Dark Age

by Felix O. Hartmann

  I faintly smiled to agree with her. A few minutes later the midnight-bell went off, striking five times. On cue the patrols scanned the streets. With my ear pressed against the door I listened to their voices pass. Eric carefully pushed the curtain aside and looked through the window to ensure the street was clear. “It’s time,” he said.

  Katrina kissed me softly and whispered in my ear, “I will be back soon. Unseen is unscathed.”

  Chapter 32

  I watched her through the window until she left my sight. Time went by slower than usual. After a while I decided to lay down on her bed. My eyes stared up at the ceiling, yet all I saw was her, tracing the steps she would take to get there and back.

  Trying to get my mind off the worry, I started to explore the room. On her nightstand I found a dried purple flower. It was the one I had given her the day I had left. Carefully I picked the fragile flower up and twisted it in between my fingers. It seemed perfectly dead, but the color had not left its petals. The sweet smell was still as prevalent as the day I had picked it.

  I put it back on the nightstand and closed my eyes until drowsiness took over.

  The bells rang. But it was not the regular city bell. The continuous chime came from the city’s alarm bells. Footsteps raced down the street, followed by angry commands that were shouted into the night.

  The door flew open and Katrina stepped in. Her eyes were glassy, her body shaking, and her teeth chattering. Tears had already removed lines of charcoal from her face. “They killed Robert,” she said. “And I think they saw me.”

  Eric held his daughter close, trying to calm her, “Everything will be alright.”

  “What happened?” I asked

  “The merchant had fallen asleep in the living room. He seemed drunk and soundly asleep so I decided to pull through. By the time I had retrieved the jewelry, he stood upright behind me.” She began to stutter, “Everything went so fast, I pushed him aside and bolted out the door. He followed me and screamed for guards. Three came running from deeper within the Merchant District by the mansion. They chased me down the boulevard and ordered Robert to stop me. But he refused. He drew his sword and let me pass, putting himself between me and my followers. All I heard was clashing swords and angry shouts penetrate the night. When I turned to look, they had surrounded him. From all sides they stabbed him without mercy.”

  The street was now fairly lit up as most citizens had turned to their windows with a candle.

  “The thief went this way,” a neighbor shouted out the window.

  Within seconds they pounded on our door. As it was unlocked, a squad of soldiers swarmed into the house.

  I tried to strike out at them and keep them away from Katrina, but they had outnumbered us. Two soldiers grabbed her by the arms, while others had their swords pointed at me and Eric.

  The merchant came in and pointed at Katrina, “This is her!”

  “What do we do with the other two?” asked one of the men with his sword at my throat.

  “Detain them, they are accomplices,” said the leader of the squad.

  Violently they dragged us out the door. The pace was beyond painful on my leg that had just been reattached. I clenched the cane tightly in my hand and used it for support, not even daring to let my left leg touch the ground again. Briskly they moved us down to the square where a door led to the prison beneath the mansion. Inside the dark dusty dungeon, the prison-guards took us into custody. In every corner of the room hung a torch, giving but little light to the prisoners. Ten cells were to the left and right, leaving only a narrow pathway in between. Five had already been occupied with men and women that seemed to have lost their wits long ago. For a moment their looks reminded me of my year in prison, and made me wonder if I had become a lunatic like them.

  “Inside! Now!” said the prison-guard and shoved me into the cell between Eric and Katrina.

  We were not allowed to talk. Like an aggravated watchdog, the guard walked up and down the pathway, bobbing his head right and left to keep an eye on us. As his shift elapsed a more careless guard took over, resting on a stool at the entrance of the prison. Throughout the night Katrina and I leaned against another with only a set of bars separating us. We fell asleep with our fingers interlocked, determined to never let another go.

  There was movement at the entrance of the prison. Waking up, I rubbed my eyes to get a better sight of what was going on.

  “You idiots!” said Anthony, entering the prison. “You detained the man that is supposed to be celebrated this afternoon! The Inquisitor himself will give him the brooch of excellence.”

  “I am sorry, I didn’t…”

  “Just give me the goddamn keys and let me fix him up for the ceremony,” Anthony said walking in a brisk pace towards my cell. Unlocking the door, he reached out his hand to help me up, “Let’s go, we need you to learn a speech in the next few hours.”

  I turned towards Katrina and whispered, “I will get you out of here, I promise.”

  She looked up at me, hopeful yet uncertain.

  Leaving the prison, Anthony listed the many things I had to do, all the while I only could think about my incarcerated friends, “First you need to wash yourself; that prison cell really did you in. Also try to put on some nice clothes. These honorable discharge ceremonies are rare and highly regarded.”

  “You need to help me get my friends out of prison,” I said.

  “I was going to get to that,” he said, “I don’t have to ask what happened, because I did my fair share of investigating to find you in the first place. Unfortunately, there is little I can do. Certainly they will face a trial, but as of right now there is overwhelming evidence against them for not just one planned robbery, but a whole series of them. Every merchant that ever lost something is pinning it on them.”

  “So what will happen to them?”

  “Since they did not just break-in and enter once, but over three times, it is a capital offense. The court, which rarely gets to rule on such cases, will most likely use this case to set an example.”

  “What do you mean by capital offense?” I asked stopping in the middle of the square.

  Anthony clenched his teeth. Uncomfortably he looked at me. “He will face the gallows and she will burn at the stake. I am sorry Adam.”

  Heat rose into my face. Burning anger, hatred, and disbelieve consumed me. A slight exasperated laugh was all I brought forth. It was incomprehensible. Just now that I had her back the Inquisitor was going to take her away from me again. My entire body tensed, giving me trouble to respond. The surreality of what was occurring made my eyes teary. “I got it”, I said at last and turned to leave. “Don’t worry about the speech, I’ll make it memorable. Something the Inquisitor and the people will never forget.”

  Anthony was concerned but still understanding. A faint smile lay on his lips, “Be careful Adam. If you need anything, you know where to find me. I’ll escort you to the square when the time comes.”

  I nodded and slowly hobbled towards the carpentry with my cane. The hours passed as I sat motionlessly on the armchair in front of the fireplace. As much as I tried to set my words in stone and decide upon what I wanted to say, it just would not flow. It would come to me in the moment, I thought, and so I began getting ready for the ceremony. I washed myself thoroughly and picked one of Eric’s nicer shirts to wear, since I did not dare set foot into my old home again.

  Anthony had not arrived, and so I sat down to skim through the book I had picked up from my old home. Maybe I would find some inspiration in there, I thought.

  In less than an hour, the city had grown loud. People had finished their work and began to assemble at the square. Not much later, Anthony knocked on my door accompanied by a dozen guards, just like at my celebration. Together they led me out to the square, through the crowd onto a chair in the front row aside the other two living men that had been honorably discharged.

  Upon my arrival the fanfares sounded loudly. Everyone looked towards me and got cau
ght up in a wild applause. Friends, acquaintances, strangers looked at me as more than just ‘Adam’. I represented hope. I represented freedom. I represented the exception to the rule.

  As I waited, I began to examine the surroundings. We all were facing an empty platform and the balcony of the Inquisitor far above. On the grand balcony the council had already assembled. To my utter surprise the council’s youngest member was among them: Terric. Our eyes met, and as if he knew that I wanted to thank him he simply nodded with a faint smile. I wanted to speak to him, but now there was no opportunity.

  On the other side sat Cecilia, with concern written all over her face. Ever since I had arrived in the square she had not put her eyes off of me. Only in the moments I looked her way, she quickly turned her head. I tried to smile to calm her, but she seemed worried.

  Without much delay the Inquisitor’s Herald stepped out with his big wooden stick and hammered it thrice against the marble floor. “Citizens!” he proclaimed, “The Inquisitor!”

  As the Herald vanished through a side door of the balcony, the crowd rose to its feet and applauded to welcome their leader.

  The red curtains flushed to the sides. In slow calculated steps he stepped from the darkness of the room into the daylight. His arms spread to the sides, fingers extended as if trying to grasp the sky, he walked towards the banister of the balcony. His unpredictable devilish eyes and face were still the same. The rest had deteriorated. The burgundy robe covered his thin bony arms, like a man’s shirt looked on a child. His hair had not just greyed but partially disappeared over the past eight years. He truly was little more than a ghost.

  As my glance drifted to Cecilia, I found her no longer looking at me, but at her uncle. He must have been the source of her discomfort. He was sick, and she knew it.

  He lifted his pale left hand. Silence took over. With his piercing eyes he looked at me like the day of my celebration. But things had changed since then. My fear had vanished, my hate had risen.

  He redirected his attention to the crowd and smiled, “Greetings, children of God!” his voice had grown fainter and weaker over the years. “It is my pleasure, once again, to rejoice with you all. To celebrate what this city stands for: Faith, duty, and honor. To celebrate the young men who serve their God, their city, and every one of you, outside these gates. Only the strongest spirits, the firmest believers, withstand the pains and evils that linger in the outside world. Their valor and strength fend off all the demons that haunt our city.” The crowd went wild like the day of my celebration. Their shouts of naïve approval disgusted me, yet they were the masses, and the masses had to be pleased. If I wanted to win against the Inquisitor I had to win them first.

  The Inquisitor raised his hand, and pointed towards me, “You, son, are the premier example of this valor I so fondly describe. When your brethren fell, you persisted and fought, because you knew there was a God… because you knew that God had so much more in store for you. And here you are today, reaping the fruits of your faith.” The masses applauded me empathetically. “Many times the devil plays a trick on us. He murders our friends, robs us of our senses, or takes our limbs. But it is in these moments of trial that some of us find God. And to survive what you survived, I must say, you son have found God.”

  For an exceedingly long moment the Inquisitor stood motionlessly on the balcony staring off into the crowd. His body shifted. With a hunched stature he leaned on his holy scepter, while his jaw moved as if he wanted to say something. At first, his hand pressed against his heart, but then slowly rose as if he wanted to touch something in the distance. A hallucination, or maybe just a dream that was slipping from his fingers.

  He collapsed onto the marble floor unleashing a sudden wild uproar. Men shot up, looking like they had just seen their own child die. Panic was written across all our faces. Cecilia ran to her uncle and shook his motionless body, while guards carried him inside. Violent shouts asked what was happening, while women cried out to God praying for help. The sheep had long been led by their shepherd every step of the way. With the shepherd gone, it was time for the wolf to chase the sheep into freedom.

  Anthony had already stepped onto the platform, trying to calm down the masses. I pushed myself onto my cane and stepped to his side.

  “Friends, Citizens, men of God, lend me your ears,” I shouted into the open. The crowd slowly settled. “I come to speak of the devil, not to praise him. You all have seen him, men, women and children alike. The Inquisitor had said it best: ‘Many times the devil plays a trick on us. He murders our friends, robs us of our senses, or takes our limbs.’ He makes you believe he is your friend, your guardian, your God. But all he does is poison the very fabric of our human values to gain and maintain control. The devil abuses our faith. In times of great trial we turn to God and pray, hoping for an answer. The devil with his cunning art answers, making you believe he is your savior while all along he is planning your demise. It must have been the devil that caused this, so let us find him and bring him to justice.”

  The crowd was on fire. Wildly they stomped their feet on the ground and gave me their approval.

  “What makes the devil?” I asked them.

  “Deceit!”

  “Lies!”

  “Murder!”

  “Who commits murder?” I asked.

  “The demons!”

  “The savages!”

  “The monsters!”

  “Men of the Guard, please rise!” I ordered. All the men rose.

  “You have seen these demons, monsters, and savages. Tell me this, why did you fight them?”

  “We were told to!”

  “Orders!”

  “They attacked us!”

  “Both sides attacked another. That is fair. Their leaders must be the devil then as they were the root of murder. Who gave you orders?”

  “The Commander!”

  “Our Master!”

  “Terric is the devil!”

  “Wait! Do not pass judgment just yet. Be patient till the last,” I turned towards Terric who stood above me with his hands clenching the banister. “Who gave you orders, old friend?”

  Terric gazed into my eyes. He knew what I was doing. “It was the Inquisitor.”

  Wild uproar went through the crowd.

  “Is he the devil?” a woman asked.

  Her man slapped her, “He is our savior, do not ever question him!”

  The crowd was split.

  “Kill him!”

  “Liar!”

  Some moved onto me but others held them back.

  “Hear him out, he is trying to speak!”

  “Now I ask again, do not make judgment just yet. Be patient and you shall know the truth, and nothing but the truth. Therefore let us examine the second devilish trait: Lies,” I said and waited for all the brawls to die down. “God often allows us to question the things that are not true. Let me ask you, what do you doubt when you spend your nights thinking.”

  For the first time the crowd was silent.

  “I doubt that my woman loves me,” a man said trying to get some laughs.

  “You are afraid, all of you,” I said. “Do not fear me, for I am neither your judge nor your executioner. Open your hearts and tell me what you doubt.”

  Terric said loud and slowly, “I doubt God.”

  The crowd hushed in disbelieve over the blasphemy that had just been spilled from the commander’s lips.

  Before the crowd could turn against him, Nigel’s father said, “I doubt this system; this unfairness. God can’t want me to watch ma children starve.”

  “I doubt the Final Testament! They tell us of demons outside the gates, but all I saw were men and women like you and me!”

  “I doubt the history I am told to believe. There must be more, something beyond this godforsaken valley!”

  “God works in mysterious ways, my friends,” I said. “You all are right. Everything you doubt has been inspired by the devil. The system, the past… even our religion. It is all you kno
w and all there ever has been… or so you are told. The root of it is the devil himself.”

  The crowd grew louder and they drank my words like a glass of water in the middle of the desert. The estranged taste of a drop of truth has made them thirst for more. They were asking for it—no, demanding it—and so I was ready to give it to them. The truth, the whole truth.

  “Many of you can now see the devil. In your hearts you know who he is. But to dispel the last bits of uncertainty let us finish what we started: Deception, the last of the devilish traits. Who has deceived you in your life? Who has made you believe something your soul never wanted you to believe? Who has forced a reality upon you that was not meant to be your reality?”

  A moment of silence followed the first time his name was pronounced. That second all the information I had laid upon them began to take shape and reconfirm their discovery. The self-declared heir of God was not just a fraud. He now was the epitome of all that was evil.

  The crowd was alive. The mob was born. No further word of motivation was needed. Wildly they struck out at guards that were trying to regain control. Men fought men, separated in their beliefs. Women ran for their houses with their children by the hand. Chaos had taken over.

  Far above, Terric was surrounded by a dozen guards that had been ordered by the council to detain him. To the East I could hear the Merchant District destabilizing as well. At first it was all pushing and shoving, but when the citizens grew more violent and started throwing stones at the guards a boundary had been pushed. Menacingly they drew their swords. Just few feet ahead of me a man pulled out a small knife and made a jab for the captain of the city guard. Without much mercy the captain moved aside and hacked his sword right into the back of the citizen. A violent scream penetrated the tension filled air. Silence took over the crowd and put them to a halt with their eyes fixed on the man. Trying to get up with the monstrous wound on his back, the citizen pushed his right arm from the ground. The moment he looked up at his foe, the captain struck him again and again and again, until the body ceased to move.