Temple of the Gods: PG-13, rough draft,

[tsaiko]

HAH! I managed to finish something. It's a rough draft (I need to beat this with an editing stick) but it's complete. I actually have some of the next part written in a notebook. Just need to type it up.

I actually had the idea for this story several months ago and finally found a beginning I'm happy with. I would talk about the plot, but that would spoil it entirely. Let's just say my weird sense of humor is very evident in this and leave it at that.

To the west of the lands of the godless heathens in the shadow of the mountains that scrape the sky where little rain falls, is a country that does not believe in Melroona, the Great Tree, the Mother of All, the Life Giver. Instead they believe in many gods. These gods take the forms of giant crocodiles with bat-like wings and the scales of a snake. The people of the country call them ezidah. Our word for such creatures is drakón.

From Tales of Other Lands and Peoples, by Akakos the Writer

The sun had finished its journey and descended into the watery grave of the underworld for the night when four girls from the village started towards the temple. It was dark, but would become lighter as mah, the moon, rose. Until then only the stars gave off any light. The girls had no lantern. The point was to not get caught.

"I still think this is a bad idea," Shirin said. She pulled the woven woolen shawl tighter around her shoulders. There was a definite chill in the air now that the sun had set. Shirin wished she'd worn a heavier skirt.

Mahindan, the unofficial leader of the group, rolled her eyes. She too wore a shawl, though the weave was much finer than Shirin's, the patterns more intricate. "You think everything is a bad idea. You need to relax more. To have adventures. You are boring."

"I have plenty of adventures. Yesterday I chased Ashad's urva from our garden and rescued one of the goats that got stuck in the fence," Shirin replied. She felt that this proved her point because it was known that Ashad bred the fiercest urva in the province. "I am not boring."

"That is not an adventure. That's life here." Nusha was a sweet girl, but did not like life in a farming village. She was beautiful with her large eyes and dark curly hair, but too thin and fragile for most farm work. Her biggest dream was to travel to the provincial capital Tarqe-ba, marry a rich merchant or minor noble, and never have to see another hen or goat again except on her dinner plate.

"You should do more than just read all the time." Mahindan turned towards her as they continued down the dirt road towards the temple. How she managed not to trip walking backwards, Shirin did not know. "That is why I told you to sneak out. Otherwise you would read until the oil ran out in your lamp."

"There is nothing wrong with that." A note of defensiveness had crept into Shirin's voice. Everyone boy and girl was taught to read in school, but most never wanted to go beyond being able to read a bill of goods to make sure they weren't being cheated. Only Shirin had the urge to read for fun.

Zena, ever the peacemaker, patted Shirin's arm. "No, there is nothing wrong with that. Though it is nice to be out in the night air." The last as said in a dreamy voice as Zena looked up at the stars.

The three other girls stared at Zena. Everyone knew that the night air sometimes carried a daema, a spirit of chaos, that would bring sickness to children by stealing their breath and cause women to miscarry. The only reason it was safe for any of them to walk was they were all old enough to not be considered children, but still young enough not to be married.

"At least Baran's dog didn't start barking," Nusha said to break the awkward silence. She was the only one of the four to wear a head covering, to keep the sun from lightening her hair. It was such a habit for her she even wore one at night. "Once that dog starts, he never stops. Then we would have been found out for sure."

Shirin could see Mahindan's smile even in the dark. "I made sure of that. I drugged him."

"Mahindan!"

"You didn't!"

"Will he be all right?" The last was said by Zena. She had a soft spot for all creatures.

Mahindan waved away their concerns with a motion of her hand. "He'll be fine. It was just a few leaves of the eklilkuh plant. It will just make him drunk for the night. The dog will be fine by morning." As if sensing where they were, Mahindan turned so that she was moving forward. "Look. There's the temple."

The temple itself was the largest structure in the village, and was the second largest in the province. It resembled four concentric squares stacked one on top of the other to form a tiered temple. A staircase led to the top of the first tier where the entrance to the shrine lay. The face of the temple was covered in glazed bricks: red and orange, green and gold, blue and black, white and brown. They formed geometric patterns to represent the six elements of earth, air, fire, water, darkness and light. A gate set with hundreds of tiles arched over the staircase at both the bottom and at the entrance to the shrine.

Merchants and travelers said that the temple in the capital city Ishakar put this temple to shame. They said it was ten times as large as the one before them, big enough that each level included fountains, gardens, and paths for walking. The gates were huge and instead of hundreds of tiles each as covered with tens of thousands of tiles no bigger than a thumbnail. It made the temple in their province seem like a quaint country home in comparison.

None of the girls quite believed the merchants. Even Nusha, who had visited Tarqe-ba and seen the temple there, didn't believe that the temple in the capital could be that large. Especially since the one in the provincial capital wasn't much bigger than the one here.

"I don't think we should go in." Shirin had always had odd feelings about the temple. Not bad feelings, just odd. Like there was someone watching her from the shadows. It was true that the scrolls said that the ezidah were always watching, always weighing a person's good deeds against their evil. Somehow Shirin didn't think that they had meant it quite so literally.

"Boring," Mahindan said. She put one foot on the steps leading up to the shrine entrance and looked at the others. "We're not going to do anything bad. I just want to see the full statue."

Nusha and Zena both giggled. Each temple had a statue representing the ezidah in their idealized human forms. They were neither male nor female but both at once. During the first half of service, the statue was covered by an embroidered red cloth. Those who hadn't come of age were not allowed to see the statue and were escorted outside the temple during the second half of the service when the statue was unveiled.

Mahindan was asking them to glimpse the forbidden. Everyone, even small children, knew that the statues were naked underneath. They had full, heavy breasts and an erect penis that tented the cloth when covered. They were all good, pious girls. None of them had ever seen an erect penis before.

Pulling the cloth off the statue was definitely an adventure.

"We'll get in trouble," Shirin pointed out, but she knew a lost cause when she saw one.

"Not if no one catches us." Mahindan started up the steps, picking up the hem of her skirt to take them two at a time. Nusha and Zena followed, still laughing. Shirin trailed behind them, hoping that nothing bad would happen.

She caught up with the others at the entrance of the shrine, underneath the gate that marked its entrance. The lack of sunlight made the inside of the shrine darker than they were use to. The sacred fires were burning though, sending shadows jumping as the flames flickered. All the rugs that normally covered the floor had been taken up and the cloth dividers separating men from women had been put away. Everything looked cold and bare in the fire light.

At the front of the shrine, on its high perch, stood the statue draped in cloth.

"How are we going to get it off?" Zena whispered. Silence.

"Will do what the priest does between services. How does the priest get it off between services?" Nusha asked. More silence.

"I don't know. I haven't attended them," Mahindan said, barely managing to keep sarcasm out of her voice. "Someone will have to climb up there." The tiered stone platform towered over them.

"I will." All three turned to look at Shirin. "I'll climb up there."

"But…"

"If I do it, we'll leave right?" Mahindan nodded. "And you won't accuse me of being boring ever again right?" Mahindan nodded again. "Then I'll do it."

Shirin tucked her skirt into her belt, baring her ankles and calves. She'd climbed enough trees in her time to know that would make things easier. Her shawl was handed to Zena. It would only get in the way. Then, taking a hold of the stone platform, Shirin started upwards.

The climb up was easy as long as Shirin concentrated on getting to the top rather than how high up she was. The stone tiers were evenly spaced and irregular enough that she found plenty of hand and foot holds. Her arms ached a little, but that was fine. Climbing always did that too her.

Before too long she was at the top, leveling herself up beside the statue. The first thing she noticed that at the back of the flat area where the statue stood there was a door. The second thing she noticed was that the platform had been absolutely filthy. Her knees were dark with dirt, and her palms felt gritty.

"Shirin?" Mahindan was calling up to her. Her voice sounded strained. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Shirin called back. "I found how the priest gets up here. There is a door." She tried to push it open, but it wouldn't budge. "It seems to be locked."

"Just pull off the cloth and let's go," Nusha said, barely loud enough to be heard. Shirin resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It figured that as soon as she got up here, they were ready to leave. She turned away from the door, took a hold of the cloth covering the statue, and pulled.

It was a very good statue, carved in marble so white it seemed to glow in the firelight. Whoever had carved it had painstakingly put in every detail. Shirin could see every curl in the statue's hair, the individual links in the chains around its neck, the soft curve of muscles on its arms, and even the fingernails on its hands. It stood on a two inch base, which Shirin carefully moved around in order get a better look.

The statues in the temple weren't supposed to represent any one of the ezidah. That would be sacrilegious. Instead the statues were a perfect blend of features from all the ezidah when they took their hybrid male/female forms.

If the ezidah even looked half as beautiful as the statue, Shirin could see why the early people worshiped them. The cheekbones were softly rounded, the eyes large, the eyebrows lush, and the lips full. There was an androgynous cast to the statue's face. The shoulders were narrow, but the breasts were full and well formed. The waist was distinct and it flared into narrow hips.

The bottom part, though, was not what she was expecting. Shirin had heard penises compared to swords, shafts, snakes, and obelisks. So when she'd pictured it in her head, she'd imagined something like a smooth cylinder. That was not at all what it looked like. There was a strange flared tip thing at the end of the penis and instead of being straight it curved slightly as it poked upwards. She touched it with one of her fingers.

"Shirin!" Nusha exclaimed. All the other girls were giggling. Encouraged by their reaction, Shirin stepped onto the statue's base and took a hold of the penis with her hand. She heard Zena gasp.

Laughing, she ran her hand up and down the statue's penis. It was a crude gesture and she knew it. Her friends dissolved into laughter. Shirin felt bold. She felt adventurous. She felt like she could do anything.

Of course, that is the exact moment that her foot slipped.

Zena shrieked a bit, but quickly cut off the sound unless someone heard. Shirin grabbed the statue's arm with her free hand and tightened her grip on its penis. There was a definite cracking sound. With a gasp, Shirin snatched her hand back.

Too late. The statue's penis had broken. It bounced once, twice, three times on its way down before landing on the floor. It lay pale and ghostly on the temple floor. The other girls all stared at it.

There was absolute silence. Then, as clear as if someone were standing right next to her, Shirin heard laughter. All the color drained from her face.

"Get down here," Mahindan hissed. Shirin didn't need to be told twice. She scrambled down the side of the stone platform so fast that it was wonder she didn't fall and break her neck. Zena gave her the shawl back and she slung it around her shoulders. They ran out of the temple and took the stairs two at a time on the way down.

It was only when they were far down the road and there were no signs of pursuit they slowed down. The moon had risen slightly above the horizon. A few clouds had come in from the ocean and were lazily making their way across the sky. All four of them were out of breath.

"I can't believe you did that," Nusha said. Her words opened a dam. Soon Mahindan, Nusha, and Zena were laughing so hard they had tears running down their faces. Even Shirin was giggling, though she quickly sobered when she remembered the laughter. Someone else had seen them.

"I can't believe we got away with that. I thought the person laughing would get us for sure. We'll probably be in trouble when they tell the priests what happened," Shirin said. Her three friends all gave her a look.

"Shirin, what are you talking about? No one was laughing in the temple," Mahindan said. "You must have been hearing things."

Shirin opened her mouth to argue, and then closed it without saying a word. She had heard laughter. She was sure of it. But no one had chased them. Surely someone would have come after them for what she did? It must have been her imagination. And yet, even as she thought it, she didn't quite believe it.

"Come on," Shirin said. "Let's go home."