The Dove (43 page)

“
Santa Maria!
  I thought the sun had already gotten to you.”  Lucio sighed in relief. 

“Some people say that Thoth, the Atlantean, buried a spaceship under the Sphinx.”  Mark Andrew told him.  “Didn’t you know that?  Didn’t you study the Emerald Tablets? Don’t you ever watch science fiction movies, Brother?  Did you never see the stories about the living spacecraft?  The ships that were actually living, breathing creatures? Dragons of the Universal Abyss between the stars?  Have you never seen the documentaries of the creatures populating the depths of the sea?  Do they not look like little flying saucers with lights, portals and wings?  Do some of them not resemble man’s conception of angels?  All full of inner light, glowing mysteriously in the depths?  Coming from no where and returning thence in a flash?  Could you not imagine that space is simply the sea in reverse, without the pressure of the water? Did you never wonder how Jonah could live in the belly of a whale?”

Mark laughed at Lucio’s confused expression.

“It was not a whale, Lucio!  It was Leviathan!  A great living, breathing craft of supernatural power, unfathomable grace and heavenly light. Did Jonah experience a miracle? No. A rescue? Possibly.  A lesson?  Most definitely. If the ocean abyss can contain living, breathing creatures that provide even their own light in the darkness, could not space contain the same?  Is not God all powerful, all knowing, capable of anything?  Why would He create such vast expanses of empty space?  Space is not empty, my friend.  It is teaming with life, and one only must have eyes to see and ears to hear.  The power of God is all around us, and we are blind.  It is in every blade of grass, every seed and every drop of water, every snowflake and every grain of desert sand.  We breathe in God with every breath we take.  Why do you suppose the ancient Egyptians tried so hard to turn their bodies to living stone after Thoth left them?  They too wanted to preserve themselves for the future when the gods would call upon them to rise again from the crystal state. Why do you think they went to so much trouble, Brother?  They were like children imitating the adults in their midst.  It was all there for you to see, Lucio.  You should have studied more, looked closer at the teachings.”

“I did and I didn’t see anything about a spaceship, Brother.”   Lucio’s expression changed and he purposefully refused to be impressed by Mark’s monologue.

“And you studied the Book of the Dead.  Did you see anything in there about the Great Sphinx being a gryphon?”

“Not really.”

“And you studied the Hermetica, the works of Trismegistus.  Did you see anything in there about Dragons?  You studied the Old Testament.  Did you see anything there about Sabaoth?”

“That’s not fair.”  Lucio told him.  “He is mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls.”

“Is he?  Do they mention his brothers?  Sambathas?  Yao?  Oraios? Astaphaios? To name a few.”

“Aha!”  Lucio smiled at him.  “They are mentioned in the Nag Hammadi Scrolls!  I have heard of them.”

“And do you know who their father was?”  Mark asked him.

“Ahhhhhh.  Let me think…  Yaldabaoth.  The Ancient Evil.”  Lucio told him proudly and then his expression changed.  “
The Ancient Evil
.”

“Aye.”

“The one who made the Ark?”  Lucio asked him quietly.

“Aye.  The same.”

“So this creature that you… that Lord Marduk vanquished was
not
the Ancient Evil?”

“Exactly.  One of his sons.  He has seven sons.”

“Seven. 
Si`
.  That is correct.”  Lucio nodded.  “That means that Sabaoth has six brothers somewhere.”

“Exactly.”

“And might you know where these loving brothers are?”  Lucio asked him suspiciously.

“They are everywhere.”  Mark waved one hand.  “Here and there.  There and here.  Especially… here.”

“What are you trying to say, Sir Ramsay?”  Lucio began to become irritated.

“Sabaoth is my brother, Lucio.”  Mark told him solemnly.

“That is ridiculous!  That is stupid.  Why would you say such a thing?”  Lucio asked him, thinking it another example of Mark’s dark humor.  “They would all be doomed to perdition.  They would be in the Chaos beyond the Abyss!  Do not play with me about such things, Brother.  They are damned beyond all redemption.  Evil through and through.  I will not listen to such tasteless jokes.  If you came to provoke me, then…”

“Hold, Brother.”  Mark held up one hand to stop the tirade.  “There is no such thing as eternal damnation, and you know it.  Redemption is available to all who would follow the Son of Light.”

“Are you serious?”  Lucio’s mouth fell open.  “Are you really his brother?”

“I am everyone’s brother.”  Mark smiled ruefully.  “I am everyone’s and no one’s brother. I am my mother’s son and my son’s father.  I am my wife’s husband and my sister’s father.  I am my daughter’s husband and my brother’s father. I am my mother’s husband and my wife’s father. I have been in the depths of hell and the heights of Heaven and sometimes between the two and nowhere is there found peace on earth as it was intended.”

“What is this, confession?”  Lucio asked him, still angry.  “Is that why Simon is frightened of you now?”

“Is he afraid of me?”  Mark frowned.

“He is.”

“He
should
be.”  Mark told him and kicked his own horse, galloping along the line of soldiers, leaving the Italian behind in the dust.

He galloped past the column of soldiers allowing the stallion full rein until he caught up with the trundling troop carrier.  The manifold pipe had been quickly repaired, but the noise was still considerable.  Simon glanced out the window at him when he drew alongside and frowned at him.  When he reached for the handhold beside the door and slid from his horse onto the running board, Simon swerved sharply and began to shout at him.

“Luke!  Luke, what are you doing?  The Ark!”  Simon was hysterical as Mark Andrew opened the door of the moving vehicle.

“Move over, Brother.  I want to drive,” he said and forced the smaller man across the seat, almost into Levi’s lap and took over the wheel of the truck.

“Luke!”  Simon caught himself and sat up straight, crushed between Mark and his son on the uncomfortable console compartment.  “What on earth is wrong?!  You shouldn’t be in here!  The Ark is dangerous!”

Mark glanced at him from beneath the loose strands of his hair.

“Why should I be afraid of my father’s toys?”  He asked him bitterly.  “What can he do?  Kill me?”

“Mark Andrew?”  Simon swallowed hard as he recognized the Chevalier du Morte in Luke Andrew’s clothes.  Levi leaned forward and looked at him in surprise.

“Aye.  It’s me, the great Astaphaios.  Adar, the Mighty Hunter.  Uriel.  Hermes.  Thoth.  You name it.  Here am I.” 

The Healer was astounded at the depth of the bitterness in Mark Andrew’s voice.

“What are you doing?”  Simon asked him again.  “Is something wrong?”

“Everything is wrong, Simon.”  Mark glanced out the window and then stared straight ahead into the dust of the truck in front of them.

“I thought you were going with Omar.”

“Disappointed, are we?”

“No… I mean, no.”  Simon adjusted his grip on the precarious seat.   “Just surprised.”

“And terrified?”

“No, of course not.  Why should I be terrified, Brother?”

“Because I am
not
your brother.  I am your uncle.  Good old Uncle Mark.”

“Brother.”  Simon lowered his voice and glanced at Levi who sat looking at his father in wonder.

Mark Andrew leaned forward and smiled at the Rabbi.

“I’m your great uncle, Levi.  You should have no fear of me.”

“I don’t understand.”  Levi said quietly.

“Your grandfather is my brother.  You know?  Your grandpapa?  The Grand Master?  Edgard? Nebo, Lord of the Second Gate?  Solomon, the Wise?  Yao, son of Yaldabaoth?”

“Poppi?”  Levi leaned back and sat very still.  “What is he talking about?”

“He is upset.  Pay no attention to him.”  Simon told his son.  “He gets like this from time to time.”

“Oh, so you’ve noticed?”  Mark nodded.  “I thought you were my friend, Simon.  I cannot believe that you would abandon me like this.”

“I have not abandoned you.”  Simon objected.  “Is that why you came with us?  Where is Luke?”

“I ate him for lunch and fed his bones to the dragon.”

“You are being a bit melodramatic.  Why don’t you just say what is on your mind?  Levi is a priest.  He will respect the sanctity of your confession.”

“I don’t want to confess, Simon.  I just want to talk.”

“Oh, well… then, by all means.”  Simon was beyond flustered.  “Talk.”

“It seems a bit hard to get started.”  Mark swerved around a rather large boulder in their path.

“Perhaps, if you told me the topic of discussion, I could help you out.”  Simon suggested hopefully and grabbed onto the dash as the truck bumped viciously.  The crate left the bed of the truck and smashed back down again.  Simon squirmed about and looked through the back glass at the cargo.

“Stop worrying about that thing.”  Mark told him.  “I could bounce it right off the damned truck and it wouldn’t harm a thing.  Magick, you know.  Powerful stuff.”  He swerved again and the crate tilted dangerously.

“So what have you been up to?”  Simon asked inanely.  “You were a bit late for the battle.  Did you get held up somewhere?”

“No, I didn’t want to show up too soon.  I thought I’d wait until the battle was over and then rush in and say ‘Did I miss it?’  You know, just sit this one out.  Your father did quite well without me what with Lucio’s gryphon and my old friend, Inanna, and all that baculus stuff and Wisdom of Solomon, etcetera, etcetera, fine`, fine`, finis.”

“You are still being facetious.  I thought we were going to talk.”

“Oh, aye.  That’s right.”

“Now, please, just talk to me.  Tell me where you’ve been.  What you’ve been doing since we last talked… I mean, since we last talked before the battle.”  Simon corrected himself.  He did not want to discuss what had happened in the command tent.

“Well.  Let me see.  I went to the Orkney Islands with Andrea.  You remember her?  Platinum blonde?  Blue eyes?  A real wanger.”

“Wanger?”  Simon raised both eyebrows.

“Simon!  I never expected to meet her, much less go gallivanting about the country with her.”  Mark turned a haunted look on the Healer.  “Anyway.  We went to the Orkney’s so I could make some observations of this thing that’s headed our way.  There are some very good sights there for observations of that nature.  Barren islands.  Cold winds.  Plenty of fresh air.  No light pollution.  No food.  No shelter.  All the amenties of barbarism.”

“I see.”  Simon nodded.

“Probably not, but we visited a stone… nay, a crystal chamber of ancient age.  A nice romantic place.  You know me… always the sentimental type, I am.  So we went there because she wanted to spend the night inside it.  You know how tourists are, especially the female types.  And we got stuck in there.  I couldn’t get out.  I tried everything.  When we were finally released, we ended up here.”

“We?”  Simon frowned.  “You mean you ended up here.  Where is Andrea?”

“In here.”  Mark pointed to his chest.  “And here.”  He pointed to his head.  “Andrea and I are together.”

“Together?”  Simon glanced at his son and Levi shrugged.

“That means I am no longer Mark Ramsay.  Mark Ramsay is on his way to Scotland… my home.  Now it’s his home.  Not in the sense that it was King Ramsay’s home for while and a bit.  I’ve done it again, Simon!”  Mark Andrew fell silent, and they rode along for some way without speaking while Simon tried to digest what Mark was telling him.

“I’m like Lucifer now.”  Mark spoke again at length.

“You’re an angel?”  Levi leaned forward again and looked at him closely.

“Aye.  Some would call me that, but I’m not an angel.  I’m one of the Elohim.  I was once an angel, and then I got a promotion.  I was an archangel, and then I was a Lord of Wisdom and then a Lord of Flame and I was a Cherubim for a while, and then I volunteered to come back here as a Lord of Wisdom. A voluntary demotion, you could say.  I thought I could help.”

“I still don’t understand.”  Simon shook his head slowly and looked very ill.

“It’s unimportant.”  Mark told him.  “I have been a man… or at least, I’ve lived as a man for a very long time, and I liked it.”

“Oh.”  Levi leaned back again, seeming somewhat relieved.

“But now I’ve lost that.  I’m back where I started from.  I didn’t realize it until Sabaoth called me by name.  Andrea and I have been reunited, and I should be glad about that.  Now I can go back where I belong.  But I don’t want to go.”

“Why not?”  Simon jerked his head around.  “If I could leave this world and step into heaven, I would jump for joy!”

“I like it here.  I like Scotland, and I like the excitement and the turmoil and even the suffering.  I can’t remember whatHeaven is like, Simon and I’m afraid to go there.”