The Dove (29 page)

“You know this place?”  She frowned at him.

“Yes.”  He nodded.  “A great place.  Wonderful magick.”

“Come sit down, Mark.”  She patted the sleeping bag next to her.  “How do you know all this stuff?”

“Long time ago.”  He continued to smile as he spoke and then picked up his spoon, digging into the stew.  “This place and other places.  Great works were done by the Watchers.”

“The Watchers?”  She sat up straighter.  He had to have returning memories.

“The sons of light.”  He nodded as he made another face at the stew.  “They brought knowledge.  From Heaven.”

“Ahh.  From Heaven.”  Sophia nibbled at her candy bar and drank a bit of water.

“And gave it to the sons of men.”

“You remember this?”

“Yes.  It was better then.  Not so many peoples.  Not so much evils.  It was easier.”

“I’m sure it was.”  She muttered, imagining these dark caverns below the desert skies filled with brilliant stars.  She saw great bonfires and men dressed in long robes, dancing about them.

“There aren’t many peoples now.”  He said suddenly growing morose.  “All gone!  Dead and sleeping in the sand.  I have lost them all.  My peoples.”

“But there are still a lot of people in Europe.  That’s right.  Your people, Mark.  Family and friends.  You are not responsible for what happened to the world.  You have done a good job protecting your family, your Brothers and your friends.”

“Friends?”  He perked up a bit.  “Do I have friends?”

“Of course, you do.  Look at Selwig.  He practically worships you.  Do you remember your sons?  Luke Andrew and Lemarik?”

“No.  No sons.”  He shook his head and the earrings jingled.

“Yes.  You have three sons.  Lemarik, Luke and Il Dolce Mio.  And a daughter.  Nicole is your daughter.  Bari, the Emperor, is your great-grandson.”  She told him.

“No.”  He shook his head.  “Not mine.  The other’s.  I’m a virgin.”

“Virgin!”  Sophia laughed and Mark laughed with her.  “You don’t know what a virgin is.  Who told you that?”

“Nobody.”  He stopped laughing and looked hurt.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to laugh at you.”  She looked down at her lap.  How could she handle this one?  And should she even try?

“It’s Ohh K.”  He said.  “Ignorance is all around.  Darkness and ig’norance.”

“Are you saying I’m ignorant?”  She asked in disbelief.

“It’s Ohh K.”  He patted her arm.

“So tell me…”  She adjusted her position and leaned against a rock.  “Why do you think I’m ignorant?”

“Because you don’t know.”  He told her simply.  “It’s Ohh K.”

“When will I know?”  She asked him and yawned.  It was too confusing.

“I’ll show you.”  He smiled at her and shrugged.

“You know that you and I were…  That we once were…  Do you know who I am?”

“You are Sophia.  That’s a silly question.”

“I mean, do you know who I was before we came here.  Before you were ill?”

“Yes.  You were Sophia and I was Mark.  Now, you are Sophia and I am Mark.  Nothing changed.”

“Oh, yes it did!”  She objected.  “Now I’m your mother.  You don’t remember me.  You don’t remember how we… what we did.  I was your lover, Mark.  Your… your… you were my sweetheart.”  She had not meant to lose her temper, but he was very frustrating and their situation was outrageous.  There was no way to explain this to him and she was sad that he was learning to speak without his delightful Scottish brogue.

“You are not my mother.”  He laughed and then took her chin in his hand.  “Look at me.  You are not my mother.  You are Sophia.  I love you.  Why are you angry with me?”

“I don’t know.”  She said miserably and got up.  She spread the other sleeping bag on the stones and lay down on the hard ground.  Tears ran from her eyes unchecked.  “I hate this!”  She wiped at her eyes.

Mark cleared the food and water from his own sleeping bag and spread it out beside her.  He lay down close to her and propped his head on his hand, looking down at her.  She cut her eyes toward him and waited.

“What?”  She asked after a moment. 

“I love you.”  He told her again.  “I don’t want you to cry.”

He lowered his head and kissed her lightly.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him desperately.  “Mark, I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to snap at you.  I’m sorry.”  Her voice was muffled against his shirt.

“You think I don’t remember you.  But I do.”  He whispered in her ear.  “And now we are in the crystal palace.”

“Oh, hush up and hold me, Mark.  Can’t you see that I’m in distress here?”  She held onto him even tighter and he burped in her ear.

“Ooops!” he said.  “You’re holding me too tight, Sophia.”

She giggled.

“Wait.”  He disengaged her arms and got up.  “Fix this.”  He pushed the second bag toward her.  “Too hard.”

Sophia laid his sleeping bag on top of her own.  It would help a bit.  Mark disappeared into the passage and she sat wondering what he was doing.  Presently, he came back with a blanket.

“Here.”  He handed it to her and then turned off the lantern.  Only the barest hint of light filtered from the connecting corridor.  She felt him sit down beside her in the darkness.  “Now I’ll show you about the special babies.”

“What?!”  Her eyes widened, but she could see nothing.

“Don’t worry.”  She could hear him taking off his boots.  “No one can see.  I told them not to come.”

“You did what?!”  She could not believe it.

“I told them not to bother us, we are busy.”

“Oh, my God.  Mark Andrew!”

“Now be quiet.”  His voice drifted down to her.  He was standing up again.  Something fell on her head.  His shirt.

“Mark.”  She pulled the shirt from her head and laid it aside.  “What are you doing?”

“Shhh.”  He sat next to her.  “Simon will hear you.  Now let me help you with this.”

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

Nicholas leaned against the wall of the chamber in which he, his brother, Selwig, Simon of Grenoble and Bari had bedded down for the day.  Simon had offered to check his ‘injuries’, but Nicholas had stubbornly refused.  Gregory, the younger of the two, had allowed the healer to examine him and Simon had pronounced everything to be progressing nicely.  Nicholas was beside himself.

“Progressing nicely?”  He mimicked the priest’s soft voice.  “That’s all well and good and easy for you to say, Sir.  But I beg to differ with your esteemed opinion.  All that aside, I would like very much to know what is wrong with my grandfather.  He behaves like a child.  He did not recognize us and he didn’t recognize you either.  Why?”

Simon laid aside his sword and daggers and adjusted the long robe about his legs.

“I’m not sure what is wrong with him.  It would seem that his
twin
has left him.”

“What are you talking about?”  Nicholas arranged his backpack as a pillow and stretched out on the ground, pulling a light blanket over him.  “Twin?  You mean Uncle Luke?”

“No.  I mean his spiritual twin.  The emanation that has inhabited his body for the past two thousand years.”  Simon said lightly.  “Some people call them guardian angels.  His mirror image from the spiritual realm.  You realize that Mark Ramsay, the human being, has never actually been himself.  His body has simply been a repository for a higher power, operating in the material world.  I believe that whatever General Schweikert did to him, and I also believe the good general used the Tree of Life powder on him, but whatever it was, it caused the extra-spiritual element to depart from him, leaving only the man.  According to what Sophia tells me, he is now mortal and I agree with her on that point.  If he were not mortal, his hand would have healed easily on its own without Selwig’s help.  Her description of what she has been through since they were abducted indicates she has, in effect, raised him from infancy and has done a remarkable job of bringing him this far in such a short time.  Of course, he most likely retains elementary abilities, perhaps some memories, like a person suffering from a massive stroke.  He simply had to re-learn basic things such as walking and talking, but now he is making rapid advances.”

“So where did his spirit go?”  Nicholas asked.  He did not buy this story at all.  He knew nothing of spirits and possession and such things.  His mother had never taught him these things were possible and the idea was terribly disturbing.

“
His
spirit has gone nowhere.  The spirit of Adar or Uriel, depending on your perspective, has left him.”

“Has this ever happened before?”  Gregory asked.  “Will it come back?”

“There is one instance that we know of where such a thing happened.”  Simon cast a dark look at Nicholas.  The older brother’s skepticism was quite evident.  The recent events had most likely soured his opinion of Simon’s credibility.  “It is written that when Jesus was hanging on the cross he cried out in a loud voice
‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?
’ which means
‘Aeon, aeon, why did you desert me?’
  A great many scholars and religious leaders have pondered these words and many have drawn conclusions that are widely varied.  According to our beliefs, Jesus was abandoned by the Aeon, which is another name for angel or spiritual being, just as he was about to die.  The Christos left him temporarily and journeyed into the purgatorial kingdoms of the Abyss, where He liberated the spirits and souls of those entrapped in hell or purgatory.  Jesus, the man, died and was buried in the meantime, and then Christos returned to him and that is when the resurrection took place.”

“Ahhh.  That would make sense.”  Gregory agreed readily.  “Perhaps the Christos did not or could not be present when the life left the body or perhaps the life could not leave the body of Jesus as long as the Aeon was present.  Most likely the Christos had to leave Jesus on the cross in order that he could pass.  An act of mercy to end prolong suffering on the tree.”  Simon looked away from the younger man.  Speaking of the Crucifixion brought back his own painful memories of experiencing the same torture at the hands of Marduk.  If ever his patience was tried, it was when he was asked to overlook this little indiscretion of Lord Marduk for the greater good he was supposedly destined to perform for mankind.  The simple human inside of the Healer cried out for vengeance.

“That is very possible.  It is a sad and terrifying thing to think that Jesus had to suffer death alone, but in the end, when we die, we die alone.  It is what happens after death that is important.”  Simon told them.  “If our bodies are inhabited by mystical, immortal creatures, we cannot die.  That is why your grandfather must release the souls and spirits of the dead Brothers when their material bodies can no longer function.  When they partake of the Tree of Life, they are imbued with a greater portion of the divine essence that permeates the Universe.  It must be dispelled before they can rest.”

“I see!”  Gregory sat up again.  “That has always bothered me.  I didn’t understand it until now.  So, whenever the Brothers receive their mysteries, they actually join with their angelic twins.  And when they are destroyed, the man must die a man’s death while the twin goes on to inhabit a new body to carry on the work.”

“Exactly.”  Simon nodded.

“So when you killed yourself, your angelic twin just stayed around, waiting for my Grandfather to release your soul?”  Nicholas asked a very sensitive question.

“Apparently so.”  Simon nodded.  “But my Brothers did not want me to die.  And so they contrived to join my separated beings into one and restore the angelic part to the joined souls of the two Simons.  That is why I retain the memories of both Simons.  I am two people in one.”

“How does that feel?”  Nicholas pressed him.

“It feels like it’s time for us to get some rest.  We have a long night ahead of us.”  Simon smiled at his open curiosity.  “Where is Selwig?”

“He went out a while ago.”  Gregory glanced down the dimly lit corridor.  “He said this place was very oppressive to his mind.  He said he needed fresh air.”

“I hope he didn’t go far.”  Simon frowned and got up.  “I’ll be back shortly.  I want to find him before we go to sleep.  I suggest you both try to rest.”

Simon hurried away down the corridor in search of the little healer.  He found the Tuathan sitting atop a great boulder a few yards from the entrance to the underground chambers.  Two of the men from Jerusalem were nearby with binoculars, watching the road in both directions and scanning the plains for signs of approaching danger.  Selwig seemed to be in an almost trance-like condition when Simon climbed onto the rock beside him.

“Selwig?” 

“Hmmm.”  The Tuathan answered without looking at him.

“What are you doing?  You need to rest.”  Simon urged him.

“They are coming.”  Selwig nodded his head toward the northeastern horizon.

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it.” 

Simon shuddered and strained his eyes to see anything at all on the wavering line of hills stretching endlessly away toward the north.