Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  When they reached it, Basil hopped off the carpet and did gate service. He waited until the carpet was through and then left the gate open for a while longer. Hopefully Ayesha was through as well before he closed it. He then regained the carpet.

  “Where to?”

  “Go down the road under the cover of the hills and then keep going until the second valley,” said the invisible Astrid. “Keep low, and then we should be able to sneak up into the mountains.” Rani headed the carpet south, keeping it at the height of a horse.

  “Keep a good look out,” said Astrid. “I didn’t see any others, but I could have missed them.” She does not sound as if that is likely. As they went up the second valley she spoke again. “Well, he is probably alone.”

  “Why do you say that?” asked Rani.

  “Slow down and edge to the left towards that bunch of trees against the cliff.” Rani did as she was told. “Now please stop here and let me off.” Again, Rani complied. I can feel the carpet shift as Astrid climbs off…and we wait until we are told…it shifts again. “He is on his own, well supplied and with good equipment.”

  “Stop being mysterious. How do you know that?”

  “Because his horse is behind the trees with his campsite,” said Astrid. “From the amount of gear there, I would guess that anything magical has been left behind here. He may come back here tonight, but I doubt it. There is fodder laid aside for his horse and the leather bucket of water he has hanging up for it has in it enough for another day at least.”

  “Now let us go and catch him and then someone can look after the horse and bring it back for the herd.”

  Rani headed off again, following Astrid’s soft directions. Soon she was flying up the slope, barely clearing the rocks and shrubs there. They approached the crest. “Wait here,” said Astrid. Again, the carpet shifts. Again, there is a pause and then it moves again.

  “Go up the ridge to there…oh, I have to stop pointing. Look ahead and you will see a big rock about a hand by ten away on the ridge. Cross the ridge behind that and then drop down into the valley.”

  She started directing quietly and then softly, just above a whisper, said: “Ayesha, catch my hand…it is over Basil’s head…she has…now land straight ahead and let me off. Ayesha, keep hold of my hand. I will squeeze your hand if I think that we can get Basil up to him unseen. You do the same. If you squeeze, land so I know where you are and then drop my hand and wait for me to come back with him, we will be gone for a little while. Everyone try to keep quiet, and that means no praying, Father.”

  Again, the carpet rocks and we are left to stare at an empty valley and to listen suspiciously to the small sounds around us. A few birds are hunting among the rocks, and in the distance I can hear a few black cockatoos making the day rowdy from the pine trees where they are feeding.

  The winter sun passed overhead, and a few clouds drifted along in the pale sky. It doesn’t look like there will be more snow tonight at least. Eventually there is a whisper from Astrid.

  “Darling, take my hand. We can get you to within two hands of paces of him unseen. Try and be quiet. Stop when I let go of your hand and I will call you when you should come forward. Rani, come forward when you hear me call Basil.” I am just here to steer the carpet.

  Basil

  Off and hold out my hand. I can feel my wife take it and we try and move forward quietly. At least on this slope there are few twigs to break. We are behind a rock, and she has dropped my hand. He stopped. Now wait… “Basil” and run.

  There is a man lying in a gap between rocks. He dived down and put the man’s hands behind him and shackled them and then put the gag in his mouth. He then turned to his legs and completed pinioning them.

  A groan, our spy is recovering… He looked up. The carpet is already in place and Astrid and Ayesha are in full view. Astrid has a grin on her face. Basil turned back to the man and started stripping him of anything that could be a weapon. By the time he had finished the man was struggling and glaring at him and trying to speak.

  “He is ready to go. My dear, give me a hand.” Together they loaded him on the carpet, then Basil picked up all the things that the man had brought with him, and they returned to Mousehole, letting Ayesha pick up his horse on the way back, while Astrid took over the saddle. Several times the man tried hard to throw himself off the carpet, so Rani travelled low and slowly, just in case he succeeded. I will keep a fast hold on him for the same reason.

  Chapter LIV

  Rani

  18th December

  Despite the Brotherhood man’s struggles, Basil has him trussed up in the whipping frame. My wife has sent Valeria around to make sure everyone knows and slowly they are beginning to congregate. Another prisoner is interesting to all and this one is known to none of them. I can hear several wondering what he is here for. He must know it is useless, but he is still struggling and glares at the people gathering around. Ruth is ready to write down what he says.

  Astrid has appeared, pulling Make behind her by the arm. The girl still refuses to believe what she is told. At least she now admits that the men were not necessarily trying to do her a favour when they brought her to Mousehole. She has also stopped protesting when people tell her their stories.

  In a way that is a big improvement, but she still will not let go of her Brotherhood dress and she holds fast to the habits that she learnt there. She is now the only person in the whole village that does not at least occasionally come of their own will to hear the priests preach. She only comes to a service if she is forced to attend. On seeing the man, she is showing fear. She has tried to get out of Astrid’s grip without being seen by him. Astrid has not allowed this, and the girl is where she will see and hear it all.

  Princess is still preparing her truth spell. “You were spying on our village, so I am about to question you. It is unlikely that you are here with honest intent, for if that was the case you would have come to our front door and we would have let you in. You will be given no choice but to answer our questions honestly and, once we know all about you, we will determine your fate. If we find that you have committed crimes, then you will be judged and punished.”

  She is ready. Rani stood back as her wife began to chant. After she had finished admonishing him not to kill himself and to answer fully and truthfully the man’s gag was removed. Rani moved forward.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

  “I am named The Vengeance of the Lord is Mine Quester,” replied the man. There is no reluctance in his voice, but almost a sound of pride. “I am an orphan of God-fearing parents who was raised by the Church, illumed in the Light of God’s Word and trained by the Church as a Seeker of the Flail of God.”

  “I have been sent here to investigate this den of devil worshippers and idolaters and to take word on it back to the Church that it might be exposed for what it is to the world and destroyed.”

  “Who sent you, and who told you the lie that we worship devils?”

  “I was sent by Brother Job Sword-of-God, the head of the Flails of God acting under the Word of the Disciples. He told me that you worship the devil, so it must be true. Brother Job cannot tell a lie when he speaks for the Church, and I can even see one of the devils sitting on a roof up there reporting what it sees to its master in the underworld.”

  Rani checked where the man was looking. Sure enough, Azrael is sitting in his view. “That is a gargoyle, and they kill and eat demons. As all should know, they are creatures of good and fight the Enemy.” As she turned back she caught sight of the expression on the face of Father Christopher and turned to him. His face bears a very puzzled expression. “What is the matter?”

  “The man is not evil. Like Make, he actually believes that what he has been told is right.” He shakes his head in amazement. “I suppose that he will do evil if he has been told that it is right and good to do so, but he is not evil
himself. He is a bit like Matthias, the slaver. He truly does believe that he is doing the will of God.” He turned to the scout. “Isn’t that right?”

  “Of course it is right. If you do not acknowledge the Words of the Prophet as supreme in your life, then you must be a devil worshipper.” Make is nodding at these words. “It does not matter what is said or done by or to you, as you were destined to be condemned to an afterlife of damnation and torment from the moment of creation by the Merciful God.

  “You cannot judge me to be a criminal, because I act to obey the Word of God as spoken by His Prophet on Earth. Anything I do in furtherance of his orders cannot be a crime. It must be a Holy Act simply because The Prophet speaks for God on this world and in the present. He has been given this instruction from God who speaks to him regularly. It is only if I act on my own will and without an order from the Prophet that I can commit a sin. I have always done exactly as I was ordered, and so I am completely without sin.”

  “What exactly were you told to do?”

  “I was to find out what happened to two missionaries who were sent here, Brothers Amos and Matthias. If it was possible I was to kill, or better yet return with, any apostates that I find here, any that were born to the Faith but who are now living without it.”

  Make gave vent to a squeak on hearing this, and Rani glared at her “But the information I was to find out on you is far more important. I am to evaluate your defences and report back on them, as well as what I can find of your numbers and your power. If I had a chance I was to capture and question any I could and then kill them. If they were female then, if I could, I was to know them carnally, and was to do this in such a fashion that it would put blame on the Khitan.”

  “So, you acknowledge that you are a rapist?”

  “It is not rape. You can only commit a rape on a free woman. By capturing a known criminal, I have made that criminal a slave. You cannot rape a slave.”

  “What if a woman you capture is not a criminal?”

  “She would be a criminal. You are all criminal. Brother Job has said so.”

  That gives me pause. The man’s logic is making my head spin in its circularity. How can he live like that, accepting another’s will completely and ignoring his own inner voices and not permitting himself to have any doubts as to his acts? Perhaps he has no inner voice, no conscience. Perhaps I can come from another direction.

  Astrid has given Bryony and Goditha charge of Make. Rani gestured to them to bring her forward. Make has to be made to come. “This girl here is Make Me to Know My Transgressions. She was brought here by the slavers Amos and Matthias to be sold and used for sex by bandits. If you could, you would use her the same way, and either force her to go back to your perverted land or else kill her?” Make has slumped and almost fainted. Luckily, Goditha has caught her.

  The man nodded. “I was told of her. She was not brought here to be sold for sex, although it would not matter if she was. She was brought to cook and be their servant by the missionaries who were charged with bringing the word of God to the heathen. You must have killed them and made them martyrs for their work. I praise the Lord that they are now sitting at the right hand of God, basking in His Glory.”

  “They were questioned and made no attempt to be missionaries. They admitted their connivance at murder and they admitted that they were sent by a man called Micah to sell the woman Make and a child for sex. I can show you the records of their questioning if you wish to know the exact words.”

  “I know that you are all devil worshippers, so I know that you are lying to me. You have no proof. Anything that you show me will have been made up by you to support your lies. I was directly told that the men were missionaries by Brother Job, so that is what they were. It appears that I am also destined by God to be a martyr, so I give thanks to the Lord that my dying will likewise bear witness to my faith.”

  Rani looked at Christopher and Theodule. They are talking quietly to each other and shaking their heads. “Are you absolutely sure that he is not evil?”

  “Unfortunately, we are,” said Christopher. “He believes that what he has said is right. In their hearts an evil person, as the slavers were, knows the difference between good and evil and, however they justify it, they know that what they do is evil. This poor man does not know what real good and evil are. He has been taught that the words of his priests are always right and always good and that any who oppose them are automatically evil.” He turned to the scout again. “Isn’t that right?”

  The scout nodded “Of course. The truth is fully written in the Bible and is explained so that we might understand it in the Revelations of the Prophets and in the pronouncements that their successors make. How can the written or revealed words of God be evil or wrong in any way?” There is genuine puzzlement in his voice.

  “How can His representatives on this world be in error in any way? That would deny the Perfection of the All-wise Lord and Creator. Once all is revealed there can be no possibility of error. God’s Will is made manifest to us and will not be denied. His Dominion over the whole world will be achieved in time. That is inevitable before the completion of the End Times.”

  This questioning is not going the way that I expected. “Have you killed any man or woman?”

  “Only those who deserved it, and that I was told to kill,” was the reply.

  “How do you know that they deserved to die?”

  “Some tried to prevent me doing my work, some refused to honestly answer when they were confronted as demon worshippers, and some tried to run away from me when I went to question them. Only the guilty run from the Flails of God. The innocent have nothing to fear from us.”

  “So, you admit that you find some people innocent? Do you then release them?”

  “Of course, none of those that I have killed were innocent. If they were innocent, I would not have been sent after them. Brother Job, or Brother Micah, has declared them as sinners, otherwise we would not have arrested them. They start by denying their wrongdoing and maintaining their innocence but, eventually, when they are confronted with the instruments of truth, they will confess their evil and go to the Holy Fire repentant, to be ushered into an eternity in purgatory.”

  “So, you will always torture people and not ask them the truth as I ask you now?”

  “It is written in the Revelations that ‘only through pain is the devil burnt out of the soul of a sinner,’ so it is wrong to use any other method to find the truth in a Holy matter. For the sake of their soul, torture must be made as painful and as protracted as is possible to ensure that no truth is left hidden behind the lies that they start with.

  “Sometimes you have to continue to question them over a matter of weeks so that they will finally abandon their lies and admit to what you know is true. It is well known that, in the end, torture will always give you the real answers, the ones that you seek.”

  “So then, we should torture you? We can do that if you wish.” Bianca is absolutely horrified at my suggestion.

  “There is no need. I have given you the truth. If I had not been ordered to kill myself rather than tell you this, there would have been no need for you to use any compulsion. You are not seeking Holy Truth, just a truth of this world.”

  “But you just said that only through pain can we reach the truth.”

  “You are not interested in the real truth,” said Vengeance. “For instance, you keep referring to the Brothers as slavers, when you must know they were missionaries. You would know this because firstly, they would have told you this themselves, and secondly, I have already told you that Brother Job told me that this was the case, so you have no excuse for your ignorance.”

  “What if this Job is wrong?”

  “He is not wrong, and he cannot be mistaken. He was speaking as a Prophet when he gave his orders, so his words are thus shown directly to be the spoken Words of God.”

  Rani lo
oked around the Mice. “Does anyone have questions for this man?”

  Unexpectedly Make speaks up. “What would you have me do?” she asked timidly.

  “You should have me released,” said Vengeance, “and return with me to the Brotherhood of Believers along with any others who were born there. There you will be fully questioned as to the depth of your sins, and when you have admitted your part in killing the missionaries, worshipping Satan, fornication, and your other undoubted sins you will be burnt as a consort of devils.”

  “But I have done nothing wrong,” bleated Make. “I have kept all of the commandments, I have prayed every day as I was taught. I have lived my life sinless.”

  “You have not. I know this because I was told that I might find you here fornicating with devils, and plotting the overthrow of the Chosen of God, and so I find you. If you are walking free, you must be consorting with these evil doers. You were judged as condemned before you were born, and now we see the proof open before God and His Angels, and all with eyes on this world.” Make fell to the ground. Make has really fainted now and Goditha was too slow.

  “Mummy,” said Fear to Theodora, tugging on her sleeve with worry in her voice, “does that man want to kill me as well?”

  “He does,” said Theodora. “But do not worry little one. Your mummies will not let him succeed. We know that the men he serves do not worship God, instead they serve the Masters. He thinks that his leaders serve God, but we know they do not. They really serve the Devil and we will defeat them. Isn’t that right?” she asked Christopher. He is looking at the Brotherhood agent as if he is a serpent in our midst.

  “Yes, little one,” said Christopher to Fear, shaking himself. “Your mummies will protect you from the evil rulers of that place, and what is more, your grandfather will do the same. These men have perverted the Word of God away from words of love and acceptance, and have twisted the minds of men. Although he is condemned from his own mouth as a sinner according to the world, this man is not fully to blame for his actions, as he believes that the sins he has committed are not sins. He does not worship the devil himself, even though the man who gave him his orders does so.”