The Kingdom of the Damned

by Mario Garrido Espinosa

  The marriage bond was almost as resonant as of a prince’s; in fact, it was whispered, not without reason, that King Bartholomew III the Magnificent came to the wedding banquet —making honor to his nickname during the evening— and Queen Engrace One-eyed, something very rare since the Monarch almost never allowed his wife was seen in public, perhaps thinking that the nickname could degenerate into a worse one if people saw her more closely.

  The bride and groom arrived at the high altar of Baruc and Ezekiel cathedral, located in the central Muleteer street, mounted on a float pulled by four beautifully harnessed percheron horses, brought expressly from the south of France. Officers accompanied the procession on horseback and the streets near the cathedral were adorned with garlands and narrow pennants of all colors, giving some avenues the appearance of a medieval joust terrain.

  The solemn Mass, officiated by Cardinal Louis Amalio Isidro Farnesio, lasted almost four and a half hours and did not end with all guests’ patience of pure miracle. However, dozens counted were who deserted in the midst of the impaling Eucharist. One of them was Blas de Doveque, famous poet of the city who was very much liked by the King; for this reason, he had been invited to the wedding, as were other main characters of the Court. The writer, who presumed to compose sonnets "in no time at all", according to his own words, the next day spread the poem he had created about the mass. Like any of his compositions on current events, it was commented on throughout the city.

  He called the sonnet in question "Of the excessive and never seen marriage of opposites: Devil and Divinity" and included it in a collection of more than two hundred of these poems published a year later with the pompous title of "Chronicle of the strange and the sublime, with other events that happened in this Court". The book, dedicated to one of his secret lovers, Sir Jacinto de Barruentos, Duke of Latterano, enjoyed a certain success, due in part to the jocularity of most of his verses and the stark criticism he made without any dissimulation of some government decisions and certain famous people for their position. When Sir Higinio learned that his wedding and he were mentioned in the volume, he ambushed the poet one night in an alley and, grabbing him by the neck, threatened to kill his lover in the worst way. In a few hours, the poem disappeared from the collection and did not become part of the following book publications or editions.

  However, the sonnet verses did not disappear from the memory of the inhabitants of St. Josafar, and, with some variations, it could be heard for a long time.

  A couple who does not praise is married:

  Him, sheriff, the worst of the namesakes

  and her, beautiful of the most memorable.

  God punished with an unfinished rite!

  How many hours lasted? It is not known.

  How many "amen" did they say? Countless.

  Prayers and offerings? Unmeasurable.

  More endurance and resistance does not fit!

  Absurd and superlative Eucharist.

  Monotony and annoyance without measure.

  Ostentation and excessive verbiage.

  The couple felt dead in life.

  And saints, fugitive attitude,

  Even marble, longed for their departure.

  At the end of the ceremony, fifteen casks of young wine were distributed free to anyone who wanted to toast the good health of the newlyweds. They were a gift from the Ortega Villa de la Guindalera family, who also paid for the festivities and dances in honor of their only daughter and their new son-in-law. These were prolonged during the rest of the week, although not everybody participated in them, because in St. Josafar Sir Higinio was held by the cruelest and ruthless sheriff that had been known; and more than half of the residents of the capital had the misfortune to maintain some unpleasant encounter with him or with any of his subordinates. Scholastic Eugenie’s parents, in addition, ran with the other costs derived from the wedding and, consequently, they spent a lot of money; but they did it with pleasure, because they were proud of that husband they had provided their only descendant. This pride waned quite a lot on the day that the first daughter of the marriage was born, Irene, who, at Sir Higinio Lopezosa’s express whim, would not carry any of Ortega family‘s surnames. Since then, the military meetings with the dukes were sporadic and rarely pleasant.

  Despite the estrangement of their parents, Scholastic Eugenie must have been very happy in her short time as a married woman; because although her husband’s bad character was legendary, he was never rough with her, since he loved her with madness, almost with a religious fervor; and his bad and unpredictable ways were kept for the delinquents, the soldiery and the quartering where he worked.

  2

  In his military time, Sir Higinio Lopezosa Quesada stood out for his unnecessary violence and efficiency when quashing revolts and altercations in St. Josafar, trampling on bandits, swindlers, artisans, day laborers and tricksters alike; without distinguishing, too often, who was the honest and who the wrongdoer. He also became famous for avoiding pillage and robbery during the St. Blas and Guard Angel’s hermitage pilgrimages in the park called Countryside Shelter, as well as in St. Isidore, James and St Mark, where the soldiers at his command, rather than respect, instilled panic in their wake.

  Sir Higinio ended up being in a short time captain of the Royal Sheriff’s Guards of St. Josafar. This small army had been created a few years before dying by Callixtus X —the current King’s great-grandfather—, a hundred years ago. The capital of Gurracam was at that time a hotbed of criminals and people of bad living, and was becoming uncontrollably fast in the most dangerous place in the whole Kingdom. Proof of this was the enormous number of people dedicated to begging, that the King thought that by not living from a fixed job they induced bad habits in the neighborhood, and that they would do better service by returning to their places of origin or enrolled in the navy, discovering worlds or dying in battles in any of the oceans where Gurracam was present. Famous were also the baths on the Apple River, which divided St. Josafar into two. Many neighbors did it naked, which led to a lack of decency that the Monarch was not willing to tolerate, also taking into account that many of these baths were enjoyed in front of the palace. Finally, they were concerned about the small —but frequent— popular uprisings that erupted because of causes —which had little or no importance for Bartholomew III’s ancestor— such as the scarcity of bread, the lack of streetlights or the fact that most of the neighbors ate soup with no substance and dry and rancid bacon at best, and in the palace the meats were, in the worst case, mutton leg, Parma cheese costly brought from the neighboring Italic peninsula and trout recently fished and transported from the distant Trillion river.

  To solve all these annoying problems, King Callixtus X established an army that had a barracks every three streets of the city and that, not only was dedicated to execute arrest, warrants or prison, execution orders and embargoes, and to maintain security and order in the streets and squares, but they enjoyed full freedom to do their work in the most effective way possible, as a general rule to turn a blind eye whenever were necessary.

  "The glory and fame of the Sheriff's Guards of St. Josafar will be measured in the future by their stupendous results," Calixto X said in a harangue speech after the imposition of a few medals. “Nobody has to care then, now or never, the means used to reach it.”

  Moving in this environment, Sir Higinio quickly rose to the top of the ranks because he was the bloodiest —but at the end of the day, effective— of the entire Sheriff's Guards who had enlisted in this body in his hundred years of existence. It is not surprising that Sir Higinio Lopezosa Quesada became known by all the delinquents of the city and its surroundings, who began to call him The Butcher; although, soon, the nickname fell almost in total disuse, due to the poor man who had invented it died in unexplained form during a period that was residing in a forced way in the dirty dungeons of the Toneleros street.

  It was known that if The Butcher wanted and caught you for some crime, you did not get rid of a savage beating, w
hich, in the best of cases, left you prostrate anywhere for three or four weeks, with very few desire to reoffend indeed... And this behavior, always above all, humble or rich, stayed with Sir Higinio for life. It is therefore that in spite of his many years as a civilian, he was still thinking in the closed, authoritarian and irrational way of a high command of the army and in general, except for his daughters and some others, he treated people in a military manner, regardless of whether they were in his service or not, that they had greater economic power or not, that they were older or not, whether they were educated or not... In short, he communicated with others as if they were his subordinates or recently arrived soldiers to his barracks of constable guards. Logically, he did not have any close friends in La Alpurria del Campo.

  3

  After the death of their daughter, the dukes of Sotopontoso and Luciergapo marched to France to forget what had happened, and although they promised to return from time to time to see their granddaughters, they did not appear anymore for Gurracam. The dukes secretly thought that Sir Higinio had some of the guilt in Scholastic Eugenie’s death and they had nailed in their hearts the fact that their granddaughters did not bear any of their illustrious surnames. The Ortega Villa de la Guindalera lords carried away all their fortune without leaving anything to their son-in-law or their granddaughters, and over time they sold their vast Gurracamese possessions, with the help of a prestigious and expensive intermediary hired in Paris.

  The dukes and the Lopezosa Quesada family never met again.

  Sir Higinio sought a culprit for his beloved wife’s death. For days, he persuaded himself that she had been poisoned, and the authorship of this horrible action -—which nobody ever did— was awarded to a gypsy man named Manuel Montoya, who had been nicknamed “The Adust” since he was very young. Manuel had visited the dungeons of the Villa and Court prison on numerous occasions for robbery and Sir Higinio was always in charge of capturing him or having the sentence served with the utmost rudeness; perhaps for this reason, he thought that the man had killed, in revenge, the woman he loved most.

  The Captain of the Sheriff’s Guard could not hide the total contempt he felt for Manuel Montoya and the gypsies in general. In his defense, it could be said that he never had a deal —perhaps because of his work— with anyone who was a good person.

  The Adust wore very dark skin, very black eyes, hair, and aquiline nose. His presence alone was frightening, and the Albacete knife —a gift from a Spanish relative— that he hid among his clothes was not reassuring. Sir Higinio had tried it once, and Manuel had regretted that insignificant scratch afterwards.

  After several interminable nights of not ceasing to think about the gypsy, Sir Higinio was totally convinced that Montoya was Scholastic Eugenie’s murderer; and so, one morning in January —which was cold and flooded with fog— he went for him.

  That was going to be the last day he was in St. Josafar. Once the work was finished, he planned to start his march towards La Alpurria del Campo. With this motive, he loaded a wagon with all the possessions that he considered important and left his two daughters climbed to it, having previously ordered the four-year-old Irene to wait silently inside the car with her sister, who was almost newborn, in arms and always ready to go. Five guards remained in the care of the vehicle, which would surely have given their lives before the smallest object was lost inside the wagon or, worse, that one of the two girls suffered the slightest accident.

  It was not difficult to find Manuel Montoya. When Sir Higinio asked, the scoundrel or the priest always responded without losing a second. That day was no exception and surely the questioned should have thanked the heavens because the guard bailiff only wanted to know The Adust’s whereabouts; and nothing more.

  He found him half-asleep in a stinking tavern on St. Julian Street, with a rather strong hangover.

  Three men played “the triplet” while they were served —despite the morning time it was— glasses up to the edge of the red, thick and lousy wine from a jug. The fattest one should be very good with things because it was the fifth time in a row that exceeded his two opponents’ tricks, who began to sense more than just luck in the game of that chubby and smiling man who, on the other part, they did not remember ever having seen in the neighborhood. When Sir Higinio entered, they left the cards on the table, seized their weapons hung from their belts and begged that it was not one of them he was looking for.

  Manuel Montoya, in spite of his condition, clearly, saw Sir Higinio’s intentions and understood that today he was not going to be beaten and then ended up locked in one of the two plated towers of the jail on St. Cruise Street. Today, that soldier, savage and bloodthirsty, came for his life.

  “How long, Butcher?” The Adust muttered.

  “Long time. Too much," he said as he pulled back his cloak and drew his clean, sharp sword.

  “What are you coming for?” The gypsy asked, at the same time that, with many nerves and the awkwardness due to his condition, he was busy searching for the razor between the folds of his shirt.

  “You know the reason!” The military man muttered.

  There was no time to try, at least, to find the Albacete. Sir Higinio's sword pierced the dirty neck of the gypsy with a single blow. The blood came out very red and in spurts.

  At that moment, a boy came running through the door. He was sweating and in his face, there were agitated features that in a few years would turn him into a man whose very presence would instill respect and fear. He came to warn to The Adust, but it was too late. Sir Higinio turned around, taking Manuel's blood-dripping sword and with a gesture of his face allowed the boy to leave, forgiving him, perhaps, his life. Then he looked again at the gypsy in front of him, dying as only a dying man can do.

  "You do not pay enough for that, you bastard, but I'm a pious man!" Said the young constable guard and threaded a half sword into his chest, so that he would stop suffering. Then, resting his foot on the dying man’s shoulder, he drew his weapon from the entrails he had torn. With the impulse, the gypsy fell to the ground.

  Before the last breath, Manuel Montoya found the hilt of his knife. He closed his eyes. Died. Meanwhile, Sir Higinio wiped the blade of his sword with a tablecloth, sheathed it and left without saying any more words.

  The three people who played the triplet and the innkeeper —more accustomed to brawls and quarrels— took a long time to react.

  4

  The origins of Sir Higinio's phenomenal fortune were, to say the least, doubtful. In his military time, he was not a great saver. In addition, he spent entire fortunes to please his beloved wife’s whims, which in truth were very few. Scholastic Eugenie was a woman who did not need too many material things to live happily, but it is also true that some of them turned out to be very expensive.

  The retired military officer arrived at La Alpurria del Campo, in a wagon that, at first, they confused with of a street vendor’s. When he put his feet on the ground for the first time in that town, he hid among the bundles inside his vehicle, barely enough money to support himself and his two daughters for a year and a half, but very soon, he would manage to increase his wealth dramatically.

  King Bartholomew III the Magnificent deeply regretted Sir Higinio’s decision to leave the Royal Sheriff’s Guard and leave St. Josafar. The King was aware of the fact that a few years ago the capital of the Kingdom was, with difficulties, like a raft of oil and this was partly thanks to the Captain Lopezosa Quesada’s hand —it is true that murder—. Therefore, Bartholomew III made him come to the palace to try to persuade him. The monarch, in spite of the fact that managed to offer five times his salary, a couple of properties —two medium-sized mansions— located in one of the central streets of St. Josafar and even the possibility of rising in a few years to Captain-General of all the sheriff's guards of St. Josafar, he could not get Sir Higinio changes his mind; he did not even doubt it.

  Bartholomew III also knew that in his capacity as King it was enough to order him to continue in his pos
t so that the young soldier had to comply with his mandate without raising objections, but he feared that this would make Sir Higinio his enemy; and this was an enemy that no King, although he was the one who reigned in the vast lands occupied by Gurracam, could afford. So, using his undoubted astuteness, King Bartholomew III, in gratitude for the services rendered, handed him the medal of military merit, the reward for work —which in addition to another beautiful medal had fifty silver Alexandrians—, twenty-five golden Alexandrians taken directly from the royal coffers —that were nourished by the taxes taken from the people that Sir Higinio had caused so much pain— and named him owner of all the lands surrounding the village of La Alpurria del Campo, with full power to do with them what he wanted. As a whole, it was an important gift and the King assured himself the Captain’s fidelity, which in the future, perhaps, could be necessary... That is why, when Sir Higinio first placed his two feet on the Alpurrian earth, after the long journey, he knew that what he stepped on was his.

  5

  On the way to La Alpurria, Sir Higinio went through lands owned by monasteries and there, resting from the trip, or in conversations with the monks themselves, he could get an idea of ​​how he would take advantage of all the hectares that were now his property.

  “People around here are ignorant chestnut and acorns eaters. Worse than the pigs themselves,” the Abbot of the St. Salzedo and Buçedo Abbey said, Marcelino Taruoca, who took quick confidence with the retired military officer after seeing the signs of the Sheriff’s Guard. “And we, the Cister, have always taken advantage of that... and those that are not, too," he said with a frightful frankness.