The Goddess of Death and Her Empress

"Goddess, that thing was foul!" Valjhana vomited the consort out of her belly onto the floor. "So much perfume and makeup. How could you stand it?" She asked the king who was sitting on the throne, barely able to hold onto his consciousness.

"Go wash your mouth out, Jhana." Valina said, and looked at the other frightened members of the harem. "Shadows. Search for evidence of their crimes against the Empress. I don't want to sour your bellies with such disgusting creatures." Valthyria sighed.

"Thanks, Lina. I'd rather eat a stone bear then these powdered cackling hens." She disappeared, along with five other Shadows, and came back within a few minutes.

"That didn't take long." Valina said with a frown.

"They didn't bother to hide their crimes." Valthyria said with a sneer upon her lips. "Poison right on their makeup stands. Small vials of whatever could do the most damage, or cause the most pain. All over a little bit better position on the king's bed."

"Foolish waste of effort." Valina said. She walked over to the group of women, and tried not to inhale the stench of perfume that almost created a fog in the air.

"All of you could have fostered young women to become your hands and feet outside the castle. Opened businesses to accumulate wealth, and grown personally. Instead you sought an advantage in a pond full of mud and frogs." She shook her head in disgust.

"We had no choice!" One said angrily. "Once you enter the harem, you either fight to survive, or become the victim!" She growled at Valina, and had no fear. She knew she would die, but she wanted to act normally for a moment before she did. "The Empress was protected so thoroughly, no trick could reach her. It kept these bitches occupied enough to keep on living a bit longer." Valina tilted her head.

"Valthyria, who is this one?" She asked. The Shadow appeared.

"Ah, she had the least amount of poison, and seemed to not use it as much. I think she was the lowest one in the harem." Valthyria said oddly.

"She also uses the least amount of perfume, or makeup." Valina said softly. The woman grumbled.

"Of course I do. It does no good when your skin is older and sagging." She said miserably. "The king only visited me once or twice in the last ten years. I've had no position to protect. He wasn't allowed to visit the Empress, as she was protected from him as well." The members of the harem hissed at her.

"Like you don't know the truth, you clay caked bitches." She said fiercely.  Valina smiled at the older concubine's words.

"Jhana, I like this one. Take her out of this group before her own stomach sours from the stench." She grinned wickedly. "The goddess can sense truth and lies, and so far, there are no lies on your lips, little human." The woman snorted.

"There is no reason to lie if we are going to die anyway." She seemed to deflate. "Go into the harem, and either die from poison, or get discarded and replaced. You can never leave once you enter." Valina seemed to think for a moment, then felt quite startled.

'Valina.' A soft whisper slipped into her ear. 'Bring her home. Annulled. No longer concubine. Now mine.'

"Bring her to the Empress." Valina said in shock. "The Empress wants this one in the temple, free to serve, and free of the fear of being eliminated." Valjhana looked at her in surprise.

"She might become an Other?" Valjhana asked.

'Obey, Valina. The Empress has noticed her sincerity. This is an opportunity, but she must seize it herself.' Valina shook inside, as the Empress's whisper sounded just like their goddess when she spoke to them, but they both knew the Empress was deeply asleep. She shouldn't be able to speak to them as she wasn't even aware they were gone.

"The goddess agrees with the Empress." Valina said in a small voice. Her eyes focused on this older woman.

"For some reason, the Empress has noticed you. This is an opportunity none of these other hags will ever experience." Valina said, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"I can leave this hell?" She asked, now in a more subdued voice.

"Yes. The Empress is not a human king, but the chosen consort of the goddess. She will eventually rule Haven beside the goddess." Valina said. "Do you understand how great an opportunity this is?" The woman slowly nodded.

"To serve as a concubine to a human king, or as a servant to the goddess's consort." Her face started to reveal how relaxed she would feel once she was out of this place. "This is quite an opportunity."

"King? That mutt? The Empress called him a dog faced king who should be sterilized." Valina turned her head, and glared at Bardulf. "He will be the last to die in this castle, but it will not be a gentle death." Bardulf shivered and tried to hide his trembling.

Bardulf was a loudmouth, and used to being a bully. All of his tactics were useless in this situation. He could not overpower his opponents, and he could not save his own life. However, he would never commit suicide to prevent such a grisly death.

Essentially, Bardulf was a coward who wanted to find a way to survive.  One day soon, he would wish he had the courage to do the deed himself.

* * *

"What will I do there?" The older woman asked quietly. Valina lifted an eyebrow.

"You were a concubine, not a wife. You didn't have the protections that marriage would provide you, but you had all the drawbacks of being in the harem of a single man." Valina said. "The Empress has annulled your status as a concubine. You are a free woman now." Her cheek twitched as her eyes misted up.

"Free. How long has it been since I've heard that word?" She whispered. "But what can I do now? I have no skills, no family, and no silver." Valina rolled her eyes a bit.

"You can do a lot more than before. You can go to the town near the temple where the Empress resides. You can find work there. You can also find work on one of the farms the Empress owns outside of the temple." Valina smirked a bit. "Or you can go to the temple, and become dedicated to the goddess."

"You were dedicated at one time, right?" Bryn, the older concubine asked. She wasn't sure dedication to the goddess of death was a good thing, but the goddess made her a free woman, and had mercy on her. Was there a possibility that she wasn't as evil as the rumors indicated?

"Thousands of years ago." Valina said softly. "My people are born dedicated, and when we reach an appropriate age, we are Offered to the goddess." She sighed. "The Offering seems barbaric to outsiders, but to those who know what is to come, it is a blessing." Bryn frowned slightly.

"What is to come? I don't understand."

"The Offering isn't the end of your life. It is the end of your human life. It is a ritual where you Offer your remaining human life to the goddess to show your faith in her promise." Valina smiled nostalgically. "As the ritual is performed, the one who is Offered knows the goddess waits for them in Haven. As she dies, her spirit is taken to Haven. She is transformed into an Other of the goddess, and allowed to live ageless in Haven, without sickness, and without death." Valina sighed and leaned back on the cushioned seat of the carriage.

"My Offering was the perfect end to my life. I traded maybe ten, or twenty years of human life for thousands of years of life afterward." Valina closed her eyes and left Bryn with one last thought.

"Does the Offering sound like a sacrifice to you, or does it feel like a blessing?"