Blood of the Goddess Book I: The Locust King
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Locusts at the Gate Chapter 2: A New Name Chapter 3: The Capital Prepares Chapter 4: The Princess is Dead, Long Live the Princess Chapter 5: Outside the Gates Chapter 6: Inside the Black Tent Chapter 7: Surrender at the Temple Chapter 8: The Cult of the Locust Chapter 9: The Locust's Tenets of Faith Chapter 10: Mourners on the Cliff Chapter 11: The Eye of Betrayal Chapter 12: The Dead King's Bedchamber Chapter 13: The Arms of the Goddess Chapter 14: Zayaan of the Narim Chapter 15: The Eyes of the Priestess Chapter 16: A More Permanent Disguise Chapter 17: Tribute Chapter 18: Sacrifice of the New Moon Chapter 19: The Lost Bird Chapter 20: Manah and the Priestess Chapter 21: Desert Creatures Chapter 22: Become the Swarm Chapter 23 The Price of Betrayal Chapter 24: Life Under the Locust Chapter 25: Wild Rose Chapter 26: The Lady Wren Chapter 27: Thought and Desire Chapter 28: The Lady's Captivity Chapter 29: The Wine Maiden Chapter 30: End of Childhood Chapter 31: The Children of Aisha Chapter 32: The Forest Runner Chapter 33: Three Sisters Chapter 34: The Hunt Chapter 35: Bones in the Forest Chapter 36: Lullaby Chapter 37: The Hunter's Horn Chapter 38: Ways Between Ways Chapter 39: Morning Star Chapter 40: A Prophecy for Baraz Chapter 41: Equinox Fires Chapter 42: The Lord Prince Takri Chapter 43: Evening Star Sets Chapter 44: Chaos in the Courtyard Chapter 45: Dasha Chapter 46: Memories Chapter 47: The Body Slave Chapter 48: Caged Beasts Chapter 49: Message from the Capital Chapter 50: Heresiarch Chapter 51: The Color of Blood Chapter 52: Winter Winds Chapter 53: The Bookmaker's Closet Chapter 54: Wrapped in Dignity and Beauty Chapter 55: Vessel of the Goddess Chapter 56: Cracks in the Walls Chapter 57: Two Brothers Chapter 58: The Court of Women Chapter 59: Favored of the King Chapter 60: The Sweetest Fruit Chapter 61: Daughter of the Temple Chapter 62: A Nation of Bastards Chapter 63: The Lute Player Chapter 64: Aisha's Prayer Chapter 65: Promises Chapter 66: Lives Lost Chapter 67: The Tea Maker Chapter 68: Object of Desire Chapter 69: Empty ShelvesChapter 28: The Lady's Captivity
For many years Aisha and Thought lived together, and their family grew. Seven daughters and seven sons they had in their home in the Land of Desire. And they were happy, but Desire was not, for he still coveted Aisha, though he had the love of a thousand women, for Desire can never be satisfied.
One day, Desire came upon Thought as he walked in the world and asked him, “Brother, will you come with me to see the new people who have come forth from the mountains we raised? They have secrets from the heart of our mother the Earth that they wish to teach us.”
Thought loved knowledge as much as he loved Aisha, and he agreed to follow Desire into the mountains which lead to the heart of the Earth.
So, Thought went to his home along the western shore and bid farewell to his family and to Aisha. Aisha wept as Thought told her of his plans to leave the family, but ceased when he promised to return to her side in a fortnight. He kissed her tears from her face and kissed their children, and went to the East where his brother Desire dwelt. But Desire told their youngest brothers, the children of the Earth, that Thought had stolen Desire’s wife, and they lay in wait for Thought, and beat him, and locked him away beneath the mountains of the East.
Aisha cried while Thought was gone, and her tears became the river that runs to the West. She gathered her children to her, seven daughters and seven sons, all with hair of gold. “Children,” she said, “Your father is gone, and I weep, for another child is to come to this family, and I fear your father will not be here to welcome her.”
Her children did their best to amuse their mother. They brought her fruit and meat and played their songs, and danced. Time passed, and Thought did not return. But Aisha waited for Thought, for she loved him still.
One day Desire came to Aisha in her home at the edge of the sea. “Where is your husband, Sister? He was to come to me days ago, but he has not come,” lied Desire.
“I know not, my Brother,” said Aisha.
“I shall wait for him here, if it would please you, dear Sister,” said Desire. “And I will send my men to search the Land for him.”
“As you wish, my Brother,” said Aisha, and she brought him food to eat and wine to drink, and her children played their songs and danced for their uncle, while his men searched for the imprisoned Thought.
A week passed. Desire came to the banks of Aisha’s river where she knelt weeping. “Sister, those who I sent to find my brother have returned. He is dead. Let me console you.”
Aisha looked at his face and saw his lie written in his eyes. She saw his lust written there as well. She dried her tears and left him at the river to find her children. Desire followed.
“What will you do, Sister?” asked Desire, “You are alone. I have no wife. Give yourself to me, and I will care for you, and I will call your children my own. You will all be mine.”
“Allow me to grieve the loss of my husband with my children, Brother,” said Aisha.
Desire was angered by her answer. In his eyes, she was on the Land and therefore she and her children were his. All that was on the Land belonged to Desire. Thought had given him all these things, yet he was not allowed to possess She Who Was Life and Hope? Desire set his heart against his brother’s wife, and against his brother’s children, and he hated them. In the night, in the cover of darkness, he lay in wait for the children of his brother, and sought to slay them, sons and daughters both. But Aisha knew his treachery and gave her children the feathers she plucked from her own wings, transforming them into golden eagles who she set upon the winds. But she herself, the daughter of the Moon, could not fly for she was heavy with child, and she had given all her feathers that her children could flee. Desire took her then to his home in the mountains of the East with the children of the Earth, and put her in a golden cage in the midst of his camp so that all might witness her humiliation.
But Desire knew he still did not possess Life and Hope, for one cannot truly possess another. When Life has ended, the soul is freed, and when Hope is extinguished, it can spring anew. Desire took his brother’s wife and stripped her of every covering. Her wings were already bare, but he took her clothing, and her golden hair was shaved. Yet still she would not give herself to him. He did not allow her food or drink, thinking this would take Thought’s unborn child from her, but at night her children brought her meat and fruit they had gathered, and water in their beaks, and so she was sustained, and the child grew in her womb.
As the days grew shorter, Desire brought his captive brother to the cage in the center of his camp to gaze upon his wife. “Your children are dead, Brother, and your wife is mine to do with as I will. You granted me all that is upon the land, and I have taken what I desired. Now go to your ocean, and lie upon your boat, and gaze upon the sky which brought to you all the things that are now mine.”
Thought’s cry of anguish shook the Earth below his feet, for Aisha lay still as death and mighty birds circled above her. Thought took hold of Desire and they fought, but Thought was weakened from lack of food and Desire prevailed. Thought was taken from the camp to the midst of the desert. There, Thought desired death, for all that he loved was in death’s grasp. He watched the circling carrion birds above him, and felt the sand under his hands, and waited for death to find him.
One by one the circling birds landed near Thought, surrounding him, spreading their wings to shade him. Seven flew away and seven stayed, and still he waited for death. Night came and so did the seven birds, carrying grapes, a rabbit, a skin of water, wood, and a flint. And when the Moon shone down upon their wings, they became Thought’s children, seven daughters and seven sons, their golden hair silver in their grandmother’s light.
Thought wept. He wept for his children, he wept for his wife, and he wept for his brother. This is why we hold the days of equal light and equal dark as a solemnity for all times, to remember those we love that we have lost, for our Father Thought did so in the desert a thousand thousand years ago. And those we have lost will come again, as Thought’s children came to him on the desert wind that autumn night.
Thought built a fire with the wood and flint his children brought him. He roasted the rabbit and ate the grapes. He drank the sweet water. He listened to his children as they told the story of the sacrifice their mother made for them, and her humiliation at the hands of Desire. And Thought was wounded in his heart. He cried in the desert to the Moon and to the Earth to help him deliver his Beloved from the hand of his brother Desire.
Thought walked in the desert a day and a night and a day to the camp of Desire. His children flew in slow circles above him in the day and walked beside him in the night. He walked as one who has lost his soul, for his grief and his guilt were heavy burdens to bear.
Aisha’s mother looked down from the Heavens and remembered her daughter, and caused a great sleep to fall upon the men of the camp when Thought came. He walked to the center of the camp where his Beloved lay sleeping. The children of Thought and his Beloved grasped the cage with their talons and pulled it asunder. Thought took his Beloved in his arms and left the camp of Desire.
The journey across the desert to the shores of Thought’s Ocean was long, but his mother the Earth smoothed the path before him. Desire pursued behind, but Earth sent sand and the Sky sent the wind to slow his pace. At night Moon did not give light to Desire, showing her face only to her daughter and her family. Thought trudged onward through the desert with his children and his wife, but Aisha’s time was upon them. And as the Moon grew full above them, the pangs of her labor began. Aisha delivered Thought a daughter with hair the color of gold, skin as pale as the Moon, and eyes as blue as the Sky. They named her Mila, for she was loved.
“What are you doing?” whispered Nasreen.
Aisha jumped, pushing the scroll under her blankets as quickly as she could.
“What is that?” asked Nasreen.
“Nothing. It is just something I was reading," Aisha whispered back.
“You know we aren’t supposed to be reading – it’s forbidden!” whispered Nasreen.
“It’s a story about the Lady that I found. And her husband…” said Aisha.
“The Lady isn’t a wife,” said Nasreen. “She is so powerful and mystical that she created her own daughter, the first Queen, within her womb without the need for any man. That is what the Priestesses have always taught us.”
“That isn’t what this says. It says she loved a man called Thought. Together they had seven daughters and seven sons who turned into golden eagles, and then she had a daughter named Mila. And that is the name of the first Queen.”
“That has to be wrong,” said Nasreen.
“Shhhhhhh!” said the girl sleeping next to Nasreen. “Go to bed!”
“We will talk about this later,” whispered Nasreen. “Now, hide that thing before someone sees.”
Aisha carefully rolled up the scroll and hid it inside her pillow. She tried her best to sleep as the light from the moon poured through the windows of the dormitory. Her head was full of this new story of the Goddess’ captivity, of Thought and Desire, and of the infant Mila.
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