Life and Times of a Priestess: Ch.10: Love Grows (Part 2 - Section1)

Ch.10 Love Grows

Part 2

     Ravelleon wanted to guard her jealously and very soon attempted to persuade her to move out of the Priestesses dormitory to a house of her choice in the city, where he might occasionally meet her away from his offices.  But that would have meant separation from her friends and comrades, not completely, for he could not dissuade her from meeting them at the dormitory or hosting them in her new house, but she could not have shared their life and would have felt alone.  Separation would have meant an end of her duties as Priestess and prostitute and for many weeks she resisted Ravelleon’s subtle attempts to persuade her not to continue that life.  The Vanmarian culture of monogamy, particularly strong in he who espoused its cause against Pirion so avidly, caused him to attempt to impose his nonsensical ideas upon Danella.  She had caused him to relax his beliefs somewhat already and so she was able to maintain his grudging acceptance of the life she led.  He knew at this time that he could not change her ways.  He adored her so much that he could accept any indignity to keep her.  He could not afford to lose her or to anger her now that she meant so much to him.

     It became common knowledge among his staff, officers and men stationed in Dalos that their General had a Priestess for his mistress.  There was much gossip talked about him and many rumours, which were not always accurate. Some said that he had persuaded her to move into his quarters, that she was no longer a common prostitute, that she had renounced the Priesthood of the Goddess and no longer believed in the ways of Pirion.  The regular visitors to the dormitory might not all know exactly which Priestess it was who slept regularly with their General, they could only guess.  Danella requested the other Priestesses not to tell the men that it was she who was Ravelleon’s favourite.  She did not wish to become an object of curiosity to the soldiers who might regard her as belonging by right to the General or who would treat her differently if they knew.  She did not wish to be distanced from her normal customers or to be avoided by newcomers.  The regular guards at the dormitory, including of course Gerald, were all aware that it was she who so often kept the General’s bed warm.  So some soldiers who might visit and might ask could find out.  She did have two different customers who told her they knew who she was and chose her because she was the General’s mistress as well as being beautiful.  Both were keen to dissuade her from informing the General that they had chosen her.  She would not have remembered their names for long anyway so their identity was safe with her.  Their concern showed their fear of the General.  They, as Prancirians, understood well that such a powerful man would not wish to share his woman with anyone else, and certainly not with half of his army.

    “I was a Priestess before you overran Dalos and before I met your General,” she said to each of them.  “It is not in my nature to restrict myself to any man. I do not belong to your General any more than he belongs to me.  You have as much right to call upon my services as he, although I am fond of him”.  She did not reveal her relationship with Ravelleon to any other regular customers, except with Paul, who was the closest to her.  She had told him much of her beliefs and they had achieved what she regarded as a very close understanding of each other.  However, he was shocked to discover who he shared this woman with.  Evidently by his reaction she discovered that even noble, honest, intelligent, open minded Paul had come to believe that to some extent she was his.  He minded not the sharing of her with the faceless men of his and other regiments, but he could not easily accept that she ‘belonged’ also to his General.  Against the others Paul knew he had a deeper bond with her, so they were no threat to his position and he could share her gladly. But against Ravelleon he could not feel that.  He expected that women were attracted by power, and she had told him that she spent much of her time with him.  Paul had grown tired and unhappy before her eyes.  His vitality was restored by her concerted effort at lovemaking, which proved to him again that she cared for him.

    “What we have is precious to me Paul. You are very different to Ravelleon, and I value you for your mind which is in so many ways greater than Ravelleon’s, and for your friendship, which is natural and uncontrolling, and also for your beauty and passion.

      Ravelleon had not wished it be widely known that he had taken a mistress from amongst the culturally inferior Pirionites but there was no stopping the rumours.  He tried to monitor what was said about him by asking trusted members of his staff, but there was no way of knowing whether they heard all of the rumours which circulated.  They gave him polite answers which he deemed to be honest, but could never be sure they were telling him the whole truth.  Nonetheless the answers he got from them suggested that amongst the men of his command he was a popular and respected General, his image untarnished by rumours of an affair.  Indeed, he was told, the men respected him for his enjoyment of womankind.  They accepted that an important man should have a mistress, especially if he was away from home in the field.  It was what some of his officers were doing, some of them with the Pirionite women who were so easily available over here.  Those of his staff who had seen Danella were apparently impressed by her beauty and envious of their General rather than disapproving.

Still he continued to worry that some opponent, perhaps an important official in the army who wished perhaps to dislodge him and advance their own position or someone with a political grudge against the influence he held with the politicians in Dumis, might wish to tarnish his name.  However, if there were to be such an attempt it could not be helped.  He was hopelessly in love with Danella.  Never had a woman had such an effect on him. If he had to choose between his reputation and position and her he would have to choose her now.  He recognised his own loss of control and believed it a price worth paying.

      As time went on Ravelleon became more relaxed, many of his colleagues did indeed seem to admire him for his daring. Perhaps they were jealous of a man who had the kind of relationship with a beautiful woman which even money could not buy.  “Somehow,” they said, “the General has managed to find a whore whom he does not have to pay for, who seems willing to be more than just a whore to him.”

      The day came when the General learned that he was to be recalled from his command at the front to Dumis, the proud capital city of Prancir, for a period.  This was to be not a demotion from his position as a commander of brave and proud men, but a recalling to serve on the General Staff of the Army of the Republic as a High Commander of the army in determining the nature and force of campaigns, the strategic planning of the war.  This most important body also acted as the advisor to the Prime Minister, the President and the cabinet of politicians who collectively ran the government. Thus some might have wondered if he were being removed from command of a large section of the army at the front, with power and government over Dalos and the surrounding section of occupied Pirion, to a more lowly bureaucrat’s position.  But Ravelleon did not view it in that way.

      He knew she remained proud of her identity as a Priestess, and seemed not to see their work and nature as he did.  He recognised now through her, how a Priestess felt about her ‘work’.  They deemed the sexual act to be a service of kindness and affection, and not a matter for high dedication.  It was easily given, and thus they were willing prostitutes, a profession which most Vanmarian women would have done anything to avoid.

      She was strong willed and he had been unable to move her on the subject.  He knew there was no way while even she remained with the Priestesses in Dalos that she would cease her old habits.  And so the solution of bringing her to Prancir appealed to him greatly. In cultured Dumis she would see how ladies should behave, and learn to dedicate herself wholly to the man who loved her.  He felt no dislike of what she was, he loved her precisely because of her open background.  It had made her in his eyes superior to Prancirian women who were cold.  But he wanted her for himself, no longer to be shared with his soldiers.

      For some days he was unwilling to frame the words to ask her to accompany him.  If she would not come to Dumis he would lose her.  He was unable to face the consequences of her refusal and spent his idle moments worrying.  Yet he was a wealthy General, and what life did she enjoy here? Surely she would wish one day to leave the communicability of the dormitory for the privacy and opulence of his Dumis house.  He hoped that her declared wish to travel to Vanmar might cause her to decide in his favour. The time approached when he could no longer put off telling her.  He must use every encouragement to take her with him.