“Because under the agreement signed by the religious leaders of all three faiths during Bellasaris’s rule, it was stated that a religious state from ANY of these faiths would not be attempted, established or tolerated. All Imams, Priests, Pastors and Rabbi reaffirmed this agreement with an oath once ordained or given their status as religious leaders and teachers. THAT hadn’t changed. The Jews attempt to break from the empire and establish their own nation was a blatant violation of the pact and seen as open rebellion. Naturally, they had prepared for this possibility, but they counted on the Queen’s other problems with the Christians and Muslims to keep her from taking full action against them. Besides…many, even among her own council, had seen the queen as soft and too accommodating. She had been warned about dissolving Bellasaris’s precautions concerning ‘The Peoples of the Books’, and she had deemed the warnings outdated paranoia. Sadly, we ourselves proved her wrong. However, she did act quickly and forcefully in this case and the Jews, who were vastly outnumbered, were crushed violently and then scattered throughout the empire in numbers too few to raise large warrior bands and closely watched. Even today, they are the fewest of the three major Earth faiths on Bellasaria. Humph! Many Muslims and even some of the Christians were thrilled at their fate. But we’d be getting ours soon enough. Terrorist acts were now becoming a serious problem in the empire. Muslims were rightly accused by the Christians, but it soon became obvious that they were not so innocent either. The hammer fell when Queen Shoko herself was assassinated.”
“What?!?” cried a delegate. The gathered guest couldn’t believe what they had heard.
“Yes,” said Prince Muhammad. “The woman that had allowed the rebuilding of buildings of worship and permitted many practices once frown on by other rulers, was killed by the very people she befriended.”
“Who…Who killed her?” asked someone. “Was it a Muslim? Please say it wasn’t.”
“Yes,” said Prince Muhammad with a sigh, “by a man named, Ali Assad. He was seeking revenge for what happened to his father, Mustafa Assad, the Imam who was beheaded for instigation. The only thing he accomplished though was the utter extermination of his entire family and the unleashing of hell on the rest of us. The Illyrian royal family vowed that they would put us all in our place no matter the cost. And then they placed Shoko’s daughter, Beral II on the throne. ‘The Iron Panther’ was not as…tolerant of our behavior as her mother, whom she had loved dearly. She immediately proved to be every bit as ruthless as Bellasaris the Great herself, actually…even worse. She waged terror for terror on the terrorist, killing not only the perpetrators, but their families as well. The family of a terrorist was deemed accountable for his or her crimes equally and shared his fate. Only mutant children of very tender years were spared death. Infants were placed in new families that practiced ‘Nana’ and toddlers were mind swiped and scattered to the most remote realms of the empire and also raised by Bellasarians of the native faith. The only way a family could escape this fate was by reporting any dangerous or suspicious activities of a relative themselves. Not reporting a terrorist would make even nonrelated witnesses or villagers equally guilty should the worst happen. In a society full of telepaths, people would take no chances and reported any suspicious individual immediately. In case you’re wondering, torture really wasn’t that necessary for getting at the truth and for the same reason…even for mutants. Once a control collar was place on someone’s neck they were powerless against a telepath. The innocent had little to fear if they but submitted to questioning peaceably. The guilty would sooner kill themselves rather than be taken alive. In case you are wondering about human rights, know this. Terrorist are not considered human on Bellasaria, but animals on two legs. No one will pity or show them any mercy…or those who corrupt or incite them. Preachers, Rabbis and Imams who preached militancy were impaled or crucified and their families with them even though their followers were killed quickly, depending on their crimes. This was done even if they themselves had not taken any part in acts committed by their followers. They were deemed even more guilty and cowardly by reason of instigation than those who followed their teachings.”
“This was barbaric!” cried someone.
“Humph! Call it what you will,” said Prince Muhammad, “but it worked! Terrorism disappeared from Bellasaria and has NEVER appeared again…for any cause. Incidentally, this worked so well that it changed law enforcement and made it what it is today. Beral II employed these same tactics against crime as well, minus the slaughter of course, and with almost the exact same results. But Beral II didn’t see this as the end, but just the beginning! It became forbidden for our people to gather in numbers above ten people at all, not even in tents or caves. We would keep our mouths shut and our books out of sight in public. Other Bellasarians treated us like the carriers of a contagious and dangerous disease; because that’s the way they saw us! I suppose in a way, we were.” The prince laughed bitterly. “Everything our ancestors had achieved from our rights to our image in the eyes of the people was destroyed because of those…those… (Sigh). Anyway, ever since, ‘The People of the Books’ have walked a very tight line. Beral II and even her more benevolent successors have seen to it that we would never again gain the power and influence among Bellasarians that we once had. People here live long and have long memories. They are capable of tolerance and forgiveness, but only just so far. Today you may have noticed that there are temples, churches and mosques elsewhere in the empire, yes?” The others nodded. “But did you notice that they are all the same size and of the same number in every Bellasarian town or city? No more, no less. Oh, sorry. You haven’t been many places yet. But it’s true. We are no longer hated. And we are now treated well, but we are not trusted completely, and are still deemed potentially dangerous by other Bellasarians even today. We do nothing to make other Bellasarians nervous anymore…nothing.”
The various leaders were silent for a moment and then one of them spoke. “Prince Muhammad, what of you? You are actually related to the Melmorian queen and even Empress Beral III. Yet you are a Muslim. How is that possible? Well, considering…”
“My great grandfather was a convert to Islam in the early days and did not renounce it. His children followed his example…some of them.”
“I see. You say your people do not value wealth and money, but…Please do not take this the wrong way, but you and the other nobles seem to be living quite large here,” said a man.
The prince chuckled. “Our people are privileged, but most of our palaces are home to not just us, but our extended kin as well. Hereditary servants and their families fall into this category as well. Also, most of the buildings of any estate on Bellasaria are open to the people. They are maintained by the people because they are as much theirs as ours. Besides…having wealth in itself is not dishonorable. It is the loving of money and material wealth to the extent of allowing one’s neighbor’s and their children to starve that is despicable to us. There is very little poverty on Bellasaria and no hunger. Everyone eats and has a place to sleep. Isn’t that what Allah truly want’s?”
“But tell us of ‘Nana’” asked someone. The woman appeared to be Pakistani. “Why do these people cling so strongly to it?”
“If you want to know about a faith,” said a female voice, “ask one who follows it.” The others looked over and saw a tall and extremely beautiful woman approaching. She was modestly dressed, but her figure could be easily discerned beneath her clothes. She wore no veil and her long black hair was uncovered. She knelt next to the prince and hugged and kissed him on the cheek. Many murmured in disapproval at this public show of affection in front of others, but the prince seemed not at all embarrassed.
“This is my wife,” Princess Catal,” said Prince Muhammad, introducing her.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” said the princess. The tips of her fangs appearing slightly as she smiled. “Now, what do you want to know about ‘Nana’?”
; “How does it differ from Islam?” asked the woman nervously.
Catal chuckled. “We believe in one all-powerful being like you, but most Bellasarians refer to the creator in the female tense. However, some do choose to the male form. But most Bellasarians would not speculate too long on the true nature or face of a god. We usually say ‘The Creator’ in mixed company. Also, we do not build buildings of worship. There are many reasons for this, but I think the most important one is that a deity doesn’t need a house.”
“Where do you pray?” asked someone.
“Anywhere we wish,” replied the princess.
“I mean, congregate, fellowship,” asked the man.
“There are places of unusual beauty here and in other places of the empire, and indeed the world. We see such places as touched by the goddess and therefore sacred, people often go to such places to commune with the goddess, but a Bellasarian rarely prostrates to anyone or anything…and never to an unseen deity. We see the creator as our parent, not our master. It is our belief that to trouble a deity for no good reason is to invite disaster. The creator will aid in subtle ways those who strive on their own…if she chooses.
“You do not serve and praise your god…er…goddess? Funny how you do not show her the same respect you show your rulers. This is what a ‘goddess’ deserves, no?”
One of Catal’s feline eyes twitched in irritation at this insult. The prince placed his hand on hers, and she smiled again, but this time her formidable teeth were fully exposed and her voice changed noticeably.
“That is where you would be wrong,” said Catal. “It is our belief that a REAL god wouldn’t want his or her name being called annoyingly all the time 24 hours a day. They certainly wouldn’t demand it! This implies an ego, and THAT is a human quality! We honor and show our respect to our deity by behaving the way she or he would want. It is our belief that this honors her more than all the groveling and singing ever could!”
One of the Islamic diplomats raised a hand. “Please forgive this man, princess. I am certain he meant no offense.” The other man nodded and apologized, but it didn’t take a telepath to know he was insincere. “Please, what is the way God asks that you behave?” said the first man.
“Hmmm, we obey those commandments you say you believe in…most of them. You know, the only ones your faiths all agree was written by the hand of the creator himself. We do not murder. We do not steal. We strive not to covet the properties and mates of others. We honor our parents and indeed all our ancestors. We bow to no other gods. Why would we? We don’t even bow down to our own. We make no graven images of the creator. How could we? We have no idea what she, he or it looks like. We have a little different view of what adultery is than you, but I will say we don’t touch the mates of others without their permission. Bearing false witness against someone is lying, so that is covered already, no? As for keeping a holy day, that is a matter of personal choice in Nana. Because we have no temples, there is no need for us to congregate as a group on one particular day anyway. Of course, people fall short of perfection in these things, but that’s the nature of mortals, no? Strange, the creator or ‘Allah’ as my husband calls him, made everything so simple and uncomplicated, ten, arguably nine, simple rules written himself by his own hand. There is nothing about who you can or can’t sleep with, providing they were not married already, or what you can or can’t eat, drink or wear…nothing. Actually, these simple rules alone are not that easy to keep, but they still leave a lot of room for people. We cannot understand why ‘The Peoples of the Books’ have chosen to make things so complicated and hard.”
“You don’t believe that the laws and commandments that came later were from, God?” asked the woman.
“No,” replied Princess Catal. “We do believe that some of it, like ours, was inspired by Nana, or came about by social and political necessity, but not by Nana/God personally. We have noticed that the core teachings, those of love, peace, generosity, mercy and above all forgiveness are what attracted your first converts in the first place. Indeed, even here on Bellasaria. The Christian’s god or prophet ‘Jesus’ preached this more than any other. I understand that he is one of your Muslim prophets as well. These things we can believe are truly inspired by the creator. However, God sanctioning the killing, conquest and enslavement of those who do not share your beliefs and robbing them of their land and wealth is clearly the fiction of man. I mean no offense, but that is what we believe.”
The delegates looked at each other. That many didn’t agree with this statement was certain, but at the same time, many others did. Even on Earth, that sort of mentality was not popular anymore and was now (rightly) associated with fanatics and terrorist.
“Princess,” said the Pakistani woman, “I would very much like to see one of these sacred places in Hebi before we leave.”
“Well, I think that could be easily arranged,” said Princess Catal with a smile.
******
CHAPTER TWELVE
ALLS FAIR IN LOVE AND POLITICS
The Oshun Falls were the most breathtaking thing of nature that the Earth leaders and ambassadors’ had seen to date on their trip to this beautiful world, and that was saying something. The falls were named by a mutant from Earth who settled in Melmoria and discovered them centuries ago while hunting. Indeed, Akinlana, the nearby town that they were staying in, was founded by and named after the man himself and the chieftess was his direct descendant. The Akinlana were the protectors of both the pilgrims and the falls themselves. Chieftess Akanke explained that her people believe that the gods guided them to this place for this purpose. Ironically, the Akinlana worshipped Nana, but they also had a host of lesser gods and goddesses beneath her called Orishas. An African dignitary commented that the founders of this tribe were assuredly of his nationality and ethnic background. Aside from the root cultural origins though, the people were well on their way in becoming as culturally and racially mixed as the rest of the people on Bellasaria.
Chieftess Akanke, a caramel complexioned beauty, had personally been the guide on this occasion and had proudly shown the V.I.P’s the place where her ancestor had first stood in awe. This spot directly overlooked the falls. The roar of the water could be heard in the forest well before it opened up and revealed the awesome sight. It didn’t take the chieftess to explain what had drawn Akinlana to this spot. At various points along, down and on the other side of the raging waters, people could be seen standing, knelling or sitting cross-legged, eyes closed in meditation. The beauty of the place was in a word…magical. The newcomers had to admit that they were indeed looking at something spiritual.
Still, despite the numerous people meditating in spiritual bliss, there were quite a few folks holding hands and kissing as well. The Chieftess chuckled when someone pointed this out.
“This place was made by Nana, but it is still for the use of her creations. Animals still eat, excrete, fight and reproduce in and all around this place. Although we higher animals can appreciate this place for what it is, we too can enjoy it. People even swim and frolic in the lower extremities much further down. Fear not, although young people do find this place romantic and flock here, violence and copulation is forbidden in this sacred place.” Then she chuckled again. “Still, there is no law about getting a little cozy.”
“Speaking of getting cozy,” whispered a smiling aide to President Chambers, nodding in a certain direction. Chambers looked over and noticed that Prince Pantherus and Queen Bal had wandered off from the group and were now sitting together watching the falls oblivious to everyone else. The prince’s arm was around Bal’s shoulder and her head was against his. The president knew that Bal was well over fifty years old and the Barratian prince was just a large teenager, but she looked (especially now) like a girl in her late teens herself.
The president once again envied the genetics of the mutant nobility. The youth would most likely look only a little older than he does now
fifty years from now. His father, a man who was at least in his late forties or early fifties, looked little older than a teenager himself. Well, whatever age they actually were, they looked like two young kids. Actually, considering the lifespan of a high mutant, to the Bellasarians the two probably were seen as young kids. Beverly couldn’t help but to smile.
“Now that’s so sweet,” she said.
However, not everyone was as touched by the two lovers as the American President. Princess Bellasaris was not pleased at all. She was known to be an impetuous girl, but even she wouldn’t start any trouble of a physical nature in this holy place. Animals could fight and kill each other in such sacred places, but humans and mutants could not. Although hunting was permitted, fighting on sacred ground was absolutely forbidden under any circumstances and would not be tolerated by anyone. The Akinlana kept the peace here, and they were renowned far and wide as fierce warriors. This was not surprising, seeing how the name ‘Akinlana’ means ‘Valor’. If she were to start any trouble she would be sure to take a beating and even the empress would not hold Chieftess Akanke at fault. Still, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t make her presence known, and if the Mavie woman should do something stupid it would be she who would have to face punishment. Princess Bellasaris walked over towards the couple. King Roc noticed this and nodded in approval. The law (and moral decency) forbade him to come between a bonded person and the one he or she had chosen, especially if neither had a mate already, but his choice for his son was Princess Bellasaris or ‘Bella’ as she was known to her kin and close friends. He desired a union with her for many reasons. Sadly, reasons his son couldn’t seem to grasp. Politically she was the perfect choice. He would become the empress’s son by marriage and his children would be close to the imperial throne. If a daughter of his should actually become empress the Barratians would be in a very good position. With a little luck, all support for the Mavie would dry up and he would finally be able to crush them once and for all. At the very least, their people would now be able to acquire certain technological comforts that have up till now have been denied them. However, besides all of these reasons, there was another reason King Roc favored Bella over Bal (other than the fact that he hated the Mavie) and that was because he actually liked Bella. Despite the fact that she was a woman, Roc actually liked her aggressive nature. When the empress learned of this from her spies she couldn’t help but to chuckle. It was common knowledge that the Great Cat and his sons were very fond of strong and strong-willed females. Obviously, this trait was very much alive in his descendants …even in Barrat.
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