Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

The next witness was Narvas, dressed in particularly fancy priestess robes.

“Can you tell us your position?” asked the defence lawyer.

“Usually on my knees, one way or another.”

There were several sniggers from the audience but I didn’t get the joke.

“I mean, your official position in the temple!”

“Of course, I’m the chief Love Priest at the Conservatory of Astrigis in Bremplar.”

“And what exactly is your job?”

“I think we all know what a Love Priest does,” said the judge.

“I believe it’s important to understand how the witness understands his job,” said the lawyer.

“All right then,” said the judge, obviously not happy about this but probably thinking it was quicker than arguing the point.

There was a pause and then the priest said, “Oh, I’m up! No not that way! My job is to take care of the Temple Prostitutes, I recruit them, collect money from their clients, see to their clothing, accomodation, food and medical needs, even provide a shoulder for them to cry on.”

“And are you familiar with my client?”

“Oh, very. He was a regular client of my girls, particularly the young ones.”

“Was there a problem with him?”

“Unfortunately yes. He was very rough with the girls and it was getting worse.”

“This was a problem for you?”

“Well certainly. Contrary to what some people seem to think, I’m not a monster. Besides, it’s like cars, when you rent one out, you expect to get it back in good condition. We usually choose psychics as prostitutes as most families are glad to be rid of their psychic kids. However, I’m aware that some people are rather unhappy with this aspect of our religion. Part of my decision regarding Lishrashic was a family in Ermish who disappeared shortly after their daughter was chosen to be a prostitute. I don’t like messy situations and bad feelings. Getting the girls beaten up would just fuel that sort of religious intolerance.”

My blood ran cold and I broke out in a cold sweat to hear what was almost certainly a reference to me, particularly as it implied that my parents had brought me to Minris to prevent me from becoming a Temple Prostitute. I looked at Mum. She had her tongue stuck out between her teef and her eyes were wide with horror. I didn’t need to ask.

“So how did you deal with this problem?” asked the Lawyer.

“I put a spell on Lishrashic so he had to come here and couldn’t leave.”

“Why did you send him here?”

“Because the only Holy Site here belongs to the Winemakers and they don’t have prostitutes so I thought he wouldn’t do any harm here.”

“But he attacked other girls trying to break the spell?”

“I only recently discovered that and I really think some of the blame must rest with Yoldasia.”

“Do you think my client would have attacked other girls if the Vineyard had Temple Prostitutes?”

“If that was the case, I wouldn’t have sent him here, I’d have done something else, I’m not sure what.”

“Do you think that the Vineyard should have Temple Prostitutes?”

“Well the Trulist temple of Yoho has them but it’s just not my place to tell people how to follow religions other than Trulism.”

“Do you think that a law to force the Vineyard to have Temple Prostitutes would be a good idea?”

“It would provide a, probably necessary, service for Minris but, as the previous witness pointed out, it would have to be very carefully worded.”

“Could you remove the spell from my client?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not really a mage. Like most people I’m willing to use the occasional artifact but I don’t really understand them. The artifact’s very old and its manual was falling to pieces and the bit about how to remove its spells was missing. I’ve brought it with me but the Haprihagfen said it caused that big storm because it was a reilic and hid it in the Vineyard. Really, taking the word of an eight year old magis but the Mage Council and the high priest went along with it!”

I glanced at Mum again. I’m not sure the bit about an eight year old magis had registered as she was still worrying about the Temple Prostitute thing.

“Thank you. I believe that’s all the questions I have for you.”

Then the prosecution lawyer started questioning Narvas.

“What exactly did Lishrashic do to these prostitutes that was so bad?”

“He was very rough. He squeezed their shoulders very hard and shook them. Sometimes bit them. Left a lot of bruises, mostly on their shoulders. Broke a few ribs.”

There were a lot of gasps at this. I remembered the bruises on Tenenet and how Lishrashic had held me by my shoulders.

“Do you believe that he’s the same as the Night Leaper?”

“Yes, very likely. Which shows why it would be good to have some legitimate prostitutes in Minris, not just street prostitutes who don’t really cater to pedophiles.”

“The tether spell didn’t let him reach the bar where the street prostitutes work.”

“Oh, well it probably didn’t matter.”

“Couldn’t you just have taken legal action against him for hurting your prostitutes?”

“No, darling. I’m told that’s legally difficult, particularly as most people don’t give a dog’s gonads about psychics. Also I didn’t want to reopen the old, ‘Isn’t it wrong to force kids to be prostitutes?’ debate, particularly not after that thing in Ermish.”

“But surely if Minris had Temple Prostitutes, they’d have been treated as badly as the Night Leaper’s victims?”

“Maybe but at least he wouldn’t have been doing it to regular girls.”

“But you didn’t like him doing it to your prostitutes?”

“Well if it was in Minris, the prostitutes would be Winemakers and nobody cares about them darling.”

The next witness was Yoldasia. She seemed to have gone to some lengths to look smart.

“You are an Old Magic mage?” asked the defense lawyer.

“I’m a full-fledged, level five associate magic mage and a healer in River Bend Mental Hospital and run a fertility clinic. I’m also a wife and mother and a writer. I’m the planet’s leading expert on Old Magic. I’ve gone to great lengths to find ancient writings describing it but I use it in combination with associate magic to make it safer and more reliable.”

“You also know a bit about Winemakerism?”

“I was equipped by Sand Dancer, the last Vineyard magis. I have a good friend who’s a rabbi of the Temple of Yoho in Laraget and I worshipped there sometimes. Also I’ve obviously had a lot of experience dealing with people with mental problems and they often have delusions related to religion. Therefore I’ve acquired an extensive knowledge of all three major religions and a number of others.”

“So you know about how the Vineyard uses children as Temple Prostitutes although ..?”

“No, the Vineyard doesn’t use anybody as Temple Prostitutes.”

The defense lawyer seemed momentarily confused by this response. “How do you know this?”

“I have a good understanding of Winemakerism and Winemaker friends. I know that Temple Prostitution is against Winemaker teaching.”

“Isn’t there a sect which is known to practice it?”

“No.”

“I believe they’re called the Universal Winemakers.”

“That wasn’t Temple Prostitution.”

“They had priests having sex with children.”

“That’s not the way Temple Prostitution works as I’m sure you know. This wasn’t even doctrine of that sect, although the leadership tried to cover it up rather than taking action against the priests in question. Many followers left the sect when they found out about it.”

“Is this relevant?” asked the judge.

“I’m trying to establish how the witness can be so sure that the Winemakers don’t use children as prostitutes,” said the defense lawyer.

“Be more direct!” said the judge.

“How do you know that the Vineyard doesn’t use children as prostitutes?”

“Well apart from my knowledge of Winemaker doctrine and the fact that I stayed in the Vineyard while I was being equipped. They don’t feel like prostitutes.”

“What?”

“I’m a nibeyah. I was never a prostitute myself but I’ve met some and other children who’ve been sexually abused. They’re minds aren’t really the same, it’s hard to explain.”