The Shattered Goddess by Darrell Schweitzer

overseen his earliest years. He remembered how sheapproached him fearfully at first, but after a while developed a completely uncaring attitude, as if he were not more animate than a lump of dough in the hands of a cook. She was also one of the ones who had constantly dashed about, wringing her hands in worry, trying to please the infant who had grown into the boy now gazing down on her from the seat above.
    She raised her hand and madethe sign of blessing received, first and fourth fingers upraised, the others held under the thumb, the hand moved in a little square.
    “A blessing indeed,” said The Guardian. “Woman, you have lived for the last three years because I forgot about you, but just this morning I remembered. I hope you will accept my apologies for the delay.”
    The Guardian made a sign none of his office hadever made in public before, that of forgiveness humbly begged, and he smiled viciously as he did.
    “Your Holy Majesty is... of course... joking... Oh, what a splendid joke!”
    She forced a weak laugh.
    “No!” He stood up and out of his seat, something else no Guardian ever did. “My Holy Majesty is not joking. I am in complete earnest, and I declare you to be a traitor, a bearer ofill will against me. There are many here who hate me, and your death shall be an example to them. By my command, you shall not leave this room until you are dead.”
    “What do you mean? No, you can’t...”
    Two soldiers pushed their way through the crowd. They wore no finery at all, but were dressed in simple leather tunics. Long, many-thonged whips hung coiled from their belts. They seizedthe helpless nurse and ripped her clothing off, until she huddled naked before the court, whimpering.
    “I can’t believe this is happening? What is happening?” said one of the women standing in front of Ginna.
    “We must all be drunk and dreaming,’ said the hooked-nosed man. “No son of Tharanodeth would ever do such a thing.”
    “He has gone mad,” said Kardios. “The dark side of TheGoddess is in him.”
    With a loud snap a whip struck the old nurse’s bony back, leaving bloody stripes when it was drawn away. This made the whole experience real, more vivid than any bad dream. Another whip, in the hand of the other soldier, descended. She grunted, then screamed, and began to crawl across the floor on all fours. She rose to a sitting position, and one of them lashed her acrossthe face. She screamed again, feeling her eyes, then groped about, obviously blind.
    Her screams were not the only ones. The women in the crowd screamed at the sight. Some fainted. Men looked away. Others gazed at the terrible sight, the faces stoic marble masks. These, Ginna knew, would survive the longest in the days to come.
    He desperately wanted to be elsewhere. He wanted to lookaway, but dared not
    Behind him, someone was vomiting.
    He looked to one door, then another. All exits were guarded by soldiers whose pikes were not ceremonial or made of glass. He had to escape, but could not There was nowhere to go. He edged backwards until he pressed against the refreshment table. Almost without knowing it, he took a glass of punch and gulped it down, then another,and another. He had only brief glimpses of the dying woman now. Most of the people in front of him were taller, but when a lady in a plumed headdress shrieked, covered her face, and began to push to one side, this created an opening, and he was afforded a full view of the huddled, naked form and the bloody smears on the tiled floor all around it. The whips rose and fell with mechanical precision.
    He couldn’t taste the punch as he drank it. Only unconsciously did he know what he was doing. This was the only way out He usually avoided such excess, but now the alcohol was making itself felt the room reeled around him. He was very warm. The people around him seemed to have become a mass of sweating, milling, frightened animals.
    He found himself studying Kaemen intensely. The Guardianleaned