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Thursday, September 28, 2017

Chapter 21: The Enchiridion

Time slowed in captivity, her isolation deafening her sense of self until she felt as though she was submerged in water.  True to her word, Mina kept her separate from Alister, so separate, that she wondered if he was in the Holy Place at all.  Each day was the same, a rigorous schedule of blessing the sick who were shuttled in from a nearby hospital, then blessing any visitors, and finally blessing the servants of the Order.  Ending each day in a state of physical exhaustion, she would retire to her room to read The Enchiridion.  

The Enchiridion was by turns thought provoking and boring.  It began with a creation story, a myth she had heard before, that humankind was made from a loud sound on a doughnut shaped planet.  The Ellipse, as far as she could figure, was music itself.  It was only later that it took on the form of a geometric shape so that humankind could understand it.  

She was just finishing the chapter on how the Ellipse, frustrated with the cruelty of humanity, sang the curse into existence.  There was a knock at her door, and she rose from her chair.  A servant waited at the door with a cart, “If it pleases Your Holiness, your servant will change Your Holiness’ sheets?”

The woman’s face was bandaged, her visible skin a strange pale color under a scraggly mass of black hair.  Feeling awkward, Tatiana tried not to stare as she held the door.  The servant rolled the cart near the bed and started removing the blankets.  Tatiana sat back in her chair, flipping to the next chapter of The Enchiridion. “This is the story of the redemption of Eric, a man cursed for 314 days,” she read.

“Bianca,” said the servant, “You wanna get out of here?”

Startled, Tatiana turned in her chair, “Amber?  Is that you?  You look . . . different.”

“Paper mache, clay, and a horsehair wig.  Now hurry up and climb in this laundry bag.  It’s only a matter of time before the servants I drugged wake up.”

“You did what?”

“Just get in the bag Bianca,” Amber held out the the sides of one of the canvas sacks on her cart.  Tatiana picked up her notebook and tucked it inside her sash.  At the last minute she grabbed The Enchiridion, tossing it into the bottom of the bag.  She stepped in after it, tucking herself into a ball so Amber could tie the top shut.  The light filtered through the weave of the fabric and she could feel the cart start rolling.  

The ride seemed interminable, and just when Tatiana thought she could no longer stand the suffocating feeling of having her entire body covered, the cart stopped and Amber opened the top of the bag.  They were inside a large room lined with industrial washers and dryers.  One servant slumped next to the machines, three others leaned against the folding and pressing tables, dozing against the fabric they were meant to be ironing.  Amber opened the window above the sorting table, popping out the screen.  “Out you go,” she said over her shoulder.  Tatiana climbed onto the table and peered out the window.  Sensing her hesitation, Amber gave her a shove.  Instinctively, Tatiana rolled into a ball, wrapping her good arm around her bad.  She tumbled to the ground, her shoulder smarting from the impact.  Amber landed gracefully on her feet, reaching down to help Tatiana up.  They ran away from the building, turning out onto the tramway bustling with evening commuters.  Immediately slowing to a brisk walk, Amber looped her arm through the crook in Tatiana’s cast.  

“Where are we going?” Tatiana passed a drug store and a cafe on her right.  

“You know, every time I see you, you're tagging along behind some man who has no idea where he is going,” Amber pulled her down an alleyway, “So why don't you tell me - where are we going?”

Tatiana sucked in her bottom lip, “Is there a city near here that is friendly to the cursed?”

“There’s Errant, but you don't want to go there.  It’s dangerous.”

“Great, I’m going to Errant,” Tatiana looked over her shoulder, “Shouldn't we take a tram?”

“Dressed like a priest and a servant?  No,” Amber pulled her into the back of a shop.  Boxes and hangers littered the small room.  A woman lay on the floor, bound by her ankles and wrists, her mouth taped shut with packing tape.  She grunted when she saw Tatiana and Amber, squirming in place.  

“Carl, we’re here,” Amber called, ignoring the woman.

“We untie her before we leave,” Tatiana pointed at the captive.

“Whatever you want Holiness, just change into this,” Amber tossed her a pair of jeans and a brown t-shirt.  While Tatiana changed, Amber scrubbed the gunk off her face in the bathroom.  She emerged from the bathroom in khakis and a plum blouse, Carl trailing behind her.  His face brightened as he saw her, a goofy smile taking over his expression.

“How come you didn't change?” Tatiana waved at his hand-spun shirt and heavily patched jeans.  

“We’re in a women's clothing store,” he shrugged, “The clothes just aren't really cut right.”

“C’mon,” Amber opened the back door, “we got a tram to catch.”

Tatiana picked up a box cutter off the ground and approached the woman, “I’m going to cut the tape off your wrists, okay?  You can do your legs and mouth.”  She carefully cut through the tape, placing the box cutter in the woman's hands, “Sorry about everything.”  Before leaving the store, she grabbed the robes, wrapping The Enchiridion and her notepad in the center of the bundle.  

They caught a tram headed East, Amber paying for their fare with blessings from her leather pouch.  Carl’s eyes widened as the tram left the stop, and he spent the trip staring out the window mesmerized.  Tatiana couldn't help but notice people looking their way and whispering.  “Is this safe?” she asked between her teeth.

“I’m guessing at worse they’ll kick us off the tram,” Amber glanced around the car, a fake smile glued to her face.  


A stop before they reached Errant, a man debarking sneered at them.  “Fucking freaks,” his voice was loud, spittle flying at his pronouncement, “Go back to where you came from.”  The tram car became unaccountably silent, and no one would even glance in their direction.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Chapter 20: Robe and Dagger

A servant was waiting for them in the parking lot when they landed.  As Tatiana watched him push a button on the side of the drone, she slapped her forehead, “I’m an idiot.”

“It wouldn’t have worked if you pushed it,” Kadeem remarked, “I programmed it not to recognize you or Alister.”

“Speaking of Alister,” Tatiana pointed at his limp form on the stretcher, “Is he okay?”

Kadeem approached the stretcher, surveying Alister from head to toe.  Alister opened his eyes a crack and signed to Kadeem.

“What did he say?” Tatiana asked as the servant wheeled away the stretcher.

“None of your business,” Kadeem marched towards the Holy Place, pausing to call over his shoulder, “Are you coming?”

Tatiana followed him into the building.  He led her to a familiar looking room, the phone still on the desk exactly as she had left it.  As soon as Kadeem left, she stripped off her clothes and jumped into the shower.  Midway through, it occurred to her that she wasn’t supposed to get her cast wet.  She stuck the cast outside the curtain and continued her ablutions.  After showering, she lay on the bed in a stupor.  Too much had been happening too fast, and unable to process it all, her mind simply shut down.  

There was a knock at the door, and Tatiana wrapped a sheet around herself and staggered across the room to open the door a crack.  She could see the flutter of red robes as a servant walked away from her room.  A neatly folded robe sat on the ground with an orange sash on top.  Thrilled, Tatiana picked up the pile and donned her orange belt.  “Look who’s moving up the ladder,” she said to herself.  The phone rang and she answered it guiltily, as if the person on the other end of the line had heard her.

“Her Holiness Priest Mina would be pleased if Your Holiness would join her for dinner,” Kadeem said politely.

“Who are you and what have you done with Kadeem?”

“We shall see you shortly,” Kadeem hung up with a click.

Tatiana adjusted her sash and exited into the hallway.  With no idea which direction to go, she turned right and followed the corridor around until it branched off.  Spotting two servants, she ran after them.  “Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to, uh, the dining room, I guess?”

“Is Your Holiness dining with others or by herself?” the woman responded with lowered eyes.

“I’m supposed to meet Mina, I mean, Her Holiness Mina.”

“If it pleases Your Holiness to follow me,” the woman turned and headed down the left side of the fork.  

Tatiana trailed behind her, slightly unnerved by her deference.  No one in Egregia would ever behave that way.  The hallway continued in a loop, terminating at a set of double doors.  The servant opened the doors and bowed.  Tatiana stepped inside, her jaw slackening with amusement as she took in the room.  A long table that could comfortably sit twenty was set for four.  There was a plate at each end, one in the middle, with the final place setting to the right of the foot.  The table was dressed in a white tablecloth with a rainbow runner, two heavy candelabra filling in the empty space.  Tatiana chose the spot in the center.  No sooner had she pulled out her chair, than Mina entered the room flanked by Kadeem.

“Good to see you again, Tatiana,” Mina smiled and sat at one end of the table.

“Good to see you too, uh, is Alister okay?”

Before Mina could answer, the doors opened again and Alister limped into the room sitting gingerly next to Kadeem.

“Let’s get down to business,” Mina’s face turned serious, “I have a serious problem on my hands: two priests left Citadel without permission from the Order, and were planning a rebellion.”

We weren't planning a rebellion,” signed Alister, “We went to serve a group of people who had no priest.”

“If your intent was holy, you should have asked permission from the Order instead of sneaking out a side door.”

The weakness of a chain-of-command systems lays in their unquestioning deference to higher-ups,” Alister reached over and moved the candelabra off the table, “I accept full responsibility for subverting the system.”

“Full responsibility?” Mina placed a notebook on the table, “For this too?”

I don't know what that is,” Alister’s brows pinched together.

Tatiana eyed the notebook with a slow dawning realization.  With its plain red cover and wire binding, it could belong to anyone.  But even from across the table she could make out the lazy figure eights she had drawn across the cover.  It was the notebook she had written in during the long quiet days in Tate's cabin, the notebook that had caught her tears and captured her dreams.  

Mina flipped open the notebook and read from a page, “‘What would happen if every cursed person rushed the gates of Citadel?’” she flipped a few pages forward, “or how about this one: ‘Every citizen of Citadel should call their priest, and if he won’t listen they should overthrown him.’”  Mina closed the notebook, “The ideas in this book are sacrilegious and an affront to the beliefs of the Order.”

“How did you get my notebook?” Tatiana couldn't help but feel for the ridge of her current notepad inside her sash.

“Kadeem turned it over to me,” Mina looked sternly at her, “I have no choice but to hold both of you on a travel restriction.  You are to remain in this Holy Place until further notice.”

Is that all?” Alister rose from his chair.

“Dinner should be here any minute.  Don’t you want to eat?” Mina’s forehead creased with concern.

“I’m not hungry,” Alister put a hand against the wall to steady himself as he left.  Kadeem took his arm, and Alister jerked away from him.

“Here we go again,” Tatiana remarked as they left the room.

Mina looked at her thoughtfully, “You don’t act like a woman in love.”

“Uh, why would I?”

“Kadeem said that you were in love with Alister and I should keep you two separate.”

“Right.  I’m in love with a perpetually moody asexual priest who only wants me for my . . .” Tatiana sucked in her bottom lip.  

“Notebook,” finished Mina.  Behind her a servant set down a plate of rice.  

Tatiana blinked at her, “He didn't know about that notebook.”

Mina waited for the servant to set down a bowl of yellow curry before responding, “I understand where you're coming from, but trying to start a city of refuge is a bad idea.”

“I don't think I-”

“Let me finish,” Mina put some rice on her plate, “First of all, you would have to find a border town that agrees not only to accept the cursed, but to legally protect them.  Secondly, you're going to have a lot of backlash from people you would otherwise like.  They will do everything in their power to stop you, because they are afraid of the cursed.”

“I never wrote down anything like that,” Tatiana reached across the table for the notebook.  Instead, Mina slid the rice in her direction.  It stopped short of reaching distance, and Tatiana stood.

“Move your plate closer so we can talk,” Mina labeled curry over her rice, “Anyway, it’s obvious that this isn't really your notebook.  I know you're trying to defend Alister, but you shouldn't.  Everyone knows he’s a rebel, that he’ll try to escape, blah-blah-blah.  But you, we could probably get out of here.  You were just following orders.”

Tatiana sat to the right of Mina and reached for the rice, “But that's not true.”

“Never go into politics,” Mina took a bite of curry.

Tatiana spooned curry over the rice, watching the yellow broth soak into the rice.  The tofu remained at the top, flanked by carrots and onions.  Politics was a good word for it.  At the moment she couldn’t tell who was on her side and who was against her.  Even Kadeem was behaving oddly.  She took a bite of the curry as she turned it over in her head.  It was heavy with coconut milk, the punch of spice hitting the back of her tongue like a pleasant aftertaste.

“Well, if you’re going to be here for a while, I’m going to give you homework.  I’d like you to start reading The Enchiridion,” Mina speared a piece of tofu with her fork and waved it at her, “I’m assuming you’ve never read it before.”

After dinner, a servant escorted her to her room.  She tried calling her parents, but could not dial out of the building.  With a slow-rising sense of anxiety, she opened the door to her room.  A male and female servant sat on either side of her door.  “Your Holiness is to stay in her room by order of her Holiness Mina,” the male intoned.

Tatiana shut the door without responding.  Reluctantly, she opened the heavy book on her desk, reading the first words of The Enchiridion.  “In the beginning,” she read, “there was song.”

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Chapter 19: Beauty and the Dragons

“No, it's my fault.  I said some things I shouldn't have this morning,” Carl's voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

A weariness pressed down on Tatiana like a weighted blanket, so heavy she couldn't open her eyes.

“And Bill says nothing.  Of course this can't be his fault.  Nothing is ever his fault,” Amber’s tone was caustic.

Alister was retorting, his irritation obvious in the sounds he made.  

“Ooo, burn.  I don't know if I should translate that,” Carl laughed.

“Hellfire and damnation, but too chicken to say it to my face.”

“Yeah, I am.”

The room went quiet, the popping of the fire the only sound.  Tatiana could feel her consciousness receding.  The next thing she was aware of was music.  “Tate,” she thought, “Tate’s here.”  

“Mommy, is she going to die?” said a little voice.

“I hope not, Honey,” the voice was familiar, but Tatiana couldn't quite place it.  

“Mommy.  Mommy.  They found her in the cemetery?”

“Yes  Anabelle, now no more questions.”

“It’s okay,” Carl responded, “Anabelle, you know the story of Beauty and the Beast?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Once upon a time, a beautiful woman put a curse on a man to live as a beast.  The Beast hid in the woods until he met a Witch and they fell in love.”

“That’s not how it goes,” Anabelle interrupted.

“Well, that's how this story goes.  Do you want to hear it or not?”

“I guess so,” Anabelle conceded.

“One day Beast found Beauty sleeping in the woods.  He took her home and played music to her until she awoke.”

“That's Sleeping Beauty,” complained Anabelle.

“She lived with him in the forest until a Dragon took the Witch captive and held her in a tower.  When the Dragon saw Beauty, he was so smitten, that he agreed to trade the Witch for Beauty.  But Beast had tricked the Dragon, and tried to take both women with him.  While they were escaping, Beast fell from the tower and died.  The Witch escaped from the tower, but the Dragon caught Beauty before she could make it to safety.  Everyday Beauty would cry for Beast, and her tears watered the roses that climbed the sides of the castle.”

“Then what happened?”

“That’s it.  That's the end.”

“She never escaped the dragon?” Anabelle sounded near tears.

“That’s enough, Carl,” said a woman’s voice.

The fiddle music stopped, “Oh, but he left out the best part.”  It was Mike’s voice, “You see, Beauty’s tears were magic and after she cried a hundred tears, Beast came back to life.  They kissed and he transformed into a human.  And they lived happily ever after.”

Anabelle sniffed, “That's not what really happened though, is it Daddy?”

“Of course it is,” Mike bowed a few notes, “we dragons just have to help her get there.”

“Daddy!  Daddy!” Anabelle’s voice went up in pitch with excitement, “Look!  She’s crying!”

Tatiana could feel the hot tears flooding her eyes and spilling down her cheeks.  She willed herself to move, focusing all of her energy on her left pinky finger.  It was impossibly heavy, and she felt herself drifting away into a warm darkness.

“Bee,” Tate said her name clearly.  She was laying on his grave, the grass prickling her back.  Tate leaned over her, sniffing her neck.  

“Why can't I wake up?” she asked him.  He nuzzled her neck, his sniffs turning into bites.  Tatiana gasped as his teeth tore at her throat, warm blood trickling down the sides of her neck.

She sat up, sucking air as she broke out of the waters of unconsciousness.  The room around her swung into focus.  Amber stood over her, her red hair in braids.  Alister hovered at the foot of the bed, the fiddle in his hands.  The cabin was strangely different, boughs of dogwood hanging over the door and a braid of herbs encircling the worn center post.

Her right hand itched and she scratched it with her left.  Something was taped to her hand, and she tried to pull it off.

“No, no, no,” Amber grabbed her hand, “It’s intravenous antibiotics.”

“How long was I . . . What happened to me?”   

Amber let out her breath in a puff, then pulled up a chair and sat in it.  “Put simply, your soul got knocked loose from your body,” Amber looked at her lap, “I have to get back to my booth.”  Standing, she faced Alister, “Bill, I swear, if you do anything stupid, I’m putting a hex on you.”  Amber picked up a basket and hurried out the door.

Tatiana’s hand brushed a lump in her pillow, and as she turned it a charm made of bird feathers and wooden beads rolled from underneath.  “How long was I out?” she ran the feathers over her cheek.

Alister reached across the bed and retrieved her notepad.  “You were out for about ten hours,” he wrote, “Promise me you won't do that again.”

Tatiana took the notepad from him, “Amber asked me to bless my patron’s grave.  He was her boyfriend.  I’m a horrible person.”

“It wasn't your choice, dear one.  You must always remember that.  You didn't kill your patron.  You didn't force him to choose you,” Alister’s fingers tightened around the pen.  “You did NOTHING wrong,” he wrote in large letters.

Alister’s writing took up the rest of the page, so she flipped to the back and wrote, “I just feel so lost right now.”

Alister snatched the pen from her, “I have no problem guiding you.  Here’s your orders: 1. You are going to help me get rid of that wall.  2. You are not allowed to leave me until the cursed and holy live side-by-side.  3. Act like a priest.”

Irritated, Tatiana snapped the notepad shut.  Outside there was the whirring sound of a drone passing overhead.  The noise increased until the cabin was vibrating with the hum of the rotors.  The roof groaned then splintered, a metal talon ripping the beams away.  Alister grabbed her and shoved her part way underneath the bed, covering her body with his.  The thunder of the propellers increased, until it became a physical sensation.  For a moment there was only darkness and thrumming.  Then abruptly, Alister was ripped off of her, his body flopping like a lifeless doll in the clutches of the drone.   Tatiana lunged for a broken board.  Feeling the tug of the IV on her hand, she tore free of it and grabbed her weapon.  She swung the board wildly, hitting Alister as often as she hit the drone.

“I forgot how stubborn you are,” a voice came from a speaker mounted on the front, “That’s not going to do anything, Princess.”

Tatiana stopped mid-swing, “Kadeem?!”

There was a grinding sound as a set of aluminum stairs unfolded.  “You can climb in, or, I can come back and take you by force.”

Tatiana grabbed the bottom step with her good hand.  Unable to pull herself up, she lost her grip and sat down in the rubble.

“Climb up the side of that thing over there, then you’ll be able to reach.”

“That thing over there used to be a wall,” she grumbled.  Scaling the pile of debris was trickier than it looked.  It shifted unpredictably under her weight, and she ended up on all threes, inching her way up towards the hovering drone.  At the top of the pile, she stood warily and jumped towards the stairs.  For one dizzying moment, she thought she would fall, then she felt the lowest tread under her feet.  Jittering up to the top of stairs, she ducked in the drone and collapsed on the bench.  The stairs retracted back into the drone and Kadeem tapped on the console.

“You’re gonna be in big trouble when we get back to Citadel,” Kadeem’s lips curled into a smug grin.

“Ooooo, I’m so scared,” Tatiana clicked her seat belt into place as the drone ascended, “What are a bunch of celibate vegans going to do to me?”

“Just because they’re vegans doesn’t mean they can’t kill you.  It just means they won’t eat you afterwards.”

“Are we talking about cannibalism or vore?” Tatiana looked Kadeem up and down.  His robes were dark under the arms, his blue hair oily.  He must have reached Citadel only to turn around and come back for his master.  

“You’re lucky Alister is below deck right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘act like a priest,’” Tatiana clicked on the center display to see where they were headed.  “That’s where Mina lives,” she commented tapping the screen.

“Who did you think loaned me the drone?” Kadeem batted her hand away from the screen.  “Anyway, if anyone can set Alister straight, it’s her.  She has a way about her.”