Leviathan (8 page)

“He is a good boy,” he rumbled, a faint smile.

“
Yeah,” Connor replied. “He's a good boy. He's the love of my life. I don't know what I'd do without him.”

“
You will do well with him,” Thor nodded. “You promise, and you keep your promise. Not an easy thing in these days.”

“
Yeah,” Connor replied. “But keeping my promises to him isn't hard. I love him. He means everything to Beth and me. To tell you the truth, Thor, I never really wanted to bring a child into this sorry world. It just sort of happened. But it's been really good.”

Motionless, Thor stared into the doorway.
“Maybe Jordan will change the world,” he said finally. “Maybe that is the reason he is here.”

“Thor,
” Connor said, staring. “There aren't any reasons for things. Things happen, and there's no reason, no purpose. I think that we've had this discussion before.”

Thor laughed heartily.
“Let's have it again.”

Shaking his head, Connor looked away.
“I don't believe like you do, Thor. I never have.” He paused. “You believe in good and evil. God and Satan. You believe in hope and faith and the rest of it. But I don't. I don’t believe in anything. Nothing but my family. That's all there is for me.”

“
A family is a great thing,” Thor said.

“
I really don’t care to change the world, Thor,” Connor continued, looking up. “I just want to get away from it. When I finish this job, we're going to go someplace where Jordan can grow up like a kid should be allowed to grow up. And it'll be a long way from a city, I'll tell you that. A long way from any people at all.”

“
And what will you do when you reach this place in the sun?” Thor asked, his voice harder.

“
Live in peace,” Connor replied. “Live a decent life.”

“
Yes. That would be a good thing also. To live a peaceful life. A good life.'‘ Thor paused. “Do you know what a good life would be for me?”

Connor smiled.
“Yeah, but I think you're going to tell me anyway.”

Accepting the lack of invitation, Thor went on solemnly,
“Yes, I will be glad to tell you. And you will be glad you asked. Because it is a philosophy full of insight and meaning.” He smiled, almost laughing. “And the heart of it is this, my friend: I would live a life to change the world for good. A life where I made a good difference in the life of one, or in the lives of many. Where I faced great battles like a man. With courage and strength. Doing what is right. And I would win, in the end.”

For a moment Connor said nothing, impressed by the un-abashed seriousness of Thor's speech.
“That's a pretty tall order, Thor,” he answered, touching the rim of the coffee mug. “But to want that, you've got to believe in good and evil or something beyond this world. And I don't.”

“
All men believe in good and evil.” Thor looked up. His ice-green eyes didn't waver. “Even you, Connor. But you think that only man is evil. And yet all the civilizations that have ever held kingdoms on the earth have written of an evil that is beyond man. Just as they all have written of a last, great battle that will occur between good and evil. A battle that is yet to come.”

“
You really believe that?” Connor asked. He searched Thor's open eyes. “Do you really believe that there's going to be a last battle between good and evil?”

“
Yes,” Thor answered, “and I believe in more than that. I believe that if a man is a man, he will live his life for good, making war with evil. Because that is part of the battle to come.”

Connor was silent. Unmoving.

“My ancestors called it Ragnarok,” Thor continued, leaning forward. The table and chair creaked beneath his weight. “It was to be the last battle on the earth between good and evil. According to tradition, it would begin with a winter three years long. Then there would be a collapse of morality, with greed ruling the hearts of men. And finally, a great falling away of faith with men's hearts turning to selfishness and all manner of sin.” He paused, frowning. “It is the Nordic representation of Armageddon.”

Connor's eyes narrowed. He was silent.

“
In truth,” Thor continued, “the entire Scandinavian mythology, and many other mythologies of the North, can be traced to Celtic roots, which can in turn be traced to the Hittites or other Mesopotamian tribes that immigrated into the North in 1500 B.C., fleeing the occupation of Israel in Canaan. Tribes that knew well the story of the Hebrew God and the Serpent.”

“
And how can you know this?”

“
By discipline, and by applying my mind to history,” Thor replied with a smile. “I learned long ago that the North was settled by the Asiatic ‘Broadheads' who immigrated across Europe during the late Stone Age or early Iron Age. Tribes that eventually crossed the sea to settle Norway in the first century.”

“
Yeah,” replied Connor, “but the tribes who settled Norway in the first century were pretty distant descendants of the tribes who immigrated to Britain in 1500 B.C., Thor. It seems like they would have had a hard time remembering the stories of the Old Testament or the Hittites or whatever. A thousand years is a long time for people to remember anything.”

“
Memory lives longer than man,” Thor replied steadily. “Superstition survives stone monuments. Look at Stonehenge. The people who built it, and even the altar itself, are gone. But the superstition remains. I tell you the truth; the original beliefs of the tribes who settled Europe in 1500 B.C. were remembered by their descendants, though in altered form. And what the Vikings passed by oral tradition closely paralleled the Hebrew cosmology and even pieces of the long-vanished Hittite mythology.”

Connor grunted.
“Give me an example.'‘

“
Like Thor himself, the Norse god of thunder who fought with an iron hammer to defend Asgard from evil. Is it any coincidence that the Hittites also had a god of thunder, named Tarku, who fought with an iron hammer to defend heaven and hurled lightning from his hand?” He stared intently. “An ancient Hittite image carved in stone at Tel-Engidi reveals Tarku of the Hittites waving his hammer over slain horses, bringing them back to life. In Norse mythology, Thor also waves his hammer over his goats, bringing them to life. I tell you, this is no coincidence.”

Connor had never really thought about it, and he was faintly surprised that he had never come across anything like it before since he had read widely and enjoyed reading. But this was an alien theory to him, as alien as anything he had ever heard.

“And there is more.” Thor held forth like a schoolteacher starved from teaching. “You will remember that Satan was the fallen angel who deceived man into betraying God. While Loki, the evil god of Norse mythology who deceived man into rebelling against Odin, the father of all Norse gods, is only a parallel of Satan. The Norse story of man's rebellion is only a reflection of the Old Testament story of Eden.

“
Loki told man that he could become immortal if he would find true life by submitting to his unrestrained passions. And this is the argument Satan used in the Garden of Eden, and an enduring tenant of mythology. In almost all societies of the ancient world, a battle between immortal good and evil is recorded, with man caught between the two forces, destined to serve one or the other.”

Connor's gaze was concentrated.
“And that's what makes you think there's good and evil, Thor? And that a man should choose between them?”

“
It is part of what makes me believe,” Thor said, thoughtfully stroking his red beard. “A man must believe what is reasonable to believe. He must open his mind and see.”

“
Well,” Connor began, “I don't think that a lot of people actually see this kind of thing, Thor.”

“
The past suffers the present,” Thor replied, abruptly grim. “Men try to change history to agree with their needs, but truth does not change. Neither truth, nor heroism, nor courage. Today, men say that we live in an age without good or evil; therefore, we live in an age without heroes. They say that a man should live only for himself, for whatever is right in his own eyes. They say the age of heroes has passed.”

Connor scowled.
“Thor, it's hard to agree anymore on what's right or wrong. Everybody has their own opinion on just about everything. So it's obviously hard to agree on heroism.” He paused. “I mean, what's a hero really supposed to be, anyway? Someone who saves somebody's life?”

“
It is a simple thing,” Thor rumbled. “A hero is someone who stands upon truth, to the end.”

“
Someone who stands on truth” Connor asked, eyes widening. “What does truth have to do with heroism?”

“
Truth and heaven are beyond man's changing, Connor. Just as evil and hell are beyond man's changing. To fight for the cause of truth, one must fight for the cause of heaven.”

Connor was silent. But he was used to this; all conversations with Thor eventually went into the deep.

“And I believe more than this,” Thor mumbled, gazing up. “I believe that each man, at his last chance to know truth, faces his own Ragnarok. His own battle with Armageddon. And all of a man's life comes together to meet it. His past, his present, and his future. Whether such a man lives or dies, it will be his greatest hour, the hour when he sees the true measure and light of his life, and knows the destiny of his soul.” Thor's face hardening like age-old Arctic ice. “This is where all our lives will end. When we stare the old serpent in the eyes ... and make our final stand.”

Connor said nothing, staring, and after a moment Thor blinked. His eyes slowly became less intense.
“A lofty ambition, is it not?”

“
Yeah, partner, it is,” Connor replied quietly, staring sadly. “But it sounds like something you could do. Better than anybody I’ve ever known.”

Thor laughed shortly, glancing down.
“And you also, my friend. Because you may believe as you believe, Connor. But I think that it is your destiny also to advance onto that field. To overcome evil with your own good strength, and God's strength.”

Silence lasted between them.

“I don't believe in miracles, Thor,” Connor replied stoically.

Thor laughed.
“I do, my friend.”

Moved by Thor's words to cross a line he had never crossed, Connor was compelled to ask,
“Were you once a priest?”

“
I am still a priest.” Thor nodded, frowning.

“
Then what are you doing here?” Connor knew that whatever he might hear could change their relationship forever, and he almost resisted the question. But somehow, spellbound by the moment, he had to know.

Thor leaned forward in his chair, elbows on his knees.
“It is a longer story than you would care to hear,” he began. “But I can tell you that I was a priest of a small Norwegian village located near the coast of Sweden. There was much ... evil... in a village so small. And many of my flock were enslaved by it, even against their will. It was an organized evil, and powerful; an evil nurtured by the hand of man but bred by the hounds of hell. As father of my flock, I told my people that they were no longer compelled to serve it. I placed them under the protection of the church and under my personal protection as well.” He became mournful. “In the end it was a fiendish battle, a battle which I narrowly won. And the evil and murderous son of a very powerful man was killed in the struggle. Not by my hand, for certain, but he was killed just the same. And his father blamed me for his death, so powerful men sought my life in revenge. So the Holy Father, in his wish to protect me, removed me from my church and my world until it would be safe for me to return. It was a decision made out of love, and I was told that it was only for a short time. He placed me on this island with only his knowledge of my whereabouts until my enemies no longer sought to kill me.” Thor grew more quiet. “I was grateful for his benevolence. But in removing me from the forefront of the battle, the Holy Father removed me from life, as well. I have been here five years. And I don't know when I will return.”

Connor noticed he hadn't moved as Thor spoke. Shifting, he cleared his throat.
“So you're not going to be here forever?”

“
Forever?” Thor twisted his head, once more releasing a mysterious frown. “No, my friend. Not forever.”

A sudden knock at the door broke the solemnity. Caught in a vaguely catastrophic mentality by Thor's speech, Connor was on his feet, expecting anything. He opened the door to find his assistant foreman breathing heavily and frosted with crystalline sea spray. The man spoke quickly and then Connor closed the door, coming back to sit at the table. His brow hardened.

“What is it?” Thor rumbled.

“
A plane,” Connor said quietly, staring back at the door. “He said a C-130 landed five minutes ago on the airfield with about twenty guys who looked like scientists. He said there were also about forty MPs with them, all dressed in black and loaded up with weapons like a SWAT team or something. He said they went down to the cavern. I think it scared him.”

Thor scowled.
“What does it mean?”