Hallowed Ground

and the third turned to show his profile, which lacked one ear and included a pronounced cleft in his left cheek the questions slipped from John’s mind.  The effect was like witnessing the two sides of a coin.  One was a face Bender could recognize, and the other?  He didn't look at the fourth pall bearer.  He helped them slide the coffin to the rear of the car, and walked in quietly behind them as they bore it in silence to the rear of the tent, and The Deacon's altar.

He refused to look left or right, fearful of what other deformities might mar The Deacon’s flock.  Bender was a simple man who cherished his simple life.  This place was far from simple.  There was something about it that caused his flesh to creep and finally he was beginning to understand what that ‘something’ was: it was unnatural.  Everything about the procession through the tent city, the morbid fascination of the onlookers and the ruination of The Deacon’s people was wrong.  Ungodly.

John Bender took a seat in the rear of the tent and contemplated the repercussions of taking his cart, and his horses, and riding back to town alone.

Chapter Eight

The Deacon stood alone behind a grubby screen at the rear of the tent.  The dust of the road clung to the fine gauze and shielded him effectively from those congregated.  He was an intensely private man, at ease only in his own company.  Among others his life became part of the carnival so he cherished these moments of solitude.  Life out on that stage was almost surreal, trapped in the lights, everyone so desperately wanting to share his gift.  There was an intense greed and selfishness about it all, but as far as they were concerned, he was doing the Lord’s work and they people looked to him to do what they could not – to save them.

The Deacon smiled and closed his eyes to savor the nearness of his flock and the love he felt out there, stronger even than the grief.  He allowed no one near him prior to services.  Not that any of his people would have dared, but it wasn’t only his own out there today.  The tent was swollen with the mourners of Rookwood, so to prevent the curious from disturbing him, he had stationed Sanchez and the boy just beyond the screen.

The urge to pull the pouch from beneath his dark cloak and hold it was powerful.  It sensed what was to come.  Where he felt love, it felt the breath and tasted the blood that suffused the tent.  He didn't dare to touch it, so he closed his eyes and withdrew his thoughts, emptying his mind.

'And thus do the faithful preserve the vessel,' he said softly. 'Thus shall His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'

The rustling and shuffling of feet and clothing slowly stilled.  There was a low murmur of voices, but after several moments even that died away, deadened by the oppressing weight of the air.  When even the dust had settled, The Deacon strode to the edge of the screen, took a deep breath, and stepped into the open.

A simply crafted coffin rested on a makeshift trestle before the altar.  The trestle had been created from crates and planks and draped with a moth-eaten blanket.  The holes in the cloth wouldn’t have been visible to the congregation.  Like so much else it was down to the eye seeing what it wanted to see.

The casket was open.

The Deacon walked to the altar and stared out at those gathered.  The tent was full – as full as he'd ever seen it, truth be told.  He knew they hadn't come to hear the word of God.  These people had no particular faith that could help them reach everlasting peace.  They weren’t here to be saved.  They were here because it wasn't Rookwood.  It wasn't another dead night in a dying town, drowning them in ennui and drying out their souls.  It was different.  It would give them conversation and dreams to carry them through another month, or year, until the next.  It wasn't their fault that they'd stumbled into the spider's web.  And another truth be told, he doubted very much that they would have walked away, even if they had suspected the danger they were in.

'Let us pray,' he said, and every head bowed.  That was the power of the word.  He led them through the service.  His voice was deep, offering comfort and condolence as it carried through the tent and into the night.  A large, ornate Bible lay open on the altar, but he paid little attention to it.  The scripture rolled off his lips, and if some of it seemed a little off, or if the words didn't quite sound the same as they had the last time the congregation heard them, who would argue?

He spoke of Heaven, and of Hell.  He talked of rich men threading themselves through needles, and the great seal of Solomon.  He told them that they lived every day in the valley of the shadow of death, but they need fear no evil, for God would comfort them.  He was their strength.

Somewhere in those words, they lost themselves.  Somewhere, the He the Deacon spoke of changed from an all seeing, benevolent creator to the man standing before them, another facet of the illusion his words wove.  A collection plate was passed, and disappeared.  The service for Ma Kutter drew to a close, and the casket was closed, but that was only the beginning.

The Deacon loomed over them, and his voice carried them like twigs in a roaring flood.  He called out to them to revive their faith.  He called out to them to trust him with their souls.  He called out to the hurt, and the broken, the sick and the weak.  He called them to him, and slowly, as if mesmerized by his words and the odd, swaying motion of his tall, lean form, they came.

He walked among them and heard their stories.  He prayed with Mae over the loss of her mother at an early age.  He laid his hands on Silas Boone's shoulders and chanted something very low – impossible to make out, while staring the man dead in the eye.  He touched his palm to Silas' forehead and the man keeled over backward, barely having his fall broken by the Deacon's men.  They’d seen the same thing so many times they'd known to be ready, and they caught him before he could strike the dirt of the floor.  Silas suffered from a rotted tooth that had pained him nearly every day of his adult life.  When he woke, he turned and spit, and that tooth hit the floor in small puddle of blood.

The night wore away, and The Deacon drew on their energy.  The congregation became weary, but he waxed stronger with every passing moment.  Then he called for a hymn, and his people began to sing.  It started low and deep, then rose slowly through the octaves.  The men and women of Rookwood did not know the words, but they sang as well, hesitantly at first, and then with full throats and pounding hearts.  The song drew them in.  The rhythm caught their bodies and set them in motion.  It became a joyous chorus as they sang hallelujah.

They hardly noticed when one of their number shuffled forward.  It was Colleen.  She swayed, sinuous as a serpent, caught in the embrace of the music.  She walked down the center aisle of the tent and stopped before The Deacon.  He walked forward, but he didn't touch her, rather, he side-stepped left and circled her slowly.  He held his hands up, palms toward the girl, and continued to sing.  She stood very still.

'Do you feel it?' The Deacon cried out, breaking the notes of the song like glass against stone, sending it in all directions in bits and echoes, notes and chords.  The silence that followed was so thick and heavy it felt as though they'd been submerged in molasses.

'Do you feel how it runs through her?' The Deacon called out.  'It is dark – it is evil. I feel it.  It is so black I can see it through her skin and swimming in her soul.  I can TASTE it. Brethren, and I cannot abide it.  It must be cast out.  She must be freed.'

'Amen.' The word was spoken by a dozen mouths, all The Deacon's people, and all in a single breath.

'She must be HEALED.' The Deacon shouted.

'Amen,' again, and this time from every pair of lips in the tent.

'She walks in darkness,' He said, his voice steadying out, and growing stronger. 'But my footsteps are washed in the light.  She lives in shadows, but I can lift her up.  I can bring her to salvation.  I can heal her.  I WILL heal her.  Together we will make it so.'

'Amen.'

The Deacon took Colleen's hands in his and lifted them so that they pressed against his chest.  There was a pulse of light at that touch, but Colleen's body shielded it from the room.  At some point during the ceremony someone had lit braziers of incense, and suddenly the smoke, which had drifted close to the floor, whirled and rose, surrounding the altar and dimming the light.