ather Hough grabbed the kettle he’d hung upon the spit in his hearth and lifted it up triumphantly. He held it carefully in his mittens, showing the prize to his guest who sat languidly in a simple wooden chair. “Does it not smell wonderful?” the boy asked, even as he began to pour a bright liquid from the spout into two wooden goblets.
Bishop Vinsah nodded, his long tail flicking behind him as the powerful scent of apples filled his bestial nostrils. “It smells wonderful, Father,” he trilled, the now familiar burr of his raccoon’s throat comfortable upon his ears. Ever since he’d been left cursed like this, he’d been afraid to show himself. But when those spirits had come into the Chapel, he’d revealed himself to fight them and keep them at bay. And the reception he’d received from his fellow Followers had been one of rejoicing. While he still dreaded what Yesulam might think of this, he no longer felt ashamed of his appearance.
Hough smiled once more, the boyish expression fitting him well. He set the kettle down upon a small stone plate, and placed the mitten beside it. Grabbing the goblets in his small hands he handed one to the Bishop, and then climbed up on his own small cushioned stool, cradling his goblet in both hands in his lap. “It tastes good cold too, but I’ve always preferred to have it warm. I remember when I was a child...” he paused, and then laughed slightly. “When I was a child the first time that is, I could hardly wait for my mother to brew her own apple cider. We never had much, and only in the winter to help keep warm. I know that is not as much of a problem in Abaef.”
Vinsah chuckled slightly, his tongue clicking on his sharp teeth, even as he took the cider in his paw. “You would be surprised. At night, the deserts are very cold. Not as cold as your winter here, but cold nonetheless.” He then lifted the goblet to his muzzle and lapped gingerly at the warm liquid. And then he pulled his tongue back in quickly, eyes going wide. “Hot!” he cried out, looking for a place to set the cider down without spilling it.
Hough could not help but laugh slightly, as if he’d expected this to happen. “I’m sorry, Bishop, I should have warned you. Give it a few minutes to cool off before you drink it.”
The raccoon blinked a few times as he smacked his muzzle, tongue moving in and out in what he knew had to be a ridiculous gesture. But he finally managed to cool the burn and laughed a little himself. “It is all right. This would not be the first time I’ve learned something the hard way.” He paused after the words had left his lips, his mind scanning back to the dreams that came to him every few nights. Though he did not wish it to be so, for he was called that name and told repeatedly to be with Murikeer Khannas, he could not help but wonder if there was not something to be learned in them as well.
Hough noticed the momentary bit of distraction, his feet kicking in the air as they dangled from the stool. He looked down at his lap and at those feet, his own thoughts growing less certain. “Now that everything is starting to settle back to normal once more, there was something I’m afraid I have to ask you.”
Vinsah was immediately alert – though the boy’s voice had been reminiscent of a child asking his parents for permission to do something he knew better than to do, there was still a deeper reluctance to speak, as if the boy was about to embark on matters far weightier than he could imagine. “Please, what is it?”
“Now that you are well, what will you do? Yesulam knows you are still alive, but they do not yet know what has happened to you. But they must be told.”
The Bishop of Abaef sat back a moment, his ears perked. “I have thought about this too. I want to return to Yesulam so that they might see first hand what has happened to me, but I will not leave until it is safer to travel, and the Seasons have turned more favourably. I am going to be writing a letter to be sent to the Council of Bishops informing them of my intentions, and my desire to see this situation resolved, but that is all.”
“What do you think they will decide?” Hough asked tentatively, lifting the cider to his lips, but he did not sip.
Vinsah shrugged his shoulders slightly, lifting the cider to his face, sniffing at it lightly. It smelled delicious, but also rather hot still. “I’m not sure. Without Akabaieth to lead them, I don’t know what they will do. Some may feel I have allied myself with demonic powers, which is why I am a raccoon. Others may sympathize and know better than that, but still feel it is better I return to Metamor instead of continuing my duties as Bishop of Abaef. Some may think I should continue as if nothing had changed. I really do not know what will happen.”
He tapped one claw along the side of the goblet for a moment as he continued to think. “I would like to see the people of Abaef again, and tell them directly of my plight. I know they would come to my defence.”
Hough was shivering slightly. “How could they say you were in league with demons? They know that it is not true, and that it is not true about Metamor. They agreed with my pastoral care here. How could they think that of you, one of their own?”
Vinsah sighed. “Not all of them feel this place is free of demonic influence. Because you became a child, they decided your pastoral duties were legitimate. I have become a raccoon though. I do not know how they will react to this.”
A sudden knocking at the door broke both their disquieted moods, their eyes turning towards the door. Hough set his goblet down upon the wooden table near the hearth and then walked to the door, opening it wide. On the other side stood an elk dressed in thick woolen tunic and breeches. Though he towered over the child, he bowed his head in respect, the massive set of antlers, nearly lodging themselves in the door frame as he did so. “Forgive me, Father, for intruding upon like this. I was hoping to speak to you about something important to me.”
Hough stepped out of the doorway and nodded. “Of course, Sir Egland. Please, come in.”
Egland stepped in, ducking low to avoid scraping the transom. He then caught sight of the raccoon still sitting and bowed his head again. “Bishop Vinsah, it is good to see you as well. This should concern you too.”
“It is good to see you, Sir Egland,” Vinsah said, his voice once more possessing the simple friendliness found so often amongst priests.
Hough gestured to another wooden chair pressed back against the wall. “Please, sit, my son.” Hough then turned about to the cupboard. “We were having some apple cider, would you care for some?”
Egland nodded a moment, even as he gripped the back of the chair with one hoof-like hand and drew it closer to where the two of them sat. “Yes, thank you, Father.” He smiled slightly to Vinsah, who watched the elk with fatherly concern. He’d known the knight for many years, though never very well.
Hough poured another goblet full, and then handed it to the knight. “Now, what is it that is troubling you, my son?” Hough returned to his own seat, finally sipping at the warm liquid. Vinsah saw that the boy did not choke, and so gave his own drink another lap of the tongue, and found it warm, but not hot, and very sweet. He took another lap immediately, unable to help himself.
“Well, I’m worried about Albert,” Egland said simply, only cradling his cider.
Both priests glanced to each other, but it was Vinsah who spoke. “Sir Bryonoth? Has something else happened?”
Egland shrugged slightly. “Well, maybe, I’m not certain. The curse has begun to change him, and he is not taking it well at all, as I knew he would not. But there’s something else there, something I can’t identify. I don’t know what else to do, so I thought to come speak to you.”
“The curse has started to change him?” Hough asked, leaning forward. “How is it changing him?”
Egland licked at his lips, as if afraid to say it. “He’s becoming a woman.”
Vinsah sucked his breath in sharply then and took a long drink from the cider, nearly finishing off the goblet. “That will destroy him.”
“Why?” Hough asked. “One third of all men here at this Keep face the same thing.”
“He’s a Flatlander,” Vinsah explained. “The women there can be nearly as tough as the men, but the men still have a great deal of pride in being men, more so than in most parts of the world. They do not speak of it, but such chauvinism is almost trained into them. I’m afraid it will be very difficult for him to come to terms with being a woman.”
Hough grimaced and sipped some from his cider. “I am very sorry then to hear of this.” He then glanced once more back at the elk. “But you said that there was something more than just the change that was bothering you.”
Egland nodded, finally lapping at his cider. “I’m not quite sure. It was just the way he was acting. It was not like him. There was something different about him, something I cannot quite place.”
“Try to describe it for us,” Vinsah suggested. “What did he do?”
“Well, when he found out that he was to become a woman, he grew violent and cried out as if he were talking to somebody not there. That’s the only way I can describe it. He attacked us as well, and did not seem to recognise us at all. And then, when he drew that picture, he seemed so triumphant, but I’d never once before seen him smile like that.” Egland quickly finished off the cider, swallowing it in an eagerness that said he wished it were something else entirely. “And he has not allowed any to see him since then.”
Vinsah and Hough glanced once to each other, their eyes sharing a concern that they dared not voice. Hough finally turned back to the elk and spoke softly, “We will go see Sir Bryonoth as soon as possible, if he will allow us to.”
Vinsah broke in then. “I will see him. He will not turn me away, and I know him well enough. I helped him before.” He let that thought rest in the air a moment, joining the fragrant candle smoke and cider. He then stood up, and nodded his head lightly to the elk. “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Sir Egland.”
Egland nodded slightly and also rose to his hooves, bowing his head respectfully to each of them in turn. “Father. Bishop. I will leave you then. Thank you for this.” He handed the empty goblet back to Hough, and then left the way he’d come in, closing the door behind him.
The two priests let their eyes seek each other out, and holding the gaze for several moments. It was Hough who finally spoke, his voice quiet, subdued. “Could this have anything to do with the spirit that had possessed him?”
The Bishop rubbed one paw over his muzzle, the feeling of fur there a familiar thing, though he knew it for what it was still. “It is possible. The exorcism I performed had been hastily done. We will not know for certain without more time and prayer. Do you have the necessary articles for performing a proper exorcism?”
Hough shrugged. “I may, though I do not know of them. Kyia is remarkable, and if she knew that we needed them, I am certain that she would provide them. We’d have to say the necessary blessings of course to sanctify them, but they may already be here.”
“Kyia,” Vinsah mused slowly, his mind drawn elsewhere. And then he finished off the last of the cider in his goblet. “Do you think you could tell me more about her? I’m rather curious to meet her.”
“So am I,” Hough admitted, smiling slightly. “Madog seems to be the only one who has ever truly spent time with her. I suppose I could ask when I see him next. He often comes by in the mornings to see me.” The boy smiled wider, his grin rather infectious. “You know, when I’m with him, I more often than not find myself playing as a child might. He has such a strange effect on others.”
The young priest shook his head and returned his attention on the Bishop. “But I will mention this to him when I see him next. When will you go see Bryonoth?”
“Sir Bryonoth,” Vinsah corrected idly. He had corrected titles for so many now it was an unconscious habit. “I will speak to him before the evening meal. I had thought...”
A loud rapping at the door interrupted Vinsah, and brought their heads around. Hough did not appear surprised in the least, being a parish priest he was often interrupted by a parishioner with some request. Yet the lad who stood behind the door was a page, his face a pup’s almost, still a teenager, though already a canine by the curse.
“What is it, my son?” Hough asked, looking up at his visitor.
“I bear a message for Bishop Vinsah, Father,” the page said, still not used to speaking with a muzzle.
Vinsah stood up, long tail uncurling from the wooden chair. “I am here.”
The page nodded to the priest and then turned to the raccoon. “Prince Phil wishes to speak with you immediately, your grace.”
The Bishop’s brow furrowed at that. “He wishes to see me? Well, tell him I am on my way.” The page nodded, and then darted off, long fluffy tail wagging behind him involuntarily. Vinsah then turned to his host and offered him the goblet in both paws. “Thank you for the cider, Francis. I will see you for Vespers.”
Hough took the goblet and smiled. “It has been a pleasure talking with you, Vinsah. I’m very glad that you are well again.”
Vinsah nodded at that, and then slipped from the door, closing it shut behind him. He sighed inwardly, licking his tongue across the back of his teeth. It seemed they would never have a truly free moment together. As he sought back across the gulf of what seemed like years, he recalled the many times Akabaieth and he had just shared a quiet cup of tea together, talking of simpler things, or even some curious bit of scripture the other had read the previous day. Father Francis Hough was a good man, and a good priest, and he carried the burden well on his small shoulders, Vinsah thought. While he was at times naive to the politics that existed in Yesulam, he could hardly be blamed for that, having grown up so far from the central city in the Ecclesia.
It was his hope that they’d be able to share many glasses of that warm cider together, as it had been quite delicious. And he hoped that they were not always speaking of such terrible things. Yet he could not help but wonder what it was that the Prince of Whales wished to discuss with him. Aside from their meeting at the banquet the first night he was at Metamor, he had not seen the rabbit since. While he had learned since then it had been Phil who had overseen Akabaieth’s burial at sea, something he had known his master would have always wanted, but never spoken, he knew little else.
He found that same page standing outside Phil’s quarters when he arrived, as if merely by coincidence. As he approached he saw that the door was not a door but a table simply pressed against it. What had happened? Had it been destroyed during the siege? Perhaps, but why had it not been repaired? The page knocked firmly upon the table, and it slid back a moment later, the face of the prince’s simian retainer showing itself.
“Greetings,” Vinsah said, nodding his head slightly. “I come as bidden.”
The ape nodded and gestured for him to enter. Vinsah nodded his thanks and stepped through the doorway into the well-decorated room. It appeared to have suffered from a bit of redecorating as several bits of furniture were in disarray. He found the rabbit waiting by his desk, glancing furtively out his window.
“Ah, Bishop Vinsah,” Phil called, his piping voice vaguely familiar, though this time there was an air of authority to it. “Please have a seat, I need to ask you a few things. Would you like anything to drink?”
Vinsah shook his head. “No thank you, I will be fine.” His tail rested against the back of the lounge as he lowered himself upon it. He let his paws lay in his lap, one on each thigh. “What is troubling you?” Being a priest he had long since grown accustomed to knowing what was in a man’s heart, though he rarely made any attempt to pry that loose.
Phil stood by an overturned canvas and seemed to laugh sardonically for a moment. “Well, I was wondering if you remembered much about the night the Patriarch was murdered.”
“Along with almost all of his retinue. I lost several friends that night, not just Akabaieth,” Vinsah added, though the loss of Akabaieth did hurt him the most.
Phil nodded absently at that. “Yes, I know. But I need to know how much you remember.”
Vinsah shook his head. “Very little, I’m afraid. I was asleep in bed when it all happened.” He paused, his mind going back to the events of that night. He had not truly been asleep, for he’d had another dream, and he’d been warned to place his dinner plate beneath his robes. He shuddered slightly and shook his head. “No, I only remember very little.”
“Did you see who did it?”
The bright flash of lightning filled his mind, and there had been that face, a face that had haunted his dreams, swept with rain and blood, mixed with malevolent desire. “Briefly. He did something to me and I passed out from the pain.”
“Would you recognize him if you saw him again?” Phil prodded, nearly bouncing up and down in his eagerness.
“It all happened so fast,” Vinsah said, trying to push the memories from his mind. “But I think I could.”
Phil then spun the canvas about on one corner with his paw. “Is this the man?”
Vinsah took one glance at the picture, and jumped from his seat, crouching behind the lounge, his face buried within his paws and his voice crying out to one who was not there, “Save me, mother!” He felt as if his flesh were going to tear itself apart, and the mask he wore now as a raccoon flared about his eyes, weighing upon him tangibly. He wrapped his arms about the leg of the lounge as if they were the legs of a woman and pressed his face, eyes closed tightly against it, rubbing it, beseechingly as he cried out again.
And then he felt strong arms around him, lifting him back up. “No!” he shouted, claws digging into the wood. But he could not hold on, and was soon set back in the chair, eyes still firmly shut, arms held before them.
“It is all right, Bishop Vinsah,” Phil called, his voice suddenly calming. “I’ve turned the picture around again.”
For a moment he did not realize that the rabbit was talking to him, the name strangely unfamiliar to him. Did he not have a more appropriate name after all? And then, the waking world slammed back into him, and he regained his breath, his mind once more itself. Blinking, he glanced about, and saw that the room was once more in its proper form, the picture hidden from view. He let his arms fall to his lap then, fairly ashamed of his behaviour. “I’m sorry. I did not mean to frighten you like that,” he said, his breath still ragged.
Phil nodded. “I apologize as well, I did not mean to scare you either. But you have seen him. He was the man who killed the Patriarch.”
“I assume so,” Vinsah said slowly. “He is the same man who attacked me and killed the other priests.”
Phil nodded, quite satisfied at that. But there was a perplexed look on his face as he stared at the raccoon. “Pardon me for asking, but what was it that you said after you’d jumped behind my lounge like that? It sounded like you were calling out to someone.”
“I asked for someone to save me,” Vinsah admitted.
“Not in any language I know,” Phil pointed out, his ears waggling slightly. “It didn’t sound like the language of the Patildor. Was it your native tongue?”
Vinsah blinked at that, he had not realized he’d spoken in another tongue when he’d cried out. Just what language had he been speaking? He was not sure that he wished to know the answer just yet. “Perhaps, I was frightened, I really don’t know.” He then stood up, his face still a mix of alarm. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I need to lie down.”
Phil nodded, and Rupert pulled the table from the doorway once more. “Of course. Thank you, your grace. Rest well.”
Vinsah however had no intention of sleeping just then. Prayer was the only thing that was on his mind. His paw reached into his pocket and felt his prayer beads, claws running across each in turn as he began to recite in his mind the First Litany.
|