Acolytes (The Enclaves Book 1)

by Nel Franks

  A Temple Mistress was pacing behind my line. She tapped the girl next to me on the shoulder. ‘Move up, Laya. Remember your spacing.’ Laya shuffled further up the slight hill, leaving the required distance between us. ‘Come, Rosie, spread out. And you women,’ she called to the crowd behind us, ‘move back please. Don’t crowd the Initiates. They’re nervous enough as it is.’ She chivvied back the woman who was peering between Laya and the next girl. ‘You’ll see the men soon enough.’ The Mistress worked her way up the hill, reordering our line, and settling the women waiting to glimpse their potential mates for the night.

  Rosie had started gnawing on her nails. Gaia whistled softly and mimed putting her arm down by her side and gave Rosie the hand signs for support and courage. Rosie poked her tongue out, but she did straighten up and glance down the road.

  BOOM! We all jumped and squealed. BOOM! The elder sisters hissed at us to be quiet and stand up straight. BOOM! A deep loud voice called out from the other side of the Gate. A rill of gooseflesh ran up my arms.

  ‘We are the men of the Male Enclave. We ask for your grace to let us enter.’

  The woman behind me tittered, muttering, ‘Oh yes, you can surely enter me!’

  Her friend shushed her, delightedly outraged. It made me squirm.

  The Most Elder Sister stepped forward, and called, ‘The women of the Female Enclave invite you to enter, with reverence for the Goddess who makes us all.’

  Two of the black robed women stepped forward and began to haul at the Gate with its two great wooden leaves and its strong iron bands and hinges. I held my breath, eyes wide; I had never seen it open. As it opened with a deep grinding noise, I could see a mass of dark robed bodies illuminated by flaming torches. These were the men we had been taught about! At the front was a group of silver-haired men wearing robes in deep rich colours, with a lot of gold on the man in the centre. They were obviously the Senior Council—we’d had to learn all their names. Behind them was a group of tall men in black robes holding torches. The women behind us pushed forward, straining to see. I was just about dancing on the spot.

  The male Councillors walked through the Gates and bowed in front of the Most Elder Sister and our Council of Chief Mistresses. The black robed men moved forward, and each went to stand beside one of the black robed women. Then two lines of boys, starting with young ones about our age, came through the Gates carrying flaming torches held high over their heads. They were wearing close-fitting leggings that ended in a tie at the knee, and soft shirts in shades of the woodland, greens, reds, yellows and some russet and ochre. Each one moved into a place between us girls, starting from the Gate and filing up the road, one after another. I had known this was going to happen, it was part of the training from Sister Onnia, but I had never been this close to a boy before. The boy on my right gave me a nervous grin, and I noticed his torch was shaking. The boy on my left was already leaning towards the girl on his other side and talking. My heart was racing, and I was trembling too.

  The female and male Councils turned and formed two lines, the women on my side, and the men on Gaia’s side of the road. They began to walk side-by-side back up towards the Temple, processing between the flaming torches we held. After them came a pushing crowd of men of all shapes and sizes, mostly young to middle aged. They were smiling and laughing, and several made comments to us as they passed.

  ‘You are as beautiful as a flower!’ one exclaimed as he passed me.

  I was astonished—beauty was in the way one worked or acted, not in the person. Did he mean in the way I held the torch? But flowers don’t hold torches, so that didn’t make any sense.

  Many of the men were peering over or between the torches as they walked, calling out and waving to women who had caught their eye. That amazed me too; I had no idea there would be any preferences between particular men and women. But the woman behind me kept saying: ‘Ooh, I want that one! No, that one!’ as they went by. She acted like a greedy child in the dining room. It made me feel sick.

  As the group of men passed, the torchbearers began to fall in behind them, those closest to the Gate turning in to pass between the rest of us higher up the road. Gaia made a face at me as she passed on the other side. Then it was Rosie’s and my turn to join in the procession of torches swaying up the road. The rest of the women fell in behind the torchbearers, and we all made our way up towards the Core.

  I watched the boys around me as we walked. They were so different to us! They walked with longer strides, and some bounced up on their toes. I tried walking like that for a few steps, but it felt very strange. They didn’t seem to tire holding up their torches; my shoulders were aching, and I kept swapping the torch from hand to hand. And there were such differences in heights—some were quite short and younger looking, while others seemed as tall and broad as adult men. Did we look as different to them as they did to me?

  The group of women who had not accompanied us to the Gate were waiting at the top of the road, clapping and peering at the men. I had never seen my elder sisters so excited. It made me even more impatient to see what the rest of the evening would bring.

  We all processed into the enormous Temple through the smaller entrance, then through the great doors, flung back to their widest extent in honour of the great occasion.

  Every candelabrum in the Temple had been lit, and the entire space was bright and joyful. Summer flowers had been gathered in huge vases on the Shrine. The scent of roses and hot wax wafted through the air. The great sculpture representing the Goddess was awash in offerings of grain, fruit, vegetables, and cooked treats. We had been taught that women who wanted to be impregnated would make offerings, with their prayers and supplications, all through the day, but I had not expected it to be so lavish. Who knew my sisters were so eager to have children?

  As we filed in, the men moved to the right side of the vast space, and the women moved to the left. We torch-bearing boys and girls stood along the central arcs of the columns, so that the whole Temple gleamed with flickering torch light. Our role was to mark a zone of innocence that separated the female and male energies and protected the Fount of Life from desecration. I could hear some muttering from the boys about the twin curved lines of the columns, representing the Labia of the Goddess. I was astonished again; this was something so well known among us that I hadn’t thought there could be anything strange or wonderful or attractive about labia. What did this imply about men–didn’t they know what the Goddess meant? Or did they have strange ideas about women’s bodies? I felt bewildered by all the new thoughts and experiences of the last hour.

  The Most Elder Sister and the chief of the men’s council had moved together in front of the Shrine with raised arms and were intoning something I couldn’t hear. The Most Elder Sister shone in her gleaming robes of silver. She wore the great seal of the Goddess on her brow, the twisted gold and silver bands of the circlet shining on her hair. Beside her, the chief of the men, the Senior Lord, was wearing a robe of glowing deep magenta and black, with a rich gold- and silver-worked ceremonial yoke, and a large golden chain of small plates linked together that reached to his waist. As they lowered their hands, the men began to sing. It was extraordinary, the depth and resonance of their voices seemed to fill the deep spaces of the Temple. I realised they were singing in harmony, some higher and some lower. There was something so strange and moving about their deep voices reverberating through the huge space. I began to recognise the word—Mother, grant our prayers; Bring us light and life and warmth—a hymn to the Goddess that we sang too. But our melody was different. At that moment, the women around me began to sing, and belatedly I joined in. I shivered with a sharp poignant delight—our melody and harmony blended with the men’s. There was magic in the mix of our light voices with the thrumming power of theirs. I was thrilled, goosebumps rising on my arms and back. I had always loved part-singing, but this was a much more potent thing, moving me in body and soul.

  At the end of the song there was a ringing silence, and I s
ighed, feeling more moved than ever before. The two leaders turned away from the Shrine and faced the enormous congregation. The two Councils in their formal robes and chains of office walked slowly until they were ranged behind them. The Most raised her arm.

  ‘This is the most joyful, and yes, perhaps the most exciting, of all the rituals in the worship of the Goddess. Tonight, we offer her our bodies, in acts of impregnation, hoping She will bless us with children to increase our Enclaves. The Goddess demands respect for women and for their bodies. We women are the earthly embodiment of the Goddess. We bring forth life in the same way the Goddess creates everything new in our world. Men are the impregnating essence, as necessary to new lives as water is to the earth to raise up grain.’ She turned towards the women’s side. ‘Women, you are free to choose whoever you wish for the ritual of impregnation. You may choose one, or more than one, or several at once if this is what moves you. Your feelings of attraction and excitement are your guide to what is proper for you.’ She stepped back.

  The Senior Lord moved forward and addressed the men. ‘Men, you are free to find as many women as are willing to accept you. But remember, it is the women who make the choice of who will lie with them. Our strength and power are used in the service of impregnating and protecting women.’

  I looked at him in surprise. Protecting us? We didn’t need their protection; we lived without it all the time! But did this mean that something happened on the Festival Field so that women did need protection? Suddenly the dry facts of how intercourse happened seemed fraught with complexity, and perhaps danger.

  He stepped back beside the Most and they both raised their hands. ‘Go out into the Field and worship the Goddess in the beauty of the work you do.’

  The leaders and the two Councils turned and walked up the passage behind the Shrine and disappeared toward the Council of Chief Mistresses’ room. As we had rehearsed, we torch bearers turned and walked out of the Temple, lighting the head of the roadway back down to the Fair and the Festival Field, and then the women and men began pouring out of the temple. I was intrigued to see how quickly men and women struck up conversations. There was a lot of nervous laughter, wide smiles, and bodies beginning to sway towards each other.

  The last of the people left the Temple, and the women who were not going to the Field turned back to the dwellings of the Core. A sister in black and one of the men wearing black showed us where we could douse the torches in a big vat of water. Then they called us together.

  ‘We are the Protectors. We will be monitoring everyone’s behaviour tonight, including yours. You know the rules about what you can and can’t do. You can go down to the food and dancing if you wish,’ the female Protector said to us.

  The man spoke to the boys, ‘You must go down to the food and dancing; you are not allowed to remain up here near the Core. When you have had enough fun, you can make your way down to the Gate. One of the brothers there will let you through and you can go home. And no, as I said before, you will not be allowed to go into the Field. That’s what we Protectors are here for!’

  He grinned, and several of the boys nearby sighed and whined. I found Rosie and Gaia, and we grabbed hands in excitement. We ran down the roadway towards the new experience of mixing with males.

  LATE IN THE EVENING we were sitting on the ground below the food stalls, looking at the dance floors and listening to the discordant medley of three bands playing at the same time. The three wooden dance floors had been laid on the close-cropped grass, as far apart as possible, and each was surrounded by torches high on poles. The dancers whirled in patterns of flowing colour, in and out of the light, vivid and then shadowed. We had tried to go beyond the edge of the dance floors to see what was happening in the Festival Field. But every time we did, a Protector in black would head us back towards the food stalls and the dance floors.

  We had danced with each other, and very surprisingly, with some of the boys who had been torchbearers. I was exhilarated by the progressive dances where the women moved on after each chorus to a new male partner. When we danced these at our weekend gatherings in the Enclave, they were fun as you got to meet the women you knew as you progressed around the floor. But now, each new partner was a scary and exciting prospect. Some of the men held me delicately, barely touching my hands. Others swept me up into a bear hug as we whirled around. They smelled so different to women! A few had an acrid stink that was unpleasant, some smelled just of soap or flower water, but others had a warm, deep scent to their skin which was intriguing and attractive. Some were very respectful of my virgin status, others joked about finding me again in a few years’ time. I felt admired, which was nice, and somehow about to be consumed, which was a bit off-putting.

  One particular torchbearer caught my attention. He had come over to me shyly, egged on by a group of his friends who were smirking at the corner of the dance floor. He stood silently for a moment. He was tall, and thin. He had shoulder length brown hair, and a friendly open face, which was currently going bright red.

  ‘Would you dance with me?’ he asked, his voice wobbling.

  I stood up, my heart pounding, surprised he had asked me and not Gaia or Rosie. I glanced back at them as they grinned at me. Without much grace or forethought, I blurted out,

  ‘Why did you ask me, instead of one of my friends?’

  He smiled, and said softly, ‘I’ve already seen you. I’ve seen you up on the hills, with the sheep. You were dancing with your dog.’

  I was speechless with surprise as he led me towards the furthest dance floor. We began to dance, facing each other but not touching, jiggling in time with the music. He had to lean towards me and shout for me to hear him over the music and noise.

  ‘There’s a point at the edge of our woods, up on a hill, where I can see over the Wall, and into your pastures. I watched you there one day, with your black and white dog, and the sheep. I liked the way you played with the dog while the sheep were grazing.’

  ‘Oh, I love Leto! I’m going to miss her so much next year.’

  ‘Why?

  ‘Because I won’t work in Agriculture next year.’

  He looked very puzzled. ‘How can you change what you do?’

  Perplexed, I asked, ‘But don’t you have to work in another House next year?’

  ‘No,’ he said, equally baffled. ‘Do you?’

  I set about explaining how the Acolyte system of training worked, how we had foundation learning days each week in the House of Learning, and could gradually choose the Houses and disciplines we wanted to specialise in. He was intrigued. We danced less and moved closer to each other to hear.

  ‘How were you chosen to work in Agriculture?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t think I was chosen,’ he said. ‘My father is a grazier, so I am one.’ He paused. ‘I didn’t know there was any other way, actually.’

  ‘Neither did I. Oh. Err, not for you; I mean for us, and our Houses – I thought that was the only way it could ever be organised.’

  We looked at each other intently. How different could each of our Enclaves be?

  Taking a bit of a risk, I said, ‘I wish I knew more about how your Enclave works. I always assumed it was just like ours.’

  He nodded and looked thoughtful. ‘Would you... um, this is probably against some rule or other ... but would you like to meet and talk some more?’

  I looked at him, confused. ‘You mean tonight? I’m happy to keep talking now.’

  He looked a bit embarrassed but plunged on. ‘No, I meant, meet some other time.’

  I was stumped. ‘Where? When? How could we?’

  He stepped closer to whisper in my ear. The soft brush of his breath on my neck transfixed my thoughts and set off shivers that ran down my back. I had to concentrate hard to take in what he was saying.

  ‘Like I said, I saw you from the hill. We could check on each other out in the hills, and if it’s all clear, we could meet down by the Gate, and talk there.’

  I looked at him, feeling a st
range fluttering and gripping in my stomach and chest. I never expected a boy would want to talk with me. And I wasn’t sure it was proper.

  ‘Alright,’ I said, a bit cautiously, ‘but I don’t know how long they’re going to keep me herding sheep.’

  He looked a bit crestfallen. ‘Oh. I keep forgetting it’s not a forever job for you.’

  ‘But I will meet you whenever I can. Soon.’ I took the risk.

  Somehow this very illicit thing seemed exactly the right thing to do.

  NEAR THE MIDDLE OF the night, sitting overlooking the dance floors, Gaia nudged me with her elbow.

  ‘Are you thinking about that boy, Tomma?’ she teased.

  ‘No, of course not!’ I countered, feeling caught out.

  This was really awkward; I really wanted to share my excitement and worries with my best friends, but somehow, it felt like I should keep our plans secret. I got up suddenly.

  ‘I’ve had enough of this evening. I’m going back to our room. Are you coming?’

  Gaia and Rosie looked up at me in surprise.

  ‘But I don’t want to go back yet, Tomma. What’s wrong?’ Rosie’s concern was disarming, like she could make me tell my secret.

  ‘I’ve just had enough, I’m tired. I’m going!’ I said, sounding more petulant than I meant to.

  I walked back up the road to the Acolytes Hall. My stomach was churning with excitement and anxiety, and wishing I could ask my friends what they thought I should do.

  The Boy Over the Wall

  Tomma, Summer, Year One, Initiates