Orola, Warrior Priestess
by Herbert Grosshans
When a member of the Sisterhood fails to report back, the Warrior Priestess Orola is sent to find out what happened to her. Her journey takes her across hostile territory. Abused and imprisoned, she overcomes great obstacles until she reaches her destination, where she discovers a great secret.
Excerpt
The Kiir
They sat unmoving among the branches of a giant Scrip-tree, the foliage hiding them from anyone looking up. There were five of them. Scruffy looking men with stoic, brutal faces. Only their black eyes seemed alive as they watched the river below.
The object of their attention stood looking at the briskly flowing water.
A naked young woman. She had arrived some time earlier. After tethering her steed, she shed her rather skimpy clothing, which consisted only of a short kilt, a strip of cloth to cover her pubic area, and a pair of metal breast cups, hardly large enough to cover much of her ample breasts.
Testing the water with one foot, she seemed to hesitate, but then with a shrug, she dove into the water, her naked body glistening white in the midday sun.
When she hit the water, one of the watchers grunted. His lips parted to reveal brown, rotten teeth. The others nodded and, silently, they began to move through the branches.
Climbing down on the hidden side of the thick tree trunk, they reached the soft forest floor and, without making a sound, two of them moved toward the girl’s steed. One took her clothing, and the other one tried to untie the animal.
When the black-coated beast snorted, the girl looked toward the commotion and called out sharply. Then she began swimming toward shore.
Letting go of the beast’s rope, the man looked at her and grinned. His companion had already disappeared.
She climbed ashore and looked at the spot where she had left her clothing and her sword, realizing they were gone. “What do you want?” she demanded.
The man grinned, his eyes raking her naked form. They rested momentarily on the thick black triangle below her smooth flat belly then moved up to her large breasts, his attention suddenly on the red glowing object nestled in the deep cleft between them.
“Well?” she said, staring defiantly at him.
“I want you,” he said, his voice thickly accented and his words slurred.
The girl laughed, shaking her long black hair. “You want me?” she taunted. “You and how many other men?”
Still grinning, he said, “Four.”
Hearing the breaking of a twig behind her, she turned and looked at the two men approaching her. She stepped to the side and watched them coming closer, her body suddenly falling into a fighting stance.
Noticing her position, the two men slowed but didn’t stop. “Don’t try to fight us,” one of them said. “We are five…you are just one helpless girl.”
She took one step backward. The jewel between her breasts pulsed with a steady rhythm that she could feel. “I may be just a girl, but I’m not helpless.” She whirled with a sudden movement, her knee came up and rammed into the belly of the man who tried to sneak up on her. He howled and dropped to the ground, his hands clutching his middle.
The other two rushed her and tried to grab her arms. She hit one of them in the face with her right fist, while the ball of her foot smashed into the chest of the other one. Rolling away from them, she came up, but collapsed, as a thrown club hit the side of her head.
* * * *
Before the blackness engulfed her, she was pinned to the ground, and the heavy weight of a body bore down on her.
How long she was out, she couldn’t tell. In the first moments of returning consciousness, she became aware of a weight still on top of her. She lay on her back, spread-eagled, her arms and legs tied to stakes driven into the ground. Between her legs, one of her attackers. She knew exactly what was going to happen to her. And there were five of them. Concentrating on the jewel between her breasts, she encountered only emptiness.
Silently crying out, she realized the Holy Communicator was gone. They must have taken it from her while she lay unconscious. There was nothing left for her to do but suffer through the ordeal.
She drifted in and out of consciousness, as the brutes satisfied their insatiable lust. Darkness had descended before they left her.
She heard them as they moved away, toward the stream. Listening to their splashing and subdued laughter, she wondered if it was really over now or if they would come back to her in a while.
To carry on. Or maybe to kill her.
Aware of nothing else but a deep painful throbbing in her entire body but mostly in her private area, she didn’t really care what they did. She was beyond further pain.
She opened her eyes again and turned her head slowly to look at them. They were clearly visible in the setting sun and the image of their faces burned into her memory. If she lived, she would hunt them down, one by one. They would pay for what they had done to her.