Celestial Kingdom

by Stan Mason

  ‘Pray to the many Gods and Goddesses,’ imparted Warrior finally. ‘They’ll stand by you and fend off the awful thing which happen to people. Listen... and heed my message!

  He wasted no time in leaving the church and getting into his car to make his getaway before the police arrived. He wondered whether his words had made an impact on the minds of the people in the church that morning but, in his heart, he knew that most of them would remain unmoved. Change was a very difficult thing to overcome. It created fear and suspicion, concern and vulnerability. Xantha Vesta had suggested that he visited churches and this was the first one. He resented the force used by one of his henchman but he smiled as he reflected the surprise that registered on the faces of the priests on his arrival. It was now the turn of another church, St. Stephens, located a short distance away. The messenger reckoned that, on a normal Sunday, he could cover four churches before all the services were over. He would be preaching to about a hundred-and-sixty people in all, every one of them a devout Christian believing in one God. It was a daunting task when each prist would threaten calling the police and have him arrested. On the other hand, he knew that he was fully protected all the time by the Goddess of Love!’

  Chapter Eight

  Gabby Saunders had a serious problem. Now that he had been given the accolade by David Hamilton to dispose of the messenger, he had to choose an appropriate method of carrying it out. He toyed with the idea of a scouting knife, a bullet in his head, a bomb in his house, or by any other means that would appear to have been an accident. Personally he preferred the idea of driving the knife into the man’s heart and stealing his wallet leaving the police to believe that ha had been the target of a mugger. However his plan meant that he had to get close to Warrior when he was alone. That was the problem because he always appeared to be with the woman with whom he lived or his henchmen. He was never alone! At the outset, it seemed to be an impossible task but Saunders was in no hurry to carry out the deed. He could sit back and bide his time. Subsequently, he kept a close watch on the messenger from a distance hoping that there would come a time when no one else was around. And at that moment, Gabby Saunders would strike!

  On the following Saturday evening, in the hours of darkness, Warrior, Maidley and Guildenstern climbed into an old van and drove towards St. Michael’s church with a long wooden ladder fixed to the roof-rack. Gabby Saunders had been waiting in his car opposite Warren’s house, having learned the address from the reporter at The Bulletin and he followed the van, with his lights extinguished, at a respectable distance. Despite the muted agreement of the Chairman of the Christian Action Group to stop the man from uttering further sedition, there was an element of evil inside the bully’s head which invoked a hunger to kill and he waited patiently tasting the blood of an imminent kill in his mouth. He eyed the men in the darkness as they alighted from their vehicle realising that something was very strange. Why would the preacher visit a Christian church late at night when it was closed? It ought to be the last place he would come to! Anyone who had counter religious opinions and visited a church at this late hour was clearly up to no good! However, whatever the man intended to do, the bully recognised that it was an golden opportunity to get him on his own so that he could complete the crime. It was very dark and there was no better way to fulfil his task!

  Warrior’s sole intention was to hang a banner above the altar within the church which read: ‘One Heaven, Many Gods!’ It would help to bring his message to the parishioners during the service on the following morning. It was decided to hang it very high up so that no one could reach it without a very long ladder.

  The large front door of the church was locked but Maidley had considerable experience as a housebreaker and burglar in his earlier years and he found it easy to gain entry. He opened the door widely and made a theatrical bow to herald the messenger into the building unable to see the dour expression on the preacher’s face as they entered the church. What they were doing was illegal but it was certain they would get away with the misdemeanour without the involvement of the police. Maidley returned to the van where he and Guildenstern untied the ropes on the roof-rack and struggled to remove the long ladder. Stumbling in the darkness, they carried it into the church leaning it temporarily on the altar. Then they opened it out for practical use and Maidley pulled a torch from his pocket and started to climb the rungs.

  ‘How about here?’ he suggested pointing the light at a wooden beam which stretched across the transept.

  ‘Fine!’ returned Warrior, handing him the folded banner. ‘There’s a couple of strips of tape at each end. Hang it from the beam.’

  The henchman collected the banner, allowing it to fall open. Holding the tapes at one end, he tied them around the beam before descending the ladder. Then Guildenstern helped him to carry the other side of the banner across the altar and placed it into position, tying the other two tapes along the beam. Maidley descended again and the two henchmen folded the ladder down and carried it out outside the church to the van.

  Warrior pointed the torch upwards, satisfied with the result. The message would be well and truly seen by those attending the church service in the morning. It’s impact on them would probably be negative but he had to persevere with his aim. He was about to turn to the door when he heard a rustle at the far end of the aisle. At first, he thought it might be the wind although there was no breeze blowing on this particular evening. He walked down the aisle with a modicum of suspicion in his mind. It was deadly quiet, there were no lights, and no caretaker was in residence. There was nothing to alert him to any danger. Yet the hackles on his neck rose as he heard the rustle again. It might have been a mouse or a stray cat but the messenger knew by instinct that it wasn’t something quite that simple. Someone... something... was moving between the pews. He shone his torch in all directions until he heard another slight noise. Whoever... whatever... had circled behind him moving towards the altar. He swivelled round with the torch held tightly in front of him and the light shone on the full face of Gabby Saunders. The messenger was totally surprised at the presence of the man and he recognised him as the heckler at one of his meetings. The door had been locked when they first arrived so the man had to have been stalking him.

  ‘Surprised to see me, Mr. Preacher?’ greeted the bully with a broad grin on his face. He was seemingly unaffected by the bright light shining in his eyes. The messenger moved the torch downwards to identify that the man held a long curved knife in his hand which he began to wave menacingly. ‘You think you’re so big, don’t you!’ he growled in his beastly manner, slobbering at the mouth. ‘Well I’ve got the goods on you!’

  Warrior considered calling out to his henchmen but realised that if he did so the offender would react quickly and use the knife. It was a very tight situation and somehow he had to get out of it alone.

  ‘I remember you. The heckler at one of my meetings... the man who started the fire at the Community Centre.’

  ‘You know you’re a hard man to get on his own,’ continued the bully. He should have murdered Warrior and gone on his way but he had a big boastful mouth and was eager to emulate a star that he had seen in a movie some months ago who was in a similar position. ‘I’ve tracked you down for the past five days but you’re always with that woman or those two men. Never alone. Well now I’ve got you all to myself!’

  ‘I have to warn you not to harm me,’ returned the messenger, although his heart was beating like a drum. ‘A Goddess in the celestial kingdom is my protector. She guards me day and night. You won’t succeed in harming me.’

  The bully burst out laughing. ‘Harm you!’ he exploded, still grinning. ‘I don’t mean to harm you... I’m gonna kill you!’

  Warrior carried on the bluff shaking his head slowly. ‘I suggest that you get out of here while you can. You know my colleagues are outside. If you harm me, they’ll make mincemeat out of you.’

  ‘That’s where y
ou’re wrong, Mr. Preacher. The dribble ran down his chin from the corner of his mouth. ‘You see, I loosened the end of the roof-rack on your van. It’ll take them a little time to fix it and tie the ladder on to it. What you don’t know is that I’ve got the agreement of the Chairman of the committee to terminate you.’

  ‘Which committee?’ asked the messenger playing for time. It was highly improbable that any committee would agree to taking such severe steps but nothing was impossible.

  ‘The Christian Action Group. I’m their contract man,’ he boasted puffing out his chest. ‘I’m important to them... the one who starts fires... the one who eliminates people they want dead.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of such a group,’ admitted Warrior blandly. ‘Are you sure you’ve got it right. A Christian group actually wants me dead?’

  ‘It exists all right. They started up as soon as you breezed in with your message about the bloody Gods!’

  ‘And they actually employed you to kill me.’ The messenger found it incredible that his words had been strong enough to move an organisation to take out a contract on him.

  ‘The Chairman, Mr. Hamilton agreed for me to do it.’ The bully saw no harm in divulging the names or details to his target. He had seen it so many times in the cinema he was able to act out the drama, especially as he intended to kill the other man. ‘So where do you want it?’

  ‘Where do I want what?’

  ‘The knife, you fool!’ He brandished the ugly-looking weapon in front of Warrior’s face. ‘Where do you want it... in the neck... between the ribs.,... in the guts? I don’t usually give people the choice.’

  ‘You’ve done this before?’

  ‘Never you mind!’ returned Saunders edgily, knowing that he was boasting about something he had never committed before.

  The messenger realised that the man was serious and would not defer his actions to eliminate him. He had come to kill him and that was what he intended to do without any element of conscience or any qualms.. There were a number of options open to the Warrior which flashed through his mind. He could toss the torch away and hide in the dark... he could delay the bully until his henchmen returned... or he could run for the door to join Maidly and Guildenstern before Saunders could stab him. There was another alternative which suddenly came to him... he could call on his protector to help him. He began to think hard about the Goddess of Love and then called out her name in his mind for assistance. No sooner had be done so than Saunders took the initiative. He raised the hand holding the knife and was about to drive it into the messenger’s body when the human form of Xantha Vesta appeared in ghostly fashion before them. Saunders reeled back halfway through his action at the sight of her, his eyes seemingly opening wide in terror.

  ‘What the Hell... ..’ he blasphemed, tailing off as fear ran right through him like a bolt of lightning.

  ‘Stop!’ shouted the Goddess, pointing her finger at him.

  ‘Jesus Christ!’ swore the bully, his face turning white with fright. However, he had come with a mission and was intent on carrying it out. He moved his hand forward in an attempt to stab the other man. A flash appeared to travel across the church from the finger of the Goddess of Love and Saunders burst into flame before the knife reached the target. The bully screamed in agony as the flames consumed him, blackening his body, until his remains fell in a heap on the altar.

  Warrior turned to his protector gratefully. ‘Thank you!’ he told her. ‘You came just in time. He was going to kill me.’

  ‘I know,’ she told him candidly. ‘I’m glad you called for me. Don’t forget about your healing talents. Use them wisely.’ She shivered vigorously as though caught in a severe draught. ‘Ooh, I don’t like these places at all.’ In an instant, she disappeared from the church leaving the messenger alone with the burnt body of the bully.

  When he thought about the incident, Warrior blew out his cheeks with a sigh of relief. He had almost been murdered and the shock was becoming to be felt by him. However one thing was certain. The presence of the Goddess of Love was proof that the Gods existed and could materially assist the people on Earth if they sought their help. The incident had happened so quickly that he had been stunned. One moment he was preparing to leave the church, the next he was facing death from a knife being brandished by a lunatic who had been stalking him. But when the chips were down, and he was about to be murdered, Xantha Vesta had come to his rescue.

  He stared at the charred body resting on the altar. The man had confessed that he had been employed by the Christian Action Group to carry out the crime. When they learned of Saunders’s failure to kill him, would they contract someone else to finish the deed? He considered using his henchmen as security guards to protect him in the future but he could always rely on the Goddess of Love. Nonetheless, it was clear that he was a prime target for assassination and here was nothing he could do about it.

  Maidley entered the church sheepishly. ‘Sorry, Stephen,’ he apologised. ‘There was something wrong with the roof-rack. We had to fix it.’

  ‘We’ve got to take the banner down! You’d better bring back the ladder.’

  ‘Bring it down!’ echoed the henchman. ‘What for? We only just put it up!’

  ‘I’ll explain on the way home,’ Warrior told him brusquely.

  Maidley shrugged his shoulders and went out puzzled to return with the ladder. The two men removed the banner and left the church, closing the front door behind them. The messenger wondered how the priests would deal with the charred remains of the bully when they discovered them the following morning. No doubt they would consider it to have been some kind of sacrifice. They would have called the police and an inquiry would have taken place which was the reason which Warrior had taken the banner down. They would certainly have held him responsible for Saunders’s death. They would have tracked him down in an instant demanding to know all the details. It would have been very difficult to convince them of the facts and hardly worth all the trouble. Subsequently, it was far better that they didn’t know that he’d been there... far better that they knew nothing!

  ***

  The next issue of The Bulletin contained an article about Warrior’s healing ability. They had picked up the point from the previous interview and had contacted him for relevant details of his past successes. They were willing to support him mainly for the fact that he would not make a change for his services. The article ran for the best part of half a page stating that he was willing to treat people who failed to be cured by their physicians. Warrior believed that Xantha Vesta had put it into the mind of Sutter, the reporter on The Bulletin, in pursuance of her wish but the messenger did not expect many people to beat a path to his door. In normal circumstances, he would have preferred to have kept his home address a secret but the information had leaked out in the Press and now everyone knew where he lived. He realised that leaving the front door wide open tentatively was tantamount to allowing an assassin to enter at any time. Nonetheless his skills had been advertised, expressing the view that everyone was welcome to visit him at his home as a patient if they wished.

  After reading the newspaper, he waited in the lounge with Rebecca in quiet meditation until there was a noise at the front door and someone entered into the hallway. With an element of concern, he stood up to face the caller and was surprised to find it to be Sheila, his wife. She stood in the hallway holding the hands of her two children before entering the lounge. On this occasion, she lacked the anger and rage she had exhibited the last time they had met.

  ‘Stephen!’ she greeted calmly, releasing the children so that they could go to their father.

  He took them in his arms and kissed them gently, staring in bewilderment at his wife. To his astonishment, the woman was so calm, so normal, so serene. ‘To what do I owe this visit?’ he asked uncertainly, almost expecting her to suddenly turn into a virago.

  ‘We’ve c
ome to stay,’ she told him point-blank. ‘I’ve come to a decision that I don’t want to lose you after all.’ She held up her hand to stop him from interrupting her. ‘No... listen to me, Stephen! We’re a family and you need to recognise it. I miss you, despite your wild dreams about Gods and Goddesses and I want us to be together again. As possession of the house has been taken by the mortgage provider, we’re going to stay here... withy you!’

  For once he was at a loss for words, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘You can’t do that!’ he managed to say. ‘For one thing, there’s not enough room here. For another, I live here with Rebecca,’

  ‘I’m sure there’s a box-room where the kids can sleep,’ she responded coolly. ‘I’ll sleep on the couch unless someone else is willing to let a man share the bed with his wife. As far as Rebecca’s concerned, she’ll have to fight for you because I want you back!’

  Rebecca appeared, having listened to the woman, and she bristled throwing herself wholeheartedly into the fray. ‘You’re assuming a hell of a lot, aren’t you, Sheila?’ she snapped angrily. What right have you coming here to our home insisting that you stay?’

  ‘Am I cramping your style, Rebecca?’ countered Sheila bitchily. ‘Things will get worse for you as time goes on. I hope you realise that.’

  ‘Tell her to get out of here!’ demanded Warriors’ mistress irately, staring hard at the messenger to redress the situation. ‘She’s only going to cause trouble. Nip it in the bud and make her leave!’

  The messenger put his children down and faced his wife. ‘I thought you intended to divorce me,’ he said slowly. ‘Whatever happened to that idea?’

  ‘I changed my mind,’ she told him jubilantly. ‘I thought the whole thing through and realised that you’re the one I really wanted... not only for the kids but for myself. I miss you so I’m going to do everything in my power to win you back.’