Shadows of the Night

Prologue

Date Unknown

Date UnknownShafts of golden sunlight swept down upon the gilded and flamboyantly decorated buildings of the great city of The People, their brilliance reflecting from the solid gold inlay adorning the massive temples that lined the sweeping avenues of the city. Those magnificent avenues thronged with a multitude of those eager to witness the coming great event. Soon, the heat of the day would rise to a point where a shimmering haze would rise from the floor of the city, the well swept streets taking on the appearance of a vaporous ocean as the haze appeared to float in an ethereal cloud just above the ground, as far as the eye could see. For now, though, it was comfortable warm, and the people gathered in expectation, dressed in their finery, ready for the great event.

The PeopleShi-Rea looked out across the great throng of people who were gathered in the central square of the city. Resplendent in her ceremonial dress, she stood beside the other handmaidens in the second tier of spectators, behind the High Priest and his chief assistants. From the great height of her vantage point it seemed to her that she could see the entire world from atop the pyramid. Those gathered below were as ants, milling around in expectation of the great ceremony to come.

Now in her twenty-third year, Shi-Rea had spent the previous six years as handmaiden to the priests of the great temple. She"d been selected, like those with whom she now stood, to spend those years as one of the concubines to the priests who governed the religious and spiritual welfare of The People. Though afraid at first, she soon learned to accept the caresses and attentions of the priests, and learned to accept the great honour that had been bestowed upon her and her fellow concubines. She received the finest food, the most beautiful clothes with which to adorn her slim, shapely frame and she lived within the grandeur of the Great Temple itself, with rooms near the top, close to the Gods themselves. Specially selected slaves attended to her long, black hair, ensuring it was always washed and beautifully arranged, and to her make up and her bathing, and so, she would always present a pleasing and sensual appearance to the priests with whom she was expected to sleep and provide the use of her body.

The PeopleSoon, after the closure of the great ceremony, she would be released from her role and would become a teacher, as did all former priestly concubines. For now, though, she was a part of this great ritual, and though she had witnessed it on so many previous occasions, it still instilled a sense of awe and at times, fear within her heart, as she realised how fortunate she had been to be selected for her role within the temple. It could have been so very different, as she knew only too well.

Though future generations would record them under a variety of names, the inhabitants of the gilded city and the lands that stretched out for interminable miles around it knew themselves simply as The People. Educated and cultured, they lived in a city of splendour, the buildings decorated in brilliant colours, gleaming under a perpetual sun. Each family lived in their own accommodation, on streets paved and smooth, with public facilities and amenities afforded to all. The city boasted parks, planted with a variety of trees, plants and flowers of every hue known to man, public conveniences for both sexes, and a variety of markets selling every commodity available to enhance the everyday lives of the industrious and well ordered society.

The PeopleCentral to this great civilisation were the towering temples, stepped pyramids that rose from the valley floor, dedicated to the gods whom The People worshipped. Unlike the dwellings of the city"s inhabitants and those buildings given over to municipal use, these great temples were decorated not in the usual array of brilliant colours, but instead, were covered from floor to summit in gold leaf, a commodity common to The People, and used more for its aesthetic beauty than for its intrinsic value. Teams of goldsmiths worked from dawn to dusk all through the year to keep the artisans who maintained the outer skin of the pyramids in pristine condition at all times, in reverence and respect to the Gods to whom they were dedicated.

The PeopleThe PeopleShi-Rea now watched spellbound, as the drummers took their places atop the great pyramid. Resplendent in their headdresses of purple feathers, the drummers lined up, all seven of them, and awaited the signal from Moc-Karai, the high priest. Only that morning, Shi-Rea had awoken in the bed of Moc-Karai, having served him as she had so often over the years throughout the night. As was usual on the eve of the Great Ceremony, the high priest of the people had appeared insatiable, and Shi-Rea had breathed a silent sigh of relief when he had eventually fallen into a deep slumber a little before dawn, only to rise once more a short time later, eager and ready to begin preparations for the ceremony. Now, as the sun approached its zenith, Moc-Karai, dressed in the traditional purple robe and wearing the fearsome looking jaguar mask of the high priest and with six other priests in attendance, three to his left, three to the right, raised his right hand in the time honoured signal. As one, the drummers began to beat out a slow, steady rhythm. As they did so, the crowd gathered at the base of the pyramid fell silent, an expectant hush sweeping through the throng of citizens as they waited for the next stage of the proceedings. The drum beat increased in tempo and, from an opening behind the great altar, two more priests walked on to the large flat pyramid summit. Between them walked a beautiful raven haired girl, her age no more than sixteen or seventeen, much the same age as Shi-Rea had been when first selected for her role as concubine.

Dressed in a flowing diaphanous white robe, with a small headdress of multi-coloured feathers topping the ensemble, the girl appeared as if in a daze, the two priests guiding her to the large stone altar, her steps faltering and hesitant. Shi-Rea knew that the girl would have been given numerous drafts of the magic liquid that brought about a dream-like state in the individual, over the previous passage of the sun and moon. Now, the young girl would know little of what was happening to her, a fact that brought a certain comfort to Shi-Rea.

As the two attendant priests and the girl reached and stood before the altar, the drumming stopped, and Moc-Karai stepped forward, nodding to the priests as he did so. One of the men unfastened a clip at the shoulder of the girl"s white gown, as the second gently lifted the headdress from her head. Beneath the gown, the girl was naked, and as she stood, waiting in her semi-drugged state, Moc-Karai nodded once more and the priests lifted the girl onto the altar, laying her on her back beneath the glaring mid-day sun. Immediately, they were joined by two more of the High Priest"s assistants, who took a firm hold of the girl"s wrists, stretching them out, above her head, as the first two took a firm hold of her ankles, rendering her immobile. The girl"s eyes seemed to glaze over as she looked up into the burning rays of the sun, and then, without so much as a word being spoken, Moc-Karai reached into his robe and withdrew the sacrificial knife.

As the crowd below looked upwards, Moc-Karai raised his hand and the obsidian knife swept downwards in his skilled hand. A single scream escaped the girl"s lips as the High Priest, with a skill born of great experience, cut deep into her chest, death coming almost instantaneously to the sacrificial victim. The High Priest worked quickly and skilfully and continued to cut for what were no more than a few seconds, enough to complete his work. Then, his hands dripping with the fresh, warm blood of the sacrifice, he reached in to the gaping chest cavity and removed the heart of the girl, holding it up for the expectant crowd to witness.

As his hands held the heart aloft, the drummers began to beat out a new, faster rhythm, insistent and pulsating. The crowd at the pyramid base began to sway and raised their hands towards the sky, in praise of their gods. Moc-Karai now spoke at last, his words an incantation to the gods, an offering of this young life in order to ensure the continued peace and prosperity of The People. From the ground a chorus of voices echoed his words, as the crowd repeated his incantation and swayed continuously in time to the beat of the drums.

The PeopleThe two priests who had led the girl to the altar, together with those who had assisted them, now reached out and took her lifeless body from its place on the altar. Two took the body by the shoulders, the other two by the feet, and together, they swung the body in a great arc and then flung the bloody remains down in the direction of the crowd. A great roar went up from the gathering, though, so high was the grand altar, the body fell only a few dozen feet down the stepped surface of the pyramid, coming to rest over a hundred feet from ground level.

Moc-Karai now took the heart and placed it in a sacrificial bowl, kept specifically for the purpose, and turned and walked away, through the doorway that led back into the heart of the pyramid. Later, the heart would be cooked and shared between the priests, each taking no more than a small mouthful of what was after all, sacred meat, blessed and offered to the gods themselves. In this way, the divinity of the priesthood would be reaffirmed, and Shi-Rea knew that it would be a long and busy night, as she and her fellow concubines were called upon to help the priests celebrate the sacrifice in the time honoured way. She longed for the day, very soon, when she would be released from her servitude, but, at least, she would live, and become a revered teacher of the young, while others, not so fortunate, though she would never say such a thing to a soul, would be chosen to serve the gods in another, more brutal fashion, as her own younger sister had just done.

The sacrifice over, the crowd gradually dissipated, and the area around the pyramid returned to its usual state of peace and tranquillity. The People returned to their everyday lives, the markets continued to sell their wares, the merchants prospered and the artisans went about their work as before. Shi-Rea, though aware of the sinful nature of her actions, couldn"t help herself as she shed a silent tear for her sister, who The People and the priests had sanctified by offering her living heart to the gods, thus helping to preserve the continued prosperity of them all.

The PeopleThe PeopleAs the sun continued to shine upon the great city, bathing the lush green hills that encircled all the lands of The People, she followed her masters as they descended into the bowel of the pyramid. The Great Ceremony was over, until the next time.

The People