Speak to the Devil

CHAPTER 27

Thinking furiously, Wulf rode after Otto, over to the house door. By the time he had dismounted, Achim had come running from the stable to take charge of their mounts. He saluted the baron, looking up at the big man with a huge smile. “Brother Marek is here, my lord! Just came for a visit, he says.”

“Alone?”

The stableman flinched at the sharp tone. “Yes, my lord.”

“How is Morningstar? Has he been ridden far?”

“No, he’s fresh, my lord. Still frisky.”

“You’re certain Brother Marek came alone?”

“Yes, my lord.”

As the brothers ran up the steps, Otto put into words what Wulf had thought at first and then rejected: “Marek may be the help the cardinal promised.”

“So soon?”

“Well… If Zdenek had a Speaker within call in the palace and sent him straight to Abbot Bohdan it would work. No, you’re right. The abbot would want to consider the request, then summon Marek, and so on. It’s too fast.”

Hating himself for even thinking it, Wulf said, “So his visit may be bad news.”

“You want to disappear while I find out?”

“If he had brought company I would,” Wulf admitted. He attempted a smile, although he suspected it wasn’t a very good one. “But I’d feel terrible running away from anyone his size.”

As the brothers entered the lesser hall, three excited people shouted that Brother Marek was back. He had come on a visit. He was upstairs, in the solar with the baroness, meeting his nephews and nieces.

“Let me talk with him first,” Otto said as they clanked up the spiral staircase. “You go and change.”

Deeply troubled, Wulf headed for the guest room. All through his childhood he had been told that Magnuses were allowed to feel fear but were expected to ignore it. He was feeling fear now and it refused to be ignored. Had Marek brought a warning from the Church? Would his Voices be able to bind Wulf in some sort of obedience? Had he been so distressed by seeing Anton and Wulf that he had renounced his vows and fled the cloister? If that were the case, surely he would have hounds on his heels very quickly-Dominican friars, likely. It had been Dominicans who came for him five years ago. Not for nothing were the Dominicans known as domini canes, the Lord’s dogs.

He threw open the door and went in.

A man was standing in the window alcove, leaning out and staring at something below. Apparently he had not heard the door open, and had been interrupted in the process of changing, for he wore only a breechcloth. His back was a hell of partly healed black and purple stripes, grooves of torn and crushed flesh. Wulf had seen men flogged, but never as savagely as that. A bulky monkish habit lay discarded on the floor nearby, close to a saddlebag like the one Morningstar had worn to Koupel.

In the deep window alcove, with his head almost outside, Marek had not heard Wulf’s arrival. He could not see the bailey from there, but was it possible to creep up on a Speaker? Wulf slammed the door.

Marek jumped, spun around, and tried to cover his nudity with his arms, in a curiously feminine gesture. Many of the cuts wrapped around his ribs to his chest.

“Wulfgang!”

“Marek. What brings you here?”

“Cowardice.” Marek reached for his discarded black habit, squatting rather than bending, as if trying not to expose his back. Or perhaps bending hurt.

Wulf shot the bolt. He removed his gloves and threw them angrily on the bed. “Never heard that word in this house before.” His cloak followed, then his hat.

“You saw my stripes?” Marek was clutching the habit in front of himself as a shield, not moving to put it on.

“I caught a glimpse.” As he was meant to? “I’d rather not see any more. Who did that to you?”

“Brother Lodnicka.” Marek smiled thinly. “He has a mighty arm. Fifty lashes on Monday and another fifty next Monday. I couldn’t face the thought of more, so I ran away.”

“Merciful Heaven! I don’t blame you. What sin requires that sort of penance?”

Marek smiled thinly. “I disobeyed orders. I was told to take you and Anton to the scriptorium so the abbot and the master of discipline could eavesdrop on you. I failed.”

“Because we saw through you and refused? You were flogged for that? That’s insane!”

“I had been given permission to seek aid from my Voices. I could have compelled Anton, as long as I was close to him. I was warned that it might not work on you.”

Wulf thought a silent prayer of thanks. “I am grateful to you. But just for that they tied you up and gave you-”

“Not tied up. I had to stand for the strokes. It is a test of commitment and obedience.”

It certainly would be. Wulf shuddered. “To prove that you wouldn’t call on your Voices? And today, how did you get away?”

Marek hung his head. “I slipped away in the dark, after matins. I went to the stable. I recognized Morningstar, of course. Then, when I had saddled him, I asked my Voices, St. Methodius and St. Uriel, to bring me to Dobkov. I have broken my oaths, Wulf. I am an apostate, a damned soul.”

Lies! Wulf felt ill.

“Why haven’t you asked the Voices to heal your back?”

Marek whispered. “I swore that I would not.”

“Then why don’t I ask my Voices to do it?”

“No!”

“Why not?” Wulf asked, wondering if his brother had been driven insane.

Marek gave him a sheepish little smile. “I’ll explain later.”

“I know nothing about Speaking. I expect you to teach me, now that you’re here.”

Marek crouched to rummage in the saddlebag. “Did you call on your Voices when you were at Koupel?”

“Only after we left you. Why?”

“Do you notice a strange glow when you call on your Voices, a light you can see even with your eyes closed?”

“Yes.”

“Other Speakers can see it too, did you know?”

Wulf’s heart skipped a beat as he hastily thought back over the last few days, to times when he had called on Helena and Victorinus. Had he ever done so when he might have been observed by strangers? “No, I didn’t. Thanks for the warning.”

Marek had produced another habit, but was making no move to put it on. “You decided not to go to the northern marches? I’m glad.”

“Yes, we did go. And I have to go back there.”

Someone rattled the door. Wulf walked over to it.

“We’re all right,” he said loudly. “We’re chewing over old times.”

“Sure?” asked Otto’s voice.

“Quite sure. We’ll come and join you shortly.”

Wulf sat on the stool and removed his spurs.

Smiling, Marek came over to help him with his boots. “And where is Anton? Even the baroness says she doesn’t know.”

“Anton is currently holding a castle that the Wends are likely to attack with cannon and Satanism any day now. He can’t withstand them with the men he’s got. I’m his resident miracle worker.”

“False miracles,” Marek murmured. “Witchcraft.”

“We’ll talk about that, too. Tomorrow Vlad’s going to join us. In effect, King Konrad’s chief minister has appointed the Magnus brothers defenders of the kingdom. And now that you’ve arrived, it will be four against the Wends.”

Marek was just standing, watching him with wide eyes. “Four of us? Two men-at-arms and two Speakers?”

“Correct. And maybe Otto as our counsel and liaison with the court.”

“I was not sent to join you, Wulf! I ran away, I told you.”

He had not produced the Greenwood password.

Wulf stood up to remove his doublet and shirt. Standing close, he could look down on Marek even more than Anton looked down on him; the difference was that he tried not to. “Brother-and I call you that because we are of one blood, not because you were forced into a monastery against your will-Brother, you have been lying to me. You said you saddled Morningstar after matins, which is twelve hours ago now, but he arrived here so fresh that Achim says he’s still frisky. Tell me the real reason you will not cure your tattered back.”

Marek dropped his eyes and said nothing.

“And why you thought I had not been to the northern marches. Was that because I asked about your back?”

The smaller man looked up, surprised. “Yes. You know this? The Voices cannot hurt me when I am already in pain. One pain cancels out the other and pays for the false miracles. Without that, I could not have endured the agony of my journey through limbo.”

Why was he just standing there holding the habit, instead of dressing?

“If that’s what they teach you, they’re lying. I suffered for my journey from Koupel to Castle Gallant, yes. My Voices told me that pain was the price I chose, so the next time I asked them for a miracle, I refused that price. I don’t feel pain now when I Speak.”

“Oh, Brother, what worse pain are you saving up for eternity?”

“I’ll worry about that later.” Wulf reached out a hand.

Marek stepped back. Wulf followed until his brother was backed against the wall. Then he gripped his bare shoulders. “Holy St. Helena and St. Victorinus?”

The Light flooded the room. Marek’s eyes widened.

“Please will you cure these wounds on my brother?”

— Of course, since you ask.

“And tell me if his superiors at Koupel have been lying to him?”

— Of course they have.

“Thank you.”

The Light faded.

Wulf turned Marek around. The skin of his back was whole, unscarred.

Marek sighed. “Thank you, Brother. That does feel better. What did they tell you?”

“They said of course you’ve been lied to! But my Voices would say that whether they were angels or devils, wouldn’t they?” Wulf went to the chest where he had put his meager wardrobe. “Can you and I share the truth now, as we know it?”

Wrapping himself in his gown, Marek said, “You’re asking me to pit one loyalty against another, but the abbot did that first, and it’s clear that he’s been deceiving me. You have almost convinced me that the Voices are who they say they are.” He went over to the empty hearth and sat on the hob. “I don’t know much, but ask me what you want to know. No more lies, I swear.”

Wulf started lacing his trunk hose to his shirt. The brothers stared at each other. It was not a time for smiles.

“You were sent here?”

Nod.

“To do what?”

“To locate you so that we… so that they could come and apprehend you before you do any more of the devil’s work.”

“How do you ‘apprehend’ a Speaker?”

“Just by numbers,” Marek said simply. “Physically, two or three men can usually pin another, and the same is true of Speaking. Then they put a bridle on you, an iron gag with a tongue piece, so that you cannot Speak.”

“You honestly believe that the Voices come from the devil?”

Another nod. “I saved that boy’s life-Hans. But you tell me he committed a terrible crime.”

“Your thinking has been warped!” Wulf said angrily. “If I see a child drowning and rescue that child, am I responsible for every sin that child commits thereafter? How can you reconcile that idea with the doctrine that God gave us all free will?”

“Doctrine is a matter for the Church to determine, Brother.”

“And lie about?”

Marek hesitated. “No. The Holy Father would not lie about that. But small lies… Sometimes the Church is forced to employ things that are otherwise evil in order to do God’s work.”

“Like attracting rich sick people to Koupel and having Speakers cure them so that they will enrich the monastery?”

“We have to pay the abbot’s grocery bill somehow.”

“That remark ought to earn you another dozen lashes.”

“Or a forty-day fast.” The little man’s eyes twinkled, so perhaps they were drawing closer to the truth at last. “You have no idea how good it feels to be able to say things like that again!”

But he still wasn’t saying all he knew.

“When we came to see you, you talked about a first sin and a second sin. There are steps to Speaking, aren’t there? How many?” If his brother’s repentance was genuine, then Wulf might now learn some of the hidden lore of Speaking. If Marek was still playing false, of course, then he would just be pelted with more lies.

The monk wrung his hands. “I don’t know. We are only taught as much as we need to know. The first sin, or first step, as I told you, is hearing the Voices at all. That temptation comes to very few people. The second sin is to listen to them and come to understand what they are saying. Many who are tempted manage to resist that step, so Speakers are very rare. I knew of five in Jorgary-two Dominicans plus three in Koupel, including me. You are the only other one I know of, and you were just starting when I left here, so I wasn’t sure about you until you came to Koupel on Sunday. You make six. There may be more. The third step is to ask the Voices for their help. Just in little things, at first-to find a lost coin, to cure a baby’s colic. It seems so harmless! Then comes the fourth step, undeniable false miracles and acceptance of the pain that is their price.”

“That’s where you are now?”

For the first time, the monk looked truly abashed. “Don’t you remember how sick I was after I healed the boy, Hans? No, you probably don’t, but for two days I felt that there was a thunderstorm going on inside my head. It was the worst pain I have ever known-until Brother Lodnicka’s chastisement yesterday. I might never have Spoken again after what healing the boy cost me. As it was, of course, the Dominicans came for me and made me swear not to. And I never did until today. On Monday I was released from my oath for the purpose of locating you. I was offered a lighter penance if I promised to redress my sin in letting you escape. I had to find you and then fetch the, um

… we call them missionaries.”

Wulf suppressed a shiver, remembering the day his brother had been taken away. “The Lord’s hounds?”

“They get called that, too. The first part of my penance remained the same.”

“To stand for fifty lashes?”

“Forty-two that day, the other eight on Tuesday. I had to ask for a rest. Today I was judged fit enough to start looking, so I came to Dobkov as the best place to begin. And it worked! The pain in my back kept the other pain away.”

“Or they were lying and I was right. You accepted pain that you could have refused altogether. They want you to believe the pain is inevitable so you will not call on your Voices without permission.” Receiving no answer, Wulf said, “Try it now if you don’t believe me. Walk through limbo to Koupel and then back here. Refuse the price, and you will be given the power as a gift.”

Marek grimaced. “I will believe you. After all these years in Koupel being fed lies, I will believe you.” He sighed. “I thought my search was over almost before it began. The moment I arrived here at Dobkov I was told that you had been here and were expected to return soon. My orders were to wait until dark and then go back and tell the abbot where you could be found.” He paused and looked away. “Except that I knew I couldn’t. Even before you walked in just now, I knew I wouldn’t. I am sorry, Brother! I was wrong even to think of it. Please believe me. It is so good to be home,” he added wistfully.

The first story had been a lie; was the second true? Lies could qualify as “things otherwise evil” that might be employed to do the Lord’s work. Wulf donned a fresh tunic and a short cloak.

“So what’s the fifth step in Speaking?”

Marek shook his head. “I’m not sure. I once overheard someone saying that there are eight ranks or grades in all. When you were able to refuse the cost and feel no pain, then that may have been when you reached the fifth level. I do know about the sixth, and now you have reached that.”

“Which is?” Wulf asked uneasily.

“The sixth step is when you start believing in the saints-truly believing what the Voices tell you, rejecting the Church’s teaching that they are devils. That’s when the nimbus appears.”

“Nimbus?”

“Well, you didn’t have it when you came to Koupel.”

Wulf crossed the room in two bounds to peer in the mirror. Light of no color and all colors glowed around his head as if he were a saint in an icon. He was still staring at it in horror when a concerned Marek appeared in the reflection.

“You didn’t know?” he said.

“No! It wasn’t there when I shaved this morning.”

“Then it must have just come. Only other Speakers can see it.”

“All other Speakers will see me like this now?”

“Perhaps not those with very low rank, but when the Dominican missionaries came here to Dobkov for me, the main reason I went with them so readily was that I saw them glowing like images of Christ.”

This was appalling! Wulf was literally a marked man, branded like a thief. “Will it fade if I stop Speaking to my Voices?”

“I don’t think so.” Marek was looking genuinely sympathetic.

“Abbot Bohdan doesn’t have a halo, not that I could see.”

“I don’t think Bohdan is a Speaker. If he was, he wouldn’t have needed my help to eavesdrop on you. But there must be higher steps that I don’t know. Higher ranks may be able to hide their nimbus.”

“They don’t need you to track me down now, do they?” Wulf wailed. “Any Speaker I meet will see me glowing like a bonfire.”

“Most of them will be equally visible to you, though,” Marek said. “Some won’t be, like me, but those ones are probably not dangerous to you.”

“So you still believe your Voices are sent by the devil? And mine?”

Marek bowed his head. “I suppose I must. Maybe, when I have had a few days away from the monastery and have practiced Speaking again, I will come to agree with your view. But, Wulf, I swear I will not betray you to the missionaries! By my immortal soul, I swear! Now I see myself through your eyes and know that no Magnus should ever betray another the way I was going to betray you. I won’t go back to Koupel… willingly.”

“I am glad,” Wulf said. Glad but not convinced. He ran fingers through his hair and pulled on his flowerpot-shaped hat to hide it. “You can’t go around in a Benedictine habit, though. We’ll see if Branka’s seamstresses can turn you into a Franciscan. Monk to friar, black to brown.”

“You’ll forgive me?”

“Nothing to forgive!” Wulf hugged him. “They had you for five years. They preached at you night and day, I suppose? Half starved you? Beat you? Kept you short of sleep? Their message was all you ever heard. You wouldn’t be human if you could withstand such treatment. But you must do one thing to prove that you’re truly repentant.”

“What’s that?”

“Join Otto and me in getting roaring drunk tonight and singing disgusting bawdy songs till dawn.”

Marek started to laugh, but stopped abruptly, looking surprised. “You know, that’s the first time I’ve made that vulgar noise in five years?”