Sondranos: The Narrative of Leon Bishop (26 page)

“
How do you
have lights and power here?” I asked. Staying behind, I approached
one of the crates, and picked at a piece of straw poking out from
the crease in the wood. It hadn’t been locked, but something told
me I shouldn’t open them anyway.

“
We run our
systems independent of the Sondranos national grid,” Father Corin
led down the hallway, came up behind me, and ushered me away from
the crate. “We are self-sustaining. It is easier that way. We draw
no undue attention to ourselves.”

“
What are
your defensive capabilities?” Annalise asked.

“
Tell me
about your journey,” Father Corin said. He stopped just shy of an
open door and waved us in. Inside the room were two cots set
against the stone walls. A single window hung high in the room
between the beds, closer to the ceiling than the floor. Thin bars
had been set inside the frame, too small to consider protective –
mostly decoration, I thought – but why? Davion urgedus into the
room, and Melanie went willingly. Kayt followed, but with the
attitude of a shy little girl, holding her hands forward and
looking around without moving her head. Annalise, however, put her
hand on my chest and stopped.

“
I’m not
going in there until you answer me,” Annalise said. I stood behind
her, and she looked at me through her periphery. “Us, I
mean.”

“
The
MacKinnon Commune of the Primary Divinity does not worship the
methods of violence, as you would,” Father Corin said. “We make our
choices, and stick by them.”

“
But is it a
choice to be oblivious about the destruction of your home?” I
asked.

“
I am not
oblivious,” Father Corin said.

“
Then you’re
being ignorant.”

“
You would do
to watch your tone, young man. What we do here is for something
greater than you can ever hope to achieve. If you do not believe,
then I will ask you to leave our compound.”

“
He’s just
trying to ask what’s going on,” Annalise said. “We’ve had a long
day. We didn’t expect to come here only to see that nobody’s
concerned about this commune getting overrun.”

A man carrying a crate stumbled
past, pushing the crate alongside the wall. The man didn’t flinch
when he heard Annalise speak ofthe Belovores. He walked to the end
of the hall and placed the crate alongside another. He pulled open
the top, checked its contents, closed it, and then left. The scene
stuck in my head while Davion interrupted the turmoil brewing
between Father Corin and I.

“
Father, this
is Lise. Without her, we would not be here,” Davion said,
proffering her as if she was his prize. Annalise blushed and
stepped back, carefully missing stepping on my own foot and
knocking into Kayt.

“
It is so
good to have Davion back,” Father Corin said. It was as if my
outburst hadn’t happened. “And for him to have brought four new
souls into our flock? I have said the word miraculous before, and I
should only say it again.”

After being asked for a second
time, Annalise told Father Corin about our journey. Having lived
it, I watched the hall. She spoke about the car, about the darts
coming out of the sky and strafing any weapons stores; she
displaced facts to make it quicker. She left out a few choice
moments: leaving the Belovores to be slaughtered alongside her
neighbours; killing the Belovore in the woods; and anything else
that would make her look welcome to violence. When she spoke about
Lancaster’s death, she made him sound like a hero. Kayt appreciated
that much. Annalise finished by discussing our impromptu meal on
the engine of her car. The entire time, passers-by ignored us, even
though I knew they listened. Men and women – some with more crates,
some empty handed – all passed by and registered nothing.

Father Corin laughed at the end
of our story. “Well, I promise our food will be more fulfilling,”
he said.

“
It was good,
don’t get me wrong,” Annalise might as well have been talking to an
old friend. Or Robert Bruce back on Covenant Street. “But it will
be nice to have something with more preparation in mind. Something
more substantial.”

A woman then appeared,
attempting to carry two crates, but slowly lowering to the ground
under their weight. Father Corin and Davion instantly jumped to
help her, and Annalise swivelled to me and whispered: “Just play
nice.”

“
I don’t know
if –” I started, but Father Corin pulled himself back up and into
earshot. He’d helped the girl push the crates to the side, and
while she picked one up, Davion started to fumble his hands into
two grooves on either side of the second.

As the girl came by, I felt
something dark bleed through my surface thoughts. I stuck a hand
out and touched the girl on the shoulder, stopping her. “Sondranos
has been destroyed by the Belovores, and millions are dead.”

She looked at me. Father Corin
bowed his head, and Davion set the box down. He pushed it to the
side of the wall and started off the way we came. His exit was
quick and sudden – all I recall is telling the girl about
Sondranos, and then seeing Davion’s robes flowing behind him as he
ran off. After a moment, the girl looked at me, unperturbed. “Yes,”
she said, and smiled. “All shall be as it should be.”

The girl tilted her head to the
side, looking to Father Coring for approval. He waved her away, and
she set the crate next to another, contemplated it for a moment,
and then set it atop the first. Then she did what all the others
did, and left. Annalise wrapped her arm around mine. She felt cold,
and I could feel the same chill winding its way down to my
stomach.

They were working with the
Belovores – every single one of them.

Davion re-entered, huffing. He
leaned forward and caught his breath.

“
I want you
to read this,” Davion held a book out to me. The cover had soiled
the linen of his robes. It was old, and he held it with reverence.
Before I could take it, a gunshot reverberated down the hall,
followed by a scream. The sharp noise startled all of us except for
Davion, who took my hand and pushed the book into my chest.
Instinctually, I took it as we all rushed to the doorway. Annalise
held back, barely moving as we all hoped the shot wasn’t the
beginning of something far worse.

Down the hall, two men
argued.

“
You could
have killed someone!” one said.

“
I’m sorry.
The box splintered!” responded the second.

Two men, both with ruffled hair
and sagging clothes leaned down to the crate they’d been carrying.
The second one picked up a rifle, and set it within the box. It was
large, and the burns on the wall opposite the crate showed that the
weapon was plenty powerful. The stone had cracked, and I’m certain
that, given the proper tools, one tap to the circular indentation
would have created a rather large window into the bedroom beyond.
The two men lifted the crate, avoiding where the second had claimed
the crate had splintered. I could briefly see five more of the same
rifles set within the straw. Father Corin had rushed up to the men
to quiet them down, and ensure all was okay.

They carried the box and set it
next to another crate, which joined the wall of the same. Four
crates like the ones littered outside sat against the wall – some
had more piled on top – lining as far down the interior as I could
see. That’s what they’d been carrying. Live weapons, ones that had
been untouched by the satellite systems. None of us wanted to stay
in the hallway anymore.

We all moved back into the
room. Annalise – who hadn’t cared much about the noise - Kayt and
Melanie took a seat on the bed.

“
Please,
Leon. Look at the book I’ve given you,” Davion said, entering the
room again.

“
The
Belovores will destroy you,” I mumbled. “They know how to target
weapons. That’s how they took out most of the
resistance.”

“
We can
survive; we have faith,” said Melanie.

“
The book,”
Davion whispered.

“
You don’t
get it, it will be a slaughter.” I held out my hands, feeling like
I was in the classroom once again. “The Belovores are nearly
impervious to weapons fire. The older they are, the stronger their
plates are.”

Father Corin frowned, and he
rasped at Davion, “What kind of brothers and sisters are you
bringing into our fold? They have no inclination to listen even
though you’ve informed them of the Primary Divinity.”

“
You’re
working with the Belovores,” I said. The words came out before the
logic connected in my brain. I didn’t acknowledge the lie that
Davion allowed to stand; he hadn’t told us anything, he’d simply
assumed. I also didn’t register the book I still held close to my
chest. Instead, I put together what I’d seen. The only cache of
working weapons when those would have been the first to go under
the Belovores’ attack plan; the lack of concern, or knowledge, for
Sondranos; knowing that those weapons wouldn’t hurt a Belovore, but
stockpiling them anyway – I couldn’t speak for anyone else in the
town, but it seemed a good many had fallen in line with Father
Corin, and he was responsible for the massacre.

The truth
wouldn’t be evident
until later, but now I
can say that Melanie had good reason not to listen to 97 Transistor
Radio – the station she’d mentioned back in the wine cellar of the
Abbey. That station had been the one commandeered and run by Father
Corin, and that was how the Belovores had all the information
they’d needed.

The MacKinnon Commune of the
Primary Divinity had Abbeys all over the map – attuned to whatever
God was worshipped in the area. I felt comfortable with Davion
because I felt he respected my beliefs, and was a man of God – even
though god goes by many names. I imagine that was how many Abbeys
operated on Sondranos. At the time, I also felt the ability to
communicate by some sort of cloud based signal – a mental
connection – was the only way to have organized something like
this.

“
They are
new,” Davion said. “They don’t understand what the Salvation means
to the Forgiven. Melanie understands our position.”

“
I would hope
so,” Father Corin said.

“
But you
killed one,” Annalise chimed in. Her tone was hard to read, quick
and stuttering. “You crushed its head with a rock.”

“
I did no
such thing,” Davion said. He refused to meet Father Corin’s curious
gaze.

“
We all saw
you,” Annalise jumped up from her seat on the bed and approached
him. Father Corin stood in the way. He raised a hand and set it on
the center of her chest. She jerked his hand to the side, glaring.
“Don’t touch me.”

“
Davion may
have doubted his faith, but he would never intentionally harm a
creature such as the Belovore, unless he was acting out of mercy
for the creature,” Father Corin said. “You would do well to recall
history the way it happened. Not the way you think it
happened.”

“
How could
you bring us here?” I asked Davion.

“
I follow the
Lord’s plan,” Davion said. “And you have been, too. You have been
looking for safety; I brought you to the safest place on Sondranos.
Here, you will not want for food or question if you will fall
victim to the world around you. You are amongst family now. The
Belovores will not touch anyone who wishes to join the Forgiven; it
was part of the agreement between our people.”

I turned to Annalise, who
twitched nervously. Melanie paced near the end of the room, and
Kayt sat on one of the beds. She pulled her knees up to her chest
and wept silently.

“
We’re going
to die here,” Annalise whispered. Then, louder, “Why?”

Neither Father Corin nor Davion
could hear us. Father Corin spoke vehemently at Davion, whispering
his words violently.

“
We just need
time to think. This is a lot, all at once,” I calmed her
down.

Annalise took my hand and
squeezed it. She pursed her lips together and took a deep breath.
“Time. We need time to think,” she said. She then rambled, stepping
away from me. “Of course we do. Everyone needs it. I’ve done my
time; I just need a little more.”

I turned to Father Corin and
smiled. I could sense Annalise was about to have a breakdown. I
could hear her claiming responsibility on the road for all of this,
her words echoing as if I was hearing them on repeat. Part of me
wanted to accept everything, but another wanted to protect the
person who was about to blame herself for something she had no
control over. I wish I knew now why I said what I had – which
reason had been true? “I’m sorry. It really has been a long day.
What do you need us to do?”

He arched his eyebrows and
looked to Davion. Davion nodded, agreeable. “First, we are going to
prepare you something to eat. Then, we will rectify the mistake
Davion has made. With your distressing amount of ignorance, I will
suggest you stay here.”

“
Do I have
to?” Melanie asked. We all turned and faced her.

“
You knew
about this?”

She didn’t answer. Davion put
out his hand and offered it to her. She slid past us. Her face was
blank, and she joined Davion like she’d been rewritten over
mentally. She refused to make eye contact with me and anyone else
in the group. Davion took her hand in his and gripped.

I was too stunned to speak.
They left, clamping the door shut. We all heard the sound we’d
expected to hear – a lock twisting into place. I could just hear
Father Corin speaking brashly to Davion. I looked back at Annalise
and Kayt. I couldn’t help but feel a stab in my chest.