Deliver us from Evil (66 page)

BOOK: Deliver us from Evil

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'. . . the god of the indians, the spirit named ketan . . .'

History of Marblehead

W
e did not ease our pace, for we were able to see, by the lights of a village we had to skirt, that there were distant pursuers still on our trail. But we passed no further villages, nor even cultivated fields; and soon the road itself was straggling away, hemmed in on either side by a deep wooded blackness.
I
knew now that we were safe, from our pursuers at least; for we had left the bounds of civilisation behind and, ahead of us, for an eternity of miles, dark and primeval, stretched the mighty wilderness. And still we galloped on; and the forest grew ever thicker, and the undergrowth more wild; and
I
began to think, so feverish were my fancies, that the realm of Death itself could not seem more sombre nor more chill.
..

'Dawn, as thin and watery as the meagrest gruel, broke at last through the branches of the snow-weighted trees. The effect of the
mummia
was fading from me now; and as
I
gazed at the infinite shadows of the forest,
I
shuddered as
I
suddenly remembered my pain. The Indian girl reined in her horse; she frowned at me, then unfastened her cloak. She offered it to me, but
I
shook my head and gestured to my stomach; the girl nodded at once, and slipped down from her horse. She passed into the shadows; then she returned, minutes later, with a handful of roots, which she made me eat. For a while my pain was indeed mildly dulled, but it soon returned, more cruelly than before; and the forest, as
I
rode, began to swim before my gaze.
I
must have slumped from my saddle, for
I
woke again to find myself upon the Indian girl's horse, nestled in her arms, while my own horse followed with my bag upon its back. It seemed already to be growing dark again.
I
remember vaguely, after that, being given more roots; and then the sound of hooves as they splashed through water. But how long we rode, or how far,
I
could not say; for as in Prague, so now, there was only the pain.

it never left me; and so
I
never truly slept. Yet
I
awoke again to the consciousness of something more, only with a sudden flood of gold within my guts. The agony was very searing, but so also was the pleasure; and
I
knew at once there was a blood-drinker near.

I
opened my eyes
...

'He was watching me. We seemed alone together in a fur-draped tent. He wore the skin of a wolf across his shoulders and his hair; his face was painted with swirls of bright scarlet. There could be no doubting he was a Redskin; and yet his face, beneath the paint, was very pale. His eyes, my Lord, burned as brightly as yours.

' "
I
see," he nodded, "you know what
I
am." His English was soft and very musically accented. "Yet what you are" - he frowned - "
I
cannot say."

'He turned and reached down for something, and as he did so
I
shrieked, for
I
felt redoubled in my stomach both the pleasure and the pain. The Redskin lifted a cup to my lips.
I
knew it held blood and
I
shook my head. "You must," he murmured. "For there is something within you. It is screaming out for this." He tipped the cup and forced me to drink. The blood was cold and very thick. The saltiness made me long to gag. But
I
brought myself to swallow it; and at once - very faintly, it was true - the agony seemed to dim.

'The Redskin gazed at me impassively. "There are tales," he said slowly, "of a breed of man like you. According to such tales, you bring ruin in your wake."

' "Then kill me,"
I
whispered, "kill me.
I
could welcome death."

'But the Redskin shook his head. "You must seek out Ketan."

' "Ketan?"

' "You are in great danger from the vengeful spirits of Darkness and of Death. Only Ketan can guide you. Only Ketan can offer you aid."

' "And where do
I
find - Ketan?"

' "He dwells apart in the Spirit World."

I
laughed hopelessly. "Then you must tell me where that can be found."

'The Redskin too laughed, but very softly. "
I
cannot." He leaned forward, his face suddenly as impassive as before. "For although it is true that
I
am older than the oldest tree in all this forest, that
I
am deadlier and more swift than the firecest of wolves, and that
I
seem to my people a god, not a man - yet
I
am not a god. Indeed,
I
am lower even than certain wise men of my tribe - for
I
have never been able to meet with Ketan."

' "Then let me talk with these wise men."

' "They are dead - long dead."

I
gazed at him in despair. "What then should
I
do?"

'The Redskin's eyes glittered; and then he rose, and crossed to the curtain which veiled the entrance to the tent. He pulled it aside and glanced up at the sky. "It is now," he murmured, "the moon of strong cold.
It
was in such a season,
I
recall, that the wise men would claim to have met with Ketan. They would walk a great distance, until they came to the hills; and then they would wait alone, amidst the snow. If the Spirit was with them, they would not feel the cold. And then, perhaps, after many days, many weeks
..."

' "Ketan would come?"

'The Redskin shrugged. "Sometimes. As they said." ' "And then? What did he perform?"

'Again, the Redskin shrugged. He stared at me a moment more, then turned and looked back through the tent-flap at the night.
I
could feel myself growing delirious again.
I
reached for the cup of blood and licked it dry; then
I
staggered to my feet and crossed to the Redskin.
I
too stared outside. The moon, indeed, did seem strongly cold. It cast silver the ripples of a wide-flowing river. There were other tents,
I
could see, dotted about the bank - no more, perhaps, than twenty; and a few open spaces cleared from the trees. "The girl,"
I
asked suddenly, "is she safely here?"

'My companion nodded, and gestured to a tent.

' "What was she doing, so far from her home?"

' "Home?" The Redskin laughed with sudden bitterness. "But this is not her home. Her home was Massebequash - which the white men have now named Marblehead, and taken as their own.
I
prey on them sometimes; for like a wolf which will haunt a vanished wilderness,
I
do not lightly surrender my ancient dominion. The girl must have followed me - for she too has something of the spirit of the wolf."

' "It is hard,"
I
nodded slowly, "to lose the home of one's youth."

'The Redskin glanced at me, and narrowed his eyes.
I
knew he could not read my thoughts; yet
I
felt, for a moment, that he had understood them all the same. "It was lucky," he murmured, "that she met with you."

' "Lucky?"
I
shrugged faintly. And then
I
remembered my vision: the vision from which the Indian girl's screams had awoken me, and led me to the forest, where
I
was standing even then. Turning to my companion,
I
described the vision to him: the mountain with the face. And as
I
described it, so
I
saw his expression alter, so that terror seemed strangely intermingled with awe, and he glanced wildly about him at the tents upon the bank. And then he turned and slipped away, and left me alone; and
I
wondered all that night what it was that he could know.

'The following morning, very early, the Redskin led me from the camp. Before we left, he had brought me a cup of freshly slain deer's blood, and ordered me to drink it; for, as he had told me, we had a long way to go. He would say nothing more; but
I
was certain now that he knew where the mountain could be found, for we were following the river upstream and one day, through the trees,
I
caught the gleam of snowy peaks.
I
hoped
I
would not grow too faint to reach them: for although my companion would hunt each night, and bring me fresh blood, the relief it could offer from my pain was growing fainter. "Man's blood," he would nod, touching my belly. "It is thirsty for man's blood." But there were no men to be seen, no settlements at all: only the beasts and the birds of the wilderness. And then one morning we left the river, now just a stream, and began to climb vast boulders up a mountain side; and soon even the beasts and the birds seemed left behind.

'Amidst the bleak expanses of naked snow, my delirium returned and my legs began to melt beneath me. How or where
I
continued through the mountains,
I
do not know; my guide must have borne me many miles, for
I
remember only waking in his arms and finding the taste of his blood upon my tongue. He had cut his wrist and pressed it to my lips, and although again, as
I
tasted it,
I
thought that
I
would gag,
I
forced myself to swallow it and keep my pain at bay. But it would not fade; and when
I
reached beneath my furs,
I
found that my shirt was sticky with blood - not only from my chest, but from my stomach now as well.
I
gazed at my damp fingertips, then wildly about me. "How far,"
I
cried, "how far now to go?"

' "Not far," the Redskin answered me. He helped me to my feet; then led me from where we had been sheltering, back into the snows.
I
could hear a roaring now, like that of ceaseless thunder; and then, rounding a wall of rock, saw a waterfall before me - wild and blinding white, like the streaming tail of the pale horse of Death. My companion paused, and pointed towards the darkness which lay beyond it. "There," he told me. "There you will find the mountain face which you saw."

I
walked forward, then glanced round in surprise. The Indian had not moved. "Will you not come with me?"
I
asked.

'The Redskin shook his head. "No further," he said. His face, as before in the camp, seemed haunted by a shadow of mingled wonder and fear. "
I
do not wish to meet with Ketan."

' "Why,"
I
asked him, "what is there to fear?"

' "
I
remember," he answered, "the wise men of my tribe - they would seek out Ketan, for they knew he could reveal to them the true nature of things."

I
frowned. "And is it evil to know the truth?"

'The shadow seemed to deepen over the Redskin's face. "If
I
met with Ketan," he murmured at last, "
I
would ask him a question.
I
would ask him, is it true, as
I
fear, that my people must all die, that the Naumkeag must melt into the darkness of things, that they must lie as scattered bones beneath the white man's streets. All this
I
would ask him; and Ketan would answer me." The Indian paused; and then suddenly he shuddered and cried out to the skies. "But
I
do not want to hear him!
I
do not want to know!" The echoes sounded across the barren snows; and then he shouted something else - in his own language,
I
supposed, for
I
did not understand the words, and they too sounded across the snows and ravines, before they faded into the cold; and all was silence. "May you at least," he nodded, "find what you seek." Then he turned and left me; and was soon just a distant speck amidst the snows.