The Showstone

by Glenn Cooper

  ‘Tell me, Thaddeus,’ he said, ‘as you hold the stone in your hands, do you notice anything?’

  The big priest scrunched his face in thought. ‘I notice the stone is heavy.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘I notice it was cool to the touch and now it is warm.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘I notice someone whispering from somewhere in this chamber.’

  ‘Why in Heaven’s name did you not mention this in the first instance?’ Daniel exclaimed.

  ‘Because I could not understand what was being said and wondered if it was just the rumbling of my belly.’

  Daniel ran a hand through his curls then said in exasperation, ‘Begin your grinding and your polishing, Thaddeus, and when you are done, I will teach you what you wish to learn. I will teach you how to scry.’

  Thaddeus had been in Daniel’s cell before, but he had never seen what was hidden under the frame of his bed. Inside a large red pilgrim’s bag that Daniel’s mother had woven for him when he left home he kept the tools of his spiritual trade, objects the angels had painstakingly instructed him to manufacture. As Thaddeus stood over him, Daniel took out each object, one after another, and laid them carefully upon his mattress.

  ‘What is that?’ Thaddeus asked.

  ‘That is the Sigillum Dei Aemeth,’ Daniel said. ‘The Seal of God. The angels told me what it should look like. I got wax from the beekeepers and had Brother Dinkha inscribe the magic symbols and letters for me. I am not good with my hands, as you know.’

  ‘And that?’

  Daniel laid a wooden square on the bed. It too was inscribed with all manner of letters and symbols.

  ‘It is the magic table on which I lay the seal. And these small seals are placed under each corner. Like this.’

  By the light of two candles he assembled his magical furniture on the floor. It was nighttime, after compline prayers, and the monastery was dark and still.

  ‘This is the copper bowl that I fill with water,’ Daniel said, ‘but tonight we will use the black mirror.’

  Thaddeus had done a fine job on the stone. Its surfaces were silky smooth now, black as a bottomless pit, and they caught every ray of light.

  ‘Is the mirror better than your bowl?’ Thaddeus asked.

  Daniel replied, ‘I could tell at first glance that it was a miraculous stone. God must have left in my path so that I would find it. I believe in all my heart that with this scrying mirror I will be able to plunge even further into the realm of angels which is the realm of God. Archangel Michael himself revealed himself to me without so much as a call.’

  Thaddeus scratched at a sand-fly bite on his arm. ‘What is a call?’

  ‘These you will have to learn, Thaddeus if you are to speak to the angels. As you learned Latin, you will learn the angel tongue.’

  ‘Latin was difficult.’

  ‘Angel language is even more difficult. The letters are peculiar. The words do not flow off the tongue with ease. I will help you but you will have to apply yourself.’

  ‘I will try.’

  Daniel positioned the candles just so and he and the big priest sat cross-legged, shoulder to shoulder, facing the showstone in its wooden stand.

  ‘This is the 1st Call,’ Daniel said. ‘It opens the first gate. I will write it down for you to memorize. But before we begin, heed me. This magic – it must only be used for good. You must never cross into the black arts. Do you understand?’

  The big head bobbed in a nod.

  ‘Then we will begin. Are you ready?’

  ‘I am fearful, Daniel, but I am ready.’

  Daniel stared into the mirror and chanted. ‘Ol sonf vors g, goho Iad Balt, lonsh calz vonpho; sobra zol ror i ta nazps od graa ta malprg; ds holq qaa nothoa zimz, od commah ta nobloh zien; soba thil gnonp prge aldi; ds urbs oboleh grsam; casarm ohorela taba pir; ds zonrensg cab erm iadnah. Pilah farzm znurza adna gono iadpil, ds hom od toh; soba i pam lu ipamis; ds loholo vep zomd poamal, od bogpa aai ta piap piamol od vooan. Zacare, ca, od zamran; odo cicle qaa; zorge, lap zirdo noco mad, hoath Iaida.’

  ‘What does it mean,’ Thaddeus whispered.

  Daniel patiently responded, ‘This is what I said: I reign over you, sayeth the God of Justice, in power exalted above the firmaments of wrath; in whose hands the Sun is as a sword and the Moon as a through-thrusting fire; which measureth your garments in the midst of my vestures, and trussed you together as the palms of my hands; whose seats I garnished with the fire of gathering, and beautified your garments with admiration. To whom I made a law to govern the holy ones and delivered you a rod with the ark of knowledge. Moreover, you lifted up your voices and swore obedience and faith to him that liveth and triumpheth; whose beginning is not, nor end cannot be, which shineth as a flame in the midst of your palace, and reigneth amongst you as the balance of righteousness and truth. Move, therefore, and show yourselves; open the Mysteries of your Creation; be friendly unto me; for I am the servant of the same your God, the true worshipper of the Highest.’

  ‘Oh,’ was the fullness of Thaddeus’s reply.

  Daniel turned back to the stone. ‘Now, the second call.’

  Daniel slowly worked his way through forty-six of the calls without pausing to translate them for his companion. Even so, it took the better part of an hour for his recitations to be completed. At times he noticed the big priest nodding off and once he felt his block of a head coming onto his shoulder. Each time he nudged him to attention.

  Finally, he reached the place he aspired to be – the second Aethyr – where he had his most productive and illuminating conversations. All at once, Daniel’s own face disappeared from the surface of the obsidian disk, replaced by a figure of a man with a golden robe and a golden beard riding into view on a golden chariot.

  Daniel heard a voice, but it was not coming from the man in the stone. It was Thaddeus asking who the man was.

  ‘You can see him?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Of course I see him. He is right there.’

  ‘That is good, Thaddeus. You will be a scryer one day! This is Archangel Selaphiel, the patron saint of prayer in our Church of the East. He is my teacher. He is my guide.’

  The angel spoke to Daniel in his guttural language and Daniel replied.

  ‘What are you saying?’ Thaddeus asked.

  ‘He asks who you are. I told him.’

  Daniel and the angel spoke more but Daniel would no longer let Thaddeus interrupt him. Only when he was ready did he tell his companion what had transpired. The angel Selaphiel knew that Archangel Michael had commanded him to prepare the powerful black showstone so that Daniel could learn further truths. With this mirror, a great scryer such as Daniel might hope to be granted ever-greater revelations about the universe.

  Thaddeus looked into the showstone and told Daniel that Selaphiel was no longer there.

  ‘He has gone,’ Daniel said. ‘Our time with him has ended.’

  ‘But I wanted to ask him about my parents.’

  ‘Not tonight. In time. Let me say a closing prayer.’

  Afterwards, while stashing his spiritual tools in the red bag and sliding it under the bed, Daniel told Thaddeus that he was more than a little surprised that he had been able to see and hear Selaphiel.

  ‘Why?’ Thaddeus asked.

  ‘Because few men have the gift of scrying. It is not something that can be taught to one who has no natural ability. Have you ever had visions?’

  ‘Only when I drink too much wine.’

  ‘This is a serious question, Thaddeus.’

  The big priest got himself to his feet and rubbed his sore rump. ‘Once I looked down into the well to see if the bucket had dropped all the way down and I saw a face in the dark water. Is that a vision?’

  ‘It seems you really do have the gift.’

  ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘If you learn the angel language then you might be able to have your own angel guide and you may have a conversation with him about y
our parents without me. Tonight, I will write down the first call and tomorrow in your free time you can start to learn it. But do not tell any of the other brothers about what we have done or what we may do in the future. Some will be envious. Others will be fearful, suspecting black magic. It is better to keep it to ourselves.’

  ‘When can we do this again?’

  ‘Learn the 1st Call. Then we will enter the Aethyrs together.’

  Weeks passed, then months. Tutoring Thaddeus required infinite patience, but Daniel felt in a curious way that it was a kind of penance to try to teach a new language to a lad who bumbled his Latin and even his native Aramaic. But painstakingly, he was able to get Thaddeus to memorize the calls and to initiate him into the realm of the angels. Daniel was constantly surprised that this rather simple young fellow had a facility for scrying, but it was not for him to judge whom the angels blessed with the knack. Nevertheless, on his own, even with the obsidian showstone, Thaddeus was not able to progress beyond the seventeenth Aethyr. His angel-guide in that realm was a spirit named Kokbiel, whom Daniel (ever the observer) came to know as having something of a dual nature. He was part virtuous and part mischievously bad, seemingly preying on Thaddeus’s dark side. Whereas Daniel was a seeker of universal truths who engaged his guiding angel, Selaphiel, in esoteric theological discourse, Thaddeus was rooted in the temporal world. Early on, he had asked about the fate of his parents but Kokbiel told him that such knowledge was held in higher Aethyrs. So instead, he questioned Kokbiel incessantly on matters that Daniel considered furiously mundane. Which of the brother priests was helping himself to extra rations of beer? Would the new bishop – Cyril had died – ever grant him his wished-for assistant in his scythe-making workshop? Had a rich man ever buried gold in the fields surrounding the monastery?

  He allowed Thaddeus to observe his own scrying sessions with the new showstone, sessions that were getting him ever closer to the ultimate knowledge contained within the first Aethyr. One night he had this conversation:

  Daniel – What will I find when I get there?

  Selaphiel – It is a place beyond human existence as you know it.

  Daniel – Can you tell me more?

  Selaphiel – No.

  Daniel – Is it wonderful?

  Selaphiel – Yes.

  Daniel – Is God there?

  Selaphiel – Of course.

  Daniel – Has a mortal man ever gone there?

  Selaphiel – No.

  Daniel – If I get there will you be my guide?

  Selaphiel – It will be Michael, the archangel.

  Daniel – You have told me before that there is one missing call. Do I require it to gain entry?

  Selaphiel – The 49th Call is not for that purpose.

  Daniel – What purpose does it have?

  Selaphiel – It is for summoning the fallen ones. It is for evil. That is why God does not wish mortal men to learn it. Evil exists in your world, this you know. Yet there is a greater evil.

  Thaddeus sometimes let his attention drift away during Daniel’s spiritual actions; sometimes he even fell asleep. Tonight, he was in rapt attention and after hearing Selaphiel’s pronouncement, he prodded Daniel to ask this question: Notwithstanding God’s concern, could the 49th Call be learned?

  Selaphiel – It has never before been passed to mortal man but yes, even a good angel such as myself could be compelled to pass the 49th Call to a great magician with a powerful showstone.

  Daniel – Am I such a magician and is this such a stone?

  Selaphiel – The stone is powerful and you are the greatest magician the world has ever known.

  Daniel ended his action abruptly, stood, and snuffed out the candles. The room darkened.

  ‘Why did you not ask him for the 49th Call?’ Thaddeus asked.

  ‘I have no wish to converse with fallen angels. I have no wish to converse with demons. I have no wish to summon evil.’

  The usually phlegmatic Thaddeus became animated and said, ‘But, Daniel, you are the one who always talks about wanting to know more about God and the universe. Did not God cast down those angels who sinned against Him? Surely, you would wish to speak to the fallen ones to greater understand their sins and transgressions and the consequences of their evil works.’

  Daniel was gathering up his spiritual objects. ‘It is late, Thaddeus, and I am tired. Please go now.’

  But Thaddeus would not let the matter rest. Day after day, he pestered Daniel to learn the 49th Call and peppered him with reasons he should do so. It will increase your enlightenment. Just speaking with the fallen ones does not mean you will bring down evil. You will become the greatest magician of all time. Your name will be known through the ages.

  Finally, Daniel was worn down by Thaddeus’s persistence and also, perhaps, by his own curiosity and vanity. On a moonless night, he retired to his stuffy cell with Thaddeus and assembled his table and his seals and his showstone. He summoned the angel, Selaphiel, who seemed to know what his intensions were.

  ‘Are you certain you wish to know the 49th Call?’ the angel asked.

  ‘I do.’

  ‘Use it with great care, Daniel. The Lord will judge you harshly if you do not. It is for your ears only.’

  Soon, a guttural chant that only Daniel could hear was emanating from the showstone. Thaddeus grunted in frustration at not being privy to the call but there was nothing he could do until a visibly shaken Daniel ended the action with his usual prayer.

  ‘Well?’ Thaddeus asked. ‘Did you get it?’

  Daniel’s throat was dry and his voice was scratchy. ‘It was given, yes.’

  ‘And who was the entity named in the call?’

  ‘I dare not use his name.’

  Thaddeus gulped. ‘Was the call a long one?’

  ‘Not long, not short.’

  ‘Will you remember it?’

  ‘My mind is troubled. I do not know.’

  ‘You must write it down then lest you forget it.’

  ‘I do not want to remember it.’

  ‘You must write it down. Think of all the questions you might ask. Your learnings will multiply. Your knowledge will be legendary. I will get papyrus and ink from the scriptorium and you must set down the words.’

  When Thaddeus returned, Daniel was lying on his bed, curled up and rocking himself. The big priest had to prod and coax him to sit up and write down the call using his magic table as desk. The minute Daniel finished the task, writing the phonemes of angel language in his native Aramaic, he folded the papyrus in two and thrust it down the neck of his robe.

  ‘Let me see it!’ Thaddeus said.

  ‘No!’ Daniel said. ‘It is meant for me and me alone.’

  ‘But I must see it.’

  Daniel shooed Thaddeus away with both hands. ‘Leave me now. Please. My mind is troubled and I am for sleep.’

  But Thaddeus had no intention of leaving. It was the easiest thing for the brute to rip Daniel’s robe half off and seize the papyrus.

  When Daniel tried to grab it back, Thaddeus delivered a back-handed swat to his face that left him with a bleeding mouth.

  ‘What are you doing, Thaddeus? Why are you treating me to such hard punishment?’

  ‘I am sorry, Daniel. You are a good man, better than me, but I must speak to the fallen ones. I want their help.’

  ‘For what purpose?’

  ‘For avenging my parents. I have never spoken of this. The Turks came to my village when I was a boy. They took all the Christians from their homes and made them stand around the well. They made them renounce Jesus Christ and embrace their faith. Those who did not – their throats were cut. I ran away. Christians found me and took me to this monastery, where I have remained. But I never forgot. I want revenge and I pray the fallen ones will help me if I summon them.’

  Daniel was staunching the blood from his lip with his torn garment. ‘I am sorry for what happened to you. I truly am. But I cannot allow you to use the call. I swore to Selaphiel.’


  ‘You cannot stop me, Daniel.’

  Daniel picked himself off the hard-packed dirt floor. ‘We will not be scrying any more. I will not allow you to use my mirror or the other holy objects. Our work together has ended. Give me the papyrus.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then I will have no choice but to denounce you to the bishop as a practitioner of black magic.’

  In the flickering light of one small candle, Daniel could see Thaddeus’s face set and harden. He saw him slowly approach, his meaty hands extended. He felt strong thumbs pressing against his windpipe until not even the softest sound could escape his throat.

  And when his lifeless body was dropped to the floor, Thaddeus put the seals, and the table, and the showstone into Daniel’s red bag, and left the cell, and left the dormitory. He kept on walking out of the monastery gate and into the darkest night he could ever remember.

  FOURTEEN

  George Hamid didn’t like going to other people’s offices. He always wanted them to come to his. This had everything to do with power. The weak visited the strong. He’d learned that during his salad days in Kirkuk, a young man trying to make his way in business, buying this, selling that, observing the habits of men who were many rungs higher on the ladder. When he had become what he then thought was wealthy, he was determined to get into the military surplus business, selling off unused (often pilfered) merchandise such as uniforms, field rations, spare parts for trucks and the like. To do so he started bribing low-level officers then over time he worked his way up the ranks to brigadier generals. When eventually he became known as the surplus king, not only in his province but across the country, men started coming to him, looking for opportunities. At his zenith within his home country, the only time he went calling was to visit Iraqis who were richer and more powerful than he and his most memorable visit was in 1990, four months before the US invasion in the first Gulf War. The man he sought was the richest by far and the most powerful.