.45 Caliber Soul
Chapter 5 – The MissionThe guy seemed harmless enough—if he'd wanted to do me in, I'd already have been showing St. Peter my passport—but Raphael, at least, wasn't taking any chances. He pushed forward between Talim and me, his blade drawn and pointed at the man's throat. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced," he said.
"I am Father Johannes Sarkander; I'm the parish priest here," he replied evenly. It was only as he said this that I noticed the Roman collar peeking out from under his cape. "I can understand your fears, Raphael, but there is no need for your sword to be drawn."
"How do you know my name?" Raphael asked.
"I know all of your names: Talim, Xianghua, Mitsurugi, Seamus. Now come quickly, we have much to do and little time in which to do it."
Fr. Johannes turned on his heel and strode off up the street with a purpose. Any one of the five of us could have shot him or stuck him from behind, but the possibility didn't seem to bother him. I looked at my companions; they all had that what-do-we-do-now-boss? sort of expression on their faces. "I think we're supposed to go with him," I said, and I jogged a little to catch up "Ah, excuse me, Father," I said to him. "Do you mind if I ask a few questions?"
"I'm sure you have many questions. I will answer as I am able."
The others were following me, Raphael leading the horse by the reins. "Let's start with, ah—where in blue blazes are we?"
"You are in the town of Hollenschau, in Silesia."
"Silesia," I said, trying to visualize a map of Europe from sixteen hundred something, "you mean, like, ah, Silesia as in somewhere between Germany and Poland, that Silesia?"
"Yes. The Kingdom of Poland is north and east of here, Bohemia and the Palantines are to the west, Moravia and Austria to the south, the Magyars and Ottomans beyond there to the southeast; Silesia is a part of the domain of the Holy Roman Emperor."
"Oh." The Holy Roman Empire: all I remembered about the Holy Roman Empire was that it wasn't particularly holy or Roman. "Where did everybody go?"
Fr. Johannes told his story in an animated voice, with a lot of gesturing. "These are the lands of Baron von Labkowitz, who is loyal to the Emperor. Bitkowsky von Bystritz threw in his lot with the Bohemian rebels, and they sent a regiment to occupy the town and levy a war tax. Baron von Labkowitz and most of the people fled north with whatever they could carry. The Bohemians began to sack the town, but then Gabor's Magyar cavalry attacked from the south and drove them out—and they began sacking the town. The Bohemians returned with cannon yesterday, drove off Gabor, sacked the town a third time, and now they are marching east to attack the Poles."
"So terrible," Talim said sadly.
"Oh, dear Talim, you do not know the truth you speak! Armies marching to and fro, war and death and sacking and burning, all the common evil that men do to one another, were that all we suffered, it would be terrible enough, but—" He stopped abruptly and turned to face us. "There is a greater evil at work here. Von Bystritz has always been an enemy to the Church and the people of these lands, but lately . . . his cruelty is much greater, he has crossed boundaries that even the most wicked of rulers dared not cross before. I sense . . . I sense that he no longer acts out of his own greed and malice, but as an instrument of another whose evil is greater than his." He paused, looking at each of us for a moment. "And that, that is why you were summoned."
"I think I get it here, Father," I said. "We're supposed to take out this von Bista-er, von Bister-bis-bus-whatever, right?"
He looked at me like I was crazy. "You couldn't possibly; there aren't enough of you. No, no, your purpose is quite different, and far nobler than assassination." He turned back around and strode down the street.
There was nothing for it but to keep following him.
After about another five minutes of brisk walking through the streets of Hollenschau, he led us down an alley. About halfway to the end he stopped. "Nadeza!" he called, "They are here."
After a half a minute or so, a little nun dressed in black peered around the corner of a building at us. She was one of those ladies that might have been forty, or fifty, or maybe a well-preserved sixty or a weather-beaten thirty. "Father Jan!" she said happily. "I was beginning to worry."
"Your worry is misplaced, Sister Nadeza. Take us to the children."
Sister Nadeza led us into a stable, where there were six kids, three boys and three girls, the oldest about ten or eleven, and the youngest a toddler. The boys were named Citrad, Bedrich, and Georg; the girls were, Rickena, Dusana, and Zelenka. As the Sister explained, four of them were orphans who had been taken in by the town convent; the other two (Bedrich, age six or so, and little toddler Zelenka) had gotten separated from their family when the Bohemians attacked the first time.
"I do not pretend to know why," Father Jan said, "but whatever evil is about seems most interested in these children. You were summoned here to protect them and conduct them to safety."
"Define 'safety.'"
"The Baron and the Polish army are to the northeast of here, about 20 miles away. That is where most of the townspeople have fled; that would be the nearest safe place."
It sounded like a plan to me, but I didn't feel like I had standing to make the commitment on behalf of everybody. I looked at my companions. Talim seemed sympathetic. Mitsurugi looked noncommittal, but then again, he was the sort who always showed a poker face. Raphael looked out-and-out skeptical, and Xianghua, I couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Could we have a couple minutes to discuss things?" I asked. Father Jan nodded.
We stepped out into the alley. "Here's how I see this: we all agree we're here for some reason; and I think we just found what that reason was. What do you think?"
Raphael was the first to speak up. "This priest, he seems an honest man, but all of his talk of malevolent powers chasing small children—I fear the poor man has gone beyond the bounds of sanity."
"It might be," I replied, "but two and a half hours ago, you were in Paris and Mitsurugi here was in a village on Hokkaido, and I was somewhere down a spider-hole in Afghanistan, so this day's pretty insane already. Besides, it's not like we have anything better to do."
"Those children need our help," Talim said.
"We are warriors," Mitsurugi said, looking straight at Raphael, "and a warrior's duty is to defend the innocent."
Raphael shrugged. "I've always wanted to tour Silesia. This seems a good time to do it."
"Xianghua?" I asked.
She smiled that mischievous little smile of hers. "Someone has to keep you out of trouble, Seamus."
We went back into the stable. "Father Jan," I announced, "looks like you've got an escort."
. . . to be continued . . .