“Of course, I have,” he answered in aggravation. “Merry read it to all the children.”
“But you don’t see the significance of it. The real meaning?” Simon cut his blue eyes at the dark figure beside him. “Men are like swans. Some never make it out of the ugly stage to reach this magnificent beauty you see before you. But there are others who attain to perfection, never quite reaching it, of course, but coming close enough to know there is more to existence than this lump of rock we call home. They realize they are on a journey back to the beginning. Back to where they came from. The Divine Word. The Logos.”
“That is all well and good for men, Brother.” Mark smiled sarcastically. “But where does that leave us?”
“We are children of God as surely as our mortal brothers,” Simon told him. “The lessons do not stop when we evolve to higher realms. Perfection comes hard bought, hard won. We, you and I, and all who have risen slightly above the realms of common men, are what one might call the Advanced Students. We are on the honor roll, as it were. What that means is our lessons are harder and more is expected of us.”
“I hate it! And I hate that my father has taken such a liking to you, Simon. Of all people. Why you? And why Lucio? Why Meredith, for God’s sake? Is he trying to take everything I love from me? The next thing you know, he’ll be taking my sons and my daughter as well.” Mark’s smile vanished and his frown returned. “I hate it with a passion that burns my very soul, Simon. If love is not the answer, what the hell is it all about?”
“Oh, but love is the answer,” Simon told him. “Love is the answer to all questions. Love represents the highest form of Unity. When a man loves a woman and the feeling is mutual between them, unity is their one thought. This is a prime example of your message to mankind. As above, so below. When the sun loves the earth, they form a union of never-ending birth, death and re-birth on a planetary scale. When the elements of the Universe love each other and join in celestial unions, stars are created and when stars are enamored of each other, galaxies are the result and then clusters of galaxies. You are an astronomer, Brother. Did you never notice how the galaxies court one another with their graceful dances and spectacular wonders? If there was no purpose behind their incredible beauty, do you think that they would bother? Did we not witness fantastic merging of galaxies in our space telescopes’ lenses?”
“I can see all that, yes, yes. The great souls… very impressive,” Mark’s features relaxed a bit. “But my father is like the inexorable black hole at the center of this galaxy, gobbling up everything in his path including light and beauty. He is a relic. He needs to go.”
“Then can you see that you are not meant to remain here either? You are like the Nautilus who has outgrown his chamber. You have exposed yourself unwittingly to the slings and arrows of your environs. You must wall yourself off and build a new chamber just as you did when you built the Seventh Gate for yourself. One that can contain you and protect you and envelope you. A home that can offer you a comfortable, safe place to live and grow. You have transcended the Seventh Gate. It no longer contains you. And this world? Even a whole planet is too small for you. You are here and yet you sit even now on a throne in the Halls of Amenti. You have outgrown us and this existence. It is time to move on. I would not wish to presume that I have become what was once called an ascended master, but I believe that my time here is also finished. I will have to move on even if that means leaving my wife behind. Your father has offered me, a job and I am considering it. What do I have here, Mark Andrew? My own grandfather crucified me and what’s worse, my own father would have made a burnt sacrifice of me.”
Mark’s shoulders fell. This was not what he wanted to hear. He loved this place. He loved the earth and he loved the feel of the wind in his hair and the spray of saltwater in his face. He loved the smell of Scotland in the early spring and he loved the first chill mornings in the moors when fall closed in on the islands. He loved…
“You love everything, but mankind,” Simon seemed to read his thoughts. “You have lost your taste for the only thing important in this world, Mark. The salvation of mankind and whether you like it or not, your father is still bent on saving them. I want to help him do that, but to do it, I will have to get out of it. You have heard it said that we must be in this world, but not of this world.”
“They can’t be saved!” he spat the words bitterly. “I thought to help them and I only brought on their destruction, and they never even knew it.”
“That’s absurd,” Simon shook his head slowly. “You brought nothing. You elevate yourself to Godhood when you are nothing more than a servant. You are a son of light, Brother. Your father is a son of light. He would not give up on you any more than you would give up on one of your beloved children. You are merely His divine instrument as are we all. What you did, you did at the express bidding of God, the Father. We all work according to His plan, Brother. Even your father works according to His Will. Whatever you may think of me, I am honored to have known you, to have served at your side. It matters not what we think of ourselves, but rather what others think of us. You have no lack of love here, Mark Ramsay. Why even the good Queen loves you. I don’t know what sort of love she might have for you, but it has become very apparent that she holds you in high esteem. My father is a bitter man and regardless of his divine nature, he thinks like a man. He has lived in the flesh too long.”
“You’re probably right, Simon. You were always gifted with the sight. And the same analysis could be applied to me as well as Marduk.” Mark spoke the correct words, but his tone conveyed a wealth of disappointment and a vast pit of bitterness.
“The first step to breaking any addiction is to admit that it exists,” Simon shrugged. “You are half way home.”
Mark jerked his head around and glared at the Healer.
“Air ye comparin’ me with an addict, Brother Simon?” Mark’s temper began to rise again.
“You are an addict, Brother,” Simon told him softly. “We are all addicts. We are addicted to life and to love and last, but certainly not least, each other. We don’t want to give up what has become familiar to us. These attachments have caused us much trouble. We have failed to pay heed to our own teachings. We want our lives to go on and on forever just as they are, but while we have been warring with each other, the world has passed us by. We have lost sight of our original purpose, the preservation of the Light. The uplifting of mankind from darkness into that Light. The end times came and went while we weren’t looking. The prophecies have come to pass and the old heavens and the old earth have passed away. We have become like the peoples who devoutly believe in reincarnation, but rather than making use of each successive life to gain spiritual power, they sit by the wayside, idly waiting for the next life in hopes that they will have a better go of it next time around. When we learned that we are truly immortal and that death cannot touch us in reality, we attached ourselves to these material concerns and to our friends and families. After that, we settled in and fought any and every threat, real or imagined, that came our way. Not for the betterment of mankind, but for the preservation of mankind. Man does not need to be preserved, Brother. It needs to be dissolved. It needs to be made fluid and ready for the Father that He may absorb the Divine Sparks unto himself and take us home for a time.”
Mark continued to look at him as if he’d lost his mind even though he knew every word to be the utmost truth of the ages. They were both startled out of their skins when Meredith touched their shoulders.
“Mind if I join you, boys?” She asked in her best Texas drawl.
“Not at all,” Simon recovered himself first and made room for her between them. She gathered her gown in her hands and sat down on the bridge, dangling her bare legs over the side.
“I’m sorry about the fight, Mark,” she said lightly. “I know you didn’t get to finish what you started and I know how you hate that.”
He nodded slowly. Her apology seemed absurd. Was she sorry he’d not killed Mard
uk? Was she sorry they’d not killed each other? Was she sorry Marduk had not killed him?! Did she look forward to being absorbed?! Was Anu trying to absorb her even now?! Absurd!
“What has my father told you about me?” he asked abruptly. “Whatever it is, I assure you he knows nothing about me.”
“He may know more than you think.” She winked at Simon and then turned her clear blue eyes on Mark. “You seem to have a rather low opinion of him. I understand you and he spent very little time with each other.”
“Oh, d’ ye now?” Mark’s temper overtook his good sense again. “Th’ fact o’ th’ mattar is thot we spent absolutely nae toime t’gether. Me father ’ad other things t’ do than warry aboot ’is family. I lost ye t’ me best friend. I lost ye t’ me priest. I lost ye t’ me brother. I lost ye t’ me son. I’m damned if I’ll stand pat and lose ye t’ me father!”
“Ye haven’t… you haven’t lost me to anyone, Mark.” Merry frowned at him, taken aback by his outburst. “I’m right here.”
“But ’e’ll come bock and take ye.” Mark resumed a bit of his composure and looked away from her. He spoke with his hands accentuating every word. A trait out of character for him. “’e wants t’ absorb you. ’e wants t’ absorb us oll!”
“I’d best be getting back to the others…” Simon began to get up, but Meredith pulled him back down forcefully. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Simon sat down next to her. Mark had missed the entire point of his words. The Knight of Death was in no mood to hear or understand philosophical opinions. He was more in a death and destruction mode.
“No, Simon, don’t go,” she told him. “I have something to tell Mark Andrew and I’d like for you to hear it, too.”
“Oh,” Simon said simply and focused his attention on the leaves floating in the water.
“Now, Mark.” She turned slightly to face him. “There was a fight… a skirmish of sorts at the Djinni’s palace. I don’t know how to tell you this. Luke Andrew was hurt… actually he was killed. Well, you know, not really killed, I mean he was killed, but he didn’t actually die, but Nicole...” her voice trailed off and she faltered to a halt.
Mark turned on her again and took her by the shoulders. “Fur pity’s sake, Merry, just spit it out!”
“This power of Marduk, someone called him Asadarlu or some such… anyway, he came after Luke when Nicole brought him back from wherever he was….”
“He was with me. On Easter Island,” Mark told her. “Go on.”
“Apparently this thing was after him. It had something to do with the golden sword according to Mr. Barshak…”
“Mr. Barshak?!” Mark’s frown returned. “Fur th’ love o’ Christ!”
“Now Mark,” Meredith’s eyes widened. “Mr. Barshak was quite fond of Nicole. He absolutely seemed to worship her, according to Jasmine.”
“Oh, I’m sure…” Mark began and then stopped. His expression changed slightly. “Whot d’ ye mean he was fond o’ ’er? Did ’e change his mind? Did ’e hurt her?” He started to push himself up.
“No, no, no,” Meredith tried to stop his rampant imagination. “He still loves her… I guess. Oh, hell, Mark! I don’t know, but anyway, Mr. Barshak said that this Asadarlu wants to recover all the golden swords. Yours, Mark’s… the other Mark and Luke’s. But Luke didn’t have it with him. I don’t know where his sword is or was, but this creature had a golden sword and he stabbed Luke with it.”
“Stabbed? Oh, then ’e didn’t take ’is head? Thot’s gud!” Mark smiled slightly, nodded and settled back down. “He’ll be oll roight.”
“Well, yes, he’s OK,” she nodded and touched his face with one hand. “It’s Nicole.”
“Nicole?” He frowned again. “What happened to Nicole, Merry?”
“She disappeared,” Merry told him and then jerked her head around, searching for help from Simon. He met her searching gaze with an equally confused look.
“Merry!” Mark took her chin in his hand and turned her face back toward him. “What happened to her? Where is she?”
“She doesn’t exist anymore, Mark,” Merry told him and a single tear escaped her right eye.
“That’s not possible.” Mark drew back and shook his head quickly. “No. Not at all possible.”
“Yes. Yes, it is possible. Not only possible, but necessary,” Merry continued. “Anu told me that it was better for them. Both of them. They are together now.”
“Who is?” Mark asked, as confusion twisted his brain again. “Who is together? Did Anu absorb her?” Mark asked and Simon groaned softly.
“Nicole and Luke Andrew,” she told him in frustration. “They are together.” She used her fingers indicating quotation marks around the word ‘together’.
“Luke is gone?” Simon asked the question this time.
“No!” Merry shook her head. “Luke’s not gone. I mean, not the Luke we knew, I mean, Luke is still there and so is Nicole, but…”
Mark Andrew was on his feet in an instant.
“Where are you going?” She looked up at him.
“I’m goin’ t’ ask me papa wot th’ hell ’e thinks ’e’s doin’ to me family! Absorbin’ me family. Let ’im absorb me! I’ve been absorbed before, and I give a whale of an ’eartburn.”
She watched in surprise as Mark trotted across the bridge and headed for a lone figure only just emerging from the tree line. She shaded her eyes against the sun and squinted at the figure that resembled Anu. The hair and the build were right, but the clothes were all wrong.
“No, wait! Mark!” she shouted and then climbed to her feet quickly, dragging Simon along with her, as she ran after the Knight of Death, but he paid no heed to her in his haste to confront his father. They drew up short when Mark leaped bodily on the man, taking him down and pinning his arms to the ground with his knees.
“It’s a damned good thing you didn’t give him his sword back,” Meredith told Simon as they slowed and walked the rest of the way.
Mark had regained his composure quickly upon discovering his mistake and was helping his son up by the time they got to him. Mark embraced his son heartily and looked him over as if he were a boy of seven or eight, spinning him around several times. Luke disengaged his father quickly and hugged his mother to him, kissing her face, crying into her hair and generally making no sense whatsoever. Several shouts and shrieks went up in the meadow again as more individuals emerged from the woods and were recognized by their family members and friends. The amazement Mark Andrew had experienced upon seeing his transformed son was soon laid aside as they were all caught up in the moment as Konrad von Hetz met Lucia in a heart-rending reunion in the bright sunshine of the meadow. As the couple stood holding each other as if carved in marble, their son Apolonio, though a full grown man with a child of his own, danced around them like a small boy on Christmas morn.
The excitement and wonder escalated as more reunions took place on the field. Lucio and Catharine. Konrad and Lucio. Konrad and William. Lemarik ran to meet Jasmine and his daughter, Jeanine. William and his brother, Apolonio. Bombarik and his son, Seularik. Il Dolce Mio and his, half-brother, John Paul. John Paul and his son, Lavon de Bleu. Lavon and his uncle, Armand and Armand’s three sons. Meredith left Simon, Mark and Luke Andrew behind as she recognized John Paul, Nicholas and Gregory. Marco joined them as well. Jozsef and his wife, Anna, spied Mark Andrew where he stood near the trees and came to greet their ‘grandfather’ warmly. Even Sgt. Runnels was pleased to find his General again. The only spectators remaining were the five ghostly Berts of Lemarik’s Templars, who toasted every tearful reunion within sight of their table with cheers and tears of their own. The greetings became even more boisterous when Paddy and his cousins joined the fray. The chaos continued as old friends and family members hugged and kissed and greeted each other over and over again.
“Binky!” Paddy exclaimed as he noticed his diminutive housekeeper standing alone near the bridge with a basket in one hand. He ran toward her, shouting her name. “Where ’
ave ye been?!” he asked.
The bean tighe blinked at him in confusion. “Wall, sair, I was out pickin’ some dandelion greens fur supper and th’ whole world started shakin’ undar me feet. I dashed inside a rocky cavern and must ’ave lost me way. Next thing I know, I run into these good folks walkin’ thru yon woods. Oh my, I dunna believe I ’ave enough greens t’ feed oll these people.”
“Nevar ye moind,” Paddy said and took the basket from her. “Just come along now. I ’ave some people I want ye t’ meet. Oy, Seamus, looky ’ere who’s come t’ join us!”
The elves were caught up in the joy of the occasion and soon was heard the sounds of elven music mixed with the lively strains of Paddy’s band. There was dancing and singing and playing and more hugging and kissing and tears which lasted for hours, it seemed.
In the thick of the excitement, Mark Andrew, his son, Luke and Simon took advantage of the confusion and retired to the garden bridge again. Luke Andrew sat in silence next to his father, watching the merry-making with a peculiar look in his eyes. The Queen, herself, was in fine form, swaying in and out amongst her guests, hugging and kissing them as they would allow, offering them food and drink and all manner of gifts. With exception of her sallow complexion and yellowish-green eyes, she was the perfect model of the elegant hostess. Her reunion was a success in spite of everything, exceeding her wildest expectations. Even the non-family members made themselves useful, providing drinks all around, while others served up trays of roasted meats, snacks and other exotic delicacies.
“You have inherited my curse, Luke,” Mark Andrew said, finally breaking the silence between them.
“I see,” Luke murmured and looked down at his hands. “But it is unimportant. I never really worked on building relationships. I suppose it’s best that…” his words were cut short as his name was shouted several times in rapid succession. He looked up, in time to see that Galen and Michael Ian standing on the other side of the koi pond, waving silver tankards at him. Galen was dressed in the Ramsay blue kilt he preferred, while Michael wore Ramsay red. They presented quite a handsome sight in their silver-buckled, brown knee-boots, sparkling gold and silver penannular brooches on their tartans. Both sported feathered Tam O’Shanters and flashing gold buckles on their belts. They leaned against each other, laughing and waving him over, sloshing ale from their tankards.
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