Chapter 4: Obeah Man
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2013 OCTOBER
MONTH FOUR: HAITI
The first hunt in their fourth month was for a death cult in Haiti. Hamsa had news of the cult blackmailing American businessmen for ransom money and then killing them anyway. They were located somewhere in Haiti. Namla and Sah-him were sent to eliminate this death cult.
The League plane made a smooth landing at the Port-au-Prince International Airport and taxied to a private hangar. They would not require passports or any of the usual international checks. Nor would their baggage. They unloaded their gear and loaded it into a special jeep next to the plane. Their driver took them to a local hotel.
"The jeep is yours for your stay," their driver told them and then he handed them keys to their room and left down the road. They hauled their gear up to their room and settled in.
"I will check the local contacts," Namla told Sah-him.
"I will check with the local spirits," Sah-him replied. They were splitting the workload for this trip as evenly as possible.
Namla slipped out of the room while Sah-him got comfortable and opened his Inner Eye. Without a Nexus, it is harder to concentrate. But he could easily see several of the local spirits. The very familiar figure of his father was present. Two curious black spirits had come to see what was going on. But the second white spirit was unexpected. Haiti does not have a large white population.
This was the spirit of an older white man. He was very formal looking. He had dark hair and a mustache with piercing blue eyes. He was a tall man.
"Can I help you?" Sah-him asked the spirit. He tried English first. The spirit could be attached to one of the victims.
"Yes," the spirit replied. "My son needs you," the spirit told him.
"Where is your son?" Sah-him asked the spirit.
"I will take you to him," the spirit replied.
"One moment," Sah-him replied. He sent a text off to Namla. Spirit guiding me to the possible victim. Follow my phone. Then he changed into his League gear and armed up. "I am ready."
The spirit left the room and Sah-him followed. He climbed to the roof. He followed the spirit from the rooftops through Port-au-Prince to one of the more remote towns of Thomazeau.
"There," the spirit replied. The spirit pointed out a younger man. The man was not very different in appearance from the spirit except in age and a lack of a mustache. That lack allowed Sah-him to recognize him. Holy crap! That's Bruce Wayne! What is he doing here? Bruce Wayne was his father's business rival from Gotham City. He was easy to recognize as Sah-him was in his old life.
Sah-him sent Namla another text. The spirit did not lead me to a victim but to Bruce Wayne.
Follow Bruce Wayne, Namla replied by text. He is likely investigating the same death cult.
Sah-him was confused. How would Namla know that? It will be done, he replied. He continued to follow Wayne.
Namla had been correct. Bruce Wayne was investigating the same death cult. He was following the ransom money for two Gothamites that had been kidnapped by the cult. The leader of the cult was Obeah Man. Sah-him could see the auras of the two men in the room, even if he could not see them with his eyes. They were very dark. They were heavily influenced by evil. They would not release their prisoners.
Namla found him not long afterward. "I have found the fire circle where they are keeping the captives," Namla told him. "We will work to free the hostages and end this death cult led by Obeah Man. I can't believe that this Obeah Man dares to claim Voodoo as the name of his death cult." He led Sah-him to where he had hidden the jeep nearby.
"But… isn't Voodoo evil?" Sah-him asked him in confusion.
"No more than Christianity is evil," Namla replied. "People do evil in the name of religion all the time. It doesn't mean that religion is evil, just the men doing evil. All religions hold truth. To kill another man because you don't like his truth, just makes you a liar. It makes you evil."
"But this Obeah Man is using Voodoo, right?" Sah-him asked in confusion. They climbed in the jeep and drove along a rural road out into the countryside.
"NO!" Namla protested. "He is using his magic and illusion to make it look like Voodoo. It is not Voodoo. He is using the people here and their beliefs for his benefit. The deaths give him power. Their beliefs give him power. Death magic and black magic. Not Voodoo."
After a pause, "The money?" Sah-him asked.
"He steals the money and kills the kidnapped people anyway," Namla said. "That makes it a death cult."
"How do we end this evil cult?" Sah-him asked.
"We will wait for the last of the cult followers to arrive," Namla said. "They will bring the ransom. Dart all of them. Then we will free the Drakes and have them take the ransom money back to the town. We will cleanse the ground of this evil when they leave."
"That sounds like a good plan," Sah-him replied. "Let's look at the area to see what the ground looks like."
They parked their jeep deep in the bushes on the side of the road out of sight. They walked down the small valley to the location of the fire circle. They could see the bright hot coals lighting up the area. The wooden stake was upright in the center of the small island at the entrance of the fire circle. Two human forms were tied to the wooden stake. A small wooden table was off to one side of the two victims inside the fire circle.
Outside of the fire circle, there was a small crowd of men gathered. All of them are local Haitians. One man was dressed flamboyantly. He had a top hat on with a small sleeveless vest over his bare chest.
The two League men crept into the darkness surrounding the fire circle. "I will position myself on this side of the crowd. You take that side. Dart the men at the back. They will not be noticed," Namla said.
"I will await your signal," Sah-him replied with a bowed head. He took his position in stealth on the far side of the small gathering of the small cult members.
A new jeep came screeching to a halt at the edge of the circle. Two men jumped out with the bag of ransom money.
=Obeah Man!= one of the new men shouted in Haitian Creole.
=Louis and Malcien,= Obeah Man greeted the two new men in Haitian Creole. His top hat marked him from the others.
=The money,= Louis cried with a smile as he tossed the satchel at Obeah Man.
=All went well?= Obeah Man asked.
=Like taking blood from a wound,= Malcien replied with a vicious grin.
"There! You have your filthy ransom," Jack Drake replied from his position tied to the post. "Now keep your part of the bargain! Set us free! Let us out of here!"
"I fear there has been a misunderstanding, Mr. Drake," Obeah Man replied with a vicious smile. "It is your souls that will be freed. Ransom or not, YOU are going to die!" He laughed at the dumbstruck expression of fear and anger on his victim's face.
Obeah Man turned to his followers. He raised his makeshift Voodoo staff above his head. =The moon is full! The coals burn hot! All around the invisible Fire Loas writhe and curl! In the names of Baron Samedi and Papa Legba, we beseech them,= Obeah Man called out with a strident voice in French. =Accept the sacrifice we offer. In turn, give us what we seek… POWER!= He walked out onto the fire pit coals.
=Join me,= Obeah Man called in French out to his cult followers, =Do not be afraid. Believe! Believe! Only believe and nothing will harm you!= Slowly the cult followers began to fire walk with Obeah Man.
Namla made a motion and immediately, Sah-him started to dart the cult followers at the back of the pack on his side. They silently fell to the ground paralyzed.
=What?= Malcien cried out in Haitian Creole as a shadow suddenly struck him from the dark.
Sah-him paused after darting his last cult member to see if Namla needed his assistance. What he saw instead was a dark figure in a cloak engaged in full hand-to-hand combat with the cult members.
=An evil spirit!= one of the men who had been struck cried in Haitian Creole as he tried to recover from the blows to his stomach.
Sah-him darted him and the other two men that the cloaked man had knocked to the ground.
=He is not a spirit! He is a man! Stop him!= Obeah Man shouted in French even as he shot the cloaked man as he crossed the coal fire pit.
That was the first time Sah-him had a clear look at the cloaked man. That's Batman! What is he doing out of Gotham? Sah-him looked over at the remaining cult members. Most of them had been knocked down. Five of the men still stood. Two were still in the fire pit moving back to the outside. Sah-him glanced toward where Namla had hidden before but the man was no longer in his hiding spot.
Sah-him edged around the clearing towards the remaining standing men. He was able to dart two more. The two men in the fire pit finally climbed back on the side and watched the fight between Batman and Obeah Man. One was on the side with Batman and went to assist Obeah Man.
Sah-him watched in confusion. Batman is more skilled than Obeah Man. He has easily eluded the blows and the knife that the man wields. Yet, he is using only the most basic blows to deflect the hits or the knife. It is obvious that Obeah Man is doing his utmost to kill Batman, but Batman in return is doing nothing in return to stop Obeah Man from harming him. What is wrong with him? Does he want to lose?
It was a confusing battle. Even with multiple people attempting to kill Batman and use the fire pit to kill him, Batman was doing his utmost to minimize the damage he inflicted on his enemies. He wasn't even stopping them. How can he possibly save the Drakes if he is unwilling to stop the evil of this cult?
Eventually, the battle between Obeah Man and Batman moved out onto the fire pit. Obeah Man got a lucky shot across Batman's chest before Batman decided to end the battle. He picked up and physically threw Obeah Man at the remaining men standing on the outside of the fire pit.
Sah-him immediately took the opportunity to dart as many of the remaining cult members as he could while they were down. Namla also took the opportunity and he saw a dart appear on the back of Obeah Man's neck.
=You cannot take the sacrifice,= the last man inside the circle cried in French. He raised his knife. =The Loas demand a sacrifice.=
=No one is demanding anything,= Batman growled in French at the man before he knocked the knife out of his hand.
=They must die,= the man said as he ran forward with his arms raised.
Batman stood between the Drakes and the wild-eyed man. He braced himself and gave a solid punch to the man's temple. The man stumbled and finally crumbled unconscious to the ground.
Batman picked up the knife and quickly cut the ropes holding the Drakes to the pole.
"I'm so thirsty," Janet Drake said as sweat poured down her face.
"Here, drink this, Honey," Jack Drake said as he reached for the pitcher on the nearby table. It was the same pitcher that Obeah Man had been taunting them with the whole time.
Janet Drake drank straight from the pitcher and guzzled the water. Then handed the pitcher to Jack.
"I can take you across one at a time," Batman told the two Drakes. "I'll be quick," he told them. "I don't think they will be out for long."
"Ughh!" Janet made a noise and started to grab at her throat.
Batman looked over. "The water!" he yelled and then knocked the pitcher of water out of Jack Drake's hands. Janet had collapsed to the ground.
"NO!" Batman yelled as Jack collapsed to the ground next to Janet.
Batman quickly noted that Obeah Man and his men were still down. He quickly grabbed Janet and ran with her body across the fire pit to the jeep. He gently placed her in the back and ran back for Jack. Once he placed Jack in the Jeep, Batman took one last look at Obeah Man's group. He smacked the steering wheel of the jeep and then raced off toward the nearest hospital.
Sah-him and Namla slowly came out of their hiding places in their League gear. Namla retrieved the last cult member that was still on the island in the fire circle and together they laid out the whole death cult members.
"Now, Sah-him, we need to determine who is evil and who is worth saving," Namla said.
Sah-him nodded. "Obeah Man is the source. But the others… we need to see if they are past redemption," he agreed. He opened his Inner Eye. He saw the strange spirit first.
"Is your son still here?" Sah-him asked the spirit.
"No," the spirit replied. "My son refuses to remove the cancer poisoning the body. Will you remove this cancer?" the spirit asked.
"We will," Namla replied.
"Good," the spirit replied. "The body can't heal if you don't remove the cancer." The spirit faded away.
"Namla?" Sah-him asked. "Does that mean…?" Bruce Wayne is Batman… Holy Shit!
"It does," Namla replied. "The Detective was once considered to be a worthy Heir to Ra's al Ghul. He was offered a chance to join the family," he said. "The Detective's father was a physician. To honor his father, the Detective swore to never take a life. To never replace evil with death."
"Was that not just his father?" Sah-him asked.
"It was," Namla replied.
"Then his father does not understand his decision," Sah-him replied with a sad sigh. "But he loves his son."
"He does," Namla replied. "In Gotham, the family does not operate out of respect for the Detective. We assist the Detective as we can… as we did here. Now, what do you see when you look at the living with your Inner Eye?" he asked.
Sah-him still had his Inner Eye open. He turned away from where the spirits had gathered around the fallen men on the ground and looked at them.
Obeah Man's color was a dark dirty tan-gray color. It was almost a black-gray shot with streaks of maroon. Next to him, Louis had a dark brown color. Dirty orange shot through it. The next few men had lighter colors of red, blood-red, blue, royal blue, and violet. Then came Malcien, he also had an almost black spectral violet color.
Sah-him turned to Namla. It was cleansing. Namla's bright pale lilac color surrounded him. Sah-him needed to see the lighter colors of the spectrum after all that darkness. He closed his Inner Eye.
"Obeah Man is the source. Dark dirty tan-gray," Sah-him replied. "Louis is Dark brown with dirty orange. Malcien is a black spectral violet. The others are dark, but may be salvageable."
"Three is a good number to cleanse the land," Namla replied. "The rest we can leave. Hopefully, they can return to balance. Come. Help me move these three. We will purify this land and return it to balance."
"The land?" Sah-him asked. He turned to look at the island in the fire pit.
"Open your Inner Eye," Namla told him.
Sah-him did. He could see a dark shadow over the little island inside the fire pit. He could see the Fire Loas moving in the fire pit. He quickly closed his eyes and then concentrated to close his Inner Eye. "I see," he told Namla.
They moved Obeah Man, Louis, and Malcien to three points around the circle. Then Namla crossed the fire pit. He picked up a stone and pounded an iron nail into the wooden post dead center of the island. He tied a Voodoo talisman with chicken feathers on the pouch to the iron nail to hang. Next, he hung a chicken's foot on the nail, and an iron Santeria Chalice by the handle.
"I call upon Papa Legba to help cleanse this land. I offer up three of the evil men who have cursed it. Please accept our offering," Namla said with a strong clear voice. Namla nodded and Sah-him slit the throat of Obeah Man and hung his head over the fire pit. Then he went to Louis and repeated the gesture. He completed the action with Malcien. All three men had their lifeblood drained into the fire pit from three different points around the little island.
Sah-him opened his Inner Eye again and watched as Namla returned across the fire pit while the Fire Loas fed off the lifeblood of the sacrifice and the darkness lifted off the island until it appeared the same as the surrounding land. He smiled under his gear.
"I think it worked," Sah-him replied.
"Of course, it did," Namla replied. "I will teach you simple cleansing rituals like this one. You will need to learn the customs and religions of the people you are assigned. But each culture can cleanse the land like this. This was a true Voodoo cleansing ritual. We need to get the ransom money back to Mr. Wayne."
Sah-him looked over and saw that the satchel containing the ransom money was still in the clearing with the rest of the living cult members.
They left the clearing and slowly walked back to their transportation back to the city. Once they had reached the jeep they changed out of their gear.
"Namla," Sah-him addressed him. "You have said that all the world's religions have truth in them. That all cultures can cleanse the land. How do we know these things?" he asked.
"Hum," Namla said. "You know that the family was given the task of maintaining the balance of good and evil."
"Yes," Sah-him replied. He was still new to how the League viewed their spirituality. But he knew that this was the core of that spirituality.
"In the history of the world, before any religion, there was the Source," Namla started. "Over time, man came to the Earth. Man required direction. The gods were created. Some gods were good. Some gods were evil. But they were always in balance. Eventually, man decided to stop worshiping many gods and decided to start worshiping the Source. The gods became servants of the Source."
"Servants?" Sah-him asked, confused.
"None are as powerful as the Source," Namla told him. "Some of these servants resented their new status. They threw the world out of balance. Our order was born. We were tasked by the Source with restoring balance."
"Alright," Sah-him replied. "Then some of these servants are known by different names in different religions in different parts of the world. Different cultures."
"Yes," Namla replied. "Papa Legba is the Voodoo keeper of gates. Saint Peter is the keeper of the Gates of Heaven. Hecate and Hermes are both Greek gods associated with Crossroads or transitions. All of these are aspects of the same divine aspect of the Source. The servant of the Source in that part of the world should be called by their proper name."
"What you did here was to cleanse the land using the proper Voodoo culture ritual?" Sah-him asked.
"Yes," Namla replied. "True Voodoo practitioners will recognize the signs and symbols I used in the rite. Obeah Man was a thief and a liar. His very name was a lie. Obeah is a Voodoo priest. But he violated every tenant of Voodoo. He cursed the land with blood and pain. He stole money. I called upon Papa Legba to help me restore the land. My request was granted."
"The other cultists… what of them?" Sah-him asked.
"They will see the talisman and will know what it is… I hope it will move them back to a more neutral path," Namla replied.
"They all had dark auras," Sah-him said.
"Yes," Namla said. "Right now. But as I told you before, auras can change with the living. Your mood. Your emotional state. These affect your aura. You can easily tell when someone is lying with their aura," he said with a smile.
"I can tell if people are lying?" Sah-him asked.
"As long as you think it is the truth, it shows as truth. If you know it is a lie, it shows you are lying. That is a flaw. YOUR truth may be a lie," Namla replied.
"But mostly, they only lie if it is a lie," Sah-him replied. "Can many people read auras?" he asked.
"No," Namla replied. "Only those who can sense spirits. It is a part of the Ruya. Some magic users can sense other supernatural beings, but they cannot read auras."
They returned to Port-au-Prince. They snuck into Bruce Wayne's hotel room. Bruce Wayne was still at the hospital caring for Jack Drake. They left the satchel with the Drake ransom money in it. Bruce was still coordinating Jack Drake's move from the Haiti hospital to a Gotham hospital. Janet Drake did not survive the trip back into town.
Sah-him was frustrated and angry at Batman for refusing to do what was necessary to ensure the survival of others. He placed the lives of his enemies over the lives of the victims. Sah-him could not find justice in that. There was no balance. It was siding with evil. It was wrong. If I had thought that way, Mai would be dead and Fyers would be walking around and killing and torturing more people. The only possible solution is to replace evil with death. Dr. Wayne had been right. To heal the body, you have to cut out the cancer.
Because of Batman's shortsighted solution to evil. Janet Drake was dead and Jack Drake was in a coma. How much worse would it have been if Namla and Sah-him had not been there to assist him? To dart men, he had knocked down? Eliminated them after he had left?
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LIMA, PERU - THE FORT
"Qasisa Menna," Sah-him said with some hesitation after he had entered the Sacred Place maintained by the Qas.
"Welcome, Sah-him," Menna greeted him. "How may I assist you this day?" she asked.
"I am troubled and lost," Sah-him told her.
"Then come this way," Menna told him. She led him to one of the quiet rooms at the back of the Sacred Place. "Please sit and tell me what has made you so lost and troubled."
Sah-him sat down in a lotus position automatically. He took a deep breath. "I'm not exactly sure," he told her. "I feel… like I am missing parts of myself." He closed his eyes and concentrated. "Like parts of my soul are missing."
"Your soul?" Menna asked. "That seems to be a very specific part to feel is missing," she said. "What happened before you had this feeling?" she asked.
"Nothing specific," Sah-him said. "It was more… that I noticed a void feeling."
"This feeling… what caused you to start to notice it?" Menna asked.
"I started to notice… when I was on a hunt," Sah-him replied. "I was hunting for Extrano, for information… he is in a relationship with another man. It made me miss Yad Alqadar."
"Your lover?" Menna asked
"One of them," Sah-him replied. "At least, I think of him that way."
"Does he return your regard?" Menna asked.
"It's not that," Sah-him replied. "It's complicated with the three of us."
"Three?" Menna asked for clarification.
"Aldire, Yad Alqadar, and myself. We have known each other in our former lives since we were eight years old. Yad Alqadar and I were raised together," Sah-him explained. "For a long time, he thought Aldire and I belonged together. She and I have been together for four years."
"She?" Menna clarified. "You have a female lover and now you have both a female and a male lover?" she asked.
"Yes?" Sah-him replied. "I want them both. Aldire wants us both as well. But…"
"But now you are separated from both of them," Menna clarified.
"Yes," Sah-him said.
"What would happen to you if something were to happen to one or the other of them?" Menna asked.
"I would be lost without them," Sah-him replied. "I had to struggle to survive without them before. I decided to live on in their memory. For six months, I thought they had both died. I had to choose to live and learn to fight because they were gone. I lived to keep their memories alive."
"You have already done this?" Menna asked. "Interesting. This time you know that they live. You still feel the void, but instead of feeling a goal of fighting for their memories, you feel lost."
"Is that what is happening?" Sah-him asked.
"I believe so," Menna replied. "In your previous life, did you overcome some hardship together? One that became easier together than apart?" she asked.
Sah-him thought about Starling City and how they had all met. "Yes," he replied sadly. "Yad Alqadar's mother was murdered. His father had abandoned him. He was all alone and isolated himself. I stayed by his side. When school started, we met Aldire for the first time, she became inseparable from us. Together, we pulled Yad Alqadar from his isolation and back into the community."
"Yes," Menna replied. "You gave him a strong family bond. That is likely when your true soul bond formed. The three of you. You are stronger together."
"Others have said that we are likely Soul Bound," Sah-him said. "What does that mean?" he asked.
"A Soul Bond is a marriage by the Source," Menna told him. "Our League rites just acknowledge the marriage that already exists. Other religions also acknowledge a Soul Bond. It ties your soul to the souls of those you are bonded with. It strengthens your soul. It increases your resistance to outside influences, like evil and magic. It drives your passions and your goals. Everyone in a Soul Bond becomes the best version of themselves. When you are together."
"What about when we are apart?" Sah-him asked.
"You are still stronger than those without a Soul Bond," Menna replied. "But distance makes it harder for your strengths to work. You become more easily distracted. You miss your partners."
"I become lost," Sah-him replied.
"Not lost," Menna clarified. "Unfocused."
"Unfocused," Sah-him said slowly. "That is a better description of how I feel."
"The best way to get past this feeling is to focus on the small steps in front of you," Menna replied. "The current mark, the current sparring partner, the current hunt, and so on…"
"Drag me away from missing them back to the here and now," Sah-him replied with a nod. "That does seem like good advice. I think I can do that."
"Return here if you need to talk some more," Menna added. "The Qas are always here to help you through this feeling. You only have a few more months and you will be back by their side."
"Thank you, Qasisa Menna," Sah-him said gratefully while standing. "You have been a huge help."
"Anytime, Sah-him," Menna replied with a soft smile.
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Endnotes:
Menna - graceful – Arabic. League name for Qasisa.
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