Ol' Flint the Crow

Priest and Priestess of the Gok

Bleak and Samuel playfully strolled together across the fields while they ever so often glanced at each other. The barmaid would quickly turn her head away with a blush which made Samuel want to look at her even more. He enjoyed making her uncomfortable. It was fun.

Eventually they came upon a cobblestone path to their left which circled one of the larger, more expensive farm houses. The two of them were about to pass the building without much thought when suddenly agonizing screeches stabbed at their hearts. Immediately, they turned their heads to face the terrible wailing. They maneuvered around a pear tree where eerier sounds of rhythmic chanting could be heard in company with the screams.

On the other side of the tree, they came across a brutal sight. Two people, dressed in purple priest robes, reeking of blood and expensive incense, stood in front of a farming family, sitting on their knees in a circle with their hands in prayer.

These priest, whooping and hollering at the top of their lungs, marched around the family. In each of the priests' hands was a young lamb drenched in blood. The creatures' bones where broken and their limbs dangled lifelessly underneath them. Blue welts formed on the animals' beaten heads. Moaning in pain, the two sheep baaed for someone to help them.

However, after every chant the two humans would shout and swing a metal stick covered with spikes at the sheep's bodies causing blood to gush out of them. The humans would then swish the sticks above the farming family's heads to splattered their faces with the holy gore of the sacrificial livestock.

Unable to stare at the violence the two priest were inflicting on the poor animals, Samuel averted his eyes away from them towards a pushcart parked by a white gate. Stacked on the cart were wire cages stuffed with small animals like rodents, reptiles, and birds. These creatures stuck their heads out of the pens and gasped for breath as they watched in horror the carnage the two young sheep were suffering. They only could pray that this time they would not be joining them.

Taking one more look at the two humans and the animals they tormented, Samuel knew who they were. Gok priest. Only that cult could do something so brutal. He had heard of these traveling priest. They were hired by believers in the Gok to sacrifice animals for them in order to receive blessings from the many gods. However, witnessing this for the first time, the minstrel could barely believe in what he was seeing. The brutality made him sick.

Although Samuel wanted to protest at the two humans in order to stop them from their mistreatment of the animals, the minstrel's words could not escape his lips. He fell silent from the bloodshed.

"Drop those poor sheep!" said Bleak, who stomped her foot in anger.

Although the bartender's voice was strong and commanding, the two Gok priest did not make any reaction and continued, all the more adamantly, to torture the lambs they clenched. Not even the family of farmers took any notice. The only one that did was a young farm girl who opened one eye and glanced at the trespassers in confusion. Her cheeks were deadly pale which only made the blood splattered over her all the more striking.

Before Miss Bleak could do anything to stop the savage ceremony, the two priest shot their heads so far back up in the air that Samuel thought they would snap their necks off. With a jolt, they swung their sticks high over their shoulders. Then the stick came crashing down on the skulls of the two lambs who collapsed dead. No longer did they have to suffer such drawn-out torture.

Samuel exhaled in relief, yet his displeasure at the Gok priest finally lit up with a fiery rage. "That was cruel!"

Still they did not listen. Instead, with great supplication, they fell on their knees, painted cultish marks on the cobblestones with the blood, and then wailed aloud in a single voice that shook the flute player to his very core.