Broken Rule | Chapter 34

This post is chapter thirty-four of my not-previously-published epic fantasy novel Broken Rule, which I'm serializing here on Steemit.

The story so far:
Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

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Marek woke with a start. He was sitting at the library table and must have dozed off after his meal. He spent all his time in the library now. The books seemed to be an unending source of knowledge, a constant stream of insight into the will of the Most Holy. Fire. Clearly, the Most Holy's will involved fire, and Marek spent all his time now learning the magic of fire.

The opening of the door must have woken him. Petro entered the library and tried to quietly approached Marek, but quiet was not the first word anyone would use to describe Petro. “Learned, there's something I need to tell you. I wasn't sure I should, but the boys told me that you would know what to do.”

Marek gently closed the book he had been reading when he fell asleep, being careful to mark his place first. “What is it brother? I've never known you to be so reluctant to speak.”

“Well, it's bad stuff, Learned. You know I've been in war before, and war ain't pretty, but this is worse than that. Remember we were going to Gorton for supplies? Well, when we got there everybody was all in a stir. It turns out the duke, Duke Gavril, he marched his army on Haverwood and burned it to ashes. I didn't believe them, Learned, on account of I served with Duke Gavril before, and he was a hard man and always kept the rowdier sorts in check. So we went to Haverwood, but it was all burned, like they said. Just burned down to nothing. And they say that Duke Gavril aims to be king, and he'll burn Kubara down, too.”

“Brother, are you sure? I know there was talk of Gavril's ambitions above his station, but we thought that was resolved. I met with the man myself. He didn't seem the sort to turn to barbarism.”

“Learned, I don't know if Duke Gavril done it, but I saw Haverwood myself. An evil thing was done there. Lots of people died.”

Was this what the Most Holy was preparing him for? “Take me to Haverwood. I must see the evidence with my own eyes.”

“Yes, Learned. Should I get the men ready to march?”

“No, I think that just Trapper, you, and I should go. There are evil men in this world, and it would not be prudent to leave these books unattended. The defenses should be completed.”

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Marek looked at the ruins of Haverwood and was unable to speak. The town was utterly destroyed. Not a single building had escaped the flames and most were no longer even recognizable. Even the few stone buildings had been gutted, their contents burned. All through the town there were corpses visible in the ashes. Based on the bodies he did see, more must surely have died, burned so badly that they could no longer be recognized as human. It was carnage on a scale so great that Marek had trouble wrapping his mind around it. Would Gavril do the same thing to Kubara? To all of the people that Marek had known and prayed with over the years?

At first the town appeared deserted, but Trapper pointed out some tracks in the ashes, and they found an emaciated teenage boy with a haunted look in his eyes. When the boy saw Marek he ran toward him crying. “Learned, Learned, help me, please. I don't know what to do.” The boy wrapped his arms around Marek in a bear hug and wept, but he had little strength behind it.

“Brother, what's wrong?”

“It's Duke Gavril. He's guilty of the blackest sins, Learned. He's consorted with demons and murdered all these people.”

“Demons? That's a serious accusation.”

“I'm his squire. I saw it with my own eyes. I heard strange noises in his tent, and I thought he might be calling for me, but when I looked in I saw him with her. With the demon. Just like the pictures in the Blessed Book, Learned. Just like them, horns and wings and all. And they were... I couldn't watch, so I ran away, away from the demon, away from the whole camp. But eventually I got hungry, so I had to follow the trail that the army left. And it led here. The demon has corrupted his soul, Learned, look at what he's done!”

“Calm down, brother. A demon is enough to frighten anyone, but you're with us now. You're safe now.” The boy sat on the ground hugging his knees.

“A demon?” asked Petro. “A true demon? Is that possible, Learned?”

“The Blessed Book tells us to be on guard for demons, Petro. I know many people have convinced themselves that demons are just metaphors, figures of speech to represent the thrall of sin, but the words in the book are plain. And I don't think this boy is lying. I think his story is the truth. You said yourself that the Duke Gavril you knew wouldn't allow his men to burn a town like this. I met the man, too, and wouldn't have thought him capable of it either. But if he's given himself over to a demon, that could explain the change.”

“But can a demon truly do that to a man, turn him bad?”

Marek ran over the passages in his mind, trying to distill the ideas into a form that a less educated man could comprehend. “The Blessed Book tells us that we are all the masters of our own souls. But if there's blackness in a man's soul already, a demon can coax it out, nurture it, tempt him to act on his sinful impulses. Perhaps in the past Gavril hid his evil from those around him, but now that he has taken up with a demon, he revels in it.”

“Learned,” said Petro, “you know I'm not a saint. But I wouldn't want to do nothing like this, to kill people for no good reason. Could a demon make me do that?”

“The Blessed Book tells us that a demon can't make you do anything, only tempt you, only trick you or convince you, but it is always your decision in the end. We never know if we will pass the tests of our souls until we're confronted with them, Petro. But the way to pass them is to hold strong to the teachings of the Most Holy, to know them, and obey them. I believe you have the strength to do that, if you put your mind to it.”

“Thank you, Learned,” Petro whispered.

Marek surveyed the burned town and his eyes settled on a pile of tiny blackened bones that could only have come from a group of children. He knew now what he needed to do. “Gavril is an evil man and must be punished. I understand now why the Most Holy guided me to the magic of fire. He has been preparing me to avenge this injustice. To wreak upon the sinner the pain that he has caused so many others. The Most Holy will not wait until this man dies to render judgment on him, so He guides me, as His hand in the world, to bring cleansing flame to Gavril.”

“Learned, are you sure?” asked Petro.

“Brother, the Most Holy has been guiding me for years, pushing me harder and harder to find the library. Each step of the way He guided my hand. And in the library, He guided me to the flames. Is this not the clearest sign yet of the task that He has for me? My only fear is that I have been too slow to follow His guidance. That I will be too late to carry out His will. We have no more time to lose. We must follow Gavril north.” He looked at Petro and Trapper, both obviously troubled by what they saw and by what Marek proposed. He had been nudging them toward proper devotion for the weeks they had been together, but they were clearly not yet far enough along the path. While he found that a slow, methodical conversion was the best approach, he suspected he could also use their deference to his position in the church to speed things along. With proper guidance, their emotional turmoil could be transformed into dedication to the Most Holy. “Brothers,” he said in his most priestly manner, extending his hands to them. “Pray with me.” The two men joined hands with him, and the boy rose up to join them, forming a small circle. They all bowed their heads.

“Most Holy,” prayed Marek, “give us the courage to face the evils before us, the strength to overcome the obstacles that are in our way. Lend our souls strength in these dark times, that we may set right the wrongs that have been perpetrated against You and Your children. Aid us, Most Holy, and guide us, for Your will is our will.”

After a moment Marek released their hands and said, “Come, we can delay here no longer. We must be about the Most Holy's business.”

“It's this way,” pointed Trapper, leading them through the ashes toward the road.