The Courier
Copyright 2008 by EC
EC's Erotic Art & Fiction - http://www.ecgraphicarts.com/

(warnings: erotic discipline, sex between adults, medical fetish, 
forced public nudity, harsh police interrogation)


Chapter 15 - The Priestess 

Spokeswoman Lee-Dolkivna decided that, before anything, she 
needed to talk to Victor and let him know what was about to 
happen to Criminal # 101025. She called to make sure he would 
wait at his office, before turning her attention to the detainee 
who was supposed to appear before the arraignment committee that 
afternoon. Fortunately it turned out the three committee members 
were still in the building, so Kim's newest client could be 
arraigned after all. Kim noted that the committee members were 
furious about the delay and an explanation that she had been 
summoned to talk to the Grand Duchess calmed them only slightly. 
Kim sighed, because the delay had not been her fault and it 
seemed things were only going to get worse for her.

Once the arraignment was finished and her client was fitted with 
a temporary collar and released for the weekend, Kim went to 
Victor's office. She explained what his niece was planning to do 
with Criminal # 101025. Before Victor had the chance to react, 
Kim added that she was going to formally petition to have formal 
custody of Maria Elena transferred back to the Ministry of 
Justice. Fortunately she did have a good justification: the 
Colombian only spoke Spanish and would need a translator until 
she could learn Danubian. In truth Kim was not particularly 
worried about her client's lack of language. She was much more 
worried about what Anyia might do to her. She also was worried 
that Maria Elena's mental health was rather fragile and that it 
was important that her life be as normal as possible. Victor 
offered the hope of a normal life in a fairly normal household, 
and the university offered the hope of a normal life through a 
routine job. The Royal Household offered nothing that could be 
considered normal.

Kim could tell that Victor was very distressed upon hearing what 
had happened that afternoon at the Royal Residence, but outwardly 
he did his best to appear stoic. He was more pessimistic that 
Kim's efforts would accomplish anything other than get her in 
trouble. There was also his brother to consider: Victor was 
concerned about doing anything that would reflect badly on Vladim 
Dukov's government. To that Kim replied:

"Cecilia pointed something out to me today. I told her that I am 
very worried about what's going to happen when Anyia's behavior 
becomes a public scandal, which at some point it will. She said 
'what good is it gonna do to tell that to me? You need to tell it 
to the Prime Minister.' I realized she's right. Anyia's behavior 
is only going to get worse until someone brings her under 
control. And besides, I took an oath to defend my clients' 
interests to the best of my ability. I do not believe that 
Criminal # 101025 should be moved to the Royal House. It is my 
duty to try to get her transferred back. I realized that if I get 
fired, I get fired, but I cannot allow myself to be dishonored. 
And if I get fired, then I will know that the Creator wants me to 
pursue a different Path in Life. I suppose I could always go back 
to singing."

----------

As they walked back towards Victor Dukov's house, Cecilia told 
Maria Elena what was going to happen on Monday; that she would 
have to report to the Central Courthouse to have her Ministry of 
Justice collar removed and instead be collared with a Royal House 
collar. Then Maria Elenas trial judge would sign the documents 
officially transferring custody from Ministry of Justice 
Spokeswoman Kimberly Lee-Dolkivna to the Grand Duchess. Criminal 
#101025 would officially become property of the Royal Family. The 
Royal Representative would shackle her and she would be taken to 
the Royal Residence. Upon entering the Residence, she would 
receive training to become a Royal Servant.

Cecilia explained that Royal Servants had lives that were very 
different from criminals that belonged to the Ministry of 
Justice. They ate extremely well and each had a private room with 
a bathroom. At night they were allowed to cover themselves with a 
sheet or a blanket. They were expected to be extremely clean; to 
bathe in the morning and in the evening, and also any time before 
they performed an official duty for a member of the Royal Family. 
Royal Servants also had excellent medical and dental care and 
were forced to exercise on a daily basis to keep their bodies fit 
and attractive. They were highly trained and took pride in their 
positions in the Royal Household. 

Traditionally to be a Royal Servant was considered an honor among 
criminals. Unlike ordinary criminals, who often performed menial 
or dirty tasks, Royal Servants served the Royal Family during 
meals and tea time, and participated in ceremonial functions such 
as carrying banners and unrolling carpets. When not performing 
official duties they practiced and trained, so that every 
movement was perfectly choreographed. Part of their training 
consisted of staying perfectly still for long periods of time, 
even if forced to stand or kneel in an uncomfortable position. 
Cecilia warned Maria Elena that much of her training during the 
first week would consist of learning to stay immobile.

There were other differences between ordinary criminals and Royal 
Servants that were not so pleasant. Ordinary criminals were 
considered property of the Ministry of Justice, and thus belonged 
to an institution, not an individual. Apart from adhering to 
protocol, staying within their collar zone, and performing 
adequately at their assigned job, criminals assigned to the 
Ministry did not face many restrictions on their daily behavior. 
They were free to talk, move about within their designated area, 
buy and eat what they wanted, have relationships, make love, and 
even marry and have children. Royal Servants did not enjoy any of 
those freedoms, because their status was totally different. Their 
lives were very restricted and they did not have any free time. 
When they were not working, they were exercising or training. 
Talking was not allowed unless responding to a superior and 
correspondence with the outside world was prohibited. There was 
no such thing as having a personal relationship, because the 
Royal Servant's Path in Life was to provide undivided loyalty to 
the member of the Royal Family holding custody.

Although in theory he or she belonged to the Royal Household, in 
practice a Royal Servant always was assigned to an individual 
member of the Royal Family, usually the person who demanded the 
transfer. In Maria Elena's case that meant she would be the 
personal servant of Grand Duchess Anyia. Cecilia explained that, 
from what she understood, Anyia would be more than Maria Elena's 
custodian; she would become her owner. She commented:

"For some criminals it's not that bad of a life; there are some 
people do well under total control. But to keep servants under 
those conditions, the members of the Royal Family have to respect 
them and not be abusive. Traditionally that's not been much of a 
problem because of Royal protocol, but things have changed under 
Anyia. For one thing, she's got a lot more servants than the 
previous Grand Duchess had. The old Grand Duchess only kept five 
servants, and she had the same ones for decades. Anyia's already 
got at least 20, after being on the throne for just a couple of 
years. Another problem is that she's not nice at all. She keeps 
that switch in her hand all the time, because she's constantly 
using it on her servants. And I hate to say this, but you can 
expect her to be using it on you."

"But...why? Why does she punish them? What do they do?"

"In most cases, nothing...the servants don't do anything wrong, 
or at least nothing major. However, the Grand Duchess feels that, 
because she's wearing this country's crown, the world owes her 
treating her like a goddess. If she thinks a servant is 
disrespecting her, she'll punish that person immediately. She's 
got a real violent temper, and the least little thing can set her 
off. The least little thing, and there's no one to control her."

Maria Elena said nothing for a long time, as she walked in 
horrified silence with her translator. What else could she say? 
She had just become accustomed to her routine as a criminal and 
was looking forward to living a fairly normal life, but it turned 
out that the productive life she had expected wasn't going to 
happen after-all. Instead she was destined to become the personal 
slave of that maniacal young queen. Cecilia didn't know what to 
say either, because she felt horrible for her companion. Whatever 
her faults, she certainly did not deserve the grim life that she 
faced under Anyia.

----------

When Cecilia and Maria Elena returned to the university, they ran 
into Cecilia's fiance. Jason had just finished his classes for 
the day and was about to go in the opposite direction of the two 
women, downtown to the Temple of the Ancients. As a condition of 
his Public Penance, most Friday nights he had to report to the 
Priestess who held custody over him to receive the Church 
taskings that he had to perform over the following week. The 
taskings normally entailed manual labor for the upkeep of 
buildings, or assisting in moving food and other supplies for 
Church charity work. Increasingly, however, he was being called 
upon to provide counseling for recent converts and for people who 
had just started performing Public Penance. 

Jason could tell that both his fiance and the Colombian were 
miserable from dealing with some very bad news. Cecilia told him 
what had happened that afternoon at the Royal Residence. She 
didn't expect him to have much to say about the matter. However, 
without any hesitation he responded:

"Did you go to the Temple and discuss this with anyone?"

"No, we didn't. What does the Church have to do with it?"

"To me it's pretty obvious. The Creator has determined that Maria 
Elena's Path in Life will be to serve the Grand Duchess. The 
problem is that the Duchess has a broken soul, and to deal with a 
person with a broken soul, Maria Elena is gonna have to seek 
guidance."

Cecilia looked at Jason with a stunned expression. It had not 
occurred to either her or Kim that Maria Elena might benefit from 
talking to a member of the Clergy. Maybe that wasn't such a bad 
idea. She turned to the Colombian and translated what Jason had 
just told her. Maria Elena thought for a moment.

"You mean...Jason thinks I should talk to someone from their 
Church?"

"Yes. I hadn't thought about it, but I think hes right."

"But...I'm not a member of their Church. I don't know anyone 
there...why would they want to talk to me?"

"That's what they do at the Temple. People go there with 
questions and the Clergy talk to them."

"And do they get answers?"

"Yes, they get answers. Sometimes not the answers they want to 
hear, but they always get answers."

Maria Elena turned to Jason and asked him in Spanish: "If you're 
going to the Temple, can you take me there? And get someone to 
speak with me? Can you do that?

Cecilia translated Maria Elena's Spanish to English, and Jason's 
response:

Yes, Ill have you talk to my Priestess, the one I work for. 
Shes the most perceptive person I know, and Im sure shed be 
very curious to hear about your Path in Life.

----------

A few minutes later Jason led his companions to a plaza in a 
section of the city center that Maria Elena had not yet seen. 
Most of the buildings were older than the late 18th Century 
architecture surrounding the Central Police Station and were made 
out of stone. Dominating the plaza was a very old temple that 
obviously had been built long before anything else in Danube 
City. It had pillars and a large staircase leading off the street 
to the main floor. The stairs were full of people going in or 
coming out, most of whom were dressed in black robes. There were 
many naked people as well; some of them wearing Church collars 
like the one Jason had on, and the others wearing collars from 
the Ministry of Justice. Unlike the Cathedral and other churches 
Maria Elena had seen so far, there was nothing Christian about 
the buildings architecture at all. Jason explained:

This is the Temple of the Ancients. Its the main building for 
the Danubian Church and the holiest place in Danubia. The 
building itself is 3,000 years old, and its been used non-stop 
ever since it was built.

Maria Elenas prejudices urged her to get away from that Pagan 
building as quickly as possible. However, Jasons confidence that 
he knew what she needed to do gave her the courage to follow him 
in. 

Cecilia had to borrow a prayer robe. She paid a copper coin to an 
attendant and received a garment similar to the one Victor used. 
She slipped it over her clothes before joining her fiance and her 
housemate. Jason quickly located the Priestess who was his Church 
custodian and fell to his knees and placed his head at her feet. 
Maria Elena followed his lead. Cecilia also knelt, but unlike 
Jason and Maria Elena, did not have to put her head on the floor.

The Priestess told the three foreigners to stand up in Danubian. 
They saluted her and she saluted back. The woman was unlike any 
religious authority Maria Elena had ever seen. She must have been 
about 40 and was tall, elegant, and carried herself with an air 
of dignity and severity. Like every other female member of the 
Danubian Clergy, she wore a black dress with dark red trim that 
was her only worldly possession. It was obvious that she was 
intelligent and perceptive of other peoples emotions. She was 
extremely intimidating as her gaze seemed to penetrate the depths 
of the soul of anyone she was conversing with. Even Cecilia, who 
normally dominated other people with her abrasive self-
confidence, was quiet and timid in the presence of that 
Priestess.

The Clergy woman spoke fairly good English, but Jason and Cecilia 
had long since mastered Danubian and conversed with her in her 
native language. While Maria Elena stood by nervously watching, 
Cecilia explained her situation with the Grand Duchess. The 
Colombian could make out just enough of the conversation to 
realize that both the Priestess and Cecilia were talking at 
length about Anyia.

The Priestess suddenly turned to Maria Elena and spoke to her in 
Danubian. Cecilia translated:

She wants you to tell her why you came to Danubia.

Maria Elena started giving a short summary of her trip and her 
arrest. As soon as the Priestess realized that the Colombian was 
not giving her the detail that she wanted, she impatiently drew 
her fist across her chest, which in Danubian was an impolite way 
of saying Shut up!

After several unsuccessful attempts the Priestess explained that 
she did not want Maria Elena to simply tell her what happened. 
She wanted to know why the Colombian had chosen to violate 
herself by using her body to store cocaine. She did not want to 
know what happened to Maria Elena; she wanted to know why it 
happened.

Maria Elena haltingly started explaining about her past, and how 
she got mixed up with the man who introduced her to Alex. A few 
probing questions got out of her the story of her ex-boyfriend 
Jose Pablo and how she indirectly caused his death. Now the 
Priestess felt that she was getting out of Maria Elena details 
that she needed. However, it was not until Maria Elena repeated 
what Kim had told her, that she actually had been duped into a 
white slavery operation and only by sheer luck had avoided that 
by landing in Danubia, that the Priestess was satisfied that she 
had heard what she needed to know. She spoke and Cecilia 
translated:

Your soul is broken, Maria Elena. Your soul, and all of the 
souls of the women who went before you to Frankfurt. Your 
companions remained in the grasp of the Destroyer. You did not. 
The Creator rescued you and brought you here. Now, can you tell 
me why that is? Can you tell me why you were spared?

I dont knowbut my Spokeswoman told me the same thing, 
Priestess. She told me that El Flaco was responsible for the 
disappearance of a bunch of women, and I was spared. She told me 
to ask myself why I was the one who didnt end up like the 
others. I guess it was so he could get arrestedEl Flaco, I 
meanthats the only thing I can think of.

The Priestess told Maria Elena to put out her hands. Cecilia 
translated, adding: Shes gonna squeeze very hard and it might 
hurt. Dont get scared, cause its the way they pray when 
theyre with another person.

The Priestess grabbed Maria Elenas hands and clamped down in a 
vice-like grip. She closed her eyes and began shaking her arms 
violently. Maria Elena, in spite of the warning, was totally 
terrified as the woman painfully gripped and spasmodically shook 
her hands. After the longest minute of the prisoners life, the 
Priestess suddenly stopped. She continued holding the Colombians 
hands, but turned to Cecilia and asked yet more questions about 
Grand Duchess Anyia. 

Finally she had enough information to give Maria Elena the 
answer. Still gripping the Colombians hands, she pulled her 
within a few centimeters of her own face, staring hard into her 
eyes. She spoke in Danubian:

The Creator brought you here to Danubia. The Creator brought you 
here not to save you, but to save others. You are here because 
you will have to perform an important task for the Danubian 
people. Your Path in Life has not been completed yet. The arrest 
of El Flaco wasnt the purpose of your Path in Life; that wasnt 
your contributionor I should say; that wasnt your most 
important contribution. The most important part of your Path in 
Life has not yet transpired.

The Priestess waited for Cecilia to translate, and continued.

You understand that the Grand Duchess has a broken soul?

II guess so, Priestess

That is not a guess, Maria Elena; that is a fact. The Destroyer 
has taken control of Anyias soul and she is broken. What you 
must understand is that through corrupting the Grand Duchess, the 
Destroyer can inflict a great deal of harm on our country. You 
have to understand that before you can understand anything else. 
You also must always remember that the Creator brought you to our 
country for a purpose. You will be placed before the Grand 
Duchess for a purpose, and you will suffer under her for a 
purpose. The Creator has not enlightened me of what that purpose 
might be. I do know that your Path in Life, your destiny before 
you ever came to Danubia, was to serve the Creator, and in doing 
so repair your own broken soul.

Maria Elena whispered to Cecilia: Whos this Destroyer shes 
talking about?

Thats their version of the Devil. What shes saying is that she 
thinks Anyia is possessed with evil. Its kinda different than 
the Christian version and more complicated, but thats the 
simplest way I can put it so you'll understand.

The Priestess continued:

I am convinced that you are more important than you realize, 
even though you are just a humble criminal. I am convinced that, 
through Jason, the Creator brought you to me. There is a reason 
that happened. And I believe it is my Path in Life to listen to 
your troubles, so I can try to better understand what has 
happened to the Grand Duchess.

ButI wont be able to come here, Priestess. Im gonna be locked 
up.

I can provide you a letter saying that I am your spiritual 
guide, a letter that you can take with you to the Royal House. 
That letter would give you the right to see me once a week. The 
Royal Family does not have the authority to cut you off from the 
Church, not if you have officially declared someone in the Clergy 
as your spiritual guide. Also, if I am your spiritual guide, I 
can provide you with correspondence that others may wish to give 
you. When you are with me, I can let you see letters from other 
people in your life, and allow you to respond.

There was no question that Maria Elena would jump at the 
opportunity, which she did. To have a few hours a week away from 
the Royal Household, to be allowed correspondence, to have 
someone sane to talk toof course she wanted all that. Who 
wouldnt?

However Cecilia, who was always suspicious of other peoples 
motives, realized that there was a huge benefit for the Priestess 
as well. It was certain that Maria Elena would tell her new 
mentor, in graphic detail, everything that was going on in the 
Royal Residence. The Priestess would have access to a lot of 
inside gossip about Anyia, something that would give her and her 
superiors valuable information that they possibly could use 
against the Royal Family in the future. At that point it was hard 
to tell whether or not the Priestesss intentions were 
altruistic, but the fact remained that she had just acquired a 
window into the opaque world of the Royal Household.

----------

Maria Elena left the Temple of the Ancients in a much different 
mood than when she entered. She had been fearful and resentful 
upon going in, but after talking to the Priestess, she was calm 
and resigned. She was not looking forward to entering the Royal 
Residence, but according to the Priestess she was going there for 
some higher purpose. Another detail that calmed Maria Elena 
considerably was the fact that she would continue to have some 
contact with the outside world and that she had placed herself 
under the authority of a person who had at least some power over 
the Grand Duchess. It also occurred to Maria Elena that, if there 
was a possibility that her actions would be reported to a Clergy 
member of the Danubian Church, Anyia might moderate her behavior 
and not be so vicious to her.

The inward calm that Maria Elena took with her from the Temple 
lasted throughout her final two days as a Ministry of Justice 
criminal. She made love to Victor Friday night and managed to get 
him to understand that she had spoken with Jason's Priestess. She 
showed him the letter the Priestess had given her and repeated 
the Danubian phrase "Path in Life". Victor seemed to calm down as 
well. "Path in Life"...well, if it was indeed inevitable that he 
and his lover were destined to be separated, then at least they 
could enjoy each other's company for the last three nights they 
had together. It was as he suspected, the Creator had given them 
only a fleeting moment to be together. The moment would come and 
go, and there was nothing that could be done other than to enjoy 
what little joy the Creator was willing to grant.

As she had since her arrival in Danubia, Maria Elena spent 
Saturday braiding her hair with her Spokeswoman and her friends. 
Cecilia felt that it was very fortunate that Kim could hear 
first-hand about Maria Elena's conversation with the Priestess, 
because that was additional information the Spokeswoman could 
take with her when she spoke to Vladim Dukov about what should be 
done concerning the custody of Criminal # 101025. It would be 
better if the Prime Minister knew right away that the Danubian 
Church now had direct access to what was going on inside the 
Royal Residence, and thus be forewarned of the impending scandal. 
Kim seemed not as concerned as Cecilia about the Priestess's 
motives. Instead she was glad about the correspondence, because 
she had every intention of staying in contact with her client 
while she appealed the transfer of custody. 

----------

The following day Maria Elena and Victor went together to the see 
the Priestess in the Old Temple as a couple. They went alone, 
without Cecilia, without Jason, and without Spokeswoman Lee-
Dolkivna. Victor, as usual, wore his black prayer robe, which was 
the only garment he normally wore when attending worship 
services. He and Maria Elena knelt in front of the Priestess as 
she prayed in archaic Danubian.

Maria Elena did not understand much of the conversation between 
Victor and the Priestess, but she understood enough to realize 
that the Clergy woman was asking about his relationship with her. 
Victor nervously responded to a series of questions. Maria Elena 
felt very uneasy, because it was obvious that Victor had to 
confess that he and the criminal were having a sexual 
relationship without being married. What she did not know at the 
time was that, to a member of the Danubian Clergy, a sexual 
relationship outside of marriage was not as big of a taboo as it 
was to most other religious sects. The Priestess was more 
interested in Victor's intentions than in the fact that he and 
Maria Elena were not yet married. When the questioning ended, the 
Priestess took Victor's hands and prayed. That didn't surprise 
Maria Elena, but what came next was a total shock.

The Priestess let go of Victor's hands and led both her guests to 
the back part of the Temple. They ended up on a large stone 
balcony overlooking a forested park that led to the East Danube 
River. In the middle of the balcony was a round stone pit with a 
smoldering fire. Both Maria Elena and Victor knelt. The Priestess 
placed her hands on Victor's shoulders and again prayed in 
archaic Danubian. Maria Elena could tell that Victor looked very 
nervous. When the Clergy woman was finished, she ordered him to 
stand up. He stood perfectly still as she pulled the robe over 
his head and handed it to a Temple attendant. With the robe taken 
away from him, Victor was as naked as Maria Elena.

The Priestess then placed her hands around Victor's neck and 
wrote down a number, which she handed to an attendant. A moment 
later the attendant returned with a metal collar. Victor knelt, 
and the Priestess put the collar on and locked it. It turned out 
the Priestess had ordered him to perform Public Penance.

Although she was totally shocked and bewildered at the moment, 
later Maria Elena would learn what exactly had happened at the 
Temple. The Priestess did not have any problem with Victor's 
affair with her, but had decided that the relationship needed to 
be tested while she was interned at the Royal Residence. It was 
indeed Victor's Path in Life to be with Maria Elena, but only the 
Creator knew when he would be reunited with her. Therefore, until 
they were reunited, he would wear a Temple collar and perform 
Public Penance. Along with praying over what had happened to his 
first wife, he would pray every night to be reunited with his 
lover, and until that happened he would live in humility. The 
collar, and his own nakedness, would be a very public display of 
Merchant Victor Dukov's commitment to Criminal # 101025.

Maria Elena knew that performing Public Penance would be 
extremely difficult for a man used to running his own business 
and giving orders. However, it was obvious that he loved her 
enough that he was willing to make the sacrifice for her. He 
would wait for her, collared and naked, until her custody could 
be returned to the Ministry of Justice and she could return to 
his house. That might take years, but it didn't matter. During 
that time, it would be his Path in Life to remain collared for 
her.

----------

Sunday night was the final night that Criminal # 101025 and 
Merchant Victor Dukov would be together before she was taken away 
to the Royal Residence. Victor reflected that if he had not taken 
Maria Elena with him to his brother's dinner; Anyia never would 
have seen her and the transfer of custody never would have 
happened. However, the Priestess would have told him that to 
think like that was to pursue a false vision of the Destroyer, 
because the Colombian's Path in Life was to serve the Grand 
Duchess. The change of custody had nothing to do with any actions 
that Victor took or did not take; it was the Creator who had 
decided that Anyia would see her and want to add her to her 
collection of servants.

Maria Elena and Victor made love one last time in his bed, and 
spent a very long time quietly caressing each other's bodies. She 
touched his collar with both regret and fascination, feeling very 
bad that he had to perform Public Penance on her behalf, and yet 
extremely grateful that he would do something like that for her. 

Finally he fell asleep, which gave her time to stand up and spend 
some moments looking out the bedroom window. She contemplated the 
moon, which was almost full and already starting to go lower in 
the western horizon. Just a few more hoursand the sun would come 
up in the east and Criminal # 101025 would return to the Central 
Courthouse and have her Ministry of Justice collar removed, not 
even a month after it had been put on. She touched the device, 
regretting that it no longer would be part of her life. She 
realized that, while the collar marked her as a convicted 
criminal, it also gave her official status and some legal rights 
and protections. The collar destined to replace it would offer no 
protection at all. The she would endure that awful moment when 
she would see Kim, and Cecilia, and Victor for the last time, one 
last glance over her shoulder before she was taken away and 
loaded into a minivan. That moment would be painful. 

Maria Elena went downstairs and stepped out of Victors front 
door. For a long time she stood in the street listening to the 
rustling of the leaves and the strange twittering of creatures 
that were either birds or batsshe couldnt tell which. Finally 
she went back inside and snuggled up to Victorto be with him one 
final timefor a fleeting moment in her life.

