Chapter 9
The Challenge of DeathBearers, wearing garlands of flowers and coronets of peacock and ostrich feathers, carried the corpse of the prince encased in gold to the Field of Challenge.
Immediately behind them walked the Queen, her head held high. Her dark eyes were dry, but lined so heavily with black kohl that no one could see her expression. She was followed by the other priestesses of the Bull Cult.
These women had been set aside from the community from an early age and were looked upon with a great deal of fear. Their training within the cult rooms of the labyrinthine palace was secret, and they emerged as priestesses to the public view only when they were ready, literally, to taste the blood of the Bull sacrifice.
Their faces were heavily painted in a way that made it imposs
