Jaspernon the Prince Ch. 05

Ch.5 : Regniold and the Wife

The story of a rich merchant named Regniold and his wife, of the city Anachronar. His wife became a convert of High Priestess Patience's Cult of the Goddess, during the time when it was changing.

The merchant thought little of the Cult at first. The Cult did much good in the city, caring for people who needed help, and he approved of the work it carried out. He did not believe in any religion himself, not even the religion of money, which his wife and others had occasionally accused him of when he took his schemes too seriously.

One day he was dining at lunch with friends and business partners when the Cult of the Goddess was mentioned. A fellow businessman said, "I hear the Cult is growing rapidly. Rumour has it that the priests and priestesses no longer keep themselves celibate. Instead they are instructed that they must love and cherish life itself, and therefore they may now immerse themselves fully in life. They can go where and with whom they please, I have heard, and their leaders allow them to do this and will not chastise them for their misbehaviour."

Some of Regniold's companions sniggered at the story and he wondered what they knew. It made him curious about this Cult of the Goddess. "Why do you laugh?" he asked them.

"We too have heard rumours that the old rules no longer apply at the Temples of the Goddess," they replied.

There were some others who did not laugh and seemed like him to have no knowledge of what they talked about.

"The Priestesses were good to my mother when she was ill a few years ago," said one. "She had a disease and suffered symptoms of palsy for some time. She was very weak. The medicines of apothecaries and medicians worked not. I took her to wizards and religious healers of different kinds, and eventually to the Temple of the Goddess. They gave her care, and spices and foods of special properties, and after some months she recovered. Whether she would have recovered anyway I do not know, but what they did for her was praiseworthy. My mother became a worshipper of the Goddess after that time. Their priests and priestesses were celibate then, for they may have no links by marriage or have children. They were kind, but I never heard of any sexual understanding by any of them."

"This is what Dornal is saying," said one merchant. "The Cult has changed, gradually so that no one might notice!"

"They still do good works then?" asked one of the silent ones.

"Surely they do, but there is more that they do now!"

"Are you saying their priests or priestesses are free to engage in love with their followers?" asked Regniold, trying better to understand what they were hinting at.

"They are, very much so. And they are encouraged to do so. Sexual loyalty is considered selfish. Apparently the Goddess wants her people to be free in the giving of love as in the giving of assistance and friendship."

"I have even heard that their rites now include the public sharing of love."

"Have you any proof of this," asked Regniold, wondering that his wife, who was a devotee of the cult had said nothing of this.

"These are only stories I have heard," said the fellow merchant.

"I have heard reports, but none by anyone I can trust," said one, "But I imagine there is usually some truth in a rumour." None had given proof of the reports so Regniold remained sceptical of the rumours, but he did determine that he would ask his wife, who should know about the practices of the cult if she was a member.

When he was able to talk privately to his wife later in the day, after the family dinner, he asked her about the rumours he had heard. "I was meeting with colleagues and friends at lunch Kathryn. They were saying there are rumours circulating about your Cult of the Goddess. They were saying it has changed in recent times. They say the priests and priestesses are no longer expected to be celibate, and further they spread their favour in more sexual ways with followers. Do you know anything of this Kathryn? Are these just idle rumours, or is there some truth to the rumours?"

Regniold thought he detected some hesitation in his wife's reply, but then those rumours were making him skeptical. "The Cult of the Goddess has been in existence for many years. They do not change much over the years. The priests and priestesses do not have to be celibate in recent years, but that is all."

"They do not seduce or lead astray the worshippers then?" he enquired.

"Oh no, husband. Of course not. It is not like that," she told him what he wanted to hear, and he wanted to trust her because she was his wife, his life partner for many years.

"That is good to hear Kathryn. I see there is some truth if the priests and priestesses do not have to be celibate now. But I am pleased to hear the wilder rumours are exaggerated." Nonetheless he remained curious and even skeptical, because he knew his business colleagues and friends were usually right about most matters, and his wife had seemed less than carefree in her response, and he thought he knew her well. Perhaps her face was a little more reddened than usual when she answered. He determined to keep his eyes and ears opened regarding the Cult. Indeed he considered that it might be worth attending a meeting of the Cult at the local Temple one evening, without telling his wife of course.

Regniold cast away the clothes of his wealthy life. He took up the rough clothes of a humble and poor man and the false wig, to give him the appearance of an unkempt traveller. Also he donned a worn fur hat, that his wife might not easily recognise him.

He walked a long way behind the golden haired lady who was his wife, as she made for the weekly rituals, in which she participated at the Temple of the Goddess. This Temple was the closest to the district of the city where they lived.

He had never been to a temple of this sect before, and had shown scant interest in it over those few years since his wife had begun her attendance. Rarely had he even wondered what went on at the ceremonies in this place, and who were the friends she might have made here. Many years before he had determined that religions and superstitions did not interest him. He held them all in scathing disregard, except for the practical works some of them carried out amongst the people. Only those philosophers who accorded with his own principles of life, and perhaps some of the more disciplined stoics, made any appeal to him. Otherwise it was his own judgements which determined his way in life. And only now, when a seed of doubt had entered his mind about the ways of this cult, did he become curious to go and see for himself what went on.

To his surprise the area around the Temple was suddenly busy. Believers, and perhaps the curious, like himself, were gathering. He merged into a crowd of small enough size, but large to disappear in it, so his wife would not recognise him. He followed with the small crowd into the Temple, which was not very large inside. There were leather bound seats around a semi circular hall. In the middle was floor space. He decided that to sit at the back near the wall was a good way to remain inconspicuous. He saw his wife much further to the front, and he stayed well behind. There were some others who seemed to stay back like him, he hoped as observers, rather than participants in whatever ceremonies went on here.

To his surprise the service began with a dance. He had expected something more formal, as his perception of the Cult of the Goddess had been, of silences and the earnest preaching of female Priestesses who wished to eradicate the very human passions of greed from all the transactions of men. As a man of business he was not likely to want to hear too many such sermons. He was here however to find out the reality of what 'her' Priesthood practised in these new times of rumour.

The Priestess who officiated, youthful and vibrant in her manner, instructed the Priestesses to choose partners of the Priests, and the women congregants to choose partners of the men. There being more men than women in this meeting, those few unselected sat and watched the dance, while the dancers came to the centre. Regniold, in disguise as one of the observers, sat quietly at the back, glad not to be a part of any strange ceremony.

Regniold was impressed that the ceremony did not begin with the prayers he had expected, the dull emptiness he had expected from the reports of the past. He saw his wife choose a man of similar age and fairly low breeding, he expected. Perhaps the man was a manual labourer or maybe a craftsman he suspected. Regniold could not comprehend whether there was any particular purpose in his wife's choice, or in the choices of any of the other women. The selection of a partner to dance with seemed quite random, but the choice was made by the women, not the men.

A dancing tune was played on stringed instruments by some priest musicians and some priestesses sang, while the dancers danced around and around, holding each other. Only one song was played and then the gathering of congregants sat again, the couples together as they had danced, to take the wine which was passed around. A man gestured a wine bottle in offering to Regniold. He came forward to accept a glass, as his disguise must be maintained. There was food also, bread and cheese with onions, only a small portion. The man welcomed him, "I do not think I have seen you here before brother. I am pleased to meet you. Please share in the food and drink of the Goddess and if you feel the need, in the full love of her."

Regniold was beginning to understand why his wife preferred this to the other religious and philosophic groups which spun their mysteries in this city.

The officiating Priestess stood up again when all had eaten the food and drank most of the wine. "All of us are free," she said. "As long as we continue to live in the spirit of the Goddess, to care for everyone around us, and not to hate, to be modest and understanding then we will be able to live in her harmony with our natures and be free. Therefore we must become one with the Goddess."

She selected a man from the gathering, one who had not yet been chosen by the other women. He was a small unassuming looking man, which was perhaps why he had not been chosen by the other women. She, who was a tall, fleshy woman, took the man and led him to the altar, which was raised from the hall. She spoke her instruction, which the congregants could not hear, to the man, and he obeyed her without resistance. The two of them began to remove their clothing. Regniold had not expected this turn of events. As the two began to remove their clothes new ideas entered his head and he realised that the rumours the merchants had mentioned might be true. He imagined the man had been here before and knew what to expect, as had the dancers when they had made their selections.

The dancing had made him suspect, but there had seemed to be nothing wrong in a dance. He had imagined that the dance was a way of bringing the group together into the Goddess's trust. But this nakedness was a spectacle which went further and all his suspicions flooded back to him.

The Priestess was dressed only in her purple robe, so as her hands unfastened the belt at her waist and parted her robe Regniold and the congregants were treated almost immediately to the sight of her two ample breasts, the tufts of her pubis, and the fleshy beauty of her body. Regniold was reminded instantly of the pleasures he had enjoyed at times with the prostitutes of the city and with his wife over the years, although the memory of his wife's body being so familiar seemed not so exciting as those which were less familiar. Regniold detected the admiration of the men for this Priestess, a reflection quite definitely of the admiration he also felt.

The small man also disrobed, but he had tunic and leggings to discard, which therefore took longer, until he too was naked, a short but muscular man.

"Now, in the spirit of the Goddess, do as we do," announced the Priestess. "Take your clothes off and begin." She laid the man down on the altar and began to massage his naked body in full view of the congregants. She was so gentle and her shape so womanly that Regniold could not help but become wildly excited by the forbidden scene enacted before his own eyes. He imagined what it must feel like to be the man, to be massaged by such an ample woman. Of course Regniold could not have been prepared for this and would have run away for the shame of it. But the man did not seem to feel any shame, nor did the Priestess.

Swiftly she held the man's penis, and stroking it caused it to rise and thicken, lavishing the love of the Goddess upon it. Very soon the penis was strong enough. She climbed atop him and pushed her body over it. In full view of the congregation she sat upon the man and began to exercise herself upon him.

Regniold felt the flushed heat of desire as he saw that the act was to be for real, and in front of all these people. Then realising the implication of the Priestess's command he began to fear discovery. To his surprise he realised the congregants were beginning to follow the exhortation of the Priestess, to do as she and the naked man did. Perhaps reluctantly at first, but then growing in confidence the congregants disrobed. The couples who had danced together paired off and began to explore each other's bodies, while the musicians and singers began again to sing. He looked on transfixed as an orgy developed before his eyes. Thankfully some of the male observers like himself remained clothed. He stayed back, away from the worshippers, observing. He watched as his wife was taken by the man she had danced with on a leather couch near the front. He pulled out when he could hold back no longer and deposited his seed upon her quivering satisfied flesh.

Another man quickly plunged into her open cavity, clearly excited by the prospect of her. Soon he came juddering inside her, and Regniold found himself wishing he felt able to reclaim his own wife, but he could not. A third man fresh from the loins of another woman joined himself with her almost immediately.

His wife was here but he did not want her to know he was watching her infidelity. He felt threatened because he was not a part of the celebrations, and for the reason of his wife being here he did not wish to be a part of it. If only she had not been here, he, a man of the world, might have gladly taken part in this celebration of life, accepting the adventure of it, as he had sometimes done in his adventures with prostitutes. He deemed this religion of the Goddess to be a fanciful thing, like all religions, and he was not a great believer in philosophies either, although he did have a certain belief in what was commonly called 'morality'.

He worried that he too, as a participant in this gathering, would be expected also to take off his clothes, even as the others did, and he feared greatly that if he did his wife would recognise him. For some, perhaps illogical, reason that was the greatest worry that affronted him. Although he fully intended to reveal to his wife his knowledge of her infidelity, and his great displeasure, he was not quite sure to what extent he would punish her for it. At any rate she must not see him here. He was controlled by the need to be a man who would not stoop to the practices of strange cults or lewd behaviour. He was a significant merchant of the city, and it would not be good for a quite unjustified knowledge of his attendance at such an event to be spread abroad. While he was a citizen of significant importance he was not one who would generally be recognised except by those who worked for him or with him, or his 'colleagues and friends', the other merchants of the city. Therefore if he had come here alone, and not following his wife, he would not have known anyone here. Even if other men of his class, even certain trusted employees, had been here too, they would merely have shared a manly secret, and there was normally honour between men unless a grudge lies between them. In the instance of discovery by such 'friends' he would probably not have worried too much, for he had few disagreements with the men of the city.

So we might wonder why discovery by his wife would appear to be such a horror to him. As she was here as a willing participant, she would surely not have minded if he were here too. However she might disapprove of his presence and fear her own discovery. But the rational thought is not always easy for the human mind, which is so often caught up in emotions of guilt and fear. Perhaps it is easiest to say that he wished to maintain the reputation of pure living in the eyes of his wife, to be her moral superior so that he could inflict whatever punishment he might see fit on her. Perhaps also he feared to confront her at this moment of her crimes. The uncertainty of her reaction and of how he should react, and the awkwardness which any meeting with his wife would create persuaded him to melt into the back of the Temple and retain his disguise. None of the other observers remained behind. One by one each and every one of them had gone forward, disrobing at some point in time and joining the melee of the worshippers' orgy.

He felt desire towards the other women who participated in the orgiastic rite. Towards his wife he felt lust and anger in equal measure. Towards the men who took her he felt jealousy. They were imposters, but he wanted to do as they did. It was time he disappeared from the Temple. To be there and not to participate might invite questions, which he would not wish to answer, or an embarrassing attempt to force his participation. All attention was at the middle of the Temple. Thankfully no one spared a glance in his direction as he opened the wooden door and slunk out into the darkness of the warm Anachronarian night.

The lights were out and the servants back in their quarters, probably gone to their beds. Kathryn, the wife of Regniold, crept quietly up the stairs. Normally her husband was still in his study at this time, but tonight it was empty and he was gone to bed early, she assumed. She wished he had made sure the servants kept the candles lit for her. Apart from the lighting she was happy enough that the household had gone to their beds. She had little desire to speak to her husband at this hour. They did not spend much time together these days and she was happy with that arrangement. After the evening she had had she was tired, ready for nothing more than sleep.

She lit a candle, by striking a match, in the adjoining room to where she shared a large bed with her husband. She slipped out of her dress to reveal the body she had shared with so many men this evening, and thought pleasantly of the opportunities the Goddess was giving her these days to feel full of life and to be wanted and valued. In the past she had often felt unsatiated in sexual pleasure. She had known many women who had lived the lives of prisoners to their husbands, and lived lives of boredom and dissatisfaction. She was glad she was no longer one of them.

She slipped on her nightdress, snuffed out the candle and retired into the bedroom. Regniold must be asleep because he spoke no word of welcome. No snoring could be heard, but she assumed he was asleep. Opening the sheets she sat on the edge of the bed and swiftly got in, sensing the warmth of the man on the other side. Swiftly she went to sleep, contented.

The man next to her however was not asleep, although he pretended to. He had come to bed early, not wishing to confront his wife, and unable to quell the raging turmoil in his head. He could not decide whether to speak to his wife of what he had seen, what speech he should make. He felt compelled to punish her in some physical way, or perhaps to enter her like a bull and have his way with her, to exorcise the temptations and visions which invaded his mind, fresh from the evening's observations. At the same time he was weary, exceedingly so, and he wanted nothing more than to rest his mind and drown in the peace that came with sleep. In a short time he heard the heavy breathing of sleep from his wife. That calmed him and he was able finally to drift into sleep's peace.