Legends of the Brethren: The Sampler

by Susan Skylark

No Such Thing as Accidents

  Dawn had crept over the eastern horizon and after a fury of red and purple had settled into the more common blue as it draped the morning sky. A pair of students hurried across the courtyard of the castle on their way to the stables in preparation for their morning riding class but suddenly the pair stopped dead and their eyes grew wide at the sight before them. A man lay unmoving at their feet with his neck bent at an impossible angle. They stared for a moment in horror at the corpse and then began looking frantically left and right wondering how he met his end. Suddenly a voice called from above, drawing their desperate eyes, “easy lads! A terrible way to start the morning I am sure, but certainly nothing sinister in it. Simply an accident, a dreadful one no doubt, but still an accident.” The boys began to understand, for one of the guards upon the castle wall was he that spoke and the man at their feet was clad in similar garb. An accident?! The poor soul must have fallen and broken his neck last night as he stood watch. Even as this horrible contemplation made its way through their minds, a hustle and shuffle of many anxious and hurried feet and voices came from the direction of the castle.

  The Lady of Astoria herself emerged with various of her servants in tow to view the grim scene. She looked surprised for a moment to see the students standing there but covered it quickly and said in a voice full of gentleness, “I am sorry you two stumbled upon our tragedy this morning. Are you able to handle such a shock?”

  The boys bowed deeply and Jeremy stuttered nervously, “it is quite unsettling Lady but we shall be well.” Makkin, his compatriot, nodded enthusiastically.

  She nodded and said, “then you had best get to your class for you are already late.” The pair exchanged a horrified look and then dashed for the stables. She smiled sadly at their hasty departure and then turned once more to the matter at hand. “What exactly happened?” asked she of the man yet standing above.

  He bowed deeply and said, “Lady, I have never heard the like. Hoven stood at his post all night, occasionally walking up and down as we all do from time to time. And then this morning, I heard a stumble and a voice raised in surprise and then a great thud and things are as you find them.”

  She looked again at the prone form and asked almost to herself, “is it simply an accident?”

  The guard bowed again and said, “Lady, I can see no other explanation.”

  She nodded absently, but found nothing in her study of the body. Having finished her inspection she motioned for four of those beside her to carry on with the usual proceedings after such an occurrence. They reverently lifted their fallen comrade and carried him quietly from the castle for burial. The Lady wore a look of vexation. It appeared quite innocent but she felt there must certainly be something missing. She hated mysteries, especially those that resulted in the demise of one of her servants. She did not believe in accidents but what else could it be? She shook her head in mystification and said to all those that remained about her, “I do not see how it can be other than it is, but let us be wary lest such happen again.” They nodded and all went back to their regular duties on this most irregular of days.

  Once the Lady and her retinue were gone, the boys led their horses out into the courtyard and made their way out of the city and towards the area used for the equine portion of their training. They soon glimpsed those bearing the dead man in the distance and Makkin asked, “what can they be doing way out there?”

  Jeremy laughed grimly, “these Brethren are quite strange about death. Where a King or great warrior would have many thousands of mourners and days of observance and ever after a monument would stand upon the place of their interment, these Brethren seem to prefer an unmarked grave and as few witnesses as possible; as if they were ashamed of the whole thing! What glory is there in death if you cannot at least be remembered for a week or a day?”

  Makkin mused, “but then perhaps they do not see death as you and I: a final stopping of everything useful and vital. Do they not think that greater things lie beyond? Would it not be to their thinking like laying aside a worn garment to take on something fully new and wonderful? And who ever pays heed to abandoned rags? I think I begin to understand their burial ritual if not exactly their ideas about death. What I do not understand is such an ignoble end!”

  Jeremy replied, “that too has been bothering me. These men have dedicated their hearts and souls to serving a cause greater than themselves and to have it end in such a wretched fashion. It certainly makes me doubt the sovereignty of their so-called Master. How can he reign supreme if he treats his dearest servants in such a deplorable fashion. It is one thing to die in a valiant cause but by shear accident? It makes no sense.”

  Their contemplations were cut short as they arrived upon the riding grounds and stunned their Teacher when she asked why they were late. The look of shock upon her face was confirmation enough to the boys that the man’s fate had been most unusual and unsettled his comrades greatly. After the lesson, they were the center of attention as they regaled their fellow students with the tale on the ride back to the city. By the time the afternoon meal rolled around, the Keep was buzzing with rumor and speculation, at least among the students and servants. The Brethren could only scratch their heads in wonder. It made no sense whatsoever. The man had been in the Lady’s service for nearly twenty years and had stood watch at that particular place hundreds of times. What really happened? The question set the keep afire with speculation, each theory becoming wilder and weirder than the last. Had he been attacked by unknown and unseen enemies? Perhaps poisoned? Was it suicide? Perhaps he had a dark past that finally caught up with him or had he been on the brink of perpetrating some dark terror? Was there someone with a grudge or a jealousy or an old hatred? Was it an assassin and if so who would be next?

  The students were buzzing with excitement and a modicum of fear as they wondered if it were not just the beginning of darker things to come. They had little attention to spare for their studies and their teachers were at a loss as to how to refocus their attention. To the Brethren, it was always a grievous day to lose one of their comrades, especially for so odd a reason but they trusted that there was a plan and a purpose in everything even if they could not see it themselves. They tried to pass this wisdom on to their young charges but to no avail, for they were far too excited by the mystery to content themselves with patient acceptance and go on faithfully with their duties. Jeremy and Makkin became the center of attention as they told and retold the tale, always looking for some new angle or detail that might shed some light on the subject but all their speculation produced nothing but wild rumor. The topic of each class that day suddenly became the strange happenings of that morning regardless of how hard the instructor tried to teach the lesson of the day and calm the over exuberance of their students.

  Finally, classes were canceled and the students gathered in the dining hall to hear the Lady herself speak on the topic. They listened with eager anticipation as she began, “I know this morning’s tragedy has shaken us all to the core. Some have called it an accident, but there are no accidents.” At this the students erupted in a roar of whispers for if it were no accident it must be foul play. The Lady calmed the audience and continued, “neither was it murder. A man fell to his death and that is the end of it. The reason I cannot comprehend but I am certain there was a reason in it. We must trust the Master that this, as in all things, is safely in his keeping. Let there be no more wild stories or tall tales. Resume your appointed tasks and let us not find ourselves distracted by futility.”

  She bid them adieu and then the deafening silence became an uproar. That was it? That was all to be said upon the matter? What were the Brethren hiding? The plot only seemed to thicken. With only an hour left before the evening meal, the students were dismissed early and a select group used the unexpected free time to barricade themselves deep in the recesses of the library where they could speculate undisturbed. Makkin and
Jeremy of course were the ringleaders. “Now what?” asked one of the half dozen students in the little group.

  Jeremy smiled and said, “we must thoroughly investigate this incident, regardless of what the Brethren say upon the matter. There must be something more sinister or at least more interesting than that the man stumbled and broke his neck. What was he hiding or what are his masters hiding? Is there a more sinister plot afoot?”

  They broke into three pairs and each had their own task. One pair would investigate the Brethren’s records regarding the man himself and any related incidents. Another pair would search the murder scene (for they were by now fully convinced that it must be something more sinister than a simple fall). And Jeremy and Makkin would examine the man’s mortal remains. They scattered to complete their tasks before curfew, though the pair sneaking from the city to exhume the body were probably going to have to spend an evening outside the castle which only added to the excitement. “Are you sure about this?” groused Jeremy as they made their way out of the city.

  Makkin replied, “it must be done, besides, the man is dead. He really is not going to care all that much.”

  They draped themselves in dark cloaks and made their way into the crowds leaving the city and returning to their farms and villages for supper. They were soon beyond the city gates and walking quickly in the direction the burial party had traversed that morning. Night soon fell upon them but the moon was full and the stars bright. Jeremy clutched a lantern to be lit only when absolutely necessary. They borrowed a spade and a shovel from a farmyard as they passed and vanished into the woods where they had last caught sight of the pall bearers that morning. The grave was not hard to find and the moon gave ample light in the little clearing. The fresh turned earth yielded easily to their efforts and soon they were once again face to face with the doomed man. It was a little eerie standing there in the pallid light of the moon with the staring corpse as the wind howled through the depths of the forest.

  “We had better get on with it,” said Makkin with a tremor in his voice.

  Jeremy sighed, “I am not sure this was such a great idea! But we have already come this far so we had best get it over with.”

  With a shudder, they pulled the dead man out of the grave and made a careful examination of himself and his pockets but found nothing. With a sigh of relief they returned the man to his grave and hurried away from the violated resting place. Jeremy sighed, “I really do not wish to endure that again, ugh!” Makkin nodded his agreement. They were covered in dirt, jumpy after the morbid affair, and their consciences were uneasy within them.

  Makkin said trying to change the subject, “let us just hope the others have a more successful evening. Can we get back into the city do you think?”

  Jeremy laughed ruefully, “covered in grime and out well after when a student should be safely inside? I think not! We are stuck out here until morning and will have to sneak back in before breakfast and hope no one asks silly questions.”

  Night crept on and the boys returned their pilfered shovels from whence they had come and tried to find a comfortable spot to spend the night, but it was still early enough in the year to be chilly and sometime after midnight a cold rain began to fall. They huddled together dejectedly under a tree and tried to stay warm but it was the most miserable night either had ever spent. The wind strengthened and howled in the depths of the forest like a soul bereft of hope causing their uneasy hearts to dread even more the thought that they had violated a grave and made them speculate wildly about the consequences attendant thereunto. In that dark and wild night, all manner of dreadful stories and thoughts came unbidden to their minds, especially after their night’s work and the wild speculation of the previous day. Any manner of monster, ghoul, or human terror could be lurking just beyond sight, waiting to devour such infidels as they had proved themselves to be. They began to understand how men alone in the wilderness could see and hear things that were not there and imagine horrible creatures beyond description.

  So it was that morning found them, cold, soaked to the bone, and terrified beyond words. They stood wearily and crept back into the city. But the difficulty would be in gaining entrance to the castle without arousing suspicion, but their poor addled minds and terrified hearts cared little about anything save getting away from that haunted forest and back amongst those of flesh and blood, no matter how much trouble it got them into. They stood outside the gates and the guards eyed them curiously, but they recognized the bedraggled pair and allowed them to pass unhindered.

  They escaped to their room and quickly cleaned up and made it in time for breakfast where their coconspirators were waiting eagerly. The search of the murder scene had yielded nothing of interest and had earned the pair involved a reprimand that they had best go back inside and abide by the Lady’s words of the previous day. The pair who had scoured the library reported that the man had been a student some twenty years ago, had done well in his studies, and had joined the Brethren without incident and had served faithfully until his untimely demise. There was no record of where he had come from or why he had come, which aroused the curiosity of all gathered as most of the other people mentioned in that particular history at least had a country of origin, if not a more precise biography. They had scoured the annals of the Brethren’s history and found no other similar accidents or murders though there had been a few of the Brethren that seemed to have fallen afoul of bandits or weather or pestilence but none had fallen off a wall and failed to rise.

  What was the man’s past that they did not reveal it in the histories and who wanted to keep it a secret so desperately that they would kill the man to do it? The speculation only became worse, Jeremy and Makkin especially were nearly desperate to prove that there was a good reason they had suffered through such a night as they had. They were determined to take this to the Lady herself if they must, which it seemed they would as a servant came to fetch them immediately after breakfast. They made their bows and stood before her, nearly petrified with fear but also burning with curiosity. Her eyes held disappointment and anger, upon seeing this their knees began to quake. She said calmly, but emotion was strong by its absence, “what were you two doing last night while all sensible folk were abed?” They exchanged a mortified look but felt confession necessary if only to quiet their seething consciences. Makkin told the entire tale and she seemed mollified and even somewhat amused. She said, “it seems my dear grave robbers, that you have seen fit to punish yourselves with such an uneasy night. But if such a breech of the rules happens again I am afraid I must ask you to leave Astoria.” The boys exchanged a horrified look and she continued, “and I would ask that you lay this matter to rest.”

  Jeremy could contain himself no longer and blurted out, “but Lady we must know the mystery.”

  She was surprised at his intrepidness but not displeased and said, “what mystery?”

  Jeremy continued, “why did this man have to die? What is the true reason? Why is there no record of his origins or reasons for being in Astoria? I must know ere I go mad!”

  She laughed then and said, “is that all? Is this why you would dare my displeasure? There is no conspiracy child! An unfortunate incident occurred and that was the end of it. It seems the height of ignominy that such dedicated men could die of plague or be murdered by bandits for the content of their pockets or fall from a height and die, but such happens to all men regardless of their station. It is part of this fallen world we live in yet we must trust that the Master will set it all to rights one day. Why does a child take ill and die? Why does a thief manage to escape justice? This I do not know but I trust it to Him who does and you would be wise to do likewise. There is no conspiracy or plot, neither are we or our deceased comrade hiding anything. If there is a reason in it, the Master is well aware of it. It is not for a King to reveal his deepest plans to his servants nor a mother to tell all her reasons to her little child, but yet the
servant must trust his master and the child his mother. We must be content with what the Master chooses to reveal, trust faithfully that he will watch over the rest, and do as we know we must in his continued service. If you believe not in the Master, then you must believe in pure chance. Either way, the reason is beyond mortal comprehension and you waste your time and energy in speculation when you should be attending to your studies!”

  Jeremy sighed, “but Lady, why has this man no history?”

  Said she, “if he has no recorded history it is because either he chose not to tell us about it or no one took the time to write it down.”

  “It is not fair!” blurted Jeremy in agony, trying to grasp desperately at something, anything that might redeem his seemingly lost cause.

  She smiled sadly and said, “child, nothing in this life is fair. It is very often unjust as well, but trust in the Master and though his ways may not seem ‘fair’ to our reckoning you can trust him to ever be just, gracious, and merciful. Now are you content or are we to have further dealings in this matter?”

  They exchanged a resigned look, nodded contritely, and mumbled together, “we are finished Lady.”

  She smiled warmly and said, “then I pray you use this experience to learn that digging into areas where you have been forbidden to go often only results in disaster or disappointment. You may go. If you have any further desire to explore this topic, I ask that you consult me first in the future.” They nodded their agreement, bowed, and darted from the room. Their little cohort found them not long after and asked after their interview.

  Makkin sighed, “we promised the Lady to drop it and I begin to think she is right, that if there is a reason, it is beyond mortal comprehension.”

  Said one of the disappointed students, “but how can their beloved Master let such a thing happen to his dedicated servant?”

  Jeremy snorted, “because he lets it happen to men in all walks of life. Just because it is senseless to us does not mean there is no purpose in it.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked one skeptical boy.

  Makkin exchanged a grin with his friend and said, “I think I begin to see his point.”

  “I do not understand,” complained another boy, “what has all this been about?”

  “It is about faith,” said Jeremy, “faith to know that regardless of what happens around us, no matter how senseless it seems to you and I, there is a will and a plan greater than ours. When we sat alone in the woods last night, I was terrified to think what might be out there in the dark and the wind. I had nothing greater than myself and my terrors to cling to. It was the worst night of my life! I felt so utterly alone and wretched and knew I needed something or someone to cling to that was greater than myself, greater than my fear, and greater than the dark.”

  Makkin added, “we got so excited over rumors and suffered so much for absolutely nothing! That is what our teachers have been so vainly trying to tell us! That without the Master, our greatest aspirations and dreams are nothing! For something to matter and to endure it must have roots in something greater than this fleeting and broken mortal world.”

  The other students exchanged a horrified look and one of their number spoke with a tremulous voice, “you have not actually started to believe have you?”

  The pair so accused exchanged a delighted smile and Jeremy nodded, “I suppose we have.”

  “And that perhaps is the point of this entire exercise,” said a voice overflowing with joy and amusement behind them, “or at least part of it.”

  Six pairs of eyes suddenly darted to the source of the voice but saw nothing, save perhaps a flash of light, but they knew in their hearts that there had been something or rather Someone there and at least two of those hearts desired nothing ever after than to hear that voice speak once more in approval of their actions. The others were never quite sure if there was something there or if it were just a figment of their overtaxed imaginations.