The Twins of Noremway Parish (12 page)

He found himself in a dark, damp chamber on a downward sloping path. Water dripped from the ceiling into large tubs on either side. These reservoirs were massive, capable of containing thousands of gallons each. As they filled, they spilled into the next, which spilled into the next, and so on until there was no more water falling into the chamber. Hollow tubes lead from the reservoir up into the ceiling; presumably, this was how the parishioners accessed their stored water.

He grasped his necklace of shrunken heads in his hands and prayed to the ancestors that all would be well, that he would find his way to the chancellor’s courtroom, and that he would make the deal that had been made many times before. He would return to Massa with news that all had been done as ordered, and he would climb into the upper echelons of the
Ujimati
.

The path continued its downward slope beneath the parish. As he descended into the dark, he clung to his necklace knowing that his ancestors—those who had fallen at that fateful battle so long ago—would be with him no matter what.

***

When Garish saw light again it was accompanied by voices. A man was speaking about people he called the caravan-folk. His description of the
Ujimati
was somewhat inaccurate, but interesting. The fear that the people of Noremway Parish had toward these caravan-folk was evident in the man’s voice, as was the awe they had for them. Garish slid through the narrow opening into the court room and saw a man, standing approximately five feet seven inches, with the hood of a cloak pulled over his head, shading his face in darkness. A crossbow was slung on his back.

He hid in the dark until the man was done talking. “There’s a lot more up here than you give me credit for, Urey,” the man with the crossbow said and laughed loudly, which allowed Garish the cover to move undetected from the darkness to a position that would afford him the upper hand, the element of surprise, or an affirmation of the mystery surrounding the
Ujimati
.

He had initially entered unsure of himself, but now that he knew where he was, and that these two men were waiting for him, he needed to be in control. Standing tall and menacing, flashing his sharpened teeth, he said, “Let’s get this started.”

***

After the sermon for their fallen mayor, Brother Decon wanted to leave immediately. He wanted to get back to Plague, to see the “twins,” to find out what could be done. More importantly, he wanted Teret to see these children for herself. She was tender, loving, and caring, and she would lead the way for their acceptance into parish society; he knew she would.

“
Teret,” he said, pulling her aside as everyone was leaving. He saw Franz Phoenix and Ghora Urey slip out the door to do whatever business they had to do. He wasn’t up-to-date on all the dealings that the chancellor, and now acting-mayor, had with the sheriff, but he knew that it was important and included him only peripherally.

“
Decon,” she responded, just saying his name. That was all she needed to say. The inflexion in which she said it communicated far more than the word itself. She grabbed his hand in a loving embrace, not caring if those exiting the cathedral could see it.

Even if they had seen the intimate touch, would they understand what they were seeing? It was an emotional time for everyone.

A wave of dizziness came over him, a wave that should be familiar to him by now but wasn’t because every glimpse he saw through the story teller’s eye seemed to fall to the wayside of forgotten memories as the vision faded.

Again, the voices exploded through his mind, the images searing his vision.
Friar Mangler, I need you. Do not trust the sheriff.

The voice coming out of the swirling dark was ominous in its mystery.
Decon Mangler! Listen!

When the sheriff came to this nether realm, I was certain he was the friar. Who else would have answered my call?

“
But you are not the only one able to call out to humans, Story Teller. He doesn’t know it, but I am controlling his every move.”

“
How?”

As I ask, the three large demons come out of the dark. The first speaks. “We have more control over Noremway Parish than you ever will, Story Teller.” This is the first time I’ve heard one of these demons speak, but I suspect that as time goes on, I will see them more frequently.

“
I do not understand!”

The creature speaks again with a vicious smile on its face. “There is so much you will never understand–so I’ll humor you and try to explain. The Darkness has returned to Noremway Parish, and it is here to stay. Now that we have you, we can redevelop our corporeal forms. Do you like?” The creature steps forward, showing its teeth to me in a harsh sneer. “There are many of us now around the parish. We are the eyes, the ears.”

I am silent, stunned, shocked: any word that can explain my speechlessness. A group of three more of these creatures, looking identical to each other (at least to me) materializes out of the dark.

“
But we are only but mere henchmen in this invasion. We are lowly imps. Our leader is Zuriz Falcon, someone you’ve yet to meet. Now it’s time we meet him, meet our child: the one, the only Falcon, Father of the Darkness, Lord of Chaos. Yet he knows it not–but he soon will. Death takes a toll on the memory, aye, so it may be quite some time before he understands who he is. So in the meantime, until Falcon is at full power, we need a puppet. Franz Phoenix is our pawn. And he is eager enough for greed and power to be easily used.”

“
So this is your scheme?”

“
Phoenix is under our control. And now with the chancellor prostrate thanks to the wolf bite, it will only be a matter of time before the parish is ours, and with it, the entire Inner-Crescent.”

I know of the Father of Darkness, this Zuriz Falcon. He came all those centuries ago and the rest of the creatures of chaos followed. But, “How did you manage the resurrection?”

“
The resurrection required gestation in a human female and water blessed by the friar of Noremway Parish. Now it is done. Soon we will be able to sweep through Noremway Parish—and it will be ours. First, after Falcon regains his memories and realizes who he is, he will assess the situation in more detail then we can here. He will use the sheriff as his pawn. Franz Phoenix lusts for power and control. And our plan for the chancellor will be well under way.”

“
And what is that?”

“
He will become the Great Wolf, the leader of the Forsaken Tribe.”

An eerie sick feeling falls into the pit of my stomach. We are doomed.

“
Decon Mangler, please help! Brother Decon!”

The cry came through Mangler’s head as he stood in the cathedral watching the procession leave. His eyes met those of Franz Phoenix as he glanced back while slipping out the door. Horror, terror, a sense of urgency engulfed him, but just as quickly as the feeling had come it was gone. The memory of the vision quickly faded to nothing but an itch in the back of his mind.

***

After everyone vacated the Cathedral, Decon stayed behind, opting to spend time with Teret, discussing the situation and attempting to decide what to do about the broken fountain—by dealing with what he could control, in other words. Naturally, when the topic of the fountain came up, Teret had a million questions that he could not even begin to answer–if he had been able to, he wouldn’t have been so uneasy about it.
What was it? Was it a being of the holy fountain? Was it the Waterman child? Will it live?
And most importantly,
does Ragas have anything to say about it?
Of course the night before had been spent searching the literature, weaving through the documents—canonical as well as apocrypha—but no clear answer had come. “Nothing in the text mentions a two-headed freak of a child, Teret,” Decon said. “However, the fountain was a gift from Ragas to Noremway Parish. He carved it with his own hands and had it given to Brother Oleander upon his death.”

“
So if that child—the ‘twins’—came out of the fountain, or some magic associated with it…do you think Ragas put it there?”

“
Ragas did a great many things for this parish, Teret, but I assure you growing a child—albeit a horribly mutated child—out of concrete was not one of them.”

Teret looked doubtful. For once she was on the verge of disagreeing with Decon, and it wasn’t because she didn’t follow the logic of his argument–she did. Of course she did; he was right. It just didn’t make sense. Only at the same time it made perfect sense.

“
I think Ragas is behind this,” she said firmly. “I hear what you say and believe it, but I still say Ragas is somehow behind this.”

He looked stunned. His protégé had never disagreed with him before. Of course it was bound to happen…and he was proud of her. She had always had an independent streak, but he was never sure if she would ever break from his hold over her. Until this very moment he couldn’t have been sure if she was just a reflection of his own beliefs, or if her thinking was deeper, much deeper.

And in that moment he fell in love.

***

Several hours later, when Plague was confident he had done as thorough an examination as he possibly could, he sent a messenger to the cathedral to have Brother Decon come at once. “So what have we got?” he asked as he walked side-by-side with Teret into the Torture Chamber. Plague moved to block his path. “Bart, what gives?”

“
We need to talk. They are sedated, so don’t worry. We have plenty of time before they wake up. I kind of have a large bombshell to drop on you, and I think you should sit down.” Decon found his way to a chair and sat. Teret sat next to him, and a curious thing happened: they held hands. Plague eyed this with a slightly comical deference in spite of himself. In fact, he really didn’t know what to think, but he smiled anyway while suppressing a laugh.

Plague sat across from them and looked Decon straight in the eyes. “Near as I can tell from my examination, they are twins that have not been fully separated. Noremway Parish hasn’t seen a lot of cases of twins in general, but this condition has not been seen in at least 2,000 years. The cause is unknown. Some suspect that the fetus splits into two in the early stages of the pregnancy, causing two separate individuals to form, but somehow never complete the split.”

“
That just isn’t possible,” Decon said. Of course it was. The being was in the next room,
existing
in the next room. Of course it was possible.

“
I know, Decon, but what I’m saying is that these are two living, breathing individuals who happen to share most of the same body. That is
not
the child we rescued from the field.”

“
So what do you think we should do with these kids? I want to adopt them myself,” Teret said. The tone in her voice said she was serious. The look in her eye said she’d do anything for these children. “I’ll take them. Give them love and a good home.”

Decon smiled nervously. A feeling now swarmed him—a sense that Teret was embarking on an intricate journey by accepting a responsibility that, although not beyond her ability to handle, was possibly beyond the parish’s capacity to accept. And he knew as friar of Noremway Parish that whatever responsibility the parochial vicar took on would affect him, becoming his responsibility as well. The thought scared as well as enticed him.

Plague looked Teret in the eyes and smiled. “What these twins need is a good home, love. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

“
Decon,” Teret said, “would you mind being my counterpart in this? Being a ‘father’ to these twins?”

He did not immediately answer. He, in fact, had no answer to give. In all his years as a friar, this was something he had never anticipated. Caring for a child? Becoming a father? Even if his role would be merely that of an adoptive father, he couldn’t dare to risk the problems it would cause the parish. These traditions had been in practice since Ragas—for 2,000 years. Who was he to disavow them so completely? He finally said, “Teret, I don’t know if I can be there.”

She drew in a harsh breath as if the answer had stung, but said nothing.

Plague interrupted, slicing through the tension as if his words were a scalpel. “We can sort that matter out later. There is one more thing the both of you should be aware of—and this is important. A major surgery must be performed or they will both die. One of the twins will likely die or be severely deformed if he survives. One is a completely intact child; the other shares most of its body parts with its twin, and is attached to it like a parasite. He has his own heart and I believe a single lung. I can’t be completely sure until I get in there. He’s also missing a liver and possibly several other organs. So, if there is any hope of this particular child’s survival, we will need to find a way to get a hold of some organs. He only has one arm and one leg of his own, and no rib cage. I could do the surgery today, but it would be more like a surgery to remove a cancer from the fully developed child.”

“
Hold off until you can save them both, Bart,” Teret said. She held Decon’s hand close to her mouth, but lowered it as she started talking as if suddenly realizing it was there.