However, in this unplanned and somewhat fortuitous moment along the Monon, Father Prodido saw how his useful idiot appeared to be selling the drama and successfully turning the crowd against Ochi, and it intrigued him. Despite having his own subversive plan to undermine Ochi once he left Patrida, Father Prodido was content watching Fovos make his case to the people against their leader. The thought of expediting public opinion against Ochi without having to sway them slowly and methodically in his absence seemed ideal.
With the Patridian guard’s full force standing ready at his command, Ochi was happy to let Fovos blow off some steam. From his perspective, knowing precisely what Fovos had against him and having it aired publicly, rather than behind closed doors, seemed worth the small sacrifice of listening to his incessant barking.
But Pali and Machi, who both stood behind Ochi, interpreted the situation much differently. In Fovos, they saw a wild animal pacing back and forth, readying to bite the handler if his hand got too close to the cage. The brothers gave a quick glance over their shoulders to Father Prodido, who signaled for them to remain patient and watch the situation play out.
“You see, there was this mother hen that had some eggs she was carin’ for,” Fovos announced. “Now the problem was that the ol’ mother hen was sick, you see. And there was a cunning ol’ wolf that knew she wasn’t doin’ well and, boy oh boy, he was hungry. Now would you believe that the ol’ wolf killed that sickly mother hen just as those little chicks hatched! And those little critters thought he was their mother! Yessir! They sure did. But he had himself a full belly and didn’t have the heart to eat those youngins. I’ll have you know that those little boogers followed him around every day not knowin’ any better. For all they knew, that ol’ wolf was their momma! And you know what? He took care of ’em! You see what I’m saying, your majesty?”
A smile crossed Ochi’s face, but he refused to respond to Fovos’ question.
“Wipe that smile off your face!” Fovos shouted. “You’re the sick mother hen! And these chicks want to follow a mother with some teeth, you son of a bitch!”
In a violent rage, Fovos charged Ochi and tackled him to the ground. The brothers, once again, looked back at Father Prodido, who rolled his eyes and nodded his head for them to pull the men apart. Together, the guards rushed in and immediately ripped Fovos off of the leader. Unfazed by the assault, Ochi stood up, dusted his shirt, and wiped the blood from his smiling lip.
“Looks like the ol’ wolf is going to bed with an empty belly tonight,” said Ochi. “We have an open cell now. Put him in it. I will deal with him upon my return home with Thura.”
The guards carted off a bellicose and rambunctious Fovos, but all eyes remained on Ochi as the brothers took their places on each side of him. Only those close in proximity heard what the two men had said during the earlier exchange. For most onlookers, Thura being taken hostage was still a rumor continuing to circulate and not an officially corroborated fact.
“Brothers and sisters, these have been trying times for our community over the last few days,” Ochi announced. “I understand there continue to be rumors and conjecture floating around about everything that’s been going on. So please, bear with me as I lay out the facts in the order they happened.”
From behind the leader, Father Prodido put his head down and rolled his eyes, sighing loudly enough for those around him to hear it.
“As you know, Pali and Machi captured an infidel in the woods,” Ochi continued. “We locked him up while we assessed the situation and fortified our defenses. While we assumed there could be more insurgents in the woods, we determined the threat remained low and the situation stable. We gave the guards orders to establish outposts and keep watch for any potential enemy activity. As you also know, there was a discussion if we should execute the prisoner. So, you may be wondering where we are now. While we have yet to determine the events and potential oversights leading to both prisoners’ escape, we now know they took my daughter hostage. They abducted Thura.”
Ochi expected shock but did not anticipate such outrage. The short fuse of the citizenry burned quickly and exploded mightily. To make the situation even more unstable, his casualness and perceived lack of urgency again conveyed a message he did not intend. The problem was that Ochi knew Thura was not in any danger, and his posture was way too relaxed, composed, and unemotional. In other words, Ochi’s performance lacked the conviction and salesmanship of Father Prodido, or Fovos for that matter. He began to pay the price for it as the crowd directed angry shouts at him.
“Why are you not more outraged, you fool!”
“Where’s the man who started this community!”
“Why are you not fighting for your family!”
“Why don’t you mobilize the guard and destroy them!”
“How are you going to make this right!”
Ochi realized he seriously miscalculated where he stood with the people. While he may have retained a few ardent supporters scattered sparsely throughout the crowd, the scale of public sentiment appeared to have tipped heavily against him, and it was more significant than he could have imagined. His detachment from what had been happening at the ground level led to this sentiment change.
As Ochi had isolated himself and had been spending way too much time in the council room talking and making decisions behind closed doors, Fovos had been on the ground, looking people in the eyes and persuading them against the leader. The words of Fovos continued to echo in his head. This is why you’ve lost the people! Ochi had lost the people, and he knew it. But at the same time, he also knew he needed to figure out how to salvage his plan of retrieving Thura before everything turned entirely against him.
While Father Prodido had intervened on behalf of Ochi in the past, the religious leader remained unphased by the crowd’s protests this time. He would not be stepping in to save Ochi again. Instead, he leaned toward Tyran and whispered what could have been an entire speech into his ear. One wonders what the religious leader said to the young man. But it must have certainly been something about his father’s reluctance in dealing with Thura’s captor, as Tyran’s demeanor appeared to change.
The young man still believed his father was a traitor of the community. Not only had he let the insurgents go free during the Great Liberation and enabled them to start a new community, but he had also been utterly impotent in dealing with the prisoner. For these reasons, Tyran held his father solely responsible for every weak and reckless decision that put Thura’s life at stake.
But even while Prodido whispered in his ear, Tyran looked at his father standing before the crowd and had empathy for him. The unexpected visit from his father earlier in the day brought a flood of emotions he had not experienced since he was a young boy. When Ochi showed up at his house, Tyran saw a side of his father he had never seen before. He appeared as a man weighed down and shackled by chains, a man struggling to break free from the pain of regret.
Through tears, his father talked about the painting in the council room and how he finally realized he was the older man sitting in the boat. He said the painting had always reminded him of their adventures to the island. He even shared with Tyran that the painting finally showed him that his peace had never been on the horizon to be found another day. It had been with him the whole time. However, the most heartbreaking thing he told Tyran was that he did not think he was capable of ever fully finding that peace, although he desired it.
Tyran understood for the first time how deeply his father regretted their distance over the years. He could see the remorse his father carried for not keeping their relationship close and for allowing the affairs of Patrida to get in the way. Even more, he discovered how much his father hated the influence of Father Prodido and how he wished he would have done more to keep the religious leader at a distance as Tyran grew older.
Breaking his gaze from his father and interrupting the religious leader who was still whispering in his ear, Tyran leaned into Father Prodido this time and responded
with a whisper of his own, which elicited wide-eyed shock and dismay. Something Tyran said to him was enough to visibly unsettle the religious leader. But before their conversation could go any further, Ochi made an unexpected move in front of them by pushing Pali out of the way and grabbing Velos, pulling her close to him as he began to yell above the shouts of the crowd.
“I will go! I will go all by myself!” Ochi said manically. “We cannot put Thura’s life in danger by sending in our warriors! With the support of my wife, and of course, the council, I will make the journey myself! I will journey alone! I will get our daughter back! And then, once she is safely home, we will mobilize the full might and strength of the Patridian guard and bring a reckoning upon the enemy!”
The crowd cheered a little more than half-heartedly. Ochi sensed he had only bought enough time to get his things together and catch a quick nap before beginning his journey. Still unsure of her husband’s story, Velos pulled away from Ochi’s half-hug in front of the crowd and walked back to join Father Prodido and Tyran, leaving him standing alone. The leader, surrounded in awkward silence, really did not know what else to say. The guards remained encircled around the citizens as they continued to wait for some sort of direction.
Finally, Ochi spoke.
“Okay. Thank you,” he said. “You can go home now. We are done here. The guards will keep watch overnight. May you all rest in peace.”
Relieved the day was over, the leader immediately turned, put his head down, and smiled as he walked up the steps past Velos, Tyran, and Father Prodido. While he had genuinely wanted to dismiss everyone for the night and wish them a peaceful rest, he realized that what he had uttered was a phrase meant for dead people. May you rest in peace, Ochi thought, as he began to chuckle and then laugh out loud. The irony of the situation made him belly laugh all the way back to his room.
Hanging from a small hook on his bedroom wall, Ochi grabbed his old, worn leather satchel. The truth was that he had not thought through this journey and did not know what he should be taking. He did not even know where he was going, for that matter. He imagined his pace would be quicker than their pace, as Sophia would slow them down. He decided on a couple of shirts, another pair of pants, and maybe some bread and hard cheese.
Ochi walked over to his closet to grab his clothes. As he opened the door, he took a quick peek in the direction of the floorboard, but something did not look right. In his haste earlier, he thought he had placed the box in the corner of the closet and thrown clothes over top of it. At least that was the way he remembered it. Everything had happened so hurriedly he was not sure exactly how he left it. As he stared down at the corner of his closet, the floorboard was back in place and the box was nowhere in sight. Fear ran through his body. Had someone else been in my closet? He thought. Did they get into the box and see my journal?
As he stood there with his questions, Ochi felt the presence of another person standing behind him in the room. Frozen, but too afraid to turn around, Ochi stood at his open closet and pretended to stare at his clothes. He wondered how he could have been so careless in not putting the box back below the floorboard. His mistake was obvious. The journal not only had information pertinent to Patrida and his leadership position, but the pages also contained everything he had been feeling over the last year. His words would be damning if someone were to read it.
Ochi looked over his shoulder, but no one was there. Breathing a sigh of relief, he got down on his hands and knees and removed the floorboard. The box was there. At this point, Ochi was again unsure if he was the one who replaced it or not. Maybe he did, and everything was fine. Either way, he still wanted to look in the box to make sure everything was in it. Reaching below the floor, Ochi grabbed the box. But as he was pulling it out, the presence returned to the room.
“Readying for your journey?” Velos inquired.
Ochi slowly lowered it back in place before answering.
“Yes,” he said. “I thought a couple of shirts and a pair of pants would do. Have you seen my other pair of sandals by chance?”
As Velos answered him, Ochi pretended to look around for the sandals. But he was quietly securing the board back in place. He figured he would have to trust his gut that everything was in the box and that he had indeed replaced the floorboard earlier. Grabbing his sandals and the rest of his clothes, Ochi put them in his satchel and placed it by his bed for an early morning.
At first light, Ochi walked out of his house and stepped onto the Monon with a profound sense of adventure and excitement. The skies were welcoming and already brilliantly blue, with the most magnificently white cumulus clouds adding a perfect contrast. As Ochi turned toward Sanctuary with a figurative skip in his step, he could see the entire town had already gathered together and was eagerly awaiting him. He was unsure how they had all assembled without him knowing, but their thoughtfulness deeply moved him.
Ochi noticed that someone had dug a trench leading from the flowing sacrarium down the center aisle. He moved forward until his feet met the water’s edge. Looking up from the water, Ochi saw Father Prodido, Tyran, Pali, and Velos, each standing beside an arch of the shrine. They looked as if they were awaiting him. Ochi placed one foot into the stream and then the other. The cold, clear water came up to his knees. He began to slowly walk down the aisle with the accompaniment of cheers and applause from the people.
Ochi looked forward at Pali, who nodded his head in approval at the leader. He then turned his attention to Velos, who offered both of her hands together, palms up, as if welcoming her husband. Ochi could not fathom what had transpired overnight while he had been asleep, but he was glad he was leaving on good terms with everyone. The leader then looked at Tyran, who looked back at his father and placed his hand over his heart. Tears filled Ochi’s eyes as he looked at his beautiful son. That was when he saw Father Prodido standing by one of the front arches on the left side with his hands prayerfully together. The religious leader momentarily closed his eyes and nodded humbly at Ochi.
Wading his hands through the water, he walked closer to the sacrarium. Ochi could see there was one more person in front of him standing in the shadows of the shrine. As he approached, he noticed it was a young woman with long red hair. He could not see her face as she had her back to him. Ochi stepped hesitantly into the entrance of the sacrarium. As the young woman heard his approach from behind, she turned and faced him. It was Thura.
Ochi ran through the water toward the center of the shrine and embraced his daughter. But she did not return his embrace. Instead, she took her hands and grabbed his arms, pulling them forcefully off of her.
“Father, will you help me tear down this structure?” Thura asked.
Confused, Ochi looked around at each person standing beside their respective arch. Their faces conveyed no emotion. They silently stared at the father and daughter. Perplexed as to what was happening and why Thura wanted to knock down the sacrarium, Ochi turned back to his daughter and found her pushing against one of the massive, white curved pillars from inside.
“Thura, what are you doing?” Ochi cried. “These arches were set by dozens of men. You cannot move them by your strength alone. They cannot even be moved by our strength together.”
Ignoring her father’s skepticism and his reluctance in joining her endeavor, Thura began to scream wildly and push the arch more violently.
“Thura, please!” Ochi called out. “This is crazy behavior! All of your pushing is futile! Can’t you see everyone is bothered by what you are doing! Look around! Please, come with me, and let’s dry off.”
Amidst Ochi’s pleas and Thura’s commotion, Father Prodido rushed into the water and grabbed Thura. Quick to follow the religious leader’s lead, Tyran, Velos, and Pali immediately ran into the water and helped him hold Thura down. Ochi was paralyzed. He could not move or make a sound. All he could do was helplessly watch them push the young woman down and hold her under the water. Thura began to struggle. She could not overpower their collective strength. Fro
m outside the sacrarium, the townspeople started to resoundingly sing a refrain over and over in unison, “This is why you’ve lost the people.”
Ochi could not move. He could not breathe. Even though they held his daughter underwater, he felt as if he was the one dying by their hands. Thura’s suffocation became his suffocation. Thura’s struggle became his struggle. Praying for the ability to move or shout before it was too late, Ochi rushed forward, punching and knocking over everyone in the way. With every bit of strength he could summon, he tore them off of his daughter. Sobbing, Ochi fell to his knees and wailed uncontrollably.
“My God, what did you monsters do!” Ochi cried. “Why did you have to kill her! Why did you have to kill her! For pushing up against your shrine!”
Ochi began to hit the water forcefully and scream at everyone around him. Anger pulsated through his fists with each strike until he could no longer hit it. He was exhausted and consumed by grief. Ochi could do nothing but stare listlessly at the water as tears fell from his face. He had not noticed that the singing had stopped or that he was the only one left in the sacrarium. Everything was deathly quiet around him. As Ochi began to look even more intently at the still water, his head began to shake back and forth in disbelief at what he saw in front of him. In terror, he lifted the head of the lifeless body out of the water and screamed. The face he was looking at was his own.
The sudden sound of stone cracking and its palpable rumbles caused the leader to look up from his horror. On one side, he saw Father Prodido and Pali pushing against their arches. On the other side, Velos and Tyran were doing the same. Ochi attempted to get up from the water, but a hand grabbed his wrist and would not let him go. He struggled to get away and began screaming at the top of his lungs for them to stop. But as the sacrarium lost integrity and started to fall on him, he opened his eyes in a cold sweat. It was still dark outside and way too early to leave. But he decided he could no longer delay his journey.
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