Goda's Slave (Lesbian, Dystopia, LGBT Fantasy)

Chapter 8: A Death Wish

Kanna stared at the priestess, completely taken aback. "You can speak Upperland tongue?" she stammered in amazement, though even still she tried to keep her voice quiet.

"I can speak many tongues. That's why they sent me here," the priestess said. "But more importantly, no one else here can speak Upperlander—and certainly not Goda Brahm, so there's no chance that she can overhear."

"I understand, but isn't Porter Goda near the threshold? She does remind me of an animal sometimes, but I can't imagine that she has the ears of a wildcat."

"She's not at the threshold. She's standing on the other side of the far wall of the garden, just beyond the fence. She moved. You sensed it, didn't you?"

"How did you know that?" Kanna asked, newly perplexed.

The priestess gave her an enigmatic look. "I saw you twitch—but also, I can tell where she is if she's close enough. Call it a sixth sense."

"Because you're a priestess?"

"No." She looked away from the Goddess. "Goda and I are bound together by fate in a manner which I cannot freely explain to you, because it's in a manner that the Holy Mother disapproves of, one ill-suited for a priestess. Though I had hoped that through years of prayer, I would have been able to cut this thread that held us hostage to each other, I realize now that it isn't true. The moment that I saw Goda's face yesterday, every old emotion erupted in me. I had ungodly thoughts. We never know what we can tolerate until we're tested, I suppose."

Kanna hesitated, not sure how much was appropriate to ask. "Were the two of you...married or something like that?" she guessed.

Priestess Rem gave her a crooked smile. "Priestesses cannot marry or even leave the clergy, except under very limited circumstances. Goda also cannot marry, for different reasons—and to be frank, I would not...encourage any person to view her as a suitable partner." She seemed to have chosen her words carefully. She was cringing. "But I didn't ask you here to burden you with our tedious history, which is none of your business. I took you alone to ask about Goda and your present situation."

"What do you need to know?"

"Tell me...," the priestess began. She had a strange tone of voice; she was staring at Kanna with absolute attention. "Has Porter Goda abused you in any way?"

"Abused me...?"

"Has she beaten you? Denied you food as punishment? Has she...forced herself on you when you were alone? If she has," the priestess said quickly, "you should accuse her now, so that we can rescue you from her."

Kanna pulled back in surprise. At first, she really did consider implicating her temporary master. She was eager to grasp at any escape rope—any at all—even if it meant that she had to lie through her teeth. The moment she had been arrested and thrown into a cage, she had promised herself that she would do anything to break herself out.

However, her desperation was blanketed by a healthy surge of hesitation, too. She was skeptical of the priestess. The offer had been so blunt and so sudden, and she had no idea what the woman's actual motives might have been.

Kanna finally asked, "If I accuse Porter Goda, will that set me free?"

"No. You would just go with a different porter to your assigned factory in the Middleland and complete your ten years of hard labor, while Goda would be confined for investigation."

Kanna sighed. She had assumed as much. Even if it did not technically change her situation, though, finding a new porter could buy her time. It was something to consider.