The Wayward Godking (40 page)

“Of course not,” Simon ducked unnecessarily as they entered the dark tunnel. He jerked back and drew a sharp breath when he found himself in a thick jungle growth. A wet leaf of gigantic proportions struck him in the face and showered him with drops of water. Water dripped from the tree limbs high over head and beaded on every blade of grass and leaf in his immediate vicinity bespeaking a very recent rain. Hundreds of colorful, tropical birds called in the tree tops, and numerous scurrying sounds around him indicated that his sudden appearance had disturbed many of the local inhabitants. Anu walked slightly ahead of him, pushing back the leaves of the sparse forest floor plants that grew in the bright patches on the ground where the sun managed to reach the earth.

“What happened? Where are we?” he asked when he caught up with the Skyfather.

“I’m not sure where this place is, my son,” Anu told him in a low voice. “But it is not hospitable for professors of the Roman Church at the moment. I also see that I neglected this portion of the world, but then I was a bit busy with your people. They were quite distressing….”

Simon froze as he heard a horrible scream from somewhere ahead of them.

“We must hurry,” Anu told him and then stopped. He cocked his head to one side and seemed to be listening to something Simon could not hear. He nodded slowly as if someone were talking to him and then smiled. He took Simon’s arm and dragged him along bodily. “I believe that was Paolo. If we hurry, we may be able to save the Count as well. If you do well with that stick, my son, you may become one of my chief archangels yet.”

Simon shrieked as a small, orange monkey fell from a low branch into his face and then scampered away under the cover of tangled brush fall.

“What did you say?” he asked as Anu pulled him along. “Did you say archangel?”

“Yes, yes,” Anu told him impatiently. “I do so hate to start over again, but that is the way of things. You were once a priest of the Christians, were you not?”

“Yes, the brotherhood of the Cistercians. I was a monk longer than I was a priest. I am unworthy.”

“But you were associated with the Brotherhood of the Red Cross of Gold as priest?”

“Yes, but not Cistercian. I was converted to Catharism, reformed version, of course, by my predecessor, Sir Boniface,” Simon admitted freely something he’d never ever dared say before. “He was trying to convince me to leave the priesthood and join the Order. I think my father put him up to it. I would have been burned or executed for heresy. Sir Ramsay saved me from the Inquisitors. I owe him my life, and I have done him many wrongs. If he is what they say he is, then I am truly damned.”

“Yes, so I’m told,” Anu said enigmatically. “But none are
truly
damned. You are versed in the scriptures of the Children of Israel. What was it that Joshua told the people?
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. And I gave him Jacob and Esau.
You know these words?”

“Yes, of course.” Simon nodded as they walked quickly through the dripping forest.

“Nothing has changed in that respect.” Anu waved one hand in dismissal. “I gave Jacob to Isaac, and then Jacob tried to defeat my son in hand-to-hand combat. Needless to say, he lost.”

“I’ve heard that story before,” Simon told him resolutely.

“Men are stiff-necked and stubborn. They carry too much hatred in their hearts. Too much vengeance and bloodlust.”

“There are some who do not,” Simon objected. “I have known some good men.”

“You have known some good men, yes, but even still, they are all killers. You speak of the Knights of the Council. Think of them in terms of human experience, my son. Louis Champlain? Luke Matthew Ramsay? Bartholomew of Sussex? Konrad von Hetz, the elder? Are these the men you would call good men? Do good men slay other men? How many men did they kill over the course of the centuries?”

“They did what they had to do. Times were different then. Men were…”

“Stiff-necked? Barbarian?” Anu laughed softly and then stopped. “Ahhhh. Ohhhhhh. Mmmmmm. Nasty, very nasty. These people need a dose of Sheol.” He dropped to one knee and peered out from under a broad leaf at the scene in the clearing beyond.

Simon knelt beside him and gasped as he took in the sight of the islanders, half naked, dancing wildly around a leaping fire while several children threw rocks at two unfortunate creatures tied to trees nearby.

“Go on out there, my son.” He nudged Simon’s ribs with his elbow. “Tell them that God is unhappy with them and that I have sent you as my divine messenger to warn them of hell fire and damnation. You know the story.”

Simon’s mouth fell open in surprise and then he clamped his jaw shut stubbornly as one of the hapless victims screamed again. The Healer got up resolutely and walked out of the cover of the trees. With a start, he realized that he no longer wore his favorite yellow shirt and tan slacks, but rather golden raiment that shined and shimmered as he walked. He moved his shoulders around uneasily as he felt an unusual weight on them as if he were wearing a heavy cape. When he glanced over his shoulder, he was shocked to see the curve of feathers. Without trying, he felt his wings unfolding and he quickly willed them to remain tucked. His heart was beating hard and fast when his presence was finally noticed by the revelers who were about to have a mid-afternoon snack of a most sordid nature. The islanders froze in mid-dance. Some of the women and children screamed at the sight of the glowing, winged apparition wielding a magnificent club in one hand, striding toward them from the forest. Within moments, the men had thrown down their weapons and musical instruments and run toward him, surrounding him, their eyes wide with wonder, curiosity and fear.

“Behold!” Simon opened his mouth and was startled to hear how loud his own voice was. The islanders fell back, covering their ears, murmuring, cowering now. Simon also realized that he was not speaking French, nor English, nor any other language in his normal repertoire. “I am Simon of Grenoble, Messenger of Light. So says your Lord and God
‘Repent of your abominations! For you sin greatly in the eyes of God.’ So says your Lord and your God ‘Release these men or suffer the pains delivered upon them threefold’
!”

The wildly painted cannibals ran away from Simon a short distance and then gathered in a tight knot. They spoke together quietly for several seconds, and then grabbed up a variety of discarded weapons from the ground. They were not buying it.

Their leader led the charge, wielding a short spear and a ceremonial dagger. The others came rushing behind him waving their spears, clubs and knives, screaming and shouting insults.

When they were very close, Simon pointed the rod at their legs and they tumbled to the ground, screaming even louder, but now in pain as they suffered the same pain as their captives, legs broken, yet not broken. They flopped and flipped on the ground like so many fish out of water. Behind them, their comrades and family members moaned and shouted and pleaded for the lives of their friends and loved ones.

Simon allowed them to suffer a few moments and then caused the pain to cease.

“Behold, the Lord has
spoken ‘This is my law: Do unto others only what you would have done to you.’
That is law of God.”

Simon held up the staff and the islanders scrambled away from him. Several of them ran to the trees where Count Polunsky and the Pope were tied, bruised and bleeding, barely conscious. They untied the two men quickly and carried them to within a few yards of the angel before laying them out carefully on the ground.

Simon looked back toward the trees. He didn’t know what to do with the two injured men. They could not possibly take care of themselves, but he could not take them with him… could he?

“Take them and care for them!” he commanded the men of the village. “Tend their wounds. Feed them and love them as your Brothers. Abstain from the abomination of eating human flesh for you shall surely die! This is the commandment of the Lord.”

The village chief turned to his people and shouted a number of orders to them. Simon waited until the unfortunate men were picked up and carried away again toward the village buildings. The Healer was very glad that neither of the men had been cognizant of his presence or his identity. When only the chief and a few of his men remained in the clearing, Simon raised the rod again, threatening them with it.

“Go now and follow the way of the Lord and know He will be pleased with your good works. Know also that He will be filled with wrath if you fail him and I, His Servant will visit you again.”

The frightened men, nodded, bowed, scraped and backed away simultaneously. Simon turned and walked directly back to the trees where Anu waited for him.

“Excellent! Wonderful!” Anu clapped him on his back between his wings.

“Do I have to keep these?” Simon grimaced and tried to look at the wings on his back.

“Don’t you like them?” Anu asked him and then laughed. “Of course not, but they do have their uses beyond the obvious.”

((((((((((((()))))))))))))

The number of long faces increased when William and Anna sat down at the far end of the banquet table in one of the Djinni’s grand dining halls. But they were not here for feasting. A number of servants brought beverages for them, but the table held no food. The flowers and candles had been removed and the hall had become an impromptu meeting hall. Luke Andrew Ramsay sat at one end of the table facing John Paul down the shining length. On his right was Lucia, his half-sister and on his left, Marco, his half-brother. Also in attendance were other members of the extended family including Aurora who sat next to her husband, Gregory and his brother Nicholas who sat at their father’s right hand and Jozsef Daniel, sitting next to his wife near the middle of the table facing Semiramis. A little further on, Jasmine sat between Seularik and Jeanine. The Djinni’s daughter sat across from Lucio, staring balefully at him as she had on their first meeting. The Italian Knight was oblivious to Jeanine’s attention; he seemed to be asleep with his chin propped in his hand.

John Paul stood up and looked at them all as if he were truly afraid to speak to them. Aurora bumped his arm and he coughed. When he did not speak, Lucia stood up.

“Since we are all here now, I believe we should get straight to the matter at hand,” she said and John Paul sighed before sitting down. “And that is the disappearance of my… our mother,” she nodded to her brothers and then cast a frown at John Paul. “She was last seen in Nicole’s… the room wherein Luke was taken after the fight with the creature. She was there with this Anu character.”

John Paul stood quickly and cleared his throat loudly. Lucia opened her mouth to speak again, but sat down instead.

“Friends and family,” he said slowly. “My… sister is much like her father,” he smiled at Lucio who drew a deep breath and held it. “She is quite passionate and too quick to speak her mind. Not exactly a sin, but sometimes rashness can lead to serious error. This Anu character as she calls him would be deserving of more respect. He did, after all, dispatch the creature that we could not seem to vanquish.” He paused to rub his stomach where the wound he had suffered still pained him somewhat though it was healing rapidly. “Furthermore, he may be known to some as Anu, the Skyfather, but he is known to others as Jehovah or Yahweh, the
I AM
of the Jews. He is the god who led them through the wilderness and brought them into the light under the express orders of our Heavenly Father.”

The room fell very quiet as his simple words sank into those to whom this revelation was shocking news. Lucio opened his eyes slowly and frowned. Every day he learned more and more that he did not wish to know. The Lord of Death from the Halls of Amenti was this same Anu who was now to be identified with the Lord Jehovah? He should have known. In his heart, he did know it.

“Be that as it may,” Lucia said and raised her chin defiantly. “What right does he have to abduct our mother?”

“I doubt that he abducted her, Lucia,” Marco whispered across the table to his sister. “If Anu is God, then he would not have to abduct anyone. I think it’s called ascension. You should not question the acts of… God, sister.”

John Paul smiled slightly at the simplicity of his half-brother’s explanation. Something he inherited from his father: the Will of God.

“I think that my dear grandfather has taken her from us for his own reasons and we will not know what they are until he wishes to reveal them to us,” John Paul told them. “Our immediate concern should not be for Meredith since she is, undoubtedly, in good hands, but we may wish to consult with Brother Luke as to the nature of the beast that attacked him and the possibility of it returning.”

John sat down quickly and all eyes turned to the transformed Luke Andrew. None of them had failed to notice the remarkable resemblance of Mark Ramsay’s son to the recently departed Anu.

“I have seen him before,” Luke told them simply. “He is after the golden swords of the Cherubim.”

“Why?” Semiramis asked this question. “The swords belong to Adar.”