Father Joseph, whom Giles recognized as Buffy's confessor from several nights before, reached into his briefcase and placed a notebook filled with papers in front of them. "The diocese has inherited a collection of books from a parishioner who died a few weeks ago. Will here tells me he is a collector of books and manuscripts, so I am hoping to determine the value of these books and how best to dispose of them." He pushed the book towards Spike, who opened the front cover. "I took pictures of a sampling of pages from the collection to see if there is anything of value in it. There are a few illuminated manuscripts and writings of early church fathers that I think the diocese will want to keep, but otherwise, I suspect it will all be auctioned off."
Giles craned his neck, trying to see over the table to the other side, but could not see inside the notebook.
"Come, Rupert, swap with Anne and take a look at this. Rupert spent some time with the British Museum, he's an expert on antiquities." Giles didn't need to be asked twice, he switched places with Buffy and delved into the fat book, which held digital photographs of pages from the book collection.
Father Joseph clapped his hands. "How lucky we are to have two such intelligent gentlemen to look over our books." He pulled out a post-it note pad and a pen, saying, "If you recognize any of these manuscripts, maybe you can identify them for me."
"Well, that's a page out of the Pergamon Codex." Giles pointed to it, "I have that in my collection." Buffy wrote down the name on the post-it, and placed it on the page. "I have contacts that will be interested in it."
Spike turned the page. The priest commented, "There is a whole collection of those, I asked a Chinese parishioner if he could read it, but he didn't recognize any of the characters."
Spike studied the page closely. "It's encrypted, in a way. The characters are deliberately malformed to confuse the casual observer. What do you think, Rupert?"
"Chinese is not my language, I'm afraid."
"This," Spike said, pointing to a character on the page, "is a diary dating from the Boxer rebellion. Chao Ling, ring any bells?"
Giles paled at the reference to bell ringing, and then wracked his brain for any memory of the name. "Xue Mei's watcher."
"Correct. I'm surprised it didn't burn in all the fire. I know several people who would be interested in this, including me. You've got a curious collection on your hands, priest." Spike and Giles continued their perusal, Buffy writing notes, possible market values, and potential buyers on various slips of paper, which were entered into the notebook. "Take a look at this, Anne. What is it?" Spike turned the book towards Buffy. Giles noted that the characters were similar to the ones Buffy had shown him the night before.
Buffy pulled the book towards her. "A list. Of condemned prisoners. Their names, the date of conviction, the method of execution, and execution date, and executioner. It was kept to prevent the assassin from being accused of murder. See, here's Jwan-kar, Ahn-met, Dran-tor. They were active in the time of changes. Nasty piece of work, but that's what it is." Studying the page closer, she pointed and blanched, "Here is the record of execution for Altam-kal. The minstrel of the Wanderer."
"Really?" Spike rose from his seat and stood over her. "I'll be. Who did it?"
"Ahn-met. Beheading."
"I didn't know." Spike patted Buffy on the shoulder, quickly flipping the page. "Guess I never asked. What's this?" He pointed to another page, which contained similar characters, but was clearly from a different book.
"I don't recognize the script." He squatted next to her, watching over her shoulder.
"It's music. See, here." she pointed, "There's the bass part, and the tenor. The second tenor sings this one, and there's a soprano part. It looks to be a liturgical piece, but I don't recognize it."
"The Songs of the Guardian Rose of the Spring." Spike pointed to some characters at the top. "Fancy title for a little ditty."
"No, look, it's been put into the canon. It carries scriptural authority." Buffy began printing the title onto a Post-it note, taking her eyes from the page.
"Figured it out, here's the words." Spike ran his finger down the page. "It's the story of the woman at the well, much like the one from the Gospels."
The priest interjected. "Really, how fascinating! Can you translate it for us?"
"Well, it's meant to be sung, really. All scriptures in this language are sung.." Buffy gazed upon the page. "The bass part is for the Father, the tenors for the Son and Spirit, and a soprano sings for the woman at the well. There's a chorus as well. Will, can you set a pitch? We can sing the tenor and soprano parts easily enough." Spike began tracing his finger through the music, quietly singing the tenor in a haunting tone. Buffy came alongside him, answering the call of the tenor as their voices entwined. The priest and Giles listened, entranced, as the two sang in perfect harmony. When they finished, the priest had tears in his eyes, as did Buffy.
Giles couldn't resist. "So what does it say, really?"
Buffy shrugged. "It's the story of the woman at the well. She meets Jesus, as he appears in that dimension, knows him, and is redeemed." She read out loud,
"And it came to pass, in the days when the Wanderer roamed upon the earth, that a woman and her daughter were drawing water from a well. The Wanderer, the Bearer of All Burdens, came to them and asked, "Will you serve me?" The Woman of Sorrows, answered, "You know me not, yet I serve." She poured out her water for him. The Wanderer told her, "Truly, I know you. You have five husbands, and the one you have now is not yours. I shall give to you your false husband as your true servant. He will know my light, and walk in it." The Woman of Sorrows replied, "I do not ask for such a gift. I am unworthy." The Wanderer told her, "I know your true name. You serve me truly. Your feet have never wavered from the path I have set before you. What was lost will be restored to you. But in the time between, you will bear my burdens and know my suffering. Your only relief will be in the flesh and blood of the True Servant." The woman fell on her face, with her daughter, and wept and sang praises at the feet of the Wanderer. "I shall pour my blessing upon your and your kin, and they will serve me as one mind." And the Bearer of All Burdens spoke to her, naming her true name, and placing his mark upon her. From that time on, the one who was false became true, the father became the servant of the child, and walked from darkness into light."
Giles mused thoughtfully, "Quite a odd spin on the original story."
The priest concurred. "Yes, I'd be interested to hear more of this book. Song of the Rose, you say?"
Spike interjected. "That's close enough. Rose is a approximation of the writer's name, such as Song of Solomon is attributed to Solomon. It is said that the Guardian Rose is the daughter of the Woman of Sorrows. So, she would have been at the well when the Wanderer passed. How many of these books do you have?"
"I've no idea, several boxes." The priest flipped through the pages, coming to one which showed a painting which appeared to be paint upon gold leaf. "There are also several books of paintings like these – they look like patterns for Orthodox icons or some such."
Spike and Buffy put their heads together, fingering the edges of the photograph of the painting. "Amazing," Spike breathed unnecessarily. "It's exquisite."
"Do you know what it is?"
Buffy was completely absorbed by the picture. "Yes. Of course. It's a mar-kuman. You are correct, it is a pattern for a larger work. There should be five in this set. I wonder who did this one? The mark is obscured in the photograph. I must see the book." She pushed the book towards Giles. "This picture is the birth of the Wanderer." Giles peered down to the page, seeing the depiction of a man in red robes delivering a calm child from its mother. The figures were flat, laid out on the gold panel. She turned the page, finding another stylistic painting. "The Wanderer teaching upon the hill."
The priest whispered, "The Sermon on the Mount."
"The very same." Spike passed the book to the priest. "But with a twist, as well."
"And this?" The priest turned the page, revealing a depiction of a woman wielding an axe, bringing it down upon the neck of a man. "The Wanderer's death?"
"No, the minstrel's, Altam-kal." Buffy stood up from the table, pacing, rubbing her arms. "I must excuse myself, please." She rushed from the table, headed for the bathrooms in the back of the restaurant.
Giles made the connection. "That would be John the Baptist, then?"
Spike looked after the departing slayer. "Yes, I suppose. I never made the connection before. He has his own books within the canon of scripture. In that dimension, at least."
Giles studied the vampire. "You have them?"
"No." Spike looked thoughtful, "But perhaps the priest here has more in his collection. Perhaps we should come to visit you and take a thorough accounting of these books. If nothing else, I'd like to make good copies of them. I'm willing to pay for the right to duplicate them."
The priest answered enthusiastically, "I'd be honored to have you come and peruse the collection. Perhaps we can work out an agreement, obtain translations of some of the texts."
"In the meantime, I suggest you keep them under lock and key. There are some occult texts in there that should not fall into the wrong hands." Giles suspected that Spike was just the wrong set of hands to obtain the books, but bit his tongue.
A few minutes later, Buffy returned, looking composed and smelling faintly of cloves. The party wrapped up their discussion, paid the server, and left the restaurant.
Giles craned his neck, trying to see over the table to the other side, but could not see inside the notebook.
"Come, Rupert, swap with Anne and take a look at this. Rupert spent some time with the British Museum, he's an expert on antiquities." Giles didn't need to be asked twice, he switched places with Buffy and delved into the fat book, which held digital photographs of pages from the book collection.
Father Joseph clapped his hands. "How lucky we are to have two such intelligent gentlemen to look over our books." He pulled out a post-it note pad and a pen, saying, "If you recognize any of these manuscripts, maybe you can identify them for me."
"Well, that's a page out of the Pergamon Codex." Giles pointed to it, "I have that in my collection." Buffy wrote down the name on the post-it, and placed it on the page. "I have contacts that will be interested in it."
Spike turned the page. The priest commented, "There is a whole collection of those, I asked a Chinese parishioner if he could read it, but he didn't recognize any of the characters."
Spike studied the page closely. "It's encrypted, in a way. The characters are deliberately malformed to confuse the casual observer. What do you think, Rupert?"
"Chinese is not my language, I'm afraid."
"This," Spike said, pointing to a character on the page, "is a diary dating from the Boxer rebellion. Chao Ling, ring any bells?"
Giles paled at the reference to bell ringing, and then wracked his brain for any memory of the name. "Xue Mei's watcher."
"Correct. I'm surprised it didn't burn in all the fire. I know several people who would be interested in this, including me. You've got a curious collection on your hands, priest." Spike and Giles continued their perusal, Buffy writing notes, possible market values, and potential buyers on various slips of paper, which were entered into the notebook. "Take a look at this, Anne. What is it?" Spike turned the book towards Buffy. Giles noted that the characters were similar to the ones Buffy had shown him the night before.
Buffy pulled the book towards her. "A list. Of condemned prisoners. Their names, the date of conviction, the method of execution, and execution date, and executioner. It was kept to prevent the assassin from being accused of murder. See, here's Jwan-kar, Ahn-met, Dran-tor. They were active in the time of changes. Nasty piece of work, but that's what it is." Studying the page closer, she pointed and blanched, "Here is the record of execution for Altam-kal. The minstrel of the Wanderer."
"Really?" Spike rose from his seat and stood over her. "I'll be. Who did it?"
"Ahn-met. Beheading."
"I didn't know." Spike patted Buffy on the shoulder, quickly flipping the page. "Guess I never asked. What's this?" He pointed to another page, which contained similar characters, but was clearly from a different book.
"I don't recognize the script." He squatted next to her, watching over her shoulder.
"It's music. See, here." she pointed, "There's the bass part, and the tenor. The second tenor sings this one, and there's a soprano part. It looks to be a liturgical piece, but I don't recognize it."
"The Songs of the Guardian Rose of the Spring." Spike pointed to some characters at the top. "Fancy title for a little ditty."
"No, look, it's been put into the canon. It carries scriptural authority." Buffy began printing the title onto a Post-it note, taking her eyes from the page.
"Figured it out, here's the words." Spike ran his finger down the page. "It's the story of the woman at the well, much like the one from the Gospels."
The priest interjected. "Really, how fascinating! Can you translate it for us?"
"Well, it's meant to be sung, really. All scriptures in this language are sung.." Buffy gazed upon the page. "The bass part is for the Father, the tenors for the Son and Spirit, and a soprano sings for the woman at the well. There's a chorus as well. Will, can you set a pitch? We can sing the tenor and soprano parts easily enough." Spike began tracing his finger through the music, quietly singing the tenor in a haunting tone. Buffy came alongside him, answering the call of the tenor as their voices entwined. The priest and Giles listened, entranced, as the two sang in perfect harmony. When they finished, the priest had tears in his eyes, as did Buffy.
Giles couldn't resist. "So what does it say, really?"
Buffy shrugged. "It's the story of the woman at the well. She meets Jesus, as he appears in that dimension, knows him, and is redeemed." She read out loud,
"And it came to pass, in the days when the Wanderer roamed upon the earth, that a woman and her daughter were drawing water from a well. The Wanderer, the Bearer of All Burdens, came to them and asked, "Will you serve me?" The Woman of Sorrows, answered, "You know me not, yet I serve." She poured out her water for him. The Wanderer told her, "Truly, I know you. You have five husbands, and the one you have now is not yours. I shall give to you your false husband as your true servant. He will know my light, and walk in it." The Woman of Sorrows replied, "I do not ask for such a gift. I am unworthy." The Wanderer told her, "I know your true name. You serve me truly. Your feet have never wavered from the path I have set before you. What was lost will be restored to you. But in the time between, you will bear my burdens and know my suffering. Your only relief will be in the flesh and blood of the True Servant." The woman fell on her face, with her daughter, and wept and sang praises at the feet of the Wanderer. "I shall pour my blessing upon your and your kin, and they will serve me as one mind." And the Bearer of All Burdens spoke to her, naming her true name, and placing his mark upon her. From that time on, the one who was false became true, the father became the servant of the child, and walked from darkness into light."
Giles mused thoughtfully, "Quite a odd spin on the original story."
The priest concurred. "Yes, I'd be interested to hear more of this book. Song of the Rose, you say?"
Spike interjected. "That's close enough. Rose is a approximation of the writer's name, such as Song of Solomon is attributed to Solomon. It is said that the Guardian Rose is the daughter of the Woman of Sorrows. So, she would have been at the well when the Wanderer passed. How many of these books do you have?"
"I've no idea, several boxes." The priest flipped through the pages, coming to one which showed a painting which appeared to be paint upon gold leaf. "There are also several books of paintings like these – they look like patterns for Orthodox icons or some such."
Spike and Buffy put their heads together, fingering the edges of the photograph of the painting. "Amazing," Spike breathed unnecessarily. "It's exquisite."
"Do you know what it is?"
Buffy was completely absorbed by the picture. "Yes. Of course. It's a mar-kuman. You are correct, it is a pattern for a larger work. There should be five in this set. I wonder who did this one? The mark is obscured in the photograph. I must see the book." She pushed the book towards Giles. "This picture is the birth of the Wanderer." Giles peered down to the page, seeing the depiction of a man in red robes delivering a calm child from its mother. The figures were flat, laid out on the gold panel. She turned the page, finding another stylistic painting. "The Wanderer teaching upon the hill."
The priest whispered, "The Sermon on the Mount."
"The very same." Spike passed the book to the priest. "But with a twist, as well."
"And this?" The priest turned the page, revealing a depiction of a woman wielding an axe, bringing it down upon the neck of a man. "The Wanderer's death?"
"No, the minstrel's, Altam-kal." Buffy stood up from the table, pacing, rubbing her arms. "I must excuse myself, please." She rushed from the table, headed for the bathrooms in the back of the restaurant.
Giles made the connection. "That would be John the Baptist, then?"
Spike looked after the departing slayer. "Yes, I suppose. I never made the connection before. He has his own books within the canon of scripture. In that dimension, at least."
Giles studied the vampire. "You have them?"
"No." Spike looked thoughtful, "But perhaps the priest here has more in his collection. Perhaps we should come to visit you and take a thorough accounting of these books. If nothing else, I'd like to make good copies of them. I'm willing to pay for the right to duplicate them."
The priest answered enthusiastically, "I'd be honored to have you come and peruse the collection. Perhaps we can work out an agreement, obtain translations of some of the texts."
"In the meantime, I suggest you keep them under lock and key. There are some occult texts in there that should not fall into the wrong hands." Giles suspected that Spike was just the wrong set of hands to obtain the books, but bit his tongue.
A few minutes later, Buffy returned, looking composed and smelling faintly of cloves. The party wrapped up their discussion, paid the server, and left the restaurant.