Marco’s Journal : Deuteronomy Days

Yea, their day of disaster is near, and destiny rushes upon them.

I’ve been hearing a lot of Deuteronomy of late, with Brother Giovanni’s help. He likes preaching other texts, but he can’t deny a bible request; verse 32 has been keeping me going.

St Michael be praised! For the Lord sent us aid and the means to defeat our enemies, just as promised by Deuteronomy. With faith we had the courage to overcome - for fear is the weapon of true destruction. The witch Ornella ruled her slaves with fear, and the sorceror Caltagirone used greed and ambition to twist the hearts of men. Now they are dead, and here is the story of their ending.

After Cola left us in charge of Orenella’s quarters in the Three-Way House, with a whole 5 florins each as our reward, we were glad to be alive but only half-way to our revenge. We wanted to spy on the House of Crows, so he sent Trucco and some lads to take over our duties for a while. We noted the streets outside had been swept clean of bodies in double-quick time, and wondered who wanted all these corpses ? For Providence whispered in our ears and made a hunch out of curiosity. So we sniffed around and found many bodies had gone to the Mausoleum of Nerva where embalming took place for bodies with a long way to travel before the grave. Expensive, and these were the poor of Subura. The place was an ancient ruin, with a family business run by one Giancarlo Ricchi. We followed a wagon all the way from there to the House of Crows – so our hunch was right, someone was sending new recruits to the Necromancer. No rest for the wicked indeed; the Bardoni were hardly hung and soon he would have a new army.

Well that was a test of faith and no mistake. I could think of no way to assault the House of Crows guarded by a Witch, the Sorceror, Bardoni rabble, and a new set of dead henchmen besides. Brother Giovanni scolded me for my doubts and quoted Psalms and Proverbs as well was St Paul writing to the Romans some 13 centuries before. So - Hope Springs Eternal, he said. But I must doff my cap to his conviction, for soon enough Providence heard our prayers and sent us Deliverance.

Well the Pope did anyway.

One day Cola called us all to meet at the Three-Way House – ‘be ready for anything’ was the word. Well I brought all my war-gear, but I was not ready for the Archbishop of Toledo. He came on an ox-drawn carroccio, with a choir of monks singing, and some real hard nuts as his bodyguard. We all lined up to kiss his ring – Rocco piled in first, but I felt humility for my doubts and kept to the back of the line. Archbishop Albornoz never wavered as the line progressed, just held a big silver hammer on his shoulder, with a holy relic set in the steel. He looked the real deal – the Hammer of God.

He had heard of the Eternal City in chaos, a tyranny of evil men and witchcraft - this must end. Now. All three companies there said Amen and signed up for his crusade there and then. When he asked for a briefing on the den of witchcraft, I told him the sorceror would surely flee into the tunnels beneath the streets as his Grace kicked in the front door, just as he had done before. So straight-way we were charged with stopping up his escape route with our bodies. Cola told us this was vital for Rome and wrung his hands; I told him bluntly we would do it or die trying. He seemed to note our resolve and got out of our way. We threw on our armour, grabbed some extra lantern oil and food, and used the secret exit from Ornella’s quarters down into the darkness of the underworld.

Straight-way we took a wrong turn and somehow ended up in the chamber of the Maidens of the Midden. I have no idea how we went so far in error, but at least we have found a new route to the Baths of Diocletian. Rocco flattered them in his usual way, but they did not bless our steps as father Arturo declined to sing a song and dance a few steps for them. He persists in his belief that the maidens are demons from hell and even conversation with them could imperil his very soul. Strange how the holy father might be tarnished when Rocco’s soul seems utterly impervious.

Soon we had found our way again and approached the very passageway beneath the House of Crows. Rocco led the way, followed by myself, Giovanni, Arturo and then Lino and Renzo. They had older scores than we did against the Witch. A sudden honking of geese came from the shadows and then Rocco was engaged by a goat-man abomination and some horrible cross between a goose and a child! The sorceror had been busy with his necromantic arts for the tunnel was filled with these things and they blocked the way.

After a few stern blows, Rocco grew tired and we changed places; then I took the fight to these horrors. A swift changeover is an essential part of tunnel fighting, and Providence guided our steps. Straight-way I swung my falcione with vigour, for I had decided to attack relentlessly as the horrors felt no pain but had little skill with weapons. Kissing the Archbishop’s ring motivated me even more than a thirst for revenge, for Providence guided my hand - blow after blow I struck, never missing. Doing good has no end, they say. One after another the goat-men went down, until a huge serpent with the face of the witch Ornella slithered out into the passage to replace them. She wielded a bright sword, armoured with scales and lighting flashed from her eyes; truly a great evil to trouble the world. Still Providence sat upon my shoulder – her lightning missed me, and we traded blows until she slithered off at speed, followed by the last of the weird-geese.

Now we held the tunnel, masters of the field, and guarded the low passage which led from the House of Crows into the main tunnel. We all agreed there was no need to follow – let them come to us and face four to one at the entrance, with prayers behind on each side. We waited nearly an hour in the darkness, wondering what might be happening far above on the streets of Rome. Suddenly four weird-geese returned – some bearing a small dagger full of poison. All were hacked down swiftly, but one stabbed poor Rocco in the arm, and soon its venom burned in his blood. Right after the geese came a large man with a bull's head, bearing a great axe. He charged Lino, and buffeted him back against the tunnel wall. Behind him came the Witch-Wyrm once more, and the hulking idiot servant we had spared when we first drove the sorceror from his abode above. The idiot drank a potion and was transformed into a monstrous swollen hulk maddened by rage. Now chaos reigned: I fought the Witch-Wyrm alongside Father Arturo, while Rocco, Lino and Brother Giovanni fought the bull-headed man, and Renzo faced the raging hulk. The Witch struck down father Arturo with more lightning from her eyes and wrapped her coils around me. I drew a dagger and struck at it in a frenzy until darkness finally claimed me.

When I came to, and found myself alive, I learned that I had killed the serpent before it squeezed all the life from my body, and my comrades had overcome the hulk and the bull-man too, after a desperate struggle. Even Brother Giovanni had drawn the dagger I gave him and stabbed away until the end. Everyone upright was bashed and wounded, except for me – I lay as a man half-drowned, with no breath and sore ribs, but no deep wound at all.

Soon a voice called from the darkness offering gold for passage to escape. Although I could not stand, the voice of the sorceror roused in me the will to resist and spite him. I told him to go back and face his doom – we cared nought for his gold or pleading for mercy. Only death awaited him – by our blades or the Hammer of the Lord above. He chose poison instead and cheated his enemies of the satisfaction of putting him to death. Soon afterwards we heard the voice of our friend Noli calling for us, and could make our way painfully back up into the world above. We received the praise of the Archbishop for carrying out our mission faithfully, as we watched the House of Crows looted by his forces before being torn down and wrecked as an example. They hung up the dead body of the sorceror in the courtyard, and built a great pyre of ruin to burn all his unholy works. Us wounded got a cart ride back while the fun was happening.

That evening everyone came back to the Three-Way House to celebrate. Although exhausted, I managed a cup of wine and listened as Noli told us the Archbishop’s monks took a battering ram from his carroccio, smashed the front doors down right away, and marched within signing hymns. The Bardoni rabble were cut down by the armed soldiers supporting the monks, and they forced their way within the House without delay. A host of necromantic horrors quailed from the holy hymns, while the Archbishop laid into them with the Hammer of the Lord! One blow was enough to crush the evil spell binding them together. It was a slaughter.

Cola was delighted, and placed us back in charge of his portion of the Three-Way House with the Bardoni rent-books to ponder over.

So this chapter of our lives is over - we have lost everything in the wreckage of the battle but gained a new home and maybe a new living as well. All of us are alive and our enemies cast down into hell – St Michael be praised!