Life and Times of a Priestess: Ch.6: The Priestess Meets Another General (Part 1 : Section 2)

(Part 1 : Section 2)

 

     The guard showed her the way through the city to General Ravelleon’s apartments.  He was one of the regular guards, a man called Simon, although she had never spoken to him before. “Have you been in Pirion for long” she asked ,as much to make conversation as to hear his answer.

 

     “Six months” he replied.  He was typical of many of the soldiers, she thought, Short answers.  That made him a newcomer at the end of the siege when the city surrendered. “Ah just before the surrender” she said “and how long have you been in the army?”

 

    “More than a year” he said.  He was young she thought, perhaps a little shy of a Priestess like herself.  Could that be possible when she was a prisoner and he the conqueror.

 

    “Where are you from?” she continued her questioning as they passed buildings where repair work was being carried on, halted temporarily for the evening.

 

     “Selleise in the south,” he said.  She had never heard of it.

 

    “It’s a big port in the south,” he said, being helpful at last. Soldiers passed them in the streets, individuals on errands, many of them off duty for the evening. They passed bars newly created for the soldiers out of buildings which used to be houses.  There were soldiers inside making noise, and music was being played, attractive sing along songs, unlike the gentler sounds the musicians of Pirion usually made.

Now the temple wines stolen by the conquerors had been long finished.  New supplies of a drink called ‘beer’ and other wines from their homeland came into Dalos by ship or by train along the conquered Pirion coast.  The soldiers in the bars became drunk and had arguments or made fun of each other.  The guards now prevented the badly drunk soldiers from visiting the Priestesses but she had met them in the early days and wished to avoid their coarse indignities.  The performed badly at intercourse, and were often impossible to help.

 

     “Why do they drink so much?” she asked the guard.  Maybe he could explain it.

 

     “They drink to relax.  It’s good. When I’m off duty I also go to the bars”.  He was becoming much more talkative now.  She could understand that beer and wine was relaxing but these men often lost their senses.  There was nothing in '‘The Homecoming'’ about drinking, but it appeared to be important in the lives of these soldiers.

 

     "But they loose their minds.”

 

    “Only for one night, It’s fun,” he justified it simply but she could not really understand.  She didn’t think this guard was going to tell her the real reasons why these soldiers abused themselves so much.  She suspected he was the type who could not think beyond his own social customs to question why he did them.  That was probably what made him a good soldier.  He probably didn’t question his orders much either.  It reminded her also of many of her own people, the Priestesses who never showed curiosity about the world outside Shanla or Dalos, who never seemed to want anything beyond worship and communion and the friendship and security of their companions.

 

      She lost interest in the subject of her questions, and began to think again about the General.  “Do you know the General?” she asked.  From the look he gave her she realised it was a foolish question.

 

     “No we ordinary soldiers  never get to know the General.  Even many of the officers do not know him.” It was obvious that this guard did not believe that Generals should know their soldiers.  He was an important man.  Ordinary men were in a lower class.  She tried to think of questions which he would not consider to be foolish.  She wanted to find out more about Ravelleon and here was an ordinary soldier who was hers to talk to in privacy for the length of their journey.

 

     “Is he a successful General?” she asked,  “All Generals are successful”, he replied. 

 

    “Has he been successful in the war?”

 

    “You are here under our command.  He conquered this city and a lot more, therefore he is successful. Ravelleon is our greatest General,” said the guard.

 

       “He led the landings on the coast in the Jumillos campaign which routed the army of Pirion.  It was the most important battle so far.  Then in the aftermath of victory he stood up to the King of Vanmandria and denied them their unlawful claims”.

 

    “But you are allies of the Vanmandrians again now?”

 

    “Yes we don’t trust them, but we must work together to defeat Pirion”.

 

    “Why do you wish to defeat Pirion”, she asked, genuinely wanting to understand why the Prancirians should wish to do such an unpleasant and dangerous thing.  He hesitated to answer.  How could the many reasons be described in a few words.  She waited to see whether he knew why he was fighting.  She suspected he did not.

 

    “Our Government has decided to defeat the evil tyranny of Pirion which oppresses its people.” The words seemed to come straight from a script, but at least he was not reading and had learned the words by heart.

 

   “We are not ruled by a tyranny, but by a Grand Council, and there is no evil that I can see”, her arguments meant nothing to him, he was too young to understand the meaning of these words.

 

     “We are fighting to free the people of Pirion,” he reiterated.

 

    “By killing them” she asked.

 

    “If necessary to achieve our purpose” he replied.  It was a contradiction which made no logical sense but she was quite sure that she would need longer than the short time to cross the city to persuade him that his government’s reasons were unsound.  She had meant to find out more about Ravelleon but all she had discovered was that he was a conqueror admired by ordinary soldiers such as this one, who knew little  about him.  Changing the subject back she asked, “Is he married, the General?”

 

    “I think so”, replied the guard.

 

    “Why has he not visited the dormitory before now?”

 

    “I do not know.  Maybe he honours his wife by not doing so.  He is a General, he must set an example to his men”.  She could see the reason in that from a Pranarian point of view.  She had read enough of “The Homecoming” to see that.  To a priestess of Pirion of course it made little sense.

 

     They had come now through the city centre and here on the left was the burned out main Temple of the Goddess.  Here quite a few citizens of Pirion had died as the Prancirian captains and sergeants in the fresh anger of victory had decided to make sure their enemy was properly defeated, and for a short time, had turned to massacre.  It seemed a distant memory already, and Danella did not like to be reminded of it.  She was glad she was not one of the dead, because even after defeat life had proved to be worth living even if she hated the injustices she had seen.  She knew the Prancirians better now and was beginning to understand them more.  Of course she could never condone what they had done, and particularly what they had done here.  Ravelleon’s orders had brought an end to the shameful breaking of the surrender agreement.  She could thank him for that at least when she saw him.  Most of the ruined buildings in the city had either been cleared or were being repaired but the Temple remained as a stark reminder of the conflict.  It seemed that the Prancirians had no use for it and did not know whether to knock it down or to repair it.  Maybe it was intended to remain for now as a reminder to the subject population of the consequences of disobedience or the failure of their own Empire.

 

    The General’s apartments were close to the burned out temple and indeed, it could be seen from his windows.  As they approached three officers left the building, neat and proud with their hats in hand.  Guards stood outside the residence to protect the General from any Pirionite citizens who might wish to attempt to take their anger out on him.  Danella’s guard approached the guard on the door.  “The Lady Danella for the General,” he announced.  Danella recognised this as a very respectful address, one which she was not used to at the dormitory.  Gerald must have instructed him especially to say that.

 

     “She is expected”, said the Generals guard, as he surveyed her without pretence of respect.  She did not recognise the man but he surely knew where she came from and considered her both an object of attraction to be looked at and admired, and perhaps as a prisoner and servant from a conquered people to be despised.  After looking at the shape of her body through her clothes for as long as he could draw the moment out he waved her through and opened the door.  Danella’s guard bade her goodbye and set off back to the other side of the city.