Paladin (Betrayed by Faith Book 1)

by Paul C. Middleton

  "Let it go, lass. He's right that we all need to understand the weirdness. We can't fail to assess the risk because we don't believe something is possible. And Azim." Joakim said turning. "You know witches, wizards and similar could have done that - but not how he just did. Give him the benefit of the doubt that if he says he can do something he can. We need to stop squabbling and we are all tired. I suggest we go to sleep."

  He reached for the blade and she slowly let it go. Einar let go and backed up. Once Joakim was sure that Agatha was calm after she checked that Azim had no real damage. He handed her back the blade and she sheathed it, still glaring at Einar.

  Einar shook his head "I had no intent to hurt him. The fire was only to scare him a little and prove he needed to take this seriously. However before we go to bed we need to figure out how we explain everything to Griffin. We need to figure that out. We shouldn't have gotten distracted. I don't want to hurt my brother, but we have to explain this to him."

  Everyone was silent for a while. After about fifteen minutes Marcia spoke up and said "Well, even as fast as he's always healed he won't be up to taking anyone on for a couple of days. On top of having a mild concussion, we removed more than fifty shrapnel bits and pieces from his legs. He'll pull the stitches if he tries moving suddenly before then. I suggest you start with the harder evidence first - the 'holy water', the birthmarks, anything else you can think of."

  Azim looked at Einar "You got a computer I can use? My old buddy might be able to send us some of that information he collects. He's part of a network that's made up of soldiers who've gone black after bad ops - and he has backup caches set up around the world with them in a 'scratch my back' kinda way."

  "If one of them is close I can do an info run, and I know some of his stuff is relevant enough to show Grif. I feel sorry for him. I knew something stank about the whole Order, but I also knew it came from outside. Even William wouldn't kill innocents outta hand like this. But heck, we need everything. You might want to consider a flashy spell or two Joakim. He's known you for 30 years and you are about as close to him as anyone I know. If anyone can get him to believing that the order is being directed by bad people on the outside it's you."

  Einar was nodding "And I will be outside the room when you start so you can introduce me... and I can help you lay him back down if he gets too excited. It seems we have a plan, so I suggest we get some sleep. Oh and I suggest that Agatha wait 'till last to speak to him." Agatha looked about to protest but he held up his hand "you are his student Agatha, and it is always harder for the teacher to accept anything said by the student. Let us cover him with the truth, then speak to him. It will work better for you and for him."

  Interlude

  One of the many catalysts for the Crusades was the removal of authority to act in the Islamic territories by the Caliph. This, along with his withdrawl of protection for pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem, could be considered the primary catalysts.

  During the Crusades the Knightly Orders (Knights Templar, Hospitaller, Teutonic and of Santiago) as well as the Islamic Fida'yin often supported Order missions in addition to their other duties.

  It is during this time that the majority of the True Demons were hunted down or fled. The successes of this era against demons were long lived. However, with the dissolution of most of the orders militant the Order had less support. They failed to eradicate the fast propagating horrors like werewolves and vampires, or the hidden problem of the warlocks.

  From the introduction to A History of the Order published in 2010, kept internally, given to all new recruits of the Order.

  Chapter 8

  February 11th, Blue Mountains, Australia

  It was about three in the afternoon when Griffin finally woke up. Einar cooked bacon and egg rolls for everyone for a late lunch. With lunch completed Joakim walked into Griffin's room, setting his shoulders. He was feeling a bit like a condemned man, somewhat like an executioner even.

  He was however determined to tell Griffin the truth, despite the pain it may cause them both. To be safe they had agreed that all weapons were to be left outside the room. In fact apart from Agatha, who insisted on keeping hers, they'd all placed them near the different posts in case the house was attacked. Agatha had been convinced to have just the xiphos. She had also reluctantly agreed to wait until after everyone else had discussed the situation with him before taking her turn.

  "So Grif, how you holding up?"

  "Oh, alright I guess considering that my legs are torn up." He took the food from Joakim, but paused, looking at him "Why are you so tense. Sneaky? what's wrong?"

  "We found some information out that you need to learn, I'm just not sure how you'll take it. I think I'll start with how all of us have been deceived." He went briefly back out of the room and came back with a half dozen ampules from the shotgun slugs and an empty glass tumbler. He carefully opened the ampules and poured their contents into the tumbler.

  "Now to prove what this 'holy water' actually is I need your silver cross Griffin." Griffin looked at him, confused, but nodded. It wasn't like the holy water could harm his cross, was it? He passed the silver cross over to Joakim who, using the chain it was on, placed it into the holy water and set it carefully onto the table. After a couple of minutes the cross was completely black and there was a sulfurous odour to the room.

  "You see Grif, that isn't 'holy water'. It's sulfuric acid. The perfect thing to show all the effects that are described from holy water hitting a 'demon'. Sulfurous smell, smoke, shrieks of agony, burns. All would have been caused in the same way, but with one difference to how we were told 'holy water' works. It wouldn't matter who or what you hit, it would have these effects or most of them. Are you following me? We've been deceived about everything." He was remained visibly tense however.

  Griffin looked at him again and said "There's more isn't there Joakim? Something more about you, I'd guess. You're too tense for this. It's a pretty convincing example of how we've been deceived, I'll admit." Griffin's eyes were somewhat unfocused, undoubtedly a result of the painkillers Marcia had given him. Joakim took in a deep breath and sighed.

  "Yeah, there is. I've been hiding something from you. Marcus and I, well, we are both witches. I never killed him. He taught me everything I know. But we needed at least one witch in the Order. Working for the Order became too much for him so we faked his death." And as Griffin was about to speak Joakim focused, muttered under his breath, and caused a bluish light to glow on his finger. "Marcus taught me how to use my abilities and I've faked the deaths of about half those I was sent after. The other half - well they'd already broken the codes Marcus taught me. There was already a death sentence enforceable by other witches and sorcerers. They were oath-breakers, the warlocks, already condemned by that act. Why risk my cover when they had already condemned themselves by their own actions?"

  Griffin was shocked. Here was the brother in the Order he felt closest to. He'd just come out and told him not only had he let some of those they hunted go and covered it up, he was one of those they hunted. He didn't know what to think. He seemed to feel no guilt over killing others like himself. Although that was less surprising if they truly followed a strict code of behaviour.

  "But the biggest part is concerning you. This won't be easy for you to accept. You seem to have a brother, and he's the only reason we are here. He saved us after the ambush and scared off three of the hostiles. And a lot of what he says... well it makes sense. Why you'd have been kept alive despite the fact that you would qualify as what the Order calls demons. Apparently the chance of a single human, or even a small well-trained group, successfully taking on... what you and him are, is small."

  "But it's probably better if you talk to him. Oh and I should probably mention that Azim believes that he has some information that might help explain what's going on. I'd hate to read it from the sheer volume he brought back, but it shouldn't be too bad for you. Anyways, I guess I'm blathering on a bit so I should probably introduce you
to your brother, Einar - EINAR, YOUR TURN." He shouted the last bit as he turned to leave the room, and a man Griffin had never seen entered the room. The man's eyes brightened as he walked over to Griffin and grasped him in a hug.

  "Brother! It is so good to finally meet you. Father made me keep my distance from you since he tried to... well there was an incident about seventy years ago, and you held off six of his finest warriors. He just wanted to bring you home, to tell you the truth once we figured out who you were. Ask me what you will brother." He stopped the hug as he noticed it had just made Griffin tense and took a step back.

  Griffin just lay there for a few minutes. He was disconcerted not only by the instant connection and comfort he felt with this man, but by his entire attitude. The drugs might have been a factor too.

  "What makes you so sure we're related? And why would you think I was one of you? Why would anyone even think that?"

  "There are rumors of your birthmark. A spear with wings we were told. I was not skilled enough at the time but I was sent along and felt the resonance with you. The same bond you feel now, do you not brother? If there had been no such resonance we would never have tried. When it became obvious you would not be taken alive, they pulled out. We had no wish to kill an Odinson."

  He turned his bare shoulder to show Griffin his matching birthmark. "All our family have this birthmark. We share a father." He then just stood there waiting for a reaction, or any questions that Griffin had. Instead Griffin just looked out the window considering everything that had been said.

  After a long silence Griffin quietly asked "What was it like to grow up with a family, in our family?" There was a wistfulness in his expression.

  Einar's expression softened further. He realized Griffin must have always wondered what it was like to have family, and perhaps longed for it. His face clouded with memory as he thought back on his past. "It was hard. Members of Norgskrinjar bloodlines are taught combat and fitness for three hours a morning and three hours a night in creches. We grow up with twenty to thirty others around our age who we have all our classes with. The young are drawn from nearby areas and see their family only on Saturdays, and Father was always strict. I was always near the top of my creche, but never the first in anything, or overall. No matter that I was often second or third he alway pushed me to work harder."

  "Mother was more supportive, but Father treated her badly. They were a deliberate match to join two lines, the first in centuries to join Loki's line with Odin's. When I was twenty I had to watch Father put her on trial for 'treason'. She had been working to tighten our links with the Ajyetos, like those you fought at the cabin."

  "They've always disliked all the other descendants of the Gods. They still fear the Norgskrinjar however - that was how I convinced the three left standing to flee. Although we maybe should have buried the Osiran's head." He tugged at his beard thinking.

  Then he shrugged "It was a tough upbringing but to survive beyond the veil that most people around the world have before them - well - we need it. For you to have survived as long as you have I can only guess at parts of your upbringing. You had to have trained from a young age to have been good enough to survive the first years you hunted."

  Griffin looked at Einar with curiosity "How is it that our youth was so similar? Apart from changing your Saturday with family for my Sunday in prayer, useless prayer it now seems. But how was I able to survive against... others like me? I felt nothing of the powers I've seen demons use within me. How could I use what I did not know I had?"

  "For the first - it's simple. There are only so many solutions to a problem. Teaching us to defend ourselves seems to be the method used most commonly to raise us to survive as adults in the world behind the veil. For the second I can only guess that you have tapped into your powers unconsciously somehow. Maybe it was your belief that caused you to be able to protect yourself, no matter how false. It's only a guess, but it fits what I know and have heard."

  "What other proof do you have that He doesn't exist then? I mean if my belief in him protected me, then surely..."

  But Einar interrupted him, chuckling "Stubborn like the rest of us I see. It wasn't your belief in Jesus or his father that protected you. It was your belief in what would happen that protected you. Without any training or understanding of the planes, you managed to tap into your ability to draw on them." He said poking Griffin in the chest.

  Einar started tugging on his beard again.

  "That is how many of the recorded 'miracles' have happened over the years. It happens when one of the lost, like you were, has had strong belief in their deity. They are able to pull from the planes to achieve miraculous results. However Jesus hasn't been seen for more than a Millennium, at least from what information our ancestors have left for us. His father and brother even longer. Not that I even know if any of the gods are around anymore. The last suspected interaction with the world as a whole was when our father was dropped on the Norskrijar. Most of us believe that all the other gods have either died or abandoned us. Even our father, who was delivered to the conclave by a wanderer. For myself I simply do not know - nor do I pretend to know. It makes me seems wiser that way." He finished with a grin.

  While Griffin pondered all his brother had said they both heard a vehicle pull up. Griffin instantly tensed but Einar simply cocked his head and said "It sounds like Azim is back. I'll see what he's brought with him." He exited the room and a couple of minutes later came back with three file boxes. Azim followed him with another and they put them all next to Griffin's bed. They came back with four more.

  Azim said "I got this from a group that... well some would call them conspiracy theorists, but they aren't really. They're all people who have been betrayed by their respective governments after they peeked beyond the veil, but managed to survive. Most of them stayed 'dead' but continued to... collect information afterwards."

  "I'm a junior member - but chose to be 'alive' after the betrayal and sought out the Order to try and find out more. What I found out slowly over the last few years was interesting, but not particularly re-assuring. When I combined what I know with what both Joakim and Einar here have told me it allowed me to come to a conclusion. The Order may have been founded in good faith and for good deeds. But it has been subverted by... call them a group that is interested in complete secular power. I'll leave you with the documents to form your own opinions though. These are the pick of the crop, so to speak." With that he turned and took Einar's arm and dragging him out the door, leaving Griffin to the documents. Taking the hint Griffin started to read through the documents. Einar's free hand twitched towards the papers but Azim was firm.

  *********************************************************

  Griffin Moved the first box to the bedside table, sat up in the bed and shifted until he was comfortable. He opened it and took out a file to start reading through the papers. Some of it was incredibly detailed examinations of the methods used to capture transmissions between black groups and those transmissions' transcripts. Others included lists of people killed to enabled the promotions of specific people to key positions. Some of those showed that it had to be a set of specifically timed deaths and disappearances to enable that elevation.

  But he was shocked at the specifics of some of the deaths over the last thirty years. Time and again there were photos attached that matched some of those he'd been sent to kill. He realized that he was being used. He was shocked when he felt tears rolling down his face. He understood why though.

  With each page his regret over the past actions in his life continued to grow. He had been shaped into a weapon and thrown at people who he would have had nothing against. His regrets swelled, but he needed to look over everything that he had been given. It was as if he had a compulsion he could not deny.

  As he read it the pillar of his faith was cracking. Then it started crumbling. By the time he was finished reading there was nothing more than dust left blowing in the wind. Griffin was left feeling like a husk with
out it.

  *********************************************************

  Over the next few hours the others heard a near constant rustle of paper from Griffin's room as he went through the boxes. Sometimes they would hear muttering or some cursing from the room, so while they waited the others broke up into groups cleaning weapons, cleaning the kitchen and prepping for dinner. Just the basics that needed to go on.

  Einar took a trip into town after getting people's sizes and picked up a mix of clothes for everyone, extra food and other necessities. He also replaced the acquired vehicle for something more legal to reduce the chance of hassles. The house was somewhat crowded with seven people in it now, and he didn't want to go back and forth often. Luckily the house had a chest freezer so he could just make one big shop.

  Later that evening Griffin came out of his room, shuffling painfully on his legs to one of the armchairs. His eyes were red and obviously he had been crying. What was not obvious for which reason he had been crying. There were so many options. He sat down and looked, for the first time that any of his fellow members of the Order had ever seen, defeated. His entire aura of confidence, competence and self belief was gone.

  Agatha was completely shocked. The major plank of the life she had rebuilt was Griffin. Even injured he always seemed to still been solid as oak, he had always seemed ready for any challenge life could throw at him. Now that plank seemed cracked and warped.