An Easter Story (2) " And thou did not prevent this?" The barbarian shouted angrily. " The first time I did not know of until later. I lived still in Ra'-ma. The second I witnessed when I came to visit her here. I stopped him in time to save her life and was given thirty lashes by the guards." The thief stopped to summon what willpower he could to control his pain. " Where is this jackal? He shall feel the coldness of my blade." " That is why I did not tell thee. She did not know thou still lived, and to learn of thee just long enough to see thee hang on the cross would kill her. So I did bargain to buy her from her husband and was given a selling price that he knew I could not meet. So winst I hear thee were in Galilee about to embark on a quest I hurried there." " Get to it thief." The barbarian said coldly. " Thouest doe's not have much more time." " Thy quest did not yield what thou said it would brother. My share was not enough to pay for her freedom so I took what I needed from thy purse as thy slept. I knew thou would track me when thy awoke that is why I also stole thy horse, I had hoped by the time thou were able to get another steed and find me I would have thy daughter and grandchildren to reunite thou with. Thou made it faster then I had thought thy would. I am glad. Now I can say goodbye." " Forgive me my brother, I should have known better." The barbarian said as he dropped to one knee. " Thou has always looked after my best interest while'st I continued to play the foolish brute." Find thy children and take them from this place." The thief said, strangely calm. " First I shall set thee free from thine pain." The barbarian said as he arose and reached for his sword. " No my brother!" The thief shouted. " Thou wil'st only get thyself killed and leave thy children to suffer at the hands of Mor'-ta-c'ay. I am pass the pain now, my savior has delivered me." " How do I find the man called Mor'-ta-c'ay ?" He asked. But there was no reply, his bother, like the world he had known had moved on. There was a flash of white light and Carol’s heart stopped beating and she was sure she was having a heart attack. Then as quick as the instantance it had happen it stopped, the light disappeared and her heart started beating, and she found that she was no longer in the place of the skulls but in a large stone house. She stood there wondering what had happened when she heard shouting from another room and ran to see what it was. As Carol ran through the doorway leading to the other room she froze. " It can't be." She said aloud, knowing no one would hear her. But it was. Standing in the middle of the room was her mother, father, her brother and her. Her father as usual was hitting her mother. " Say something damnit." She shouted across the room to herself. " Please father stop." She, the little girl, said meekly. " That can't be me." Carol said to herself. " I'm no wimp." The man, her father, turned, and Carol saw the look of madness on his face that she had become all too familiar with. " LEAVE HER ALONE BUTTHEAD!" Carol shouted, forgetting she couldn't be heard. " Take thy brother and go outside." Her father said. The girl, Carol, stood there defiantly. "Way to go." Carol cheered. " NOW!" The father shouted and clenched his fist. "NO!" Carol shouted as she watched herself take her brothers hand and led him out of the room. " Please no." Carol said quietly to her self as tears ran down her face. He was about to strike her again when a guard ran into the room. " Thank God." Carol said as she let out a deep breath of relieve. She watched as her father quickly put his hand down and her mother turned away from the guard, and although she could see the look of disgust on the guard’s face she realized he would do nothing. " What is it?" Her father shouted at him. " There is a man at the cross talking to the thief." " So?" Her father answered with a sound of indifference. " The thief referred to him as his brother." The guard answered nervously. " My father is alive!" Her mother exclaimed as she turned to reveal a swollen and battered face. Carol saw the guards eyes wince in pity and was appalled that he would still do nothing after seeing her. " Kill him." Her father said calmly. " NO! Her mother shouted as she started to run towards the door before being grabbed by her father and thrown to the floor. " Well? What doe's thou wait for?" He shouted at the guard. " He is the barbarian Cortelius." " Cortelius!" Her father repeated, and Carol could her the fear in his voice. " Does thou have enough guards bribed to battle him my husband." Her mother hissed at him, filling Carols heart with pride. " Even if thou succeeds he will kill many guardsmen and the governor will want to know why, and I shall tell him the thief on the cross was my uncle and it was THOU that stole from HIM, and how the barbarian was my father that returnth to avenge my uncle and to save me and my children from an evil man that was using his wealth to bribe the guardsmen and the high priest to overthrow him." " Thy wife speaks the truth Mor'-ta-c'ay" The guard said. " There shall be no investigation my friend, for thee shall get the governors most trusted guards to help thee." Her father answered as he helped her mother up. " For thou will be after the man that killed the Governors loyal friends wife." With that he pulled a dagger out of his robe and buried it in her mother’s chest. " NO!" Carol shouted. Only it wasn't her voice she heard. She thought it was the voice of the guard, but when she looked she saw the guard being struck by a large stick and the barbarian walking over his unconscious body. " Please don't!" Her father cried as tears started running down his face. " If thou kills me then thou will never get out of the city alive. But I have much gold, enough to last thee a lifetime. It is all thee's if thou'st will let me live." " It is not gold I seek today thief." The barbarian answered calmly as he continued walking towards her father. " The treasure I had sought today thy has stolen from me and now thou shall feel the coldness of my blade." As Carol watched, her father drop to his knees and starting sobbing as the barbarian continued slowly towards him. Then she heard a strange sound. It sounded like the twang of a badly tuned guitar followed by the sound of a vacuum. Then she heard it again, then again, then as she looked at the barbarian she realized what it had been. The guard had came to and fired three arrows at the barbarian striking him squarely in the back, then as he started to fire a fourth he stopped. The barbarian walked to her father and lifted him to his feet by his hair and then buried his large sword into her father's stomach. " Thou shall suffer a very painful death as did my brother." He said to her father as he slowly pulled out his sword and tossed it across the room. As the barbarian sat down and lifted Carol's mother to his chest he looked at the guard. " Will'st thou give my daughter and brother an Christian burial?" " Yes." The guard answered. " As will I give thou the same." " For a barbarian to find the heavens would be the greatest quest ever." The barbarian answered smiling. Then he closed his eyes, and as he sat there holding her mother Carol knew they would never reopen. Carol wiped the tears from her eyes and slowly walked towards her mother and... There was a bright white light and her heart stopped, and when the light was gone she found herself standing on a marble floor of what had to be a castle. She looked up and saw her father dressed in ancient english attire, complete with cape. To his right lying on the floor was what Carol knew would be her dead mother. As she heard the loud sound of a gunshot she turned and saw the barbarian. Only now he was a pirate carrying a fencing sword, and as the constable behind him reloaded his power pistol the bright light reappeared and she found herself standing on an oriental rug in beautifully furnished room. Her father was dressed in a fancy western suit, and as she turned to see the barbarian she saw that he looked as she imagined him, a gunfighter, and right behind him was a sheriff picking himself off the floor and aiming a gun at him. " PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" She cried as the white light reappeared. This time it was outside in a place she didn't recognize but knew was Havre-de-Grace. For her Father was dressed in his favorite suit and her mother still wore the same dress she had on for the interview. " Please God." She cried. " Don't make me witness my real mothers death." But something was different. Before her father was hitting her mother. This time when he raised his hand her mother balled up her fist and hit him first, and by the sound of his cry Carol was sure she had broke his nose. " WAY TO GO MOM!" Carol shouted as she laughed and cried at the same time. But her happiness wasn't long lived. " YOU BITCH!" her father shouted. " You broke my nose." " Let's call it even and go our separate ways Mort." Her mother said, trying to sound calm. " Even hell." Her father said angrily, as he reached into his jacket and took his knife out the little leather holder that everyone in Texas seemed to wear. " I'll teach you to be disrespectful to your husband." As her father raised his knife Carol heard a shot, and as she started crying she turned around, already knowing what she would see. The barbarian, pirate, gunfighter, or whatever he would be now, being shot to keep from saving her mother. Only this time he was in a business suit and it was him holding the gun, and directly behind him was her father's friend Deputy Herold's being held to the pavement by another man wearing a suit. " WHAT? WHAT?" Carol shouted excitedly. " Commander Cort Wilson, Army Intelligence." The man that was once a barbarian shouted. " Get on the ground and lock your hands behind your head. NOW!" " Dad?" Her mother said quietly. " I thought you were ..." Carol sat on the ground and though she tried to stop the tears they continued until she laid her head in her hands and started crying. " Are ya alright missy?" A voice asked. She looked up and saw the old man from the shack. " I don't un-un-understand." Carol said trying to stop crying. " Am I dreaming?" " In a way missy." The old man answered as he knelt beside her. " Ya have seen the many reincarnations of yer family." " How is that possible" " This is a special time of year missy." The old man said. Only when Carol looked back up at him he was no longer old, but as young as when she had seen him as a barbarian. " It is the time of rebirth. A time for a second chance. " But my mother always died. Doe's this mean she will die again." " From this time on thy mother will always live a long and happy life and thou shall enjoy a normal childhood." " I don't understand." Carol said, feeling as if a giant burden had been lifted from her. " What changed?" " Thou has." " Me?" " Yes. Before thy fear of thy's father kept thee at bay and thy spirit could never grow. " The barbarian said gently as he pulled a cloth from nowhere and wiped her eyes. "This time thou found the strength to not only protect thyself from him but to look after thy mother and bother, and thy mother was able to feed upon her daughters strength. Thus giving thy grandfather time to find thee." Carol stood to find that she was no longer in front of an office building but walking hand in hand with the gunfighter along the river. " Will she find us?" The gunfighter laughed as he took off his hat and pushed it down on her head covering her eyes. " She never lost ya darlin' " " Yes she did." Carol said as she pulled off the cowboy hat, only it was a pirate’s hat and she was sailing across the Susquehanna on the most beautiful ship she had ever seen. " We're in a shack near the river." " My princess shall never live in a shack." The pirate answered as bowed and gave her a kiss. Then he was gone. She was back in the shack with the old man. " It was a dream." She said as her heart sank. Then she noticed that they were alone. " Stephen. Where's Stephen?" " Why right there missy." The old man said pointing. And as she looked to where he pointed they were no longer in the shack but at Macdonald’s and he was pointing at her and Stephen asleep in a booth. " I knew it was a dream." " A dream with a happy ending missy from which ya are about to awaken." " Will I ever see you and the others again Mr. Cort. Carol asked sadly. " Ya have but to open yer eyes missy, but to open yer eyes." Then there was the bright white light again and when Carol was sure she was going to witness another grizzly murder she heard someone... "Carol?"... Calling her name. And she opened her eyes to see her mother gently shaking her, and behind her was... " Honey." Her mother said smiling. " I want you to meet your...." " GRANDPA CORT!" Carol shouted as jumped up and threw herself into his arms. " But how did you.." " I'll explain it all sometime." Carol said as she let go of her grandfather and hug her mother. " Can we go now?" " Sure honey." Her mother said smiling as she picked up Stephen." Carol, what's that." Carol look at where Stephen had been sleeping and saw the old mans walking stick. " It's a gift from a very special friend." Carol said as a wide smile covered her face." " Carol." Her mother said sternly. " I want to know.." " Mary. Look at this." Her grandfather Cort said as he picked up the stick. It was not an ordinary walking stick like Carol had thought, but a beautifully crafted walking staff with ancient writing and carvings, and carved near the top was three crosses and a heart. Under the crosses were the word Gol'-go-tha. Which Carol somehow knew to say the place of the skulls. " Carol I want some answers." Her mother said firmly. " Mom, Grandpa." Carol said as she took their hands. " How would you two like to hear an Easter Story.
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Copyright © 1998 Clifton L. Martin |