VI – Inside a church

Inside the nearest church he could find, Connor gave way to shattered sobs of pain and grief. He had murdered Erja. Though he didn't love her, he cared deeply for her. He had always had. And he had taken her head... even worse, she had offered it to him and he had ruthlessly beheaded her.

"You look troubled, my Son." He raised his eyes to find the local priest, an elder bald man in his sixties, sitting by him, sympathetically offering his aide. Connor straightened a bit, wiped the tears off his eyes and looked away. "Would you like to confess your sins?"

All in him compelled him to say he didn't. "Yes."

"I hear you."

"My daughter died a month ago. Murdered." Connor hissed. "I've hunted and killed people to learn who did it. I..." Connor saw how the priest felt uneasy and it boosted him to continue... for some reason. "I killed my own wife... I did unmentionable things to her... and to my son." With self-disgust, he felt his mouth stretching and forming a smile.

The priest stared away in horror at this sinner speaking gladly of the atrocities that he had committed, then placed his hand on Connor's. "The Lord shall forgive you, my son, if you show true repentance. Pray twenty Hail Mary's and read in the Bible—".

"The Bible?" Connor burst into sudden laughter.

"The book of the Lord. " The priest happened to have a copy of it with him and he showed it uncomfortably to the Highlander.

"Ah, the Bible." Connor was now mocking the priest. "I heard it contains truth."

"It does. It tells of the sacrifice our Lord did to redeem our sins." The priest added.

"That shall be his undoing." Connor grunted, standing up, eerily amused. "I am unworthy of being here, so I'll leave." He turned to the alley and walked heavily out. "I have something to say." He returned his eyes to the front, finding the priest alone. Not another soul was in the church. "Some other day, perhaps." He pointed at an image of Jesus Christ. "I'll see you soon, buddy," he blasphemed before pacing away.

He left holy ground, wondering what he found so amusing in his appalling and ununderstandable attitude. Then he felt a buzz in his head. Another immortal. He glanced around and returned to the church. The priest was gone and he hid behind a lateral column.

A man dressed in a neat suit and a long coat walked in, carrying a briefcase with him. He was Japanese, and he looked oddly familiar to Connor but he couldn't know where he had met him. The Asian began to look for someone, who had to be the Highlander.

"Looking for me?" he called out defiantly from a dark corner.

The Japanese turned and a face of anger posed on his face. He left the briefcase and produced a katana from under his coat. Connor approached simply, not bothering in drawing out his own weapon.

"Connor MacLeod!" the Asian shouted.

"Yes, that's me. And who are you?"

"I'm Kajima Akira."

"Oh, hi." Connor mocked with his face at the way the man spoke as if he should know him.

"Draw out your sword and let's settle this." The other said anxiously.

"You really want to do that? You want my head?" Connor defied, viciously amused by the situation.

"Of course. My honour's at stake."

"Honour? What a cliché coming from your people. But fine." Connor quickly grabbed Kajima's blade by the sharp part. His hands bled but he paid no heed to them. He placed it on his neck and made sure it sliced him, however superficial the cut was. The blood began to flow, and a tiny drop started to leave its mark on Kajima's blade. "Come on." He defied. "Just a little cut and you'll have my head, my quickening, and your pathetic little honour."

Kajima clenched his fists on the hilt of the katana. He wanted to do it. Connor could see it in his eyes. "Iyé... Iyé..." he quarrelled with himself.

"Of course not, you fool. This is holy ground. Whoever your mentor was, and he was surely an idiot to train such a fool, he surely told you that this is holy ground, and we can't kill on holy ground." Connor leant a millimetre against the katana, feeling his skin opening at the kiss of the sharp blade.

"What... what are you doing?" The Japanese asked in horror.

"I'm curious. Don't you want to know what might happen if one of us kill on holy ground. Who knows?" Connor bullied. "You might become stronger. Then you might be a match for a worm!"

The Highlander let the blade go and Kajima retired it carefully from Connor's neck, focusing on the bloodstained blade. He shook his head.

"Let's go outside, Highlander. And we'll finish this."

"I don't fancy, Jappo." Connor grunted. "I will stay here as long as I want."

The Asian produced a handkerchief and wiped the blood off the sword. Then he hid the katana under the coat and stepped back.

"You're a coward, MacLeod. A dishonourable coward... still a barbarian!" Something lit up in Connor when he was called like that. "Jin Ke was right. But I'll wait. Patience is a virtue."

Kajima left. Connor watched him do so, wanting to run after him to take his head on the spot, so innerly desiring his head, his and the heads of all the others. But memories were pervading him, making the bloodlust he had been feeling flicker and fade, replaced by recollections of a different time and place...

AUTHOR'S NOTE: the comment about the Bible is taken from the trailer of Christopher Lambert's coming film "Metamorphosis."