Although Kanditu was of the same opinion as his friend, he was careful not to draw attention to himself. He had attended the execution and cheered along with everyone else, and the next time he had seen Sanlesoo, neither of them had broached the topic.
After the disappearance of Sanlesoo, Kanditu stopped drinking at the Ivremort Inn. He slept very lightly, waking up every time he heard a noise, expecting the Church Police to smash his door down and take him away. He imagined Sanlesoo being tortured to make a confession, and broke out in a sweat every time an announcement of an execution was made. He wouldn't have been able to bear watching Sanlesoo die in front of him and the rest of the population of Afermonga. But if Sanlesoo had been spared, it was for a worse fate, that of perpetual exile in a labor camp in the province of Chtiqipux where no one survived for very long.
One month later, he was at the market buying a chicken when he heard his favourite tune, ‘Lady of the lake’. He turned around and saw it was being played by a man he had never seen before. Other people walked past, oblivious to the music, but Kanditu was drawn to the busker like a cat to a hot stove.
When he stopped playing, Kanditu took a coin from his pouch and tossed it into his hat.
The busker looked him in the eyes. He didn't say a word, but he offered his hand to thank Kanditu, and when he shook it, Kanditu felt a piece of paper in his hand and put it in his pocket, looking around him to see if anyone was watching them.
He waited until he was at home to read the note.
I have news of your friend. Meet me at Pier 5 tomorrow at dawn.
Kanditu wondered briefly if it was a trap, but if the Church Police had wanted to arrest him, they wouldn't have needed to resort to a subterfuge. His intuition told him the busker was trustworthy, but he took a dagger with him just in case. He didn't quite know what he expected the busker to tell him though. Surely Sanlesoo couldn't have escaped from the Church Police. Everyone knew that was impossible.
Kanditu walked briskly to the pier through the heavy fog shrouding the town in the pre-dawn darkness of the next morning. Whores, drunks, and smelly rats squeaking like pigs were clearing the streets they had occupied during the night.
The busker was sitting on the edge of the pier, a fishing rod in his hand. Kanditu sat next to him. The busker motioned him to take the other rod. He baited the hook with a worm from a bucket that sat between him and the busker, and cast his line, waiting for the busker to speak. Seagulls flew around them, screeching.
"The Church Police didn't take your friend for the reason you think."
"But why then?"
"He was made a Theorakin by Guerinoo, deity of healing," the busker whispered.
"What's a Theorakin?"
"Someone the Church doesn't want you to know about. You've been taught that the deities perform miracles when the paters ask them. The truth is that when the deities went back to their kingdom after the creation of the world, they lost their power over their creation. It was the will of Seignos, king of the deities. However in His infinite wisdom, He let them grant their power to mortals from time to time. It meant they had to rely on human beings to accomplish their will. Seignos thought it was a good way for them to lose their hubris. A person who has been given a deity's power is called a Theorakin. His life becomes dedicated to the deity who has chosen him, and he can grant prayers addressed to his deity. "
Kanditu turned his head to see if anyone was nearby. This was heresy of the highest degree. Why was this man uttering such twisted ideas? Kanditu started to get up, when the busker said, "I know what you're thinking, but let me finish before you turn your back on the truth."
The busker's peremptory tone compelled Kanditu to obey. He lowered himself back to the pier despite his impulse to run.
"Unfortunately for them, the Theorakins got in the way of Alphonsius and his thirst for absolute power," the busker continued. "He gave them a choice: either they became paters in the Church of All Deities and obeyed him, or their friends and families would be tortured in the most gruesome way possible. Most of them obeyed, but those who fought back suffered the consequences. Over time Alphonsius rewrote the history books and threatened those who remembered with death if they spoke out. That's how he managed to remove the word 'Theorakin' from our language. These days, whenever a man becomes a Theorakin, the Church Police finds out very quickly because Theorakins can't resist using their gifts to help their fellow men."
"So how do you know all this?"
"My name is Bodinsel, and I’m a Theorakin of Praeskia, deity of clairvoyance. I'm lucky because my gift allows me to see things as they really are under the mud of lies and deceit. As soon as I realised I'd been blessed, I knew I would be in danger if the Church Police found out, but I wanted to make good use of my gift. Now, whenever I have a vision that someone is going to become a Theorakin, I warn them. I've saved a few, but sometimes I'm too late or the future Theorakin doesn't believe me and accuses me of heresy."
"What about Sanlesoo?"
Bodinsel swallowed hard before replying. "I'm sorry, but I wasn't able to save him. After I had a vision of your friend, I looked for him, but his neighbour told me he had gone to Ragondan to see his mother who was dying from a mysterious ailment."
"I remember. When he came back the next day, he told me she had gotten up, seemingly cured, while he was there. He said it was unexplainable, because she had seen a pater on the feast day of Guerinoo, and he had denied her request. That was the last time I saw him. He was taken by the Church Police that night, but how did they manage to get him so quickly?"
"The Church Police have spies everywhere. They probably saw Sanlesoo’s mother telling everyone she was cured after her son’s visit, so they got him before I could warn him."
"But why are you telling me all this?"
"I had a vision you were going to be blessed, and I've come to save you."
"You must be mistaken! I'm just an ordinary man living a very ordinary life. Why would any deity give me their power?"
"On the contrary, deities love simple men."
Kanditu put down his rod and stood up.
"You'll believe me when you'll be blessed," said Bodinsel. "Unfortunately my visions aren't very precise. I can't tell you when it will happen or which deity has chosen you. Remember, don't tell anyone about your gift. Pray to me in a secluded place. I will hear you and find a way to contact you. But if you decide I'm a heretic and tell the Church Police, I will hear the duplicity in your prayer, and you will never see me or hear from me again."
Kanditu walked away. Bodinsel is demented, he thought. I've never heard such nonsense. Seignos is all-powerful. Why would he make the deities rely on humans to accomplish their will? It's surprising he hasn't been caught by the Church Police yet.
Kanditu had finished making his friend Asuri's shoes, when he suddenly had an idea for a fable about an injured bear whose cries for help are ignored by the other animals who think he is tricking them.
He searched his memories. He was sure he had never heard it before, so how did it suddenly come to him?
He thought about his beloved Fedulogia, who loved tales and fables, and his stomach fluttered. He had been courting her for two months now, and he was counting the days until the end of the customary three-month courtship period to ask her father for her hand in marriage.
He berated himself for being distracted when there was work to do. He looked at a piece of leather he had bought the day before and spread it on his workbench. The picture in his mind of the shoes he was going to make for the Bürgemeister’s was replaced by Fedulogia’s. He took an awl and heated the tip in the fire. He placed it on the leather and burned the shape of her face. The smoke made his eyes sting and he waved it away. He heated the tip again and drew her eyes, her nose and her mouth. He continued with her hair.
The shop door opened, and Asuri walked in.
"How are you, my dear friend?" asked Kanditu. "You have impeccable timing. I've just finished your wedding shoes."
Asuri examined the shoes and nodded.
"They’re beautiful."
He looked at Kanditu’s workbench. "Who drew this beautiful portrait of Fedulogia?"
"I just did."
"I didn’t know you were an artist."
Kanditu laughed nervously. "Neither did I."
"Stop the false modesty Kanditu. I’m sure you were hiding it. Could you draw my future bride? It would make a lovely gift."
After Asuri left the shop, his words came back to Kanditu. A gift, that’s what he had received. The fable and the drawing. Souzoumei, deity of creativity, had given him the ability to imagine and to create works of art. Bodinsel was right after all. He put the portrait in his pocket and closed his shop.
Kanditu headed towards the port. If Asuri spoke about Kanditu’s new artistic abilities (and there was every chance he would), the Church Police would hear about it and come for him.
Stevedores were loading a ship moored on the wharf. Kanditu thought about stowing away, but if it was bound for the Northern provinces where the only living beings were those in the labor camps, what would he do there?
He sat down behind a warehouse and prayed to Bodinsel. "I don't know where you are and how you'll be able to hear me, but if you do, know that I have been blessed by Souzoumei. Tomorrow at dawn, I will be where we last met."
At dawn the next day Kanditu went to Pier 5 and waited. The ship that was being loaded yesterday sailed away, and shortly after another ship took its place. A fisherman sat on the other side of the pier. The sun rose slowly.
Had Bodinsel heard his prayer, or had something happened to him? He felt the eyes of the stevedores on him and wished he had a fishing rod to explain his presence on the pier. He heard an idea whispered inside his head. He pictured a fishing rod with a bobbin near the handle. He saw a crankshaft rotate the bobbin, and a connecting rod move the bobbin back and forth, winding the fishing line evenly round the bobbin. Souzoumei was not going to leave him alone.
He was about to leave when he saw an old lady with a cane walking towards him. Kanditu froze. Her harmless appearance could hide a Church Police informer.
"Souzoumei has made a good choice!" a man's voice said.
"Bodinsel, is that you?"
"Now that you've been blessed, you're in great danger. I can take you to a place where no one can find you, and where you'll be with the other Theorakins I've saved. You'll be able to perform miracles, but from a distance. I'm the one who takes all the risks, going into the world to find where miracles are needed. A sick woman here, a hungry child there. I bring back the information, and the other Theorakins do the rest. We do have to be careful though. The Church Police is investigating miracles that haven't been performed by paters, and I fear that one day they'll punish the recipients of our miracles, and we'll have to stop. Now what will it be: join our community or be a prisoner of the Church Police?"
Kanditu smiled at the easy choice Bodinsel had given him.
"Be at Malokooye cove today at dusk, but find another place to spend the rest of the day. One of the stevedores on the wharf moonlights as a Church policeman, and he's been watching us."
Kanditu watched the sea from the top of the cliff on the southern tip of Tregaloch Island. Bodinsel had chosen the island for his band of Theorakins because he knew they wouldn't be disturbed. Folks believed it was the lair of the Qrivanthec, a monstrous man-eating creature.
He remembered the day he arrived on the island and met the other Theorakins, Sidonia of Aqtebel, deity of love, Tatamel and Rapony of Jayladal, deity of food and Yolgoop of Guerinoo, deity of healing. Those three months without Fedulogia had felt like three years. She must have thought something had happened to him, but was he still in her heart, or had another suitor taken his place?
Kanditu ran his fingers over the portrait he had drawn. Such perfect beauty.
He felt a presence next to him. He turned around and saw Bodinsel.
"Kanditu, I know there's something wrong. You can't hide it from me."
"I feel like I've let you down. You saved me and made me a member of your community, but I'm not contributing like I should. When you told me about Jensen the poet, I tried to give him inspiration, but the love poem I made him write only managed to make his promised laugh."
"Your heart is afflicted because you can't go back to see Fedulogia. But it would be too dangerous for both of you. Don't forget her father is a Church Police informer."
"I try my best to keep my mind off her, but my heart weighs me down. I keep thinking that if it wasn’t for Alphonsius and his henchmen, I would be free to live on the mainland and ask for her hand in marriage. There must be a way to overthrow him. Why don’t you use your powers?"
"It’s not by feeding the hungry and healing the sick that we will get rid of him."
"But if we did our miracles in the open, people would know the truth. I’m sure there would be an uprising. Imagine if the masses took arms and stormed Nivatach."
"Are you mad? It would be a bloodbath!"
"So why can't the deities give us more potent abilities?"
It wasn't until much later that Kanditu thought about how Bodinsel's voice had faltered when he replied.
"There are some who are blessed with stronger gifts, but they choose to join the Church rather than a band of Theorakins, because it gives them much more interesting opportunities."
Kanditu looked down and didn't say another word. He had made up his mind. If Bodinsel and his band were content to stay on Tregaloch Island and perform little miracles, it wasn’t a life for him. He had been blessed with the gift of living with endless possibilities, and he was going to make good use of it.
Kanditu walked with a group of pilgrims towards Nivatach, home of Alphonsius and the church of Seignos, the most holy house of worship, where the uber-pater himself was going to celebrate the most holy day in the Church of All Deities' calendar, Seignossery. It was his only public appearance, although his face stayed hidden behind his hood.
Last night Kanditu had stopped at a camp that had been erected to shelter the pilgrims. Sleep had eluded him, but pilgrims weren't allowed to walk between dusk and dawn.
In three hours, he would reach Nivatach. Seignossery was the day after tomorrow, which gave him enough time to find a good spot where he would be close to Alphonsius' tribune. That part of Kanditu's plan was capital. He had found a formula for what he called ‘blasting powder’, thanks to Souzoumei who, Kanditu had reasoned, must have approved of his plan to eliminate Alphonsius. The deity had also helped him to find the sulphur, charcoal and saltpetre he needed on Tregaloch Island. The band of Theorakins had tried to dissuade him from what they saw as a suicide mission, but he had nothing to lose. Even if the Church Police arrested him and executed him, it was a better fate than living the rest of his life on Tregaloch Island pining for Fedulogia. He'd filled five small ceramic jars with blasting powder. They looked like ordinary containers, and there was no way the guards at the check point at the entrance of Nivatach would know what damage they could cause. Bodinsel and the other Theorakins had been terrified when Kanditu started experimenting. They thought a volcano had awakened. If the blast instigated as much terror in Nivatach, he might even have a chance to get away. The uber-pater gone to meet Va'hadacer, the Church would collapse, the persecution of Theorakins would end and he would be free to marry Fedulogia, or so hoped Kanditu.
A rumbling noise filled the air. The pilgrims stopped and looked at the sky, but there were no clouds. Shortly after, the earth trembled slightly for a short moment. Was it another sign the deities were with him? Questions travelled up and down along the line, but shortly after the throng moved of its own accord. When Kanditu reached the eastern gate of Nivatach, he was surprised by the absence of guards and by the sound of gongs. He followed the signs leading to Seignos Square in the middle of Nivatach, expecting to see the church of Seignos looming above the buildings, but as he came closer, he was jostled by scores of people running in the opposite direction and
yelling that judgement day had come. He stopped when he reached the square. Large enough to hold the entire population of the provinces, it was lined with magnificent pure red marble. All the streets of Nivatach led to the square and monumental platinum statues of all the deities stood around the square, or rather used to stand, for many of them had toppled. The earth had fractured in the centre, exactly where the church of Seignos had stood. A cloud of dust hung over the hole, and Church policemen were climbing down ropes in the hope of rescuing survivors.
A man was haranguing the onlookers, and as Kanditu came closer, he recognised Bodinsel, accompanied by the other Theorakins and a man he'd never seen before.
"Seignos has shown his anger," said Bodinsel, "and do you know why he's angry? The Church of All Deities has been corrupted by the evil Alphonsius. He's now buried under the rubble of the church he built in honour of Seignos. If Alphonsius thought he could appease the king of the deities, he was mistaken. Seignos doesn't care about marble and platinum. He cares about truth and justice, and most important of all what’s in the heart of men. But all Alphonsius cared about--"
A voice rose from the crowd. "Who are you to speak on behalf of Seignos?"
"A heretic who is trying to lead you astray," said a pater. "May Temorig, deity of weather, send him to hell!"
The sky suddenly darkened and a bolt of lightning fell on Bodinsel who collapsed.
Kanditu took a jar from his bag, lit the fuse, and threw it at the pater. The jar exploded, and the crowd gaped at Kanditu. When the smoke cleared, he saw that three men who had been standing near the pater had also fallen down. He took a deep breath and lowered his head, rubbing it with his fingers. It wasn't part of the plan that innocents would perish, but what choice did he have?
9 Tales From Elsewhere 11 Page 5
