Lord of Darkness

by Robert Silverberg

  To his credit, Pinto Dourado became suspicious early of this soft treatment, thinking it might be the prelude to a massacring, when we were all thoroughly besotted. So he gave the order that at all times five out of our fifty were to take no drink at all, and that all of us were to keep our muskets close within reach during the banqueting.

  The kindness of Mofarigosat toward us did not cease for some days. Each day as the orange sun fell swiftly toward the distant blue shield of the sea we gathered and we did revel with Mofarigosat and his people, and often the lord himself presided over the festivities. There was dancing in which the men and women were divided into two facing rows, and did stamp their feet in place, and rush toward one another to counterfeit the act of copulation, with thrustings of hips and the like. Yet this dance was far less licentious than the similar one that the Jaqqa women had performed, since those Jaqqas had rubbed their slippery bodies together in high hot passion, and these did only mime the act in a very chaste way, with open space between them. Still, it was not like the dances one sees and does in England or in Portugal, and it did stir some lusts in us.

  To satisfy these, we were given women: not of Mofarigosat’s own nation, to be sure, but slave-wenches of some other tribe. All the women of this country do sharpen their teeth for beauty’s sake, but these carried the style to its utmost, with pointed teeth like needles, that scarce hold much beauty for me. Also were they deeply ornamented on their skins not just with the usual carvings and cicatrices, but with colored patterns that are pressed into the skin with sharp blades. This was done on the forehead, the breasts, the shoulders, and the buttocks, and made the girls look piebald and strange. I saw this skin-coloring being done to a small girl, that was made to lie on the ground whilst the image of a flower was carved into her belly by an artist of that kind. They say that if the child endures these incisions without crying out, she will be good for childbearing; but if she cannot endure them, she will never marry, and is likely to be sold for slavery. Thus men who are looking for brides here seek first to see if the women are perfectly ornamented on their bellies.

  Well, and in the dark one does not notice such decorations, nor is one much offended by teeth that come to a point. So we took our pleasure willingly with these gifts of Mofarigosat. To me it was a particular secret sport to hold mine tight in my arms and pretend that she be Matamba, for there was something indeed Matamba-like about the feel of her flesh and the placing of her ornamental scars and the sweet deep odor of her body. Yet was she not even distantly Matamba’s equal in the arts of the bedchamber, which made me long to be in São Paulo de Loanda once again, and in Matamba’s embrace.

  But when we spoke with Mofarigosat about taking our leave of him, and peradventure having from him a guide to lead us onward to the city of Calicansamba, he only laughed and clapped us lustily on the shoulders and cried, “Nay, stay with us! Share our meat! Why rush off so hasty?”

  The which did make us even more suspicious of him. I spoke with Pinto Dourado and told him what I believed the real reason for Mofarigosat’s rich hospitality to be, that was, that he feared having us join forces with Calandola’s Jaqqas, and was delaying us here with pleasures until Calandola should be safely out of his country. In this Pinto Dourado concurred.

  Then the feasting ended and we said to Mofarigosat, “Now we shall take our leave of you. Will you have the kindness to provide us with a guide to the inland?”

  “In time, in time,” said Mofarigosat, looking thoughtful and stroking his white beard. “But first I ask a small service of you, that will give you hardly any effort.”

  At that I felt dismay, for I had had a good education thus far in my life in what it meant to be asked to perform just one small service before you were free to go your own way. But we inquired of him what he would have of us, to which he replied that there was a city nearby that was enemy to him and rebelled against him, and he did crave our assistance in reducing that city to subjection.

  “Surely,” I said, “the armies of Mofarigosat are capable of dealing with any enemy!”

  “That they are,” smoothly he replied, “but it will be so much more swift, so much less bloody, if the white men and their guns show their force against these folk.”

  We parleyed some long while, and gradually the shape of things did become clear. Which was that Mofarigosat thought himself a mighty man having us with him, and intended to use us to terrify all his foes. He would not let us go out of his land till we had gone to the wars with him, and that was the substance of it. Of course we could refuse him and fight our way free, but beyond doubt some of us would perish in that, and quite possibly we would fail entirely. For the armies of Mofarigosat were on constant patrol around us, hundreds and hundreds of warriors, and though he respected our guns greatly, he did not fear them in any abject way, nor us. In the face of his firmness we chose the easiest course, which was to yield to him at least this once, and do him his service.

  So we were forced to go with him to a town along a small fork of the River Kuvu, which was well defended but which I think Mofarigosat himself could well have conquered without our aid. He took up his position around it and called out that they must surrender, or they would be slain by white-skinned demons. To this came a volley of arrows by way of reply. Whereupon Mofarigosat turned to us and that sly old man smiled and gestured and did say to us, “Destroy them.”

  And we levelled our muskets at the warriors of the rebellious town and slew many of them in the first onslaught. The others fled at once, and we marched into the town and destroyed the enemies of Mofarigosat. In doing this, three of us were slightly wounded by arrows, but all the town that had opposed him was taken. We stood to one side while Mofarigosat and his troops now plundered the town and helped themselves to its wealth. I do not know the name of this place, in whose sorry downfall I took part.

  When we had done this we resolved to make our leavetaking of Mofarigosat without further delay. So again the chief Portugal officers and I went to the lord, and said we would leave, I being the speaker and making my words plain and firm.

  Mofarigosat replied, “I will not prevent you leaving.”

  “Aye,” said I, “then we shall depart this hour.”

  “But I must have a pledge from you first.”

  Pinto Dourado, who had come to speak this language almost as well as I and sat listening close beside, gave me a troubled look, and I shared his distress.

  I said, “What pledge do you ask?”

  “That you return to my land within two months, and bring with you a hundred men to help me in my wars, and to trade with me. For we would ally ourselves with you Portugals.”

  “Did you understand his words?” I asked the captain.

  “Aye.”

  “And what shall I tell him?”

  “That he is an old mildewed fool,” Pinto Dourado growled. Then he said, “Nay, keep that to yourself. But how can I answer him? They have nothing here that holds value to us in trade. And we have no need to fight his wars for him.” With a shrug Pinto Dourado said, “Tell him we agree. We will come in two months, and give him all that he wishes.”

  “But—”

  “Tell him, Englishman!”

  So did I turn to Mofarigosat and say, as I was instructed, “It is agreed. You shall have a hundred men with weapons that shoot flame, and we will trade with you.”

  “Most excellent,” Mofarigosat responded. “And will you give me a pawn to assure me of your good faith?”

  “A pawn?” I said. “What pawn?”

  “Leave one of your number with me for hostage, so that I know you will come again.”

  Pinto Dourado at this did spit, and scowl, and look away. I told the chieftain that we could not consent to such a thing, but he would not have it other, and in the end we withdrew to confer among ourselves. The Portugals all seemed greatly desirous of getting away from this place as quick as possible, even if it meant leaving a man behind. “It is only two months,” said Fernão Coelho. “And we wil
l give that man a full share of all our profits in our trading!”

  “If it seems so small a time to you,” answered him one of our master gunners, “then you be the one who stays, boatswain!”

  “Ah, nay, friend,” said Coelho. “We will draw lots for it.”

  “Lots! Lots! Aye!” cried many of the Portugals. “It is the only fair way!”

  But some of them would not agree to it, saying that even if it were only the one chance out of fifty that they be left here, they would not hazard it. And no one could make them join in the lot-drawing; and therefore the others would not draw lots, either, for only a fool would reach for a straw when half his fellows refused to share the risk. I thought Pinto Dourado would order them all to go into the lottery, to make an end of it and get us out of here before Mofarigosat devised some new labor for us. But the slippery Portugal had an easier idea.

  He turned to me and said, “We will leave you as our pawn, Englishman.”

  I think that if I live to be eight hundred year, yet will I never grow accustomed to the casual treachery that is practiced between men on this world. For sure that Pinto Dourado’s words did come upon me by surprise, and take me in the gut the way a kick by a booted foot would have done.

  “Aye!” cried all the Portugals lustily, and why should they not? “Leave the Englishmen here! Leave the heretic!”

  In a moment I recovered from my amaze and looked about at them, saying, “Are ye all such Judases, that you would elect me to this fate without a second thought?”

  “It is only for two months,” said Coelho mildly.

  “Indeed. And if it befalls that you never return, what will become of me?”

  “We would not be such traitors as to forget you,” Pinto Dourado said, and in his oily face I saw only contempt. “But if one of us must stay, why, I tell you that it must be you, for you are a foreigner and a Lutheran, and a slave under prison sentence, but we are all free Portugals who cannot be handed off in this way. I would have much to answer for at São Paulo de Loanda, if I left any other of my men here than you. Do you understand?”

  “I understand that I am betrayed,” I answered him. “God’s wounds, will you cast me off?”

  “It must be.”

  “Swear, then, by your cross or something else holy, that you will return for me!”

  “Ah, it would be unlawful to swear such oath,” said Pinto Dourado, “you being heretical. We may not pledge upon the Lord’s word to such as you.”

  “Never have I heard that argued before.”

  “You have heard it now, Englishman. Go you now to Mofarigosat, and tell him that you are our chosen pawn, and that we pledge to come back and aid him, and claim you, so he must keep you in safety. For we would not have you harmed, since that you are one of our company.”

  EIGHT

  WITH THOSE words Diogo Pinto Dourado did dismiss me, and once again I found myself abandoned, and the victim of perfidy.

  For I knew I would not be redeemed out of this place, Pinto Dourado having observed that there was nothing here that Portugals desired. Yet said to him most quietly in parting that I had done no wrong that merited me this fate, and so therefore I did hope he would not forget me, even if he had refused to swear it. And also I said, quietly and in such a way as might sink deep into his soul, that I knew the Lord God Almighty would exact a terrible revenge, upon the last day of the world, against those who broke faith with their fellow men.

  Then the whoreson Portugals did hurry out of the city of Mofarigosat, not even troubling to get themselves the guide they had desired, so impatient were they of leaving. For this cunning Mofarigosat had frighted them in a way that Imbe Calandola himself had not done. To them, I think, Calandola was so hugely monstrous that they could not begin to understand him; but this lean and stringy old Mofarigosat was truly of their own kind, subtle and merciless and capable of any sort of betrayal, the only differences between him and them being that he was a pagan and his skin was a few shades darker. So they meant to flee him, before he made them all captives.

  And I alone remained behind, thinking I might spend the rest of my life in Mofarigosat his town, and that that might be no very long span.

  At least for the first the blacks did treat me kindly. I had a little cottage for myself, out of poles and brush, and they brought me palm-wine and meat whenever I clapped my hands, and each night when I retired there were three or four women waiting by my door, young naked hard-breasted slave-wenches with thick lips and filed teeth hiding behind those lips, from amongst whom I could take my pick. This was captivity, aye, but it was not the most woeful of durance.

  By day I was free to wander about in the town, which was a place of close moist heat and of shining heavy foliage pressing close, and I could observe the customs of the tribe as I wished. And many strange things did I see among these folk.

  They were idolaters, like all these blacks except the ones that live in the cities that are under the thumb of the Jesuits. For their gods the heathen Africans do choose divers snakes, and adders, and beasts, and birds, and herbs, and trees, and they make figures out of all these things graven in wood and in stone. Neither do they only content themselves with worshipping the said creatures when they are quick and alive, but also the very skins of them when they were dead, being stuffed with straw. I have heard that there are nations that carry a devotion to dragons with wings, which they nourish and feed in their own private houses, giving unto them for their food, the best and most costly viands that they had. Others keep serpents of horrible figures; some worship the greatest goats they could get; some, lions, and other most monstrous creatures: yea, the more uncouth and deformed the beasts are, the more they are honored.

  I find it not easy to comprehend the holding in veneration of unclean fowls and night-birds, as bats, owls, and screech-owls, and the like, and to proclaim such things to be the incarnation of God Almighty: but yet I think I begin to understand their reasoning, which is, that God Almighty enters into all created things, even the most loathly, and to worship Him in His darker forms is nevertheless to worship Him. But this is hard for a Christian mind to encompass.

  In the city of Mofarigosat, which was entirely pagan, the Gospel of Jesus never having yet come this far into the land, they did have holy houses for their mokissos, or idols, which the Portugals do call feitissos or fetishes. On their holy days, one of which befell very soon after my abandonment in that place, the people clothed themselves all in white, and were themselves smeared with white earth in token of purity. I saw them kill cocks and goats to offer to their mokissos, but as soon as it was killed, they tore the animal in pieces with their hands, and the owner had the smallest share of it, his friends and acquaintances falling on and every one seizing a piece. This they broiled and ate very greedily. They cleaned the guts into small bits, and, squeezing out the dung with their fingers, boiled them with other entrails, a little salt and the pepper known to the Portugals as malagueta, and ate it without washing off the blood, regarding it as most delicious food, and holy also.

  They did solemnize their holy day in a wide open place, in the midst of which they erected a sort of table, or altar, about four feet square, supported by four pillars of clay, adorned with green boughs and leaves of reeds. This altar was set up at the foot of some tree, which is consecrated to their deities, and on it they did lay Guinea wheat, millet, and rice-ears, palm-wine, water, flesh, fish, beynonas, and other fruit, for the entertainment of their idols. I think they were persuaded that their gods do eat those things, though they daily saw them devoured by birds of prey.

  A priest seated in a wooden chair before the altar made a discourse of many minutes, with some vehemence, in a secret language I did not understand. I suppose it is like the way Latin is preached by Popish priests before folk who understand only Spanish or German or such. The assembly were very attentive. The priest did sprinkle the faces of the congregation with liquor from a pot, and then they all began to sing and dance about the tree and altar, and play
on their musical instruments, until the priest stood up and sprinkled the altar with the consecrated liquor. After which they all cried, I-ou, I-ou, which I took to mean “Amen,” and they all went home.

  I confess I was of two minds about these ceremonies, whether they were as evil as the worship of the golden calf against which Moses did inveigh, or whether they were only another form of honor to the true God of Heaven. For surely there is only one God, who made Papists and Protestants and pagans alike, and He does not refuse homage from any of His creatures, no matter how they choose to frame their phrases of devotion. I know this is blasphemy, for which I could be burned alive in any country of Europe, including, I am sure, my own. Yet do I say it freely here, since I am old and do not fear burning half so much as I fear hiding the truth of what I have felt and believed.

  I saw the mokisso named Nkondi, like a man the size of a child, that protects against thieves. Mavena, a dog with slavering fangs, guards against seducers. Ntadi, a dwarfish monster with a human face, speaks in dreams to warn of danger. And there were others that brought fertility or prosperity or success in warfare or safety against sorcerers. The harvest and rainfall were in the command of Mbumba, a snake that was also a rainbow, and do not beg me to explain how a snake and a rainbow may be one.

  Yet all these spirits were each a part of Nzambi Ampungu, which is the same as saying God Almighty, the supreme power. They do not worship Nzambi Ampungu directly, saying, he is too remote from human affairs, he is invisible and inaccessible, and cannot be rendered in the form of an idol to be worshipped. So they give their devotion in their hearts to Nzambi Ampungu, but say their special prayers and make their offerings to Ntadi or Nkondi or Mavena and such. Meseems that this is not immensely different from the Papist way of having one high god reigning far above, but making your prayers to Saint Mary or Saint Anthony or such, who do the real work of bringing favors to man. And perhaps that is why these pagans did take so easily to the Catholic faith that the Jesuits did bring unto them; but I think the Jesuits would not be greatly pleased, if they knew that their saints are only deemed new mokissos by the Africans.