Chapter 10 – August 1637

Note: Among these letters is one of several testimonies written by Jaralath Caulfield to Captain Pabalo Sanchez. From what I gather from the other letters, he was a Captain for the Spanish Army, instilled by a noble family to oversee the creation of a settlement in their name. From such, many of their riches where taken to this settlement in preparation for their heir’s arrival.

The settlement was militant by all its descriptions, and they have had numerous refugees either passing through it, or living under it. Jaralath has written to Captain Sanchez in an apparent effort to get the Spanish armies aid.

Jarlath Caulfield’s testimony to Captain Juan Paolo Sanchez (translated from Spanish) – August 25th 1637

Captain Sanchez, I am to understand you have received three of my letters the past few months, and at least seventy more refugees. I can certainly say that you must be a man who takes duty seriously. You certainly don’t take mere words of others into account, especially that of some lone trader, but surely you cannot ignore numbers.

How many people the last year alone come to your colony in hopes of finding refuge ? How many of them tell you the same story, of the same creatures ?

It also occurs to me that you may not understand my writing, but I hope you at least understand that I am not used to writing in your tongue.

I have been told at the docks that you were not a superstitious man, that word of mouth alone will not be enough to convince you to leave your post or put duty on hold. I am even enough of a realist not to expect you to send word back to the family you work for.

That said, I am one who understands that you’d noticed when your monthly shipments are a little understocked, and for that I apologize. If it makes you feel any better, I took some from the Brits, and they have received much of the same letters. I figure you had enough spices, tea and tobacco that you afford to lose forty pounds of it.

I also figured your respective empires could afford the loss of seventy pounds of gold per month. I have two years of experience to know that trade can be a dirty business. And I figured that if you aren’t to respond to the needs of the people living under you, you would at least respond to some of your own losses.

On top of that, I figured if you would’t heed the words of peasants, I think you should respond to physical evidence. These creatures are what my wife calls “The Tainted”, and we have been hunting them for some time. We offer their heads as compensation for your losses.

I certainly hope their blood doesn’t stain what I left for you. But at the very least, I hope they will be enough to keep your attention.

There’s more to find in exchange for an audience. I will meet you and your men at the docks. Only I know where your goods are stored, and they are stored safely. I have set a date to expect your arrival.

Yours truly, Jaralath Caulfield.

Gospel of Greeshawn Chase: August 30th 1637

For two years of the lessers were trying to undermine me. For two years I felt a storm coming.

I still do, but I was able to fix one of my problems.

My holy army has dwindled in numbers, my weapon has disappeared, and the heathen remains out of my grasp. In our recent expeditions, more and more of them disappeared, some found impaled on or hung from the trees, others beheaded. And more have disappeared from my patrols. It’s as if the world itself was trying to keep me from taken what is rightfully mine.

But I still hold the keys to the true Arcadia.

The mines once teemed with wealth, and now they serve as a place of correction and conversion, and not even my holy army are immune. I’d place them there, I’d have them offer a their flesh in one form or another to those loyal to me. The wicked must be punished, and the hungry and the lonely must be rewarded. So why shouldn’t I do both at once ?

Of course a few of my blessed ones, the creatures I extend my guiding hand too, have shown an uncharacteristic aggression towards me. A few started to bark at me, some have started to bite at me. All it takes is a simple beating and a week in the mines to remind them who their alpha is.

My mother was different. A former whore such as her has been spoiled by others including my father, so what good is her flesh ? I keep her in my protection, my childhood home. Only I was allowed to enter her room, and only I was allowed to exit.

When you surround yourself with bestial “people” and the women you have are spoiled by others, I could have used the company. Unfortunately, my mother doesn’t see it that way. She barely looks at me, rarely speaks, and rarely eats. It’s gotten to the point where I had to do things the hard way.

Two of years ago I brought up the loss of Jaralath Caulfield, and she shown more towards that than she done for me “You mean to say after tormenting the boy, you finally killed him. Did you grow bored of him too ? Did he become useless as well ?” she would ask accusingly.

I let her know “He was a thief and an orphan, little more. You speak of that boy as if you lost a son.”

She didn’t respond to me, she would continue to lie in the same bed of misery she had since the truth of father came about. There were a few instances where she’d try to take her life.

“That boy was a leech if anything mother. What he grew into could barely be called a man.”

“He is only what you made him. He was someone your father wanted to save, and you corrupt him, beat him, twisted him into a monster. Just as you did to this colony-” She starts before I interrupted her.

“I made this colony something of worth. Everything I do is to the glory of God and his Kingdom!”

My mother shook her head at this “I didn’t think you thought of yourself as God.”

“I am the closest there is to one here, so you best mind your tongue.” I start “You accuse me of making monsters, but I wasn’t the one who feed upon my sister. I simply act by example.”

With that, my own mother stood up from the bed and struck me.

It took a moment for me to soak in what happened. The woman who gave birth to me had the audacity to cause me harm.

I blanked out what absurdities and obscenities she was cursing at me before I struck her in return “It is like I say mother, I act by example.” I tell her and drown out her cries with repeated strikes, slaps and kicks, until she was a bleeding, sobbing heap on the ground. I held nothing back.

I crouch down to her and firmly “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, mother.”

With that I had my men bathe her and tend to her wounds, of course giving them restrictions on how she was allowed to be touched. From that night on I had her wrists and ankles chained to the poles of her bed, just to keep her from escaping by life or death. Might as well give her some excuse to keep her in bed. So long as I had some company as my pews diminished.

Recently I discovered why.

….

With each passing month, small numbers of my patrols disappear at a faster rate than I can breed them. There came a night where the lord spoke to me. He said I had another snake in my garden, another Mahalia.

For some time, I watched as people of my colony, young and old would sneak about the village, as if I wouldn’t know. They thought darkness was their shield, when it was always my weapon.

In that darkness, me and ten others followed the lights to a farmhouse; Mahalia’s former stead. We listened to a farce of a sermon being held in the stead. Dozens were gathered in the dark, and yet I got a sense of warmth coming from them; that there was more light and life, and love in that stead than anything in my congregation.

And to my surprise a seven year old girl was speaking to them; Edith Muller, the daughter of my so called brother Erik and his woman Anya.

I couldn’t make anything from the nonsense she was speaking; this noise about spirits, souls, healing, and removing a toxic and undesirable element of the land. She was speaking to the Indians we have taken in, in the languages of their tribes, reaffirming their paganisitic beliefs. The eldest among them, some of my fathers original converts, learned what he taught them to leave behind.

For six nights, over three weeks, I return to that field and watched in secret. And the more I watched, the more I learned. According to them, Edith walked in two worlds at once. She saw and spoke to those not among us anymore; and those that were among us unaware. She preached to the heathens, she preached to the Christians. She spoke like Mahalia, and like that wench, had a knowledge that drew my people away from my church. It is from this, I saw that she was deceiving my congregation into stealing my beasts, and executing them like criminals.

All this from a child.

For six days I ponder the information I received. She claims to speak of the same god who granted me this power, and yet she pulls them from him. She speaks of the spirits as if they conspire against me. And so I conspire against her.

On the night of my seventh visit I wore the clothes of a commoner, and wore bandages to obscure my face. I follow the people in the dead of night as they reach the homestead. I mingle undetected in the farmhouse.

As a congregation forms in the house itself, I sit up front before the toddler as she began her teachings, and by my side is an unwitting Erik Mueller, looking more proud of his heathen daughter than he ever did to have been my brother. And beside him, Anya, a woman who didn’t know her place and thought herself as strong and brash as a man. It was of little wonder, seeing how weak Erik is.

I listen to Edith speak, and scoff to myself at how captivated her “congregation” is. As she talks, she keeps pausing as if something unseen or unheard is talking to her.

“They spoke to me again. They told me they are coming, and there will be a great feeing.” She says wisely and calmly “They will bring death and the deathless to this land. We cannot prepare to fight, we can only prepare to flee.”

“Did they tell you when they come ?” I hear man older than I ask.

Edith nods “It will be before the leaves fall and the snow comes.”

“Who are they ?” I ask, trying to keep my voice deep to keep it from being recognized.

Everyone stares at me in confusion.

“Do you not know ?” An elderly woman asks “We were never meant to be here.”

“This land is cursed.” A younger man says.

“But this was the land God found for us, it’s here where we will build his kingdom. Isn’t that what Minister Chase taught ?” I ask of them, keeping my voice disguised.

“Tainted. My father taught me that this was God’s land, but this is the Devils.” I hear Erik speak up to my disbelief “Or if not a devil, something worse. We should never have stayed in here; we drew somethings attention by making our home here.” Erik stood up and walked to his daughters side. “I spent my life living in fear, not faith; fear of something calling itself our master, and a tyrant that speaks for it. It was that fear that did nothing but held me back, and I am only able to move forward. I do not believe I am alone. Who here has lived by fear ? Who here let that fear hold you back ?” he continues as he and his wife take their place at their daughters side.

I could not believe my ears as they rang with scorn towards me and my kingdom. This was my birthright, I was to lead these people. I was to show the weak their place, and put the strongest up top, and yet these people flocked to a goddammn little girl because she says she talks to spirits and the animals, and tells these fools what they want to here. And now this little harlot turns my brother in faith against me, along with those who should have shown me there devotion.

I stare at Edith, wearing a smile to her parents, like the wolf wears the hide of sheep. It was more I could dare to take. The bile and the vile filled my stomach, up my chest and into my heart as I hear that little but loud voice speak again.

“They told me how we are to leave, they found a way past the giants,” she starts “But you have to follow me they say. We cannot fight the giants, we can only lead them to-“

Before she finishes, the sound of heavy footsteps echo around the farm house. Save for a few people screaming before shushing themselves and each other, the only sound we heard was the loud and deep bellows and voices of the giants.

As they became silent, I stood up turning my face to Erik, and removed the hat and bandages from my head. I watched as his face changed from fear to scorn as I stared him down.

“Perhaps you had a good reason to be afraid.” I speak in my normal voice, as the walls break and splinter, and eight of my giants armed, with their branches swung at the screaming crowds. They impaled some, and crushed others, and as they corner and the rest, I stare the Muller family down.

“Edith, you wise, wise teacher,” I greet them “Do tell me how you intend to lead these people out of the lords land ?”

…

The next day, I had our people gathered, just at our walls gate. No trial was necessary, a sentence had to be carried out. Twenty seven of her people where thrown from the top of the roof, others where simply beaten and restrained by my guard.

I gathered the crowd into a controlled, orderly circle. Giants and the holy ones alike surround them and I, as I put the Muller’s front in center before the crowd.

“Edith Muller step forward,” I speak annoying the objections of the crowd and her parents “You have been discovered having commited, heresy, conspiracy, destruction of property, and treason. That is quite an impressive feat for a seven year old girl, and from what I hear you are quite knowledgeable. Tell me how, that someone like you could hope to lead my flock astray.”

As I look down at her, Edith appeared speechless, as her mother held her close and whispered reassurances at her. I had Anya pulled away and smacked to the mouth for speaking out of turn, and kicked onto the ground for further measure. Never suffer a witch to live, let alone be coddled. I look back at Erik, my soldiers holding him by the arms, he was shouting curses at me, begging me to leave her daughter out of this when I spat at him that she brought this on her self.

“They talk to me!” Edith shouted “The you say is God, and the ones want to get rid of him! They speak to me in like I was in a dream, but it happens when I’m awake.” She tried to sound brave, but I heard the breaks in her voice. Despite the misplaced reverence my people put in her, she was still a seven year old girl and still scared of facing the judgment of the righteous.

“And what do they say to you ? How to they intend to conspire against the almighty” I humor her.

And so the girl said in her small voice. Every now and then she would pause, like she was listening to something that wasn’t there.

“The almighty ? They say it’s a devourer. It isn’t good, it’s not our creator or father, but it wants to destroy.” The next words she said indicated that she got her boldness back and her timid whisper became more angry with each word “And you are a parasite. You think you’re a king, but you are a fool. You burn down the villages you say you want to rule! You have killed children! You take what doesn’t belong to you!”

“Everything belongs to me!” I snap at her, deeply hurt by her blasphemy “That is what creating a kingdom is about! What does a little brat like you know ?”

“Nothing belongs to you! They tell me your father broke a rule by building a village here. They tell me you are a living curse! They tell me what a real lord is, and you are not it!.” She said with a scathing voice “You are like Grendel!”

This perplexed me “What is a Grendel ?”

“He’s big, stupid and eats people. He’s a demon just like you.” She explains to me.

“Keep talking little girl, you only add more to your sentance.”

“They already told me yours.” She whispers again, but her newfound defiance was still present in her eyes and voice “And you will not see the next winter.”

I stare back and forth between Edith and Erik. I turn to my former brother in faith to question him “Erik Muller, I would think that being a father and husband would have made you a man. I had such high hopes for you as a boy, what in God’s name happened to you ?”

“What happened to me ? What happened was you murdered your father! You brought these creatures upon us, and you slandered an innocent woman! Your sins are so numerous that I think the biggest one for you is that you lived past birth!” Erik says to me, defiant despite quite literally being in the grasp of creatures that could easily pull his arms off with a simple order.

“Is that your gratitude, for me making you strong for years ? For being your brother your whole life and showing you what it meant to be a man while your father was sinning his way to an early grave! The very least you could do is keep your women in line ? What kind of man are you ?”

“You did nothing but hold me back!” Erik shouts before spitting at my face.

I wipe from my face, and slam my fist down into his stomach, with such force he would have dropped to his knees had he not been held up. “If that is what you say, than it’s clear I still have work to do with you.” I now address the crowd “It is pretty clear, that Edith Mueller has been found guilty of many crimes against our colony, and for that an example is going to be made.”

I turn to Edith, now helping her barely conscious mother to her knees. “Edith Muller, I hereby sentence you to exile. You believe salvation to exist beyond these walls, than by all means seek it. But I am a man of perfect mercy; therefore you shall take your birth giver with you to exile,” I point to Anya “I hear she’s a strong, capable woman. I say we put that to the test.”

I turn back towards Erik “You on the other hand, are in need of repentance and re-education.” I hear Edith start to object before I turn back to her “If you prefer I could have him thrown off the wall.”

I ignore Edith and Anya’s shouts, objections as I pull out my cutlass and hold it to Erik’s throats. “Your fathers fate is in your hands Edith…ten…nine…eight…seven.” I start to count before Edith turns around, takes Anya by the hand and begins to walk to the gate’s opening.

They stop briefly, looking back at Erik as I wave them off. I raise my cutlass again, preparing to swing before they turn back. I watch them as they disappear into the wilderness.

Sheathing my sword, I address Erik and the others “For your insubordination, and conspiracy against me, and the kingdom of god, I sentence you all to the Pit. You will be fed, or fed upon. You will receive the same punishments and conversions I bestow upon those we have taken in. God willing, you will find repentance. Your bodies may be broken, among other things, but should you prove strong, you may prove your worth.”

Over the screaming, shouting and blasphemies, my giants and beasts drag and usher the dispondant crowds towards our old mines. I stop the creatures still holding Erik just to say this to him; “And you my boy, need some time to yourself. Perhaps some isolation and reflection is in order for you.”

As the last of them left, I summoned forth my beasts and gave them an order to find Edith and Anya. I could not allow one witch to live in my kingdom, and two would complicate things further. I gave my soldiers and order to hunt them down and bring me their heads.

That night, one of the beasts returned to me, and brought with them a large, bloodstain piece of Edith’s shirt sleeve.

It wasn’t a head, but it was something to place in Erik’s cell. I thought he would appreciate it.

No matter. If what they say is true, this land will be attacked, than I shall prepare for war. No matter who or what they throw at us, they will face only the judgment of the divine.