The Sea Priestess by Dion Fortune

Author:Dion Fortune
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Weiser Books

They were dining at the high table, and when the meal was finished and the debris flung to the dogs, as the custom was, a great bowl was carried in and placed in the centre of the table; it was not of the bright gold such as we know today, but the pale aurichalcum that was used in Atlantis, and it was richly wrought with waves of the sea, and strange fabulous beasts and dragons; and around the rim was a band of precious stones, cabochon-cut, that caught the light. I knew that this was a sacred Cup, the prototype of the Graal. Into it from a high ewer of similar workmanship was poured a dark and aromatic wine; then a brand was flung in that set it alight, and the surface burned with thin blue flickering flames. They ladled the blazing liquid into golden cups, and as the flames died down, the company drank. This wine, I knew, was made from the small, black-graped vines that grew on the vine-terraces under the breast of Bell Head, and in it were infused aromatic herbs that were grown upon the topmost terrace where the breast of the rock reflected the heat upon them and drew out their volatile oils.

Then the scene changed again, and I was along the quays of Ishtar's Beere in the sunlight, marvelling at the dark far-travelled mariners with curled beards and golden rings.

Down the crowded quays there came a small band that moved in military formation. Half a dozen spearmen, and a captain with a short, broad, leaf-like sword, and an elderly shaven priest with a parchment skin and dark, bright, lashless eyes under his hairless brows, for it was part of their religion to remove all hair from the body.

People fell back respectfully to give them passage; but while no one actually fled before them, the crowd melted away down alleys and byways till none were left but the staring sailors and a few beggars and hucksters. The crowded quays became empty as the small band went by.

But swiftly as folk slipped away, they did not go so swiftly but that the priest had time to look them over; and here and there he raised a finger and pointed, and the soldiers advanced and closed round one or another and returned with him to the band. There was no protest, no struggle; once a woman cried out as her son was taken, but her cries were quickly stifled by those around her. Folk slipped away if they could, but if they could not, they went quietly; for this band of the high priest was picking up the sacrifices for the sea, and it was an evil omen if a man resisted, and would bring the wrath of the sea upon the whole people. Moreover, the man who was chosen was extraordinarily fortunate, for he went to an eternity of bliss in the sea-palaces, where the fairest of the sea-women were his, and the pearls of the sea and her gems, and richest food and finest drink in all abundance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.