above all others devoted to our Lord Paon, because it is here that he has condescended to appear in human form. The God becomes incarnate here so that his seed may fertilise the pious women of this land.” I nearly laughed in his face at such a ridiculous tale, but instead just nodded. “The God Incarnate may not be touched by man or woman save in a particular manner, to allow the planting of his seed. He has decreed that he wishes that two comely men perform for him, to increase the potency of his seed, at the time when he chooses to bestow it on the faithful women of his followers.”
Then I really did laugh. “You’re having me on. No, seriously—you’re telling me that two men have to fuck, so he can get off and impregnate a series of women? This
is
a joke, right?”
He just continued to stare at me, and if there was any humour in his eyes, I couldn’t see it. “You are, as I told you yesterday, being watched,” and I knew he was warning me for my own good, not his. “Hold your impious tongue. We have a sacred duty. I am the designated surrogate, and I select partners pleasing to our god. So yes, all you have to do to earn your twenty silver pieces a week, is to let me
fuck
you and pleasure you, once or twice a week. The rest of the time, any duties required of you will be of an exceedingly gentle kind which shouldn’t cause a fine fellow like yourself any difficulty.” His voice dripped with scorn. “Whores would be cheaper, of course, but I can’t be sure they would be free of disease. You will be required to remain free of illness or blemish for your time here. That is your guarantee that you will not suffer any physical harm.”
“
How...do you
like
doing this?”
Again the flash of pain, gone so fast, I barely saw it. “The God commands, I am but a vessel to serve him. Your identity, your beliefs, your intelligence—or your approval—are completely unimportant. If the God commanded, I would fuck a dog. This is what you have agreed to.”
Yes, it was. I thought being a thief was the lowest I could go—now I was nothing but a whore to serve one master. “All right.”
“
Very well. The God does not require my service for two days, fortunately—that will allow your head to heal. Wait here.”
Numb with disbelief, I did as I was told. After all, I had just agreed to sell my body for two months, what was a little obedience? In the time I was left alone, I thought about the story I’d been told. Did these people honestly believe they had a god living in this temple? Did the women of this land really think that letting some man pretending to be a god screw them, would bring them luck or some such nonsense? I’d heard of some pretty strange religious beliefs since I’d come to Gidin, but this beat absolutely everything.
And Jaime—for all his declared devotion to his master’s wishes, his revulsion at the task was as clear as if he’d stated it outright. He didn’t seem to be a priest, although who could tell under all that damn clothing, I didn’t know. Why did he do this? Piety? Or was he paid? Somehow, I doubt he would do this for money—his scorn for me agreeing to do just that was so marked, I knew he couldn’t make himself go the same route.
He returned, this time with someone who really did look like a priest, wearing the usual black robes, but also some kind of dark metal headpiece that looked more like a torture device than an ornament. He was shaven-skulled underneath it. “Get up,” Jaime ordered. “My lord Senku, this is the one I have chosen.”
The man looked at me with loathing in his eyes. “You have agreed? You have given your bond?”
I suddenly felt terrified to my core. The man radiated evil, and I wanted to run. Instead, I locked my knees. “Yes,” I said, my throat dry from fear.
“
Jaime, the documents.”
Jaime drew papers and a quill from the folds of his cloak, and read the contract out to me. It was a simple document outlining the terms of my employment, although the duties were not specified, and stated that if I left employment outside the contract, I would be dragged back by force—as was normal for indentures. That at least caused me no concern. “Sign them,” he ordered, and I did so, my hand shaking a little. He witnessed it and so did the priest, who took the papers and placed them in his sleeve.
Jaime then produce a silver and metal collar which he fastened around my neck without any ceremony, and similarly a bracelet that sat snugly on my wrist. Neither were uncomfortable and I could get out of them in a moment, for all they were locked tight and the keys deposited very showily on the priest’s belt—no need to let them know my particular skill, of course. I still felt as if I’d been branded, which I supposed was the intention. “You must have these on at all times—remove them and the guards will kill you on sight. If while in our employment, you are seen outside without them—and we will be watching you,” the priest said with a humourless smile, “you will suffer Paon’s wrath. Not a prospect you want to invite on yourself. You will obey every person in this temple without hesitation or question. You will be whipped severely for the first infraction. You won’t want me to tell you what we do for a second offence.”
I swallowed. “No, I suppose not.”
“
My lord. He is ‘my lord’ to you,” Jaime snapped.
“
Sorry, my lord,” I said as politely as possible.
The priest seemed unmoved. “You know what to do, Jaime. See that he behaves, and maybe he’ll last longer than the previous one.” There was something about the way he said ‘last’ that sounded entirely sinister. Jaime had promised if I was obedient, I wouldn’t be hurt. Was this true?
The priest left, Jaime bowing low, and I followed his example. Once the door was shut, Jaime turned to me. “Every priest here is to be addressed as ‘my lord’, save Minas—he is ‘your holiness’.”
“
He’s the head holy guy?”
Jaime sighed. “You really aren’t going to last, are you. Yes, he is the high priest, in direct communication with the God himself. He holds power of life and death over everyone here—including you.”
“
Wait a minute—what about the king? Does he know you order people killed to suit yourselves?”