"Ay! Ay! Ay! Accept these sacrifices!"

The horns sounded, the tambourines rattled and the drums pounded. All the red-eyed worshippers started swaying, commencing chanting, "She comes!"

It was her signal, time for her to play her part. Breathing deeply, Syndee skipped barefoot to the edge of the platform and mounted the waiting bull she was to ride. Sitting bareback on its shoulders, she gripped its neck with her thighs, and reached her left hand behind her, grasping hold of the golden-metal chain girdle that was about the beast's body. "Proceed!" she commanded.

Clarke Gannon, carrying a heavy silver axe, side by side with his wife, Melinda, holding a large triangular-bladed cleaver, started their stately journey. Jenny JackMAN and Claire Scott each carried a velvet-lined rosewood box.

Charles and Rebekkah held the ends of a silken white rope that was looped through the golden nose-ring of the huge black bull that snorted with every thunderous plodding step. The bull's curved horns and hoofs were painted gold. Walking beside the left side of the beast were twenty-one newly married Brethren, alternate man and woman, their spouses in corresponding positions to the right of the animal. Each woman held a flaming torch, each man the end of one of several ropes that were either tied about the beast's legs or around its body, in case it tried to run amok.

Syndee, her now-loose hair billowing in the gentle breeze, tightened her grip. Gold cups decorated with serpents encased her breasts, they held in place by chains, the links formed to look like snakes swallowing their own tails. Her crotch cover was gold-metal embossed with a bull's head, every movement causing it to gently rub against her pubic bone, increasingly enflaming her carnal desires.

Glancing, she saw a struggling Tommy Scott being dragged along behind. He looked thirty-something pounds heavier than when she had last seen him. His ankles were hobbled by two feet of red silken rope. Cords, trussed around his upper and middle body, secured his arms to his sides. Deborrah, at the front, led him by means of a noose about his neck. Suzie to his left, Melissa to his right, held separate ropes fastened around his upper arms. Tommy, red from effort, yelled constantly for someone to rescue him, crying out they were crazy to think they could get away with this. Syndee, feeling a surge of barbaric elation, was expectant that they would.