No answer. Jag didn’t realize it was us.
I texted him. We’re here. What in the world?
It was a Sunday. It wasn’t like St. Ensley’s was a real church. It was more like a strategic outpost.
Fred’s name had been on the title to the place. Luckily, it had been left to Jag in Fred’s will.
The door swung open, and Brag’mok grabbed me and pulled me inside. Aerin and Layla squeezed in behind me.
“I think someone touched me!” Agnus protested.
“What’s going on?” I asked, ignoring Agnus.
“There’s someone here who I think can explain,” Jag said. “Follow me.”
As I followed the giant into the room with the awful couches, I was taken aback by the man who stood there.
“Cecil?” I asked.
“Hello, Reverend!” Cecil exclaimed, somehow leaping up from the couch without a struggle and gripping my hand.
“What is going on here, Cecil?”
“I told you, Reverend!” Cecil exclaimed.
“Cecil, I’m not a reverend anymore.”
“Says who?” Cecil asked. “That backwards denomination you used to belong to?”
I smiled. “Yeah. According to them.”
“I told you, Reverend. If they ever gave you the boot, we’d still follow you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know, Cecil. Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate it.”
Cecil looked at me intently. “Reverend. When we saw that video and what you could do, none of us was the least bit surprised. We’ve seen it. Did I tell you Grace is trying out for her new school's soccer team?”
I smiled. “You didn’t, but that’s amazing. Truly, it is. And a new school? I take it you got that house you were trying to buy?”
“I did, Reverend. Thanks to you! Thanks to the Lord!”
I smiled. “I don’t want to let all these people down, but I can’t use magic right now. It’s too risky.”
“We aren’t here for healing,” Cecil said. “We’re here for hope. Will you turn down people who need a little faith to get them through these trying times?”
I shook my head. “I can’t turn them down. But you realize I have two wives, right?”
Cecil said, “So did Jacob in the Bible.”
I snorted. Jacob did have two wives. He had been tricked into it like I had been, in a roundabout way. I hadn’t thought of that parallel until now. Jacob also had a wife he loved and another he didn’t.
But Jacob’s beloved wife was barren. The other wife wasn’t. She gave him heirs. Of course, Jacob was boning them both because, well, he had two wives. I mean, he was a man. Yeah, Jacob loved Rachel, but for some reason, Leah kept popping out babies. I suppose it was his duty as a husband. He couldn’t just sleep with one of them.
I suppose the patriarch didn’t have the same moral qualms about only being able to sleep with the wife he loved as I did. Based on the number of kids he’d fathered, he made the most of his polygamist marriage—the sacrifices some men have to make.
I smiled at Cecil. “Thank you for this.”
Cecil nodded. “My pleasure, Reverend!”
“Jag,” I said, “don’t lock the doors against anyone. If they want to hear what I have to say, let them come.”
“Sure thing, Casp!”
I hadn’t seen so many people crowded into a building so quickly since I went to see Green Day in the mid-nineties.
I wasn’t going to give these people half the show they had that night, but hopefully I could give them something more meaningful.
I stood up in front of the congregation and cleared my throat. I’d have to raise my voice to be heard. No sound system. No microphones.
“Today, it feels like the world we know is in upheaval. Perhaps you’ve heard the rumors. An elven king has invaded our world, and he intends to subjugate humanity. If you’ve heard these rumors, I can tell you today that they are true.”
Gasps and murmurs sounded through the small hall.
I raised my hand, and the people quickly lowered their voices.
“Perhaps you’ve seen the video and were inspired by what I could do. All of that was real, too. But you might be asking, what can one man and a couple elf princesses, along with a giant and a cat, do to fend off a powerful elven king?
“Allow me to tell you a story. Two thousand years ago, another force arose to subjugate the world. To rule mankind and make the world obey. That was the credo of the Roman Empire.
“They took over nations. They even dominated and occupied Jerusalem until the son of a carpenter started preaching a message of love. Love, grace, forgiveness, and hope. And he gathered together a ragtag group of common men—fishermen, even a tax collector. Those common men, and a good share of strong but likewise common women, through faith, changed the world. In time, they overtook mighty Rome. Not with a sword, but with their simple faith.
“Can just a few of us, and today there are more than a few gathered, make a difference? Can we save the world? Can we thwart a tyrant who would rule us all and force us into obedience? With faith, with love, and with hope, yes, we can. With the hand of God at our side, yes, we absolutely can.”
The crowd erupted in cheers. It wasn’t a long, complicated message. Not a lot of deep theology. Not much dogma. But it had a lot of hope.
I looked at the crowd.
Common men and women. Different races. By the way they were dressed, they came from different backgrounds.
There were only three who stood out.
Three men. In black suits. And sunglasses. All wearing earpieces.
I stepped down into the crowd. I shook hands. I gave people hugs. I saw tears in people’s eyes. This was why I had gone into ministry. Who would have thought that an odd elven prophecy would birth an opportunity that the church had not only failed to give me but had practically forbidden me to present?
I approached the three men and extended my hand.
They didn’t shake it.
“Caspar Cruciger?” one of the three men asked.
I nodded. “That’s me.”
“Could you come with us?”
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Just outside. It won’t take long, but the President would like a word.”
The Story Continues
The story continues with Junkyard Dogma coming July 8, 2021 to Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
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Author Notes - Theophilus Monroe
June 2, 2021
Aside from being one of my father’s favorite rock bands from the sixties and seventies, the phrase “three dog night” apparently goes back to when people didn’t have excellent heating in the wintertime. On frigid nights people would call their “dogs” into bed to help keep them warm. Hence, the phrase “three dog night” is meant to describe a particularly cold night, a time when you might need three dogs in bed to stay warm.
In Three Dogma Night, we see the confluence of different versions of the elven prophecy. The action starts to get turned up a notch—and you can expect that to continue through the rest of the series. The night is getting cold—the threat from the elven legion real. And somehow, with these three “dogmas,” these three versions of the elven prophecy (the elven version, the drow version, and the orcish/giant version) colliding, our hero must find a way to make sense of it all. Without, of course, compromising who he is or his values.
Caspar’s struggle is no longer chiefly with the “powers that be” in the church. Still, other powers are making their presence and influence known. He’s spent years standing up for what he believes is right against ecclesiastical authorities. Will he be able to stand firm in the light of the government’s demands? How in the world is he going to navigate this Jacob-Rachel-Leah/Caspar-Layla-Aerin triangle that has been thrust upon him?
Stepping away from the story for a bit, my hope, in this story, was to present a dilemma for our hero that wasn’t so simple as choosing between black or white. In the ch
urch, the authorities saw every dogma/doctrine as a matter of good or evil, right or wrong, true or false. More often than not, though, we are presented with situations in life where we have no clear or ideal path forward. What do we do when we’re at a crossroads with one road leading into the frying pan and the other into the fire? Life gets messy sometimes. We sometimes find ourselves bound others in ways that are less than desirable or ideal. When life doesn’t go according to “plan,” where can we find goodness, virtue, or even ourselves? Can we find love when life doesn’t give us the romantic ending we hoped for?
These questions aren’t all answered for Caspar. At least, not yet. But then again, not all of these questions are answered in my life. I imagine, if you’re reading this, you’ve found that some of the best things that ever happened to you in life came when things didn’t go to plan. Some of the biggest blessings in my life came purely by accident. Sometimes, directly, as the result of bad things or difficult seasons. It wasn’t always my dream to be a full-time author. I used to have different dreams. Some of those dreams, or hopes for my life, were broken. But I forged a new dream, a new vision for my future. The brokenness of the past allowed me to pick up the shambles of old dreams and forge something new—and I’d never go back, even if I could.
Thank you to everyone who has this story a read. Caspar’s journey isn’t over yet. Of course, neither is mine. Yours isn’t either. And none of us know, no matter how much we’ve planned ahead, what the next chapter will bring. But as Shakespeare once put it (and as they often say in A.A.), “to thine own self be true.” Everything else, I believe, will take care of itself. Even if we have to go through a “three dog night.”
-Theo
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
June 3, 2021
Thank you for not only reading this story but our author notes here in the back.
Can you believe it is almost the middle of the year? I started typing the date above, and I’m just kinda staring at it… Twenty-seven days until the half-year mark?
Shocking!
I appreciate my collaborator telling me where the ‘three-dog night” the phrase came from. I had no idea myself. I figured the band just thought it was a cool name and used it.
Huh, I guess I might just learn something new every day.
Here in Las Vegas, I doubt I will encounter a three-dog night unless my wife and I travel up to the top of Mount Charleston and sleep up there for the night. Since I HATE being cold, I suspect I would agree to a three-dog night…and maybe a few extra.
(Editor’s note: I have four dogs, but only three sleep on the bed. I frequently have three-dog nights, especially in winter…whether I need them or not! They do help on those cold nights, though.)
Or, you know, just adding a few blankets and a portable heater seems like a great solution as well. Less bad breath and a whole lot less dog smell.
Now my mind has gone off on a tangent. Are there large doggy-shaped bed pillows for those who would like to be warm but also like the idea of dogs? I must go see.
<
I’m back.
The short (really short because I was feeling guilty for not working on my author notes) answer is that you can get a few pillows designed to look like your pet in either square or cut-out shapes. But nothing like I was thinking. At least, my two-minute search didn’t show me any.
I was thinking like a whole body… Wait a minute…
<
HOLY #@%@!
There is a full-body pillow in the shape of a Labrador for $99.00!
If you are interested, search for “Labrador Retriever Plush Cuddle Animal Body Pillow - Chocolate Lab” and the one I found was on the Plow & Hearth website http://www.plowhearth.com.
Son of a gun!
I guess that if any of you like the concept of a dog in bed without the real dog (for whatever reasons), there is a full-body pillow available.
Once again, I learn something new.
I look forward to chatting with you in the next story!
Regards,
Michael Anderle
Other Books by Theophilus Monroe
The Druid Legacy
Druid’s Dance
Bard’s Tale
Ovate’s Call
Rise of the Morrigan
The Voodoo Legacy
Voodoo Academy
Grim Tidings
Death Rites
Watery Graves
Voodoo Queen
The Legacy of a Vampire Witch
Bloody Hell
Bloody Mad
Bloody Wicked
Bloody Devils
Bloody Gods
The Legend of Nyx
Scared Shiftless
Bat Shift Crazy
No Shift Sherlock
Shift For Brains
Shift Happens
Books By Michael Anderle
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Three Dogma Night (The Elven Prophecy Book 3) Page 24
