“When we were on deck earlier, I didn’t see any at all. It’s eerie how quiet it is-from a spiritual standpoint anyway,” Ethan said.
Gideon rubbed his chin. “Just the same, I think we should conduct our own reconnaissance further inland and see if the story holds true everywhere.”
“Well, I told the dock master that we were here to purchase spices, so I’ll get the crew working on that to throw them off our scent, just in case,” Levi said.
Ethan and Gideon cloaked themselves in brown hooded robes and girded their swords underneath. There would be nothing so suspicious about carrying weapons out in the open, but any measure of inconspicuous they could maintain would be worth it in the long run.
When Gideon and Ethan disembarked from the Trinity, they made their way through the crowded docks and onto shore with little difficulty. But when they started walking down the main thoroughfare into Calvera, a wall of soldiers immediately appeared ahead of them. The crowds dispersed. Another compliment of soldiers surrounded them from the rear, cutting them off from the ship.
The two priests of Shaddai stopped dead in their tracks as pedestrians cleared the way around them. “Hold, Ethan,” Gideon warned as the boy groped under his cloak for the hilt of his sword. “Notice the uniforms?”
“Gray and blue, not red and black.”
“These don’t appear to be Mordred’s soldiers. They’re wearing the colors of the former king, Gavin of Macedon.”
A royal coach parted the wall of soldiers, rolling up to Gideon and Ethan as they stood waiting in the deserted street. It was trimmed in silver and precious stones Ethan was not familiar with. The gray horses wore blue-feathered plumes standing tall on the crown of their bridles. The carriage came around in a semicircle so the door faced the priests of Shaddai.
Ethan wondered why they hadn’t been attacked. Still, he remained at the ready just in case. He hadn’t spotted any demonic activity yet and it made him nervous. In almost every town or city, where they had traveled, there had been some measure of spiritual activity, even if it had nothing to do with hunting the Deliverer. It’s like a forest without the sound of animals, Ethan thought.
The driver wore tight breeches which stopped short just below the knee. White hose continued down his leg terminating with polished, black shoes and silver buckles. He wore a powdered, white wig with a blue ribbon tied in the pony-bob and a decorative blue and gray vest with silver buttons. The man lighted down from the carriage, only slightly regarding the rather ordinary young men standing before him. He opened the carriage door and bowed as he held it open for the gentleman seated within.
The man inside the carriage peered out into the street, first, then stepped forward daintily as though he was concerned about how much road dust might get on his clothes. He was very tall and thin with spectacles sitting upon the bridge of his long nose. He wore regal attire in the same royal color scheme. He also wore a powdered white wig and Ethan supposed it must be the fashion-at least for the royal house.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” he said. “My name is Mr. Hollingsworth. I am the royal advisor to His Majesty, King Nichols of Macedon. I’ve been sent by the king to escort you back to the royal palace with the Word of Shaddai we sent for.”
“How did you know who we were?” Gideon asked suspiciously.
Mr. Hollingsworth gave a pompous snicker to Gideon’s question. “My dear young man, it was a simple matter for our dock master to identify your ship once he spoke with your captain. People just don’t inquire about the things he wanted to know. Of course, we’ve also been expecting you. Our royal emissary only arrived back in Calvera two days ago, so we hoped you would not be far behind.”
Gideon and Ethan still looked suspicious of the man and his soldiers. “Now then, gentlemen, if you don’t mind, the king is waiting for you.” Mr. Hollingsworth motioned to the open door of the carriage, expecting them to enter.
“I think, Mr. Hollingsworth, that my apprentice and I would like to follow after your carriage, if you don’t mind,” Gideon said politely. “You see, it’s been a long voyage and we were just looking forward to stretching our legs a bit on the streets of your fair city.”
Mr. Hollingsworth arched the corner of his mouth in such a way as to make it clear he felt walking among the pedestrians was beneath him. “I assure you gentlemen, I am no threat to you. But if that is what you wish, then so be it.”
Mr. Hollingsworth turned and stepped back inside his blue, velvet lined carriage. The driver closed the door, then climbed back up to his seat and took the reins in hand, snapping them once to get the horses moving again. The carriage pulled around and started back down the main street the way it had come by. Gideon and Ethan fell in line, walking behind it. The soldiers broke ranks and took up the rear.
People stood upon sidewalks on either side of the street, watching the procession pass on its way toward the royal palace. There were no cheers, only murmuring as they watched the priests of Shaddai in their drab clothing following the royal carriage.
Ethan heard one voice among the silence held by the other pedestrians. “Alms for the poor,” a man called. “Alms for a blind man who believes in the Almighty.”
Ethan pulled a silver coin from his money pouch and walked over to the man as the carriage passed. His eyes were open, but held an odd colorless tone in the irises. He did not look at Ethan directly, but seemed to sense his presence, turning his head as the young man approached. The blind man wore a ragged brown cloak with the hood back and held a battered tin cup out toward the street. He appeared to be in his late twenties and Ethan supposed he might have been born in this condition.
Ethan dropped the silver coin into the cup. “Thank you kindly, good sir,” the beggar said then, he reached out a calloused hand to Ethan. He took it politely intending to shake it, but the blind man seized him with both hands, quickly groping up his arm, pushing back the sleeve. Alarmed, Ethan tried to pull away from the beggar, but the man held him fast in an iron grip. His finger traced out the birthmark on Ethan’s arm-the very same identifying him as Shaddai’s Deliverer.
“Leave off ‘em,” shouted a soldier, drawing near to accost the blind beggar.
The man’s face turned slightly, regarding the approach of the soldier. He pulled Ethan near by his arm and whispered, “Beware, Deliverer of Shaddai.”
The soldier shooed the beggar away, slapping him with a studded leather gauntlet. Ethan stood there astonished but unsure what to make of the beggar. He backed away, rejoining Gideon in the procession. The beggar disappeared among the crowd.
“What was that all about?” Gideon asked.
Ethan turned back to the crowded sidewalk again, searching. “I’m not really sure.”
A ROYAL WELCOME
Captain Levi Bonifast finished his prayer for Gideon and Ethan. He stood up in his cabin and grabbed his tricorn hat from the stand next to his bed. He turned and looked once again at the silver chest containing the scrolls with Shaddai’s Word imprinted upon them.
Levi had been privileged to study a set of scrolls while in Wayland in the service of the king. Stephen had been responsible for his conversion to the faith, and the king had allowed him to be tutored in the royal palace itself. It saddened him to think that Stephen may have actually lost his faith in the Shaddai’s prophecy concerning the Deliverer.
Levi stepped closer to the chest and ran a hand along its surface. All the power of Heaven and Earth is contained within these parchments, he thought. The chest had been loaded into the hold of the ship back in Hopple. But when Levi realized it, he had immediately commanded the chest to be made secure in his own cabin. “The Word of the Lord will have nothing but the best accommodations aboard my ship.”
The sound of his own voice made him aware of the sudden silence. The men had been set to the task of cleaning the ship, taking on food and water, and their bogus cargo-things that were all noisy by necessity. Levi stood very still. He heard nothing, no activity beyond the door to his cabin. He went to the door and reached for the